It was too overwhelming to think about posting.... so I'm not gonna try and catch up, I'll post about now!

Oh man it's been a while! Every time I thought about posting again, it was just too much to think about! It's been so long, and a lot has happened. So... I'll post about NOW. :)

Levi is 20 months old! He'll be 2 in October. He is BUSY!! Being busy means that he's smart though! He's saying a few words, not like Madilyn, but he's a boy, and a second child, and Madilyn likes to speak FOR him! :) He communicates a lot buy yelling @ me, or screeching and pointing. It's not very pleasant, and I'm hoping he figures out a new way to communicate soon. I know a lot of it is out of frustration, but still. Whoo! He will come and get me, get my attention, point and have me follow him, and he points things out and kind of grunts to get what he wants. That's a bit better. He can say "A-ma" for Grama, Papa, Ma for mommy, Mamama for Madi (I think, sounds similar to mommy... and a few other things for that matter), "mo" for more, momo for marshmallow :), truck (kind of), hi, bye-bye, dada, bus, aaah none for all done,  wa for water, juice, ha for hot.... He makes sounds for a lot of things. He understands way more than he can say too. I can tell him, "Levi, go put this in the garbage in the kitchen", and he will!!!  He can make an animal sound for monkey, dog, horse, cat, cow... and a couple others I can't think of at the moment...OH! TIGER!! :) He even crawls around pawing @ the air and growling when I tell him to be a tiger. :) SO CUTE! He likes to make the "engine sound" for all cars and trucks. His favorite are motorcycles though. LOVES them!!! He'll also say "beep beep" for a car or truck. Loves those big semi-trucks too. He's a great walker, and is trying to run. He'll try to jump too, but hasn't done it successfully yet. He loves to play with cars and our train set that the kids got for Christmas. His favorite toys though are definitely cars and trucks. The more buttons and noise, the better. Because of his allergies, what he eats is pretty limited. We do a lot of smoothies and baby food squeeze packs to get in all of his veggies and fruits. He eats a lot of the Purdue simple chicken nuggets (most other brands have dairy) and oatmeal, malto-meal, quinoa, trader joes hot dogs (if in the mood), veggie straws, homemade meatballs, etc. Recently his egg allergy got worse than before, and he isn't even tolerating something with eggs BAKED in, he got hives after an angel food cake... so I'm trying so hard to figure out what the heck to feed this child! No eggs, dairy, soy or peanuts. That rules out  A LOT!!! He eats a lot of the same stuff, but we try to get all the necessary proteins and veggies, and he takes his multi-vitamins. That plus his green smoothies, hopefully he's getting all his "necessaries"! He is still taking 2 naps a day most days. 1-2 hours in the morning from around 9 to 11, and then at 1:30 or 2 till around 3:30 in the afternoon. And then he sleeps 11 1/2 to 12 hours at night. He also ADORES books! He just wants to sit and have you read one book after another. LOVES them! He gets excited and just giggles and kicks his legs when I pull one out and sit down.
Since he doesn't sweat (except for his feet!LOL!) we have to limit one of his favorite past times (in the summer), being outside! He LOVES to be outside. Just wants to walk, and swing, and attempt to run... I feel bad, but we've gotta make sure his body temperature stays at a normal level or he could over-heat, have a seizure, etc. We have started to come up with creative solutions though. We went to the free splash pad today at the Drew Wellness Center. It was so fun for them, and it kept him cool, without me worrying about either one drowing! :)
I'm also trying to break him of hitting. Sometimes I wonder if he hits just so he can kiss and make up.... seriously. We've had to start time outs and leaving him by himself for 1 1/2 minutes. That seems more of a punishment than anything else! Hopefully it continues to work!
This little boy LOVES LOVES LOVES his big sister! When she went to Florida with my parents on a trip for a few days, he just fussed and fussed and pointed at her room and just kept signing "please" and saying  "ma, ma, ma" and then pointing at her room and signing "please" again. It was so cute! She loves him, she's just not quite at "enthralled" with him as he is her. He honestly kind of annoys her a majority of the time. He was great until he started liking to play with her things and hit, and knock her over... he has a love-hit (no, that's not a typo) with people. We're working on the proper style of discipline....

