Are we there yet?

Two growing boys!

2011-08-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Landon is set to start preschool next month, Sam is growing and changing by leaps and bounds every day, and life is ever-changing at home in our house! I wouldn't have it any other way and feel like we're all right where we're supposed to be. Well, minus a few piles of laundry and the dust bunnies in the corner.

Landon's love affair with all things construction and heavy equipment continues. Tonight after we had dinner we all went outside to play in the backyard before bedtime. Landon lined up every single Tonka truck that Mark and Uncle Erik passed along to Landon. When they were all in a row across the patio I asked Landon to count them (total mommy thing to do, I know...always a teaching moment), that kid has no less than fifteen mini loaders, bulldozers, diggers, dump trucks, etc. I pity any fool who tries to scale our fence and parade around our backyard tonight, it's like an obstacle course out there right now. Anytime we're in the car and happen upon what looks like a construction yard Landon declares it his work. Currently he has several locations throughout the East Bay. He's also the helmet police; when he sees anyone riding their bike he lets us know whether or not they're wearing their helmet. If they're not protecting their head he'll tell us that it's not safe and they'd better get a ticket from the police.

Landon wins the prize every time for being the most enthusiastic. About anything. And everything. You would think that his cup of severely watered down juice was being served to him from Mickey Mouse himself or that Sammy waking up was something that happened once each decade. I love watching him experience new things and taking it all in. Recently Uncle John took Landon to the Lawrence Hall of Science. I think Uncle John is trying to make a scientist out of our little guy, and it might be working. Oh, the stories he told us when they returned home. He loved ever single bit of it from the hot chocolate store (Starbucks) on the way to the whale and DNA outside and dinosaurs throughout. Landon still loves his "Drumming Song" (Train's Save Me San Francisco) and now tries to remember the words to any song that comes on the radio. He's also exercising his imagination frequently and makes up the words to his own songs. He named the fake owl outside that Daddy put up on the patio cover in a (silly) attempt to scare the birds away from pooping on the swings.

Each day Landon loves his brother more and more. I don't think there's anything in this world that I love hearing more than the two of them playing. Sam is getting to an age where he's very alert, active and responsive. Currently it seems like Landon's mission in life is to make Sammy laugh, and it doesn't take much for the both of them to get going. Today in the car on the way home from a birthday party there were all kinds of giggles erupting from the back seat; Daddy and I just looked at each other smiling. It's moments like those where my heart is truly happy.

Sam is almost seven months old. He's closer to being a big one year old boy than being my itty bitty baby. I find myself just staring at him trying to soak up each and every moment. He is such a sweet and easy-going baby; it doesn't take much for him to smile, laugh and coo. He's very observant and notices when someone is trying to catch his attention from across the room and often complies with a sweet, toothy grin. Yes, I said toothy. At five and a half months he sprouted his two front bottom teeth, one just a couple of days after the other. This last week brought his front top tooth on the left and the right is not far behind. You would never have known his teeth were coming (well except for the massive amounts of drool, but that's been going on for weeks now) until the night before they break through. That's really the only time he's been tough and hasn't wanted to sleep. Teething is hard work!

Right around five and a half months Sam also started sitting up on his own without assistance. He is loving this new vantage point of the world and took it as an opportunity to start scooting himself. At six and a half months he became a completely mobile baby, crawling, rolling and scooting himself wherever he wants to go. The other day I was sitting across the room from him, he managed to crawl over to me and started to pull himself up onto my lap. Best feeling ever. Seriously. At six months old Sam also got his first taste of real food. These days Sam loves to eat pureed avocado, peaches, mango, peas, sweet potato and apples. We're heading to the farmer's market tomorrow to pick up some green beans and will see how he likes those. If he's anything like both his Daddy and older brother he's going to love them.

Both boys are fast asleep right now and the house is quiet. During the day life is generally loud and hectic around here with no shortage of cuddles, kisses, singing and the occasional time out. Evenings give both Daddy and I a chance to breath for a few minutes and take a little break. Eighteen years from now we're not going to look back and marvel at the clean sink or tidy bathroom. What we will remember are our two silly, smiley growing boys and wish we could have just a little more time with them. For now, those dust bunnies can hang in the corner a little while longer - we're all right where we're supposed to be.

Three Years Old

2011-06-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

As a first time parent you do what you can to prepare yourself for the little bundle of baby that is to come. From gear to parenting magazines and books to babyproofing and toys. You hear stories from other parents out there, both new and seasoned. All of this, however, can never prepare you for what is to come. Three years ago I learned exactly this.

Three years ago today my life changed forever. Landon Douglas made his grand entrance into this world and made me a mommy. In those three years life has been completely transformed. Sleeping in is a thing of the past, I kiss owies, dance to silence, tend to others' needs before my own, I now keep milk in the refrigerator at all times, leave dishes in the sink longer, have a load of laundry in the washer or dryer all the stinking time, get mad if the phone rings after 8pm and can tell you where every single park within a five mile radius is from our house. I can't remember what life was like before parenthood began and I'm not sure it matters.

Not only has my life changed completely but Landon has gone from a tiny, squishy newborn to a teetering, babbling toddler to now an articulate little preschooler that makes my heart swell with pride and smears a smile across my face. He speaks in full, complete sentances and has a crazy vocabulary. He will try just about anything you put on his plate and asked for the broccoli off my plate when he finished his at dinner the other night. He's quick to give a hug if one of his friends is feeling sad or hurt. He loves to help in the kitchen cooking dinner or baking treats (his favorite job is licking the beater). He's great at using his manners and will start with "please may I..." and end with, "thank you..." almost every time. His smile engages his entire face and his belly laughs are magical. He cries with his entire body but very rarely throws tantrums; when he does they are doozies. He is inquisitive and careful but brave and stubborn with toddler style selective hearing. His excitement and enthusiasm is fantastic and I wish it could be bottled. Landon loves to be outside and will spend hours in his sandbox. Such a huge difference is the 30 pound guy of today from that six pound ten ounce little wonder of a baby three short years ago.

Landon really understands birthdays this year and is SO excited to have his own special day and party. I asked Landon what he wanted to do on his birthday this year to make the day special. He wants to, "go pick cherries off of the trees and go for a BART train ride." I love that kid. I asked him what he wanted to eat for his special birthday dinner, he wants, "soup." What kind of soup, you ask? "One with LOTS of noodles! And ralaolies (raviolis)." Cake too, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted..."green cake." What should it taste like? "Apples." He definitely knows what he wants.

Landon, thank you from the bottom of my swollen heart for shaping me into the person I am today. Because of you I'm more patient, compassionate, inquisitve, nurturing, helpful and silly. You have taught me to savor moments that I probably wouldn't have given a second thought to before, to love without borders or conditions, to trust my intuition, to leave the dishes in the sink in favor of more playtime and cherish snuggles and eskimo kisses. Thank you for the abundant joy and craziness you have brought to our lives. May you continue to sparkle, to ask questions and soak up the world around you. If I could keep you like this forever I might consider it if I weren't so excited to continue to watch you grow and learn and become even more fabulous.

I love you SO much! How much is so? Way, way more than you know.

Happy birthday, my son!

Landon-isms

2011-06-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Grelish - Relish
Larms - Arms. As in, "the larms went down over the train tracks."
Dinosaur is pronounced like "din"ner with the short "i"
Bar-ca-you - Barbecue
Flumper - Bambi's rabbit sidekick, Thumper.
Chickey - Chicken
Squeezers - Tweezers
Chocolate is pronounced with a really long "o" in the middle, choc-o-late
If Landon doesn't like something he says he "can't like it," while shaking his head and scrunching his face up
He's decided he doesn't like anything that's "bitey" (crunchy). So, according to Landon, "I can't like bitey tacos."
Noonles - Noodles
Lawnmowerbacuum - Lawn mower. Because the lawn mower mows the lawn and "bacuums" up all the clippings.
I was baking some chicken the other day when Landon wandered into the kitchen and announced that it smelled, "deeee-licious!"
Atatoes - Potatoes
After dinner every night Landon gets fruit for dessert, sometimes with some yogurt mixed in. He loves his fruit and will sometimes tell us he is "all full of dinner but empty for dessert."

The Boys

2011-05-26T21:33:00.001-07:00

The boys are growing and changing before our eyes. It's exciting, fun and crazy with a twinge of sadness in there too. I wish I could bottle them up right now, maybe stop time for a while and savor every moment with them just as they are right now.

Landon is almost three years old. It sounds so strange to me to say that. He'll be closer to school age than baby. Crazy! He's still the sweet boy he's always been but has definitely been testing the waters lately. Bedtimes have been tough, and I sit here past 9:30 at night typing away and he's not asleep yet. Even with the challenges that come with these days he's definitely goofy and fun and full of imagination. Toddler speak is making way for big boy words and thoughts.

Mickey Mouse still reigns but has been joined by Handy Manny, Jake and the "Netherland Parts" (Jake and the Never Land Pirates) and Babar. Landon loves to read books, his favorites are Mr. Bell's Fixit Shop, Funny Farm and Five Little Monkeys. He's a great eater most of the time and will try anything unless it's tomatoes or eggs, he'll tell you very matter-of-factly that he does NOT like tomatoes or eggs no matter how much ketchup you dump on them. Speaking of ketchup, the other day we had hot dogs for lunch. Landon informed me that he wanted ketchup, mustard and grelish on his hot dog. I probably should correct him but instead I told him I'd be happy to put some grelish on his hot dog. Landon loves music and has made friends with the neighbor kids next door since they have a drum set in their garage. Anytime he hears Jack playing the drums he stops what he's doing and convinces us to take him next door to play with Jack. Uncle John is very excited about this and is looking forward to setting up one of his drum sets for Landon's upcoming birthday party. Landon's current favorite toy is the sandbox. He'll literally spend hours playing in the sand. He'll also turn his buckets upside down, set them up like a drum set and wail on them like a rock star. In the car he demands to hear the "drumming song," Train's "Save Me San Francisco." He rocks out drumming on his legs, dancing in his seat and singing along.

Landon is very excited to start preschool in the fall and often talks about his new school. His imagination it at work quite a bit these days, he frequently talks about his work. Since Daddy works in public works and has all the backhoes and bulldozers at work every time Landon sees a construction site or yard with heavy equipment nearby he excitedly tells us that we found his work. All roads lead to Landon's work.

Sam is four months old. We've been blessed with such an easygoing baby who more often than not sleeps through the night. I joke that he's such a good baby he's going to trick us into having another one. Sam is smiley and giggly and ticklish. He's strong and determined. He started rolling from his back to his tummy at three and a half months old, and though he doesn't like being on his tummy he's figured out that it gives him the best vantage point to see everything. He's held his head up very well for over a month now and would be able to sit on his own if he had the balance thing down. Sam is snuggley and sweet and doles his smiles out to anyone who wants one. I have a feeling he's going to be a funny little guy and while I can't wait to see who he grows up to be I want him to stay just like this forever. Sam loves being outside going for walks, swinging on the patio swing or just sitting on the front steps watching Landon play in the grass or ride his bike. His big blue eyes melt my heart every time I see them and his sweet gummy smile make way for the most kissable cheeks ever. I'll sometimes hold him while he naps so that I can memorize every inch of his face.

We are so blessed, our little family of four, and even though I'm outnumbered three to one I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my boys and cannot imagine life without them.

Time flies when you're having fun!

2011-03-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

That's what we're calling it these days, fun, because it is. I think we've all finally settled into our groove and are loving life as a family of four. Of course we all have our moments, but we all had our moments as a family of three and a family of two, etc. so I guess you could say that doesn't really count.

Landon is such a sweetie with Sam. When he wakes up each morning the first thing he does is wander out of his room and into Sam's room. If Sam isn't in his room he asks where he is and immediately sets out to find him and give him a kiss and a pat. The other day Sam was in his room in his swing, Landon had a sippy cup of water and as I rounded the corner out of Landon's room and into Sam's Landon stuck the sippy into Sam's mouth. When I told him not to put his sippy in baby Sam's mouth he was so excited, telling me, "Mommy, I share with baby Sam!" How can you scold that?

I seem to use the word "bittersweet" a lot these days. It's bittersweet (see?), but Sam is growing out of that newborn, sleepy, squishy stage and is pretty much a baby at this point. He's waking up and spending more and more time with his bright blue eyes (where did those come from?!?) focusing on lights, reacting to sounds and noticing anything remotely interesting. He doles out smiles in the morning and belly laughed in his sleep the other day. He's starting to lose his hair like a little old man and his eyebrows and lashes are so light and blond that I'm sure he'll be a blondie just like his big brother. Sam loves snuggles, loves to be held upright and is soothed when you "shsh" in his ear and pat him on the back. His cries sound just like Landon's did when he was a baby. He's a really great baby, we're pretty spoiled by him and I'm so grateful he's such a good sleeper. Generally he'll go down for the night between 8 and 10 and I'll wake him between 3 and 4 to eat and he'll go right back to sleep until between 7 and 8 when he wants to eat again and is awake and smiley.

Sam has some issues with his kidneys still and moved from being diagnosed with pelviectasis to hydronephrosis. He had a voiding hystogram done and although it came back normal the Urologist wants to get some further tests done to check the function of his kidneys. She has a few concerns; the size of his kidneys as they're on the larger end of abnormal, that it took him so long to pee after he was born, and that the doctor had a hard time getting the catheter in during the voiding hystogram. I know in the long run he'll be fine and we hope this is something he'll eventually grow out of without needing surgery to correct anything, but no parent ever likes to hear that there's anything wrong with their child no matter how big or small the problem is. It also feels like we're one step closer to needing surgery to correct things, and while he certainly wouldn't be the first baby to undergo surgery he'd be MY first baby to undergo surgery and that's a scary thought. One step at a time though, I keep telling myself that if this is the worst thing we're faced with as parents then it isn't so bad, and that he will be just fine.

Having a baby in the house now makes me realize just what a big boy Landon is and will continue to be. Putting on his socks before Sam was born his feet seemed so small. Now, those little feet are ginormous compared to Sam's tiny tootsies. We've been pulling out all of Landon's old clothes and it just seems crazy to me that Landon used to fit into these little onesies, especially since I so vividly remember him in them and have pictures to prove it.

As time continues to fly I'm continually trying to live in each moment, being grateful for the time I have with both of my boys. They're only this small once and these moments are fleeting. As cliche as I know it is, I know I'm going to look back at this time when they're in elementary school, when they're playing high school sports, when we pack them for college and all of those milestones in life and wish for these early days with them again.

The early days

2011-02-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

Settling in as a family of four has had its challenges as well as those easy moments where you feel like you've been doing this your whole life. The easiest transition is watching Sam and Landon together, it's so sweet, and Landon is such a good big brother. He loves to hold Sam, he loves to share his blankie with Sam, he wants to help whenever and wherever he can and will excitedly run to grab a diaper and exclaim all the way back to you what a big helper he is. Landon loves his little brother and loves to tell everyone what a great big brother he is. For the record, Spongebob and Patrick are still in his tummy and Santa and Mickey have joined them in there. He says the doctors haven't helped him take them out yet.

I think I'm now realizing just what a tough time and how much of a toll it took on me when Landon was itty bitty. Between the feeding issues, his weight issues and reflux I guess I didn't realize until now just how much all of that pressed on me and has made Sam's early days a little more stressful than I would have liked them to be. Sam and Landon are two totally different babies, their pregnancies and labors and deliveries completely different. Landon was in preemie and newborn clothes for the first few months of his life while Sam skipped right over newborn diapers and went straight to size ones in the hospital. I know this, I really do. The anxiety is still there with Sam though, and is something I have to reconcile with myself somehow.

At his two week checkup on Monday he was just an ounce and a half away from birth weight. His pediatrician was and is totally fine with this, and I really needed to hear it from the doctor. I can't tell you how big of a weight was lifted off my shoulders to hear him tell me that he is fine and that he didn't need to see us again for six weeks or so unless I felt the need to come back sooner. Feeding a baby is stressful. I have more milk this time and we got Sam's tongue clipped to correct his tongue tie when he was a week old, but still not knowing for sure that your baby is getting enough food is nerve wracking. I'm starting to ease up a little, but it's hard. And those postpartum hormones mixed in with the uncertainty and the guilt about possibly not breastfeeding and making sure Landon gets enough attention as well is plenty for a new mommy to deal with. I will be forever grateful for our fabulous family and friends for stepping in to make sure we were fed and had plenty of support during these first few weeks.

Also on Monday Sam had his follow-up ultrasound on his kidneys. Dr. Lande called yesterday with the results and it looks like both kidneys are moderately enlarged. They're sending a referral over for us to see a specialist in Oakland next week. I know everything will be fine, I know that Sam is healthy and thriving overall, but as a mom you just can't help but feel cruddy that something is "wrong" with your baby.

Our family has grown by two feet!

