What Should He Be Learning?

Everyone says being a parent is the most rewarding thing you will do.  You teach....they learn.  Simple right?  Now when they are seven months old they obviously aren't reciting the ABC's, but there are still things I can teach.  So far Landon has learned how to:

Smile
Crawl
Sleep through the night (like a champ!)
Reach for things
Jump
Eat Solids
Hold his own bottle

Pretty good list, eh?  (Pats self on back)

Here are the things we are working on learning now:
Playing with toys
Numbers
Letters
Sign Language
How to eat finger food
How to nicely play with other babies at daycare
When I go to wake him up in the mornings its time to get up

What he has actually been learning (unintentionally):
My iphone is his favorite toy
When I give him finger food he thinks its fun to throw down for Lily to enjoy
His idea of playing with the babies at daycare is pulling on their legs and ears and laughing
When I go in to wake him up in the morning if he lets out a sigh and rolls over I'll generally give him 5 more minutes

I recognize there are worse things he could be learning.  I guess I'll take what I can get!

First Mother's Day = Success!

My first Mother's Day was a success!  I guess that sounds like I'm surprised that it was a success (which I'm not), but really, it was a great day!

Though Mother's Day is obviously Sunday, my excitement started Tuesday with this surprise flower delivery at work from my parents:

Then on Friday I got home from work and was surprised with these from Kyle:

But the best gift was the one Landon made me at daycare this week, which I opened today:

Obviously Landon thought his gift was WAY better than Dad's flowers:

 We spent Sunday morning at breakfast and then hiking around Castlewood Canyon.  I was surrounded by a gorgeous scenery, beautiful weather, and perfect company.  

Congratulations Kyle - you've just set the bar pretty high for yourself for years to come! :)

Seven Months!

Wow.  The months continue to fly.  I truly cannot believe you're seven months old already!  You just continue to get more and more fun, and your personality is really starting to shine!

This past month has been filled with more excitement.  We kicked it off with a weekend up in the mountains.  We spent the weekend in Keystone and enjoyed watching the skiers, shopping, and hanging out at the vacation home (thanks to a generous co-worker!).  Then, a couple weeks later you and Daddy flew back to Nebraska to see family and celebrate your cousins' birthday.  You did great at the airport and on the planes - Daddy is a stud!

Your favorite toy this month is definitely your jumper.  You love to hop around in that thing and play with all the buttons and attached toys.  We also think you may be teething.  You were VERY crabby a couple of days and drooling excessively.  With the amount of crying I heard (which is not normal for you) I was sure at least 6 teeth were going to pop through at once.  However, at this point, you have........0.  As your dad says, "You're being a baby!".

One of your cutest moments comes after you sneeze.  Pretty much every time you sneeze you smile.  I think it tickles, and that always makes me laugh.

You are finally holding your own bottle, all the time!  This is especially appreciated in the morning so that I can get ready WHILE you are drinking your bottle.  An extra 10 minutes of sleep can be crucial.

You have also found some new toys!  Lily's bed, Lily's rope, and.....Lily's tail! 

 Oh yes, and more toys.  Mommy's foot, Mommy's shoe, and this thing that glows!

You can also sit up now.  You went from a maximum of 20 seconds one day to 10 minutes the next (and that's not an exaggeration).  It's like something just clicked.  I was getting a little nervous that you weren't sitting up yet (I don't know why, the doctor said 8 months is average).  However, I'm happy that you've figured it out!

Crawling is not far away!  You are scooting all over the place, and can get anywhere given enough time.  You easily get on all fours.  It's pretty funny once you do because you'll start to rock as if you're going to catapult yourself forward....but then nothing happens.  Soon you'll realize you have to pick up your arm and leg to actually get somewhere.

Finally, you're still the cutest little thing around (I'm not biased at all!).  To finish out the blog here's some pictures of pure cuteness!

Well, most people that I talk to say they like the blog due to the pictures.  I hope that's true, this one had a lot.

Love you buddy!

I Miss Some Things

Well, I've based this blog off honesty (possibly too much of it) so far, so there's no sense in changing my intentions now.

We are six months in, and I can honestly say there are some things I miss.  If anyone has a child and says they love EVERY single aspect of it they are lying!

 I miss:

*The joy that I used to feel on Friday nights as I thought "I can sleep in as late as I want tomorrow!"  7:00 is the new 10:00.
*Waking up at the last minute possible in order to throw myself together and run out the door before work.
*A halfway clean house that wasn't that difficult to maintain (Kyle, keep your comments to yourself).
*My old weight.
*Having extra money.
*The excitement of being pregnant (yeah I was lucky those 9 months).

