From Infant to Toddler

This has been such a crazy month. I can hardly believe how many changes Levi has gone through. He has pretty much gone to all walking. He loves to walk and explore…everything! I got him his first pair of shoes, and he loves them. I decided to get him a pair of stride rites because they are specially designed to help kids learn how to walk correctly, and I felt like that was very important. Every time I go to put his shoes on he smiles and gets excited because he knows that we are probably getting ready to go outside.

He has had a crazy huge growth spurt, and is now on the charts! He is in the 25% tile for height and weight. He has outgrown a lot of his summer clothes. We bought everything 2 sizes to big thinking that he would easily make it to the end of summer, but we were so wrong. He is really starting to look like a little boy and not like a baby.

His appetite has also decreased dramatically. He still loves food, but is not nearly as interested in it as he used to be. I think that a lot of that is due to the fact that there are a lot more distractions. He also insists on feeding himself. He will not let me feed him bites, but instead he needs to be holding the fork and be in control of what is going in and out of his mouth. In a lot of ways this is easier because it means I no longer have to sit there and feed him, but it also means that he pretty much needs a bath after every major meal. His favorite food still remains to be anything and everything that Morgan and I are eating.

Levi has found a new love for books! Denise came to visit it and while she was here she spent a fair amount of time reading. Levi immediately had an interest in her book, and was constantly reaching for it. Denise spent some time walking with him to his room and picking books off of his book shelf and then reading them to him. Ever sense she left he has been obsessed with books. He will walk up to me while I am sitting in the recliner, grab my hand, put a book in it, and then try to climb up onto my lap. He is not as interested in the words, but instead loves to see the pictures and flip through the pages. I am glad he is finding a love for reading so early on.

I could spend all day talking about Levi but I think I covered most of the big changes. Morgan and I are getting ready for baby #2 and we are beyond excited! We know it will be an adjustment to have two kids, but we are both excited for the adventure, and even more excited to watch the brotherly bond develop between Levi and his new little brother. I cannot believe that I am almost to my last trimester, and we are going to meet this little guy in just 3 more months! It is crazy how much times flies! Christmas will be here before we know it!

6 Month Overload!!!

So, apparently, the last time I blogged was January. That is embarrassing…I have just been so intimidated to start up again since I have gone so long without posting anything. I feel like there have been so many fun things that have occurred and I know that I won’t be able to cover everything. Therefore I am just going to try my hardest to outline some of our highlights.

Levi: Of course I need to start off with a Levi update! O my goodness he is getting so much personality I can hardly believe it! My little baby is growing and developing into a little toddler, and I love every minute of it! I am not going to lie, the newborn months were not my most favorite times, but I absolutely love these later months. Levi is finally walking! It only took him 15 months to start. I was starting to feel like the kid was never going to walk, and I was going to be carrying him around forever. I know that 15 months does not seem to incredibly late to start walking, but when you consider that he started crawling around Thanksgiving then that makes it seem like forever.  He started walking along furniture in January, and then just decided to stop there. That just goes to show that he has his own little agenda.

In addition to walking he is also talking! Most kids generally say mom or dad as there first words, but not my son. His first ward was “ball” and oh man is he obsessed with balls. He hugs them and cuddles them as if they are stuffed animals. He points to any semi round object and says “ball”. It is the funniest thing walking through whole foods and having him point to all the apples, oranges, and watermelons yelling and pointing “ball, ball, ball.” Levi loves to play catch, and loves to dunk the balls in his basketball hoop.  I ended up taking out Morgan’s bins full of professional sized balls and he has loved those as well. I would say that his most favorite have been the football and the volleyball, but we will see how that changes over the next several years. Morgan and I look forward to a future of sports with our little man! Levi also is saying “Thank You” , “Da-da”, “Love you”, “dog”, and whenever he wants something he says “what’s that”. I am sure he is saying more words since he talks pretty much all day (I am sure that characteristic came from my side of the family :) but those are the only words I have been able to clearly make out.

 He is to big for baby balls!

 Levi's version of Heaven

 Cant fall asleep without his ball

who needs stuffed animals?!

