Four Generations...

Here is our "four generation" picture, taken on Saturday, June 24. Grandpa Earl on the left, and Great-Grandpa Alex on the right.

Getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa were so impressed with Isabel's Bumbo that they decided to get one for Landon too!! We picked it up today, as well as some "Baby Banz" sunglasses for the lake next week. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!

He is already loving the Bumbo as we can set him in front of the window and he can watch the trees ... one of his favourite activities :-)

Playing with Feet can be so much FUN

Landon is happily playing with his feet, everytime he remembers how to reach them that is!! Here are a couple of shots from him playing with his feet today (June 29).

Playing on the deck with Dad

Landon was having fun playing with John on the deck yesterday. He can't seem to always remember how to laugh out loud yet, but his wide open mouth is a sure sign that he's having lots of fun!! And we love that hat, too!!

Here's Landon's cousins...

Here are pictures of Landon playing with his cousins. He enjoyed his visit with his cousin Brian very much, even laughing for him :-) And Landon & Isabel played together on the floor. You can tell Landon's excited as his arms are out to the sides waving around! LOL

Busy Busy Week!!

We have had quite a busy week! Last Wed evening, Uncle Rob, Aunty Liz and the kids arrived. Landon wasn't quite sure what the heck to make of it all ... he went to sleep in a quiet, peaceful house; he woke up to pandemonium!! He stared a lot, and made strange a bit (he did NOT like Uncle Rob at all!). But Liz and Rob did lots of visiting over the next couple of days, so Landon got to enjoy some quiet house every now and again. He wasn't sure about Thomson, but he liked Isabel - I guess she's closer to his size :-)

Liz and Rob left on Friday, but then Grandma and Grandpa arrived. There was no making strange there ... Landon had big gummy smiles for both Grandma and Grandpa right away. Maybe he remembered all of the songs that Grandma sang to him when he was only weeks old. In any case, he decided that he would show off on Friday night and learn how to laugh! My cheeks were so sore from smiling and laughing at him, and he would just keep right on laughing!!!! He laughed from 10 pm until 1 am. I didn't even have to play with him ... he was just kicking and laughing and enjoying himself. I laid in bed dozing off beside him until he was finally sleepy, then he nursed a bit and we went to sleep. What a munchkin ... it was pretty darned cute!

Saturday was a big anniversary celebration for my great aunt and uncle Beatrice and Dave. Landon was a pretty popular boy, but he managed to sleep through most of it!! He slept through the program in the afternoon (2 hours), and then had a good sleep just before dinner as well. He must've been super tired because Grandma and I came home, gave him a bath, and he slept from midnight until 9:30, with only one quick meal at ~5 am. That was the best sleep I've had for weeks! Fantastic!!

Sunday, we had brunch with Great Grandpa Leisle and Eileen ... he was very good in the restaurant. We walked around a bit when he got sleepy (he had only a 20 minute nap on the way to brunch so he was a bit sleepy), but he wasn't too grumpy at all. We made up for it with a 3-hour nap in the afternoon before heading over to John's Uncle Neville's for dinner. That was fun too ... he really liked the new chocolate lab puppy (Zoey). He even got a facewash from Zoey!

Finally on Monday we sent all of our company home and had some time to ourselves. We went to a movie (Click -- don't bother), and I did some shopping. I realized as I was buying nursing tops that he'll be starting solids in only 2 months! aiaiaiaiai...time is already going by way too fast! But I still bought some new nursing shirts, to spoil myself :-P We had a nice visit in the evening with Trish too ... went for a walk and played with Trish (no making strange there either).

Now today, John finally made it home from his golfing trip. When we met him at the airport, Landon looked at him for about 30 seconds, then broke into a huge gummy grin. He was very happy to see daddy again!! And so was mommy!!
This evening is just a nice at home evening, visiting with our cousin Brian (he's here from Namibia!). Landon is getting used to his new morning wake-up time (9:30 am ... even I can handle that time), so his napping is getting more routine and his bedtime is a bit earlier. Usually he's asleep by midnight, but we're winding down by about 11:15 (after his bath). Last night he almost fell asleep by himself too, which is a treat. I ended up nursing him for a minute or two to get him right to sleep, but that was only after 30 minutes of him nodding off only to wake up in ater a minute or two. Pretty good if you ask me (much better than having to bounce on the yoga ball while he's crying). So hopefully I haven't jinxed the nighttimes and we are on the path to more peaceful sleepy-times ahead :-)

That's the long post for today. I will try to post again before the weekend. We are off to Uncle Neville's farm Saturday, then we are at the cottage for the following week. I'm looking forward to that 'vacation' and hope that Landon doesn't have too much trouble adjusting. Hopefully being able to take his Amby bed will make the transition easier (for him and me :-D).
Until next time....Lots of love!! Tamara, John & Landon

Cute little bugger...

