Fun with my bestie!

It has been soooo great being home and being united with my bestie Mel again. It is hard to find someone that just "gets you" and she does. We spent alot of time together this summer....okay who am I kidding....we just spend alot of time together period. Here is Mav and Austin riding the Carousel together at Heritage Park.
For some reason, this boat swing is one of Austin's favorite things to do.

Mel took this picture of the A-man.

Bonding time with Levi and Austie Mel.

Wagon ride with the kiddies (I guess there must have been something interesting to look at)

So my brother is someone who buys tickets to EVERY concert that comes to town and he bought Back Street Boys/New Kids on the Block tickets. He forgot he was going to be out of town so I inherited them. So I thought to myself....who would enjoy this crazy concert as much as me and would dance like a maniac.....Mel of course!! We had to walk through the Stampede grounds on the way in so we picked up some red bulls and corn dogs (the dinner of champions).

To say we had fun would be an understatement....we had a blast! The concert was actually really good and I knew most of the songs somehow. I can now check that off the bucket list...lol

Heritage Park and 4th of July

We got a pass for Heritage Park this summer and we had a blast. Heritage Park is a great place to take little kids! They have rides, wagon rides, shops to look in, a boat to ride in and of course a "real" choo choo train! Here is Nixon and Austin riding the toddler ferris wheel.

So happy!

Caterpillar ride is one of the favorites. Keshia and I had to take turns riding wih the kids as we both had new babies.

The crew on the train....complete with two sleeping babies!

I miss 4th of July in the states! America really knows how to throw a good party :-) Good thing I have American friends here to throw parties for the special day. My friend Bree is from Utah and is the best party planner I know. I felt lucky to be invited to my first "Bree" party. Nick likes to show kids experiments and here he put dish soap and dry ice and the kids were in heaven.

Bree and I in her backyard.

The family. Notice the sack Austin is holding that was full of treats for the kids (and a bow that Bree made and Austin was determined to wear).

Daddy and Levi

Austin with his Bree bow on.

The Bumbo Seat

The Bumbo seat. What a great invention this was. Here is the L man at 2 1/2 months old sitting in the Bumbo.
This kid is always making me laugh. I am lucky that Austin totally and utterly adores Levi. He is soooo good with him. He gives him toys, puts in his pacifier when he cries and sings him songs. Sometimes my mom will tell Austin that she is going to take Levi home and Austin will almost start crying and say "No! He is my baby brother". Brotherly love :-)

Levi's Baby Shower

Here is the main event! Baby Levi had his baby shower on May 29th 2011 . Since Levi decided to come on the date of my previous baby shower we had to reschedule.....which is funny in many ways. For instance, Melanie made these potted plants as party favors and the sign on them said "When your bulb begins to sprout Levi surely will be out!". Well that was for sure! I dressed Levi in this blue velour outfit and Hans thinks he will hate me for it in the future. I thought it was cute.

I am soooooo blessed to be living near my closest friends and family. They really spoil me (and my family) rotten! It was such a wonderful baby shower.

My sis in law Amanda with baby Levi

Mumsy and I. My mom has helped me out alot with this baby. It has been soooooooo nice! One night she even came over and got up with Levi when he was about a month old so I could get a full nights rest. Man I needed it!

This picture is us to a tee!

This is our tousled hair look. I'm thinking we are looking pretty good :-)

The table set up.

Baby blocks and the potted plant. Thanks to everyone who helped with the shower. It was awesome!

Levi's Blessing Day and kid update

We decided to bless Levi this weekend as Hansis parents were able to come up to Calgary. It was a perfectly beautiful day out which I was so excited about since it has been raining straight for the past 2 weeks! Mark did the food for the special day and of course it was absolutely delicious. Here is the crew in the backyard.
Hansi's parents

Me and mum

Happy new parents

The girlies enjoying the sunshine

Austin found a ladybug and thought it was the greatest thing that had ever happened. Perfect ending to a wonderful day.


Austin update

Loves his baby brother- sometimes a little too much :-)

Talks non stop-where did he get that from??

Is fully potty trained-Horray!!

Has stopped taking naps everyday- so sad :-(

Is very curious about everything

Plays well on his own and is obsessed with cars

Is full of energy!

Some funny things he says: Thats Balicious! (That's delicious)

I splushed the toilet (I flushed the toilet)

Oh yes I do!!! (If asked if we wants to do anything)

Levi update

Is the sweetest baby ever!

Is finally 8 pounds

Some nights sleeps 5 hours

Starting to smile

Still sleeps most of the day

We feel so lucky and blessed to have these sweet and handsome boys to take care of!!!

