Levi Hunter

I had planned to write today about my pregnancy with Levi, his birth, and his life. For a few months I've been waiting patiently for the opportunity his birthday would provide to tell his story, and to expound upon the depth of our love for him. I also envisioned sharing about the meaning behind his name, and trying to list all the words he now can say, and possibly how he pronounces them. And I wanted to spend a bit of time talking about our conversion to the idea of completely natural childbirth, specifically the Bradley Method, and the impact our childbirth education had on Levi's birth.

Quite lofty goals for one post, I know. Especially since I don't usually write in a particularly, shall we say, "concise" way!

And life happens. It's 1:45pm right now, and I've finally got Levi down for his nap about an hour late. A messy house is screaming my name. Bills needing to be paid are calling a bit more quietly, and there are several half-finished books waiting to be read. And Drake will be home in an hour and a half. Not to mention (or perhaps because of all this), I'm suffering from a bit of writer's block today and don't think I can do justice to the well-planned, thought-provoking post that has been swimming in my imagination for months. But such is life.

I spent most of this morning trying to slow down and live at Levi's pace - to look into his little face and try to understand how he sees the world. To play the way he plays and delight in the things that make him laugh...the stray doggie outside, the magnetic train cars that stick together and twirl around when you dangle the engine in the air, the thrill of freedom when realizing the back gate has been left open, the hilarity of repetitious games like going down the slide again and again or playing peekaboo.

I'm trying to love the growing up that I'm seeing. I'm sentimental by nature, and if left on its own, that trait could easily overshadow my joy in progress made and things accomplished, and could even chip away at responsible parenting. While mommies never really enjoy realizing that their baby isn't a baby anymore, it's definitely more sweet than bitter for me, this time around. God placed this precious child in my life to raise up in the way he should go, not to hold onto forever. I've heard it said by two different people in the past week: We're not raising children; we're raising adults. And that's a wise fact to keep in mind. I do well to cherish the sweet times with my children while they're young. But I do even more good when I pour into them everything I can that will equip them to be godly men who love and serve the Lord with all their being.

So. Since this is my blog, I guess I can do whatever I want! Plan to see some version of my originally-hoped-for birthday post in the future. Perhaps it will be chopped into smaller segments, however, rather than one gigantically long post!

And enjoy the photos...

37 weeks pregnant - this was about two weeks before Levi was born.

No words can express the heart-rush when one realizes that she can (and does) indeed love the second baby as much as the first, no questions asked.

Precious round little face

Ready to go home for the first time

Levi Hunter, I love you with all my heart. May you grow to be a faithful servant of the Lord!

Celebrating our Levi!

Today was a full day! We planted grass seed in our front lawn and weeded the garden this morning, then went to the park on HF to play for a couple of hours. Adam threw the parachute guys for Drake and a bunch of other kids, Adam and Drake (and then Adam and I) played catch, and Levi ran and climbed to his little heart's content. After that, we headed home for Levi's nap, during which Adam and I finished up Levi's cake and wrapped gifts (seems like we're always procrastinators!)...and generally prepared for his little party.

After the birthday boy woke up, the festivities began - only Levi wasn't in the best of moods. The first thing he wanted when he came downstairs was to play with one of the balloons we'd hung up, which promptly popped and scared him! It took him a little while to recover from that. Opening gifts seemed to stress him out, too. He finally relaxed a little more when it was time for cake and ice cream, even blowing out his own candle (to his - and our - surprise)!

Then with a full belly, he set out to play with some of his new gifts, specifically his wooden stacking vehicles from our favorite Alaskans, and his new "road rug" from Gr & Gr S. "Buddy" and Daddy played dart guns with some of Drake's awesome new Nerf darts he received for his 6-1/2 year birthday (Drake and Levi are exactly 4-1/2 years apart, to the day...so Drake got a little gift too). Anyway, the dart game escalated (which you can probably imagine if you've spent any time around Adam and Drake) and pretty soon they had set up a small target shooting range on the coffee table with little road signs from a wooden vehicle set that Levi was playing with on his new road mat. At least a solid hour was spent after that with all three of them very involved in the target shooting game! Levi doled out ammunition while the big guys shot the two Nerf guns...then when all 25 darts had been expended, Drake and Levi would run and collect them all and set the signs back up to be shot again. What fun!

