alllll RIGHT ALREADY!!

lately, i have had several people mention to me, in a not-so-subtle-way ("uh, darby, you're a bad blogger." ah-HEM, you know who you are), that i haven't been the greatest at keeping up with my blog lately. and of course, i agree. it's pitiful. ridiculous. obsurd. but to my credit, i have looked at every pregnant girl's blog on my bloglist (amanda, megan, jen, emilie) and with the exception of kimberly, NONE of us have updated in the last 2 weeks at least. how can she throw them under the bus like that," you might ask???? well, it's because i am the worst of them all. so, that's how i justify ALL of our less-than-frequent updates. now...on to our life lately

my little baby boy turned TWO today. we woke up and had breakfast donuts, spent time with daddy before he went to work, and sang "happy birthday" over and over to our little audience. he would clap after each rendition and say "again!" it was great. his birthday party is coming this weekend and i'm SO EXCITED about having his friends over to play on his NEW SWING SET!! pops and gramsy (my parents) decided to get levi a little outdoor fun this year, and he is already loving it!!! it's going to be lots of fun in the summer months ahead, but i do confess that as a mom, i'm a little nervous about how adventerous levi is. he has already - in the last day, mind you - tried multiple ways to jump off the top fort. he has no fear whatsoever. so, we will just keep bandaids, popsicles, and blankies on hand at all times and we should be ok ;)

going back some, MY SISTER MARRIED HER BEST FRIEND on the 25th of april!! their wedding was incredible! great wedding, reception, dance, food, photographer ;0, music, friends, family, and ring bearers (levi and "cousin major" were the most handsome boys at the wedding)! it was a blast - kelsey and tanner - i am so happy for you guys and am so excited that you are MARRIED and getting to "do" life together as husband and wife! tanner hal easley - you have made my sister one happy girl and i am so glad to have you in our family now!! you guys are the best.

we also got to see grandma and grandpa edwards, who brought so many goodies to levi and me (but since i'm pregnant, none of the clothes fit ;( sad sad day when you have to turn clothes away), and with them, they brought cousin jenny and her little boy charlie!! after the boys got used to each other, they played all KINDS of games together! it was SO GREAT to see all of you, i just wish it could have been lots longer!

anyways, just some of whats gone on lately. i have been feeling better, not normal by any means, but better. i only have a couple of days left in my first trimester, so i am hoping that in the next couple of weeks, all sickness with be outta here! heres a video of levi seeing his swing set with the slide on for the first time!! he had to be so patient for 2 days while he watched this present go up piece by piece. he just couln't wait for the slide to be attached! big toys for big boys!!!

you're so smart!!!

yes!! we are pregnant with our SECOND baby! as of today, i am 6 1/2 weeks. we will have this baby, with the Lord's grace, around November 20th..right before thanksgiving! what a gift to be thankful for! i can't wait! i can't wait to see what this little ones personality will be, what they will look like - will they look like levi and clayton, or will you be able to see some of me in them - will levi be excited at first or apprehensive...the list goes on and on. i will comprise a list of them all soon - just for me to remember after the baby is here. i DO think it's probably another little boy, but God could surprise us!! who knows! when i was pregnant with levi, i was NEVER sick. i never felt naseous, never gagged at any smell, and never threw up. all i wanted to do my first trimester was eat. i was CONSTANTLY hungry. however, this pregnancy is stacking up to be completely different. i have been naseous since thursday. i have gagged at brushing my teeth, changing levi's poopy diapers, and any random smell in my kitchen. and in keeping with the contrast in pregnancies, i have hardly eaten anything - except bland food, peppermints and now preggie pop drops. so maybe it's a girl...????? but the male genes are pretttty strong in the walker family, so we will see.

thanks for all the congrats - we couldn't be more excited or more thankful for this little life that God has shared with us. i'm just ready for him/her to be here!!! is that being impatient? um, maybe a little.

secrets....

i know something you don't know....


can you guess what it is?

