Levi: 18 months

             "For you formed {Levi's} inward parts; you knitted {him} together in {my} womb. I praise you, for {he is} fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. {His} frame was not hidden from you, when {he} was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw {his} unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for {him}, when as yet there was none of them." {adapted from Psalm 139}

I never thought I would be writing Levi's 18 month post and shouting from the rooftops "HE'S WALKING!", but that is exactly what we have been doing the past two weeks! To everyone we know. And even random people at the grocery store that I do not know (sorry bag boy). We have celebrated A LOT in the last two weeks and so many wonderful people have celebrated with us.

Although there have been SO many difficult things that have come along with this journey we are walking through with Levi's development etc., one of the sweetest blessings that has come with it has been treasuring every, single little new thing that he does. He works so hard for new skills and sounds and every one has become grounds for HUGE celebration in our house. It has made us so thankful that God is using this season to teach us how precious every single detail is. So we will celebrate hearing a sound (any sound) that is not "d". And we will celebrate when Levi grabs a shoe and places it in the vicinity of his foot. And when Levi learns to "give kisses", after I have spent MONTHS trying to teach him this skill (so superficial and quite selfish on my part, but give a mom a break! I will only get kisses from my son for so long), I will freak out so bad that Mitch and Levi will be a little concerned about my state of mind.

This past month has brought about so many of these new skills! Levi is now officially walking about 50% of the time and has also learned to stand up in the middle of the room by himself. He also has learned to "give kisses", wave "bye-bye", and put together a puzzle (or close enough). He still has not adapted well to using sign-language, but he has started making a few more "singing" noises where he will change the octave of his voice. We have not heard any new words or letters yet, but hopefully one of these days he will just bust out in some "bees" and *fingers crossed* "mmmms" (I may or may try and teach him "MAMA" a billion times a day)

All in all, these last few months have been so precious for us as a family. After getting his initial evaluation back at the beginning of the year, our home was anxious, sad, and dejected. However, over the last few months, the Lord has truly transformed our house into a place of hope and joy. In addition, Levi's tantrums have become more subdued and less frequent and I think he is starting to feel a more joyful himself! However, I am not sure how joyful Levi will be come July when we welcome his little brother Lucas into the picture. (That's right, we are pregnant with baby boy #2 due in mid July!!)

Levi continues to love all types of bouncy balls & has just recently become interested in puzzles. He also has a new love/unhealthy obsession with brushing his teeth and we suffer quiet a large meltdown when we are all done brushing and have to put the toothbrush away. Levi is growing into such a sweet, cuddly-yet independent, funny little boy! His personality catches us off guard and he makes us laugh so much with his funny facial expressions and random bursts of sound and laughter. Levi is exactly how God meant him, and (thanks to a lot of prayer, grace, and hard truth) we wouldn't have it any other way.