Levi's 1st B-day Celebration

Happiest 1st birthday to our sweet, happy, cuddly, giggle box Levi. 

The night before Levi's b-day he woke up in the night with a fever.  What are the chances?  365 days in a year and this little guy gets his first fever on his b-day.  No fever the day before and no fever the day after.  He was eating, drinking and acting okay so we went ahead and still had his party.  Daniel thought the fever was due to teething and if he was contagious we didn't want to reschedule and then have someone else in the household be sick on the rescheduled day.   So we decided to still have the party anyway and just told our guest to blow him a kiss instead :)

We did a construction theme which was so fun and easy since we just used things we already had and borrowed what we didn't.  

Joshua and Kayla loved this cake.  Kayla thought it was so silly to be eating "dirt."

The b-day's boy healthy smash cake.  

Joshua and Kayla enjoyed seeing how much Levi has grown.  

Joshua's sign he made for Levi's chair for his b-day.  Melt my heart!

I love that the kids loved celebrating Levi so much.  So thankful that we haven't ever experienced any jealousy towards the b-day person.  Instead the other siblings always love celebrating the b-day person.    Kayla kept pointing to the b-day sign and telling Levi, "Birthday sign Baby."  She would also randomly sing Happy Birthday to him throughout the day.  She also told him, ' We're going to sing happy birthday.  Might be loud."  She was preparing him.  When we put the candle in Levi;s cake Joshua was genuinely overjoyed.  He got all sentimental, walked over to Levi and said, "Awe, Levi, I love you!"  

Clapping.  "It's my b-day!"

"Yea, I am one today!"

"Okay, are you done taking my picture now?"

The Bigs previewing our picture slide for the party.  As with every birthday, they really enjoyed seeing all the pictures and kept saying, "Awe!'

This boy ate his cake like he's been eating cake his whole life.  It was just no big deal to him.  

He ate almost the entire cake.

You'd never guess he had a temperature.

Proud siblings!

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Anna were brave enough to show up.  We promised to keep Levi away from sweet Jeremiah.

The celebration went really smooth.  Levi was a trooper.  He didn't get fussy until right towards the end which was bedtime anyway.  His fever that morning was about 100-101.  Before bed it was 103
:(

I kind of forgot about opening presents which is okay because after cake he went to bed and I don't think he would have been happy enough to presents anyhow.  So we opened them up the next morning.

It was so much fun watching him open presents.  He was much more interested in the tissue paper. With almost every present he would hold it, look at it, and then toss it aside real fast and crawl after the tissue paper.  Once he got ahold of the tissue paper he would shake it like crazy.

Joshua helping Levi open the present he wrapped.

Kayla giving him the present she wrapped.  

Time to open Omah and Papa's gift. 

Kayla grabbed her bear and the bear Levi got and said, "two bears!"  

And Joshua got right to playing with Levi's new train.  

The bear and train were both form Omah and Papa.  As you can see both toys were quickly claimed by his big bro and sis.  Daniel asked, "Do Omah and Papa know that they just gave Joshua and Kayla new toys?"  

WOO-HOO tissue paper fun!!!

So blessed to have a happy, healthy baby to celebrate. boy with family!!!  Also, very thankful that we get to celebrate with family!

We love you little Levi boy.  You bring us so much love, joy and laughter! XOXOX

Happy 1st B-day Levi

My littlest baby is 1 year old.  I can't believe how time flies.  It seems like this was just yesterday.

Levi is such a joy and light in our lives.  He is always smiling and giggling.  He loves to crawl and explore and play with his siblings.  He is also a sweet cuddle bug who buries his head into your chest when he needs some snuggles time.  We just love this little guy with all of our hearts and couldn't be happier that he is in our family!

Here are some things he is doing at 12 months old:
Well baby stats:
Height: 30 1/2 inches (75%)
Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (35%)
Head: 18 1/2 (75%) Big noggin just like his big bro and sis. 

*He claps.

* He is still such a great little eater.  Seriously, he is the bottomless pit.
*Still nursing though I had to wean his 11 am feeding because he simply wasn't interested.  He has also become quiet the bitter when he nurses and then laughs...stinker!
*Joshua and Kayla affectionately call him Meesh-my as a nickname and fight "my Meesh-My."  "No my Meesh-my."
*He likes to sit in my lap and read books for about 1.4 seconds and then he is off to explore.  However, I have recently discovered that he likes books with pictures of real babies.  When I read those he will sit in my lap and listen for about 3 seconds :)
*When I lay him down for bed he will sometime grab a hold of my neck real tight as I am lowering him into his crib.  But he doesn't cry once I lay him down.
*Before laying him down I usually point to each letter in his name that is hanging above his crib and spell his name and he thinks it is so funny.
*About 1-2 months ago he started sleeping with his special lovey monkey that Joshua and Kayla picked out for him while I was pregnant with him.  Up until this month he hasnt really noticed or cared that it was in his crib.  Now he will sometimes cuddle it or grabs it right before he get him out of his crib.
*He is starting to crawl up the stairs.
*He is still a super fast army crawler but crawl on hands and knees a little more frequently.  He loves to be chased and cracks up the whole time until he surrenders by laying flat on the floor.  It is almost like he is trying to hide.
*He loves to lay in Kayla's crib and will nuzzle his head on her bed.
*He takes 2 naps a day.  The first one is 1.5-2 hours and the afternoon nap is 2-2.5 hours.  I hardly know he is awake sometimes.  He will be so quiet and when  peek on him his little head pops up with a big smile on his face.
*He likes dogs and does a little squeak for a barking sound.
*He will sometimes try to mimic words we say.

He really enjoys the swing and starts to lounge for it as we are walking by it.

Sometimes being the 3rd child meas enjoying yummy treats with big bro and sis...

...other times it means mom puts you in an empty pool with some toys to keep you from eating rocks. 

He has started pulling himself up but cant get down by himself.  This has caused some crying during nap times and I have to go rescue him by setting him down.  

A little skinny dipping.  My sister in law says if I blow some bubble wand bubbles at them this totally counts as bath time.  HEE-HEE!

First bath with the big siblings. 

I love his expression here.

His fake cry face.

He had to ride in Kayla's car seat one day and he thought it was the greatest thing.  

Ball pit pack and play fun outside.  Another one of Mom's ways of trying to keep me from eating rocks.

 Hard to see but here is my sleeping babe.

Sporting a Mohawk.  He didn't care much for this last haircut.  In fact, I think he was scared of the buzzer.  Poor guy.

Levi is a pretty big hit with the neighborhood kids.  Here they are keeping him entertained while I get dinner on.  

We adore you Levi James!