2011-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

Samuel John is here! Landon is officially a big brother, and doing a great job too! It's been a whirlwind two weeks; our family has grown, our hearts are swollen with love, and our eyes are tired with a newborn and toddler running around the house but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I had another doctor appointment and non-stress test on Friday, January 14th with my regular doctor. One of her partner doctors had already scheduled an induction for January 21st if Sam wasn't here by then but Dr. Mancuso had other plans. Things were still looking great, my blood pressure was fine, Sam was fine, my heart was fine, everything was fine, but according to Dr. Mancuso she just had a funny little feeling that we were done and it was time for Sam to join us on this side of the womb. It was strange coming from her since she'd been very anti induction throughout the pregnancy. It honestly freaked me out a little bit. After calling over to the hospital she told me to call the hospital on Saturday, January 15th at 5pm for our marching orders.

I spent the rest of the day in a fog, I was already anticipating the 21st as our induction date if labor didn't start on its own by then. A million thoughts were swirling through my head and now the anticipation was going to do me in. This was my last little bit of time with Landon, I wasn't sure if I was ready to give him up as my "baby" yet, and while I of course was excited to meet Sam I also couldn't help but nurse some sad feelings for Landon. His world was about to be turned upside down and he had no idea. I'd spent the last few months at home full time with him, able to focus on him and spend lots of special, quality time with him. A blessing for sure, but it was starting to make this transition to a family of four a little more difficult than I had imagined. I left the doctor's office, called Mark to let him know plans had changed and started off on what I thought would be a day full of errands. I got to my first stop, a good friend's cafe, and decided to cancel my lunch date and the rest of my errands. Dang those hormones, I was too overwhelmed. I sat in her cafe for probably three or four hours and just absorbed the last several months. Happy, excited, elated, ready to give birth, ready to meet Sam, ready to introduce Landon to his baby brother, scared of the induction, nervous, ready not to be pregnant. I was swollen with feelings.

After gathering my thoughts and inhaling a sandwich I left to pick up Landon early from daycare. We spent the rest of the afternoon and the following day, Sam's due date, just hanging out as a family, packing our bags and getting last minute details ready for Sam's arrival. Sam's due date also happened to be Grandma Jean's birthday, so we met up with the rest of the family for a celebratory dinner. It was 5pm in the middle of dinner so I called over to the hospital and was told to eat a light dinner and be there at 7pm. Granddad met us back at the house after dinner for a slumber party with Landon, I kissed my baby boy for the last time before leaving for the hospital and we were out the door and on our way.

All the papers were signed, we were assigned to our room and the doctor came in to go over the game plan. They drew labs to ensure I wouldn't need to be given any magnesium since I'd been spilling a little bit of protein for the last couple of weeks and checked my cervix. I was dilated to 3cm already and having small but regular contractions. The lab work came back fine so the doctor transferred care to a midwife and started pitocin at about 11pm. It was a party in the delivery room at that point, Mark, my mom, Katie, Emily and John were all there and planned on hanging in the waiting room once active labor started. I was starting to breathe through the contractions while the peanut gallery was joking around in the background. John cracked some joke about pixies living in the contraction monitors that had everyone in the room laughing. I was mortified when I thought I'd peed myself so I told everyone to go out to the waiting room and buzzed the nurse. Turns out my water broke; thanks pixies. I spent the next few hours trying to rest and breathing through the contractions.

It was about 3am when I finally buzzed the nurse and told her I'd like to talk pain management. Pitocin contractions are no joke, and while I was breathing through them I knew I wasn't relaxing enough to make them as effective as possible. The anesthesiologist was in a c-section and wasn't available for half an hour so she offered me a shot of fentanyl in the meantime. I almost didn't take it, but the contractions went from tolerable to not in a matter of minutes, that was a strange feeling. The midwife checked me and I was still only 3cm dilated. I took the fentanyl and it took the edge off until the anesthesiologist literally walked in.

The epidural made me comfortable enough to rest so I spent some time dozing in and out of sleep. The peanut gallery brought Gatorade and 7up and checked on us a few times between overtaking the waiting room down the hall. The nurses interrupted my rest a few times as Sam wasn't cooperating and would move and fall off his monitor. At one point the nurse came rushing in because his heart rate took a big drop, all the lights in the room came on and I won an oxygen mask for the rest of labor and delivery. Sam's heart rate recovered and they placed an internal monitor on his head. An hour and a half after the nice man gave me that epidural the midwife came in to check my progress. I'd gone from 3cm to 9cm since now resting through those contractions. She left and came back half an hour later, it was time to push. Sam was coming! I started pushing at 7am, pushed through three contractions, and out he came at 7:08am on Sunday, January 16th.

I will never forget the feeling of them laying him on my stomach after he was born. This warm, wet little being crying and looking around. It was amazing and nothing short of a miracle. They let me hold him for a minute while Mark cut the umbilical cord and then took him over to the warmer to clean him up and suction out his lungs. There was a little concern he'd swallowed some meconium as well as some blood. Maybe Dr. Mancuso was right, it needed to happen when it did, my placenta started to abrupt right before Sam was born. The midwife told me that I'd lost "more blood than the average bear." She was sweet, I really liked her a lot, but I had to laugh at her comment. She stitched me up, handed me my sweet bundle of Sam, announced that he was 8 pounds 11 ounces and 22 inches long, and left us to get to know each other.

Are we there.....yet??

2011-01-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

We're officially six days away from baby Sam's due date. Six days, that means I'm over 39 weeks pregnant. I've never been this pregnant before, last time around I had a two week old right about now. There was plenty of anxiety and craziness with Landon's pregnancy, but I don't nearly remember it being on this level.

This time around things are much better physically, my blood pressure is in check and hasn't been concerning enough to warrant scheduling an induction. I've had some heart issues this time around and they've thankfully been quiet enough not to wreak havoc either. Phew. Don't worry though, it's not been without a teensy bit of drama in the last couple weeks. My doctors are watching things closely and we had a little adventure over to Labor and Delivery last week and I've since won myself twice weekly visits to see the doctor and have a non stress test done until Sam makes his appearance. I also can cross an emergency root canal off my bucket list since I had to get one of those done last week, and it's now infected (cue pain, numbness and swelling). Yippee. Yes, this is me, the religious tooth brusher with two whole fillings in my mouth. I won myself a root canal and I'm still trying to figure out how it happened.

Oh, the hormones. At least that's what I think it is; or hope it is. Either that or I'm going crazy, which is a possibility - ha! Really though, I don't remember being this mood-swingy last time. I've sworn off email and social networking sites for the most part because something is bound to either piss me off or make me cry happy/sad tears. Ho-Lee-Cow. Don't worry though, I'm not saving it all up for postpartum.

I cried like I'm sure baby Sam will tonight when putting Landon down for bed. Quiet, weepy tears full of happiness, hope, what I'm sure is fear, resolution....pick an emotion out of your hat, I'm sure it was in there somewhere. Tonight at dinner Landon looked like such a big boy sitting at the table eating his yogurt all by himself with his spoon and not spilling a drop. Sam kicked and it just about instantly brought me back to a time when Landon was itty bitty and wasn't quite getting the hang of eating solids. It seemed so permanent at the time, but that was all of probably two short years ago and didn't last nearly as long as it felt. Fast forward to bath time tonight. We're not officially on the potty training bandwagon because selfishly, I don't want to deal with the regression that will surely happen when Sam gets here, and Landon's not quite ready, but he does tell us when he has to "go" sometimes; like tonight. My big boy "went" in the potty all by himself - and not in the bathtub! Landon and Sam have a few pairs of matching jammies thanks to friends and family. I pulled out his 3T's and out fell the newborn matching pair for Sam. I remember when Landon didn't even FIT into those size newborn jammies, and practically swam in the preemies. Now the 3T's are a little big on him but a far cry from those newborns.

The wallop came when it was time for bed. We brushed teeth, combed hair, read stories and sang our lullaby songs. Usually we get a little backlash when the time comes to put Landon down to sleep but tonight he reached up himself to give me a hug and kiss and told me he loved me - totally unprompted. I passed him to Mark for more of the same before he crawled up to his pillow to lay down. Every now and then I'll lay down and snuggle with him, but that hasn't happened for quite some time (hello ginormous pregnant belly). Tonight as his little head hit the pillow he asked me to snuggle with him. I'm relishing these last moments of him being an only child and am soaking up as much as possible, just as I hope he's doing, so I grabbed a pillow and settled in next to Landon in his big boy bed. Mark turned on the goodnight music and off the light on his way out the door. I rubbed Landon's back and stroked his hair as I thought he was drifting off to sleep. At one point I stopped and put my arm down. Landon turned his head, put his soft little hand on my cheek and said, "I love you Mommy," before turning himself back around and settling into his pillow. On came the tears. When I thought he was reaching for his blankie he grabbed my hand, snuggled it up next to his cheek and stroked my arm as softly and gently as I'd done for him. I knew he'd finally drifted off to sleep when all was still. More tears. Lots more tears.

I don't know what I did to get so lucky as to have such a sweet little guy (with another on the way to boot) and I can't help but reflect back over the last two and a half years with all the ups and downs and be just amazed at what my life has become. How much richer I am, how crazy different life now is, and how I can't really remember - and don't care to - what life was like before this little being entered our world. I also can't help but think about how life will now change again in the days, maybe even hours to come.

Landon knows he's going to be a big brother. Ask him who is in mommy's tummy and he'll tell you that baby Sam is in there. And then he'll lift up his shirt and tell you that he has a baby in his tummy, it's Spongebob and Patrick (thanks to our neighbor's Christmas lawn decor). Yes, he understands....but does he really? Probably and probably not. I'm excited to introduce Landon to his brother, but at the same time my heart is pulled in another direction knowing and wondering what changes this will bring to our seemingly perfect little family.

Oh, the hormones. Cue more tears. Come on, Sam, let's get this show on the road.

Christmastime is here!

2010-12-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

Can you hear Charlie Brown and all of his buddies singing? Oh, you can't? Just stop by our house, I'm sure you'll have no problem since "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is permanently implanted in the DVD player these days courtesy of Landon. He's become well acquainted with Charlie Brown and "Snoopy the dog" and attempts to negotiate a viewing often.

The holidays through the eyes of a child cannot be described. The wonder, amazement, enchantment, sparkle, and excitement are unmatched; it's too bad it only lasts for a little over a month. We've packed quite a bit into our holiday cheer and celebrations already - and it's only the fifth of December - partially because Landon (and Mommy and Daddy too, who am I kidding?) is way into it. This year's holiday season is so much fun.

This year's Christmas tree is the first tree in 30-ish years of Poston family history to come from a tree lot instead of the Plumas National Forest. The area got quite the dumping of snow and after hearing that there was upwards of four feet of snow before another storm came through - and confirming with the ranger station that the only way in was by snow mobile, snow shoes or skis - we ended up finding a great tree at a you-cut lot up in Placerville. Gotta keep those high ceilings at home useful somehow, and we ended up with a 14 footer this year. Quite a different experience, but we still had a good time.

Landon was introduced to "handy canes" and has decided that he absolutely loves them.

We made Christmas ornaments out of salt dough to paint and hang on our tree.

And who says it doesn't snow in the Bay Area?!?! We took advantage of all the snow the city annually pipes into downtown. At first Landon wasn't too sure about all this white stuff but eventually decided he loved it, from the snowballs to the sledding down the "hill."

After all that sledding tired us out we decided to get an extra special treat. Landon got his first taste of hot chocolate in a seasonally appropriate little red cup from Starbucks. Landon was so excited he could hardly contain himself, and it was just about the only thing that tore him away from the snow outside, but he was over it once he finished about a quarter of his hot chocolate and he wanted to go back outside to play some more.

Every year the carousel at Tilden Park lights up with Christmas trees, lawn decor, Santa and even reindeer make an appearance. It's whimsical and magical and a holiday tradition that's recently made its way on our to-do list as this is the second year we've climbed the winding roads through Berkeley's foggy hills at night. A few trips on the carousel, a visit with Santa (his reindeer were off that night), marveling at the "beyoodaful" lights, picking out an ornament for our tree at home and a "pocorn" snack we had a great time.

Stay tuned, more holiday adventures await!

Gobble gobble gurkey, plum turkeys are we!

2010-11-30T05:22:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone, we're all on the lookout for the man in the big red suit these days but had lots of fun and stuffed ourselves like turkeys over Thanksgiving. Landon "gets" the holidays more this year and it's so much fun experiencing things through his eyes with all the excitement, wonder and innocence. He was SO excited to have turkey on Thanksgiving and we both had a good (and sometimes challenging...patience mommy and daddy, patience) time cooking Thanksgiving dinner with my little sous chef. I don't think we left anything out: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie. I told you we stuffed ourselves like turkeys. Landon's job throughout the whole process was to measure, dump and stir. He helped with the cranberry sauce, pumpkin cheesecake and green bean casserole - and made sure to enthusiastically let everyone know exactly what he helped with.

We had a low key and fairly quiet Turkey Day. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, we talked this up with Landon for a few days and the night before Thanksgiving he was so hyped up to watch the parade in the morning it ended up making bedtime a little difficult. Macy's didn't disappoint our little guy, we recorded the parade and have since had to watch it again a few times. A nap, some cooking, setting the table and a little rest for mommy and daddy and our guests for dinner arrived; Auntie Kate, Uncle John, Great-grandma Jean, Granddad, Nana-reen, Aunt B, and even Papa and Grandma Nancy ended up coming. Granddad gave his little buddy a bath for the first time and everyone went home in a turkey induced coma.

True to tradition, we all convened at Great-grandma Jean's on Saturday for more celebrating with the extended family. In cheesy family tradition and in memory of Aunt Bunny who always started us off and sang the loudest we sang "Gobble Gobble Gurkey" before eating dinner even though turkey was not on the menu. Landon loved it and now requests the "turkey prayer" before dinner - HA! Heide was home from college so we celebrated her belated 21st birthday with a champagne toast (Martinelli's "apple wine" for Landon) where Great-grandma Jean gave Landon a special cordial glass to toast with. Landon bit down on the glass and broke it in his mouth after he polished off his apple wine, we spent a good five minutes making sure he didn't have any broken glass in his mouth. He didn't, luckily spit everything out, and we're no worse for the wear. Plastic from now on though!

Fall is here!

2010-11-05T12:05:00.001-07:00

What better time for a camera dump? Check out what we've been up to...

Landon's been earning his keep helping mow the lawn just like Daddy

We picked out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch just in time for Halloween

We visited Grandpa Jay up in the mountains. I don't know who had more fun, Grandpa Jay or Landon. Landon talked about the trip for days and still talks about Grandpa Jay and riding his "tractor," asking when we're going to go back to see him again.

We got our fill of apples and all things Fall at Apple Hill

We made applesauce with our apples

And have been enjoying our time with our silly little guy

I wish we'd gotten it on camera...

2010-10-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

It seems babies, toddlers and the like grow by leaps and bounds right before your eyes. Both in size, as my sister commented on the other day when she came over to see Landon after not seeing him for a short week and a half, and in skill - again mentioned by said sister. And she's totally right. Landon is losing that cute, chubby baby look and looks more and more like a big boy every day. Not to mention the way his vocabulary is changing and growing; toddler speak is going away quickly and I find myself teetering on encouraging the silly words he uses rather than reinforcing the correct pronunciation just because that toddler speak is so dang cute. And, of course, I have no idea where he comes up with some of the stuff that he does! It's super cute and he has us in stitches frequently.

Alas, our little ham is camera shy; well, sort of camera shy. Whenever I break out the camera (video or still) he would rather look at the pictures or video that have already been taken. He hasn't quite connected the dots that you have to take video or pictures before you can see them. I've tried being all stealth about it and sneaking the camera on him whenever he's being his super cute self, but it's like a magnet and as soon as he sees it in my hand he'll stop what he's doing and want to come see.

There have been a few - okay several - moments where I wish we'd gotten them on camera...

The many animal sounds Landon knows are pretty darn cute. One of my favorites that has evolved over the last few months has been his impression of an elephant. Once upon a time if you asked Landon what an elephant says he would hold his hand up to his nose like an inverted trunk and nod his head up and down going, "wooh wooooooh!" Somewhere along the way someone corrected his trunk action and now he holds his arm out instead. I must admit, the "inverted trunk" version was my favorite.

For weeks Landon would recite the same toddler speak gibbrish monologue over and over again. We tried and tried to figure out what exactly he was saying since it was the same unrecognizable thing each and every time. "Da-da, ba-ba KNOCKER! Zoom down da diam. OW OW OW! Ah-wee hoom." Each and every time. Finally, Irma was able to decipher it for us, and as it turns out it's one of his favorite stories at daycare; "The Hungry Giant." "They bumped him with their bommy knockers. The bees zoomed out, they zoomed after the giant. 'Ow ow ow!' Cried the giant. All the way home." Once we figured out what he was saying we could ask Landon to tell us the Hungry Giant story and he would get excited and tell it to us in his funny little version. Now? Apparently that's old news and he won't do it. I sadly can't tell you the last time Landon told me the Hungry Giant story.

