It's a Girl!

We are expecting a baby girl! We had a 24-week sonogram yesterday and got the great news. I'd been feeling like this was a girl, though I had no 'good' reason to think so. We've already chosen her first name: Wren. Like Levi's name, it was arrived at early, and both of us loved it from the start. Now, if only we could settle on a middle name. Here are some of the sonogram pictures.

In this picture, Wren's profile is on the left. Against her brow is a balled-up fist, and nearly touching her nose are the toes of her left foot. She's in a 'frank breech' position, meaning that she's head-up in the womb, and folded in half.

This second picture shows just how cramped she is; you can see her leg (foot on the left side) stretched across the top of the sonogram image, and her shin and knee are pressed to her belly.
This image is hard to make out; you may just have to take my word for it! In this picture, we're looking at the front of Wren's face at an angle. Her forehead is on the far left. You can see a small, dark circle - that's her right eye. Her nose is the bright white line up and to the left of her right eye. Her mouth is open, and you can even see a shadow inside - that's her tongue. In this picture, it looks like her face is frozen in a smile.

Maybe this will help.

You may recall that after Levi's sonogram, we immediately went to the local shoe store and bought him a pair of John Deere boots to celebrate. We tried to get some pink John Deere boots for Wren, but unfortunately the shop in town no longer sells them. We did buy something for her several weeks ago, though. When I was seven weeks pregnant, I spotted this dress with matching bonnet in a baby boutique, and against all reason, had to buy it. I've been feeling that this baby is a girl all along, even if I had no real reason to. It'll be a long time before she can wear it, but I bet the time between now and then will fly!

Love from the Luttrulls!

Lynda

Levi's Walking!

Well, he's walking! True to form, he only teased his parents with some failed attempts, and waited until his Grandma and Pop were here to witness this milestone.

He's not given up on crawling, but each day we see him do a little more walking. There is no video evidence to support our claims at present, but the first chance I get to catch some steps, it'll be posted!

Lynda

Turkey...Shoot!

I have an adorable one-year-old. And with Thanksgiving in mind, I thought he'd look even more adorable in the turkey suit I made.

He must not have agreed. This is how our little photo shoot went...

"Okay, Levi. Sit here."

"No, I'll hand you the pumpkin. You keep sitting."

"All right, now, let me arrange your feathers...ready, Rob?"

"Shoot! He got away!"

"Okay, let's try again, but this time, we'll stand".

"Okay, here's your pumpkin, Levi...ready, Rob?"

"No, baby! Remember how much you love to stand now?"

"Shoot! He's gone."

Rob never had a chance. Levi wouldn't sit or stand still for two seconds straight. Thank goodness for the 'cropping' tool. It allows me this picture, and the illusion that our turkey shoot didn't turn into, "Turkey...shoot!"

Happy Thanksgiving

from

the Luttrull Family

Of Birthdays and Missing Socks

Levi's first birthday was fun for us, and underwhelming for him. We started the day with a birthday song for him while he waited in his crib...rather miserably, I must say.

"Birth-what? I don't care. Pick me up!"

"Why are you still singing? Please pick me up!"

"MAMA AND DADDY, I HATE YOUR SONG! QUIT SINGING AND PICK ME UP!"

YiaYia, Sandy and Sophia came to help us celebrate. Sophia tried to tell Levi about all the other things to see in his picture book, but he's still stuck on "cat!".

Sandy tried to make some headway, too, but in vain. "Cat!"

It's fun to see Sophia in Colorado because she loves snow so much. On her first day here, she made a snowman with Uncle Rob. Sophia might love Uncle Rob more than snow, but it's a close race.

This is the birthday boy at his party, a bit distracted, and in spite of all the friends, balloons, and presents, underwhelmed.

He liked pizza...

...but did not like his cake. It appears that he doesn't care for sticky hands, but it was also an hour past his naptime.


Sophia enjoyed the party in its entirety, especially her short lecture to the guys in on all things related to the Disney princesses.

It was a good first birthday weekend, and I'm thankful for friends and family who came to celebrate with us.

In closing, I want to share one of Levi's emerging quirks...it appears that he loves to 'hide' or put items in odd places. Straightening his room recently, I found three missing socks in a shopping bag. What gets me is the purposeful placement of these socks...they were all worn on different days, and he evidently had a ritual of discarding one of the pair in the shopping bag at some point during the day. A few days ago, Rob spied some puzzle pieces in the crock pot that was waiting to be stowed in the living room storage space, and last night as we talked to Rob's parents on the phone, Levi was putting Cheerios in his daddy's shoe. Rob has learned to shake out his shoes before putting them on, to avoid the odd sock or random toy that Levi has stowed there. Anyway, it's just a funny little thing Levi does. With dogs' propensity for carrying off its family's personal items, it raises the question we've asked ourselves before: "Are we raising a puppy, or a boy?"

