A year of Levi, according to Facebook posts

I thought it'd be nice to put all of the Facebook updates I've made about Levi in one place, so here they are! Spanning Levi's second year of life from November 10, 2012 to November 10, 2013. I love my boy so much!

Nov 10, 2012

The birthday boy!

Nov 15, 2012
Tired, tired boy. This is the first time he's fallen asleep in his high chair! He was so hungry that even though I knew he was tired and I'd already fed him, he still couldn't go to sleep. You would be amazed at how much food he'd eaten in the 10 minutes before this picture was taken.

Dec 8, 2012
Gotta stand up to get a good view / Levi loves studying security on the computer with his daddy!




Dec 11, 2012
This is probably the cutest video of Levi I've ever taken. Prepare for the giggles!




Dec 13, 2012
Levi is big on imitation...before today, he HATED when I'd wipe his nose with a tissue. Today, however, I also have a cold and he saw me blowing my nose. He started blowing out of his nose, and it was SO cute! When I realized that he was trying to be like me, I wiped his nose and he seemed to enjoy it. Silly boy!

Jan 9, 2013
This morning I talked to my sister Becky on the phone. Levi wanted to do what I was doing, so I held the phone up to his ear so he could hear her, too. At first he just wanted to take the phone away from me and play with it, but when he realized that someone's VOICE was coming out of it, he got really excited and chuckled to himself. It was really cute!

Jan 20, 2013
Levi took a step yesterday! He has taken steps before, but this was his first premeditated step. He took another premeditated step today. I'm so excited for him!

Jan 24, 2013
Update on Levi walking: He can now walk 5 or 6 steps without falling! He's so cute--he'll take a few steps and then almost start falling into each successive step but takes another step so he doesn't fall--so he's going pretty fast. And he also can only go in a straight line.

Jan 31, 2013
Got some of Levi's walking on camera. He always gets excited when he sees the camera, so it isn't as good as I'd have liked. Still cute, though!




March 6, 2013
Earlier today, Levi gave me one of his socks to signal he wanted to go outside. My little boy is growing up so much!

March 7, 2013
I hear Levi laughing to himself and what do I find? ... this. Hehe!




March 17, 2013
I had no idea slobbery wet baby kisses could make me so happy! Levi kissed me on the cheek each time that I asked him to before he went to sleep tonight. Eeee!

March 21, 2013
Levi is showing off for me by walking around the apartment with one (folded and unused) diaper in each hand, giggling and laughing and looking at me every 10 steps or so. So adorable!

April 8, 2013
Levi still hasn't figured out how to open the childproof stuff on the cabinets. What he HAS figured out is that when the cabinet's open just a crack, he CAN put stuff INTO the cabinet. It's really funny finding random stuff in the cabinets. Today I found a diaper and a bag I'd given to Levi earlier today

May 13, 2013
Levi really likes the cabinets at our new place in Atlanta because he fits in them so well. He also likes shutting himself in the cabinet and giggling where I wonder aloud where my Levi boy could be




May 17, 2013
Levi figured out how to walk backwards today. So. Cute!

May 31, 2013
Love sharing smoothies with this little guy!




Jun 7, 2013
One of the cutest things EVER is to watch your toddler try--and fail--to make a fish face because he thinks yours is too funny and can't help smiling. Happy!

Jun 21, 2013
Today, Levi:

-pulled all the toilet paper off of the roll

-gave me a kiss on my owie (that he gave to me)

-asked me to cut his nails (he usually resists this)!

It's a good day.


Jul 1, 2013
This was Levi an hour before his official nap time. He wasn't asleep, but laying quietly. He might have fallen asleep if I hadn't taken the picture. I put him down for his nap soon after this picture and he just woke up from his nap. That's a 2-hour nap, folks!




Jul 2, 2013
Folding clothes within reach of a toddler is an exercise in futility. It's cute that he's trying to help, though ....

Jul 15, 2013
Ok, I'm now converted to teaching babies to sign. I learned the sign for "finished," taught it to Levi, and now he does NOT throw food on the floor anymore when he's done eating, but signs to me instead that he's done. Now to teach him some more useful words ...

Jul 24, 2013
I see something pink out of the corner of my eye and look up to see this. Haha!




