Toddler Pictures

I thought I would share the link here of Samuel's 1 year picture. I have promised family and friends to put this out and have done a bad job of it in the past.

www.jlinephotography.com/viewing

Select the 2nd page and then select the Levy Pictures

Password is Samuel.

Enjoy, they turned out pretty cute, its amazing how our little man has changed in just one year!!

Fun with the Babysitter

This past weekend Samuel had a blast with his favorite babysitter Melia. Melia came over on Friday night and babysat Samuel and his buddy Connor. It was so cute, Melia started throwing balloons around in the air and Connor and Samuel tried to catch them, and then they tried to hit them back, and then Connor who just turned 3 tried to bounce them off of his head. Samuel couldn't stop laughing. Sam loves to be around bigger kids, he seems to be amazed by them and tries to copy all of their tricks, it is great to watch.

$.10 toys are the favorites at our house for Sam and for us. We just wish we knew how to keep them popular after he is old enough to pick things himself!

We were glad Melia could watch Sam and Connor so their parents could have a great wine party/competition. Ben and I were really hopeful our wine would win the competition of the night but we came in 3rd. It was a great time, and by the end all of the wines tasted pretty good.

Melia wasn't gone for long, she came back to the house Saturday morning. Sometimes it takes Sam a few minutes to warm up to her, but since she was just at the house he ran to her as soon as he saw her. It is such a good feeling leaving Sam with someone he has so much fun with. I love playing with Sam, but sometimes I am get exhausted and he still wants to go, so it is great when a babysitter comes with 150% energy all the time. Some of our close friends drove to town on Saturday so the boys could go to the Nebraska vs. KU basketball game. Ben wanted to see one more game in Allen Fieldhouse before Nebraska moves to the Big 10. Ben and Andy didn't have very high expectations for the game, but it turned out to be a close game and really made for a fun last game between the two teams. While Ben and Andy went to the game I got to take Andy's wife, Karen, my good friend to register for their soon to be little baby boy. It was so fun to do all of this again, and its amazing how after only a year there are so many new things for the little ones!! Samuel had a great time with Melia and then was spoiled by Andy and Karen when we got home. Karen and Andy are going to be great parents and had a very fun time with Samuel.

Karen reading to Samuel and he sat still for the entire book where we can't get through a page before he runs away! Karen's got the charm.

Andy squeezing Sam's Sing-a-long bear, really Ben's favorite toy.

Kids are resilient

Samuel gave us a run for our money last week.

We are currently having our basement finished and during some of their work they ended up cutting off the gas to some of our things and got them back working last Friday. They left our fireplace on to make sure there were no problems, well Ben and I should have known better. After it was shut off Sam was playing in the area and went up and put his hand on the glass and screamed like neither of us have ever heard. We grabbed him and instantly knew the glass was still hot. Samuel proceeded to cry for what seemed like forever, and for sure the longest, hardest either of us have ever heard. We did everything we could think of to help him, but nothing eased his pain. After about an hour we took the pack off of his hand and saw he had blisters all over his hand. We then made our 1st trip to the Lee's Summit, emergency room. What amazed Ben and I was that the minute we left the house he acted like nothing had happened and never cried about this again, which is where I got the title to this blogs, kids are so resilient. The emergency room was a very unpleasant place for both Ben and I. We couldn't believe how many people came in and asked us to explain what happened and make sure that we were not neglecting our child and our ER physician started the conversation with I don't think he will need a skin graph. WOW, not something you say to new parents, or parents at all for that matter.

Other than that the oddness that surrounded our visit, the nurses treated Samuel with such care, and he seemed to love to be pampered by so many different women. We left with a happy little boy, now with a wrapped hand. Since then he has rarely been bothered by the injury and has enjoyed chewing on his wrap when he is bored in the care. All but 2 of the blisters disappeared on their own and the others are recovering well.

If you are reading this, please do not report us to CPS, if you knew how incredibly awful and scared Ben and I were and have been it is punishment enough. Needless to say, we are watching Sam like a hawk and he has been getting spoiled (I now see how easily kids get spoiled and how they learn to take advantage of it.)

We are so thankful Samuel is a tough little guy, and doing so well and we pray that these events are few and far between in Samuel's life and get easier to handle with time.

Here are 2 pictures of Samuel with his wrap and as you can see he didn't let it interfere with his activities.

Out with 2010...Excited for 2011

2010 was Ben and I's best year yet. With the addition of Samuel, Ben's new job, me with a job and so much more we feel really blessed, so we can't wait to see what 2011 brings us.

This was the 1st year since Ben and I have been together where we haven't traveled over Christmas which was awesome. But we got a little stir crazy and decided to head North for New Years, to see friends, family and let Samuel finally meet his buddy Luke.

Samuel and I stayed at my friend Tara's house which he loved, because her house is definitely not child proofed. At one point I looked over as I was making his breakfast and he was in a silverware drawer holding onto two knives (please don't call CPS, I swear it was an accident.) Her house is filled with very nice things and by the end of the trip they were all on the top shelf. Tara was so sweet to let us stay and he loved to explore the new house, and slept even better than he does at home!

