Having Fun With Landon

Landon is really keeping us running around. He's incredibly active and is running, climbing, and jumping all over everything and everyone. He loves to play outside and lets you know he is not happy if he doesn't get to go outside. He also really loves trucks. He'll sit and roll trucks back and forth forever if you let him. Lately he's been into going around the house on his ride-on cars that he can get moving with his feet.

He also loves to read. The last few months he's made phenomenal progress with his vocabulary. Landon is beginning to say thoughts and is able to communicate a lot easier with us, if we can keep the pacy out of his mouth. He knows a lot more words and he recognizes a lot of things. He knows a bunch of animal noises, can say all the ABC's, and knows numbers 1-10. It's amazing what he can pick up. Kids are awesome. They learn so fast. Don't get me wrong, they can be frustrating at times, especially when they decide to have a melt down in front of everyone, but it's worth it. My grandfather, who we call Sappoo, bought Landon a new toy truck. Sappoo's real name is Robert but he goes by Bobby. Somewhere, Landon heard someone call Sappoo as Bobby because that's what Landon calls him now. Ba-beee is how he says it. If you ask Landon who gave him the truck, he's says Bobby. We can't figure out who or where he heard it from though. Pretty cool what they pick up on. Also makes you think twice about what you say! It's fun trying to teach him something and when he gets it you can see the satisfaction on his face for figuring it out. It's very rewarding.

Landon and I have our normal bedtime routine of playing, reading some books, and then going to bed. Sometimes he doesn't want to go to bed at his normal time, but we work it out. We had a few bad nights a few weeks ago but it appears that is behind us now. Other nights, he'll do something I think is hilarious. He says good night or bye to everything he can think of. Here's how it went the other night

Night night, bye daddy, bye momma, bye moon, bye stars, bye bus, bye slide, bye truck, bye beep beep, bye dark, bye papa, by jacy (uncle Jason), bye kaykay (Christi's mom), bye book, bye ride, bye light

Yea, it was really cool. I was trying not to laugh when he was doing it. He is growing up so fast it's hard to believe. Just looking back at the pictures I posted about 5 months ago, he's already grown so much since then. We're starting to plan for his 2nd birthday. It's weird to just type that. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we are about to have a 2 year old soon and not long after that, a new baby boy at the same time. It's going to be challenging to say the least. We're wondering how we can do it, but if other people do it, we can do it, right? I'm a little concerned about how Landon will react. We'll try to keep him involved, but I don't think he is at the point where he can grasp what is actually happening. When we ask him where baby Carter is, Landon will say "at work." We try to get Landon to say Landon, but he'll point to himself and say "baby." So if we say where's the baby, he points to himself. If we say where is mommy's baby, he'll point to her stomach and give it a kiss. We're working on it, but I'm not sure what he is going to do. I'm expecting jealousy and confusion, especially the first few nights.

Another factor is that Landon will be changing rooms. We're in the process of getting the guest room cleared out so we can redecorate it for Landon and then move him in there. He is spending a lot of time in there riding some toys, but I expect some tough nights after we move him in there. Hopefully not, but we'll see. The plan is that we can get him into his new room well before Carter arrives. That way Landon won't feel like he's been displaced or replaced by Carter. After we finish Landon's new room, we have to get Carter's room ready for him to come. We aren't sure how we want to do that yet. Time is running out, so we better figure it out soon.

T

Back in Business… For Now

It’s been a long, long time since I last posted. I seriously doubt anyone is even checking the blog anymore. I thought I might try to get back into blogging, even though I think I saw that Google will be shutting down the Blogger service. I was just too busy when I quit posting. Honestly, I’m probably busier now than I was then, but I’m going to try to keep something going every week or so. We were getting ready for Jason and Lynn’s wedding, which was a few days away. After we came back from the wedding I guess I just didn’t feel like blogging for a little while, and it turned into a multiple month hiatus.