Landon has been exceptionally adorable the past few days. I guess making up for being miserable when he was sick ... heh heh. He weighed in at 14 pounds, 4 ounces today, so he's gaining well again and all is good.
That's the quick note for today. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post again soon. Take care...TK

Happy Giggling Landon-Baby is BACK!

Our little munchkin has returned!! YAY He is sleeping well, so now when he wakes up he's all smiles :-) He slept for 2.5 hours this morning, and when he woke up I went in there and he gave me the biggest gummy-grin ever! He takes awhile to fully wake up though (kind of like mom) ... we walked around for about 10 minutes with him, and he just stared at things with this groggy look on his face. Then he finally realized "Hey, wait a minute. I'm HUNGRY!" He's having a nap now with daddy, giving mommy some nice quiet time. Well, not exactly quiet ... but a chance to get grocery shopping done, clothes washed, and make a post on the blog :-P

He's doing well now though. This morning he was rolling onto his side, reaching for the hanging toys. We try to play with him like that, helping him to roll over when he puts his feet in the air. He still doesn't like tummy-time too much, but it's getting better now that he's getting stronger. It must suck when you can't lift your head and people put you face down to let you stare at the floor, really close-up. He loves to sit up and watch things happening too. The swing and bouncy chairs are okay, but he is constantly lifting his head trying to sit up. It's pretty funny to watch, because he's trying so hard he's turning red, but he isn't getting very far!! Of course, his abs are in better shape than mine because of it...

His favourite time I would have to say is still when he's getting changed. We put him on the change-table, and he starts smiling and cooing and gooing. It's adorable. The entire change time is spent in 'conversation' ... Landon tells me the ways of the world while I wipe his bottom! LOL And he loves "zerberts". He's starting to anticipate them now when we take a big deep breath ... he sticks his arms out and his eyes get big. Then he starts smiling and squealing. What a sweetheart.

Well, dad is off for his golf trip tomorrow afternoon :-( I will definitely miss having him around for the next week, and I think Landon will miss him too. He's not back until Tuesday! aiaiaiaiai But hopefully he will have fun. Uncle Rob and Auntie Liz should get here tomorrow late afternoon sometime, so we will be having fun for sure. Landon gets to meet his cousins!

That's the news from here for today. Until next time.....TK

Here's our little smiler. He was playing with John on Saturday on the couch ... laughing at daddy making faces.

We haven't been taking as many pics, we'll have to get back on it I guess! He's been smiling so much these days, it's just fun to play with him. Especially when he first wakes up in the morning (or from a good nap) ... then he chats up a storm, talking and cooing and smiling away. What a sweet'ums!

Sleep, baby, sleep

Well, I hope I don't jinx this, but I think Landon may finally be getting passed all of his gas problems. Hopefully it was just a viral thing, and we are actually back on track to getting some sleep. He went to sleep really late last night, but he slept from 1:30 until 7, ate, and then slept until 11 am. Which means that I slept until 11 am too :-) Of course, he will be up LATE again tonight because we slept that late, but I think we are on a better track now. He had a good nap earlier this afternoon, 1.5 hours. And he's down for his second nap now. The Bonus: he fell asleep oh-so-nicely for both naps. No screaming meemie! Now we can work on getting the both of us out of bed a bit earlier in the morning :-P Tomorrow morning we'll try for 10:30 LOL

I think John had a good father's day yesterday. Landon and I took him shopping for golf stuff. Landon bought him a very nice golf shirt for his upcoming golf trip (leaves Wed, comes home next Tues -- lucky bugger!). And John bought himself a putter and some golf balls too. To top it all off, John went to a concert last night with a friend, which he said was very good. So he had a pretty good day I'm thinking.

