Levi at 4

My dear, sweet, Levi.

You are becoming a young man (ha!) before my very eyes. I feel like just yesterday you were born, and I head you in my arms for the first time. Instead, it has been 4! years. You amaze me every day with your tenacity for life, your energy, and the fun you have along the way. We love you so much little man. I'm so thankful that God gave me you, and that I have been given the amazing, and sacred, privilege of raising you, to be a man after God's own heart.

At 4......

-- you are in preschool this year, 2 days a week. You love it, because you love learning.
-- you can write all of your letters, both capital and lowercase
--you easily recognize and can write your name
-- you can sound out some small 3 letter words, and recognize many words by sight
-- you can count to 30 without hesitation. you can count backwards from 10.
--  you can recognize and count up to 100 (thank you chicka chicka boom boom)
-- you don't really nap anymore, but you get up around 6-6:30 and go to bed around 7.
-- you love, and I do mean, LOVE crafts. we regularly spend part of our day doing some kind of craft together. painting, cutting\pasting etc..
-- the main love of your life? travis.  yup. you pretty much love him unconditionally.
-- you still love trains of all varieties, and you even got to ride on one for your birthday this year!
-- you love spending time outside.
--you love winter.... love snow, sledding, and all things related. you are definitely my son
-- you love books. we spend a good 1\2 hour each day reading and looking at books. we frequent the library, and you love to pick out new books each week.
-- you are a wonderful big brother. today, I found you, helping to get food for Ruby for lunch. You love her a lot, even when she takes your toys and knocks down your blocks.
-- you are really into playing games right now. we do this quite often as well.
-- you enjoy going to kids club at church, and get excited about going each week

I love you little man, more than you will ever know.

I love you little man, more than you will ever know.

Bounce House

As part of Levi's birthday weekend, we went to a bounce house in a nearby town. Levi LOVED it, and that's probably understating his excitement. I was a little skeptical as we had to pay per hour, but man it was worth every penny we spent. He has asked several times when we can go back. He ran non-stop for an hour, and would have stayed longer if we would have let him.

Sometimes, I'm amazed at his fearlessness. There was a slide probably 30ft tall. You had to climb this little rope like ladder to get to the top, and it was a steep slide. When he saw it, he just grinned from ear to ear and started to climb. Sometimes you wonder what your kids will be like when they grow up, and I'm so curious to find out how the Lord will use his adventurous spirit.





My sister took his 3yr pics, and it just so happened we had a fairly warm day. It was mid-40's, and sunny, so we ventured to the park. It will probably be the only time ever in his life that we can do outdoor pictures in February. The following pic was hands down my favorite.

choo choo!

This was the first year we had friends at Levi's birthday party. We've always just kept it to family before. Because of that, we had to find a different venue. We had it at my parents church, and we had so much fun! I had a great time (thanks to Pinterest) coming up with fun (and easy since we have a 2 month old) ideas, and ways to make it fun for the kids without spending a lot of money.

We had pizza, and fresh veggies, and oranges... goldfish crackers, and water.

and of course..

TRAINS.. lots and lots of TRAINS.















Happy Birthday, Levi...
We Love You!

3 years!

My dear sweet little boy.

Today you are 3! How did that happen? 3 years ago today, I held you for the first time, I heard your cry, felt your little hands in mine for the first time. You changed my life forever.

at 3...

---> you are a non-stop talker. you talk about everything, and will talk to anyone who will listen. :)

--> you still love letters. you recognize all letters, upper\lower case, and know the sounds each of them make. you recognize your name spelled out

--> you are all boy. you love to throw balls ( you have quite an arm), kick balls, and run, jump, tackle, and wrestle anyone who will let you.

--> you are a train fanatic. it's not a thomas the train love, but just a general train love (for which our pocketbooks thank you)

--> you love building castles and better yet, knocking them down.

--> you love jumping on our trampoline

--> you can be pretty stubborn about some things, (no idea who that comes from ;), but overall you're generally a good-natured kiddo.

