March and April

 Happy Easter! All year the past year, I have been looking at this adorable suit sitting on Levi's shelves, hoping that it would fit at Easter time, and it did!! (Even thought the pants were a tad big...) Grandma and Grandpa monk sent us a small Easter package and Levi had fun playing with the eggs!

Our cute little family in our Easter outfits!

We had a couple of friends over for Easter dinner. It was so fun! We had meat and potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls, and banana slushies, followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert!! oh my goodness. it was AMAZING. I was in pain from eating too much, THAT'S when you know it was delicious :) We're so glad we have great friends!

We have been having AWESOME weather here in Indy, and Levi LOVES being outside.  We have gone on walks, been to the park, and basically had the door open all the time. Levi loves to sit by the door and watch the cars go past!

 This is Levi and his friend (betrothed ;) ) Cambria. They play together a lot (because their mommies play together a lot) and they love playing in the grass together :)

In March, Dave's dad came out to Indy to visit us for a weekend. He was going to Ohio for business and decided to stop by. He is SO cute with Levi! Levi laughs and laughs when Grandpa Monk plays with him :) We went on a walk over the pedestrian bridge, it was pretty! We couldn't help thinking how beautiful it would be in a few weeks when the leaves start to come out. We enjoyed having Dave's dad here even though it was only for a short time. We love seeing our family members!!

It has been a good past couple of months! I need to be better at taking pictures of things besides Levi... lol. I'm not so great at it. But he's cute, so it's ok, right?! we love that the weather is improving, and we can go outside and do things now :)

Homebodies

Dave and I babysat for a family in our ward this past week. It was only for 3 days, but we had their 4 boys plus Levi. So i was a mom of 5 boys for 3 days. CRAZY. We had a lot of fun! The boys were really well behaved and played so well together, it was surprisingly easy to watch them :) Dave was really good with them. He played games and jumped on the trampoline with them. He is / will be such a great dad!

I learned something about myself and Levi from this adventure though... we are HOMEBODIES. I love being at home. Apparently so does Levi. I have baby-proofed our apartment fairly well, and Levi gets to go pretty much wherever and i don't have to watch him 100% of them time (and our apt is small enough that i'm always in the same room with him). While we were at the other house, I had to watch him constantly to make sure he wasn't into cords, choking on something, or attempting to go up the stairs by himself. Put this with the fact that he hates sleeping in pack n plays, and you have one GRUMPY mommy and baby. Yesterday we spent the day hanging out at home, and he was so giggly and smiley. he took 2 naps over 2 hours. It was pure bliss. I didn't realize that we were such homebodies!

Don't get me wrong, I loved being able to babysit those boys, they are great! And I love being to help out a friend. Maybe next time we'll have to do it at our house. haha. now THAT would be an adventure :)

Oh, this happened while we were there: hahaha. he got stuck again. so funny :)

Dear Levi - 9 Months

Today you got stuck between our entertainment center and the wall. It was so sad, but funny.  We let you try to problem-solve your way out of the situation, but you were pretty stuck. We snapped a few pictures and then helped you out. You didn't know whether to cry or laugh! 

As I reflected on this tonight, I have been amazed at how much you've changed in the past 9 Months and 13 Days. You were a helpless little infant and now you’re an independent adventurer! You love to crawl around and play with your toys! Your current favorite is any type of CAR!! You have figured out that the wheels turn, and that you can drive the car along the ground. Next up, we’ll be working on the VROOM sound J. You also love toys that make sound! Grandma and Grandpa Monk gave you a little piano that lights up and plays music. You love to pound the keys, and Mom already has all the songs memorized! Your other favorite toys are not actually toys… Cell phones and cords (we don’t let you play with these…) remotes, Tupperware, pots and pans, keys, etc. You have recently discovered how to swing doors open and close, and that brings you so much joy!!! You sit on your knees and swing away, bouncing and laughing the whole time. Thank goodness you haven’t learned to pull things out of the doors you open yet!

You LOVE when Daddy comes home at night. He wrestles with you and you think it’s the coolest thing on the planet. You like to sit above his head and explore his face. You stick your hands in his mouth and poke his eyes. You also pull his head back down by his hair if he tries to sit up. You love to straddle his neck and bounce on his chest. Dad is already throwing the football with you and it gives you the giggles! You also love it when Dad plays the “get-you” game. Sometimes you run toward him instead of away. And it is the cutest thing ever.

You love Mommy time as well. You like to play peek-a-boo and patty-cake. Wheels on the bus is pretty funny too! You are so good at playing by yourself, and very intent on your surroundings. Mom loves to watch quietly as you play with toys, babble, and explore. You are a little shadow. Whatever Mom is up to, you’re sure to be there, too. This is especially helpful in the kitchen, where you like to hold on to her legs and walk with her while she cooks. You also like to stand up on the open dishwasher and push the drawers in and out. You've even started pulling the silverware out! Like I said, very helpful. 

At nap time, you love snuggling and being rocked to sleep. You would probably sleep in Mom’s arms for every nap if you could. Mom loves these snuggle naps, so you do it together quite often in the afternoons. But you are also sleeping amazing in your crib now! We gave you a “Lovey” that soothes your right to sleep. We love to watch you grab handfuls of it and shove it in your mouth to suck on! It has helped you learn to sleep through the night!!! When you wake up in the mornings and after your naps, you stand up in your crib with the lovey still in your mouth. It makes us laugh!

