All smiles

I realized that in all the pictures of Levi on our blog he is sleeping. So today I added some of his beautiful smile. Enjoy!

Fun with friends

My dear friend DeAnne with her husband Landi, daughter Lidia and son Jakob

Yesterday we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana to meet with a very close friend of mine from college. She now lives in Albania, and though we both live in Europe, we haven't seen each other since our wedding over 2 1/2 years ago! We spent a wonderful 3 hours together at the food court at the mall--not the best place for catching up, by the way--and then had to say good-bye again. We are going to try to meet up again in the fall in Croatia, which is halfway for both of us. How I thank God for friends like De, who enrich my life and with whom I can always pick up where we left off!

Florida

Our family enjoying the Florida sunshine

A beautiful Florida sunset

After a very cold February, with record breaking snowfalls (see picture below of South Haven that Attila took this month) we had the wonderful joy of going to Florida with my family. We went to Disney and the beach and most of all just enjoyed the 80+ F (25+ C) degree weather.

South Haven Light House in February (brrrrr)

Levi on his first trip to Disney (you can see he is having a great time!)

Our 8 year old nephew, Joseph, playing in the sand



Tamara with her sister, Bekka


What a hero!

Our little Levi

I can hardly believe our little guy is 7 weeks old. Though he is still tiny, I feel like he is growing so fast. My days seem to fly and I often wonder what I "accomplished". But then I am reminded of the beauty of investing in this little life. What a joy he is!


Attila calls Levi the "Nuki Király"--the "Nuki King" because he loves his pacifier

Levi in his favorite position--blessing the masses

Our beautiful BOY!

Levente (Levi) Samuel Szögedi was born at 6:23 pm on January 22. He weighed 7 pounds 8 oz (3.4 kilo) and was 18 inches (45 cm) long.

For those of you who don't know, we thought we were having a girl--the doctor told us 80% girl after two different ultrasounds. And yet, here he is, our wonderfully beautiful baby boy-- And you know what? Now I can't even imagine having had a girl. He is so perfect!

Getting ready to leave the hospital

Our sleepy boy

Levi's first bath at home

Attila's first diaper change (but not his last!)

The birth story
The birth went very quickly. I delivered at 6:23 pm (less than an hour after we arrived at the hospital). I woke up at 6:30 am feeling sort of "funny" and about 10 in the morning I began timing my contractions. All day the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and, though they were quite painful, they weren't getting closer together so I wasn't even sure I was in real labor. At about 4 pm I called my doctor to ask her if she thought I should go in to get checked. She said I should wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart. About 1/2 an hour later my contractions started coming 3 to 4 minutes apart and were lasting a minute to a minute and a half! Needless to say, we left for the hospital after we quickly finished packing our bags. When we arrived at the hospital, I was shocked to learn that I was already 8 cm dilated and that it was too late to ask for the epidural (I had decided on the way to the hospital that I wanted the epidural). Less than an hour later, I heard my mom say, "Oh my gosh, its a boy!" What a shock! And so I have to say, God surprised me that day. He brought my little Levi into the world quickly and though it wasn't pain-free, it was an amazing experience. I can't wait to see what He has planned for our little guy!

THE ARRIVAL

Levente Samuel Szögedi was born on Tuesday, January 22 at 6:23pm at the South Haven Hospital. More pictures are coming...

Introduction

Finally we decided to give a shot to start a blog.
Our first child is due in less than two weeks so we'll have lots of pictures to post soon.
The baby is kind of shy. We've had four ultrasounds so far but we still don't know whether we're having a girl or a boy. Our doctor in Hungary said he thinks it's 80% that we have a girl. So we might be surprised.