levi samuel cosby

Earlier this month (and on Sam's birthday) Sam gave Levi Samuel Cosby a name and blessing in our sacrament meeting. Sam's dad, brother Jacob, brother-in-law Gordon, and our friend (and bishopric member) Tony McClain joined him in the blessing.

We're so happy our family could join us and that Sam holds the priesthood to be able to bless our family in so many ways.

Sam and I had a tough time deciding on Levi's name. And I'll admit that there have been times I've thought, "Did we really name him that? Why didn't we think this through a little longer?" But the more I love the person, the more I love his name, and I've done a more thorough search of the name Levi in the scriptures that makes me like it even more.

Levi, the son of Jacob, might not be the best role model, but the Levites were chosen to be the priesthood holders among the twelve tribes of Israel, worked in the temple, were musicians, and were set apart for God-- all things I'd like for our son Levi.

Levi is also the name of the publican who Jesus called to be an apostle-- you probably know him better as Matthew. I hope Levi will heed the call of the Lord as willingly as Matthew did.

As Sam and I asked each other about middle names, we both had chosen Samuel as our top pick without knowing the other was considering it. I'd always liked the name and had wanted to name a son that, but I didn't want to have two Samuel's in the house, so a middle name was a good option. And both prophet Samuel's (from the Bible and the Book of Mormon) are great namesakes. Our Levi Samuel is certainly an answer to his mother's prayers, and one day, I will loan him to the Lord when he serves as a missionary.

diapers.com

If you use diapers...I mean... if you buy diapers, you've got to use diapers.com.

I know. I know. There are cheaper ways to get diapers. I could scour ebay, buy multiple Sunday papers to horde the coupons, and then memorize the seven-month sale rotation at CVS so I can then drive around to all five of the closest drugstores to get a three-month supply of $.10-per-diaper Huggies.

But, if you're like me and feel like you have other things you want to do with your time and space than manage a file cabinet full of coupons then check out diapers.com. They consistently have lower prices than any retail store I've found and they accept manufacturers coupons which I use when I get them in the mail. (Just mail them in a bunch at a time and they apply them to your account.) Diapers.com also gives free shipping on orders over $49 (not hard to do when you order two super giant mega packs for your 2-year-old).

And it gets even better. Next month, diapers.com will be launching soap.com where you can buy all sorts of personal care and household items that'll go in the same checkout as your diapers. Which means, you get your diapers, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, and kitchen garbage bags at the lowest price possible and delivered free to your door-- along with a big cardboard box that's just asking to become a rocket ship.

Where we're moving in Massachusetts, the nearest Walmart is about 25 minutes away and Target is even further. So whether you're like us and don't have quick access, or whether you live in the city and just can't haul 50 lbs of diapers home on your bike, or whether you just don't want to brave Costco one more time for those Kirklands (which you can also buy at the website) then go to diapers.com and save yourself the hassle.


P.S. In a way, diapers.com is paying me to write this. If you use my referral code (HERES10BUX) on your orders, you get $10 off your first order, $5 off your second order, and I get a $10 credit towards my next order. We're all winners here.

goodbye TX

While I've been emptying our bookshelves into empty diaper boxes, I've been thinking about all the things I've loved about being here in Katy, Texas. Here's my (probably incomplete) list.

• Family. Anna and Levi's grandparents are just a five hour drive away and they've got two aunts, three uncles, and two cousins between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
  
  
  
• Friends. We've made some great friends here, especially in our ward. I don't think I could have made it through new motherhood without them. And Anna has so many adorable little buddies we'll hate to leave.
  
  
  
• The annual combined Christmas choir with the Katy Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church. This made my Christmas season for the last three years.
  
  
• Bluebell ice cream. Cake and Ice Cream ice cream, I didn't know what I was missing until I met you. And now our short romance has to end.
  
  
  
• H-E-B. Meal deals, parking spots for customers with children, delicious tortillas, gazillions of samples, super customer service. What's not to love?
  
  
• Good Mexican food. Enough said.
  
  
• Library Story Time. Ours is amazing and cannot be topped.
  
  
• Double Daves Pizza Buffet. (Food is clearly a great love of mine)
  
  
• Crepe Myrtles, wildflowers, and Spanish moss
  
  
  
• Houston Symphony at the Miller Outdoor Theater
  
  
• A beautiful spring-like winter
  
  
• Southern hospitality
  

fiddling

I've been messing around with blogger's new design tool. I'm still not sure I'm sold on it. I've realized I really like having my title centered. And by the way... in case you're wondering why my title is what it is, I wrote about here when I re-started blogging.

