Merry Christmas!

We had a very nice Christmas. Last weekend we celebrated with Eric's family, which was great! This weekend we spent Xmas eve and christmas at my parents. It was fun at both events to reconnect and catch up with extended family first and foremost. Secon the food was excellent! And third, the kids of course got quite a few new fun toys. Levi's got a new basketball hoop from us he's crazy about, spending hours dunking his little soccer ball in. He enjoys most if you play with him, and enjoys passing the ball. He also got a little leap frog phone and iPad toy that he loves from my parents, and I've been really pleased by the leap frog educational side to it. It's our first time with that type of toy. Kaylee has been having a great time with her rapunzel tower and princesses playing pretend scenarios with them in there. She also really loves her first Barbie rapunzel from us.

My dad came today and put the new gate and rail extensions on the bunk bed. The safety of their new bed has gone up a ton all the sudden. Thanks dad!

I (and I hope Eric) are on vacation for the next two weeks. I hope to do a lot of fun things with the kids. I'll update on what those things are! Also, we plan on continuing our work on the basement, having all the new stuff I already gave a whole carload ready to donate. I've been teaching kaylee about donation, and she helped figure out what of hers she would donate to little kids that don't have----... Also we're going to clean up the laundry room, the storage and the guest bedroom downstairs...all rooms still feeling the crunch from the construction. Hopefully well finish in time for the smith visit next week, which we are looking forward to! Merry Christmas to you all... Stay safe too!

Levi 15 mo update

Levi had his 15 month dr appt. He was healthy and was 24 lb 6 oz (47.74%), 32.75"h(90.9%) and 51.5 cm head circumference (99.93%). They did a survey to see how he was doing developmentally and he is doing great testing at a 18 month old capability. The only thing I answered no to was can he get off his own shirt or pants. Eric joked that he can't get the shirt off himself because of his big head. The doctor said that this is more of an item accomplished by a child nearing 2 years old anyway.

Don't forget to view new post below either...done just today! cheers.

"K-A-Y-L-E-

Kaylee is getting to be such a big girl! From behind me on the way to work listening to the radio station with Christmas music, she is singing along in tune knowing all the words to the songs. Also she has come home from Preschool each day for a like a month tracing her name, the other day she came home and the name was not traced but done completely by herself! I was so proud, it was a big moment for sure! I can’t explain the pride I felt for my big girl growing up. Her name was so cute. The ‘Y’ looked like an ‘X’ and then second ‘e’ was under the first ‘e’. I cut it out and after we have it on the refrigerator for a while, I will put in her baby book!

This morning the kids were playing so cute. Levi was jumping on top of Kaylee on the bed. They were wrestling. He would stand up and then pounce on her over and over. It was all good-natured and both loved it!

This weekend Eric decorated the trees in our front yard with lights. When we took them to look, Levi was talking very loudly, excitedly making exclamations in his baby babble. We couldn’t understand a word, but we knew he liked it and was excited! He was almost excited as well playing the our second cousin’s battery-operated train set this weekend. There were a lot of words, loud that no one understood. But everybody knew he was having a great time. On the talking front, he added a new word – “Chocolate.” He’s his mama’s boy! 

Eric and I are trying to clean up the basement, dealing with the domino effect of the construction. We had a set-back with our doors not accepting a second-coat of polyurethane. Not sure what the issue is but Eric had to sand them down and will start over, or we will have to repurchase slightly more expensive (better quality) doors in the spring. We emptied out our storage under the stairs and tossed, donated and sorted through all of it. Thanks to the neighbors for watching the kids for us!

My Dad came by with the rail extensions for the bunk bed and they are looking great. We are very excited for the bunk beds to be a bit safer for our kids (and still look great). Thanks Dad!

We moved the kids toys into the room after they went to
bed last night. They were so excited this morning. They were ripping around in
there having a great time. It was hard to get them to get ready for daycare. I
had to bring them their clothes, boots and coats downstairs so that they would
get ready. The upstairs looks bigger without all those toys around. We have
more to sift through and decide what we want to keep of what's the basement.
It's looking like we are going to at least sell 1 coffee table. We are looking
forward to getting our Christmas tree tonight and setting it up down
there!
Wednesday of next week the contractor will be finishing
the door trim at the base, the trim around the opening at the stair and bring
over the door to the storage area under the stair and put it up. Eric's having trouble with one light, and
wants to discuss it with him. Other than that we will be done! Being able to
now use the space is such a huge step.