--> fav. foods... homemade mac n cheese, turkey, soup, eggs, any kind of black or red bean, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, you pretty much live on milk and or water

--> you still take 1 nap a day. you get up around 6, nap from 12:30-2:30ish, and generally go to bed around 8

--> you are very aware of your surroundings, and know where things are when we are traveling in the car

--> you have a handful of friends you like to play with, namely, the Goods, Rothells, Barclays, Davidsons, Bruggers, McClains, and Bowmans. :) (which is nice because we like their parents, too) :)

--> you are pretty much potty-trained with the occasional accident. you do still wear diapers to nap\bed, because mama doesn't want to do laundry every day, and i know eventually you'll get it. you're VERY close to being done with diapers during nap.

--> you are very particular about some things.. like you have to wear pj's for naptime.. you like things in their place and things done in the same order all the time.. :) its endearing and annoying :)

birthday photo fun

A birthday filled with fun...
I can not begin to tell you how much he loved the balloons...
There was no need to give him anything else.



and then, as luck would have it.. his auntie a brought MORE balloons!!






We brought out the letters to play with.. and the day was complete. We seriously spend hours a day with these letters... He can't get enough of them. :)






It was a fun day... his birthday party is saturday.. oh the fun to be had!

and just for recording purposes, at his drs. appointment

Levi was 25 lbs 2 oz. and 34 1\2 inches long.

2 years

Happy Birthday, my sweet little monkey.

2 years.

It feels like just yesterday, I held you in my arms for the first time. Exhausted, overwhelmed, and more in love than I had ever been. Who knew a tiny little 9 lb baby boy could change my life more than I thought possible. You stole my heart that day, Levi, and my life will never be the same.




You've grown so much this year. You were talking using a few words, but mostly via sign language, crawling all over the place, pulling yourself up, learning to enjoy new foods every day, and still nursing. You loved loved loved balls, and looking at animal picture books.




My how much you have changed. It doesn't even seem possible.

 

You run everywhere, love to play outside at the park, love sledding, and snow...

You have learned so many things.

You LOVE letters. You can name all of your upper case letters, and know about half of your lower case letters. I can't begin to tell you how much you LOVE letters. It's all you want to do\learn.

You can recognize all animals and tell me the sound they make.

I think you are going to be right-handed, which is unfortunate since both your Papa and I are left-handed.

You love bath time, you always have... it's you and Papa's special time of day together. I think maybe Papa loves it even more than you.

Your laugh is infectious. Your belly laugh melts my heart. every.single.time.

My favorite time of day with you is the mornings. We have fun baking in the kitchen together, or snuggling on the couch. You LOVE helping Mama in the kitchen. I love that you love it... (most days)

You love playing the piano, and always grab a book, climb up, open the book, and sit down and play... the book part is very important. If Mama tries to play without a book, you bring one over to me.

You love balloons. You can spot them anywhere, which isn't always a good thing. You also love elmo, veggie tales, and charlotte's web. (P.S. we're having an elmo party for you soon)

You are a sleeping champion. Your bedtime is 7:30, and we normally don't hear from you until around 6:30 the next morning.

You like most foods. Your current favs include "speggy", macaroni and cheese, carrots, and oranges... you are NOT a fan of green beans...

You talk fairly well, saying 2-3 word setences..
and we understand you most of the time...

next up... mastering the potty!

We love you little man, more than you'll ever know.
Happy 2nd Birthday

Bryce Miles

A big congratulations to Mike's brother and his wife on the birth of their new son.

Bryce Miles Youngman
Born June 15th at 10:47am
8lbs 14 oz
20 1\2 inches long

Everyone is doing well, though apparantley big brother is a little unsure about the new addition.

birthdays

Happy 29th Birthday, Babe!

I love you!

birthday party

the stage was set...

there were decorations made...

streamers strung...

presents opened....



happy birthday sung...

and cupcakes to be eaten...

we had a great time!

1 year...

