First amusement park and concert!

John's band was playing at Marine World (I, for the life of me, cannot call it Discovery Kingdom...just too un-natural) so the whole family headed out there for the day. Yes, the whole family, Great-Grandma Jean, Grandma Cathy, Auntie Kate and Auntie Em, Great Aunt Kathy and Great Uncle Scott, even Granddad and Aunt B and Maureen went. We met up with Steve, Kate, and Cole in the afternoon too! It wasn't too hot, thank goodness, and we all lathered up in sunscreen and seem to have escaped any awful burns.

First stop, Landon's first concert! Landon loved it so much he fell asleep...Uncle John thinks we're in for it if he fell asleep to the music. I think he might be right.

We headed over to the Shouka show to check out Shouka, the Killer Whale. We made a pitt stop along the way for Daddy to pick up the biggest ice cream sundae from Coldstone (yes, they have one in the park).

Apparently, Shouka has quite the calming effect on babies...Landon was fast asleep in the Moby by the time the show was over.

Daddy and Auntie Em won a Monkey for Landon, though the monkey is bigger than he is! It was a fun day, and Landon was a little trooper.

More pictures from our day...

Landon in his Flappy Hat

Auntie Em, Auntie Kate, and Landon

Great Grandma Jean

Sacked out after a fun day!

Sinking in

Is it crazy that I still don't quite believe that Landon is here; that Mark and I are parents...that I'm a MOMMY?!?! I think it's finally sinking in, yes, 11 weeks later. During these last 11 weeks Landon and I have made it a habit to get out of the house at least once each day. Whether it be going for a walk, running errands, or attending Mommy's Group. We joined a fabulous Mommy's Group that meets on a weekly basis and does fun things like group walks at the Lafayette Resivoir, lunch out, and Mom's night out. It's been so helpful to have been surrounded by other Moms in the same boat as I, not to mention all the cute little babies.

Group Shot

All the adorable babies...where's Waldo? Can you find Landon??

Hint - he's on the yellow blanket in the blue striped onesie

A weekend full of firsts!

What an eventful weekend we had! As you already know, it started off on Friday with his first set of shots...not such a fun "first" but other fun ones followed.

Landon is such a stubborn little guy, and I guess he has been since before he was born (takes after his Mommy on that one). He hates tummy time and would rather be lying on his back checking out everything. Well, he's figured out how to get himself off his tummy and onto his back - he rolled over for the first time on Friday! From his tummy to his back. I thought it was a fluke until he did it again on Saturday.

We celebrated all the July and August birthdays with the Riggs side of the family on Sunday and took Landon swimming for the first time. He had soooo much fun, he was kicking his legs and running his hands through the water and was fascinated with the reflections coming off of the water's surface. I think we've got a water baby on our hands - he loves his baths too.

After swimming and dinner he was hanging out with his Granddad who was able to coax a giggle out of the little guy for the first time. It was so cute, they were going back and forth; Granddad would giggle at Landon, then Landon would giggle at Granddad...

Alas, I wish I had both things on video but of course the Mini DV disc ended about three minutes into Landon's first dip in the pool and we left the extra one at home.

Landon seems to have stalled out on his weight gain again. His pediatrician changed the dose of his medication for his reflux and is out of the office the rest of this week. I'm going to go back to the old dose tomorrow and am hoping this will again solve the problems of the world until his doctor is back on Monday. I've still got thrush and I think Landon's got it again too based on his bumpy diaper rash that keeps coming back, though no spots in his mouth. We just picked up some gentian violet that I'm going to start using and am hoping that it will do the trick. If not, I think it's off to the dermatologist unfortunately.

Oh, and I can't even believe I didn't mention that Landon was baptized earlier! Shame on me! He was baptized on Sunday, August 10th at the church Mark and I were married in and now attend, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Mark's parents and grandparents were both married at Good Shepherd, Mark and his siblings were baptized there - as were my sisters and I.

My mom made his baptism outfit and did a fabulous job - the little peanut was doing a fabulous job growing and she had to take it back to make the leg holes bigger! Yay for Landon's chunky thighs!

Landon with his Godparents...Kate, Emily, and John

Our little family

His two month shot

Oww, shots

Landon had his two month well baby checkup today and his first set of shots. Technically, this should only have been the second time Landon should have been in to see the doctor, but really I've lost count since we've gone so many times for weight checks and the like. Good news this time though, his doctor was pleased with his weight gain and gave us the green light to let him sleep through the night if he wants to. No more waking him up for nighttime feedings - yay!

Then the yucky part...shots. We're following Dr. Sears' adjusted vaccine schedule since peanut Landon is still a little bitty guy, so fortunately he only got one shot and the rotavirus stuff by mouth. He screamed and screamed and turned bright red while they gave him the shot, but he calmed right down as soon as I picked him up. He napped on the way home, and I tried putting him down but he won't have any part of that, he wants to snuggle close to Mommy so I've got him in the Moby and he's fast asleep right now.

