A New Season

After spending 3+ weeks at ChildTime Daycare, we worked out another amazing opportunity. A good friend of ours from church, Brittany Oaks (the mom of Levi's "girlfriend", Ruthie), started taking care of Levi the very beginning 0f September (the 2nd). She has decided to stay home from work ever since she had Ruthie (1 month younger than Levi), and after working through the details, she has agreed to watch Levi for us. She has made a commitment to watch him at least for the next year. The Oaks live in an apartment downtown, so their location is even perfect for Dustin since it is close to his work. We are so very happy for this situation--Levi can have a lot more personal attention and love from Brittany than he could at the daycare.
Now, there was nothing "wrong" with the daycare Levi was going to. We really feel like the two workers in the Infant I room, Linda (top right) and Aileen (bottom right) did the best they could to take care of Levi like we had asked and love on him the best they could. The reality is, though,
between the two of them, they at times would have up to 5 to 7 other infants to take care of at the same time. There is really only so much attention one can give to a child in such a situation. His last day at ChildTime was August 29th, and sweet Linda and Aileen had put together a little photo memory book for Levi including pictures of him and his friends there! I know they had gotten attached to the charming Levi in such a short period of time. I actually started crying when Dustin showed me the book (he really is so loveable!!). I know it's silly, but I felt bad for letting them get attached to Levi and him to them, then change situations again. How sad to expect to be able to watch someone grow-up and invest time in them thinking that, then the next day find out that's not going to be the case! Obviously, I very am happy and without regrets about our new situation, but I couldn't help but feel a taste of bitter-sweetness in the transition. I am thankful for Linda and Aileen's time and love invested in Levi those critical 3 weeks while I was transitioning back to work-life.

Here's a picture of Levi with Ms. Brittany, actually a couple weeks after being there (breaking chronological order for a moment). Things have been going quite well. Levi doesn't seemed as drained and tired when I see him in the evenings. He's been napping like a champ (at the daycare, sometimes he would only nap for 15-20 minutes!) , and Levi and Ruthie have been copying and learning from each other. Brittany is so wonderful with Levi, loving on him, singing and talking to him, reading to both of them, and even taking the two of them on walks with her new double stroller. :-) She is really a blessing from the Lord. Dustin and I are so very happy to have her in our lives and little Levi's.