Before bedtime fun

Getting a relaxing rub before bed.

James is hoping Landon falls asleep there with him...

Where did Landon go?

James tries to get out all of Landon's extra energy before bed.

James opened a bag of microwave popcorn and Landon, who was literally falling asleep in his jumper, went crazy!

James thought it was hilarious.

Silly stuff

Hi there!
Ahhhhhhhh!

Can you see his teeth? I love how silly this kid is!

Mouth Fun

Once tooth #2 came out, he started doing this with his tounge. So funny.

James taught Landon how to stick out his tounge.

Singing songs

Ahhhhhhhhhhh! (That is Landon's favorite noise to make)

Old McDonald Had a Farm...

E I E I Ooooooooo!

And on this farm he had a LANDON!

E I E I Ooooooooooo!

With a WAH, WAH here and a WAH, WAH there

here a WAH, there a WAH everywhere a WAH, WAH!

Practicing walking.

The Beat Down song...

The Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song.

I am impressed that he knows this song as well as he does...

We just started singing songs like this to him all the time. It has been really great when he doesn't want to eat. James will sing and it distracts him from crying and he eats. James and I have been in the nursery several times, so we know lots of fun songs from that time spent in the nursery. Landon loves it when we sing and sometimes he even bobs to the music.

Landon loves his shadow

Cheesing at the camera.

Landon has discovered his shadow in the last month and you can see him watching his shadow while he jumps. Love to watch him discover new things!

Standing already

Standing/leaning on the stairs.
Sitting on the stairs.

Standing holding onto the couch.

Excuse my sick-i-ness and bed head. Landon loves to stand now. He wants to stand all the time and sometimes, when we need him to sit (like in his chair to eat), we have to bend him ourselves at his waist. Trust me, he is a strong kid!

Okay, this bed head is really bad, but hey, that is life. James was setting up my quilting rack (our home made one) and I was entertaining Landon by the stairs (we don't have a lot of room in the living room with the quilt rack set up). Well, I sat him on the bottom stair and he sat there by himself for several minutes just hanging out. Taking in the new view and loving every second of his new independence. Then he just decides to stand up. Luckily, he is tall enough that when he did, his butt was right there and he balanced himself by leaning his bottom on the stair behind him. So, we decided to let him just hang out by balancing himself by standing and leaning. He is really excited in this video, so you don't get the full effect. We have also been teaching him to walk back and forth from James to me and back. He thinks it is so fun. He is funny though because when he is done, he just dives his entire body at the place he wants to be... Makes me laugh.

Sick Momma, sick Baby

Daddy can always get the smiles!
I was sick laying on the couch and he was sick laying on the floor. I looked down and couldn't resist taking a picture. For a sick kid, Landon is still so sweet. Yes, I may be sleep deprived and he may not want me to be more than a foot away from him, but he is a wonderful child.

A few weekends ago I got either a flu, or something else, but I was miserable and weak and pathetic and Landon was still having a hard time with tooth #2. James had to work Sunday night and I was really stressed out that I wouldn't be able to take care of him and Auntie Candy doesn't live in Virginia anymore... and I couldn't get any help... But, when it came time for him to leave, I magically had the energy that I needed to get through the evening. (Thank you Heavenly Father) I also decided that bouncing him to sleep on the exercise ball for naps and bed time has gotten a little ridiculous. He is not the best sleeper regardless of the swaddle, the Binky and the bouncing. And some naps I bounce for a half hour and he only sleeps for 10-15 minutes. So, I decided that it is time for him to learn to self sooth. And hey, maybe this is why I got sick... When James left, it was nap time and he hadn't fallen to sleep yet. So I went in and started the soothing, but not pick up techniques. A half hour later, I was about to pass out and said a little prayer and I swear as soon as I was done, he went to sleep. I spent the same half hour doing it and he actually slept for almost 40 minutes. Since then, I have been keeping it up and our little boy is doing great at it. He still isn't the best sleeper, but he is now learning to put himself back to sleep and that is half the battle!

Check out those abs! Man, I wish my stomach looked like that!

Landon fell asleep playing on the floor for the first time ever and on his tummy no less! He now takes naps on his tummy! I think that we almost have the hernia problem conquered! Don't you love that little whimper?

Worlds Strictest Parents

My sister-in-law is really good friends with a gal that did a reality t.v. show for BBC network. She basically let two out of control teens come in and live with her family for about a week. It is such a wonderful experience to watch. This is the first "Mormon" on a reality TV show that really knows their religious values and showed them properly to the world. She says later that at first she and her husband said no, that was crazy. But then they prayed about it and realized that Heavenly Father had different plans. I hope that you choose to watch. It is an hour long show broken up into 6 parts. Be careful with children around because not all of the cuss words were bleeped out, (they are heavily accented, so it might not be caught by children).

Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W3bNbADF0E&feature=related

Here is a note from the woman, Nicholeen, in the video:

Important! There are six parts. Watch starting with part one. Also, this show has already made a huge impact on many people around the world. Comments are flying in. I see even more clearly now how this show is supposed to strengthen families around the world. PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR. Twitter or Email this link to all your friends and family. Pass it around a lot. It is doing so much good already for so many families, I know this show has potential to make great change in the world. And, if you like the show comment on YouTube and other blogs etc.

I will be posting other information about the other 179 hours of film footage on my blog. It is amazing to know that they took all that footage and made such a great program. However there were a few things I wished they would have put in.

Enjoy it! ~Nicholeen

Here is Nicholeen's blog address:

http://teachingselfgovernment.com

I was able to listen to a talk that Nicholeen gave and it really was fabulous! I now follow her blog and think that she has great advice to parents. Enjoy!

Bath chair changes

Love the faces he makes after James pours water over his head.
What a face!

It seems like Landon's favorite part of playing with his bath toys is collecting them from the water. He is getting pretty good at it too!

Gotta get the baby butt crack in there!

Well, Landon is almost too big for his lounge chair so we decided to try out the sitting chair that James's sister gave us. He seemed to like it fine. He likes to sit up in the tub because he has more control over getting toys that way. We shall see how this works out. I am not the biggest fan just because it is hard to stand him up to get him all clean by myself. If James is there it is fine, but I also feel silly getting him out just to put him back in, so we save the soapy suddy cleaning until he is done playing... For playing it is awesome. Am I doing something wrong?

The days of our lives

Wearing big boy clothes from Auntie Candy!

(sorry about the drool, I hate bibs...)

He just started laying like this when he gets tired. I would love it if he could nap without being swaddled, but so far, he just chills out with his head down... really cute though.

Landon watching me eat my breakfast.

Someone loves Elmo!

More Elmo love.

Last week I worked a lot, but no sewing, so it was a nice week. I did most of my work during nap time and we were able to have fun during wake time. I really hated it during those three weeks that I was stressed out and working 24/7. I don't know how you working moms do it.

Landon has two favorite television shows. Sesame Street (mostly when Elmo is on), and Super Why! So fun to see him watch them and get interested. Especially when he just leans over in the jumper station. Hilarious. Keep trying to get a picture of it, but it doesn't capture the whole body language...

Landon is still loving food. He has now gone through sweet potatoes, carrots (can't tell which one is his favorite) and squash. Squash doesn't keep his interest as long. It is amazing how once they start eating real food the amount of diapers you go through is significantly less.

Not too much exciting stuff going on. Had a craft show yesterday. It was okay. I didn't realize that it was the first one this school has ever done. You could really tell, it was not very well organized. Oh well, we did good and that is all that matters. Hope that the next and last one is awesome though. Landon did good. The kids wanted to hold him the entire time and I was trying not to freak out about it. They kept touching his hands which went right in his mouth and kissing all over his face and throwing him up in the air and bouncing him... Man, I was so glad when it was over and we could leave. He got way over stimulated so last night was interesting...

My co-worker and great friend Anne came and had dinner with us Friday night. We made our home made burritos for my belated birthday dinner. I think that Landon is having a hard time with the beans though... If I have to, I can wait another 6 months before having burritos again.

Last Sunday

Practicing crawling
Don't know what is up with the crotch grabbing...

Cheesing at Daddy

Smiles for Mommy

If he moves fast enough, maybe he can get the water bottle???

Last Sunday we did a little photo shoot in the rocking chair. He is sitting so well now I forget that he is still a baby, especially when he wears cute outfits that make him look like a little boy. Then James went off to work and we hung out. He had a ton of fun playing on the ground so I tried to help train his body into the crawling position. Later he started doing this... not sure if it is swimming in place or what... so funny. He loves my water bottle. Of all his toys, I think that is what is going to get him to crawl.

Election Day

Gimme Gimme!


Look at those grins!

We had our election day last week and when we went to go vote, they had James at the new location but not me. While I was trying to figure out where they had me, James walked around the gym (they have all the voting at the elementary schools in the city). Hanging from a very low basketball hoop (again we were at an elementary school) I say low because James is so tall, was a flashy Halloween decoration. James walked by it and before he could blink Landon grabbed and ripped off one of the flashy pumpkins. I wish I had been there to see James's face because his re-enactment was hilarious! He looked around quickly to make sure no one saw and shoved it in his pocket. I still laugh to see his face telling me the story. Landon is a quick little guy with an enormous wing span!

Just a quick comment on the election... one of the candidates was a major mud slinger. The other candidate did not sink to his level. With all the mud slinging in all political elections today, I was so impressed. Well, it turns out the mudslinger lost by a land slide. Yay for non-mudslingers!

Tooth #2

I can see it... it is right next to tooth #1!