A Weekend With Papaw

Dad came in for a visit this weekend. The kids were absolutely thrilled!! I love this picture of Dad and Shell. For some reason it seems to be really difficult to get a picture where everyone in it is smiling and looks good.

Shell kept the girls Saturday night and they all had a big sleepover, much to Sienna's delight! He brought his 4 wheeler which thrilled the children (except Levi). They all got to drive it, even Sienna.



Shell's got a very cute video posted of Sienna driving the 4 wheeler. Check out her blog here. Sienna told me that she went really fast! However, Sienna has a pretty nasty cough going on so she had to spend most of the 4 wheeler time watching from the kitchen window.



Sierra thinks she's the cat's meow on that 4 wheeler. Which she just might be. She got to drive it all be herself, no papaw on the back. Her and Bub thought this was just to cool. Shell refers to Sierra and Brandon as Bonnie and Clyde which fits them perfectly. I have a video posted at the bottom of this post of Sierra driving the 4 wheeler by herself.


Sierra took me for a ride. That was strange. She did really good and I wasn't afraid for safety (only once, large hole, I overreacted) but it's a very strange sensation to be driven by your child on something. My hat's off to any of you that have taught a child to drive!



Papaw tried to take little man for a ride too. He didn't get very far. Levi liked to look at the 4 wheeler and watch the other kids ride it but he wasn't into riding it himself. Dad took off with him and had to turn around and come right back. See the video posted below.

Everyone had a really nice visit. We love it when Papaw comes to town!

100% Walking

Levi is completely vertically mobile! He's walking everywhere now! He is so consistently Levi. He goes from one day barely letting go of the table to full out walking in the next day! He takes his time in deciding to do it, but once he decides to do he does it all out. I'm so proud of him! He had kind of an easy fun day at physical therapy this afternoon. We usually spend that time working toward his goal of walking. But since he is walking now we had to re-evaluate his goals. So he spent his time playing in the ball pit and going up and down the enormous slide. Yes, these are things he does rather regularly at therapy but today he got to decide what he wanted to do and when and for how long. Levi got to be in charge today and he very much enjoyed it.

The Front Page

Big thanks to my dear friend, Kristie, for giving me a call to let me know that one of my babies was on the front page of the paper! Imagine my surprise! Sienna was on the front page of today's Norwalk Reflector. Remember the cheer clinic from a few weeks back? Yep. There she is giving a big thumbs up. Too cute! The newspaper does a feature that showcases just random shots of regular people doing things locally (parties, games, festivals, reunions, etc.) So on the front page they show one of the pictures from the feature. Pretty cool, huh? If you click on the picture you'll be able to view a larger version where you can easily read the print under her picture. They spelled her last name wrong and I scanned crooked, but you get the idea.

Deja Vu Anyone?

I'm sure that this picture is looking familiar to everyone by now! But here's my little mudjems at Burnham's Orchard this afternoon. We look forward to going every year. It's always a fun time. However, I was a little disappointed that they didn't have the pony rides until tomorrow. I really wanted to put Sienna on the ponies. Maybe next year I guess. (You know I'm fighting off the desire to take her over there tomorrow just to put her on the ponies. She didn't ask about riding ponies. This is all about me, not her. Get it together Wendy. ~ Sorry, every now and then we need to stop and check ourselves.)

Moving on~ We always have such a nice time and today was no different. We already got pumpkins when we went to that other [pitiful] harvest festival in Willard so we skipped the pumpkin patch. The girls went through the kids' maze. I was glad that Sierra went through with Sienna. It was pretty tall in comparison to Sienna. I couldn't see where she was at from the outside. She did fall down during the maze but Sierra was there to make her feel okay. And that makes me so proud. I am constantly talking to Sierra about being kind to Sienna. They fight alot and can be terribly mean to each other. But I noticed Sierra really being genuinely kind and caring for Sienna today. Not just at the orchard but home as well. Writing this now I am finding myself in one those of 'overcome with pride' moments in remembering her kind behavior. It renews my hope!!

Something new this year was a train ride for the kids. We even got to put Levi in with Sierra which was nice. Something that Levi can finally be part of too! Yeah!

The girls also went through this thing. I have no idea what to call it. It's a big long tunnel of sorts. I think there's a slide somewhere in there and some climbing stuff. I'm not really sure but all the kids love it and my girls are no exception. Poor Levi always gets left out of everything and is stuck in the stroller watching all the fun. I know he'll have his day soon enough but I can't help but feel bad for him.