Me, I'm feeling a bit better, having gotten some good sleep. And having some time to myself again during the day with Landon actually napping again is very nice. It's funny, now that he's napped on his own, I expect him to always nap on his own. I have to keep in mind how far we've come from the days of sleeping on me the entire day! LOL
And we're getting ready for visitors - YAY! Liz and Rob are hopefully coming on Wed - their fridge went on the fritz so their travel plans have been delayed a couple of days. Then mom and dad on Friday for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it - having other adults around, what a treat (John counts as an adult too, but it's not the same).

Anyways -- happy birthday to Doug Wiebe on Friday, and to my cousin Sharleen on Saturday! Take care, until next time...TK

Are we on the road to recovery...?

Well, I wouldn't say life is grand, but I think we might be on the road to recovery with Landon. He is sleeping a bit better at night, usually getting a couple of 3 - 4 hour stretches in there. And since we've pulled him back into bed with us, I can nurse him all night long and keep him relatively quiet. The real success will be when he no longer wakes from gas so I don't have to keep nursing him! He still wakes up for one good feeding overnight, the rest is just soothing his gassy tummy :-( Poor little bugger.
On the upside, he's napping a bit better the last couple of days (knock on wood!!). Not long naps, only about an hour, but better than nothing. And he isn't waking up with screaming gas pains every time, which is a relief. Don't get me wrong, he isn't waking up all rosy either, but it's better than inconsolable gas! I'm trying to get us back to our former "routines", if you could call them that, but it's taking awhile. It'd be much nicer if Landon would take a nice 2 hour nap, but beggars can't be choosers! It's just a long day of Landon up for an hour (20 minutes of that eating), try to get him to sleep for half an hour, sleep for an hour (hopefully) - repeat. All the moms out there are nodding their heads remembering how wonderful this time is, I'm sure. I know, I know ... the worst is yet to come (either with terrible 2's, or adolescence, or teen-agerdom!).

We're busy getting ready for Uncle Rob, Aunty Liz, Thomson and Isabel. They are planning to come on Tuesday and will be in MB for a few weeks. Should be fun! And Grandma and Grandpa are coming on Friday for the weekend too. I think Grandma's pretty excited to get up here to see the little munchkin!
That's the news from here today. Now that we're (hopefully) on the back end of the gas pain (pun intended), we might have some energy to take some pics and get them posted. I'll try. There will definitely be some pics when Landon's cousins get here next week. Until then...TK

Poor Gassy Landon-baby

We took Landon to the doctor today, because he has been so incredibly gassy the past 10 days. He wakes up from every nap and all night long with gas pains. It started out only being at night, but it's progressively gotten worse. So he's overtired and won't fall asleep easily and won't stay asleep for long. And of course, neither John nor I are getting that much sleep either. It's so hard to have him sleeping nicely only to wake up screeching. Especially since we'd just gotten him down for naps in his own bed! We didn't know how good we had it for those 3 days!

So, he's a gas-monkey. The Pediatrician confirmed that it is not normal amounts of gas, he is exceptionally gassy. His poor tummy gurgles non-stop. We're hoping it's due to a virus that he'll get over (SOON!), since he has gotten so much worse in this short while. But we are also starting to eliminate foods to see if he's got sensitivities to anything. We're starting with nuts and seafood (things I can easily live without), but eggs and dairy are next (which will be much harder for me). We also give him Lactaid drops when he eats, in case he's lactase deficient. Hopefully hopefully hopefully we'll get to the root of this gas soon, so he won't be in so much pain and we can go back to enjoying the little guy. I give him credit though - he still manages to wow us with big dazzling smiles, despite the lack of sleep and the tummy troubles. Makes the unconsolable crying even more heart-breaking.

That's the update on gassy-baby for today. Hopefully we'll get him to sleep soon ... it's been over 2 hours battling the sleep fairies already (overtired is spelled L-A-N-D-O-N!!!!!). Take care....

If it wasn't for gas....

