9 and 10 months

Since I had staff training and other busy weeks I had to put two months together. I am guity for not updating this blog, since Facebook seems to be the easiest for uploading.

Even more milestones now. You have begun to move your army crawl into a speedier normal baby crawl. You have also begin to pull yourself up. Which means that in the crib, we have reset it to the low setting and now in the morning you stand and chew on the side rail of it. You also have the BIGGEST smiles in the morning. You are always so happy to see us when we wake up to your little cries (not a cry, but more of an alert that you are awake).

You have also started saying Mamamamamamam. Which is amazing to hear. Melts my heart. You also do babababa and we are doing our best to teach you dadada

We now have a healthy appreciation to clean floors and locks on all drawers and cupboards. you LOVE to pull open things and close them, over and over again. You also love your books, and you like me to say "open!" and "Closed!" when you open and close them on me. I can never get through a story!

8 Months

SO MANY NEW THINGS!

This month has a crazy amount of milestones.

You are army crawling to get wherever you want - that has been a change! You are still slow and easy to grab. We picked up everything off the floor and now have a floor of toys - I have a feeling that will be the norm from now on.

You also explore EVERYthing. It is so exciting to see the way you see - to be so interested in a little tiny piece of leaf - to spend a long time feeling it in your hand, crunching it, peering at it, smooshing it onto the floor and then to try and eat it. Hilarious!

You are also starting to try baby food. It is a slow transition, as you seem to not like meats. But, you like the fruits and oatmeals. You kind of look at us like we are crazy to be putting a spoonful of food in your mouth, but you seem to be enjoying it.

7 Months

Dear Landyn,

I realize that I have been slacking and did not get your pictures and story up for the last few months. I will do my best to go over everything here.

You are still on formula and am watching us very closely. You love to be on the floor and play with your toys and to hear your giggle when we play peek a boo. You also got a new cousin recently and am no longer the baby on your daddy's side. Still the only boy, however.

29 Weeks (6 months)

on 5/11/10, you had your 6 month check up.

18 pounds and 4 ounces, 28.5 inches high.

This month has had a lot of milestones. You are now eating a good amount of baby food. You will sit with us at the dinner table or in your high chair and get fed a good couple tablespoons of what we have for the day: squash (meh), banana (YUM), peaches (gah), prunes (NUM), etc. You've also been given some smooshy banan, strawberry and watermelon into your little food dispenser that has the netting that makes it so you just suck the juices out of the fruit. You didn't particularly like the strawberry since it was sour. However, you lived on watermelon at Grandma Ks.

You are getting onto your stomach pretty readily. For weeks now I have been fighting you at night about how you wwant to sleep, and now that I've done some research and read a bunch, it seems I need to stop worrying when you decide you're going to sleep on your tummy. As long as I inititally put you on your back, I am doing my parenting duty :) Maybe now I can get a little more sleep - instead of waking every hour to make sure you haven't flipped over. You are also now sitting up, a preferred method of playing with your toys. We still need to support you at times, but you can keep yourself up for a long time. We took out the blocks today and you had a fine time pushing the block towers over. I think we found another fun pasttime.

Your giggling is wonderful - playing peek a boo and 'where's Landyn with a blanket. You have a lot of fun when we toss a blanket on you and then pull it off to say 'boo'.

We also took you to the beach up North for the first time. I was worried, so we put you into the shallow end, but you just bent down and dug your little fingers right into that sand and started trying to eat it. I had to put your pacifier in to make sure you didn't end up eating a mud pie. I ended up planting myself into the water as well to hold onto you, since you wanted to splash in the water. We eventually brought you into the deep end to rinse the dirt off, but you completely went wild with excitement when we had you floating. So, I would play/pretend to toss you in the air and have you splash right into the water. You had way too much fun - daddy's son all right, he loves water too. Finally, when I saw your little chin quivering from cold even with a big gummy grin, we brought you into the beach to dry off and go for a walk with Gramma K. When we got into the car to head home, you fell asleep with a toy halfway to your mouth - the minute you were put into your car seat.

We also visited with lots of family this weekend and saw babies - your cousin and my cousins baby. You smiled at a lot of people and barely cried when you got overwhelmed. At one point Daddy had to bring you into a back room and lay down with you so you'd nap - you had too many people smiling at you to go to sleep.

I have also been playing some rousing games of 'pick up'. You are starting to enjoy dropping toys and looking down at them to see where they go. Then, I go get it and we start all over. I don't mind, I find it funny as well. Books have also become a favorite of yours, especially the ones with mirrors in them.

