HAIR!

While we were at Disneyland I kept seeing babies with their hair up in side pony tails and I kept think, "Kenzington's is that long!" So I finally bought the elastic bands and comb and decided to try it out today. It was almost a success.

She didn't like me doing it and so I have to find some way to distract her. She just might have to have a treat every morning while I do it! Plus her hair is still really thin and spotty up front, but at least I know I can start messing with it. Time to make more bows!

Of course Axton couldn't be left out, so here is his new hair do as of last night!

He has school pics today so I decided it was the perfect time to cut it. Unfortunately I cut it a little too short to spike it, so hopefully a little gel will make it look like its at least combed. I think I am finally getting the hang of cutting his hair and blending it. This one only took about 10 mins, and I only screwed up the very back because he kept wiggling. Maybe perfection will come in a year when he can sit still. He always complains he is itchy, so maybe I'll remember next time to wrap a towel around him!

Now if only my hair would grow out again!

Well after a second ultrasound, it is officially another girl! I am warming up to the idea, but I will admit I really thought it was a boy. So much for my instincts! It will be nice for Kenz to have a sister so close in age, not mention 6 of the 10 girls on the Leavitt side will be less than 2 years apart in age! I am getting excited, and she will be here before we know it. Now to pick a name.

I was scheduled to find out what we are having next Monday, but we found out we might be out of town for a funeral (more to come on that later) so I rescheduled it. Greg leaves next week for a few days for work, and then we have a few days and then we take off for 10 days on a family vacation so I figured the easiest time to do it was this week, or not for about 3 weeks (and of course I'm too impatient to wait that long!). So we went to the doctor and here is our little bundle.

The baby was going to town with it's thumb, it better not get too attached because that is not allowed in this house!

I suppose the important part is that it looks healthy! Of course it was super active at the beginning while she was measuring things and then when it came time to see what it was it wouldn't move anymore. It tucked it's legs together in the fetal position and would barely budge. So one minute she would say it "MIGHT" be a girl and then the next she would say, "Well that looks like something there". So the verdict is that she refused to committ to either answer and its still basically 50/50 and since she couldn't see a few important things I get to go back in 2 or 4 weeks, when we can find the time. Ughhhh.... I just wanted to know!

I won't lie we were all a bit disappointed when she said it MIGHT be a girl. Axton about threw a fit insisting that its a boy. Even today when I asked him if he would still love it if its a girl he said, "Yes, but don't worry when it comes out its going to be a boy!" Love his faith, have to say I was thinking the same thing! So until the next ultrasound we are trying to wrap our minds around the fact that it might be a girl and that 3 more girls could be joining the Leavitt clan within a 5 week window. Guess I better get used to that fact that we might have 1 boy and a bunch of girls in this household (SCARY)!

Party Time

My baby has turned 1. Where has the time gone? This last year has gone by so fast and having her as an addition to the family has been such an easy transition. So this post is in honor of the birthday girl!

On her actual birthday which was Saturday we didn't do anything very exciting. Axton had his last t-ball game so we went to that. Then home for naps, and just lounged around and cleaned the house for her "birthday party" on Sunday.

Sunday we treated it more like her birthday. We had french toast for breakfast, blew up balloons for them to play with, hung the birthday sign, etc. Went to church and then afterwards it was time to get ready for all the family to come over. For dinner we had roast, potatoes, carrots, homemade rolls, salad, and of course birthday cake!

I couldn't decide what kind of cake to make for her so I finally settled on this care bear cake that I am pretty sure was used for me as a little girl. It turned out alright.

She loved being song too even if it was all off tune (thank you Leavitts)! But she had no idea what to do with the candle.

Have I mentioned that she is a very picky eater! She touched the frosting but didn't dare eat it until Greg finally forced some frosting into her mouth and she decided it didn't taste too bad.

Even then it still took her some time to really decide to go after it, but once she did she devoured it like it was going out of style. For once there was nothing left but crumbes and none of it was on the floor!

Also like a typical one year old she had no real interest in presents. She opened her first one by pulling out one tissue paper, putting it back in, and then walking away!

The next present she opened she kind of got the hang of it until she realized it was a toy. Once she spotted it she didn't want to open anymore presents, she just wanted to play with it.

Her last few presents were then opened up with the help of cousins! She really didn't care she just wanted the toys.

Needless to say today Axton is enjoying her toys more than she is, poor girl. Its rough having an older sibling take everything away from you!

