Poor Landon

Landon is teething so bad. His top 2 teeth and lower left tooth are coming in at the same.exact.time. Thinking back to Adalyn teething, I have never saw gums this swollen and white like Landon's. He is in a lot of pain and truthfully, his top gums make me cringe when I look at it. That is, if he even lets me near his mouth. The past week and a half he has not been sleeping good. At all. Up atleast twice during the night and his naps aren't great either. Normally we would let him cry it out if it were during the night but we know he is hurting so we are taking turns rocking him for 10-20 minutes or so. But as soon as those pearly whites break the skin, you better believe he will figure out how to go to sleep without momma or daddy! He has all of the "normal" symptoms of teething. Low fever, runny nose(just started this morning for both), fussy, cranky, wants to be held, not sleeping, etc etc. Adam and I feel so bad for him. We know his mouth is killing him and his paci is his best friend right now. I wish I could get a picture at how swollen his upper gums are. I can even see the line for both teeth where its about to break through. He hasn't let me get a lot accomplished around the house. He has been very needy lately. I sure hope these teeth break the skin soon. Casey is graduating Saturday and I would like Landon to be on his best behavior during his looong ceremony. We shall see! Atleast we get to see Christopher and Brandy this weekend. We are so excited!

Sunday afternoon

After church Adalyn went home with my parents to stay the night and Adam and I headed home with Landon in tow to eat lunch and relax. I decided I would make use of my free time and head to Wal-Mart to buy groceries. I left the boys and they were fixing to nap. When I made it back, they were just getting up so I fed Landon and we packed up and headed to mom and dad's for dinner. My mom had sent me a picture of Adalyn and granddaddy swimming so I knew what she had been up to after she woke up from her nap! Believe it or not, she doesn't have a bathing suit for the summer yet. Shocking, I know. She can barely wear her 3T clothes and is already in 4T so it looks like she may have to try one on before I buy her one. So, a pair of Minnie Mouse panties and orange floaties worked out just fine. Who needs a bathing suit? When we got there, Adam changed into his bathsuit and he also put Landon in his. This was Landon's first expierence in the swimming pool and he loved it just as I knew he would. He absolutely loves taking a bath. He would splash for hours in the tub if we let him. We are doing a Mommy and Me swim class in July so I know he will enjoy it!

After swimming for a bit, we all went inside to a huge dinner my mom had cooked. My granddaddy ate with us too. Landon was really loud at dinner so i put a pile of shredded cheese on his tray and that hushed him up for a bit. Adalyn is such a picky eater I really hope Landon is the complete opposite. A while later, momma and Adalyn took Singer on a walk. This is one of adalyn's favorite things to do because she gets to hold the leash. Well, Singer saw a rabbit, (aka Thumper as we later named it) and took off...with Adalyn still holding the leash. Poor baby got stratched up pretty good. Her 2 fingers were bleeding, her hip, elbow, and a little bit of her thigh. After some lovin' and bandaids, she was good to go. Adam and I left a little bit later. Got home, put Landon to sleep and then we went to bed ourselves.

8 Months Old

I feel like I just had Landon yesterday! Has 8 months really gone by? It has been the fastest 8 months to date I do believe. I can't believe we only have 4 more months until we celebrate his 1st birthday! AND only 4 more months of nursing left- Thank goodness! ha. My little, wait, I mean big, 8 month old is without a doubt the happiest baby known to man. Easiest, too. I don't know if it's because he is a boy (which from what I can tell are more laid back) or the fact that he has Adam's personality, or maybe it's because he's our second child. Whatever it is, I am so very thankful. Having a 2 1/2 year old and a baby to yourself everyday can be tough and oh.so.tiring. Luckily, Adalyn listens pretty good considering she is a toddler and as I mentioned Landon is super easy so it hasn't been as bad as told myself it would be before I had him. They are both such joys! Here is our 8 month old baby boy!

He has 3 teeth, working on his 4th. He has the loudest squeal I do believe I have ever heard. He just gets so excited. He is finally crawling! Or, scooting. For weeks he has been on all 4's rocking back and forth but couldn't figure out he needed to use his arms to get him anywhere. As of Monday evening, May 14, he figured out what his arms are good for. Taking his picture is becoming more and more difficult as the days go by. It was so easy to just plop him down. Now, he'd rather do this...

As soon as I sit him down, he automatically gets in his crawling position to take off. I totally forgot how quick they can be.

I am giving him new snacks throughout the day. So far he has had bites of watermelon, peeled and diced grapes, and shredded cheese. The watermelon made his body shake a little so we will try more later on. He likes grapes ok but just as I expected, loves cheese. He had some in both hands yesterday and was going back and forth eating it as fast as he could. He's been having some pooping issues lately so we have been giving him prunes which seem to help. It's amazing how you care so much about what your child's poop looks like, so im giving him prunes until Im satisfied with the looks of it. ha. He isn't wanting to stay in his excersaucer long anymore so I have a feeling trapping him in a toy is coming to an end. Which is fine. He adores Adalyn with everything hes got. She makes him belly laugh all the time and I can show him a picture of her on my phone and his sweet face just lights up with excitement. I cannot believe my little 8 lb 5.9 oz baby is now 8 months old and weighing a little over 20 lbs. Growing like a weed!

