Ultrasound last week

We had our second ultrasound last Wednesday for baby #2. The doctor was pleased with everything she saw - internal organs, digits, appendages etc. are all looking good. She calculated that the baby weighed 10 oz and from head to bottom was about the size of her fingers and hand. We didn't find out what the sex is; the doctor didn't even look in the general area because she doesn't want to know if we don't want to know. The due date is still January 30th.

Levi enjoyed looking at the pictures of "his baby". We tried to get him to say hi to the baby but he wasn't quite sure about that one :) Today he and I were looking at the ultrasound print outs and comparing how the new baby has the same body parts he has!

This picture isn't very clear at all but you are looking at the head on top with the body (chest area) below that. Our ultrasound with Levi was much more clear than this one - that was a brand new machine and this one was pretty old.

Baby #2

So you may be asking yourself, why is Erica taking naps and not doing the zip line or ropes courses? Well it's because we are expecting baby #2! We are due on January 30, 2009. Levi will be 26 months old at that point so we'll be smack in the middle of the terrible-twos with a newborn. Not sure if this planning was a great idea or not :) Levi know about the baby and likes to lift up my shirt and give the baby kisses (zerberts) on my belly.

This is also the reason why we put the rails on his twin bed so early. We figured we could start now and we have a while before he actually needs to be in there. He's doing really well so hopefully it won't be an issue when the baby comes. The plan is to rearrange some furniture (yeah! I love rearranging!) between Levi's room and our "closet" room. We'll put a dresser in Levi's room and the glider and a bassinet/pack-n-play in the "closet" room (aka the new nursery). Our hope is that once #2 (our current name for the child) sleeps through the night they will be sharing Levi's room with him.

We have our second ultrasound scheduled for next Wednesday, September 3rd. We are not planning to find out the sex of the baby - Andy liked running into the waiting room exclaiming "It's a boy!!" so we'll wait again.

Here is a fairly awful picture of me - but it shows how I'm showing now (at 18 weeks).

This week

Last Sunday we installed the bed rails on Levi's twin bed. This is a picture of the first night he spent in the big boy bed. He will sleep there about 50% of the time. Sometimes he asks to sleep in the crib. Today is the first time he's napped in the bed. He still cries himself to sleep some nights and even if he's in the big bed he'll get out, pound on the door and then after a little bit (because we don't go get him) he'll crawl back into bed and pull the blanket over himself.

We haven't done all that much this week - I was busy recovering from our annual church group camping trip. Levi spent the weekend with Andy's parents and we went to Butler Springs Church Camp. We slept in tents (well most of the guys slept on the raised gazebo area but the rest of us were in tents), cooked over the fire and had a great time relaxing and talking. On Saturday most of the group did a zip line and high ropes course. This is the group getting ready to do the zip line and Andy on the ropes course. The entire ropes course was about 20' or so in the air. I hope we go back next year so I can try it.

On Monday Levi and I met one of my former co-workers, Angie, and her daughter, Ava, at the zoo. The kids had a great time checking out the animals. Levi even had the chance to rise a carousel for the first time. He liked being on the pretty horses and "spinning!". This is a picture of Levi and Ava on the orangutan statue.

Today Carrie's two younger kids came over while Carrie went to a kindergarden parents' meeting at Noah's school. I'm glad I don't have to deal with school yet - they don't teach kids the way we were taugh anymore! Once Levi wakes up from his nap we'll be headed back to their house to work on some things for our moms group, MOPS.

Last week was a busy week!

Last week we spent the majority of the week going fun places with my friends Carrie and Kim and their kids. Monday we went to Alum Creek and played in the water - possibly for the last time this season. This is Levi and Hannah having fun in the water.

I know we did something with them on Tuesday but I don't have pictures and can't remember now.

On Wednesday we helped Carrie's son Noah celebrate his 6th birthday for a lunch at McDonald's. Carrie's dad bought everyone ice cream after they ate lunch and played on the playground area. It was a big hit with everyone!