And now after having read that post myself, I have to chuckle at how much has changed again. Having kids makes you grow up a little bit.

we're finally moving

But instead of going here:

We're going here:

And if you're like me and couldn't figure out which city that was, here's another one.

We're not going here:

We're going here:

That's right. We're giving up old England for New England, and I, for one, am pretty darn excited about that.

Sam is going to be a product manager in the electronic materials division (still with Dow). He starts work mid-July and flew to Boston this past weekend to find us an apartment. He'll actually be working at two locations both about 30 miles outside the city, so we're living between them.

As for the London thing...well, it just kind of fizzled. Several products got cut and work slowed down and then slowed down some more. Now it looks like they might move all the work in England back to Houston. So we feel incredibly blessed to have this bright, exciting promotion to look forward to instead of a slowly dying project.

It's really hit me this weekend that we're essentially leaving in three weeks (in early July we've got a family reunion and then a long drive with the kiddos to Massachusetts...wish me luck!) I've got lots of packing and decision making to do really quickly. Thankfully, I've got a super supportive, proactive husband who is taking care of all the external work while I get things figured out here at home. I think we make a pretty awesome team.

Go Cosbys! and Go Celtics!

brotherly love

What this video doesn't show is the five times they did this before I broke out the camera...

the title of this photoshoot is...

Anna: Accessorized

baby wearing

When I wear Levi like this...


...Anna likes to wear her baby like this...



...or this.

children's books

We've been reading some fun books lately, and I wanted to share a few of them:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
We bought this with a gift card from Amy and Ben. It was one I felt we needed for our collection.

Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

I just realized this was by the same authors! (Bill Martin Jr. also wrote Brown Bear Brown Bear...). We read this at infant story time and now frequently check it out from the library. Anna loves to find her own body parts as the poem progresses. I love that he has some creative purposes for the different body parts. An example: "Here are my cheeks for kissing and blushing. Here are my teeth for chewing and brushing." Cute, colorful, multi-cultural illustrations as well.


Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman
Beautiful, crisp photographs of animals for each letter of the alphabet with a blurb about each animal at the end of the book. I like that Anna can see what real hippos and bears look like rather than just illustrations of them. There are some unconventional inclusions as well. Like S for Scorpion.
I want to check out his original Creature now too.


One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
A fun, tongue twisting counting book with great onomatopoeias. Each number's rhyme is just different enough to keep me interested and engaged while I read this to Anna over and over and over again.


The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
We've had this since Anna was born and it's one of her favorites. I absolutely love it's simplicity and how it captures how a young child thinks, acts, and plays so perfectly. It won a Caldecott for it's illustrations as well.

What are some of your favorites?

may pictures

Click on the pictures to go to my picasa page if you want to see the pictures larger.

it was a win-win proposition

I turned this:

(for some reason, this picture will not rotate...)

into this:

Thank you to Jocelyn for sponsoring the journal-making service project for the the Write It Out project. And thank you to Coco Rose Couture for the beautiful new necklace! (Go see Jocelyn's blog for free shipping and free merchandise from Coco Rose Couture.)

The giveaway is closed, but if you want to win a happy feeling from doing something good, go pledge and make a journal over at Service Boot Camp.

like mother like daughter

April, 1986

April, 2010

an update

I have another, private blog that I use as a journal and as a place to record cute and funny things my children say and do. I haven't written in it since Levi was born and have resolved to write in it at least every Sunday. Here is most of what I posted today, as an update on our life:

Well, obviously I haven't written for a while. We've been adjusting to having two children and have been busy with lots of other things in life.

We enjoyed our time with my Mom while she was here. The last week we went to the Bluebell factory and took pictures in wildflowers in Brenham and saw the Sargent exhibit at the art museum. It was full of his early work of sea-scapes before he became famous for portraiture and of works in private collections here in Houston. I really loved the colors he used in scenes of just ocean and sky. They were beautiful pieces made when he was young and I wish he had done more like it. After the exhibit we rode the train at the zoo which Anna loved.

Soon after Mom left, we went to Dallas for Seth's farewell. He's headed to the Tahiti Papeete mission. We had a fun weekend of the brothers playing together and Ruth set up a little paradise for the little kids with a working sink, water table, and grocery store in the back yard. Anna had a marvelous time and was so sad to go. The kids did really well on the drive and we're considering a longer road trip in the future.

