Hey Merry Christmas! But no filthy animals for us this year, as the only raccoon we had to deal with in the house was Vinny on Halloween. (Summer 2022 we had to remove a REAL raccoon from our attic crawlspace)
2023 year started off much like last year, with a strong sense of anticipation of another baby! (We didn’t find out whether it was a boy or girl this time either, and still stick to our theory that in a world where almost every fact is instantly discoverable, not knowing is the most fun way to go).
However, compared to last year we were much more settled in to our house and had updated / fixed most of the major stuff on it. Lewis’ mom and dad have been an indispensable help with handy projects ever since we moved into our house on Maple Lane in Moline, November 2021.
The new baby showed an early rebellious streak before birth when it went breach and wouldn’t flip around, despite much coaxing from mom, including the promise of a new car on it’s 18th birthday. Dr. Pimentel at Unity Point in Bettendorf, performed a nearly unbelievable procedure called a Version, which many doctors today will not even try, and he actually turned the baby around with his hands. Lewis would not have believed it unless he had watched, part amazed, part horrified, with his own eyes. But it worked perfectly, and the baby stayed head-down, and about a week later Alexey gave birth to Ivy Pearl on March 23rd, just two days after Alexey’s birthday. The first baby girl on either the Knudsen or Lamansky side, and she is every bit the little princess that one would expect. Right at the last minute, Dr. Pimentel brought Lewis around to catch Ivy right as she entered the world, and there is a picture of Lewis’ face during this moment, looking the most surprised and scared he has ever looked, maybe because of the situation, or maybe because instinctively he knows that having a daughter will probably be much more complicated than having a son.
Ivy was on the low end of ideal weight when she came home with us two days after her birth, but due to being a voracious eater, it wasn’t too long before she earned the nickname “chunky princess” and now, at almost 9 months, is smiling, making loud sounds, sitting up, standing in her crib, and cheerfully grabbing Vinny’s hair and her parents neck skin with her amazing grip.
Friends from church brought meals or sent gift cards in the days following Ivy’s birth, for which we were very appreciative. One morning in April our friend (and wonderful doula) Charissa braved an insane wind storm (which ripped the roof off a nearby building) to bring us homemade breakfast. Alexey’s mom stayed with us for over a month and helped us adapt to juggling 2 kids in diapers.
Vinny is almost two and pretty much his favorite past time right now is running around the house, or as he enthusiastically calls it, being “pree” (free) and building jumbo Lego buildings with dad, listening to mom read books, singing along with songs like “Sweet Caroline” and “Uptown Funk” and eating bananas and strawberries. He loves giving kisses by saying “mwah!” loudly. He is starting to say a lot of words and repeat things he hears, and makes us laugh all the time. He is a very happy boy and is (almost) always very sweet to his little sister and his two cats.
Speaking of cats, Alexey self published her first book this year, “Simon and his Sister”, which was inspired by our two cats, and illustrated by Alexey’s mom Cindy. She hosted a book signing party in downtown Moline this past summer which was very well attended. Her book reading was captivating and the whole night was a smashing success with many copies sold. She is currently working on a sequel.
Lewis was a first-shift stay-at-home-dad for Vinny in 2022, but since this past June Alexey is staying home with Vinny and Ivy, which has allowed Lewis to go back to keeping fairly normal studio hours. However, since his studio is a room our church graciously allows him to use, just down the street from our house, he’s still able to be close by in case someone were to take off his diaper and start peeing everywhere while someone else were to be crying loudly for a bottle. Or some hypothetical situation like that.
Lewis continues to perform music full-time, and starting 2024 will begin a new residency gig on the Celebration Belle dinner boat in Moline. Lewis absolutely loves being a dad, and the schedule flexibility of the musician career allows him to spend extra time with Alexey and the kids at home. A ‘side hustle’ for Lewis is booking musicians for several Quad City area venues, which he really enjoys.
Alexey’s parents have a beautiful cabin in the Upper Peninnsula of Michigan, and in mid-November Lewis had a wonderful opportunity to spend 4 days there doing songwriting.
In the early part of this year, Lewis composed an album of 6 Christmas songs for a music library in France, which involved vintage-style analog recording at a local Quad Cities based recording studio, and he is currently collaborating with a number of other local songwriters and musicians on various projects which he is so excited about, and is also working on a new album for release in 2024, stay tuned!
God has been good to us. We praise Him for his mercy and guidance each step of the way. Through the joys and the difficulties, this life is a beautiful adventure, and we are blessed to get to be on the journey.
