Mommy Kayla

Kayla has such a tender heart and is so nurturing.  When Joshua gets hurt she will ask with such compassion,"okay?"  and offers to kiss where he got hurt.  When I told her Levi had to get shots before we went to his doctor appointment you could see the empathy in her face. 

She is such a little Mama at heart.  She just loves her baby dolls and is always carrying one around tending to its needs.  She feeds them (pretend solids and nurses), puts them to bed, changes their diapers, rocks them, ssshhh's them, pats them, pushes them in the stroller and so on.  This is what she does all day long and the best part is she really is so gentle with them treating them like real babies.

The other day she was sitting next to me while I was holding Levi.  She was holding her baby too and I realized that she was copying everything I did with Levi with her baby.  She was holding her baby the same way and when I repositioned Levi she did the same.  So cute!

Grandma and Grandpa Unsell in California sent Kayla this baby and to say she adores it is an understatement. 

 

 

Just look at those little eyes admiring her new baby.  Of course she played with her for the rest of the day and then had to sleep with her. 

 

The look on her face is priceless.  To her this is a real baby for her to care fore.  It reminds me of the look of love so many mothers have as their babies are being handed to them right after delivery.  Such a genuine look of love. 

 

You miss Kayla girl are such a compassionate person who loves to take care of others.  You are going to make a wonderful Mommy some day!

Levi's 9 Month update

Levi is 9 months old and it is almost impossible to get a still picture of him because he is always on the move....

 

 

There we go!!!

Here is his 9 month update...

Well Baby Stats:
Weight: 19 lbs 5 oz (50%)
Height: 28 inches (50%)
Head: 18 1/4 (85%)

*He is a pro army crawler.  Occasionally he gets up on his hands and knees and does a little rocking.

 

*He goes to bed around 6:15pm.  Wakes one time around 3-5:30am for a quick feeding and then goes back to sleep until about 7. 

* He is my little water baby.  He just loves hanging out in the pool.  He kicks and splashes and thinks it is so funny when water gets on his face. 

*He is sitting up unassisted. 

*He nurses 5 times in a 24 hour period, gets solids 3 times and most days he takes 3 naps a day.  The first two are about 1.5 hours and the last one is 45 minutes.  I think he is in the process of dropping the 3rd nap because every few days his second nap is 2.5 hours and then he wont take/need a 3rd. 

*I continue to hear over and over from other people that he is such a happy and content baby.

*He reaches out to people when he wants them to hold him. 

*HE goes down so easy for naps.  We sing him one song while he rests his head on our shoulder, then we lay him down and he falls asleep without any protest.  When he wakes up he is usually just as happy as can be and will play, talk and keep himself entertained (usually playing with his bumper) until we go get him.  We say often that it is so nice when you finally reach this stage where you know they will sleep without issues and wake up happy. 

*He is starting to eat some table foods.  I usually give him his food and then share some bites off of my plate which he loves.  He is also starting to feed himself some finger foods.  IT is pretty funny to watch because he looks at it like, "how do I get this in my mouth?"  Then he will reaches down and tries to eat it straight off his tray instead of using his hands.  There really isn't anything that he will not eat. 

 

*We are trying to teach hi how to sign more.  Right now he just thinks it is funny.

So happy...all the time!

Having a little fun "reorganizing" Joshua's train tracks while Joshua was at Omah and Papa's.

 

He was playing with my feet while hoping I'ddropp some of my snack.  

 

Mommy and her handsome baby boy!

 

Saying hi to Aspen.  When I put him on the floor he army crawled as fast as he could to go say hi to her. 

 

 

Munching on Mama's apple. 

Helping his sit up and ready to catch him if he falls. 

 

Loves from his big sis!

He just absolutely can not keep his pudgy little hands off of his bumper.  We tried taking it off because of this but his legs still get stuck.   At least he he waits until after he wakes up to pull it off. 

 

When did my baby grow up?

 

Our last MOPS meeting of the year.

 

Loving the swing! 

Helping big sister build tracks. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he are a bunch of the same pictures because I couldn't choose a favorite.  :)

 

Brothers!

 

 

 

Love this sweet boy sooooo much!

A Visit with Grandpa

My Dad came to Denver for a few days for a work conference.  I haven't seen my dad since 2008 when we were in California for my Aunts funeral.  Before that it was in 2004 for my wedding. 
This was such a special time because it was the first time he got to meet his grandchildren.   It really was a gift from God seeing as how in 23 years with his company not once have they sent him out of state and the one time they do it is to Denver!

The first night we saw him we went to his hotel where we ate pizza and let the kids swim in the hotel pool. All the kids took to him almost right away.

 

Kayla even warmed up pretty fast which normally she can be really shy around new faces especially in unfamiliar places and want only mommy.  But she didn't get shy at all and had such a blast. 

They played a game where Daddy was the shark and would try to swim after them.  Both kids would squeal in delight as they would swim to Grandpa for protection from the "shark."

My goofy boy could hardly contain his excitement. 

The second night we spent with him Daniel picked him up from his hotel and brought him back to our house.  The kids were both so excited when I told them the night before that Grandpa was going to come to their house.  Joshua didn't want to wait for dinner time, he wanted Grandpa to be here for breakfast and Kayla said, "stay here!"  We had dinner, watched the kids play for a bit and then just talked and did some catching up.  Grandpa was able to help with bedtime routine and partake in bedtime reading. So special.  Joshua was so excited to show Grandpa his room. 

Love, love, love how Levi is looking up at him.  He would look at me, smile, look back at Grandpa and repeat several times.

It was really special for me to see my kids get to play with my dad.  I really enjoy my dad a lot and wish things worked out differently when I was younger as far as me moving away and not being able to see him but it is what it is and I am thankful that we have the relationship that we do and there are no hard feelings between either of us. 

We didn't get to see him for the last two days he was here because he was busy with work stuff.  So even though we didn't see him for a couple of days, it was a really weird feeling for me when I knew he was on his flight home.  It was sad knowing I wouldn't get to see him.  To be honest I was sad for several days after he left.

The kids are still talking about his visit.  Kayla will randomly say, "Grandpa Bobby" and the way she says it is so cute.  She also knows that he is my Dad.  When we ask her who Mommy's Daddy is she will answer, "Grandpa Bobby."

 

While here my Dad's group received the #1 Leading Fleet award for Mid Size Fleet and #10 leading fleet overall!  Way to go Dad!