security

there are times in my life when God makes it so plain to me that i need Him. not just his grace or mercy or gifts...things that are easy to take for granted, but times that in my soul, i crave my Savior. there are times when things get so hard and so frustrating that all i want is for Him to save me from it all. yes, i wish that trials would just go away, who doesn't? but i'm talking about when you know you need rescuing and there is only One who can do it. who in the midst of all the chaos and confusion can settle the waves and put peace back into my heart. i LOVE that i have a SAVIOR - i love that he knows me in the most intimate ways, can sympathize with my weaknesses and failures, and more importantly - will stand on my behalf to intercede for me. these are the times that i long to know Christ more, when it seems like everything in me is yearning to just be in His presence. i hate these times, but i cherish them endlessly. i am so thankful for my salvation. so grateful that i have the savior of the world as my confidant and husband. and in all my thankfulness for having that relationship with Him, almost instantly i feel this ache for the lost. for people who have yet to know Him or have turned in outright rebellion from Him. Lord, my heart is torn when people haven't found your hope. thank you for being my savior - for taking my awful, wayward, rebellious heart and promising to transform it into your likeness. jesus - thank you for never being overwhelmed by my needing you.

introducing...mowgli

this is a video of levi "playing" with his pet mowgli - the beta fish. thank you grandma and grandpa edwards for this wonderful christmas gift - levi absolutely adores him! he fell in love with "bish" after nemo became a regular at our house, so having a fish to feed and watch at the house anytime has been a blast!

this weekend was a looooong one! clayton got sick with some sort of bug saturday night, and finallt felt good enough to go to work today. so we didn't leave the house from saturday afternoon until tonight - can ya say cabin fever!?!? we needed to leave so bad that we decided to take a family trip to target, only to find that the patty wagon ( our affectionate name for the pathfinder) wouldn't start. so we put the car seat in claytons monster truck (NEVER an easy task) and took off for a 45 minute outing. other than that, things around here have been pleasantly normal. oh, and just so you know, mowgli was not hurt in ANY way - well, not that we know of ;)

and by the way, is it just me, or do fish have personalities?!?! i swear our fish loves my company. or maybe being in the house all weekend is just catching up to me - mentally. what do you think?

boys make noise

apparently i'm banned from uploading videos right now and i'm ticked off - i have the greatest video ever and it wont let me upload it!!! argh! so i'm writing this in an embittered attitude. so if i can't upload the video i want, then i wanted to share with you a video of how i feel....this is older-right after levi started walking-old, but still, it represents my frustration well ;0

we have been great this week - levi has a little cold and had to stay home from parents day out, but is feeling better. instead we went to sonic to get some smoothies and hung out by the fire while watching veggie tales! coolest mom ever?!?!?! i think so. ;)

yes, yes. i know.

"choo-choo"
on the polar express in durango

ok, i have to explain, i was trying to make a sorority face, and this is what happened. clearly i was never in a sorority, but i laugh everytime i see this. so go ahead, laugh at my expense ;)

my new decor...thousands of army men.


its been awhile. but lets move on from that. no one likes to live in the past, right? uh, yea right. it has been such an amazing couple of weeks - christmas was an absolute blast this year. my sister and her fiance came to stay with us for a week and we baked the ENTIRE week....ya know, the stuff memories are made of. levi had a blast opening presents and got so many great toys  - we are defin cleaning out the house and putting younger toys in the attic - whew! can't wait for that saturday project. clayton and i went skiing with our college ministry last week, and clayton fell directly on his right hip and had a muscle contusion as a result. the poor guy was unable to walk, sleep, move, anything. he was miserable - but over the last couple of days he has started to feel much better - THANK GOODNESS! another update - we have decided to buy the house that we have been renting over the last 2 years!!!! we are so excited and can't wait to make it our own - which means lots of do-it-yourself projects, but it will be so great to know that we did it together as a family. i will acutally post pics of before and after bc i love junk like that. anyways, just a quick update, and now, here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks, er uh, maybe months. ;)

like mother, like....son?

i got these pictures from my mom today and couldn't resist putting them up! i have a million pictures of levi with everyone else in our family, but not many with just us two...so i had to share them! i loved looking at them to see how similar our mannerisms are, and i wanted to put them up so i could look at them often....can you tell we hang out a lot?? ;)

TAG I'M IT!

yay! i was tagged to list some of clayton's favorite things..so here we go!!