Landon's got quite the ear for music. He's not too big on dancing, but he loves playing the piano, playing with his xylophone, playing the "tee-tar" (guitar) and picking out each instrument in his current favorite song, "Save Me San Francisco" that the group Train (appropriately enough) sings. He calls it the drumming song. If we could put the song on repeat so he wouldn't have to ask for it every time it was over he'd be the happiest toddler in the world. Seriously. He likes to sing along to anything that's on and recently made a good friend in our neighbor behind us who was playing music for our neighborhood's annual block party this year. In true "Landon" form though, every single time I break out the camera the singing stops.

When there is no music on in the car sometimes Landon will break out in song all by himself. Similar to the "Hungry Giant," there was one song we could not figure out even though it was repeated several times. "Vla-see vla-see a nay nay wooooo!" Any guesses? How about, "black sheep, black sheep, have you any wool?" I like Landon's original version, but it's become less toddler speak and more and more grown up over the last few weeks.

Landon is very animated right now. The expressions on his face when he's asking seemingly mundane questions, the way he holds out his hands and shrugs his shoulders, the genuine interest he has in every single little thing and the way his attention is captured. If he can't touch something for one reason or another he wants to smell it. If we hear something outside he stops what he's doing, puts his hand to his ear and tells everyone within eye/earshot to "shsh, listen." When he's looking for something, whether it's the group of turkeys that wander around the neighborhood, the "hopter" (helicopter) at the little airport on the way home or a lost toy he puts his forearm against his forehead and looks intently for whatever he's targeting.

I've gotten better about sneak attacks with the camera and have had to let things slide when he's singing at the dinner table or doing something cute or funny when we're supposed to be focusing on other things just so some of this fun stuff can be captured forever. If only life had a pause button, I'm so in love with my guys.

Kids really do say the darndest things

2010-09-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

Landon has quite the vocabulary for the little two year old guy that he is. It's so much fun to see what's going to pop out of his mouth next...sometimes. We've had a couple embarrassing moments and some hysterical doozies that I've been meaning to memorialize for a while now.

A couple of nights ago Landon was having a rough moment and hit the dog with his sand shovel and then kicked Daddy on the way to time-out. Our "time-out style" is to immediately put him on time-out without any words or reaction/action and then discuss what happened after time time-out is over, apologize for whatever action warranted time out and exchange hugs and kisses and "I love yous." It works well for the most part and Landon definitely understands what appropriate versus inappropriate behavior is. After the time-out mentioned above the end of the conversation went like this:

Mommy: Landon, what do you need to say to Daddy?
Landon: Thank you my time out, Daddy.

Not quite what I was going for. He's unapologetic but he is polite!

We were shopping at Costco a few weeks ago. This is one of Landon's favorite places to go shopping because of all those samples. Our Costco, probably like all the rest of them, is jam packed on the weekends and it can be tough to maneuver your cart sometimes. We were perusing some random aisle when all of a sudden a lady comes to a stop in the middle of the aisle right in front of us and we were stuck waiting for her to move. Landon turned around and shouted at her, "GO LADY! COME ON!" She turned around, saw who was shouting, gave me the side eye and pushed her cart. I wasn't sure whether or not I should have been mortified or give the little guy a high-five. A few chuckles erupted from neighboring carts.

We were on the BART train coming home from the airport when we greeted Kari, Tony and BinBin home. Even though their plane came in a few hours before rush hour it was rush hour by the time they made it through customs with all their luggage, freshened up after the marathon flight from China and grabbed something to drink. The BART train was pretty full by the time we were on our way home and continued filling up as we passed each stop on our way back to the East Bay. In walks an older man with white hair and a beard. Do you know where I'm going with this? Yes, for about 15 minutes Landon insisted - rather loudly I might add - that the platinum bearded man was Santa Claus himself. He would look back at the man (who was seated in the row behind us), point and exclaim, "Santa!" and "Ho ho ho, me-wwy Chwis-mas!" We tried telling him it wasn't Santa but he wasn't having any part of it and insisted that he was, in fact, Santa. Maybe he knew something the rest of us didn't?

Angels

2010-09-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Landon has talked about the "little man" that he sees when he goes to sleep several times. So many times that I've lost count. When we tuck him into bed at night he says goodnight to Mommy and Daddy, we say goodnight to him, and then he tells us to say goodnight to the little man. We comply, exchange kisses and go to sleep - though it's usually not quite that simple, but that's another post entirely.

Sometimes I'll lay beside Landon in his big boy bed and sing him a lullaby while rubbing his back. I take whatever snuggles I can get these days and relish my time alone with Landon since I know our solo days are numbered with a baby brother on the way - again, another post there entirely. Tonight was one of those nights. We went through all the goodnight hugs and kisses, Daddy had just turned on his noise machine, turned the light off and shut the door, Landon asked me to say goodnight to the "little man," so I did, and then I asked him more about the little man. Every so often, maybe it's when he's really tired, he'll talk more about this mysterious little man. Is he an imaginary friend? A monster in the closet? A shadow on the wall? A ghost? He seems to be consistent, but what is he? Who is he? Tonight our conversation went like this:

Mommy: Who is this little man, Landon?
Landon: Umm, I know mommy.
Mommy: Who?
Landon: A angel.
Mommy: An angel?
Landon: Yeah, a angel. Like in my book, in the pages.
Mommy: Is he scary?
Landon: No, not scary. He nice. He come see me when I go night-night myself.
Mommy: What does he look like?
Landon: Like the pages.
Mommy: What color hair does he have?
Landon: Umm, white. He very fragile. Pretty neat, huh?

I got a little choked up at that point and Landon was dozing off to sleep so our conversation ended there. Angels, ghosts; call them what you want, I believe in them and I have no doubt Landon is seeing one. Call me crazy, call me whatever you want, but I wholeheartedly believe this. Who is it? I have my suspicions. On the top of my list, and the one that admittedly makes my heart the happiest is that Landon's great granddad, his namesake, the one person I miss most in this entire world, has in fact met his great grandson and is watching over him.

Disneyland!

2010-09-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

More summertime fun! Daycare was closed for a week so we decided to head down to Southern California to visit the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! We all had a lot of fun at "Mickey's house," as Landon referred to it and reluctantly came home to resume life as normal after a fantastic week.

We started our adventure with dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. Landon wasn't too sure about all the characters that would walk around the restaurant and come up to your table, but he sure loved his "noonles and cheese" and dirt and worms!

Landon demonstrated what it was like to be a bug

Danced along to the World of Color

We rode lots of rides. Landon's favorites were the teacups, the Buzz Lightyear ride and Pirates of the Caribbean. We would ask him which ride he wanted to go on next and he would always ENTHUSIASTICALLY respond with one of those. On Pirates he would lean back right before heading down the first slide, cover his eyes and proclaim, "that too scary." Then, as soon as the boat would land at the bottom and the music would start he was all eyes and ears. As soon as the ride would end and we were back on solid ground he would excitedly jump up and down and ask to "go again!"

Landon tried pulling the sword from the stone

He even warmed up to the characters eventually. We ran into Minnie Mouse in Toontown and Landon ran right up to her. You can tell he wasn't too sure, but he held her hand and might have actually smiled! That was the breaking point for him and all the characters we visited with after Minnie were successful encounters!

Buzz Lightyear, or "Buzz Lightdirt," as Landon calls him, is a pretty elusive guy. We finally were able to track him down right before we left the park on our last morning there before driving back home. He's currently Landon's favorite guy and it was so cute watching Landon meet his "hero." Landon shared his astro blaster with Buzz and they had fun...even if Landon was being shy.

We were all tired out by the end of the trip with magical memories and dreams dancing in our heads.

When I woke Landon up the day we headed back to work and daycare he asked if we were going back to Mickey's house and cried when I told him we were going to Irma's. I know buddy, I'd much rather have been in Disneyland too. Of course, when we got to Irma's he kissed me goodbye, gave Irma a little something we brought back for her and headed into the other room to play with his friends. It was truly a wonderful trip!

Summertime fun!

2010-07-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe summer is already halfway over! We've had lots of fun so far and plan on continuing the trend all the way through until the rainy weather starts...and even then, I think fun will be on the agenda since we hit the outlets this weekend and scored a pair of dinosaur rain boots and matching rain jacket.

Summer started off by celebrating the big 2 and blowing out some candles

We spent some time at Pixieland where Landon loves to fly the airplanes

We made choo choo train cookies to share with friends at daycare

And shared some exciting news!

Swimming and playing in the sand at the beach

And learned how to pedal...sort of

Our baby is turning into a big boy right before our eyes!

And oh, how we love him!

Two years? No way...

2010-06-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

Yes way! Two years ago at this very moment I was snuggling my brand new baby in my arms. Really, it was more chaotic and crazy than it sounds since we were probably trying to figure out how to get him to eat since he was so sleepy (and we were too), but nevertheless, we were snuggling. I couldn't help myself but to snuggle Landon to sleep tonight, only this time his little body wrapped around mine instead of the six pound little package wrapped up in a blanket that I could curl my arm around. Snuggles are snuggles though, and I'll take what I can get since they seem to be even fewer and far between. The last two years seem to have melted away. I can remember those early days like they were yesterday, yet at the same time I have no idea where the time went.

Landon is a tall and skinny little ball of energy these days! He can count to twenty, knows his shapes and colors, LOVES to drive by the "lellehoter" (helicopter) on our way home from daycare and is infatuated with Mickey Mouse and all his friends. His smile and sweet little face will light up any room and brighten any day. He is genuinely the light of our lives and I can't seem to remember what life was like before he was here...nor do I want to.

We had such a fun day today! We all took the day off of work and daycare to play around a little bit. Daddy made a special trip to Johnny's and we had donuts for breakfast, then we played around the house for a bit before venturing over to the mall to get some pictures taken, had some lunch and then we were off to Pixieland! Landon had such a good time and was tall enough to ride on the airplanes! I think this made all of our day. I wasn't sure how he would do since the airplanes are only for little guys and he had to go by himself; I thought for sure he'd scream and we'd have to have them stop the ride to get him off. Quite the opposite though, he ended up riding them four or five times and it was hard to get him off! Teacups, a train ride, the cars and the merry-go-round later we headed home for a much needed nap. After naptime we gave Landon a few presents, played outside and then headed to meet the rest of the family at Chuck E Cheese. Pizza, cake, more presents, rides, whack-a-mole, ski-ball and a few other games later we headed home for bathtime and bed! A fun, crazy, memorable day for our favorite two year old who is now sound asleep in his crib.

Happy birthday, Landon! We love you more and more each day and are having such a wonderful time with you! Thank you for making us laugh, giving the best squeezie hugs, entertaining us with your "hot dog dance" and song singing. I hope one day you're blessed with the opportunity to see just how much joy you bring to our lives.

She's coming home!

2010-05-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Kari and Tony are cousins on my maternal side of the family. They are some of the warmest, easy-going, fun and caring people I know. They decided to adopt a baby girl from China and started the process way back in 2004. Check your calendars, we're in 2010 now; it's been six years. SIX YEARS! Their wait will be over very soon since they will board a plane to China, just the two of them, today and return in a few weeks as a family of three!

Katelyn Xuebin is coming home! I'm so very excited for Kari and Tony and know they're going to be wonderful parents to this little girl, but I'm also excited that Landon will have a cousin that's just his age to play with!

Katie is two years old and will surely provide lots of spunk to her new household. Tony is officially outnumbered but already has a soft spot for his girls. I can't wait to follow their journey as they bring Katie home.

Green Thumbs?

2010-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

The cold, rainy weather might finally be over. We've been graced with sunshine for the past several days, and it's been glorious! With Mommy's black thumb all of the gardening is usually left up to Daddy. He decided it would finally be a good idea to start the garden, so off he went to pick out plants. Landon helped with the planting and got his very own "weke" (rake) and "fovel" (shovel). He learned all about digging holes and now has a whole new appreciation for dirt. We've got a true boy on our hands, and he LOVES the dirt. The bathtub has gotten quite the scrubbing, and if it's any indication of what's to come we might have to start hosing him off outside!

Taking a little break from gardening.

Proud of his "keeny" - zucchini

Peppers and "matos" with Daddy

Having fun in the castle. Landon LOVES to "side" down the slide.

Some of my favorite memories as a child are of picking vegetables in my Granddad's garden with him. It makes me warm and smiley knowing that these treasures are just beginning with Landon.

So Sweet!

2010-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

The weather was gorgeous this weekend! Like, spend as much time as you possibly can, gorgeous. So we did! We spent almost the entire afternoon at the park on Saturday. Bliss, pure bliss. Landon had just about as much fun running around the huge grassy field as he did playing on the play structure. I think we might have spent more time chasing each other, finding pine cones, playing hide and seek, visiting dogs and picking dandelions.

Daddy taught Landon all about dandelions. Or, as Landon calls them, "fathers," (flowers). He would run off, find a dandelion, exclaim, "FATHER!" pick it and blow all the petals away. When he got tired of blowing them he'd pick them and come running back to me, "Mommy father! Mommy father!"

I couldn't help but melt right there, my little guy picking flowers for his Mommy.

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

We all had a wonderful time celebrating Easter this year! Landon wasn't a fan of the Easter Bunny himself...

but on Easter morning after the Bunny dropped off a basket full of goodies for Landon he decided the Easter Bunny is an okay guy after all and now talks about him non-stop ('Eater' Bunny this, 'Eater' Bunny that...)

We were hoping for bright, sunny skies on Easter but were instead greeted with gray, rainy weather. It held up in the morning and all the kids at church were able to have their Easter egg hunt outside. Landon LOVED it!

He had a good time playing with his cousins and comparing Easter egg loot

Then we headed off to brunch with the whole family. Landon chowed down on some salmon courtesy of Granddad, strawberries courtesy of Auntie, Amadeen's (Grandma Jean's) salad and lemon tart from Bama. Those were the favorites anyway.

The atrium where brunch was served has a ginormous koi pond that runs throughout the entire room. Landon's excitement with the fishies was contageous and he had more fun running around trying to climb into the water.

We could hardly keep his attention to snap a quick family photo, all he wanted were the fishies!

We stopped by Grandma Phyllis' for a quick visit before heading over to Grandma Jean's for another Easter egg hunt

Grandma Jean had more fun putting together the egg hunt. She had all sorts of fun, non-traditional prizes that provided for some awesome afternoon entertainment.

All in all it was a fantastic day! We were all tired and probably are still full from brunch. Next up, Disneyland! We all leave bright and early tomorrow morning for a few days in the Happiest Place on Earth. Did you see that the Easter Bunny knew all about our trip and brought a few Mickey Mouse goodies for Landon? It was all we could do to pry 'Foofy' (Goofy) out of his arms and take his Mickey Mouse sunglasses off before going to daycare this morning. Although he doesn't really know what he's in for yet Landon is talking about going to Mickey's house. Stay tuned!

A conversation with Landon

2010-03-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's totally cliche, but a toddler's mind is like a sponge. Seriously. Mine is no exception, I think I've mentioned this before. I love this age, and I would love to dive into that little brain of Landon's and see what his train of thought is like.

He's talking constantly these days and has started stringing words together to form phrases. It's so much fun conversing with him when we're driving somewhere, when he's glued to his high chair, when we're out for a walk and he's discovering new things (or re-discovering the flower that we've walked by and oogled every day for a week). It's just plain fun. Tonight Landon and I chatted about his day in the bathtub. I smiled from the inside out as this was the first time he's been able to recount the day all on his own. Usually while we're on our way home from daycare I'll ask him how his day was and what he did. It's a one-way conversation though and I'm the one reminding him that he went to the park, had lunch, etc. I couldn't wait for the day when he'd tell me all about what he did, and today was that day.

Landon: Daddy, work?
Mommy: No, Daddy's bowling.
Landon: Mommy work. Landon, Irma's.
Mommy: Yes, you go to Irma's when Mommy is at work.
Landon: Noble Irma's.
Mommy: Did you play with Noble at Irma's today?
Landon: Yes. Jenna.
Mommy: Did you play with Jenna too?
Landon: Park.
Mommy: Did you go to the park with Irma today?
Landon: Yes. Jenna, Noble too.
Mommy: Did you play with Jenna and Noble at the park?
Landon: SLIDE! Noble, Jenna, slide!
Mommy: You played on the slide today?
Landon: Around. (While he motions his hand in a circle.)
Mommy: Yes, you go around and up and then down the slide again?
Landon: YES!
Mommy: Sounds like fun! Did you have fun?
Landon: Yes. Swings! WEEE!!!
Mommy: Ooh, yes, the swings are fun. Did Irma push you on the swings?
Landon: Yes. Firetruck. Loud.
Mommy: Did a firetruck drive by?
Landon: Yes. LOUD!
Mommy: Yes, firetrucks are loud.

It went on from there. We chit chatted for a good three minutes or so, it was so cute. When did my baby boy get to be such a big boy?

It's the small things

2010-03-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Life with a toddler slows you down. The term 'baby steps' has new meaning and the mind of a toddler is a thirsty sponge that never seems to saturate. Everything is new and amazing and full of wonder and refreshing.

