The last teddy bear picture

Because Levi turned one on the 25th this will be his last teddy bear picture.  I will however leave the "Watching Levi Grow" page up with all of his teddy bear pictures.  I'm not sure when or if I will take it down.  It's just so fun to go back and see how much he has grown.

Levi turns one

Despite not having the kitchen fully finished, we did succeed in having Levi's birthday party.  Matt was still finishing getting the kitchen usable and safe the morning of the party.  Everything was a mess, and I was majorly stressed!

There were so many people there that it was difficult to move around.  But everyone seemed to have a good time.  The kids loved getting toys from the #1 piñata that I made.

They also had fun helping Levi unwrap his presents.

Levi didn't go too crazy over the cake I made him.

But he did love the balloons.

Things didn't exactly go as planned, and I was stressed, but over all it was a very nice party.

Thanks to everyone that came.  Levi greatly enjoys all the new toys and books.

Levi's first steps!!

After months of walking with help holding on to the furniture and such, Levi has finally decided to try it on his own.  It started with three little steps toward me today while Matt was at work.  Then Levi showed off his new walking skills for both Matt and the camera this evening before bedtime.

Fun Kitchen Update

Here is a great lesson on never say never.  Matt was just saying that there was nothing in our kitchen left to break or go wrong.  So it should be smooth sailing from here on out.  Then lo and behold... something breaks.  Due to some complications with removing the kitchen sink in order to install the Formica counter top, we had no running water for half the day yesterday, and I don't have a kitchen sink for the weekend.  But the good news is that now I get a new kitchen sink.

Tandy Adventures

When Levi and I went to visit my family for two weeks, Matt said he would redo the kitchen floor.  We knew that there was good wood flooring throughout our house under the carpet.  What we didn't know was that there were two layers of carpet over asbestos backed linoleum, that was glued to the wood floor with this old tar glue that is near impossible to get off.  Thankfully that is only in the kitchen, the rest of the house is one layer of carpet only over the wood.  The other fun thing about this project is that Matt was going to surprise me by updating more than just the floor.  He found a stainless steel fridge and oven on ksl for cheap.  He was also going to paint the walls, and cabinets.  Plus, get new counter tops and back splash.  This was my Valentine's and birthday gift from Matt.  The only problem was the fact that the floor was taking ten times longer to do because of the tar glue, and Matt got sick while working on the floor.

As the date for my flight back home approached, and the kitchen floor was still not done, Matt had to tell me about his plans.  He also told me that there was no room for Levi at home because the rest of the house was over flowing with kitchen stuff.  Plus Levi's crib was full of dishes.  So we flew back not knowing where Levi was going to stay, or if I was going to need to stay with him.  After a lot of stress, and phone calls, Levi was able to stay with Matt's sister, Sarah.  I didn't get a photo of how things looked when I first got home.  But to give you a rough idea, before seeing it, Matt asked me to try not to cry.  I did refrain from crying, but it was a bit depressing to see such chaos in our small home.

The current state of our living room

First I set to work putting things in boxes, and doing my best to make the house at least somewhat livable.  Then we all took turns getting sick.  First Matt, then Levi, then myself, and then sadly it started all over again. Not much was done with the kitchen to say the least.  We did however get at least the floor done.  But we still had the ceiling, walls, and cabinets to paint.  Plus the counter and back splash to install.  As we continued to work, we found more and more problems to fix.  Such as a vent in the ceiling that led to an open hole in the attic.  It was for an old swamp cooler that had been removed.  There was also damaged dry wall behind the old back splash that needed to be replaced.  We were getting burned out on cramped living space, and frozen foods.  After three weeks, I was at my wits end.  And poor Matt had been dealing with it for even longer.

after finishing the floor, before painting

Before Levi and I left on our trip, Matt and I made plans to get away for Valentines.  Matt's parents would watch Levi, and we would stay at a nice hotel and have some fun out on the town.  We had the hotel booked for the Thursday after Valentines.  But because of sickness, work, babysitting problems, and overall craziness, we had to reschedule twice.  So we finally ended up being able to go on my birthday.  And because of my birthday Matt surprised me by extending the little getaway another night.  We would be staying in a different room at the same hotel for the second night. The first night was wonderful, but when we got back to the hotel around 7:30  on our second day to change keys they told us that around noon the water heater broke, and we could not stay there that night.  They had tried calling us, but didn't leave a message.  They did give us a certificate for a free night stay in the future, and booked us a room at another bed and breakfast hotel.  We arrived at the new hotel to find out that we got the last vacant room, which was also the smallest room.  It was way too close for comfort in there.  We could barely fit our bags in the room.  And the potpourri smell was giving Matt a headache.  So he called the original hotel again.  This time they booked us an executive suit at a very nice hotel, the Grand American.  It had two rooms, a beautiful bathroom, and a great view.  The funny thing is that the bathroom was about the same size as the small potpourri smelling room.  By the time we got settled into this last room it was close to 10:00.

the small potpourri room

the "sitting room" of our executive suite

half of the bathroom

Over all it was a much needed trip.  We came back home rejuvenated and ready to finish work on the kitchen.  Our goal is to finish it by the end of the week.  I need the house back in order so I can get ready for Levi's first birthday.