Levi's 8 Months Old

It's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around the fact that Levi has been in this world for 8 months. While we (unfortunately) keep wishing he was older, so he would sleep through the night, start to feed himself, etc.; I am also finding myself saddened that he is already so big. He's crawling, pulling himself up to everything (even all the stuff that will topple over on top of him) and has just started on soft finger foods.

He's had a rough time at daycare lately and he and Noah will be switching to a new provider on Tuesday. Hopefully, this will go well and be a much needed improvement.



It's also hard for me to believe that I've been a mother for over 2 1/2 years. In one sense, I'm a 2 1/2 year old mother. It feels like it's been a lot longer than that, but so often I feel like a toddler in the world of parenthood - there's a lot to learn and a lot of growing up to do. Thankfully, our children are helping me grow and I have a wonderful support network of family and friends to fall back on when life gets too tough.

Coloring and Cutting

Noah has turned our kitchen counter into a coloring, cutting, and taping center. He is also trying to master the tricky art of placing stickers on paper. Thanks to a bunch of leftover paper and stickers from his Sunday School teachers, he has a pretty fun stash of art supplies at the moment. I love that he is exploring the world of color and art - who knows where it could lead...

First thing in the morning

I shot this video one morning when Noah had actually slept in past 6:30. Levi had been up for a little while and we were in the kitchen when Noah stumbled out of his room. As is very typical for Noah, as soon as he saw Levi his face brightened and he got down on the floor and started talking to Levi. Levi was playing with a plastic pot and lid in the kitchen and Noah decided he needed to learn how to bang the two together.

One of the latest developments...

...showers! Noah has decided taking showers with Ben is a lot of fun. The water hitting his head used to be a BIG problem, but suddenly Noah does really well with it. Ben is also very patient with Noah and listening to their shower conversations is pretty entertaining. Noah has all sorts of questions and declarations!

Finally Asleep

Our boys have given us our share of challenges lately when it comes to sleep. Levi went through several days where he would ONLY sleep on our bed. Poor Ben had to move to the couch for a couple nights while Levi took his spot in our bed. Noah decided not to take an afternoon nap one Saturday afternoon, on Sunday he fell asleep like this...



Yes, he has a book on his face, his boots on, book spread out all around him, and he was snoring.



Little Levi sacked out on our bed, snuggled between our pillows was how he liked it best. Thankfully, we have got him past this and he's back to sleeping in his crib.

Levi on the move

Levi has mastered crawling and is currently testing his ability to pull himself up and scoot along furniture. And, not that we were looking for a new challenge, but his new found skills are providing us with yet another one. Oh the places he will go and the discoveries he will make!

a Different farm

Yesterday, was Day on the Farm, and since Noah is used to going to Grandpa and Grandma's farm, we had to keep telling him we were going to a "different farm". He got to see all sorts of animals - kittens, dogs, a snake, several kinds of pigs, turkeys, cows, llamas, horses, goats, sheep, and more - I just can't remember them all anymore. He did not like most of the animals, but he wanted to ride a horse. He had a wonderful time playing in the tree house and exploring a new place.



There was a little tunnel made out of hay bales...I think Noah got to this halfway point, looked up at me, and then went out the way he came in never actually completing the course.



This poor mama pig looked tired at the beginning of the day and her little piglets were running around so fast. The piglets were just a few days old, but they sure were busy.



The barrel rides. Only little kids think that riding in a barrel, pulled by a 4-wheeler in a big circle in a pasture is fun enough to do over and over. :-)



The first time, Ben got to squeeze into a barrel too. After that, though, Noah was glad to go on his own.



Maynard (in the blue shirt) is a co-worker of mine at MCC and Day on the Farm happens at his farm. He's a very busy guy and he and his wife run a wonderful farm. He was trying to hold on to the little pig but it was squirming so much, it looks like a blur in my photo. Noah was not a fan of this fast moving, squealing, little pig.



Lunch was just up Noah's ally. A hot dog, chips, baked beans and water. He cleaned his plate and asked for more!

Underwear

Noah just LOVES to wear underwear. Ben bought him a pack of really cute little undies a couple weeks ago. They're all different colors - grass green, red, orange, navy blue (on display below). We've progressed far enough that he goes to the bathroom by himself, he just has trouble getting his underwear back on - properly, that is...

Noah is not "potty trained" yet, but he has caught on to the idea of going pee IN the toilet. Eventually, he'll get it.

"Goin' on vacation!"

At least that's what we told Noah, and what he repeated (over and over) about our quick weekend trip to Nebraska! We went to Henderson, to visit our friends Brad, Kara and baby Braden Janzen.

We set out in the car after work on Friday, stopped in Concordia for supper and made it to Brad and Kara's farm in time for baths and bedtime for the boys.

Saturday, Ben played golf in the Bethel College golf tournament in Henderson while Kara, the boys and I hung out in the house. Brad was in and out, but mostly out - busy with irrigating corn and beans and other responsibilities. After naps, our family followed Brad to his parents farm to get more familiar with their farming operation. Noah just LOVED climbing on stuff - trucks, tractors, 4-wheeler and motorcycle.