Now, while I miss the things above, I LOVE nearly everything about having Landon.  Even things that I wouldn't have ever expected I would love.  He makes the above things above seem not-as-important.

This is a small list of the things I truly love, unexpectedly:

*Seeing his huge smiles in the mornings, even if that means getting up twice as early for work.
*Taking him to and picking him up from daycare (my favorite!) even though it obviously takes longer to get to and from work.
*Feeling the pride of timing dinner perfectly for either right when he goes down for a nap or right when he's going to bed at night.  Never thought I'd be so proud of a meal, even if it's just hot dogs (Wife of the Year?). 
*Finding Parents Magazine equally as entertaining as People (note I said equally, not more).
*Spending uninterrupted time with him at night, even though that means being way behind on my TV shows (dang you who post about The Bachelor on Facebook before I have a chance to watch! :) ).

Of course I could go on forever about things I love about having him around.  But the list above really put into perspective how much things have changed since 6 months ago.  I would have laughed in your face if you told me I would enjoy getting up twice as early every single morning to get him ready, but honestly, I love that I can count on that being "our time". 

I don't love everything, because poopy diapers will never be my favorite, however, I can honestly say that I do love nearly everything!

Half Birthday!

Yay!!  We've made it six months and we are happy as ever!  This last month has been SO much fun.  I hate to say it like that, because that makes it sound like the previous five weren't fun, but really, life just keeps getting better!

We have been practicing sitting up.  Some days you are so close!  Others you are so far.  You are definitely getting stronger though.  You roll all over the place, and have now figured out that you can roll over to get to toys.  You have had so much fun "playing" over the past month.  You love your toys, your jumper, your activity mat, and watching any activity around you.  We also went to the park and let you swing for the first time.  You were a little unsure of it, but it was still fun.  You also LOVE to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes".  Anything that involves singing, dancing, or moving your arms/legs is typically a hit!

We also started solids a few weeks ago.  That transition has been nothing but positive!  You had a funny face your very first bite (good thing we caught that on camera), but other than that, have loved everything about food.  So far we've had bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, and carrots.  Sweet potatoes seem to be the favorite so far.  Though I know you've enjoyed everything because you cry every time your food is gone.  This has been a really fun step, as you are a good eater and I find it so fun to feed you!

We also took away the swaddle (ah!).  I was SO nervous to do this, because you have been such a good sleeper from a young age.  We started by taking it away for naps.  That transition went better than expected (though your naps are definitely shorter than they used to be).  After a week or two of that, we decided to try it at night.  I was prepared to wake up every 2 hours with you the first night, but you shocked us all by sleeping through the night like normal!  I was SO surprised, relieved, and proud of you!  The lack of swaddle has allowed you to discover many new sleeping positions.  Now I always have to go in there right after you fall asleep to make sure you don't have the blanket over your face.

We've joked this month that you have really "matured".  While I don't know how mature you can be at 6 months old, you've definitely done a lot of new things.  One of our recent developments includes holding your own bottle.  I can typically get you to hold the bottle the entire time first thing in the morning.  As the day goes on, however, you get lazy.  Hopefully you are always holding your own bottle in another month.  It is so nice to have a free hand during feeding time!

Finally, we enjoyed your first Easter.  I didn't get any pictures with your Easter baskets (oops), but you were given baskets from Grammy and Aunt Tiffany, and a present from Grandma and Grandpa.  You are pretty spoiled and loved!  We had friends over for Easter, including Stephanie and Nate in the picture below.  Nate is 1 year old, and though you two didn't really play together, you seemed interested in how Nate was crawling and walking all over!

You really are such a happy baby.  Everyone says it, especially daycare.  We also think you have grown out of your dairy allergy.  We switched you to normal formula, and you are doing great so far!  You continue to spit up a lot, but unfortunately, there's not much we can do about that.  Your doctor appointment is tomorrow, so we'll get your weight and height then!  

Love you buddy!  Happy first half birthday!

School Pictures

Time for our first school (aka daycare) pictures!  I know every mom is biased, but seriously, are you kidding me?  These are so cute!!  (Sorry for the not-great-picture-quality).

Snowy Saturday Morning Snapshot

Unlike most of my friends, I love snowy weekends as opposed to snowy weekdays!  If schools are closed, that means daycare is closed (no good for this working mom!).  However, snowy weekends are the perfect excuse to stay inside, have a fun family day, and be lazy.  Here's what we've been "busy" doing this morning!

We watched the snow fall.  (Isn't that the cutest tush you've ever seen?) ;)

We played with our toys.

 We watched some March Madness as a family.

We played Words with Friends (watch out - this kid's good).

 We got kisses from Lily.

We supervised while Mom made chili.

What a perfect morning!