One Month Old!

Our little Levi-man is one month old! 

He has been the sweetest addition to our family and I am totally in love!

LEVI at 1 month:

~Has a ticklish bottom lip and ticking it is the easiest way to get him to smile!

~Has horrible baby acne, just like his sister.

~May have a bit of a red tinge to his hair.  Its hard to tell with his hair being so blond and fine, but every once in a while I catch a glimpse of red...

~Is a GREAT sleeper!  He naps and goes to bed like a pro--no day/night confusion here! (knock on wood...)

~Eats like a champ and has since he was born, minus the few days after my milk came in...

~AND he takes a bottle!  Wahoo!

~Has the cutest little old man cough, which is usually followed up by a sweet little coo.

~Is officially out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months.  I am preparing myself to be the shortest person in the family!

~Rarely spits up.  The amount of laundry I have to wash for him is significantly less then what I had to wash for Grace and for that I'm thankful.

~Is sleeping through the night!?!  I can hardly believe it.  He'll get really wiggly around 4 am, but has not been waking up enough to request a meal.  Mommy guilt makes me wonder if I need to feed him then, whether he asks or not, but the past two nights he's gone 10 hours between feedings and seems fine!  Hurray!

"Stick with me kid, and you'll be fine."

 Big sister adores him and he seems pretty smitten by her, too.  Its pretty cute to watch him perk up when she's nearby, trying to catch a glimpse.  She loves to mommy him--I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't smother him with her love.

Henry

We had the chance to visit my sister, nephew Patrick and new baby Henry, who was born 5 days after Levi.  (yes, 5 days.  We're a little crazy.)  It was so much fun!  The toddlers had a grand time playing together and I loved getting to know Henry.  He's a handsome little guy--dark eyes, dark hair and a darker complexion; the complete opposite of our light skinned, blond haired, blue eyed (for now) little man!  It was a really fun trip-the only thing missing was my Bro-in-law, who's currently serving in Afghanistan.  Hurry home Nathan, we miss you!

Introducing...

Levi Obed Krohmer

Levi: Joined in Harmony

Obed: Servant of God (son of Boaz and Ruth in the bible)

August 7, 2012 

11:45 pm

7 pounds, 5 ounces

21 inches long

Our little guy made a surprise entrance into this world on Tuesday, August 7th--9 days early and on our 5th anniversary!  He's a great little guy and we're in love!  Grace always wants to know where baby is, and I can't get enough of this adorable little face.  Thank you God for this amazing gift of our sweet little boy.

18(+) Months Old!

I had big plans to have this post up when she was still 18 months.  

Well here we are, two months late!  

So we'll title this her 18+month blog and call it good!

GRACE at 18+ months:

~ Started walking around Christmas and really took off once she turned 14 months. Now she's given up walking and prefers to do a little high-knee run.  Its pretty cute to watch her "prance" through the house.

 ~Talking! Her language seems to change everyday. Right now her favorite word is Mo, the name of our cat, followed by kitty, Daddy, Mommy, car, "B" for her blankie, night-night, nana for banana, ball, shoes, fishies (for goldfish crackers) and a strange southern version of bye. No idea where she picked that one up!

 ~Signing! She can sign all done, more, please, again, eat, thank you, sorry, Mom, Dad and light. It has been SO nice being able to communicate with her.

 ~Stopped nursing at 15 months.

~Has figured out the word "No," and chooses to use it whenever the opportunity arises!  We've had many a very confusing conversation where I ask her if she wants something and she says no while nodding her head yes.  Gah!  Help a Momma out, kid!

~Can be a picky eater.  Most maddening is when I give her something I know she likes and she refuses it!  The prerogative of a one year old....

~Has started singing!  (Which of course I LOVE!)  I often sing her "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "Row Your Boat" to keep her entertained as we're waiting for something.  Recently she's started singing them back to me!  She doesn't have all the words, but you can definitely tell what she's trying to do.  =0)

~Loves to walk places holding onto our fingers, and has started coming and getting us to take us to where she wants us.

~Makes animal noises.  She can quack, moo, neigh, bark, meow, caw, hoot, hiss, baa, coo, ribbit, snort like a pig, roar, growl, howl like a monkey and vroom like a car.

Reading stories with 'Ger.

Playing in the water!

Oh what fun to be had with some beans and a broom!!

