Thankful to Live Free

'Blessed' is the word I would use to sum up this day. 


     This morning when Micah came into our room to let us know that we had slept long enough and that we couldn't possibly need anymore sleep, my amazing husband got up with him and let me sleep 30 more minutes. When I finally did get up at 7, I found Lin feeding Levi in the living room, and breakfast (a peanut butter and jelly blueberry bagel) waiting for me on top of the stove. Talk about spoiled. :) My man knows me well.


     At 10, we walked up Main St a little to be part of the kids' parade. The gist of it is that all the kids deck out their strollers, wagons, bikes, etc. in patriotic gear and all walk/ride to the local park where there are games, face painting, food, and music waiting. Lin, of course, planned ahead and drove the van to the park then walked back and met us on Main Street to walk with us. This way the van was waiting for us when we got done. He also is a modern day superhero, but I think I've stroked his ego enough already for one post. ;)

Micah's ready to get the show on the road.
Levi's obviously thrilled to be there too.

     As we celebrated the act that eventually led to the US becoming a free nation, we are thankful live here. We are reminded though that we are a global people and a global Church. We are thankful to live free, but more importantly, we are thankful to BE free in Christ.

Our first family photo...it only took us 5 months. lol.

Ack! I'm such a slacker. Oh well...life gets busy.


Here are a few things you missed...


Fathers' Day

I made a Tie Fathers' Day banner with some scrapbook paper I had. 

     Micah and I went to the Dollar Tree where he picked out a balloon for Daddy. I made the fun banner (above) and had it up with his cards on the table and balloon tied to his chair when he got home from work at 5 in the morning. The boys got him a pass for 5 1-hour sessions at a local shooting range...a Groupon I was able to score 60% off. The boys aren't in the pics because they were still asleep. When Micah did wake up and come out he said, "Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Fathers' Day to the King of the Castle from your Unruly Subjects."

Sweet Friends

     Ok, so really I just want you to see these adorable pictures and hilarious video. We've been so blessed to have the McWhite's as friends here at seminary. Lin and David have a similar schedule on the weekends, so the boys and I spend many evenings "playing with 'the nother Micah' and 'Sissy'". April and I will cook a meal while the boys play together and get out some of their energy. Lily and Levi...well they just like to sit/lie on the floor and look at each other. We have had some sweet times of fellowship and been able to share some of the joys as well as frustrations of being a mommy.

Painting on the porch

They're getting so big!

Foster Care Meeting

     We attended the Wake County foster care meeting this past Tuesday. It was very informative and made us even more excited about the possibility of becoming foster parents. We turned in our application yesterday, but we have no clue when we'll hear from the people reviewing applications. We have hopes of attending the July/August training if space allows. We eventually would love to foster sibling groups, but space only allows for us to foster 1 child now. (State law is that there must be a 4x10 space for each child, so since they would all be sharing the boys' 12x10 bedroom, only 1 additional child may be in there...which makes sense I guess.) Please continue to pray for us during this process.

     Lin was talking to Micah about it yesterday morning, and their conversation went like this:

-Lin: Do you want to have another baby brother?
-Micah: Yeah, bunny rabbit.
-Lin: No, do you want to have another baby Levi?
-Micah: Yeah, pig.

I think it's going well trying to get him to understand. lol.

Levi's First Solid Food

     Lin was able to be the one to introduce this new milestone to Levi. They both did great, but Levi was not thrilled at all with this turn of events.

First bite...

And it just got...

worse and...

worse. He is actually gagging in this picture.
It was okay though...nothing actually came back up.

And I leave you with probably the best picture to date of the two of them...