Levis is a very good eater, and absolutely loves to eat anything and everything. Pretty much if you sit down with any form of food he will be at your feet begging for bites. He loves broccoli, cheese, yogurt, asparagus, avocado, cottage cheese, smoked chicken, cuties, blueberries, green smoothies, smoked paprika and pretty much anything else that is edible. He does not like his food cut into small pieces but like to bite out of things that are whole. This makes me nervous at times, but he seems to handle it like a champ.

San Diego Visit: Back in February I took a trip out to San Diego to visit my wonderful family. Morgan was working some extra-long hours, so it was nice to have an excuse to get away. I stayed with my sister Wendy and we had so much fun! We went to Sea World on one of the days, and that was really fun. We also had lunch at Rossi’s with my dad and Denise and I really enjoyed that as well. I was able to go have brunch with my grandma and sister at this cute restaurant in Fallbrook that was in a garden.  My dad and Denise took me down to old town San Diego when I first arrived and we walked around and toured down there for a while. I was able to visit a few of the families that I use to babysit for, and that is always a real treat for me. I cannot believe how big all those kids are getting. I had dinner with my brother and his fiancé down in San Diego, and it was good to see him also. This section is a little jumbled but I am just typing things as I am remembering. I also had a good time visiting and catching up with my family and friends. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend in San Diego

Dinner with Aaron and Gina

 Sammy sitting on Levi

 Levi with his Grandma and Grandpa

 The Gardens

Seaworld 

 Gardens

Levi's first bagel

Utah Visit: The trip to Utah was pretty sporadic. Morgan got permission to go to BYU for a recruiting event with Deloitte and so that meant that his plane ticket was completely covered. We have both wanted an excuse to plan a trip to Utah because we have been missing all of our friends and family who live out there, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I flew in a few days before Morgan so that I could maximize the time I had to spend with my grandma, mom, and sister. My mom and Ariel both picked me up from the airport, and I stayed with both of them at Ariel’s apt in Tooele. They were literally in the process of getting all of their stuff packed, because they were getting the keys to their first home that Friday! Levi and Amelia became instant friends; they had so much fun playing together. Amelia is Levi’s one and only cousin so he loves to spend lots of time with her. A couple days after being with Ariel I ended up going to stay with Grandma Price. Morgan flew in that same night. His flight was delayed three times so he ended up arriving at like 3:30 in the morning. Grandma and Grandpa were so sweet and offered to go and pick him up at the airport so that I could sleep. I was very grateful for that because I was extremely tired. We had a family gathering on Saturday, and that was pretty fun. I was also able to catch up with my old friends from 4-H while we were there and that is something I always look forward to. It was a really fun trip, and we look forward to another in the near future!

 Chucke cheese with Grandma

 Boxes!

 Playing with his favorite cousin!

 Model Picture!

 Love my sister!

Great Grandma and Grandpa!

Hannah Visit: Morgan’s sister Hannah was able to come down for a week to visit this summer! It was so fun to see her and catch up, and it was especially fun to see her interact with Levi. When she first got here we were in the process of trying to finish painting the full interior of our house. Luckily that did not take too much time after Hannah arrived. We did a lot of random things, and mainly just enjoyed talking and hanging out. We were able to take Levi to his first water park that week, and he had so much fun. I feel like Levi did not really like being in the water much before the waterpark but after it was like he found his love for swimming. He had so much fun. We brought his infant tube and put it in the lazy river, and he loved just floating around. It was so cool to see such a little person just going around the lazy river. He also loved the wave pool. When you first walk in the water it is really shallow and then the further you go it deepens. He had a lot of fun crawling around in the water. Let’s just say he thoroughly enjoyed himself. We were also able to go to the zoo, and that was also a nice outing. We spend quite a bit of time learning about elephants and zoos, so that was pretty interesting and factual. I think that Levi really enjoyed seeing the animals.

 Levi pet his first giraffe 

 Family Safari

 We loved learning about elephants

what can I say Levi's favorite animal is a gorilla.

