Happy Happenings

My David... what a delight this little boy is! He is learning so much all the time. He has the biggest, best belly laugh in the world. No one can hear him laugh without laughing too. He loves to show us "soooo big" and clicks his tongue whenever anyone else does. He often leads the way for games at meal time. Whenever one baby bangs on the tray, wipes their hands across the trail, yells, saying dada, or other various noises, the others follow quickly in the game. They are constantly watching each other for something to mimic. (Uh oh!) David loves bananas and will now say "nana" for anytime he wants food. He is also good at dada and will say it whenever I ask him to say mama. He only says mama when he's crying to get out of his crib.

David is crawling FAST anywhere we will allow him to go. He will pull himself up on anything that doesn't move, or maybe some that do. David will crawl over to anyone who enters the room and reach up to be picked up and visit with them. He is so friendly! I call him my little hip-hugger lately because he will follow me everywhere I go and cry for me to pick him up. He immediately wants back down, but it's not long till he begs to be in your arms again. He is the same way if you are sitting in the same room as you. There is a world to see if he can just crawl a little higher up your body.

David is working on the concept of "NO BITE!" About once a day, he tests to see if that is still the rule. Unfortunately, Levi had six teeth marks in his shoulder and a sad story to tell me today because of David. Grandma Deb still gets nervous when David bares those teeth, as he once dug them in to what I shall refer to as upper thigh area. Uncle Josh about fell over laughing when got to witness the incident.

David teaches me new things ever day... the broom closet still needs baby proofed, the chair will no longer count as a baby gate (if he can't crawl through the crack, he will stand up and shimmy through it), the changing table is easily dismantled in two minutes, he knows how to dial a telephone, dining room chairs don't count as a baby obstacle anymore, and even if I open up the entire main floor for him to explore, he will just want to go to the corner I have barricaded the plants in. He is quite stubborn and does not care for the word "no." Too bad for him I think his tantrums are kind of cute and don't illicit a change of heart from me. I constantly have to remind him that I'm the Mommy and I win.

Aria... my precious peanut of a girl. She feels like a feather after hauling around her brothers. She is very vocal and likes to try a lot of new sounds. She is very good at saying "hi", but only when she feels like it. I took her to her Uncle Doug's choir concert and she tried singing along with one of the songs. I was hoping everyone around me wasn't annoyed, but no one seemed to notice. She was awesome otherwise throughout the whole thing.

Aria is a great eater, but usually doesn't eat quite as much as Levi. I would say she is a better eater than David. None of this is reflected in their sizes. Weird. Aria is gumming all her food with only two teeth on the bottom, but it doesn't seem to slow her down at all.

Aria is getting quite proficient at the Army crawl. She will use her elbows and one leg to get across the floor now. Every once in a while we see her up on all fours, so one day she will crawl. We have got to work on some upper body strength. Her arms are little noodles. Finally, she is getting to the sitting position on her own. She started that a couple weeks ago. I have babies who are much more content now that they can get where they want and sit (or stand) when they get there. It's wonderful.

Aria is friendly and such a girl. She smiles and coos and woos wherever she goes. She waves all the time! It must mean she likes something because she starts waving at me when I start singing her favorite songs. She also claps. I have my won cheering section whenever I whip out "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Aria and David currently share a room, and Levi is on his own. People often wonder why the boys aren't together, with Aria in her own room. This is because she is such a great sleeper. She usually sleeps through most of the boys' commotion, and if she does wake up, just puts herself back to sleep without a peep. Levi is the lighter sleeper of the boys and is noisier when waking, so he's in the single room. Aria is my cuddler and will still let me rock her to sleep if I want. David and Levi... they know what you are up to and want nothing to do with being put to sleep. They haven't quite figured out that they would get to "stay up" longer if I just got to hold them. But, they kick, crawl, and cry until they are laid down in bed. This is fine, since it makes bedtime that much faster and easier. Aria still loves her paci, her blanky and her mommy at sleepy time. Fine with me!

Levi is our content little man. He is a great baby. He plays by himself so well, and yet is so entertaining when others want to play with him. Levi will roll the balls around on our wood floor and make David laugh and laugh. I HAVE to get a video of that soon and post it. They had Kayla and Shari Kooiker in laughter-tears today. He has learned to crawl and pull himself up. I had no idea he also knew how to climb stairs until I was playing the piano the other day and his voice sounded like it was coming from a higher elevation (our piano is up against the stairs/banister). I stood up and there he was - five steps up! Whoops! He is learning new things quickly. It's so fun to watch.

