A Day at the Zoo

We had so much fun at the Indianapolis Zoo! We went last Tuesday and the weather was so beautiful! We couldn't have picked a better day! Levi had a ton of fun, even though he was really a little bit to small to thoroughly enjoy the animals. Here are some fun pics of our day to share with you!




He's learning to use his sippy cup, so that's why his shirt is all wet!

The walrus LOOOOVED Levi! The walrus kept pushing his face against the glass close to Levi. He loved it!

The koala bears were so cute!!! Kinda boring to look at, but cute nonetheless!

Our fun self portrait! Levi was a good boy and wore his sunglass almost the whole time!

6 months and counting!

Can you believe my little boy is 6 and a half months old? I can't! He's beginning to look like a toddler more and more each day. I was looking through some pics with a friend of when Levi was born and it's so amazing how much they grow and change in such a short amount of time! I can't even imagine what life will be like this time next year! :) He's not quite crawling yet, we are working on sitting up still. He can sit up on his own for about 3 or 4 minutes before he falls over. I can see that he really wants to be mobile because he gets frustrated when he can't reach something. He'll scoot and squirm his way around. Many times when I go to get him in the morning or after a nap, he will have turned 180 degrees and clear at the other end of the crib. It won't be long before he's crawling all over the place!

Levi had his 6 month check-up last Monday and got his shots, again. Thankfully he took them like a champ and didn't have much of a reaction to them. He weighs 16lbs and is 28" long! Dr said he looks great! I could have told her that without a doctor's visit, hee hee. We have started solid foods, just as she suggested. We have started sign language, just as she suggested. We have started a sippy cup, just as she suggested. A+ for us! ;) He was such a good boy at the doctor's office. The only time he cried was when the mean nurse poked him with 3 big, long needles!!! Poor little guy. His face turned up to a deep shade of red with a little purple beneath it as he was crying and not breathing for about 7 seconds (which in mommy-time is about 7 minutes!!), but alas he took another breath, cried for a few seconds, got his paci back in his mouth and he was fine. What a trooper!

A week from last Friday, we went to the park so Levi could play on the playground for the first time. He enjoyed it even though we had to leave early because the big storm came in. We swang on the swings and bounced on the teeter-totter with daddy. And as we were leaving daddy thought he needed to play in the sandbox, daddy not Levi! Just as we pulled into the garage the big storm hit. That's the storm that flooded our neighboring town and the city where Scott works. We werent' real sure about his job as the whole basement flooded and there was 4 feet of water on the first level where he works. Thankfully he has been able to help clean up and hopefully will continue to have a job until they can order all new computers and equipment (he works in a lab that tests engines). Anyway, we're taking it one day at a time!

Levi's Great Grandma Rauch is in town for a visit! Yay! We love Grandma Rauch! We took a trip to Carmel yesterday to visit his Great Grandma "B" and that was fun. He enjoyed sitting on Great Grandma B's lap while a bunch of women (mommy, grandma, and two great grandma's!)oo'd and aahh'd over him!! He's such a ham!!

Fun Stuff

My mom got a new puppy last week. His name is Jasper and he's a 5 month old Cavalier, King Charles Spaniel. They are such good dogs and Jasper is such a sweetie! He and Levi got to know each other and he is very good with him! Jasper let Levi touch his face and Jasper sniffed all over Levi's face. It was super cute! Here is a picture of Grom with her two little boys!

We are loving the summertime already!! Last week we got to visit our special friends, Kavin, Shooter, Lailah, and Emily. Here is a pic of Shooter (15mo), Levi(6mo), and Kavin(7yr). The boys had fun playing while Emily and I had fun chit-chatting. Our plan was to go for a walk, but little 4 week old Lailah wasn't feeling well. Thank goodness she's doing better now. Emily and I plan on doing some walking together this summer to ditch some of our baby weight. I, of course, have much more to lose, but we are on a mission!!!

On a side note, I am helping to plan my high school's 10 year reunion! I am finally getting over the fact that I've been out of high school for 10 years. My dear friend April and I are having so much fun planning and I can't wait to see everyone again. I loved high school! It was a great time and enjoyed just about every minute of it! Being from a small school, we were a very close class and we are anticipating a great turnout! My graduating class was about 115 (no one really knows the exact count because there were several people who didn't graduate at the last minute). With that being said, I sent out 100 save-the-date postcards! There are still several folks "missing" but I still think it's awesome we found 100 people!! I'm so excited!!! :)

So, I was looking for some pics to show of me in high school and I found a couple of good ones. I canNOT believe this was TEN YEARS AGO!!!

My girls and me after graduation

Me at my graduation open house

Ahh, to be young again! :)

Summer Fun!

It seems as though Memorial Day marks the beginning of a beautiful season of fun and adventure! I am so excited to spend it with Levi and we have tons of fun things planned! A few on our list are a trip to the zoo, Connor Prairie (my personal favorite that I'm sooo excited about!), the Children's Museum, the pool, and some fun festivals! And I'm sure we'll find more fun things to do!!

Here is a picture of our fun day at Grandma's house for a Memorial Day cookout. We all got to eat hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, while Levi enjoyed his usual breastmilk and cereal. I was so worried that the sun would burn his pretty skin, so we tried to keep him out of the sun the best we could. We had a fun day of playing corn hole and washers, while listening to the race.

This past weekend, we went canoeing with Brian and Nicole. Levi stayed behind and had gobs of fun with Grandma! I know she loved playing with him all day and showing him off to all her friends! Unfortunately, that evening he was running a high temperature and was pretty grouchy. But nothing a little Tylenol and sleep wouldn't fix. He's doing much better now.

As for canoeing, we had a blast! The Whitewater River is a little bigger than the runs we've been on before, but because of the storms the water was high making it much more exciting! I have to admit, there were a few times I was afraid we would tip over due to the deep and fast rapids. But I'm sure if anyone were watching on the bank they would probably laugh at me as Scott did! I wasn't too impressed with the scenery at Whitewater River. I read online that it is one of the cleanest rivers in Indiana. Hard to believe when all the scenic sites are also dump sites! We saw many trash piles and other piles of old rusted cars. Not pretty. We did see some wildlife. Blue Herron, pancake turtles (not sure if that is the real term for them or if Scott made that up), and we saw 3 snakes! It was sometimes hard to enjoy the wildlife when Nicole was constantly squirting us with their mega squirt gun!! But it was a very fun time regardless!! Can't wait to go canoeing again!

Here are some random pictures of little Levi. One with Grandpa and one sporting the new sunglasses Grom got for him. Thanks Grom! They fit perfect and look AWESOME!!