10 and 11 months

NOT the bug I'm talking about.

I started this post right around Levi turning 10 months with every intention of finishing it.  However, I ended up in crisis mode and blogging went to the very bottom of my list.  What happened?  Oh ya know...we have bed bugs.  Nasty, disgusting creatures that we're still battling.  But I don't want to talk about it right now.  Let's focus this cute little boy who just turned 11 months, shall we?

LEVI at 10 months:

~Has started doing "sniffy-face" just like his sister.  Its the cutest wrinkly nose and big ole' grin combo you've ever seen.

~Really wants to pull up on things, but just isn't quite stable enough though.

~Still only army crawls.  (Sorry, my marine bro-in-law informed me it isn't an "army crawl."  Its a modified low crawl.  ;)

~No longer has stick-straight-up hair.

11 Months:
~Pulls up on everything.

~Cruises to his hearts content (which means the end tables are no longer safe.  Dang.)

~CRAWLS!!!  Little man finally realized that crawling on all fours was a lot more convenient then dragging his little self across the floor.  (July 10)

~Has mastered the pinch and grab, which means he's doing a lot better feeding himself finger foods.  (Hooray for an easy way to distract him at mealtimes!)

~Nurses twice a day.  (Yay!)

~Is NOT a picky eater.  Its kind of shocking to have a baby that will eat just about anything (minus pureed peas, but who can blame him!?)

~Is a little chatter-box!  Right now its just babbles, but you can tell there is intent behind it!  Oh the thoughts he must be thinking!

2 1/2 Years!

Grace turned 2 and a half on April 27 (her Grandma's birthday).  She's such a special little girl and this is such a fun age I want to try to capture a little of her personality.

Grace is a caretaker.  She's not real interested in purses or jewelry (that may come later), but give her a stuffed animal and her sweet, caring nature comes out.  Often I hear her playing with Wolfie, telling him "Don' be sad. G'ace is hewe." as she rocks him to sleep.  She's very caring of Levi too, although the more mobile he gets the more often I hear claims of toys being "Mine!"

The other day, after a particularly trying day with a very fussy Levi, I was having a good cry on the couch.  Grace came running over to me with a very compassionate look on her face.  "Don' cwy, Mommy.  G'ace is hewe.  Is ok, Mommy."  And then she gave me a big kiss.  I explained to her that Levi was tired and that made mommy very tired, too.  She got very thoughtful and said "I tink....I tink you go to your woom and lay down.  Den you feew betteh, ok?"  Oh little girl.  You made me feel so much better then a nap ever could.

One of her favorite things is to have Levi come play in her room.  Her toys are still large enough and her room baby proofed enough that its a great place to put him down and let them just "play" for 20-30 minutes.  I'm hopeful they'll play that well together as they get older.

Her other great joy in life is "soomin'" (swinging).  The girl could swing for hours if we were willing to push her that long.  Thankfully she's learned that when the timer dings its time to get out of the swing and do something else without fussing.

She's kind of a picky eater, but she does eat so I can't complain.  We're also having a hard time with potty training.  I'm trying to be patient, to let it happen when she's ready.  But when you're changing her diaper and she's giving you a verbal recount of all the things you have to do clean her up, it sure does make me wish she was potty trained NOW!

Kurt and I were talking about how verbal she is now-there aren't many thoughts or needs she can't convey to us somehow.  Several days after a bout with upset tummy, we were at Jimmy Johns for dinner.  Grace finished eating, turned to me and said "My tummy owie."  I took no chances and rushed her outside, just in case.  Once there, I kept asking her how her tummy felt.  "Pwetty good.  Pwetty betteh.  Pwetty owie."  Not helpful, kid.  Not helpful.  Fortunately, we were able to finish up our list of errands with no issues.

She's figured out that "going to the restaurant" is a pretty neat deal.  During the day she'll randomly come tell me goodbye and that she'll see me either at the "westaurant" or at the science center (thanks, Sid the Science Kid.)  And apparently her favorite place to eat is Panda Express, where she can eat both "wice" (fried rice) and "sghetti" (chow mein).