20lbs 3 0z.
29 3\4 inches long.

his 1 year stats.

he's in the 50th percentile for height and the 10-25th percentile for weight. for the amount of food this kid eats you'd think he'd weigh more than that... but i think he works most of it off as he is non-stop.

tomorrow is his birthday party.... the prep to be done, the party to be planned. it's just family, but i'm definitely looking forward to it. today is baking day, cookies, cupcakes... tomorrow is decorating and making dinner...

on the menu.
homemade mac n cheese
bread
salad

cupcakes, cookies and icecream for dessert.

happy birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI!

January 27th, 2009

6:26am

9lbs

21 inches long

We can't believe how a year has flown by.

You have an infectious smile, a contagious laugh,

an adorable dimple,

a huge love for balls and lights.

We love you more than you know, little boy.

Happy 1st Birthday!

and the clock ticked on....

heavens to betsy...

here i am one year ago.

a year ago today i was in the hospital. we got up eager to call in for our "induction time". i called at 6, they asked if we could be there by 6:30. absolutely i said. i took a shower, got ready, and we left the house. we were all hooked up and moving down the labor train by 7am. most of the morning and early afternoon we were happily chatting, drinking water, watching those crazy dont shake your baby videos, excited for what was the come.

for better or worse we were going to be parents.

however levi had other plans. we sat in that crazy hospital bed all day, we walked around, we jumped on a ball, we rocked in a chair, we did everything they asked of us....

and the clock ticked on.....

.... and i was getting hungry and tired. the contractions got more intense and closer together

and the clock ticked on....

we started getting phone calls from friends... what's going on? any news? uh. no. we're here. baby still inside. (remember he was still "baby" no one knew what we were having.) dinner approached and went, bedtime came and went, midnight came and went. he was not going to be born on the 26th... nope.. looked it was going to be the 27th. i was getting very tired and the contractions weren't lessening.... we finally sent our parents home in the wee hours of the morning. we promised to call the minute something happened...

and the clock ticked on...

i heard a lady screaming. A. LOT. i asked if she was okay. they said she was just having hard contractions. i was certain they were severing her leg off without drugs. i climbed into the jacuzzi tub. maybe that would help. my amazing sister held my arm out of the water so i didn't get my IV wet... it didn't...

and the clock ticked on....

early in the morning, after numerous conversations with the nurses we decided to get an epidural. maybe just maybe, that would relax my body enough to let me dialate. so we got an epidural. it didn't help me dialate nor did it do anything to relax me... i was beyond exhausted. i had been up for well over 24 hours...

and the clock ticked on....

my OB happily walked into our room at 5:30 or so. (after all he wasn't the one that was up all night, im' sure he went home, went to bed, woke up, took a shower and had a cup of coffee) he checked me and announced that i was still only dialated to a 4. then the nurse said.. well honey sometimes this takes a long time. if i had had the energy i would have socked her in the face. we discussed our options and decided maybe it was time for a c-section. it wasn't what i wanted, but i think when he asked, i believe my words were. get him out... NOW!

so in a flurry of activity, i was suddenly ready for a c-section. they wheeled me into the freezing cold OR. mike came in and we were ready to go....i don't know how long it was, but next thing i knew i heard the most beautiful sound in the world.....

our precious little boy, crying, making his way into this world.

9lbs even they announced!
21 inches long


Levi was born on January 27th, at 6:26 am 24 hours after our arrival.

Tomorrow is his birthday and we so blessed to call him our son.

party planning

today was a trial run on cupcakes

what do ya'll think?

i'm getting very excited for levi's party.

have i mentioned i love birthdays?

this is all thanks to my friend Jessica who I consider to be a cupcake pro.

She'd probably deny that, but she's very, very good. She offered to give me a lesson in cupcake frosting and let me borrow her tools so I can use them for Leev's party. This morning I headed over to her house and we cupcaked it up. We had a great time talking, baking, making frosting, drinking coffee, all without our kids.

It was delightful!

sometimes...

Sometimes life doesn't go as planned.

Last week was my birthday and Mike and I were going to celebrate Thursday night. Well, we ended up driving to Muskegon to be with my friend at her dad's visitation. It wasn't quite what we had in mind, but it was okay. We decided we'd celebrate later.

