15 months

A week late, but here it is! Levi's 15 month update. He had a check-up this month so I have his height and weight, too.

Is he not the cutest child ever? I mean, just look at those eyes! And his sweet smile? So handsome. Don't let him fool you though...he is a little stinker! We are going to have our hands FULL! He's a very busy little boy, and he knows what he wants!

At 15 months::

Levi weighs 25 lbs 12 oz (67th percentile).

Is 32.25 inches tall (82nd percentile).

Wears mostly size 18 month clothes, but can wear some brands of 24 month shirts.

Runs all over.

Walks on his tippy-toes a lot.

Points at everything. If he wants you to sit somewhere, he will point to where he wants you to sit. He climbs up on the glider on the deck, or on the couch, he'll point right next to himself where he wants you to come sit, and say 'sst'.

Just started nodding his head. Not a whole lot yet, but if I nod my head, he will copy me.

He has 2 molars now, both on top. Those were tough ones, worse teething so far. Yikes. Temp, crabby, runny/stuffy nose, just not himself. I am waiting on an amber teething necklace that I ordered for him, so I'm anxious to see if that helps.

Starting to say more and more words. Not too clearly yet, but in his own way. Shss=shoes, sst=sit, haa=hat, and so on. His latest is no, no, no. :) I should really start writing down all the words he says and when.

He has quite the little temper on him. Can't imagine where that comes from, ahem. I know it's all apart of being a toddler though. If he doesn't get his way he gets mad and will hit my face if I am holding him, or if he wants me to be holding him and I need to put him down, he will arch his back and scream. Lots of screaming. High pitched screaming. Oh, the joy.

Other than his 'moments' as mentioned above, he is just so fun. Paul and I love watching him discover new things, and watch him learn. He has the cutest giggle, and the biggest smile ever. When he smiles his whole face lights up, and I love that!

Any time he hears music he starts dancing. Funniest thing ever. (video in previous post!)

He goes to bed so good now, he has for the past few months, not sure if I have mentioned it or not. Other than days he's not feeling good (teething) or is over-tired, bedtime is a breeze for the most part. Bath, jammies, a few drinks of milk, books, lights out, say prayers, in the crib to go to sleep. Sometimes he will whine for a little bit, but nothing compared to what we went through with him for awhile where he would scream if we laid him down while he was still awake. And he sleeps usually around 9-10 hours, so can't really complain about that either.

On the days I am home with him he will still take 2 naps, but at daycare he only takes an afternoon nap. Which is fine, daycare is more interesting! Don't want to miss anything there! :)

Eating is still up and down. For the most part he eats very well, but he still won't touch much for vegetables. Hopefully he'll open up and try some new things pretty soon.

Well that is all I can think of right now, so here are some more pics!

Relay for Life

Sorry for missing my High Five post yesterday. It was kind of a busy day, and Levi hasn't been feeling great (stupid teething) so I decided to skip this week.

Friday evening was the Stevens County Relay for Life. We go to honor Paul's mom, his grandma, and his two aunts, all who are breast cancer survivors. Also on my mind were my grandma, Sawyer and Todd.

The first set of pictures is of the Survivor lap around the track. They all carry balloons with them, and once they get back, the balloons are released. We like to think of them as going to heaven remembering all those that were lost because of this horrible disease.

The next pictures are of our family. The top one is all of us, including Jenell's mom, sisters and one of her brothers, and our family. Bottom left is the Staples girls: Me, Jess, Jenell, Katie, Allie and Madison. Bottom right is Jenell with her sisters and Mom: Susan, Jo, Jenell and Naomi.

It's always a special night to us, for many reasons.

One of Levi's little friends from daycare was there too, and once she noticed him she was his little shadow. He wasn't real worried about her, but she just kept following him around. She liked holding his hand, and he was fine with it until he wanted to go check something else out. It was pretty cute. While the drum line performed during the opening ceremonies, they had to go dance. I got a little bit of it on video.

High Five for Friday

Is it possible that each passing week this summer goes by faster than the last? Man, it is just flying. Kind of late getting my post up this week, but we took a little bit of a day trip today. Paul took the day off so we could go down to Montevideo and see the Pioneer Village, then down to Redwood to check out Ramsey Falls. We go down to Ramsey once in awhile but this is the first time we took Levi. We love going down by the MN river bottom, so pretty in that area. Turned out to be an interesting afternoon, we spent an hour or so of it sitting at the Ford dealership in Redwood Falls getting a new alternator put into the pick-up! That was pleasant. It actually wasn't that bad, there was another mom there waiting for an oil-change, so we chatted with her and her two little girls. One of them was 6 months and just sitting and moving a little on her own, she was so cute! It sort of made me miss when Levi was that age! Seems like just yesterday. Both of the girls had on these amber teething necklaces so I asked her about them, and she said they have really helped her girls. I am contemplating getting one for Levi now that he's going to be getting a mouth-ful of molars. We'll see...not sure if Paul would let me put any sort of necklace on his little boy...

