The Hobbs

Randoms

2012-01-13T08:32:00.000-06:00

* Landon woke up at 7 this morning. That's about an hour earlier than normal. This mommy was not happy. He did, however, sleep all night without making a peep which is a huge improvement over the last few days.

* I took L to the dr yesterday because he had a cold that was hanging on and he had been refusing to go to sleep at night and would scream bloody murder when we laid him down. The culprit: double ear infection. After just one dose of antibiotic last night he was a different child.

* I am in charge (I guess) of an AdvoCare booth at the Wichita Bridal Expo this weekend. I'm nervous. It didn't start out being my project but ended up that way. That's fine but I'm definitely not a "take charge" kind of person and I don't like having the pressure on me for everything to go well. Hopefully it does. There will be thousands of people there and I'm worried it will be overwhelming.

* This pregnancy is oh so much different than my first. I am EXHAUSTED all the time. I am not a napper at all. Usually I have to force myself to take one on the days I work so I can stay up all night and it takes me like an hour to fall asleep. Not so much anymore. Pretty sure I could sleep all day and all night and only get up to pee. Which I have to do like 14 times a night. Not cool. I think my nausea is getting worse. I'm 12 weeks, isn't it supposed to be getting better? Ha, I was sick till 20 weeks with Landon so I'm not holding my breath. Also pretty sure I'm showing already. What? Granted, my stomach wasn't exactly flat to start (wasn't with Landon either but was much closer) but my regular jeans are already no-gos. Hopefully that doesn't mean I'm going to get huge. Still hoping and praying for that small baby.

* I was thinking about my 2010 New Year's "Resolutions" the other day. Yep, failed miserably. Can't say I'm surprised.

* I don't know how I got through Landon's pregnancy without caffeine. I drank a little but maybe like half a pop when I was at work. This time I have to have some every day or I will probably fall asleep mid-sentence. Makes a huge difference when you already have a kid, huh?

* I'm getting kinda nervous about what we will do when the new baby comes since we only have 2 bedrooms upstairs. Of course, the baby can stay in our room for awhile but we were spoiled with Landon and never did that. After he refused to sleep in his bassinet in our room, he's been in his crib since day 1. I know it'll work out whether we find a new house or stay in this one but I'd just like to know. Anyone want to buy a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Andover? :)

* Well, should probably go tame the tornado that seems to have ripped through my house. Not sure why I bother since that little 21 month old tornado will just wreak havoc again as soon as I'm done. Haha.

21 months

2012-01-08T18:12:00.000-06:00

Wow, 21 months sounds so much older than 20. That paired with the fact that he is looking and acting so much older makes a mama sad.
(Side note: I'm apparently horrible at uploading pictures off my camera. Sorry. I promise there will be pictures at some point this year...)

Landon,

At 21 months you:
- probably weigh about 25 lbs and seem to be getting taller. We haven't measured lately.
- still wear size 3/4 diapers, 4/5 shoes, and 18/24mo/2T clothes. Mostly 18 months. It has to be a small 24 mo or 2T.
- finally got your last eye tooth. I think that means we are done teething for a bit until the next molar comes in. Thank goodness.
- eat good sometimes. And sometimes not. You are definitely a "toddler eater". Your favorites change. Pasta and yogurt are constants. Everything else just kinda depends on the day.
- love drinking your "guk" (milk). We are finally able to give you a "big boy sippy" (one without the valve to prevent spills) and you don't spill it everywhere.
- also love "uice" (juice). You get quite cranky if you see it in the fridge and don't get any.
- will repeat most anything we say and are adding new words to your vocab every day. We still don't get many sentences but you get your point across. You like pointing out everything in the room you know the name of. :)
- have recently started calling for us when you need something. Before if you couldn't see us you would just whine or look around and now you call "Mama?". It's pretty adorable. You also have started asking for daddy when he's not here. I think it's sweet that you miss him but you don't quite understand why he doesn't just come when you want.
- get pretty cranky when I put my scrubs on to go to work. I'm pretty sure you will hate burgandy soon. Haha.
- amaze me with how much you understand. Just little things I ask you - like when you're trying to go down the stairs with stuff in your hand and I ask if you want me to carry whatever it is and you hand it go me. It's so weird that you know what everything means.
- love watching movies. Maybe a little too much.
- are about ready for a toddler bed, we think. You are all over your crib and end up with your legs through the slats and such. You have slept on a "big bed" and in our bed and you don't move so much. Hopefully the toddler bed helps that.
- are still working on giving up the paci. Kind of. I'm beginning to think it's a lost cause. You're so stinking headstrong and will seriously scream for hours to get it. :(
- answer every question that you want to say yes to with "oh yeah". :)
- love to dance. You have some very interesting dance moves but they are oh so fun. My favorite is when daddy plays "Easy" by Rascall Flatts and you sway back and forth with your hands in the air.
- are so much fun. This is probably my favorite age yet (besides that snuggly newborn stage). Can't wait to see what this next month brings!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T20:06:00.000-06:00

Sorry to disappoint but I don't have any pictures to upload but I wanted to go ahead and document what we did this year before I forget. I'll get those pics up as soon as I get them off the camera.
I had this year off for Christmas which was good however, that meant I worked the 21, 22, and 23. I haven't worked 3 in a row since I switched to part time almost 2 years ago. It nearly killed me!

We had our first Christmas with Matt's dad's family on the 23rd at Dan and Shannon's house. There were lots of people there and lots of kids! Landon had a ball watching them play. He was a little apprehensive about joining them though. He latched on to one of Matt's cousin and she kept him safe. :)

The next get together was in Whitewater for my mom's family on the 24th. I took taco soup to share. There are 4 boys under the age of 4 there so lots of fun. Landon really likes my cousin's son Jude. They are funny together.

We opened presents here in the morning on Christmas. Santa and mom and dad brought Landon a Leappad, Christmas pajamas, Lightening McQueen slippers, a blankie, a Cars plate, Christmas books, and an Elmo DVD. In his stocking he got balloons, 4 little Elmo books, and a small football. The Leappad was obviously his big gift and the rest were just small things so he would have a couple presents from us and a couple from Santa.

We decided to start a couple traditions this year. The first was to get new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear. The other is to receive a Christmas book each year. We will read the new book and the one from the previous year.

After presents, we went to Dan and Shannon's for the Terbush side. We were the last to arrive (everyone else spent the night) so they were all waiting for us. We opened presents and ate lunch. Well, we ate lunch and Landon had a minor meltdown and got to spend his lunchtime napping.

Next we went to Towanda for my dad's side. We got there at 5 and opened presents and had dinner. We went to my aunt and uncle's house this year instead of my grandparents which works a lot better. My grandparents house is pretty small and 14+ people trying to fit in the living room doesn't work very well.

On the 27th we had our gift exchange with my family. We went over there in the morning and opened presents (after Matt made a run to Wal-Mart because we forgot the bag with diapers in it...oops). Then we ate lunch and hung out while Landon napped. That was an experience as well because the bag with diapers also contained the paci. We try to not use the paci during naptime at home but when we are somewhere else it is just a lot easier to use it.

We had a great Christmas this year and it was fun to watch Landon, even though he was kinda done with opening presents by the end. I think it had more to do with the fact that he wanted to play with everything he opened and we were pushing him to keep going. Either way, he's a fun little boy.

I might add that at each of our extended family Christmases Landon wore a special shirt proclaiming "I'M THE BIG BROTHER". Yep, that's right, we are having another baby. I'm due July 27. Things are going pretty good so far. I've had a fair share of nausea and some throwing up but knock on wood it seems to be getting a bit better (I'm 10 weeks). I'm trying to be optimistic because I was taking anti-nausea meds until 20 weeks with Landon. Being pregnant with a little one is definitely different than not. I'm pretty exhausted all the time. :) We are very excited though and can't wait to see Landon be a big brother.
I don't know who all reads this but I do have kind of a selfish prayer request to go along with this pregnancy. I would LOVE to avoid a c-section which means I need to have a significantly smaller baby this time since Landon's size was the only reason I had one last time. So, can you guys pray for a baby that will fit? Sounds kinda funny saying it but I would love for it to work out. It's not the end of the world if I have to have a c-s again if it means a healthy, smooth delivery. Thanks!

20 months

2011-12-12T13:23:00.002-06:00

Whoops. Late again. And haven't taken any "20 month" pictures yet. Boo for me. Oh well, doubt he grew too much in the last 6 days.

Landon,
In the last month you have blossomed. It seems that every time I turn around you seem older and are doing all these new things. You have started talking so much more and starting to form words into sentences. It is so crazy to see you work to figure out what you want to say. I will say it will make our lives much easier when you can just tell us what you want all the time instead of screaming about it. :) You are so much fun!

At 20 months you:
- still wear size 3 dipes (4 overnights), size 18 month clothes, size 4-5 shoes.
- still go to bed at about 8 and sleep till close to 8 in the morning. You are doing SOOO much better at sleeping through the night.
- nap for about 2-3 hrs right after lunch.
- go through phases with eating well. Some meals you will snarf down an adult sized meal and others you just pick at it. You are a prime example of "toddler eating". :)
- love your milk. You typically have a sippy cup when you wake up, after your nap, and before bed. You drink water the rest of the time. And some juice when we have it but you will drink so much of it you overflow your diaper so we have to ration. Haha.
- are at a standstill with the froggy potty. You will climb on it fully clothed at random times during the day but don't really want to take your diaper off. It's been a long time since you have done anything in it.
- are talking up a storm. I'll take a stab at naming all the words you know. I'm sure I'll forget some.

mama
dada
dog
Boomer
sit
shoot
pass
spoon
yogurt
blank (blanket)
pass (paci)
guk (milk) :)
all the Yo Gabba characters (Toodee, Foofa, Plex, Brobee, Muno, and hat (DJ Lance is called hat because he wears a huge orange hat) - really weird names but you picked up on them and we didn't even know until you sat and named them all off for us)
tree
plant
sock
shoes
bath
Elmo
Cookie (monster)
Big Bird
Dora
(no, you don't watch a ton of TV - just pick up on the names!)
cat
color
wall
wawa (water)
cracker
doctor
foball (football)
baball (basketball)
gaball (golfball)
Santa
moon
balloon
nana (banana)
Dundun (Landon)
Nana (my mom)
Papa (my dad)
Gama (Matt's mom)
Gapa (Matt's dad)
Dedun (Devin)
Selsey (Kelsey)
Tata (Talia)
Kato (Katey)
uhoh
no
cold
cool
poop (haha)
car car
turtle
go
up
down
bye-bye
hi
hey
foot
leg
toes
hair
eye
nose
leg
hand
finger
cup
bottle
coach
tackle
hat
touchdown
hike
bat
pitcher
strike
hit
safe
out
field goal
Shocker
Trojan
OU
please
thank you
love you
one
two
yellow
blue
red

- are saying some sentences. Those include: (I need to ask daddy what else you say...)

I poop.
I didn't poop.
No no color wall. (You got in trouble for coloring on the wall.)
I didn't do it.
I have to go.
Where did it go?
Oh gosh. (Not sure where you picked that one up. I don't say it. Not sure how I feel about it but I guess it could be worse!)
You babble all the time in sentences (or what you think are sentences because you say the same thing over and over again). We are in trouble when you find words for all of it.

- still love books.
- love to play football and basketball with daddy. I try to play with you but it never lasts long.
- laugh hysterically when Boomer decides to play with you. He runs by you real fast and you just laugh and laugh.
- hug Boomer every chance you get.
- have started wanting to cuddle on the couch with your blanket and me when drinking your milk. I love it.
- are becoming more attached to your blankets. You grab the corner of one and step over it so it's between your legs and drag it around. You prefer your blankets that have a fat seam around the edges and the edging is the same material as the blanket. You have one that has a different material around the outside and one that has no seam and those always get traded out.
- are still working on giving up your paci. You nap without it now and usually only cry for a minute or two if at all before falling asleep. At bedtime you will cry for an hour and still not go to sleep so we have been giving it to you to fall asleep and taking it away a little bit later. Most nights you aren't even using it by the time we go in to get it.
- sleep with your blanket and Elmo. Elmo is almost as big as you are.
- have started this silly thing where you spin around in a circle until you are dizzy and then fall down.
I could go on all day with little things you are doing. You are getting so big and we love watching you grow. You are stinkin' awesome!

AdvoCare - Our Story

2011-11-23T10:28:00.000-06:00

If you have been reading for any length of time, you know Matt and I are involved with a company called AdvoCare. You can read past posts about AdvoCare here, and here. I could go on and on about the company, the products, the financial opportunity, and the freedom AdvoCare is quickly bringing to our family. But, it occured to me that I had never told our story. How we got involved and what this opportunity is doing for us. So, here goes.

We were introduced to AdvoCare a couple years ago by a friend (I'll leave names out so my good friend Google doesn't link back here for random names). He sold the product through his "real" job and Matt tried out a couple bottles of product. (Thermoplus and Catalyst if you are wondering.) At this point, our friend wasn't really plugged in to the business side but knew the products were legit and felt comfortable selling them to make a bit of extra cash.

Fast forward to Sept 2010. Our friend invited Matt to go to a business meeting with the Vice President of sales of AdvoCare. The meeting was in Hutch (which I thought was a bit extreme - driving almost an hour to hear someone talk?) and Matt devised a plan of driving himself so if it was a crock he could leave early (another strike - using your own gas when you could ride with someone else?). I wasn't convinced that any of this was for us and I figured it would be a wasted evening.

I was wrong. Matt called me on the way home and said something to the effect of "I'm not really sure what this is all about but I want to find out more. I think it sounds like a great opportunity." I had no idea what he was talking about but sure, let's get more info. Apparently he texted our friend right after that and said "We're all in." Good thing I was open to it, huh?

A few days later we sat down at our kitchen table late at night and signed up. We bought in at the highest level possible (called Advisor - to get a 40% discount). We had the money and wanted to get started as soon as possible. We put in an order for $3000 worth of product and several huge boxes arrived on our doorstep 2 days later. Ready or not, here we go!

We used some of the product ourselves and sold some to family and friends. We probably sold all our initial order in less than a month. Aside from what we used personally, selling that order was going to make us $900!

Over the next several months we sold some product and received between $100-$200 checks pretty regularly. We honestly didn't put much time into and only made a point of talking to people when an opportunity presented itself. We didn't make our own opportunities. We signed a couple people up but nothing much happened.

Then, a couple months ago, out of the blue a friend of Matt's called and said she wanted to sign up. She had taken the products in the past and knew we sold them and wanted in. She is doing amazing! The was the boost we needed to take our business to the next level. Last month we profited about $900. In one month! This month we will received checks totalling about $1100. That's about the same I make working part time as a nurse. I work 44 hrs a pay period (2 weeks) plus driving time to and from. We maybe put 5-8 hrs a week in to AdvoCare between the 2 of us. We are on track to pin Silver (AdvoCare's way of giving leadership bonuses and disclosing income information) this pay period. On average, Silvers earn an extra $12000 a year. I'll take that.

We get paid 5 ways with AdvoCare. We earn from retail sales. We earn from wholesale customers and from Distributors signed up underneath us. We earn overrides from Advisors under us. We earn Leadership Bonuses. And we have the opportunity to earn incentive trips. (Like to Atlantis and a Mediterranean Cruise!)

Aside from the monetary gain, we are more healthy, more energized, and feeling the best we have felt in our entire lives. These products are amazing. And I would tell you that even if I didn't make money off them. Seriously. I've heard many people say AdvoCare has saved their life. And I believe it.

How does all that sound? There are many ways to get involved with AdvoCare besides doing it all at once like we did. If you are interested at all, give us a shout! Visit our website at www.advocare.com/10099429. Or email us at staciah_11 (at) hotmail (dot) com or matthobbs (at) hotmail (dot) com. (Type our emails in as regular email style - I did that to prevent spammers.)

Family Pictures

2011-11-19T09:19:00.000-06:00

As you might know, we used the same photographer for all of Landon's pictures from birth to 12 months. Then she moved. :( So when 18 months rolled around I had no idea where to go. We decided on Portrait Innovations. Well, I guess I did. Matt claims to have no part in the decision. I had heard good things about their pictures and their prices. Ha. Let's just say we walked out of there paying a LOT more than I had figured it would be. I really just wanted a CD of pictures. Apparently they don't do that. And apparently they are good salespeople because she led us to believe the package we got ($200!!) was the lowest we could get. Only when we got home did we figure out what she was actually saying and that we could have gone lower. Now we have roughly a million printed pictures and 4 of these super retarded 'collage' style pictures. For the record, we did get a few good pictures. Landon was kind of out of his element. The automatic backdrops scared him. So did the photographers. They were a bit over the top. We probably won't be going back to them. Oh well, live and learn I guess.
Here's a few of the pictures. (Ignore the fact that Landon REFUSED to smile in any of them.)

WIWW

2011-11-16T11:55:00.001-06:00

It's already time for What I Wore Wednesday again! I'm linking up at The Pleated Poppy.

(And yep, this outfit was on Tuesday again. Don't judge. I work Wednesday nights so the whole day is officially "don't change out of pajamas until I shower at 3pm - after Landon and I nap." Oh, the life of a night shift worker.)

Again with the self timer. It's not easy to do, folks.

I tried to be a bit more artistic this time. And to not photograph my head. My hair was a hot mess.

Shirt: Elle from Kohls

Scarf: came attached to a different shirt from Kohls

Jeans: Seven from Kohls (I'm sensing a theme...)

Shoes: Payless

And just for fun here's what Landon wore.

