Easy Supper

We found this recipe at  allrecipes.com for Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork. It was delicious and made a ton! Make sure you toast your rolls. It makes it even better!

Home Studio

Props to our friends the Chidisters for the inspiration and reminder use to Picasa for our image editing needs. Meribeth had fun taking these pics of Chloe today. A picture we didn’t include on the blog was Levi up in her grill during the photo shoot. We do still occasionally take pictures of our first child. :)

Peach Tea

After church today we had a simple lunch so we could get Levi down for a nap by 1. As lunch was finishing up, I pulled a Snapple Peach Tea out of the fridge and started drinking it. Of course, Levi sees it and decides he is parched as well and asks for some.  I decided it wouldn’t hype up his little system too much to give him a little taste, so I give him the bottle.  He proceeds to chug it like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted.  I take the bottle from him and turn to Meribeth and say, “Was that a bad choice to give him some?” Levi then points at the bottle and says, “Mo, mo, mo, mo bad choith?” Once I stopped laughing I had to let him know this stuff was called Peach Tea and not ‘bad choice’. None the less, he helped me finish it off and took a good nap despite the natural caffeine running through his veins.

Funny (HaHa + Grr) Kids

We have some funny kids.  Levi was funny haha yesterday and Chloe was funny grr.  Meribeth made a carrot cake yesterday for our church luncheon today.  I guess we don’t have cake enough around here because Levi watched Meribeth put it on the kitchen table when it was all finished and grabbed his bib and said “chair” as he tried to get into his highchair.  Then he looks at Meribeth and says, “Happo Bithdee Cake” hahaha.  It was so cute.  Poor guy.  Hopefully it’s not all gone when we go through the line today at church.

Then, last night at supper, we were just sitting around the table eating and Levi says out of the blue, “Go Hawkeyes!” We got an ornament for Christmas that sings the Hawkeye fight song and yells “GO HAWKEYES!” which he absolutely hates. We got a kick out of that too.

Chloe has been funny in the sense of going to sleep at night lately.  Last night she would NOT go to sleep and kept waking up in her bed after we’d get her in asleep.  This went on until 1140 or so last night.  The night prior she was asleep at 1010 and we didn’t hear from her again until 430 or so.  We have no idea what makes for a good night and what doesn’t, but we’re sure she’ll grow out of it soon enough.

Reading the mail.

3 months and counting!

Pepperoni

At one point we were worried about Levi’s speech development.  Now he’s whipping out four syllable words like pepperoni.  It’s so cute.  Guess we can cancel those last two speech appointments!

Quite a Day!

I was updating our tumblr blog today with new counters along the right side. Noticed that today Chloe is 2 months old and Levi is 2 years, 2 weeks, and 2 days old! I thought it was neat.

Pizza not puppy.

Last night Meribeth made pizza for supper as she often does when we need something delicious and fast for supper. Later that night we were talking to Levi, and one of us said:

“Levi, what did we have for supper?”

Levi thought for a second and said, “puppy…..PEE-tah!!” It was pretty cute as he cycled through his ‘p’ words to get to the right one!

The other weekend, when I took Levi to the park, I took some pics of him that I stitched together below. You can click on it to make it bigger.

1 month old already!

Chloe turned a month old today.  She still has her rough nights, but things are getting better on the whole.  We took some cute pics today of her in her crib.  It’ll be a while until she’s sleeping in there, so for now, we just use it as a photo op:

  Seth took Levi to the park today in the 45 degree weather.  His nose got a little rosy, but judging from the pictures, he had fun.

New Words

Here are some of Levi’s new words these past couple of weeks with his version in brackets:

tractor - [tra-co]

tree - [tree]

heavy - [eh-vee]

water – [wa-wa]

video - [vee-va]

TV - [vee-vee]

honey - [ahnee]

music - [me-me]

happy - [happee]

Hi baby - [Hi Baby!]

reach - [reesh]

push - [psh]

fish - [fsh]

cookie - [coo-kee]

We were walking out of an appointment today and the lady at the front desk heard him jabbering coming down the hallway.  She said, “He’s quite a talker!” That’s not something we ever heard people say during the first 22 months of his life!

Chloe Elizabeth is here! (And almost 4 wks old!)

