"Levi Not a Girl, I Handsome!"

Levi just says the funniest things sometimes! I was changing his diaper the other day and this was our conversation:
Levi: "Baby Emery a girl?"
Me: "Yes, baby Emery is a girl."
Levi: "Katie a girl?"
Me: "Yes"
Levi: "Mommy a girl?"
Me: "Yes, I'm a girl bud."
Levi: "Daddy not a girl, Daddy handsome! Levi not a girl, I handsome!"

Haha, I just love it. I was telling Eric as we were driving to church today that I just love the way he talks. His favorite book this week is Grover's First Day of School, only when Levi says it it sounds like Oval's First Day of School. Haha.

We had a pretty busy week this week. On Tuesday evening we went to the library and got to see a musician juggler. That was pretty cool. Levi loved it and danced (aka jumped) around pretty much the whole time we were there. He was easily the most enthusiastic audience member and I loved watching him love it!

 On Wednesday we had the Hirsts over for a farewell dinner. Levi requested that we make pizza so we did. I will really miss having them here. Levi and Lincoln are just such good friends! Levi calls Lincoln "Best Lincoln" and always gets so excited to see him and play with him and they play really well together and pretty much never have a hard time sharing with each other. I love that they are so close in age and that Emery and Cassidy are so close too! I wish they were staying close by so that I could see our girls grow up together like Levi and Lincoln have. We are really going to feel a hole in our social circle without them around. They leave on Tuesday and I am just so bummed about it!

These sweet babies are only 8 days apart. They're close to the same size but look sooo different!

4 cute kiddos!

We're going to miss our friends!

Then yesterday Eric and I took the kids up to the Washington County Fair. It was blazing hot and we all practically sweated to death but Levi loved it! He got to ride his very first roller coaster and was a big fan. We also got to watch some awesome motor cross which we all liked. We caught a little bit of a hypnotist show which Eric and I thought was cool but Levi quickly got bored of, we ate fair food, and we played a few carnival games from which Levi won a super obnoxious trumpet that he loves to play at full volume and a stuffed minion which he adores and took to bed with him last night. Haha. Also it was nice because the fair actually had a canopied closed off area in the kiddie area for mothers which had a changing table and rocking chairs so it was easy for me to feed Emery and change her when she had a blow out poop (of course). Overall, I would call it a success!

Levi and Daddy on the train ride

He requested that his picture be taken by the barn

Little man loves his prizes!

It may have been one of my worst decisions to let him pick the trumpet! Soooo squeaky. 

So yeah, that was our week. I can't believe that I get to head out to Utah with the kids in just about a week! Levi, Emery and I took Katie to the train station on Friday so she could get to the airport. She's off in California now helping her friend pack up and then they are both going to drive out to North Carolina where her friend is moving to. Then Kate will fly from North Carolina and meet me and the kids in the airport in Utah. We planned our flights so they land only 10 minutes apart which is so great! So yeah, I'm looking forward to that but it blows my mind that by the time we get back I will only have a couple weeks left before I will be back at work! Ahh!!!

This is how Levi responds when I tell him it's time to get dressed in the morning. 

Bestest smile!! 

It's been sooo hot here, I've taken the kids to splash pads a fair amount. Levi loves running around in the water and baby girl and I try to find some shade to hang out in. 

I just have the cutest family! Even if Levi is moving too much to show his cuteness in this picture! 

#SoBlessed

What with family being in town last weekend for Emery's baby blessing, I am a week behind on this blog post which means that A LOT has happened since I last updated! I feel like July has just flown by! I can't believe that summer is already over half-way over and I only have 5 weeks left to be full-time with my babies before I go back to work. It makes me realize that I need to get serious about this whole pumping thing because I want to build up a freezer stash before I go back. Also it means we need to get real about teaching baby girl to take a bottle. Up until now she has flat out refused all binkies and bottles. This little one likes her milk on tap! Haha. Which I don't mind when I'm home- especially since she's a pretty quick eater and almost never takes longer than about 16 min tops to nurse- but it's got me a little stressed about what's going to happen when she goes to daycare. So I would say that's my biggest To-Do before I go back- teach Emery how to drink from a bottle!

Anyway, as I was saying, a lot happened since I last wrote. First of all, we had 4th of July which was a blast! In the morning, our ward had a 4th of July pancake breakfast. Eric had to work, but I took the kiddos and Levi had a blast. One of our ward members brought his high powered air pump and we made paper rockets and shot them off. Levi loved the rockets! He was simultaneously nervous and excited. He wouldn't let go of my hand and stayed super close to me when we were by the launcher but he would excitedly count 1-10 (he didn't really get the idea of stopping at 3) and then yell "blastoff!" and clap his hands excitedly.

