The Murray Easter egg hunt.

We did a big Easter egg hunt in our Villa and it was so much fun! I think it will have to become a tradition!

 All the kids lined up and ready to go!

 Levi and soon to be Aunt Trisha

 David

 Becca

 Grace

 Ammon and Bryan,

 Lou and Len helping Emma.

 Mason.

 Anna.

 Momma Murray & Levi.

 Duck walk races.

 4 of the cousins.

 Melissa & Mason

 Sarah pushing Levi.

 

Levi

Levi holding Ben's hand.

9 month old, already!!

 

I haven’t done a “_____ months” post in awhile. Levi is now 9 months old and it just boggles my mind to how much they learn. He’s crawling every where and into everything and we LOVE it! He’s much happier being independent.

Levi’s favourites:

- pears & peaches.

- dragging his monkey with him.

- boxes!

- chasing the cats.

- snow.

- bouncing on his knees.

- his basketball & blocks.

Levi is getting so good at self feeding! Since we started homo milk he’s hungrier to sit down and eat, YAY! This has made things much easier, he just eats when we eat. Since we started “sleep training” he’s been napping better and sleeping better.He’s also cut 3, yes THREE teeth this week. What a champ! He now has 7 teeth, thank heavens for the teething necklaces!

Levi has even started to learn to have to share, he doesn’t really understand the concept yet but we are trying to teach him. He plays so well with other kids. Yesterday we were at our friend house and their 2 year old has a mini trampoline and Levi kept wanting on it. All of a sudden he was getting up on it, we were shocked! now he’s climbing things! We are loving this stage of “Bumps and Bruises”.

the park.

So excited to get out after a long winter!

First time in a swing!

Just staring at all the kids

Sitting on the slide.

Chubby baby fingers.

Playing with the rocks.

The park has chess tables!

Coolest park e.v.e.r! Its in our villa, and I love it. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the Great Dane licking Levi’s face. He loved it! There were dogs running everywhere, Levi was in heaven!

smart, sunshine, school & sleep

Levi can now say Papa when we ask him to say it!! I love it! For some reason I call Dave Papa more then dad. Not sure why but its more exciting to say, "Papa's home" or "Here comes Papa". I don't think he realizes what he's saying but its still really cute! Soon as I figure out how to upload a video from Dave's iphone on to here I'll put up the video we have of him talking. He's so smart!

We had a horrible week last week but the sun's shining and there's only 2 weeks of school left so things are looking up! Dave didn't get hired on, they want him to finish school an reapply. We were angry at first thinking, you didn't need to drag this out. You could have told us 2 months ago you want him to finish school and then apply. But then we realized for him to make the top 10 percent and not be done school is a huge accomplishment. We are really hoping that next year he'll get it and that we will be able to understand why it didn't work out this year? Dave will graduate this December just in time to start the crazy application process all over again!

I have a meeting this week with the financial counselor at Reeves College to see if its still a possibility for me to go to school while Dave's in school. It will be tough if it works out to have us both in school for 4 months but I want to go back so BADLY! But I don't want to go back when Levi gets older, I think his age right now is easier to do daycare then when he's older. So again we're hoping that it will work out!!

We started sleep training Levi last week. Its so hard for me to let him cry BUT its getting better. He still gets up 3-4 times a night for a bottle and that just seems C.R.A.Z.Y to me!! So after last week I couldn't take it anymore, I need more sleep then this. Levi is 8 1/2 months old and should be able to sleep through the night without any bottles. I have been cutting an ounce out each night from the bottles that he gets. We are at 2oz bottles at night and I'll do this for a few days and then 1oz for a few days and then he's on his own. Its hard to only give him 2 oz and then have him just cry for an hour wanting more but SHORT TERM PAIN, LONG TERM GAIN. I can do this, thankfully Dave is so supportive and helps me when I want to cave and just make him another bottle. Last night he got up at 11 had his bottle cried a little and then fell asleep and slept till 5am!!! He hasn't done that big of a stretch in 2 months! If we can keep it up I'll feel like a whole new woman! Nap times are getting better now that night time is getting better. I never understood how people keep their houses so clean but now that Levi's naps are slowly getting longer I get it! You just clean like a mad women for those precious 45 mins! 

success / milk / check up.

            Yesterday was Levi's 8 month check up and it was so good to see he gained back the weight he lost after being sick. He's now 19 lbs 1 oz and 29" long. That puts him in the 25% for weight and 90% for his height. What a little string bean. No wonder all the 6 month clothes are too short but all the 9-12 month clothing fit length ways. We got the go ahead to start homo milk and it thrills us beyond belief! Formula is stinkin' expensive but the best part is that it should help Levi start to want food more then his bottle. Formula has so many calories that it's filling Levi up that he's never hungry enough to want to eat. So we're hoping that this will give us some more oppurtunites to get him to want to eat food.          but..... HUGE SUCCESS this morning!!!! I don't know why but Levi gags on everything, even if its pureed. Ive been trying so many things to get him to try different textures. He ate 1/2 a carrot muffin this morning!! Seriously made me so excited! Yesterday I tried some and he just kept gagging on it. It stresses me out because he seems to hate eating and I try to make it fun and I can't seem to get him to want to eat much lately. So this morning gave me a flicker of hope that I will not be pureeing his food in 5 years.

 haha goofy kid, this is pineapple. he hated it!

pictures.

 He is getting so fast! Diaper changes are like competing in the Olympics.

Can you see the teeth? We love it, but are secretly hoping those 2 middle top teeth come through soon!

We love these faces!

the house visit.

Our family is so big that it takes quite awhile to call everyone to let them know how things are going and since everyone follows the blog, you're getting updated this way.

Last night was our house visit from an officer. Wasn't as scary as I thought it was gonna be. It was only one officer and he was in uniform but not a patrol car. So not as intimidating as 5 officers all in uniform showing up in patrol cars. Which was a huge relief I was so nervous! The officer asked us a bunch of questions about how we grew up, what our families are like, is there anyone who's violent in our family? My favourite question was do you have any crazy ex's that we should be aware of? What considers crazy ??
The best part of the evening was finding out that they are down to 13 applicants and are hoping to hire 10 or more. WOOHOO! Our chances are really good. We are trying so hard not to get our hopes up! The officer said he says this to everyone, but if you don't get hired don't be upset and reapply! You'd pretty much be guaranteed a job next time. Right now they have people they want but it comes down to experience, confidence, are they already trained, and education etc.. So we will know next week what gonna happen! Thanks again for all the support we get through this process!

200th post.

If Dave doesn't get hired on for his good looks and charm then 

it better be because our house is S.P.O.T.L.E.S.S. 

         Seriously since we got the phone call yesterday morning that the Police were coming for a house visit I have been scrubbing, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, de-junking, and re-arranging non stop! So if you've been wanting to come for a visit now is the time, our house is all pretty. It wasn't messy to begin with but I took this as a perfect opportunity to deep clean. I'm hoping that by spring cleaning it will help spring come!

pictures.

 

We made our own “babylegs”.

 

Tupperware is the new hat.

A little surprise for dave after he got out of school.

This is what he found inside, along with a box of goodies.

this poor kid was so over tired but we couldn’t resist getting some pictures of him in his frog coat. I LOVE the top middle one, look at that frown. its no wonder how he gets away with so much.

8 months.

This has been quite the month for development:

- trying to self feed

 

- eating on the go.

 - cooking with mom.

- discovering electronics are more fun then toys.

 - you look cooler with shoes.

- how to crawl