freedom

Levi got his very own big boy bed! We were looking around at bunk beds and found a good deal and decided to get him that for his birthday. Granted, he doesn't need all that space just yet, but he'll be able to use this bed for years to come. He loves it! Nathan put it together May 1st, after work. And all evening Levi played in his room. He's actually been playing in his room most of the time that we're home ever since then. I had to rearrange his room to make it all look right. So, it's like he has a whole new room. And when you walk in there now, it looks like a little boy lives there, not a baby. I think he feels like a big boy with it. All day he runs down the hall and says, "Mama! Room!" He wants me to come sit on the bed while he plays. But, he'll play in there even if I don't go with him. I'm glad we got it for him, because he loves it.
That first night he pretty much spent the entire evening playing by himself in his room. Once I walked in there to find him like this. Kicked back reading his books on his new big boy bed.

I used Mother's Day and Levi's birthday as motivation to finally get Levi's first year photo album done. Clearly I'm not gonna scrapbook, since it's in our almost five years of marriage all I've done is our wedding album. So, I used Shutterfly.com You just upload your own photos and drop them into certain layouts already set up in different size photo books. You can pick out your page backgrounds and add some journaling here and there. It was very nice actually. And it turned out great. So, here we are looking at it. It came on the same day we set up the bed.
Levi and Pippin playing under the bed, of course. Pippin started it though.
Naturally, I was anxious about switching him from crib to bed. I assumed I'd be in for a week of long nights full of him getting out of bed every couple of hours; Or at the least he would keep getting out of bed when I first put him there at the start of bedtime. But he was perfect. He went right to sleep once in the bed. And he has slept there all night since that first night. I don't even think he moves all night long. I checked on him that first night several hours after he went to bed, and he was in the exact same position. And, he actually slept in late the first few mornings. I think he's allot more comfortable now. That crib mattress can't be very comfortable. After that first easy night, I still figured he wouldn't be as good at nap times, because its' light outside and he would probably jump out of bed and try to play. But, he takes naps like a perfect child. I think he just really understand the concept of 'it's time to sleep now.' It's been a very smooth and fun transition. I'm proud of him.

A couple days ago Levi and Pippin were sitting on his bed. So, I went in there with my camera. As soon as I put my camera up to my eye Levi started doing all these different poses with Pippin. He would lie up against him, or on him, or lay his head on him. And every time he got into a new position he would say, "cheese." I have never told him to say cheese to the camera! He apparently picked it up from someone else. I think Jenene's girls say "cheese" when they do pictures, so it must be from them. It was so surprising and funny to have him do all that. It was also fun to have him set up his own poses. Maybe now we should try the whole modeling thing again. The following pictures are some of his different poses.



oh, also along the lines of him being a big boy, he is doing very well on the potty training. We've started trying to only do diapers at nap time and night time. Even when we leave the house now we have him in underwear. And he's doing very well. We just have to use the restroom every stop we make. Again, I am very proud of him.