Happy Thanksgiving!!!

OK, so I'm a few days early with that. But for all 3 of our loyal blog readers, we wanted to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are truly thankful for our many blessings, with our little guy being at the top of the list. We're going to be pretty busy on the actual holiday itself. We're heading to my Grandma's house in BC for Thanksgiving dinner. My grandma is an amazing cook and I cannot wait to eat another one of her Thanksgiving dinners. After we finish watching the Lions lose and drop to 0-12, we'll head to Williamston to have dessert and finish the holiday with Courtney's family. Unfortunately we can't celebrate too long because I have to work the next day. It's one of the perks of being on-call.

Levi is going to meet a lot of new people in the next couple of days, and we're wondering how that is going to work. Starting last week he has had a difficult time with anyone other than Courtney or me (and we're assuming the ladies at daycare). Our parents found out the hard way last week, as Levi started screaming at the top of his lungs within a minute of being picked up by one of them. Hopefully he'll outgrow this soon. Thanksgiving could be real interesting...

This week it was hard to pick some pictures because there were so many cute ones. Hope you enjoy them!

The one time Levi wasn't crying during "tummy time"...

Why does this picture remind me of the little brother from "A Christmas Story"?

Levi w/ Grandpa C, in between crying outbursts.

Levi looking cute, Dad looking dumb.

Levi getting in his equestrian practice.

Gotta give Prince a little love since he's been so neglected since Levi was born.

"Nope, don't need my pacifier guys. My hand will do just fine."

What's the over/under before his first haircut? 2 months? A week?
What a mop this kid has...

Courtney keeps telling me one of these times Levi is going to throw up on me when I do this.

4 Months!!!

Levi turned four months old today! Our little guy had a check-up at the doctor today, and everything is great. Here are the pertinent statistics:

Weight: 15 pounds, 2 ounces (56th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches (36th percentile)
Head: 40.4 cm (10th percentile)

He was in a great mood and was enjoying his visit until they cleaned out his ears. I don't think I've ever seen him that mad, and he's been mad a lot. He actually hated that worse than his shots. But all in all the appointment went well and we are thankful for a healthy baby.

It is amazing how quickly babies start developing and growing. Just in these past few weeks we have noticed how much more aware Levi is of his surroundings. He loves his hands and is always trying to put them (or anything else he can grasp) in his mouth. He also tried out his exersaucer for the first time, and even though his feet didn't touch the bottom he still loved it. By the end his shirt was soaked in drool, which we took as an indicator of how much he enjoyed it. On Sunday I tried to put him in it again, but he was much more interested in the football game on TV. That's my boy!

Levi practicing his "guilty face".

He looks like a 2-year old with all that hair.

I think we're going to get a lot of mileage out the exersaucer.

Nope, his shirt isn't two-toned....that's just his drool.

Levi was pumped to be in a picture with Dad. Who could blame him?

OK, he's slightly less pumped now that Dad is stealing some of his thunder.

Mom, if you don't feed me I'm going to eat my bear...

Some live footage of Levi in the exersaucer.
I never realize how high and whiny my voice was until I hear it on tape. Yikes.

Video Time!

I went to retrieve pictures of Levi from the camera today, and I realized we had only taken one picture Levi the entire week. That's a bit odd since there are usually hundreds of pictures of him every week. Guess we were slacking as parents this week. But no need to fear, because Dad finally retrieved almost two months of videos off the camera and put them on the computer, so we have a few videos for your viewing pleasure.

Before the videos, I just wanted to give a mini-update on Levi. This has week has been very exciting for us as it seems he is just blossoming before our very eyes. We've noticed recently that he is trying very hard to sit up when he is laying down. He's not there yet, but he's working hard at it. He also seems to recognize mom and dad. Grandma and Grandpa Chapin found out the hard way on Friday, as Levi would cry whenever they held him but would stop as soon as mom picked him up. Another thing he is becoming fond of is sticking anything he can into his mouth. His personal favorite is dad's thumbs. We're discovering that there is nothing better then seeing your baby's face light up when he recognizes you. We're so blessed and are loving life as parents!



Levi enjoying some time with Grandpa Freed (10.17.08).


Levi talking to Mom and Dad after church (11.9.08).


Levi talking to Mom after bath time (11.10.08).

Happy Halloween!!!

Before I get to some Levi updates, I wanted to talk about the Pistons trade. Today the Pistons traded Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess for Allen Iverson. At first, I was pretty upset because I'm a big Billups fan. He's been a big part of our team the last 5 years, he was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, and he's just one of my favorite players. Heck, I even have his jersey. But, I guess after 3 straight Eastern conference losses, the Pistons needed a trade like this to shake them up. I'll be interesting to see how Iverson affects the team chemistry and how he handles not playing as many minutes as he's accustomed to. At least it makes watching the Pistons a little more interesting this year.

Hopefully there won't be any mug shot producing incidents for AI this year...

This has been a very fun week with Levi. He has started being much more vocal. He loves to lay down and look at people. He smiles and coos and squirms around much more than he used to. He's also started clutching and grabbing things. He likes to grab onto the person who is holding him and will grab and hold his blankets. On Friday Levi celebrated his first Halloween. He got to wear a pumpkin outfit that he seemed to enjoy. We spent the evening hanging out with Levi's Uncle Ryan and Aunt Marnie at their house in Williamston. On Saturday we went to visit some friends of ours from Robbins UMC that we hadn't seen in a year. Then on Sunday my long-time friend Chuck, his wife Kate, and their dog Emma came up to visit. So Levi got to meet a lot of new people and had a pretty busy weekend!!

Our little alfalfa sprout enjoys his bath time.

Don't cry little buddy, Dad won't ever dress you up in a clown outfit for Halloween.

Uncle Ryan was giving Levi some advice on coaching basketball.

Aunt Marnie and our little pumpkin.

Man, I love this kid. What a cutie!

Levi showing off his new favorite hat that Mom got him at the Mom2Mom sale.

Levi seems to like the tropical hat more, which I'm sure makes his mom happy.

Mom and our chubby-cheeked little baby.

Because Kate is a faithful blog reader, she's fortunate enough to get her picture on here.

And Chuck has been my friend since 3rd grade, so I guess he makes it too.

Levi demonstrating his fondness for grabbing stuff.

Our little FFA is looking cute in his overalls.

Eventually, all the weekend activities just wore hi m out.

Another bath, another crazy hairstyle courtesy of mom and dad.