9 months

Landon is 9 months old today. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was sitting here, feeling baby kicks. And now 3/4 of his first year has already come and gone. It happens way too fast. That's one of those things "they" tell you, but you can't really understand until you actually experience it.

So here are some things my big boy is up to:

• "ET" pointing. He just sticks his little pointer finger out every time he sees something that interests him. Sometimes there's an "eh DEH?" that follows, other times, just the point. It's too cute.
• Crawling like a pro. He's into everything. Dog food, dog toys, remote controls, phones. He even found Daddy's wallet a couple of weeks ago.

• Pulling up and standing, and cruising. He pulls up on anything that's taller than his waist. Which often means falling head-first into things. I'm still learning to deal with all the head bumps without being a neurotic, overprotective mommy.

• Still saying "mama" and "dada." Nothing else so far.
• He *was* signing "more". I'm pretty sure he thought that it meant "puffs" and not "more," but I'll take what I can get. Well, a couple of weeks ago, the sign turned into a quick arm pump and grunt. Now, it's just the grunt, and then yelling and banging when he doesn't get what he wants. We have a lazy signer with an anger management problem, it appears.
• He waved "bye-bye" once, at Thanksgiving, to his Grandpa and Uncle Joey. But I'm thinking that may have been a fluke because it has yet to happen again.
• And my favorite: the furrowed-brow "you're a moron" scowl. This occurs if he's told "no," if he doesn't understand what you're saying to him, or if he sees a stranger who he's unsure about. It is the funniest look I've ever seen. I've been known to make some pretty weird faces, so I believe this lovely trait was picked up from his mama.
• Oh, and how could I forget his favorite game? He LOVES to chase the dogs around in his walker, and then laugh like a maniac. Those poor dogs don't know what they're in store for once he can walk on his own.

Here's my handsome little man playing with Christmas ornaments. I can't wait for his first Christmas!

Pneumonia

So I still haven't been doing very well at this whole blogging thing. But I guess at least I'm consistent. But the last week or so has been pretty hectic, so at least I have an excuse. Landon had pneumonia and an ear infection. I think last Monday was my scariest experience as a mom so far.

His teacher called me as I was on my way to get him and said he wasn't acting like himself. He was fussy and didn't want to be put down, and was grunting a lot. She thought maybe he was constipated. I told her I was on my way and that maybe I'd have Justin take him to the doctor the following day if he wasn't feeling better.

When I got there, I was shocked at how pitiful he looked and sounded. Ms. Kim was rocking him, and he was crying this strange cry that I'd never heard before, and was grunting with every breath. It was terrifying. I got him to the car and immediately called the doctor to see if they could work him in. The receptionist could hear him in the background and said to just bring him in. They'd work him in because he needed to be seen. So we went straight there.

When we got there, the woman who had answered the phone rushed the front desk ladies to get him back as soon as possible. I've never gotten in so quickly there, neither with him or in the 18 years that I went there as a kid. Once we got to the room, the pediatrician came in almost immediately. Another first. She listened to his chest, they got his blood ox and blood pressure, and looked in his ears and throat. His ear infection from 2 weeks ago was definitely still there, even though he had shown zero symptoms that it hadn't cleared up. The doctor had a concerned, confused look on her face. Not an expression you want to see on your child's doctor. She told me to nurse him and that she'd come back in. He ate fine and fell asleep, and she listened to him some more. She said she couldn't find any reason for his grunting, but to take him to the hospital for x-rays right away. She ordered them STAT, so that she could get the results right away and call us. On our way out, another older doctor listened to him and couldn't hear anything either.

So off we went to the hospital. I picked my mom up on the way so I wouldn't have to go alone. Justin was working, so he left as soon as he could to meet us there. The x-rays were awful. I had to hold him down over and over again until they got the right pictures. All the while, he was screaming his little head off and just wanted his mommy to hold him. It broke my heart. We finally ended up having to do a live x-ray, where the radiologist comes in and looks at the screen rather than just taking pictures. Luckily, Justin had arrived by this point, so he took over the torturing the baby duties. As we were walking out, the doctor called with the results. The chest x-ray showed developing pneumonia. She said she had never seen it present this way- no coughing, no wheezing, just grunting. She sent us home with an antibiotic and said to take him to the ER if anything worsened overnight. She wanted to see us back in the morning. If the pneumonia progressed, he would have to be hospitalized.

We got home and the poor thing passed out. We kept an eye on him, but he actually ended up sleeping through the night. And the next morning, he was back to his chipper, happy self. Apparently the first dose of antibiotics did the trick. We took him back in, and he was flirting with all the nurses and being his usual ham-y self. The doctor told us that she'd had trouble sleeping because she was worried about him. The nurse said they were all talking about the "cute baby from yesterday" and hoping that he was doing better.

So in the end, everything was fine, but what an ordeal that night was. I hope we don't ever have to go through that again. Unfortunately, though, despite having been on the antibiotic for over a week now, he's still tugging at his ears like crazy. So I'm assuming that stubborn infection isn't gone yet. We take him back Friday to see if it's gone by then. If not, I don't know what the next step is.

Wordless Wednesday

8 Months

Landon is 8 months old today. I can't believe how fast he's learning and picking up on things lately. He makes a new discovery every day and it's just so amazing to watch. This age is SO much fun. Tiring, but fun. And I'm starting to get to that "who is this little boy and where did my baby go" feeling. He's going to be a toddler before I know it, so I'm going to soak up every moment of his babyhood that I can over these next months.

Things Landon is up to this month:


Crawling like a mad man and getting into EVERYTHING. No more army crawling. He's up on all fours now!