If we could get all of the gas out of Landon, we would have wonderful sleep! He wakes up several times a night now, all because he has to fart! Very frustrating. Last night I was so fed up that I slept downstairs and John (bless his heart) dealt with Mr. Gassypants all night. Landon usually can get an hour or two of nice sleep in before the gas wakes him up, but of course I'm laying there the entire time waiting for him to wake up :-/
So we've now moved him into his own room, so that I (hopefully) don't hear the pre-awake stirrings. He will grunt and squirm for ~1/2 hour before waking up, during which time I'm already awake. Then he grunts and squirms for about 1/2 hour going back to sleep after eating, during with time I'm still awake. I'm hoping that moving him to his room will let me sleep a bit longer and fall asleep easier. We'll see. I'm prepared for a couple of nights of less sleep worrying about him in the other room, but in the end I hope it's all worth it. He already napped in his room today, for 1.5 hours with no troubles, so I'm hoping that he'll transition well. He's in his hammock, and we've got ambient music playing (heart beats with ocean sounds), so the sleeping atmosphere should be pretty similar. We'll see ... all I know is that I need to get more sleep because this gassy-waking is driving me mental!

Landon and I went to see Da Vinci code yesterday. The Silver City cinemas have "stars and strollers" - baby-friendly movie-going. Once a week they offer a movie for moms and babes. The sound is a bit quieter and there's a bit more light than normal movie-viewing, so it's baby-friendly. I went with Karen and Nathan (roomies from the hospital), and met a gal from the baby drop-in group as well. It was nice to get out and see a movie. The movie itself -- well, that's a really tough book to make a movie out of, so many twists and turns and details that you just can't get through in such a short time-frame. But it was pretty good all-in-all.

That's the scoop from here for now. I'll keep you posted on the new sleeping digs - pray for us, our sleep, and our sanity! He's still absolutely adorable all the rest of the day, which likely saves his neck when he wakes up at night, so we'll try to post some cute pics again soon.

Take care....Until next time. Tamara, John & Landon

Is that even comfortable?

Landon is enjoying his swing more and more everyday. It's a great "wind-down" toy, we can put him in there and he relaxes and gets ready to go to sleep. Sometimes he even does fall asleep in there ... and sometimes in positions that absolutely cannot be comfortable!! Here he is in one of those weird sleep positions! Don't worry, we did put the seat back for him so that he could sleep a bit more comfortably in here, we just had to get a picture of this first!

This picture reminds me very much of Kyle sleeping in his swing ... he used to get his head cranked over into weird positions just like this, and sleep for hours (or what seemed like hours anyways)! LOL Good memories...

Hey, who's feet are these?

Landon has discovered his toes, and has started to grab them whenever they're in reach. Dad sometimes helps the toes get within his reach, but once they're there, he's absolutely fascinated!
He's discovering too that when he gets to sit up, he can reach his toes better, so Landon doesn't want to be in the 'semi-reclined' position very often now. He's always lifting his feet and head trying to get to a sitting position (he's a long way away yet though, he gets his head off the floor, and his feet in the air, but that's about it!). I'm just waiting for the day that he discovers he can reach his feet and play while on the change-table ... that should make for some interesting diaper changes! :-D

June 7 - 3 months old!

Here is adorable Landon at 3 months old. I didn't quite get him centred because I was busy making faces to get him to smile so big!! But here he is ...

Here is Landon chewing on one of his favourite toys. This little green octopus keeps him occupied whenever it's hanging anywhere near him. He grabs the tentacles and chews away at the feet. His favourite feet are the orange and red ones :-)

Where do the days go?

It's seems like every day absolutely flies by!! Until about 10:30, when it seems an eternity until Landon falls asleep. We're working on it, but he just can't seem to start his night-time sleep sessions at a decent hour. We're getting up earlier (much to my chagrine!), and trying to start his 'wind-down' routine earlier, but it hasn't worked yet. We will keep trying, but man oh man! At least last night he only ate once between midnight and 10 am. But don't get me wrong - he was up many more times than that!! I plugged the soother a few times before the 5 am feeding, and then at 6:30 he was up for about 30 minutes with gas. A serving of Gripe water got him back to sleep until he started waking about 9:30 or so. We were up at 10, which isn't too awful I guess.

I will try to get some pics up tonight or tomorrow. Watch for them soon!! Take care...until next time. TK

3 months...and counting!

