Landon's 1st Haircut Pictures

Here are pictures from Landon's first haircut. We wanted to wait until after he was 1 to cut his hair, but it had gotten too long and Landon was starting to get irritated by it. We kept it as long as possible without it being in his eye. What we did cut we saved. I'm not sure what you do with it, but we have it.

Landon running around before his haircut.


Landon sucking in his top lip. He just started doing this.


Laughing at Christi chasing him around the house


Getting his hair combed


You can see how long his hair is after we wet and combed it


First pieces of hair being cut


Front is finished. Christi is working on the side


Landon was surprisingly calm getting his hair cut. We let him hold the comb and he was happy eating it while Christi cut his hair.


Almost done with the hair cut


1st haircut complete!

You can see Landon had a lot of hair. If you didn't know he had his first haircut already, you probably couldn't tell. He still has a ton of hair and we might trim it up again before his party on Dec 4th. Yea, his birthday is Dec 2, but we're having his party on the 4th because it is a Saturday.

I have some Thanksgiving and other pictures that will be posted soon. I'm working on the final project for my Masters class and we're also busy preparing for Landon's party, so posting will continue to be light until we're finished with that. Thank you for your patience.

Landon's 1st Haircut

Landon had his 1st haircut / trim tonight. I will upload the pictures soon. I just wanted to let everyone know. It was very sad because he's growing up right in front of me and all of the milestones keep passing by way too quickly. I know, suck it up Ryan and quit being a baby. Pictures to come soon.

Landon Pictures: 10-11 months

As promised, here are a few pictures from the last 2 months. Look how big he is here compared to some pictures in some older posts. It's amazing.

Christi and Landon posing for a picture, Landon is 10 months here


Christi and Landon outside, taken the week of Halloween


Landon eating his hair brush


Sitting on the floor, waiting to leave. He's ready to go with pacifier in mouth and another in hand


Bundled up and ready to go! (Taken with my phone, so it's blurry and poor lighting)


Ready for the cold weather!


Steak and Shake Trip! Ignore random creepy lady in the backgroud


Passed out on the floor


Playing with his toys


This is his serious face


Landon on the move... again


Waiting for my dinner


Laughing at his silly mommy


He almost cried because he laughed so hard


Laughing at his crazy dad


Smile!


Out to eat, ready for some food!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I plan on posting some other pictures in the near future, probably a little older than these.

Landon Updates

It's been a while since I posted some Landon updates. Heck, it's been a while since I posted at all! I've been working some projects for my Masters class, and it involves a lot of writing. So, when I get done working on it, I feel like doing something else besides writing. I should be done with it by the end of November / early December, so I imagine posts will be limited in that time frame.

Landon is currently teething, again. The last few nights have been eventful. He has a very runny nose and hates if you try to wipe it. It also makes him very ill, so he will get upset quickly over random things. We've been giving him some medicine and it appears to be helping the pain and runny nose. However, when he sleeps it builds up and it caused him to not be able to breath out of his nose that well, so he gets upset and then looses his pacifier, which means he wakes us up. Overall, though, he has been doing pretty well with sleeping, all things considered. Now we just have to wait for the teeth to come in.

He's growing so fast it is hard to believe. Landon is wearing some 18 month old stuff and it seems like he has grown a few inches the last few weeks. He looks a lot taller and it able to reach a lot of things that he wasn't able to reach before. Yes, this means he is getting into even more things around the house. Everything goes straight to the mouth, so we have to be extra careful about what we lay on the end tables, on counters, etc. Basically, he's into anything he can get his hands on. He loves playing with some toys, but some of his favorite things to play with are Christi's hairbrush, Christi's shoes, my belt, the bathroom scale, any cord he can find, and his play mat in his room.

I cannot remember everything he has done since my last update, but here are some of the many things he has been doing over the past few months.

Waving. He started off by opening and closing is hand, but he is doing the full side-to-side hand action now. Kind of makes him sound like an action figure...

Dancing. He loves to rock side to side, standing or sitting, when some music is playing, like in a restaurant or store.

Running. He isn't just walking anymore, he is practically sprinting around the house. It's hard to keep up with him

Wrestling. He will run into me and try to knock me over, then fall on top of me. He gets a kick out of it.

He is eating a lot more non-baby food. He especially loves vegetables from the Cracker Barrel. It feels weird ordering him a kids meal, but he loves it. We've also gone to IHOP a few times and he likes the food there. It's also nice that kids eat free there after 4pm, so we don't have to pay for his meal!

Landon is also drinking more than milk. We have tried juice, but his favorite drinks are sweet tea and water.