Anyway, I have SO many pictures I want to post from today, but only a limited amount of time...so you're getting the condensed version on the photo end, for sure. It was a full and eventful day, and we spent it cherishing our youngest son and brother - how blessed we are to have our Levi in this family!

Always my helper, this one will do any chore I ask - even picking up his toys - with enthusiasm! He really wanted to rake the topsoil this morning, but I thought a pushbroom might be a better choice for him, and he was willing to compromise!

Big Bro got the honor of raking, which he seemed to enjoy...at least for a little while!

Bucky seeding the lawn

Keepin' everything Even Steven...

My darling baby, you are adorable!

At the park - Drake and Daddy played catch for a little while.

Climbing with some help from Mommy!

Ready to blow out the candle on his car cake! (Check out the flames...it was a fun cake to make!)

Setting up the "targets"!

The shooting game!! I have so many pictures from this (and video too) that I might blog about it again another day if I get a chance. It was hilarious!

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We are so thankful for Levi and his role in our family - what a joy he is! Tomorrow morning at 6:11 he will officially be two years old. But if you ask him, "How old are you?" he will already answer, "Two!"...we've been practicing for a week now!

Almost 2!

Wow, Levi's birthday is really sneaking up on me! He'll be two on February 17, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He is less and less "baby" these days, which is a little sad, but a lot of fun, just the same!

So. I'm trying to decide how much of a big deal to make out of this birthday. For Drake's 2nd birthday, we had a big (for us) party with four other families over to our house, had a barbecue, outside games, cake and ice cream, decorations, etc. And the cake was awesome (and a lot of work, by the way!) - a big tractor made out of two 9x13 flat cakes. (Yeah, I really should post pictures, but that would require going through some old photo CDs and putting the pics on our computer first, which I don't have time for this morning - errands beckon.)

Anyway, I've got that mental image of Drake's 2nd birthday party in my head, and I can't help but feel a little guilty that I have no desire to duplicate that (or even come close) right now. One point to consider, though, is that Drake's "comparison" party also had a going-away-party feel to it, because it was right after we'd received short-notice orders to move down here, and it was an opportunity to get together with all our most special Minot friends one last time.

(Actually, I think this whole dilemma might fall under the Things That Parents Shouldn't Do List, in the category of Comparing Children.)

So I've got a hankering for a small, family party for this birthday...Levi isn't old enough to know the difference (although Drake is). I don't really want to decorate, and plan a menu, and be a hostess. (And I don't want to spend the money to have it anywhere but here - we're saving for plane tickets.) I think it's laziness, to tell you the truth! I'll have to think about it some more over the next couple of days, I guess. Mommy-guilt vs. laziness...mommy-guilt vs. laziness...

Free card-making site

So how do you feel about the price of greeting cards? And what do we do with them after the big day, especially kids' birthdays? Yeah. I'd rather spend the extra money on the birthday gift, personally!

I just wanted to pass along this cool website, DLTK's Cards! At Drake's birthday party last month, he received one from a friend - that's the first time I'd heard of it. We just made our first one today for a party we're going to attend in a few minutes. It's totally free. You can choose a print-in-color option for a more professional look, or a color-it-yourself version, which we think is a lot more fun! There are a bazillion options for pictures for the front, including TV characters and a lot more...then personalize the message inside and even print out a custom envelope! It's really quick, and you're only out two pieces of computer paper and a little ink!

Here's Drake showing off the card and envelope he just made!

Anyway, I need to go and check out the rest of DLTK's Crafts for Kids website - there's a lot of other neat stuff on there, too, besides cards! But I was so pleased with the card-making section I just had to share. Highly recommended!

Happy, happy birthday to Cherie!

