Levi was 8 months old on 6/19/12!

Here's a few pictures from the last 8 months... he sure is getting longer huh? I couldn't get a good one with him smiling for his 8 month picture. He's teething, and it was his nap time. Oh well!

A few things he's done this month:

He has 2 teeth! His 1st tooth came in as his bottom front right on 6/10, and his second one came in right next to it on 6/16. I am pretty sure the top ones will be coming in soon, because he has been up at least once per night almost every night for the last week. He is also going thru a growth spurt! I weighed myself, and then him on the scale today. It said he was almost 19 pounds... but I'm thinking that's wrong... I just don't think he's that heavy! I guess we'll find out next month at his 9 month appt! 

He's a big eater! He LOVES to eat! 

He's still nursing 5-6 times per day. He also has cereal with fruit and veggies 3 times per day. He LOVES bananas! Like, LOVES. He also likes squash, peas (canned or cooked frozen), carrots (canned), couscous, oatmeal cereal, blueberries, prunes, pears, apples, sweet potatoes... the list goes on! He really prefers the sweets, but we're working on the veggies. He still kinda gags on cheerios, but he does like puffs, and Rice Krispies. 

He's a momma's boy! He is very attached, and would like for me to hold him a lot of the time!

He's VERY good at his tummy time. He rolls around, and can crawl BACKWARDS, and roll every where. He rolled out of the room, to where I freaked out because I couldn't find him, just the other day! He can get around pretty quickly for not being able to crawl!

He can sit up quite well, it's just when he decides to fling himself back excessively hard that we have a problem. Yup, he still does that!

He adores his big sister, and will sit and watch her and giggle at her when I'm trying to nurse him. There are several times where I just have to have her go else where so that I can feed him. He won't pay attention when she's around!

He waved back at Grama for the first time the other day! We are working on waving, and certain signs for sign language.

He is taking 2 naps per day, and they are 1 1/2 to 2 hours each. 

His bedtime is still right around 7:30 each night.

Madilyn is 3, and a GREAT helper! She's just such a sweet big sister. She has started dance classes at the dance studio that is about 3 or 4 blocks from our house. It's 1x per week for about 45 minutes. She's adorable! She poses, and dances around, and then of course demonstrates it for me after class. She LOVES it! She's a very good listener, and is doing quite well. Yesterday she fell and hurt her tailbone, but she bounced back quickly (no pun intended) and she's back to her happy self today.

She loves her brother so much, but we do have to remind her to be gentle. She doesn't quite know her strength. She is starting to get upset, because Levi is starting to get into her toys. We try to have the rule (for now) that if she doesn't want him holding a toy he has, she has to bring him something else to play with before she takes it away. We'll have to come up with something different I am sure when he gets older.

Well, I was going to write more, but I have dinner to clean up, a baby with a poopy diaper, and a 3 year old who wants juice.... till next time!
God bless!

Madilyn's 3rd birthday party

She's 3! This was the morning of her party.

Madilyn and her best friend Kyle

Running! :)

and pose...

the cute doggie

Sweet Levi

Madilyn about to ride the horsie

getting directions

first trip!

then Preston...

then Kyle

now getting to feed the horse an apple!

and Preston got to

and Kyle

Then Madilyn got to brush the horse!

Madi and Kyle eating pizza at her favorite place, Cici's pizza

Happy Birthday to my Madilyn!

The cake! (Publix cake with M&M's on it, idea from pinterest)

She opened her gifts and cards. She got lots of fun things!!

At the end of the day, she was one happy girl!

