:: Levi's 1st Birthday ::

We had such a nice party to celebrate your big day. Grandmama & Grandpapa, Uncle Tim's family, Uncle Tom's family, Uncle Greg's family, Uncle Jeff's family, the Wrights, and Aunt Meg all came over for dinner. We had a yummy feast in your honor...only the best for our son! You loved being the center of attention and were so cute!!! I want you to know that you are LOVED...you have so many people that adore you and will always be there for you. You are such a special little guy and have a great Spirit about you! I love that you are so loving, and the way you cuddle into people when they hold you. You give lots of kisses freely and make a "maaa" sound while doing it that melts hearts. I love it when you walk up to me and hold my legs while looking up at me and reach both hands out to me...knowing I will pick you up. You are such a good little eater, willing to eat just about anything...and mommy really needed that- so thank you! Levi, you are very mischievous and that's okay. You always want to get into everything, especially the stuff you know you are not supposed to (like the game cupboard, under the kitchen sink, the remote control, the toilet bowl brush/toilet paper/anything that has to do with the toilet, the big potted plant, etc...) You are walking like a pro these days, although you still have that cute baby wobble and still crawl from time to time. You can already go up the stairs all by yourself. My favorite thing to do during the day is chase you around the couch, playing peek-a-boo around the corner and catching you off guard...we laugh and roll around on the floor (I think it is your favorite activity too)! You are not as visual as your big brother (you don't love books and TV), you are more hands on. You like playing with toys, coloring, games, dancing, getting tickled, play dough, discovering, playing, but mostly just being in your mommy's arms. You love Tate and are such good buddies. You two love to follow each other around and play so well together, and I am sure that bond will only grow stronger with time! You are just starting to say little words here and there (like tank-u) and we can tell you understand pretty much everything we say...you are just getting so big too fast. You are the baby of our family and we all love and adore you!

Happy Birthday Boo-Bah!!!

No time for a nap on your big day, luckily this little snack held you over until bedtime.

Look how big you have gotten in just one year!

(Now I am going to cry...promise me you will always be my sweet boy.)

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LEVI!

You knew this party was just for you and clapped & bopped along as we sang to you.

We LOVE our family and were so happy everyone could come to celebrate Levi Lou's birthday with us!

Mommy LOVES you more than words can say! You are such a joy and sweet boy...I just can't get enough of my mamma's boy. =)

Tate LOVES you sooooooooooo much!!!

Mommy made you a delicious coconut lemon curd cake from scratch and you gobbled it up. =)

You have a sweet tooth...just like your momma!

You stayed pretty clean for your first dessert.

You loved all your presents...and all that attention too!

Daddy LOVES his beautiful boy and had so much fun helping you open all your presents.

Aunt Hilary made you this very special book with pictures of all the Weeks' family members in it, she wanted you to have a very thoughtful gift because you are named after Uncle Tim and have a special place in their family's heart.

You really are such a loving little guy, always giving lots of kisses and cuddles.

:: A very Happy Halloween indeed! ::

We had a fabulous Halloween at Tim & Hilary house, along with Grandmama and Grandpapa this year. Delicious soup and scones were served for dinner...perfect for a cold fall evening! Tate loved his "baby dinosaur" outfit that daddy rushed to the store just hours before to buy (I had planned on recycling his cute monkey costume but could not convince him to put it on) and Levi was squeezably cute as a little bear. My favorite part of the night was handing out candy on the porch with Levi, Hilary, Kenzie, and Grandmama. We always have plenty of laughs and good conversation for those couple of hours. Andy had a blast with Tate and the rest of the gang going trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Another perfect Holiday I am sad to be over!

:: artists ::

I think Tate is quite the artist (must be the Browne side of the family)!


I've been meaning to cut their hair for months now...but look at that little face!

Lou coloring his very first picture/eating his first crayon.

kissable fingers...

& toes.

:: you're the good things ::

...thanks to my Annie for capturing my sweeties!

:: your favorite place in the entire world is in my arms ::