Friday

We had a busy Friday morning. After Landon woke up from his nap, I fed him and then we got ready to run some errands. Our first stop was the funeral home to visit with Gina for a bit. Landon sat on her lap the whole time chewing on whatever he could get in his hands and Adalyn ate some Dove chocolate and a peppermint. Once we left we paid the gas bill then I toted the kids into Wal Mart. I had to buy shirts and some more veggies for Landon so I mentally prepared myself by giving myself a pep talk.(basically put your big girl panties on and just do it) A busy 2 1/2 year old and a very very busy 7 1/2 month old in Wal-Mart with no extra set of hands can be, um, difficult. Before we went inside I had a serious talk with Adalyn about how I needed her to act and how she needed to listen to me. She said "yes mam" so off we went. Wouldn't you know the buggy cart cover was in Adam's tahoe so I made sure I disinfected the buggy the best I could before I sat Landon down. I put Adalyn in the big part and started my shopping. I knew before we even went inside that she would ask to go to the bathroom so I tried to hurry to get what I needed. As soon as I started digging through shirts, she informed me that she needed to go "quick". Thankfully I had found all the sizes of shirts I needed so I took her to the bathroom. As I was walking there I was thinking to myself, "now what in the world am I going to do with Landon while I help her?" I knew I couldnt roll my buggy in the bathroom and I wasn't about to put him on that nasty floor. i figured I would just have to wing it and figure it out. (like most other things I have had to do with having 2 kids) I take her to the handicap stall so we would have more room and as soon as I opened the door I just started laughing. I knew exactly what it was I was seeing. I am sure many other people have seen and used this before so I know Im probably behind but I do believe this is one of the best inventions YET.

Do you see the excitement on this kids face? I'm pretty sure he was thankful for that seat instead of that germ infested floor. That little seat was a lifesaver! Adalyn did her business and then we checked out and left. Both kids fell asleep on the way home. It was around noon so I knew they were getting tired since they nap at 1:00. I had to wake them up so Adalyn could eat and I could feed Landon. They both slept the afternoon away and I watched Grey's Anatomy, did P90X, and relaxed. Oh, I do need to add... believe it or not, at 7 1/2 months, that day was the 1st time I had ever put shoes on landon! Crazy I know! In the winter we just kept socks on him and ever since its been warm we keep him barefoot. I think bare feet with his little outfits are adorable. Anyway, this was a milestone so I needed to document him rockin his stride rite sandals!

He is just too cute.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday was such a sweet day. I celebrated Mother's Day with my two beautiful babies!! Last Wednesday at church Adalyn made me a towel for Mother's Day with her handprint on it.

She was so excited to give it to me. As soon as she saw me, her face lit up and as she handed me my hand towel, she said, "Happy Mother's Day!" I had the biggest smile on my face. She was so proud of her towel and all of her little arts and crafts she makes at Church seriously just make me melt. Anyway, yesterday morning I woke up to beautiful flowers and lots of candles and Air Wick plug ins! I couldnt really think of anything I needed or wanted and I Love for my house to smell good. I hate spending the money on those Air Wick refills all the time so I figured I would ask for smelly good stuff for Mother's Day! (One of my new candles is burning as I type this. Mmmm.)After Adalyn brought me my gifts, we got ourselves ready for Church. We had Welcome Center and Nursery so we had to be there earlier than normal. After church we went to Food Lion to pick up some ice cream then headed to Hillsboro to my Grandparents house for the afternoon. We had KFC, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and biscuts. For dessert, cake, brownies, and ice cream. YUM. We all stuffed ourselves then headed outside to plant flowers.I put Landon down for a nap and then I joined them to take pictures. Every year my parents and uncle and aunt always bought my Grandmother flowers for Mother's Day as well as her birthday since they always fell so close together. Even though she wasnt with us yesterday, we continued the tradition of planting beautiful flowers for her anyway.

After planting flowers, we all came back inside. It was pretty chilly and the wind was crazy! My mom and I took Adalyn upstairs for a nap. We all 3 climbed into bed, red 1 book, sang about 4 songs, and Adalyn was passed out. My mom got up but I decided to nap with her.When I got up, I went downstairs to feed Landon and then we woke Adalyn up so we could meet Jerry and Nancy at Cracker Barrell for dinner. Here are a few special pictures from that afternoon. This one is my favorite from the day. I cannot even begin to describe the love I have for my precious babies. I am beyond blessed to be their mother. I am SO very proud of the children Adam and I have and thank God for picking ME to be their mother.

If this picture doesn't scream "me", I don't know what would! haha! My mini me!

Once we got to Cracker Barrell there was a 30 minute wait which probably turned into an hour wait. Normally I would have dreaded the long wait b/c when you have a 2 1/2 year old and a baby to keep entertained for that long at a resturant, it can get a little overwhelming. The kids must have known it was Mother's Day because they were SO well behaved!