3 year update for Madilyn

Madilyn's 3rd birthday was a while ago, and a lot has happened since then.... but I want to document it to remember!
At her 3 year checkup, Madilyn was 26 pounds, and 35.5" tall.
She's a petite little thing! :)
Things she does:
She's a parrot! I need to seriously watch everything I say, because she quickly copies anything and everything I say. She's such a sweetheart. She has a very tender and loving spirit too. For example: Grama was putting her in the van, and the door started to close on Grama. When we left we had to call grama to make sure she was ok. Madilyn was so concerned that she needed kisses on her boo-boo, or that she needed a bandaid.
Also, the other day, Madilyn was hitting daddy in the face with her stuffed pony. John told her not to do it, and she did it again. He told her not to 3 times, and she kept doing it. When he told her she was going to get a time out, she said... "but daddy, it wasn't me! It was PONY that didn't listen!". So, daddy proceeded to give pony a time out in the corner for not listening. Then, when pony was given back to Madilyn, pony was promptly scolded by Madilyn to be a good listener. :)
Her favorite things:
PIZZA (Ci-Ci's pizza or Little Caesars are her favorite)
She likes to wear socks, any time and any where. Pulled ALL THE WAY UP. :)
She likes leggings. Will NOT wear jeans. Will wear a dress or shorts, but prefers leggings.
She loves to twirl.
She prefers her hair DOWN, and long like Rapunzel. :)
She's very good with her little brother, and they play and giggle together. (He doesn't get into her toys yet... we shall see what happens then!)
She is definitely an outside girl. She wants to go to the park any time of the day, or to the pool. She just loves being outside.
Her favorite cartoon is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But, she also likes Octonauts, Doc Mcstuffins and Super Why.
Her favorite movies are still the Cars movies, but she just recently saw Tangled, and really liked that. She also really loves anything with Tinkerbell in it.
She LOVES to run! ALL THE TIME! :)
She's a talker! She's either sleeping, or talking. And she's loud too. Nothing is ever quiet. I can't tell you how many times I have to shush her in a day... but everything is so passionately spoken! :)
She likes to dress herself. It's usually quite comical, and does require some help from mommy, but she does pretty good! Most of the time it doesn't match, or go well together... but its still cute!
She loves to sing. She will make up songs with Grama, or by herself, and just sings all the time!
Her favorite color is pink, and she wants to be a ballerina.
When she wears her ballerina outfits (we are going to put her in dance "lessons"), and I scold her she looks at me and says "mommy, I JUST a ballerina!". I am never quite sure what that has to do with the fact that she's in trouble... but she seems to think that it explains everything...
She loves the story of Peter walking on the water, and Jesus calming the storm. She will ask for me or daddy to tell it numerous times a day. She says, "mommy/daddy, can we talk about Jesus and Peter?".
We love to read books together. She likes to read the same ones over and over again. She ends up memorizing them, and can tell you the whole story and knows if you say something wrong. :)
She is such a good girl. I truly treasure her. I do get exasperated with her way to quickly some days... I know every mother wishes for more patience... but I am truly blessed. She's a sweet, tenderhearted beautiful girl that I am blessed to have been given the privilege of raising. It's a big job! I can't wait to see what comes this next year!

Levi was 7 mo old 5/19/12

Finally getting to this post, and it's gonna be a quick one! Levi was 7 mo on 5/19/12, and he is getting cuter by the second! He's wild and crazy, and adorable and sweet! He rolls EVERYWHERE! He had looked like he was going to crawl a few times, and then decided against it. At his checkup he was just under 16 lbs, and that was a couple of weeks ago. He measured right around the 50th to 60th percentile for everything. I'll have to get my paper to get the real #s on here later. He's such a verbal baby too. He loves to just "talk" by making noises constantly. He likes the jumperoo, or the johnny-jump-up a lot. He's starting on cheerios and "mum-mums". He loves his baby cereal too! He nurses 5x per day, and eats cereal 3x per day. He's a hungry little man! He goes to bed around 7:30p, and wakes up around 7 or 7:30a. (I am still nursing him 1 more time around 9p). He adores his big sister Madilyn. He shows his love like a typical boy by pulling her hair, kicking her and squealing at her, or slobbering all over her face. :) He's typically happy unless he's hungry or tired. This sweet boy rarely cries. He's just very content. He still does not like to sit on his own. He CAN, don't get me wrong... he just doesn't want to. He will still aggressively FLING himself back... to the point where I either put something behind him, or sit behind him to practice sitting for fear that he will give himself a concussion. He's crazy! :) He prefers bananas still, to any and all food. LOVES bananas. He smacks his lips! :)
Well, I'll have to add more later, but that's it for now! My sweet boy is growing up too quickly, I can't keep up! :)
I'll be posting Madilyn's 3rd birthday stuff too.. about 1 1/2 mo behind! WOAH!