Thursday we had a day just with Mommy and Levi and I caught up on my missed naps :)

Friday we went with everyone to Slate Run Living Historical Farm. It is a working 1880's farm south of Columbus that has horses, cows, bulls, pigs, sheep, chickens, roosters and turkeys. Plus they have 1880's toys to play with (hoops, marble shoots, wooden tops, etc.) and gardens. There is no running water or electricity on the farm and it is staffed by people dressed in the garb of the time period, working as if they were living in 1880. It was such a neat learning experience. They smoke all the meat and can their own foods. I'm not sure who eats this food, but it's neat to see! Andy would have loved it and I'm sure we'll go back when Levi is older and he'll appreciate it more. Here are a ton of pictures from this day.

As we were heading back to the cars we passed by a "farmer" who was building a fence - by hand. He was pre-drilling holes in the planks and then would install the planks with nails. The kids all got to help drill a hole with a hand-crank drill. Levi watched the other kids do it and then had to try himself. When Carrie held him so he could try himself he wouldn't look at what he was doing!

Our trip to PA

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. Andy went to Colorado with the men from church and Levi and I went to visit my parents and grandma in PA the first week in August. The first visit on our trip to PA was to see my friends Britany and Amie from high school. This picture is Levi and I with Amie's daughter Jordan. She is about 5 months old now and is built just like Levi was at that age :) Levi had fun playing, especially with Dave, Amie's husband.

The next picture is at Grandma Elsie's house. Levi had a great time

entertaining himself in her house - she has lots of open space which is not what he's used to in our tiny house!

When we were at Grandma's, Dad went horseback riding twice. I took Levi to see the horse up close and personal. He didn't love it...

We also got to spend time with my friend Meg and her kids, Julia and Tommy. Levi had fun playing with new friends at a park we found.

The group shot is right before we left to come back to western PA - it's fun to get generational family pictures. I'm not sure why he had his shirt off in the picture to the right, but this is how Levi has been recently. He'll be playing and then all of a sudden will run up to Andy or I and say "hi!" and give us big hugs. It's sweet!

The last day we were in western PA my mom had all of her siblings over for a get together. My aunt and uncle had been in Australia for about 18 months and hadn't met Levi yet. We had a great time catching up with everyone! Now that all the cousins are so spread out my guess is the next time this many of us will be together is at my cousin Katie's wedding in May of '09. Here is a picture of the cousins that were there.

State Fair

Today Andy and I took Levi to the State Fair for the first time. He was excellent! He loved looking at all the animals and people watching. Did you know that a horse says "woof!" That's what our little guy thinks he says :) Here are some cute pictures of Levi and Daddy looking at 2 day old chicks.

This one is of Levi pointing to the model train set - very exciting!!

Mommy and Levi had fun sitting in the "bobcat" - he's on his way to becoming a construction manager!

Watching all the rides was mezmerizing! He just stood there for almost a minute. And if you know Levi, he doesn't just stand there!

When we saw the big vegetable sign where you could take your pictures Levi ran over to it screaming "veggies!!" We had to get some pictures.

This video was taken right before we left for the fair. Levi was working on saying his words. He really is talking a lot more than he used to - even recently. At the fair we were looking at the Clydesdale horses and he said "horse" without repeating one of us saying it first. That's a first for that word!

Cooking, the Zoo, the Park and more Movies!

Wednesday I spent, what felt like, all afternoon in the kitchen. I was making homemade bread (with the bread maker) and tomato, basil and squash soup. Levi wanted to help cook...
Yesterday, Thursday, I took Levi to the zoo and we met up with Aunt Kristen, Conner, Audrey and Kristen's mom, Kate. We had a great time seeing all the animals. Levi especially loved riding on the "cho-cho" train. He also really liked the flamingos - "birdies" are always fun! Here are some cute pictures.

Today, Levi and I met my friend Karen and her daughter at Selby park for a bit and Levi had a great time going down the slides and climbing on everything. He has learned how to climb a ladder (with some spotting - not help - of course). No more can Andy work on the roof and assume that Levi will stay on the ground!

Here is another dancing video we took last week. It's just so much fun to capture his artistic expression on camera!

And just to prove he does play like a boy - here's a video of him working in the yard.

Fun days

We've had fun these past couple of days! This weekend Andy, Levi and I went to the Columbus Zoo. It was the first time all three of us have been there together. We got rained out after about an hour so I only got one picture, but we had fun nonetheless. We had to take a picture near the orangutans because Andy's mom used to tell him he looked like one. I think it was the hair color :)

Sunday we had a family rollerblading trip to Antrium Park in the afternoon - I was exhausted but it was good exercise.

