40 Weeks!

It has been a pretty typical week around here this week.  Logan is back on the road and Landon and I fell back into our routine pretty quickly of being alone.  We have been pretty busy with errands, music, walks, starting the gym, and today we have his 9 month well baby visit! 

Speaking of this past Friday, the wee man turned 9 months old! Still can't believe that in only 3 short months he will be ONE.  What fast, busy, crazy year! These pictures get consistently harder to take the more mobile he becomes! So these are some of the better ones that I got this month.

My 9 month old ham

I will eat you!

And we're done Mom

Testing out his baby bed! WAY too big for it =)

This past week you have turned into the most curious baby EVER! You look under things to see what is under them-the bed, the couch, toys, and the heater/radiator at music.  You lay flat on your belly and push you head against the floor and look and look for what seems like an eternity.  I guarantee you there is nothing super exciting under there, but you must think there is!

You are OBSESSED with opening and closing doors.  Any door that opens you crawl as fast as you can to play with it.  The door in your room is your favorite.  You spend 20 minutes almost daily opening it and closing it.  I am worried about your fingers being pinched, but over you are very observant when it is opening and closing and move your hand each time. 

You are also OBSESSED with the fridge.  Every time it opens and you are near I hear you speed crawling to get in the fridge.  You kneel up and play with the drawers.  You try to get the veggies by pounding on the drawer, but clearly you can't!  I always have to pull you out in order to close the door when the door alarm starts going off.

When you take a bath you expect to sit up and play now since Gigi got you used to it when she was here.  When you sit up you look in the circle part in the tub that has to do with the drain and can see yourself in it.  I don't know if you recognize yourself, but you hold a pretty good conversation with that 'other' baby for a good 5 minutes each night. Pretty cute. 

You have mastered some new vocal skills this week.  Sunday at breakfast at IHOP you started babbling and haven't quit since.  You say dadada, bababa, occasionally kit, and mama.  You don't mimic me yet, but we have come a long way in babbling in the last week.  You have also started screeching and screaming again-funny, but rather annoying! I am glad you mastered this before your appointment today since I knew you were barely hitting this milestone!

Last night for the first time in months I didn't feed you in the middle of the night.  The last few months we have had a MAJOR sleep regression in how often you have been up thanks to being sick and teething. You look exhausted constantly with bags under your eyes. So this week I decided I am only feeding you once and I won't go in your room before 3 AM.  You are one of those babies that if we (meaning me ha ha) go in to comfort you it just pisses you off more.  So after reading several sleep books I decided it was time to help you learn to go back to sleep on your own,  which meant I would have to let you cry it out for a few nights.  The first night it worked great-you didn't wake up until 4:30,  I fed you and you went back down until 8.   The next night you woke up at 12:30, you cried for 10 minutes, went back to sleep until 4, fed you slept until 8. The next night we had no crying, you slept until 3:45, fed you and you slept until 8.  Last night was a bit rough-you were up at 2:30 (super close to 3, but I didn't cave), you cried UNTIL 3, but then slept until 7!! Good job Buddy. I did go in and feed you and put you back in bed until 8 and you went back to sleep right away.  Hopefully this trend will keep up!  Now we will see how naps go today.  They have also been getting somewhat longer!

Here are some pictures from the past week:

Crib standing during nap time!

Watching the dogs at the dog park-this guy doesn't like loud noises, especially dogs barking!

Modeling some Christmas jammies!

  Finally for our weekly video! This one really isn't super entertaining, but kind of funny none the less!

Until next week =)

39 Weeks!

The little man is 39 weeks this week! We actually had a great week, with the exception of maybe one day! Gigi was in town so we were busy as always.  Landon still does best when we are out the majority of the day, which is surprising.  We did some shopping, some craft projects, went to the zoo, met up with my friends for walks, took Landon's Christmas pictures, and explored the Eastern shores of Virginia! So overall a great trip for my Mom and we loved having her here. We are looking forward to whoever wants to come stay with us next.

