Our weekend

We had a very busy weekend this past weekend. Levi and I went to Circle S Farms on Friday morning with MOPS friends. Levi got to see some animals, go through a hay bale maze, play in the hay in the "fun barn", go on a hayride and pick out a pumpkin! It was a very fun morning! Here are some cute pictures from the day.

The rest of the weekend was spent at church working on the Help Build Hope House build project that our church participated in this weekend. I got to be the project coordinator for this project and it was really fun to use my project management and construction skills to help people. We framed all the interior and exterior walls for the house on our church parking lot on Saturday. Here is a picture of what the house looks like standing up. After church on Sunday, the entire congregation prayed over the house and then we dismantled it and sent it to it's final resting place in Delaware where it will be a Habitat for Humanity house. The woman who will receive the home was able to come for lunch on Saturday and see everyone who worked on her home. It was such a neat experience. Overall we had over 130 people who helped in some way during the weekend. We framed and stood a three bedroom home in 2.5 hours!!

Here is a cute picture from two weeks ago when Levi and I went to visit my family in Louisville. This is Levi and Aunt Annie jammin' on her new piano.

This picture is from about a month ago when MOPS went to Blendon Woods - this really neat park in Westerville. This is Levi and Hannah - they like to hold hands when they are walking together. It is too cute!

This video is from last weekend - Andy was teaching Levi how to cheer for his favorite sports teams - sorry Mom!

House for Sale!

So we put our house up for sale today!! Andy and I have been working like crazy for the last few weeks to get our house ready to put on the market and we are finally here! We have an open house scheduled for this Sunday. Check out our mls listing http://cbrmls.columbusrealtors.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1920943713&s=CBR&t=CBR If you click on the picture of the house you can see 17 other pictures of the house - it's pretty cool! I'm not sure if it's live yet on realtor's websites but it should be no later than Friday.

We've also sold our green living room furniture and a dresser we had on craigslist so that's been a fun experience also. I put the ads up on Saturday and everything was gone today! It's been interesting trying to get everything ready but if we weren't crazy busy we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves! So if you know anyone who is looking for a really cute 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in north Columbus let us know!!

Here's a cute picture of Levi that Rachel, our selling realtor and my friend, took when she was taking pictures for the listing. He kept standing in front of her camera and smiling.

Some pictures

I was uploading some pictures of some things that we are going to try and sell on Craigslist and found some cute pictures on the camera. This first one is a picture of the Levi in the Mexican soccer uniform that Aunt Christy and Uncle Bruce brought back from one of their trips to visit Bruce's family.

This is from one day last month when I was watching my friend's son Matthew. Levi got a kick out of playing ball with him!
This is one evening when Andy was calling to say he was on his way home from work. Levi likes to talk to him on the phone. This last one is from today. Our friend Srini was helping Andy with some quick projects to get our house ready to put on the market and they were taking some furniture out to the garage. Levi really wanted to help carry the loveseat up from the basement but we had to satisfy him by letting him carry the couch cushion around the house. It was really funny to see since the cushion was bigger than he was. He could lift if off the ground and carry it really well though. He's really strong!

This video is from about a month ago at this point but it's another talking one. He's talking even more now :)

Visit to Louisville/Words/Moving

Levi and I went to see my sisters in Louisville this week. Christy and Bruce bought a new house in July and did a TON of work to it so we went to check it out. All three of us will be going down again the end of the month to show Andy the house (he had to work when Levi and I went). There house is over 100 years old and has these awesome 10 and 12 foot ceilings. It's great!

Levi is really starting to talk and wants us to have conversations with him - not just talk to hear himself talk. Some of his most frequently used phrases/words:

Where Daddy go? (the answer he'll give is "to work")

I don't wanna (I don't want to)

Mup (milk)

Arf (his stuffed dog)

He's started counting recently also - "one, two, one, one, one". We can't seem to get "three" out.

He's also very good at praying - we pray before each meal and any time he goes to sleep so at least five times a day. He's been saying "Dear Jesus" to start for a while and when we say "in Jesus name we pray" he yells "amen!" most times. Last week I started getting him to help with the actual prayer so I say "thank you for..." and he fills in the blank. Normally we get a Jesus, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy :) Sometime if I prompt for Grandma then he will say Annie and Bruce. Can't seem to get a Christy or any of the Fouss's without prompting yet but we'll be working on that one!

The other big thing that is going on with us is that Andy and I are planning to sell our house. After much deliberation on whether to rent or sell our current house we've decided to sell so we are madly working on fixing little things with the house and packing up a ton of stuff to make our little house look bigger. There are probably already 20 boxes in the garage and I'm not done yet! I'm sure that once we actually sell it and have to pack up the rest of the stuff I will be just throwing things in boxes without much organization. So far it's been fun though to actually look at all the stuff we have.

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!