(Pre) School Photo

We woke up in the wee hours on the day of picture day, and went to the only place open, Walmart. We got this cute new outfit for picture day and the photo turned out great. I wonder though, why do they chop kids bangs so totally horizontal and not slightly round them down at the sides???

She smiled pretty though! Kaylee you look great, my sweet!

Family room almost ready!

Exciting things are happening with our basement! We are almost there with our new family room! It is painted, the trim is in, the trim is on the canned lights and Eric put 95% of the floor in yesterday. Today the wood is getting puttied, the floor's being finished and the base shoe will (most likely?) go on. We are waiting for the door to the storage area to be completed by a millwork shop. We will put pictures on when it's done. As soon as we can, we are going to get a Christmas tree and put it up in there. Kaylee is so so excited for that!!! Kaylee helped us paint the basement. Really just the lower part of one wall. It was amazing how much she liked being treated like a big girl. She was practically a different kid! She was so polite! “Mom can you please help me refill my paint brush and I will try not to drip on the carpet. If I drip, I will tell your right away so you can help me clean it up!” Wow. I think we’ll have to find more chores to help encourage this big girl attitude in her! Maybe she needs to feel more a part of things, productively. She loved being a part of her playroom construction!

I asked Kaylee what does she want for Christmas and her response was, "A Pink Star." Who knows what that means? Oh well! It seems to me that her favorite 'toy' is her brother. She loves playing with him, tucking him in with blankets on the floor, playing forts with him, chasing him, harassing him...(hey she's not perfect!). Levi however really loves his toys. He spends long periods of time quiet, focused on his toys. He has a good attention span and is really interested in how things work. He turned over his train with all these buttons for animal sounds and instead, examines the wheels looking for how they work and what they do exactly. He loves to be chased too, and beams at you when you say "I'm going to get you!" Eric told me that Levi loves to come up to him with a little stuffed animal and say to him, "Rahr!" He doesn't do this with me, so I find that very interesting. When Levi smiles, he looks a lot like his cousin, F. The two have bright faces that glow when they smile.

Levi already has some dance moves. He has added two new moves lately to his repetoire. It's the rolling of the hands and the hand/arm up right/left alternating. He also loves to clap and then clap/slap his belly too.

I tried to take Kaylee sledding yesterday but she was having none of that. She was scared. I better take her with the neighbor girls so they can show her what it's all about. This weekend I took the kids to the city on the commuter rail line. Kaylee and Levi loved it. Rant alert! I was shocked that people would let me with a baby and a preschooler stand instead of offering their seats. There were some very able-bodied looking folks around. I appreciate anyone who helps us out. Whenever you see a mom with kids, please help them out! Open doors...if a kids having a fit, I appreciate instead of staring or looking annoyed, people who distract Kaylee or try to talk to her calmly instead. She doesn't have many public fits anymore, but something got me going....sorry! Also I had trouble with the number of buildings inaccessible to us, with no accessible entry for our stroller when I was waiting for Eric to come pick us up, I had to walk four blocks to find and open entry we could get inside and keep warm! But we did have a good time, kaylee loved the train and the muppet movie! They both needed an intermission though and we left in the middle and the ran around outside the theater for a bit. Kaylee loved Mary and miss piggie, but was very confused when gonzo blew up his building. Understandably! They both enjoyed the songs and wanted to dance.

Photo of Our Brave Girl at the Dentist - 1st Time!

Holiday cards

Bunk Bed, but "No Jump"!

Kaylee and Levi got a new bunk bed! The reason we are transitioning Levi so early to a bed is that we saw amazing results in Kaylee’s ability to sleep through the night at 18 months when we did it with her. Now, I was thinking it would be a Christmas present and that he would be 16 months, but we ended up getting it a bit earlier at only 14 months. But the results have already been great. He’s sleeping more soundly and only woke up 1 time each night so far! He usually has been waking up 2-3 times a night still. So yay! Already we had to institute an absolute zero tolerance for jumping on the top bunk. Last night they had a great time in the “cave” on the bottom bunk.

Now…in the meantime Kaylee has been pretty sick with the flu (cold and cough type this time) and so that DOES NOT mean that I got sleep while Levi was a good sleeper. She woke up an average of 2-3 times a night since last Wednesday. We took her to the doctor yesterday and he does think she looks good and it was just a virus. Also her fever broke yesterday at 3 am so she was able to go to daycare today to enjoy “Feast Day” which is the day they have Thanksgiving Dinner at daycare.