He is talking a lot more. He can say some words, mainly "da-da", but he can say others when HE wants to. Whenever Christi tries to get him to say "ma-ma", he immediately responds with "da-da". I think it's funny. He can also say "hey" and can say "hey" and wave at the same time. He will say "hey da-da" sometimes when he sees me, usually after I get home from work.

Landon loves taking baths. I mean LOVES them. When he here's the water running, he takes off for the bathroom and it at the edge of the tub ready to get in. We gave him a bath tonight and he was trying to put his leg up on the edge so he could climb over.

He likes to play peek-a-boo. He understand peek-a-boo really well. If you put a blanket over his face, and pull it away and say peek-a-boo, he will pick it back up over his head and then pull it down again and again, waiting for you to say peek-a-boo. If you don't say it, he waits.

Landon also likes to play hide and go seek and/or tag. I will chase him around the house, tag him, and then go hide somewhere. Without fail, he comes running after and get me. He's really good about finding you, even when you think you tricked him.

He still has a little attitude. He can pitch a fit when he isn't happy or you take something away from him that he really wanted (for example, something he isn't supposed to have, like a coster on the end table).

Landon loves cars. Especially the tires. If he is able to watch cars go by all day, he is a happy boy. When he's on the ground, he will try and go touch a car's tire in the driveway. If we left him out of the stroller, he goes straight for the wheels on the stroller to play with him.

Landon likes to open and shut doors that are slightly cracked. He will sit in the floor and push the door back and forth, open and close, over and over. And yes, he will shut the door in your face if you try to go pick him up and stop him from playing.

Those are just a few of the many things Landon has been doing. I could go on and on, as you can tell, but the list is getting too long as is. We took some good "action shots" of Landon today. I will post those as well as some other pictures of Landon in the near future.

I made it back

Where have I been? The past 2 weeks I have been "playing soldier" as Christi put it. I was in a leadership training program called "Civilian Acculturation and Leadership Training", aka CALT. Yea, it's a mouthful. It was a ton of work and a lot of team-building style exercises, but it was fun. They say to bring a 3" or 4" binder for the material covered. It should just be 4", because the stack of stuff was taller than my 3" binder.

The goal was to introduce us to what military officers go through (minus the yelling, although we saw it) and train us to be future Air Force leaders. This is the first selective program for Air Force leadership development. We lived on the Officer Training School (OTS) compound, which is a like a mini-college, only worse. No TV, no internet, no phone, eat at a dining facility, go to class. There is a specific way to fill and eat each breakfast table, a specific way stack your trays when you are done, things like that. We only did it for 2 weeks and could go off campus for dinner if we wanted. We could also bring a phone, but usage was restricted to our dorm room and class room if needed. The officers go 4-12 weeks (depending on their job / background) also get drilled - a lot. I know you're thinking it doesn't sounds like fun, but it was. I met a lot of cool people from all over the country and learned a lot of valuable information. Some states represented were Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

I won't go into a ton of detail talking about what we did, but some things we learned were handling conflicts, effective leadership techniques, dealing with different personalities, briefing skills, etc. I know that sounds basic, but it was very good. We also learned a lot of Air Force specific things like Air and Space capabilities and strategy (basic level). We played a "real-time" war game on the computer and saw first hand the strategy and planning involved in executing a mission. The most fun thing the class did was something called Project X. Basically, your team had different challenges to complete within time limits. Each challenge had limits and obstacles to overcome, and the only way to finish was if everyone on your team worked together and communicated. It was a great team-building exercise. It was also physically demanding, because sometimes you were climbing walls or building bridges across water, things like that. It was a lot of fun.

I didn't have time to post anything on the blog. There were a few hours we managed to go to another building and use their WiFi, but that time was normally spent working. I really missed being with Christi and Landon. It was tough being away from them for 2 weeks. I know it was hard on both of them, especially Christi since she had to fill both of our shoes. Thankfully her parents helped out with Landon while I was away, which eased some of the stress. Still, I know it was very hard on her.

That's why there haven't been anything on the blog. We were both too busy to post, although I still can't convince Christi to write anything even though I know she would be much more entertaining than me. Stay tuned for some more Landon news and Landon Halloween pictures.

Here are a few pictures from CALT:

My flight (3 flights in the class)




Planning for the war game





Getting instructions for Project X




One of the challenges. Had to get across carrying certain items (wheelbarrow, for example) while balancing and moving the boards in a time limit.




Personal space was limited...




All of the flights (red, white, blue). Each had nicknames: Big Red, Warriors, and Smurfs. Ours was the best, of course.




We also got to see one of the officer classes graduate (we were distinguished visitors!)







Distinguished visitor section. We were right behind the General, which didn't seem to fit, but that's where they put us.







Kevin and Adam, 2 guys I hung out with most of the time. Became really good friends with them.