My family visit: My family came literally the week directly after Hannah. I was able to see Wendy, Mike, Ella, and Grandma Paula. I was so excited that they were able to come and see our new home. We were able to do loads of fun things while they were here. I don’t think that there was ever a dull moment. We went to downtown Plano and had tea and that was so much fun. It was nice to have an afternoon cup of tea with all the ladies. We also went and toured an old farm house in Plano, and we learned a lot of historic facts about the area that I did not know. We went out to eat several times, as well as enjoyed several awesome home cooked meals. Levi is completely in love with his uncle Mike. He had so much fun playing with him. Mike was so sweet to give him so much attention. They played all kinds of games together and really enjoyed all their time. I am glad Levi has been able to have so much interaction with all of his family even though we live so far away.

 yes we are a patriotic family 

 Why couldn't Levi smile this good for my picture?

 My fancy tea cup...pinkys up

 Levi and his great Grandma Paula

 Levi loves his uncle Mike

The whole crew!

New baby boy: I am sure that everyone has seen the announcement at this point. We are expecting our newest addition to the family this November. Levi will be having his first younger brother. We are beyond excited. We really wanted our kids to be less than two years apart and so we feel like we are getting exactly what we wanted. I am sure that it will be an adjustment at first, especially Since Levi gets very jealous if we give any other kid any sort of minimal attention, but we are so excited for the adventure.  We cannot wait to meet our sweet new baby.

Love my announcement...my brother is amazing!

I Don’t Even Know Where to Start!

So much has happened over this last month, and I do not even know where to start. I cannot believe that January is already half way over. I do not know where the time has gone, but it is flown by! I decided to break this post up into four categories, just a warning this will be kind of a long entry!

Trip to Houston: Morgan had to do a trip to Houston for work, and was going to be gone for a couple of days. Of course I was sad and dreading the idea of being alone. In case you did not know this about me I hate sleeping alone. I kind of freak myself out at night. I have like super hearing in the middle of the night and I can hear every single noise no matter how small. Anyways I got this awesome idea of going with Morgan. So he called and they said that I could tag along and hang out in the hotel while Morgan was working. So we leave late Wednesday and arrive at this amazing hotel. I knew it was going to be awesome when we pulled into the front and parked by a Rolls Royce and a Bentley. The only option for parking was valet and they unloaded all our bags from the car and carried them up to our room. When we went to check in one of the employees came over with a wagon of stuffed animals and gave Levi a cute horse. Then they escorted us to the elevator and showed us to our room. The room was beautiful and had an incredible view of this amazing pool! As we were getting ready for bed Morgan realized he forgot his cell phone charger in the car, so he called the front desk and they had one of the bell men go to his car and get his charger and then they had it up to our room with in five minutes. Whenever we had to go anywhere we just called the front desk to have our car brought around, and I think it is safe to say that I never had to open up a door while I was there because they opened them all for me. It was just a beyond amazing trip! I love Morgan’s new job!

Christmas: We had a very special Christmas here in Texas! Morgan’s family was able to come out and see our new house and spend the Holiday with us. We had such a fun time visiting and got to do so many cool things. Just to list some of the activities we went to the Chinese lantern Festival, a rodeo, the Galleria mall (this was the first time I ever saw Brad go to a mall), several restaurants, the park, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and many other places. We had a fun time exchanging gifts with each other. Morgan got me some Tiva sandals, the Sound of Music, and some moccasins; I got him a couple’s massage class where they teach you several techniques about giving each other massages. Levi got a new little peoples Noah’s ark set from his grandma Julie and Grandpa Brad, and he got some very cute clothes from his grandpa Marshall and grandma Denise. He is obsessed with Little People, and loves to play with all the little people sets it is very sweet. It was very cool to get to watch Levi interact with his extended family. They all loved to help with everything relating to Levi so it was nice to have all the extra hands. I cried for two days when they all left, the one thing I dislike about Texas is being so far away from family.

New Year’s Resolution: So I know that people often times make new goals at the start of the New Year and then end up breaking them a couple weeks later….well that’s not going to be me! I am determined to eat healthier this year and cut out processed foods. I am following the rules from the “100 Days of Real Food” blog. Some of those rules are not eating white flower, and form of sugar, and not purchasing items that have more than 5 ingredients. I am not planning on following these guidelines perfectly. For example if I am at a friend’s house and they offer me a cookie I am not going to deny it, or if I go to In N Out with my friends I am not going to refuse to eat. I am just going to try to control the things I make in my own home. I drink a green smoothie every morning (mainly spinach, kale, chard, and chia/hemp seeds), I am grinding my own whole wheat flower, and I am buying most of my produce and dairy organic. This has been a big life style change for me but so far I have been really enjoying it. Levi has also been enjoying all the healthy foods so that is a big bonus! He drinks a green smoothie with me every morning! I am excited to make all of these new changes part of my everyday routine!