I found myself driving to work after dropping Landon off at daycare last week, stuck in traffic, still listening to the Barenaked Ladies Snacktime CD (those songs are kinda catchy) and admiring an airplane flying high above my little SUV. I knew Landon wasn't in the car with me, I looked back at his carseat through my rearview mirror a little sad that he wasn't there for me to point it out for him. So I sat there in the middle of what must have been tens upon tens of cars waiting fairly impatiently to get to their destination, and I smiled as I watched that airplane move across the sky. Suddenly the traffic didn't seem so bad.

As much as I know I'm teaching that little sponge of mine, he's returning the favor whether he knows it right now or not.

River Rafting vs. Motherhood

2010-03-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

Motherhood is like river rafting trip. You do everything you can to prepare for this trip; get all your gear packed, plan out what you're going to wear and the route you're going to take, preparing mentally for this exciting and fun time you're going to have. Maybe you read some books and talk to friends who have taken a journey like this before. They'll tell you all about their fun times and enough horror stories to make you reconsider your trip for a quick second. What you don’t realize though is that you just don't know what it's going to be like until you're there in the middle of it.

Pregnancy, parenting, newborns, toddlers, same deal. Forest Gump knows exactly what he's talking about. Life IS like a box of chocolates, you just don't know what you're going to get. Well, except for when they include one of those little maps in your box...but inevitabley someone will push a cherry creme where a caramel is supposed to be and the map is no good (and you have an awful cherry creme in your mouth that you'd like to spit in the garbage). You can prepare and try to read maps and talk to friends and buy the latest and greatest thing that's going to be the handiest device to ever exist. And then you head to labor and delivery, birth plan in hand (het het).

The day has finally come, your bags are packed and you're ready to head out on the rafting trip of your life. The weather is great and you're looking forward to climbing in the raft. Your guide gives an overview of what to do in select scenarios, falling out of the boat or how to paddle effectively as a group before turning you loose in the water. You’re excited to start out, the first half an hour is exhilirating and you’re having the time of your life. Whitecap waves, rocks and logs seem to have materialized from nowhere. Rapids. You knew they were here, you knew there would be challenges, and you were up for it at the time but now? You’re not so sure. Jostled is an understatement and you go flying out of the raft as it capsizes. Oh crap. What do you do now? You’re terrified and are second-guessing the entire trip. Your guide is shouting directions but you’re floundering; trying to remember the crash course right before you got into the water, you rush through the catalogue of stories in your mind. Swim to an eddy. Okay. Your guide rights the raft and you manage to swim yourself to it. There’s an outstretched arm waiting for you, it’s not your guide but the brunette that was sitting behind you. She smiles as she pulls you back onto the raft. Tricking through the rest of the rapids is awesome. No other word describes it. It’s awesome. Exciting, scary, fun, fabulous; even better now that you’ve made a few new friends on the raft. The waters start to calm before you round a corner and come to a clearing. The air is crisp, the sky blue, the trees reflecting off of the mirror of water below. You look around and realize that you’ve arrived. And it was worth it. Almost unthinkable, but you kind of want to do it again.

Yes, motherhood is like a rafting adventure. Scratch that, motherhood IS a rafting adventure. Exciting as it is, your raft will inevitably capsize at some point. You will make new friends they’ll reach their arms out to pull you back in the raft. You’ll pull them back onto the raft when they fall out, you’ll laugh and paddle together. You’ll also realize that no matter how much preparation you do, what gadgets you’ve got or how many stories you hear there just isn’t anything that prepares you for it. You’ll arrive at a clearing, look back at some point at all that it took to get here and you’ll admire yourself and will be in awe of this little being, this little life that’s been entrusted to you. Words cannot describe the love, the difficulty, the joy, the anguish, the fun, the stress, the sheer awesomeness that is your child. It’s as if your heart and soul jumps out of your chest, you hold it close for a time before letting it go to run around the playground at the park.

Then, just as he poops in the bathtub for the third night in a row you’ll second guess yourself wanting to do it all over again. True story.

He Dropped a Bomb

2010-03-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

An S bomb, that is. And Daddy is pretty thrilled that it was all Mommy's fault. I was unloading groceries on Saturday and cut my finger on a yogurt container coming out of the bag, "oww, $h!t." For the next five minutes Landon ran around extending his arm out, pulling it back and saying, "oww, $h!t, oww $h!t." I had to turn away from him so he would see me chuckle.

Baby's first curse word. Apparently now is the time we must start watching what we say.

Toddler-Speak

2010-02-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

I'm speaking a new language these days, only they don't offer classes in toddler-speak. It's all trial by fire but worry not, we're getting the hang of it. Sentances are emerging. Actual sentances with words strung together, three or four or five deep. Communication at last! We still get the grunting and pointing deal, but it's so much easier to go straight to the milk instead of playing twenty questions and picking up seven random objects playing our own version of hot and cold.

Bebe tot teetee pot (Baby Ant Has Stinky Pants, Landon's current favorite book)
Amada (Banana, he'd eat them all day long if we let him, maybe a monkey in a past life?)
Teetoo (Thank you, what a polite little guy)
Tajoo (Carro, car)
BoBo (Noble, one of his daycare buddies)
Hap Pesh (Help please, again, loving the politeness)
E-we-bo-dee (Everybody! I don't know what it is about this word but Landon loves to repeat it over and over and over)
Peedy (Pretty, aka, jewelry)
Basha, basha, basha (Brush 'em, brush 'em, brush 'em. Teeth, that is)
Ah-foos (Waffles. Breakfast yumminess)
Gogurt (Yogurt)
Bip (Dip. Bonus points if Landon can 'bip' his 'ah-foos' in his 'gogurt')

It can't get any better...can it?

2010-02-13T11:43:00.001-08:00

One word would describe things in casa de Poston right now: FUN! Landon is at such a fun age, his personality shines through in everything he does and his little brain comes up with some of the funniest, craziest stuff; I find myself giggling at him all the time.

We're becoming fluent in toddler speak over here, every day there seems to be new words and phrases spilling from Landon's mouth.

Splat (Pat)
I love you (Iuv ewe)
Shoes
Feetsies (Teetsies)
Dance (Das)
Fishies (Ishies)
Uh oh!
I'm okay (I OK)
Happy (ah-ppy)
Truck truck (tuk tuk)
Zoom zoom (oohm oohm)
WOW!
Airplane (airpane)

I so enjoy seeing the world unfold through Landon's eyes. It's a clean slate, everything is new and different and full of excitement and wonder. He'll stop dead in his tracks and dance along with music in the background when I never even was paying attention long enough to notice the music in the first place. He'll seek out the birdies and airplanes in the sky.

Santa brought a play kitchen and food for Christmas and he loves to carry around a pot of food as he stirs it. If you ask him what he's cooking he'll tell you it's, "soup!" and offer you a taste. He loves to "cheers" glasses and will clink his sippy cup with the dog's water dish if nobody else in the house has one available.

The other day I was sick and laying on the couch, my slippers on the floor right next to me. Landon inspected my feet underneath the blanket and put them on my feet, "Mama's shoes!" Once he had moved onto something else I replaced them next to the couch and dozed off. Upon awaking and trying to step into said slippers I found that he had taken his cups from the play kitchen and was using my slippers as cupholders.

His friend Jenna taught him how to twirl around, which is his new favorite thing to do. He'll twirl and spin until he's dizzy and then sit on the ground waiting for the world to settle back in again. Then he'll get up and do it all over again.

I'm amazed at what a little person Landon is becoming. He's got definite ideas of how he wants things done, what he wants for snack/lunch/dinner/etc., which bath toys he wants to play with, which shoes he wants to wear, what book he wants to read or which song he wants to sing. Each day brings a new discovery, a new opportunity, a new giggle, a new word. I'm loving and cherishing every moment.

Where have we been?

2010-01-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

The more appropriate quesiton might be, where HAVEN'T we been? The holidays have come and gone, we've all been enjoying life and staying as far away from the computer screen as possible soaking up every moment possible with a litte two and a half foot tall, blonde toddler running amuck. And we've been having a blast!

We took our annual trip up to the Plumas National Forest the weekend before Thanksgiving to pick out our Christmas tree and visit Great Grandpa Jay. There was a lot of snow on the ground and while it wasn't technically Landon's first trip to the snow since there was a bit on the ground last year, it was Landon's first time out in the snow, tromping around. He takes after his mommy on this one as he wasn't a big fan. I think he had more fun in the car with the aunties honking the horn and steering the steering wheel. We all had a great time and brought along Landon's buddy Jenna and her mom and dad. It was a long day, but the kiddos did great! Jenna loved the snow much more than Landon did, she couldn't get enough of the sled.

Landon enjoyed turkey and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving. He especially loved the green beans and pumpkin pie. We hosted Great Grandma Jean, Granddad, Maureen, Aunt B, Aunties Kate and Em and Uncle John. Grandma Cathy spent the holiday in Iowa. We all had a great time!

Christmastime through a child's eyes is the most amazing, fun, heartwarming experience ever. The only thing Landon wasn't a fan of was Santa. We read books, attempted to watch movies, talked about it and walked by Santa at the mall in preparation for sitting on the Big Guy's lap. No such luck. What we do have is one of those fantastic shots of a tearful toddler wishing he was anywhere else in the world. Ahh, what a difference a year makes.

"WOOOOWWWW!!!" was Landon's favorite word there for a while and was exclaimed often. Turning on our Christmas lights, sitting in the front window looking at the neighbor's lights outside, riding around in the car when it was dark, seeing any Christmas tree all decorated and lit up. Landon's favorite thing was the remote control train we set up underneath the Christmas tree. He loved pushing the buttons making the "choo choo" move forward and backward and turning the music on and off. The train was also an awesome distraction from the tree itself and Landon generally kept himself out of the ornaments and the gifts under the tree. So much fun.

Daycare closed for two weeks during Christmas and New Years, so the three of us were able to spend a solid chunk of time together at home which was probably the best present of all. We made candy, wrapped presents, and ventured out to the Academy of Science in San Francisco, the Oakland Zoo and Tilden Park.

We're all settling into 2010 and continue to enjoy letting life unfold. Landon is growing and learning by leaps and bounds and we're all soaking up the hugs, kisses, singing, dancing and even the occasional tantrum. 2010 is proving to be a great year already in our house.

Favorites - 17 Months

2009-11-12T12:34:00.001-08:00

Yes, I said 17 months. Where did the time go?!?! I have no idea, but we're having fun.

Favorite Activity - Reading. He loves it and nothing makes me happier when he grabs a book and backs himself up to sit in my lap to read him a book. So cute, and the closest thing I get to snuggle time. We have a set of picture books and he loves to look at them and point everything out. Where's the apple, dolly, doggie, feet, baby, wheelbarrow, leaf, birdie, etc.? He'll show you.

Favorite Book - It's a tie! The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Goodnight Moon. Just like the picture books, he can point everything out in them. Caterpillar, cheese, and pickle are the favorites in the Caterpillar book and the mouse, bunny, zapatos (shoes) and cow are the favorites in Goodnight Moon.

Favorite Song - The ABCs! The only way I can get Landon washed in the bathtub with minimal to no whining (he'd rather blow bubbles and play with his squirting fish toy, can't say I blame him) is if we sing the ABCs. He claps after it's over and then signs for more.

Favorite Toy - Any ride on toy. He loves his car that the Easter Bunny brought him, his firetruck from Uncle Erik and his tractor that Grandma Cathy got for him.

Favorite Park Activity - Steering wheels, he LOVES steering wheels. He'll seek out any steering wheel on the play structure and spend forever "driving" himself around and honking the horn (even if there's not one). Occasionally he'll go down the slide or want to go on the swings, but he'd be perfectly happy hanging out by the steering wheel the entire time. If redirected he always finds himself back there.

Favorite Food - Ravioli. Hands down. My little carb hound will scarf them down in no time flat. He loves the pasta, the filling and the sauce. If his veggies are bathed in pasta sauce they're good as gone. The other night for dinner he polished off eight ravioli, a good quarter cup of veggies, and half a banana. He must be going through a growth spurt, I don't know where he put it all!

Favorite Word - Doggie. Doggies are everywhere! Cody and Jake are always around, and he's always reminding us of them. In the car when he sees someone walking he'll exclaim, "doggie!" Even if they don't have one. In pictures, in books, when he hears one barking. Doggie, doggie, doggie! If you ask him what a doggie says Landon will kick his feet out and say, "woof woof."

The Life of Landon

2009-11-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

Life has been a little crazy and jam-packed full of stuff lately. We've been having a great time with Halloween, pumpkin patches, Apple Hill, birthday parties, trips to the park and all sorts of other stuff. October was a great month! Proof in pictures to come, but in the meantime Landon is growing and evolving in leaps and bounds.

He is talking. His favorite word is doggie. When we're in the car and he spots a doggie outside, "doggie!" Even if there's someone walking and they don't have a dog with them it's, "doggie!" When you ask him what a doggie says he shakes his legs and says what is supposed to be "woof woof," but sounds more like, "vah vah," I love it. He also says (and I'm sure I'm leaving something out):

All clean (ah ceen)
Carro (cawo)
Daddy
Auntie
Heide (cousin)
Hi doggie
Kitty
Hi kitty
Vroom vroom
Cracker
Pumpkin (pukin)
Mama
Wash wash (bash bash)
Dry dry dry (die die die)
Zapatos (patos)
Sockies (ahkies)

The other night he was asleep and we were prepping everything for the next day. The entire house was silent with just the hum of Landon's humidifier buzzing through the monitor when all of a sudden I hear the sweetest little voice, "doggie, woof woof," then silence again. Silly guy was talking in his sleep.

He's currently got eight teeth but his gums are bulging with the first molars ready to poke through at any moment. Speaking of teeth though, he loves brushing his teeth. We take turns; first Mama brushes, then Landon brushes, then Mama brushes, then Landon brushes. He even sticks his tongue out to brush it. He also likes getting his ears cleaned and sits very still when we're at the doctor and they're looking in his ears, funny guy.

If his future career is based upon the things he likes to do now then he's either going to be a chef, a racecar driver or an author. He loves to watch anything going on in the kitchen and will shimmy his way between me and the counter and demand to be picked up. We've taken to putting a chair against the counter so he can see what's going on. He loves anything steering wheel related. If there's a steering wheel at the park on the play structure he'll sit and play with it almost the entire time, while he makes his vroom vroom noise of course. He also loves his ride on firetruck and tractor toys he got for his birthday and the push car that the Easter Bunny brought. Landon also loves to read. We typically read at least four books at night before going to bed because he wants to read more and more. I love it when he grabs a book from the basket in his playroom, brings it over to me and climbs into my lap to read. It does get a little unnerving when we've read Thumper Counts to Ten or Five Little Pumpkins three or four times and he's still signing "more" to read it again.

Landon's an eating machine right now! He must be getting ready to enter a growth spurt as he's eating enough to satisfy an adult. A few nights ago we had spinach and cheese ravioli, he ate seven of them. Seven! He was signing for more so I gave him some broccoli, he ate three florettes then a small handful of grapes and an eight ounce cup of milk. Last night we had pork tenderloin for dinner. He ate three slices of pork, a handful of peas, half an apple (which he would have finished if I let him) and probably six ounces of milk. Gone are the early reflux days when we were all worried about him eating well and gaining weight, he's doing just fine now!

I love to hear his little laugh. His ribs, thighs, chin and feet are the most ticklish, which we take advantage of often. He's taken to tickling our feet through our shoes or when we're in our socks. It's more forceful than real tickles, but he cracks himself up once we start "laughing," which then sends us into real fits of laughter.

The best part of my day is picking Landon up from daycare and hearing him call, "mamamama!" as I walk through the door. Big hugs and kisses are exchanged and then he waves bye bye to Irma. He's such a joy to be around and every time I think I like this age the best things just get better.

We're looking forward to the next few months as the holidays approach. I'm so excited to experience Christmas through the eyes of a child - my child. The lights, the train around the tree, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Santa, presents, fires in the fireplace, warm snuggles on cool nights, splashing in puddles when it rains, I'm looking forward to it all.

First Haircut

2009-10-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Landon's hair was getting a little long. I didn't mind, but when the aunties and uncle started calling him Landon Dirt in protest of what were the beginnings of a mullet we decided to bite the bullet and get a haircut for the little guy.

This last Saturday we took him to Cool Tops for a new 'do and he did so well! Instead of old-fashioned barber chairs they have a car, a fire truck, a horse or a scooter to sit the kids in for their cut and they get to watch a movie while the scissors and clippers go on in the background. Landon still isn't all that into TV, so he could have cared less that Elmo was riding an elephant, but he sure did love the steering wheel on the car. He got a little nervous when the clippers came out, but after Mommy and Daddy both felt them - and he did too - he was much better.

After his cut he got his very first lollipop. He didn't quite understand the swallowing after licking part and was a drooley sticky mess after about 45 seconds. Since the sticky was already everywhere we figured why not just go with it? Johnny's Donuts, Daddy's favorite donut shop, was right down the street so we decided to make it a triple first day with Landon's first donut, which he LOVED.

The proof is in the pictures...

Landon's first donut...

I don't want to forget...

2009-09-18T20:42:00.001-07:00

Landon holds his hand out for you to hold so you can help him up or down the stairs or when he just generally wants to show you something.