Added this one just so you could see his shoes. :)

Shirt: Children's Place

Jeans: Cherokee from Target

Shoes: Target

Isn't he just about the cutest kid you've ever seen?

Except yours, of course.

Potty Training

2011-11-15T12:55:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I think 19 months is a little early for full on potty training but we've been working at it slowly. Most of his pooping now days happens on the potty. (TMI? Sorry.) That's only because it is very evident when he starts doing his business and we have time to ask him if he needs to go. This is usually answered by frantic running down the hall (picture limbs flying every which direction) and he can normally hold it until we get his pants and dipe off. He particularly enjoys telling his poop bye-bye as we flush it. He asks to tell it bye-bye before he is even done. Kinda weird but whatever works right? Haha. After he gets cleaned up he gets to put a sticker on his chart. Another highlight.

Did I mention he has to either be watching "videos" (YouTube on our phones) or reading magazines while sitting? Hence the magazines strewn about the floor.

He is going to kill me one day for putting these on the ol' internet. Oh well. I can take him. My favorite thing he does is when he sits down you tell him to "push your poopy out" and he will strain like there's no tomorrow with this histerical look on his face. I'll have to try to get a picture.

The newest and most exciting development came about out of the blue on Sunday night. We were playing in the living room and all the sudden he stopped and pulled up his shirt and started pulling at his diaper. Matt said "Do you have to go?" He said, plain as day, "I have to go!" We ran to the bathroom and after catching him and taking his pants and diaper off he sat down and PEED! I don't think he has peed on his potty without pooping at the same time since right after we got it. And that time was a fluke, pretty sure. We were so excited! He hasn't done it since so we'll see but I was so proud. His first full sentence, first time he told us he needed to go, and his first intentional pee all at the same time!

And, you know you're a parent of a todddler when.....you get excited about pee.

Liberace

2011-11-12T16:33:00.000-06:00

Yep, had to google how to spell that.
If his interest in the piano now (usually with the lid open just enough for the keys to show and sitting on the top of his sit and spin) is any indication, he'll be playing the piano with the best of them!

Excuse his clothes that don't really match. And yes, that is a blanket over the piano bench. It was getting little scratches from him knocking his toys around on it and I haven't ordered a cover yet. I'm a bit protective of my piano but have had to come to the realization that if I have kids and have it in a living area, it will get hit with toys or books or whatever. And it'll still play just the same with a little "character."

11-11-11

2011-11-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

Veteran's Day.
Thank you for serving for our country.
This picture says it all.

WIWW

2011-11-10T14:45:00.000-06:00

I'm linking up for my first ever What I Wore Wednesday over at The Pleated Poppy!
We'll leave out the fact that this is actually what I wore last Tuesday and today is Thursday. Sue me.
I am thinking of trying to make this a regular thing so I can try to break my "momrobe" of sweats, jeans, and t shirts. I'm sure Matt gets tired of seeing me look all frumpy and you just feel better with nicer clothes on right?

Sorry about the crappy pictures. I set up my self timer and didn't take the time to edit the pictures at all. It took about 30 pictures to get these for you!

Tank: Target

Cardigan: The Limited (from TJ Maxx years ago)

Jeans: American Eagle (from TJ Maxx too, I think)

Shoes: Payless

Necklace: Premier

And these next pictures, my friends, are proof that once you are a cheerleader, you can never go back.

19 months

2011-11-06T12:22:00.002-06:00

Ohmigoodness. Landon is officially closer to 2 than 1 now. Oh geez.
(Note that today is the EXACT day he turns 19 months and the post is being written! Pics from today will be added later - when they are taken. And uploaded.)

Landon,
You are so fun. Every day you learn new things and it is pretty amazing to watch. Your little personality shines and I love it!

At 19 months you:
- probably weigh less than you did at 18 months because you were sick.
- edited to add: are 31 1/4 in tall. (I just measured you downstairs. You were 30" (supposedly) at your 18 mo appt. I'm pretty sure you didn't grow 1 1/4 in. in a month so not sure how accurate that was.)
- wear size 12, 18, and some 2T clothes.
- wear size 4 and 5 shoes.
- wear size 3 dipes (4 overnights).
- only get your paci while sleeping. This is a project. I'm hoping to have the paci completely gone soon but haven't gotten up the nerve or figured out the way to do it yet.
- get SUPER excited when we ask if you are ready for a nap or bedtime now because it means you get your paci.
- go to bed at 8 and have been doing MUCH better at sleeping through the night. I had forgotten what it was like to get a full night's sleep.
- run, jump, kick, dance, and shimmy everywhere you go.
- learn new words every day. Here's a run down of the ones I can think of you know right now (some sound exactly like they should and some you have to know what you are trying to say to be able to understand): mama, dada, Boomer, ball, football, b-ball (basketball), baby, doggie, Elmo, Big Bird, Car Car (Lightning McQueen), color, cracker, yellow, blue, red, Cookie (for Cookie Monster), please, thank you, no, two, pitcher, pass, gma and gpa (for Matt's parents), nana and papa (for my parents), nana (banana), sit (this is a new one you say when we ask what you tell Boomer - it comes out with a "sh" at the beginning...haha), love you, Shocker, Trojan, OU. You will try to repeat pretty much anything we ask you to but those are the ones you consistently say.
- recently started calling my parents Nana and Papa. I referred to my mom as Nana for about a day a few months ago just to see if you would say the word but you started calling bananas nana and I stopped. For a while when you would see a picture of her you would say G-ma but just started saying Nana instead one day. You were at their house this weekend and started calling my dad Papa. Your dad and I have never referred to him as that and I don't know that my mom has either. You just came up with it yourself. You say it really quiet in almost a whisper and it's adorable.
- call Dad's parents G-ma and G-pa.
- only refer to your grandparents by their chosen names if we ask who they are and point at them. You don't call out to them to get their attention or anything yet.
- try really hard to say Devin, Kelsey, and Talia. This is mainly because your favorite game to play at their house is to have someone point at EVERY SINGLE picture in their house and ask you who it is. Seriously, you can't walk by a picture without stopping. It's pretty funny.
- love watching movies. You have just recently gotten to the point where you will sit and watch about anything I put in. For a long time you would only sit still for Yo Gabba Gabba. Mama can only take so much Gabba Land. :) You just get to watch your movie once a day (or you would sit there all day) and we usually watch it in the morning. You have to be sitting in your OU recliner and it has to be in the middle of the room. Silly boy.
- are very affectionate towards the dog. If you were just a little bit quicker Boomer would be in trouble.
- are learning to go down the stairs standing up. You prefer this way. All you need is a hand to hold on to and I think it's mainly just mental because you don't put any weight on it. You are able to go down the stairs to the garage (2 steps) by yourself and usually do the last step without holding on to anything.
- love to go outside and play football. You and daddy have a "play" you run and you always think you have to start by sitting on the bottom of the slide. Then you run across the yard after he says "Blue 42!" and laugh the whole way. It's pretty neat to watch you guys together.
- like to tackle people now too. You start in the hallway by the bathroom and run into the living room to tackle someone.
- have the cutest laugh. I love it when you get tickled about something and just laugh and laugh.
- are a climber. Up on couches, chairs, up people's legs, etc.
- newest trick this morning was to climb up and sit on the arm of your OU chair, then throw your arms up in the air and jump off. Inventive but it didn't last long before we put an end to it after you almost faceplanted on the floor.
- eat pretty good most of the time. You are starting to do the toddler thing of eating hardly anything one day and eating everything in sight the next. You still don't like to eat meat very much. It has to be well hidden for you to even touch it.
- love juice. You will chug an entire sippy of juice mixed with water and cry when it's gone. For that reason, you don't get it very often. :)
- pick up on so much of what we say. I don't expect you to understand something (like "eat one more bite and you can get down") but you do. We definitely have to watch what we say now.
- are very ornery. When you are doing something you know you're not supposed to do you will look over your shoulder at us and grin.
- are still pretty excited about the froggy potty. You don't go to it and ask to sit yet but if we see you starting to poop and ask if you need to go sit on the froggy potty you will take off running down the hall to do it. You like the fact that you get to put a sticker on your potty chart after you get up.
- are addicted to books. Seriously. You don't even really play with toys. You just want to read books.
- like pumpkins a lot. You have to go out with us to take Boomer out every time and go straight to the pumpkins on the porch. Most of the time you try to pick them up.
- had your first "big kid" illness the week of Oct 24. You threw up during the night on Monday and then ran a low grade fever on Tuesday. I thought you were getting better but then threw up again Wednesday afternoon. I ended up getting it and having to come home from work Wednesday evening and you threw up again. Then one more time during the night. You didn't eat hardly anything all day Thursday but kept all the fluids down I gave you. Then Friday for lunch I tried giving you bland food (bananas and rice) and you just picked at it. I thought maybe you just still weren't hungry but after I heated up a chicken nugget because that sounded good to me you practically grabbed it out of my hand and shoved it in your mouth. So you had chicken nuggets for lunch. It was so hard to see you be sick and to be sick myself so I wasn't much of a comfort. I haven't been that sick for a LONG time (maybe ever) and I just hope you didn't feel as bad as I did. I'm glad daddy didn't get it so he could help take care of us!

You are pretty stinkin' special. We are so lucky.

Halloween 2011 - Elmo style

2011-11-04T12:44:00.000-05:00

I did a photo dump off my camera tonight and figured I better document Halloween! (Although I have several events prior I still need to do. Oops.) Landon was Elmo this year. Mainly because Elmo and Lightning McQueen are the only 2 characters he recognizes and Elmo is way cuter. :) I searched for a long time to find a "nice" Elmo costume that didn't look cheap and wasn't $128746. Luckily, I found the one I wanted for $20 (and it was $40 everywhere else I looked!). Score.
We actually have one more Halloween stop - my parent's house. Dad was out of town on Halloween so we decided to postpone and go when he got back. That should happen this weekend. :)

Andover has a "safe trick-or-treat" thing at the businesses downtown. We went last year and went back this year. Landon caught on pretty quick that people were giving him stuff to put in his bucket (which had Lightning McQueen or "car car" on it - I asked Matt if it was socially acceptable for Elmo to carry a car car bucket and he said YES!). The only thing that caused a little problem was that once he had something in his bucket he wanted to get it back out and wouldn't give up. So, the system quickly became: candy in bucket, Landon in wagon, candy out of bucket, take bucket away, candy in Mom's bag, bucket back to Landon. :)

We visited Kelsey at work - sorry, I'll warn you a picture is coming next time Kels!

After finishing at the businesses we headed to Matt's parent's house. (After a pit stop to remove the costume from a cranky Elmo.) He trick or treated there and took a few pictures. I wish I had gotten more pictures but it's kinda hard chasing a toddler, keeping him from running in the street or shoving a sucker down his throat, and taking pictures at the same time. Even if we did have 2 people against 1 toddler!

Landon started getting cranky then (and we realized it was after 6 and he is normally ready for dinner no later than 530) so we headed home. I kinda wanted to take him out in our neighborhood and every time he saw his costume he would lift his leg up to put it on so we got dressed again and headed out for a little bit. We only went down to the end of our street because it got dark quick.
He wanted to go to our neighbors (who decorate like CRAZY for Halloween) because he liked the big blow up pumpkin in the yard. However, when he got close to the pumpkin, someone walked by and triggered a creepy something or other to start making noise and fog poured out. Needless to say, he changed his mind and wanted picked up right away. We headed the opposite way down the street. :)
Daddy snapped a few pictures on the porch before we headed out.

He isn't so great about smiling when the camera is out. :( He will be in the greatest of moods and smiling ear to ear but as soon as I try to snap a picture he is Mr. Serious. Oh well, he's still cute. :)
My favorite part of him dressing up is when we would ask him who he was (and point to his costume) he would reply with "Elmo" with this look on his face like "Duh, don't you know who Elmo is?" Priceless.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-02T15:12:00.000-05:00

BFFs. By choice, obviously.

New Door Candy

2011-11-01T09:33:00.004-05:00

Way back in, oh, June we cleaned out our closets and Matt got rid of a whole bunch of T-shirts. Most of them colored. Me, being the resourceful person I am, thought they would be great to make a wreath out of. Me and my friend, KP, got all ambitious-like and cut up a bunch of shirts and started to make flowers. Our goal was a fall wreath (since I already had my blue yarn one I loved that would work for summer) so we figured we had plenty of time to get it done.
Fast forward to last week. Still had about the same amount of flowers done. Oops.
I wanted to get it done considering it was already fall so I furiously made a bunch of flowers and we got together last week to put them together.
It turned out great and the best part is it was free because I rescued the wreath from the trash after it didn't sell at our garage sale.
So....
here she is. If you come to my house, be sure to ooh and aah over it. It will be much appreciated.

So pretty, right??

Crayon Wreath

2011-10-31T21:20:00.001-05:00

While perusing Etsy one night I found these adorable crayon wreaths. I thought, "Self, you must make one of these. Who shall reap the benefits of your uncanny ability to copy other's ideas?" My SIL's birthday was coming up and she teaches kindergarten so obviously that was the perfect solution. I made it the next day. Turned out pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Pumpkin Patch #1

2011-10-26T09:57:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago my mom didn't have school so Landon and I joined her to go to the Pumpkin Patch. We went to Walter's in El Dorado (there's also one right by our house but we were going there with friends so we didn't do that one). We had a blast.

Still a little shrimp. :) Haha, still love him!

He LOVES pumpkins. He yells PUMPKIN!!! every time we see them. He was in heaven.

We saw a whole lot of this. Him running away trying to get back to the pumpkins. :) (And no, I didn't dress him to match the pumpkins. I was running behind and grabbed the first long sleeve shirt I knew would fit out of his closet. It just happened to be all matchy-matchy...)

He loved this goat. He would have stood there and talked to it all day if we had let him. He really wanted to get to one that was standing far away and wouldn't come over though.

He loved these slides. They went really fast and I wasn't sure I would even fit through with him and me but it worked out and he laughed the whole time. The kid loves him a good slide.

When we got done he grabbed our trash can lid and headed back up the hill. :) So he got to go 2 more times with Talia.

Looks overjoyed huh?

He was adorable on this thing. We put him in and Talia took off and he turned around and waved and said bye-bye. He was ready to go!

Walking across the bridge. He did really good seeing as he is scared to walk over things he can see through. It's kinda funny because he will just freeze and whine but as soon as you grab his hand he takes off. Just needs to know he won't fall through I guess.

He found these little balls on the ground that fell from the trees and was in heaven. We put him in this maze and over and over he grabbed a ball and went around and threw it over this hay bale. Not sure what he thought he was doing but I bet he did it over 10 times.

Swinging in "car-car." Stinkin' cute.

This is the best picture we got together. No, I didn't mean to match us either. Again with the running late thing.

In the pumpkin patch. And no, he's not supposed to have his paci but he had a huge meltdown on the ride to the patch because it was lunchtime and naptime and he wouldn't stop crying. So I shoved the paci in his mouth and he let me snap a couple pictures by the pumpkins.

He had a lot of fun (I did too). He loves to be outside and run around which is good and makes for great naps! :)

I do have to ask, why in the world are pumpkin patches so expensive? I mean seriously, they charge a ridiculous amount to just be able to walk around and then the "extra" things are more and you have to buy your pumpkin on top of that. All I have to say is they must make a KILLING during pumpkin patch season. Ridiculous. Ok, stepping off soapbox.

Planner!!

2011-10-24T17:33:00.000-05:00

I have been searching for years (literally) for the perfect planner and I found it. Erin Condren. Sigh.

However, the $50 price tag made me rethink my newfound love for this life planner. Dangit.
Enter Plum District!
Their deal today is $50 to erincondren.com for $25. What?!? Sign up new to Plum District and get an automatic $5 off plus use the code FABULOUS at checkout and get another 10%. Um, yes please.

Here's the link: Erin Condren $50 for $25. Buy it now!

Randoms about ME!

2011-10-20T19:19:00.000-05:00

You know, I was just sitting here thinking that the last few posts (ok, the last 18 months worth of posts) have pretty much been all about Landon and a few about Matt and not a lot about me. So, I decided to devote an entire post to yours truly. If you don't care, I'd stop reading now. :) But, it's my blog and I wanna talk about me for just a sec.
If you have spent any time around me, you probably know my mind is pretty random. And it's even more random than you might think because I keep a lot of it inside. Haha. Part of that is just who I am and part is because my 18 month old probably doesn't care about the randomness circling my brain. It might scare him.
I've done one of these "random" posts before but here's another!