Levi Update: Levi has grown a ton since my last blog update! He has mastered the army crawl, and he is crazy fast! I have blocked off all the exits to our living room and I just let him explore all over. He loves to crawl around and play with his toys. Grandpa Brad moved his swing from outside into the kitchen living room area….and he loves it! I can put him in that swing anytime I want and he will always calm right down, even if I am not pushing him. This is great because I can put him in the swing and then clean the kitchen, and he stays perfectly content just sitting there watching me. It has truly been a live savor. He is starting to prefer real food over breast milk, and loves to eat everything that he can fit in his mouth. He loves these chicken meat balls I get from Costco, but he also eats cheese, goat yogurt, banana, beans, quinoa, and anything else that is soft that I make for dinner. He moved back up to the 2^nd percentile. He gained a pound and a half over Christmas! He still loves to play with Penny too. Every time I put Levi on the floor Penny runs over ready to play. Levi is obsessed with Penny’s toys. I will have ten of his toys on the ground and he still manages to find the ones that belong to Penny. I should just go get Levi some dog toys of his own. I’m not sure if it’s the squeakers or the smell of Penny’s spit but something keeps attracting him to her toys.

 Levi is Excited for his Uncle Devin to Move here in a few months!

 I love this Picture! So Sweet!

 It was cold..can you tell.

 This Picture belongs on a magazine cover!

 Hannah Loves Penny!

 How men go to the mall

Levi and Grandpa putting up his swing!

Well that is all I got for now feel free to leave comments, I love to read everyone’s comments, it makes me feel good to see that some people actually read this. Hahaha.

The Midnight To-do List

Here I am awake at midnight cooking me up some mac and cheese. I decided that I wanted to make bread tonight because my buttermilk was quickly approaching its expiration date, but of course by the time I got to it, it was already 10:30 at night. I am super tired, but for some reason I always think of all the things I need to do right before I go to bed. I am sure that most normal people think of bedtime as the part of the day when they clear there mind from all the worries of the world and go to bed. However for me it is the opposite. I get home and I am exhausted. My feet hurt, my bodies tired, and I feel extremely sleep deprived. So what do I do?...walk in the door do the dishes, clean the stove, make bread, and then start cooking some mac and cheese. 

Earlier this week Levi woke up at nine, which is earlier then his normal awake time, and it took every ounce of energy I had to pull myself out of bed and get him. I stumbled into the living room and put his new little people barn (this is his new favorite toy, he is obsessed with it!) on the floor for him to play with. Then I stumble over to the couch. As soon as I sit down I look at Levi, and he looks at me with the saddest eyes, that second I knew what was going to come next. He puckers the lip and starts crying. Levi has the sweetest most innocent sad face I have ever seen, and I cannot help but feel emotional when he starts to cry. He just looks at me with this look of abandonment and I can tell that he is thinking, “How dare you ditch me and move to the couch and just leave me here on the floor.” He then starts to reach for me and throws his hands in the air to pick him up. I knew that I did not have the strength to bend over and pick him up. My body was just not fully awake. So I lie down next to him and start to play farm. Levi seems to be satisfied as long as I am lying next to him, so I think ok he is happy so it is ok to just rest my eyes a little…... Next thing I know I wake up and Levi is on the other side of the room wrapped up in Christmas lights as happy as a little boy can be and Penny is just sitting there cheering him on. He is just laughing and talking and just in the best mood ever. I then jump up in a panic, pick him up and then tried to figure out how long I had been asleep. I really have no idea how much time passed, but what I do know is that I need to be much more careful now that Levi is becoming more mobile. What can I say, no mom of the year awards being handed out here.

On top of me staying up way past Levi’s bed time, Levi has also decided that he has gotten too big for naps. He has not napped for the past two days! He use to have like three naps a day and then all of a sudden that changed to 0. I do not think that he understands that his nap time is not just for him, but it is also for mommy. It’s really OUR nap time, and even if he has already outgrown it I haven’t. So I am hoping he will decide that he isn’t to grown up for nap time.