Today, we’ve arrived at the first "biggie" celebration/occasion since the departure of our favorite Alaskans. Cherie’s birthday is today, and mine is tomorrow. For the past several years, we've always enjoyed a shared birthday celebration with the daddies and the kids, and this year it’s just not going to be the same. (Prepare yourselves to hear me lament at Thanksgiving, too!)

Here is a picture taken last November of both our families together (pre-Makenna, of course!) with the self-timer on their camera. We thought it turned out pretty well, even though Levi and Adelyn thought the sand looked much more interesting than the camera!


So I just want to say this:

Cherie, if you’re reading today, I want to wish you the very best year ever. You are truly a once-in-a-lifetime friend. Thank you for all the memories, and thank you for your part in teaching and shaping me. You are strong, intuitive, insightful, encouraging, uplifting, and truly beautiful inside and out. Happy 27th birthday, my special friend!

(And I still haven’t mailed your gift. Levi did try to unwrap it for you yesterday, though!)

A Drake and Daddy video

This is a cool video I've been meaning to share on the blog for awhile. It was taken a couple of weeks ago when Jeff & Crystal were here, the evening of Drake's birthday party. Drake really likes those cheap little plastic parachute guys that you throw up in the air, with the little threads that always get all tangled up...you know the ones I mean. Anyway, Adam found a really neat gift for him for his birthday - two larger parachute men with really nice fabric parachutes and a single fabric piece to connect it to the little man...and a tube that flings them way up in the air! They're of refreshingly good quality in comparison to the dentist's-office-prize type! So, in this video, we were at the park on base and Adam was flinging the parachute dudes up into the air for Drake to catch. They were having a blast!

Drake Adam

Six years ago today, I was coming out of recovery from an emergency c-section and meeting my tiny, 4-lb-15-oz-17-inch baby boy for the first time. It was about this time of day, too - early afternoon - when I first laid eyes on my sweet baby. He had been in the world for almost two whole hours by the time I finally met him, and his daddy had done a heroic job of keeping nurses with bottles of formula away from him - and oh, how they had wanted to give him one because of his tiny size! He had already had his first tub bath (given by Daddy), and was patiently waiting for his first meal from Mama with those alert and snappy dark-blue eyes. His features were so tiny and fine that he looked like a little doll. If ever there was a "button nose," his was one!

I was exhausted from labor, still a little groggy from the general anesthesia, and in great pain - I had no epidural to carry me through for a few extra hours. Every slight movement brought a sharp pain to my incision, and it seemed even lifting an arm somehow engaged my abdominal muscles, which were freshly closed with several layers of stitches and 21 shiny staples through the skin. All I really wanted to do was sleep. But here was this miraculous little bundle! Could it really be? He was alive! Healthy even. And he was all ours! He was tiny and perfect, and he looked at me with those knowing little newborn eyes.

And I have been hooked, ever since. Hooked on this little person who grips my heart like no other, who brings me unending joy at every new turn, who sometimes disappoints, and often confuses me. Drake is now all about shooting and destroying and battling! If it can be climbed, shot, swung around, or thrown, he wants to do it! But in a certain frame of mind, he displays great tenderness and care toward the underdog, the young, the victim. He especially cares for his baby brother, and has a conscience that is easily pricked. He is excessively energetic and silly, and he can be the extreme daredevil, but he's often afraid to go new places and try new things. He is a very "touchy" person, just like his daddy.

What a privilege it is to be a mother! To be awakened countless times each night to feed and change a newborn; to show a little person how to eat, to walk, to talk. What a responsibility to raise a child - to teach sharing, respect, kindness, compassion, honesty. I have never known anything so fulfilling, and yet so daunting.

And Drake is the one pulling me along on this exciting journey! He is so completely average, and yet so miraculous and amazing! It is my joy to watch him grow and mature, and yet to try to hold on to the memories of his precious babyhood.

There is no one quite like our Drake! My daily prayer over him at night is that he will grow in his understanding of God's glory and God's love (for him and for all people), that he will love the Lord with all his being, that he will understand and embrace the truth, that he will love others unconditionally, and that he will be used mightily by the Lord.