                                                       good food

taking levi to PDO

snowboarding

his little boy

apple products

a couple more: dr. pepper, outback cheese fries, and shoes!!

i tag jen colley, emilie, and amy cooper!!

Manly Men

So levi's little buddy carter came over for some bonding time this weekend, so i thought you might enjoy watching them work on the workbench together! these two spent nearly an hour playing only on the workbench...just gruntin away! thank you g-daddy for the most amazing workbench in the world!

little catchin' up to do

well, so i started looking through the millions of pictures that i can't seem to delete off my camera (little sentimental i guess) and i decided to share some of the stories that i was too lazy to post when they actually happen. as if you can't tell, i've had trouble being motivated to blog, so i did what every blogger does when your in a rut....you get a new background. so - check. got the new background and i'm hoping that it will motivate me to blog just so i can look at all the pretty colors! :P i do however, keep up with everyone else still and even get frustrated when one of my regulars hasn't updated in awhile..if that's not hypocracy i don't know what is! ha...so i'm calling my own kettle black, and updating my blog...lets see, what story should i share...ah, yes. how bout when i accidentally locked levi in the car.

disclaimer: this story will make much more sense if you know that we do NOT have a home phone...

one afternoon after levi and i had run a couple of errands, we pull into the driveway and park in the garage...just hanging out in the car for a second having a conversation. so for a couple of minutes i let levi have my car keys because he loves to jingle them as hard as he can and we are just sitting in the car together so nothing can happen, right? right. so far so good. well, after a little bit i decide it's time to go in so i automatically go into "get levi ready for his nap" mindset...i don't really know what that is, but it's a place in my mind and i definitely go there often. so in my "mindset" i open the door to my car and as SOON as my door shuts...not even 1 second after the door latches...i hear all my doors lock. all of them. levi had somehow pushed the "lock" button on my keyless entry and he had in the span of 1 second, separated himself from me in the most heart-wrenching way. BUT as i hear all the time from people in stressful situations, i told my self to stay calm...breathe darby. think. ok. so he's locked himself in the car. no, i really locked him in the car because of my bad parenting...ok no time for self destructive thoughts....think logically. ok. check for a spare key. crap. we never had a spare key made. ok plan b....just call a locksmith. they can come out and pop the door open soon. besides levi is ok, the garage is cool, and he's already starting to doze. ok. where's my phone. WHAT! WHERE IS IT? oh no. it's locked in the car with levi. ok. ok. ok. breathe. ok. alright levi has fallen asleep. i'll just run to my next door neighbors house and ask to use their phone. ok. ah, poor baby, i'll be right back. ok. knock knock knock....no answer. ding-dong. ding-dong. wait just a second and let her get to the door darby. uh ok. she's not answering. i'll run across the street. ok knock knock knock. waiting, waiting. no answer....ding dong. DING-DONG!!! where are all these people!!!! i'm freaking out! no one is home. ok, gotta check on levi. ok he's asleep...hmmmm i wonder if i should just bust the window out. am i even strong enough to do that? i wonder which window would be the cheapest to replace...AH darby!! think logically. you can't break a window in your car....levi could get hurt. ok. i'll just go in and see if one of the popalocks has a website. ok www.popalock.com....crap. no help. maybe i can check att's website and send a text message to clayton and he can call popalock...great idea darby. ok, www.att.com what...where did that little link go? oh panic. ok that's not working. maybe he'll have the laptop up and i can skype him. ok no answer. i'll skype my mom, maybe she'll answer. welp, no answer there. CRAP!!!! what am i gonna do....