His new Reflux meds seem to be working, he's having easier feeds and is keeping it down much better. He's still a little fussy in the evening, but he's also the only baby I know that won't nap much during the day; so by the end of the day he's probably way over-stimulated and over-tired. We're going to a class next week at DayOne about sleep training, hopefully we'll get some tips and tricks on how to get him to be a better sleeper. I'm also looking forward to getting him to go to sleep without swaddling him. I think he's ready to move into his crib from his cradle, but only after he can sleep without swaddling, it would just make me feel better.

In other news, I celebrated my birthday this week with pizza from Skipolini's and presents. In true Mommy fashion I enjoyed my pizza and opened my gifts while standing and swaying since Landon's dinner radar was going off and he wouldn't let anyone else hold him or put him down. It was just fine with me though, never again will he be this little or want to cuddle so much.

Switcheroo

Landon had another doctor appointment today for another weight check. He's up to 8 pounds 5 ounces, that's up 7 ounces in 9 days; which his pediatrician is happy-ish with (he said he wanted to see him up 9 pounds in 9 days, we're going for an ounce a day here). He's changing his medicine from the Zantac that I'm not so sure is working all that well to something else. I haven't picked it up from the pharmacy yet because I'm hoping that I'll have a new medicine for the thrush. I thought things were going well with it until I woke up this morning and it's spread and is getting painful. I've emailed my doctor and we'll see what they come back with. Landon's doctor is also referring him to a gastrointestinal doctor to see what their take on him will be Something's gotta give, right? We go back next Friday for his two month checkup and shots.

I can't fathom going back to work with things being so up in the air with him. I'm just not comfortable going back until he's on a steady track of gaining weight and I'm back to100% normal without any thrush or anything. I've got about four weeks left of my leave, which sounds like a lot when you think about it one way, but sounds like nothing at all when you think about it another way. It's hard enough having to put him in daycare, I can't imagine what it would be like putting him in with things going the way they have gone up until now. Like I said, we still have some time left, but it's still not far from my mind and I'm not looking forward to it.

In better news, Landon is getting really good at holding his head up. That's just about his favorite thing to do when he's upright on my chest. He'll brace himself with his arms and push up so that he can look around. He's getting very good at controlling his head too, once he's balancing he'll move his head from side to side and look around. He'll do this for five to ten minutes at a time with little rest periods in between. He's such a handsome little guy!

A productive week

What a week we've had here!

It started out on Monday with doctor appointments for both Landon and I, him first. Every time we go to register at the pediatrician's office the receptionist asks if this is our first visit. I know that they must see a TON of people rolling through that place, but dang, we've been there SOOO many times now I don't think I could count them all up. Weight check after weight check after weight check, surely Dr. Lande is getting sick and tired of seeing us. This time I was armed with some additional stuff, possibly part of the reason Landon hasn't been gaining weight or eating as we would like him to eat. I borrowed the book Colic Solved by Bryan Vartabedian, MD from DayOne (a really cool center for new and expectant moms in Walnut Creek, they have classes and a lending library and a lactation consultant and a retail shop) that one of the lactation consultants pulled for me about colic and reflux. I brought the book home and read it cover to cover that evening as I sat with Mr. Fussypants. By the third chapter I had the biggest ahaa moment ever, that was my Landon they were describing:

• Spitting and vomiting
• Constant hiccups
• Feeding disturbances
• Chronic irritability
• Discomfort when lying on the back
• Sleep disturbances
• Chronic cough and/or congestion

Check, check, BIG check, check, check, little check, check. I brought up my concern with Dr. Lande who halfway dismissed the thought but ordered an upper GI and a perscription for Zantac.

Fast forward to Wednesday when Landon had his upper GI. It went really smoothly much to my surprise. Mark took the day off of work to go with us and it was so nice having him there. Landon took the barium without a problem, he actually liked it (they mix the powder with sugar water, I think we've got a little sweet tooth guy on our hands) and was upset when we took it away. The doctor performing the test was great, he showed us what he was doing and explained what he saw, that everything looked normal anatomically. As Landon sat on the table with the cameras going it captured a big reflux spasm but no spit up (what they call silent reflux since you don't know it's happening normally). At that point he told us that Landon does in fact have reflux and we didn't need to continue with the test.

We started the Zantac that night and the little guy HATES taking it. I've never seen a baby give dirty looks, but Landon sure does when we try and give him the medicaiton. He hesitates to swallow it and scrunches his face all up. I don't blame him, the stuff tastes like crap, but he's got to take it.

His doctor called this morning and said the most glorious words I've heard in a while, "you were right, good job for listening to your bahy's cues." Of course, I'm not happy that he's got reflux, things would be much easier if he didn't, but it feels good to know that we've got an answer and can move forward with treating it and get the little guy to plump up. Of course it was nice to also feel validated that I'm not pulling symptoms out of thin air and making things up as I go along, as I suspected his doctor thought on Monday. As of Monday Landon was up to 7 pounds 14 ounces, yesterday he was at 8 pounds 2 ounces!

Now, if only we could get the thrush to go away perhaps we'd be in business. I've still got it (hence, my appointment on Monday), we're still giving Landon meds for it, and I can't wait for it to be gone.