We are now one-third of the way done raising our son - a sobering thought - and we pray for wisdom during the next two-thirds!

Happy birthday, my dear son! You are amazing, and we love you beyond words. What an incredible six years these have been!

More miscellaneous ramblings

It seems I've been doing a lot of that lately!

We had another little party for Drake today after church (with just our family). Cupcakes and ice cream, and three gifts. Drake received a real watch from Grandpa and Grandma S. (with a cool camouflage watchband and a "floating" helicopter second hand - he's already sort of telling time by himself a few hours later!) and a Leapster and a Sonic the Hedgehog math game for it from Mommy and Daddy! He is busy playing the Leapster as we speak. I guess we're about to discover how quickly that thing goes through batteries!

Yesterday we all went bowling - it was a lot of fun, but more expensive than we were expecting. I think it is more cost effective to play more than one game each time you go (when you're renting shoes), but Levi could only tolerate one game, since it was about his naptime. No one broke a hundred. (When a "good" score is breaking one hundred points, well, you know what caliber of bowlers we are!) Levi actually bowled - with a little help, of course! It was so cute! Drake did really well working on holding the ball correctly and all that, but he was kind of sad that he didn't get any strikes or spares.

Then yesterday afternoon, Adam and Drake worked on a "bug house" project they've been thinking up for some time. It has a wood frame with screen sides. I think it will be really cool when it's done! It was mostly Adam working on it so far, because there was a lot of cutting with the circular saw to be done first. Drake is not a fan of loud noises, so he kept his distance when that was going on!

Tomorrow is the first day of kindergarten, and I'll be sure to update how that goes. The plan is that Drake will ride the bus to and from school tomorrow. This is not easy for Mommy!! But Drake is pretty excited about it. The little neighbor girl who just moved in next door (into Dave & Cherie's house) is also in kindergarten and will be riding the bus, too.

What are the chances of this?... Out of five kindergarten classes at the school, Drake, Lizzie (the little neighbor girl), and Tyler (Drake's friend who lives behind us) are all in the same class! Odd. Anyway, we met Mrs. Gardner, his teacher, at an orientation on Thursday, and she seems really nice. The classroom looks organized and exciting, and it just appears to me, so far, that everything is as it should be. A big relief!

I will be sure to keep you posted about the first day of school tomorrow!

Birthday party, and a busy Sunday

My dear blog has been a bit neglected lately, with all the excitement happening around here. But having a lot going on is all the more reason to post, of course! So I decided to carve out a bit of time tonight to check in and bring you all up to date.

The main event for us this weekend was Drake's 6th birthday party! His actual birthday is the 17th - next Sunday - but we wanted to have his party while Aunt Crystal and Uncle Jeff were here! (Also next Sunday happens to be the day before school starts. I'm sure that weekend will come with its own busyness and apprehensions, so why have a birthday party overshadowed by the end-of-summer blues?) So anyway, the party went very well! Here's a glimpse...

The birthday boy!

No elaborate cake this year! Four big plastic bugs on a green-frosted two-layer lemon cake. But it gets the Drake Seal of Approval!

Aunt Crystal and her assistant, Drake, did a great job decorating the living room and dining room! Here they're trying to pass that looooong last half-hour before the party by reading some books!

The guests have finally arrived! After playing in the playroom and the backyard for a little while, we got them going on a game of Duck, Duck, Goose!

The "Pin the Legs on the Bug" game seemed to be a hit. As you can see, Drake's bug leg was just a little off the mark, but he handled it well...in his own hyper/silly way, that is!

The partygoers ready for cake! (Sorry about the little boy with the blurry face. I wasn't able to contact his mom for permission to post his picture in time for this post. Believe me, it's a cute face, though!)