Levi with one of his rockets (he did the coloring, I did the assembly)

Eric worked only a half day so we got to have him home with us in the afternoon. And in the evening we got together with friends of ours for a BBQ at the park.

I made my third annual Flag fruit "pizza" Mmmm it's so good! 

 It was so nice because the littles just played together and since two of our friends have slightly older kids (5 and 6) we didn't have to watch the toddlers quite as closely because the littles followed the bigger kids around so were less prone to running off. Levi is still quite the runner and takes off without warning at times which is.... challenging. Unfortunately, Emery started to kind of lose it by the end of the evening so that put a damper on things. I was pretty worried for a while there actually that Emery was becoming colicky because she had a week or so where she was pretty fussy but now that I've got her on a more strict napping schedule, she is doing a ton better! I guess it's not so much a schedule and more of a general rule that if she's been up for an hour (an hour and a half max!) I try to put her down for a nap. This works well for her right now. She just needs a lot of sleep and when she does get it, she's a calm, happy little baby and has gotten really good at smiling. Emery has also been a rockstar nighttime sleeper so far! Over this past week especially she has stretched out her asleep periods. Usually we have been trying to put her down for the night around the same time as Levi which is really nice because then we have our alone time in the evenings back! We've even started doing piyo again in the evenings and we have a workout plan and schedule in place. I am super excited to get back into shape! Anyway, so we put the kids down at 8 and then Emery will sleep for a good 5-6 hours before she's up again! And then all I have to do is feed her which takes about 25 min including the diaper change between sides and burping time and then she goes back to sleep for another 3-5 hours! It's amazing. Haha. She still pretty consistently starts to stir sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 but then I just bring her in bed with me (or us if Levi is sleeping in and Eric isn't up with him yet) and she quiets back down and sleeps till 7:30 or 8.

So yeah, 4th of July happened. Then the next week Eric's parents and my parents and Eric and Natachia came into town for Emery's baby blessing! It was so great to have everyone here! Saturday morning we all went berry picking and got a TON of blueberries, marionberries and raspberries. Levi was in heaven and probably ate as many as he put in the bucket! And now I have a bunch of berries in my freezer and a ton of super delicious recipes pinned to make with them including some dark chocolate raspberry brownies that I am going to make later today and that already have me drooling haha.

Can you tell which bucket is Levi's? Haha

I actually should have taken this picture after we got home because Levi ate almost a whole pint of marionberries and blueberries in the car and he got soooo much more messy than this! Haha he looked a little like the joker from batman only not scary, just adorable! 

Sunday the temperature outside was supposed to get up to 100 degrees so on Saturday I had a mini panic attack that my kids were going to get heatstroke and die. Like seriously, I was legitimately worried about all of us in our third floor unairconditioned apartment. But thankfully, one of Eric's co-workers gave us a window unit and Eric and his wonderful dad stayed up way late on Saturday night installing it for us and it has been a miracle. Oh my goodness it is so nice to have!!

Sunday was Emery's baby blessing and it was so beautiful. I really felt the Spirit and I could tell that Eric was really listening to the Spirit and the things he was blessing Emery with were what Heavenly Father wanted to bless her with. He blessed her with the gift of faith, the gift of love for those around her and the gift of being able to communicate that love to others well. He also blessed her to be a strength and a support to me and Eric. And with all the sweet smiles she has already been showering us with and the patience she shows with us, I know that's true. I had more than one person come up to me on that Sunday and tell me to thank Eric for listening to the Spirit and giving such a beautiful blessing. It was really wonderful.

Carma made Emery's blessing dress for her and she looked so cute in it!

Everyone together at the church

I love the way Emery is just looking at Nona in this picture like she is talking to her! 

While the family was here, I really appreciated the time everyone took to spend time with my kids. Papi especially made a point to take Levi and spend some quality one-on-one time with him. Papi and Nona bought Levi some luggage of his own (he was soooo excited) and Papi took Levi and his luggage to ride on the train! Levi LOVED it. He also took Levi to a splash pad and took him to the carwash and they washed my car for me! It was so great and I love that Levi will have those great memories of when Papi and Nona came to visit.

Levi is so excited to have new luggage all his own. 

Riding the Wes with Papi!

Splash pad shenanigans!

Anyway, so the family stayed for a few days and by Wednesday everyone had gone home again. Wednesday through Friday were a little rough for me because on all three days Levi didn't take a nap or took a super short nap so I got no alone time during the day. But we survived and then thankfully the weekend arrived with more fun. We had dinner and a game night with friends on Friday night and then yesterday was Porter and Rylee's birthday party so we went to that and had a lot of fun doing the hanging donut challenge and going to the splash pad. Then last night, Eric took me out on a date and we did a penny date where we flipped a coin at each intersection we came to to determine whether to turn right or left. Then after 13 turns we picked the closest restaurant and ate at it. It was so fun to do it by chance like that and we ended up at this great place in Lake Oswego with live music, beautiful outdoor seating and really good food! And thankfully, Emery slept almost the whole time :)

So yeah, that's been our month so far! Here are some more pictures of the cute little ones who fill my days!