Well that got longer than I planned! I tend to ramble about things sometimes... :) Here's my five for this week!

1. Loving these things lately! I found them at the store this week and have been on a chicken salad kick for lunch at work. These are the Italian Herb flavor, but I want to try the Multigrain next. Yum!

2. Fireworks and another night out! Levi stayed overnight at my sister's on Saturday night so Paul and I could go to the street dance. We had a fun time with some friends, but it reminded me that I am getting too old for certain things...ahem. Lets just say once the room stopped spinning that night I slept fine. And it doesn't help that I am a lightweight, not drinking for over a year will do that to ya! Hi mom! :) This is the best shot of the fireworks that I got, they weren't anything spectacular. We thought they were over 3 times, then they would start up again. It's a small town so I guess we can't expect too much!

3. Got my hair colored! Well, just highlights. They weren't what I had in mind, but I like them. They're very subtle. No pic, sorry!

4. Someone was tired on the way home. I just thought it was hilarious how he had his binker in his mouth like that! He was OUT.

5. Day trip! Here are a few pics from our little excursion earlier! :) Levi was not terribly interested in the Pioneer Village (obviously, since he is only 15 months old!) but he was happy to be out of his car seat and running around. He liked the falls. My failed attempt (once again) at a family pic. Someday that will work...Levi doesn't quite get the 'look at the camera' concept yet! It was a fun day, nice to spend some time as a family!

Fresh Pineapple Salsa

This is one of my favorite things to make in the summer. It has the perfect mix of sweet and savory. We usually eat it with tortilla chips (the hint of lime ones are really good), but I think it would be good with grilled chicken or fish, too. As with most fresh salsas like this, it's best the first day or so after you make it, then it just gets sort of watery, although still yummy.

Fresh Pineapple Salsa

2 plum tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
1 4-in. piece seedless cucumber
1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
1 jalapeno pepper
1/2 medium pineapple
1 lime
1/2 tsp salt
Tortilla chips

Hull and remove seeds from tomatoes. Dice tomatoes, onion and cucumber. Chop cilantro. Combine tomatoes, onion, cucumber and cilantro in a large bowl. Remove seeds from jalapeno pepper and chop finely. Add to bowl. Core and peel the pineapple, then chop and add to the bowl. Juice the lime and add to the bowl along with the salt. Mix thoroughly until combined. Serve with tortilla chips.

High Five for Friday

Another week with no post besides this one :(


It went by really fast, since it was the week of the 4th. And this weekend is going to be pretty busy too. Tomorrow is the parade and festivities in Hancock for the 4th. It is always fun though! We look forward to it every year.

Here's my five favorites from the past week!

1. Movie night with friends!! A couple girlfriends and I went to see Magic Mike. It was good, I mean how can you not enjoy looking at Channing Tatum for 1.5 hrs?! Haha! Movie theater popcorn doesn't hurt either, yum!

2. Our 5 year anniversary was on Saturday, so Paul's mom and dad came in and watched Levi so we could go out for supper. We went to our favorite place over in Ortonville, on Big Stone Lake. The food is so yummy, and we even got to sit outside this time so the view was great!

Can't tell that Paul had gotten a little sun earlier in the day, can ya?

3. We got Levi a little pool to play in when it's hot out, so we filled it up Sunday afternoon. The water was a little cold yet, so he was less than thrilled when we just plopped him in there. He had more fun taking handfuls of sand from his sand & water table, and dropping it in the pool. It wasn't worth getting upset over because we planned on dumping the water out right away anyways. So we just watched him and laughed. He was pretty happy with himself. He did like to splash in the water a bit too...this pic was before he started depositing sand in there.

4. Good read. I borrowed this book from my Grandma, and I absolutely loved it. It is a true story, and I highly recommend it. It is amazing, and really makes you think about things. (Sorry, fuzzy iPod pic)

5. 4th of July! We spent the afternoon down in Renville, and we took Levi out to my aunt and uncles to cool off in their pool. He wasn't crazy about the floaty, but he didn't scream or anything. He also had fun when Grandpa pushed him around on the tractor!

And just because I feel like it, here is a pic I took of little monkey yesterday. New trick.