Father's Day with Pop

We celebrated Father's Day with Pop at a Traveler's game. He loves baseball and Lydia does too! We had a great time with Pop, and the Trav's pulled out a come from behind win!

Jeremy and Levi bonded over Levi's favorite thing...FOOD!


Daddy and Lydia


Their trademark "CHEESE" face


We actually got a decent family photo!!


Watchin the game

Father's Day and Big Girl Bed

Father's Day 2009 was special this year not only because it was Necon's first with two kiddos, but also because it was our first weekend back from our trip. Being without the kids for those 2 weeks was really hard, but we appreciate each minute with them now that we are back!

Lydia all dressed up


Daddy and his babies


Take two: ditched the pacis


This is typical around our house: Lydia cuddles with Daddy and Levi wants Mommy

On Father's Day we also decided to tackle moving Lydia into a toddler bed. There are two main reasons for this.

First, we were finding her asleep in random beds around the house

Second, and most dangerous, this was one of her favorite things to do:

So...as you can see it was necessary for the safety of our firstborn that she transition into her toddler bed. Since it was Father's Day, we gave Daddy the job of taking pictures. That meant the other man of the house had to pick up the slack.

At first he pouted to get out of the job

Then he pitched in gladly!!


Unfortunately, the whole making-the-bed-safer-plan didn't work out so well...

Oh, well. The transition to her big girl bed went really well. I guess we could have expected this since she was putting herself to sleep in the guest bed and her crib already. She loves waking up and walking into our room or the living room. She is so proud of herself. Too bad taking the paci away and potty training are going to be MUCH harder!

Trip to the Zoo

Necon took off work the Monday after we got back from the Holy Lands and we took the kids to the zoo. Apparently we picked the HOTTEST day of the year to go. We were all so hot, but the kids did great! This was their first time to go. Lydia was super excited about the animals!

Lydia kept saying, "He lookin at me, mommy" about all of the animals.


When I told her to "look at those monkeys" she said,
"No, mommy. It's a gorilla." She was right.


We had a hard time convincing her this was just a toy gorilla.


Lydia loved watching the elephants. I think she could have stayed there all day. It was her favorite when they were splashing water over their backs with their trunks.


We took her all over the zoo, and the waterfall was still her second favorite thing we saw!
She was probably imagining cooling off...

Mr. Christopher, 8 months and 7 months

Mr. Christopher is our across the street neighbor. He is a wonderful, thoughtful man who loves children. He brings us vegetables from his garden and has been known to show up with dinner on occasion. Mr. Christopher also goes on week long hunting adventures all over North America! One afternoon we had Josiah at our house and Mr. Christopher volunteered to take the kids on a golf cart ride. I am pretty sure they enjoyed it, but I do think they were glad to be back on the ground.


8 month old Levi...

Lydia and Josiah surviving the golf cart ride!

At 8 months Levi is about 19 pounds and 28 inches long. He still isn't babbling much, but he is a very happy baby and brings a lot of smiles to our house!!

Going back in time a bit...here is what Levi was doing at 7 months.

Standing

Smiling

Sitting like this. He always sits on his knees or in a catcher position.
Whatever works little man!

Flirting (one of his personal favs)

Listening to one of mommy's stories

Loving on mommy

Sticking his tongue out while he is concentrating

Putting everything in his mouth

No, that is not Levi. Yes, Lydia is still that bald. Oh, well...I love this picture!

Cute little feet...

...and sweet big hands!

We're back!! (WARNING: No pictures and minor bragging)

Every time I post I make some bad excuse about why it has been so long. I am not even going to try this time. For those of you dying to see pictures from our Holy Land Tour, I am going to try really hard to get some up this weekend. For those of you dying to see new pictures of Lydia and Levi, I am going to try to get those up this weekend as well. Here is a quick update:

We had well child check ups yesterday. Levi at 9 months is 29 1/2 inches long (85%) and 21 pounds (50%). He has been standing on his own for about 2 months and has started taking steps over the past 2 weeks. We are up to 4-6 steps at a time. He still isn't talking or babbling much. He can do it, he just prefers to be quiet. Yes, he gets this from me. He will say Mama, but I'm pretty sure he thinks it means Get me out of here, I want something and Pick me up. He will repeat Dada to us, but still isn't understanding who that is. He recognizes his name and can wave sometimes. It is so funny how different boys are from girls!! He is our happy happy baby, loves to cuddle and is always very excited to see us when he wakes up or when we get home. Levi is just a joy to be around...OH and he has just one tooth. One GINORMOUS, crooked tooth. It is the funniest thing. Pictures to come.

Lydia at 22 months is a whopping 35 1/2 inches tall (95%) and 29 pounds (80%). She is definitely going to tower over her mother, and could potentially be close to 6 feet tall. CRAZY! Anyhoo...Dr. O'neill confirmed what we already know about Lydia: she is VERY smart. She is saying 5-7 word sentences and will say 2-3 sentences at a time. She can count to ten (as long as you say the 4), and knows most of her colors most of the time. Dr. O'neill was impressed that she sat still and let him check her out, and that she followed all of his commands. She and I talked alot yesterday morning about going to the doctor and how she should act. I even explained that she was going to get a shot that would hurt. She asked if she could have a Nemo bandaid after, and I told her she could. How sweet! Our previous two visits to the doctor were MISERABLE! I fully expected the same, but she was amazingly great. She barely even cried at the shot and she knew it was coming. I was so proud of her.

Okay, enough bragging on the kids. Our favorite thing right now is watching the two of them play together. They love each other very much and love to hug/wrestle. Not ever sure exactly which of those two events is taking place...too hard to tell! Lydia calls Levi "brother" and tells him they are best friends. Nothing could be sweeter!

I am fully aware that most of you check this blog to find out about the kids, but I am really excited to tell everyone that I have started WORKING OUT! Finally! It is really hard because the only time I have to do it is after the kids go to bed, so I am not even home until 10:30-11 every night. BUT, it is going to be worth it. We are doing P90x and I really recommend it to anyone who needs a program. 25 pounds to lose. Hopefully I can do it in the 90 days of this program!