Levi is also getting his top two teeth. At first I was super excited about this, but now I am realizing the burden of nursing a child with top teeth. I do not think that he has quite figured out how to nurse with all of his new teeth, and let’s just say that this is leaving me with lots of sores.

Changing the subject Morgan and I got our Christmas tree up, and decorated! (Another one of my midnight projects.) I am very excited about this because I love our Christmas tree! Levi and Penny have both been treating it more like a toy rather than a decoration. I left Penny inside tonight and came home to a shattered bulb all over the floor. I wonder how many bulbs she is going to have to break before she figures out that they are not balls. Every second I turn around I find Levi over at the Christmas tree playing with the lights and reaching for the bulbs. Even though the tree causes lots of challenges and creates new obstacles I still love it.

Last I just want to mention some of Levis newest achievements:

• ·         He is getting more efficient at crawling
• ·         He is talking tons!
• ·         He can eat blueberries that are cut in half
• ·         He has tried mangos…and loves them (must not have got the mango allergy from his aunt Wendy)
• ·         He can play with toys! He will sit up and play with his little people barn for hours
• ·         He can suck on the applesauce pouch snacks. He can suck one of those dry in seconds
• ·         He takes a bottle!

He just went to the Dr and He:

Weighs: 14.15 (1^st percentile)

Height: 27.5 (40^th percentile)

Head Circumference: 18 (73^rd percentile)

Well it is now 1:00 am so I am going to go put away the left over mac and cheese, and hopefully go to bed. That is assuming I do not think of anything else I need to do first!

Can’t Sleep…Again!

I seem to find myself wide awake in the middle of the night all too often. I have been awake for almost two hours now and I cannot seem to get any sleep. So I might as well take advantage of this opportunity and catch up on my blog! Let me just start by saying, “holy cow I cannot believe that November is half way over!” Time seems to be flying, and I have no idea where it is in such a hurry to

get to.

Thanksgiving is the week after next, and I am so excited! We have some of our closest friends coming over to have dinner with us. We are going to smoke a turkey on our Traeger, and I know that it is going to be amazing! I have practiced making grandma’s famous rolls, and they turned out awesome. I have a few adjustments I still need to per-fect, but I have full confidence that I will get it down. This is going to be my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner and I am really looking forward to it. I feel like such a grown up! I will miss being with family, but I am really grateful to have such awesome friends to share the holidays with, I could not imagine settling in to Texas without them.

Levi is starting to crawl….kind of. It’s more of a forward scoot and roll. He is able to get to any destination he seeks, and lately he seems to be attracted to my scrapbooking stuff. It does not matter where on the floor I set him he always seems to end up with both his hands in my scrapbooking bins. He must be excited to get into scrapbooking. He likes to play with Penny more and more every day. Every time Penny walks by he grabs her fur and smiles. He also spends a great deal of time talking to her. He must have a lot to say. Penny is starting to really warm up to him too. Whenever Morgan and I walk in to the door we are always greeted by lots of jumps and kisses from Penny, she is always just so excited to see us. Well lately she is having that same reaction with Levi. As soon as we walk in and I set Levi down, I cannot get her to stop kissing Levis head. I am sure that many of you find that disgusting, but he will have a stronger immune system for it. I am also running into the problem of keeping Penny’s toys separate from Levi’s toys. It would be easier if Penny was not constantly bring Levi her toys and dropping them on his lap. This will be a fun puzzle to solve. Levis favorite activities still consist of watching me vacuum and wash the dishes. It does not matter how tired and fussy he is as soon as the vacuum or sink turns on he goes silent. This leaves me with a pending excuse to always be cleaning.

Best Friends!

I have also been doing a lot of baking. I think it is safe for me to say that I have mastered buttermilk bread! I am going to try to get into the habit of making my own bread instead of buying it at the store. It just tastes so much better when you make it yourself. Morgan is very excited for this decision. Every time he comes home to anything homemade he just gets so excited. It makes me feel good and appreciated. This keeps me excited to cook things that he likes. I am really enjoying having the extra time to cook and bake.

