Danger is my middle name!



Lucas is sure growing up fast! As of last month he is now 3.5 years old. I still find this hard to believe at times. Where is the world did my first born baby go?

We have hit the wild age that I knew would someday come. Lucas has always been more of a cautious child and definitely more on the timid side. He really stepped out of this shell once pre-school started and he is only becoming more brave and independent by the day.

I knew that his middle name would come back to bite me in the butt eventually. I guess I just didn't expect it to be this soon! There have been five incidences this month where he pulled the name card. FIVE! Oh lordy...it begins!

The first time completely threw Levi off guard and he laughed pretty hard. Lucas took it upon himself to climb up a rather large ladder and get onto the roof of our shed. When Levi asked what he was doing and warned him that he could fall and get hurt, Lucas simply replied, "I'm not going to fall. My middle name is DANGER!"

Now any incidence where safety is a concern he seems to think that he is immune. Maybe this is just a normal tendency for a toddler boy, but the name choice sure doesn't help.

He's all boy though. His recent obsession are superheros and you'd better believe this boy can tell you all about any character you ask. He's watched all of the movies, and even likes the old school cartoons found of netflix.

Surprise, surprise...he also loves motorcyles just like his dad.

Any chance to take a ride around the block and this kid jumps for joy. He recently took a ride with his Uncle Pete and they passed a fire truck. Apparently Lucas thrusted his arm into the air and yelled "Motorcycle...yeah!" to the firemen while grinning ear to ear. He wouldn't stop riding and was nearly blue and frozen when we convinced him to put the bike away.

He's also really into climbing!

He loves some of the indoor rock walls and is getting pretty good at climbing them solo. There is one at his favorite indoor bounce place and a number of birthday parties that we've recently attended had one. Levin takes a lot of interest in watching him climb the walls...I forsee two wild little climbers on our hands!

He's also a huge fan of climbing outdoors, too. Who wouldn't love climbing around on rocks while pretending to be a superhero? Expecially in this beautiful Alaskan summer that we've had.

He loves parks, walks, hikes and just being outdoors in general. Summer has been fun with all the water play, but he's even content just having a picnic and flying a kite. We've even just had a number of picnics in our front yard per his request.

Along with the hard play of summer comes a really tired boy at the end of the day. We've been having quite a few meltdowns in the late evening so we recently bumbed bedtime up to 7:30-8p. The sun has been waking him up way earlier than it should so we had to make some adjustments on the other end. It seems to be making a difference and I really don't mind the extra quiet time in the evenings!



Super Dad!

Not that we need a special holiday to celebrate how wonderful of a father Levi is, last weekend just so happened to be Father's Day... so we did just that!
I am continuously impressed at how amazing he is with our boys. I am beyond blessed to have him as my partner as we tackle this crazy little thing called parenthood. I can always trust that he will go above and beyond and put their best interests first. I couldn't have chosen a better daddy for my children. We are a great team, but we differ in just the right amount of aspects. My children are oh so lucky to have him!

If only all his old friends could see him now...he is 100% daddy. Poop changing, bath giving, story reading, bike riding, play fighting DAD! Seeing my three guys together just melts my heart. The boys obviously adore, love, and admire him. No one can break this bond!
So I did learn something very important this year....three year olds are awful at keeping secrets! I think next year Lucas may have to be kept out of the loop until the last possible minute. Levi walked in the door after work one evening and Lucas blurted out "tomorrow is going to be a very special day but I'm not allowed to tell you about it!" All night long he would reference to the gifts, but would also throw in the fact that Levi's not allowed to know. It was hilarious.

I got a few cute ideas off Pinterest and we went to work. We started off by making a card that was folded as a tee-shirt. Lucas loved doing this with me since he just recently discovered the wonderul art of origami.

Next we decided to make something special and surprise him with his all time favorite...fruit snacks! We covered a 6-pack case of root beer with scrapbook paper to match the tie on the card. I got some adorable print outs online and we got to work filling each bottle. This was also a difficult task to do with a three year old since many of the fruit snacks somehow made a detour into his mouth! Regardless, I think it turned out really cute.

Needless to say, the bottles didn't last very long. Levi is a true fruit snack addict.

We also made a picture of all of our hands together. I still love looking back at the handprint art piece we did for Levi's very first Father's Day in 2009. Baby hands are just too precious!

It's a little difficult to see in the picture because of the glare, but the scrapbook paper was really nice quality and has a bit of a shimmer to it. I am still pretty blown away at how similar the boys' hand sizes are. Levin is growing entirely too fast.