Last night we were going to have my "birthday night". The plan was dinner out, movie etc. I didn't get home from teaching until 7:15, and Mike didn't get home from work until 7:30. Well, yesterday just so happened to be a really awful sick day for me. I was not feeling up for dinner out, so we decided to just order pizza in.

We ordered, and Mike drove to get it. While he was gone, I managed to get super sick, and when he got back I was in no mood to eat greasy pizza. I ate one piece, and that was about all I could do. We settled in to watch the presidential debate and 9, and by 9:15 I was down for the count. So much for our romantic filled evening.

This morning, I found candles on the counter. I asked Mike what they were, and he was going to put them on some pie we had and celebrate my birthday with it last night. I felt so bad that I'd fallen asleep, gotten sick, missed pie, and everything else.

Such is life I suppose. Today I feel better for which I am thankful. I've started to notice that when I feel really sick are those nights that I don't sleep as well. I have NO idea if lack of sleep and being sick could be related, but I'm starting to wonder if they are. I have an appointment next week, and I'm going to ask about that possibility.

Not much else happening around here. We are still looking for a place to live. It's a long process and I just want to have a decision, and feel good about it. I have some showers coming up soon, and I'm excited for them, if nothing else to see friends I haven't seen in a while!

I know it sounds lame but I'm getting excited for Christmas! :) I know it's only October, but it's not that far away, and i just LOVE Christmas. SO FUN!

Camp, Birthdays, and a Lunar Eclipse

Not to much to report on around here.. but I'll give you the highlights.

Last weekend, Mike and I were able to head up to northern michigan to a place that is near and dear to my heart.... Camp Barakel. If you're interested their website is http://www.campbarakel.org/ Anyway, this is a camp I grew up attending and have been blessed by in more ways than I can tell you. Since we've been married, Mike and I have been able to head to camp a few weekends in the winter to help with the music for chapels. So, last weekend, we trucked off to camp. It's about a 4 hour drive. We enjoyed a weekend full of snow and fun. We spent Saturday reconnecting with some good friends from college, which was just incredibly nice. We also did some snowshoeing, which was... interesting... to say the least! We had a relaxing weekend, which we both needed after a very hectic week. Coming home was a different story!! They got hammered with ice and we could ice skated on the roads they were so terrible. It took us over 5 hours to get home, and we were never so happy. In fact, we were going to stay at Mike's parents for a while, but because of the weather, we were unable to do so. The reason we were going to stop was because.....


Mike's birthday was on Monday and he had the day off, as did I. He turned 27, and I like to remind him that that is getting rather close to 30! : ) He doesn't like that though! : )We slept in, and enjoyed the day together. Since the miscarriage, Mike has wanted a ring to wear to remember the baby by and for different reasons, this has yet to happen. The plan was to get the ring for his birthday. And, as plans sometimes do, they changed. He just wasn't ready for it yet, so instead we ordered a pizza, rented a movie and stayed home for the day, which was nice.


Wednesday evening was a lunar eclipse! Did anyone see it?? It was one of those moments in life where I was reminded of why I fell in love with Mike. Ya know, those things you do when you're dating, but not when you're married?? On a total whim, we decided to watch it. We first went outside to watch it and promptly froze, so then we came inside, realized we could see it from inside on of our rooms, curled up on the couch with popcorn, some wine, and each other, and had a REALLY nice time. Mike found some Debussy via YouTube and we just enjoyed the night together. We talked for quite a long time and really enjoyed our evening. I loved it!!!!! We talked a lot about our future, about kids, about our miscarriage. And after all of that, Mike said, I think I'm ready to get the ring. So.... we haven't gotten it yet, but hopefully soon, we will!I guess, that's about it....

when Mike get his ring, I'll post a pic of that, as well as of my necklace that I have to remember the baby by.


Until then... we are trudging along, enjoying winter, even when its cold and seems unending. We are thankful that the seasons change, and days continue to come and go, just as faithful as our God is.