Go ahead...you can say it..."awwww" :)

'Libary' Books

     After spending 2 wonderful, yet very long, weeks in the upstate, this past week back home has been so great! I've enjoyed spending a lot of time as a family! Since we are nearing the end of the semester, Lin has had a lot of school work to complete, so I've been trying to keep the boys busy and quiet. Thankfully, the weather was so nice this week that we were able to spend a lot of time outside. One of Micah's new favorite things is going to the library (or "'libary' books" as Micah calls it), so we try to go once a week. He gets so excited when he sees all of the books. Although I have high hopes of eventually going to the story times throughout the week, we have yet to make it to one of the regularly scheduled ones. This past Friday, however, they had an "udderly" special story time. We were late, of course, but when we finally got there and settled, Micah had a great time. They had Bessie the cow there and learned about North Carolina agriculture. After the story (that we missed) the lady talked about all kinds of different things that are made using milk. The kids then got to color cow masks and milk Bessie.

Milking Bessie...stuff really did come out. It was pretty cool.

He was just a little tired. He managed to eat half of his turkey and cheese sandwich before falling asleep.

     Levi is growing like crazy and learning new things everyday. A mom that I know through a group on facebook is letting us borrow her excersaucer because her kids have currently outgrown it. Ours that Beth gave us is currently in SC at my dad's because we had no room to store it in between kiddos. Levi is not quite big enough to enjoy it yet and only lasts a couple of minutes in it, but in those first few minutes, he sure is a happy boy. :)

     Yesterday in downtown WF, they had "Meet in the Street." The sun was out full force as was the heat, so we didn't stay too long for fear that the boys would get sunburned. Micah managed to get a few goodies from the Police and Fire Departments though.

Stunner shades from the police dept, and a "pireman" hat from the fire dept.

For a couple who was never going to have kids, we sure have been blessed with 2 amazing ones!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Happy Birthday Grammy! We love you!

We hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend! ;)

So...2 big changes since my last post...1) Lin is getting out of the reserves and 2) he got a new job. Not that our lives aren't always a testament of how the Lord provides, but these past couple of weeks we have experienced His provision in almost blink-of-an-eye timing. And it is so awesome to be able to look back on the past weeks events and say, "my God did this."

Warning: This is me trying to explain what happened in the military...it's confusing, but I'll try my best to explain it in"civilian terms"...which is really hard to do. So if you don't understand what the heck I'm talking about, just know this: it was bad, then it was good, then it was bad, and now it's good. :)


The first week of March, we went to SC to visit our family for Lin's spring break.
     Bad Thing: That Thursday (March 8), Lin received a call from the military saying that his release form from his unit (that released him to apply to be a chaplain candidate) had been signed by the wrong person which made it void. (Not Lin's fault). Since this form was void, that meant that Lin was supposed to be drilling with them every month for the past 7 months. Long story short, Lin asked him what the chances were of him just getting out of the "active reserves" all together (since his time was up this past August), and the guy said it shouldn't be a problem.
     Good Thing: We're getting out! Woo hoo! :) Lin and I had been talking for 3 months about possibly trying to get out. (Once Lin graduates from seminary, he can become a chaplain without going through the chaplain candidate program).
     Bad Thing: Friday morning (March 9) we traveled back home, and it really started to sink in about what this would mean for our family. The biggest immediate effect this would have would be our insurance. We had gotten a quote through the insurance company Southeastern recommends for seminary students-yikes! It's 2 and a half times what we are paying for insurance through TriCare. Since we have 2 small children, going without insurance isn't an option. It was clear that we were going to need an additional source of income...preferably legal. ;)
     Good Thing: While up Saturday morning (March 10) at 2 am feeding Levi, Lin applied for a job online through the Southeastern website. The lady called Lin later that morning around 9:30, and asked if he could come in for an interview. He was working at campus security that morning, so they planned the interview for Monday. Before they hung up, she asked if it would be possible for him to come in that day (Sat) after he got off work. He went for an interview at 4:00 that afternoon, and on Wednesday morning (March 14) she called and told him he got the job. Because of the schedule he will be working, it was not possible for him to keep his job at security, although they have been so amazing in allowing him to stay on as an "on call" guy. Also, it will no longer be necessary for us to traffic drugs. ;)
     See...blink-of-an-eye quick.