20 Weeks (5 months)

Your last checkup was March 11th and you were/are 16lbs 1oz and 27 1/4" long. You had to get your shots once again and you were not happy! You turn a very deep red color when you are in pain or crying so hard. But, it only took a few minutes of snuggling to calm down. I kept you with me the rest of the day and spoiled you.

I turned 31 and you turned 5 months. 31 feels young yet - not too shabby.

A few milestones have happened. You laugh a lot more. You are very ticklish under your chin and I take advantage of that constantly. You also love to be held above me and then brought down to my face for smooches. You giggle and drool all over me when we do that.

I am sad to say that you have never gotten rid of your snarfley nose. I am going to ask at the next appointment if you have allergies. You have no fever, have fun, and seem perfectly healthy, besides that. And of course the skin - red patches and itchy spots. We are constantly trying to find ways to help those not be itchy - as you are constantly scratching at yourself and making gouge once in a while if I don't get your nails cut quick enough (tip for other parents, do it when they are asleep or occupied eating from a bottle as someone else feeds them).

You have also had your first tastes of baby food. We started with a bit of apple sauce and you seemed to make the funniest 'yuck' face - I think it tasted sour. Yet, you would want more and got frustrated when we weren't feeding fast enough and would go to the bottle right away. We then tried peas and IO have to say, Daddy is hilarious. He feels that the more on the spoon, the better. He feels that you eat more if you get bigger spoonfuls and to just wipe it from your chin and into your mouth. Me, I take tiny little helpings and wipe the spoon upwards into your mouth when you have your mouth wide and then watch you smack it. Too dainty for Daddy! But, his way just makes a hhuuuuuuuggggge mess.

Also, you have been working VERY hard at flipping over. You get your whole body contorted. The day you flipped was when myself, Daddy and Jeremy were on the floor playing with you, we got distracted talking and were not watching you, when "foomp" you were on your belly. None of us saw it! You were able to put your arms above your head, your back of head almost touching your spine and your hips totally twisted so that you could just be nucged slightly and you would land on your tummy. You do this now, all the time and I keep waiting for your next flip - to no avail. Of course, the daycare ladies say you've done it at their place!

You are also finding a way to move yourself by laying on your back and using your top part of the back and your legs to push up over and over to where you want to go. Slow, but effective. Kind of like an inchworm on their back.

You have also found different sounds with your voice. You warble and coo and do all sorts of cute gurgly and squealy sounds. I love the way you practice your B's by blowing out and your lips all pursed. Few days now you've been working on "mmm". Also, we learned the "Where is thumbkin" song - I have to admit I looked it up on youtube so I knew what to do!

You have also found an affinity for standing and looking around - those curious eyes just flash all over and you can't look in any one direction for more than a second before you have to look the other way.

16 Weeks (4 Months)

Dear Landyn,

Your 4th Month is here. You have grown SO much and are active in many exciting ways.

Your First Laugh: I had an accident when you were at daycare. I was going to boil some water for my maltomeal breakfast and so I turned on the stove to high and then sat down at the kitchen table. My back was to the stove and I remember thinking there was a slight burn smell, but figured something was left over on the burner. Suddenly there was this loud 'BAM" and shattering and my back was smacked with little bits of something. Let's just say I jumped out of my chair and stared at the stove in disbelief. I had left a large glass cake pan from last night on top of the stove and apparently I had turned on the burner under that glass pan. It shattered all over the kitchen.

It took me a good 45 minutes to initially clean and knew I probably needed a vacuum. So, when we all got back from work, Daddy went for our old 1970s vacuum in the basement and brought it up. I picked you up and held you, figuring you'd be scared to death from the loud noise. We hovered near dad and when that vacuum started up, you lit up. You watched as Dad vacuumed with the attachment hose, this REAL loud machine sounds - and you laughed! I could feel it in your tummy, see it on your face and if I leaned my ear right at your mouth, I could just barely hear it. Your first laugh and I couldn't even hear it!

Since then, we have been able to get you to laugh. Usually it's a little guffaw "eh hhhehhhhh", sometimes a little belly laugh. Makes my day!

Every morning is a great morning, I wake up, Daddy's getting ready for work and I sneak int your room to get you up. Either you are already awake and looking around smiling or I have to get you to wake up. I usually pet your face and hold your hand, snuggling you awake and those gummy grins just make me have a good day everytime.

You are good at keeping your head up and are now looking around you with interest. You are constantly moving your head around to check out what the other side of the room looks like. Sometimes I wonder if your going to get whiplash, trying to see everything at once. Once Daddy enters the room, you search him right out.

Your favorite toy is now this little blanket that has a teddy bear attached to it. This toy is easy for you to grab and snuggle, making it your favorite drool fest time. Those little fists can keep a hold of it and bring the blanket to your mouth and you've gummed the teddy, the arms, the blanket, everything.