It’s safe to say we are terrible about keeping up this blog, but how could we not write a post about our newest addition to the family!! Chloe Elizabeth was born October 21st and it’s hard to believe she will be 4 weeks old on Wednesday already! We are so proud of her and think she is the sweetest baby girl we have ever seen :) A little bit about her . . . She loves to be swaddled and is easily soothed by a combination of the vent fan in the kitchen and us holding her and jigling her round and round (hard to describe but if you are around us very much. you will see it! :) She pretty much only sleeps in her swing or bouncer seat and is NOT a fan of the bassinet due to its flatness (we think). She eats every 2-3 hrs during the day and has gone as long as 5 between feedings at night. She is growing at a faster rate than her brother did. . . was up to 9 lbs 2 oz at her 2 wk check-up and was discharged from the hospital at 7 lbs 15 oz. Levi, on the other hand, left the hospital weighing 8 lbs and was just 8 lbs 12 oz at his 2 wk check. She does a good job at letting us know that she hates the car seat, is bored, or hungry! Her cries are so shrill and desperate and we really don’t remember these cries with Levi. But, she is easily consoled for the most part and a walk to the kitchen fan can sooth her most fussy moments :) We love her so much and are so thankful that God has entrusted us to be her parents! Here are a few recent pictures of our little sweetie:

  

Wipeout and Haircut

The other week we drove over to the mall to pick up some stuff.  Seems like we’re always picking up random things to get ready for baby sister’s arrival.  It had been a pretty cold day, so Levi hadn’t been outside all day.  So, when we pulled into the parking lot, we put him on the ground to let him walk in by himself.  Well, he started off in a full-out run.  The lot is a little slanted, and he got going a little faster than he could handle.  And, before either of us could react he fell down, caught himself with his hands, but his inertia kept him going forward and he smacked his lip and chin into the cement.  He bit his lip pretty good, and scraped his chin up, but otherwise escaped unscathed.  We were thankful as it could have been much worse.

Here he is the next day after getting ready for church! 

Levi’s hair was getting a little shaggy and unruly, and with the new baby on the way, we figured it was time for a new cut.  There was a salon nearby that offered half price for the first cut so she decided to take him there.  He did so well.  She used the buzzer on his neck and head and clipped away without any problems.  We think he looks like such a little 5-year-old!

Well, he doesn’t realize it yet, but we sure do.  Baby sister is arriving awfully quickly!  She is officially due the 21st, but there are no signs thus far of any forward progress.  So, we’ll see how things go.  Meribeth and Levi are sick this week, so it’s a good thing in a way that she hasn’t decided to emerge yet.  We’re praying mommy and Levi heal up and daddy doesn’t get it before the baby comes.  Here’s a nice snot shot of Levi!

Dingleberry Rd

Today we decided to take a family trip down Dingleberry Rd.  Meribeth had been there earlier in the week with MOPS and wanted to take me back and take some pictures and pick some more apples.

Down Dingleberry Rd is Wilson’s Apple Orchard in Iowa City.  It was packed with cars and people.  The weather is starting to turn cooler here, but it was still pretty warm carrying 36 lb Levi, a diaper bag and a bushel of apples!

Levi had such a great time toddling around and picking up rotten apples off the ground.  We had to keep reminding him which ones were ‘yucky!’  He didn’t catch on :)  They even had pumpkins there.  He, of course, thought he could pick them up like the decorative pumpkin we have in our living room right now.

We had a fun time as a fam, took some good pics and Levi even got to practice his new word.

Apple from Seth Anderson on Vimeo.

It's been forever

This is Seth trying to get us back on the blogging train. Meribeth has so much fun reading other people's blogs and yet we don't contribute to the blogosphere like good netizens. Let's see, what's been happening since we last blogged 2 months ago....

We moved into our townhouse after paying incredible amounts of money to have the dog pee cleaned from the downstairs carpet. Disgusting. The first few days were a whirlwind as we tried to get as many things done as possible while our parents were still here.

I started residency and started to adjust to the life of a radiology resident. I must say, it's much better than the life of an intern. No more endless rounding, no more H&Ps, and no more sleeping in the hospital waiting for that pager that inevitably meant a sleepy walk to the ER. I get all of my weekends off, and usually just try to read about an hour a night, which is more of an aspiration than a goal I am regularly meeting.