Sunday morning, we headed for home and stopped in Salina to eat at IHOP before getting home in time for naps.

It was a great weekend, thanks Kara and Brad for hosting us! We hope our two rambunctious and curious boys didn't disturb you or "baby Braden" too much. We look forward to coming again next year!

Noah Feeds Levi

Noah is becoming increasingly involved with Levi. Usually, it ends up with Levi crying - sooner or later. But, last night while Ben and I were busy getting ready for family to come over Noah took charge of feeding Levi supper. He did a great job for the most part, we made him stop though when he was shoving the spoon so far in that Levi was gagging.

I just realized that in all the chaos of our weekend, that I forgot to take any photos of our celebration last night. My parents are celebrating their 35th Wedding Anniversary this week! Yesterday, August 3, was the actual day and our family celebrated together with a simple meal of pizza. For dessert, we paid tribute to what was served at their wedding reception - chocolate cake with blue frosting and homemade ice cream. The blue frosting was not what the bride had ordered, but regardless the cake was beautiful. Happy anniversary mom and dad!!

Candy

This past weekend was Threshing Days in Goessel, and we attended the parade on Saturday morning. We wondered how Noah would do watching the parade - would his attention span last long enough? Well, with candy to pick up, police cars and fire trucks, a marching band, floats with people waving, a whole range of old tractors and some horses we had no trouble keeping Noah focused on the parade. I forgot the camera (which is terribly annoying!), but at home that evening Noah asked for a "kucker" (sucker). For the most part, the only candy he's had have been suckers, from the barber and the bank, so he thinks all candy is called a sucker.

With a lot of concentration, he manages to unwrap his "kucker". A pretty healthy bedtime snack, huh?

Bath tub fun

What is it about little ones in a bathtub that is so precious? I have, for several weeks, wanted to snap some photos of Levi in the bathtub. It is primarily my job to bathe Levi, and these times are very dear to my heart. He seems more vulnerable and innocent at bath time. Every night, he gets a quick bath, he chews on his little bath toys for a few minutes and then I lay him down on his towel on the floor and wrap him up before I whisk him off to get a fresh diaper and jammies. The picture below is a good representation of how he looks at me each night after his bath. He's always in a good mood for this, always. The last picture in this post is of him chewing on a bath toy. It's amazing how hard he'll chew on those things - it must feel good on his hurting gums.



It's a toss-up if Noah enjoys or detests his bath, all based on how tired he is. Some nights, he has so much fun playing that we can't get him out. Other nights he will scream (I mean blood-curdling-ear-piercing-all-out-nasty) his way through the entire thing. One of my favorite parts of bathing Noah (which is something that Ben usually does) is the way his long eyelashes look when they're wet. Long, dark and bunched up because of the water. Again, there's something about a calm bath time that can make Noah seem intensely innocent. I made several attempts at capturing his eyelashes in the perfect photo, but most of them didn't turn out well. Below is the best one I got.



And, just because I thought it was funny, below is Noah playing in the tub. Somehow, without either of trying, the "H" got stuck to him. When I pointed it out to him, he thought it was "silly" to have a letter stuck to him.

Levi attack

Levi is just starting to put several crawls together to travel across a room. This new skill allows him to get into all sorts of fun stuff - like attacking Ben (Noah joined in, too).



Levi is also teething - his first tooth showed up last Thursday - and the drool just keeps on coming. Below are pictures of Levi chomping on Ben's face and covering it (literally) in drool.





Ben looks like he wasn't enjoying this, but I think the enjoyment Levi was getting out of it outweighed all the unpleasantness of a face covered in drool.

Lomo Saltado and Smoothies

Wondering what Lomo Saltado is? It's a Peruvian dish of marinated beef, french fried potatoes, onions, tomatoes, jalapeño pepper, spices and served over rice. Ben's sister Sara spent a chunk of time this past year in Peru for school and brought this recipe back with her. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal! Noah was very involved in "helping" cook the meal. He nearly seriously burned himself several times, but with many watchful eyes on him, we managed to keep him safe. He's so curious these days, it seems like it's impossible to keep him out of trouble!





Above: Sara and Noah put the finishing touches on our supper.
Below: We decided with our leftover homemade ice cream and a batch of fresh peaches and other fruits that smoothies sounded like an ideal dessert. Noah was mesmerized by the blender and thankfully, Aunt Sara had an abundance of patience to let him help.

Schrag Wrestling Match

Wrestling...something that seems to come naturally to the Schrag family...is already something that Noah loves to get involved in. Ben and his brother Andy (and sometimes Ben's sister Sara) have somewhat intense wrestling matches when we all gather together. The older they get, the less intense the wrestling, but it is wrestling nonetheless. Noah really enjoyed throwing himself into the action and we even had to pull Levi out of the way a few times, too.