- I need my hair cut really bad. Like, it has been far more than 6 months since it was cut. Oops. Good thing I bought a Groupon for one the other day. I just need to figure out when to go now. It's hard to schedule anything when working around having a toddler with you.
- I have a real fear of putting holes in the walls to hang stuff up. Our basement was finished for several months before I put anything up because I didn't want to mar the "new" walls. It also takes me a lot of time and work because the spacing has to be perfect. But it rarely turns out that way. However, in the last couple weeks I have hung 15 things on the walls in our house! Go me! Sounds like a lot I guess but I totally decorated all the walls in our guest bedroom, hung a couple things upstairs,one in L's room, and hung up a cluster of stuff in our living room downstairs. It didn't actually amount to all that much. Next up is my even bigger fear of using screws in the walls. Oh geez.
- Very rarely take a shower before noon. It just doesn't fit into our routine in the morning so I wait until L naps unless we have to go somewhere.
- I have been in a baking sort of mood lately. In the entire 4+ years we've been married I've probably baked less than 10 items (and several of those were when I was on a friendship bread kick). In the last 2 weeks I baked banana pumpkin bread and a pumpkin cake. Weird because I kinda hate baking.
- We took L to Portrait Innovations for pictures for the first time yesterday. First off, he wouldn't smile because he was scared of their automatic backdrops and scared of the ladies. They were a bit over the top. We got some cute ones but I walked out feeling horrible because we spent much more money than we had anticipated. Thinking back we should have just kept saying no but the way she presented it made it sound like the package we got was the lowest we could go. I just wanted a CD of pictures but that wasn't an option. I don't know that we'll go back. We've never done "studio" pictures before because we had a photographer who took all our pictures till 12 months at our house or hers. Any ideas on a cheap, local photographer who just turns over copyrights would be appreciated.
- Laundry is my nemesis. Seriously, I don't know how 3 people can have so much laundry. It never ends.
- I got to stay home from work last night but felt bad because my best friend was working and that meant I didn't see her. And I still sent L to daycare so I could work around the house this morning. I get so much more done when I don't have a toddler clinging to my legs.
- I feel like most days I am doing something all day (either entertaining L or doing house stuff) but it still looks like I did nothing. I'm sure Matt wonders what in the heck I do all day.
- I've been working on a "fall" wreath since the beginning of summer and it's still not done. Fail.
- I am officially addicted to Pinterest. I need more wall space for all the wonderful projects I am finding. Ha, who am I kidding. I'll be doing good to get 2 of those projects actually done.
- I need to go on a diet. Hard core. I'm not happy with how I look and I think the "I just had a baby" excuse expired several months ago.
- I wish I was better at time management during the day. It seems like I do one thing with L and turn around and it's time for lunch and then naptime and then the afternoon slips away.
- I totally failed at all my "new years resolutions".
- I have been contemplating that maybe my "dream job" (which I thought I was doing) is changing. It's something I need to think about a lot and sit down with Matt and make some decisions.
- I can't stand Yo Gabba Gabba. But Landon loves it. So, therefore, I love it by default. I really hope the people in those costumes are under the influence of something while recording the show. That or they recruited them from the loony bin.
- I love being able to be home with L all day but I think I need to get involved in a mom's group or something. Or find someone to watch him a few hours a week (other than when he goes to daycare while I'm sleeping on Thursday mornings) so I can get a break. I love him to death but sometimes he is exhausting and I could really use some adult interaction.
- I am completely, totally, paralyzingly (is that a word?) scared of spiders. I can't even touch them when they're dead. I don't like any bugs but spiders are so gross.
- I kinda want to redecorate my whole house. But don't have the kind of money to do that. And I don't even know what I'd do. The first order of business is painting. The builder's grade paint on our walls just isn't cutting it.
- I usually don't really care what people think about me but lately at work I've been stressing about what one person is thinking. But, I saw this quote the other day and it kinda hit home with that. "Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from people. If they care, they'll notice. If they don't, you know where you stand." I decided that it's not going to make or break me if this person doesn't like me or whatever. I'll just go about my life and whatever happens, will happen.
- I have recently discovered that I really enjoy crafting. I most recently made a crayon wreath for my SIL. I loved it and will do a post about it soon!
- In light of my newfound love of crafts, my decorating style for our house has changed a bit. I used to only like more "modern" stuff. Nothing that looked homemade and it all had to match. But now I don't care about that as much and have to try to keep myself from making the walls look cluttered.
- Really, really love my little boy. His little button nose, his sweet voice, his dimpled bottom, his tiny toes. He's pretty much amazing.

Well, I guess that's all for now! Kudos if you are still reading!

18 months

2011-10-17T10:36:00.001-05:00

Landon, These little letters seems to always begin with something about you growing too fast and the time flying by. This month is no different. You have grown and matured through the past month and aren't my little baby anymore. You're a big boy! You still bring me so much joy and even though you test my patience so much more these days, I am forever grateful for you.

(watch the progression of these pictures. i'm posting them in the order i took them. "landon, go sit on tank and take a picture." sits down. refuses to smile. ornery smile, jump up, and run away. every. single. time.)
At 18 months you:
- weigh 23 lbs 9 oz (19th percentile)
- are 30 in tall (3rd percentile - I'm not sure this height is very accurate because you were throwing. a. fit. when the nurse was trying to get it)
- still wear size 3 dipes (size 4 overnights) and mostly 12 and 18 month clothes.
- still go to bed at 8 and are getting better at sleeping through the night.
- run everywhere.

- are taking off with saying words. I kinda felt like you were behind on this but every day now you pick something new up. Off the top of my head you can say: dada, mama, ball, football, pass, Boomer, no, doctor, turtle, cracker, shoes, socks, foot, toes, fish, what's that?, I don't know, balloon (doesn't really sound like balloon but you say the same thing every time), pumpkin (same as balloon), Coco, grandma, grandpa, Elmo, bubbles, Big Bird, uh oh, baby (ends in u), doggie (ends in u), where did it go?, bath, car car (in reference to Lightning McQueen), nana (banana and sometimes meaning my mom, Brenda), hot, hat, bubbles, yes. I'm sure there's more - it seems like every day you will say something new. Anything that ends in S or has an S in it is hilarious because it sounds like shhh. Like yes = yeshhh, shoes = shoeshhh. :)
- have stopped shrugging your shoulders and saying "I don't know" for EVERYTHING. You did that for a long time and while it was cute (and you sounded like scooby doo), it was getting a little old. :)

- give the best hugs. They are always followed with a kiss.
- are in the middle of having your paci taken away. :) Dr. Sanchez said it had to go so you only get it while you are sleeping now. (We actually were doing this for a few weeks but then you got sick and I felt bad and gave it back a lot.) You've figured out that we will take it when you wake up and will put your hand over it. And, when you feel a little tired you will grab a blanket and throw a huge fit by your dresser where they are kept. Getting rid of it altogether should be a blast...

- love to torment the dog. Your favorite thing is to climb up on the couch by him and try to sit on him. You laugh the whole time. Good thing Boomer humors you.
- love books. You hardly play with toys right now and just want to read books all day.
- love watching movies. I have to limit it to once a day or you would sit there all day. We have a TV set up that's just connected to a DVD player upstairs and you sit in your recliner and watch. It's pretty adorable. (And apparently the recliner is only able to be in the middle of the room because I moved it to a wall when people were coming over and you got a little stressed and were trying to move it back by yourself.)

- prefer to walk down the stairs instead of going backwards. You have to have help with that though.
- are a climber. You've taken several tumbles off the couch.
- are a pretty good eater most days. Some days you won't eat hardly anything and others I can't figure out where you are putting all of it. Your favorite is pasta right now. You would eat it every day for every meal if I let you. You still aren't a fan of meat but like cheese and yogurt so you get some protein that way. You drink milk in the morning, afternoon, and before bed. Although lately before bed has been about 3 swallows and then you're done.

- love to wrestle with daddy. You don't even try with me most of the time but run and jump on dad. It's pretty adorable.
- love balls. You learned how to say football and now every ball is football. You also recognize what football players look like and announce "FOOTBALL" every time you see it.
- enjoy playing in the trash. Luckily we haven't found anything in the trash that doesn't belong yet.

- make taking pictures of you pretty hard. You have discovered that the picture shows up on the back of the camera and you want to see it. You like pushing the button to take a picture and then looking at it too. Future photographer?
- whine a lot. We are working on that.
- still love your car car cups. We haven't had to get out your soft spout sippies since we got them.

- get overly excited when asked if you want to go to bed. (Because it means you get a paci...)
- call me (Stacia) Dada. You can say mama and will if we ask you but when I ask who I am, you reply with dada every time. Matt is also dada. You point at both of us in pictures and exclaim "DADA!". Maybe you'll figure it out.

We love you Bubba!!

Marathon

2011-10-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Matt ran in the Prairie Fire Marathon here in Wichita on Oct. 9. Yes, he is crazy.
He trained for about 18 weeks with a friend and they both finished together. I was so proud of them!

Landon and I (and my mom) rode over and met Matt's parents and his friend's wife and baby to watch them run by a few times. We got to see them at about mile 7, mile 16, and at the end. While I'm glad we got to see him (and Landon thought it was pretty cool to see his daddy run by), watching a marathon amounts to a whole lot of waiting...

Here's mile 7. It's hard to take pictures of someone running by, especially since I took my small camera instead of my big one since it was raining and it's super slow.

And mile 16...
Landon was a super good sport all day. It was rainy and cold and he was stuck in his stroller and did great. (Excuse the sideways picture, I can't figure out how to rotate it.)

Landon fell asleep after lunch. :)

And then I made him take a picture with me when he finally woke up.

We got to the finish line at about 4 hrs. We waited and waited and waited and waited and finally...

They ended up finishing in 5:07ish. They didn't meet their goal time but I think it's a pretty big accomplishment to just finish. I mean, running for over 5 hours is just stupid! Haha.

I asked Matt if he was going to do it again and he didn't know. :) Maybe I'll ask again in a couple months - after he goes to the orthopedic doctor to figure out what is wrong with his knee now. Hopefully it's an easy fix but he's still limping around on it (and was before he ran 26.2 miles).

Way to go babe!

Absent

2011-10-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

Welp, the blog has been quiet for a bit. Oops. We've been busy having a garage sale, Matt running his marathon, and be succumbing to my addiction to reading OTHER blogs instead of posting on my own. Oh, and Pinterest. I probably shouldn't have signed up for that. However, I have found some cute ideas and a great one for organizing my necklaces. This has been a source of stress for me lately and I had decided on a way to do it but this idea is way better. I'll fill you in when I get it done. :)
Seriously, if you haven't gotten on Pinterest, you should. DIY projects, home decor, recipes, crafts, etc. It's pretty much my dream. Now if only I had more wall space to do all these cool projects and more time to do the crafts!
Look for some more posts soon - L's 18 month post (WHAT?? 18 months??) and Matt's marathon. I'll try to get them done in the next month. ;)

I want

2011-09-22T14:01:00.002-05:00

**side note: does anyone else have trouble getting scheduled posts to actually post? i had one scheduled for 3:00p today and instead of posting it just moves it to "draft." i've had this happen in the past as well. i'm obviously on here a million times a day so i could just save as draft and post later but i want it to do it for me, darnit!**

I WANT: a new bigger better house with a pantry and an upstairs laundry room and a 3 car garage and a big master suite and a fireplace and a piano room and some land for our kids to play in (and so I can get a blonde lab for an outside dog).
     I HAVE: a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, a washer and drier, a heater to keep me warm, a piano at all, a backyard, and a place for my family to call home.

I WANT: a trendy, designer wardrobe.
     I HAVE: enough clothes to get me by. They may not be brand name or the latest fashion but they still serve their purpose.

I WANT: all the best, nicest things for Landon.
     I HAVE: a precious baby boy who would rather have the $1.89 ball from Dillons than the $100 new-fangled toy. Who doesn't care if he wears the same outfit twice in one week or if all his clothes come from the sale rack. Who doesn't care if he has a blanket hung over his window in his room instead of a blackout curtain. Who doesn't care if he has cool shoes as long as he can still run.

I WANT: a second wedding band for the other side of my ring.
     I HAVE: a marriage that doesn't run on "stuff". And I'd still be married if I didn't have a ring at all.

I WANT: to feel needed, wanted, and liked at work. (I like my job and what I do but haven't been really feeling fulfilled lately.)
     I HAVE: a job that pays the bills, works with my schedule, uses my education, and is enjoyable.

I WANT: to have the time to craft all these ideas floating through my head (and the money to fund said ideas).
     I HAVE: a boy who needs my time and who I'd rather give it all to.

I WANT: to be able to stay home full-time with my kids someday.
     I HAVE: an opportunity to do that through AdvoCare and through a husband who would allow me to do so if the time is right.

I WANT: to take a photography class and get an external hard drive to store my pictures.
     I HAVE: a really nice camera that takes great pictures and can store all my pictures online for free.

Sometimes, I get depressed thinking of all the things I WANT in life (and becoming further depressed when I realize we can't afford them). But, then I think of all the things I HAVE and I remember that I'm pretty blessed. All that stuff might make me happy for awhile but it won't fulfill me. I have everything I need.

Sensory Tub

2011-09-21T14:00:00.001-05:00

I'd been thinking for some time about making Landon a sensory tub (idea totally stolen from Julie!) but was worried about him trying to eat what I put in it. (Yes, he's 17 months old and still puts a lot of stuff in his mouth.) But, I finally decided to go for it and bought the stuff today. I went for a small sized tub (you can also do a big one where the kid can actually get in it and play) since I didn't know how well it would go over. Since it's fall and Halloween and whatnot, I went with black beans and Halloween toys.

I kinda hate Halloween and all the "scary" stuff (besides picking out adorable costumes for L) but figured I'd be able to find some cheap stuff to put in the tub in the Halloween aisle. I found these skeletons (for $1 for 12) and the little pumpkins ($1.49 for 6). I'll be honest, I just bought the skeletons to have something else and I thought maybe he would have fun putting the beans in the pumpkins and then dumping them out. I made some little yarn balls for something else.

Landon really liked it! He played with it for probably 30 minutes (and that's A LOT for a 17 month old) and the skeletons were his favorite. He liked putting the beans in the pumpkins and then shaking them around while the beans flew out. Not exactly what I had in mind. He also liked putting his hand in the beans and moving it all around - made a cool sound but also sent beans all over the room. :) He also discovered that they made a really neat noise when he threw them down the vent in the bathroom. So, if you are at our house this winter and it smells like burnt black beans, don't worry about it.

He was so concentrated on playing that he wouldn't even look at me for a picture, let alone smile. I guess the "sensory" part was working well! I think I am going to have to buy more little toys for it and rotate them out every couple days because I have a feeling he's going to get bored quickly.

He did, however, look at me and crack a tiny smile when he realized he could lift his foot up in the air like the skeleton's was and show me. It's so cool when he figures out things like that. I hadn't even said anything about their feet and he points at a foot, says foot, and lifts his up in the air. Smarty pants. :)

I also bought some water beads (supposed to be used in flower vases - another idea stolen from Julie - hope you don't mind Julie!) to make for another one down the road. Those take some prep so I wanted to make sure he wouldn't eat the stuff in the tub before I made them!

Big Boy

2011-09-20T16:30:00.001-05:00

Landon has recently become obsessed with Lightning McQueen, or Car Car as he calls him. This name, I believe, is derived from me calling his sippy cup a "car cup". He associates Lightning with his life jacket from this summer which had a picture of him on it. He HATED his life jacket at first until we showed him he could bang on his chest and it made noise - hence naming the life jacket a "bang-a-bang". So, until recently, every time he saw Lightning McQueen he would point at it and bang on his chest. I think Car Car is an improvement. :)
Anyway, back to the story...
We bought L a froggy potty awhile back and he was excited about it at first (actually pooping and peeing in it a few times) but has kinda dwindled. He can't talk enough to tell us he needs to go so it was totally dependent on us catching him when he looked like he was trying to poop and just getting lucky on the pee. We weren't (and aren't) actively potty training but just trying it out a bit.
We were at Kohl's and he saw Car Car on some big boy underwear. So, we thought why not? We found some 2T/3T ones that had Car Car in the package and took them home. He was super excited about the package - although he had no idea what was inside. I put a pair on him when he got home and it prompted a huge fit. (He did this when we put swim diapers on him too. I don't know why but I guess it has something to do with just pulling his underpants on.) Once he got used to them he ran around like a crazy person for awhile and then peed in them. At least he was in the kitchen. He definitely knew he was doing it because I looked up and he was squatted a little looking between his legs watching the pee fall down. :) Kinda gross but he's gotta learn somehow. We just put a diaper back on him and we'll try again later...

Now, tell me those didn't make you smile. :)

17 months

2011-09-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

Landon,
Oh, baby boy, you bring so much laughter and joy into our house these days. You are blossoming and growing and learning right before our eyes. Every day you amaze us with how much more you know and how much you catch on to. Your language is increasing by leaps and bounds and you pick up more words each day. We have to watch what we say around you even more (like when I said "darn" at the grocery store and you tried to repeat it...). You are the biggest joy in our lives and we love you!

At 17 months you:
- weigh about 24 lbs and are about 30 in (maybe more) tall
- wear size 3 diapers (You wore 4s for a package because we had a little diaper crisis and ran out until I found a pack of 4s stashed in your closet. Then I switched you back to 3s because I'm cheap and there are more diapers per pack in 3s.)
- wear 12 and 18 month clothes
- wear size 4 or 5 shoes

- still go to bed at 8 but kinda suck at sleeping right now. You are waking up more and more during the night and aren't able to go back to sleep. I'm thinking it's related to molars so hopefully it improves.
- have 9 teeth now. I saw the 8th one break through and was surprised to see a molar had popped through a couple days later. The one on the other side is working it's way in now.
- run everywhere.

- understand most everything we say. We can tell you to go get something or go do something and most times you know what we mean. You also know the word "no" but choose to ignore it most times.
- say quite a few words consistently. Not all of them sound like they're supposed to but we know what you mean. Those include: bye (said with an English accent), baby (sounds like babu), doggie (dogu), no, bad, Boomer, Coco (the daycare lady's dog), Elmo (E-mo), Big Bird (Bi Bir), dada, mama (although your refuse to say it most of the time), turtle, doctor, nose, and more I can't think of right now.
- have quite the temper. I think the terrible 2s might be starting early.
- are working on the froggy potty. You like to sit on it and will pull at your clothes to try to get your pants/diaper off to do so. If the timing is right, you will pee and poop on it but not consistently and you don't tell us you need to. I made a sticker chart for you to put stickers on when you do go (there are only 2 stickers on there now) and you totally understand wanting to put a sticker on but don't grasp what you need to do to do that. :)

- are a pretty good eater right now. If you like it, you can put it away!
- are currently in the process of switching from the soft spout sippies to "big boy" ones. It's slow going.
- recently started doing the funniest thing to show your muscles. You get the most hilarious look on your face and it turns red and you make your whole body stiff. I don't have a good picture of it yet but am working on getting a better one.

