Baby-it's your birthday!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy. Time sure has flown.
I can't believe a year has gone by. You came into this world on your own schedule and even today, you do things when you are good and ready. We can't wait to see what this next year will have in store for us. Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

A look back...

And today, one year later...

Highlights from the past few months: You can

Clap your hands (March 26)

Play peek-a-boo (March)

Wave bye and hello (March 18)

Put the balls in your dinosaur on your own (March 29)

Say kitty (April 20)

Say dada (March 27)

Cruising

Walking (April 17)

Next week I will be finished with school and will have time to update our blog. We have some great pictures of Landon from the past few months. Stay tuned...

New happenings

Well it has been awhile since we have updated our blog. There has been so many things going on since last post.

Landon turned 7 months November 26. He weighed somewhere around 13.5 pounds. At that point, we was sleeping from 10:30pm-1am in his crib, getting up to nurse, and then sleeping again from 1am-8 or 9am in our bed.

He started eating new foods like sweet peas, carrots, ground turkey, and mashed potatoes. The later was his Thanksgiving meal. We took a trip over Thanksgiving to Arkansas to see everyone. We spent the first part of the week at Brian's mom and dad's house then spent the second half of the week with my family. While in Hot Springs visiting my family, it snowed. This would be Landon's first of two snows this year.The drive home is around 8-9 hours. On the way to Arkansas, he did pretty good. He really only cried the last 1-2 hours. The way back to Houston however was a different story. He fussed and cried off and on the whole way back. We decided right then and there it would be a little while before we made that drive again. He has really discovered the cats this month. He smiles, talks, and giggles at them. This month saw him sitting up really well all by himself and he has discovered that he loves to hold hands with us and walk around. He babbles and has the biggest grin when we walk.

December 26th marked Landon's 8th month. He weighed a little over 14 pounds and was 25 1/2 inches long. He still split his sleeping at night between his crib and our bed. He wakes up anywhere from 2-5 times a night and nurses. It gets exhausting walking back and forth across the house so this is the best solution for us at the time. He eats all the time and I am not sure he knows when to stop. He sometimes eats 2 jars (3 ozs. each) in one sitting and still eat solids 2 more times that day plus nurse every 2 hours in between. His new foods include pureed pork chops, turnips, green beans, pears, peaches, and chicken. He loved his green beans for awhile and then suddenly one day, he decided he no longer liked them. He would put his tongue out, make gagging noices, and start fussing. We also started eating puffs. By the middle of January, he was putting them in his mouth on his own.

December was such a big month for our little man. He started crawling 1 1/2 weeks before Christmas. The week of Christmas he started pulling himself up on the couch, on us, on the fireplace, on his toys, on the.......you get the picture. Not only did he start pulling up, he started cruising along those objects.

His top right tooth came in on 12/21 and the top left tooth came in on 12/28. He had his first ear infection towards the last half of December and ran his first fever on 1/25.

Landon's first Christmas was spent here at the house. The week before Christmas through the day after, Landon's grandma and grandpa Oliver were visiting. Right before Christmas through New Year, Landon's grandma and grandpa Benjamin were visiting. Landon was spoiled those 2 weeks. He received some great gifts from mommy and daddy, both grandparents, his aunts and uncle, and Santa. His greatest gift was probably his stuffed rocking horse. He squealed at it for 10 min. straight Christmas day. He had the biggest grin everytime he saw it the rest of the day. To this day, he still giggles at it everytime. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I am pretty sure he thinks it is just a bigger cat. We also took a trip to see the Dickinson Festival of Lights. Landon met Santa. He didn't care one way or the other. We also got to play the Holy Family at our church's Walk Through Bethleham. It was a lot of fun. Landon wanted to go to sleep but because it was so busy, he couldn't so of course, he fussed most of the time.

The first part of January, I started the nannying for the Martins. Landon LOVES their dog Daisy and Daisy is just as in love with Landon. She is so good with him. Landon saves his biggest laugh for her when she is playing with her chew toys.