She also seems to be understanding more about Jesus, too.  After we discipline her, we always pray and ask God to forgive her sins.  The other night I was getting ready to pray with her and have her repeat the prayer line by line.  Well, she launched into her own pray "Deaw Jesyuv, fogive me fo disobeyin' Mommy.  He'p me be a good he'per to Mommy.  T'ank you for taking away my sins.  Amen."  While I know much of that is just repeating things she's heard us say, it encouraged me that some of it might actually be sinking in.  The other night at bedtime, she even asked if I thought that Jes'yuv would lay down with her and keep her safe from the shadows.  So sweet.

While age two can be VERY trying at times, there are also many moments when I stand in awe of the little girl she is becoming.  She's sweet, smart, funny, and my heart delights in her.  So thankful I get to spend my days with "G'ace Ewiana."  :)

9 Months!

Wowee!  9 months old!

LEVI at 9 months:

~Has 4 teeth in (2 top, 2 bottom) with two more top ones on their way.

~Still has patches of eczema, but they're very, very mild.

~Army crawls to get everywhere.  He's so incredibly close to "real" crawling I feel like I can't take my eyes off him when he's up on all fours, just in case I miss THE moment.

~Sits up pretty well when propped up on one of his arms.

~Nurses 4 times a day, and has around 2 tubs of solid food twice a day.

~Has figured out how to make the guttural "G" sound and makes it as he wends his way through the house.

~Still has hair that sticks straight up.  Love it!

~Giggles the hardest when you tickle his ribs.  :)

~According to our home measurements, he weighs 17.4 pounds and is 30 inches long--one long and skinny boy!

~Thanks to his height, he's ready to move up to a convertible car seat.  Makes me happy and sad at the same time--as heavy as the infant car seat is with him in it, it is awfully convenient!

Levi's our little adventurer--always going somewhere or getting into something.  We have plans to replace our back door with the giant dog door in it since I have no doubt that as so as he's able, he'll adventure out the door head first!  He has a very honest face and the sweetest little grin, and I am madly in love with this boy!

Life Imperfect

I read this article the other day and it really stuck with me.  It talks about how technology has given us an excellent outlet for displaying our accomplishments in life while being able to shove the less then desirable parts behind the camera.  It talked about how Pinterest and Facebook posts can often lead us to feel like we're inferior, that our lives are lackluster and that we are somehow failing.  We post these grand collages of our kids' latest craft but conveniently leave out the utter mess left behind.

 And it made me think, "Why?"  Why hide the reality of day-to-day life?  I am a stay at home mom with 2 wee ones under foot.  My house is RARELY company ready, my kids often disobey and truthfully most days I don't even get a shower.  But that's ok.  I have been given the task of rasing my children, training them up in the ways of Christ and honestly, that gets a little messy.  A LOT messy. Every. Single. Day.  So in an attempt to embrace this messy life, I decided to start taking a picture a day that shows the beautiful reality that I'm living in.  Dirty clothes and toys all over the floor?  Check.  Lunch dishes still on the table at dinner time?  Check.  I do this to show myself that the mess has beauty and purpose, and that things are never as they seem from Facebook looking in.  So check out my Life Imperfect pics on Instagram and maybe even share a few of your own.  Because life is messy.  And hectic.  And imperfect.  And beautiful.   

7 and 8 Months

*I had this post all ready to go last month and then our laptop caught on fire.  Yep.  Small flame, much smoke.  Thankfully, while it ruined the screen and rendered the laptop useless, the hard drive was intact and we were able to transfer EVERYTHING to a new laptop.  But since that process took some time, here I am a month late with this post.  I blame technology.*

Did February fly by for anyone else?  How in the world is it already March!?!

LEVI at 7 months:

~Has discovered how to squeal!  Unfortunately, his happy squeal and mad squeals sound the same, and I am having a hard time telling what he needs!
~Is so very close to sitting up on his own.  One look at the floor, though, and his big old noggin drags him right down.
~Loves to bounce.  He's finally gotten his feet under him and thinks its great fun.
~Can roll with the best of them, which is very strange to me because Grace never did that!  She would roll, but stay in pretty much the same place.  Levi takes off and will be across the room, stuck under something in a matter of seconds.
~ is teething again, I think.  At least that's what I think all the chewing and drooling is about.
~Hasn't started solid food yet, but I think that's gonna change this weekend.  Stay tuned for this oh so important breaking news.

We had planned to dedicate him this past month, but bad roads and a bout of stomach flu for the grandparents made us very thankful we postponed!  Right now we're planning to dedicate him on March 17th.