Overall, we had a really good day as a family. We went to Friday's for lunch and were surprised when we found out that children eat free on Sundays, Dads got a free slice of pie, and they had a $5 drink menu. Score! And the weather was gorgeous all day, too. It's not often that we get to spend an entire day together as family, but I'm happy we were able to on this occasion.

10 Months!

My oh my...it's about time to start the countdown until Levin's first birthday already! This year is flying by!

He is now 10 months old and getting wilder by the day! He continues to destroy our house every chance that he gets, and never fails to help himself to anything and everything. But now he knows when he's getting in to something that he shouldn't. He's started a new game where he will wait until we look and then throw everything around while giggling. He has quite the arm and will even play fetch with himself for a half hour at a time. It's also the same when he's sneaking back into one of the rooms. He'll patiently wait at the door until he makes eye contact. Then he races away as fast as his little body can crawl laughing the entire time. This is such a fun age!

As mobile as he has been for a bit it's no surprise that he's already trying out his next big leap...walking! He is getting really brave and has taken a few steps on several occasions. But right now what he's most comfortable doing is just standing around. I've seen him stand for upwards of about 30-40 seconds at a time. He's even getting comfortable enough that he can twist around while standing up. Walking is surely in the near future, but i'm not in any rush. Yes, I'll even admit that I've pushed him down a time or two. I love the crawling phase and want to get the most out of it!

I am so excited that it is summertime! We have been blessed with some gorgeous weather lately and you can sure believe that we've been taking advantage of it! This child LOVES the water! I wonder if being born into the water has created this effect because Lucas sure wasn't this intrigued at 10 months old.

One day was even a scortching 70 degrees so me and boys went and spent a few hours at the lake. I didn't expect Levin to be as adventurous as he was. But then again, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Apparently there's not much relaxing at the beach with this one...he couldn't sit still! He literally crawled along the shore line and even booked it straight out into the water. He could care less that the water was getting deeper and deeper! So I spent quite a while walking him outwards. Boy did he get mad when I tried to walk him back to shore though. Thanfully he realized fairly quickly that the sand was all that tasty. Quite the success if I do say so.

Although still not a huge fan of grass, he's doing much better. Like I said before, we've been spending lots of time outdoors. He is quite the little mimicker theese days, too. He loves to copy actions and repeat words and his newest favorite it clapping whenever somebody says "yay!"

He's even big enough to enjoy playing with some of the outdoor toys. Not to mention the nice little tan he has going on! I'm glad that he enjoys the outdoors so much. Nice way to tire him out!

Although he is mostly on the go, I can still get a few little cuddle sessions in with my little monster. Isn't this a great picture? It was taken by my little photographer, Lucas!

His verbal skills are really picking up and he is still a wonderful sleeper. His is also a great eater! This kid will eat just about anything I put in front of him, and will even beg like a dog if you're eating in his presence. He still only has two teeth, but we suspect the top ones are coming in soon.

Hazelwood Teething Necklace

Lucas was an awful teether. Each and every tooth popped up individually (never in a pair) and the process was long and painful....for everyone. Half of me thought that I deserved a break this time around, but then I slapped some sense into myself and decided that I shouldn't just sit around waiting on luck. Chances are I wouldn't get my way anyways.

I've heard many good things about teething necklaces but I was so stubborn and didn't want to put a necklace on my son. Period. Had I have had a girl I would have be more open to the idea, but it just wasn't something I saw as an option. This time however, my parenting has changed in many ways. I find myself more laxed, less cautious, and more open to new ideas/experiences. I guess that goes with living and learning!

So I did a little research and decided that it couldn't hurt to get one for Levin. I ordered mine from Tiny Teethers and it was here in about one week. We went with the grey and green beads in an attempt to have it look as masculine as possible. Many people chose to use the Amberwood, but I decided to go with a Hazelwood one for many reasons: it'll all organic and has various natural healing properties in addition to teething relief.

Hazelwood has the medicinal property to neutralize the body's acidity levels. Teething causes acidity levels to rise and results in pain, acidic drool/diaper rash, and even eczema. Unfortunately, Levin's poor skin was covered in eczema so I figured the hazelwood would be a win-win for us.

And what do you know...it worked! His skin has been clear (with a few minor areas) ever since we got the necklace. He has two teeth at the moment but I can tell more are on their way. He doesn't seem near as fussy as he was with the firsts and I have to admit that the necklace has totally grown on me. It gives him this hippy/hawaiian baby kind of look :)