I could go on all day about what you are up to these days but those are the highlights. Love you baby boy!

(by the way, people, let's talk for a sec about how it's only the 9th and i already have this post up. i mean, for reals, this must be a record.)

Shake What Yo Mama Gave Ya

2011-09-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

I interrupt the regular scheduled blog posts to bring you a photo montage of Landon's best dancing skills. As you enjoy, make sure to picture super fast moving feet and a little bottom shaking ever so slightly. :) (And, if I can ever figure out how to upload a video from our camcorder to the computer and then to the blog, I'll show you a video.)

And now, returning to regularly scheduled blog posts. :)

Spotlight on AdvoCare: 24 day challenge

2011-08-28T21:51:00.003-05:00

So....
This whole "post about AdvoCare every week" thing didn't exactly hold up. My bad. Either way, here goes the next one.
(If the text shows up green, it is a clickable link. There are several repeats throughout the post.)

24 Day Challenge Bundle from AdvoCare

So, what's a 24 day challenge? It is a 24 day (obviously) program designed to kickstart your weight loss and help you change your diet to eat more healthy and continue your weight loss after the program is complete. You combine several of AdvoCare's products with a healthy diet to glean the most results possible in a short amount of time. It is broken into 2 phases, each designed to get you maximum results.

Cleanse phase: This is the 1st 10 days and is designed to flush your body and prepare it for the next phase. You follow a strict diet and supplement plan (which can be found at http://www.buildthechampion.com/ under the 24 day challenge tab - I won't go into the specifics of that too much) and take AdvoCare's Herbal Cleanse system.

This combines a fiber drink, probiotics, and herbal cleanse tablets to assist your diet with cleansing your system of toxins. You also drink Spark (which I highlighted in my last AdvoCare post here) and take OmegaPlex (omega-3 fatty acids to promote the transport of nutrients, healthy metabolism, and a healthy immune system - among other things).

You can also add various other products to optimize results. I won't lie, the 1st 10 days are tough. You cut out all dairy, most carbs, all refined sugars, fried foods, and wheat. So, basically you can't eat the good stuff. :) It sucks, but it works.

Max phase: On this phase (the last 14 days) you take AdvoCare's Metabolic Nutrition System (MNS).

There are 3 options (Energy, Control (appetite/weight), and Max3 (a combo more focused on wellness)) of MNS and all 3 see results. MNS is designed as a strip packet system in which you take 4 packets of pills a day at specific times related to when you eat breakfast and lunch. Each strip includes over 50 vitamins, herbs, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients. The combo of pills included (which are different in each kind - the specific names are listed on the website link I included) all help increase energy, control appetite, capitalize on weight loss, and improve overall wellness. The 3 options just have more of one or the other. (A helpful chart to assist in choosing the one for you is included under the 24 day challenge tab on http://www.buildthechampion.com/). You also use AdvoCare's Meal Replacement Shakes (which are delicious!) and Spark again.

The diet on this phase is a little less strict. You can add dairy back in moderation and may eat carbs (under 30 grams/meal). Each time we have done the challenge, I have found the last phase to be increasingly more easy than the 1st. You are used to the diet and find that it really is easy to eat healthy! Plus, the dropping number on the scale is a pretty good motivator. :)

That is a very quick, straight to the point overview of the challenge, written in my own words. If you are interested in more information, feel free to contact me (leave a comment with your email address and I'll get in touch - and, in case you're new here - your comment will have to be approved before it will show on the comments section; be patient and I'll approve it next time I log in!). For awesome checklists, information, and technical explanations of each product and phase check out the info on AdvoCare's website and at http://www.buildthechampion.com/.

Now, I'm sure you'd like some stats from people who have successfully completed the challenge, huh? Here you go:
Matt: round 1 - lost 9 lbs and several inches; round 2 - lost 11 lbs (didn't measure inches). The 2 rounds were several months apart and he never gained the weight back from the 1st.
Me: round 1 (modified version because of breastfeeding) - lost 4 lbs; round 2 (modified) - lost 3 lbs; round 3 (normal) - lost 4 lbs but several inches based on how my clothes fit!
MIL: lost 7 lbs
FIL: lost 19 lbs (I believe)
Friend 1: lost over 20 lbs (and looks great! He looks probably 10 years younger and way more fit!)
Friend 2: lost several lbs (not sure of the number but she looks much thinner)
Friend 2's coworkers (2 of them): don't know the final number but after only a week they both got comments from other coworkers on how they looked thinner and their clothes were fitting better
Friend 3: lost 13 lbs
All of these people did not work out during the challenge. These results are from a change in eating habits and supplements alone. If you would be interested in working out in addition, there are products which would enhance the effects of your workout that are safe to take while doing the challenge.

Again, if you are at all interested in more information, feel free to leave a comment with your email and I will be in touch or visit our personal AdvoCare website at www.advocare.com/10099429. We would love to help you realize and achieve your dream body!

Let me know!

Wordless Wednesday - Table Rock Lake scenery

2011-08-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

Fun in the Sun

2011-08-16T15:10:00.000-05:00

The last week full week of July we went to Table Rock Lake with my family (make sure you note it's the last full week, not the last week that starts in July...if you get it wrong it'll mean you take off the wrong days at work and have to beg coworkers to switch you shifts...not that I did that or anything). We stayed from Saturday to Thursday because I had to work the weekend starting Friday night. My family has gone to Table Rock (Shell Knob, MO area) for as long as I can remember. We used to stay at one resort until they sold out to private owners and now stay at the Fish 'n Fun resort where they rent a large house the owners use as a "cabin". It's really nice to have a big place with plenty of room. We won't talk about the first year we stayed at this new resort and the sardine can we were stuck with. I mean, sitting on a cooler to watch the TV that is mounted above the bedroom door because there's no room for a TV stand is fun right? And who really needs to open the refrigerator door all the way? Haha - lots of stories from that year! Anyway, we were nervous for how L would do with the water since he decided this summer he didn't even like taking a bath and when getting in the lake he would have to wear a life jacket at all times since it's like 90 feet deep. But, he did really well. Probably partly because it was 187 degrees out so the water cooled him off. He wasn't a huge fan of the life jacket but tolerated it. He loved the pool as long as we didn't try to put him in a floatie. He even tried to blow bubbles (which usually ended with him coughing and sputtering when he sucked in a mouthful of water). :) Here's some pictures!

Daddy and L walking down to the dock.

The resort got a new dock this year which was super nice. The old was one, well, old. And it ran alongside the shore which made it move a ton when the wakes from boats came in. You had to be careful walking or you would get thrown in. Ask Boomer - he went with us last time and pulled himself out of his harness he was so scared on the dock. :) This new one ran out from the shore (like so the end of it was closest to the middle of the lake) and it barely moved. And it had a really neat swim dock.

First time on the boat. It was naptime and he wasn't super excited about his new venture.

First time in the lake. He surprisingly did very well as long as he was ~~climbing on and drowning someone~~ being held.

Swimming with Mommy. He did great in the pool too!

Feeding grandma crackers.
(We ended up switching to a bigger life jacket. It was a little too big but looked so much more comfortable. And it must have been because he tolerated it much better.)

Checking out the boat.

Sleeping on the boat. Every morning we went out with him he took his morning nap on the boat. On this particular occasion, I believe he fell asleep standing up. :)

He found a "paci" connected to his life jacket. :)

Daddy and L in the water.

He had beef and noodles for lunch. He was covered.

Doing tricks in his dipe.

Playing in the pool.

Attempting to climb out of the pool.

Just in case you forgot, he's one. :)

Chillin' in the boat at the dock.

This should be up with his other first boat ride picture but it won't move. He fell asleep as soon as we got going and spent the majority of the ride asleep. It was soooo hot!

We had a lot of fun! Thanks for letting us tag along!

16 months

2011-08-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

Good golly. Landon is 16 months old. He is looking so grown up and more like a little boy every day. It seems like just in the last week he is growing up so fast.

Landon,
You are 16 months old! You are getting so big! You seem to be growing by leaps and bounds and it makes your mommy and daddy so proud to see you learning so much but makes us sad to see you maturing so quickly. You are probably the cutest little boy ever and have the best personality. We love you!

At 16 months you:
- weigh probably about 24 lbs and are 30 in tall (I measured you the other day because you seemed a lot taller - you have grown about 2 inches since 12 months).
- wear 18 month clothes, size 4 shoes, and size 3 diapers.
- still go to bed at 8 but are gradually making your wake up time earlier. I don't like it.
- are doing much better at sleeping through the night. You will usually still wake up once but it's rarely more than that anymore.
- are starting to talk more. You will repeat (or try to repeat) more words and make lots of sounds that don't necessarily sound like a word but are in the right formation and we can usually figure out what you are saying. You say "doctor", "hat" (and will identify one), "I don't know" (not pronounciated exactly but when we ask you a question and you don't know you will reply with this), "ball" (sounds more like bah), "Boomer" (sounds like booo).
- have started shrugging your shoulders and putting your hands up (like the I don't know pose with palms up) when things are all gone or you don't know where something is. It's adorable.
- woof at dogs and are trying to chirp at birds.
- LOVE dogs - real, stuffed, pictures, on TV - all of them. You woof anytime you see or hear a dog.
- understand most of what we tell you. You will take something to another person, go find a specific toy, go throw something in the trash, etc. We very rarely have to say it more than once and you know what we mean.
- got a new play tent and like to watch your movies in it. You like it even better if Tank (a big stuffed dog) is in there with you. This morning I told you to find Tank and watch your movie (that was playing but you weren't watching it). You left for a second and when I looked in the tent, Tank was in there and the DVD player was pulled in front of his face so he could see. :)
- still love Yo Gabba Gabba. Nothing else keeps your attention as well. You know the songs from it too. If we sing "Go Crazy" or "Do It" you will start stomping your feet and dancing around.
- run everywhere. Walking is for babies. ;)
- got a froggy potty and enjoy sitting on it. You have pottied in it a couple times and pooped in it a couple times if we catch you at the right time. I don't know that you necessarily know what you are doing but you act interested so we are just letting you play. We aren't actively potty training as you can't verbalize that you need to go but are just kinda watching your cues. We mainly bought it this early so you would be familiar with it.
- went to the lake with my family last week. We were nervous about whether you would enjoy it at all because you hate bathtime and swimming but you did really well. You weren't a huge fan of the life jacket but you didn't really have a choice since the lake is so deep. You decided swimming was ok too (as long as something was holding you close - floaties were out of the question) and even stuck your face in the water!
- are so much fun at this age. I can't wait to see you learn more!
-

Birth Story

2011-08-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

I had never recorded Landon's birth story so I thought I'd give it a go. It has obviously been awhile and some of the details are a little fuzzy but I'll do my best.

Let me start with a little back story: (if the medical terms for pregnancy and all things related scare you, you should probably stop reading now...) at somewhere around 25 weeks my OB announced that I was measuring "big". Like 2 1/2 weeks ahead of where I should be. I knew my due date wasn't off by that much because at my first sono at about 8 weeks he measured 2 days different than what my due date based on dates should have been. (And, that first sono is the most accurate at determining a due date based on the size of the baby.) Anyway, I was cooking a big baby. I kept measuring about 2 weeks ahead for awhile and at some point it went down to about 1. But, still big. I kept hoping that meant I would just go into labor a little early and not necessarily that I'd have a huge child. There's nothing wrong with big babies but, in my line of work, large kids scare me. I'm so used to a 5 lb baby looking "big" that I had no idea what I'd do if they handed me a 8 lb one. At 35 weeks they started checking me at my appts and although I was praying I'd be at least a little bit dilated I got nothing. Each week it was the same story...the baby hasn't dropped, you aren't dilated, your cervix isn't changing. Talk of having a c-section began. I DID NOT want a c-section and although he said he would schedule it at 39 weeks and get me out of being pregnant a week early, I just really wanted to do it the "normal" way. But, nothing was happening. My OB claimed I had a small pelvic opening and wanted me to have a CT and sonogram to compare the size of my pelvis to the size of baby's head. So, at a little after 37 weeks I went in for that. (After making sure the radiation from the CT wouldn't harm the baby...they use so little there was nothing to worry about.) I had that done on a Friday and had to wait till the next week for the "results". They weren't exactly what I was hoping for. They measure your pelvic opening from front to back and side to side. Mine measure 11.0 cm and 11.1 cm. Apparently it is very rare to have an almost perfect circle. It's usually wider at one measurement than the other. Landon's head measured 11.5 cm. Fantastic. My OB said he'd be willing to let me wait up until my due date to see if anything happened on it's own. I wasn't ready to commit to a c-section yet so I decided to wait until my 39 week appt (actually 39 weeks, 5 days). I walked around our neighborhood every day hoping to get something moving. I called the OB office and talked to him for probably 20 minutes about whether he thought I would go into labor naturally. I wasn't a candidate for an induction because you have to have at least changed a little bit on your own for it to be successful. They rate you on a scale of 1-10 and need to be about a 7 for it to work. I was a 1. So basically an induction would be long and painful and probably end in an emergency c-section. I had my 39 week appt on Monday and if nothing had changed we were going to go ahead and schedule a c-s. I got a call from admissions that morning telling me what time to check in for my c-section the next day and how much my co-pay would be. I'm sure I sounded like an idiot on the phone because I didn't even know I had anything scheduled! We went to the dr that afternoon and nothing had changed (imagine that) so we went with the appt my dr had scheduled - for 1 pm the next day. He told us to get there a little early because we were actually "to follow" the case before us. (Basically when they are done, we get to go early.) I still wasn't totally on board with the c-section but I knew that either way, as long as the baby got out safely, it would be ok. We called our parents and told them but I really wanted to keep the actual birth a secret until he was already here. I felt like I was being robbed of a "surprise" birth so maybe by not telling anyone we had scheduled it I would regain some of that. I talked with my mom's cousin's daughter (whatever that makes her to me) who works in Labor and Delivery and she agreed to come in on her day off and be my nurse. Thanks Kellie! It made me feel a little better to have someone I knew there. We arrived about 10:30 the next morning (April 6) and they got me all prepped and we headed back about an hour later. I got my epidural which was probably the worst part of it for me. She had a hard time getting it in the right spot and I hated the feeling of her messing around back there. It was uncomfortable and I just wanted to cry. I might have actually. After they finally got that working they got me all situated and got started. Actually having a c-section is a weird experience. You know they are slicing you open but all you feel is pulling and tugging and pressure. It's not enjoyable by any means but doesn't really "hurt". When they actually pulled Landon out was the most pressure and kinda took my breath away as I could feel him move down and out. When he cried for the first time I cried. The first thing out of my dr's mouth when he was born was "Oh my, I think we made the right decision." He held him up for me to see (he was HUGE!) and passed him off to the nurse. They weighed him (9lb 3oz) and measured him (20in) and got him all wrapped up. Kellie was nice enough to take pictures for us because Matt had been warned by a friend to not get up because he did during his wife's and turned around to see her still open on the table. So, we have alot of pictures courtesy of our nice nurse. :) My epidural wore off quickly and the pain wasn't too bad. Just had to stay on top the pain pills and I only took those sporadically for a couple days once we got home. We had a ton of visitors the first day and those dwindled on the next couple. We got good care but I kinda wish the nurses hadn't known I was a baby nurse myself. As soon as they figured that out they changed their approach and stopped teaching. I know how to take care of a sick baby but not a normal "well" one and Matt had never done the baby thing before. We figured everything out ourselves but it's one of many times I've encountered since graduating that I wish no one knew what I did. We stayed 3 nights in the hospital and took Landon home on that Friday. It's so weird to drive home with a little baby all your responsibility. Landon witnessed his first fight on the way home from the hospital. Haha. Some homeless guy (or something) was holding a sign on Kellogg and whatever it said apparently ticked a guy who was driving off. The guy gets out of his truck (which was in the turning lane), runs across Kellogg and they proceed to have a pushing match. This went on for a couple minutes until the truck guy grabs the homeless guy's sign, rips it up, and gets back in his truck. Yeah, high class people in Wichita right there!

I am so, so thankful for an "easy" and healthy birth however, a year later, I still wish I had gotten the opportunity to try a vaginal birth. I have a lot of regret for not trying. I was so uncomfortable and so done being pregnant that I just went for it. I don't know if I would have gone into labor the next day or if I would have been 42 weeks pregnant and scheduling a c-section anyway. Since nothing was happening on it's own I kinda figure it would be the 2nd option. I trust my dr in him saying that he didn't see me going into labor anytime soon naturally and that an induction would fail. I know it was probably just stress but I remember having more contractions than normal while waiting to go back to the OR. I wish I would have had my nurse put the contraction monitor on and check me one last time. I know it probably wouldn't have made a difference but I wish I had done it. I hope and pray that my next baby will be smaller and able to fit through my pelvis so I can try vaginally. I won't be able to be induced now after having one c-section so I'd have to go into labor naturally. I know that having a healthy baby is the ultimate goal and it doesn't matter how they get here but I was just really really disappointed with how things turned out for me. Hope my praying works!