 And our biggest news is that Grace is going to be a big sister! Little brother is due August 16th. I had more nausea this time around and have been pretty tired, but other then that things have been great. I was originally due August 9, but baby measured small at our 9 week ultrasound so they moved my due date back a week.  So any "free time" I find during the day has been spent getting things ready for our little guy!

13 Month Checkup and Things

Once again we were about a month late for Grace's wellness check.  This time, though, we went to see her new doctor.  I LOVED it!  Kurt will tell you that I was talking about what the doctor said for the next week!  Unfortunately, Grace was a little stinker for most of the appointment and cried for most of it.  Little did she know that at the end of the appointment she'd be getting 5 shots.  You thought you were unhappy before...!

GRACE at 13 months:

~Head circumference:  18.5 inches......90%

~Weight:  21.7 Pounds.....51%

~Height:  32 inches....98%!!!! 
Once again our little girl is off the charts in height.  I hadn't noticed her going through a growth spurt recently, so I was pretty surprised when they showed me where she ranked.

~Quacks like a duck.  (Love it!)

~Is afraid of the vacuum unless one of us is paying undivided attention to her while it is running.

~Has started saying "Hi" and "Dada."  Melts my heart when she says them together, and she isn't even talking to me!

~Has figured out how to get on and off of our couches. She loves to roll around on the soft cushions. Give her a blanket and she's in Heaven!

~Still chooses to crawl instead of walk.  She almost took a step today...and then took off crawling.

~Is learning the sign language for Lights and More.

We're getting ready to spend a week with my whole family over Christmas.  We'll have 2 toddlers under one roof....Heaven help us!


And now for your viewing pleasure....

We call this one "Why NOT to give your kid caffeine...!"

Halloween 2011

 We had a really low-key Halloween this year.  Since Grace wasn't walking yet, we decided to forgo Trick-or-Treating and just hand out candy at home.  And since we went to Subway for dinner around 7, we only had like 15 visitors!  Which was good, since I discovered that I have a strange phobia of Trick-or-Treaters and refused to answer the door!  I decided it must have something to do with the fact that, growing up in the country, we never had T-or-T'ers and it weirded me out that so many people were coming to the door.  (Let's be honest...I regularly hide from people at the door.  I wonder what that says about me?) 

Grace "dressed up" as a Scaredy-Cat.  Too cute!

Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Grace's first brithday October 29th.  Both of our families were able to make it and we had a wonderful time!  Thanks for making her day extra special, everyone!

Snuggles with Grandma K.

 Opening presents with Mom.

 Cupcakes! I was SO pleased with how they turned out!

"Hey Mikey, I think she likes it!"



One Year Old!!

Grace is one year old! 
I can not believe how much she has grown and changed this past year. 

Kurt and I were talking about how she's not really our baby anymore;

she's looking and acting more and more like a little girl!

GRACE at 12 months:

~Is talking...sort of...!  Her first word with real meaning seems to be "kitty."  Everytime Mo comes into the room, Grace gets really excited and says some version of kitty.  Really cute...although I am a little bummed that I haven't heard her call for Momma yet.

~Is incredibly silly!  She cracks me up with all the silly things she does and the noises she makes as she plays.

~Has started rolling again...mostly during diaper changes.  (See above picture!)  I realize I've been really lucky to have a baby that was mostly stationary when placed on her back, but I've been having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to diaper a baby on the move!  I finally resorted to pinning her down with my leg so I can have a fighting chance to get a diaper on her!

~ Isn't walking yet, but is so incredibly close!  She'll stand by herself, walk holding onto our fingers, but as soon as you take even one hand away, Plop!  Down she goes!  We got her a little stroll-along walker for her birthday and its incredibly cute to watch her walk around the room on her own.

~Is drinking from a sippy cup.  One day she just decided she was ready to do it herself.  I LOVE that she can hydrate all on her own, especially since she's only nursing twice a day now.

~Loves her finger foods.  While she'll still let us feed her baby food, she gets fussy if she doesn't have plenty of chances to do it herself!

~Likes to sit on my lap as she plays.  It doesn't even matter if I'm playing with her, so long as she can sit in my lap!

~Dances! Anytime music starts playing, Grace starts grooving!  She has a really good steady beat, too.

What a year its been!  Love you, Grace.