Needless to say a lot has happened since I last posted. Landon’s progression has been phenomenal. It’s amazing how much he has learned and every day he continues to do something new or amazing. He’s really growing up and I don’t know where the time has gone. He’ll be 2 years old and less than 2 months. 2 MONTHS! So we’ve got to plan his 2nd party because it will be here before we know it. In case you didn’t know, we’re expecting another son in March. Things are going to get very interested once the new baby is here. I’m really unsure how Landon is going to respond to having a little brother. I expect some confusion and jealousy. Hopefully we can mitigate it by involving him in as much as possible early and often.

This pregnancy hasn’t been very kind to Christi. She’s been sick a lot and also had some thyroid issues that really drains what little energy has left after teaching. Thankfully it’s been about a week since the last time she was sick, but you never know. She’s starting to show more and is very excited about being a mom again. We both wonder how life will be with more than 1 child and how we will be able to love 2 kids as much as we do with one. I know we will make it though someone, but I guess time will tell.

New Class

You might have noticed I'm not posting as often. My new class started about 2 weeks ago. So far it's ok. The best thing about it is that the teacher wants to end the class early. We are going to be doing a lot of work, but I'll gladly do that to get done a few weeks early so I actually enjoy the summer.

I'm playing in a summer soccer league. I'm excited about that. I've been wanting to do that for a while, but our schedule hasn't really allowed it. This year we thought we could do it, we'll see how it goes. We lost our first game 5-2. I wasn't able to make it because of class. We had a lot of chances to score but couldn't get it in the goal. I think we'll win next time.

We've been going all over the place recently. Why? Jason and Lynn's wedding. With showers and getting things ready, things are getting busy. The wedding is on the 18th, so it is getting close! I think everything will go well. I know they are both ready for the big day to be here.

Landon is having his 18 month doctor visit tomorrow. I'm guessing he's over 26 lbs and probably 32-33" tall. I'll let you what he measures after his visit. I don't think he's getting any shots, but I could be wrong. Last time he got one and he hated it. I do too. It's hard watching him get so upset. Good news for him is after his check-up he is going to play with his friend Anna Kate and I think some other kids around his age at a place where they have jumpy / bouncy areas for kids. He's going to love it. He likes to get on our bed and "jump" and then fall down. He thinks it is hilarious. He maybe gets an inch off the ground, if he ever actually gets off the ground, but he has a lot of fun going all around our bed.

Hope your summer is going well. Ours didn't get off to the best start. It's 100+ degrees here every day and it isn't showing any sign of cooling off. Naturally, our air conditioner decided to give up last week. It go so hot in here it was over 90 on the thermostat. Thankfully the repair guys were able to fix it and it was only the fan motor that had to be replaced. Much lighter on the wallet than we expected. We're considering a home warranty now in case it decides to die on us again.

Ok, this might have been the worst flowing, most disjointed post I've every had. So much going on, so little time to tell you about it. More pictures of Landon coming... soon I hope.

Saturday

This Saturday was a good day. We had a lot going on, but it was fun. We woke up earlier than normal on a Saturday so we could take Christi to Lynn's apartment. Christi was meeting other bridesmaids and some of Lynn's friends there for Lynn's bachelorette party. They left Saturday morning for an all-day event in Atlanta. From the sound of it, I think they had a great time.

Meanwhile, I had the day to spend with Landon. After saying bye to Christi, Landon and I went to eat breakfast at McDonald's. We're both fans of their breakfast. I know, it isn't great for you, but once in a while it's nice. Landon likes the cheese biscuit. He ate half of it, but was too distracted by the playground to finish. We played on the playground for a little while, but there were some bigger kids starting to play. With those play areas it's 1 way in and out, so we were getting in the way.

After eating breakfast, we went over to my grandfather's house to visit with them. Landon had fun running around their house. He also vacuumed the floor for them – well, he tried. He pushed it around the room for them but it wasn't turned on. We had a great time seeing them. I don't get to see them as much as I used to because we're so busy, but every chance we get we go see them or meet them somewhere so they can see Landon.

When we left my grandparent's house, we stopped by Mike and Debra's house to see the tree guys cut down some trees at their house. The other day the cut down trees at Jason's house and they took Landon to watch all of the machines they used. He was a fan of the Bobcat they used to carry the trees, but not a big fan of the saws they used to cut down the trees. We stayed at Mike and Debra's for a while so he could watch the Bobcat move trees around. He did a little bit better with the saws, but they were pretty loud so when they weren't moving anything we went back inside to cool off. We ended up leaving when it was almost lunch time. I took Landon home and baked him some chicken nuggets. He really likes chicken nuggets. We ate lunch and then he took a nap.