Edited: (8/6/11) I wrote this post back in March and never posted it. I'm not sure why - I guess I wanted to re-read and check the details. I just re-read it it and didn't change anything. I still feel a lot of those emotions and when I think about when I want to try to have another child (no, no news, just thinking about planning) I dread having to go through the whole "your baby is too big so we will have to cut it out" thing. I REALLY want a vaginal birth. But, that dream will never be realized if I have a big baby again. I know wanting to experience labor is probably silly but having a c-section wasn't in my plan. Anyway, obviously Landon is perfect and healthy and I am thankful for that but I can't help feel a little guilty and resentful that I couldn't do it the "right" way. Is it silly to pray for a little baby next time?

Amateur

2011-07-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

You may remember me saying we bought a new "fancy" camera around Christmastime. While it definitely takes far better quality pictures than my point-and-shoot does, I really haven't learned anything about it. I switch between the pre-set modes quite a bit but usually end up shooting in full auto. I'd love to learn more but frankly, just reading about all the options has me totally confused (probably because I don't even know what the words mean). I'd love to take a class as some point but for now I'm satisfied with just being able to capture a little more of our lives. I'll admit, I struggle with being one of "those people" who constantly have a camera in their hands. I get anxious about missing something and not having a picture of it. I have to tell myself that sometimes it's better to just live in the moment and make memories instead of worrying about getting the perfect shot. Having a few pictures is enough and the memories connected to them will fill in the rest. Anyway, on our recent vacay, I took off with my camera during naptime and snapped a few of the landscape. These are straight off the camera - not edited. I do have Photoshop Elements 9 but really have no idea how to use it. ;)

Sunset Beach: In pictures

2011-07-25T12:10:00.000-05:00

We travelled to Sunset Beach, NC with Matt's family this last week (July 10-16 for those of you keeping track). We stayed in a beach house on an island near Calabash, NC. That's about 45 minutes north of Myrtle Beach if you know the area. I took lots of pictures and since most were on the beach which looks the same every day and most were of Landon who wore the same swimwear every day they pretty much all look really similar. :)
So, without further ado, your very own picture tour awaits. Please keep all hands, feets, shoulders, and knees inside the ride at all times. Hang on tight!

Napping on the first flight.

Watching a little Yo Gabba. (Excuse the poor picture quality on some of these. I took my little camera on the plane.)

Self portrait while waiting for the Holland people holding up the rental car line. :)

First time on the beach. (Wow, didn't realize how blurry that picture was. Sorry.)

Have you felt this stuff? So cool!!

Walking down to the water with Mommy and Daddy.

Watching the water come in. This first night he was quick to retreat when the tide came up. He warmed up quite nicely as the week wore on.

Welp, should have flipped this before uploading I guess. I'm too lazy to delete it and fix it so you'll have to make it work. :)

L had a blast chasing the seagulls. He made this awkward shreaking sound while running up on them. I have no idea.

This is the "old bridge" you used to take to get to Sunset Beach. You have to cross a canal to get there and this bridge swung back and forth to allow boats to go through. So basically, you had to get there on the hour if you wanted to cross because it was one lane. They replaced it with this giant monstrosity that goes up and over the canal. I didn't take a picture but if you care enough to see it, I bet you could google it.

This was actally on the way home. Pretend it's at the end of the post.

Stomping on the bubbles.

Oh my, I love him.

Don't ask, I have no idea.

He thought this was a cool horsey.

This concludes today's tour. Please exit to your right.
Have a great day!

15 months

2011-07-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

Only 13 days late this time. Yay for me!

Landon,
I tell you probably 30 times a day that I love you and those words don't really seem to explain how I feel. You really make my life worth living. I didn't have it bad before but having you opened whole new worlds to me. I love watching you learn and grow and accomplish new things. The look on your face when you do something new and we praise you for it is priceless. You love to make us happy and just waking up in the morning makes me that way. You are blossoming into a little boy right before my eyes and you make me so proud.

At 15 months you:
- still wear size 3 diapers, size 12 and 18 month clothes and size 3-5 shoe (depends on the shoe)
- go to bed at 8. Last month I said you were pushing your bedtime but apparently you decided that was a bad idea.
- still take 2 naps. I keep thinking you are going to give one up but you don't. They are getting more spaced apart - a morning one for about 2 hours and then late afternoon (like 4 or later) for about an hour.
- still wake up in the night. You go back and forth between needing milk to go back to sleep and not.
- have 2 favorite stuffed animals - Mr. Doggy and Blue Bear. You kiss each one of them every time you pick them up.
- have started making the "kissing" sound when you kiss things that aren't people.
- can identify your own nose, eye, mouth, ear, hair, belly, belly button, and toes.
- just learned how to hold up one finger when asked how old you are. It makes you so happy.
- went on your first airplane ride (followed by 4 more). We went to Sunset Beach, NC so you saw the ocean for the first time too. You weren't too excited about the water at first but warmed up to it as long as you could still touch and could see a way out. :) Chasing seagulls and throwing sand were more exciting though.
- are becoming quite opinionated. This is good for some things but bad when you just scream and point and we can't figure out what you want. I'll be glad when you figure out how to use words to tell us what you need.
- are repeating more words. You said "rub" last week and "duck" in the bath last night.
- like to "dip-a-dip-a-dip" all your food. Ketchup is your dip of choice but you like hummus a lot too. You haven't got to try many others.
- sometimes eat like a bird and other times surprise me with how much you put down. You definitely know when you are done. You sat in your highchair and threw a fit for at least 10 minutes the other night because I wanted you to take another bite of fish stick. You knew exactly what I wanted too.
- got a froggy potty today. We aren't actively trying to potty train but figured it'd be good to at least introduce the chair. You like to sit on it and we got you to sit for quite awhile naked today. I sat with you tonight before bed and of course as soon as you stood up after sitting for several minutes you pottied on the floor. I sat you down real quick and you stopped. I told you good job for pottying so you stood up and went back to the same spot, squatted down, and strained until you pottied more. So, you get the concept but not quite the location yet. :)
- are so, so loving. You kiss everything you can. You give awesome hugs. I love it.

You are stinkin' amazing. I'm not sure how I got so lucky.

July 4th (and 5th)

2011-07-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

Our 4th of July didn't involve any crazy cool things this year but it was low key and worked out just fine. I had to work the night of the 3rd so I slept away half of the 4th. When I woke up, we got ready and went to Towanda to my parent's house. Matt went on to his friend Clifton's parent's house for a little get together and Landon and I stayed and played in the sprinker. I use the term "played" very loosely.

Oh, silly little get-up to protect white skin from the sun. :)

Not so sure about the whole thing.

Stinkin skinny sisters. I hate them.

He was trying to get back to us and had to walk by the sprinkler. Couldn't figure out he could get away from it pretty easily. Click on the picture to make it bigger to see his face. :)

We my dad grilled burgers and hot dogs and my bro brought his girlfriend over to meet the fam. I made these super cool strawberries.

We ate dinner and Daddy headed back to his friend's house. We didn't have any fireworks at my parent's house and they had a whole bunch to shoot off at his friend's and a giant "finale" in memory of Clifton. (It was this huge board with a ton of different stuff wired together. It looked a little dangerous to me but I didn't say anything because they were so excited about it....) When it got dark my fam and L and me sat on the driveway and watched other people blow their money. :) Landon got to stay up until 10!

On the 5th we decided to go see if anyone was still selling fireworks and set off a few with L since he seemed to enjoy watching the ones the night before. After driving all around Andover we found one and spent a whole $20. :) We didn't wait till it was completely dark since the little man was already fading but it was still fun. And hot. He liked the ones that didn't make a whole lot of noise. That's my kind of man. The quiet ones are cheaper. :)

Heading out to shoot some fireworks. He thought he needed the hat.

Picking out his fave. This mostly consisted of trying to put the fountains in his mouth. He should be growing out of that soon, right?

Going to help daddy shoot a fountain.

So pretty!

Mommy doesn't shoot off fireworks so no cool pictures of the little one and me. He got tired before we got everything done so we went in and put him to bed and Matt and I went back out and shot off the rest. We might not have finished until close to 10:30 (you can only shoot until 10pm on the 5th). Rebels.

Hope your 4th was awesome!

14 months

2011-06-26T11:07:00.001-05:00

Well, seeing as how it's June 26 and Landon turns 15 months in about 10 days it seems like the right time to do a 14 month post. :)

It seems like there's not a lot new to report on the Landon front. He's growing everyday and becoming more "mature" but no big milestone to brag about. Haha.

Landon,
At 14 months you:
- weigh 23 lbs 2 oz (at the dr on June 17 - wearing your clothes, shoes, and diaper)
- wear mostly 18 month clothes, with some 12 months mixed in. We finally purged your closet of everything smaller than that.
- wear size 3 diapers still. I did stock up the other day and bought some 4s.
- go to bed about 8. You are pushing your bedtime though. Lately, going to bed at 9 means you don't wake up in the night till about 6 which is great with me. And yes, you still wake up at least once a night and usually require some milk to go back to sleep.
- still take a morning and afternoon nap most days. You are toying with the idea of consolidating your naptime but it just depends on the day. You won't sleep at daycare in the mornings and won't sleep if there's action at the house. If you do take a morning nap, it is usually your long one.
- walk full time.
- still aren't saying many words. A lot of times we think you say something and you won't say it again. You jabber all the time though. I have a feeling one of these days those jabbers will suddenly become words.
- are picking up your book obsession again.
- finally learned how to clap. Or at least decided you could do it. It's obviously not a hard task but you thought it was more fun to make other people's hands clap instead of your own. You've started celebrating various moments with clapping - throwing your ball, eating ice cream, etc...
- have decided you hate taking a bath. I can't figure out what caused this change but you scream bloody murder every time we put you in it.
- had another ear infection (well, almost - the dr said it was "conjested" and decided to treat anyways bc it was on it's way to an infection). The antibiotic he put you on caused a ridiculous diaper rash. It was probably the worst one you've had - complete with broken skin and everything. It started improving after you finished your medicine and is still healing.
- love to give hugs and kisses. Sometimes you will just come up and want a kiss. I love it.
- are broadening your food horizons. You actually ate what I ate the other day (turkey stir fry with rice) and I didn't have to get you your own food. You also ate off the kid's menu at Jose Peppers last night and actually ate quite a bit.
- have started a new thing where you try to balance things on your head. Your eating utensils, food, toys, random articles of clothing... You get the proudest look on your face when it actually balances there. It's pretty funny. And pretty messy when your item of choice is food.
- can finally identify your OWN nose. You've got other people's down (and have for a couple months along with eyes, mouth, hair) but finally figured out you have a nose too. :)
- love playing with your hair.
- play with your eyelashes when you are tired.
- have "old lady" knees with the roll on the inside right above them.
- LOVE watching Yo Gabba Gabba on your DVD player. I'm very happy we got rid of the TV upstairs so I don't have to listen to you cry all day because you want me to turn on your show. I'm not even that worried about the plane ride anymore because I know you'll watch it. I'm just worried about the battery on your "TV" to run out. Ha.
- also hate swimming. We took you swimming in your baby pool yesterday and you screamed. Granted the water was freezing but it was 184 degrees outside too.

- are so fun to watch grow up. You learn new things every day and catch on so quickly to new things. It's pretty amazing to see how you connect things like putting shoes on means you are going outside or getting your jammies on immediately makes you tired. You think "no" is hilarious and we can tell you know it means you are supposed to stop but you just laugh and get this mischievious look on your face and do it anyway. You're pretty cute. :) We love you with all our hearts and are so glad God decided we could be your parents!

To tide you over...

2011-06-21T10:24:00.000-05:00

I am working on a post about what we did in May. Yes, I realize it's almost July. Ha. But, I'm having the worst time trying to get the post done with pictures and such. It's taking forever and my pictures keep disappearing and I'm pretty much just really frustrated with it. I'll keep working though and will eventually get it up. Until then, check out my adorable kid!

This was on Mother's Day. I think. I'm not really sure actually. Either way, L seems pretty overjoyed to take a picture with me!

Not really sure what's going on in this picture....

Um, how adorable is that? He sleeps with his feet crossed under his bottom all the time. And he crosses his feet pretty much all the rest of the time too - while eating, while playing, while in the carseat, etc.

Don't you love a good naked baby?

Practicing walking.

This gives you a little glimpse of his personality. He's a crazy kid.

We got him a portable DVD player to take with us on vacation. We got it extra early so we could see if he was interested in it since he'd never watched TV before. Let's just say I'm glad we don't have a TV upstairs or his days would be full of crying because he couldn't watch.

Daddy and L photo shoot. How adorable is that?

13 months

2011-05-28T01:22:00.000-05:00

So I'm a little late on the monthly posts again. Don't judge. I couldn't decide whether or not to continue them since L is one now (*tear*) but decided to do it. So, here goes. (Pictures to come - I'm not on the right computer.)

Landon,
You are 13 months! Holy cow! Where has the time gone? It seems like just the other day you were a little baby laying on the floor and now you are a toddler. I may or may not have gasped outloud when my BabyCenter email read "Your TODDLER this week" instead of "baby". You can't be that old. But, you are and you are turning more into a little boy every day. Your personality is shining through (both in the funny things you do and the temper tantrums you throw).

At 13 months you:
- weigh probably 21-22 lbs. I'm not sure and haven't weighed you lately.
- seem to be growing up lately. Some of your pants are all the sudden too short.
- wear size 3 diapers, size 12 and 18 month clothes, size 3 or 4 shoes
- love to eat. You are becoming increasingly picky (or maybe not picky but opinionated - you may like something one day but not want it the next). You love fruit. You hate carrots. You could eat your weight in peas. Other favorite foods are cheese, bologna (blech), green beans, cauliflower, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, bread, any kind of cracker, tortilla chips, yogurt (flavored - not plain). You aren't fond of many meats. We are working on that - hence why you have tried chicken nuggets and fish sticks. They aren't the healthiest way to get you to eat meat but at least it's meat. If anyone has any advice on that, let me know!
- recently decided you like juice. (Diluted of course.) So much so that you cry when your sippy is empty.
- are finally weaned from breastfeeding (as of about 2 weeks ago). I was holding on to the last feeding more than you were and you haven't acted like you miss it at all. You drink whole milk now.
- are on a pretty structured schedule (by your doing). You wake up about 7-730 (most days), drink some milk right off, eat breakfast about 9, take a nap 2 hrs after you wake up for between 1-2 hrs, eat lunch at 1130 or 12, nap again at 2 for about an hr, drink some milk at 3, eat dinner about 530, and are ready for bath/milk/bed at 8.
- still drink your milk that isn't at mealtimes from a bottle. You are grasping the sippy concept more and more but still turn up your nose when there is milk in it instead of water/juice. I'm not too worried about you still having a bottle yet. We'll work on it soon as I was putting it off until you were weaned so I didn't throw too many things at you at once.
- are walking! You took your first steps at 12 mos 2 weeks and have slowly increased the amount you walk. Just this week (13 mos 2 weeks) you have really taken off. The last couple days you walk more than you crawl. It is so weird to look up and see you walking across the room.
- still like your paci. It's mainly only used while sleeping now but occasionally when you are upset that's the only thing that will calm you.
- have started throwing tantrums. Complete with throwing yourself on the ground and kicking your legs.
- love your doggie. Actually, any doggie; stuffed or real. You have learned to bark and start barking any times you see or hear a dog. It's pretty adorable. You like to give real dogs hugs which is cute but I'm not sure the dogs appreciate it. Boomer tolerates you. :)
- still don't sleep through the night. I'm not sure you ever will...
- learned to go down the stairs backwards. I had tried several times to teach you and you just crawled back up but my dad got you to do it at their house. Now you're a pro. I don't like it so much when you escape out the front door when I'm taking Boomer out to potty.
- still like books but the obsession is fading. There's far less crying until a book is read than in previous weeks.
- babble constantly. When you figure out how to talk I'm pretty sure there will never be any quiet. You have decided you like to talk on the phone. I know you're trying to tell the other person something bc you make the same sounds over and over again. It usually goes pretty well until you end up hanging up on the person bc we have iPhones and you have to hold the phone and touch the screen while "talking."
- say get it, dunk it, mama, dada, Bbbbbb (for Boomer), uh-uh (uh-oh), and sometimes bye-bye. You wave bye-bye on command.
- are such a loving little boy. You give everything and everyone hugs and kisses and know what it means when we ask you for either. You blow kisses too.
- play peek-a-boo with your hands and throw your hands up in the air when we ask "How big is Landon?"
- are still obsessed with any kind of ball.
- love going on walks - on your trike, in your wagon, or in the stroller.
- have decided the wearing a hat is ok.
- love going outside. You got a new swingset (free!) and stand at the back door and cry to go out. You love to crawl around in the grass and play in the dirt. If the word outside is uttered, the person better mean it!
- love your daddy. You get so excited when I tell you daddy is home at the end of the day and you love playing and wrestling with him. Yesterday you spent the morning with him while I slept after working and he had to leave when I got up. You clung to him and cried and kept crying for quite a while after he left. I think daddy liked hearing that. :)
- are pretty special. You wear me out and test my patience every day but you melt my heart when you come up and hug and kiss me for no reason. I love you my sweet boy!

Wherever You Are

2011-05-20T15:55:00.001-05:00

I wanted you more

than you ever will know,

so I sent love to follow

wherever you go.

It's high as you wish it. It's quick as an elf.

You'll never outgrow it...it stretches itself!

So climb any mountain...

climb up to the sky!

My love will find you.

My love can fly!

Make a big splash! Go out on a limb!

My love will find you. My love can swim!

It never gets lost, never fades, never ends...

if you're working...

or playing...

or sitting with friends.

You can dance till you're dizzy...

paint 'til you're blue...

There's no place, not one,

that my love can't find you.

