party like it's cinco de mayo

My baby is one year old!  Wow, that is just crazy!  We had a party on the 4th, since the 5th was a Sunday this year.  Since we love all things Mexican here, of course we had a Cinco de Mayo themed party.  :)  Grandparents, and a bunch of aunts, uncles, and cousins came, and it was a good time!  The weather was beautiful, so we were able to be outside for a majority of the time.

Mike REALLY wanted a pinata, so we did that even though it's just crazy with a bunch of kids, and it's surprising no one got injured.  :)  (When I went shopping for bday stuff last week he said to get a pinata only if it was $10 or less.  They were all $15 or more, so I didn't get one.  Of course, a couple nights later when he went out with the big boys for some stuff he came home with a pinata because he just had to have one.)

We are blessed with generous family and Levi got some cool new toys - that his big brothers are having lots of fun playing with...  :)  Levi likes them, too!

Levi did a great job eating his cake!  He dug right in and really enjoyed it.  Made a mess, but I opted for white cake and white frosting so clean-up would be a little easier...  :)  He wasn't really into opening his presents, but that's okay, big brother's were MORE than willing to help.

I'm feeling so blessed to have three healthy little boys!  Many times I want to pull my hair out, but it's still great.  :)

Levi and Mike

 A happy birthday boy!

 brothers

 great grandma's and grandma

 Levi checks out his pinata

 Uncle Harold finishes off the pinata

 digging in

Our fam!

uh-oh

Levi started saying "uh-oh" last night!  And, actually using it properly part of the time.  :)  He was playing with stacking cups in his high chair, dropped one, and said, "uh-oh".  He did this a couple times.  I think he kept saying it extra because he saw how much I liked it.

talk

Levi is definitely a very vocal member of our family!  He's loud and makes sure he's heard.  :)  I remember being in the hospital with him after he was born and when he was in the nursery, even though my room was way down the hall, I knew when he was crying!

He's getting better at saying "mama" and "dada".  He gets very excited when Mike gets home from work and says, "da-da-da".  :)  Also, last night I was gone running errands, and Mike said Levi was looking around saying, "mama".

Within the last week or so there have been an increasing number of squabbles between the big boys and Levi.  It's either pertaining to a toy or the boys are keeping Levi from doing something he wants to do. Levi gets a hold of a toy he wants and gets a VERY firm grip on it - of course he usually has a toy that the boys don't want him to have and when they try to take it away he gets MAD (same response when I try to take something away at bedtime).  He also loves to play with doors, and if one of the boys gets in the way he gets very upset.  For those of you who saw my comment on Facebook the other day, this would be why I think I need a referee shirt and whistle - I can only imagine it will come in handy for many years to come!  :)

Yesterday was a near perfect day outside - the only thing missing was my honey.  All the boys played nice outside and it was lovely.  It is AMAZING what some sunshine and warmer temps will do for your outlook!  Anyways, in the few seconds that one of my boys actually sat still and came to sit on the blanket with me, I asked Logan what he wanted to be when he grows up - I wasn't sure if he would even have an answer, but without hesitation he said, "A daddy and a deacon!"  :)

fast!

Guess what I was doing one year ago!  Trying to have a baby....BUT he didn't want to come, so we got sent home from the hospital the next morning and had to wait another week.  Time seemed to move pretty slow at that point - I was rather large (to put it nicely) and incredibly uncomfortable - but now the year since Levi was born has gone much faster.  It's actually kind of a blur...  :)

formula

I *hope* I bought our last container of formula last night...  Levi has done so well on it, but yikes, it's not cheap!  Hoping the transition to milk goes well - after not giving him any dairy for awhile, I have just lately let him have some cheese and it seems to be okay.

What crazy weather we have been having!  Rain, rain, and more rain.  Lots of flooding in the area.  And, now it's snowing out!

Last Saturday I had another 5k race.  This was an all women's race in Grand Rapids.  It was chilly and there was some snow falling then, too, but really that's worse for the spectators.  :)  I had to be there fairly early in the morning and it was cold, so Mike just stayed home with the kids.  Kind of a bummer to go to a race all alone, but it was for the best - it would have been miserable with the kids!

Also got to see my big sis and my niece last weekend!  They make the trip out each spring with their church for a big quiz competition with other churches.  It's a quick trip, but nice to see them.