Around 2 my friend from work, Luis, came over and brought his mom, who was in town. We watched the Champions League final. The Champions League is the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world. You have to either win your league to get in the tournament or finish in the top 4 or so, depending on what league you play in. It's like the soccer equivalent of the NCAA basketball tournament, but it's throughout Europe. Two of the best clubs in the world, Manchester United and Barcelona were in the final. Barcelona had beaten my favorite team, Real Madrid, in the previous round so I was sort of rooting against them, but really I just wanted it to be a good game. Luis' favorite team is Barcelona, so he was obviously rooting for them. My boss' favorite team is Manchester United, so they had been going back and forth against each other. They decided the losing team's fan would bring doughnuts for the office Tuesday, so I was going to be happy either way! The game was pretty good in the first half with the score 1-1, but it was evident Barcelona was the better team. In the end, Barcelona won 3-1 in dominating fashion. They left no doubt they were the best team in the world.

Saturday evening Landon and I went to eat with some of Christi's family for one of her cousin's high school graduation party. Christi's cousin, Elaine, is opening a restaurant this summer, so they had the party at the soon to be restaurant. Unfortunately the power company didn't move fast enough, so the restaurant had no power for the dinner. No power means no A/C, but they brought a generator to run some fans. Still, it was pretty stuffy inside, but outside it was a little bit cooler with a breeze. Thankfully the restaurant had a large covered porch with a lot of tables where people could sit and eat. Most of the food was pre-made, but they did use a deep fryer to cook some delicious chicken strips. A lot of different people brought food to eat and it was all great, as usual. Landon had fun running around outside. We were getting some family pictures made Sunday, so I was trying to be very careful because he has been to fall down and skin up his knees. What does he do? Fall, twice. He skinned up his knee and his elbow, but thankfully he was ok. However, that wasn't his only fall of the night. Landon was playing with 2 little girls while we were there. He was running down the ramp to play with them and trip and fell. Where he fell, the ramp (a wheel-chair ramp that wasn't very steep, but it had a turn toward the end.) turned. Well, he rolled a little bit and the ramp turned left. Landon can't turn left while he's rolling, so he rolled off the side of the ramp into the flower bed area. Obviously it hurt. I near the end of the ramp but couldn't catch him in time, so I ran to the pick him up. Thankfully, he was alright – just scared mainly. His bumped his head when he landed, but it wasn't bruised or scratched. Surprisingly he only had a scratch on his leg and he was back running around after a few minutes.

After dinner we went home and Landon took a bath. We played for a little while before it was bedtime. Landon was tired and ready to fall asleep. Daddy was too.

Landon 17 Months Pictures

Here are some pictures of Landon from this past week. Hard to believe he's getting close to 18 months old. These past few months have flown by. I know, I say it all the time how fast time is going. It really surprises me how fast the days are going by. I feel like I just posted yesterday, but it's already been half a week since my last post.

Enough writing, let's look at some pictures of Landon

Landon sitting on the kitchen floor reading a book with some milk on his chin


Reading a book about animals


Smiling through his paci. Still working on getting rid of that... long way to go


Hello there, Landon


Distracted by the TV


I like this picture a lot. Landon up very close


Christi and Landon smiling for the camera


Finally got him to come out from the other side of the table. He was playing hide and seek with us


What? You think I pulled this drawer out? (He likes to pull the drawers out of the toolbox. We learned quickly not to keep putting tools back in the drawers)


Landon in the bath tub




Splashing in the tub - one of Landon's favorite things to do


Look at all those teeth! He loves to play with Christi's hair and face after getting out of the tub, so we use that to distract him so we can check out his teeth


Getting read to brush his teeth


Woops, missed the mouth!


Brushing those teeth!


He really wants to get the camera out of my hands


One more book before bedtimes.

That's it. I hope you liked them!