And if someday you're lonely,

or someday you're sad,

or you strike out at baseball,

or think you've been bad...

Just lift up your face, feel the wind in your hair.

That's me, my sweet baby, my love is right there.

In the green of the grass...in the smell of

the sea...in the clouds floating by...

at the top of a tree...in the sound

crickets make at the end of the day...

"You are loved. You are loved. You are

loved," they all say.

My love is so high, and so wide and

so deep, it's always right there, even

when you're asleep.

So hold your head high

and don't be afraid

to march to the front

of your own parade.

If you're still my small babe

or you're all the way grown,

my promise to you

is you're never alone.

You're my angel, my darling,

my star...and my love will find you,

wherever you are.

Poem taken from the book

Wherever You Are

my love will find you

Nancy Tillman

Pictures taken by Shannon Woods

If you like what you see, feel free to contact her on Facebook

at her page, Woods Photography

or email her at woodsphotos09@yahoo.com.

She is getting her photography business off the ground and would love to photograph you!

Convicted

2011-05-13T23:38:00.003-05:00

Landon and I had a jam out session today to my iPod (which desperately needs the playlist updated, by the way). As I skipped around through the songs I have no idea why I loaded in the first place, I came across a song by FFH. I don't know if you've heard of them but they are a band I was introduced to at River Fest one year and fell in love with the group, their songs, and their style. I'm pretty sure every person in our youth group immediately went out and bought their album, Have I Ever Told You. We listened to it every chance we got and soon had all the songs memorized. That summer (I'm not sure what year but I want to say 2002), on our yearly trip to Red Bird in Kentucky (a work camp) we listened to the CD the whole 20+ hour trip there. We sang the songs while roofing houses by taking turns singing lines of the choruses. We serenaded our sponsors with acapella versions. We sang at the talent show. FFH was in our bones. And while many of their songs are fun (one is about astronauts!), many others knocked us to our knees.
One such song is called Before it Was Said. I distinctly remember standing in our cabin singing with this song with Brady. While it was one of our favorites, it apparently wasn't a "popular" FFH song. It's not on iTunes, the only videos of it on YouTube are personal videos, and when FFH was popular you never heard of it. But, it's a song that sticks with you. The words are powerful and, even almost 10 years later, I think I could sing every word without the music. When everyone else was using popular secular songs on the senior video, I chose this one to play when my picture showed (and lost my beloved CD in the process...).
Fast forward to today..... I had all but forgotten about the song. Sure, as soon as the music started playing (along with all the skips in the version I have on my iPod), I could sing all the words. But, I hadn't thought about it for years. I guess I should explain a bit about the song. Or better yet, here's the lyrics:

Every day I sit and pray to God above
To watch over me and my family
But every day I seem to pray the same old thing
In the same old way, and I start to think
That maybe I should change
And find something better to say
But I've learned to believe
You always hear me when I pray
So I get down on my knees
'Cause I'm stronger than these
Voices inside of my head
They try to deceive me
And make me believe
That I would be better instead
To take my requests and put them to rest
But You're already one step ahead
You knew just what I would say
Before it was said
Every night I lie awake wondering
If You're listening to every heartbeat
You've told me that You know the deepest part of me
And You'll watch over me and my family
So I guess I shouldn't change
'Cause You hear every word that I say
And I knew You are here
When I come to You this way
So I guess I shouldn't change
'Cause You hear every word that I say
And I knew You were here
When I knelt down today

Pretty powerful huh? I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a pray-er. (Prayer?) I never know what to say. I get all flustered praying outloud. I feel like every time I pray, I say the same thing. Just like the song says. But, I guess it doesn't matter, huh? God knows what I am going to say before I even say it. And He knows what I mean even if I trail off at the end of sentences or don't use the "big" words when praying aloud. I guess, while holding my son and dancing around the kitchen, the words hit me today. Am I teaching Landon to pray? Am I setting a good example? Has he even ever seen me pray? Just as I can't have a relationship with my husband or child without talking, I can't have one with God without praying. He already knows my heart, my wants and needs, and my innermost secrets but He still tells us to PRAY. To talk to him. To TELL him all those things, even if he already knows them.

Long story short, I was convicted today. Right in the middle of my kitchen as music blasted from a little black speaker on my counter. I sang the words to my (still) favorite song in Landon's ear and while I know he had no idea what I was saying, I hope he will someday understand the meaning. Being a mother makes the whole world seem different. While hearing a single song transported me back to a hot roof in the middle of the mountains singing at the top of my lungs with friends, the same song made me yearn for a special relationship between my son and his God. Funny how things change huh?

I wanted to post a video or a soundtrack of the song but couldn't find a good one. Take the time to search for yourself or to watch one of the personal videos on YouTube, just to listen to the music. I promise it'll be worth your time. And, if anyone has the FFH Have I Ever Told You album sitting around, I'll buy it from you. :)

One year pictures

2011-05-06T08:01:00.000-05:00

Landon actually had 2 one year photo shoots. These are the product of the one with the girl who has taken his pictures since he was a newborn. I will weed through the other one (there was over 175!) and post some at a later date. Enjoy!

Birthday Picture Overload

2011-04-26T09:53:00.001-05:00

Here I am, finally getting some pictures of Landon's bday party up. I had been waiting for other people to send me their pictures but no one has. Ahem, other people!! So, without further ado, here's the photos!

First up, dinner. Landon dined on his first ever hot dog. Cut into small bits obviously.

He must have thought someone else needed to know how delicious it was.

Opening one of about 30 gifts. He started out thoroughly enjoying it.

Even though we couldn't get him to pay attention to the "right" gift. :)

New "super cools" from Uncle Devin.

Ahhh, books. He must have gotten like 25 books. Good thing they are his favorite.

He got a little sidetracked by a cup at one point.

And then continued to taunt the person he stole it from.

Wagon! He loves wagon rides. Although he holds on for dear life the whole time, even though he's buckled in.

And....cake!! His face is hilarious in this one.

He didn't quite understand the concept at first.

So Matt had to show him how to put it in his mouth.

From there on out he was golden.

Wanna share??

After the cake we may have had a slight meltdown. After getting him calmed down, I realised we had forgotten the party hat I made. Apparently he didn't care and threw a gigantic fit over that as well. We got him under control after that.

Family pic. I was sad I forgot to get one before we changed his clothes.

He loved playing with his balloon.

As you can see. :)

Walking with his new toy in his super cool new Jordans. (Can you say cankles?)

The party turned out really well. I don't know if I mentioned in my decorations post but we ended up with 53 people here. Man, our boy is loved! He did great besides the 10 minute crying session after the cake. He was SO tired and a bit overwhelmed, I think. Once the excitement died down he got his second wind and stayed up ~~really late~~ till 9:00. I thought he'd sleep really well after all that but he didn't. Oh well. I'll post more pictures after "other people" send them! Hope you enjoyed!

Oh, and I believe I've found the answer to my posting spacing problems. Apparently blogger introduced a new post editor that I never updated to. Who knew? This is my first post using it so hopefully it'll fix everything. I can actually upload more than 3 pictures at once with it! They are kinda tricky to move around after uploading them but probably just something I need to figure out. I'm happy I figured out my problem though! Now to go back through and fix the spacing on all the others....

Craft Project

2011-04-21T21:03:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying that I took a little walk down memory lane last night and look back through all my previous posts. I was so upset to find that the spacing on ALL OF THEM is all messed up! I spend so much time trying to get it right and then now it's not. :( I guess I need someone to give me a lesson in blogger. I'm sure it's because I switched templates once upon a time. Maybe I need to break down and have someone design my blog for me...

Anyway, on to the craft project.

I had seen these wreaths around the bloggy world and decided since the front of our house isn't exactly "fancy" and could use a little sprucing up that I'd start by keeping a wreath out there. So, my creative juices got to flowin'. Haha. Seriously, all the creative juice I've got comes from stealing, er, borrowing ideas from others. Gotta share the love, I guess!

I'm off subject again. Back to my wreath. I gathered my supplies at Hobby Lobby. 1 straw wreath, 1 skien (skein??) of yarn, and some felt. Let me share a story about my yarn. I found it on clearance and it was packaged in a clear plastic bag. It looked like maybe some little hands had found it and pulled the yarn so it wasn't pretty and put-together anymore and was banished to the clearance section. Either way, I liked it and it was cheap so it found a new home. I didn't exactly think about the fact that I'd have to wind it up to be able to do anything with it. It added a significant amount of time to my project but, I digress. Anything to save a few bucks. After working for awhile to find an end to start with I noticed that one section of yarn was a totally different color than another. So, I thought maybe is was actually TWO skiens. Nope. It was one continuous strand that changed colors THREE times. And one section was even a totally different texture and width. It was so weird. Anyway, it turned out to be the biggest single piece of yarn I'm pretty sure I've ever seen. I could probably cover 3 more wreaths with it.

On with the wreath. Here's my supplies. I didn't end up using the pink felt...

I had read to keep the wreath wrapped for ease of covering. So I did. It took awhile to wrap it and I probably put more yarn than necessary because of the whole yarn turning colors thing. I picked blue felt because there was blue in the yarn. Except the part I started with wasn't blue yarn so I had to add a bunch of extra to get the blue in there. Anyway....

Now to make the flowers. I just googled "felt roses" and found several tutorials. I will say that if I make them again, I will buy nicer felt. I just bought the felt rectangles from the craft section that are like $.25. You start by cutting a circle out of the felt and then cut a spiral in to the middle. You don't have to cut it squiggly like I did but I liked it better that way. You leave the little circle you end up with in the middle and that will be the bottom of the rose. Start with the outside end and just start rolling. Some tutorials recommended gluing as you go but I found that the felt sticks together so well I didn't have to. I tried to pull the felt at the bottom of the flower a little tighter than the top to make it fan out a bit. You can also experiment with rolling tighter or looser to make the roses look different. When you get to the end, you use the leftover circle to hold the whole thing together. I used hot glue because that's all I had. And viola, a little felt rose.

I made a bunch of different sizes by cutting larger and smaller circles and cutting some spirals really skinny to make short roses and fat to make tall ones. It really doesn't take as much felt as you would think. You will have to experiement because they usually turn out a lot bigger than you think. I only used 2 rectangles of felt to make all my roses. When I finished I arranged them and hot glued them on.

And hung it on the door for viewing pleasure. I'm not overjoyed with the ribbon I used to hang it but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. (And please don't look too closely at the door. It is in dire need of a paint job thanks to our HOA who used to tape notices and newsletters to the door. Yes, SCOTCH TAPE it to out house. I was not happy. Thankfully they have stepped in to the 21st century and now use email. Don't even get me started on our HOA. I will not make a whole blog post about our HOA. I will not make a whole blog post about our HOA. I will not...)

I love it. And I may or may not already have my fall wreath planned out...

Party Details

2011-04-13T21:00:00.010-05:00

For Landon's first birthday party I had a vision of everything being perfect. All these matching decorations in perfectly coordinating colors. I wanted something boyish but not "themey". How am I supposed to know at one year whether he prefers Lightning McQueen or Sesame Street? I originally decided I wanted to do polka dots (in boy colors of course) but that idea was vetoed on the grounds of it being too "girly". So, one night I dressed L in my favorite pajamas he owns and viola! The pefect party colors - turqoise, lime green, brown, and gray. My mind started working overtime to create his "perfect" party. It turned out anything but perfect but I was pleased with the results. I made any decorations that I could. I'll explain them as I go... I perused many a website and blog in search of cute ideas for party decorations. The projects I chose I found on several different websites several different times. I have no idea who's idea it was to begin with so I'm not going to credit anyone. If you see my blog and know it was you who made up the idea, feel free to let me know and I'll link to your post about it! I wanted the colors of the party to be all throughout our house so my first project was pennant banners. I took various sheets of scrapbook paper (all bought at Hobby Lobby) and cut my first banner into small triangles and then sewed them to a skinny turquoise ribbon with a lime green stitch down the middle. I put the first one above our front window.

(This sewing machine picture it taken from the back of the machine. It was extremely difficult to sew a straight line because of the stitch in the ribbon I chose. It kept pushing the ribbon over and making my line veer off and not be sewing anything together. So frustrating.)

For the next one I cut the pennants larger and used only solid colored paper. I did this one in solid colors because it was going above the cake table and I wanted everything to coordinate better and figured patterns would take away too much.

(This sewing machine picture it taken from the front. I figured out if I flipped my pennants to point the other way while sewing them then the stitch on the ribbon would be on the opposite side of the needle and would actually help sew in a straight line. I wish I would have figured that out on the first one!)

My next project was circle garland. When I saw this on a few blogs I fell in love and knew I had to make it for L's party. I used 2 different circle paper punches (a 1" and a 2" - which I thought was 1 1/2 but turns out it wasn't) and punched a bunch of circles out of various turquoise, green, brown, and gray scrapbook paper. I have no idea how many circles I punched. It was a whole bunch. I used my sewing machine again and just sewed them all together. I tried to just do it "random" but ended up putting way too much thought into what color/pattern/size needed to come next. Haha. It was far easier than I had anticipated...the sewing machine pretty much did all the work and I just had to feed the next circle in. It took longer to punch the circles than it did to sew the whole thing together. I ended up making 2 garlands; one longer than the other. The first I draped over the chandelier and the 2nd I draped over the mirror above my piano. I love how they turned out. I'm thinking they may become a staple at all birthday parties from now on. I don't want to throw them away....so maybe L will have the same colored party next year! :)

I made a sign for the front door welcoming everyone in so we didn't have to keep answering the door. This is what his invitations looked like as well. I purposely didn't put up a picture of the invitation because our address is on it and I don't know how to edit it out. :) But, it looked exactly like the sign, just tall up and down instead of side to side. We made them ourselves (Matt helped!). We just printed the info in gray on white cardstock, mounted it on either green or blue cardstock and put the stripe across the front in the opposite color and brown.

I made the flag for the front yard kind of last minute. I noticed our flag that usually hangs there was all torn up from the wind so I was going to replace it with another one we had and remembered I had some fabric left over from the quilt I made L. So I got it out and sewed a flag real quick. It's not perfect by any means as I pretty much have no idea what I'm doing on a sewing machine (and I actually had to rip the seams out of the little pocket for the holder because I sewed them shut..haha) but I like the way it turned out.

This was L's party hat. I got an ugly party hat and took it apart and covered it in the party colors. And then we forgot to put it on him at the party. Darn.

I made the sign for L's highchair out of ribbon and some corrugated cardboard letters I had.

I had cards set out for people to write a little message to L for him to read later. I didn't have room to set it up in our main living area so I put it in his room where everyone was supposed to put their presents hoping that they would see it (I put a sign up on the wall above the supplies with instructions). But, since there were so many people (53 to be exact!) a couple family members ended up just taking presents at the door so nobody went to his room. I waited too long to make an announcement about it and a lot of people forgot or had already left. So, good idea but not well executed. If you were at the party and didn't get to put in your message, drop it in the mail and I'll put it in! I am also going to put a few things from the party in the box. I don't know if he'll care or not when he gets older but if all else fails, I'll have memories!

I saw an idea like this on a decorating blog (no idea which one - I think I got to it through links through like 3 other blogs and could never get back to it if I tried) to string pictures inside an empty frame. So I took the idea and made it my own. I bought a huge empty frame on the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby (90% off to be exact...just had to throw that in there!) and strung fishing line back and forth. I had a friend cut out numbers on her Cricut and I hung up a picture from each month "photo shoot" that we did with little tiny clothespins. It looks a lot cooler in person. I couldn't get a good picture of it to turn out.

(Side note: throughout L's first year we have done a photo shoot on (or very close to) each of his "month birthdays." The pictures didn't always turn out great but I was so thankful we did it while doing this project. It was kind of annoying some months to try to get him dressed and to cooperate but it was so neat to look back through the pictures. We also had "professional" pictures taken every 3 months. We obviously have thousands of other pictures as well but I would definitely recommend doing something similar!)

This is the cake (cupcake) table. We were going to have a cake but that fell through so I got cupcakes from Sam's. I was a little disappointed by the color of the green frosting (and apparently everyone else was too...most people ate the blue ones and left the green ones behind). I was also disappointed with L's smash cake. They only sell them surrounded by 10 cupcakes and they iced every other cupcake in green so there was green spots all around the outside. Plus, when we pulled the cupcakes away it took some frosting off the cake and trying to fix it just made more come off. Anyway, I'm sure no one noticed by it drove me crazy. I made the cupcake toppers with my circle punch and scrapbook paper with the help of my friend cutting out the 1s for me. I made the "landon is one" banner out of ribbon and chipboard letters clothespinned on it. I wrestled with that thing all day because it kept falling.

We served hot dogs, potato salad, corn dip, salsa, and chips for dinner. It was a simple dinner but tasted good. I didn't get a picture of the food as it was strewn about the kitchen and as soon as it was all set up, it was gone. :) I bought big buckets from Target in blue and green for the chips and ice and found big blue bowls at Dillons for the dips.

You should have seen our house with over 50 people stuffed inside. I'm actually surprised it's still standing! Our little boy is definitely loved by many! I'll do a post soon with pictures from the party after I get pictures from other people. I have a bunch on my camera but don't think I touched it myself through the whole party!

I had so much fun planning and decorating for the party. I know it would have been fine to just buy some balloons and have cake but I guess this is my way of showing my love for my son. I have nothing against someone who doesn't like decorating or would rather just buy their stuff. Our party was no better than what theirs might be and, in fact, next year's will probably be toned down quite a bit. I enjoy doing these kinds of things and if you do too, then I say go for it. And if you don't, just buy some decorations or rent out Chuck E Cheese!