UPDATE: Levi was 15.62 lbs (10th percent) Head was 25th percent... and I had 43" written down... lol! That is DEFINITELY not what it was... and length was 26 1/2" (50th percent). Madilyn was 15 lbs at 6 months, and also was 26 1/2". :) Pretty close!

Fox News interview

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/17961149/investigators-under-diagnosing-lyme-disease

My Aunt was interviewed in a very eye opening interview about her Lyme's Disease. It's not even just in MN... I found a tick on Madilyn here in SC last summer. Be careful!

Levi's 6 months, and a bit more...

Levi was 6 mo old on April 19th. He is definitely my sweet little boy! He's so funny too. He loves to lay on his back and play and coo. He rolls all around the room, and doesn't sit still. He squirms and rolls and kicks constantly. I have a feeling that when he starts crawling, I'll be a very busy momma! He knows how to sit up, but it's a bit dangerous... he seems to be under the impression that when he's sitting up, if he throws his head back REALLY hard, he'll suddenly be standing up. Instead, of course, he just hits his head REALLY hard against the ground and gets boo-boos. :(  So... while practicing sitting up, I must either sit behind him, or put the bumbo behind him to prevent concussions and major head injuries. ;)

We have been in MN, so we have not had his 6 mo check up yet... I'm looking forward to see how much he weighs... he's feeling quite heavy lately!! I took the below picture on the 17th, 2 days before he turned 6 mo... because we took him to MN, and I didn't want to forget!

Our trip to MN was so fun! I sooo enjoyed getting to see all of my family, and my close friend Michelle. It was really relaxing, and I got to go to all of the places I really missed.

My friend Michelle in front of our past favorite hangout... which we both worked at.. Caribou Coffee!

Me and my kids with her sweet family.

Madi and Emma. Emma is 5... and about 4 feet tall! :)

Levi and my sweet Aunt Karri

Levi and my cousin Ethan

Levi and Gigi

Madi opening her birthday present from her Auntie Dawn and Uncle Paul. She got a Madeline doll and book!

She also got some cute window clings. They stayed on my aunts window while we were there... they are now on her bedroom window and she is always pulling them off and putting them back on her window.

My cousin Shari and Levi

Madi and Tim (my cousin Marie's husband) playing a game of checkers! :)

My old Caribou! This is where I worked @ 16... I didn't know any of the workers, but it was fun to go back.

My old house! Only lived here for 3 years before we moved south, but it was my favorite place.

Mall of America!

She's excited about rides!

Daddy and Madi are gonna ride the balloons!

Riding the Swiper cars

She didn't love them... 

but she did love the cookie!

and the train!

The roller coaster my husband went on.. straight up...

and straight back down! Crazy!

On the carousel!

my cousin Marie and Levi

Shari and I

Madi in the doggie beds :)

Kalli and Madi... she got a sucker, so she wouldn't put it down for a pic

Levi kept pulling Kalli's hair and glasses :)

some love for Auntie Karri

and Uncle Mark :)

Silly pic!

 Yup, that's a grape... :)

Levi and Marie

Levi with my cousins Kiersten and Marie

Levi checking out the fish at the "Sea Life" aquarium that we went to that's under the Mall of America.

Swinging at the park with Emma

They checked out the pond @ the park. One thing I LOVE about MN, NO FIRE ANTS! Madi got to run around and roll around in the grass, and I didn't have to freak out. She was in heaven!

Found a snail daddy! (Mommy was freaking out... sanitizing was done after this!)

Levi enjoying the sights :)

hmm... what, 19 years later... we look a bit different!

so sad to be saying goodbye to my sweet friend

Madi and daddy taking the "tram" down to the lake at my aunt and uncles house

Madi loved throwing rocks into the lake!

Madi and daddy spent a few evenings down there before bed time

Right before we headed out to the airport, Auntie Dawn took her down there too

Here they are riding back up the "tram" from spending time by the lake

Last pic I could fit on my card... in the airplane, heading home!

We had a great time! On the way home, we had a layover in D.C., and didn't get home till about12:45a... it took us a couple days to recover, and a couple more days to unpack! I'm thinking we're finally getting closer to our normal schedule. 

My sweet girl turned 3 on April 17th.... I'll have to put that in another post... that's WAY too many pictures to add onto here. :)

God bless!