Monday Levi got another haircut. Last time he had a haircut Andy cut it, but it didn't grow out that well. So I took him to my friend Donna at Cookie Cutters and she did a much better job than we did. Here is a cute picture of Levi and Alex standing on his chair looking out the living room window. You can sort of tell that his hair is shorter.

Tuesday Levi and I went to Easton to get a few things (I got glasses at Crate & Barrel for $0.95 each!). After a little shopping Levi got to play in the fountains. I forgot the camera, but he had a blast!

Wednesday the little man was down with a fever. He was fine in the morning, then woke up from his nap feeling warm. We spent most of the rest of the day sitting on the couch in the living room. He took four naps total that day! His fever was gone by 11:30pm and he's been fine since. Why do I know? Because that was when he woke up screaming! Once he fell asleep he stayed asleep until 6:10 this morning - which was a first here recently.

Today, Thursday since he was feeling fine, we decided to go on the MOPS play date to the bunny fountains in Dublin. Levi had a great time playing with his bucket and running through the water. Then tonight we went to the driving range with Andy and Levi practiced his putting - using the little flag on the kids putting green area :) Here are some fun pictures of Levi at the fountains today.

Pictures

I forgot the camera when we went to the pool yesterday but here are some cute pictures from the past few days...

Playing with his train - cho cho's are a favorite but Elmo is his very favorite!

He also likes to help sweep the floor, sometimes we fight over who gets to use the broom :) This last one was 10 minutes ago - he wanted me to take his picture - happy boy!

I have the best husband ever!

He fixed the air conditioning!! After spending about 15 minutes examining the coil and wiring in the basement Andy decided to change the fuse and low and behold our 33 year old air conditioner is working again!! Yippee! He just saved us tons of money! Now we are sure, at some point, it is going to break - but not right now!!

Levi and I had a fun day yesterday. After Alex left we both had naps and then we went swimming! We went to Tuttle Pool - which is part of the Parks & Recreation department in Columbus. The pools are free this summer! All you have to get is a card from a rec center which cost $1. This pool is awesome! I was definitely expecting it to be more crowded than it was - but it wasn't bad at all. There is a baby pool, a few fountains, and a mushroom. In part of the big pool it's only 1' 7" so Levi can go in there also. He loved playing in the fountains, running through the shower where you wash yourself off and playing in the water. He learned how to jump into the pool from the side. You have to be ready to catch him because he will just stand there on the edge and then jump off with both feet. He went under a few times accidentally but he'd just pop back up, cough a little and be ready to play more. He sure is a brave little boy. The only way I could get him out of the water - after about an hour and a half of being there - was to bribe him with snacks so I'll be bringing lots of those when we go again :)

When we came home from the pool we made dinner, entirely on the grill - thanks to the side burner - and Levi and I picked up sticks in the yard. Since we thought the air wasn't working I didn't want to use the stove in the house. Andy separated the fish that he caught on his fishing trip at Lake Erie and got it ready for freezing. He brought home about 7 lbs of walleye so we added that to our free range beef in the deep freezer and I won't be buying any meat for a while. (We bought a quarter of a cow from Brown County, OH back in May) Now if we can just find some bulk quantity of chicken I won't need to buy meat for a year at the store!

In other news, Levi is still having trouble with bedtime. Last night we tried to put him down around 9 and he was finally asleep - beside Daddy in the twin bed at 10:40. But he went down easily for his nap today so maybe tonight will be better? He did wake up at 6:20 this morning - although I was lazy and brought him in with us and he slept 'till 7:50. We are going to try to play a little bit after we eat dinner because eating dinner and then starting the bath/bed routine right away doesn't seem to be working.

Sleeping...

Levi has been having trouble going to sleep this week. Every night we either had to rock him or lay down with him to get him to fall asleep. And he finally would - by 10pm! Keep in mind his bedtime is normally around 8:30. We do our normal routine - bath, stories, bible story, prayer, bed - and recently he cries for less than five minutes and is out. Not this week! He screams and screams, upwards of 30 minutes! Poor, stubborn little boy... Last night he finally fell asleep with Andy around 10:30 then was up again at 3:40. I lay down with him, tried to put him back in his crib around 5 and then he screamed some more! So I brought him in our bed and he rolled and tossed and sat up and lay down until 6am when he finally zonked out. Of course, that is when Andy's alarm went off. I woke him up at 7am (to try and get him to go down earlier tonight) and he was none too happy about it. We had an okay day considering he only napped, in his highchair mind you, for about 45 minutes!!

