January

Adrian had the first week of January off for Christmas break. Adrian took Levi to the pool a couple times. I just read a book while they played. 

Levi loves the water. If I mention swimming to him he will start to kick his legs and pretend that he is blowing bubbles in water. I even took him swimming a couple days ago, despite my huge belly, just because I knew he would enjoy it.

He likes to take a ball and push it in water just to watch it pop out.
He likes to jump off the side of the pool to Adrian or I. He can blow bubbles in the water really well. He can even cling to the edge of the pool and walk along it with his hands and feet. All these things we practiced during his swimming lessons a few months ago, but he is just catching on how to do things now.

He also loves to stand in the hot shower after he gets out of the pool. I can't blame him because he gets so cold while swimming.

Bubble baths are a favorite in our house. Adrian always gets him all lathered up with bubbles. If Adrian is home, Levi insists that Adrian bathe him. I guess anytime Adrian is home Levi has to be right at his side. He just loves Adrian so much and they have so much fun together.

I've started stocking up on baby diapers. These made really good giant building blocks for Levi. He would stack them up, line them up, and bury himself in them.

Since he was wanting to be buried in the diapers while in a box, I thought he might like to be buried in his balls too. Not the case. He totally chose the diapers to be buried in over the balls.

Adrian has started taking Sundays off from studying!!! He spent the first year and half of med school studying on Sundays, just taking off time to go to church. Now he feels like he's finally gotten into a groove and figured out how to manage studying and all the stresses of med school so that he can take a day off. This is huge!! Levi and I really love having him for a whole day all to ourselves, not just for dinner like every other day. This is how Adrian likes to spend his time out of the books :) Catching up on some much needed and deserved rest. (Only while Levi naps of course, otherwise Levi is dragging him around the house).

Levi loves to wear our shoes around the house.

Levi has also started to love to watch Mickey Mouse. I do feel guilty for letting him watch Mickey, but in this dreary weather when we can't go outside, it provides great entertainment.

Levi has also started to to say "please". He tips his head and shoulders as far to the right as he can and says "meeee". It's the cutest thing ever. He usually gets his way if he says it. Which he caught on to fast because he says it with almost everything now. And apparently I must tip my head when I say please, why else would he do that so exaggerated??

Levi is still a picky eater. I have learned that he will eat really bland foods that are not seasoned at all. Sounds like a duh, but I've been making bland meals just for him and he's eating them, hooray!! And I make him wait a couple hours without food before a meal. He would snack all day if I let him. I think making him be really hungry has made him eat better than serving him bland foods has. Now don't think I starve him. He gets plenty of meals and snacks a day. He's just a grazer when it comes to eating.

Here's a belly shot of me yesterday. 33 1/2 weeks. I feel great. This time with Levi I had such bad reflux (heartburn), but I've totally laid off the chocolate, which a huge offender, and my reflux is basically nonexistent. Also the no chocolate has helped me keep my weight gain down. Also this time with Levi I was swelling quite a bit and wearing ted hose to help control it. This time around I have no traces of edema yet. I think it's because I'm not working and on my feet all day long. I have also tried to keep hydrated which working as a nurse was hard to do because I never got a break to drink.

I've really started to get all the baby prepping done. I've bought a few little things I need. I've made some pack and play sheets, stocked up on diapers and sorted all Levi's old clothes. I feel like I just have last minute things left to do, like make sure my house and car are clean for when my parents come to help out. I've also got to rearrange our bedroom to fit the pack and play, but I babysit every Monday and use my pack and play downstairs still, so I can't do that quite yet.

Things to look forward to:

New babe in March, hopefully after Adrian's final on the 8th. 

Adrian's huge med school board tests in June.

Moving to Salt Lake in June.

Adrian starting his rotations first of July.

Me finding a job in Salt Lake (darn high cost of Salt Lake living).

Adjusting to life in a new place again :)

Christmas 2012

We had a fun Christmas this year. We weren't able to make it to see any family, but we enjoyed the season just being with our little family. We started some new traditions that we hope will last through the years and we think it is so fun to have a little kid around for Christmas.