No family outing would be complete without some face painting. Sierra picked a very cute black cat and Sienna picked a flower. She asked that the flower be black but the lady talked her into a yellow and black flower. Neither one of my girls have ever asked for anything black. So you can imagine my shock when Sienna asked for a black flower. I get Sierra with the black cat for Halloween but a black flower? It was pink on the picture. I'm still in shock.


Since Levi didn't do the face painting he got a balloon animal instead. I think it was a horse. Again, I'm not really sure but he loved it. He was so excited to get ahold of that thing. He patiently watched the man twist on that balloon as though he knew it was going to be great and it was going to his!




We had to do the wagon ride of course. Sierra spent the ride getting alot of good pictures of the scenery. Sienna stayed on Daddy's lap and held onto Levi's balloon while taking in everything with those big beautiful eyes. And Levi finally talked me into letting him down to stand at the hay bail. He diligently touched, poked, pulled and examined the hay. Then he noticed two older boys sitting in front of him and he spent the rest of the ride trying (and succeeding) to get their attention.

Overall, it was another nice day with the family. It's starting to be a tradition. I am already looking forward to next year.

Chicken Butt

I know I'm horrible but I've started calling my son Chicken Butt. He is 14 months old now and he still isn't walking. Sierra walked just a couple of days after her first birthday and Sienna was a late walker at 14 months. I think Levi should be any day now, but you never know with him. He does things in his own time, when he wants to, his way. Honestly, he's almost there. He's just scared. He'll take about two steps and then decide that he needs to drop to the floor and crawl. If what he wants is within 2 steps that's fine but three steps is absolutely out of the question. His couple of steps are strong though. Solid, not wobbly at all. He looks as though he could walk all over the house if he would just keep going (and I believe he could). This is what has led me to calling my son Chicken Butt.

However, today was different. Today Levi decided that he was going to do more than 2 steps. He was doing the entire distance of my living room (which is way more than 2 steps thankfully). He was standing at the coffee table and just turned toward the chair and took off, which was probably about 6-8 steps. That's a pretty big jump from just 2 steps. So I stood about 6 steps from him and held my hands out to him and here he came. For each step he took toward me I would take one step back. He just kept following me. We walked all the way to the end of the room and then turned and came back. He was even doing some side stepping all by himself. He just needs to know that something is there for him to get ahold of ~ he's a chicken butt. But it is typical Levi. Yesterday he refused to do anymore than 2 steps without touching something (even at therapy), today he is taking more than 6 steps without touching and he's doing turns and side steps. Wow, the difference a day can make. And, actually, that was all after his afternoon nap. Wow, what a difference a good nap can make.

Crazy Wild Wildabeast

Let me start by saying that I'm sorry I haven't put a new post up recently. You know how life can get.

Levi is obsessed with Lola's bed. He is constantly just hanging out in it. Lola actually got out of it and let Levi have it once. Now she is only willing to share, briefly. Levi will bring some toys and toss them in the bed and then in he goes, right on top of Lola. Lola is constantly being woken up by a flying school bus or fire truck! It's amazing that she's not scared of her own shadow by now!



Sienna is a spit fire, to say the least. When Sienna and Lola are together, Lola reflects that part of Sienna's personality. Just being around Sienna gets Lola all hyped up. Look at her in this picture, it looks like she's getting ready to snap out and get Sienna's hair (which she does pretty regularly). I was just hoping to get the picture before she did it knowing that once Lola pounced Sienna would be in the floor and they'd both end up one big rolling ball of hair.



I feel bad because Sierra doesn't seem to get as many posts as the younger kids. However, I don't have nearly as much alone time with Sierra as I do with the other two. Anyway, after I got a couple of cute pics tonight of Levi and Sienna with Lola I asked Sierra to get ahold of Lola so I could get a cute pic of the two of them too. This is what I got. I wanted cute and I got was crazy wild wildabeast! Almost every picture I've gotten of Sierra recently she is making some weird face or doing something odd. I was really starting to wonder why and then I saw some old pictures of me around that age and I was doing the same sort of things. I even went through a weird stage where I wore my headbands on my forehead! I suppose things could always be worse.

It's All In Love

Lola got some new clothes today! It's really strange because I never considered myself the kind of person that would put clothes on a dog. But from the first moment I saw Lola I knew that she needed a sweater. And in my defense, Pugs are not fans of extreme heat or cold. Now that it's getting colder Lola is shivering all the time. I kid you not. She curled up in front of a small electric heater today, shivering still. I finally put her on my lap and wrapped her in a receiving blanket. Poor little thing. The girls and I were very excited to play dress up with Lola tonight. I very much tried to convince Lola that it was all in love. I'm not sure if she believed me or not. She ended up getting 2 sweaters, a Halloween shirt and a witch hat. She didn't really enjoy the hat very much.