After the pinata! This was Drake's first party with a pinata. I didn't get a picture of the pinata itself (Optimus Prime - way cool!), but it was one of those new ones with the strings on the bottom that you pull, instead of smashing it to smithereens. We were happy that all the kids got to pull a string at least once before Drake's friend Kiley pulled the "lucky" string, and the bottom opened up! Candy, candy, everywhere!

What a great party it was. At least, we had a good time! (A big sigh of relief!)

And today was a really full day as well! The problem is, we left our camera at home. Crystal and Jeff had their camera, though, and we were really hoping we could transfer some of the pictures and videos they took and put them on our computer to share with you via the blog. But alas, none of the three cords we had available to transfer pictures would fit in the darn little hole, so we were not able to. We did, however, have a nice conspiracy theory discussion about electronics companies and the lack of an industry standard-shaped hole on digital cameras for the little plug thingies to fit into. All three cords had different shaped plugs! (You can tell I am truly a tech-savvy individual, now can't you??)

So today we went to the early service at church, and then out to Bass Pro Shop, which is only a half-hour or so from here. The boys always get stoked about the big (like taller than I am) aquarium in the back of the store, and the glass elevator! Then we went out to lunch at a fun and rather "irreverent" and unorthodox restaurant native to our area which sports a little playground, a little "gator museum" and even live gators in a big pond outside! We tend to take all our out-of-state guests to this restaurant, because it's so unusual and totally "local." (Those of you who either live here or have visited us down here know what I'm talkin' about!)

After that, we hit the beach! It was an absolutely perfect day for that. The water was its typically beautiful green and blue, the air temperature was actually down a bit today, the water was warm, and the waves were almost nonexistent when we arrived around 1pm. The waves picked up a bit throughout the afternoon, but never got very rough. It was perfect for actually swimming in, not just wading, like the last time we were at the beach in May. It was really a great beach day!

Drake is like a different kid at the beach than he was before swimming lessons!! Before, he rarely went into the water past his knees or so, didn't want his head to get wet, and most of the time, just wouldn't go in the water at all. He was especially nervous about the waves. But you should have seen that boy today! I was the one who was nervous! I had to keep calling him back near us as he swam and "bodysurfed" his way around.

Levi started out the afternoon afraid of the waves, and spent most of his time sitting on a beach towel playing in the sand, or else taking walks up and down the beach with me. By the end, though, he was tolerating the water up to about thigh-level. Yay, Levi! He really loved the seagulls and spent a lot of time signing "bird, bird, bird!" We have an absolutely adorable 4-second or so video clip of that, but it's trapped inside my sister's camera. Oh well. Maybe I'll post it later, once they get home and can e-mail it to us!

This great day was topped off tonight by a phone call from Dave and Cherie, our favorite Alaskans. We miss them so much, but it was nice to get to talk today! After travelling and living in an RV for almost two months, they will finally get the keys to their base house tomorrow, and their household goods shipment should arrive the next day. Baby is due in 2-1/2 weeks! They are holding together nicely, and I stand in awe of their ability to handle crises and chaos, and to work together. (I shudder to think what state I would be in if it were our family in their situation!) God is good!

Well, we aren't sure what tomorrow will hold. It's the last full day we get to spend with Jeff and Crystal. Maybe we'll go to the park for awhile.

(I'll try to remember my camera!)

Quick pix

I decided not to keep you in suspense any longer and to go ahead and post a few of the pictures I've already taken off the camera. I think we'll be pretty busy this weekend and so I may not get around to it otherwise. (But I need to remember to take a picture of Levi in the ducky diaper, of course, so I can put it on here when I get the chance!)

I just like this picture! Heidi sticks this close to Levi quite frequently. Who knows why...

Drake, me, and Levi before releasing Clayton's 7th birthday balloon.

Drake is enjoying the frosting off Adam's cupcake, as well as his own.

He's his mama's boy...I hate to say it, but it's true. Gotta love that frosting!

Levi enjoyed Clayton's birthday cupcakes a little, but I think he liked playing in the frosting more than eating it.

Now isn't that sweet?! I need to put this one up on my fridge to look at for when I have days like the past few have been!