Adrian made a great Mexican Christmas Eve dinner of Pozole and flan. We've decided to have our Christmas feast be Mexican food every year :)

On Christmas Eve we practiced opening gifts by giving Levi some new pj pants to open. It seemed on Christmas morning he knew just what to do with the gifts under the tree. After he tore a hole in the first gift it seemed he had no interest in the gifts anymore. Adrian and I basically opened his gifts for him.

Adrian really likes his new jacket.

A love note to me!!!

We decided we had to get Levi excited somehow for his gifts so we opened the biggest gift first.

He got a new bike!!!! He's able to scoot around on it all by himself. And, after a few falls, he's mastered dismounting.

After every gift Levi opened, he had to play with it for about 15 minutes. Then we could move on and open the next one. It took us clear up until his noon nap to open all his gifts.

Bubbles were a hit and we finally had to tell him they were all gone so he could be done playing with them.

Adrian taught Levi to "roar" like a dinosaur, so I thought he needed a dinosaur to play with.

Adrian gave me monster socks and some candy coal in my stocking. I must have not been nice this year :) He says it's just a joke.

We had to read his new books over and over.

New farm magnets to play with!!

And this is the very last present to be opened. Levi knew just what to do and was able to rip all the paper off. (maybe he was just so excited because it was a train set).

"Cheese"!!

I made him a magnetic chalkboard from an oil drip pan. He loved it. It was way messier than I anticipated and we finally just took his clothes off because he was getting chalk all over them. Levi had an early bath after.

We then watched movies the rest of the day and attempted to get some fries from somewhere just to get out of the house. The fries didn't work out because the only place in town open was Walgreens.

I'm kind of sad the Christmas season is over, but now I get to look forward to a new babe in March and moving back to UT next summer!

"mow" day

We had a snow day just before Christmas!!! I've been really wanting snow, especially for Christmas. The entire time we've lived in Missouri we've never seen more than just a snow skiff. Everyone kept telling me that MO snow is not the same as UT snow, and it sure isn't! I would say it's a lot more icy. It snowed all day one day and it was so windy we have almost bare spots and also 2 foot snow drifts. 

This is Levi's first snow!! He was not as enthusiastic about it as I was. He also calls it "mow". Levi and I did not venture out all day while it snowed and even with his new Thomas the train, he got a bit bored. 

He got an early Christmas present, he loves anything Thomas. I thought it was for Christmas but Adrian opened it up and let him play with it when we got home from the store.

Levi's first time out in the snow the morning after.

Levi was not a fan. Every time Adrian put him down in the snow Levi would raise his arms and say "up".

We later ventured back out. He had to try out his walker in the snow. (We keep it in the garage and he always plays with it outside).

I made a snowman because Levi loves snowmen. This is actually his first time seeing a real snowman, but he sees them in books and knows the actions to the "once there was a snowman" song. 

He had to crash into it with his walker.

It was a warm enough day that the snow was melting. His favorite activity was walking up and down the puddles saying "splash" as he went.

He's not a fan of mittens either. He took them off and tossed them in the water. (While saying "toss").

He finally did walk through the snow with my help.

Here we are at the first ever Kirksville Christmas Parade. Good thing we were just on time because it lasted only 5 min!!

Pregnancy Update

I do want to look back some day and remember how this pregnancy has gone. I'm currently at 28 weeks and am amazed at how fast time has gone. I haven't gotten anything ready for the baby, I'll think about it after Christmas. There's not much to prepare since I already have all boy stuff. Just mental preparation and to prepare Levi. Levi helps me out when I babysit his friend Carson, so I think he will be a great helper when the baby comes. Levi is so cute and says "baby" and pats my belly.

I feel great. I had a few episodes of nausea before I knew I was pregnant (that's how I suspected I was pregnant in the first place). But no vomiting or sickness at all. I try to exercise a few times a week and I'm so busy with Levi that I hardly know I'm pregnant. I am starting to get a big belly. I can still wear my normal clothes, which is good because only have one pair of maternity pants. I haven't even wore my maternity shirts yet. I'm really trying not to gain as much weight as I did last time. I just have to go easy on the sweets, which I have been horrible at lately because of all the holiday baked goods people give us.