I’ve been trying to get Levi to talk more. I’ve been attempting to make him ask me for something before I give it to him. This is because I know he CAN talk, but ISN’T. I want to encourage him to try. So this morning at breakfast for about 2 minutes I would not give him the raspberries, prompting him say, “More” say “Berries”, say “Please” and then finally out of his mouth came “Dat”. Of course I was satisfied with “That”. I was also trying to get him to maybe sign more, he did a movement with his hands and it was more of a clap however. I’m going to take more of our time in the morning together before Kaylee wakes up to get him talking. One issue is he doesn’t want to look at my face and see how I’m forming the words. He is busy and looking everywhere else. This is one way our kids are different for sure, Kaylee was always looking right in my face and practicing. I’m willing to be okay with their differences of course, but since I know he CAN talk, I’m simply encouraging him to do so. One way I’m doing this is by reading him lots of books. He’s okay with 2-3 pages then he wants to grab it and check it out him self, turning pages, turning it upside down, throwing the book…completely normal of course. I’m so proud of my boy, he’s so sweet and smart. He’s babbling a lot, he’s well on his way! I’d say he can say like 20 words, though doesn’t say them often. Though now he is more purposeful in his use to get what he wants/needs and is associating the correct word with the correct thing more and more. He’s also trying out sentences, one of his latest is “open the door”. (Of course this is coming up after Kaylee wants to lock doors and put him in the room with her, but without us. Or just puts him in a room and closes the door. Thankfully we always are alert to this and he never freaks out. BTW, we are considering changing Kaylee’s door knob to an unlockable type.) Way to go little guy!

One word he knows well is “Jump” he knows just what to do when he hears jump. He smiles and tries hard to jump, saying “Dump!” He still hasn’t left the ground, but that doesn’t deter him one bit. Also Levi has learned to blow a kiss and to try to kiss, which of course just melts my heart! He also understands the word “dance” and begins to showcase his moves. Kaylee is frustrated that he doesn’t know how to dance together, because she’s such a sweetie and wants to hold his hand and dance with him, but he just doesn’t GET that yet.

Also on the basement: The walls are mudded, taped and sanded… See photos! Can’t wait until paint and floor go in, it’s getting so close!

Ice skating gone bad

Well Kaylee and I had fun at the brand new ice arena skating ( only 5 mins from home!) BUT 1hour or so in, we took a spill. I was holding her under her armpits skating slowly when she drove in her toe pick and we both went down. I landed on top of her. She ended up with a bloody nose and a fat lip and I ended up with a very badly hurt knee. I was very concerned with Kay when it happened obviously, noting first that her nose and teeth where not broken, I rushed her home since she was screaming for her daddy. Once home and snuggled in Eric's lap, I noticed how really sore my knee was and started icing it. Woke up in the morning with a seriously swollen hematoma the size of a baseball. That day I had a meeting, so I went. I could still walk. However right before the meeting it got suddenly much more painful, my boss had some advil so I took it and went on running the meeting, seated with my leg up. But after the meeting I stood up and knew I wasn't able to walk. So I called Eric to come get me, waited till most people left the meeting then asked for people to assist me down the stairs and my boss helped by bringing a wheelchair. So embarrassing! Anyways, Eric took me to my clinic and my dr squeezed me in during lunch. Did an X-ray, not broken just a blunt force trauma to the knee. Gave me crutches and Advil. I haven't been using the cruthes as I am able to bear weight and I will only consider using them if it gets worse like right after that meeting. So! 2days later I have a bruise that radiates 5-6 inches from the center of the injury, and is still growing while the swollen ness is still there and bad, it is less than the day after. Day after kaylee was already very excited to show and tell about how, "I got a fat lip at the ice show last night" sadly, she's said she never wants to go skating again though I told her this is not an option, that we will use the supports next time for her and that her daddy will be there. So we'll see, I'm looking forward to when our injuries fade and we're back on the ice.

Levi is now 14 months old. He is learning how to say some two word sentences now like, 'thank you' and 'I got i't and' there you go ' and 'up down' ( we think this means a hug). His talking is very sporadic and sometimes you hear just baby babble only. He loves to wave 'bye' and say it all the time upon leaving. Its like his latest trick he can do, he smiles and looks very proud of himself. Its adorable. He knows to wave hello too but he doesn't say 'hi' yet. His other trick, trying to jump, his repeated efforts still havent actually taken him off the ground ... But he perseveres and keeps on trying, one of these days Levi! He also likes to push himself around on the big wheel outside. He can push backward and forward. Kaylee never had much interest at least so far, so he is way ahead.

