baby shower!

I really need to start posting more between Levi's monthly updates. It has been almost 2 weeks... I know that the few people who do read this probably only check it for pics of Levi! Ha! I know what's important!! Just kidding! :) Sorta..

This weekend a friend and I hosted a baby shower at my house for one of our other friends and her new baby. It was a lot of work to plan, but it was fun! Only a few other friends came, but we had a good time! The baby's name is Pieper Ruth, and she is the sweetest little thing ever! She is just adorable! And such a good baby...she barely made a peep the whole time, except when she got hungry. Levi wasn't quite sure what to think of mommy holding another baby. He was curious, that is for sure. He had to go check her out a few times...we have to practice being nice and not trying to grab her face a bit yet though....lol. He is still little so he didn't really know any better.

We made a rainbow cake, which was fun! Time consuming, but I think it turned out good, and everyone was impressed!!

I failed as photographer though, and didn't get a picture of Pieper and Molly, or one of all of us together. Bummer :( 

9 months

Levi had his 9 month check-up today, so I decided to get the post up tonight. Another month that flew by! I can't believe in only THREE months my little munchkin will be a whole year old. He is so much fun, even though he can definitely be a stinker sometimes. He's got a temper on him, he gets mad when you take something away that he shouldn't have, or don't give him something. Could be the age too I guess!

He got another ear infection this month, so that is four total, except this one didn't go away with just the amoxycillin and he ended up taking zithromax to get rid of it. At his check-up, Dr. M said it was up to us if we wanted to talk to ENT about tubes, but they would most likely tell us to wait a bit longer. For kids in daycare, the average is 6-8 colds per year, and a cold can lead to ear infections in his age. I also brought Levi to the chiropractor today. He has been there once before, and I thought now that he is moving so much more it would be a good time for another one. Dr. H suggested some probiotics since he has been on antibiotics so much for the ear infections, they will just put some of the good bacteria back into his body that the antibiotics take out. He adjusted a few spots and said to bring Levi back to him if I thought he had the start of another ear infection, and he would do a few things to get the fluid moving in his ears, and if that doesn't help we would go get more antibiotics. Phew. That got long. I tend to over-explain things, lol :)

The picture-taking process was about as much of a workout as last month. The kid seriously does NOT want to sit still. Not for me at least. It's funny when mommy tries to take pictures of me! I have a feeling it's only the beginning of many years of PRETTY PLEASE, JUST ONE PICTURE!!! Then I will bribe. Anyhoo...

At 9 months::

Weighs 20 lbs 13.5 oz.

30.5 inches tall.

Size 12 month clothing.

In size 4 dipes.

Is a busy, busy boy. There is always something to get into...such as mommy's plants (which have all been re-located), any shelf I can reach (had to clear the bottom 2 levels of one shelf and the other is close to being next...), the pots and pans, crawling behind the couch, crawling up the stairs, and the list goes on!

Has 4 teeth now! The bottom left came in 2 weeks after the right, and just last week he got two more...on the top, the two outside ones. He skipped the middle ones for now, but I'm sure they will be in soon.

Has a bottle about 4 times a day, give or take. Still takes it better at daycare, or will drink more there at least.

Not interested in baby food much anymore. He eats his breakfast of oatmeal cereal and fruit really well, but dinner and supper are hit and miss. At his check-up today, Dr. M pretty much said he is ready for table food, so we will start with that soon once the baby food is used up. He really likes cheese and bread (white more than wheat, little stinker), avocado, mostly anything we give him off of our plates. I have given him chunks of peaches and pears, but he has a hard time getting them in his mouth yet b/c they are slippery. He likes them though.

His latest noises are ba-ba-ba-ba, every once in awhile he'll throw a mmmma in there. He likes to scream and yell in very high-pitched tones.

Enjoys bath time for the most part and spends most of the time standing up next to the edge, or to the spout trying to bite the inflatable thing I have on there so he doesn't hit his head. Just lately he's started trying to climb out, and in too. I must admit, it is pretty cute watching him try to lift his little leg up over the edge. Sad thing is he would be able to do it...he knows enough to lean forward at the same time, and his chest is at the right level that he would go face first to the floor or do a flip or something. I hope to not find out yet, because I'm certain it would result in crying.

Still loves his pacifier. He will go down without it at daycare but not for me, unless he falls asleep with the bottle and doesn't look for it.

Sleep has been getting better....ear infections mess that up every time he starts to make progress. So ready for summer and to be done with those stupid things.

Not quite sure of the sippy yet. He'll take a few drinks, and then be done with it. Loves taking drinks out of my glass though...he is pretty good at it. And also loves when I give him a little pop out of my straw when we go out for supper. I created a monster with that, any time he sees a straw he has a fit until I give him some. Note to self: order water instead of pop...