You have also grown out of all the Newborn - 4 month clothes. We have had to put you into the 6 month jammies - you are soooo long! Next week is your checkup at the doctors and I will post your updated vitals then.

You are still in daycare Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and some of Friday (I get you early when I can). Tuesdays, you are still at your Aunt's house with your 2 twin cousins and grandma. You all 3 keep her hopping, that is for sure.

You are also mostly on formula since aout 2 weeks ago. I couldn't keep up with you and now that I relaxed, I have found that I don't produce as much anymore. So, formula with single grain rice is your main diet. You seem happy - especially with Enfamil - the other types were bad on your tummy. I believe Enfamil will be what we do from now on (of course, that is a more expensive brand gah)

I just went to the livingroom and saw that you had moved yourself from the middle of your playmat to outside of it and in a corner. Good job! Daddy says he thinks your crabcrawling on your back. hehe

13 weeks (3 Months)

Dear Landyn,

A lot has happened in the last month.

You got your first cold. You sniffled for quite a while, startig on Tuesday and then on Wednesday at Daycare you threw up this slimey yellow stuff. When you would cough, you'd stop breathing in the act of choking it out and this constant choking was starting to scare me. However, we were planning a trip to Fargo to visit family and to let your dad take his tests for his Apple courses. You didn't seem to be too bad off, sniffly and coughing a bit on Thursday. When we got to Fargo, we stopped at McDopnalds to get you fed, warmed up a bottle and had you eat. But after you ate, i turned you on my shoulder to burp you and every single ounce of that bottle came forcefully out all over McDonald's floor. We made it a few minutes later to Alans and when I took you out of your seat, your eyes were red-rimmed and your breathing just seemed hard. So, we stayed at Alan's for about 10 minutes and then Alan came with your dad and I to the walk-in-clinic.

We described all the problems and the doctor ordered an x-ray because of my description of the coughing and breathing. The technician asked who'd want to hold you during the XRays and I asked Daddy to do it, since I was so nervous. I walked out, watching Dad put on the xray vest and you getting stripped down. You started crying very loudly and kept it up for what felt like forever for me, but was probably only 10 minutes. I was on the other side of the door pacing back and forth, doing my best not to claw my way back into the room. when the door opened, I went straight to you and Dad and snuggled you until you just had those sad little moans. Apparently Dad had to hold your arms up as you straddled a bike-like seat and were surrounded by a plastic like tube with a hile for your head - kept you still as possible I spose.

10-15 minutes later, waiting in the family room, the doctor came and got us and told us that you had pneumonia in your upper leeft and lower right lung. I almost started to cry, but wanted to stay alert enough to know what was happening next. She wrote down what room they set up for us in the hospital and said she'd get you admitted right away.

We got to the children's hospital ward and it was beautifully painted with cute trees and other murals. Your room was a single and they put a bunch of wires attached to you to watch your breathing, heartbeat, oxygen levels, etc. They did some blood tests as well and came back quickly to tell us that you had RSV. They then said that they'd watch you very carefully overnight and possibly another.

Daddy went to get me food (McDonalds, cold.... gah) and when he got back, they came in with the large shot of antibiotics and that made you cry for quite a bit. It was a large needle and had to stay in you longer than any other shots you've had. I stayed the night while Daddy went to Alans in order to take his tests. I ended up having to re-blow up the airmattress because it had quite a large hole in it. And the nurse did bring in one of those fold down chairs, but it was as hard as the floor. But, We both tried our best to sleep. Grandma Lindahl showed that morning and helkd you quite a bit and we all waited for any results. The Doctors came and went along with nurses and said you were a healthy sick kid and that your monitoring showed that you wuld be fine, but needed to stay away from daycare for about a week.

Daryk finished his tests earlier that day and came back to get us discharged and we all got into the car and headed straight home (a large icestorm was coming through and we beat it!). We were all exhausted but happy to be home to snuggle and take care of each other.

We spent Monday - Thursday together, I got your cold and just recently got over it. Daddy got it also, but not as bad. You are perfectly fine now and no sniffling. SO happy to have the first sickness down, just wish it hadn't been a hospital type.

Last weekend we had a "Meet Landyn" party at Waskish. A lot of family and friends came to say hello and you looked adorable in your little sweater vest.

This week has been great. You've gone to daycare no problem, you've cooed and talked, you love watching the little kids and htye love to bring you toys and talk to you - so I know daycare has been fun for you.