I have to take a moment to get on my soapbox to complain about all the stores that are opening on Thursday for black Friday. I hate that I am going to have to choose between going shopping which I love to do, especially on black Friday, and sitting at the table and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner. I just hate that stores are opening earlier and earlier every year. It is sucking the fun out of black Friday. It is not enjoyable when you cannot even get a couple hours of sleep before leaving for a long stretch of shopping. I am just starting to realize that my black Friday days may be coming to an end if they do not stop this selfishness.

Last, me and Morgan have been talking about the possibility of adding the second addition to our family sometime soon. I am over whelmed by the idea of having two kids, but I really want to have them all close together. I can’t decide if I want to wait for Levi to be 25 months when the next baby is born, or 18 months. I just don’t want to completely over whelm myself, but I think the closer I can get them in age then the easier it will be in the long run. I will keep you updated with that if there is any news to share.

Well I am going to go have a piece of homemade toast with a heaping glass of chocolate milk, and then maybe I can sleep.

Sweet dreams!

This is my new favorite pic of Levi

Keeping Busy

Last time I posted I was talking about Levis weight so I thought I would start with an update. He is still in the second percentile, however he is growing consistently. He has moved up to the 28^th percentile on height, and is head is in the 70^th percentile (probably due to his big brain!). I was super concerned with how small he was, so I decided to call my mom and ask her about how I grew. She said when I was born I was a HUGE baby! I was 9 pounds 9 ounces, I was at the top of all of the charts, I was the biggest baby in the family, but once I came out I just stopped growing. Doctors want babies to double their birth weight by the time they are six months and triple it by the time they are a year. I however barley doubled my birth weight by the time I turned one. I dropped off of all the doctors charts; I was way lower than the first percent tile, and it stayed that way for a long long time.  It wasn’t till I was in middle school that I finally started to barley creep onto the charts again, my mom got so excited that she called the whole family to tell them that I was back on the charts! Its crazy that I was the biggest baby in the family, and now I am by far the smallest.

The doctor’s charts are good to help keep babies on track, but they shouldn’t dictate your piece of mind. Every baby is going to grow different, and there are hundreds of factors that are going to play into the way children grow. I have decided that Levi is growing the way he is supposed to and I am going to stop stressing about it. I am just going to trust that he is growing the way that is perfect for him. It makes sense that he is small, especially when you look at his mom and dad.

In addition to his growing Levi is advancing in many ways on a daily basis. My favorite thing he started to do is he reaches for me. When I go to pick him up he will throw up his arms for me to get him. It is so sweet! He also rolls all over. I have to watch him every second to make sure he is not getting into any mischief. I will leave him on one side of the living room, and before I know it he has rolled all the way across the floor. Penny has loved playing with Levi to. She is constantly bringing him balls and toys. She will bring all of her toys to Levi and drop them right on top of him, and then of course Levi will pick them up and attempt to put them in his mouth. I know gross! So I am always supervising the two of them in order to make sure that they are swapping germs minimally. They say that babies that grow up around dogs have a stronger immune system, I am starting to realize why! lol! Levi also loves to laugh and smile. That is my most favorite, I am glad that I have such a smiley baby, it helps to keep me in a good mood. I mean how can you not be happy seeing that smile all day long!

I am glad that it is finally November because that means that Christmas is next month, and I love Christmas! There are so many things that I love about Christmas, but the thing I am most looking forward to right now is all the Christmas movies I am going to start watching. I want to have a huge Christmas movieathon and watch everything from Elf to It’s a Wonderful life! I have already told Morgan that I want to get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but he is concerned that the tree would dry out before Christmas. I don’t care if it gets kind of dry, I just want to enjoy for as long as I can. I have already ordered Levis ornament off Lenox, it’s a cute blue elephant that it says his name and the year. I can hardly wait for it to get here! I don’t know why but I can just feel it in my bones that this is going to be a truly special Christmas! Morgan’s whole family is going to be coming and staying with us for ten days! So I am really looking forward to that. I love company, and I especially love seeing our family! I am excited for the start of the Holiday season!

 This is Levi right when he got out of bed! He loves the mornings!

 Penny and Levi are going to be life time friends!

Visiting Daddy at work! 

Cutest Batman on the planet! 

My boys! They are the loves of my life!

He is so cute in a baseball hat!