Lynda

One Year!

Levi is one year old! He is very different from the tiny baby I brought home last November. He was born with lots of dark brown hair, but he now has wisps of blonde hair. On the day he was born, he looked like a mixture of Pop Howell and Pop Luttrull, with a bit of Uncle Steven thrown in, but over the months, his face has morphed into a baby version of Rob's, with a bit of me around the eyes. He can crawl almost as fast as I can walk, and he's talking to us all the time, though not in words we always understand. He stands on his own, and eats almost everything we put in front of him. He has a laugh that makes us laugh in return, and he's learning new things every day. He's grown so much. I put all of his Tex pictures below so that you can see the progression:

We went on his birthday to have his picture taken. He did so well! Look at my big one-year-old!

Levi's YiaYia, Aunt Sandy, and cousin Sophia came up from Texas to help us celebrate his first birthday. I'll soon post pictures of our visit, along with pictures from his birthday party.

Lynda

Halloween 2009

Deciding Levi's Halloween costume didn't really take any consideration. Early on, I knew I wanted to dress him as a sock monkey, but I was disappointed with the costume options I found online. They didn't look exactly like the socks used to make real sock monkeys, and accuracy is very important to me. So...I decided to make one.

I ordered about eight pairs of extra-large Rockford red-heeled socks, and when they arrived, I thought, "Now what? I can't sew!" I visited websites looking for ideas, and one clever mom suggested sewing a costume over a sleeper, for added warmth. Well, it's quite cold here by Halloween, so I knew this was the solution, and hoped I could pull it off.

Here's an early shot of the construction...

And here's the finished costume. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

He'll wish someday I'd never taken this picture...but I did. And I love it.

And a bonus shot. After the costume, we tried on Levi's new hat and mittens. This picture makes us so happy!

Lynda

11 months!

Levi is 11 months now. I'm actually getting this post in under the wire, because he'll be 12 months in - gulp! - one week! He weighed in at 16 pounds, 15 ounces at his 11-month check up. That's a gain of just 1/4 of a pound over the last month. He measured 28 inches again and I've finally lost complete faith in the length measuring tool at the doctor office. I am responsible for holding him down straight as a board, and making sure my end of the measuring tool is flush against his feet, so it's operator error, and I'm looking forward to the time that he can stand on his own two feet and be measured against the wall. Here's his 11-month picture with Tex, all dressed in his sock monkey pajamas:



We just returned from a trip in Oklahoma, and somehow, his hair doubled in length and lightened while we were there. I can now see his golden, downy hair from a distance. While we were there, he called out for his Pop Luttrull, which often sounded like "Tot!". He also stood up unaided in Deedo's living room early in our visit. We haven't had any repeat performances, but it gives me hope that his balance is improving such that it won't be too long before he starts walking. Here are some pictures from our visit:


Reading with Pop




Bathing in Deedo's sink

Exploring with Pop

Having a quiet moment with Daddy

We returned home to our first big snow. Winter is unaware that she's early!

The night we got home, Levi was sitting in his high chair when Aggie walked through the kitchen. He pointed at her and said, "Cat!". We celebrated so much that he has continued to say "cat" (which sounds a lot like "tat") over and over the last few days. It's a lot of fun to see him make these verbal connections. His vocabulary is now up to five words: oh, Pop, cat, hi and bye.

I am happy to report that I evidently left morning sickness and nausea behind when I started my second trimester. I feel pretty good most days; there are still a couple of foods I can't quite bring myself to eat (including my favorite, Taco Bell), but otherwise, this is much better than the first time. I'm still not showing, but I will post pictures when there's something to see. The baby is about 3.5 inches now, or the size of a lemon. Levi will provide the visual:

I started my 15th week today, and I'm looking forward to feeling the first baby 'flutters' soon. We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time two weeks ago. It is really an amazing thing to hear that rapid heartbeat and know that all is apparently well. We've mostly referred to the baby as a girl; this is probably more desire than intuition, but from the get-go, this one just 'felt' like a girl. Our obstetrician, Dr. K, told us that mother's intuition is right about 60% of the time. We'll be thrilled either way. If the baby is a boy, we'll know what to expect, and if it's a girl, she'll be the first born on Rob's side of the family in a generation. A girl would probably make my niece Sophia happy too, as she'd have someone to do little girl things with. I have no idea what those things are since I was a tomboy, but Sophia will be a good teacher. We'll have an ultrasound sometime in January, and will share the news right away.

Well, that's all from our neck of the woods. Tomorrow is Halloween, and I'm very excited about Levi's costume. Stay tuned for pictures...

Lynda