the cupcake

Levi fell asleep at his party, before he could enjoy his birthday cupcake. After all the guests were gone, Levi woke up and loved the cake!

I love how Caleb sings with us in this video. He loves singing...all the time! Our camera ran out of memory right after Levi took his first bite. I'm glad we caught it...it's a classic Levi move.

(The mess in our living room, is the remnants of the kids and the gifts at the party. Our house doesn't always look this messy!)

ebony and ivory

I keep remembering this about Matt and I, for some reason, so I thought I would share it. When we were dating, and becoming more serious in our relationship, Matt would often put our hands together, side by side, and start singing, "Ebony and Ivory."

Growing up, I never liked the fact that I am so white.. White legs mean no shorts (in my opinion), and I was really self-conscious about not wearing shorts...ever! Double whammy! And it was a big deal when I bought shorts to wear for our honeymoon, in Cancun...hello? Who wouldn't wear shorts in Cancun...on your honeymoon? (Probably only me if my friends and family didn't coerce me!)

So Matt has always loved the fact that our skin is such a contrast. He tans REALLY easily and works outside, so he is almost always really dark. He was really dark when we got married, because every day he was in the Sun. Thus, he sang that song all the time. Looking at pictures of us during that time, that song always pops in my head. I don't think I know the rest of the words even, just "Ebony and Ivory!" (I found an old school youtube of the song, find it below.)

I am now comfortable with my skin, and I like it! (Although you probably won't see me wearing shorts still.)

Levi's party

We are having a bunch of people over tomorrow afternoon for Levi's birthday party! (If you haven't heard, you're invited too!) When I say a bunch, I mean around 60 PEOPLE!!! I just checked the list last night, and was shocked that all the numbers added up to that!

We love people! We love celebrating! We love to have an excuse to get people around us to celebrate...something, anything! It's going to be great to get people together again, to celebrate the first year of Levi's life. We are also planning on dedicating him to the Lord tomorrow, with our parents there to give a blessing, speaking words of life and hope over him. It was an amazing time when Caleb turned one, and it will be a tradition we'll carry on with all of our kids!

The scripture the Lord gave us for Levi Joshua Ens:

True instruction was
in Levi’s mouth and
nothing false was found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace
and uprightness,
and turned many from sin.

~Malachi 2:6~

One year ago...

Levi will turn One-Year-Young tomorrow!!! Of course, I've been thinking about the events that led up to his birth last year, and as I do, I remember my mom reminding me of the day of my birth. "It was a Monday morning, we were only at the hospital for a few hours and pop, out you came around 11am." It always sounded to me so gentle and fast. Ha! I have come to understand a fast delivery does not mean painless!!!

Levi just did not seem to want to come out when his due date came and went. Granted, it was only 5 days after his due date that we decided to induce labor. Some women wait at least 2 weeks! I am so grateful to the Lord that I felt peace to go the hospital when we did. With that big of a baby, I don't know what it would have looked like if we had waited for him to come out on his own.

On April 3rd, his due date, I had scheduled to be induced at 7:30am. When that time came, I had no peace, was sobbing the night before, not sure what to do. I really wanted a natural delivery, and I wanted the Lord's timing for it all. So when 7 am came, I had to call and let them know I would not be coming in. Levi was going to stay inside for a few more days.

So I felt the Lord's peace to schedule to go in on April 8th. My doctor set that day, and I was sure I was going to have him before then. But nope, Levi just wasn't ready.

It amazes me how you can tell children's temperaments even when they're inside! Matt and I could tell even by 20 weeks pregnant, watching him on the little ultrasound screen that he had a pensive, more mellow personality. And yes, he has definitely shown that to be true in his first year of life!

So unlike some stories I've heard of women barely making it to the hospital before their baby pops out, Matt and I walked in, very calm, focused, trying to make each other laugh at the craziness of it all. In a few hours we would be holding our second little boy...wonder what he will look like...wonder what this labor will be like...

I can gratefully say, I have a great partner for such an intense feat! Matt was amazing. We were able to pray and use scripture through the delivery, and I really felt the Holy Spirit's presence through it all. It was healing for me after a delivery like Caleb's, (another story for another time).

After 4 1/2 hours Levi's shoulder was stuck, and we needed more nurses to help get him out! I heard a lot of them exclaim, "he's so big...let me guess how much he weighs...he's got to be 11 pounds!" And when they had put him on the scale, I had to do a double and triple take at the numbers it was displaying. This could not be true!!! Sure enough our little Levi was 2 oz shy of 11 pounds! It was by the grace of God that he came out all natural!

I'm so grateful for the blessing of our second son! Matt says he's beginning to think Levi is closer to my temperament, and Caleb to Matt's. That does make sense to me. I'm sure we will be seeing their personalities and temperaments develop over the next several years, but it is certainly fun to see glimpses while they are still so little.

Our little family is complete...at least for the next year or so...we'll see!