In other news, Levi had his one month check up. He weighs 10 lbs. 1 oz. and is 22 3/4 in long. He has been feeling much better and has started to be able to lie on his back again while sleeping. He continues to amaze me by how he can stay up most of the day and still stay awake most of the night too. Last night Lin covered 3rd shift for a guy at work, and when he came in this morning Levi was fussy. Lin asked, "Is he hungry?" and I said, "He's always hungry" as I willed him to go back to sleep. He didn't.

If only he did more of this...at night.

Levi also already suffers from male pattern baldness. It just keeps receding. lol. Now he has the ring of hair around his head and even the island of misfit hairs.

He LOVES lying on his stomach...

Micah has continued to amaze us as well with the things he picks up. He is such a funny kid! The other day I was folding clothes, and he came up and patted my leg and said, "good boy mommy." Lin told him to do something the other day, and he said, "no problem daddy." His bed backs up to the side of the changing table, and every morning when he wakes up, he climbs up on the changing table and says, "Mommy, Daddy, where are you?" (We will be attempting again to potty train in the next few weeks). For your viewing pleasure...

He had put both arms through the neck of his shirt...he's so gangster.

After telling him several times not to play with the trashcan with Levi's diapers, he fell in.

He wanted to dress himself-Orange fishing vest, gray shorts, and too big sponge bob socks.

I think this is the biggest (good) shock we've received yet from him b/c we did not teach him this song. Lin was singing it thinking Micah would repeat him. Instead, he finished it. So, naturally, I had to run get the camera. We're assuming he learned it at church.

We have been so blessed. :)

Adjusting as a Family of Four

Levi is now 3 and a half weeks old, and we have officially been living together as a family of 4 for a little over one week now. The days have been long, but the moments have been so precious. Levi has abandoned his amazing sleep schedule and traded it in for an up-at-least-3-hours-during-the-night one. Our sweet boy who used to just lie silently in his moses basket even if he wasn't asleep has now taken to screaming his head off...usually after his 3 a.m. feeding. Since he loves motion, we got a swing in hopes that he would sleep better in that, but no luck. I just try to remind myself that Micah was a MUCH worse sleeper, and he started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks.

Updates on the Kids:

-Levi had a great 2 week check up. He weighed 8lbs 4oz which was a 1lb 4oz weight gain in just over a week.

-Micah has been such a great big brother! At first, when Levi would cry, he would say, "no, no, NO baby!" Now he says, "It's ok baby brudder!"

Keeping Levi company

-We attempted to start potty training Micah the other, but after 3 puddles on the floor and nothing in the toilet, I decided that I'm going to wait as I will need much more dedication and patience than I have to give right now...but he sure did look cute! :)

Quality bathroom entertainment

- Micah has become well acquainted with his new friend Mr. Puppy (aka his harness backpack). It helps that he loves wearing it.

His "smile" still kind of freaks me out sometimes. lol.

- I took both of the boys to Dr. Seuss' Read Across America at Target a few days ago for story time and snacks. Levi slept like a champ, while Micah was only slightly impressed. He didn't understand why I wouldn't let him hold the books (b/c I didn't want to have to buy 5 of them after he bent all the pages), and he was less than willing to just sit on the carpet and listen to someone else read. I then told him we could get 1 book, so he chose "Go, Dog, Go." He sat quietly on the carpet "reading" his own book and eating fruit snacks. As soon as the fruit snacks were gone, he was ready to go. I think we've read "Go, Dog, Go" at least 20 times in the past 3 days.


- The weather was amazing today, so we decided to take them to a park by our house...

- Micah has become quite the picky eater in recent days. He has recently eaten 3 things though that he originally wouldn't touch b/c he thought/I told him it was something else. 1) Beef and Sweet Potato Stirfry- he ate all the green beans out of it, but wouldn't touch the sweet potatoes (he's started not eating "potatoes"), but when I told them they were carrots, he inhaled them. 2) Meatballs- Wouldn't eat them, so we cut them up and he said, "chicken nuggets good!" 3) Lentil and Veggie Soup- He wouldn't touch the "beans", but when they magically became "corn", he ate seconds. Ay yi yi.