and then all of a sudden, the lightbulb goes on....FACEBOOK CHAT!

ok, i'll get on and see if i can get someone to call clayton and tell him that he has to call pop-a-lock to get our poor child out of the car. ok login....whose on....AH TANNER EASLEY! oh please answer, please answer.....OH MY GOSH. he's replying...ok tanner, tell clayton to call the locksmith because levi's locked in the car. ok thanks. let me know when you get ahold of him. jump up to go check on levi. ok. still sound asleep. check on tanner....oh GREAT! he called clayton...they are on there way...PRAISE THE LORD!

so there are my thoughts somewhat explained during this entire ordeal. i kept trying to tell myself to stay cool and think, but then my mind would go back to that sweet boy just sitting in his car seat wondering why mom got out and never came to get him....good thing he fell asleep almost as soon as i shut my door, otherwise i don't know what i would have done! so after clayton called the locksmith, they told him that they were already on a call and so the FIRE DEPARTMENT would have to come...so embarrassing. a fire truck showed up at my house with the lights blazing and the sirens blaring...i felt so dumb. they said it happens a lot with moms at home and they were glad they could help. levi woke up right as they started to jar the door, and tried to sit still so they wouldn't see him...pretty funny. so he was ok, and i learned that levi will never be allowed to play with my keys while he is in the car for ANY length of time! AND i also learned that facebook chat may be the greatest lifesaver of all time.

thanks for all your help guys...

it's been TWO months....

"hey! we've missed yall!"

helpin dad put together the workbench.

workin' hard to get it juuuust right.

since i last updated! so sorry...i really have no reason except that i just didn't feel like blogging. things here have been great. we started our service on campus last night at tech and it was amazing!! 70 students came to the kickoff (1 student was saved last night and 3 saved yesterday morning) and i am praying that God will use the campus location to draw students to Him. can't wait to see what happens!!!!!

levi has still been eating really well and is getting lean from all his running, jumping and crazy boy-ness. really...he's a dare devil for sure. that scares me for the future, but it really is a lot of fun! it's good that i'm more on the laid back side because if i wasn't, his fearless attitude would probably kill me.

levi is still in the 85th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height so he's still a-growin! we have had so much fun with him these last couple of months. he loves to play outside, in the fridge, and especially on his workbench. he gets up every - EVERY - morning and starts giggling when he sees it in the living room. and we take at least 2 nails or 2 bolts with us every where we go just in case we need them. ;) levi is still a little helper with everything from laundry to scolding the dogs when he thinks they are out of line...so much fun!

anyways, just a little update...i will try to blog more, but we'll see!!!

i love lists. see... i'll show you.

ok, so hello! haven't blogged in awhile, and right now i am trying to hurry because clayton leaves for mexico tomorrow. priorities, right? yes, we have had a lot going on this last month...so here go the lists.

in may we...

1) went to youth camp in missouri which consisted of a 15 hour bus ride there and another 15 hours back. nutso...levi did really good considering we hit a deer, had a flat, were on a bus of all junior high boys ;/, and was completely out of his element. i however, almost lost my mind. ;)

2) levi is eating 3 to 5 solid meals a day. we went to see the feeding and occupational therapists one time and he has been eating all kinds of stuff ever since!! what a relief!

3)clayton is going to mexico for the SECOND time tomorrow. he went in june a week after youth camp (vbs was in between those two) and he will leave tomorrow and be back next saturday. please pray for him if you think about it!!!

4) and by the pictures, you can probably tell that we FINALLY had our family pictures taken...and i am so happy with them!! levi was NOT in the mood to take pictures, or smile for that matter, so our photographer did so good!!! her link is www.betsylackey.blogspot.com if you want to check her out!!! she's amazing!!! 

