That's right, Levi turned 18 months old today. I cannot believe that my little baby is a big toddler and 1.5 years old! Although I am already pregnant again, it feels like I was just pregnant with him waiting for my dream of being a mom to come true! And although it isn't always easy and it's often a lot of work and a test of patience, being Levi's momma has been a dream. This is what I was meant to do! He adds so much meaning, joy, fun and love to my life and I am so thankful to God for giving him to us! Philip and I both can hardly remember our lives without him and just love him so much!
Here's what's new with our little man since his last growth update:
weight; 27 lbs 4 oz (50%)
height; 34.25in (95%)
head circumference; 49.6cm (90%)
Favorite Activities:
-"reading" books or being read to
-playing with his noise makers/musical instruments
-dancing (danst) to music
-singing to himself, or being sung to
-bath time, he especially likes his squirt toys and to say he is "swimint" in the bath by laying on his belly and floating in the tub
-playing with Penny
-watching "street" (Sesame Street) and especially "melmo" (Elmo)...we didn't watch any tv until he was 15 months, but being preggo and chasing him around I just needed the downtime...we set the DVR for street and it's been a big help (and Levi thinks its super fun too)
-playing outside/going to the "part" (park)
-getting rides (on Philip's back - rarely mine, or in the laundry basket)
-"i go drive car" either his own toy car or standing in one of the real cars with it off and turning the wheel
-waving or flirting with strangers (some people love this, others give a blank/annoyed face)
New Developments:
-getting much better with his fork and spoon, but still prefers his hands
-uses "sentences" a lot...such as this morning he saw some doves in our yard and exclaimed "bird up sky!"
-becoming very aware of cause and effect and how things go together in our world (tries to take things apart and put them back together, turns on all the radios in our house for "musit" by himself etc)
-has a increasing ability to remember things and associate things (he says the names of his church friends as we drive up to church, says the words on the pages of some books by memory etc)
-can jump well off both feet
-can do a forward roll (it's often crooked)
-takes one nap, usually 1-2 hours and sleeps about 12 hours at night...goes down totally awake and we will be making the move to the "big boy" twin bed in his room with in the next 2 months (fingers crossed)
-climbs like a little monkey (made it all the way up the ladder at the park alone...I guess he takes after momma! eek!)
-takes very well to encouragement to "help" and will help better if you make it into a song :) (ex likes to throw away trash, and clean up his toys to the clean up song)
-he is very interested in "counting" things and can sometimes count to 4...he will also often just say "evin, eight, nie, en!" (7,8,9,10) at random times
-he is starting to show an interest in colors as well and can often identify orange, red and pink.
Things He Dislikes:
-getting his diaper changed (but this is getting better little by little)-having to be still
-his food being "too hot" which is anything over room temp...rrrr-that's all...luckily he is still a pretty agreeable and happy guy and has few dislikes!
In addition to having a 1 and 1/2 year old (still a little shocking!) I hit the big, all important 24 week mark on Friday and our newest little guy is now "viable" to use a term we use at work! This is very exciting for me and I remember feeling relief with Levi's pregnancy and again this time knowing that my baby has a chance at life even if he makes an early arrival...of course he needs to stay in at least 14 more weeks if you ask me :) We are still at a loss for a name, but do have a list of about 15 names that we "kinda" like. I will let you know when we decide. Well, here I am in all my pregnant glory...ha!
I also want to say thank you for everyone who has been praying for my family these last few months/weeks. Dustin was able to go home yesterday!! Yipee! And is doing much better and we have hopes to figure out some way to manage this messed up crazy pancreas of his with more preventative things like diet etc. Carol is doing well and has made it through the first 4 days since her bone marrow transplant. She had a white blood cell count of 0 for the last 2 days which makes her a high risk patient, so Levi cannot visit, but Philip and I were able to make a short visit yesterday and she is going well considering. This next 1-2 weeks will be critical in her road to making her own new healthy and functioning bone marrow. Please continue to pray for her, and especially for her to have strength and peace as she is feeling a little scare (understandably). Thank you Thank you everyone for the kind text messages, phone calls, e-mails and cards in the mail. We (especially Philip) appreciate everything! Our church family has been amazing, we have received countless notes, calls and messages from people we barely know and some have even made the trip to Dallas to visit and pray with Carol. We love our Legacy friends! I'll close with a pic of Carol and Levi from a week ago.