They are playing so much together now it's so cute! The play hide in the fort and giggle our heads off in the dark, they play chase you around the kitchen loop and laugh with hilarity all the way around, with one of them being the monster. They both love my castle book and look at it with awe, while I tell them about the castles. They dance around to music and laugh at each other. Don't get me wrong, these two do fight and arent real good at sharing. Kaylee also still overwhelms Levi often, but he is resilient. But basically my point is we are starting to see their love for each other come through, it's so good to see them enjoying each other, of course it's what we were hoping for when we decided to have a second child!

Kaylees become very communicative, telling me about preschool and daycare...having conversations with me where I can teach her about things, tell her about family and fun things and hear her thoughts. It's lovely! she was just talking with me this morning, I was telling her about how I grew up doing everything with her aunt Krissy. I was telling her all the fun we had and how excited we were when our other sister, Becky, was born and how we loved a baby sister. It's fun having a two-way communication finally, just a bit at least.

This week is the convention, and Kay's enjoying the idea that mommy has to go to school.

Daylight savings still seems to affect us, we are still going to bed early and getting up early, today we're up at 5am. So snuggle in and enjoy you sleep if you can! Take care everybody!

At the orchard in their costumes - happy halloween!

Kiddo update

New Levi firsts:
1) He can wave his hand and say “bye”
2) When overwhelmed by his sister or during diaper changes (which he dislikes) he says, “Stop”
3) He blows a kiss.
4) He is saying Kaylee more clearly.
5) He is continuing to try to jump all the time, and says “Jump”
6) He picked out the biggest pumpkin at the pumpkin patch you ever saw, and Kaylee picked out the tiniest one (and green!)
7) He loves to be chased and loves to play peekaboo.
8) He loves to play fort and hide under furniture.
Kaylee has been going over to play at the neighbor’s house frequently on her own, she of course gets escorted across the street but then upon seeing her buddies, she screams delightedly as if she has just met an idol, a rock star! They play for hours together, she has even gotten good at going to the bathroom by herself over there. She even eats dinner over there from time to time. The girls are often over to our house playing as well, and as we are getting closer to having the family room completed, we are excited to be able to host their playtimes even when the weather gets cold.

Kaylee enjoys baking with me, she helps with all the ingredients. She especially loves the part where she gets to steal some chocolate chips. We have removed all the buttons off the oven, since Levi loves to turn them. Levi enjoys the desserts with us after we’re done cooking, smacking his lips and saying, “Num!” and making a gigantic mess of himself, his bib, his highchair and the floor. But I am happy to clean up after him, it’s much preferred over the not-eating stage that Kaylee went through at his age.

Both kids had their flu vaccine. Kaylee got the flu mist this time because she fought the shot this time. Then a day later she was down with the flu, with high fever and frequent vomiting. That always seems to happen to her, I am not sure that the flu shot for Kaylee. Still need to think on this some more, and talk with her pediatrician. Levi had some reaction too but it wasn’t as pronounced and didn’t cause him as much discomfort.

Levi tries to jump and Kaylee's locking doors

Levi is growing and change so quickly now. I know I’ve said this before but now! Wowsers! He’s been doing quite a few new things lately:
• He picks up a camera and brings it to his face and says “cheese.” (with the sweetest little voice you have ever heard!)
• He crouches down low to the floor, and tries to jump, rocketing his body up as quick as he can and arching his back. He accomplished it once, falling hard on his bottom.
• He feeds you at his high chair, saying “cracker” for everything he’s giving you.
• Yesterday at his high chair, when he wanted more, he said “thank you.” It was very effective at getting him more.
• He says, “Aya” “aye!” when looking for Kaylee. She loves it!
• If you do so big with your hands, he’ll do the move. If you clap, he claps. If you tap on your head, he’ll do it too.
• He calls Jackson my nickname for him, “Jacko”.
• He has for quite a while been walking well, climbing stairs well and we’re working on going down the stairs.
• He has been taking just a sippy cup, no bottle since he was one.
My big boy! You can literally see him changing from day to day. He always wants to be in the middle of the action, and has learned how to get attention by being cute, funny, playful and engaging!

Kaylee has learned how to lock doors, we are currently trying to keep her from locking Levi in the bathroom and from locking herself in her room. (both happened). We’ll see how it goes! She also really loves the shopping carts at Cub. She asks to go to Cub when she’s in the car with me after daycare. A couple times I just dropped by to get a thing or two, because she loves it so much.