We're still here. Landon celebrated his 3-month 'birthday' yesterday! YAY He's 13 pounds, 9 ounces, so still growing. He's starting to get pudgier which is great - I love to see his little rolls and dimples!!

The sleep thing is still touch-and-go. I've gotten into the habit of pulling him into bed with me when he wakes up at night to feed him, and then I fall asleep, and then he just eats for the rest of the night whenever he wants ('grazing'). I don't think that's such a good idea, so hopefully I can find some resolve to stay awake long enough to put him back to bed after at least the first feeding in the night! But at least I know he's getting lots of milk over night!! LOL

I will get some pics uploaded in the next couple of days, so check back for those! Take care...TK

Some pictures of the little man from the past couple of days. He's looking pretty cute when he comes out of the bath tub these days...thankfully he's enjoying his bath a lot more. He kicks and kicks and splashes -- it's great to watch him in there. And when we pull him out and wrap him up in the towel, he is all smiles.

We also tried out his sunglasses on the deck the other day. He wasn't too sure about those things!! They are still a bit big for his head, so they didn't stay on very well. But they did stay on long enough for us to get some really cute pictures.

And for anyone who's wondering what the hammock bed is like....here's a picture of him napping peacefully in it. He gets snuggled right in there and sleeps wonderfully (most of the time). He has been sleeping 6 hours or so overnight the past few nights (knock on wood), which has been great. And some mornings I put him back in there after his first meal (sometimes he just stays snuggled in bed with me). Naptimes he's been going to sleep fairly well, and will nap for either an hour or two hours in the hammock (usually waking once to get a soother plugged in). So it's been a very different life than the first 2.5 months when he was in my arms an average of 23 hours a day!!

That's the scoop from Winnipeg for today. Hope all who are reading this are doing well. Take care...until next time! Tamara, John & Landon

SLEEP - FINALLY!!

Yes, I have returned to the land of the sane. Landon finally figured out that letting mom get some sleep makes her a much nicer person to be around!! The little stinker! He went to sleep about midnight and slept until 6 am!! I was the one who couldn't get to sleep right away, and sat up about 4 times with the soother poised because he grunted in his sleep LOL But he just kept right on sleeping and I finally relaxed and got some good sleep! Of course, he woke up, ate, and went back to sleep while I laid there awake because I had so much sleep! But I did eventually get back to sleep and I felt great all day. Let's hope that the end is in sight and he will start to sleep better at night again. It was a shock to the system these past few weeks of terrible sleep, after he was such a good sleeper right from when we brought him home. *sigh*

Landon also loves it when dad plays guitar for him. He watches and smiles and coos and gurgles and drools all over the place!! It's sure cute. Of coures, right now he's distracted by the dangly toys on his bouncy chair ... he's so excited, kicking all over the place, batting at the toys, and drooling at full-spittle-speed! I guess all of that sleep gave him some good playing energy!

So, just wanted to post a quick "hi" now that I'm back from insane-no-sleep-land. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll get more nights of sleep! Take care....

*sigh* the non-sleeping Landon

I am completely at a loss with this little monkey. Today, he sleeps so much. He is awake for 1.5 hours at a time, tops. When he's sleepy, we put him in his hammock bed and he nods off. He slept for 2.5 hours in the hammock, then had 1.5 hours in the swing (yes, he was in there all happy, and then went to sleep), then another 45 minutes in the hammock. Then all hell broke loose. He's been up and upset for 3 hours now. He's nodded off for 2 - 3 minutes about 6 times, but won't fall asleep, no matter what we do. We've tried playing with him to tire him out, nursing, walking, in the hammock. He just won't settle at all. Of course, it is night time and he should be going to sleep, so I guess that's why! *sigh* Very frustrating, and confusing. How can he so comfortably fall asleep all day, but not at night? The twit.

So that's our day today. We'll see how things go tomorrow - assuming we all survive the night!

On the up-side ... the electric breast pump arrived today - THANKS LIZ!! So that will make pumping a ton easier now. Which will make getting ready to go play ball much less time consuming. Now just a few minutes and I'll be done and ready to go!! YAY!

Well, I think I'll go make sure John and Landon haven't done each other in yet. Wish us luck!

Tamara