On Saturday, Samuel got to meet one of my best friends son, Luke. They live in Colorado so the boys had not had the chance to meet, so Katie and I were really excited to get them together. Luke is 5 months old and such a sweetie, he loves to bounce around and make grrrrrrrrrrrrr sounds, it is really cute. Samuel seemed very interested in Luke and would go up and look at him, and as you can see by the pictures by the end of the playdate he tried to give Luke a hug and hold his hand, super cute.

Samuel and Luke were having good conversation here.

Sam with his Aunt Karen and Aunt Tara

And at the end of the play date, Luke and Samuel got exciting news, that in 6 months they will either have a new buddy or a girlfriend to fight over. Our friends Karen and Brett are expecting, which is such great news. What a great way to ring in the new year!

For New Years, we went to a friends house and Jiji and Papster babysat Samuel. This was the 1st time ever that both Ben and I had been gone from Samuel together overnight. It was nice for us to get to celebrate with friends, and we knew he wasn't even thinking about us but loving getting spoiled by Ben's parents.

The Big Ten Husker/Iowa rivalry started here! 3 on the left vs. the 2 on the right. This will make future Thanksgivings a lot of fun.

This trip was also our test for Samuel to see if he was allergic to cats. I am deathly allergic to cats and can spend very little time in homes with cats, so I have been very apprehensive to put him with cats in the off chance he is allergic. When we got to Omaha we took him straight to Ben's parents and exposed him to their cat and from what we could see we are in the clear for cat allergies. Samuel seemed very intrigued by his Jiji and Papster's cat, but no sneezing, or rubbing of the eyes. Samuel wanted to pet and grab the kitty but the cat just hissed and batted Samuel away. Hopefully Poppy will warm up to Samuel with time.

Samuel had a great holiday and New Years, but we think he is getting pretty bored with all of these adults and excited to get back to daycare with his buddies and of course his girlfriend Abby.

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Merry Christmas....A Little Belated

My intention and promise to multiple family members was to get this post out only a few days after Christmas, but as you can see between cleaning up from an amazing Christmas and hanging out with a mobile toddler it hasn't gotten done. Christmas this year was great, it was all about Samuel, just the way it should be. I had been really worried that Samuel would get jipped on either his birthday or Christmas but it was the exact opposite. My mother, and Ben's parents were able to be with us for Christmas and made the holiday even more special. They love Samuel so much, Ben and I just love watching them play with him all day, we are truly blessed to have such an amazing family (not to mention it lets us go out on dates and not have to pay anyone!!) We weren't sure how Sam would do with a Christmas tree so we made it pretty basic this year and for about 80% of the time it was up he never touched it, but when he figured out he could take the things off and use them as swords, toys, or things to hit his dogs with he loved it!! These are a few pics of the sneaky little man.

That face has "I think I'm pretty sneaky" written all over it

Someone is pretty proud of themselves!

One of the residents in our sub-division offered to dress up as Santa Claus for all of the kids and allow families to come to the club house and take pictures. Ben and I had said we weren't going to take him this year since he didn't really get it and he has a fear of men (most men.) But we decided to try it figuring their would be no line and right outside our front door. WOW, was it a bad decision. The minute we handed Samuel to him, he began screaming and throwing his arms around, but as Ben says its a memory we will never forget. We hope next year goes a little bit better.

This is actually a good moment in the few he let Santa hold him.

Looks a little better with mom, but what you can't see is his other arm wrapped around my arm like he is holding on for dear life!

We tried to do a family picture but everyone he is looking at Santa, like what are you trying to do to me and my family!

Everyone told us that the wrapping, tissue and peanuts would be the big focus this year and it definitely was, but I wish someone would have told us to invest in V-tech and Fisher Price as Samuel now has almost every toy they make for his age. Its crazy how many different toys and stimulation activities they have for a 1 year old. We decided to put a bunch of them away and take them out mid-year, so he can have "new" stuff once he has exhausted himself with these toys. Dancing Mickey was the biggest hit of the holiday, eventually. When we opened the box he was really scared and started crying, but after he sang a few songs and everyone was dancing he joined right in. It is so fun to watch him do knee bends and shake his body just like Mickey.

As you flip through these on the camera you can almost remake his dance, it is so funny.

This is a recent picture, now that he has practice he also tries to talk like Mickey.

Climbing and sitting on the presents was one of his favorite things to do, it was really cute.

Sam with tissue paper, he loves the sound it makes when it crinkles.

The other big gift for Samuel 2 days before Christmas was the birth of what we imagine will be his BFF as he grows up. Wes Williams was born on December 23rd. He is so adorable, and already has similarities to Sam he is a big boy weighing in at 9lbs 15oz. Ben and I also got a pretty amazing Christmas gift, we were asked to be Wes's Godparents, and we are thrilled beyond belief (but are they sure they know what they got Wes into?) Congrats Mallory and Dwight ya did good!!

We hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday with family, and hope that 2011 is even better than 2010.