You love to play with other babies, and bigger toddlers make you laugh. Most adults make you very shy though. Whenever someone new comes around, you cling to Mom like your life depends on it. You seem to be overcoming the stranger danger just a little bit, but it's definitely still there. We'll let you in on a secret... Mom doesn't mind it! She loves that you cling to her, and although she might act annoyed, she secretly loves that she's the only one you want!

Your giggle is the cutest sound we have heard, and we love being the cause of it! We love you so much, little man!! We can’t wait to see what you’re doing in the next 9 months!

Love, Mom and Dad!

Our 2013 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Delays and Birthdays

We flew home (or tried to) on Jan. 5, which is Dave's birthday. We knew the weather was getting bad in Indy, but our flights had not yet gotten delayed or cancelled. We took off in SLC and everything was still on time. As soon as we landed in Denver, we found out that our flight to Indy was cancelled. After frantically booking a hotel and waiting in line to reroute our tickets at the frontier counter, we went out to On The Border to celebrate Dave's B-day! It was a welcome hot meal :)

We were delayed in Denver for two days. I'm not sure if Levi like his temporary crib or not...

 We made the most of our delay and got out to see Denver. We were able to go to Mile High Stadium (just outside). It's pretty incredible to see in person!

 We also went to Red Rock Park. They have some pretty spectacular formations. Even though there was snow on the ground and most of the trails were closed, we had fun taking in the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the scenery. 

We actually enjoyed our delay in Denver! It was surprising that it turned out so nice because we have heard horror stories of getting stuck in Denver. But we went through quite the ordeal getting home the rest of the way. Our original flight was on Sunday, so we ended up flying out on Tuesday night. But we couldn't get a flight directly into Indy (the whole city was STILL shut down from the "polar vortex"), so we flew into Cincinnati. We got a rental car and started to drive up to Indy, which is normally a 2ish hour drive. After a white-knuckle 3.5 hour drive, we finally made it to the hotel where we had parked our car. We decided to call it a night and drive the rest of the way to West Lafayette in the morning. We were about 10 miles from our exit the next day when traffic came to a standstill. We were SO tired of travelling at this point, I almost cried. We turned around in the median, and went back to the last exit to take the back roads. It was a huge relief to get home that day. What an adventure!!

Before we left for Christmas break, I had set Dave's birthday presents out on the bed so that he would get them when we got home (remember how we were supposed to get home on his b-day?). He got them 3 days late, but he got them!! He got a white shirt, OSU slippers, and a grilling set :)

Oh, the next week, I also had a birthday! We didn't take any pictures of my birthday, but we went to the store and I got to pick out some new under armor yoga pants (Yay!!) and Dave made me a special dinner of Penne Rosa (my fave from Noodles & Co) and Fried Chicken.

(I found a pic!)

My awesome friend Melissa made me a Quarter Cake for being a quarter of a century old! She also threw me my very first surprise party! It was so fun, and the cake was DEEEE-Licious!

Levi's 6 Mo, Christmas and NYE

 This cute boy turned 6 Months on December 13, 2013. He is a ball of fun! He started crawling 2 weeks before his 6 month birthday, and he hasn't stopped! We love him so much!

 We flew to Utah to spend Christmas with my family! Levi was a trooper on the plane, but he wanted to get down the whole time! 

My family always does puzzles at Christmas-time. We enjoyed working on a few with my dad! 

We had fun opening presents with Levi this year! We can't wait until he can get a little more excited!

We drove up to Idaho to spend New Year's Eve with Dave's family.

Grandma Monk read all the kids some stories!

Dave's family tradition is to have fondue on big holidays, so we had cheese fondue on NYE for dinner! (I am not a huge fan of this for dinner, but dave and the rest love it, so it's fun for me :) )

Ringing in the new year with a little sparkling grape juice!

Happy New Year!

We loved our trip to Utah / Idaho. It was full of family and friends. We are so glad that we have been able to go back and see everyone! Especially with Levi in tow. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Carter come for Thanksgiving

We were so excited when we found out that Grandma and Grandpa Carter were going to come to WL for Thanksgiving! I was also a bit nervous to be in charge of cooking Thanksgiving Dinner, but since it was just the 4 of us, I figured that it was the perfect way to break me into cooking a big dinner!

Levi had so much fun playing with his Grandparents. He was less clingy this time.

We enjoyed a meal at our favorite restaurant - HuHot. I think it's a tradition in the making!! :)

 We had a lot of fun playing games together!

 I LOVED cooking Thanksgiving dinner with my mom!  

My dad carved the turkey! 

It was very yummy! 

On black friday, we went up to Chicago to see some sights. Unfortunately, it was VERY cold that weekend, and we had to keep to indoor activities. We did go to the Natural History Museum. It was way cool! One of their biggest exhibits was on the Native Americans. We had a great time seeing the artifacts and getting to try some clothes on!

  

 They had a giant dinosaur skeleton like in Night at the Museum. I wonder if this one comes to life at night?! ;)

We had to stop at Giordanno's for deep dish pizza, of course! It was delicious, and we enjoyed every bite! :)

We were so glad that the Carter's could come visit us! It was so nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving with people that we love :)