5) we are going on vacation for our five year anniversary when clayton gets back from mexico!!!! i can NOT wait!!! 

hope you enjoy the pictures. we had a blast looking at them when it was all said and done!! family, if you want to order pictures, we have lots more that we haven't put up, so just email me and let me know!!

little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

here. we. go. just a little video of levi from yesterday. he likes to re-arange anything and everything, so we were finally able to get it on video.

oh hello...

*disclaimer  - this isn't actually a picture from levi's birthday party...but i'm working on it!!

well for all 2 of you that read this, i am sorry that i have had such terrible blogging discipline!! it hasn't been a "half-to" kinda thing around here, so it's kindof become a "not-at-all" kind of thing. but anyhow..everything is pretty much our day to day happenings around here. we are going to the feeding specialist and ot (occupational therapist) next week for levi's texture aversion. we had to fill out a REEE-DICULOUS amount of paper work for these appointments, so i'm ready to see what they have to say about all this. levi has eaten some donuts and actually chewed and swallowed them instead of gaging and spitting them out. but it is with the help of water that he manages to get it down. it's kind of funny to watch because he will hold it in his mouth until you give him something to drink!! thats our leetle pack rat for ya! '

i also saw this on another blog (she's kindof famous so i'm not going to mention who...i think name dropping is rather lame) - but i thought it was a good idea so i'm going to steal it! she would write a letter on her blog to her son on his birthday's so that she could always remember what was going on in his life at these huge milestones...so, here goes.

munchkin - 

you turned one about 2 weeks ago. i know this is supposed to be around your birthday, but you might as well know now that your mother is a procrastinator and is hardly ever on time for anything (except for your doctor's appointments which i am insanely anal about..ask your dad), so it's only fitting that i'm writing this 2 weeks late. ;) i want you to know how much i love you...how much you have grown your mom since you came to us a year ago. you have made me more selfless, more loving, more compassionate and more emotional than i ever thought i could be. it breaks my heart to see you cry when you get hurt, and it breaks my heart when i have to discipline your strong-willed little spirit (ok sometimes it doesn't break my heart as much as it enrages me..but i'm learning about this whole strong-willed thing still. dr. dobson..we thank you for this book ;) you have melted my heart everyday with your smile, the way you scrunch up your nose and show me your little chicklets. your dad and i have learned so much about God's love for us and his people through having you that we never would have understood otherwise. i worship our creator every time i watch you figuring things out, and when you laugh so hard you chuckle. you inspire worship in me like i have never known, and i can only think that Christ is good and gracious enough to let me know him more the more i know you. levi you have brought so much to my life. thank you for making it so much more about Christ than me. You are being used to bring glory to God, and you don't even know it. we pray everyday that your precious little heart would be softened to God and the salvation He has for you. we pray that you would have a tender and compassionate heart towards other people, and that gentleness would become a big part of who you will become as a man, father, husband and leader. (which, by the way, seems like a big prayer right now because you love for things to be loud, rough and ridiculously non-gentle...but nothing is impossible with God, right? :) God in his sovereignty, knows your future, and we pray everyday that we are leading you to Christ, to His salvation and his goodness. you are such a gift - i am so proud to be your mommy. thank you Jesus, for letting me lose myself even more to you through the gift of levi. you are such a good God - i am always humbled to see how you work. happy birthday levi....we have loved every minute of this first year with you!!!

now...

some of your favorite things...

1. playing with balls. we play catch all day - EVERY day.

2. looking in mirrors and seeing yourself or other people in the reflection

3. dogs...any kind.

4. kissing all the characters in your books, all the people in our photo albums, and any animal you see.

5. your praise baby dvd. 

6. climbing over our legs like an obstacle course.

7. taking things out of drawers, handing them to people, and then putting them back (esp. the dishwasher and dryer...you are such a helper!!)

8. banging on anything, with anything. the louder, the better.

9. playing chase around the house

10. making noises with your mouth like a little sound machine.

11. opening the shower door while we are taking showers ;)

12. your blankets...we joke that you are our little linus!

