Dear Levi,

You are a little shy of being two and a half years old. YOu bring your dad and I so much JOY! You are always entertaining us with your wit and imagination that is capable of so many things that usually entail playing some sort of musical insturment, because you enjoy music so much.
You have an astonishing large vocabulary and so carrying on conversations with you is our reality. You don't really care for veggies, but other than that you are a great eater. You love bread, cookies, cake, ice cream and cheese.
You like to play outdoors and are starting to become a good climber. We go on lots of picnics to parks which is one of your favorite things. You also really enjoy playing cars, animals, board games(candyland), watching bob the builder, veggie tales or elmo, playing with your friends, and reading books either with us or by yourself. Y0u also enjoy helping me cook or bake in the kitchen. You are a really great helper.
You still sleep about 12 hours a night for which I am very thankful, but naps are kind of hit or miss...you do "rest" in your room each day reading and playing.
Right now one of my favorite things you are saying to us is " I love you everyday"!
You know your colors, can count to 10, sing the ABC's, Jesus loves Me, Baa Baa BLack sheep, itsy bitsy, and parts of some other songs.
Levi-I love you every day! And, I know you are going to make a wonderful big brother and I can't wait to see you and your little one playing together! Thanks for being you...God made you very special!

Texas

Recently I was blessed to be able to travel to Texas for a long weekend with two of my very best girlfriends and their two itty-bitty babies. We went to surprise/visit another very best girlfriend for her Birthday! We had such a special time full of laughter, CHATTING( it was non-stop. Some of us~no names~ didn't even want to stop to take a shower for fear of missing a good talk), wonderful hospitality, amazing meals, encouragement and lasting memories. It is so WONDERFUl to be able to enjoy the girls without any awkward or dull moments. Thanks to all of our families who pitched it to make it happen!

Giveaway!

The always talented, Ness, of the best nesst is hosting a giveaway of one of her small journals from her etsy shop. I LOVE my journal that she made & use it more often than any journal I've had in the past. I think it is because it's so pretty!

{Here is a sample of one of her small journals.}

I had no idea how kiddos under 2 years old were not actually babies, but tiny people. Even though we have a slew of nephews and nieces I was not around them much as they were this age and since I was the worst baby sitter on Drury Street I kind of feel like someone, anyone should have told me so I would be better prepared to handle this stage I am finding myself in. For instance I never knew that I would need to know multiple nursery rhymes and choreographed moves by memory, or that my knowledge of animal noises would require such diversity, or that I would need to be ready to go from coloring, to puzzles, to cars and back to coloring all within a 5 minute window.
Although I am living in a constantly surprised state I am loving it! Levi is doing so many fun things these days and more and more of his personality is emerging. He is really into driving cars, and hanging out with his pals: Bill, Bill, Bear and Froggie, He loves to dance around the living room and spinning so fast he falls down, He is constantly asking "This"? He wants to know what ever single thing is. When reading a book it usually takes about 3 or 4 times of telling him before we are able to turn the page. This? Flower. This? Flower. This? Flower. When he finally mutters the word under his breath and I know it is safe to move on. He thinks it is hilarious to call daddy by his first name. You'll hear him in his crib saying "Roy" over and over as he falls asleep. He also really likes to point out when his daddy or I get seconds at dinner time which although cute it is a little alarming how often he gets to ask "Moooooooore"?. He likes to count his snacks although he doesn't always get it right I am encouraged that he continues to try. He loves going places, seeing people and playing andI look forward to the many surprises that are certain to come.

Raking leaves is not my favorite way to pass the time, but it is much more bearable in the company of my fellas. We took advantage of some lovely fall weather this weekend and spent some time cleaning up the yard. The downside is that they aren't even our leaves. The trees are all in our neighbor's yard and I counted all but three leaves fall into our yard...and we will have to rake a few more times before winter, but on the bright side we are able to take advantage of their lovely shade in the summer time so all is well.Levi took his role very seriously. He is an awesome helper!

Levi must get his enthusiasm from his daddy.

Did I mention we only did the back yard? Much more raking to be done.

I am still fairly new to this life of parenting, but from what I know so far I find it to be totally hilarious. It is not always hilarious immediately I have known it to have a time delay, but it definitely helps the situation when you can see the humor in it. For instance the first time I took baby levi and junebug the dog on a solo walk I thought it was so sweet...levi snuggled up in this front pack, me getting out and about, and feeling so confident that I even thought to let the dog have some fresh air. Then just as we rounded the corner levi decided that was the ideal opportunity for spitting up (vomiting) all over his mama. As I stood stunned in the middle of the street, while junebug the dog was winding her leash round and round my legs, having no idea what to do, but noticing that spit up was seeping through my many layers of shirts, embedding itself in the front pack, coating not only my hair but the hair of my baby I really didn't think it hilarious at the time- thus the time delay.

Below is a sample of some Hysterical truths about parenting the little ones. For the whole story look here

Thinking of Having Kids?
Do This 10 Step Program First

Lesson 2
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approx. 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10pm, put the bag down gently, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at midnight and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1am.
4. Set alarm for 3am.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2am and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45.
7. Get up at 3am when alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4am.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive.)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus in the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this- all morning.

Lesson 6
Go to the grocery store. Take the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 7
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a 9 month-old baby.

Stoney Ridge Farm

One of our favorite fall time activities is to spend some time at Stoney Ridge Farm. What is not to like about animals, pumpkin patches, a corn maze, kids play area, and amazing apple pie with the works? I had feared we had missed our opportunity to make a visit this year due to constant weekend down pour, but today we were blessed with sunshine & decided along with the rest of the county to spend the afternoon on the farm.

Levi is totally into donkeys right now he loves to say Hee-Haw, and read about them, but he refuses to wear the Eyore costume we were given so I thought spending time with a real live donkey would make him see the error of his ways. Turns out real live donkeys are not the best motivators...he was scared of his donkey friend.

One of my favorite pics from the day.

Such a trooper to indulge mama with the photos I wanted especially since he decided today was a no nap day.