The Original Baby Girl

Sierra Rose, my first baby girl~ the original. My first baby girl is 8 yrs old and in the third grade. Where does all the time go?! I feel so honored and privileged to be a part of her life, to watch her grow into this entity of uniqueness and specialness. She is completely her own person. She just got her hair cut and it is short, super short. It's just at the bottom of her ears. As all of you know I prefer long hair. The first time we cut Sierra's hair my heart was broken. However, my heart was instantly mended by that sparkling ear to ear smile that could not be removed from Sierra's face. As hard as it is to let our children grow into their own person it is inevitable. So why not embrace it and help them be their best person?

Sierra had an eye exam this week (after failing her eye screening at school). She needs glasses. Her eyes aren't horrible yet but she won't have to strain to see if she gets the glasses. I let Sierra pick out her glasses, within set parameters. She liked the plastic frames because the nose piece was more comfortable. She went with a pink pair. I know~ PINK! But she absolutely loved them and said that they were the ones that she felt prettiest in. So they're the ones we went with. I'll post a picture when they come in.

Another Trip to Toledo

Levi had to go to the Toledo Children's Hospital for an ultrasound on Monday. For those of you who don't already know, Levi has mild hydronephrosis of his left kidney. This is a blockage between his kidney and bladder. We knew this since his first ultrasound. Levi is very lucky because his hydronephrosis is healing fabulously all by itself. Some children will actually need surgery or in extreme situations a series of surgeries. But Levi will not need any surgery or treatment of any sort if he continues to develop and grow at the same rate as he has been. The urinalogist just wants to continue to watch the situation. Levi gets an ultrasound about every 4 months or so. The biggest bummer of the situation is that we have to drive to Toledo for the ultrasound and then go back a week later to see the urinalogist.

The process for Levi's ultrasound is the same as a pregnant woman's ultrasound (my only point of reference). Diaper change and clothes changing is like battling a hurricane at this point so my level of concern for a Levi ultrasound was at high alert! However, he did awesome! I tickled him and he giggled like a mad man. He played with the tech's cord. He did great right up until we had to roll him to his side and then he had had enough. I was so proud of him though. I was sooo pleased with him that I took him to the park for some swinging before the drive home. I had my camera with me so I was anticipating some really good shots of my happy boy. You know ~ the ones that show these beautiful happy babies with smiles from ear to ear, face tipped up toward the sun. Yeah, I didn't get that shot. You know Levi and his timing and I wasn't very diligent. We were at a nice park but I started to get a little paranoid being at a park in Toledo alone (I'm not counting the baby as someone who could help with defending for obvious reasons). So we only stayed about 10-15 minutes and I decided that I would rather enjoy Levi enjoying his swing than spend the entire time blinding him with the camera flash.

Levi got pretty fussy on the way home so I stopped and got him some french fries. This worked for a while until he decided to take the fries from me and then throw them at me and continue to hollar. I finally dumped all the fries into the bag and rolled the top of the bag down and gave the entire thing to him. He was soooo happy with Mommy! He played with that bag for the rest of the ride home. He would laugh and talk to it, take a fry out and then put it back in. Don't forget the always fabulous bag shake, that's always fun. Of course, by the time we got home that bag was torn to shreds and my van was covered in french fries.

A Little Scary

Every where we go people just oohh and aahh over what an angel Levi must be. They call him smiley (because he's always smiling at the strangest people for no reason). People just don't seem to believe me when I tell them that he's not always that happy, sweet, lovable or basically any pleasant quality. Does this picture look sweet and lovable to you?! Hardly. I find it to be a little scary. For as sweet and lovable that Levi can be he can be just as nasty! How about this one? Anyone want to babysit?

Night Person Living in a Morning Person's World

I've NEVER been a morning person. My main reason for wanting to graduate was so that I wouldn't have to get up early anymore. I am absolutely hands down a night person. I am soooo tired everyday and I can't wait till I can go to bed. However, come about 8 or 9 pm I feel good, like a new day has just started. I have to force myself to get into bed at midnight (and I'm proud of myself if I make to bed by midnight). Everyone told me that after 'I had kids that would change, my body would adjust- especially when they get into school- the body has no choice but to conform.' Well, 8 yrs, 3 kids, 4 school yrs later and I'm still waiting for my body to accept getting up early. It's just not happening for me.



Levi got up at 6:30 this morning! Was he not aware that today is Saturday and we don't get up at 6:30 am on Saturdays?! He seemed quite pleased with himself for being the first one up this morning (as you can see by the picture). I, however, was not quite as pleased.










