5 Years

5 years ago today I married my best friend, but we've been together much longer than that- 10 1/2 years! I was going through the pictures from the slide show at our wedding and reminiscing about all that we have done in together- 2 high school graduations, moving to Oklahoma for college, being apart for 2 years (1 when Mat went to school and 1 when he graduated and moved back to Texas), 2 college graduations, 5 new jobs, lots of trips, 2 apartments, 1 house, 1 dog, and 1 precious baby boy.

Some of my favorites:

Church camp in High School

Yellowstone

Some random banquet in college

Wedding Day

Honeymoon in Seattle

All 3 of us

Eight Months

Dear Levi,

I have had fun enjoying my time at home with you. I have always been thankful for my time off during the summer but even more this year! I always seem to lose track of the date when I'm not at school so this post almost slipped by me!

You are so much fun these days! You have been army-crawling for a few weeks now, but you've finally got your arms and legs coordinated. You still haven't figured out how to get your tummy off the ground, but you don't let that slow you down!

You LOVE to find strings, straps, and cords- including electrical cords- to chew on. We have to watch you carefully! You also love to grab my hair and earrings and Dad's ears. The other day you even tried to chew on Dad's ears- ha!

You are also really sturdy sitting up. You're still working on going from laying down to sitting up and it really frustrates you sometimes! We have lots of friends that share toys and clothes with us. A few weeks ago we got a new toy that you love to pull up on. You've made it all the way up to your feet once or twice, but usually you are satisfied to just pull up to your knees. You look around and are so proud of yourself.

You also seem to be a little daredevil. The other day, you made it all the way up to your feet, looked back at me, and then let go! You immediately fell down but looked up at me and smiled. I can tell you're going to keep us busy!

It's getting more difficult to change your diaper these days. As soon as I lay you down, you want to flip over and crawl off! I keep your sunglasses in one of the cubes on your changing table, so I usually use those to keep you occupied long enough for me to change you.

You are very ticklish- under your arms, the back of your neck, right above your knees and your feet. We love to hear your precious laugh so you get tickled a lot!

You have 5 (6-8 ounce) bottles and eat solids twice a day. You are eating lots of different things now- sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, avocado, bananas, pears, and peaches. You love peaches and pears. Next up are some green veggies- peas and green beans- and then papaya. You still love to play with cups and spoons which helps while Dad and I try to eat.

In the last month you seem to have hit a growth spurt. You weigh about 19 pounds now. You have cute chunky legs and thick feet, and I love your cute little buddha belly after you eat. You are wearing size 3 diapers and still fit into your 3-6 months clothes although you won't for long!

Everything you find immediately goes into your mouth. You don't have any teeth yet, but you chew on everything and have started sucking on your bottom lip. I keep expecting to see a tooth!

Most days you have been napping so much better! Typically you sleep for about an hour and a half or so in the morning, and then you take a shorter nap in the afternoon. Sometimes you still take a little cat nap in the late afternoon/early evening. At night, we still put you down at about 8:30, and you're sleeping until about 6:45 in the morning. I am thankful that you're no longer waking up at 5:30 am- it was ok when I was getting up for work anyway, but I enjoy that extra hour of sleep! :)

Just the other day you started giving kisses- slobbery kisses-but oh so sweet! I think you're also getting close to waving. One morning when Dad left for work, he waved and you watched him so intently. You looked at me and looked at your hand and then back at Dad. We love how much you are interacting now.

Whew! It took me all day to get a picture of you with Mr. Bear. I started out in the red chair like usual, however most of the pictures turned out like this because you were trying to crawl off the chair.

Next I tried the floor...

Finally we ended up on the bed in your room because you have further to crawl to get the camera straps you wanted so badly. But even that didn't work...

I finally decided to wait until backup arrived. Dad danced and made silly noises while I snapped some pictures. We finally got one!

Levi Month by Month

Smiles

I love Levi's open-mouth smile.

I wonder where he gets it from?

I realize this is kind of a weird picture- Mat was trying to show off Levi's Halloween costume!

Messy Face

Levi had a diaper explosion the other day right before he was about to eat, so rather than get new clothes messy I let him eat in a clean diaper and without a bib. I love these pictures.