13. music and dancing...you defin have some rhythm. 

some of your NOT so favorites...

1. food. of any kind. of any texture...but we are working on it.

2. grass...defin don't like it to touch your hands or your feet.

3. changing your diaper

4. being up when your tired. it's seriously meltdown mode at that point. 

5. shopping. sorry kiddo...better get used to it. your future wife will thank me.

6. lots of attention at once kindof scares you

7. being touched by people you don't know very well. you pull away and make it really awkward for me...but i get you. aunt kelsey is the same way ;)

8. having your hair washed. 

9. not getting your way....not even kidding, it's WW3.

10. when it's play time, you get a little perturbed when we are on the computer, not playing with you, and you let us know it.

i'm sure i could think of more, but these are my favs. happy (late - but only in the blogging sense) birthday levi!!!!

oh my gosh.

i have a one year old.

levi turned one on sunday, may 4th. i cannot believe how fast it has all gone...it makes me want to savor every minute..even the minutes of him throwing up after all 6 of his shots today (seriously...6 shots!!), even the minutes of him learning that if he doesn't get his way he will throw a tantrum, even the minutes of listening to his pediatrician tell us that, yes, we will have to go see someone for his texture aversion, and even the minutes of him letting him learn lessons the hard way when it would be WAY easier to just do it for him. oh and ps..we will have pictures of the insane birthday party up this weekend. i am still waiting to see them!!!

random updates...

1. my sister just bought her first fuel-efficient car! yea for kelsey and for good credit scores!!

2. levi has been eating yobaby yogurt with fruit and cereal 2 or 3 times a day - that stuff is a life saver.

3. he also tried ribs, donut holes, and chick-fil-a french fries ALL since sunday...maybe we're onto something here...

4. levi took several more steps on his actual birthday!!! i can't wait for him to just take off (ok, really that's a lie. i just say that to sound like a great mom. honestly, thinking about him walking makes me tired - to have a one year old boy who is already into everything, be even faster at it by walking, yeah, like i said, it makes me tired. 

so just a quick update. i will put pictures up from the birthday weekend soon!

i love these SOOOO much!

ok, so i absolutely love to look back at all of the things we did, said, prayed, ect. when i found out that i was pregnant with levi. it was absolutely the MOST exciting time for me - really - to find out that there was a BABY growing in my tummy was just - you just can't describe it with words...so everyone reading this who is preggers - i am so SO excited for you! but anyways, so i'm looking through things, and i came across these videos. but before you watch, let me set up the scenario for you...

it was a wednesday night in august of 2006, and clayton and i had just gotten home from church. we had been home for awhile, so clayton was in the living room eating some dinner and watching a movie. i was about to join him, but i was so FRUSTRATED that my pants were so uncomfortably tight (you know like after you eat WAY to much at one time and you just feel miserably sick??) and so i went to change into some elastic-wasted pants (little did i know how much i would grow to love elastic over the next year!) so i was changing clothes and i remember saying to clayton a couple of days before, "if i am not pregnant, then we are going to do some SERIOUS working out, because i am so bloated!" really, it was ridiculous...so i decided, oh i'll just take a test tonight - that way if i'm not pregnant, i can run until i pass out tomorrow. so i go into the bathroom, kinda hoping i was pregnant like you always are - even when you think you really don't want to be - and i wait my 3 minutes in the bathroom. mind you - clayton has NO idea what i'm doing, or why it's taking me so long to change clothes. and after my timer went off, i look down.....OH MY GOSH!!! i could NOT believe it!!! there was a positive sign in the "results" window. what!!!??? am i reading this right?? are my eyes ok?? am i just thinking i'm seeing this, but it's not really there?!?! i FREAKED OUT! i was shocked to say the absolute least. so i wait in the bathroom, thinking to myself, "ok - should i go tell clayton that i just found out he is going to be a dad, or should i wait and do something really cute and memorable - OH MY GOSH!!! am i really asking myself these questions?!!?"

and in the midst of all my thoughts, clayton yells from the living room, "babe, WHAT are you doing?? you're missing the movie!!!"

and that's all it took. i couldn't help myself. i walked into the living room with the test in my hand and just stood there in front of him. i was not just looking at my husband anymore...i was looking at the MAN who would father and raise this sweet baby growing in me!!! he had never been so attractive! so as i'm processing ALL of these life-changing thoughts, i somehow whisper..."i'm pregnant."