How fast the time I have held you in my arms has flown by...you are already ten months old! Before we know it we will be celebrating your birthday and sending you off to college soon after that (and I will cry at both of those events.) I make sure to really connect with you everyday, trying to permanently embed in my memory everything about you: what you smell like, the sound of your sweet raspy voice, that you love pat-a-cake and always clap along, how efficient you are at scudding across the floor army style and sometimes decide to crawl like a big boy, that you climbed your first stairs just the other day at the cabin in Bear lake with many onlookers to cheer you on, the little rash you get under your bottom lip from your Binky, how ticklish your back and ribs are, the way you reach for me every time you see me and cry when I don't take you in my arms, how much you love your Binky/"ba ba"/ "na na"/fingers/ anything you kind find of the floor...basically anything that can go in your mouth, how cute you are sitting in the tub next to Tate surrounded by bubbles and 20 different toys, your intense blue eyes, that you just started giving your first kisses upon request...open mouth and all, the way you say "yeah yeah" and shake your head up and down anytime we ask you a question, the resemblance you have to your Grandmama Weeks and her side of the family, how much you love me and that I can tell you love me more than anything else in this world, that you can now do peek-a-boo all by yourself, how much your personality reminds me of myself, how much i love to nibble on your ears and kiss your neck, the way you look in your crib waiting for someone to come get you with imprints of your "night night" on your red face and tear streaked cheeks, that you can hold your "ba ba" all by yourself...but I like to do it anyways to spend that special time with you, how you always bop along to my silly beats, when you reach your little hand out to anything or anyone that you want, how soft your skin is and your firm round baby bottom, the love you have for your family, how excited you get talking to daddy on the phone and try your best to talk back, that you cry everytime I put you down and giggle with delight when I pick you up, how cute your coloring is, your love for Cheerios, how much you love to dance...especially in the kitchen, that you hate being alone, the way you pull yourself up on something to stand and hold on tight for support, how you arch your back if you don't get your way, the sound of your baby cry and that frequently it sounds like "maaaa ma", how tired you are of rice cereal, when you rub your eyes because you are tired, that you make daddy's day when snuggle with him, how special you feel when you get time with daddy and I all by yourself, that you don't really care for TV and books as much as your big brother, that you like to play with my jewelry (especially my big turquoise ring), how content you are being held by a stranger, that you are a true "mama's boy", and just how strong your sweet spirit is! I want to remember just the way you are at this moment forever!!! And when I am old and grey I can think of you and feel that joy all over again.

Levi Timothy, WE LOVE YOU beyond expression!

:: sweet skater boy ::

Daddy came home from work and surprised you with a brand new Spider man scooter and Diego helmet...and your little boy dreams came true!

"I wove woo Weevi Woo!" -Tate

Thoughtful Daddy capturing this momentous occasion on film.

Levi was reaching out for Tate, so he scooted his way up to him and gave him a BIG kiss!

"Yikes-a-Day!" ...as Aunt Trina would say. =)

:: baby food ::

Levi is what I like to call a "human vacuum"...I have to keep my floors clean at all times because he bee-lines it for the littlest things and in it goes! The other day I found a whole blade of grass in his diaper, which does not surprise me in the slightest. But on the bright side, he eats everything we give him...so not a picky eater like big brother. =)

And I love how he sticks his finger in his mouth (sometimes one from each hand) after each bite. What is up with that?

:: sometimes you want to say, "what the crap!?!" ::

Today I experienced something that all people dread before parenthood. We wonder if we will be able to take care of the business at hand? Is it possible that all the love we have for our precious baby will be enough? I know my mother experienced this with me on far too many occasions as a wee one, so it was surely going to come my way sooner or later! Yes, I am talking about that special moment when you walk into the nursery to snatch up that little bundle of joy as they cry to alert you that they are awake...or in this case awake prematurely because they are covered on every part of their cute little self with their own poo!!! It is funny how when I am in that situation something that is indeed very much poo seems more like just dried dirt.

*No pictures necessary for this post.

I know...your welcome. =)

:: Before & After ::

Levi-Lou went from one extreme to the other.

The hair stylist recommended I buzz his hair...she said it would help it grow in better.

What was I thinking and why did I not get his hair cut sooner?

His hair was 3-4in. long in some places...no wonder I never could style it cute before!

I admit, I do love rubbing his little buzzed head now!

:: Baby body surfing ::

Today I put Levi on the guest bed with a barrier of pillows (you know the kind) to take his nap. A few minutes later I was happily relaxing downstairs (procrastinating the inevitable workload of getting ready for the big garage sale tomorrow) and I hear a BOOM! As I jumped up to rescue my baby from his terrifying (second) fall off the bed...I was surprised not to hear him cry out and then that made me even more worried. I ran into the room to find that his barrier of pillows were all still in place, but that Levi was laying on his tummy on the bed side table... he had somehow rolled over the pillows, knocked the alarm clock (thus the "BOOM") off the bed side table and managed to balance his little self on the table. How did he do that? Luckily, I was able to reach him before he fell off the table! When I picked him up I said, "Levi, how did you get onto that table!?!"...to which he just giggled. =)

:: rub a dub dub two boys in the tub ::

Tate had not used his old blue tub for a year or so and then recently decided he no longer wanted to take showers with me...Levi's baths were just too appealing. Usually, I shower while they are taking a bath and because Tate holds up Levi we can all three be bathed in record time!

:: how I love thee ::

image via Tampen

Today was a good day!

One of those days that passed slowly, but in a good way...it must have been the rain. =)

I slept in as I do every Sunday that I teach the lesson in Young Women's...not a good thing, just a fact. I am always too stressed out to want to start the day so I start it out on a really bad note (just something else to work on.) Once I finally got out of bed determined not to be too late for church, my day really started looking up!

Daddy had already gotten Tate and himself fed and was about to jump in the shower & Levi was just stirring ready for his second feeding of the morning.