January has seen some challenges for us. We switched pediatricians. We liked our previous pedi but we just felt we were not getting the care we wanted from her. We met our new pedi at his 9 month check up and LOVE her. She took so much time with us going into more than enough detail answers for our questions. She also gave us more direction to our continous night nursing issues. She gave more advice than to just let him cry it out. Brian and I both feel that method is not for us and it was nice to get some help that supported our decision.

After that long update, here are a few other pictures from November and December. Enjoy!

1/2 a year has gone by...

October 26th was Landon's 6 month birthday. He is really looking like a little boy now and not so much a baby anymore.
He weighs 12 lbs 13 oz and is 25 inches long/tall.
He is going full time on solids now. He loves everything he eats and has yet to make a face, spit anything out, or flat out refuse anything. He has had avocados, peas, and sweet potatoes.
He can put his feet in his mouth and loves talking to them.
He says dadadada and bababa, and has started a high pitch screaming as a precursor to his cries.
The first tooth--bottom tooth--came in on 10/13 and the second bottom followed on 10/20.
He met some new friends. We went to the Houston Zoo for the first time and met my old co-worker there. She brought her new baby, Briana, and we all saw the animals.
We also met Samantha Cassady--Lenny and Amy's baby. We saw them at the hospital and a couple of times at their house.
Landon still wakes up during the night--anywhere from 2-3 times. He nurses then goes back to sleep.

5 months

Happy birthday baby! Today you are 5 months old. Time is really flying by.
Here are your milestones baby boy:

• Weight: 13.5 lbs
• Height: 23.5 inches
• We baptized you on August 31st during the 9:30 traditional service at Clear Lake United Methodist Church. Rev. Tony Vinson was the one who baptized you. It was a very special day and you had a lot of people come to see it. All of mommy and daddy's Sunday School class was there, your Grandparents the Benjamins and the Olivers were there as well. It was made extra special because your Great-Grandma Sarah Hale was able to come as well. Mommy was so happy that she was able to come and see you on your special day. Afterwards, we had a party at League Park. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and had cake. Mommy and daddy invited the Olsens and Carina took lots of pictures for us. We will cherish them always. All of the pictures turned out great!
• Can roll over from tummy to back only when you REALLY want to. If we are playing on the floor and you roll over to your tummy, you get very mad trying to get back and you cannot do it. However, at night when you are sleeping, you can manage to make it back.
• You started making raspberry noises. 2 weeks ago, you started making ahhh sounds. We love talking back and forth to you.
• You now sleep through the night (for the most part). You go to bed at 10:30, wake up at 4:30 or 5, go back to bed after nursing, and get up again around 7.
• You have started teething. Everything goes into your mouth, including our fingers, and you proceed to chew. You drool all the time and sometimes you do not sleep good at night. We can see your gums protruding with the front top two teeth and the bottom three teeth.
• Your newest adventure was evacuating from Hurricane Ike. We went to Ft. Worth and stayed with your MiMi who was there on business.
• You have discovered your hands and feet.
• You can now hold toys and are even starting to reach out and grab toys from us. You hold your loop with keys on it with both hands (and then continue to put them in your mouth).

We will be posting pictures (I promise) soon.

My baby's all grown up

Today, Landon started Mother's Day Out. He did GREAT! Mommy on the otherhand...not so great.

We have started him on rice cereal and at MDO, he ate the most he has had so far. Mommy woke up late so we got to MDO around 9:30 this morning. He had 4 oz. of milk at 10 then had rice cereal at 11 and took a nap from 11:50-1:25 when I came to pick him up. I know I put in more than enough of the rice cereal thinking he would not eat it all. Turns out he did. The teachers said he did great and did not fuss at all. I am so proud of him. Maybe tomorrow night, he will stay in the nursery long enough for Brian and I (really me) to finish choir practice.