Up until Gigi got here last week, Landon and I were both sick with yet another cold!  Mine went away pretty quickly, but Landon's is still lingering with a stubborn cough and stuffy nose.  One day Landon had a runny/goop-ish eye and I was terrified it was going to turn into pink eye, but the next morning it was back to normal and has been fine since.  I am guessing he must have just had something in it! So we are on the mend and are trying our hardest NOT to get sick again!

Landon had his first trip to the zoo this past week!  It was cold and windy, but at least it was sunny. We didn't get to see many animals, but it was fun to get out none the less.  Landon just looked around since he was so bundled, but overall he was in good spirits and rode around in his stroller like a champ!

With his new giraffe Jeffery!

In the prairie dog hole!

This week we ended up having music even though it was supposed to be cancelled since the church was used as a polling place.  Mom was able to take some pictures of our music class! It was fun.

Practicing crawling with Mrs. C (blond lady)

Landon LOVES her

Playing with the scarves

Coming into a circle during my Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean song

Another fun thing we did was go on our walk with some of the ladies and kids I know from the mothering group I am in in Williamsburg.  Mom got a nice picture of all of us and the kiddos.  

Colonial Williamsburg Walking Group

Stopped for a coffee after our walk to warm up!

 We were able to go to  breakfast after music since Landon took a nice car nap while I went to vote!  Here we are at the Art Cafe 26.  Always great food and a baby friendly atmosphere!

See those little teeth?

With his Gigi!

 While my Mom was here I mentioned being crafty! Well I got this great idea to do sensory bottles-basically bottles that give Landon something to chase after and look at.  We made four of them.  The best one was the glitter glue and boiling water that we made.  It is pretty cool!  Here he is playing with the one with green bells and water!

You have turned into quite the sweet boy this week.  I think you have started giving us kisses, i.e. big open mouth slobbers all over our face.  If you aren't paying attention you may get a big wet mouth on your nose or eye!  Now that Daddy and Gigi have been around a bit more, you warmed up to them as well as me.  There are still just sometimes that only Mommy can calm you down though, which is understandable since you are a stage 5 clinger most days.

You are a crawling and pulling up to your knees pro.  Occasionally you take a nose dive into the floor or whatever piece of furniture is around.  This morning you were playing with Lola and must have got ahead of yourself and conked your head on the edge of the dresser in our room. Not good, you have a little welt over your eye brow, but luckily but no cut!

The sweetest thing I have seen you do to date is when I put you on our floor in our room on the weekends you anxiously look up to the bed to see Daddy and make your pay attention to my sounds so he wakes up and pops his head up to surprise you when he is home.  This morning after he had gone to work I put you down so we could get dressed and you noticed the blankets on the bed were puffed up.  You loooooked and looooked to see Daddy but I had to keep telling you he was at work.  Pretty cute-obviously a fan of his Daddy these days! You did this each time we went in there, you were clearly convinced he should be home with us today!

You are an eating pro.  We eat 3 meals a day together and most meals you get to practice feeding yourself! You LOVE food.  I would venture to say it is probably your favorite time of day.

You have actually started making some new vocal sounds this week! I swear you said kitty the other day, but Logan thinks I am full of crap.  I am thinking that will be your first word since you LOVE Lola and Sadie.  I am happy you have started making some consonant sounds this week because your 9 month appointment is next week and your vocal skills are the only thing I think you may be behind on! You have also started singing to music.  It is rather cute.  We have been listening to Christmas music this week and you have started squealing right along!

Ok no video this week-but you can have a sneak peek of something my Mom and I worked on while she was here!

 

Until next week! 

38 Weeks!

Landon has officially been out as long as he was IN! Now-that is absolutely crazy.  It has been another rough week around here.  We are sick AGAIN.  I am worse off than Landon this time and actually intend upon going to the Dr. today.  Landon has a pretty bad cough and stuffy nose, but so far no fever or rash like last time.

