3 More Months

I can't believe we are in the midst of the Holiday madness already.  This year has flown by- because we've been having so much fun! There's so much to say and so little time so I will do my best!

Levia is getting so big!  She is crawling like crazy, climbing up onto everything, and can even stand for a couple seconds if she doesn't realize she's doing it.  She loves to dance which is simply adorable and loves to clap too!  She's eating lots of new things and wearing her big girl jeans :)  She is getting better with other people but still doesn't fancy men too much.  She is definitely not afraid of other kids, she will climb all over them to get what she wants.  She is not afraid of vacuums or dogs.  In facts, she tries to catch them.  We sure love our big girl!

Highlight of the year so far was spending Thanksgiving in Wisconsin.  It really made me want to move closer to home.  I am so lucky to have such an awesome family.  I love everyone so much and I cannot wait to see everyone again.  It was also so fun to see the three little girls together for the first time!!

At home we are just doing the daily grind.  Rod's working and also working on finding a new job but I feel like that may be a long process.  Levia and I are being real good shoppers and Christmas movie watchers.  We are trying to get some sleep and fight off sickness!  We have little bumps in the road but we are sure grateful for everything we have and consider ourselves incredibly lucky and blessed!!!

A weekend in Steamboat with Uncle Jim!

Crawler

A weekend with Becca

Big girl!

Halloween

2015 Cousins

A Growing Girl

Our girl is getting so big! She is four months old now.  At her doctor appointment today she weighed 14 lbs and is 25 inches long.  Se can roll across a room and she is still just as happy as ever!  I am so lucky, we have hard moments but almost never have hard days- she is just the best! 

Nursery

I never posted pictures of Levia's nursery so here it is, just for fun!

Recent Pictures, because I just can't get enough!

Levy is starting to laugh and it is my absolute favorite!!!

She is so drooly right now! Bibs are our best friend.

I made lots of baby leggings that fit her now and I think they are awesome!

Levy at 3 months old

Little miss independent thinks she can sit up, stand up, and walk on her own- yikes!

She just crashed while playing... I love when this happens, it's so cute!

A Wonderful World

My baby girl is already three and a half months old and I can hardly believe it!  Time is such a crazy and precious thing.  Levia is growing so fast, I can’t keep up with her!  I already look at pictures from the day she was born and cannot believe the transformation! She has been such a good baby, there have been many days when I just feel so grateful for how easy she is and how smoothly the transition into parenthood has been. 

The best part about having Levia is just the small moments we share that just bring such joy and love into our home and family.  Her smiles and little personality is just so adorable and I just love being with her.  She loves her daddy and it just melts my heart to see them together!

We have been so blessed to have family come visit us and meet Levia.  My parents have been out, my sister Becca, and Rod’s parents and sister Jessica were all able to come out.  One of the hardest things for me is that not everyone has gotten to see her, and having our family so far away, no one gets to see her often.  I wish my family could come out once a week and see her grow and see all the new things she does, but thank heavens for Skype!

One of my favorite days so far was Levia’s blessing day.  She wore a beautiful dress made by Rod’s mom.  My parents were here that day and Uncle Jim came down for the blessing.  Rod gave a beautiful blessing and I was just overwhelmed with love from my Heavenly Father that day.  I am so grateful for a husband who uses his priesthood- it blesses our family so much!  We had a barbecue that afternoon and all of our friends came.  I felt so blessed to have people who love us and support us.  It was a beautiful day- one that I don’t think I will forget!

This summer has been a whirlwind of busy days and lots of things going on, visitors, and people to see as well as quite a few relaxing days as well.  I will admit that some days I like just being at home with my family and relaxing together.

Levia May

I won't bore you with every gory detail, but I do want to share Levia's birth story.  I feel so fortunate in the care I got and the way we decided to go about having our beautiful girl.

We decided to have her at Mountain Midwifery (a birth center) instead of going the traditional hospital route.  I was seen by midwives throughout the pregnancy, we took classes which were very helpful, and I felt like the midwives knew me and took time to answer all of my questions or concerns.  I have never liked doctors but I never felt scared or nervous about visiting my midwives.  One of the biggest comforts going into birth was that throughout our classes the midwives were honest about the pain of birth but made me feel so comfortable and not scared for the actual labor.

On Friday night at about 8:30 I started having small contractions (far apart and not very consistent) so I thought they would just go away.  I went to bed that night just fine but woke up a few times with contractions.  At 1:00am I woke up with stronger contractions and they were consistently 5 minutes apart.  I was throwing up a ton and lost everything in me by that point.  I was nervous about the throwing up so we called the midwives a little earlier than we planned- at about 5:00am when contractions were 4 minutes apart.  They told me to come in by 6:00.  By the time we got there my contractions were really close together.  Because I had lost all my food and water, they gave me a bag of fluid through an IV to help give me some energy.  At about 7:45 or so I got into the birthing tub.  I decided I love birthing tubs! Just about after that point I could hardly tell what was a contraction anymore.  --lots of pain and pushing part--  and Levia was born at 8:28am.  After she came out of the water it took her a minute to breathe which scared me but the midwives helped right away.  The midwives and the nurse there were awesome and talked me through some of the hard parts.

Although it was obviously not fun, I had an amazing birth experience.  It was so surreal and just indescribable the spirit that was there and the overwhelming love that I felt as my husband and I looked at out little girl for the first time.  I know everyone says it about their own child, but to me she was just the most beautiful thing I had ever seen- and still is!