Talking! He says "mama" and "dada" regularly now, and says them directly to us, so I think we can officially say he's talking! He's also babbling like crazy, blowing raspberries, and experimenting with different pitches and sounds of his voice.

Pulling up. He's just really figured out how to pull up over the past couple of weeks, but he pulls up on everything. And tries to get on top of it or over it. I've always called him "monkey" and apparently his nickname suits him.



Being a big ham. This kid did not get his personality from his shy mama, that's for sure! Point a camera at him, and he's all smiles. And he loves getting strangers' attention in public and flashing them a big grin. He cracks me up.





Teething. He's got 6 teeth already- SIX! And judging by the amount of drool and night time screaming that's been going on, he's working on at least one more.



He's also become a little bit of a mama's boy. Separation anxiety is starting, but really only if he's tired. When it's bedtime, all he wants is his mama, and I can't say I'm really complaining. But it's not as fun when it happens at 3am. Sigh. He has started sleeping through the night every once in a while. Not regularly, but usually a couple of times a week, and I'm thankful for that. However, I still want to smack the people who brag about their babies sleeping through the night from 6 weeks on. Really, though, I have a cute, smiley, happy, healthy, bright, thriving baby. Other than the sleep thing, there's really absolutely nothing I can complain about. So I'll take the lack of sleep in exchange for how amazing he is. I can't wait to see what's ahead in month 9!

Happy Halloween!

Landon was a pumpkin for Halloween. He didn't go trick or treating, but he did dress up for pictures at the pumpkin patch!










And one in his Florida-style overalls. I wanted jean overalls, but it was about 85 degrees that day.

Wordless Wednesday

Landon's first time on the swings. He loved it!

I believe...

A really awesome blogger, Mrs. Trophy Wife, from Exploits of a Military Mama , started a weekly post called "I believe." I've linked up with her blog to add my own. I believe...

...in following your heart.

...that fall is, by far, the greatest time of year.
...that something as simple as a smile can go a long way.

...in the Golden Rule.

...that your spouse should also be your best friend.

...that everything tastes better when someone else makes it.

...in being open and honest.

...that exercise is as important for the mind as it is for the body.

...that baby laughs are the best sounds in the world.

...in showing off my cute kid as much as possible:

Wordless Wednesday

7 months

Landon is 7 months old. Well, he's actually now 7 months and 3 days old, but actually finding the time to blog has been difficult. I can't believe how fast time is going. At this time last year, the wait from one Thursday to the next to check my weekly pregnancy updates seemed to last an eternity. Now, a week is just a blur. But I guess that's going to be life now.

Here are some of the things my busy 7 month old is up to:

• Army crawling EVERYWHERE. In the past week, he has found that he can get into all sorts of trouble (dog bones, shoes, the kitty) by crawling. Let the baby-proofing begin! He gets up on all fours and rocks, but once he has a destination in sight, it's down to the belly and elbows he goes. It seems to be working ok for him.
• Saying "mamamamamama". I don't know if he has any idea that I'm Mamamama, but it melts my heart to hear it anyway. He also says babababa, blows raspberries, growls (I have no other way to describe it), and has just started saying "dadadada" every once in a while.
• Throwing temper tantrums. He's happy 90% of the time, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't discovered the fun in temper tantrums (I'm thanking his daycare buddies for this one). If he's cranky and he wants something and isn't getting it fast enough to his liking (usually either food or my attention), he yells and lets out the funniest fake cry while saying "bababababa" and making this weird old man face. I really need to catch this one on camera.
• Jumping like a crazy man in his jumparoo and walking backwards in his new walker.
• Teething. He's had the bottom two teeth for a couple of months, but on Sunday two new ones made their appearance: the top upper left front tooth, and the top upper right second tooth.
• Keeping up with his vow to never sleep through the night. Things have gotten better. He usually only wakes up a couple of times, and only eats once, but I can count on one hand the number of times he's slept from bed time until 5:30am or later.
• Eating. He's had peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, zucchini, apples, pears, bananas, avocado, peaches, and plums. He likes everything but the green beans and avocado. He's officially a better eater than I am, so I can't complain. He's still not too keen on anything that hasn't been pureed, but he's got plenty of time to eat "real food."

Here's a picture of my handsome boy!

Wordless Wednesday

Entering a brave new world

Well I've finally decided to join the 21st century and do what I've been meaning to do for the past seven months: start a blog. I have to admit, I find this whole blogging thing intimidating and a bit scary. There are html codes, putting yourself out there on the Internet, and adding yet another thing into your busy life to keep up with--all pretty frightening in my book. But I want a way to document my life as a mommy, and to preserve memories of Landon's early months and years (and hopefully there will be more babies and memories to come). I would love to think that I'll turn into one of those amazing writers who always seem to have something interesting to say in the most eloquent, witty way, but, for now, this is just a place to write about my experiences as a new mommy and my handsome little "angel bear."

So far, I'm really liking this whole mommy thing. At first, I was so afraid I was going to drop him, or forget to feed him, or do some other awful thing to ruin my perfect little miracle. But now, almost seven months in, I think I'm starting to get the hang of things ( feel free to remind me of this statement once we hit the "terrible twos" or the even more "terrible teenage years").

In all seriousness though, I really feel like this was what I was meant to do in this life. Nothing has ever brought me such happiness or such fulfillment. And Justin was made to be a daddy. I know every wife (well almost every wife anyway) says this of her husband, but I really, truly mean it. I always knew he would make a fantastic father, but he amazes me every day with how easily and naturally being a daddy comes to him. I'm sure we'll face our share of struggles and difficulties, but we'll just take them as they come and we'll learn as we go. I just hope that we're able to give back to Landon even half of what he's already given to us.

Here are some pictures of my little goofball from the Florida-Tennessee game. Such a ham!