Logan has been home for the last week with us, which has been fun but a bit challenging.  I think Landon realizes he has a bit of competition with him around.  When it is just Landon and I, he is a complete angel, but as soon as Logan gets home he turns into a big crying mess that constantly is vying for my attention.  Hopefully he adjusts sooner rather than later.

He has cut TWO teeth this week, so I hope that also makes for a happier baby.  His bottom two teeth came through a day a part from each other.  They just look like little nubs, but they are coming in more each day!

 This week was also Landon's first Halloween.  I am very happy that I bought a size 12 month costume so we could put layers under it.  It was about 45 degrees out last night and it was nice to not have to put a coat over his costume.  He wasn't in the best mood since he was all bunched up.  He takes after me in hating to be put in layers.  I hate getting my clothes all bunched up together!!  So here are some pictures of his first Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Our best attempt at a picture

Constantly on the move...making pictures very hard to take

Trying to get to Lola.

This week Landon:

• You are sick with your second cold of the fall season.  It seems different than the last one.  This one is more in your chest than you nose.  I am not sure which is better for you.  You often wake up coughing at night, which has made for some rough nights the last week for sleeping. 
• You are a master crawler now.  You can escape the living room easily and enjoy crawling all over the house.  We have caught you by the stairs several times and will eventually need to get a gate for the bottom steps as well.  You have also found the dog water bowls, but so far you have only put your hand in it once.  So more baby proofing to happen soon!
• You have also started pulling up on literally everything.  You don't have great balance yet and it makes it hard to stay up for long periods of times. If I don't stand behind you, you often fall and hit your head.  I am looking forward to you having better balance so I don't have to worry about you falling and hurting yourself!

 

• You love feeding yourself from the table with "real" people food.  You have started grabbing the spoon for purees and want to try to do it yourself.  You are actually pretty good, but you often gag yourself by sticking the spoon in too far.
• We didn't have music this week because of Hurricane Sandy.  So we will have to make that up at some point in the future.
• Your sleep has been awful the past month.  You now consistently wake up two times per night.  I feel sleep training is in our near future if I can get Logan on board to help.  I will need him to help go in for check ins because I can't since you expect to nurse each time you see me.  
• You have been waking up earlier and earlier-which I can tell you I am not pleased about.  6 Am was your wake up time today.  It doesn't help that you hear Daddy wandering around getting ready to leave.  The time change may kill us this next weekend.

Here are just a few other pictures I took throughout the last week:

Finally, here is the weekly video.  Landon has started to DANCE (i.e. bounce up and down) to his music on his toys.  I am trying to get a better video, but he kind of does it in this one!

Until next week!

37 Weeks!

Woo last week was TOUGH.  Landon was still sick and teething(and just finally feeling better)! So last week was just rough.  That is really all there is to say about it!

I do have some pictures.  Mostly of a sick little sad dude though!

Running a fever so cloth diaper it is for a little bit!

His best attempt at playing on Sunday

The awesome rash that made its appearance on Sunday from the virus he had! Rashes creep me out. 

 

 

 

 

Mommy is losing her sanity...even with a cute sleepy sick baby on her shoulder!

Starting Monday we got the clear from the Dr. to go back to our usual places so we went to a spouses coffee on Tuesday and a short walk around Colonial Williamsburg.  We also went back to our walk on Wednesday mornings and made up music on today.  Landon is still kind of grouchy since his teeth haven't popped through, but overall he seems to be on the up swing!

Just stood right on up (8.5 months)

Pretty tree from CW on our walk!

Landon is officially real crawling! He keeps me busy getting into everything and moving around.  He has started pulling up on stuff and is extra wobbly.  He makes me a nervous wreck!

Finally, I tried to get a video of Landon making his sleepy time noises.  It is just black because we were in the dark room, so just listen for his whiny sounds =).

Sorry not much to say this week!  Until next week =).  Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!! 

36 Weeks

This past week has been pretty uneventful since Landon and I were both sick with our first cold of the season.  I feel pretty much 100%, but Landon has some lingering nose issues that are rather gross.  So we have been pretty lame this past week with just staying in and away from people so we don't contaminate anyone. 