Today they are going to the pumpkin patch with daycare, hope they are having a great time! We went to the apple orchard as a family a couple weekends ago and had a great time. We also went to an octoberfest type of festival when we were in Madison. It was very fun, and the kids enjoyed jumping in the bouncies (inflated). We will go to another trip to the apple orchard this weekend. Can’t wait.

Had fun shopping with my sister this past weekend, just her and I. It was good to be on my own for a bit. It’d been quite a while! I love my kids but certain things, like shopping for clothes, are definitely done better without them along.

We had a very good photo shoot at Sears. It was not stressful, the lady was great with the kids. Kaylee thought it was hilarious to be told “say Stinky Feet!” She loved it. And the photos were great too. Check them out…

having fun in the fall

Sibling Love

Little Levi looks really little bunched up in the corner at the playgrounds, but he's walking and climbing around like a big boy!

This morning he woke up looking for Kaylee and saying "ayee" over and over. When they reunited, they were so sweet together playing and being friends. She loves him and he loves her. Our dc provider said sometimes she takes a beating from him at daycare, letting him pull her hair and climb all over her. but I've also seen a bit of the reverse. She said about them too that Kaylee "dotes on Levi" and that she's never seen siblings seem so connected and want to spend time together as these two in her years doing daycare.

Also, update on the basement it is completely cleared in the family room, we are calling contractors! I am proud of our ability to toss, give away, sell and donate! Good riddance to that old stuff, in with the new (space)!

House Improvements to accommodate 2 kiddos!

Eric and I have been in spring (fall) cleaning mode at our house. We have brought 4 vanloads to Goodwill and another one to Once Upon a Child. It's amazing the stuff that you accumulate once you have children. It's overwhelming and takes work to maitain the "stuff." During my pregnancy with Levi, I swear most of my nesting energy went into "stuff management" organizing, donating, compiling what we needed for him. Now we are feeling pretty good that we no longer need the huge baby gear and have been busy trying to clear it from our house, give the baby clothes and materinity clothes to people who do need it. So!...we are finally going to take time off work tomorrow and take what's left and pile it up in the guest bedroom. THEN, this is the exciting part it's taken us 6 years to get to...we are going to hire a contractor to come in and refinish our basement. First, the electrical will be done and then the demo, wallboarding and then finally the refinishing! Can't wait. The ultimate goal is to have a play-space for the kids when the inevitable MN frigid winter hits us. We'll keep you posted on how things are going during the process! We are very excited about it!

Then after we have our "stuff" pared down the plan is and has been for a while...get rid of something if you bring something in. In other words, our house is feeling a bit small to us and it is necessary to control the influx of new stuff. New stuff is necessary as kids grow...but we have a goal of not letting it get too out-of-control. It's easy to do (I mean to let it get out of control) when you are a busy working mother/father of two.

Also! Another exciting thing is that we may purchase a trundle bed (you know like a bunkbed but lower, like 42" off the floor, with a pull-out below) for Kaylee and Levi around Christmas-time. Levi will then be much more ready to be out of his crib and we can then free up some floor space in their room to relieve some congestion upstairs!

So 2011 was a good year for us for improvements:
- we got a new pool liner, and cover
- we redid our deck
- Eric and my Dad installed a new playset in the backyard
- we got new couches
Can't wait to see we accomplish yet by year-end!

Our 1 year Old!

photos of our boy playing on the playground, eating his birthday cake, with his gentle sister...he's a happy boy. I'm so proud of my little Levi and his big girl sis!

Walk like a man

This past week Levi is walking as his primary mode of transportation. He has learned that putting out his arms helps with balance. He also is getting real great at climbing onto his little rider, riding it backwards and forwards facing, pushing and pulling it, walking it from each face pretty much any way he can get it to move he does.

Also this weekend he says ," peek-a-boo-WA" and said "cookie" (though threw it across the room when I gave him some) and said once even, " evi" trying to say his name.

Kaylee is going through a clingy phase with me and so is Levi. Don't know what it's about exactly, maybe she's doing it cuz he's doing it. He's teething his molars and giving up daytime nursing so I can see from his angle...kaylee wants to go everywhere with me, even wants me to stay while she goes potty...it's kinda sweet though in a way ... I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts if I can.

Kaylee likes preschool evidently but doesn't say too much about it. She enjoys that her hair is growing longer, likes to point out hban baby teeth and boasts that her legs are " reaching long to get to the pool ground."