I don't have any edema (swelling) yet, I'm just waiting for this to happen. I haven't really even had heartburn yet, though I did buy some tums so I'm prepared. I have started sleeping with a pillow under my belly, it's way more comfortable but yet a hassle to switch the pillow around every time I roll over. I do get up about 3 times a night to use the restroom and have for a few months now. I've just gotten to the point that I have to push my belly up to see the very bottom of it. The only other thing that  has changed is Adrian says I'm a bit more moody, particularly grumpy and mean. Which I have actually noticed I do get irritated more often than normal lately.

I have no complaints (which is good because nobody wants to hear them). I have been so blessed to have easy uncomplicated pregnancies. The hardest part so far seems to be coming up  with possible names to give this kiddo!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had big plans for this past Thanksgiving. It would just be our little family again and the past two times we've been on our own I have never cooked anything and made an actual Thanksgiving dinner. Well, this year I just couldn't go without the yumminess that Thanksgiving brings so we planned and cooked our own dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, pies, salad and for the first time I made rolls from scratch. After hours of slaving away in the kitchen we sat down to devour our delicious meal. It was just about then that we both didn't feel well and we thought it was because we hadn't eaten all morning, so we hurried and ate our delicious meal. Sadly, we had eaten something the day before and had food poisoning and spent the next 12 hours in the bathroom emptying ourselves of any food substance in our body. It was absolutely awful. Fortunately, Levi was not sick. But he was quite neglected as both his parents were nauseous every time they moved. I kept telling Adrian that I was only in labor with Levi for 9 hours and that the sickness we had felt worse than labor. (I'm sure it actually wasn't, but we were miserable.) We thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers of our feast for the next few days. Adrian enjoyed the pumpkin pie so much he whined every time I had a piece because that meant less for him.

Levi 18 Months

Levi is now 19 months, but I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't had time to make a new blog and post about how he is at 18 months. 

He amazes Adrian and I everyday at how much he understands and learns so quickly. He brings us so much joy and we love being his parents. 

Here's his doings at 18 months:

• Says too many words to count. Favorites (or most common) being, "toss", "crash", and "push"
• Leans head towards me or puts leg/arm up for a "kiss better"

• Poor appetite. It's a struggle to get him to eat.
• Able to open front door.

• Favorite book is "Love You Forever". He will let me read every word.
• Loves baths, especially with bubbles

• Loves Papa. Calls "papa" whenever he's distressed
• Wt: 22.4 lbs, Ht: 30.75 inches

Levi enjoyed his swimming lessons!!

• Gets frustrated easy. Will scream and throw things.
• Loves to dance.

• Loves trains. Says "poo poo" for choo choo. Adrian grew up saying "poo poo" for trains and Levi caught on pretty quick.

Levi likes to lay on Adrian and Adrian will point out and name everything they see.

• Likes to watch Thomas the Tank Engine.
• Has all but 3 teeth, for his age anyway

Likes to wear his snow boots!

• Favorite game is hide and seek
• Loves the slide at the park. Says "whoosh" after he goes down and throws his arms in the air.

Loves to make huts and hide and play in them.

• Has stranger and separation anxiety. 
• Able to climb onto the kitchen chairs. 

I told him to say cheese, and this is the face I got.

• Loves to help with what I am doing and be involved in everything going on.
• 1 nap a day for about 2 hours. Sleeps 10-11 hours a night.

Can you say binki addict?

• Good with using a spoon.
• Favorite food is oatmeal. He'd eat it all day if I let him.

Wants to wear his boots around the house.

• I'm able to bribe him to get him dressed and diaper changed. It's been a nightmare for months and very traumatic for the both of us to get cleaned up. Now I bribe him with something (usually goldfish crackers) and he lays right down and holds still. He'll even bargain with me if I say "let's change your diaper" he'll say "fishy?". Pretty smart boy :)
• Very very frequently grabs us by the fingers and pulls us around and says "play, play"

All ready for church.