Spring May be Here!?

We have all been quite skeptical up here in Minnesota as to whether Spring would actually arrive this year. We have had much cooler than normal temperatures and even snow in May. We were reminded of these changes over the course of the last two weeks especially. One day we would have very pleasant temperatures and the next day would be freezing. When living in Minnesota you have to keep all of your seasonal gear in the closet. Last week I dropped Levi off at daycare one day wearing his winter coat and the next day he was in shorts. We have also had both the air conditioner and the furnace on at home in the same day. Crazy. Needless to say, we are SO ready for nice weather. We have been taking advantage of nice weather when we have it. We have a park in our neighborhood and have made several visits already this year.

I have included several pictures below to recap what we have been up to since my last post…which was quite a while ago. Levi is moving so fast these days that it is hard to catch him for a photo. I try my best, but am not the photographer Josh is. He is always trying to give me tips on the photos I take. I have to get better at this. I’ll keep practicingJ

 

Winter Update

Although I think about something each day that I should blog about, I have struggled recently to find the time in a day to sit down with the computer long enough to even check my e-mail…so admittedly, my blog has suffered. But, it is a good thing I have been keeping detailed notes on what has been happening here lately.

Christmas went great! We were able to spend time with both families. Levi loved all of the attention of course! Just as I thought, Levi was slightly interested in his gifts and very interested in the wrapping and boxes they came in. He was fascinated by all the decorations and just wanted to touch everything:)

 

 

Levi loved all of the decorations. He is checking them out here:)

 

 

Levi with Papa and cousin Jacob--not sure what they were discussing,

but it seems like quite the story--so cute!

 

We started the New Year off in style by taking a quick weekend trip to Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd, MN. There we were able to take in New Year’s festivities as well as a sleigh ride around the resort with a view of the lake. It was super cold that weekend, but we braved the cold temps and bundled up for some fun.

Levi has really been moving around more and more. As mentioned in a previous blog post, Levi crawled for a very short time and moved very quickly to walking. He is now attempting to runJ Right around the New Year, Levi started to take just a few steps. It didn’t take him long to figure out that walking was pretty cool. Throughout the month of January, he continued to take more and more steps, and right around Valentine’s Day began to really trust himself to walk across the room. He now prefers to walk vs. crawl.

Since my last post we have also had a few trials. Early in January, Levi suffered a severe allergic reaction while at daycare. It was scary, but he was OK. Shortly after that we learned that Levi is allergic to eggs, milk and peanuts. While this was initially very alarming to us, we have started to adjust to the changes that need to happen when you have a child with food allergies. I prepare all of his food—even for daycare. Right now, we feed him mostly whole foods. He seems to be doing quite well so far. We try to very slowly introduce new foods. I am learning something new every day regarding food allergies and how best to deal with them. Although food allergies can be frustrating, we are so thankful that we have great doctors who can help us deal with them and teach us how to make adjustments. We are blessed that there are so many resources to help with this. God is sure teaching us a lot through all this—especially patienceJ

We took our first family vacation in mid-February to visit Josh’s parents in Florida. We thought we would take a little break from the very snowy winter we have had in Minnesota and enjoy the sun a bit. High hopes were pretty much all we had as the weather was a bit chillier than we were expecting. Even with my over-packing, we were a little short on warmer clothes. The weather aside through, we had a great time visiting a new place and very much enjoyed our time with Josh’s parents. They were able to spend some quality time with Levi, as well! I was a little worried how Levi would do on his first airplane ride. But, both flights actually went quite well.

 

Levi on the airplane to Florida!!

 

Levi taking a bath in the camper--since it only had a shower, we had to get creative:)

Despite the cold weather, we went to a car show in Kissimmee, FL

Levi chatting with Nana:)

Levi and Mommy enjoying Florida!

Beautiful sunset in Clearwater Beach, FL

 

My star-sighting: Gary Burhoff-star on M*A*S*H (Radar)

He is SO nice and very funny:)

Running through the birds on the beach!

Levi showing off his walking skills walking the boardwalk with mom and dad

Mom and Levi on the beach!

Levi with Nana and Papa in Florida!

Family walk on the boardwalk!

 

It was a bit chilly at the beach...at least for Florida:) Still warmer than Minnesota

Dad and Levi on the beach!

 And of course....a silly photo on the beach!

We returned to snow and more snow. I will admit that the snow is a bit more fun when you have a child to play in it with you. Levi and I recently had a chance to build a few snowmen in our yard and just play in the snow. I haven’t done that for a long time! This winter has definitely been one of the snowiest I remember since moving to Minnesota. We currently have nearly 3 feet of snow on our yard. Each time it snows I think (or secretly hope) that it is the last snow storm of the year….we’ll see. Earlier this week we received nearly a foot in one day. My commute that day was not so fun. I am anxiously awaiting spring! It will be so nice not to have to bundle up and leave early for work so I make it on time. I'll try to post a few pictures of Levi playing in the snow soon:)

All in all, winter has been busy for us. Stay tuned, I hope to be back sooner rather than later for my next postJ Thanks for sticking with me!

 

 

 

 

 

Levi is 1!

Today is a special day at our house! Levi is 1 year old today! I cannot believe how fast time has gone by over the course of a year. It seems like just yesterday that we brought him home. What a wonderful year it has been! Levi is keeping us very busy as he is furniture walking like crazy and super curious about just anything these days. His favorite toy is his glowworm but he also loves cars, and anything that plays music. He is a smiley little guy who loves to laugh and loves to gabber with just about anyone. We celebrated a bit early while in Iowa for Thanksgiving and I thought I would share a few pictures!

