Levi is One

We have a one year old! This year went by too quickly. I can't wrap my head around the fact that we have a one year old little boy, and he's just going to keep growing up.
I spent the week before Levi's birthday going through old photos of him still in my belly and of the night he was born. I read old blog posts and journal entries and looked back on how I was feeling about becoming a mom. After my one year anniversary of Motherhood, I'm feeling pretty good!

I don't think I've posted since we've made the move to Hawaii.

It was an incredibly long two days of traveling. Right before our flight to Hawaii, the airlines told us our crate for Piper was not 'airline approved'.  That caused a minor panic attack, but luckily there was a pet shop not far from LAX, so Taylor jumped in a taxi and was able to make it back in plenty of time.  After a long 6 hours in the air, we finally landed on Oahu. Home Sweet Home, for a while.

 

Taylor was given about a week of permissive leave, so we went out and explored as much as we could.

 

 

Waimanalo Beach

Hanauma Bay

 



Our favorite area is a small surfing town up on the North Shore called Haleiwa. The sun sets perfectly over there and they have the most amazing Thai food. I wish we lived closer!

 

 Our new neighborhood.

 Out on the western tip of the island.

 C-17

Haleiwa Thai



 Levi is walking all over the place.

 Boots and Kimos. He loves their Macadamia Nut pancakes.

 

Levi Owen <3

 

It's been a wonderful few months living in Hawaii!

 

-B

New Year

2012 was incredibly full, and I am happy with it.
But 2013 will be the best year yet.

Last year was the most life-changing.  We had our perfect baby boy, Levi Owen.  My husband, after years of hard work, received his wings. After a nervous ceremony, we found out he would be flying the C-17 Globemaster from Hickam AFB, Hawaii. This family is blessed!

Since my last post, we have done a lot of traveling. Thanksgiving with the Raglands in Arkansas, which actually turned out to be Pukefest 2012. We all caught the 24 hour flu. Taylor left for 3 weeks to complete SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape).
Then off to Nashville for a week with my oldest sister. A fun week there mixed with stress of teething and no sleep.
Then up to my parent's house in the mountains for another week. A lot of relaxing and cozy cabin memories there. 
Then down to Maryville for time with the Raglands after picking up Taylor from the airport. He survived the brutal 3 weeks.

Levi's first Christmas was with all of our Tennessee family. He wore Christmas pajamas and tore open his presents (with some help), and it was so fun for me to think of all of the Christmases to come with our little guy.  To watch him grow and to start new Christmas traditions that are special to our family.

We traveled back up to the mountains to spend New Years with the Bowley family.  It was Levi's first time meeting his Uncle AJ.  The whole Bowley family was together (which is pretty hard to do nowadays!) and we were soaking up every minute that we could.  It will be hard to be away from our families.  Especially with Levi.  But we were blessed to have time with everyone before we left. 

This was a big month for Levi.  He had his first accident and bled.  He was on all fours trying to crawl and slipped and bit the ground.  I saw blood in his mouth as he was crying, and it was the worst experience of my life.  I started sweating like crazy and my heart was beating so fast. I got the first taste of what it was like to want to take away my kid's pain, but not be able to.  But after a few minutes of sucking on an ice cube, he was good as new. Mom was still in a panic though. I had anxiety about it for days! Anyone else experience the 'mom sweats'?
Levi also has been saying "Dada" all day long. Still working on "Mama". He talks so much now, it's one of my favorite new developments. I love his baby voice. 
Within these past two weeks he has finally become a crawler.  That by far is the biggest adjustment.  I'm up every few minutes chasing after him. I love watching him explore the house.  After ten days of 'slow crawling' he is now speed crawler. It's amazing how fast babies learn. I've entered a whole new stage of parenting. Today he has already learned to pull up on things, and I know that our next big milestone will be walking. Sometimes I just want to hold him and cry please, stay little, don't grow up but, I have more enjoyment watching my son learn and grow.  Most days..
After weeks of being awake through the night and constant teething pain, Levi now has 6 teeth, including his two front teeth. It was the toughest 6 weeks.  He looks so grown up to me now. Any time he giggles and smiles at me I see those teeth. No more little baby, now I see my little boy.

With four days to go, we are getting more excited about our arrival to Hawaii. 
The most beautiful photos to come next week...



    

Altus: Last month

This weekend we are packing up for the third time in two years. It's been a short three months in Altus, Oklahoma. I've been fortunate enough to have my best friend here for half of the time, and this next assignment for us will be our first one apart since our husband's were commissioned.  Not looking forward to a sad goodbye in two weeks.

Taylor will have his final checkride this Friday in the C-17 and then he will be finished here. It feels like it has gone by incredibly fast, and I'm thankful for that. We are anxious to get to our new home. Come Thanksgiving, I will be spending all of the holidays and the time in between with family. I'm incredibly excited to get some time with our families before we take off for Hawai'i. It will also be nice to have some help while Taylor is gone for SERE (survival and resistance training) in Washington. It won't be as nice living out of suitcases for 5 weeks, but it's worth it.

Our tickets for Hawai'i are bought and now it feels like the move to paradise is very close. Holidays at home, and then we start off the new year on Oahu.  I cannot put into words how excited I am to spend the next three years in Honolulu. It doesn't feel real yet, but it will soon.

Since I had nothing but time here, I picked up a new hobby. Crochet has been a good distraction.  YouTube is a great learning tool everyone! It taught me the basics and now I've become pretty decent.   

 

 Newborn Pumpkin Beanie

 iPhone Socks

 Mustard Boot Cuffs

 Flower

 Coasters

 Newborn Tophat Photo Prop

 Newborn Witche's Hat Photo Prop

 

 

Levi is seven months old now and the sweetest little boy.  He continues to amaze me every single day. I never knew one little guy could teach me so much.  He is healthy, growing some serious blonde hair, and is on the brink of crawling. I'm not sure I am ready for mobility yet, but soon I won't have a choice.  Levi loves to scoot around and get up on his knees, soon he will learn to coordinate his very chubby limbs and then I will never be able to sit down. It will be exhausting and incredibly fun. 

 

 

 

I love our family. We've been through a busy 2+ years with pilot training, having a baby, moving three times (one "overseas" coming up), more training, and we're excited to 'settle down' as much as a military family can, for three years. I never even had the opportunity to really decorate Levi's nursery because we were moving so close after his arrival. Little things like that get me excited for settling down. 

 

It's Election Day. I hope everyone voted!





Altus: month 1

We are all settled in Altus. It's nice seeing the big planes fly over us all day. We were used to the usual trainers at Vance; our house was directly under the T-6 pattern. But these planes, the C-17 and the KC-135, just look massive when compared.  My husband will be flying the C-17 and my best friend's husband will be flying the KC-135. Every person who works on these planes has to come through Altus for training. Since a lot of our other friends are flying the same aircraft, we are running into a lot of familiar faces. Especially Academy faces, they seem to be everywhere. 

 

 C-17 Globemaster

Honolulu, Hawai'i down below.

My little boy had his first meal this week. Beech Nut Rice cereal. He loves eating from a spoon!

It was a lot of fun! We are entering into the world of baby food and I've decided to take my chance at making it myself. We are sticking with just rice cereal for now, practice food, the doctor calls it. But then we'll venture into the world of pureed green beans, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, carrots, and peas. 

 

Spicy Avocado Chicken Enchiladas

If you're on a health kick.

Endulge! 

Spicy Thai Noodles

These have quite a kick. Be cautious!

Endulge! 

Creamy Tomato Pasta

My personal favorite. I love using fresh tomatoes.

Endulge! 

 

Good things.

 

 

-B