Levi is growing up before our eyes. He can say mamma, dada, na na (banana), up, op (amen), ite (eat), aht (hot), yeah and sign for more, please and all done. He has such a great little personality and is a joy to watch busily tear around the living room getting into everything he can get his hands on. He just moved into his toddler bed, which I must say, was a pretty easy transition. Meribeth moved the bed to such a wall so that we could put a bed rail on one end, use the intentioned headboard as a footboard and make a headboard which we attached to the wall. So, he basically has a crib with shorter legs and shorter siderails. He seems to really like his new khaki room and the big Elmo that sits in the reading chair.

Our friends just had their baby and we had a chance to visit them at the hospital. It was really great to see and hold a newborn and see the place where our new little one will be entering the world in just 40+ days!

He seems to be adjusting nicely :)

All moved to Clear Lake

Over the last couple weeks, Seth has had a pretty easy schedule at the hospital to end his internship.  He’s been on ophthalmology which has been a cake walk compared to ICU and medicine.  Since he’s had half-days and weekends off we were able to get most of the packing done before Seth’s parents came with the truck and trailer from Clear Lake to pick us up. 

It’s so crazy to think we’ve been here a year.  Levi has grown up so much in this year, and Seth has learned so much and been through so much.  And, we’ve found out we’re having another baby during our year here.  That didn’t come out too clearly….we found out in Fargo, but she’s coming in October! :) 

It was pretty tough packing with a 1 1/2 year old running around pulling things out of boxes as we’re putting them in!  Definitely different than packing a year ago with a 5 month old in the house!

With Seth’s parents, one of his co-interns and a friend from church, we were able to get all the heavy stuff into the trailer in one night! 

  The next day we went to church and some dear friends from Bethel took us to the country club for brunch.   It was so delicious and Levi even got his own plate of french toast!  We got all the little stuff that takes forever packed up and were able to go to bed that night knowing everything was done except cleaning in the morning.

We checked out with the ladies at our apartment complex and got on the road by about 11:00.  Grandma and momma and Levi road in the Pacifica together, Grandpa manned the truck and trailer minus the right side mirror, and Seth took the Lumina.  Every vehicle was jam-packed full of stuff.  I can’t believe how much stuff we have.

Levi did so well on the road.  Grandma read him books, he looked out the window and was just generally a happy guy.  We pulled into Clear Lake about 7 hours later.  So happy to be done with the packing, loading, and the long drive!  We’ll be here about a week and then we close on our house in Coralville. 

Here’s a shot showing how long and wavey Levi’s hair has gotten.  He got a haircut today, but we don’t have any ‘after’ pictures yet.  Check back soon!

Happy Mother’s Day.

Today was a wonderful Mother’s Day.  The day started with breakfast made by Seth and getting to go to church as a family for the first time since March.  Levi cried going into nursery and coming out, but apparently he did well in between.  We attempted Granite City brunch but there was a quarter-mile-long line coming out the door.  So, we went home and Levi had a 2 1/2 hour nap while we snacked and caught up on The Office and Parks and Recreation. 

Once Levi woke up, we had a nice lunch at Johnny Carino’s.  Levi ate his weight in gorgonzola penne pasta and chicken scaloppini.  He even used his crayons for their intended purpose!

Then we headed over to the mall and looked at the big fish tank and the puppies for a while.  Levi just loves the fish and squeals in delight when they come into his view.  After a bit, we walked down to the Stride Rite in our mall and had Levi’s feet measured.  We were shocked to discover he was measuring a 6 1/2, so the lady said we shouldn’t go any smaller than 7.  The terrible thing is, he’s been wearing size 5s from Target for the last 6 weeks!

We looked around the mall, then found some we liked and that Levi seemed to have no difficulty toddling around in.  They look pretty cool on him even if they are a little bold!  They were on sale at Scheels.

 

All we had were the blue and khaki grippy socks from when he was learning to walk, so we had to find him some cheap socks at Target.  Johnny Carinos left all three of us parched for some fluids, so we got a mango smoothie that Levi couldn’t get enough of.

Mango Smoothie from Seth Anderson on Vimeo.