I hurried and put on my handy dandy shower cap, grabbed a naked baby Levi to join me in the shower, slipped on my favorite denim jacket and new skirt that would match my cute pedicure, decided make up would not be happening, and skipped breakfast...all of this and we made it just in the nick of time!

The lesson on Temple Marriage turned into a strange rambling by yours truly (I wonder if you could even call it a lesson)...I think it was because I feel so strongly about Temple Marriage that I just kept going off on weird rants about this and that, hopefully they got my jist.

After arriving home (half starved of course) I quickly caramelized some red onions and sauteed up a couple of cheese brauts for me and the hubby, coupled with a handful of Doritos...lunch was delightfully unhealthy. =)

My favorite visiting teacher, Sis. Sattler, popped by and we visited for a nice long while...I have really grown to look forward and love her more than any other visiting teacher I have ever had!

The boys went down for naps, and then alas, it was time for some much needed relaxing.

Later that afternoon we went on a nice long walk with the boys in their new double stroller, which I could tell they both loved...loved being together (so so so cute!)

While on our walk I handed Tate cute weeds and such to hold, kissed my man lots, enjoyed the gorgeous weather, and eventually Levi fell asleep.

We noticed the clouds were getting dark and headed home, but I love the rain so after getting Levi nestled in the crib we stayed out side to enjoy it!!!

We tried to teach Tate how to push the pedals on his tricycle unsuccessfully again.

We sat on the cement to watch the sky and enjoy the first few drops of rain and then when it really started to pour down I showed Tater how to catch rain on his tongue (my favorite part of the day!)

After spending the next hour or so hanging out in the back of the SUV playing with all the fun finds in the backpack Nana made for the boys for Christmas we decided to head in for dinner.

I pulled up a chair so Tate could assist me in cutting fresh pineapple & making pizza pockets (which I hadn't made in a while...I forgot how easy and good those are!)

Andy fed Levi his rice cereal, which I appreciate so much (feeding babies is one of my least favorite things.)

Tate got to talk to both set of Grandparents on the phone before bed...which he loved!

And now they sound asleep. =)

I think we are going to play a game now...a perfect activity for a rainy Sunday night.

Did I mention, I love rainy days?!!!!?

The CRAZY week before a Happy Mother's Day!

The best part of my Mother's Day was having Andy come home from Florida, where he had been for the past 7 days...working 16 hr. days at his company's convention. I missed Andy VERY much, but learned a lot in the process. I learned that accepting Ashley's invitation to come have dinner the night he flew out of town was a smart one, and even though I showed up an hour before they got home from church because the went to choir practice, it was a BEAUTIFUL day and Tate and I made a new friend with her 5 yr. old neighbor Dunkin. (I learned a lot about Dunkin too.) Thanks to some GREAT parenting advice on helping my picky eater from Ashley, I learned how to stop giving Tate empty threats and do what I say...which has really improved meal time around our house this past week! I realized just how grateful I was for Meg, who stayed with me 5 of the 7 days...and wished I could have convinced her stay the last 2 days! I don't sleep well alone, which really came back to bite me this week as I stayed up until 2 AM the last two nights....AHHHHH! I learned a lot about Meg and she learned what it is REALLY like being a stay at home mom. I think she has a new appreciation for moms and is happier being in her stage of life. I discovered how much Levi loves the pool (took him for the first time) and Tate had no fear come the second time around. Oh, and I learned that the little swimming jacket I bought for Tate is crap... I dare say he would have been better off without it on. I now know that I like detailing my own car, that it takes 4 hours to do it, and that I will flood the basement again if I keep the water going the whole time. What else? Oh, I changed my first diaper in which Tate and I were both covered in poop because he decided to throw a fit midway through...NEVER want to experience that one again! I learned that it is okay to ask for help or for people to come hang out with you and I appreciated all those that did so, especially Grandmama and Grandpapa who took Tate on a date one evening so I could get a little break. The most important realization from this past week was that I don't have to turn into a grumpy mess at 5 PM because Andy isn't home from work...I can chose to keep going because I know I can. =)

:: our pretty boy ::

We are told our baby is very "pretty" on a regular basis...and I must admit I can easily imagine what our girls might look like. I know, cute...right!?!

:: you would think it was manna from heaven ::

Daddy held our little sweetie as he enjoyed his first bites of rice cereal. He devoured every bite and was very giddy that we were finally giving him real food! He seemed impatient as I dipped that tiny rubber tipped spoon into his baby bowl, leaning forward with his mouth open and reaching out to grab something...anything involved in getting that lovely rice cereal into his mouth quicker. Andy and I were cracking up over how anxious he was to eat like a big boy, and then felt slightly guilty for not letting him make this big step sooner (but nursing is just so convenient.) I was surprised that he new immediately what to do, how to open his mouth and suck on the little spoon...however, he did gulp a lot of air in the process so we burped him half way through just in case. The only problem is that he gets so excited to be eating that his arms have to be restrained and he kicks back against me every bite (which is not really a problem as much as it is annoying.) Tate was a good little eater as a baby too, but much pickier now. Hopefully Levi will continue to be a good eater throughout his childhood!