Sep 2, 2013
Happy to be in his fort! He liked it so much that it was hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera!




Sep 7, 2013
Levi fell and cut his chin this morning. He's had a rough day, but I've tried to make it up to him by playing with him more than usual. He's been a real trooper and hasn't complained since his nap except to point at his chin and say, "owww"



Sep 8, 2013
Today during church we sat behind a family with a baby. Partway through the meeting, I started listening to the sounds Levi was making--he was saying "beh-bee" over and over again. He has a new word!

Sep 14, 2013
Levi likes peaches! I have succeeded as a mother and as a Southerner

Sep 18, 2013
GUYS ... Levi is just too cute for words! Here are some of his new words--baby, mama, Elmo, and bubble. Sorry about the sound quality of my voice. Also, look at the socks on his feet! He put them on himself :)




Sep 21, 2013
Levi is so cute! We were just outside, and he'd found a twig with some dry leaves attached. On his own accord, he held it aloft like a flag and started running around in circles! I had to laugh. What a fun kid!

Sep 30, 2013
Levi has been skipping his naps recently. He's been playing nicely in his room for an hour or so after I put him down, then begs to come out, usually with a dirty diaper or pleas of hunger, and I just let him stay awake. However, he's grumpy for the rest of the day when he skips his naps. Well, today I decided that he'd stay in his room until he did take his nap, and I told Austin so in Levi's hearing. I'm pretty sure that Levi understood, because within 20-30 minutes after that, Levi was asleep! Victory!

October 5, 2013
I guess Levi noticed that I usually say, "Thanks," after he gives me something, because he's started saying, "dei," when I give him something. SO CUTE!!!

October 12, 2013
Levi said "knee" today! It's exciting because he hasn't really used the "n" sound much in the words he knows. He also pretended to be a cat ... he'd rear up from being on all fours and say "mow!" as he came back down. Hehe

October 16, 2013
Levi's putting one of his socks in mine and Austin's shoes and repeating, "ha-sigh" (inside) over and over again. Eeeeeee so cute!!

October 23, 2013
Levi likes to "say" prayers. He'll repeat gibberish after me, and then when I say, "in the name" at the end, he also says "name" (sounds like meme, but I'll take what I get!), and then won't even say gibberish for "Amen". So funny!

November 1, 2013
Levi has recently learned to say "Jesus". I wanted to make sure he wasn't saying it for every long-haired bearded man, so I showed him a Smooth McGroove video on YouTube. Levi thought he was Jesus. I ... don't know what to say. It's funny, though!

November 10, 2013 

Two years ago today at 8:00 in the morning, a little boy was born. Levi is such a sweetie and I love having him as my son. Happy birthday, Levi!





Funny faces for a fun day. Two years old and growing every day!

Good people here

Levi and I went outside to play this afternoon. When we got outside, we saw there was a group of mothers and toddlers already outside--what a treat! Levi and I approached them. Levi had no fear, but as we neared the group, I had a sudden apprehension that the women in the group secretly didn't want me there and didn't enjoy my company. I've had this fear ever since middle school--or even before that. I'm not sure; it's just that every time I approached people I didn't know very well, I would assume they were innocent of enjoying my company until proven guilty. I've been working on this somewhat illogical fear for years, with only very little progress.

Today when the thought came to me, I immediately told myself, "No, self, these are very nice people, and they like having you around. You know that! Now go talk to them!" So I did. And they enjoyed my company! Although I felt like a very different kind of person than these women were, I did fit in. They did enjoy having me around.

I think all too many of us (but thankfully not all of us) in the human family have an inferiority complex: we feel that we don't fit in, so we reluctant to let others who are different from us befriend us. Let's remember that those who seem more "with it" than us may be more open than we think!

Awk-ward!

Early in the morning a few days ago, I went outside with Levi to play. He immediately ran to the playground, and I sat on the low concrete wall surrounding the playground to watch. I immediately felt the cold of the concrete on my unsuspecting posterior. I looked down, checking for pants. Yep, they were still there. I felt kind of silly, but at the same time, it had been as if there was nothing there between me and the concrete.