He's really into his "fake" laugh and is always cracking himself up. It's like they're his own little inside jokes.

When I brush his teeth I give him another tooth brush to play with. He's started brushing my teeth when I brush his.

Landon's dance moves always include walking around waving his arms in the air. No hip or butt action at all, it's all about the arm wave.

His favorite toy right now is the phone. Any phone will do, play or otherwise, and he holds it to his ear and has the most amazing babble conversations to whoever is on the other end of that phone. Complete with fake little giggles.

If you're holding Landon and he wants something he'll give you kisses until he gets it. Like he's saying, "kay mom, I just gave you a kiss...now give me that cracker."

He loves books still but is becoming quite a bit more independent with them. He'll still bring them to you to read, but when you're done reading through it the first time he takes it back and sits on the floor in front of you to read himself.

He'll also grab a book, climb himself up on the fireplace hearth and sit like a big boy to read his books to himself.

His favorite song is the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Landon is running!

He likes coloring with crayons.

He loves anything that makes noise. Banging on the floor with wooden spoons, clanging his stacking toys or puzzle pieces together, hitting the wall, loves the noise.

He giggles when he farts.

Landon is a carbhound. Loves crackers, ravioli, bread, Pirate's Booty and fruit (bonus points if it's bananas or blueberries).

People are amazed at just how mellow of a guy he is.

I never want to forget just how much fun he is right now and how much I love this little guy.

Ode to Bathtime

2009-08-30T21:01:00.001-07:00

You mean all these toys are for me??

Don't bother me...I'm playing!

I've almost got it!

Blowing bubbles is the BEST THING EVER!!

Drying off...but not for long...

Look at me goooo!

No, I cannot be contained.

Look Ma, I've got a cape!

All sweet and clean.

Storytime.

Don't let the bedbugs bite!

What a weekend!

2009-08-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ever have those weekends that you wish would go on forever? This one has been fabulous, we seriously need a few more days here.

It started on Friday with dinner out with the entire family for Grandma Cathy's birthday where we met another baby Landon. At dinner, Landon tried chicken taquitos and a few bites of churro for the first time. He loved them both. Then, frozen yogurt where everyone shared with Landon. Grandma Cathy even snuck some caramel in there and I couldn't get mad at her since it was her birthday. We then headed over to Marshall's for a little shopping (the birthday girl's request). It was a late night, Landon was great through it all, and I found the absolute cutest pajamas for Landon! Flannel button up Mickey Mouse jammies. I can't wait until they fit!

Saturday we hung out at home in the morning before heading over to Grandma Jean's to celebrate all the August birthdays with the Riggs side of the family. Landon went swimming with Granddad, the kid loves swimming! His newest trick is putting his face in the water and blowing bubbles. Serious cuteness. Landon's newest favorite food just might be ravioli. Or salami. Or both. He couldn't get enough of either one. He had a great time helping all the birthday celebrants open presents and even helped Mommy blow out some birthday candles. Another late night that didn't phase him in the least. When we got home at 10pm I jumped in the shower with him to quickly rinse off all the pool water before bed. Problem was, it wasn't so quick after all. Landon started blowing raspberries on my shoulder as I was trying to get him rinsed off. The raspberries made him laugh, which made me laugh, which made him laugh and then blow another raspberry. Lather, rinse, repeat. We laughed back and forth for a good ten minutes. Screw bedtime!

Sunday brought us a late morning since we were up so late the night before. After breakfast we headed over to the farmer's market for some produce and an impromptu meeting with the rubber ducky derby mascot, a lifesize duck. Landon saw him and pointed to him from across the courtyard and headed that direction. This was Landon's first encounter with anything "life size" so we weren't sure how he'd react. Well, he went right up to him and patted the duck on the stomach, shook "hands" with his wing, and patted his beak when Daddy picked him up. We literally had to drag him away screaming when it was time to go. It sure was cute though. After naptime we headed out to the park where Landon played and couldn't get enough of the misters, he loves them and squeals and giggles when you turn them on. He's also into wheels these days and loves to "drive" the train at the park. Home for dinner, where we've discovered Landon likes red bell peppers. Random, but good nonetheless.

Other recent milestones...Landon is just about running. He's very sure-footed and has no problem getting from point A to point B on foot. His aunties took him to buy some new shoes last weekend, which are getting broken in at warp speed. We've been introducing cow's milk slowly, and went for 100% cow's milk in his sippy cup this weekend since we've been able to gradually increase the cow's milk and decrease the soy milk. I'm not quite sold on the cow's milk yet, but he loves it and seems to be doing well despite a little skin irritation when he spills it on himself. We're keeping an eye on it but still going full speed ahead. Oh, and at the doctor's last weekend Landon weighed in at a hefty 21 pounds! He's a great eater these days.

I'd really like to freeze time and hang out here a while longer. Father Time, do you hear me? Where are you?

Ear Infections

2009-08-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Every time Landon gets a cold he ends up with an ear infection in at least one if not both ears. They alway seem to wreak the most havoc at night...when the doctor's office is closed and the only option for relief is to go to the Emergency Room. Well, that's at least two of the four ear infections he's had. Yes, I said four. Four ear infections in fourteen months. UGH, my poor little guy.

We've all been passing a cold around since Monday. It seems to be a short lived cold, but still a cold. Guess what? Yup, ear infection for Landon. I thought we might escape this one since he seemed to be better and his ears hadn't been bothering him. I thought too soon apparently. I picked him up from Irma's on Friday afternoon where by her account he'd been having a pretty good day. We get home and he was super fussy. I thought for sure it was because it's been quite a week over here, I'm on crutches because I fell and sprained my ankle so I haven't been able to play and carry Landon as much as usual. I thought he was wanting some attention with his fussiness since he was super clingy. Fast forward to bedtime, it did not go well. Sca-reeeming. At the top of his lungs. Writhing. I got him to sleep once, put him down in his crib, screaming started again immediately and continued for a solid four hours. Tylenol, Motrin, ear drops...nothing helped. After a call to the advice nurse who offered us an appointment for the following day we decided that it just couldn't wait. Landon was so, so, so uncomfortable and inconsolable at that point. Nobody was able to sleep, neighbors included I'm sure, so off to the ER we went.

We got in and out of that place in less than two hours with antibiotics for the little guy. The verdict - both ears infected. I hate that we had to trek all the way over there in the middle of the night, but at least by the time the morning would come around he'd have some antibiotics on board and hopefully be feeling better sooner than if we had waited for an appointment.

Landon is feeling better already and we're all happy to have our smiley guy back. Ear infections are NO fun.

What a fun age!

2009-08-05T21:22:00.001-07:00

We're loving life with our big one year old boy these days. Just when I get a little misty eyed thinking about how much he's grown out of the little baby phase and how much I miss my peanut he does something new and it makes me smile, and usually giggle.

Landon is walking like crazy! His favorite "game" right now is chase. He takes off, giggling all the way, if you tell him your going to get him. Likewise, if you run away from him and tell him he's going to get you he follows - and giggles. His favorite escape route? Right up the stairs...and he flies!

He's an eating machine. Gone are the days of purees, here are the days of quesadillas, meatballs, green beans, bananas, noodles with spaghetti sauce, peaches, and crackers (and more). Oh, does he love crackers. I used to keep a sleeve of whole wheat Ritz on the counter for easy grabbing for snack time. Thing is, now he knows they're there and will not eat whatever you put in front of him because he'd rather have a cracker. Stubborn? Yes. Wonder where he gets that from...

Landon LOVES to read. Seriously. Loves it. He'll fish out his books from his toy bins, bring them to you and hand them over then climb himself right into your lap so you can read him the book. It melts my heart each and every time. His favorite books right now include all things Dr. Seuss, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, and Thumper Counts to Ten. Thumper seems to be his all time favorite as he'll pass it back and forth between Mama and Daddy sometimes four or five times. Crazy guy.

On the flipside, Landon has absolutely zero interest in watching TV. I've flipped it on at the end of an exhausting day in hope of a five or ten minute blissful break, and he's not interested. He likes the sound the TV makes when we turn it on, and his all time favorite toy (or non-toy as the case may be) is the remote control, but that's as far as his interest in TV goes.

His current favorite "real toy" is his Busy Ball Popper. He loves that thing and it will keep him entertained for a good half an hour.

Landon is babbling up a storm. We're quite certain he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about, but the problem is, he's speaking his very own language. Still, it's fun to watch and listen to him "talk" while his facial expressions change and he points to stuff. He points to EVERYTHING!

Another favorite past-time is turning the lights on and off. Landon loves to pull himself up to anyone that will pick him up and lunge toward the nearest light switch. As an added bonus, when he turns the light "off" he turns his head and blows it out.

Hugs on demand. I love them! If you ask Landon for some love he'll bury his head into your shoulder and will sometime wrap his arms around your neck. This is one of my all time favorite things EVER.

Landon has discovered the four legged creatures in our house. We have the makings of first "official" words in "dog" and "kitty" since we've got a couple wandering around here. Jake is the more tolerant of the dogs and will sit still while Landon pulls at his ears, gives him love and plays with his nose. Miss Kitty is curious enough to get close, but not sure about this mini human in her midst. Then ensues a game of chase...

Our days are full of love, sleeping is easier for all of us, and our little man is turning into just that - a little man. I'm in awe of just how much has changed this past year and am thoroughly looking forward to the time that's ahead of us.

Camera Dump

2009-07-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...bad mommy. I've been hoarding pictures in my camera since Hawaii. Yes, you read that right, Hawaii, in May. Here's a peek at some of the fun we've been having lately.

We spent lots of time at the beach, Landon LOVED the sand but wasn't so sure about the waves.

Playing in the sand

Trying to dig himself a hole back home to avoid the airport. It didn't work, and he did great on the plane.

My boys on our last night in paradise.

A birthday boy CHEESE!

Tackling the presents!

Landon LOVES cake!

More presents with Grandma.

Our little family.

One of Landon's favorite things to do - walking to the screen door and pounding on it.

Granddad taught him how to put olives on his fingers. See the pickle on his tray? He LOVES pickles.

Helping Daddy with his presents on Father's Day.

He got in there all by himself.

Happy Guy!

This was right before he decided he didn't like the merry-go-round.

Fourth of July on the train at Pixie Playland.

Steps! We have steps!

2009-07-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

It was very exciting around our house last night, Landon took his official first independent steps! No cruising, no holding hands, he walked from Mark to me all by himself - and then he walked back to Mark - back and forth eight or nine times! He was so tickled with himself that once he reached either one of us Landon would squeal with delight, dance on his little feet, and flap his arms like crazy before calming himself down and going right back out there.

He's got tons of practicing to do still and would rather crawl than walk anywhere since he gets there so much faster, but I can see walking on the horizon...and I'm sure running isn't too far behind.

Holy crap, what are we in for?!?!

Happy Birthday Landon!

2009-06-10T14:24:00.001-07:00

One year ago at this moment I was holding my tiny newborn son. It's crazy to think that he's now officially a year old. Where did the time go? It's been a whirlwind of a year full of the highest highs ever and some difficult low points as well. All in all, we survived, and we're up for another year - really many more to come.

It's bittersweet. I miss my cuddly baby that relied on me for everything. I miss the toothless grin and the toes that would curl around my finger. I miss his little bald head and that newborn baby smell. I miss being home with him all day and not having to worry about anything else going on in the world but our little family of three. Yet at the same time I love that he's able to feed himself right now, I love his blond hair that's grown in perfectly, I love the toothy smile he flashes when he sees me coming. I love the big open mouth slobbery kisses and the way he rests his head on my shoulder giving me a little hug. I love seeing him so excited to see me when I pick him up from daycare and the way he sprint crawls across the room to get to me. I love his chitter chatter and the way he says Mama! I also look forward to the years to come. Seeing him grow up and becoming his own person, seeing his personality develop and that sparkle in his eye. I look forward to teaching him how to walk and ride a bike and pump on the swings. I look forward to finding out more about this little creature, this being that we created out of love.

I've learned so much this past year, it's crazy. I've learned...

That time does not stand still no matter how much you want it to.
That you must treasure each moment.
To never say never.
That miracles do happen.
That no matter how difficult things may be I can keep going.
That love at first sight really does exist.
That I can function on very little sleep.
That I have the perfect husband for me.
That my family and friends have an immeasurable value.
That a baby is far more entertaining than TV.
That it's okay to ask for help.
That it's even more okay to accept help.
To say what I mean.
To mean what I say.
That laundry will still be there later.
That a lived in house is better than a clean one.
That for being so little babies sure do come with a whole bunch of stuff.
That sometimes blessings are disguised.
That each and every day of life is a blessing.

Happy Birthday my sweet, amazing, wonderful, independent, handsome, smiley, giggly, silly, cuddly, fabulous, miraculous baby boy. You will always be mommy's baby boy, no matter how big or how old you get. I love you.

One year ago tomorrow

2009-06-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

One year ago tomorrow we entered the hospital as two, and a week later left as three. It's crazy to think that a year has flown by and my itty bitty baby that was once inside a protruding belly was just about to be born. Exactly one year ago at this moment I do believe all the wonderful women in my life were bustling about trying like crazy to get everything ready for a baby to come home. We thought we'd have a couple more weeks, but when the doctor said we'd be going in on June 8th to get induced things picked up into high gear. It didn't help matters with me being on bedrest, talk about a frustrated momma!

I could not have prepared myself for this last year; it's been one of the most rewarding, challenging, joyous, hard, wonderful, crazy, one-of-a-kind years I'll ever have. The fact of the matter is, nothing prepares you to be a mommy. Sometimes I find myslef drifting back to the days when Landon wasn't around. Sure, I was rested and could get a ton of errands done in a couple of hours; life didn't revolve around nap and feeding times, but I'll take this mommy stuff over all that any day of the week. This precious being knows who I am, loves to snuggle me, laughs at my goofy faces, comes straight to me for comfort, and is most definitely wrapped around my finger.

What a difference a year makes.

More Favorites - 11 Months

2009-05-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

Favorite food - Oatmeal, I can usually trick Landon into eating the veggies he's suddenly decided he doesn't like as long as I hide them under a spoonful of oatmeal. I think he's onto me though.
Least favorite food - Squash, his aunties taught him how to stick his tongue out while we were in Hawaii and now he's figured out how to get anything off his tongue he doesn't like instead of just swallowing it. He won't even open his mouth for squash anymore, stinker!

Favorite toy - The remote control and cordless phone are neck and neck here.
Least favorite toy - Rings, he used to love them and now he just throws them across the room.

Favorite word - Mamamamamamama, I LOVE IT!
Least favorite word - No, he shakes his head no and then smiles at you. It's so hard not to smile and laugh.

Favorite book - Mr. Brown Can Moo, he loves the sounds.
Least favorite book - Baby Ant Has Stinky Pants, I keep telling him that he's not baby ant and is not stinky, but what do I know.

Favorite thing to do - Point. At EVERYTHING. He makes a SHSH noise while he's pointing too. His particular favorite? Lights and ceiling fans.
Least favorite thing to do - Get his nose cleaned off, you'd think I was committing a crime.

Favorite finger food - Bananas, we've been struggling with finger foods and finally found something that he'll eat by himself. I also gave him cantelope today and he did pretty well with that too. I think we've got a carb-hound on our hands.
Least favorite finger food - Green beans, we've been working on keeping them on the high chair tray since he doesn't even want them around.

Favorite song - Itsy Bitsy Spider, he still loves it although I think it's all for the crawling up the spout part since he loves to be tickled.
Least favorite song - The ABCs. Nope, still not ready to read apparently.

We're here!

2009-05-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

In Hawaii, that is. This week is full of firsts, are you ready? We took Landon on his first plane ride on his first trip to the Hawaiian Islands to spend a week in Kona on the Big Island. Landon did such a great job on the plane and was the perfect baby; we got tons of compliments from our neighbors and from the crew. Aunties Kate and Em and Uncle John are joining us in Hawaii and did a great job of helping to keep our little guy entertained while we were en route. Really, I can't get over just how impressed I am with his fabulous behavior and go with the flow attitude, especially since our flight was delayed over two hours, and we even had to switch planes.

Now that we're here on the island Landon has continued to shine. I think he's the only one that has gotten himself onto island time (three hours behind California), sleeping in his pack and play without his white noise machine (we did borrow a smaller version from a friend). The one thing that's been slipping a bit has been eating - Landon does NOT like jarred babyfood and I can't say I blame him too much, some of that stuff smells terrible!

Onto more firsts! So far this week Landon has gotten his first taste of sand, literally, dipped his toes in the ocean and gone out on a snorkel and sea swimming adventure, walked along the beach (with help from Mommy and Daddy), learned how to stick his tongue out, point to everything, blow, and has been super duper chatty. We've discovered that Landon loves pineapple sorbet, fried rice, french bread, and mashed potato. More details and pictures when we get home.

Another first, though of the not so fun kind, first hives. I gave Landon a little bite of my vanilla ice cream since he really has liked it in the past and after all - we're on vacation! A few minutes later he had hives all over his mouth. A small panic attack, a trip to the car to call the advice nurse, lots of water and almost some Benadryl later he's just fine. No more ice cream though, at least not for a really long time.