This is one of their favorite things to do right now, in the back yard. I love it, because they can play like that happily for over a hour! I just sit and watch... :)! SOOOO NICE!

Now, for Madilyn. I've taken so long on Levi that L vv
m8 b g n m (yeah, that's Levi sitting on my laptop and continually trying to put his foot on the keyboard) and sitting in my lap taking my face in his hands and kissing me and giggling... I think he wants my attention... Madilyn will be next...My goal is to write about her tomorrow. I will too! :)

Till then,

God bless!

Gotta catch up!

I have to say, keeping up with a blog when there are 2 kids involved is definitely different! Especially when they are mobile! Levi is 1, obviously, and can take up to 7 steps! He has 6 teeth going on 8. He is VERY busy... which means he must be brilliant! :) He gets into EVERYTHING. He can crawl up and down stairs. It's the down part that makes me nervous, cuz sometimes he likes to sit down in the middle of the flight of stairs... and lean backwards. It's dangerous!! He can sign more and all done. I've been working on others, but those are the 2 he's decided he likes. :) His favorite foods are BBQ meatballs (homemade), perdue chicken nuggets (yes, the brand matters!) and spaghetti. He's allergic and/or sensitive to so much... I feel like this is all he eats! He does love Malt-O-Meal for breakfast, or toast... but the others... he eats a lot of that! He does good with his veggies if he has the puree with fruits in them, then he just sucks it down! So he does good with all veggies that way... spinach, broccoli, peas, etc. Now, if I try to give them to him alone... it's spit out and thrown on the floor. That's another problem... everything is thrown on the floor. I scold him, spank his hand...etc. NOTHING WORKS! If anyone has a trick on how to keep a 1 year old boy from throwing cups and food on the floor, please enlighten me! He's like a little hurricane. A cute one... but quite messy! And oh... the random tantrums. I work on ignoring them. Today he threw on because he couldn't get his sock off. Yeah...
Madilyn is definitely almost 4. She has such independent thinking. I've been working on being polite and respectful. She does ok with others, but it's towards her parents that it's not always working out. She is continuing with phonics, and learning letters and learning how to write them. We watch some leap frog videos on netflix and use every day life for teaching also. She's learning to clean up after herself, and I had her help me put her sheets in the washer and dryer the other day. She also used our "swiffer vac" the other day to clean up what she had spilled all over the kitchen floor. She's definitely getting old enough to learn some responsibility. It's nice! We're working on it. :)
I now have a 1 year old trying to put his foot on the computer and close the lid... gotta go! I'll try for more later.

Levi is 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the final monthly pictures!!!! I actually may continue it, just because it's so fun to see him grow! I'll have to find something other than his Bumbo to put him in though... maybe something he'll stand next to so I can see how he's growing. LOVE this boy! I'll give more of an update on him later... but had to make sure I got this up! He turned 1 on October 19th!

11 months and counting.

Seems as though I hardly am able to get on here besides the monthly updates, but at least I am!!!
So... Here's Levi at 11 months:

This was taken the day after he turned 11 months old. I can't believe that it's almost been a year! I so vividly remember being pregnant, and the morning I went to the hospital to have him! It's been eventful, but a wonderful 11 months!