A new development has been involving the TV. It seems you DO like to watch TV already. /sigh. I suppose that goes witht he fact that our TV takes up a whole wall of the apartment. Also, that he livingroom is the heart of our home. So, I took some pictures today because I purposely set you up next to Daddy to see the resemblance (otherwise I try and keep you from watching TV as much as possible - I'd rather you learn to talk with a real person).

Month 2 Doctors Visit (9 weeks)

Landyn,

Today was a few firsts.

This morining was your first day at the daycare. I have dreaded this day, thinking up horrific things that could go wrong or make you not succeed as well as other children. Yet, I know I need to go back to work and I did get 9 weeks with you, where other mothers may only get a month or less.

The daycare is fine, it's an old house, but I felt confident in the older woman who was there today, she picked you right up and kept you close. She listened to all my wierd concerns and read my note I had made with things I felt *had* to be known in order to take care of you. I am a bit of a worry wart, but I love you so much, that It just hurts to think someone else is going to get all those wonderful moments and I will miss them. Dad says that I moaned in my sleep all last night, and I do believe him, I was anxious all weekend.

After I picked you up at noon, you, me, and your father went to QDoba, saw some of my cowrokers there and Lisa E. We then dropped Daddy back off at work and we went to the clinic for your 2 month visit. Here are your latest vitals:

1/11/10
Age: 2 months
weight: 12lbs 13
Height: 24 1/2"
Head Circumference 16 1/4"

You have been growing well!

You did get your shots today and I am SO sorry. The nurse was very quick and tried to make it better for you, 2 in one leg and another in the other side. The first needle, you looked surprised, but as soon as that second needle went in, you little face scrunched right up and you cried something fierce. I could tell that was a different cry - could tell that it was pain =(
I picked you right up and held you until you just sniffled and looked at me all sad.

Uh, Daddy is home, time for family snuggles.

Love, Mama

8 Weeks

Dear Landyn.

A week ago, you began to smile at me when I played with you. Now, you smile at me when I talk and come up to you after a nap. Everytime you smile, my whole mind goes to mush and suddenly I am babbling nonsensical words and loving every minute of it. I have hear 2 giggles, 5 little 'coooooo's and a bunch of "aaahhhh".

You have also started crying when I pull the bottle away when you are done with it. I distract you pretty well by putting you on your stomach on my shoulder to burp you. I have tried letting you have more when you cry like that and all you do is spit it right back up onto me.

Otherwise, you don't cry unless your hungry. And those are broken little cries. nothing too drastic, unless I have picked you up and am taking more than 2 minutes to warm up your bottle in the hot water. I have to stop smooching your cheeck and saying 'num nums' until AFTER I get the bottle ready - mommy learns everyday not to tease the baby.

Naps are good, I get a good 3-4 hours at a time to clean or do other chores. At night, you can sleep from 9pm until 6am once in a while. Otherwise, I am up around 4 or 6. You definitely have my sleeping gene.

You also got a lot of presents for Christmas. You got a swing, a banana outfit, a new pack and play, books, etc. The holidays have been great! Even though it was hard for me to keep up with your demand for breastmilk – since we traveled an awful lot. But, we made it!

Tomorrow will be your first time with Grandma Kay at Krystal’s house. I work all day and so does Daddy (he prefers keeping his name offline =P) So, I will get up extra early to get you fed, clothed, packed and on our way – it’s a good 20 min drive there and 20 mins back. I have a meeting to go to at 9am, so I have to make sure I make that.

You’ve grown a lot! I’d say you are at 24 inches or more now. A few of your cuter baby clothes have to be retired. Makes me sad, but I know I’ll find lots of other clothes that are cute. Besides, you already wear size 3 months at 2 months. None of the baby socks ever really fit you, but they stay on.

Daycare starts next Monday. You go in the morning, but then I get you after lunch since you have a Doctors appointment. I worry a lot and I think this worrying will be the end of me, until I get used to the fact that I won’t have you near me 24 hours a day.

A fascinating fact lately is that you have been working on sleeping on your side lately. I will place you on your back, hear you grunting and making noises, but nothing worrisome, then come back and find you in this position. You look so peaceful and comfortable. Within and hour you are back on your back - I believe because of lack of control and gravity, so I don't worry about it too much. You are also a fan of your pacifier, but not terribly so. Only when you are tired. Sometimes you refuse it and just don't care, other times you go rooting for it, crying if you don't get it in time. Really cute that you don't have control over your arms and you accidentally pull it out and go crazy trying to find it again. It's a game we play these days, 'where'd it go?!?'

Diapering is still a constant in our present life. I still favor Pampers over ANY of the others. They are stretchy, soft and keep everything where it should stay. Luvs are small and not stretchy at all – awful. Huggies are better than Luvs they give a bit more, but not soft like Pampers.

Life is still better having you in it.

Love Mama