Easter and Newborn photo shoot

One of my childhood friends Liz, does photography and so I had her take some photos of Levi when he was just 5 days old. I LOVED how the photos turned out and I am just going to post some of my faves. You can check out her blog at pigtailsandsnails.blogspot.com. At this point Levi only weighed 5lbs and 3 oz and was so squishy. Perfect for getting all the shots. I love this one of him in the wagon.
Wrinkly back picture. Love it!

All curled up.

This is how he was in the ultrasound. He always had that hand by his face.

He always lifts his eyebrows while he is sleeping. It is sooooo cute!!

Momma and baby pic

The day before Easter I had my nephews over to color Easter eggs and play in the backyard. I think I might have had more fun coloring the eggs than they did :-)

Amanda and I were very excited about egg decorating

So about 2 weeks before Easter I was telling Austin he had to be a good boy for the Easter Bunny to come and bring him treats. I guess he thought it was like Santa because after I told him that he started saying the Easter Bunny was going to bring him "Mack" (the truck from cars). I could only find a pink Mack truck but he loved it anyway.

Austin LOVED hunting for Easter eggs. He is currently in a phase where he wont smile for the camera so I got this side smile.

Daddy and Austin on the hunt for eggs before church.

So after church we went to my brothers house for a big family Easter meal. They did turkey AND ham and of course my mums homeade buns. It was super yummy and so fun to be with the family. Look how cute these boys are :-) Hope you all had a happy Easter.

Welcome to the World Levi!!!

Welcome to the world Levi William Meyer! Born on April 9th at 5:53pm weighing a meager 5lbs and 10oz and 17.5 inches long. He was born at 36 weeks and 3 days which was a little earlier than expected. I woke up on April 9th expecting to attend my baby shower thrown by my fabulous friends and family but instead found that I was contracting. I decided to ignore it for awhile because I was only 36 weeks along (1 month early) and it was the day of my baby shower of all days!! Anyways I showered and did my make-up but the contractions just got stronger and stronger till I had to head to the hospital. We dropped Austin off at Melanie's house and off we went. Hans drove to the hospital like a maniac and I was sure to be wearing my seatbelt :-) we got to the labor unit at like 11am and I was 3 cm dilated which was totally disappointing to me because I was in sooooooo much pain. I dont know if any of you out there have had back labor but it is awful. I have never been on that much pain in my life! It was even worse than 3 degree burning my foot. Anyways I had to stay in triage for 4 hours in intense pain because there were no rooms for me. It was brutal because they wont let you have an epidural until you are in the room. They gave me morphine, which did nothing but make me dizzy and loopy and they gave me laughing gas. I was saying all sorts of crazy things like "I wasn't born in the 1800s you know!!" and "this is not right!!". I feel like apologizing to those nurses now. I finally got a room when I was 5 cm dilated and I told (yelled at) the nurse to get me an epidural but she told me the anesthesiologist had gone into the OR for a c-section. That is when I lost it and started bawling all over the place. Let's just say I screamed hallelujah when the anesthesiologist came into the room. Notice my face in the above picture. It was instant relief. I think Hans might be scarred for awhile from how much pain he had to see me endure. Then the Dr. came in and broke my water and he came out an hour later in 2 pushes! He was 5lbs and 10oz and such an easy delivery.

All wrapped up after being born. Levi was not breathing very well at first so they had to take him to the NICU the first night. That was very sad for me not to have him in my room.

They had to give him tube feedings the first night because he had such a hard time breathing.

By the next morning he was doing really well so they gave him his first bath.

Then we had all sorts of visitors come. They have a really strict visitor policy at the hospital so only grandparents, siblings of the baby and one support person are allowed to visit. Austin loves his new baby brother and is constantly wanting to hold him and kiss him.

Papa, Austin and baby Levi

Granny Lanny and Levi

Checking out his new brother.

The day after we got home from the hospital a home health nurse came to the house to check on the baby. She did a blood sample to check Levi's bilirubin level and told me she wold call back with the results. Well they were high so she told me we would have to be readmitted to the hospital downtown for phototherapy. I just started crying because I wanted to be home with my little family but I knew it was best for Levi. I stayed with him all night and felt so bad for him laying naked all night under the lights. They let us go home the next day thankfully!

Here is an open eyed picture of Levi. I think he looks like a Meyer. He is such a sweet little guy. So calm and a good sleeper so far. Let's hope that keeps up!!

We love our new little man and our so grateful to have him in our family.