Levi is 1 Year Old!!!

I can't believe my baby is 1 year old! Each month, I took a picture of Levi so we could see how much he changed and grew. Unfortunately, I missed his 6 month picture though, 'cause it was so crazy getting ready to go to WA for almost a month. So you'll notice the pictures go from 5 months to 7 months. But anyway, here he is. Levi Daniel Forras. The first year.

As you can see Levi is getting to be quite the big boy! He is 23.5 pounds and 30.75 inches tall already! That puts him in the 60th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. He's wearing 18 & 24 month clothes (depending). He's got 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom.

Levi took his very 1st step on Thanksgiving day! He's up to 3-8 steps at a time when he's coaxed but is still faster and more comfortable crawling. We're planning to take him out to Givens Hot Springs next weekend for his birthday party. We took Toby out there when he was at this same stage in walking and the resistance and buoyancy of the water "tricked" him into walking ALL over the wading pool area! I'll let you know if it works for Levi too.

Levi's vocabulary is steadily growing. He now says "momma, dadda, Grandma, Grandpa, Toby, more, hi, and up". We're doing sign language with him too and so far, he signs "more, all done, please, and thank you."

One of Levi's favorite activities is putting stuff into a bucket, box , or hole and then taking it back out again. Over and over. 8-) He also loves to play "airplane", tickle monster, and wrestling.
He's all boy! Our Boy, Our Big 1 Year Old Boy!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEVI!!!!
We love you!

Whaduya Do?

So what do you do when your child hears from the Lord? Tonight as I was tucking Toby in for bed and singing him a few goodnight songs, he says, "Mama, the last song was so long that Jesus looked down and said "Little Boy, go get another drink of water!"" This was not the first time God has "spoken" to Toby. He did get the drink but we also had a little chat about being truthful and just asking nicely if we want something.

Please post a comment if you have any wonderful ways of encouraging him to listen for God's voice without using or lying about it to get what he wants. Thanks!

Second Thoughts....

I recently babysat for my sister, Misha, while she and her husband, Eric, went to his work Christmas party. Because they live in Meridian and we live waaaay out here in Marsing, the kids stayed overnight and we met up at a different Christmas party the next day.

Anyway.... I learned a very valuable lesson during those 32 hours! I've said for some time now that I would like to have four kids. BUT........I don't think I want 4 children under the age of 4! The older two mostly entertained each other when they weren't disagreeing about whose turn it was. The babies, however, had a way of ganging up on this poor mama when they got tired and hungry. I didn't have a lot of time to snap pictures but here are a few.

Ayden & Toby loved jumping on my bed!

Wanna Double?
Levi is trying to horn in on Anna's car ride.Bathtime!

Rub-a-dub-dub, Three Boys in a Tub...

Would you care for a spot of tea?

Drying off and warming up by a nice cozy fire.

All in all we had a great time with the cousins and look forward to many more sleepovers in the future!

Construction!

You may have noticed I haven't posted anything lately. He-he! 8-) We've been very busy working on "the house". Here are some recent pictures of our progress.

Not that you'd recognize it but this is our kitchen.

Dad almost has the subfloor finished!

Uncle Lonzo building a wall!

Wow! A new wall between the kitchen and the dining room.

Bye-bye dinky little kitchen window!

Hello, big new kitchen window!

This yucky old sliding glass door had to go!

It's outta here!

Here's the big gapping hole in the side of our house.

Dad is using ALL his muscles cutting out the warped old header!

Toby helped Grandpa glue in the new threshold.

TADA!!! Our new french doors!

That's all for now. As you can see we still have a lot to do but I'll keep you updated....eventually. 8-)

Quotable Quotes

Sometimes I read or hear a quote that really rings true for me. Here's one of my recent favorites. Please take a few minutes to leave one of your favorite quotes in the comments. Thank you!

The days are long but the years are short ~ Mark Twain

Tobyism....

Earlier today Toby and I were reading a fun "puppet" book of the Three Little Pigs. It's a glove that you put on with the book attached to the palm and a piggy on each...well...piggy. It's not exactly true to the original, much cuter in fact. It starts out the same. One goes to the market, one stays home, but one has cookies, and one has fun (swinging), and one (happily) says "wee, wee, wee" all the way home. You get the idea. So we were reading this and I asked him which pig he would like to be. He, of course, picked the one having cookies to which I replied "Toby, you're so transparent."
He said "No, Momma, I'm not transparent. I'm opaque."

Levi Update

Levi is getting bigger and cuter every day! (if that's even possible) Knowing that so many of you live far away, I thought I would update you on Levi's new skills and such. Let's see...where should I start....

Here goes....Levi is the proud new owner of 4 teeth! All 4 were acquired in September! And he knows how to use them. He loves to eat whatever we're eating. No bland food for him though, the more flavor the better. He eats so well he's already 22 lb. 2oz. and 30.25 inches tall. He wears 12 & 18 month cloths (depending). He is crawling EVERYWHERE! Pulling up on EVERYTHING! And CLIMBING whatever I'll let him! Last week he actually stood all by himself for 15 seconds! I'm sure walking is in our not too distant future! =8-0

His first word was "hi" in a growly sort of voice and a big 'ol toothy grin, very cute. He also says "momma" and "more". We're doing sign language with him too and so far, he signs "more" and "all done".

Super Baby!


Levi is tons of fun! He loves to play peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo Toby, chase, chase Toby and pretty much anything Toby is playing or playing with! Toby loves his baby brother very much but would like a little more space sometimes, especially now that Levi is so mobile and fast.

Brotherly Love

Basket Cases

DogPile!

Well, that's all for now. I could go on and on and on..... But who's got the time!

Pajamas

Recently, while getting ready for bed, I was trying to hurry Toby along by telling him to zip up his pajamas. Toby then informed me that they're not pajamas ......

"This is my bedtime suit. So people will know I'm going to bed"

That's my boy!

And yes, that's Toby and Daddy reading a little "bedtime tool catalog". Toby's newest favorite reading material!

That's Rob's boy!!!

I've Realized...

Posting this blog has opened my eyes to the fact that I have only ONE, yes only ONE family picture of all four of us. It's the one at the top of the page taken very shortly after Levi was born. He's now 9 months old! What this means is I need to fork out some money for a studio picture, use the tripod more often, and/or ask for help from you, my family and friends. So....whenever you see us and there is a camera nearby, pleeeease take our picture. I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

We're on the web!!!

This is my first attempt at posting a blog. Hopefully I can figure it out and easily keep everyone up-to-date on all the fun, interesting, or just plain "cute" things going on with us. Here's a recent picture I took of my three boys. Don't knock it til you've tried to get a decent picture of two VERY active little boys where they're BOTH smiling and looking at the camera. I'll keep trying. I can be stubborn, or so I'm told. 8-)