My Little Reindeer

I Love this Boy!

So happy to be in his reindeer suit

and yes- it says "Santa's Favorite"

He was ALL smiles as soon as I put this on him- LOVE IT!

Gideon

Well everyone... meet Gideon Oji. Gideon is a senior at the high school I teach at, but is originally from Nigeria. He has been living with us since August.

Some fun facts about Gideon are:

- He is 6 ft. 9 in. tall (and he's living with Craig and I... come on now- you know that's funny)
- He likes to cook... and is quite good at it. A few "American" things he's discovered he loves while living w/ us are: chicken alfredo and pickles
- He just turned 19 on December 11th
- His favorite phrase for anything is: "OH WOW!"
- He adores Levi (which he sometimes pronounces as Levy :)... and he always has a smile and a wave waiting for Levi when he comes home.
- He hates crowds (which can = 2 extra peolpe in the house) he will quickly take cover in his room.
- Sometimes we will hear him rocking out to Carrie Underwood in the mornings while he's getting ready... Priceless!
- On time... NEVER! :)
- Loves to chop wood for the fireplace ... not to mention he does it in his flip flops! (He said he would always do this chore for his family back home)
- He always walks in the door and greets Craig , who was home before us, by saying, "Welcome sir!" haha- We love it.

Well I hope you enjoyed meeting him, and maybe you will get to meet him in person someday.

So here are my boys:

2 MONTHS OLD

Well Sunday,December 12th marked 2 months since Levi Elliot entered our world-

what a sweet day that was.

He spent Wednesday hanging out with Papa, then I got off work early and met my boys at the doctors office for his 2 month visit. He had grown to 22 3/4 inches long... up from 20 1/2 inches when he was born, and he weighed in at 10 lbs. 1 oz. ... up from 6 lbs. 11 oz. from when he was born (and 9 lbs. 3 oz. the week before!). Needless to say- we are quickly outgrowing many, many newborn outfits.

Levi also got several shots- and did great at showing off his lung capacity. I believe the nurse's response was, "Wow, I used to work in the intensive care with babies and I haven't heard a cry like that in a long time."... We weren't sure if we should say, "Thanks!" or "EXCUSE ME- that's my son you are talking about!"... so we did the courageous thing and- said nothing :)

All in all - it was a great day.

Snow Days & Care Packages

At 6:00 this morning I got the phone call- NO SCHOOL today. So Levi and I are going to hang out ALL day and love every minute of it!

We also came home yesterday to an awesome care package from Grammy... Here are some of the highlights of the package:

So we will combine the two and dress Levi up in one of his new outfits from Grammy to help momma wrap some Christmas gifts and be productive with our day off :)

Aaaand the clothes didn't last very long- we made a tiny mess of them... SO we were a little free bird for a while. Also, Levi has really started to discover his tongue the last few days - as you can see in this picture :) So fun to watch him grow!

Thanksgiving

It has been our tradition since we have been married to spend Thanksgiving in West Virginia with Craig's family, and this year was no different. Which I might add that they were thrilled about having Levi around for the entire week!

Craig's mom, "Grammy", had everything set up and ready for Levi to feel at home at Grammy's place- it was wonderful.

Here are some pictures from the week:

West Virginia...
Take me Home Country Roads...

Maya Wrap

What is this thing called? Let me tell you- it's called a Maya Wrap... a little gift from heaven! I first saw one when we were in North Africa visiting a family who just had twins- and I loved how well it worked- she would even carry BOTH boys at one time in it. However, I didn't realize how much I TRULY loved the Maya Wrap until I put my own little man in it. Levi loves this thing... it's brilliant. He gets to be swaddled and cuddled in close to my chest where he can rest his little head and hear my heart beat (which he has been used to for the past 9 months of his life)- the perfect calming technique. (www.cottonbabies.com) Not to mention it allows mom to have access to BOTH hands again.

I was so anxious about my first trip to the grocery store by myself with Levi, but this wrap made it AMAZING! He was so content and became the perfect side kick. It's great for cleaning, working in the kitchen, doing laundry, shopping, ... you name it! Gotta have one :)

Sick Days

Well last Sunday night marked Levi's first official sick day. I kept waking up throughout the night just to be heart broken by the sound of my son struggling to breath with a congested little nose. We immediately tried anything and everything we could to help him get better, but it breaks my heart that we cannot fix it for him. Craig took him to the doctor on Tuesday, and they confirmed that he just had a cold, but reassured us that we were doing everything right-. Throughout the week he has been improving... However, in the midst of his exhaustion and congestion he had some fun entertainment for us:

I think he was saying, "Juuuust Kidding... I'll be fine!"