Waves bye-bye when he feels like it. He knows how to, if you wave to him he just grins, then will start waving. Also shakes his head. That has sort of become the way he tells me he is done eating. If you shake your head at him he will copy and start doing most of the time.

Pics!

holiday mini-album

I never really mentioned it this year, but I did take pictures for a holiday album. It wasn't necessarily everyday, so technically not a December Daily like last year. Well, now that it is the middle of January, I finally got the pictures ordered. It took me longer than it should have to organize/edit them, and decide which ones to use. When it comes to ordering pics for scrapbooking, I tend to want to visualize what type of page I want to make, and order the photo size from there, so I like to go through each picture and crop it how I want, etc. It takes awhile, but that is how it works for me. I guess it would help if I kept on top of ordering pictures instead of ordering 500 at a time like I just did earlier this month! That is the other thing, I like to order 4x6's for my photo albums along with the pics I want to scrapbook. I probably make things way more complicated than it should be, but I don't want to scrapbook every single picture, I just do pages with the pictures I love, or that have a special meaning, and so on.

Back to the holiday album, when I got all the pics ready to upload to the site where I get all the pics I want to scrapbook...(scrapbookpictures.com, because they have so many different sizes!)...I open the page and NOOOOO!!! They are closed! Due to the economy and more competition, blah blah blah, they had to close. UGH! So I just finished ordering them from mpix, which does have great picture quality, just not near as many size options. :( I will survive I suppose.

SO, now I just have to wait to get those and then I can hopefully get it all put together quickly, before I forget why I took each picture. I will post some pics of it when I finally finish. Hopefully before June.

Sorry that was kind of a random post. My specialty is run-on sentences and jumping from one thing to another. Some days I wonder how my brain works.

Levi's 9 month update will be after his check-up on Tuesday, so I have all the stats!

a couple new videos

Just wanted to share these!

Christmas

I am FINALLY getting some Christmas pictures up. We had a great holiday, Levi received lots of wonderful gifts, and it was fun spending time with our families!

Family picture from Christmas with my mom's side.

 Next two are from Christmas with my family. Levi was having fun climbing on all the gifts and getting the bows! And, on his present from Grandpa and Grandma!

 Paul with his Grandma and Levi at his dad's side Christmas.

 Levi opening his presents from Santa on Christmas morning!

 And in his wagon from mommy and daddy! Notice the fancy bling on the back... :)

 At Christmas with my dad's side, Levi is the best present ever!

 Just yesterday, Christmas with Paul's family...Paul reading a book that Levi got to Aaron and Levi.

 And last but not least, we managed to get the kids to sit still long enough to snap a pic of all the Staples cousins!

So that is a general overview of the last few weeks!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012! Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. We didn't do much. Levi had his first non-grandma/family baby-sitter for a few hours while we went out for supper with some friends. He did alright, but she said he cried a little and didn't want to eat anything, which didn't surprise me. We both survived though! After we picked him up we went home and put him to bed, then Paul and I watched a movie. Pretty exciting!

Poor guy has another ear infection, too. Number four. :( He is on amoxicillin again, but this time it has something called Clavulanic Acid with it. I think it makes his tummy hurt, and it gives him diarrhea. So even if it helps the ear infection go away in the TEN days he has to take it, he still doesn't feel very good. He also had a red throat, so the dr. said that was viral and should go away in a few days. Plus he's got a bit of a cold again, so he's stuffed up. It's a never-ending cycle this winter. SUMMER, you can come anytime now!!

I made a few resolutions this year and I'm hoping I can keep them..

Maintain a healthy lifestyle :: Exercise, eat better, and lose weight. I need to do this and keep it up, not just give up after a month or two. I don't feel good about how I look right now, and it is affecting other parts of my life. I realize I will never be skinny, and I don't want to be, but I need to get to a point where I feel good about what I look like, and can be more confident again.

Read more :: I would like to read one book a month. I thought that sounded like a reasonable goal...finding the time amongst everything else I would like to get done will be the challenge.
Edit: After thinking about this more, I have come to the conclusion that I will most likely fail at reading one book every month, so I'm going to revise this and try for 5 books total this year...hopefully I can handle that!

Do more things for myself :: This sounds self-centered, but so much of my life is focused on taking care of Levi, keeping the house somewhat it order, making supper, etc., that I haven't had a lot of time to do much for myself lately. Just little things like painting my toenails, spending a little extra time on my hair/makeup, things like that. I just feel like if I feel better about myself then I will be a better mom and wife to Paul and Levi.

So, those are my resolutions. I'll try and remember to recap at the end of the year and see how I actually did. :)

I will try and get some pics up from Christmas soon too. Kind of out of order here, lol!