Levi is 3 months old!!! :)

I like to put up the past pictures so that you can see how he's changed and grown! :) He's getting such a sweet personality. He LOVES Madilyn, he will be watching her with this huge smile on his face. She is so sweet to him too. She just loves on him constantly.

He is currently going thru a growth spurt, and, if allowed, would probably eat every hour. I have been feeding him every 1 1/2 to 2 hours today, and yesterday. Whew! I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day!!! He is around 13 pounds, but doesn't have another appt till he is 4 months old. He coos and smiles at his mommy, and I sure love it! He hasn't giggled yet, but he's gotten close a couple of times. He is a sweetheart, and lights up our home!! He's a great sleeper too! Once he has finished eating, finally... he sleeps from around 9:30 or 10 at night until 7:30 or 8 in the morning. I do put him down around 7 or 7:30, and then "dream feed" at the 9:30 or 10 feed... but technically he is done eating at the last feeding. He takes 3-4 naps during the day, but he'd rather be up to be quite honest. He's so funny. I want him so badly to take an hour to 1 1/2 hour nap, but he likes 30 to 45 min naps, then he wants to eat, and be up looking around and cooing and smiling. He's such a sweet and happy baby. If his tummy is full, and diaper is clean, he's a happy camper! Always!

He does have the same skin issues as Madilyn, but thankfully I know how to handle it, so it shouldn't get near as bad as hers did. He's got a very dry scaly head, it's pretty cute actually... but I just get him all "greased up" and he's good. HA!

Well, that's it for now, I promised Madilyn I would make her hair pretty and paint her fingernails, so gotta go!!

God bless!

Levi's 1st Christmas, and family New Year!!!

We had a small family Christmas this year. We knew we were going to be going up to a mountain home that my parents had rented for our Christmas present over New Years Eve, so we just had the 4 of us on actual Christmas Day morning. It was peaceful... VERY quiet, and actually really nice! We had our traditional ham and cheese english muffin sandwich (started by John's family when he was a kid) while we read the Christmas story and explained to Madilyn what Christmas was about and why we were celebrating. After breakfast and the story, we opened presents. It was really fun! The night before, Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house for our tradition of FONDUE!!! :) LOVED it! We also had a birthday party/cake for Jesus, to help Madilyn know the true reason we were celebrating. We wanted to keep the focus on Him.

Christmas afternoon we started a new tradition: Chili! We went to my mom's house, had chili with them and a friend from church who joined us. It was wonderfully relaxing. Perfect for Christmas.

Then... on Thursday after Christmas we packed up and headed to Old Fort, NC... about 30 minutes outside of Asheville. My parents rented a house that was big enough for our family of 4, my sister's family of 4, my parents, my brother, and my cousin from MN to come along! It was a perfect and memorable time!!

Levi getting ready for the trip! He actually slept the whole ride! PRAISE GOD!

 Madi is ready to go!

The view out the back of the house

My sweet cousin Shari holding Levi

Peek-a-boo!

Madilyn holding her favorite present of Christmas: "Sally" from Cars 2 from her Uncle Mark

Sally and Lightening McQueen

John helping Preston (my nephew) open the gift from us...

Buzz Lightyear Walkie-Talkies!!! :)

Madi opening a gift from Uncle Mark

Shari and I (and Julie and Brooks) at the falls in Old Fort, NC

The girls (and Dad...ha)

The whole group (minus Shari taking the picture)

Levi on the hike

My sweet boy :)

The falls... in the summer, I guess kids come down and play in the shallow water beneath the falls... looks so fun!

Lake George, so peaceful!

John and my brother Mark took advantage of the closeness to a local brewery and stopped by

they said it was awesome!

Me, Madi and Levi stayed in the car... Levi took up some driving lessons

the living room and the view... I got to sit here and relax! :)

Sparklers on New Years Eve!

Madi, Preston and Brooks

Brooks with Julie

Papa, Ryan and Preston

Gingerbread house time!

Grama, Madi and Preston

Shari, Preston, Grama and Madilyn

Finished product... notice the one tree w/a bite out of it... that is results of Madilyns need to learn self control... ;)

Grama giving Levi a little bath. :)

John and I on a walk together

in front of the falls

falls

the house we stayed in, it was beautiful!

smores at Lake George

Levi stayed in the car, it was a bit too windy

YUM!

Madi eating smores

share with me daddy! :)

Papa and baby Levi

Madi's cute pose

:)

Seriously, she's so cute isn't she?

Madilyn and her buddy Preston

The 4 cousins... and Brooksie kept moving... we tried to get them all looking!

a little better! Preston, Levi, Madi and Brooks

Levi moved... oh well!

Grama and the Cain grandchildren

:)

So, that about sums it up! We had an amazing time! I loved using my new camera too! I got a new tiny little point and shoot camera with 16 mega-pixels, so I got some really good pictures! I was ecstatic! I have had the same little camera since about 2004, so it was fun fun!

God bless!