Landon Updates

Hard to believe, but Landon is nearly 18 months old. A year and a half. 6 months away from being 2. I can't tell you where these past few months have gone. I feel like we just started this year and it's almost halfway over. Everyone tells you how fast things will go, but you can't fully understand until it is flying past you. Landon is growing up fast, literally. I feel like he's grown several inches in the past few months. His legs are much longer and so is his torso area. He's becoming much more of a handful to hold, that's for sure. And he's heavier. At least he feels like it. I need to weigh him on our scale. I'm guessing he's in the 26-27 lb range.

It's hard to saw what new things he is doing since I don't recall everything I wrote about during his last update. So, I'll just tell you things he is doing right now. He LOVES to play outside – so much so that he'll throw a fit if he can't go outside when he wants to. We're trying to work on that… trying. He loves to run outside and chase Patty (Mike and Debra's dog) or push his wagon around the yard. He also likes to play on the playground nearby and slide down the slides or play in the sand. He loves dirt.

He's moving around really well now. He runs much faster than he used too. Landon is also climbing on the couches like crazy. He's constantly up and down. We tried to keep him from doing it as much, but we failed. Instead, we try to make him sit on the couch properly, and it seems to be working so far. He still will stand up and try to run back and forth, though. When he's not on the couch, he's likely on the floor playing with his trucks. He has several that he likes and he usually them all over the place. If it's not trucks, it's books. He has them all over the place too. The kid loves to read.

Landon is starting to learn and recognize more things. We're able to teach him more things like putting something back where he got it or pointing all the features of a face. If you tell him to shut the door, he'll do it, even if he's playing with something inside (like the pantry). Landon also enjoys throwing a ball with you and if you tell him who to throw it to, he'll try to throw it to them. Things like that. He's more resourceful too. If he can't climb the couch, he'll push something over so he can use it as a step. I know, scary. He knows more people, animals, and commands. If you tell him to dance or shake a cup, he'll do it. Landon is getting good with animals. He isn't saying a lot, but he'll point at what you ask. For example, the other day we were reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and I had the book closed. I told him to find the green frog, and he turned to the page and pointed to it. He did it for a few other animals in the book. Landon's favorite animals are probably cows, although he also loves dogs and horses. He'll point them out on books, TV, or is we see one while we are out. We're trying to get him to say the noises each animal makes, but right now he's just saying "ruff ruff" for a dog.

One thing Landon has definitely improved with is eating. Just today he had rice for the first time and he ate it up. It was fried rice from a Japanese place. We didn't think he would eat it, but he loved it. He also ate a few pieces of broccoli and carrots along with some grilled chicken. It was a surprisingly good meal for him. His absolute favorite food at the moment is goldfish crackers. The boy could live on those is we gave him the choice. Some of his other favorite foods are French fries, grilled cheese, pizza, ravioli, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, eggs, cereal, cookies (pretty much any kind), cake, brownies, ice cream, and any form of bread.

I could go on and on with what he is doing. I'm leaving a BUNCH of things out, but if I put everything in that has crossed my mind this post would be 10,000 words. Since this post it already long enough, I took a lot out. Apologies if it sounds choppy, but you made it this far so it must have made some sense – either that or you're waiting for me to say when I'm going to post more pictures. We did order a new camera that we are excited about, but we don't have it yet. Hopefully next week.

Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I appreciate the comments.

Mother’s Day

This post is a little late for Mother's Day. The last 2 times I tried to login and post, blogger was down.

We actually had a great day. Christi said she had a great day, so I'm chalking it up as a great day. The morning was a little busier than a normal Sunday. We had to be at church earlier than normal for Landon's baby dedication. Before we left, I gave Christi with her gifts. I had already given her a hydrangea on Friday. I pretended to go to work, but really I picked up the plant. Then I went and picked up Landon from Mrs. Debra's house and we surprised Christi at work with her flower. It went well. Landon had fun seeing Christi at school and Christi seemed to enjoy the surprise visit.