We hung outside the majority of the time and then I took Adalyn inside so she could play with all the toys. We came across a doll house that kept for entertained for the rest of the time until they called our name. Dinner was delicious. I was still full from lunch so I just had a side salad and a side order of hashbrown casserole. Adalyn ate a lot of bacon and some biscuts and Landon ate sweet potatoes, Mum-Mums, and puffs.

When we got home, we got the kids in bed. We were all wore out from the day. Adalyn woke up at 6:00 AM this morning. She is now getting out of her bed by herself (ugh) now and normally just walks right in to our room inthe mornings. SHe normally gets up around 6:30 so 6 was really early for her. She came in and told us she had gone pee pee. We still put a diaper on her at night (but panties the rest of the time) so to our surprise she had taken her diaper off and just pulled her pajamas pants back up. She even brought the diaper into our bedroom just to show me she woke up dry. :) She is mighty proud of herself! I had a wonderful Mother's Day and was able to spend it with all of our loved ones. Thank you Momma and Nancy for being such awesome mothers and grandmothers to us!

Just a swingin'

Yesterday was the 1st time Landon expirenced a swing! I don't know why we hadn't put him in the swing before now. He absolutely loved it! I was a little worried about how Adalyn would react to him swinging in "her" swing but she actually was so excited for him and loved pushing him. He giggled just about the entire time.

Happy Birthday Grandmother

Today is a bitter sweet day for me. Today is my Grandmother's birthday. It's the 1st birthday we have not celebrated with her for (my) 25 years. She passed away in November and there is not a single day that goes by that I don't think about her. I have picked up my phone only 1 time (so far) to call her until I realized I couldn't. We all miss her so very much. Happy Birthday Grandmother! These pictures are from her birthday last year

A day at the ball fields

Autumn had a fastpitch tournament in Manchester this weekend! That means we spent our Saturday at the softball fields. Oh the memories that brought back. I spent the majority of my life playing ball. You never realize how much you miss something until you re-live it again. Autumn reminds me so much of myself at her age. She is the catcher and so was I. She did an AWESOME job and we loved watching her. Check her out batting!

It was SO hot but thank goodness we had a big tent to sit under. Adalyn had a blast the entire day. Landon played with his toys and napped in his stroller. In between games we took Adalyn to the playground for a while. She got a little sunburnt because I forgot to put sunscreen on her. Once we realized she was red, we then put it on her. ha. Better late than never.

Granddaddy came to watch Autumn, too!

During the 2nd game, we left. Adalyn was starting to get cranky since it was way past her nap time and I needed to feed Landon. We didn't make it pass the square before Adalyn passed out. When we got home, Adam put her to bed, I fed Landon, then I went back to watch their last game. She did a great job!

An Adalyn Update

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks of some serious potty training for Adalyn! She has wore big girl panties all day, every day. The first few days of our "serious" training I would put a diaper on her when we would go outside to play then take it off once we got back inside. Now, no more diaper when we play outside! I always make her go before we go out and play. There have been a few days where she tells me she needs to go "quick" (she says) so I stroll Landon into the garage and Adalyn and I run inside to the bathroom. I still put a diaper on her for her naps and bedtime, but she is waking up dry! (the majority of the time) I think I mentioned in another blog about the gummies she gets when she uses the potty. Let me just tell you, she has eaten A LOT! But, if it's working, Ill buy 100 more boxes for her.(that's a lot cheaper than a box of Pampers!) As soon as she wakes up in the morning she pees and then she does again about 4-5 more times before 10:00 AM if I had to guess. Who knew someone could pee so much!? She is awfully proud of her "big girl panties" too. She loves to show them off. One day I told her to come here so I could put her underwear on. OH MY. You would have thought I had 3 eyes. She looked at me and said, "I not wear underwear! I wear big girl panties! Daddy wears underwear." HA HA HA. Oh i just laughed and laughed. So now I have to watch what i say and make sure I speak correctly around her when it comes to her clothing. :) As great as she is doing with using the potty, she sure does pick the most inconvient times to go. When I sit down to nurse Landon, trying to put Landon to sleep, and trying to put her to sleep, etc. She goes by herself most of the time but she normally gets sidetracked once she gets in the bathroom and decides her hands are dirty so she washes them and THEN she sits down to pee. We are trying to teach her that the bathroom is not a place to play. Do your business and get out! I can just about say that my little girl is (almost) potty trained. Wow. What an adventure this process has been! It's still a work in progress, but she is just about there. Today we decided she was ready to wear her panties to church! Any amount of traveling we did, we always would slip a diaper on just in case! But we felt like today was a good time to stat wearing panties "out and about". My mom got her from church today and told me that she has been dry all day. Within this 2 week process, she has not had an accident in her panties at all. She did poop in her diaper once while we were outside playing, and the occassional wet diaper from napping, but other than that, dry as a whistle! So in 2 weeks, I have changed ONE poopy diaper! I obviously change a couple from Landon everyday but not from Adalyn! Since today was a "big" day for Adalyn, (wearing panties to Church) I thought we should document it by taking her picture and blogging about her success thus far!