May 3 was Anna's second birthday. We got her a little Fisher Price tricycle and a potty. Ruth gave her a little people doll house and car and car wash. My mom got her some playdoh and accessories and a Thomas train.

I had a party for her on the 5th and invited all her little girl friends (and George) to come swimming at the pool. It was a lot of work to get all the food ready and carted to the pool, but I really thought it was worth it. Anna was so excited by everything: her friends, balloon cupcakes, the pool, new toys and puzzles, having Catherine over to help. I loved the company and the yummy food and it felt good to accomplish something substantial while I was still feeling a little overwhelmed by a new baby.

After the party, Levi fell out of his stroller and onto the concrete. I just felt peace when I saw him on the ground and knew everything would be just fine. I was grateful to have the spirit at that moment to help me be calm and have thought about that experience often since. How blessed we are to have that gift. It was such a powerful feeling that I knew came from outside myself that I've been trying to cultivate opportunities to feel and respond to the spirit since then.

Levi is a joy of a baby. Of course there are times when I can't calm his crying or when he doesn't want to sleep at night, but they're not the norm and usually I'm so distracted by Anna that it doesn't bother me as much with him as it did with her. I also know that I'm not doing something wrong which was a constant worry with Anna.

But usually, Levi is happy to lay on his playmat or sit in his bumbo and observe the world around him. He is a genuinely cute baby. He eats well and naps well and is just starting to coo and gurgle, and is losing his little newborn grunts. I love it when I talk to him and I see him looking around for me. He just gazes at me, wide-eyed while I talk or sing to him and loves to be kissed and nuzzled. We started a bedtime routine early with him and he's responding well. This week he's started waking up at just 1-2 AM and then 6-7 AM, so I'm starting to get a little more sleep.

Anna loves Levi and likes to have him hug her. She also loves it when we make him dance or do actions to songs. Sometimes she brings him toys while he's laying on the ground or sings songs to him. I think she'll enjoy entertaining him as he gets older.

feeling crafty?

I can't say no to this project. Because a) it's for a good cause b) it's easy c) I have an excuse to use up some cute scrap fabric I have d) I can enter a giveaway and e) I am SO into my new sewing machine. So jump on this bandwagon and do some service!



P.S. I found these online today. After seeing those pictures, I piled the kids in the car to go buy a pound of brown sugar so I could make them during nap time. I may have already eaten about 10 of them. If only I could send those to Iraq war widows. I bet they could use them.

out with the old, in with the new

Yesterday I said goodbye to my trusty little Ford Escort. It was 11 years old and full of good memories.

Mom and I drove to and from seminary and school nearly every day of high school in that car. Mom heard all about the days' hopes and tests and highs and lows on those five-minute drives.

I learned to drive and passed the driving test in that car.

I felt the thrill of teenage freedom driving to the metroparks to sit by myself or going to and from parties, malt shops, and thrift stores with friends with the music up a little too loud.

Once the Mystique died in college, Mom and Dad gave me and Steve the Escort to share. We drove it to California one weekend together and just hung out at the beach and Grandma's house.

That was the summer I started dating Sam and he says we had our first kisses in the car in the Escort. I'm pretty sure that's what we were driving on the day we got engaged nearly a year later.

I learned how to change the brakes, change a tire, fix a headlight, and take care of plenty of other minor maintenance issues on it.

And since we've moved to Texas, it's gotten me to work, doctors' appointments, playgroups, lunch dates with Sam, and anywhere else I wanted to go.

Sadly, just before the end of last year, the transmission died and we've only been able to drive in second gear, so no faster than 40, and that was a stretch. It started shaking while it idled and the rotors got warped, so it took longer to brake than usual, and we decided it was time to finally say goodbye.

After a little research, Sam made the painstakingly slow drive up to Carmax and traded her in. She served us well yet again and we got the blue book value for it. I went up to meet him and sign some papers later that evening and drove home in this, a 2008 Ford Escape.

I can't wait for all the memories yet to be made.

the baby's due

Today is Levi's due date, and yesterday he turned one month old. It's been a good four weeks and we're glad he's here.

And now he's giving me his hungry groan. So here are some pictures of our two little monkeys.

raining

Sam was changing Levi's diaper when Anna pulled off the wash cloth that was covering him up. Levi started spraying straight up in the air and Anna said, "Woo! It's raining Levi!"

lots and lots of photos

Double click on the slideshow to go to picasa to see the photos bigger

by the way

His middle name is Samuel.


And we brought him home last Tuesday

introducing:

Levi (middle name) Cosby