About 10 minutes later, some other mothers came out to the playground with their children. By this time, I was sitting on a bench that although cold, was nothing like the cold of the concrete wall. Another mother was sitting on the bench with me, when one mother started to sit on the concrete wall nearby. I invited her to sit on the bench with me and the other mother, saying, "I know how cold it is over there on the concrete, you should come sit on the bench--it's warmer." We made space and she came over, thanking us.

Then I said it.

I said, "Yeah, I sat on the concrete earlier, and I had to check that I was still wearing pants it was so cold!" No one laughed. No one even said anything commiserating with me about how very cold the concrete was. There was just this awkward silence while I realized that I had said something socially taboo around these parts. Then they changed the subject.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I say something socially awkward, I think about it for days (or months, or if it's really bad, even years) afterward. So I've been thinking about this, mostly about how I just should've stayed quiet. But just this morning, I realized that the main people that I've heard jokes like this from are my mother, her brothers, and my maternal grandmother. I have Scotch-Irish ancestry on that side, and I wonder if my forebears have been making jokes like this through the eons of time. I know when I watch movies set in Scotland, they frequently have jokes like this. So maybe this is a manifestation of my Scottish heritage. Ha!

Utah's a good place!

Ever since moving to Utah with Austin almost 3 years ago, I've continually learned more and more about Utah and its people. I moved here with plenty of negative stereotypes to go off of, and not really any positive ones. I got over those negative stereotypes very quickly, however. Most of them just aren't true! Sure, there are people in UT that fit the negative stereotypes, but not nearly enough to stereotype the Utahn people with!

Some of the negative stereotypes that I heard about Utah/Utahns include:
-Hypocritical people
-Meat market type singles situation
-Arid climate
-Large bushes were called trees

The biggest stereotype was that the people in Utah are hypocritical. Yeah, sure, there are hypocritical people in Utah, but no more (in my experience) than you'd find outside of Utah. Maybe some people come with higher expectations than they should, and when Utah isn't at the verge of being translated they get disappointed. I haven't been in the singles scene, so I can't say anything about that. The climate IS arid, and I get dry skin MUCH more often here. True stereotype. Large bushes being called trees? Probably, but it isn't really a big deal. A lot of Westerners think we're silly for calling the Appalachian mountains mountains, so I guess we're even there!

That being said, there are many things I love about Utah/Utahns:

-Gardens EVERYWHERE

+ Really, really. In prosperous areas and in less prosperous areas. I've seen them in small yards and big yards; in the city and out of it. In my experience, the gardeners were more than happy to share their produce with people unable to garden for whatever reason. To me, this is really cool.

-Really nice people

+ Of course not everyone can be nice, but so many people are willing to help others out, even when they don't know each other very well. See the produce sharing example above. I know a family that keeps a pickup truck at least in part to help other people move. One woman from my ward lent me some baby clothes right after Levi was born. I could go on, but I don't want to bore you too much. 

-Everyone is involved in their community.

+ Ok, not everyone, but many, many more people than in other parts of the country. More people volunteer, so much so that other places have asked government officials in Utah how they get their people to do it! More people vote. More people are involved in their school districts.

-I don't feel like I've left people out when I talk about things that are related to the LDS faith.

+ Even if not everyone believes in the LDS faith, everyone (or nearly everyone) is familiar with things like Visiting Teaching. It's nice to be able to be open about my religion without worrying that others will think I'm weird, brain-washed, or just dumb for believing as I do.

-It's beautiful.

+I don't think I could ever let go of my attachment to the exuberant vegetation of the Southeast, but the mountains do have a rugged beauty. They are awe-inspiring and very beautiful, and there are many mountain trails close by where you can enjoy the beauty close-up.

-People have skills for self-reliance: some sew, some preserve food by canning, most (women) know how to cook delicious food from scratch, many know how to fix things around the house or yard, and many garden.

+ Sometimes this can be intimidating. However, there are plenty people willing to teach you how to do things or who will just let you benefit from their wonderful talents.

-I can WALK to church! (it's less than one block away!)

-CONSTANT miracles. It seems too personal to elaborate on this, but if you want examples, PM me.


So, there are a lot of great things about Utah. Yeah, there are some negative things, too, but no more than any other place. With all these wonderful things about Utah, you may ask why I'd want to live anywhere else? Family is the main reason, but of course all different places have their good points, and most have just as many as Utah does.