Just Because

Levi has been really into playing with his toys that are on his bouncy seat. It's a lot of fun to watch his little muscles and mind develop!

And, just some cute pictures

He's a big fan of his hands lately. He is not getting any teeth, just likes to suck on something!

Laurel is ready for summer. She wears her sunglasses at all times, except when she's sleeping.

The girls are into playing Duck Duck Goose lately. Really, anytime they get to run through the house, they are all over it! It's super cute to watch because first they line up all their babies and animals to play with them.

Even Levi gets "ducked".

Oh yeah, my birthday is in two days!

Levi - 3 Month Pictures

I took pictures of Levi a couple of weeks ago for his 3 month photo display. I have made some conclusions about picture taking with 3 kids:

1. It is very difficult to take pictures of just one kid when you have 3 kids who all like to be in front of the camera.

2. It helps to have a good movie on while taking pictures to keep everyone entertained and out of the way when it is not their turn to get their pictures taken.

3. Outfit changes for a 3 month old are not fun.......lots of fussing while changing and at least one person is going to have spit up on them eventually.

4. Levi is super cute!

Surrounded by his John Deere gear.

My favorite......he loves his hammer.

Levi...future rap star.

Last outfit change of the photo shoot. The binkie was a necessity or else lots and lots of crying would have taken place.

Random Kid Facts

For those who know me well, you know that I don't allow people to play tricks on me on my birthday even if it is April Fools Day. Do I trick you on your birthday? Nope. Anyway, we borrowed a book from the library called, "April Fools Day". It is one of Erika's new favorites! She now sneaks up behind us and shouts, "April First!" I love that she doesn't quite have the phrase down correctly, but the idea is there! I can handle that kind of trick on my birthday.....but only from my sweet girl.

Erika went to the dentist for her first teeth cleaning yesterday. She did awesome! She really liked the sunglasses they gave her to wear and the Jessie (from Toy Story) toothbrush they gave her. I combined her dentist appointment with mine so Matt didn't have to take off two different work days to watch the other two kids. After Erika was done, I set up a movie for her on our portable DVD player and settled myself into the dentist's chair for my appointment. For the most part, Erika did well going back and forth between watching her movie and playing with the toys the dentist office had down the hallway. At times, she would ask me a question about he movie (a common occurrence) but I was unable to respond due to the fact that the hygienist had her hands in my mouth. At one point, Erika wanted a piece of her dental floss to "practice" flossing while watching the movie. About 5 minutes after I gave her a small piece of floss, I hear her start to cough. I quickly sit up to see what's happening and discover my daughter has swallowed her piece of dental floss. Apparently we will have to discuss the proper use of dental floss.

Two days ago, we moved Levi out of his bassinet in our room into his crib in his own room. Even after three kids, and doing the same thing 3 times, I still get nervous when my baby is not right at the end of my bed, but in an entirely different room! He is doing great in his crib! He had a rough night last night, and it is more annoying for me to have to get out of bed and walk across the house to give him his missing binkie, but I really like not having a baby in the room. It now means that I don't have to be quiet while getting ready for bed and I can read in bed again. Holla! And, we now get to free our house of one large baby item (bassinet) never to see or hear from it again.

Bragging Rights

Every mother is allowed to brag on their children, right? I am so blessed to watch these three amazing gifts grow and develop every day! Here are some recent highlights.

Erika is growing up super fast! Sometimes it means a little rebellion which is not much fun for me, but she has to grow and mature. We are working right now on learning to write all her letters and numbers. She can write her name quite well and is a quick learner. She is constantly asking questions about her world and how and why things are what they are. Erika keeps me on my toes!

Laurel's personality is really developing! She is becoming really really funny with her facial expressions and actions. Her language development is huge lately and she is getting much easier to understand. That is helping her attitude as she is not as frustrated that we can't understand her. She can count to 11, identify most colors and can spell most of her name (l-a-e-l). She is really sweet and very sensitive. Whenever she gets in trouble, she runs to Erika for comfort....very cute!

Levi is in the fun baby stage now! He is super giggly and smiles much more than he cries. As part of his therapy to strengthen his neck muscles. we help him roll from his back to his tummy. He has improved so much since we started with him last week! He can't roll that way on his own, but with a little help, he can use his neck muscles (his weak left side) to get his head up. He can roll from his tummy to his back on his own, but that's basically just throwing his head back and the rest of his body follows suit. He is recently reaching for interesting toys. He follows his older sisters around whenever they are running around, which is often. I love him more every day!

Here they are enjoying a Strawberry Shortcake cartoon. Yes, Levi will probably enjoy many a girlie show!

When Levi was a little over a month old, we noticed that he favored one side of his neck to the other. His head was always tilting or turning to one side. I kind of just figured it was because he was a baby and his neck muscles weren't developed yet. At his two-month check up, however, his pediatrician told us that he had a tight neck muscle. She recommended we see a physical therapist to help stretch the muscle. We went last week for our first appointment and the therapist gave us some stretches to do with him at home. For the first couple of days, he really disliked the stretching! He would scream and be pretty stubborn as we forced his head in all sorts of directions. Well, after a week of stretching, we are seeing a great improvement in his neck mobility and stretchiness. He doesn't have much of a head tilt anymore and can turn his head both directions without much help. Before we did the stretches, he would try to follow my voice or an object with his eyes only because, I assume, his neck was too tight and hurt too much to turn his entire head. We go back to the PT in a week so she can evaluate him again. I am hoping for, and expecting, a full recovery report!

Here are some cute pictures of the patient!