Kissies

My friend, Carrie, came for a quick visit today, before we headed to a baby shower for another friend of ours. She loved Levi's version of blowing kissies. I told her I had been trying to get it on video but that Levi would always try to get the camera before I could capture it. She actually got one on her camera. But, thanks to Levi's quick thumbs, he deleted it off her camera. I was determined tonight to get it, so here it is: Levi's kissies just for you!!

Open House

Tonight was Levi's first Open House. He begins a Mother's Day Out program at our church on Tuesdays and Thursdays next week. There will be nine other little ones in his class, several of them from his Sunday school class. Levi will be one of the younger ones, but all of the kids have to be one by September 1 and no older than 18 months. He will have two teachers, Ms. Jean and Ms. Angela. Levi and I only met one of them tonight. He did not want to go to Ms. Jean when we first got there, but he finally left my side once he saw all the toys and all the other kids playing. I think he will have a good time; it will be good for him to interact with some other kids for a few hours every week; and it will give his grandmother, granddaddy, and great aunt a break. However, I must be honest, I would still rather not have Levi anywhere but home... with me.

I did get my wish one day this week. I was really sick on Monday and went to an urgent care place that night. I didn't even try to go to work Tuesday, though I felt much better when I woke up. Levi and I had a VERY fun day together. I love being at home with him. Is it bad that I'd rather be sick than go to work?

Levi's growing up fast. He's still working on those two teeth on the outside of his two front top teeth. While he still prefers crawling, he walked about 30 steps for me on Tuesday. He is continuing to get more and more comfortable on his own two feet.

Praying for Their Footsteps

Sorry for the delay in posting this...

Father, I pray that Levi will know the fear of the LORD, because it is the beginning of knowledge. Teach Levi wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding.

Proverbs 1:7 and 2

Father, give to Levi a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of You. I pray that the eyes of Levi's heart will be enlightened, so that he will know what is the hope of Your calling, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance, and what is the surpassing greatness of Your power toward us who believe.

Ephesians 1:17-19

Soccer Sunday

After church, lunch out, and a trip around the mall, Levi and I watched Kevin play soccer. Well, we actually walked around, met a couple of dogs, met a couple of other ladies watching their spouses, and ate a snack. Levi may have caught a few glimpses of his daddy on the field, but he loved half time and a few minutes during the second half when Kevin visited with us under the tarp.

Verdict?

Write it down, he's walking! While he is still not a pro, especially because he hasn't mastered standing up by himself without pulling up, he's walking several steps by himself!

Walking??

This week Levi has supposedly taken at least nine steps unassisted. Well, unassisted may be a bit of a stretch. As long as you are holding a finger on him - even his back, he is comfortable enough to take those steps. Without a finger on him, no walking.

Playing in the Garage

Here is a glimpse of how Levi and I spend at least part of almost every evening. At the end of the clip, Levi sees our neighbor across the street.

I think he's played with the beach toys more in our garage than he did at the beach!

Oatmeal

I am trying to instill a certain amount of independence and confidence in Levi by letting him feed himself as much as possible. So, I tried a very messy breakfast. Why I thought this would be a good idea, I'm not sure, but I made Levi oatmeal and attempted to roll it into little balls through wheat germ. Weird, I know, but Levi seemed to like it.

13 Months

Levi is 13 months old today. He is such a character. He will wave to people from afar, but he loves to act shy when he first meets them. Levi loves fans, remote controls, computers, turning on and off lights, cameras, being outside, and eating. He loves the camera so much that he usually won't be still long enough for me to take a picture. He sees the camera and wants to see the back of it to see his picture. Most of the time, when he's ready for a nap, he likes to find a book and climb up in your lap for you to read it to him. He hates to hear the word, "NO!" When we say the word to stop him from doing something he shouldn't, his usual reaction (when the word is said forcibly) is to cry. And I'm not talking a little whimper; I'm talking boo-hoo's. It is so sad. We'll pick him up and comfort him and try to explain to him why we said, "NO!", but it usually takes him a while to settle down enough for us to be heard. So, I'm not so sure that our explanation means that much once he can finally hear it. His comfort is having us hold him and not hearing the explanation.