We had an early dinner tonight because Andy is on Lake Erie on a fishing trip with some contractors, people from Turner and one of his co-workers. After dinner I decided to take Levi to the big meadow area one street south of us and chase Levi around for awhile. We did lots of racing between trees, picking up sticks and tickling trying to wear him down so he'd sleep tonight. Who needs a big back yard when there is a HUGE grassy area so close? I think we'll be playing there more often. Anyway, it must have worked because after his bath, and lots of crying because he wanted to stand on the toilet seat and dump water from a cup into the tub (not going to happen!) he fell asleep while I was praying around 7:40. I haven't heard a peep yet and hopefully it'll stay that way until around 7am.

Other than trying to get this sleep thing under control we are doing well. He is talking so much more now - apple juice, birdies and rabbit are a few newer words he uses in context. He loves playing outside in the garage. Who knew the poles to crank up the car jack would be so exciting? Thankfully out backyard is shaded most of the time since our air conditioner broke last night! Anyone have an extra condenser or heat pump lying around? It doesn't look like it's supposed to be too humid tomorrow so we should be fine. I can deal with heat - just not sticky humidity. I'm planning to go to Easton tomorrow to play in the fountains and try and stay cool. I'm going to bring the camera so hopefully I'll have some cute shots to post :)

Playing with the ball

Today was a fun filled day playing with Levi's friends Paul and Alex - two boys who I watch occasionally. While Paul was taking his afternoon nap Levi and I rearranged the living room. What else would we do on a hot day when I refused to turn on the air conditioning? While I rearranged, Levi pulled all the tape out of an old cassette tape he found. It wasn't anything important and I figured he do that so it was fine. It did keep him entertained for quite some time!

Just to show that our son does more than dance here is a video I took tonight of Levi playing ball with Andy :)

Here is a family picture of the three of us that was taken this weekend at Andy's co-worker's wedding.

I learned how to add pictures and video!!

This weekend we were in Cincinnati and I learned from my sister-in-law how to add pictures and video to this blog!! This was the whole reason switched from the website to the blog. Yeah!!

I took this video a few weeks ago... I was making dinner and Levi had turned on the TV in the living room - something he's not really supposed to do. So when I went in to ask him to turn it off I realized I was viewing a dance performance and I just had to get it on video :)

We had an exciting 4th of July weekend - Andy and I went to the Thursday night service at the North American Christian Convention in Cinci, visited with the Fouss family (including Levi's cousins, Conner and Audrey), went to to a picnic with church friends, saw fireworks, went to a wedding in Springfield and then saw more fireworks! Levi loved the fireworks - his mouth just hangs open and he claps when they are done. It's really cute!!

It was great to see Levi play with his cousins on Friday. Audrey wasn't feeling too well, but he and Conner got to "play" together. Well play as much as a 19 month and a 4 year old will play together. We did notice that Audrey, who is two months younger than Levi is just a tiny bit taller than he is :( I'm thinking that he may have gotten his grandparent's height. No grandparent is taller than 5'6". Hopefully he'll hit a growth spurt at some point in his life!!

Today was a fun day of church, cleaning out the garage and going for a walk. Levi fell asleep on our walk and unfortunately woke up when we tried to get him ready for bed. This would be the reason that he is sitting next to me playing with one of his musical toys and dancing...No more falling asleep in the stroller I guess!

I'm going to try to keep this updated more often than I did with Levi's website so check back often!

I've joined the blogging world!

So I've heard that blogging is easier than updating Levi's webpage - so we'll go for easy!

Levi is getting bigger each day. Today at church Andy was holding him and for the first time his face looked like a little boy to me rather than a baby! Perhaps he's beginning to loose some of his chubby cheeks? Probably not, but some day I hope. When he runs his cheeks bouce - it's so cute!

He is talking a lot now - only about 10 or so words are understandable but he just looks at you and has a complete conversation. He is trying to repeat a lot of what we say - especially if he wants it and it is food!

He is really enjoying playing outside now. Tonight I was watering the garden and he was playing in the mud - such a boy :)