Birthday recap

Last night for Adam's birthday, we went out to dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse, and it was delicious! (The Birthday Person gets to choose where we have supper on their birthday.) Then we came home and had cake and ice cream! Drake and I had made the cake earlier in the day - it was cherry chip, Adam's favorite! Oh yeah, and Adam actually opened his gift before we went out to dinner. Drake really wanted him to open it right away when he came home from work. I say it was Drake - and it was - but we are not known for waiting until the proper time to open gifts around here. It's a weakness Adam and I both share, and have managed to pass along to our offspring, either through DNA or by modeling the behavior. Probably both. (It's sort of like being unorganized. Adam and I were lamenting this morning how it would be easier if one of us were a naturally organized person and could prod the other one along...but no, we're in the Land of the Perpetually Unorganized together, trying to find our way out. Anyway, back to the original topic...) It was a fun evening! Adam got several phone calls from family members wishing him a happy birthday, so that was nice, too.

Adam opening his gift - an MP3 player! Yes, we have decided to enter the twenty-first century!

Drake, Levi, and me at Longhorn's. Look at Levi's little belly! (Everyone say it with me, "Not - A - Skinny - Baby!" Really, doctors - look, I have proof!) By the way, that's root beer in Drake's hand. He only drinks the hard stuff on weekends.

Drake receives praises for decorating Daddy's awesome "porcupine cake" almost all by himself. :) He also did a great job cracking the eggs and using the electric mixer!

Look at all the smoke!! (I had to include that one.)

Adam

Happy birthday to the love of my life! Tomorrow is my husband's 30th birthday. I just want to share with you all a few of my favorite things about Adam... He is genuine and transparent - he doesn’t try to make something look like something it’s not for the sake of his appearance or reputation. He is very honest. He is one of the hardest-working people I know. He can read me like a book. He accepts personal criticism without becoming angry or defensive, even when the criticism is ill-founded. He will apologize to Drake if he has wrongly accused or disciplined him. He is fiercely protective of the best interests of our family. He's a great listener, and has a natural ability to befriend and counsel others. And that’s just a start. (Got any more? Leave a comment!)

I love you so much, Adam. May the Lord continue to abundantly bless you and grow you into the person He desires you to be. Thank you for being stable and kind, strong and patient. You are a great husband and father, and we're so blessed to have you in our lives.

Here’s a blast from the past for you all to enjoy today. Isn’t he cute? :) (Pardon the poor quality - we don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture of a picture and then crop it.)

Happy 30th Birthday, Adam!

Entering the Birthday Zone

Well, we're nearing that time of year for our family where we almost get tired of cake and ice cream. It's birthday season! Starting with Adam's birthday this Thursday, we have 4 birthdays in less than two months. Adam's (July 17), Clayton's (July 29), Drake's (Aug. 17), and mine (Sep. 13). Whew! Then Levi (Feb. 17) has the rest of the year to himself. ;)

At the MPF (Military Personnel Flight), where Adam works, they have a tradition of "desk decorating" for birthdays. Adam came to work last Friday to find not only his desk, but his entire office decorated in a Bob the Builder birthday theme, heralding back to his former life as a heavy equipment operator. Yesterday, the boys and I came to visit him at work (after hours), as he had a lot of work to do and was there late. So I got some pictures of his decorated office for your viewing pleasure. (By the way, Adam will be turning 30 this year!)

Adam's office, all decked out in Bob the Builder

He even got a toy!

The Passport Man hard at work.

Well, we were sort of hoping that Drake's method of transportation would rub off on Levi - not the other way around!

One more picture before I head off to conquer some more laundry... This morning, Drake was dragging the comforter from his bed around and making a "club" (think he meant "clubhouse") all over the downstairs. Levi thought it was so funny, and was following him wherever he went, to try to get under the comforter too. For as much time as they spend grumpy and whining, it was really nice to hear them laughing and content together. They had a "club" under the table, next to/under the rocking chair, in the hallway, and on the couch. Here's a peek:

I see you in there!