Last week... seems longer than that... we found out Levi has a severe allergy to peanuts. I gotta say, it was terrifying. I know the nurse on the urgent care hotline was trying to calm me down, but when your son starts to get hives all over his hands and face, and his tongue starts to swell up right in front of your face... you don't really stay calm. Then... when your husband forgot to charge your car battery, so you run out to rush him to urgent car/ER, and your car battery is DEAD... you start bawling your eyes out. LUCKILY, he had a very small amount, and that was the farthest it got. I was able to go to Walgreens (after my mom picked me up... thank God she was close!) and give him Benedryl, which cleared up his symptoms. Then, after that we took him to his pediatrician. I was an absolute wreck... hardly got sleep for a couple nights thinking about all of the "what-if's". You know? This is my baby, and something as small as a peanut getting into his mouth could kill him! That's terrifying. He also has the contact allergy, because John ate some trail mix, then kissed his face, and he got hives exactly where John kissed him... I hope he also outgrows this! His milk allergy does seem to be lessening, because it's only a level 2. His allergies are this (there are 6 levels, 6 being deadly) Milk, soy and egg whites are level 2, cats (dander, etc.) are a 3, and peanuts are a level 4. To me, it's amazing the difference between level 3 and 4. My mom has a cat and when we go there, he just sneezes and gets itchy eyes... but with peanuts, we had to get epi-pens and carry them everywhere with us, and always have benedryl on hand. What a difference one level makes! I'm calming down after doing research about different restaurants, etc... but it's gonna take a lot of attention on my part. He can't even have anything that would have a TRACE of peanuts... nothing that says on the box that it's manufactured in a plant with peanuts. So... I will have to be very attentive, but I definitely don't mind! He's my sweet baby, and I don't ever want to have to use that epi pen! NEVER! 

He's doing lots of cute stuff too! He is cruising on the furniture, pulling up on EVERYTHING!!!! He  crawls all over me trying to stand up too. He has started to dance to music, and it's so adorable!! He loves to explore, and just likes to crawl everywhere. He is a cuddler too right after naps and first thing in the morning. He'll just sit in my lap for 20-30 minutes. It's so sweet! I just eat it up too, I know it won't last. He's been trying a lot of new foods! I have a very hard time finding something to feed him what with the limitations that he has in allergies, but I've found some stuff I can try with him. Some he likes, and some he does not. Sometimes he likes it one day, and will spit it out the next. We just keep trying though! :) He still LOVES his baby cereal though. He has it 3 times a day with the other food he eats. Madi hated it at this point... so cute! He's definitely a mommy's boy. He's very attached! I love it though, and soak it in! 

Madilyn is 3, 3 1/2 next month. She's so grown up though! She loves bossing Levi around! She is in ballet class, and just loves it! We recently had to switch studios because the previous one focused too much on tumbling instead of ballet, and she wasn't quite old enough, and she doesn't quite trust the teachers. So, we tried out one where a little friend of hers goes, and she just loves it! She loves to show me her moves etc. She's very good at following instructions too. I'm so proud of her! She's been growing up so much! She's started memorizing verses. She can memorize anything that's put to song! She loves to dance, especially to the song "Good Morning" by Mandisa. She likes to hear songs over and over... and over and over and over... and over and over again (get the point?) to memorize them if she likes them. She does too!

She loves to have books read to her, especially Dr. Suess books. She's also starting to get really good at pretending. She will pretend my necklace holds "pixie dust", or fabric is a fish, or something like that. She has a very active imagination! It's so cute to hear her play with her toys. She still loves her cars, but she also is really loving her Tinkerbell dolls, and anything to do with Rapunzel or Merida from "Brave". She LOVES running. She can run farther than I can! She's amazing! I think she'll either be a runner, or in soccer someday.  Something that requires endurance, cuz she's got it! She wants long hair like Rapunzel, but it's just ridiculous. She hates having me brush her hair. Some days its like a rats nest.... not even joking! 

She loves her brother, but he can really get on her nerves. There are times that I have to remind her that pushing him away and yelling "NO LEVI" at the top of her lungs won't always get her the results she wants. Overall though, she's patient and loving with him. I gotta watch her though. She doesn't always know her strength! She's also very particular about what she wears. So much so, that I took her shopping with me this year. She basically likes t-shirts and leggings. Pretty (comfy) dresses, anything that sparkles (if it's soft) and MAYBE a skirt. MAYBE. Well... now both kids are up, and I just realized I didn't start dinner yet! Gotta go!

God Bless!

