Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Rick is quite proud that he has taught Levi not to bang on the piano but rather play 1 key at a time. Levi loves to sing Twinkle, twinkle little star, at bedtime, naptime and frequently in between. He also loves to sing his ABCs and recently started singing I Am A Child of God. We love to hear him sing. Any time there is a musical number during sacrament or when the hymns are being played he is very reverent. During musical numbers he is captivated by the singers. I am really glad that he enjoys music and hope that his appreciation will carry throughout his life.

I actually hope that Rick's musical abilities will carry over to his children. I didn't know how musically talented he was until after we were married. He plays the piano, guitar and drums! He actually was in a scholarship competition for piano (he lost, a very sore subject secondary to the circumstances surrounding it). I really LOVE my husband and appreciate all he does and what a devoted father he is. I just sit back and smile when I watch him play with the boys and you can tell how much our boys love him.

Happy Thanksgiving. The above and many other things I am so very thankful for.

Rest

I am taking a little rest today, the boys are down for naps. Well... Jace is asleep and Levi is having "quiet time" which lasts from about the end of lunch till 4-4:30. He usually doesn't actually fall asleep until 2, after I've reminded him, usually with a lot of emphasis, okay I raise my voice, no shouting yet, that he needs to be quiet, not sleep but be QUIET.

I went walking with my friend Angie this morning, Levi in the stroller and Jace in the snugglie. I'm going to miss walking every day now that the weather is getting colder and I'm headed back to work.

During my siesta I plan to make a grocery list for the week and get preparations for Thanksgiving thought of. I'm hosting my side of the family this year. Not a lot of people compared to Rick's side, but I think that my mom is quite relieved to not have to do all the cooking this year. She did however buy a lot of the food. The turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, I now just have to do the cooking.

The house is mostly clean, don't look too close because it's just a surface clean, I'll save the deep cleaning until later this week, probably next Tuesday to be honest.

I may even start wrapping Christmas presents so that they are done and hid away. Levi is all over the place, except for in the crawl space so that is where we will be hiding the gifts. I don't think they'll even get put out until Christmas Eve or Levi will unwrap them.

Levi has been loving to climb in Jace's bed in the mornings while I feed Jace. Keeps him occupied. He is really starting to like his little brother a lot.

Life as we know it

Life as we know it is about to change (that is the past few months of life). I'm about to head back to work and that means taking the boys to a sitter. Levi never had a sitter until he was 10 1/2 months old, Rick just watched him until Levi started being able to get into everything.

Jace gets to start much earlier. Luckily I have a fabulous sitter, my friend Erin, who has a 4 & 2 year old. Levi loves it there. Every time we drive by he points and says "Abbie houawse" and we have to tell him not now but maybe later.

We are still working on the finishing touches of the house, minor paint spots, sealing the trim, etc. Levi's vocabulary is expanding daily. He recently began coming up to me and saying "monkey says ooo,ooo, aaa" and "rooster says cock-a-dooooo" not cock-a-doodle-do, just cock-a-doooo. He would make the animal sounds before but now likes to bring them to us and tell us.

Jace is also growing so much. He is a very happy baby and likes to grin all the time. He likes us to hold him but is happy to just be hanging out with us. Levi has been "helping" by shoving a binky in Jace's mouth. I love when he is laying on my chest and wrinkles up his forehead and lifts his head to look around.

Our baby blessing and trip

On October 12th was Jace's blessing. Sacrament attendance was increased by probably 1/3 mostly Rick's side of the family. I always joke with him that our families are like those in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", Rick's side being the loud over the top family and mine being quite a bit more reserved (not as reserved as in the movie though). With all joking aside we are really blessed to have so much family near us and to be so supportive.

We thought that we would get the house completely finished by the time we had the blessing and put in long days and nights for that to happen. We were close. We realized that we were running out of time and then the weather turned for the worse so we had to cancel the carpet installation due to the forecast of rain and snow all weekend. Good thing too as we had 6 inches of snow at our house and everyone had to eat inside the house and garage.

The next day I took the boys to St. George on a week long trip with my mom to go visit my grandparents. It was the first time either of my boys met their great-grandparents (the only ones they have). We don't get down to St. George often so we thought it was important to get the boys down there as my grandpa will soon be 91 and my grandma turns 90 in December. The week was full of naps, visiting my aunts and great-aunts and chasing after the boys. All in all it was a good trip. I'm a little insane to take the boys on a trip and wouldn't have been able to do it alone. Good thing my mom was there, especially since it was her idea.

