1st day of Preschool

There are not words for my heart soared for you and wanted to pull you back into my arms all in the same moment. I love you little man. 

Showing off your lion backpack... 

So grown up

Papa and Levi

Mama and Levi

Heading down the hallway to your room

Saying good morning to your teacher, Mrs. O.

preschooler

Tomorrow, my adventurous Levi, you will add a new title to your role in life...

student. 

Tomorrow you will grace the halls of preschool with your head held high, wonder-filled eyes, waiting to see what it will be like. We've read countless books on "going to preschool", and you are most excited about this new adventure you will be embarking on. 

This decision has been hard for Mama and Papa. We talked a lot about where\what we wanted for you this year, and eventually landed here, at this small Christian preschool. I know you'll do great, and I'm excited to see what this year holds for you. 

You L.O.V.E. learning, and I pray that your teacher will see that delight in your eyes and help you to keep learning about the things that you love. 

Mama will stand by and let you go, but I'm pretty sure I might need to collect myself and hold back some tears. You are growing too fast my sweet baby boy. I love you more than you'll ever know. 

Mama.

9 months

My dear sweet baby girl. You have officially been on the "outside" as long as you spent on the "inside". Mama is thankful you're on the outside, just so we're clear. :)  You have been such a huge blessing in our lives baby girl, and I'm so thankful for you, for your spunky, feisty (I have NO idea who that's from!) personality that is shining through. My favorite moments are when you and Levi make each other laugh. I really do need to video it because those times are moments I want to cherish and remember forever.  Your brother recently threw Mama's camera into the pool. We won't talk about those events, but I'm hoping to get  something new soon, meanwhile pictures of you might be a bit scarce.. I promise I didn't forget about you. 

At 9 months you... 

• Are a very good eater, are 'off' baby food, and enjoy most things I put in front of you.
• Have mastered the stairs with ease and love to climb up them, laughing and giggling.
• Are not a stellar napper. You typically take a 45 minute nap about an hour after getting up, then a mid-morning nap, around, 10 (though you normally miss this because we're out and about doing things) and then a longer 2-2 1\2 hour nap in the afternoon. 
• My sweet girl are still up basically once a night. I feed you around 10, you wake around 2, and then around 6. Mama would really appreciate sleep.
• Have 5 teeth, you use them to pull up to things, just like your brother did. 
• Are starting to reach between solid objects willing to let go for a little second.
• Are starting to figure out waving "bye-bye"
• Have found your babbling voice and talk non-stop, sometimes with certainty in your voice that we know what you're saying, sometimes just babbling to babble. 
• Don't seem to be attached to any particular toy or lovey object, and generally don't like being cuddled
• Are VERY attached to Mama. You are not a fan of other people holding you, and next week when Mama goes back to teaching lessons, your world will be rocked, I'm afraid.

I love you baby girl, more than you will ever know. 

Love, 

Mama

piano

FULL.

You have no idea how much of a blessing that word is to me today.  If you would have told me a year ago that I would lose 11 piano students within the next year, I would have laughed at you. 

really. I would have. I couldn't have even imagined what that would look like.

11. Just to give you some stats on that number. 11 students a week brings into our family income $198\week, $792\month.  I'll let you do the math from there, and really, I never imagined that it would happen. Piano teaching is often cyclical, and it just so happened that the cycle happened at all once. It was hard to lose that many students and really wonder where on earth I was going to get more, especially in this economy. 

then....
one of my dearest and best friends husband got a new job and she told me they were moving. 

MOVING. 

I'm not really ready to even talk about her leaving yet, because I get teary just typing those words, and well... I'm just not ready to say goodbye to her yet, but in, (literally) a miraculous turn of events, she basically handed me her entire piano studio because of the move. 

I got several calls in the spring from her students asking if I would have availability. Truth be told, I had no idea that I would, but I told them all I would contact them in the fall, and figured I could always work more and we'd figure it out. But then.. one by one, my students quit for various reasons, and one by one, I filled up my studio with new (to me!) piano students. 

Seriously, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I'm so very thankful today, for the Lord providing for our needs, even when it means I have to say goodbye to a dear friend. 