Come Monday I was going a bit stir crazy and was ready to get out so we headed out to Barnes and Noble to wander around.  They have a nice kids area so we walked around that, read some books,  and then stopped to have some Chai. 

Having chai tea with Mommy

Tuesday we headed up to Richmond to go to a mall called Short Pump.  It is an outside mall, but has lots of nice stores.  Then we headed up to Northern VA to visit Mr. Brokaw.  We got to stay in a cabin with him for one night which was fun.  We headed back early the next morning since we didn't want to get caught having Rusty in the cabin since it specifically said NO PETS!

Cabin

Backyard of the cabin near the lake

Logan and Landon...my favorite people!

Pretty

Landon and I

Updated family picture

Rusty enjoying some swimming

Wednesday afternoon we hung out with our good friends; Landon and Wyatt played together.  They are so funny with each other. They have grown up and changed so much since 4 months ago when they first started playing together.  Wyatt is long and lean...he is constantly on the move and so advanced for his age.  It is fascinating to see since he is so different than Landon.  Landon is tall and bulky (I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THIS COMES FROM) and is just a bit slower on the movement aspect.   He is sweet as can be and just loves to sit and cuddle even when we are out playing with people.  Danielle and I think it is funny we both see other traits in each others babies that we want our own baby to have ha ha.

This week Landon you:

• Have started teething.  I can see two little white nubs in your bottom gums.  They seem to be playing a fun game of coming up and going back down depending on the day.  You have been extra fussy on top of your cold.  As I am writing this you are currently sitting on the floor making your mamamamama sound at me. We have been giving you a bit of Tylenol at night to help you sleep through the pain, but during the day we try to distract you with other things to chew on and play with! 
• Have been eating more solid food.  I got in trouble for feeding you a half of a french fry and a chicken nugget for lunch one day by your Daddy!  You enjoyed it and as a treat once in a while I don't think he will care too much.
• Have been working on real crawling still.  You make a few movements and then go back to your usual belly dragging army crawl.  You are pretty fast so I think you just don't have alot of motivation to crawl.
• Lola is your favorite animal these days. You try to get to her as fast as you can, but she gets just far enough away that you can't reach her.  One day you will get her and she will not be pleased!  It is a cute little game that you play with each other.  You laugh and smile whenever you see her and she perks up realizing you are paying attention to her.
• Continue to work on standing.  You have fallen over a few times from standing and it takes all my effort not to freak out and scoop you up.  The more I react, the more you get upset...so I am working just saying "oh no you bonked your head" and play it off like no big deal.  If you burst into tears right after the fall though I usually come to your rescue and give you some cuddles.  
• Your favorite toy is your piano that used to be attached to the playmat.  You bang on it all day long.  It is also what you use to pull up to your knees and then eventually to stand.  Here is a video of it.

Here are just some other pictures that I took throughout the week!

Eating his new socks

More standing...even though he is a bit wobbly!

His birthday face for Gigi

Sporting some Rockies gear

Mad because he is stuck and can't figure out how to sit back down

Crawling around at the cabin

Until next week!

35 Weeks!

Landon turned 8 months a few days ago! Time is going so fast.  He changes so much every week.  This past week has been pretty routine for us.  We had a low key weekend. We took a long walk on a trail close to our house.  Logan has been telling me to try this trail for a while, but to get to it we have to go through someones yard...which makes me rather uncomfortable.  So I found another way to get up there, but turns out the big no trespassing sign was probably a bad way to go also!  So we will see what works best to get up to the trails.  It is about a 4 mile walk, so its a nice long walk for Rusty too!
Here is a picture of one of the lakes we walk past.

Warhill Trails

The rest of the week consisted of errands, music, our walk, and coffee with some friends.  Today and tomorrow, our AC/Furnance is finally getting replaced! YAY!