Love this smile for brother's kisses!

She is just so stinking cute!

Sometimes when it's super hot outside but we need to get out of the house, I just take the kids to Cabelas. I wear baby girl and she sleeps and Levi has fun running around and playing with the pop guns and looking at the big fish. And I just enjoy the really good air conditioning haha. 

Milk drunk smiles

Levi loves to "help" in the kitchen!

Emery really likes to lay on her playmat. She is much more content there by herself than Levi ever was I feel like! 

Two Thursdays ago it was pay-your-age day at Build A Bear. I had originally planned on going, but it turned out the crowds were insane. My friend Shalece got to the mall before I did and told me the line was ridiculous. But we decided to go to the mall anyway and not bother with the line but instead just give Levi and Lincoln the chance to run around, play in the play area and ride the escalator together. So we did and Levi had a blast! But I honestly have never seen that many people and especially kids at the mall before though! It was crazy. 

On Thursday evenings down in Wilsonville there's this awesome little farmer's market at a little park with a splash pad. Eric and I like to take the kids down there and Emery hangs out on the blanket and makes cute faces at me while Levi runs around in the water and we all eat delicious local produce and food offerings. It's my happy place. 

Soo sweet! 

One of the days last week I took the kids up to the children's museum. Levi is recently really into putting on the hats as he plays in each of the areas. It's so cute. 

He also likes to sing and dance on the little stage they have there. I think he is imitating Coco which is one of his favorite movies right now. 

Levi is just very two right now. One of the days last week he tried to flush some toys, dumped two cups of flour all over my kitchen and played in it while I was in the back with baby girl, dumped out a full cup of juice and another one of milk, and picked the last of my flowers off of my plants outside. Heaven help me! Haha. 

Levi and his friend Liam in Liam's toy truck. 

Sometimes Emery wakes up early from her nap because of gas (or because she pooped) and then she has a hard time going back to sleep. So when that happens, we do a lot of snuggling on the couch. 

"I love cookies soooo much!"

So Levi is in a very cute, challenging phase right now. He certainly does a lot of whining and shrieking and I find myself saying a lot of things like "Don't sneeze into your ukelele son" and "No the luggage can't come to the park with us" and "Please get your hand out of your pants." We have daily conversations about the importance of listening and being obedient and not running off. We practice how to ask for things nicely (as opposed to just screaming "applesauce" or "need milk!") on a many times a day basis. We have little power struggles about cleaning up and getting from the house to/from the car is a drawn out process every single time. The other day Levi had a meltdown about walking up the stairs because it would require him to pass a spiderweb (Which incidentally has been there for days only he just then noticed it). I do a lot of counting (which may be why he can now count from 1 to 13 on his own!). And I say a lot of "If you can't be responsible with your (insert toy, utensil, random household object here) I will have to take it away." We're both learning together.

But Levi also does some super adorable things right now! He is really big into hellos and goodbyes. He smiles and waves at everyone, even complete strangers. The other day in the car we were driving out of the apartment complex and he waved at some people walking and was like, "Wave to people mama! I like people sooo much!" He has been really into saying he likes things "soooo much" and it just kills me with cuteness. For example, I will be getting his lunch ready and he will be like "I like strawberries soooo much!" I love it. He doesn't really say it about anyone in the family though. The other day I was like, "I love you Levi!" and he was like, "I love treats!" in response. Hahaha. He also likes to say goodbye to things and places. Whenever we leave anywhere or pass some place in the car that he knows, he will say goodbye to it. Like as we leave the park "bye park!" and as we leave the house "bye luggage!" He is also very sweet with Emery and loves to give her hugs and kisses and he never gets mad at her even when she is crying inconsolably due to gas/reflux pain (which has been happening more than I would like because I have a faster let down than she would like so she ends up gulping a lot and swallowing a lot of air while eating).

Levi just loves baby sister!

This is what I get when I ask Levi to look at me and smile. 

