I'm just gonna post some pictures to make sure I have these for the future!!!!

Ok,
So, my update is gonna look like this: LOTS of pictures!!!!
Here we go!

First up, just because it's what I came to first, 4th of July 2014. Levi is 2 1/2 and Madilyn is 5!

The following are Spring 2014!

My Sweet Madilyn

Well, my precious girl is now 4 1/2, and she is quite the first born!

This is her last month when we went up to Black Mountain and stayed in a home that we rented. She's such a little lady! 

She has gone through a sudden growth spurt too, she's suddenly tall enough to turn on and off the faucet in the bathroom... She's outgrowing her size 7 shoes, (pretty sure it's the size 7s). She has completely out grown all and any size 3Ts. She's also finally filling out. She's not such a little tiny thing anymore. She's a bit more filled out, which I like. She's always been such a peanut!

She still LOVES to run... LOVES it! :) She just likes to get faster and faster. She also loves archery. Ever since the Brave movie with Merida, she has loved it. She's quite good too! She's better than I am and can hit the target just about every time, and can even get a bulls eye! Her favorite foods are still pizza, and bread of any kind. We've gotta make smoothies and take multi-vitamins to get all of the nutrients in. 

She is 33 lbs. respectively, and I'll have to check how tall she is. I know she's over 3 ft. now, but I want to give exact so I can look back at it.

She is so friendly and sweet. She loves people. When she sees people at the park, she says "Mommy, friends!". She is a bit bossy though. She gets frustrated when people don't want to do what she tells them too. She practices this quite a bit with her little brother. The other day, as most boys do, he was dumping out a bin of cars to play w/the ones he wanted. I had just cleaned up the play room, so Madilyn told him "mommy just cleaned up, stop being so messy... put that back!". He got upset that she was trying to take his toys, and she was upset that he would make such a mess!!! :) She's a good mess maker too though. She likes to take the plastic mini table in our play room and knock every thing off of it, and turn it upside down and stand on it... and put a blanket on it and turn it into a fort. She does love forts. She asks frequently for me to make one so she can play in blankets. :) 

She also has a bit of an addiction to my ipad. It's a serious problem. I'm only half joking here... if I weren't there to control it, I'm pretty sure she'd have it in her hands 24/7. She'd fall asleep with it in her bed too if she could. There are just so many fun things to do with it! Luckily we can incorporate some apps into our school work that we do, and I do try to limit media to 1 hr a day, but that doesn't always stick. Hopefully I'll get better at enforcing that! It'll be easier when they are old enough to play outside w/out constant supervision. 

She's getting to be a bit of a better swimmer. She's gotta work on the arm and leg strength though. She can't quite keep her head above water w/out the floaties. We will be hopefully starting lessons soon.

Her favorite show/ toys right now are My Little Pony. I have to watch which episodes she watches because there are some that I think deal a little too much with dark magic, and I'm not a fan of that... but she just loves those ponies! :) She has about 8 or 9 ponies that she plays with constantly. One of them, she did chores and saved up to purchase! We're working on the whole, I want, I want, I want thing though. I feel like she's always looking for the next bigger and better thing. I hope it's ambition, and not the "wants"... even though I know it's partially my fault in giving in too many times to her "wants". We're working on it, and we're going to be donating toys, and I'm gonna put some toys away for a while so there aren't so many choices... and then bring out the "old" toys in a while so "voila"! New TOYS! :) hahaha! We'll see what works. Gotta do some more reading... "How to make your children appreciate what they have w/out visiting a 3rd world country"... Does that book exist?

She has started riding her bike with training wheels. She's a bit hesitant, and is NOT very good at stopping. She gets flustered, and her legs just shoot out to each side off of the pedals and she goes careening towards the street! HAHAHAHA! Oh man, we've gotta race after her yelling (put your feet back on the pedals! Back on the pedals, you've gotta brake!!!!). Hopefully she'll get the hang of it, but for now it's a good workout!

In our "home school" we are continuing to work on the list of things she needs to know by preschool and kindergarten. We're working on letters, phonics, numbers and recognition, sounding words out... etc. It's a discipline though to get it in 3-4 times per week. That's all I'm striving for at the moment though with me working and her not being 5 yet. We'll have to do it every day in the spring though after she turns 5. Gotta keep up with requirements. I'm also going to look at joining a homeschool group to get some support. I'm kind of excited about it! 

She is such a big helper too! She loves to unlock and lock the doors when we come home or leave the house. She likes to press the buttons on the van key when we go to or get out of the car. She likes learning. She craves to learn about new things. She likes to watch and mimic. I've gotta be careful!!! :) She's very inquisitive. She likes to help with Levi too, she can be a bit of a tattler, but at times that can be helpful. "Mom, Levi is at the top of the stairs again!" (shoot, forgot to put the gate up!)... "Mom, Levi's eating something", oh no... what gross, strange, or non-edible object is in his mouth this time... "Mom! Levi is jumping on the couch"... you get the idea... lol! Poor Levi! She's very responsible and wants to be helpful. She has such a tender heart. She's learning more and more about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. She asks and asks questions, and I love hearing that! I love her yearning heart, and getting to answer those questions! The other day we were talking about God and that one day He is coming back to earth to reign here. Her eyes got all big, and she goes "You mean God is going to COME TO MY HOUSE!?"!!! All excited! HAHAHA! Her thought processes are just written all over her face! She's so animated and precious. I love it!
She really really loves to sing too. Most of the time she's even on key! She'll make up songs, or memorize a song the first time she hears it and just sing it over and over and over again. 

She also likes to act out movies she's seen. She'll watch the movie a few times, and memorize different scenes, and act them out verbatim to what she has seen. If I mess up my lines, she's not too happy, and it quick to correct me! Maybe she'll be a director someday! ha! :)

Well, I've gotta go, but had to get my Madilyn update on here!!!

God Bless!

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!