That's about it here in Hawaii for now. Much more to come though, I'm sure.

More favorites - 10 Months

2009-04-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Favorite sleep position - Tummy down, elbows tucked, butt in the air.
Not so favorite sleep position - On his back.

Favorite food - Oatmeal
Not so favorite food - Spinach and potato (can't say I blame him much though)

Favorite toy - The alphabet mat so of course he can rip it apart and chew on the pieces
Not so favorite toy - The Rainforest Jumper though I'm stupmped since he used to LOVE that thing. Now Landon bursts into tears whenever you try putting him in there.

Favorite method of drinking - Out of a straw sippy cup! YAY! No more bottles, just sippy cups.
Not so favorite method of drinking - Bottles. Won't take them.

Favorite song - It's a tie! Little Bunny FooFoo and The Itsy Bitsy Spider are neck and neck.
Not so favorite song - The ABCs; still doesn't like them.

Favorite tickle spot - Thighs or neck. I LOVE baby giggles
Not so favorite tickle spot - feet; Landon just doesn't care if you tickle his feet.

2009-04-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

Landon says, "Happy Easter!"

The Easter Bunny brought him this instead of a basket full of candy that Daddy would probably eat anyway. Way to go, Easter Bunny!

And a baby burrito drying off and warming up after swimming lessons this week. FUN!

Where does the time go?

2009-04-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well, these days time seems to disappear into playtime, naptime, diaper changes, bath time, swimming lessons, family dinners, and all sorts of other fun things. As of yesterday we have a ten month old on our hands - when did THAT happen? As another friend put it, it happened when we weren't looking...or right under our noses. Yeah, that sounds about right.

It's been an exciting week. Just when I blog all about how wonderful things are we hit a rough spot. Landon decided to go on a nursing strike for about two days, sleep was tough, as was eating anything at all. Thankfully Landon is back to his old happy-go-lucky and smiley self now.

Landon called Daddy "Dada" for the very first time on Thursday. My son said his first word - WOW! Mark and I looked at eachother in amazement and then I watched Mark's heart turn to putty and wrap Landon even tighter around his pinky finger.

As if a first word wasn't enough for the week, Landon has decided that pulling himself up isn't quite enough anymore; he stood all by himself for a good 30 seconds on Friday - his ten month birthday. I think he'll be walking sooner than we think, and that's a scary thought!

Not to be out-done, he cut his top left front tooth today - and I think there are at least two more on their way. This is probably why he was having such a rough time earlier this week. We've all decided that teething stinks.

Also today Auntie Em, Granddad, Maureen, Aunt B and Uncle John came over to dye Easter eggs and eat pizza. In celebration of that pesky tooth breaking through Landon had cheese pizza for dinner for the first time (along with spinach and potatos and pears) and loved it.

Now THIS is the life...

Where'd my baby go?

2009-04-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

This isn't the face of a baby, this is the face of a big boy.

So happy to be in the new playroom!

Future drummer?

What greets me after naptime. I love this face!

Birthday party planning is well underway, and I can't even believe I'm typing that out. Landon has perfected the art of pulling himself up...on EVERYTHING. He's crawling everywhere now, and picking up speed to boot. Life as we know it is changing...but for the good. Scratch that, life is GREAT! I love watching my little guy discover new things, conquer challenges (even if it is just a block under his knee), and melt my heart with that adorable toothy grin. We've had our fair share of challenges, but dang if it doesn't make these great times that much sweeter. If I could freeze time right now I might just consider it. Then again, just when I think it can't get any better...it does.

Teeth, Pincer Grip, and Sleep Regression...Oh My!

2009-03-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

The drool is back, in a MAJOR way. I think Landon is trying to cut another tooth or four, based on his super puffy gums. Eating hasn't been lacking, even with all the drool and a sore mouth. He loves him some purees and is currently feasting on the following in pureed form:

Avocado
Sweet Potato
Pear
Mango
Pea
Green Bean
Butternut Squash
Rice Cereal
Baby Oatmeal
Peach
Blueberry

I've got some zucchini waiting in the wings and am going to try that and some yogurt this weekend. He's also still practicing his pincer grip with Cheerios but isn't the least bit interested in any other finger foods right now. I've tried sweet potato cubes, diced pear, cooked peas, and cooked green beans. Landon was most into the peas, so we've been offering those more, but still not as interested as he is with the purees.

In all the excitement with his new mobility skills he's done a fair amount of regressing with his sleep. Since Landon has never taken to a pacifier or found an interest in his thumb he really doesn't have any self soothing skills, his main "self soother" if you even want to call it that was swaddling. So much so that we only stopped swaddling him to sleep a little over a month ago. Now, he's way too excited to sleep and has been sitting up or standing in his crib before I even leave the room. Sometimes he'll play quietly, sometimes he'll whine or chatter, and sometimes he gives his lungs a real workout. I'm not wishing this time away, but Mama could really use some sleep. Hopefully this mobility stuff will be old news to him soon and we'll get our one to two wakings each night back in place. Especially since right before all of this he spoiled me with sleeping through the night twice in a row.

T-minus three months and counting until his first birthday. WOW. I don't know if I'm ready for that!

We're in trouble now

2009-03-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Landon has gotten pretty good at pulling himself from a sitting position to a standing position. I've also noticed that for the last few days he'll successfully get himself into a sitting position from being on his tummy, though nobody ever witnessed how he did it until yesterday. Irma mentioned to me that she would go to get him up from his nap and he would be sitting in his crib happy as a clam. Last night I was changing my clothes getting ready to put him down for the night and set him in the middle of our bathroom floor while I was changing in the closet (our bathroom is big and carpeted). Well what do you know, I turn around and he's swinging one leg underneath him and sitting up! Way to go, little man!

Fast forward to him going down for the night. He started whining and semi-crying about 20 minutes after being asleep. He wasn't stopping so Mark went in to calm him down and get him back to sleep only to find him STANDING in his crib. Ayayay! Our backs have been spoiled until now since we haven't needed to drop the crib matress to a lower setting, but clearly now we need to.

In other news, it's been quite a week over here; as the saying goes, when it rains it pours. I think it's been hailing at our house. Mark and I spent Monday night in the emergency room when his stomach pain got way out of hand, they thought he had apendicitis at first, but after being admitted to the hospital they decided it was an infection of some sort in his intestines. Blech. We're happy to have him home, but it's thrown off the entire week. We're also smack dab in the middle of the addition and are living in a construction zone. I'm a creature of comfort and don't do well with layers upon layers of dust everywhere and stuff piled anywhere there is any extra space. I can't wait for this to be over! The icing on the cake...the washing machine broke down, and I've got loads upon loads of laundry to do. Oh, and the cherry on top...allergies. Or a cold, or maybe a combination of both - who knows! I do know that Landon's got a little bit of a cough and I'm congested enough to be very annoyed. Let's just move right along to next week.

Our Little Family

2009-03-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Outside World

2009-03-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Nine months ago today we were waiting with baited breath to find out whether or not the doctors were going to let us go home. I had already been given my walking papers, but the doctors were contemplating keeping Landon in the nursery. I was trying to come to terms with leaving the hospital without my baby, something I never expected, and something that thankfully never happened.

I'm amazed at just how far we've come - all three of us - in the last nine months. There have been ups and downs, but all in, I don't think I'd trade any single bit of it (okay, maybe a few more hours of sleep would be nice, but that's just icing on the cake).

Landon had his well baby visit earlier this week and is up to a hefty 17 pounds 3 ounces! Just nine months ago today we were all concerned that his weight dropped down to 5 pounds 11 ounces. He's holding steady for both weight and height in the 6th percentile today when nine months ago he wasn't even on the charts. His little brain is growing too, he's jumped up to the 64th percentile in head circumference. Oh, and we're still breastfeeding - I never thought I'd see this day.

He's almost ready to crawl now and rocks on all fours but prefers to keep himself mobile by rolling everywhere. He LOVES everything about outside and is quite the observant little guy. His changing table isn't his favorite place anymore and it's becoming increasingly difficult to command his attention long enough to change his diaper. He absolutely loves Cheerios and has learned the sign for "more." He smiles and claps and loves it when everyone else in the room is smiling and clapping too. His absolute favorite thing in the world is bathtime. He's a little fish and we're scoping out swimming lessons for him as soon as the weather gets a little warmer. Landon is a Dr. Seuss lover and thinks "Put Me In the Zoo" "Go Dog, Go" and "Mr. Brown Can Moo" are tons more fun than "Goodnight Moon."

I love watching Daddy and Landon together, what a pair! Landon seems to save his biggest smiles and belly laughs for Daddy. Landon loves to "fly" and pull Daddy's hair when he's sitting on his shoulders. I'm in awe of Mark as a father and am so glad it's him that I'm on this journey of life, love, and parenthood with.

Now, if only the laundry would fold itself, the dishes would grow legs and walk into the dishwasher, the dust rags would dance across the tables and ledges magically, and the dogs would pick up after themselves. Then, life would be perfect. I'll take it as it is any day though, there's not much to improve upon.

Ode to Cheerios

2009-02-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

I've got my toast, but do you know where my Cheerio went?

How about now? Where'd my Cheerio go?

I think I've got it!

I love Cheerios!

Some Firsts

2009-02-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

Landon's first teeth! Can you see them?

Landon's first swing at the park

Landon's first Chemistry lesson, thanks Uncle John!

Landon's first trip to Spenger's

Note the matching bibs, only Landon is wondering why he got stuck with pears when Daddy gets fresh crab when he sports a bib. Yeah, raw deal buddy, I know.

Landon's first mohawk

Sleep....Glorious Sleep

2009-02-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

Eight months ago Landon was less than a week old. He was the littlest peanut and so dang cute. Some things never change (he's still pretty dang cute - pictures to confirm soon, I promise), but lots of things have changed. It's exciting and sad all at the same time, but my baby boy is growing in leaps and bounds.

We've finally found success in Landon sleeping without a swaddle! He was getting pretty big to need to be swaddled, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a blanket big enough to keep him contained. At daycare on Friday Irma put him in his Pack and Play to wind down before naptime only to discover him belly down fast asleep just a short while later....and he slept that way for two whole hours! Better yet, he repeated the trick in the afternoon. So that night at home we did our normal bedtime routine. He was fighting the swaddle until I finally took him out of it and set him in his crib tummy down (yes, I know...back to sleep, but he can roll over and push himself up so I'm not too worried) and voila! Sleep! Glorious sleep! I'm not as thrilled with him being tummy down, but if that's what works for him then that's what we'll do.

He tried Cheerios and chunky apple sauce this weekend too. We've given Landon puffs in the past and he's not been too thrilled with them (truth be told I think Daddy likes them more than Landon does), so I put a few Cheerios on his high chair tray. He doesn't quite have the coordination to get them in his mouth, but with a little help and some funny faces while gumming them he does pretty well - and doesn't spit them out when given another. I think Cheerios win! I had a day of babyfood making today and decided to leave his applesauce chunky in an attempt to play with some different textures. He did pretty well at dinner tonight with the chunky applesauce, another success!

Another thing Landon loves? Amoxicillin. Pink medicine that tastes like Hubba Bubba, he LOVES the stuff. He won himself a perscription after landing an ear infection in each ear. Sleep had been a rare commodity in our house for about a week and a half. I took Landon to see his pediatrician on a Monday when he was declared healthy as a horse (yes, his ears were checked, no infection then). Fast forward to the following Sunday night/Monday morning. Nobody slept - at all. Landon would go to sleep and wake screaming as soon as his little head touched the crib mattress. Daddy and I took turns rocking (thank goodness for a reclining glider) until the sun came up and we returned to the pediatrician. All week I'd been saying that something was wrong, mommy's intuition I guess. Well, one look into Landon's left ear and Dr. Lande diagnosed an ear infection. Landon woudln't let him so much as touch the other ear, which didn't much matter since he needed an antibiotic already. Daddy stayed home with Landon while I went into work, but when I got home his poor right ear was crusted over. The verdict - an ear infection there too, and a ruptured eardrum to boot. No wonder he hadn't been sleeping well, especially the night before. No indication of an ear infection either, he hadn't been pulling on his ear or anything. Poor guy. He's doing MUCH better now.

Also noteworthy, we had dinner with the Riggs side of the family tonight in celebration of Uncle John's acceptance into the PhD program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Davis - go Aggies! We're so proud of him and are equally excited that he'll be staying local and not moving to some ungodly far away place like Michigan. Who likes Michigan anyway....there's too much snow there. Uncle John has promised lots of science and math tutoring when Landon gets older. It was a late dinner since Uncle John had to go into work to feed his cells (I guess cells get hungry too, but they can't just go to the refrigerator) and Landon was such a little trooper! He can't wait to get rid of the purees and dive right into a nice steak - you could see it in his eyes.

He pulled himself up!

2009-02-04T20:24:00.001-08:00

Daddy and Landon were playing on the floor, Landon was sitting and Daddy was laying down on his side. Landon turned around, grabbed Daddy's knees, pulled himself onto his knees, and then before we knew it he was standing! Wowee, I don't know if we're ready for this yet...what happened to my itty bitty little baby boy? I have a hunch he's going to walk before he crawls.

In other news, sleeping has been AWFUL. Our best guess is that there are more pesky teeth trying to come in. Thurday night through Sunday night Landon did not sleep for more than two and a half hours at a time - through the night and naptimes included. By Monday morning both of us were wiped and we ended up paying a visit to Landon's pediatrician to make sure there wasn't something else going on. The good news is that the little guy is healthy as can be; the bad news is that we don't have any further answers. The last couple of nights have been a little better, but he's still been up three to four times each night. Come on, teeth!

Bonus points for going to the doctor though, we got to weigh Landon and he is now a whopping 16 pounds 6 ounces.

More Favorites - 7 Months

2009-01-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

Favorite toy - Sophie the giraffe
A rubber giraffe with a squeaker in there that makes it sound like a dog toy. He LOVEs chewing on her legs, ears, antler nubs, and it's easy for him to hold onto and fling around since she's so lightweight and has a long neck (read - handle). Can you tell he loves her? I'm referring to her like she's part of the family or something, not a toy. Bonus points since the dogs love her too; Santa brought a new Sophie after Dad microsteamed her and she "lost her voice" after the dogs got to her one day.

Not so favorite toy - Tummy time mat
Yup, still hates tummy time. Always has, always will?

Favorite food - Pears
Hands down, pears, loves them. My easy-going baby turns into a ravenous bear who acts like he's never been fed before as soon as we bring out the pears.

Not so favorite food - Mango
Landon will tolerate them for a little while, and he did actually like them when we first introduced them, but he's not a huge fan these days. The faces he makes when he realizes you've just given him a spoonful of mango when he doesn't want anymore. I'll have to put my "mean mommy" hat on and try to snap a picture.

Favorite book - Put Me in the Zoo
He's mezmorized. We could probably read it four or five times and he'll listen and look at the pages intently. Maybe he's trying to figure out how he can grow spots and change colors too.

Not so favorite book - Guess How Much I Love You
I think he's turned off by the names of the bunnies....who names their kid Little Nutbrown Hare anyway? I am kinda bummed though, since it's such a sweet story and sentiment. He'll grow to like it, I'm sure.

Favorite song - Its a tie! Old MacDonald and The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Little man LOVES it when we sing to him. I love to watch/listen to Daddy and Landon singing together because Daddy usually ends up making up the words and sometimes the melody too. Daddy's songs are usually far more entertaining than Mommy's boring old standards and lullabies. In Old MacDonald Landon loves it when there are piggies oinking on the farm; and in The Itsy Bitsy Spider he loves it when the spider is washed out.

Not so favorite song - Row Row Row Your Boat
He's less than enthusiastic when we're singing this to him. The only thing that will get him going with this one is if we push him on the glider ottoman...and then it's not about the song, it's about the swinging!

Another tooth update! Landon has officially sprouted two teeth! Both bottom middle teeth are through his gums, and he's drooling MUCH less these days, which makes me happy because it's giving the rash under his chins (yes, plural) some time to heal.

Houston, we have....

2009-01-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Teeth! Well, tooth, I think; Landon won't let me in that sore little mouth of his long enough to really feel around to see if there are two right next to eachother or if it's just one, but it's definitely a tooth nonetheless! He was all smiles in playgroup this morning and got a few comments on his new toothy grin. Now if only we could get a picture. So, at seven months (yikes!) and one week Landon sprouted his very first tooth. He'll be eating steak and potatos like his Daddy in no time at all. Or if Grandma Cathy and Auntie Em have anything to say about it, he'll be onto salami shortly.

I've been bad about updating but it's because we've been having so much fun around here! We've officially decided to renovate/remodel the house and plans are well underway, we've celebrated birthdays - Auntie Kate, Great Grandma Jean, and Landon's friend Cheyanne who just turned two. We busted out all the fun toys Landon got for Christmas, tried several new foods, took a bath in the big boy bathtub, and have started giving kisses (read big, wet, open mouth slobbers - but so sweet). Who can blame me for being gone?