On another note, his baptism went beautifully. He looked great in his baptism gown that his grandma Oliver made for him. We are really grateful to Carina Olsen (her photography link is on the right) for taking great photos of his special day. We cannot wait to see them! Thank you to everyone for being with us to celebrate!

Happy Birthday baby!

Today is Landon's 4 month birthday. It seems like he should still be the little baby he was just a short 4 months ago. He has really changed and seems so big now. I love watching him develop but sometimes I still miss my little baby (I also know that feeling will never go away).

Stats:
Weight 11 lbs 8.5 ozs.
Length 22.25 inches
Head 40 cm

Accomplishments:
He can roll over from his back to his tummy and prefers to roll to the right.
He can now push up on his elbows when on his tummy and look around.
We have play on floor time and when I put a rattle or keys in his hand he holds onto it and shakes it around.
He almost giggles.
He loves when we hold him in the standing position.
He sleeps through the ENTIRE night. Mommy is VERY proud. He goes to bed between 10:30 and 11:30 and does not wake up until 5:30 or 6am!!
He eats a lot during the day (I am assuming to make up for not eating through the night).
He talks a lot when he is on the changing table--regardless of whether or not we are actually changing him.
This month, we took our first trip to Arkansas to see family and friends. He did pretty good on the way there and back. Landon was in a picture with Brian, Brian's mom, and Brian's grandma when we were with Brian's family.
When we went to visit my family, we were able to take a 5 generation picture with him, me, my mom, my grandma, and my great-grandma.
Said pictures will be coming.
Landon and mommy joined a couple of mommy groups and are making new friends. Tomorrow (or almost today), we are going to meet some mommies and tots at a park. Landon loves being outside.

On a mommy note:
I am still walking most mornings.
I am now selling Mary Kay. If anyone would like a free facial, please let me know. I can come to you.
I have started school. I am only taking one class this semester--mostly due to the fault of the school. I was signed up for 2 classes.
I will be starting guitar lessons on September 18th. I am very nervous about this.
My sister-in-law (Brian's sister) has moved in with us. We are enjoying her company.


Big news:
Landon is being baptized on August 31, 2008. We are very excited about this and at the same time, it is hard putting into words all of our emotions. God has really blessed us by giving us the most amazing gift we could ever ask for. Landon has brought so much joy and love into our lives and we are so thankful for having such a beautiful, happy, and healthy baby boy.
After the baptism, we are having a cookout at League Park. A friend of ours is coming to the church and party to take pictures. We hope to see everyone there!

Milestones

Mommy's milestone:
I signed up on meetup.com for a walking group. There is a group of ladies that go walking in League City at 6:45am every morning. I have joined them every day for the past week . I can now fit into a pair of non maternity jeans that I bought at the beginning of the pregnancy. YAY!

Little man's milestones:
We just hit the three month mark (July 26).

He weighs 10 lbs 5 ozs. and is 22 1/2 inches long.

He is almost rolling over. He gets on his side, then throws his legs on over but alas, his arm is still in the way. So, technically, his bottom half rolls over from back to stomach but the top half gets half way.

He babbles now. Today, I had him on his play gym (on his back--he hates tummy time) and he was kicking the elephant at his feet and talking to the giraffe that was hanging by his head. It was the cutest thing ever.

He LOVES getting his diaper changed. He could be screaming at the top of his lungs and the moment we put him on the changing table, he starts smiling and recently starts cooing. He is very happy the whole time and will even stay on the table for a while after we are finished.

We went to Dallas August 13 and 14. The trip was good. We had to stop every hour and a half to let little man eat. But he was great riding in the car. Tomorrow, we leave for Arkansas. It is a 9 hour drive so hopefully things go great again and hopefully, he will space out his eating times a little more.

We are having Landon baptized August 31 at the 9:30 traditional service. We just found out that not only will both sets of his grandparents be able to come down, but also Landon's 2 great grandmothers. We are all so excited. We hope that our Sunday School class will be able to be there as well. We are going to have a cook out afterwards (at 12:30) at the park.