This summer has been a nice mix of doing and being… plenty of trips, activities, people visiting, things to do mixed in with a good amount of relaxing and laying low. It hasn’t been too hot, either, which has been nice. If it weren’t for the dang ‘ol mosquitos I’d have nothing to complain about.

Levi grooving on some frozen blueberries- the perfect teething food:

Levi and Henry engaged in serious discussion over the contents of a card:

We enjoyed a visit from Alyssa, Chris and Ainsley from Arkansas in July! We took the opportunity to try out the new West African restaurant in town. There were 4 of us who had been actually been to Cote d’Ivoire… which surprised the Ivoirian proprietor.

We also enjoyed a visit from the Maryland cousins … only took one photo, but it is a cute one:

Last weekend we joined a group of friends for a weekend at Sugar Lake in MN. It was a great time of relaxing, eating, swimming, boating, sweating in the sauna, and catching up with friends. Thanks to Matt and Marnie for sharing the fun and we’ll miss you ’round these parts! (they are moving to MN next week). We were so relaxed that we only took a couple of photos of Levi’s first canoe ride. Check out this post if you want a more detailed description of the weekend.

Yesterday we biked over to Olbrich Gardens for the annual Blooming Butterflies exhibit. Levi was appropriately awed by the butterflies and loved playing in the fountains outdoors. Experiencing something new with a toddler is a great reminder to pay attention to the wonder and beauty in the world around me.

photo credits: Carissa

The three of us visited a resort in Green Lake for a couple of days-a mini vacation to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. I wasn’t sure how relaxing it would be with a toddler in tow, but it worked out quite well and was a lot of fun for all of us. Levi loved swimming in the pools and starting up conversations with other guests. And Levi experienced an important first- he ate an entire scoop of vanilla ice cream all by himself! Matt and I had our fancy anniversary meal brought to us after Levi was soundly asleep- the wonders of room service! Here are a few photos:

Here are some photos of some of Levi’s recent happenings. Levi is talking a lot these days, putting two words together quite regularly and says more complex things that we sometimes have a hard time understanding. It won’t be long until he’s a non-stop chatter box! Levi still loves books. Here are photos of him studying for pre-school entrance exams:

Not the greatest photo ever, but here’s a self-portrait of Levi and his papa on father’s day:

Last weekend we joined some friends, Lara and Bob, who were spending the week with family in Wisconsin Dells. We had a nice time catching up and Levi loved playing in the water.

-kathy

Last weekend we biked to the zoo a few miles from our house. Levi enjoyed the ride in the bike trailer and since then has been talking about his helmet and bikes a lot. One day he decided he needed to wear his helmet while he had a snack. Levi enjoyed the animals at the zoo, but enjoyed the carousel ride even more. Here are some fun at the zoo photos:

This weekend, Levi got his first taste of tent camping. He had a great time getting muddy and playing in the rain. Yes, it was a rainy camping experience… we had enough clear skies to make dinner and breakfast and spent the rest of the time dodging raindrops and checking the radar for severe weather…there were tornado sirens. Despite all this, I biked to camp and Matt biked home, so we each got some ride time in. Levi was really excited to go ‘night night’ in the tent and slept better than either of his parents. Seems to be an activity that he enjoys, so we’ll do this again, for sure… but hopefully in drier conditions.

I’m happy to say that nothing unusual or extraordinary is happening in our lives! Levi is doing very well, learning new things every day. One of his favorite new words is “helicopter”- which comes out something like he-to-co-co and he’s working on figuring out colors. He likes to say “yellow” and “blue” especially. Here are a few photos of the little man.

Grandma Betty came to visit and help out during my first week back at work after Levi’s surgery.

Levi and Grandma catching a snooze together

We decided to get a potty chair for Levi. He has shown some interest in what happens in the toilet and sits on his potty chair (with his clothes on) every so often. So far, though, he mostly likes to drag it around the house and pull the pot out of it… I think were going to be using diapers for a while.

Another of Levi’s favorite things to do right now is climb up and down the back steps. He likes to sit down and have us sit next to him on the step. He pats the step and says “nu nu”, which is a word that seems to mean “I want to do something or want you to do something”. Here’s a photo of Matt and I nu nu-ing with Levi:

-Kathy

We are still amazed by all that’s happened in the past three days. Levi’s surgery went very well on Thursday. The procedure was done with laparoscopes through four little holes. Dr. Shaaban reported that some of Levi’s small intestine, his spleen, and a “good part” of his colon were in his chest cavity. Hard to quite believe! Levi’s left lung inflated well and they tell us that he should not have any lasting lung problems. Here are some photos that show the progression from post-op tubes and wires to a hungry little boy back at home. We also have some fun video, but I will wait for Matt to write that post, I haven’t figured out how to do video yet.

kathy

It’s been quite a month in our household… Here’s the recap: Levi had a bad cold at the end of March which led to a visit to urgent care after a night of wheezing. The doc ordered a chest x-ray and we went home with some drugs and assurance that Levi did not have pneumonia. When we went in the next week for Levi’s 18 month check-up, we learned, though, that the x-ray showed a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (an opening in his diaphragm) and that Levi’s bowels are crowding out his left lung. Trying to wrap our brains around the idea that our seemingly healthy little boy was going to need surgery (and soon) to fix this was tough… We met with the surgeon the same day and were scheduled for surgery on April 10. Meanwhile, Levi continued to fight off a virus and ear infection, he had an echocardiogram (which looks okay, thankfully, as 20% of kids with CDH also have a heart defect), and a CT scan (under sedation). We went to the hospital April 9 for bowel prep overnight. It was awful. Levi was exhausted, actually slept through some of the more unpleasant events of the night. Matt nor I slept. At all. After a rough night we went down to the surgery prep area early on April 10. We meet with the anesthesiologists and surgeon and the decision was made to cancel surgery that day. Levi was too sick to risk it. Wow. We were emotionally prepared (as much as one can be) to send Levi off to surgery within moments and then it all changed. We came home with a few new prescriptions and slept. And slept. Surgery is now scheduled for April 24, so we’re just about to start the preparations which means no eating and lots of pooping. Thankfully we can stay at home until the morning of the surgery. So, here we go… Levi will be in the hospital 3-6 days. My brother Dwight came from Maryland for the (cancelled) surgery, but it was so good to have him around for a couple of days. Matt’s mom, Dorothy, has also spent a lot of time here, helping us out and will stick around for while after the surgery.

We have managed to have some fun this month, too. Grandma Dorothy brought Levi a guitar, which has quickly become his most prized possession. We also enjoyed watching Levi explore the kitchen appliances a little more and have been outside enjoying the spring weather.

Kathy

Hello loyal Levi fans. So sorry it’s been so long since we posted anything. Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks.

I insisted on ordering Levi his first doll. He calls it “baby”.

Levi, Henry and Matt were all teething a couple of weeks ago and some cool carrots sure did the trick!

Levi loves to climb into chairs these days. He says, “nu, nu” which means: help me get into this chair, please. Then he says “boooo”, which mean: fetch me some books, please.

Owls… Levi loves to point out owls- you’d be surprised how many owl images are all over the place. Our neighbor Pam had Levi over for a visit and he fell in love with the ceramic owl in her house, so it’s now at our house.

-Kathy

We enjoyed our annual church retreat this past weekend. Here are are few photos of the fun. That’s a sunrise in the photos. Levi was up a bit early for my liking, but it sure was a pretty sunrise.