What did we give Christi? She got a necklace that she had been wanting for a while with Landon's name engraved in it. She had no idea because it takes about 4 weeks to get that necklace engraved and she didn't expect me to remember she wanted it and plan ahead to get it. I also drew a picture of Landon from when he was 2 weeks old. She made the comment a long time ago she wanted me to draw it and I was able to find time to get it done (I stayed up late). The third thing we gave her was Landon's handprint and the date in porcelain. Normally we had those made at the Cherry Blossom Festival, but the bad weather cancelled that part of the Festival. I was able to find what we needed and made it with Landon. It took a few tries since Landon kept moving his hand, but it worked out well.

I would take some pictures, but out camera is halfway broken at the moment. The battery cover lock is broken, so you have to force the cover closed with 1 hand and take the picture with the other. It's a lot harder than it sounds because of the springs in the cover and the location of the battery cover vs the other camera buttons, plus stabilizing the camera to take the shot. I don't know if it can be fixed, so we may have to get another.

At church they had the dedication ceremony in both services (at the end of the 1^st and beginning of the 2^nd). They wanted all the babies to be in both ceremonies because "people love seeing the babies". There were 20 kids total that we dedicated that day, which was pretty cool. It was a lot of people on the stage area at once and a few kids had meltdowns, but Landon did well. I thought the 2^nd time he was going to be a handful, but once we walked out he was very good. Between the first and second service was pretty crazy. We had to be in a certain area and a certain time, and he didn't want to be held. Neither did most of the other kids, so right up until we had to go they were all crawling / running around. Craziness. It was an entertaining time for sure, but all in all everything went really well.

After church we took pictures with both families (Christi's side and my side) and went out to eat. We had made reservations at Buffalo's since it was the only place I could find that took reservations that day. It turned out to be perfect since our large party was able to sit right away and not have to wait. We had a good time giving our mom's presents and just enjoying each other's company. After that, it was time to relax. Christi went shopping with her mom while I kept Landon and later we just hung out together as a family. It was a good day.

Landon 15/16 months pictures

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Forgive me. I've thought about posting my thoughts on the Braves, events, and other non-family stuff, but I think most people don't care to read about that. Not in this forum, anyway. Here are some long overdue pictures of Landon.

Landon trying to take Christi's school notebook without her noticing


Landon looking at his cousin Ian on the computer (notice how he's propped on his arm)


Laughing at Christi after eating dinner


Reading some books before bedtime. He likes to pull out as many as he can


Hanging out in the laundry basket


Whoops, fell out!


Landon decided he was going to play under his slide


Pacifier in the mouth and both hands. He's always prepared! He likes to swap them out at random.


Landon posing in front of his nightly destruction


Enjoying some pizza while sitting in Mommy's lap. This was at our friend Jody and Jessica's house for Jody's birthday


Cheeks full of pizza


Another big bite


Playing with his dump truck (named Chuck) while riding in the car


My day he is a busy kid named Landon, by night he is Batman!


Getting ready to fight the evils of organization and cleanliness


Playing on his school bus, getting ready for the slide


Cheese! All of his teeth shining bright


Playing with his other dump truck


Landon also moonlights as Superman on the weekend. He just finished pushing his Elmo chair around the living room and decided to take a break


We washed a lot of clothes for Christi and Landon's trip to the beach. Landon decided to help us pack by taking everything out the basket


Landon playing on the school bus


Playing outside with some toys


He likes to push the trucks around the yard


Pushing another truck in the driveway


Striking a pose with his ride


Playing in the yard


Watching the neighbors play


Ball! (he can say this word)


Playing with the soccer ball


Holding the statue girl's hand


Practicing his driving in my car


Eating at Caliente's


Waking up with crazy bed head


Blurry, but you can see him having fun playing in the morning


Sleeping with Papa


Landon and his cousin Ian. There were some other good pictures I need to get from that night, but we didn't take them since our camera was messed up. This was with my phone.

There's some of his most recent pictures. As you can see, he's growing up and becoming a big boy. It's exciting and sad at the same time. You miss having a little guy but watching him grow is a lot of fun and very rewarding. I just can't believe he's almost 1.5 years old (June 2nd). Time is flying by. Everyone tells you that time will fly by, and they were right. You can't describe how fast things go. You blink and here you are. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.