Happy Birthday Levi—you are the light of our lives. We are so excited to celebrate your life. You keep Mommy and Daddy busy and always bring smiles to our faces. We pray for continued blessings from God in your life as you continue to grow up. Happy Birthday Little Man—WE LOVE YOU!

 

Levi is full of life and on the move--I had to chase him around to get this photo--he has four teeth and is working on a few more:)

 

Levi loves books and sat nicely with grandma to read a new book!

 

 Levi was excited for a cupcake--here he is trying to blow out the candle!

 

 Levi laughs all the time--I think he was lauging with gradma in this picture:)

 

 Levi trying chocolate cake for the first time--at first he wasn't sure, but he LOVED it:)

 

HAPPY 1st  BIRTHDAY LEVI!

 

 

On the move

So, most of you have probably given up on me. It seems that each time I post to the blog, I say something like—wow, it has been a while since my last post. Life hasn’t slowed down since the last time I wrote—in fact, it might be even faster.  Our little Levi is on the move. Levi started army crawling in early October and it didn't take long before he was moving around quite quickly. It is fair to say that Josh and I have a lot of baby-proofing to do. We are finding that our house is not the easiest to find baby-proofing materials for. It is funny how you don’t think of these things when you are shopping for a home and do not have kids. I never thought that our railings would prove to be almost impossible to find a baby gate for or that we would somehow have to find a gate that would block off our gas fireplace that sits at floor level in our living room. Levi doesn’t miss much eitherJ He is so curious and just wants to figure new things out. His latest is wanting to look out the window. Today, I caught him sucking on the window crank—I guess we will have to find a new home for thoseJ Levi is also eating more and more solid food. He has moved on from the simple purees to chunks of steamed food. I am still making everything and seem to make baby food a lot more often these days for my big eater. So far, his favorite seems to be steamed sweet peas. I am not sure where he got that from as neither Josh nor I really care for them. Sometimes I think he likes them because of their shape.

Levi was a little Monkey for Halloween. He had fun at Daycare with his friends. We also had the opportunity to visit Josh at work that night as his school was putting on an event for the community. It was a great excuse for us to show Levi off to our co-workers. They are all very impressed at how fast he has grownJ

Levi has kept Josh and me laughing. He knows he can get our attention just by laughing. He is recently into clapping—we clap for everything! Here are a few pictures!

 

Levi having fun in his room

 

  

Sleeping with Daddy

 

Such a big boy-10 months!


Our little Monkey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Much Needed Update:)

So, as you are very aware, I have taken a hiatus from blogging for a bit. It is not that I don’t want to blog—it is that time seems to get away from me. So, let's catch up...shall we?

We have really been enjoying summer. I had to look back through the pictures on my camera to make sure that I included all of the fun stuff we have been doing. Since my last post was in July, I will go back that farJ We enjoyed a nice weekend with family up at Josh’s parent’s new resort, The Harbor on Crescent Bay! They have come so far from last summer—the place looks great. Following that weekend, we spent a couple weekends in Iowa and then my parents and sister joined us in Minnesota for a long weekend. While they were here, we took in a Minnesota Twins game together and rode the new Northstar Commuter Train from our town right to the Stadium entrance—that was great! We recently took Levi to his first ever Minnesota State Fair. He loved it! He really enjoys being in his stroller, now that he doesn’t have to be all crunched up in his little car seat. He is also loving his new big boy car seat in the carJ It is hard to believe he will be nine months at the end of this week. He isn’t crawling yet, but is super close. He gets where he wants to go by rolling around. He can also spin around in a full circle and move backwards, but still struggles going forward just yet. We know he will be moving all over the place soon and have begun to baby-proof our home. Levi is eating like a champ and I am sure many of you will agree with me that he has become quite the chunkJ We are so happy he is such a healthy little guy and I am really enjoying making all of his food. Life seems to go by so quickly these days and we are trying to enjoy every second to the fullest. We hope all of you are enjoying what is left of summer, as well!

Our Little Race Fan in his Dale Earnhardt Jammies...he is even attempting to hold up three fingers:)

Levi kicking back at the lake on the 4th of July

Playing around in the camper on the 4th of July

 

 

Levi loves to eat...but this time he was a little tired and mom couldn't resist taking a photo:)

 

 

Levi with mom and grandma on the train, headed to his first Minnesota Twins Game

 

Enjoying the game with Grandpa and Grandma!

 

An attempt at a family photo at the ballgame...Levi wasn't interested

 

Levi is very talkative these days!

 

Levi doesn't wear shoes very often yet, but when he does, all he wants to do is play with his feet. We think he will really love shoes, as both his parents do:)

 

Levi loving the highchair...and cheerios!

 

Showing off my teeth!

 

"Trouble Is My Middle Name" At least that's what his t-shirt says...we'll see

 

This one is for Grandpa!

 

Levi hanging out with his cousins, at Timberwoods!

 

Levi and Daddy

 

Levi and Mommy

 

 Levi with Great Grandpa

 

Levi loving the Minnesota State Fair

 

 Levi playing with his toy car

 

We met my friend Maria and her daughter Maya at Albertville Outlets tonight! It was great to see them:) Don't our kids look cute together:):)