I hope you had fun looking at all the pictures!

One Year

2011-04-11T14:28:00.014-05:00

Landon,

You are ONE!! How can that be? It makes me cry just thinking that you aren't a baby anymore. You're a toddler! I just got an email the other day from a weekly baby email site and the title switched to "Your Toddler This Week". It made me so sad! You are growing up before my eyes and while I enjoy every moment, I long to keep you small and safe and oblivious to all the bad stuff in the world. It's a scary world out there, Beaner, and I pray that you would always be safe and secure and surround yourself with "good guys". You have the cutest personality and are so very observant and inquisitive. I had a blast planning your birthday party because every time I put up a new decoration you would point at it and look at me to make sure I knew you saw it. You are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me and I live every day hoping that I can be a fitting model for you!

At ONE you:

- weigh 20lb 13oz (20th percentile)

- are 28.5 in tall (12in percentile)

- have a head circumference of 18.5 (68th percentile)

- wear size 3 regular diapers and size 4 overnights

- wear size 3 or 4 shoes

- wear mostly size 12 month clothes (you can still fit in some 6-9 month onesies and 9 month pants)

- are normally in a good mood. Except when you aren't, everyone knows it. :)

- still take two naps a day. One at about 10-10:30 and another about 2. You tried to give up your morning one for a couple weeks but that didn't work out. You're very flexible with your naps though and do pretty good if we are out during naptime.

- go to bed at 8 and usually stay in bed until after 7. You still wake up at least twice a night, sometimes multiple times. We can't figure out how to get you to stay asleep.

- will put yourself to sleep at naptime and bedtime. At naptime sometimes you cry and can't figure out if you just lay down you can go to sleep so we have to go lay you back down. At bedtime if you don't fall asleep eating you will talk for a few minutes and fall asleep.

- sleep with a blankie, paci, and have recently decided you need your "lovey" (the blue thing in the above pictures).

- eat really well. You prefer to feed yourself (which makes finding meal choices a little tricky) but do really good with it.

- love fruit. We usually have to make you eat the other stuff on your plate before we even put it in front of you or you won't eat anything else.

- fling food off your tray when you are done.

- love to feed the dog half your meals. Therefore, Boomer spends mealtime in the bedroom now.

- rake food out of your mouth when you don't like the taste or texture.

- are slowly learning to use a regular sippy cup. You have trouble with the whole tipping up thing. You will try and then hold it out to us and grunt until we help you. You have the straw cups down pat.

- drink tons of water. You have only tried juice a couple times and turned your nose up at it so I haven't pushed it.

- recently started taking a bottle of whole milk during the day so you only nurse a night and first thing in the morning. More weaning to come...

- will be switched totally to a sippy cup when we finish weaning. I have tried getting you to drink milk from a sippy but you'll only take a couple drinks. I figure it's not going to hurt you to use a bottle for a couple more months so we can tackle one task at at time.

- love to "dunk". You will try to put a ball in anything that is big enough (or not) to fit it.

- got one of those big cheap plastic balls at the store and will entertain yourself throwing it and going to get it. You also love to play catch with us. We roll it to you, you throw it back to us.

- play ball with Boomer. This usually consists of you trying to get the ball out of Boomer's mouth and laughing hysterically.

- are learning to play nice with Boomer (not pull his hair). He is usually a pretty good sport about it and has never bitten you (even playing) or gotten too mean where I was afraid he'd hurt you.

- stand on everything and walk around furniture. You refuse to try to walk by yourself though. You are getting more brave with standing but are stubborn. I guess you've figured out that you can crawl super fast and who needs walking?

- smile all the time.

- love to play with your shoes, but prefer to not wear them. As soon as you get in your carseat you take your shoes off and chew on them.

- can climb stairs really fast.

- have learned to crawl out the front door to take Boomer potty. You also like to hold the leash and put it back on the hook when he's done.

- love playing outside. You crawl around the driveway squealing.

- "talk" all the time. When you actually start talking we are going to have our hands full.

- have started pointing and grunting (?) towards things you want us to look at. When I was making decorations for your party I just put them up as I finished them so every couple days there was something new. You would come into the room and notice it right away and point.

- told Boomer bye-bye (on 3/28) but haven't done it since then. Sometimes I think you say ball but I'm not sure. You say mama and dada and a "B" sound for Boomer.

have the cutest personality. You love to be around people and in the middle of everything!

- usually follow this schedule: wake up between 7 and 7:30 and nurse, eat breakfast about 9, take an hour nap at 10 or 10:30, eat lunch at noon, nap at 2, bottle when you wake up, dinner at 5:30 or 6, and bed at 8.

- started taking a bottle of whole milk for your afternoon feeding the week of March 21. You were apprehensive at first but don't mind it at all now. It has to be pretty quiet or you can't concentrate though. And you do better if you have a blankie to snuggle with.

- are pretty much amazing. We love you with all our hearts and can't wait to see what the next year of your life brings.

Landon's First Birthday (in pictures)

2011-04-10T21:39:00.009-05:00

Here's a look into Landon's first birthday. I'd like to think he had a good day. :)

There are pictures of dinner and after that still on the camera...

Birthday Boy

2011-04-06T09:37:00.002-05:00

Today is Landon's 1st birthday! I can hardly believe it's been that long. Like I've said before, the time has flown by but I can't remember what it was like before he was a part of our family. He brings so much joy to our lives every day. I love him so much! I've already been taking pictures of his day to post later...and it's only 9:40am. So far he has slept till about 8:30, got up, ate, played with a balloon, got mad because he couldn't get the container of puffs open that came tied to the balloon so he got a little snack of puffs, played with his new ball from my friend Kendra, and is now eating breakfast (peaches and vanilla wafers...haha...he pointed to the box of wafers and what birthday boy wants birthday boy gets!). Stay tuned for the rest of his first birthday. We don't have a lot planned as daddy is working today and I work tonight. :( But, I'm sure L will have a great day anyway! P.S. It'll probably be tomorrow or Friday before I get any pictures up bc of the whole working tonight thing...and getting ready for a big birthday celebration!!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-03-30T13:34:00.010-05:00

So I'm a little late. Don't judge. :) And sorry about the spacing and such. I've literally tried 6 times to fix it and am so frustrated I'm just going to leave it. :( Use your imagination. Matt had a bball game on Valentine's Day so we had to celebrate a day late. He ended up doing tutoring at school on the 15th so he had an unusually long lunch break and he surprised us by bringing Sonic home. He also brought this little nugget of goodness. The Red Velvet Cheesecake Blast. I'm pretty sad they don't offer these all year long. Although, it's probably good that they don't because I'm pretty sure I had one 3 days in a row when I discovered it. Wouldn't be so great on my waistline.

When Matt got home from practice we gave Landon our present from us. (If you can't tell, I'm practicing my photography skills so bear with me.)

He got a dump truck that goes with some other cars/trucks he got for Christmas, a teething wrench, and two cans of Gerber cheese puffs. Those lasted about 2 days. :)

Landon and I both had cards for Matt so he opened those next. Don't let this picture fool you. L had no interest in Dada's cards whatsoever. Haha.

We got all dressed and Matt and I went to dinner after a little photo shoot. It's pretty hard to take self-portraits with a big camera. Matt wanted to take pictures in front of my "picaso". (What's what he calls the artwork behind us that I made. I hope he actually knows what kind of art Picaso made!) We went to Bonefish because we had a gift card. It was delicious!

We stopped at Orange Leaf on the way home. That place is seriously amazing. I think I have dreams about it. It's kinda dangerous because you pay by the ounce but is totally worth it. I would eat there every day if I could. So that was our Valentine's Day this year. Nothing special but Landon's first so I wanted to record it. :) And, random question for those of you who use Blogger: do you make your posts in Blogger? Or have you found an easier way to do it? I wrestle with spacing and pictures every time I do a post. I hate loading pictures on here (and can only do 3 at a time for some reason) and they are so clunky to move around after getting them loaded. Just wondered if anyone has a better system. I think I'd probably do more posts if it didn't take me an hour to get one done!

Transformation

2011-03-26T21:33:00.004-05:00

Somewhere around the first of the year I finally decided I was tired of my long hair. I hadn't had it cut in, well, I'd be embarassed if I actually told you how long so I'll just say a LONG time. It was really, really long. I usually wore it up in a ponytail because with it being that long plus being curly and thick (although not quite as thick as it once was because I seriously lost like half of it after having Landon) it took forever to fix it. I decided if I was going to cut it off, I might as well go all out and cut enough off to donate. I did a little research and chose to donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths because they require 8 inches of hair instead of 10 (which Locks of Love requires) and they don't charge for their wigs (which Locks of Love does). I donated my hair back in college and have had my hair quite a bit shorter than I planned to cut it so I wasn't all that nervous about chopping it.
Here's what I looked like before: (2/21/11)

And here I am after. I cut off about 9 inches.

Let me tell you how weird it is to carry out a handful of your own hair. :) The last time I donated it my hairdresser took care of it for me so I didn't have to carry it out. I liked how my hair turned out (and even more so after I fixed it myself and my bangs weren't plastered to my forehead with wax...) but was kind of disappointed with the experience. The girl who cut my hair had no idea what she was doing when I told her I wanted to donate it. I'm lucky that she cut off enough because she didn't measure it. She didn't even warn me she was going to start cutting, she just did it. I obviously didn't do it to be recognized but I doubt that people come in every day wanting to cut 9 inches off their hair and give it away. I just thought she might be a little more excited about it. Oh well. I actually still have my ponytail sitting on the dresser. I should probably get on sending that in. :) Better find the envelope I bought to send it in. I have no idea where it is. Haha.

11 months - Updated

2011-03-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

Landon,
In a very short time you will be one. I can't believe it's been that long. It seems like just a couple days ago that we brought you home from the hospital. You are truly the light of our lives. You fill our house with shreaks, squeals, yelling, and laughter. You bring a smile to our faces with everything you do. It is so much fun watching you explore your world and learn new things (even though most of those things get you in trouble). I can't wait to see how your personality continues to grow and what kind of a boy you will become.

At 11 months you:

- weigh about 20 lbs.
- are getting taller (not sure how tall but your pants are getting short...)
- wear size 3 diapers and size 4 overnights.
- wear size 9 and 12 months clothes.
- say mama and dada in reference to us and sometimes it seems like you try to say hi.
- throw your arms up in the air when celebrating something.
- went to watch daddy's bball team play in the 5A state tournament.
- stood for a couple second by yourself on Mar 20 and smiled when you realized what you were doing.
- stayed overnight with Grandma and Grandpa Highbarger while mommy and daddy went to St Louis. It was harder for us than you!
- go to bed at 8pm and sleep till about 7:30am.
- still wake up a couple times a night. You refuse to go back to sleep sometimes between 3 and 4:30 unless you are fed. That feeding is going to be very difficult to get rid of.

- nurse right when you wake up, eat "real" food for breakfast and lunch, nurse in the afternoon, eat food for dinner, and nurse before bed.
- will start weaning from breastfeeding when you turn one.
- play fetch with Boomer. Mommy or daddy have to get the ball back and then you throw it. It's stinking adorable.
- learned how to "dunk". Mommy put your bath bball goal on the mirror and you crawl in the bathroom and make baskets.

- like to stack things, take things in and out of baskets, and "make baskets" in just about everything.
- had a double ear infection. :( We think your eardrum may have ruptured too bc you screamed bloody murder for about an hour in the middle of the night one night and then were fine.
- are pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.

10 months

2011-02-25T20:57:00.003-06:00

Don't forget to check out my previous post on Advocare!!

Wow, I'm almost 20 days late on the 10 month post. Oops.

Landon,

You are 10 months old. Holy cow. When did that happen? It seems like the days and months fly by. You will be one in only TWO months. It makes me sad that your first year has almost past. I have absolutely loved watching you grow and mature but it makes me so sad that you aren't a "baby" anymore. You are rapidly becoming a little boy and your baby days are long past. You are a light and a joy in our lives and having you has definitely changed who we are. Our days start between 7 and 8am even on the weekends. And we're ok with that. Our days end at 8pm when you are ready for bed. And we're ok with that. Our house is overflowing with toys, tiny shoes and clothes, diapers, baby food, carseats, and burprags. And we're ok with that. You have brought out a side of both your mommy and daddy that we didn't know was there. And we love it. We love you little boy. More than I could write in 1000 blog posts.

At 10 months you:

- weigh about 20 lbs.

- were 28 inches tall when we measured you the other day.

- finally grew out of size 2 shoes (I guess it's time to expand your size 3 shoe selection to include more than one pair).

- wear size 3 diapers (size 4 overnights).

- wear 6, 9, and 12 month clothes, depending on the brand and what it is. 12 month stuff is still big but doesn't fall off of you anymore.

- are able to keep exactly one brand and style socks on your feet. All others fall off in about 1.3 seconds.

- have the most infectious smile and the sweetest laugh. You don't laugh all that much but when you do it's a belly laugh. Something has to be really funny to get you laughing.

- are ticklish.

- went through a phase where you didn't like to be thrown in the air anymore. You have since figured out that if you hold onto the person's thumbs you won't fly up and you like it again.

- eat mostly 3rd foods now and are working on expanding your menu to include more "grown up" food. You are good at feeding yourself with your fingers but are still figuring out the textures of foods. Alot of food gets spit out. (Aside from your baby food, you like bananas, shredded cheese, cheerios, puffs, teddy grahams, Gerber cheese curls, french fries (bad, I know), frozen peas, bread, turkey)

- drink water out of a sippy cup - the straw kind. You can't figure out that you have to tip the others up to get something out since you only have a bottle every once in awhile and never learned to hold it yourself. You will ONLY drink water out of it too. No juice or milk.

- feed Boomer cheerios (and the food you don't like) off the side of the highchair. You drop it over the side and then lean over to make sure he's eating it.

- played in the snow for the first time. It was SUPER cold outside so we had you bundled up and you could barely move. You didn't really enjoy it much.

- went to your first funeral. :( Your great-great-grandma Opal passed away.

- went through (are still going through?) separation anxiety. You don't like being left alone for even a second. We are working on that.

- are working on sleeping through the night. In conjunction with the separation anxiety thing you started sleeping HORRIBLY. We started a boot camp of sorts and it seems to be working.

- smack your lips and grind your teeth. The lip smacking is cute. The grinding of the teeth not so much.

- have 6 teeth (2 on bottom, 4 on top).

- are a flirt. You smile really big at new people and then lay your head down on mommy or daddy's shoulder and look up at them with puppy dog eyes.

- are CONSTANTLY on the move. I bet I say "Landon NO" at least 500 times a day.

- chew on everything. If it can go in your mouth, it will. Toys, hair, the arms on the couch, books, paper, dog food, dog poop (Yes, I said dog poop. Boomer pooped in the basement and Landon found it before I did. I almost yacked. I don't know that he actually swallowed any but it was sick nonetheless.), etc.

- crawl super fast.

- pull up on everything. You cruise along the couches and will transition from one piece of furniture to the next. You are slowly getting up the courage to try to stand alone. The other day you stood for about a second by yourself (I'm a bad mom and didn't write down the date!).

- went through a phase where you wouldn't even walk with us holding your fingers. You would just sit down. But, you seem to have gotten over that and will do it now.

- tear up the stairs when given the opportunity (or when not given one). We can't take our eyes off you in the basement or you will be halfway up the stairs (or all the way up - ask Daddy about that one...).

- are amazing. Simply amazing.

Mommy and Daddy love you bubba.

Spotlight on AdvoCare: Intro and Spark

2011-02-22T13:44:00.008-06:00

Last year, Matt and I both stepped back and looked at our bodies and our lifestyles and realized we weren't happy. We both know what we COULD look like and were getting discouraged that we didn't anymore. Obviously many factors play into why we look and feel differently (having a baby, getting older, having "big kid" jobs that leave less time to prepare healthy meals and work out, etc) but we both felt that something could be done. We tried just changing our eating habits but we weren't happy with the results. Just like everything in our world now, we wanted results fast and realized that just cutting out a few french fries here and there wasn't going to accomplish that.

So, back in October, started a new endeavour into the world of supplements and weight loss products by way of a company called AdvoCare.

We heard about the company through a friend who owns fitness facilities and is a personal trainer. He has been involved with AdvoCare for about two years and has not only seen the products do wonders for him and his family but has seen the great money-making potential the company offers.

Late one night we jumped in with both feet and a couple days later this showed up at our front door. (Not the adorable baby, just the products...)

(Sorry about the poor quality pictures - they are iPhone pics. Oh, and I don't even remember him looking like that!)

AdvoCare is a Christian-based company that was founded in 1993. It has taken off in many parts of the country but has just recently started to become popular in the Wichita area. The company was founded on the dream to create the world's finest nutritional products and use the direct-sell method to distribute them. While developing products they have signed many non-paid endorsers from various spectrums including Drew Brees (NFL), Michael W. Smith (recording artist), and Michael Redd (NBA). In fact, Drew Brees started using AdvoCare's products and became involved when he was a rookie and after seeing everything the products can do, approached the company about becoming the "face of AdvoCare". Last year (2009) when he played in the SuperBowl he personally purchased $5000 worth of Spark and Slam for both teams. (I'll get to those specific products shortly.)

AdvoCare makes many, many various health products that range from weight loss aides, to supplements, to vitamins, to muscle builders, to face care products. All of their products are reviewed by Medical and Science Advisory Boards. The people on these boards include various trainers, directors, and doctors affiliated with college and pro sports teams across the country. Even the doctor who invented TPN (intravenous nutrition) is on the board. The products are legit and there is something for everyone.