She also went to the doctor today and got her least favorite present.... 4 shots. She did wonderfully for two, but the other two made her cry, luckily only for about a minute. She's a champ. She weighs a whole 19 lbs 1 oz and is in the 17%, her height is in the 95%, and her little head is in the 30%.

A few random fun facts I want to remember is:

1. She is a monkey. She can climb almost any obstacle in her way. She climbs the couch, our bed, chairs, etc. I predict she will be climbing out of her crib by the time the baby comes.
2. She, like Axton, has an evil laugh!
3. She loves to be chased and loves peak-a-boo more than any other baby I know.
4. If I sing to her she'll stop crying almost instantly.
5. She is a ridiculously picky eater! She'll eat tons of food if she likes it, but if she doesn't... over the high chair it goes. She'll make up her mind just by looking at it. You can't force her to try things either, unless it is like pure sugar. Even then she thrashes around and throws a fit.
6. She DOES NOT like men. Even her uncles that she is around she prefers it if they don't touch her. The second a man pays attention to her she starts to get all nervous and if they come near her or try to touch her she completely flips! She also has an age preference, any guy under about 20 is fine, but over that brings on her fits. On the flip side she'll go to just about any woman that is willing to pay attention to her.
7. Despite her lack of liking men, she LOVES her daddy. If he walks by without acknowledging her she lets him know! She follows him everywhere, loves to cuddle with him, and just be with him. Although she does have her days when only momma will do and even dad makes her flip out!
8. She loves her brother, she loves to be around him even when he is dragging her around the house. She loves the attention he gives her and he can make her laugh the most.
9. She loves exploring every nook and cranny of any place. She loves to open cabinets and climb inside if she can. She also loves emptying them. SHe loves the outdoors and all of it's hidden surprises.
10. She loves her warm water. She loves baths and showers, but would rather go exploring than sit in a pool.

Kenzington we love you and are so glad you came to our family, even if you did take your sweet ole time!

T-Ball

I grew up playing softball, and my younger brother was way in to baseball, so I always knew I wanted my children to at least try it. In Idaho (and most of the US) you play this lovely sport in the spring/summer, so when this summer came I decided to sign Axton up and he got lucky because his cousin Brooklynn got to sign up with him! Needless to say baseball is not a sport we will be playing again in the summer in AZ if I can help it! I think next summer we'll try basketball since it's indoors!

But here are a few pictures of him and Brooklynn at one of their first games. At first Axton wasn't so sure he liked us taking his pictures but he quickly warmed up to it and became a ham. I love this boy's faces.

If we could combine Axton's high swing and Brooklynn's low swing I think we'd have us a great hitter!

All things Kenzington

Poor Kenzington is definitely suffering from second child syndrome when it comes to the blog! At least we take pictures of her, but I haven't been very good at documenting her life or giving her the appropriate shout outs. So this is all in her honor!

Family Photos in April:

Live Below the Line

I'm a bzzagent and the next campaign I am involved in is Live Below the Line. The challenge is that from May 7th - 11th, individuals must use only $1.50 per day (per person) for food for 5 days. The goal is to bring to life the direct experiences of the 1.4 billion people currently living in extreme poverty and help to make real change.

I don't think this will be all that hard for me since I am going to make my family do it with me (since I do the shopping and cooking!) So with the 4 of us that's $6 a day or $30 for the 5 days. Truth be told that's not much less than we have for budgeted food anyways (I am going to donate to the cause the difference). We'll have to cut out any treats, make our own bread, limit our milk consumption, and eat pancakes, pb & j, and spaghetti everyday (semi-joking!).

The truth is $1.50 per person per day for food isn't that bad and in my opinion not living in "extreme poverty", otherwise I would be considered "poverty" level based on my food budget. However Live Below the Line acknowledges this and points out that "the $1.50 figure represents the amount someone living in extreme poverty in the U.S. would have to live on and that for most of the 1.4 billion living in "extreme poverty" the $1.50 doesn't cover JUST food, like it will for us, but also health, housing, transport, food, education, etc."

We americans really are spoiled!

So if you want to get involved you can go to livebelowtheline.com and sign up yourself for the challenge (and to raise money). Or if you'd rather just help me out you can go to www.livebelowtheline.com/me/breonneleavitt and donate some cold hard cash! Yeah don't mock my pathetic fundraising goal (I hate raising money!).

Well look forward to my follow up post in a month to see if we were successful!