This past week was a bit of a lonely week for us. All of Levi and my friends were either out of town or had family in town so they couldn't hang out with us. We did go to playgroup on Thursday but it was mostly all the older kids and their moms. Levi still had fun following the older kids around and "playing" with them but all the other moms were hanging out in the shade and I had to stay by the playground to keep an eye on Levi since he tends to go exploring (aka wander- or run- off) and he doesn't come back when called so I didn't really get to talk to any of them. I felt bad because Levi can tell when I'm having a hard time, particularly when I'm feeling frustrated with him. He has taken to asking "Mama happy?" Often I tell him, "I'm happy when you listen" or "I'm feeling frustrated right now because you aren't being obedient." It makes me realize that I need to be so mindful of how my emotional state is effecting him. I really don't want him to think I'm never happy or that he is the reason why whenever I'm sad! He is definitely learning a lot about emotions right now. He also likes to ask me, "Daddy happy? Baby sister happy?" I usually tell him that Daddy is happy and that baby sister is sleeping so I guess she's happy haha. I've also been trying to help him label his own emotions, especially when he's feeling frustrated. For example, when he can't get two of his train tracks to fit together so he yells and throws one of them, I try to intervene and say, "Levi, instead of screaming you can ask for help or say "I'm frustrated!"" He thinks the word "frustrated" is funny so he will usually say it with me and it helps calm him down.

But despite us not having much time with others, we still had a pretty good week. Tuesday night we went on a family date to the Tualatin commons where this guy was playing live kid-friendly reggae music. The guy was really good and Levi had a lot of fun dancing around to that. It was like the perfect summer evening: warm, sunny but not too hot, fresh breeze, soft grass, good music and family. Also, Eric took me (and Emery) out on a date on Friday and we had delicious Indian food. And then yesterday, we got to go to Wings and Waves Waterpark as a family which was a blast! The tickets were my father's day present to Eric and I'm so glad I got them because it was seriously sooo fun to watch Levi love it up. He had a great time and I had a great time watching him have so much fun! Eric and I took turns wearing Emery (who slept the whole time except for a little break when I took her upstairs to a quieter area and fed her). It was sooo hot in there while I was wearing Emery. I was sweating like crazy. It felt really good to hand her over to Eric, change into my swimsuit and get in the pool with Levi. Swimming with him was a lot of fun. Levi especially loved jumping off of the step into my arms. I had to put limits on it because he would have kept doing that forever I think.

Levi loved the slides and went on them over and over and over again. 

Anyway, other news of late: Emery passed her hearing screen with the audiologist so we don't have to worry about that anymore (not that I was really worried because I could tell she could hear us). Also we reconnected with some old friends of ours from Utah who just moved out here to Hillsboro in April. They came over for dinner at our place two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun to catch up with them and Levi had a lot of fun playing with their two kids who are 5 and 2 1/2. We are actually going to get together with them again this week because Eric and I are hosting a BBQ for our friends on 4th of July. I'm especially looking forward to that because it will be the first time we will really get to hang out with the Hirsts since baby Cassidy was born. Shalece is just so much more germaphobic than I am that she's basically had their family in quarantine since Cassidy was born. I don't know how she does it. Levi and I both start to go a little crazy if it's 10am and we still haven't left the house to go do something. Haha.

So yeah, that's what's been going on. Emery still sleeps a lot and has been eating and gaining weight like a champ. She consistently sleeps at least one 4 hour stretch at night and last night she did almost 5 hours! She has been a little more fussy lately and I can't tell if it's gas or reflux or what but she definitely has periods of the day when she seems uncomfortable and is hard to console. But 90% of the time, if I wear her she calms down and usually goes to sleep. My back muscles sure are getting a work out lately wearing her around all the time! I love how snuggly she is but I am looking forward to when she gets a little older and starts smiling and interacting more!

Emery typically wakes up to eat around 5 or 6 am so I will bring her in bed with me and feed her there and then sleep next to her until we both get up around 7:30 or 8. I love laying next to her while she sleeps so peacefully. It's like our own little quiet slice of heaven. The other morning she put her hands like this all on her own while she slept. 

Levi showing Emery one of her toys. He doesn't really get it that she can't just take it from him when he offers it to her yet. 

Levi gets into all sorts of shenanigans while I'm feeding Emery. Like taking out the baby boy clothes I have stored in his closet and trying to put them on.

Levi: "My cute? With headband my cute!?"

A week ago Wednesday we got to go to the splash pad with our friends for playgroup. Levi was slow to warm up to the idea of getting in the water but once he did he had a blast! 

I love his little sun hat! 

Two Saturdays ago we went on a family hike up in Forest Park in Portland. It was a one mile up one mile back hike up a beautiful gorge to this old abandoned stone house. It was pretty cool.

I am regularly reminded how grateful I am to live in such a gorgeous area! 

Emery may not be social smiling yet but she's got the sleepy milk-drunk smile down! Haha. 

Also, baby girl turned 1 month old this week!! She's so cute! 

I love her chunky thighs!

Levi insisted on having his picture taken too (on his bed and with a sticker just like baby sister) and it struck me how much the picture reminded me of his two month picture and so I stuck them side by side. Crazy to see how much has changed and yet he is still so obviously the same cute kiddo! I love seeing how he looks older but all his features are still the same. It's like one of those age progression photos they do when there's a missing kid... except under much better circumstances!