"WHAT."

"um, i just took a test and it said that i was pregnant." (i'm literally ALL smiles and some tears at this point - shaking because i'm so excited.)

"what. let me see the directions. are you sure you did this right?" - (of all things, this is what he says to me! it was so funny. he automatically assumes that i pee-ed on the stick wrong..gotta love it.)

and what do you know - i had taken the test right, and the results were clear. i was pregnant. so we took another test later that night, and then another one again the next morning...all with the results stronger than the last. I COULD NOT CONTAIN MY HAPPINESS!!! i wanted to tell the entire world on thursday. SOOO, we decided that we did not want to wait (kindof scary now that i think about it) and we made plans to tell our families on thursday night. the plan was to have my family all together at my parents house, and clayton's family all together at his mom's house to take seperate pictures. we told them that we had to have family pictures taken because they were doing a minister spotlight in the bulletin on sunday morning (so cheezy huh, but that's all we could think of) - so after we all got home from work on thursday, we started off to the houses. we had a good friend come to "take the picture" but really we had the whole thing on video so we could always watch our families reaction to the good news. so we all line up, and our friend tyler jones (the official picture-taker) says, "ok, on the count of 3, everyone say "darby's pregnant!!!" hah! i can't wait for you to see their reactions!!! so this entire huge long post is for these videos...

my family - things to watch for...1) my dad's reaction is SUCH a typical dad response..he weirds out immediately. 2) my family does NOT get it. they continue to say "darby's pregnant" without understanding what they are saying...so goofy. 3) my brother, case, the second the video starts, actually gets it, and you can hear him say..."what." - priceless. 

now, CLAYTON'S family - things to watch for..1) well, this isn't the most obvious, so i'll start with it first. travis, who is in the middle, standing next to me, continues to look at the camera in his "cheezy pose" for a good while after the madness starts...kindof funny. 2) clayton's mom, beth, - absolutely steals the show! you will hear her before anything, but watch how hard she hits my arm in excitement, and then she hugs EVERYONE in the circle - she was SO EXCITED! 

thank you to both of our families for making such an exciting time in our life even better...and thank you Jesus, for giving me such a gift in levi. You are such a good God! i am so honored that you have entrusted such a precious little boy to clayton and i to raise. You have shown me more of Yourself through this little boy than i could ever have dreamed...to You, all praise and honor and glory.

so sorry this was so long, but i wanted to share these videos with you! enjoy! 

texture aversion??

well, since levi's been old enough to eat any kind of food, he has refused. ok so maybe every once in a while, he will eat MAYBE 4 or 5 bites of some kind of baby food or big people food, but after that HE IS DONE! he will not eat any more...and we have tried EVERYTHING! eating when he's real hungry, eating when he's kinda hungry, eating when he's not hungry. you name it, we have done it. so at his 9 month check-up, his pediatrician told us that if he wasn't eating food on a consistent basis, then we would have to go to a specialist for "texture aversion." well, we have 2 weeks for this little boy to decide he likes "texture" and it's not looking good. well - i thought it looked grim until today.....

