We survived our first road trip!

First off, here is a picture of Arlan's curly curly hair. This is right after his bath! It's only because we comb his hair (when still wet) that it looks somewhat straight in all of his pictures. But it's CURLY!! Of course, I absolutely love it (coming from mommy with the straightest hair on earth). It also cracks us up because if John's hair gets messy it looks exactly like this :-D

We're back from Medicine Hat and our first road trip with Arlan (aside from the trip to Banff, which was just a day trip). It was successful! YAY
We left Sat morning by 10 am (I know, hard to believe hey). When we arrived in Med Hat we met Dave and the boys at the Med Hat Lodge. John took Landon on the waterslides, which he absolutely LOVED! I left my camera in the room unfortunately, so I didn't get any pictures (nor any video of Landon screaming like a teenage girl) going on the slide. So John and Landon swam and swam, while I visited with Dave (who is lucky enough that he gets to sit by the pool and supervise as his boys slide and swim .... we'll be there too someday ...) and Arlan slept.
It got a bit hairy as we were trying to get everyone over to Judy's for the evening and I was trying to get ready and feed Arlan /pump, etc. But we got everyone there, Arlan didn't starve, and I got to go out with friends!! YAYAY!
I had lots of fun all night (yes, all night ... not much sleep at all for me!!), laughing and just enjoying not listening for baby cries!! John had a pretty good night too -- Landon and Ryder played well, and Arlan wasn't too loud. I guess he showed off his lungs for Dave for awhile, but was asleep shortly after 8 pm. John got up and fed him at 1 and he slept until 5:30 am when I got to feed him. I'm so glad that Arlan slept just fine in his play pen :-D Bodes well for our Sask trip coming up next month!
Landon was super great too ... fell asleep so nicely on his Thomas bed behind the couch in the living room :-) Gotta love that Thomas bed!!!!!!

The next day, the drive home was pretty sweet. Arlan slept the entire way (!!!), and Landon was so tired he just stared out the window for most of it. I just wish I could've slept! lol

But I got some sleep last as Arlan slept pretty well, so I'm starting to feel a bit more recovered. Tonight I play volleyball for the first time in ~ 1 year, so I'll be putting my recovery back a bit though. But that'll be fun too. I hope the boys behave well for John tonight as he'll have to put Arlan to bed again.

That's the little bit of news from here. Oh yeah, Landon peed on the toilet again last night before his bath. So he will do it, he just doesn't take the initiative to do it on his own :-/ Ah well ... it'll come I'm sure. Until next time...



So yes, there has to be 'something' to commemorate the weekend ... in this case it was the 'silly putty incident'. Pretty self explanatory. So Landon got a bit more of a haircut, courtesy dad!! LOL

And we just won't tell Judy what Ryder and Landon were doing in her room ... or even that they were in her room, right?

Three Months - ALREADY!!

Arlan is three months old today. I cannot believe how quickly time is going. With Landon I was always looking forward -- to when he'd bath in a big tub, start cereals, sit on his own, etc etc. With Arlan I just want time to stand still a little bit ... all those things will come I know, so I just want to enjoy his littleness :-) *sigh* (yes I'm sucky today ... even Landon was pushing me away at bedtime because I was too mushy!! LOL).

So we went to the doc today to get Arlan checked out (regular check-up). He's healthy and well. I forgot to ask about his 'flat' head, mostly because it's not that flat anymore. I'm signed up for one of the repositioning classes in October, but I think it's a waste of my time. I wanted to ask the doc about his head and if he agreed we didn't need to take the class I'd cancel out. But now I guess I'll just go :-/ Can't hurt I guess ... and if I get there and they tell me we don't have a problem, so be it, I'll leave early!

The only thing with Arlan is this runny eye. It's his left eye - it's been watering for close to a week. The doc figures it's a blocked tear duct (just like the nurse when I called HealthLink when it first watered at 3 weeks). This is the third time it's flared up, but it could've flared up because of this cold he's had (complete with runny nose). So I'm supposed to massage his tear duct every day as long as it's watery. Hopefully the remnants of his cold disappears soon, and the blocked duct along with it.

Stats: Arlan is 14 pounds, 1 ounce; and 24" tall. This is just above the 50th percentile for both measurements.

Landon is 32 1/2 pounds, and 38" tall. He is at the 75th percentile for both measurements, just like he's been pretty much his whole life.

Tomorrow I will spend getting ready to go to Medicine Hat on Saturday. I am SO looking forward to a night out!! We are all going, John and the boys will spend the night with Dave and the boys at Judy's while I go out with the girls for Tilly's stagette.

