The Levandowski Family Blog

Spring Time is Here!

2010-03-26T16:32:00.012-05:00

I wish I could be wittier or a little more entertaining, but I have to tell it like it is.... I am having the best time of my life. Joey and I are constantly in awe of being parents to such an amazing little girl. Caroline makes me smile even after work has gotten me down, and, as cliched as it sounds, makes everything worth it. She is all over the house at this point, there is no out of bounds. She loves the sound of her voice and her reflection in the mirror. A few rundowns of the last several months are below....

Dallas has seen record snow and of course, being the picture perfect moment, snapped away with Caroline in the middle of it all.

For Valentine's Day, I surprised Joey with some pictures of her in the biggest red tutu I could find :)

Recently, we took a vacation to go to a wedding in San Antonio and enjoyed some family time.

We spent some time on the Riverwalk....

We saw the Alamo.....

We relaxed by the pool....

And then there was the wedding.....

And I have to mention the weekend shopping trips to the Bishops Arts Districts with Oma, Aunts, Mommy, and Baby....

Hair Bows and Friends

2010-01-24T14:42:00.004-06:00

We are truly lucky to have so many wonderful friends! It just happened that all of our friends multiplied at the same time and all of our kids are friends! Below are a few pictures of Caroline and her friends. Thanks to all of you for being so supportive and entertaining!

Caroline Meets Santa

2010-01-18T18:57:00.004-06:00

Caroline is truly a happy baby. She is usually all smiles and just likes to take in the world around her. I thought this love for everyone might have its limits, meaning an old man with white facial hair and a red outfit A.K.A. Santa, but she took to him with smiles and wonder. The moment that we placed her on his lap, she had fun. She had some moments of awe, some of boredom, and some of pure joy. Below is her first encounter with Santa. I hope that everyone's x-mas was as Merry and Wonderful as ours!

I Stink!!!! Catch up Part 1

2010-01-14T17:03:00.005-06:00

Ok, so I have beat my own record of taking forever to update the blog... I guess life has happened. By life I mean... thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, 4,5,6 month birthdays, 6 teeth, to name a few. Our first holiday season as a family was amazing. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and fried a turkey worthy of the truest of cajuns. We then had 6 month pictures with Treva Tribit, the best photographer in the world :).... I am running to feed baby, but more to be uploaded shortly!

I love my family!

Thanksgiving Day

The Turkeys :)

Caroline checking out Uncle Brian

Real Food!!!!

2009-11-15T19:37:00.009-06:00

The time has come and gone that will forever change our baby girl, Little Caroline has been introduced to food. I did a lot of research as to when babies are ready and what is a safe point to start introducing them to food, and all of the qualifications listed have been aced by Caroline. With her teeth she could have probably jumped straight to steak but cereal won out. I have heard about a lot of babies that did not like the cereal experience, but our little one smiled and opened her mouth wide :) We are all doing well and are looking forward to our holiday season with our family. Enjoy the pictures!

Caroline and I also took a road trip to the ranch for her first Opening weekend of hunting season! Of course she had to be properly dressed for the occasion :)

Fall Pictures

2009-11-05T18:20:00.010-06:00

Ok, so the whole purpose of this blog is to let everyone know how truly wonderful our photographer is. Treva's talent is truly amazing and I highly encourage everyone to book her. If not Treva, then someone. Pictures are worth a million words and you will be glad that you have these memories to look back at. Take a peak at these pictures that she did of Caroline! We had a beautiful day and headed out to the arboretum. Caroline was wonderful and put up with us sticking her in all these crazy places. Enjoy!!! Happy Fall!

http://www.trevasstudio.com/

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T17:20:00.011-06:00

We have so much going on that sometimes I don't even realize we are living it all :) I know I took a long time off between blogs, but then I didn't even mention one of the most important things.... my anniversary! Joey and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on our daughter's 3 month birthday. Crazy I know, but the numbers work. To delve into it even deeper, my parents were married October 20th, and had my sister July 20th, and we were married September 20, and had our daughter June 20th :) Joey and I spent the night at the Hilton Anatole downtown and went out for a nice dinner, while Amanda and Mom had the baby. To do my little gushing, I am very fortunate to have such a wonderful husband. He is definately my best friend!

Ok, enough of that.... on to the important stuff, Baby's First Halloween :) I figured before she gets old enough for opinions, I had better dress her in what I like.... so she was a little lamb. She was definately the cutest lamb I have ever seen. To keep the night fun, Joey and I dressed up as farmers and put a blue ribbon on our little lamb to show everyone that she was our #1. We headed out to our friends houses and had a true family friendly Halloween party.... a first for a lot of us!

One more update for everyone out there.... last week Caroline was trying to chew on my fingers and boy was I surprised when I felt a tooth! At 4 months of age, my daughter has not 1, but 2 teeth! I cannot believe how fast she is growing up!!!

Our Anniversary Stay....

Halloween morning Fun :)

Mommy and Baby

Happy Baby, all ready for our shopping trip!

Moms and Kiddos

My Family!

How do these two have such adorable little girls.... they must get from their mommas!

Caroline and her BFF Bridgette!!! We will not comment on the fact that they are only 12 days, about 2.5 inches, and 2.5lbs apart :)

We Are Still Here

2009-10-25T19:49:00.011-05:00

I know that this blog is a little over due, but life doesn't seem to spare any time between the constant smiles of our little one and daily life. Joey, Caroline, and I are so happy and busy that I never know where to start posting :) Our days are full of smiles and giggles, reading and bath times, playing with our friends, and then of course, enjoying our time together as a family. Caroline is now 4 months old and extremely wonderful! She is constantly talking and smiling, she loves looking at books, and her favorite toy for the last couple of weeks has been her feet. In the past few weeks:

-Caroline and I got to go to Padre Island for a friend's wedding, which meant I could introduce her to all of our friends down there.

-The HOBs hosted their annual BBQ (on Texas/OU weekend)

-Caroline graduated to the exersaucer

-and about a million other things :)

Below are some pictures of everything that has been going on...

2 Months Old and Baptised

2009-08-23T22:20:00.007-05:00

The Heirloom Gown

So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. The work life balance is going well, even though I wish I could stay home all day. Baby Caroline has been the sweetest, most amazing baby that I know we are completely spoiled. She is sleeping well, eating really well, and smiling all the time. She loves tummy time and laying around talking, and yes she can make herself heard :) As I write this, she is sound asleep in my arms, I could not be happier.

On Friday, we headed down to the Hill Country to introduce Caroline to her Great Grandmother and all of her relatives in Fredericksburg and the surrounding area. She loved shopping on Main street, and of course I could not resist all the amazing baby stuff. The most important part of the weekend was today, her baptism. She is the 4th generation of girls to be baptised at the baptismal fountain at St. Mary's. The gown that she wore, is a family heirloom. Caroline is the 42nd member of my family to be baptised in the Baptismal gown. This gown has traveled around the world to Switzerland, all throughout the states, and of course in Texas. Caroline was a perfect angel :) The ceremony was so special and she didn't cry out once. In fact, after she was baptised with the water, she looked around and yawned. We took the celebrations to Mamacita's for some lunch and then it was time to head back to Dallas. Did I mention that she is amazing in the car, she never got fussy, even after being stuck in her carseat for 5 hours.

Tomorrow we head to the pediatrician for her 2 month visit, so I will let you all know how that goes. All I know is that I dread her having to get 5 vaccinations tomorrow :(

8 weeks old

2009-08-15T17:52:00.008-05:00

Well, I have survived going back to work and the baby is 8 weeks old! Time has flown by and we are now looking forward to her baptism on the 23rd. Of course, it will be at the Family church in Fredericksburg and Caroline will finally get to meet her great Oma. I am currently looking at changing careers within Covance, so maybe I will actually get a work/life balance. Joey and I have been enjoying being together as a family and are absolutely crazy over our little princess. She is talking to us and smiling all the time. The poor baby has flashes going off in her eyes all the time, but we can't help it. Her biggest leap has been rolling over. My family was all over and in the middle of tummy time, she just rolled over. We thought it was a fluke, but then she did it again... our daughter is brilliant. Below are a few pictures of the past few weeks.

My little cutie!

It's all smiles!

I forgot to mention that Caroline went to B is for Bear's Daycare for the first time. Our friend Amy is taking care of Caroline a couple of times a week and we are soooo lucky. She was the answer to all of our worries! This is little Caroline when I brought her home from her first day with Amy and her little on Audrey.

Cracking up during tummy time...

Find the baby :)

My Family

2009-07-22T21:49:00.008-05:00

So don't be shocked... yes I am writing my second blog this week. I just wanted to share a couple photos of our sweet baby girl and my family. Treva once again captured the most amazing pictures and these are just a few of them....

1 Month Old

2009-07-21T16:13:00.005-05:00

I cannot believe how fast time has flown. Yesterday Caroline turned 1 month old!!! She is doing extremely well. Sleeping throughout the night in 4-5 hour increments and great awake time in the morning and evening. Joey and I have really gotten into the swing of being parents and are still completely amazed that we are parents to such a wonderful little girl. This Friday is her 1 month doctors visit and I am preparing myself for the first round of vaccinations :( I am also preparing myself to go back to work in the beginning of August. I went in yesterday to introduce my co-workers to the baby and found out that there was a possibility of a new job for me, so I am excited for that, but not ready to go back....

Playdate with Ruby!!!

Tummy Time Break :)

3 Weeks Old

2009-07-11T23:01:00.014-05:00

I cannot believe that Caroline is already 3 weeks old! She has still not made it back up to her birth weight, so she is all legs and arms :) Her pediatrician said she is perfect in every way (which her parents already knew), so we are just working on making her gain some weight. Today we had her first photo shoot and I cannot wait to see how they turn out. The most amazing photographer, Treva (she did all of our engagement, bridal, and wedding shoots), came over to the house tonight to capture our little princess. Life is wonderful and Joey and I could not be any happier!

First trip to the pediatrician

The doting Daddy

My Family

First Bath

The nursery

Where the Princess Sleeps

More of the Nursery

Daddy and his Sweet Little Caroline

My Sweet Little Angel

Life is Perfect!

The most wonderful moment!

2009-06-22T22:59:00.007-05:00

Our baby girl is finally here! On Saturday, June 20, 2009, at 08:48 am, she arrived, exactly 9 months to the date of our wedding! She is an absololutely gorgeous baby and already ahead of the class. She had an Apgar score of 9.9, which is basically perfect since it is on a 1-10 scale (a baby over 7 is healthy). She weighed in at exactly 8 lbs and 21 1/4 inches long. She passed her hearing test faster than all the other babies in this weekend, and was given a clean bill of health by her pediatrician. I have a few pictures and once I get the hang of these hours, will post more :) We are all doing well and are excited to spend our first night tonight, in our house, as a family. Catch up with you all soon!

Luv,

Joey, Adrienne, and Baby Caroline

39 Weeks and the News is.....

2009-06-18T23:50:00.003-05:00

Alright, so at the final doctor appointment today we found out that little miss Caroline is perfectly content with no plans on making a move, so we are evicting :) We are going to be admitted to the hospital tomorrow and then if everything goes as planned, she will be here Saturday. Stay tuned and I will let you know how tomorrow goes....

38 Weeks and Ready to Pop

2009-06-10T20:11:00.002-05:00

I have decided that it is not the pregnant woman that does the nesting, but the anxious fathers :) In our ninth month of pregnancy, Joey and I have put a new glass storm door up, made some alterations to our shower, completed the nursery (pictures will be coming soon), painted our entire downstairs, and had new hardwood floors installed. All of this on top of Joey turning 30!!! In which we hosted a BBQ for all of our closest friends on Joey's new Big Boy BBQ pit. Of course, it did not escape our notice that the parties have changed drastically, we had 3 pregnant ladies, 3 energetic kids, and 2 adorable 4-5 month olds. At our 38 weeks and 1 Day appointment today, I had lost 4 more pounds, bringing my total pregnancy weight gain to 1 pound, crazy I know, apparently Caroline doesn't like being squished by my meals. Doctor Gunby set my final appointment for next Thursday and if she is not here by then, we will be planning her eviction!!! Only a few more days now and we can not wait to meet her. I have a fresh hair cut, grand plans of packing my bag (hopefully next day or so), and Joey installed the car seat base, so we should be pretty much set. I will post some pictures this weekend of the Levandowski House, 1 week before baby makes 3....

34 weeks and Counting

2009-05-13T16:51:00.006-05:00

Wow, all I can say is that Mother's Day now means much more to me since I know what it takes to incubate a baby. Women who survive the 9 months of pregnancy are my idol, because at this point, I want Caroline out :) I am sure I will miss being pregnant, well.... probably not. We had another baby shower and it was a blast. All of our closest friends were there and the beer was flowing, at least for everyone besides the 3 preggo chicks there. I truly think that we are set for Caroline's big arrival, as much as anyone can be. So that was 2 weeks ago, and this last weekend, my family all converged on the ranch to help celebrate it's 100th birthday. It is an amazing place that holds so much of the families history. I can't wait till Caroline can play in the fields, float in the river, and take a sense of pride in how generations before us have been molded by this special place. After 10 long hours (roundtrip) in the car, I was exhausted and uncomfortable, but it is crazy to think that my next road trip will have a car seat in the back :) We got back to Dallas at about 2:30 in the morning, and my wonderful husband had bought me a Mother's Day bouquet and a card. He is truly amazing and I know that he will be the best dad. It is crazy to think we are roughly 40 days away from having our own Sweet Caroline.

Easter and Baby Shower Weekend

2009-04-13T17:49:00.006-05:00

This weekend marked the last road trip that Joey and I will take without a car seat in the back! We headed to Houston for the Annual Crawfish Boil and our first Baby Shower. The shower was thrown by my sister-in-law and Joey's Aunt and it was absolutely amazing. All of the Houston women were there accompanied by one of the best friends from college and her precious little boy. Kim did an amazing job putting everything together, she ordered the sweetest cake, made the diaper cake, and covered the house in pink! Below are just a few of the pictures that I took. Needless to say, Joey got his first practice in the daddy duty realm by trying to fit all of Caroline's stuff in the car!

The Perfect Cake!

This diaper cake is too cute to pull apart!

Dana, her adorable son Hudson, and myself (not much lap for Hudson to sit on left ;) )

The Perfect Hostesses!

The Easter Tradition Picture!

Making Fun

2009-03-23T13:27:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow marks the first day of our third trimester! I cannot believe we are here already. The nursery is still a work in progress, but looks amazing. I went to the doctor on Friday and everything was looking great, the heartbeat is strong and measurements are right on. He wants to see us back in 3 weeks and then we will be on a 2 week schedule, so excited. Caroline is definately active and moving around the clock.

Joey and I attended a wedding this weekend of a long time family friend and had a nice night in Austin. You can see a hint of my big ole' belly, but I will need to post one that shows the baby bump :)

I took today off of work because I have been working around the clock and really felt the wear and tear today. Of course, as I was doing my weekly reading on pregnancy, I found a link to a website that "makes your babies." So I morphed my picture with Joey and here we have a sneak peak of little Caroline... it gave me a good laugh!

March Madness

2009-03-01T20:35:00.004-06:00

So much is going on right now that is it crazy to try to keep up. Joey and I went away last weekend for some R&R on Padre Island. We ended up playing all day and hanging out with all of our wonderful friends at night. The Corpus Chrisit Lacrosse team had a game on Saturday, so I got to see my husband play. He is the sexy one in the #9 jersey :) I have to take a second and make sure that everyone realizes how lucky I am to be married to him. He is truly the most wonderful man and my best friend.

After coming home from the long weekend on the beach, it is now game time in the nursery! We are cleaning it all out and picking out the paint colors. After today, we are extremely close to starting to paint and it could not be any sooner with June just around the corner. We also bought the crib today, below is a picture! It will be the perfect place for our Sweet Caroline to dream. Hopefully we will be able to start putting some pictures up....

2 Weeks of Shopping

2009-02-03T18:00:00.002-06:00

Well, in the 2 weeks that we have known that our lives were going to be covered in pink, I think my mom and I have quite a wardrobe ready for little Caroline. I know we have probably gone a little crazy, but who wouldn't. Today is my official half way mark of the pregancy. We have hit week 20 and we are now on the downhill slide to her arrival. We just bought tickets to head to Padre Island for a mini-vacation and we can't wait to see everyone! Joey and I are having so much fun being married and preparing to our daughter's birth. Everytime he refers to her, he just says "Baby Girl." It is really the cutest thing and just melts my heart, I am so excited for them to meet! I know this is a slightly random posting, but wanted to catch up. I hope everyone reading this is doing well!

Caroline Elizabeth Levandowski

2009-01-21T20:33:00.005-06:00

Today was the day, after 18 weeks of carrying around a new fruit every week, from blueberry to mango to cantalope, we can now give thanks for our baby girl. The appointment today could only be described as breathtaking. The doctor that did the sonogram was fantastic, she went over all of the baby's measurements and anatomy and everything was right on track. The heart looked perfect, the spinal cord in line, the little kidneys were functioning and no cleft palate to be seen. Of course, our daughter is a lady, so it took a while to coerce her to spread her legs so that we could get the money shot :) It is amazing, I was so sure it was a boy, so much for mother's intuition. My mom was with us and there were a lot of tears and hugs. It was a truly magical moment of course was followed with the only natural thing... shopping. 5 more months left....

Too Long

2009-01-16T17:26:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I am not the greatest at keeping the blog up to date, but I promise I will try. Since my last blog, a lot has happened. Christmas was a whirl wind with traveling all over the state to visit with the family, but it was great to see everyone. I went from no belly bump, to a mountain over night :) I had my 15th week appointment and was measuring a little further along, so that moved my sonogram up to the 21st of this month. I can't believe that in a little less than a week we will know if it is a boy and a girl, and if the small possibility of twins is true. I know it is crazy, but since I am measuring further along it is a possibility. We are in the middle of fixing up the house ans are staying busy. I am ready to start on the nursery and will be able to, after we clean out the room. Well, that is the last month in a nutshell and look forward to the results of the sonogram on Wednesday!

THANKSGIVING

2008-11-28T22:25:00.002-06:00

Well, we had our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We had my mom and sister over and served up a feast. Joey baked the most amazing pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread you can imagine. He is so wonderful and it was a great holiday. We have so much to be thankful this yeark, on Wednesday we heard the baby's heartbeat and made it out ot the danger zone. In less than 2 weeks we will be through our first trimester and I cannot wait. This year has been like a fantasy and I cannot wait for all that next year promises.

Wedding Pictures

2008-11-15T21:35:00.003-06:00

We received all of our wedding pictures from the photographer this week and they brought tears to my eyes. It was such a special day seeing the pictures brought back a rush of memories. Our photographer is more of a friend and she is truly gifted! I have already booked a maternity package to chronicle our little one's first year!

8 Week Picture

2008-11-13T12:29:00.003-06:00

Well, we went to the doctor and had a sonogram. All I can say is that our little Rasberry is really growing! At least that is what all the books liken the baby's size to at this point! Joey and I were really excited to have this tangible proof that our baby was really in there. We could see the cord, the hearbeat, and the little body. Wow, 7 more months to go!

New Doctor

2008-11-01T11:12:00.002-05:00

Well, we are now 6 1/2 weeks pregnant and have opted to change doctors. We will now be going to Dr. Robert Gunby, the same doctor that delivered all 4 of us sisters. I am very excited about this and we have an 8 week appointment set for November 12. According to all of the books, Baby Ski is about the size of a blueberry :)

First OB Visit

2008-10-29T15:35:00.003-05:00

Well, on the day that we turned 5 weeks, Joey and I met with our OBGyn. Dr. Hairston will be delivering our baby at Baylor Medical Center. We sat down and talked everything out with her, had lots of blood work and established Baby Ski's due date... June 23, 2009!

Baby News

2008-10-29T10:34:00.002-05:00

I had hidden my baby secret from Joey for 4 days before the perfect opportunity arose to tell him that he was going to be a dad. October 16, 2008, we went to the Neil Diamond World Tour in Dallas as a wedding present to ourselves. I was super nervous and could not figure out how I was going to break the news that our lives were about to be completely turned upside down. We got to the concert and sat down in our seats (great seats I might add) and I turned to Joey. Once I told him my news, he promptly told me I was lying :) With tears in my eyes, I filled him in and then the concert started. It was the best concert I have ever been to and an amazing time with my new husband and Baby Ski! Maybe it will be Sweet Caroline or little Jack...

Wedding

2008-10-29T09:41:00.002-05:00

We finally tied the knot. We were married in Fredericksburg, Texas among 225 of our closest friends and family. The day was perfect and the band played into the night. We flew out of Dallas to spend 9 days in the Dominican Republic. The resort was amazing, the ocean was crystal clear, and the drinks were plentiful :) We were finally settling into our married life and then....