Kaylee starts Pre-school!

Kaylee had a great first day today at Pre-school. This morning she cried that Daddy wasn't going with her, since he went with her to orientation. She didn't understand how going just with her friends would be okay. She thought she might get lost. I hugged her and reassured her, and told her she could bring her puppy with (but that the teachers might want him to take a nap in the backpack) and then she felt better. She looks great in these photos. Her daycare buddies (pictured) probably helped her a lot! I'm so proud of my little girl!

Also on the news front today, Levi has tried soy milk and is transitioning away from momma milk during the day. I love that, I love breastfeeding but I do not love to pump and to clean and prepare bottles. It's so much simpler when they switch over, hooray. He'll still breastfeeding for as long as he wants to and I want to though.

Mr. Levi, tough guy!

Levi is one now! Can you believe it? I can't, this year has gone by soooooo fast! Today he had his 1year doctor appointment, he was 57% on height and 52% on weight (22 lb 15 oz). Can't really believe that, thought he'd be higher on percentages for weight. He's still like 99% on head circumference at 50.25 cm. But he's following his own curve and has passed his us check earlier, so they're satisfied with that. She was happy with all his words he's saying, and his walking and other developmental questions she had for me. She said "wow, he's so good for you, isn't he?" I couldn't agree more, he's so even-going and sweet I can't believe how little work he is, we lucked out. Thanks for being a great baby Levi! He cried at his shots of course, the hardest part was they are doing a standard hemoglobin and lead check on his blood, and waiting in the waiting room with two exuberant children and a somber room of grown ups who were not friendly and very quiet felt like forever and was Slightly embarrassing, though I felt my kids were just being kids...he didn't cry as they pinched out two vials of blood from his fingertip only squirmed as he didn't like being restrained. I was truly amazed! Good job Mr. Levi, tough guy!

Levi now walks at daycare and in front of others, like his grandparents (much to their joy! So cute to see!)

Kaylee went to orientation for preschool with her dad, she liked meeting her teacher and is very ready to attend on Tuesday with her two daycare pals as the school year begins!

Kaylee's going to begin Preschool!

Kaylee got accepted to preschool - she will be starting on Sept 8. She got in the class with all the other daycare kids! She has been on the waiting list for a bit. We are excited. I'm hoping she likes it. She's been curious about it for a while, asking when she gets to go. She's a smart cookie, so this will just fuel what she's already got going on...we'll let you know how her first day goes!

Kaylee continues to be our little reader. She knows most of her letters, and loves to "read" to herself and to us. She "reads" the book first, then it's our turn to read it to her. She doesn't want to be limited on number of books before bed, but it is a must to get her to bed. It feels weird telling your kid, hey that's enough reading now...

I learned that Levi walks only at home and will not do it at daycare (yet). That's interesting. He only does it when he feels totally comfortable and with parent then. However, as I have mentioned, he climbs right up the stairs at daycare no problem.

Levi's Walking!

Levi walked for the first time Tuesday. He has taken steps before but this was 6-7 steps across the living room floor. Very exciting! He also saw himself in the mirror this week and said “baby.” Very proud of my smart little guy. He has also said "Here you go" and tries to feed me and his sister. He has also said, "Jump down" and consistently says: Uh-oh, Up, Down, Mom and Dad.

He's also taken to throwing things. He sits at his highchair and really winds up, throwing food straight out his highchair at a fast pace. Will have to find out if he doesn't like the food and wants another kind, is not hungry or what. The beginnings of our need to start to teach the rules has begun. "No eat" was quickly followed with "no hit," "no throw." Also the distract to another activity/toy has been used more and more as a way to get a behavior to stop. To encourage a way to throw that is ok, we are playing more ball together. He has been very taken with pushing a car around on the floor lately. This keeps him busy. He also has been doing what I call a "turbo-crawl" across the floor. A very fast crawl to get at something.

I saw him climb onto Kaylee's stool the other day, peering up onto the counter. Scary - he could have fallen glad I was there watching him. He can also go up stairs now very well. And goes up and just starts playing with the kids while I'm still talking to our daycare provider when I drop him off.

He's also liking drawing with chalk now on the driveway, though at times he still wants to taste it instead of draw with it.

Brute baby!