I promise, details soon. Oh, and pictures too.

Just because...

2008-12-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

This might be my all time favorite picture of Landon (so far anyway) it deserves it's own post.

He's so stinkin' cute! I love him!

Things I always want to remember...

2008-12-28T16:01:00.001-08:00

The way Landon burys his face in my shoulder/chest/arm when he's tired and wants to go to sleep.

His huge sweet gummy smile when he looks in the mirror.

The crazy baby giggles that erupt when you hold him over your head or toss him in the air.

His new trick of grabbing your cheeks with both hands, pulling you close, and giving you a big "kiss," just one big open mouth slobber.

That baby smell. If only someone could bottle that up.

Landon and Daddy playing; it just melts my heart.

The biggest smiles that come when he's on his changing table.

How peaceful he looks when he's asleep and I'm just about to put him in his crib.

The way he grabs at the phone and at a drinking glass...like he knows exactly what to do with both of them.

His hands and feet flailing and letting out a half-giggle when he sees Mommy or Daddy approaching.

He is calmed by Mommy's lullabies.

Those big beautiful eyes.

The way he chats to himself when he's tired.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

Santa came to our house early. He dropped off a nasty cold - complete with fever, chills, aches, and no appetite. Daddy ended up catching it first over the weekend, Mommy caught it the day before Christmas Eve, and Landon spiked a fever at 2am on Christmas morning. It's been quite a week around here, and certainly not the way we had planned to spend Christmas.

Nonetheless, Santa did return on Christmas, and was much more generous in his gifts at that point. We may need to build another room onto the house to have somewhere to put all of Landon's wonderful new toys! Among the favorites are his ball popper (thanks Grandma Cathy), some books, and a ball that rolls and talks by itself (thanks Auntie Lissa, Uncle Nick, Abbey and Blake). He also got a music table that looks like it will be lots of fun (thanks Aunties Kate and Em) that hasn't made its way out the box yet.

We had grand plans to make candy, maybe go ice skating (or at least take a walk around the rink and observe), do a little window shopping, and have a mellow week since both of us had taken the week off of work to really get into the holiday spirit and spend some extra special time celebrating Landon's first Christmas. We planned to take lots of pictures and some video footage, finish wrapping presents and send some off across the country, to visit family and have dinner and lunch dates with friends. Not much of that happened. We did manage to get a few pictures and a little video in, Mommy got some fudge made before she was socked with the cold, and Daddy went out for a few last minute gifts...and that's about it!

Landon and Daddy left Mommy at home to rest on Christmas Eve and went to dinner with the Riggs side of the family after Grandma and Grandpa Poston came to visit and exchange gifts. Poor little guy spiked a fever in the middle of the night and we finally succeeded getting it to go down after some Tylenol, a lukewarm bath, and lots of rocking and whimpering (by all). It's a good thing Santa made it by our house before all of that or he would have passed us right by since we were all wide awake. After checking out Santa's generosity in the morning we headed for Grandma Cathy's for an early lunch and more presents. Home for a much needed nap, and then out to Great Grandma Jean's for the traditional prime rib dinner with the Riggs side of the family. Landon was a trooper and had a great time with everyone.

Now that the week is over we're all starting to feel better.

Goal!

2008-12-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

We made it to our goal! Landon has been exclusively breastfed for the first six months of his life! This was no easy feat with all sorts of obstacles in the way from my thyroid problems to Landon's reflux to a loooong and rough battle with thrush. In all honesty I didn't think we'd make it six weeks let alone six months, and here we are with a freezer stash and no real end in sight!

Landon had his follow up appointment with the GI specialist for his reflux. It's now been a full week of him being off the reflux medicine and things are going well! He hasn't missed receiving and we haven't missed giving him the meds! At this moment the pH probe test that we were talking about just a few months ago is completely off the table!

Things are looking great!

Mmmmm, avocado!

2008-12-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

It's official! Landon has officially embarked on eating "real" food. The solo milk days are gone...and the solo milk-fed diaper days too, but we haven't been graced with a poopy diaper yet (I'll keep you posted). Landon got his very first taste of avocado this weekend - and loved it! I'm not sure how much actually ended up in his mouth versus on his bib, in his hands, or on the high chair tray, but we all had fun feeding him!

Love at first bite? Not quite sure...

Landon says, "gimmie that spoon, Mommy! I can feed myself!"

Mmmmm.....tasty!

We've been too busy having fun and decorating for Christmas! Besides scarfing avocado Landon's newest trick is sitting up unassisted! He loves this whole new view of the world without having to rely on Mommy and Daddy to let him watch everything go by.

Just because I love this one...

Happy Anniversary

2008-12-03T19:55:00.001-08:00

Not in the traditional sense, but an anniversary none the less. Today marks eight years since the accident. In our lives there are turning points; moments, perhaps days or weeks or months even, where the course of our life is shifted. December 3, 2000 my life changed and will be a day I will never, ever, forget.

Dad and I had just started dating. He was going to introduce me to his friend Judy in Tiburon and take her one of the Christmas trees he cut in the mountains. We were waiting to get onto the freeway when a dump truck was coming too quickly off the off ramp and was headed straight for your Daddy's truck. I will never forget the moment I looked into those headlights and thought to myself, "oh my God, he's going to hit us," and that he did. Several moments after that one are permanently etched into my mind like photographs in an album.

The feeling of the scissors running up my legs as the paramedics cut my jeans off. Being loaded into the helicoptor and panicing because I knew helicoptors were for serious accidents. Hearing your Granddad, my Dad's voice in the emergency room but not being able to see him. Hearing your Dad being wheeled in next to me and the pain he was in.

I don't know why, I can't explain it, but that is the night I fell in love with your Dad. That night I knew we would spend the rest of our lives together. That night my life changed forever...and for the better. What a difficult time that was, but if I could go back and change any of it I wouldn't. I am who I am today because of that day and that accident. I am a wife, I am a mommy, I live for each moment and try my darndest to keep a positive attitude, I take nothing for granted, I love deeper, laugh louder and stay angry shorter and speak my mind. I leave dirty dishes in the sink and let the answering machine pick up if it means spending more time with those that I love. All of these things I hope to one day teach you.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

2008-11-30T12:38:00.001-08:00

It's official, out with the turkey and in with Mr. Claus. We recently took Landon to meet the big guy himself - twice! We went the first time, and while Landon was agreeable and happy Santa looked more like he was taking a mug shot than anything. Back to see Santa again, and this time he did not dissappoint with his jolly old self and plenty of hohoho'ing to boot! I guess even Santa has bad days sometimes.

Christmas Trees

2008-11-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

The Poston family tradition has always been cutting Christmas trees down in the Plumas National Forest. I don't think Mark has ever had a tree from a lot (though they did have a fake tree for a while, so he says). The Riggs twist on this tradition is that we go up the weekend before Thanksgiving to get a tree. In traditional form, we made our way up to Clio to visit with Great Grandpa Jay and get our tree this last weekend. This was Landon's first long car ride, and he did really well! When we got up to the mountains it was pretty chilly and a bit windy....cue fuzzy doggie hat and mittens!

There was just enough snow to stomp in but not enough to make it tough to move around and get in and out.

It was a beautiful day.

I put Landon in the Moby and we stayed close to the car in case it got too chilly for him. I think he's an outdoors guy just like Daddy. He chatted away the entire time we were up there and was a happy little guy despite having been stuck in the car for the last three hours.

Our little family with Landon's first Christmas Tree!

Grandpa Charlie, Daddy, Landon, and our tree!

Sacked out, ready to head home.

We all voted!

2008-11-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

The country is starting to wind down a bit after an eventful election season. Truthfully I'm glad it's finally over with and the 8pm phonecalls with recordings on the other end so I can't chew them out for waking Landon up are no longer; the commercials, the signs everywhere, the mine-is-better-than-yours attitudes...all that is starting to come to an end now. It doesn't sound like it from my above statements, but I am, in fact, a proud American right now. We have a new President-elect and history is in the making right this very moment. Come January 20, 2009 America will be lead by the first ever African-American President. Barack Obama will be our new leader!

We celebrated by going to Landon's Granddad's house for an election party with Aunties Kate, Em, and Bre, Granddad and Maureen, and even Uncle John who came down from Sacramento to vote and have dinner with us. We ordered in Japanese and watched the numbers roll in. Dessert was yummy Obama/Biden cookies. Landon started getting fussy around 7:30 since bedtime is usually 8 so we headed home a little early. Of course, as I was putting Mister Fussypants to bed the announcement was made that Obama won. I totally missed McCain's consession speech and Obama's victory speech since Landon took a loooong time to go down because he was so overtired. I don't blame him though, what an exciting night!

I've never missed an election since gaining the right to vote when I turned 18. I can't justify sitting an election out when I at one point in time would not have the right to vote as a woman. Not too many generations before me didn't have that opportunity and had to fight to attain that right. Even though Landon is a boy and perhaps will never be able to relate to all of my feelings on voting one of my hopes for his future is that he understands, appreciates, and utilizes his right to vote. I hope he feels as though his vote really does count and understands just how lucky we as Americans are to live in a democratic society where free speech - for liberals and conservatives alike - is also a right.

My little patriotic man back from the polls

I think he's trying to say "Obama" here

Whew!

2008-11-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

What an eventful few weeks it's been! I've been horrible at uploading pictures since Landon's been keeping me on my toes, so it's going to be a doozy.

Landon, Mark, and I recently met Mark's grandfather for the very first time. He flew down from his home in Anacortes, Washington to spend a week with family down here. Long story short, Mark's mom hadn't been in contact with him since she was in high school, so this was quite a treat for everyone.

We finally made Landon's very first trip up to Apple Hill. We tried going a few times and every time we cancelled because rain was in the forecast but never actually showed up. Of course, until we decided to forget about the forecast and go anyway. It poured all day, but it was still fun.

See??? My serious guy really does smile.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

Could there be a cuter bumble bee???

Nope!

Favorite Things

2008-10-23T20:40:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share some of Landon's current favorite and not so favorite things. He's getting to be such the little man with a developing personality and a definite preference for certain things, sometimes it's pretty funny.

Favorite book - Goodnight Moon
He stares intently at the pictures and loves it when you get to the parts where the old lady whispers, "hush."

Not so favorite book - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Seriously, he cries every time we reach the page where the caterpillar gorges himself with chocolate cake, salami, and the like. Does not like it one bit.

Favorite toy - Whoozit
He loves it! shakes it, will even throw it across the room because he's so excitedly playing with it.

Not so favorite toy - Any teether
Even though I'm convinced he's teething (and remembering that teething can last for months without teeth breaking through) he hates to even hold onto a teething ring.

Favorite way to take a bottle - Milk straight out of the 'fridge
No warming up needed, thank goodness.

Not so favorite way to take a bottle - Nipple on the bottle straight out of the 'fridge
Yup, he's picky with this one. Absolutely will not take the bottle if the nipple has been chilled; even though the milk makes the nipple cold as soon as it hits it.

Favorite thing to do - Stand up
Whether it's assisted by mommy or daddy, in his jumperoo or exersaucer he loves those legs to be straight.

Not so favorite thing to do - Tummy time
Hates it. Period. Has ever since the beginning of time. He's getting a little better though and will tolerate it now for a whole 30 seconds or so before whining and crying.

Favorite word/sound - Anything with a "B" or "M" sound
On the way home the other night we went over a speed bump and he giggled. Daddy was in the back seat and asked if Landon thought the speed bump was funny, this resulted in the biggest giggle yet. All the way home I listened to Daddy and Landon in the back seat going back and forth; Daddy would say "speed bump" and Landon would giggle hysterically. He also loves "boo," "moo," "bee," and "buzz."

Not so favorite word/sound - Hmm, really can't think of one he doesn't like.

Favorite song - My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean, The Itsy Bitsey Spider, The Wheels on the Bus
Loves all three and loves them even more if you do the hand motions with his hands/feet while you're singing.

Not so favorite song - The ABC's
Clearly he's not ready for spelling yet. Just doesn't like it.

Four months already

2008-10-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I say it fairly often; but I can hardly believe it's been four months since Landon decided to make his appearance, time flies when you're having fun.

I can safely say that we are, in fact, having fun these days. We took Landon for his four month well baby checkup on Wednesday, he's 12 pounds even and a hearty 24 inches long. He's long and lean, just like his daddy. The jury is still out as far as whether he most resembles mommy or daddy, but that's just fine with us. His eyes are getting darker and darker and look like they will either be brown like mommy or hazel like daddy. He has yet to grow out of his reflux, and his pediatrician suggested we start him on solid foods, but after researching I don't think he's quite ready yet so we're going to hold off. The best news from the doctor was that we don't have to report back for any weight checks until his six month well baby checkup! This is HUGE for us as we've never gone more than two weeks without going in for a weight check; two months is FABULOUS!

An unwelcome present in honor of Landon's four month birthday...a cold. Poor guy is a little stuffed up and full of coughs and sneezes. One of his little girlfriends (he's currently the only boy) at daycare was out for a few days, I'm wondering if he caught it from her.

Last weekend we were supposed to go to Apple Hill but with rain forecasted we stayed a little closer to home and visited the produce stand/pumpkin farm instead. We loaded up on produce and found Landon his very first pumpkin. Oh, and the weather turned out to be BEAUTIFUL!

A little fuzzy, but I love this picture of him!

Dare I say it...

2008-10-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

You're in for a shock. I miss being pregnant. Now that your gasp is hushed and you've picked your jaw up off the floor... I must admit that I'm actually a little sad not to have a baby belly anymore. Pregnancy really agreed with me, at least for the first 32 weeks. Not a bit of morning sickness, not a whole lot of weight gained or swelling until things started to go haywire late in the game, no rediculous food cravings or aversions, just like Landon seems to be a mellow little guy pregnancy was the same way for me. I did have a few bumps in the road (yes, aside from the big bump front and center). Food poisoning around 12 weeks, hives after that; but those things really could have happened anytime and weren't pregnancy related.

I miss feeling him wriggle around in there. I miss having him all to myself. I miss that incredible feeling of having another life growing inside. I miss the anticipation of what's to come, the preparation, the excitement. Not that I want to shove Landon back in there, but I'm kinda sad it's over.

When I think too much about missing pregnancy I think about the swollen cankles and how I couldn't fit into any shoes but flip flops, all those non-stress tests and 24 hour pee tests, the annoying blood pressure monitoring, the impressive case of carpel tunnel syndrome I still haven't rid myself of all the way, and the anxiety of giving birth too early.

Will we have another one someday? I hope so. I certainly don't take our little guy for granted and hope beyond all hopes that I'll again be pregnant someday and will get to experience all those things again. For now though, I'm thoroughly enjoying my little guy and am realizing just how quickly they grow up.

Apparently sleep is over-rated

2008-09-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

Landon is usually a pretty good sleeper these days, but of course has decided to go on a sleeping strike this weekend. Daddy is in with Landon rocking and/or bouncing him to sleep for the second time tonight. He only catnapped for half an hour after the first rocking/bouncing session.

Another recent sleep development is that he won't fall asleep with me. I know I'm lots of fun and everything, but yah gotta sleep sometime, kid. All he wants to do with me is nurse. When I hold him to rock him and put him to sleep his face goes straight "there" and roots like crazy. One would think a kid like this would take a pacifier, right? Nope, not my kid, just the real thing for him. He doesn't want to eat though, just pacify; and I don't want any bad habits to start, so Daddy's got put Landon to sleep duty.

I was hoping to start to move forward with some really light sleep training. To start weaning off of the swaddle or start weaning off of sleeping in the crib wedge and/or Boppy pillow. Since this weekend's developments though, I'd be happy with a return of our quick bedtime routine that used to last all of five to ten minutes just last week.

Getting settled in our new routine has left me with little time to update pictures and other various but equally important things. A belated welcome to NFL for Landon. He helped Daddy cheer the Denver Broncos on and celebrated their victory over those goofy Oakland Raiders in style.

And, just in time for fall we had to break out the pumpkin hat!

Ahh...sleep at last! I think he's finally down for the night. Now it's Mom's turn to get a few hours in.

Downhill from here?

2008-09-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

We made it through the first week of work and daycare. Landon is doing well with Irma, she's been the best part of this whole going back to work thing. Work on the other hand, not so great. I miss Landon during the day and am really bummed that he's bright eyed and bushy tailed in the mornings when I drop him off. He's always been more of a morning baby, that's when he give away all his smiles; he makes you work hard for them in the afternoon.

In other news, he finally hit 11 pounds! As of today he's 11 pounds 1.9 ounces! Halloween is coming up, and I'm excited to report that we've already got his costume...and it's ADORABLE! Stay tuned for pictures...

This is not fun

2008-09-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm just a couple hours into my day back at work and this truely does suck. Bigtime sucks. I want my baby back, I want to be at home playing and snuggling with him. Truth be told, I cried myself to sleep last night just at the thought of leaving him today and the water works have continued...from me, not from him.