We are falling into a pretty sustainable routine, although I'm hoping it will soon once again include sleeping through the night. I am still wondering how an 8lb person manages to double my laundry load though. To my surprise, the house has managed to stay semi-clean with much help from my wonderful husband. Life has been pretty amazing the past couple of weeks; I'm trying to cherish every minute of it.

First Week Home With Levi

Our journey to this point has been a crazy one. I am so thankful for Lin and the life that we have together, and I am so grateful to God for allowing us to have it. Although we could not imagine our lives any differently now, starting out 3 years ago, we never in a million years would've dreamed we'd be where we are today. 

Friday, February 3, we welcomed the newest addition to our family--Levi William Bradley. At 6 lbs 14 oz and 21 in long, he was a full pound lighter than Micah while being 2 in longer than him, so he was long and lean.

We were able to leave the hospital on Monday, February 6 to head home with our new little bundle. Thanks to grandparents, we have spent these first few days at home with only one child since they took Micah back to SC with them for 2 weeks. For this, we are so grateful as it has made this transition a whole lot easier.

Sleeping:

     Although we are only a few days in, it seems as though we have a very good sleeper. Monday night, he woke up almost exactly every 3 hours to eat. He ate, and 30 mins later we were all back asleep. Tuesday night he slept for 5 hours straight, woke up to eat, then went right back to sleep.Wednesday night got off to a rough start. We were up every couple of hours until 0600 when we all went back to sleep and slept till 1000. (That was nice!) Last night was back to every 3-4 hours. He does so well without a pacy; even if he's awake when we go to sleep, he just lays there quietly until he falls asleep. This is one thing I hope to see continue.

Dr's Visits:

     We had to take Levi to the doctor on Tuesday to get his bilirubin levels checked because they were a bit high in the hospital and also to get a referral to the urologist because we were told in the hospital that he had hypospadias. Well when the doctor checked him, she said his color looked fine and didn't even bother checking his bilirubin levels, and she said she didn't think he had hypospadias, so he could be circumcised in the office that day if we wanted. The series of events are as follows:

-After waiting for her to go talk to the doctor that does the circumcisions, a referral lady came in and told us that the doctor would rather us be seen by a urologist since hypospadias had even been brought up as an option. 

-As we're getting our stuff ready to leave, the doctor who did the exam came in and told us the circumcision doctor was coming to talk to us. She also informed us that our insurance would not cover it and we would need to pay up front.

-I called Lin to make sure it was ok and that he wanted to have it done; he said yes. (If we would've waited it would've ended up costing more.)

-Because I was pretty sure TriCare would cover it, I called them. "Our system is down. Please call back later." Of course.

-A nurse came in to ask how long it had been since he'd eaten. It'd been 20 mins. It's supposed to be 4 hrs for them to do it.

-We're told he can't have it.

-Get ready to leave.

-We're told he can have it.

-I go to the front to pay for it.

-There are about 6 nurses/doctors/random people who work at the office debating over whether or not he can have it.

-I offer to reschedule it-this sent them into further discussion. (Of course talking about it like I wasn't standing right there.)

-Right there, in the middle of the pediatrician's office, I burst into tears.

    Long story short, I survived, Levi ended up being circumcised, and poor Stephanie (who so graciously drove us since I can't drive yet and Lin had class) had to wait with me for 3 and a half hours while all of this took place with her own 3 month old.

---Levi's 1 week check up went MUCH better this morning. He'd gain 3.5 oz since Tuesday and now weighs 7lbs even.

Random:

-Our Sunday School class has been amazing! We have enjoyed WONDERFUL meals every-other evening since we've been home (and lunch the past 3 days) thanks to them.

-I have called Levi 'Micah' at least a million times.

-I miss Micah like crazy, and can't wait to have him home! But we realize how blessed we are to have family willing to make this transition easier for us.