My 10 month old:

Ok...
So, the things Levi has done this month are crazy! I have been putting all of his "accomplishments" on our kitchen calendar so that I'll remember them. I don't always have time to run upstairs and write it down, so the calendar is a good place to keep track of that stuff.
So this month:

He had his first fever :(
Had his 9 mo appt. (a little late)
Started to switch from army crawl, to a consistent crawl on his hands and knees.
Says "hi" and "buh-bye" when waving
Started pulling up on EVERYTHING and trying to cruise
Drank rice milk out of a sippy cup. (I'm trying to wean him before we go on our weekend away in Oct!)
Had his first "angry" reaction to mommy. I put avocado in his mouth... 2x. ;)
Goes from crawling to sitting, then back to crawling without help.

He is around 19 pounds. I've tried to weigh him at home... doesn't work so well. He's quite wiggly. Except for right when he wakes up, he's constantly moving. He's so funny! He likes to be crawling and moving around. He just crawls around and looks for toys to play with. As long as his tummy is full, and diaper is clean, he's a happy camper. He loves toys that make noise, and things that are colorful. He's been afraid of toys that move by themselves though. He cries and goes crawling for mommy. :)
He's a great sleeper, even while teething. He woke up a couple times, but if I give him a bit of ibuprofen at his last nursing, he's good all night. He sleeps from about 7:30 or 8p to 6:30 or 7a.  He also takes 2 naps during the day that last from 1 1/2 to 2 hours. At the most 2 1/2 hours. One in the morning (2 hours after he wakes up) which is usually around 9 or 9:30a. The second one is around 1 or 1:30p. The nice thing is that it's at the same time as Madilyn's.

He's been trying some new stuff. It's really hard though. What do you feed a 10 month old that can't eat dairy or soy? He still eats baby cereal for all 3 meals, plus cheerios, and then canned or frozen veggies for his finger foods. He's tried pasta w/some oil and seasonings on it and likes it a lot! He only has 2 teeth (working on more), so I'm limited to what I can give him. It's just hard to think of anything that doesn't involve milk in some way... or something that is ok for kids under 1. I am just hoping that his range of foods will expand once he has more teeth, and can eat more things.

Well... that's about it for now! Glad I got that stuff down while I was thinking about it.

God Bless!

Levi is 10 months old!

Ok, here's my normal pic for now... I'll have to write about my crazy boy later... because seriously, he's met a lot of milestones the past couple weeks! Plus he's working on his 3rd and 4th tooth...

More later!

God Bless!

9 month stats

Levi had a "sick" visit at the doctor today, and it was supposed to be his 9 month well visit. He went to bed fine last night, and I checked on him to feed him one last time, and he had a pretty decent fever. It was about 101 under the arm... but I feel like my thermometer sucks, because he felt warmer than that. Anyways, we cooled him down, etc. and went to the doctor today. I guess it's just a virus, and he's got a red, sore throat. We'll have to stay home for a couple days till it goes away.
We still got our shot, since it was just a virus, and it about ripped my heart out! His little lip puckered out, and tears came streaming down, I about cried! Sweet baby... I hate it when he's unhappy, or hurts. It's not fair that babies hurt. Not far at all!
His stats are: 18.8lbs (I thought 20, but I was a bit off!) which is 25th percentile. His length is 28.75" which is 50th to 55th percentile. His head is 18" around, which is also about the 55th percentile.
The only things he's not doing WELL that they asked me about is pulling up to standing. He does pull up, and crawls up onto the lower part of the coffee table, etc... and onto mommy and daddy, but he doesn't pull up in his crib yet, and doesn't pull up very well on the furniture yet. He also doesn't play "patty cake"... didn't even think to try playing it! I'll have to work on that one.
Here he is @ about 8 1/2 months... and I'm showing it because I pulled up Madilyn's stats at 9 months:


Madilyn was 17lbs even, and 27 1/2" long. She was a bit smaller! :) Here's a picture of her walking behind her push walker @ 9 months. Levi, there is no way he could do that right now! He's just content crawling. He's such a happy boy! It's fun to see their differences!



Well, that's it for now!
God bless!