Birthday Party

This is how Levi and Caleb spent their second birthday.....

...on a 9 hour trip home from Yellowstone. But, they did get serenaded with "Happy Birthday" from their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as soon as they stepped out of the cabin that morning, and ate lots of ice cream when we stopped for lunch at Wendy's. We had their party the next day.

Caleb and Levi were born on their grandma's birthday

And, the cake - there are two of them, turning two - thus the Noah's Ark. Every other year (last year included) I plan to make them separate cakes, but this year I wanted to make this.

They both needed a little help getting the candles blown out, but they sure did try!

But neither needed any help eating ice cream, their favorite! Caleb, then Levi.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

It's a little hard to write about both Caleb and Levi's lives and make them sound much different....I wrote Levi's first, so if this sounds similar, sorry! They have had much the same life so far, as you can imagine :)

Caleb was the first born, older than Levi by exactly 30 minutes. He weighed 2 pounds, 5 ounces and was 15 inches long. He also had tons of red hair. All the NICU nurses knew who they were just by someone saying, "the twins with the red hair" (although I did hear there were twin girls with red hair there at the same time). He had an uneventful NICU stay, he took his time getting around to completely breathing on his own, but didn't come home on anything but a few medications and with a monitor. Caleb started singing as soon as he could make sounds and still sings and talks all day long. He's not always understandable, but he always sounds happy. He has a very cute, although sometimes mischievous, smile, he's good at getting things away from his brothers, and knows what he wants. He hasn't had too many problems stemming from being premature, other than delayed motor skills, which he's quickly catching up on and hopefully soon will not be considered delayed anymore. We sure love him, and are glad he brightens up our home!

Some things Caleb likes...

books

singing

his brothers

sandbox

playing in water

slides
being outside

wearing hats

Some pictures of Caleb's life......

Caleb, one day old, holding Mommy's finger. He and Levi had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, where Caleb was the recipient, getting more red blood cells than Levi, hence his very red color. They didn't have to do too much to resolve this, thankfully.

Caleb at about 3 weeks old. Daddy thought his head looked like a baseball (baseballs are 9", Caleb's head was 10.5" at birth) so he bought him a baseball that we took pictures with every month his first year to compare the size. His nose looks funny because he was on CPAP and he had a thing over his nose to protect it, but the nurse took the CPAP off so we could take pictures.

Caleb 2 months old, after being home only a few days.

Caleb at 6 months old - bright and smiley!

Caleb 8 months old after some cereal.

Caleb at one year - quite a change from a year before!

Combing his hair at 18 months old.

Caleb at almost 2 years old. He loves to wear his hat, and to try on every one's shoes.

Happy Birthday Levi!

I can't believe Levi is two! Two years has really gone by fast. But here's a little summary of his life....he's come a long way in these two years!


Levi (second born) was born at 27 weeks 6 days, weighing 2 lb 8 oz, 14.5" long, with tons of red hair. He was barely alive at birth but after a few days was off a ventilator and on his way to growing big and strong. He had a pretty uneventful NICU stay and went home after 9.5 weeks, at 37.5 weeks gestation. For several months he was kept inside, just eating and growing chubby. Nobody hardly saw him then but he had some fat rolls on his legs, believe it or not! Levi came away from his early birth relatively problem-free. He has a few issues, such as motor delay and eating problems, but things that should (we hope!) resolve themselves soon and not cause any life-long trouble. Levi has taken his time reaching some developmental milestones, but when he does it (such as walking) he's good at it. He's pretty easy-going, but is learning to defend what he wants. He is very observant and wants to be helpful. Levi is pretty outgoing in public and talks a lot. He is so sweet and so much fun to have in our family!





Some things Levi likes:


swings
his brothers
balloons
singing
books
sitting inside the toy barn
climbing on anything
going places
trains







And, some pictures of his life (we haven't had his birthday party yet to those pictures will have to come later)











Levi at 4 days old, with his Dad's hand by his head. His color was getting better, he was very pale at birth from lack of blood (he and Caleb had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome and Levi was the donor). They took his CPAP machine off for pictures, but he was already off a ventilator.











Levi about 6 weeks old, after a bath in the hospital. His hair was so cute when it was so clean and fuzzy!










Levi at 6 months old, so chubby and happy, and already 15 pounds!






















Levi at 8 months old, ready for a haircut!














Levi, one year old, looking ready for a second haircut!












Enjoying feeding himself some pudding at 18 months old.

Levi, almost 2 years old, he loves to climb into things!

Isn't he just so cute? July 2008.

June videos

It's halfway through July, but as the name of this implies, one main purpose of this blog is to share videos. So, here's some video from June, pieces put together so they are really unrelated but stuck together as one video anyway.


This first one is of Caleb and Levi mostly. The first part is Levi with the baby doll, it may be hard to hear him but he says, "helllo, hi, how doing, good." He's using the baby for a phone! Then he's walking with metal juice can lids on his feet. They stick to his feet and he, for some reason, likes to walk with them. Then Ian is practicing his delegating skills, getting both brothers to help him set the table. Lastly, is Caleb. It's very hard to get them to just talk and "say something significant" on camera, so here's him talking about one of his favorite books. Of course, his voice goes up in pitch as he says it, but that's what makes it cute :)

Second is Ian's water skills for the summer. First is blowing bubbles and doing arm strokes, then "swimming" at swimming lessons. Last is him going down the waterslide at a preschool friend's house. I'm surprised he even went down it, but he was swayed by the other boys doing it. He only did it once, though, and wouldn't go near the slide again! He's almost at the top of the slide as it starts, and then goes down the left hand side (viewer's left side).

June 2008 - Pictures

I found lots of cute pictures from June, even after Father's Day and a birthday! So here's a few.....okay, several!

This is Levi and Caleb, they love to wear hats, ours or Ian's shoes, anything to dress up.

All three of them love books, and Winnie the Pooh - so what's better than a Winnie the Pooh book?

This one I think is just cute, cute smiles and I love them in opposite red and blue! But can anyone tell them apart??

When Ian wears new clothes he asks if I can take a picture of "how cute I am". So, here's how cute he is :)

This one is just cute, too, they both have such a big grin. But, who's who??

Swimming in our pool.....it's Ian, Levi, and Caleb. They all seem to like the water this summer. Ian even ventured into the sprinkler....at least partway :)

And, the most exciting news of June, with help from Grandpa, we have a new sandbox! Levi isn't too sure about his feet touching it, but they seem to love playing in it! Ian's been making sand castles and Caleb and Levi just scoop up sand, over and over, trying to get it in the bucket.