LEVI at 8 Months:

~Is getting his two top teeth in!  While it hasn't been bad, we're very excited for them to poke through.  It just looks painful.
~Started solid food the same weekend he was dedicated (Mar 17).  The kid loved it!  He had his first bite of rice cereal and lunged for the bowl.  Now, he puts down a tub a day.  Its amazes me to think that Grace wasn't eating solids yet at this age.
~Likes his solid food heated up.  Cold food (room temp even) gives him the shudders.
~ Has got the army crawl DOWN.  There's no stopping him now!  Anything he wants, Levi can get to.  I fear for when he actually starts crawling.  =)
~Is starting to do the pre-crawl rock, although its usually on knees, a hand and an elbow.
~Shot right through 9 months clothes into 12.  Ok, really I just left him in 6 months clothes for too long.  Its amazing how much more comfortable he looks in clothes that have room to grow!

Levi is a great little guy and I'm glad he's my buddy.  He thinks tug of wars and anything his sister does is hilarious.  I realized the other day my kids have the same belly laugh.  Is that normal?  I don't know that I've ever met siblings that laugh the same...

I've finally done it...

I opened an Etsy shop! 

I was bitten hard-core by the crochet bug this winter.  

And as there's only so many scarves
and hats and gloves that one family needs, 

I was faced with the decision to either give it up or find a way to make it pay for itself.

  

So to Etsy I went and opened a shop called 

The Merry Naptime Crochet.  

 My shop is small right now, but I'm hoping to start making sales

 and increase the number of items I have for sale.

  

I've also started The Merry Naptime Crochet blog.

I plan to use the blog as a virtual  "Look what I did!" forum, whether I can sell the item or not.  

So click on the links to head to either the shop or the blog,
and take a look.  

If anything strikes your fancy, let me know!  

I LOVE custom orders and trying new patterns.  

I'm a lot like an elephant, except they work for peanuts and I work for YARN!  =)

6 Months!!

'Sup y'all?

It has been a fabulous 6 months!  I feel like the craziness is starting to subside and we've come into a good routine for taking care of two kiddos.  I'm madly in love with my little man, and it makes me pretty happy he's been in my arms for 1/2 a year!

LEVI at 6 Months:

~Is a happy, smiley, giggly kid.  He's pretty content to sit near the action and just coo.  He LOVES Grace and gives great big squeals when she pays attention to him.

~His eczema is looking pretty good right now.  He got a small patch on his cheek for a while, but thankfully that cleared up right before we had his 6 month pictures taken.

~ Sleeps like a CHAMP!  He does 12 hours at night, which is amazing, cause he wiggles from one end of his crib to the other and back again without making a sound.

~Is still just nursing.  I'm a little hesitant to start him on solids.  It took Grace forever to take solid food, so I kind of figure what's the point in rushing?  Plus, he's a big part of my weight loss plan.  I've lost over 40 pounds on Weight Watchers since the end of October and a large part of that is because of him nursing.  So I selfishly want to get down another 15-20 pounds before he starts getting into solid food.  =)

~Rolls from his back to his tummy with ease and can get from tummy to back by pushing with his feet and doing a quasi-somersault up over one of his shoulders.  Pretty funny!

~The kid has a GREAT internal steady beat (says his music teacher mom!).  Levi constantly pounds on whatever is nearby with his right hand.

~Has his 2 bottom teeth!  They came in right after he turned 5 months.  He's getting better about biting, but there was a while there when mealtimes were pretty painful!

~Is getting very close to sitting up on his own.  He's pretty good about balancing his weight on his arms, but if you don't pay careful attention, over he goes!

~Height: 28 inches.....97%  (He has 1/2 an inch on Grace at this age, but....)

~Weight:  16.4 pounds.....32% (She had a full pound on him at this point!)

~Head:  17.5 inches...88%  (Their brains are the same size, though!)

     I'm not surprised he's not weighing as much as Grace did.  He just went through a big growth spurt, sleeping for almost 18 hours a day.  Its like he converted all of his weight into height and all of a sudden little man is looking long and skinny!   Plus, he's a constant mover!  I LOVE getting to see the differences in boys vs. girls, even at this young age.  I'm mightily blessed!

          And now for your viewing pleasure, a pictorial of sister's involvement in the monthly snapshot....

Oh well.  At least the stuffed animals had fun!?