Dear Asher: 10 Months

Dear Asher,

Happy 10 month birthday! The biggest change for this month is that you're sleeping through the night most nights now! It all started one night when I forgot to turn on the baby monitor. I woke up around 6:00 am to see you happily playing in your crib. I wasn't sure whether you actually slept all night, or if you just soothed yourself back to sleep. Either way, we decided to see what happened the next night, and the nights after that. Same results! Now you very rarely wake in the night. If only we could get your sister to sleep through the night...

You've been babbling for a while now, but you said your first word: dadda! You look right at daddy and say dadda. Of course, you also say it to the cats, the floor, me...but when you see daddy and say it, you seem to really mean it. No mama in sight, sadly.

You are a true Levin: you're an eating machine! You're still nursing all the time, but now you're also eating full meals three times a day. Here's a sample day:

Breakfast: oatmeal, Cheerios, mighty morning muffins

Lunch: baby corn, butternut squash, hummus roll

Dinner: shepherd's pie, broccoli, chick peas

You're pulling to stand on everything now. We got the first glimpse of that from Ms. Aster who texted me this picture.

Speaking of Ms. Aster, you love your day care! You're always so happy when we pick you up. You have a little group of friends. It's really cute when you're all sitting in a circle interacting.

A few more facts: you're still right on your growth curve (between 80-85th percentile, 24 pounds); you have six teeth; your knees are starting to get calluses from how much you crawl; you love the kitties--especially when they nuzzle your head while you're nursing.

We love you to the moon and back!

Read about Zahara at this age:
Dear Zahara: 10 Months

House Update!

It's been quite a while since I updated you about our new house. A lot has happened since we first signed the paperwork for our new digs. Let me fill you in.

Outside Design Choices
We picked all of our exterior finishes! We were able to choose nearly everything about the aesthetics of the outside of our house. Everything from the brickwork (and how much brick we wanted), to the siding, to the trim, and even the front door color.

We were given samples several choices for each element. Our only limiting factor was that we couldn't choose colors that were the same or too similar to our neighbor's. Here's what we chose:

The blue is our front door, the black is our shutters, and the green is our siding. I LOVE this combination!

Interior Design Choices

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent three hours at the design center just to pick floors, counters, and tiles. It is incredible how many choices there are and how long you can spend agonizing about things you never thought you'd care about. For example, whether you want your bath/shower to have a soap dish or not. Or whether you want your shower wall tiles to be 6, 9, or 12 inch tiles. 

We had some ideas going in about what we were looking for: hardwood floors, white kitchen cabinets, light granite--overall clean and modern. I know it's very trendy right now to have the white kitchen, but I honestly think it's classic and won't go out of style. And if it does ten or twenty years down the line, then we can refinish the cabinets for a whole new look.

We ended up not doing a gray island in the kitchen. Instead, all the cabinets will be white with a light countertop, and warm wood floors. We'll have hardwoods on all the main floor, and then carpets in the bedrooms and playroom.

Breaking Ground
We had our first meeting with our general contractor a few weeks ago. Eric gave us an updated timeline and told us we could expect the house around September 1st. It is a little later than we thought, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

They actually broke ground on Thursday!! Tomorrow they're putting in the foundation wall. You know how I found out they started? I got a text from my soon-to-be neighbor telling me she heard construction noises. She wanted to let me know as soon as she knew. Isn't that considerate? She seems awesome.

I am so excited that it is actually happening! I'll share more updates and pictures as they come!

May Thoughts by Z

Here's more from our sweet girl. She really is amazing, isn't she?

Thought 1:
Handing me a bunch of stickers while talking like a pirate:

Z: You have to watch these treasures for me because I'm going on vacation to Israel.

Thought 2:

Talking to me after a bike ride:
Z: Would you like the pleasure of taking off my helmet?

Thought 3:

Z: I want Asher to be a girl so he can do all the things girls do.
Me: Like what?
Z: Eat all the things.

Thought 4:

While playing pretend:
Z: I'm a doctor and a mummy. I can be both.

See previous Thoughts by Z here