I called Irma, his daycare provider who I trust completely and will grow to love, I'm sure, to see how he was doing and he was a little fussy in the background. She held the phone to his ear and let me talk to him and he calmed right down. I want my baby back!

I'm going to go feed him at noon, but that's just not soon enough for me. "They" say it gets easier....whoever "they" are. I'm not sure I believe it yet.

Already?!?!

2008-09-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Where have the last three months gone??? On one hand it feels like time has crept along slowly allowing me to memorize each and every moment and tuck it deep inside my heart. On the other hand it feels like the last three months have dissappeared at warp speed leaving my head spinning and eyes boggled. It just doesn't seem real any way I think about it.

Alas, I have a three month old who is holding his head up, smiling and laughing on command, rolling over from his tummy to his back, cooing, drooling like nobody's business...and I have to go back to work on Monday. It isn't fair. I think I would give my right arm - no, that wouldn't work since that's the arm I hold the little peanut with - okay, I'd give just about anything to be able to freeze time right now and just stay here. Maybe like Groundhog day just keep re-living the same things over and over again. Right now that might be okay with me. Our days seem to be getting easier and easier (knock on wood). Landon's eating much better but still doesn't like taking his Prilosec, and he's gaining weight. He was 10 pounds 8 ounces at his weight check on Friday the 12th of September. His pediatrician was fine with us not coming in for another weight check until his four month well baby checkup in the beginning of October as long as I keep weighing him at DayOne once a week or so; and as long as he continues to gain weight.

We had an appointment with the gastro doctor earlier in the week who basically confirmed that we're doing everything that we can right now. He isn't suggesting the pH probe test that requires an overnight hospital stay, a tube down Landon's throat, and his arms strapped down for 24 hours to monitor the pH levels in his esophagus until he starts losing weight again or if the Reflux doesn't subside by the time he's six months old...whichever comes first (if at all). That was sweet music to my ears, no way do I want to put my baby through that.

Back to the fun stuff, Landon is such a sweet and fabulous baby these days. He loves his cuddle time with Mama and loves to hang out and laugh with Daddy. His Whoozit and Jacques the Peacock (I didn't make that up...) rival as Landon's favorite toys. He loves it when we sing to him and move his arms and legs to the music, My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean and The Wheels on the Bus are his favorite songs to sing with Old MacDonald coming in a close second. I could really get used to this staying at home with him stuff and am dreading work on Monday.

However, I do think I've finagled my schedule such that I'll wake and feed him at 6am, drop off at daycare at 7:30am and continue onto work, he'll get a bottle at 9am, I'll run over to his daycare and feed him at noon, then I'll be off at 3pm and will run to daycare where I'll pick him up and feed him. So, hopefully this all will work and he'll only be getting one feeding by bottle most days. I'm fearful that my milk supply will plunge and thus will end our breastfeeding days. His doctors are strongly encouraging us to continue to breastfeed as formula is much tougher on a reflux baby's system. They're so encouraging that they've given me a free pump to use as long as we're still breastfeeding. Though if history repeats itself my supply will drop if we start pumping more than feeding.

Say a prayer and think happy thoughts for us all on Monday.

Oh, and I've been tagged! Janessa (Jenna's Mom, http://www.littlemonkey-babyo.blogspot.com/) wants six random things about myself.

The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

I can cover 1-3, but I'm afraid I'm still too new at this blogging stuff to actually have six people I can tag. So, here it goes...

1. I broke my arm in a car accident and while it healed better than the Dr.'s thought it would it didn't heal back straight and you can feel the lopsidedness if you run your hand along my bicep and I can't straighten out my arm all the way.
2. I sing...classical and opera type stuff. I'm a coloratura soprano. Think Mariah Carey high notes; that top note of the Star Spangled Banner (and beyond) is no problem for me, and no, I've never shattered glass.
3. Not only can I sing with my mouth open, but I can sing with it closed too. Kinda sounds like I've got some little guy trapped in there...pretty funny actually.
4. I don't like condiments. No mayo, mustard, ketchup, etc. on my sandwiches or burgers; and my salads are sans-dressing too. Yeah, I'm wierd I guess.
5. I absolutely loathe doing laundry and dishes. I'll do them if I have to, but don't ever ask to look in my closet because chances are it will look like a hurricane hit. I don't know why, but I just HATE folding clothes and scrubbing dishes - though I will if I have to.
6. I can't think of anything else, so I'll continue with the broken arm accident thing. I can't feel a good patch along the top of my forearm because of nerve damage. I've gotten a little too close to the flame on the stove and singed some hair all because I can't feel a thing.

Are those random enough??

Double Digits!!!

2008-09-04T20:19:00.001-07:00

It's official! Landon finally made it into the double digits today, at 12 weeks and 2 days he's 10 pounds 0.5 ounces! I'm such a proud Mommy!

First amusement park and concert!

2008-08-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-20T21:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

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.

In the beginning...

2008-07-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Someone suggested starting a blog - now why didn't I think of that?!? Of course, I have, but it always seemed to be too much work. Don't ask me why, because really it isn't; and now I'm left wishing I had started one earlier.

So we're playing a little catch up. Below are writings that were done throughout my pregnancy up until his birth. Not too much for a whole nine months, but really I did have a pretty easy pregnancy up until the last few weeks when little Landon started to wreak havoc on my body.

More to come on a semi-regular basis at least (well, that's the goal anyway)...

June 10, 2008

Birth Story - Landon Douglas is here!

My non-stress test didn’t look so great on Friday, June 6th so Dr. Maier, the perinatologist, sent us up to L&D and said that if things didn’t improve we’d be having a baby right then. We got on the monitors and things started looking better so they sent us home and told us to come back on Sunday night, June 8th to be induced and I was to remain on strict bed rest until then. Nothing at home was ready since I’d been on bed rest for the last couple of weeks and shower gifts and baby stuff was everywhere. My sisters and Grandma came over on Saturday to help clean and organize and my Mom put the finishing touches on the nursery décor and hung the valance and put the bumper in the crib. Mark vacuumed, cleaned, did yard work, and got things ready to go.

On the way to the hospital we stopped and had dinner at our favorite little Mexican restaurant and arrived for the induction at 8pm. It was midnight before all the paperwork was done, my IV was started, and they gave me a pill to ripen my cervix – completely closed, -2 station, 0% effaced. At 4am on Monday, June 9th I had dilated a fingertip and they started pitocin to induce contractions and magnesium to prevent seizures from the preeclampsia and put in a foley balloon to help open up my cervix. Contractions started right away and grew with intensity as they continued to increase the pitocin; the baby was responding well to labor and was looking great on the monitors. By 1pm I needed the epidural. Dr. Tin checked me and I was dilated to 4cm (the foley balloon came out), was around 20% effaced, but still at –2 station. At the rate we were going the doctor thought we’d have a baby in another few hours. The nurse anesthetist came and gave me the epidural and I was able to relax for a while. Around 4pm Dr. Tin came to check my progress again and I was at 5cm, 50% effaced and now at 0 station so they broke my water. At 7pm Dr. Tin checked me and there was no change so they increased the pitocin and put an internal monitor in to check on the strength of the contractions. I could still feel the contractions and needed to concentrate and breathe through them. At 9pm there was still no change; Dr. Tin started talking about a c-section, something I really really wanted to avoid as I don’t have a great track record recovering after surgeries. She increased the pitocin again and allowed me to continue to labor since the baby was still doing well on the monitors and contractions were strong and continuous and said that she would be back in another two hours to check my progress. Dr. Tin was in surgery so Dr. Mancuso came in around midnight to check my progress – still nothing, now she is talking c-section too but agreed to continue to let me labor and didn’t increase the pitocin. At 2am on Tuesday, June 10th Dr. Tin came back in to check my progress, still nothing, she wanted to take me back to surgery right then. The baby was still doing well and my contractions were still very strong and regular so I asked her to give me a little more time. She very hesitantly did. 15 minutes later Dr. Mancuso came in and said that I had labored long enough and that the baby would probably not come out vaginally if it hadn’t happened already and was really strongly pushing me to have a c-section right then; my two options at that point were to go back for a c-section right then or to labor for one more hour, if there were no changes after one hour then I would be going back for a c-section. That was the only time during the entire labor I broke down. Mark and I first asked for the opinions of those that had been supporting us throughout labor, my mother, grandma, sisters, aunt, cousin, and a good friend and her mother who is a labor and delivery nurse. My good friend’s mother was adamant that I could do it and that she didn’t think they needed to push for a c-section then if I felt like I could continue to labor since the baby still looked great and I was up for it. I was on the edge of doing the c-section when we asked that everyone leave the room to give Mark and I a chance to talk. Mark was confident that I could do it and really supported my instructions to him prior to labor not to let me get talked into surgery unless it was necessary. He gave me a great pep talk and we asked everyone back into the room and asked Dr. Mancuso to increase the pitocin one last time. She agreed and said that the dose that she was increasing me to was the highest dosage on hospital protocol (or something like that, basically that this was at the highest it was going to go). She said she would return in an hour to check my progress for the last time. When she did, the first word out of her mouth was, "wow." I honestly thought that was it and I felt so defeated, but I had gone from 5 cm to 8 cm in that hour and was now also 80% effaced. Dr. Mancuso let me continue to labor. At 5:30am Dr. Tin came back in to check my progress and told me I could start pushing whenever I was ready and things started moving quickly in the room as the nurses got everything all set up. I started pushing and feeling lots of pressure as Dr. Tin was getting her table and instruments ready. Mark and my sisters were at my head and counting through the contractions with me – they never got closer than four minutes apart so I was able to rest in between them. Finally, on one count of ten his head started to crown; on the second count of ten I only made it to eight before the baby came tumbling – literally – into the world. He came out all at once and flipped twice in the air (so I’m told) before Dr. Tin caught him and put him on my chest. Landon Douglas was born on Tuesday, June 10th at 6:34am weighing in at 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 ¾ inches long with a full head of dark hair.

He was alert and we sat there and stared at each other while the placenta was delivered and then I started to hemorrhage. From what I remember Dr. Tin called for Dr. Mancuso to come in and help stop the bleeding and repair my 4th degree tear. They ended up taking me into the Operating Room and I was in surgery for a few hours before returning to the Recovery Room to Mark while the baby was in the nursery. I asked him to bring the baby in so I could see him again and the three of us just sat there and bonded and rested until I was ready to be moved.

Our perfect little miracle baby had a little bit of a rough start on eating, which they say they expected with him being only 37 weeks gestation. He’s lost a lot of weight and is down to 5 pounds 14 ounces but is eating much better now that my milk has come in and they are watching him closely. They finally released us both from the hospital on Friday, June 13th and we’ve been home resting ever since. I’ve got a bad reaction to something they gave me in the hospital and have all sorts of creams and meds that I’m on for now, and though a 4th degree tear is nothing to balk at I’m really glad I didn’t have to have that c-section and can’t imagine what recovery would be like from that. All of that really doesn’t matter and I’d suffer through it all over again for this precious little boy I get to stare at and kiss his toes all day long; it’s worth every second.

June 1, 2008

Sooner than we think?

My blood pressures have been creeping up so my doc had me go into the hospital for a non stress test to monitor the baby and check me out. Good news is that the baby is just fine - he's practicing his breathing like a good little boy, is still pretty active in there despite running out of room, and has great heart tones. Me on the other hand, I'm not looking as fabulous as the perinatologist wants me to look, though I don't really feel too cruddy at this point.

After spilling lots of protein and blood pressures that were ape nuts on Friday the perinatologist came in and said that he'd already called up to Labor and Delivery and they were expecting me. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and if things don't improve expect to be having a baby tonight. I called Mark in a panic since he was at work - no, I didn't have my bag packed or in the car (how are you supposed to pack your bag with all the stuff you use every day and are going to want to wear in the next few days??). Then I called my sister to have her let the dogs out after work and to let her know that we may not make it to the fabulous shower she was throwing for us the next day. Things did improve slightly and all my labwork came back within normal ranges (elevated, but normal still) so I was able to beg and plead and they let me go home.

I got to attend the fabulous shower my wonderful sisters threw, and now I'm officially on bedrest with daily nurse phonecalls and Dr. visits three times a week until they decide to induce; which, according to the perinatologist's "expert" opinion will be within the next week or shortly thereafter if things continue down this path. If they get worse, they'll ship me off immediately of course, and if they improve we'll play things by ear. Bottom line though, according to the peri, we can expect things to move much faster than we thought.

My feet and hands are swollen and I've developed quite the impressive case of carpel tunnel. Baby is doing so well that they're confident he'll be just fine joining us a few weeks early, and I'd really like avoiding anymore fire drills like that. You'd better believe that my bag will be packed and in the car the next time I have to venture out to the doctor - and the carseat is installed and isn't budging.

March 24, 2008

I could stay this way forever...

- You get to wear all these cute clothes (at least I’ve found some cute stuff) that make you feel like you’re in your jammies all day since everything is so comfy- Your belly is supposed to stick out, so when you eat too much at Easter brunch nobody can tell and everyone still thinks your baby belly is cute
- Yay for no morning sickness!
- "You’re pregnant," so nobody will let you help with doing dishes or putting tables/chairs away
- No pumping gas! Not that it’s a big deal, but I hate pumping gas.
- Now that I don’t have a waist anymore Mark gets bathroom cleaning duty!

- I love feeling him squirm and kick in there, and you can see it from the outside now too when he gives me a big kick, I love seeing Mark’s face when he does thisI’d give all this up in a hot second to be able to hold my baby in my arms, but this pregnancy stuff isn’t so bad. Of course, I do reserve the right to change my mind anytime...

February 4, 2008

It's a conspiracy, I swear! The ultrasound department at Kaiser is just a conspiracy to make all of us pregnant women pee our pants. It goes like this...

First they call you to make an appointment and tell you to drink a whole bunch of water all day long so that you'll be hydrated. Then they tell you to empty your bladder for the last time before your appointment an hour and a half before your appointment. Next they tell you to drink 32 ounces of water in that hour and a half. Oh yeah, and if you want to try and make sure your little kickboxer is awake for his or her debut you should eat a light meal an hour before your appointment. The last part...arrive 15 minutes early to make sure everything is on time. Got it?

Fast forward a little bit. It's the day of your ultrasound, you drank enough water to cause a drought (and you've peed about 50 zillion times today), and you're now heading to your appointment. You outrun your husband to the check in counter because you feel like you're going to explode. You check in and go sit in a waiting room.....and you wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...for a whole FORTY FIVE MINUTES after your appointment time (even though you arrived 15 minutes early like a good girl). The snotty ultrasound tech comes waltzing down the hall and you explain to her (while doing the potty dance) that you really have to go and that your appointment was supposed to be 45 minutes ago. She scowls, runs away, and comes back with a cup and tells you to only "go" up to the line. After telling her you can't make ANY promises at this point you run to the bathroom and just can't heed her instructions. Then, you go sit back down for another ten minutes in the waiting room with your husband who is not so patiently waiting for you with a ginormous glass of water...just to make sure.

The heavens open up and the snarky ultrasound tech comes out to get you FINALLY! She gets you all settled in a room and then drags you to a different room. You get settled there and another ultrasound tech finally starts with your appointment. Mind you she says nothing the entire time, stops halfway through to take a phonecall (that's long enough to make that icky gel stuff get really cold), and then makes you practically beg for a few pictures. Oh, and you have to pee again thanks to the bucket o' water your wonderful husband made you guzzle.

Now doesn't that sound like fun!

January 21, 2008

We cheated...if anyone knows me at all knows that patience is not my strongest virtue. Both Mark and I wanted to know what this baby is now, and we wanted to know in time to spill the beans to my family while celebrating all the January birthdays. So, instead of waiting for the "big ultrasound" with my doctor in a few weeks we went and had one done somewhere else.

IT'S A BOY!!! He was a little camera shy at first, but didn't dissapoint Mommy and Daddy before the scan was over. He was even waving at us and sucking his thumb. So cute! Landon Douglas is on his way!

December 28, 2007

First, food poisoning...now hives. Everywhere, seriously - and holy moly do they itch like crazy! I have absolutely no idea where they came from, I've gone through everything I ate over the last three days and haven't changed any soaps, lotions, etc. so I'm stumped, my doc is stumped, and this kid wants to do me in. They seem to be getting worse, yesterday they were on my legs and neck. This morning I woke up to a big fat one on my eyelid (it's totally swollen), all over my back, chest, neck, and stomach, all the way down my legs, and my lips could definately rival Angelina Jolie. They perscribed some pills that just put me to sleep and told me I can take a cold bath with lots of baking soda. Well, throw a few ice cubes in and gimme a swizzle stick, doesn't that sound like fun while it's so stinkin' ugly outside.

On the flipside, I can't complain too much since I've had no morning sickness or anything else too horribly awful. But this is the pits, I look really goofy (goofier than normal, anyway).

November 24, 2007

Well guess what - we're having a baby! That's right folks, Mark's going to be a Daddy and I' m going to be a Mommy! We spilled the beans to the entire family on Thanksgiving. There are no words to tell you just how happy we are!

Baby Poston will arrive around June 30th, 2008...just in time for his or her Granddad's birthday!