I had a nice birthday.  It was actually a decent day weather-wise, so I took the boys out for some fun.  We went to the dollar store where they each got to pick out a toy (well, not Levi, poor guy), and then we walked over to the grocery store to get donuts and it was nice enough to sit outside to eat them!  (Levi didn't get to pick out his own donut, but I DID share mine with him.)  In the evening we had dinner with the other families that we just took our parenting class with - it was kids included and that was pretty interesting.  :)

Some sort of sickness has invaded us here again.  Caleb has been sniffly/sneezy/coughing the last couple days, and I feel like I'm headed down that path.  :(

11

Levi hit the 11 month milestone while Mike and I were gone!  REALLY hard to believe.  The last year has been a bit of a blur...  I just love watching all the development that happens - the changes that occur in the first year are just amazing.

Levi has 5 teeth, with the 6th very close to peeking out.  He won't do the sign for "more" - he'll grab my hands and do it, but not do it on his own, so I'm pretty sure it's a "won't", not a "can't".  :)  He's great at cruising around and walking while pushing something - his walker, his music table, a chair (you should see how my dining room gets rearranged...).  But, he hasn't walked on his own yet and he doesn't stand without hanging on to something.  I don't really encourage the walking, but I guess it doesn't make much of a difference, he's quite fast crawling and can still get into plenty of trouble!

Levi loves to see what is going on, and doesn't sit still much.  When he finishes his bottle, he twists around and gets off my lap instantly.  I could use an extra hand or two when changing his diaper - his wigglyness combined with trying to turn and see what the other boys are doing makes it quite a challenge.

Levi isn't saying any real words, but he's definitely very vocal (um, hello, that's a necessity to survive in this family!), and I have so much fun interacting with him!  He'll make a noise, I'll copy it, and he'll say it again and we'll keep going back and forth.  It is getting to the point where sometimes he screams and it sounds like one of the other boys...I'll be in another room, hear a screech, start to holler at the boys not to scream in the house, only to then realize it was Levi!  Another one in the mix, oh my!

I am very curious to see how all three boys interact as they get older.  From the time Levi was only a few months old and Caleb was making him laugh I had visions of them getting into trouble together.  A week or two ago when we actually had some slightly decent weather I had Levi in the swing outside and he LOVED it.  When Caleb was pushing him he was laughing and laughing, but then when Logan pushed him he got quiet.  Hmmmm...

Levi loves watching Sadie outside, and he also likes to wave at Mike when he gets home from work.  I CAN'T WAIT for the weather to get nicer so we can be outside more!  It's going to be a challenge for sure with Levi at this stage, but I'm getting pretty sick of being cooped up in the house.  We went to the library today for the second time (went for the first time last week), and it's actually pretty manageable now.  Caleb and Logan can be quiet enough, and they have fun looking at books, and there are puzzles and things Levi can play with.

trip

Here are the boys all dressed up for Easter...  No time for a pic before church, and after church everyone's a little disheveled, and Levi's tired and cranky and ready for a nap!

We had dinner with some of Mike's family at the VanBeek's.  Nice time with family, and the kids had a little egg hunt.  It was nice that there were separate hunts for the babies and big kids.  :)  Levi did pretty good!  Mike and I were fairly impressed that he kinda sorta had the hang of it.  

Last Tuesday night Mike and I were able to go on a date!  Pretty inexpensive one, too.  :)  Our babysitter is working off some of what she owes for me doing her engagement photos, we won a gift certificate to Carrabba's at our parenting class that we just finished, and we still have movie tickets to use that our babysitter gave us at Christmas.  It was fun and I especially enjoyed sitting in the middle of Mike's new truck (something I haven't been able to do since he bought the Dodge when we were dating...).  :)

Thursday evening Mike and I headed out on an adventure!  We dropped the kids off at VanBeek's, and my mom brought us to the airport.  We flew down to Florida, got in late, spent the night with Mike's grandparents, had breakfast and a little time to visit with them in the morning, then headed over to Lakeland to get my grandma's dog and van.  We picked up the dog from the ladies that were watching her over the past week while my grandma was already back in Michigan - oh my.  Sweet, sweet ladies, but they were something else!  So anyways, Friday afternoon we started making the trek back to Michigan.  Drove a few hours that day, almost 12 hours on Saturday, and then a few hours Sunday morning.  Not exactly a relaxing vacation, but it was nice to have time together without the kids, and we really didn't mind the dog either.

We enjoyed eating at Chick-fil-A a few times.

Our BRIGHT blue rental car - the pic doesn't do it justice.