Sienna was next, around 7:30. And much like her mother, she layed on the couch and did nothing except pet Bell for about 30 minutes. After that, she was off and running, literally. And we can't forget the morning pudding - a staple in Sienna's morning.




Then around 8:30 Sierra finally came down the steps (I never thought I would use finally and 8:30 am in the same sentence.) In true Mama form she went straight to the couch. Sierra also needs a least a half an hour to wake up before she can think about doing anything. She would prefer an hour or two but at the half hour mark I force her to get up and move.



I can't say anything about them needing 'time to wake up' because I am worse than they are. I need some time in the morning to just sit and do nothing. Maybe watch some videos. I'm horrible. But I'm leaving out a new player in the morning game - Lola. She is actually the first one up. She starts crying and wanting out of her cage around 5:30!! That's just absurd!

The Sweetest Sound in the World

Is he not the cutest thing?! Is this not one of the best pictures ever taken of Levi?! His smile is good. His eyes are good. He doesn't have food smeared all over his face. He doesn't have snot running out of his nose. No big lumps or bruises that I can see. His shirt does have a couple of wet spots but that's from his own drool. I can't make him stop drooling. (If I'm wrong about that and there is a way to make a baby who runs close comparison to a Saint Bernard stop drooling please contact me IMMEDIATELY).

Anyway, I'm very proud of myself, not to toot my own horn or anything. I think the reason why I'm so proud is because of the craziness I had to go through to get it. I'd say it took me a good 20-30 minutes of letting Levi do absolutely anything he wanted and me continuously snapping pics. The problem is that Levi has impeccable timing. Just before the camera captures the shot Levi looks away- every single time. I started to anticipate this and would push the button when I thought he was getting ready to look my way. As you can imagine, that wasn't always successful. This turns out to be another life lesson ~ diligence and persistence does pay off, NEVER GIVE UP (no matter how trivial).



Now this picture was a totally different story. As you can see I've got ahold of Levi by the arm to balance him. But he is insisting on getting my camera. I'm just trying to keep him up and off me long enough to get the picture. Not exactly the result I was looking for.


Finally - the title of this post, The Sweetest Sound in the World. I've always said the sweetest sound in the world was children laughing (just like a million other people). Of course this is the most alarming sound as well as it is a good indicator of naughty deeds. It's a fine line really. Anyway, Sienna was driving her jeep this afternoon. Levi has seen her drive this thing a million times but today it was really funny to him. Sienna does alot of stop and go. Each time she would go Levi would let out with this belly chuckle. It was so cute I went inside to get the camera. I put him in the jeep with Sienna and he found this to be just hysterical. However, it required some multitasking from me. Let's just say, it's not my best filming work. I had Lola on the leash hanging from wrist, I'm filming, I'm trying to make sure Levi doesn't fall out of the jeep, and at one point I'm evening pulling and turning the jeep to line it up right (again while filming). All the while we're all just laughing. Poor Sierra got off the bus during all of this. She probably thought we were at little nuts at first.

As you can see things went terribly wrong there towards the end. I was hoping that when we took him out of the jeep he would still laugh at Sienna like he was earlier. Obviously he did not find it as funny when he was not in the jeep. He wanted back in the jeep. Obviously.

Every Girl's Gotta Get Her Nails Done!!

Lola got her nails done today. Petco offers all kinds of pet pampering - I had no idea. The only reason why I took her to have them cut rather than cut them myself was because I just didn't know what I was doing. Next time I'll do them myself (probably). Aunt Shell and Brandon went with us. The kids liked checking out the super cool pet store. Aunt Shell is now convinced that Levi needs a turtle! Please NO!! I finally got Lola her tag and I must say, I was a little disappointed that they didn't have a nice shiny pink one. Even though they had super cool pink collars that I've now got my eye on. Thanks Petco (I'm rolling my eyes). Since Lola got her nails trimmed today the girls and I decided that she also needed them painted (one more thing I'm disappointed that Petco didn't offer, not that I really thought they would). Anyway, her nails turned out nicely even though I decided to only paint the front ones. Maybe we'll have better results next time!

Harvest Festival

We took the kids to a Harvest Festival just outside of Willard. I was expecting something like the one that Burnham's Orchards has (with tons and tons for the kids to do). Let's just say this was a MUCH smaller version. The kids got to pick out their pumpkins. Sierra insisted on carrying her own. I was surprised she could actually do it - the thing looked to be as big as she is! The festival did have a tractor pedal thing set up for the smaller kids so Sienna did that and got a sucker for it. Sierra wanted a sucker but not the ride. They had a little hay maze set up and the girls played around on that while Levi stole Sienna's sucker for himself! It was a nice little time but I'm definitely looking forward to taking the kids to Burnham's.