after he "helped" me put the water bottles into the fridge (meaning i hand him a water bottle, he looks at it and tries to throw it into the right spot on the bottom shelf - this process usually takes at LEAST 15 or 20 minutes, but hey he LOVES it) i left the door open as i stepped over to the counter to write down something before i forgot...i mean, being a mom, if you don't IMMEDIATELY write down your thoughts, forget it...they are gone for good. so i started writing something down and realized that it had gotten quiet...like REAL quiet. so i look over at levi and he's sitting on the floor facing away from me. and as i bent down, he looked up at me with BAR-B-QUE sauce all over his face and bib!!!! he had somehow unscrewed the lid off the jack daniels bar-b-que sauce and was savoring EVERY LICK he could get!!!! (don't worry, there's not actually alcohol in the sauce - and i know that because i was afraid i would have a drunk toddler for the rest of the day, and would have to skip taking our drunk son to the nursury because they don't allow intoxicated children at church ;) i could not stop laughing! he doesn't have "texture aversion!!!" he just isn't getting the southern, finger-lickin' flava in the pureed foods from gerber!!!! so we will see what his doctor has to say about that ;)

oh kids - they bring so much excitement into life! i LOVE it! i absolutely love the age levi is right now. who knows what will happen tomorrow. 

um...can you say cheese?

well, its been a while since we have posted...sorry! i don't know where time goes during the day. well, ok. that's not true. we spend a lot of time laughing...as you will see ;) levi has found his camera face...really, a necessary milestone in our family. i absolutely LOVE IT! it's the same in every picture and i have probably 395 more on our computer! so i hope you enjoy as much as we did. other things that have happened in the last month...

1. my friend rachel had her little girl, ellie ruth patterson. yay! 

2. had a birthday that sent me on the downhill spiral to 30...geez.

3. we have been planning/thinking about levi's FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!! 

4. i have started reading sacred marriage...absolutely incredible.

5. my friend jennifer colley found out she is having a baby at the end of october...such an answer to many tears, questions and prayers!!! thank you God for your incredible GOODNESS and MERCY. jen, we can't wait to meet this precious gift!

6. and blah blah blah....other boring, unexciting things OH - levi did learn how to dance on que...so the video at the end is just a little glimpse of his mad skills...hopefully i will catch him when sesame street is on. he LOVES dancing to big bird and the gang! 

PLEASE click to enlarge this picture so you can see his little "chicklets" - !!! this is prob my FAVORITE picture right now...

bubble beard and the newly learned camera smile!


betcha didn't know clayton could beatbox, did you? :)

first family road trip

to the....

yes, we went to the abilene zoo yesterday for a little family road trip. we got to the zoo around 3, and it closed at 5, so it was perfect. levi absolutely LOVED every animal we saw...but his favs were the giraffe, rhino, and jaguar. we didn't get any pics of the jaguar, but levi stood on a ledge and there was just a pane of glass between them..they stood eye to eye for several minutes and levi growled the whole time! it was so great...i can't wait to take more road trips! we were supposed to stay the night in abilene and then drive to stephenville on saturday to see kelsey and tanner and his family, but clayton woke up on friday night at 3.30 and was so sick...throwing up sick and weak. so i made the executive decision to pack up and leave. none of us were sleeping at all, and levi absolutely could not sleep. while clayton was making those fun "throw up' noises, levi decided to mimic all the noises his daddy was making...a little too much bonding was made between these two this week (really though, levi has bonded SO much with clayton this week...he wants to do EVERYTHING clayton does. it is the greatest thing to see the two of them together). anyways, clayton was too weak and sick to drive home, so i drove us home...2 1\2 hours in the middle of the night. if you know me at all...you know that is the biggest challenge for me. i fall asleep soooo fast when we travel...so i was very proud of myself for getting us home ALL BY MY BIG GIRL SELF!!! ;) these are just a few of the animals we saw. and it was so great, becuase we could get so close! thank you to rachel for all the abilene advice!!

dads co-pilot

looking at the giraffe for the 3rd time..

this bear was the greatest...he just sat there while we threw bread at him

waiting for the rhino to circle back

bison!!

giraffes, again.

the lions! i was sad because these pics were the worst.

the rhino came over so we could feed him.

zebras, babies and daddies...makes for a great day.

i don't know what this is.

melman...

after a long day...levi fell fast asleep with his new zoo buddy watching over him ;)