This past week I have been working on the boys Halloween costumes, trying to get them done by Saturday for the ward Trunk-r-Treat. They are a monkey and his banana. I was sewing during nap time every day and after I put Levi to bed in order to get them done. I actually finished on Thursday (that was a relief as we finally got our carpet on Sat and had to move everything out on Fri). The monkey outfit was from a pattern but I made up the pattern for the banana. I think they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

This was taken at the Trunk-r-Treat, the day that Levi was being a typical 2 year old and I wanted to ring his neck!!! I need to learn not to mess with nap time. Speaking of which, Levi needs to go to bed now, he's actually being very quiet in the kitchen, never a good sign.

The Zoo

Today the boys and I went to the Hogle Zoo with our friends the Blass family. Erin watches Levi when I am working. In fact he likes to name off names of people he knows. It usually goes: momma, dadda, gran-ma, gran-pa, anti (Aunt Tee), Ewin (Erin), Abbie, Skywer (Skyler), Erin's kids, Nate (her husband) and then a few others. They rank right up at the top.

We had a great time, it was Levi's and Jace's first time at the zoo. Jace pretty much slept the entire time and Levi was enthralled with all there was to see, and maybe a little overwhelmed.

He especially loved the "raffs" (giraffes) and "elwafan" (elephants). The albino crocodile also held his attention for a while. I thought he was about ready to jump in with the penguins. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home.

Soon after we returned from Salt Lake, Rick took off to go to the U of U football game with his brother Jon and nephew Isaac. The U pulled off a last minute victory over Oregon, GO UTES!!! I was glad he was able to get out of the house and relax finally. He's been working really hard on getting the house remodelled and all the stress that comes with that. We're still not finished but getting close. Hopefully we'll get everything done before the baby blessing. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Our newest family member

Introducing the newest member of our family: Jace Richard Cook. He was born last Wed Sept 3rd at 12:31 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches long. He is such a sweet baby and we are really enjoying him.

Levi is adjusting pretty well. The first time he saw him I held Levi in one arm and Jace in the other. Levi said "baby", reached down and tried to bite Jace's foot. Since then he has done pretty well, he's very concerned if the baby is crying, likes playing with the baby's toys and only tries to hit him about 5-10 times a day.

For those of you who actually read this blog, I've been working on Jace's baby announcement and need your opinion on which layout I like better. I just can't decide. I've got Levi in bed and Rick has Jace but I'd better log off and get back to my family. Thanks to everyone who has helped us this past week with babysitting and meals. Especially my mom who has come the last 3 days to help me with the boys. Today was the first day on our own and Levi was sure missing Grandma's attention.

"No"

Levi has now learned the use of the word "NO". Which is fabulous that it is now "NO" to getting dressed, eating all of his food, etc. It's been awhile since I have posted. Mainly because we have been extremely busy and I am exhausted most nights. Since my last post we have been in the process of buying the house we currently live in and remodel it at the same time. We are buying the house from Rick's sister and brother-in-law. Jurgen came the week of July 4th and did a bunch of the remodeling that needed to be done upstairs. We have really enjoyed finally having a bath tub, Levi especially loves it!!! Levi has been helping us out also from trying to paint, to climbing the ladder, and mostly just getting into things.

For now we are done from the main floor up, still have a wall and window bench to move, finish a bathroom and new flooring to do. But until the home loan closes we are at a stand still and are just hoping that can be done before the baby gets here. You know for not moving, we are sure moving a lot!

Levi's fascintation with trucks still continues. We cannot leave the house without one in tow and he always wants to eat with ALL of them at the table. We are currently trying to curb that.

Levi also accompanied me to Girl's Camp up in the Uintah's. The girls were really good and we all had a good time. My camp directors were fabulous, all I had to do was show up and do what they needed me to do. My parents came along with their tent trailer to help me with Levi. That was such a big help, I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

For now we have been enjoying watching the Olympics and I have be crazily trying to get baby stuff rewashed, cleaned, found, etc. I just finished making the baby's new bedding, curtains and boppy cover and am now working on getting his blessing outfit done. Hopefully I'll get everything finished, only 2 more weeks to go from tomorrow!

Little what's his name (we still have absolutely no idea what to name him, haven't even narrowed it down to a couple) is scheduled to be born Wed. Sept 3rd at noon at McKay Dee hospital. I doubt that I will have time to post before then so that is the plan. I'll try to get some pics up as soon as I can.