Handsome Boys & Happy Birthday Steven

Dylan and Levi have been keeping us busy. The boys and I spent a cold weekend with my parents at the lake house while Steven was out of town for work. It was so cold I only ventured out once for about 20 minutes with Dylan - it was 37 degrees for the high. The boys both slept well there, which was nice for a change! My mom cooked my favorite - homemade fried chicken and both my parents helped a lot with the boys.

Dylan has been enjoying school, playing trains, cars and dinosaurs. His new favorite TV show is Max and Ruby. He is quite bossy these days but I think he may come by that honestly! Levi has been playing more with toys and starting to teeth. He really enjoys watching his wild big brother and laughs out loud at him often. My baby is growing up too fast.

Last weekend Steven and I made it out Saturday night to celebrate his birthday and then we celebrated as a family on Monday. Dylan loves birthdays and insisted we get balloons, presents and cupcakes! He was also the first to wish his dad a happy birthday and I think told him happy birthday at least 50 times. Birthdays are a lot more exciting when you have little ones.

Below are pictures of my handsome boys - how did I get so lucky?

Zoo Trip

We spent yesterday at the Houston Zoo. A big thanks to Papa Lee and Stephanie for joining us and helping with the boys. We all had a wonderful time (especially Dylan)! Below are some pictures from our big day. We saw almost the whole zoo and rode the train.

Levi is 4 months & January news and pics

On January 19th I took Levi for his 4 month check-up. His stats are below. I knew he was a big boy! The doctor said I could stop feeding him at night and let him cry. Anyone who knows me knows I have a hard time with this but I think I may try with Levi since Dylan still does not sleep. I have since attempted but can not handle the crying and feed him 3 times in the night! I think I will get tired enough to be tougher but we will see.

Height: 25.75 inches 75-90%
Weight: 16 lbs, 11 oz 75-90%
Head: 17.25 inches 90%

At 4 months Levi seems very content except for some occasional digestive upsets. He likes to play in his jungle (floor mat), enjoys watching his wild big brother and loves baths. He smiles, makes a lot of baby talking noises and laughs out loud. He had previously rolled over but has taken a break from that for awhile. He seems to like riding in the car and stares out the window most of the time. We are going to work on his sleeping but other than that he is a very sweet, easy going little man.

In other family news, Dylan has been sleeping awful at night so we are now limiting his naps during the day to 60-75 minutes. This has helped a little so far but means I do not get a break during the day. Dylan , Levi and I have been spending more time in our backyard enjoying the sunshine and pleasant weather. We also spent a nice family weekend at the ranch with my sisters family and my parents. We are still cleaning out there but it is nice to get out of town and Dylan loves the ranch. He loves playing with his cousins, jeep rides and of course the moo cows. We are off to the zoo tomorrow so stay tuned for zoo pics!

Dylan at school

Another mother emailed me this picture of Dylan and her son AJ. She said this is how she found our boys when she went to pick AJ up. She said they were having so much fun that AJ did not want to go home. I thought it was too cute. Dylan loves to point at animals, etc. in books and ask you what they are. He knows what they are and likes to be the teacher.

Levi Rolls Over

This morning Dylan was at school so I had Levi laying next to me in bed laying on his stomach. I am always afraid I do not do enough tummy time with him. To my surprise he rolled from his stomach to his back. I thought the fist time may have been an accident so I rolled him back to his stomach but then he did it again. I immediatlely called Steven, my sister and my mom to share the news. Levi is quite a bit bigger than Dylan was so I was not expecting this so soon - but am very proud of him of course and you can tell he seems excited about it also (maybe just because I was so excited)!

Dylan did not want to be left out so now a few times a day he shows us that he can rollover also - too funny. He thinks it is a big accomplishement for him also. Too cute.

Happy New Year

A few days before New Years we packed up and headed to the ranch. My sister and her family joined us there. Dylan was super excited to see his cousins and the moo cows. We had a great time and the boys (Craig and Steven) also got a lot of work done there. They hauled two loads of junk to Giddings and even made $200! I did not drive by but the old furniture from the ranch is suppose to be for sale at an antique store on main street in Giddings - too funny. On New Years Eve we did not make it until midnight but before the kids went to bed we did shoot off the fireworks Uncle Brandon had given Layla. Layla ran in the house to watch, I was holding Dylan and he was shaking from the noise and then started crying. Later he wanted to do them again but he kept telling Steven he was scared. Dylan and River are starting to play really well together and enjoyed pushing their trucks back and forth and also just running around yelling! Steven was sad we did not drink champagne on New Years Eve so him and my sister drank it for breakfast! I was too tired to indulge.

Around the time we went to the ranch Levi has stopped sleeping good at night. He now wakes up about 5 times instead of 2! This has been a difficult adjustment for me and I am still trying to figure out how to make him sleep better. We came home on New Years Day because Steven's mom, Joe and Bryan were flying in. I made our traditional New Years dinner and we had a nice celebration with them. Dylan really enjoyed seeing Unlce Bryan again and even let Bryan read books to him before bed.

We are looking forward to 2010 and Steven and I made the resolution to move to a safer, more kid friendly neighborhood and bigger house this year! Yeah!

Christmas 2009

This was our first family Christmas at home. We had an unusual but happy Christmas Eve. Dylan and I started off the day making Christmas cookies for Santa. He enjoyed eating the dough and using the cookie cutters. Steven's dad and Stephanie joined us for church and dinner. We were late to church - no surprise - but a nice woman offered us seats since we both were holding little ones. The boys looked so handsome and were so well behaved. When we came home from church the power was out at our house and we could not heat us dinner, etc. for awhile. We lit candles and Dylan was running around with a flashlight saying that he could see in the dark. About an hour later the lights came on and we had a nice dinner and Christmas celebration with Lee and Stephanie. Dylan was of course so excited about finally getting to open presents and he loved the tractor they gave him. After we put the kids to bed Steven and I enjoyed playing Santa Claus for the 1st time and putting out the kids gifts for Christmas morning.

About 2am I was feeding Levi and heard a lot of sirens and it sounded as if a firetruck may have even been on our street. Steven was sleeping with Dylan so I went and looked our front and saw nothing and then out back and could see smoke and flames behind our house (at least a block over). I went and woke Steven up and he went to see what was going on. The fire was 2 blocks over - and later found out was arson. Scary and eventful Christmas monring.

Levi slept through most of Christmas morning but Dylan was so happy and excited. He loved opening presents and seeing what Santa had left for him and he really liked emptying out his stocking. We also made hot biscuits for breakfast - his favorite. It was so nice to be at home and I took at 2 hour nap with Dylan - merry Christmas to me. My parents joined us for dinner that evening and we had another lovely Christmas celebration. It was so nice to be at home and enjoy our two little ones.

Another favorite memory of mine this Christmas season was getting to enjoy Christmas cookies and peppermint ice cream with Dylan. These have always been my favorites and it was special to get to share it with him. We ate them for snacks most days and he would be just as excited about it as me and still asks for pink ice cream and christmas tree cookies.