Levi is my best eater. I can't think of anything he has turned down. Dan about gagged when Levi and Aria ate my potato salad. Nothing could be worse to Dan than the combination of cold potatoes, eggs, onions, mustard and miracle whip. He'll probably gag reading that. Anyway, Levi and Aria loved it. David only tolerated it a little bit and was done. Sometimes it seems like Levi is a bottomless pit for food and will let me know when he is NOT done. If I set a baby food container down (usually to reach for a different one) he will whine/cry until he sees I still have food and a spoon and still plan on feeding him more.

My favorite thing about Levi right now is his "new" smile. He will squint his eyes closed, wrinkle his nose up and bare all four of his teeth in an ear to ear cheesefest of a grin. It's awesome! I can't seem to get a picture of it, because any regular bloggy readers could tell you about Levi's distain for cameras. That, and I have been the WORST picture taker lately. I hardly have any. Hence, the lack of blogging. Gasp!

I think Levi is the tallest of the three kiddos, just by a little. They all have long torsos, but Levi has longer legs too. It will be so interesting to see how they grow and change, but for the record, and the growing and changing can slow down around here. Sheesh! I have to watch out that I don't hit dangling legs or protruding heads on walls and doorways when carrying my tall children to and from bed. I have a feeling they are going to have the problem of always being expected to behave more maturely than their age would suggest because of their height. People will assume they are older. I was always thought to be older than I was, and I didn't have NEARLY the height advantage of Dan. Hmmm. I wonder what his thought on this would be. I digress...

The only issue Levi has right now is he gets stuck. He will stand up somewhere until he wears out all enjoyment of that location. But then he's usually stuck. He will start crying for me to come get him because he isn't confident in his getting down skills yet. He would probably be better, but twice he has hit his chin getting down from the piano bench and had bloody gums. That was hard on his mama who didn't get to him fast enough to help when he "asked." Otherwise, I hardly hear from him. I have to make a conscious effort everyday to play with him individually, since he hardly crawls all over me like his brother. Levi is low maintenance. He even "asks" to go to bed. He'll stick his thumb in his mouth and say "tie-tie" which, in our house, means tired. Then we know to take him in and lay him down and he's out. I know some mothers out there are wishing their babies knew that trick, and when he starts giving lessons, I'll let you know. David is going to be his first student!

As for Dan and I, we are doing pretty well. Life is so busy with three 11 month olds and getting ready for a big, birthday bash around here. Work is busier than I've ever seen if for Dan, he went back to help his dad farm last weekend, and is helping my aunt Donna with some remodeling at her house. I think he thinks his plate is full. Too bad it was already full with us four!! We are looking forward to seeing lots of family and friends for the 1st birthday party in a couple weekends. I am trying to keep up with the kiddos and the house. Mostly, I just get kids taken care of. It's hard to do spring cleaning when one barely gets dishes and laundry done every day. I COULD skip my morning nap with the kiddos, but it's not going to happen people. Whatever the trio decides to give me for naps in the afternoon will have to do for devoting to the house. If you are wondering why there is a lack of posting on the blog, just come visit! If I get the computer out at all, David and Levi come over to try and pound on the keys. If I go behind the baby gate to check email quick, David stands at the gate crying until I come back to within reach. It's quite ridiculous.


Now that you've had to read three pages, single space, of blah-ging I will leave you with some pictures. The selection is meager, but now that the camera is no longer living in the van, I should have more soon. And if you judge me about all the pictures of us in our pajamas, please feel free to come get us all dressed for no one in particular, do my laundry and put it back away please. (I do try to get outfits on us for Dan's benefit, but obviously it's not always on the top of the to-do list for the day. My friend who feels bad about a picture of her daughter without shoes shouldn't scroll past this point of the blog, lest she feel like mother of the year!)

Outfits! The first time the boys are wearing their capris... ahem... I mean shorts for the spring! (I like to mock guys who wear "shorts" past their knees and still call them shorts.) We have some growing into them to do!


Aria with a toy on her cute little head. They all LOVE to stick their heads in some buckets we have and play peek-a-boo or just yell. They love to hear their voices echo.


Playing with Kara's sunglasses.


Kara and Aria matched on Sunday!


Uncle Doug matched the boys. This is David. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture with Levi too. He was busy playing with all his other friends at church. They get passed around alot. :D We love it.


David in Daddy's hat.


What Aria does with her milk if left alone with the bottle. See all the little, white speckles?


David~"Gimme that phone, dada!"


David's new trick in avoiding nap time... checking out what's happening in the backyard. I couldn't figure out why he quieted down so fast the other day. I saw light coming out of the room (it was dark even though the flash went off and lit it all up) so I peeked in and there he was! He explores everything.


Now I know there are not many photos of Levi... I always try to keep it as even as possible. But, he was the star of the last video post, so I am going to relieve my guilt with that statement. Ta ta for now!