This week Landon also learned to REAL CRAWL.  I am working hard to get it on video, but when he really wants to go somewhere he just drags himself on his belly since he thinks that is faster.  I am in trouble when he starts to real crawl all the time.  I will hopefully have a video next week!

Landon has his first cold of the fall season it seems.  Yesterday his little nose started to run and he was up twice last night since he was super stuffy.  This morning I am trying to determine the best way to catch all the snot dripping out of his nose.  Two little ones in his music class were sick last week and I am wondering if he caught whatever was leftover from their sickness.  I am hoping he doesn't catch Strep since that is what these two were out sick with! So I am hoping this ends as quickly as it began!

A funny story of something that Landon did yesterday.  So when Landon gets up from his nap he always has a pacifier in his mouth.  When I picked him up yesterday I said hello like I always do and took his pacifier out and threw it back in his crib.  I wasn't paying much attention, but when I looked back at him he had another one in his mouth.  He was so proud that he had replaced it with the spare one he must have had in his other hand! He wasn't so pleased when I took that one out and didn't let him keep it.  Funny guy these days!

At 8 months, Landon is still a handful, yet the most delightful baby ever.  I may be a bit biased though!  He is still getting up once at night.  I am giving him one more month to naturally wean his night feeding.  If we hit 9 months, I will eventually had to figure out how to get rid of it.  He obviously weighs enough to not have to eat much at night! He is taking two naps most days.  They vary in length, but are usually at least an hour and can go as long as 2.5 hours.  Of all the things that I don't want to forget at this age is all the little noises he makes.  When he gets his pacifier he makes this satisfied sucking/moaning sound, it is rather cute.  He still makes sounds right before I nurse him of an "ah ah ah" to show that he is super excited to eat.  He also makes this sounds when eating solids.  He moans and growls himself to sleep at night.  He will be completely still on the monitor but you can hear him whining himself to sleep. We still don't have any babbling going on, but he makes alot of other sounds through out the day.  He is still yelling, alot! When I walk away from the room he goes mamamamamama in his most whinny voice!  I refuse to count this as his first word. 

He is constantly on the move.  If I am holding him he arches backwards, tries to spin around in my arms, turns his head constantly, and leans around me to get a nice view of things....he is extremely wiggly! He is always rolling, army crawling, and slithering across the floor.  This particular day he got stuck between the couch and the end table!

 He now knows there is life outside his little confined living room and his bedroom.  I have had to be creative with baby proofing until Logan gets back so he can help me hang a wall shelf for the dvd player.  I also need to finish hiding the cords.  In addition to the electronics, I installed a gate with a door at the top of the stairs so I can block him upstairs when we are up there! 

He is also on the verge of pulling up on things!  So here is a video of the first time he got up on his knees!  He has done it several times since and is getting better at crawling over things as well!

His food eating continues to go well!  We are working on small finger foods such as puffs and cheerios.  His pincher grasp is developing more everyday.  We are still working on chewing the food and not just swallowing it directly.  I have found that he HATES rice.  I have tried pureeing it and giving it to him whole...either way he isn't so much of a fan.

We got a new stroller this week as well!  Our giant jogging stroller is great for walks and running, but it is almost just too large for stores!  I also plan on bringing this one home with us at Christmas, so it should be a perfect size for traveling as well.  I got it because the seat can lay all the way down or sit all the way up.  It is so versatile that Landon can nap or sit up and look around.  The back seat position can adjust to 5 different positions as well.  We have only used it on a short walk around the neighborhood, but I am excited to go out to a store to use it as well! 

Chicco Liteway stroller

Finally, here are some of the better pictures of Landon's 8 month photos!  You can see all of them on flickr, so check that out for more fun pictures of wee Landon! 

Hammin' it up for the camera

Look a those thighs! Annie-this picture is for you! Clearly, these pictures are getting more difficult to take since he squirms so much!

We are going to visit Logan for one night next week, so we are looking forward to that! I just hope that Landon is feeling better by then!

Until next week! =)