when you least expect it...

Mike and I have been praying about our living situation for a while now. We love our little home, but it's l.i.t.t.l.e. Ruby is sleeping in our bedroom, and while it works for now, we know that soon we will need more space. We have very little room for extra toys and things, and I'm always constantly fighting the "we need more space" mantra in my head.

On Friday, a woman knocked on our door who is in charge of the rental properties. They had had a new one become available and they weren't sure if we might be interested. She went on to explain that they thought of us, because while we hadn't said anything, they thought we might be looking, and if they could do something to keep us they would, because we're good renters etc.

She gave me the keys on Friday and asked to take a look. It's about a 1\2 mile "as the crows flies" from our house, probably about 1 1\2 miles to drive, BUT it's in the country.

COUNTRY. something Mike and I want more than anything. There are corn fields to our east and south, it's so quiet, it's unbelievable... there is a big yard, and lots of dirt piles for Levi to explore. we can have a garden at our new home!!!! That has my geeky garden loving husband beyond excited! :)

We went and looked at it, and really there are so many perfect things about this place, it's unbelievable. Down to an extra room for teaching piano lessons that would be secluded from the rest of the house. We told them we were interested, and with some talking, we're going to be able to rent this home which is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and probably 3x the amount of space we have now, for $50 more per month! Unbelievable.

All Glory to God!

rollin'

Ruby is officially rolling all over the place. She did it a couple of times quite a long time ago, but there must have been some fluke to the whole thing because she never did it again.

She's been close for a while now, and on Thursday (15th) she just took off with it. She's a rolling machine, rolls front to back quite easily, and she can roll back to front, if she's still kind of wedged up on her arm, otherwise she gets stuck on her tummy and then she gets upset. silly girl.

She's growing so fast. I can't believe she'll be 4 months soon!

ni-night, levi!

Levi LOVES and I do mean LOVES his ni-night. It all started innocently enough. He slept with a blanket, I dutifully rotated blankets because I didn't want him to become attached to one blanket. (that makes me a good parent, right?)

When he was around 15 months old, I tried laying him down with a different blanket for a nap one day. He threw it on the floor, grabbed a blanket, brought it to me and said.. "ni-night, mama"... and that was it...

the ni-night was born

Well, over the past 2 years, this beloved ni-night has been slowly falling apart. You see it was a handmade beautiful flannel quilt. One particular piece of fabric had ripped in every spot it had been used in. Well, because Levi is my particular little boy, he hated the "rippers" as he called them.. We turned the blanket every which way as the "rippers" began to take over, but eventually we were out of "turning" options. well, it got so bad that he started wrapping another blanket over his ni-night to cover the rippers.. (another flannel blanket, on my kid who already sleeps super hot)

Today, Levi had the opportunity to go the home of the woman who made his blanket, and together.. they fixed his rippers.

see the color difference? i couldn't believe she still had the fabric she had used over 3 years ago when she made his beloved "ni-night"



the finished product





I have a very happy boy on my hands.

hand hand....

..............fingers thumb!

Miss Ruby has found her thumb, and I would dare say I'm going to officially call her a thumb sucker...see?




In other news..
Spring has sprung around here, and we've been jumpin on the trampoline.
Levi is very happy about it.

people!

In the last couple of weeks or so,
Levi's scribbles have turned to people!
It's amazing to watch him learn and grow every day!




Just for interpretation sake, that's mama there in the middle. the circles to the sides were an attempt at other members of our family, but he got upset because the circles weren't round enough for him, so he stopped. ;) thats my crazy, super particular little boy for you! :)

being a kid

Some things we've had fun doing lately...

A train made out of playdoh




A tent fort in Levi's room




A car mat made from duct tape on our kitchen floor





oh what fun it is to be a kid!

3 months!

Seriously, how is she 3 months old already? A couple of weeks ago we were at McDonalds for that infamous playland, and a woman said, oh is she about 3 months, and I wanted to cry.

really.

She doesn't look like an itty bitty anymore. I can't hold her in one arm, and now even strangers assume she isn't a newborn... *sniff* it goes so fast, and I feel like I'm appreciating these long, hard few beginning months more than I did with Levi. They went by quickly with him s well, but I don't think I savored those moments like I am with Ruby.

So.. at 3 months

--> She is a big time smile bug, which makes me smile. :)

--> I called it shady shifting with Levi.. I put her in one spot in her crib, and she's done a 180 when I come back later.

--> She has found her hands! She chews on them, sucks on them all of the time!

--> She's recently started enjoying her playmat. She reaches for the monkey and talks to it all the time.

--> She'll sit in her bumbo, but just for short periods of time.

--> Her sleeping habits have changed slightly, and I'm trying to determine if it's better or worse. She still goes down about 6:30, sleeps until midnight, and then sleeps until 5, nurses, real quickly at 5, more of a back to sleep nurse, and then sleeps til around 6:30.

--> She is still a TERRIBLE napper during the day. I call her my cat napper. She'll sleep 30-40 minute increments, and if I'm lucky I can get one 90 minute stretch out of her

--> She is at the tail end of her 3 month clothes. I just said to Mike this week that we would need to start switching them out soon.

--> She holds her head up really well during tummy time, but doesn't like it.

--> When on her back, she can roll onto her side, but can't quite get over that pesky arm.

--> On Feb. 19th, we had her dedicated to the Lord at church, a step that we as parents believe is important, and just want to say, Lord she's YOURS. Thank you for blessing us with the priviledge of raising her, and we'll do everything we can to bring her up to know and serve you with her whole heart. That is our prayer.

--> Mama spent her first significant time away from her last week, working from 8-6 for choir festival. Thankfully she took to the bottle like a pro, and I spent my day attached to a pump when I could.

We're lovin' on our little girl, no doubt.
Though, I realized I wasn't very good at pictures month. Hopefully we'll do better next month :)