**I edited what I wrote because Mat said when he read it, it sounded like we let him eat his diaper! That was certainly not the case...

Summertime

Finally...summer is here! The last few years we have kicked off our summer by spending Memorial Day weekend with our friends from OC. In the past we have gone to Arkansas, but this year they decided to come to the great state of Texas (to help us out and keep us from spending 12 hours in the car with a 7 month old)

We all had a great time- including Levi. We spent time playing games...

Fishing...

(Levi spent some time helping Uncle Clayton with a work project)

And hanging out by the pool.

Levi even got in! He absolutely loved it!

We loved having time to be lazy and catch up, and we loved getting to introduce Levi to our friends. We are already looking forward to next year!

7 Months

Dear Levi,

Today you are 7 months old. The months seem to be flying by! This month you've started eating "solid" foods, and you seem to like them. You have had sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocados, and bananas. Next up are carrots. Bananas are by far your favorite, and you squeal in between bites. When you are eating avocado, you squish your face up and act like you don't like it, but you keep on eating it! You are interested in everything Dad and I eat and drink, and you love to play with cups and spoons.

You like to talk and have been experimenting with lots of new sounds lately. You like to fake cough, and you've started making a new noise that sounds like you're really surprised or sucking air in. It's a funny noise to listen to you make until you are trying to eat and you just end up choking yourself. You also love blowing raspberries. You like to do this when you're eating too! You spit sweet potatoes all over Dad the other day. :)

You can sit up for longer periods of time, but you're still not very sturdy. We've put you in highchairs and grocery carts and you seem to like them. You usually end up leaning over onto the side of the cart, but I think you like having a different view of the world! You seem so proud of yourself when you are sitting up, and sometimes you look at me like you're trying to say, "Hey! Look at me! Look at what I can do!"

You seem to love anything electronic- remotes, cell phones and even the laptop. When we open up the laptop and you are sitting with us, you immediately start trying to grab the keys. You also love the lights on the computer and always try to grab them!

You are scooting/army crawling now. I know my feelings about this will change, but it's so fun to watch you find something you want and then be able to scoot over to it and get it. Today you even got up on your hands and knees and started rocking back and forth. I know it won't be too long now before you're in to everything!

We have started seeing a little bit of a temper in you lately. The other night, after your bath, Dad took away your towel you were chewing on and you threw your head back and started screaming! You did the same thing to me today when I took a hanger away from you.

This month you had your first antibiotic. Last Friday, Megan called and said you had a temperature of 102, so Dad took you to the doctor. You had a sinus infection. When I got home you were just laying in Dad's arms. It was so sad to see you like that, but after a day of tylenol, amoxicillin, and snuggles you were a new kid!

You weigh close to 16 pounds. You are still wearing your 3-6 month clothes, and you're wearing size 2 (and sometimes size 3) diapers.

We are so in love with you. We love watching your grow and explore new things. I have 2 more weeks left of school, and I cannot wait to have so much time with you this summer! I know that we are going to have so much fun.

Love,

Mom

Mother's Day

To celebrate Mother's Day we drove home to spend the weekend with our families. We had a great time and even experienced a few firsts:

- The first time Levi and his cousins, Kadence and Cameron, "played" together. Kadence seemed to be content (for a little while) to sit and watch Levi roll around on the floor. It was also very important to her that Cameron not take Levi's things. She even tried to share her candy with Levi!

Cameron enjoyed playing with Levi's giraffe and standing over him. She would walk right up to him and just stand there staring down at him! :) I think she enjoyed having someone around that is smaller than her!

- My first mother's day- We celebrated by going to the Astros game!

- Levi's first Astros game- The two nicknames I've heard lately for the Astros are the "Disastros" and the "Lastros", so we were worried about what kind of game we were going to see. It ended up being a great game! The Astros came from behind to win in extra innings. Levi did GREAT at the game! He even slept through the last 2 innings (which were the most exciting and loudest).

Mat, Levi, and Junction Jack

Pops and Levi

- Levi had bananas for the first time this weekend. So far, he has eaten pretty much anything I've offered him, but bananas seem like the first food he actually likes.

- One strange first- Levi's first fire drill- and it happened during church! Thankfully it was just a false alarm, but the fire trucks showed up and everything!