Funny story about Levi's first trip to the fire station...they took them to the station for a fun daycare excursion. Each kid got to sit in the fire truck, they heard the siren, met the firemen, yada yada...anyway at the end they had little fire hats for each kid. Levi took his, grabbed it and immediately tore it in half. This was a pretty sturdy plastic large red hat he just tore in two with his bare hands! Everyone was shocked he was able to do that! No other kid destroyed their hat that day. My little boy already had demonstrated his brute strength!

At home after he played with Kaylee's hat a bit. It looks really cute on them, I'll try to get a photo!

Last weekend we went to a wedding and Eric was a groomsman. Eric looked so great in his suit, and I got a great dress that matched his tie on a great sale! Eric has lost a bunch of weight and well, he looked great! Ill have to post photos! Rehearsal dinner night we had the kids, it was a crowd that loves and adores kids, so it was great to hear and experience such nice kid comments/interactions. Levi had an au natural mow hawk and they were all ga-ga over his hairdo! (no pun intended) when kaylee saw her daddy standing up in the rehearsal, she screamed out "daddy!" and tried to run to him. It was evident we don't attend church and then I was glad they didn't come to the actual wedding the next day. That day, it was more than 8 maybe 9 hours away. I missed them when I saw other people's kids but it was nice to catch up with friends sans children, get in adult conversations, have a couple drinks and dance away the evening (till ten anyways, were getting old!) Eric danced a lot with me and I was so so happy, I didn't expect that since he usually shirks away from being on his feet because of his bad ankle. We had a great time and meanwhile the kids got to go to the park and hot tubbing with Krissy and matt and later in the night, my Mom and Dad. Next day we all went to the brunch and again enjoyed showing off our kids to th kid-friendly crowd/family of the couple that got married. Btw, cutest vows ever! They gave pastor three things they love about the other in a secret note mailed to the pastor and read aloud in the ceremony, balled my eyes out ( happy tears).

Jump and then...faceplant!

The other day Levi fell into something, bumping his head. I sai,"oh Levi are you okay?" and hugged him, looking at his face for a bruise. He said to me, " ok".

Yesterday he was so excited he stood by himself his celebrating got a bit risky, since he jumped up fell on his knees and then did a face plant. Oh well gotta learn the physics of it at some point right? He fell on carpet which was good.Yesterday Levi tuned 11months old, only one month till his birthday!

Kaylee is funny to me when I'm working with her on dressing, she's said a couple times, "Mom it's not on correctly." I get a charge out of that, it's such authoritative, managerial language for a 3 year old.

Yesterday we had a fun time at the beach with my Mom. As kaylee fell asleep last night, she whispered to me, "Mom I had fun at the beach today." its so much fun to her more of her thoughts, feelings and exclamations as she becomes more articulate. She's becoming more independent, her mantra at the beach after donning her life jacket was "mom I don't need you." (but happily for me, she still did and does, calling for me many times while I swam nearby)

Levi stands by himself!

Levi is standing by himself! He’s been doing this for about a week, now. He stands up from squatting usually, all by himself. Then puts out his little hands for balance and then when he gets really excited about his newfound ability, he shakes his hands up and down rejoicing and celebrating pumping his arms up and down and doing “so big.” It is hard to explain exactly, but oh so cute! So proud of my independent little boy. He had been pushing me away a little bit lately when I try to hug and kiss him, he’s my tough guy. But, thankfully, not so tough as he still wants to nurse often and still wants to sleep near me. Which by the way is a source of contention for me, because I try not to oblige him in sleeping with me because it really screws up my sleep and gets us into a bad restless cycle but at the same time I get too tired to deal with the waking/crying at 4-5 am and just give in so I can get a little more sleep! He still gets super excited when I come home from work, doing his scoot-drag-scoot-drag crawl on his butt across the floor to meet me with a squeal and a yelp for me to pick him up. He smiles so widely with open mouth and I can see the dimple under his pudgy cheeks. Probably my favorite part of day, aside from Kaylee yelling out at the same moment “Hi Momma! Hey Daddy! Momma’s home!” It’s nice to be loved!!! Though, Levi might’ve just realized he’d rather not go to daycare and be separated from me, because this morning there was a bit of squirmy whining as I left. Oh well, that phase had to begin at some point!

Pretty soon walking will be around the corner. In the meantime, we’ll have to further babyproof our surfaces now within his reach! He’s a curious little explorer, always moving and busy. By the way, he can and does say, “Up” on a regular basis now. Of course, with this new accomplishment I can’t resist obliging him!

Levi's first haircut(e) - My mohawk rockstar!