He still loves taking a bath. Last night, he discovered that his basketball from his "bathketball" set can make a funny noise against his belly. When I made the noise on his belly, he thought it was so funny. Tonight, he wanted me to do it "more", but I didn't have my camera until after a few iterations. Once we got the camera, his reaction had tapered down a little bit, but it was still pretty funny.

Praying for Their Footsteps

Thank You, Father, for Levi. You know him inside and out, because You formed him (Psalm 139:13). Levi is Your workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). Open Levi's heart and mind at a young age to know Your gift of salvation, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Lord, prepare Levi's mind for action, keep him sober in spirit, fix his hope completely on the grace to be brought to him at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

Another Week

I feel like I'm still playing catch up to a certain extent from our week away from home so blogging did not make it very high on my list of things to do once Levi was in bed last week. I also didn't take many pictures. Levi and I have been playing hard after I get home from work. He's keeping me busy - and I love every minute of it! Levi loves to be outside, so we spend a while out front usually every evening. Whenever Levi hears a car or truck turn down our street, he looks up and starts waving, "Hello!" It is fun for me to watch him and watch the people's reactions. A big smile usually lights their faces. Some of them look like his little smile just made their day!!

Levi is still not walking. (Any suggestions?) His crawling is just still very efficient for him, and he doesn't seem to mind holding our hands or using his push-walker when he wants to move on just two feet.

On Saturday, I made blueberry pancakes. Levi LOVED them - but then again Kevin and I haven't found much that Levi doesn't like when it comes to food!

Before I went to sleep last night, I made some more pancakes for Levi's breakfasts this week - strawberry, peach, blueberry, and a blueberry-strawberry combo. Kevin said that Levi "ate the fool out of the pancakes" again this morning.

On Saturday, Kevin bought my belated birthday gift - a blender and the cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. Now, as I said before, Levi hasn't met many foods that he doesn't like, but there are some things that I can't seem to get the right texture for him - like zucchini, yellow squash, and different types of meat. He still only has the four teeth, so he's limited on chewing. I thought the cookbook might give me some good hints on still getting a variety of veggies in him without him having to "chew". I made some of the purees yesterday afternoon, and Levi loved playing with the ends of the yellow squash and zucchini.

Tonight was my first experiment with the new cookbook - and Levi's first taste of macaroni and cheese. I think this may have also been my first real go at homemade mac and cheese.

More!!

Can you see the "leftovers" all over his face? He loved it!


Praying for Their Footsteps will be posted tomorrow.

What a Week!

A quick recap from last week, along with a few pictures.

Saturday, July 25: Garrett's first birthday party. Garrett's mom is a friend of mine from work.

After the party, Levi and I headed to Birmingham to spend most of the week at my sister's house. I had training at the corporate office Tuesday through Thursday.

Sunday, July 26: Levi, Aunt Chery, Uncle Chris, and I met Aunt Audry at Audry's church. Levi went to the nursery, where his "teacher" told me what an incredible arm Levi has and that he thinks I've got a ball player on my hands! Mama K and Q came that afternoon to spend some extra time with Levi.

Monday, July 27: In the morning, Levi and I visited my bf from college, Jamie, and her two kids. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. It was really fun to watch our kids interact. I miss Jamie so much!

That afternoon, Levi, his aunts, and I made the trip to visit our Mama Rains. Levi fell asleep on the way to visit her, but he was very alert and ready to show off once we got there. We had such a wonderful visit!

Tuesday through Thursday, I was in class, and Aunt Audry took care of Levi. Aunt Chery took a half a day off, too, to spend some extra time with the little man. Here are a couple of pictures from the week to show Levi with his uncle Chris and aunt Chery.

Thursday, July 30: Kevin surprised us and met us at Chery's. Levi, Audry, Kevin, and I headed to Mama K and Q's.

Friday, July 31: We had dinner with Levi's great aunt Kathy and great uncle Wayne. My cousin Collier stopped by, too, before he went to hang with his friends. Unfortunately, no pictures from that visit...

Saturday, August 1: Levi got fixed up - we went shopping for a pair of shoes. We went into the Stride Rite store with a barefoot baby, and he crawled out with a new pair of shoes. We got him to walk out of the mall on his new shoes, and he loved them. I'll show a picture of them later.

Levi visited with his great uncle Wes and great aunt Joy (no pictures again - so sorry!!). Great-Grandmother also came for a visit. Levi actually sat still for her while she read him a couple of books. GGG is apparently a wonderful storyteller.