I am beyond thankful today for both an amazing friend, whom I will miss dearly, and a full piano studio. 

All GLORY to God.

Monsters

Lately, Levi has been terrified at night of monsters.  You name it, he's scared of it. He is afraid to sleep in his room, afraid to nap in his room. We talk about it, pray about it with him every night, and every night, he comes screaming into our room, slamming every door behind him, saying the monsters are chasing him.

*sigh*

Last night he flat our refused to go back to his bed saying the monsters were in there. I often wonder if he really believes there are monsters, or if he just likes sleeping in our room? I really do think he is legitimately afraid, but I would also love for to see him work through his fears and be able to sleep well again.

(read: mama and papa would like to sleep again)

I do also think that the monster fear is equated with bed-wetting. He has been potty-trained since he was just over 2, and at 3 1\2 he is still very inconsistent about being dry at night. Nothing we do on our end seems to help, he's just a hard sleeper, and doesn't wake until after the fact. (i'll take ideas on this as well!) Then, I think, that wakes him up, and then the whole monster thing comes into play.

So, lately, he's been in our bed for probably a good half of the night. While I know in my head and in my heart that these days are fleeting, I'm selfish, and my queen bed feels very small with a 3 yr old in it. I am just plain out of ideas on what to do. He is currently napping, by sleeping in a tent to keep the monsters out. This was a new one and his idea, so we'll see what happens.

Any Mama's have any great advice?

pretty please?

Ruby at 8 months

My dear sweet Ruby.

Today you are 8 months old, and today is also your Auntie A's 30th Birthday. Have I told you about that? You share the "2nd" as your birthday with 2 other women, your Auntie A, and your Mama. I think that's pretty special.

At 8 months....

• You are a crawling machine. Long over are the days of you even being in the same room when I get back. You particularly like crawling over to the cats food and banging around on his bowls
• You are a champion eater. You eat anything I'll let you try.  You've gotten really good at your "pincher grasp" in the last couple of weeks. You enjoy trying to pick up puffs, cheerios etc. You do want to hold your own spoon when you eat. Mama has taken to the 2 spoon approach. One for you to hold on to, and one for Mama to feed you with.  
• You tried to be a beaver at the zoo and eat a little tiny stick. You chocked, gagged, and vomited the stick up. Yea. that was not a good time. Please don't scare Mama like that again. 
• You still think your brother is the funniest person alive. (no worries, I do as well)
• You pull up with ease, and are "cruising" around furniture
• Your favorite sound to make is "ga"
• Sleep... my sweet baby girl... Mama would like more. You go to sleep around 6 and eat again around 2. (which technically is "sleeping through the night".. you just go to bed really early! You eat and then sleep until around 6.  Mama is contemplating a "cry it out" session. I will have you know, I've let this continue much longer than I did with your brother. You can thank me for my generosity. 
• You have 4 teeth. You grind them. I hate it. 
• You make a clicking sound with your tongue that makes me laugh every time. 
• You love any shaker toys, and you LOVE standing up at your table toy. 
• You've master the "controlled fall" as well as the crawling turned sit.  
• When you meet new people you appear shy, but warm up quickly. 
• Your naps are twice a day these days. 8-10ish and again from 12:30-3 or so. You go to bed around 6 to 6:30 and "sleep" until about 6. minus one wake up.
• You are so chill with everything, patient, content. Maybe it's just your lot in life being the second child. 
• You nurse about 4-5x during the day, and then the one time in the night. You get very distracted. It has to be quiet, just you and mama, low-lights for you to be focused. If anything goes awry, we might as well forget about it. 

My sweet girl, you continue to amaze us, and as your Papa said the other day... It's fun to watch your personality emerge. We love you baby girl, and we are beyond thrilled that the Lord has blessed us with YOU! 

We love you, Ruby Kathleen, more than you'll ever know.

p.s. that beautiful picture was taken by the lovely and talented Emily Smith from Smith Gallery Photography. More on family pictures soon! 

Library Love

This is the current stack of books we have checked out from the library, and that was with me limiting what we brought home. 

His current favorites? 

The giant picture books on the bottom. 

He loves them!

I love my little reader.