Our family

I am now 35 weeks along and the arrival of the newest member of our family is swiftly approaching and we are very excited. It is being awfully difficult to stand up, roll over, stay comfortable, etc., but it's all worth it. I feel our little Ivy move a lot. Molly, our midwife, was over yesterday morning and told us that Ivy is facing forward and that is why I can feel so much movement of her limbs. I haven't felt her so much today, so maybe that means that she has turned around, which would be a good thing. The birth will be much easier if she is facing backwards.

Levi knows who is coming in November and where she is right now, though he still occasionally points to the wrong belly, e.g. his own, Nate's or Mom's. He kisses my belly when he wants to say hi to Ivy, and he even knows her middle name: Fiona.

Levi is very good at "lawning" with the toy lawn mower and toy trimmer we bought at a garage sale recently. He is very good at taking care of Froggy and at telling his two-foot-tall Elmo that "It's OK." We read The Bernstein Bears' New Baby yesterday and I think maybe we should do that more often and find other such books to help him prepare for the new arrival.

Nathan is a wonderful father. He loves to read stories with our son

and go with him to the Living Planet Aquarium. They always come back from the aquarium with great stories about everything they saw and how big it was. This last time, they were there while the frogs were being fed, which was really cool because the frogs aren't usually very interesting, but at feeding time they are all sorts of active. I'll have to get some pictures from Nathan of Levi at the Aquarium. They also like to play outside on the lawn and go to the park. Levi has become quite the independent boy and can climb up and down almost everything at the park and go up to and down from the slide all by himself.

Wow, looking at pictures I realize I am a bit behind.  Here are a couple of pictures of Levi playing (wrestling?) with his friend Sam:

Sam and his brother Shay are new very good friends of about 4 months, I think. Their dad, Larry, works with my mom at Stampin' Up! and their mom, Jen, and I are become fast friends. Shay just turned 4 and Sam is exactly 2 weeks younger than Levi. The also wear cloth diapers, but are recently potty-trained and Jen, generous and kind soul, gave me all of their diapering regalia, OK maybe not regalia exactly, maybe paraphernalia is a better word. Anyway, I'm tickled pink. Now I really will be spared the necessity of ever buying a diaper again in my life!

Next are some pictures taken and Andrew's house:

Nice hairdo, oder? And these last two depict Levi enjoying his favorite (most requested) treat: a popsicle. We love visiting Andrew and his mom, Samantha, who is an old dear friend of mine. We first bonded over Smith's chinese food and Jane Austen way back in 2000, I think.

These next pictures are of Levi eating half of a massive burrito before going to Taylorsville days with Same and Shay and parents:

Levi eats very well and likes most food, but he is getting a little pickier as he grows up. Oh, well.

These next pictures were taken a couple of days after Levi's 2nd birthday. I snapped the one of him on the shelf as he was stressing out about how to get down. He has much more climbing confidence now, but I've not seen him climbing any shelves since that day.

Levi loves to check the mail: