The Last Month

It's tough to believe that it has already been a month since Levi was born! Here are a few photos that of that last month.

. After he was born, I got to have skin to skin contact with him for about 45 minutes before the nurse took him to have him weighed and such. It was a great bonding time!

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Daddy and son time in the hospital. Aren't they super cute together?
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Our first looks of Levi. Don't we always admire babies?

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Alena's grandma Cerkas took care of he while we were in the hospital with Levi. Later in the evening on the day he was born, Alena got a chance to meet her little brother. Grandma loved bonding with her new grandson.

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All buckled up and ready to head home!
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Levi's cousin, Ben, came over to our house with his mommy & daddy to meet him. Here, Grandma Hawkins is holding Ben and Uncle Kevin is holding Levi. Ben is just 2 months older than Levi.
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Alena truly does love her little brother... a tender moment :)
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Meeting Auntie Avery for the first time
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Trying on Daddy's boots and gloves. So cute!
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Levi's first real bath... in the bathtub!
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Our little G.
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Here's Alena doimg her "job" of putting the dirty laundry down the chute. She's checking to make sure that everything is going down OK! Sometimes Dada plays games and looks up the chute back at her!
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She wasn't really pushing him around... just a cute little photo op :) Funny, though, that Levi fits in his sister's doll's stroller!
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Our sweet little man. We've dubbed him the Red Man because he gets sooo red when he gets mad!
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A cute bonding moment between siblings. Levi is one month old, Alena is a few weeks shy of 2 years old.

Chewing on Rubber Bands

Here we have the newest member of our family, Levi, demonstrating how he can sound like he's chewing on rubber bands as he's "gnawing" on his nuk. He communicates with us in grunts, squeaks, and squeals. We think it's pretty funny :)

Alena says hi to Levi

Levi Russell

Levi Russell Cerkas entered the world on Wednesday, January 19 at 11:50 am! He weighed in at 9lbs 8oz and 20.5 in. We were very thankful that he was born prior to his due date!

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I first thought I might be going into labor at 7am and started timing the contractions. Within a half an hour, I realized that I should probably call Eric home from work (he left a 5:30am and I was fine then) since the contractions were 7 minutes or less apart and pretty strong. I called a friend who picked up Alena (thanks, Lori!) around 8:45. Boy, was I glad I did as the contractions got much stronger after that!

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We arrived at the hospital a little after 9:30 and had just enough time to get our affairs in order before everything got intense. I was already at 7cm when we got there. We got an epidural (which didn't work very well at all this time), doc broke my water, and tried to relax. We had to call the nurse back in a half an hour or so later because I thought we were ready to push... and we were! Like I said, the epidural wasn't working very well, so I was in a hurry to get him out! The doc rushed out of the OR to deliver, and everything got crazy, quickly, and thankfully! Levi was born 5 minutes later!

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He was super healthy from the get go, so we were able to have a "normal" post delivery experience. With Alena, she was rushed off to the nursery right away and we could only spend time with her there. Levi spent is first 45 minutes of life bonding with me instead of with a nurse or getting cleaned up. It was so refreshing for us!! He peed on me twice and pooped once, also making us thankful that his "plumbing" worked great. Right from the get go, he has nursed great, despite the fact that he is mildly tongue-tied.

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I had called my mom earlier to let her know that we were in labor because we wanted her to be there for the delivery. Well, she wasn't able to make it in time for the delivery :( She arrived about 1/2 hour after he was born. We were thankful, though, that she was able to share in the rest of our experience. She was ecstatic to be able to help the nurse to give him his first bath.

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We were able to come home the day after he was born because we were both doing so well! I feel 100 times better than I did after Alena was born! Almost normal, praise the Lord! We've spent the last 24 hours catching up on sleep and getting used to having a baby around again. Alena came home from her grandpa & grandma's house this afternoon and has been adjusting as well. My mom and stepdad are here and have been helping out tremendously!!

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We are all very thankful for how everything has been going and pray that we can continue to adjust easily to a family of 4! We are so very blessed with our son and daughter! The Lord has been good to us!

Avery's Wedding

The day before the wedding, a few people went to Sylvan Hills Recreation Area to go tubing. We didn't end up going, but Alena had a chance to play on the playground, despite the wet equipment (it was raining). Auntie Avery helped her out.

.Here we are getting ready and waiting for the ceremony to start. I didn't get any shots of the wedding, for obvious reasons.

.The happy couple: Davey & Avery

.Alena was the center of attention at the reception, as you can see. She was running around everywhere, saying hello to everyone, making them all smile.

.She danced with the bride, of course!

.Grandma Hawkins loved having her around

.And they showed each other a few new dance moves!

.Here are my DeNamur family aunts, busting a groove... later in the evening.

.Alena slept in the next day, and we weren't surprised. She fell asleep in a side room (in her pack n play) later in the evening during the reception, but we woke her up when we drove back to our hotel at 10pm. She didn't get back to sleep until 11. We were very proud of her good behavior during the wedding and reception!

Aubrey & Alena Wallowing in Wrapping Paper

This video was taken on Christmas Eve after all of the gifts in the Cerkas household were opened. It is kinda tradition to leave the paper on the floor, and they used to bury the dog in it. The grandgirls really loved playing in it this year! They were so funny!

Grandpa Hawkins & Alena Dancing

Grandpa Hawkins had a super awesome time at Avery's wedding. He even took the time to take a spin around the floor with his granddaughter, Alena :) They were soooo cute together!

Over Christmas, I caught more than one precious moment where Grandpa had little Alena on his lap and he was feeding her some of his food or just snuggling with her! I really love that my (Apryl) stepdad is such a loving and loved grandpa for my kids (and mom)!! He loves Alena just as if she were biologically his! That makes my heart swell with happiness!