Levi’s becoming chatty. He babbles on and on, nonsensically. A lot of didi dada go go gag a. He has said:
Hi
Up
Dada, Didi, Daddy
Mom, Momma
Kaylee
Jackson
Dog, Gog, Doggie, Goggie
Tush
Go
Yes
No
Ball
Signed for More a whole bunch of times

He almost never will repeat after you have said something. He almost never is reliable with his words or consistent. They seem to just pop out and then don’t transform into a permanent communication ability, at least not yet. You practically have to wrestle him down to change his diaper, I am just lucky I come away relatively clean and so does he, and that the diaper is actually attached to him in the end. He’s a little gymnast, wanting to fly right off the changing table or bed, rolling away…anything to get away! He doesn’t cry though so for that I am grateful! I know it may start soon. A toy simmers him down a bit, though not for long – so this Momma has to work with lightning speed … and he won’t be tricked with a song or a silly noise either … oh no! Levi is as I have said, a good eater. He eats whatever we are all having for dinner just cut up small. It’s so much fun and such a relief after Kaylee’s lack of eating experience at that age (which was a bit scary for us, and in retrospect glad we didn’t have Levi first then Kaylee because we would’ve been even more concerned we think). Levi stands and scoots, he squats up and down by himself and walks assisted. He has had a couple accidents while attempting these things and the beginning of bumps, bruises has begun – right now I am not proud to say he has a fat lip and a bruised cheek from these adventures.

Kaylee is growing up! She has been clearing her place at the dinner table. Her tantrums have waned to almost none. She likes to make mean little faces in protest and likes to run away, but that’s nothing compared to the prior all-out kicking and screaming fests. Like Levi, she can be elusive and stubborn. Like sister, like brother I guess. She is learning her letters and knows both of them. Recognizes her name and can tell you how to spell Kaylee and Levi. She sings it in this little song that I taught her about their names. So very cute! She doesn’t know a Y from a V yet because they’re so alike to give an example Eric provided me with. She was recently screened by Early Childhood for Pre-K readiness. She tested 35 out of a needed 11 points, and tested a year above her age. Eric said she only lost points out of lack of attention span to bear with the length of the testing. I signed her onto the waiting list of pre-school after hearing that, so we’ll see if she gets in. Kaylee is also learning to swim, thanks to Eric. Her leaping to him in the pool progressed into more of an assisted swim and then a come-to-me swim. She blows bubbles and is learning how to not inhale and keep her mouth closed.

We have been spending every night in the pool. On weekends we are in there 2 times a day, if it were up to Kaylee she’s swim all day. I’m like a broken record, but Levi is a water baby and goes with the flow, loving the pool time.

The two kids had a haircut, with Levi getting his very first ever. The lady warned me that he would look older, not as much like a baby and that some Mom’s cry. Afterwards I was mysteriously not affected, just super happy with how he looked and excited. I actually thought he looked more like a baby when he was 6 months or so his hair was about that long. His head looked a little smaller with the clean cut. And we got lessons on how to give him a cute little Mohawk if we so desire! My little “rockstar” looks great in a Mohawk! So precious! It is so much fun to have both a girl and a boy and go through the different things associated with raising a girl/boy. I definitely am loving the no cry, tough guy (not to be cliché) of having a boy. But on the other hand, I love to do Kaylee’s hair in pig-tails and do her nails and to talk,talk,talk away with her.

waterpark in CO

Levi at the playground on vacation

Waterpark

Today we went to the waterpark with the kids. Kaylee spilt off with Eric, and I split off with Levi and oddly, we didn't see much of the other pair because of the different age focused activities. Anyways, we were there with friends and had a great time socializing with other friends who have kids. Levi loved splashing, the steering wheels, reaching out for little fountains and also enjoyed practicing walking with me at the side of the pool. All the excitement today and he missed a nap! Hopefully he'll sleep well for me tonight!

Kaylee and eric spent a lot of time over in the wave pool, as opposed to the water playground. She loved getting pushed by the waves inward to the "shore". She loved going down the watersides, going under the waterfall and she and Eric went down the " lazy river" on tubes twice. She spun around in circles on her tube, delighted, Eric said. She loved the anticipation of upcoming rain and splashes built into the path of the river. Kaylee had fun playing with our friend's children and Levi had fun reaching for them and touching their faces, smiling and getting to know them.

We all came home tired and for once, all four of us took a nap at the same time. A perfect thing to do on a very uncomfortably hot, humid day. Hope you're all keeping cool!

New Deck! Finishes while we were on vacation!