Obviously, as I mentioned, there is also a money making side to the business. Business is booming. Our friend just returned from AdvoCare's Success School (a weekend for people involved in the company to learn about products and about the company) and said that at the Success School before this one they had a couple thousand people attend. At this one a few months later, there were 7200. At the next one in August, they are anticipating having to turn people away because their facility only holds 8000 and 5400 tickets were sold before this session was even over. The people interested in making money with AdvoCare has grown exponentially and the business itself has grown from a $100 billion company to a $200 billion company in just the last year. A direct-sell company that refuses to sell it's products in a retail setting (i.e. GNC) doubling its profits in a recession in one year is amazing.

We tried the products and were impressed and decided for that reason we wanted to get involved and be able to offer those products to people around us. Go to our website (www.advocare.com/10099429) and look around. Each product has an in-depth description of the ingredients and potential benefits. There are also many other resources for you to look at, an introduction to the members of the boards, and other various components of the company for your viewing pleasure. :) Take a look and see what looks interesting to you. Let us know if you have any questions, would like to try a product, or would like to hear more about the business. We would be more than happy to sit down with you and answer any questions you might have or recommend products for your specific situation. And don't worry, we aren't pushy. :)

I'm going to try each week to do a "spotlight" on a specific product. I know most of you see us in real life and have probably already heard us talking about most of the products we like. But seeing as how I had a comment from someone in Tennessee the other day I really have no idea how many people read this blog and who I might be able to reach I figured I might be able to reach someone!

First up is my hands-down favorite product: Spark.

Spark is AdvoCare's number one seller. It is an energy drink that combines natural ingredients to give you a boost of energy without the crash later. It is amazing. I could list the ingredients for you and go on about what you can find for yourself on the website so I'll just tell you what I personally feel about it. I have never been one to believe in energy drinks. I thought they tasted gross and felt no differently after drinking one than I did before. I could drink a Mt. Dew and go to bed 30 minutes later and sleep like a baby (while you get the point of what I mean, whoever made up that saying obviously didn't have a baby...haha...). I drink coffee because I like the taste and not neceesarily because the caffeine does anything for me (although I do notice caffeine SLIGHTLY more these days...I guess I'm getting old!). I tried one of those 5 Hour Energy things once and after my heart felt like it was going to flutter out of my chest, I went to sleep and felt absolutely horrible when I woke up. So, long story short, I'm not your typical energy drink/caffeine lover. However, with that said, Spark does it for me. Seriously. Having a 10 month old, I still don't get enough sleep. He hasn't slept through the night since he was about 4 months old. I drink it in the morning and feel awake and alert the rest of the day - not a running-around-crazy-hyped-up feeling but just a subtle awakeness. I work nights. And stay home with L. So, on the first night I go back to work I am up with him all day and stay awake all night. I drink it on my way to work and most nights am able to be awake and alert all night. Before I found Spark, I would be ok until about 5 am and would have to take a break and go walk around the hospital to try to wake up or I would be falling asleep standing up. No joke. Anyway, I think it's great. It's filled with vitamins and minerals that are good for you. It only has 120mg of caffeine (which is less than an 8oz cup of coffee which has 200mg) but combined with B12 and the other ingredients, it works. Hands down, it is a great product. Check it out! We'd be happy to provide you with a sample if you'd like to try before you buy.

Spark comes in six flavors: pink lemonade, citrus, fruit punch, grape, cherry, and mandarin orange. It runs $22.95 for 14 servings (in packets) or $51.95 for 42 servings (in a canister).

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:06:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day from the Hobbs Family!!

I wanted to edit a picture and make a "Valentine" but don't have a picture editing software on my computer. So, that'll be my next purchase/download (whichever I need to do to get a good one). I was going to take pictures and actually mail Valentines this year since we didn't do Christmas cards but....didn't get around to that. And I know that by putting pictures on here and on Facebook, most of the people I would send the cards to will see the pictures anyway. So, I have a hard time justifying spending the money to print and send stuff. Oh well. Enjoy the Valentine pictures. (And, just so you know, taking pictures of a 10 month old by yourself is pretty difficult. It is definitely a 2 person (or 3 person) job!)

He's a "Potty" Boy

2011-02-04T15:29:00.006-06:00

I just uploaded some new pictures from my camera.

The camera sporting a super-cool new strap cover I made.

Too bad I forgot to take a picture before I put it back on the camera and am too lazy to take it off. (Wait, I did take a picture on my phone. I'll load that on here eventually...)

Here's Landon's new favorite thing to do. Imagine this picture complete with "lllllll" noises. The glass is disgusting but I figure I'll clean it when you can't see through it anymore since he'll just do it again.

We went to the park the other day when it was randomly 70+ degrees outside. We took a walk around the pond. L loved being outside. I don't blame him. It was gorgeous.

He did not, however, enjoy the swings. His face pretty much sums up how he felt about them. (And I promise his outfit matched when we arrived at the park. He had a little potty accident in the stroller and we had to change his pants.)

And, for the story that accompanies the post title.

The other night I turned on the bath and got L undressed. He stood up at the side of the tub and was so excited trying to reach the water coming out of the faucet.

I was watching him and he looked so darn cute I ran to get the camera. I snapped a couple pictures, looked down to view them on the camera, put the camera back up to my eye and this is what I saw.

He was PEEING!! All down the wall in front of the tub, on his bath toys, and all over the rug.

I guess that's what I get for trying to take a picture of his adorable little dimpled butt.

Random Thoughts

2011-01-26T14:43:00.007-06:00

My house is a wreck. But I don't really care. Is that bad? I guess my resolution of keeping the house in better order is starting off on a great foot. Haha. I seriously was just thinking about needing to make that schedule for cleaning certain rooms on certain days. I need to do laundry. But, the baby is asleep and our washing machine sounds like a 747 flying through a rainstorm so that's not an option. So for now it's in a huge pile in the living room. Our next house will have main floor laundry or I'm not buying it. I just found out my dad can watch L tomorrow after I get off work. Bonus. I was planning on having to take care of him until 11 when a friend said she could watch him for awhile. It'd be doable, but not ideal considering I've been up since 7:15 this morning and couldn't sleep when I tried to nap earlier. Hello Spark, coffee, and Diet Mountain Dew. My hair is really long. Like REALLY long. I'm tired of it. I kinda want to cut it all off and donate it. But, to do that you have to cut off 10 inches. That would take it from being REALLY long to REALLY short. I've had it really short in the past and liked it. Matt didn't. Although he didn't tell me that until my hair was long again. We'll see what I decide. Either way, it needs cut like yesterday. Hm, the preparing meals resolution has been going pretty well. Except this week when we don't have a single night at home during dinner time together. Guess that makes my job easy. Ha. Um, my other resolutions...journaling is going well and Matt is reading the Love Languages book right now. I'll read it again after he's done. I have been trying to spend more intentional time with Landon. That's probably the hardest. I get caught up doing other things and while I'm in the same room I'm not really spending TIME with him. And, his attention span is about as long as his nose and I run out of things to entertain him very quickly since he's not old enough for "activities" yet. I'm working on it. I've been working on getting him to stand alone. He's hard headed (wonder where he gets that from??). He knows what I'm doing and refuses to stand at all. Oh well, he'll get it when he's ready I guess. He got a new stuffed dog I named Ralph at Toys R Us. He smiled and laughed when I showed it to him so it ended up in the cart. Yep, I'm a pushover. I bought him a big boy carseat too. I hope it's a good one. I just stumbled on it and it was a super good deal (on clearance plus an additional 20% off). I think it's just last year's fabric style because it is exactly the same as the one that was on the regular shelf. It even rang up the regular price and I had to tell her it was wrong. It is currently in my trunk. I pretty much had to run and jump on it to get the box to fit in my trunk so I'm a little nervous to try to get it out. :) I'm sure I looked like an idiot but it was just the last inch or so I couldn't get it to slide in so I just pushed. Ha. I'm addicted to buying L pajamas. He's gotten like 6 new pairs in the last 2 weeks. Good thing he actually needed them because I just weeded through his and took out the ones we were squeezing him into still. I have 3 sewing projects I just bought fabric for. I'm making L a stocking to match ours. He had some random one this year that I just happened to have. Matt and I's are red or green with an off-white cuff and our intial. And, of course, the last 3 years since I bought ours Target has carried them and they didn't this year. So, I'll attempt to make one. I guess if it's a total failure I'll just get him a different one next year or buy all new ones. I'm also making a crib rail guard for his crib. He has lovingly left bite marks all over his. People keep telling me I'll "cherish" them later and maybe I will but for now I'm just upset because I knew he would do it and put off making/buying something to protect it. I just see dollar signs because it was expensive. Oh well. Such is life. I'm also making camera strap covers for my mom and I. We ended up buying the exact same camera so to tell them apart we need covers. Plus, they're just cute and the strap is super ugly. Ha. Hopefully I can figure all those out because I have no idea what I am doing and have completed exactly 2 projects on the sewing machine in my life. The first being an apron for my grandma when I was like 8 and the last being the quilt I made for L. Which, come to think of it, I don't even know where that is. Hm. Boot Camp: Sleep is going pretty well. We are still making him wait to eat until 4 am and most nights he doesn't wake up till then and will sleep till 7:30ish. He doesn't fight going to sleep at bedtime. I still nurse him before bed. I know I'll have to eventually stop that but for now, it works. Going to sleep at nap time usually goes good. Sometimes he will just roll over and go to sleep without a peep and sometimes will cry for about 5 minutes until I go in and lay him back down and he'll go to sleep then. Eventually I'd like him to lay himself back down but baby steps. Right now he will stand up and cry and cry and you go in there and he has his arm slung over the rail and is leaning on it practially asleep but won't lay back down. :) He'll get it eventually. Sleep is a MUCH happier topic at our house now though. I'm thankful for that.
I'll leave you with Landon's 9 month pictures by Rebecca. We were excited when he slept the whole way to Newton to her house where we took them because we thought the timing would be perfect. He had other ideas. He tolerated the process for about 20 minutes and then lost it. Screaming, throwing himself on the floor, refusing to be put down, the whole bit. It was like a repeat of our newborn photo shoot only louder. So, on top of refusing to sit still because he wanted to crawl across the floor when he was happy we were trying to console an out of control baby and get a few decent pictures at the same time. I even took him and fed him to see if that was his problem. (It wasn't.) All things considered, we got some good ones. Not as many as normal but enough.

He was happy when he was in the sweater vest outfit. Hence the larger number of those...

Looks so innocent doesn't he? He's a good actor...

His pictures were taken in front of a brownish wall. She edited in the gray polka dot background. Pretty sweet, I think.

Mmmm, blocks...

He has perfected the "sly smile" as Matt calls it.

Then we changed clothes and it all went downhill from there... :(

We wanted to get a couple family pictures since we had started the whole "family pictures every 3 months thing". We picked a Shockers theme this time. Apparently L didn't care about family pictures. (Oh, and this picture shows how ridiculously long my hair is.)

Sleep Intervention

2011-01-21T17:05:00.004-06:00

I thought I'd tell the story of the sleep intervention in progress in our house (mainly so I remember...). So beware...this will probably be extremely boring for you!

The back story: Landon has always been a fairly good sleeper. We learned early on that he needed an early bedtime and he now consistently goes to bed at 8pm. (Maybe a little too consistently because he will rarely stay happy past then, even when we want him to stay up later.) We started the whole "bedtime routine" early on as well: bath, lotion, jammies, rock, eat, bed. I don't remember exactly when without looking but at just a couple months old he would sleep up to 11 straight hours at night. That made for one happy (and rested) mommy (and daddy). He didn't always sleep that long but I could count on him sleeping from about 8 until maybe 4 or 5 and then going back to sleep until 7 or 8.
During nap times he sleeps about an hour twice (or maybe three times) a day. He has always slept just about an hour after he got past the sleep-all-the-time infant stage. I used to be able to just lay him in his crib, cover him up, give him a paci and he would fall asleep on his own. I'm not sure when he stopped that but he got to the point that he had to be rocked to sleep for naps. I didn't mind.
So, all in all, a good sleeper. Then, the teeth started (or I think that's what started it). He started waking up more and more. Mostly just because he wanted his pacifier but it slowly escalated to where we were about a week ago. He would sleep until sometime between midnight and 1 and then be awake at least every hour. You had to rock him to sleep and as soon as you would move he would wake up. A lot of times I had to feed him to get him to sleep. (Yes, I am still breastfeeding and yes, he still eats at night. He usually wants to at some point during the night and then about 6am. I realize now that even though he acts like he wants it, it is just because he is in the habit of eating and not because he's necessarily hungry. He's 9 months old for crying out loud. He should be able to make it all night.) It got to the point that he wouldn't sleep unless he was being held. Most nights I ended up bringing him into bed or bringing him to the couch so I could get some sleep.

So...

After posting about my woes on Facebook on Monday (1/17) a lot of people said it sounded like separation anxiety and probably the only way to get him to sleep would be to let him "cry it out" and learn to put himself back to sleep at night. But, first we had to teach him to put himself to sleep in the first place. The separation anxiety "diagnosis" made sense because he is definitely at the stage where he doesn't want to be by himself. If he sees me turn my back and start to walk away he will cry. If I leave the room even for a second he cries and starts crawling after me. Just a stage, I know but it makes sense that he would feel that way when waking up at night and that's why he just wanted to be held. I did some research and what I found was exactly what my friends were saying so I decided to take their advice and being an "intervention" right then.

Monday:
I got all my info before L's first nap so I took him to his room, laid him down, gave him his paci and stood by his crib shhhing him and stroking his cheek. He screamed, rolled over, stood up, and screamed some more. I don't remember exactly how long it took but I kept laying him down and finally he fell asleep. It wasn't too bad so I thought this might not be too hard to figure out. Nap 2: far worse than nap 1. I was in tears along with him but he finally fell asleep laying down instead of being rocked. Bedtime: It took about 20 minutes of laying him down, stroking his cheek, head, talking to him, singing, and shhhhing (which he really does like) to get him to sleep. He threw up once so I picked him up for a minute to calm him down a little bit. He just laid his head on my shoulder and relaxed. Not too horrible for totally changing his routine on him. During the night: All the screaming must have worn him out because he slept fairly well. He woke up once and when I went in he was all scrunched at the top of his crib so I pulled him down and he went back to sleep. He woke up again about 2 and it took 45 minutes to get him to sleep. Not too shabby. I didn't even have to feed him that night until about 6 I think.

Tuesday:
Nap 1: about 20 minutes of fighting. Nap 2: about the same story. This nap lasted about 30 minutes and he wouldn't go back to sleep. Bedtime: Matt was going to go out with his friend and since the night before had taken awhile I wanted him to be there to help if needed. I fed him, laid him down and he cried about twice and was out. I was incredibly surprised. He was sleeping restlessly and kept crying out. I had to go give him a pacifier several times before I went to bed. He woke up about 1:30 and we fought with him until 3. He was up and down, crying, walking from one end of his crib to the other. We'd lay him down, he'd get right back up. We'd rub his cheek, he'd lay for a second and then get back up. I tried and Matt tried. The only thing that would calm him down for a minute was his glow worm. Even picking him up just made him cry more. I ended up sitting on the hallway floor crying. Matt finally told me to go to bed and he stayed in with him until he finally got him to sleep. We was back in bed for a few minutes when L woke back up again. I got him to sleep rather quickly and he slept until 6:45. I fed him and he slept till 9:30am.

Wednesday:
After sleeping until 9:30 his nap schedule was a little off. For nap 1 he fought for probably 15 minutes and finally went down. Between naps I decided to change our tactics a bit and instead of staying in the room to just laying him down and leaving for a few minutes so he wouldn't just switch from needing to be held to needing to have one fo us standing by his crib. For nap 2 I think I fed him beforehand so he was really drowsy when I laid him down and didn't fight at all. I worked that night so Matt was home alone. He said that he fed him and laid him down, he cried for about 5 minutes, went back in and laid him down, cried for a minute and didn't hear anything out of him until 3:15am. He went in and laid him down and he cried for a second and went back to sleep. He woke back up at 4 and Matt fed him and he slept till 7:30. (We decided that for a little while we would feed him if he woke up after 4 since he is used to eating about 2 or so. In a few days we will move it to 5 and so on to hopefully get him to not need to eat during the night.)

Thursday:
Matt had a snow day so I got to sleep! He tried to put L down for a nap while I was asleep but since he was just crying Matt decided to keep him up till I got up. The first nap went well. I laid him down and he cried for 5 minutes. Laid him back down and he went to sleep. The second nap didn't go quite as well. It took 2 5 minute periods of crying to get to sleep. For bedtime I fed him, laid him down and he rolled to his side and went to sleep. Just a couple cries. He woke up at 4 so I fed him and he slept till 7. I fed him again when he started pulling at my shirt and he fell asleep while eating so I laid him back down and he woke up at 9am. He's never slept that late before and he did it twice in a row now. He must be wearing himself out crying to go to sleep. :)

Friday:
Again, since he slept till 9, his nap schedule was interesting. He didn't take his first one till about noon. He cried for couple minutes, I laid him back down and he rolled over and went to sleep. Nap 2 coincided with him being hungry to he fell asleep eating and I didn't have the heart to try to wake him up to lay him down so I just laid him down sleeping. For bedtime I fed him and laid him down with his eyes wide open. He just rolled to his side and I walked out fully expecting him to start crying but he didn't. It's now almost 10 and he just woke up crying. I went up there and he had somehow turned on his glow worm. I don't know if that's why he woke up or if he did it after he woke up. Hopefully tonight goes well!