365 Amazing Days

I can't believe my baby turns ONE tomorrow! He's spent 365 days here on Earth with us! It feels like so little time and I am so grateful that him being my son isn't something that has an expiration date. It's not something it's ever going to be finished. I know some day he will grow up and move out of our house but no matter what, he is a part of our family forever and I can't imagine it any other way.

We did a cake smash for him yesterday. In typical me fashion we went just slightly overboard putting it all together. Eric and I designed a chalkboard sign together (which was super fun, and a much better use of our evening than the typical mindless tv show!), I made a bunting banner and a cake and we even went all the way up to IKEA to buy a cute little chair for him (I made the case for it being part of his birthday present haha). We were a little worried about the weather because it was supposed to rain all day long. But we prayed the rain would hold off for at least a few minutes for us and it did! We caught a break from the showers and got to do the whole shoot without a drop falling (although it was quite a bit nippy and not a little windy!). As soon as we packed it all up and got back in the car, the heavy raindrops started again. It was like a little miracle just for us.

Anyway, because it has been so rainy here, the grass had turned into a bit of a swamp and what with that and the cold temperatures and the wind, poor bubba was shivering by the time we were done. But he still had a ton of fun smearing cake literally everywhere and running away from us haha.

My friend let me borrow a two small pyrex pans to make a cake just the right size. 

Levi watching while we set it all up: "What? What's happening down there?"

First I will remove this unwanted non-food item. 

 

A whole huge lawn for me to run around on? YESSSS! 

Flying with Daddy is the best!

"Are you guys going to come get me or what?" Haha

Happy Birthday baby!

First Steps

Levi took his first steps this week! He's been on the verge for a while now so we were sooooo excited when he finally did it for us! He will walk a couple tentative steps in between me and Eric and Emily texted me at work on Friday and said he walked all the way from the couch to the tv stand by himself! I'm so proud of him! Anyway that's the big exciting news around here. But almost as exciting is that Eric and I bought our tickets to Thailand yesterday!!! We are officially going in November and I'm not sure I could be more stoked. Haha. I already have a lengthy pinterest page going all about Thailand and I'm busy making my bucket list of things to do there and cool places to stay. My parents are just the best and volunteered to watch Levi while we're gone so that will be perfect.

Also Eric and I celebrated our anniversary this week! Some friends of ours watched Levi for us so Eric and I could go out to dinner and go dancing. We went to dance at this fun place right here in Tualatin called Bushwhackers. Apparently they have a live band every Friday night which is pretty cool. It was so fun to dance again, its been a while! We will have to go back again soon.

So, yeah that's what's been happening lately. Here's some pictures from the last couple weeks:

So I went to Costco and came home with this box. While I was putting something away in another part of the house, Levi flipped the box over, pushed it to the stove and climbed on top of it to reach the burner! Good thing the stove wasn't on! He was ridiculously proud of himself for being so resourceful haha. 

Made Levi a green smoothie the other day with banana, strawberry, green leaf lettuce and coconut milk and little man devoured it! He loved it so much he just kept asking for more until it was all gone.

Levi and I went to the park on Thursday and he had fun climbing up and down these steps over and over and watching and pointing at the bigger kids playing. He was so cute! 

He also highly enjoyed playing in the sand which kind of grossed me out more than a little. I mean, who knows what kind of things he might unearth under there! EWWW! But as long as he didn't put it in his mouth I let him play with it. It's good sensory play right? haha. 

Levi loves to stand at the window and watch the rain. 

He's quite possibly the cutest kid on the planet.

We've been working on teaching Levi to use a spoon. He actually really likes it and gets super excited when we help him dip it into something and then guide it to his mouth. But sometimes, when it's something he really likes to eat (like yogurt), he's like, "Forget the spoon Mom! Imma just drink this!" Haha. 

So yeah, that's what's going on in our beautiful life! I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Valentine's Day

My boys and I had a great Valentine's Day! Eric started it off fantastic by completely surprising me and delivering me flowers at work! They were so gorgeous and I felt ridiculously spoiled. :) Then on Valentine's Day itself, thanks to it being Tuesday I didn't have to go in to work so Levi and I got to hang out together all day! We made a valentine for Eric, hung out with a good friend and got to snuggle her new baby, made red velvet oreo truffles, and took some ADORABLE pictures of Levi! I seriously love how well these pictures turned out and I couldn't wait to share them! Full disclosure, the following do not capture: the dirtiness of our porch all around my fake wood floor, all the ridiculous sounds I was making trying to get Levi to look at me, the billion times I pulled the chalk out of Levi's mouth, his many attempts to escape the porch and hang out in the mud instead or the way his lip started quivering towards the end because it was a bit nippy out and I had him out there without a shirt (#momfail). It's (relatively) easy with photoshop to make it look like I have a giant beautiful hardwood floor or that my son wants nothing more than to sit and be my little model but both are so far from the truth. In this day and age, it is so easy for us to compare ourselves to the little glimpses we get into what we think are the realities of others' lives when in fact, those glimpses do not show us the whole picture. It's something I need to remind myself of on the days when everything seems to be going wrong and I feel like a failure. And it also just makes me so grateful for the depth of life and for the richness of our experiences. I love how the messy moments, the tears, the frustration, the loneliness are wrapped up and tangled together with laughter, and silliness and moments of intense love and joy. This life Heavenly Father has given us is truly amazing.