Hopefully Arlan and Landon behave well for daddy ... I don't think Landon will be much problem, he'll be so busy playing with Ryder he won't even notice I'm gone (hopefully!). And I've got some milk pumped for Arlan, hope it's enough (there's some ready-mixed formula just in case as well) ... and I hope he does well sleeping in the playpen. The good news is it's only one night, so no matter what happens it'll be short-lived. It's our 'practise' run for a trip to Sask in October!!

Because I'm going out, I had to go and buy some clothes that fit tonight :-/ I found a couple of pairs of pants, but not too many tops that I liked. Limited shopping though as I find it WAY too hard to shop with both boys so I had to go after Arlan went to sleep, which meant I just went to Reitmans by my house. Ah well ... at least I got something so I won't have to wear a nursing top!! LOL

That's the post for today. Until next time.....

That Arlan!

Arlan's been giving us trouble in falling asleep at night. He was going to bed SO nicely, but not the past several days. Crying and fussing and several hours later he'll get to sleep. He's soooo sleepy, but just won't let himself go. Stinking kid!! We'll keep plugging away, but it sure is frustrating, especially since he was doing so well before :-/

Not much news today. Landon is still soo cute, gotta' love him. He LOVES the swingset, he's swinging all the time!! LOL I'll be glad when he learns to pump his legs and swing himself ... with John on the case it shouldn't take long. John has a knack for teaching Landon how to do things.

That's really about it. We went shopping this morning. I bought Arlan a little outfit for Xmas (used gift card from Curt and Anne ... thanks again!). Arlan was really good while shopping, having a nice snooze, not causing any trouble. Landon was a stinker, crawling through the clothing racks and dumping clothes everywhere. Can't blame him, he is only 2 and clothes shopping can be boring. He was being very helpful for about 10 minutes of the shopping though, bringing me clothes one at a time to show me (never mind that it was 5 of the same shirt), then he'd repeat whatever adjective I'd used on the previous one (i.e. sharp looking, neat, cute, etc). But that got boring and it was more exciting to take those clothes off the rack and make a pile on the floor!! LOL He was very well behaved overall in the store (we were there for quite awhile to find something I liked), cleaning up clothing piles is really not that big a deal in the end.

That's the news here. A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aunty Yvonne tomorrow :-D

Oh yeah - no potty learning news, we didn't do anything today. But Landon did say tonight at bedtime that he wanted to use the potty tomorrow again, so we'll see. And both boys are relatively healthy again -- Landon still has a slightly runny nose but he isn't at all slowed down by this cold anymore. Arlan's still a bit stuffy, but nothing major at all ... nothing that should disturb his sleep (or make him fussy for HOURS before going to sleep for the night!!).

And one more thing ... Arlan had his first bath in the big tub tonight. He didn't mind it at all. No screaming, thank goodness!! :-D He was WAY too long for the baby tub, his poor legs were all bent and he'd end up kicking the edge of it when he got excited. So from now on he can kick kick kick to his heart's content in the big tub :-D

Potty News...

Forgot about the potty learning process ... ahem

So Landon is very excited to wear gotchies ... so much so that he would wear them all the time. The problem is that he still isn't quite making the connection that when he wears gotchies, he has to pee on the pot. He peed himself twice yesterday, and again this morning :-/ Poor kid ... every time he pees himself he gets very upset!! Luckily two of those accidents were outside, so clean up has been relatively minimal (besides the increase in laundry).
So this afternoon we put 'gotchy-diapers' on ... pull-ups. I'm going to try to get him to use the pot with those for now ... and when he can use the potty successfully a few times with the pull-ups then he'll be 'rewarded' with being able to wear gotchies again. We'll see how that goes ....

Suggestions on potty learning are welcome by the way -- not guaranteeing that I'll follow any advice given, but I'm always open to new ideas and I think more information is better than less....

Finally ... some sleep!

Yes, I got some sleep last night. Poor Arlan cried so hard until we put him to 'bed' in the swing. He woke up at 12:30 to eat, but then slept in the bassinet ... and went back to the bassinet after his 5:30 snack too. Thank goodness!!! So I feel much better today.

So good that we managed to keep Landon's hair cut appt. Here are pics of the new 'do. I really like the back. Landon was pretty good at the salon. We went to Beaners again. He was a bit impatient, and there was only one gal working so she was trying to answer phones and sweep up and cut hair so it took some time to get to us. But once she started cutting it didn't take long, and she was good at keeping Landon 'happy'. He was really good until after his hair cut when he wanted to play trucks with another little boy -- where Landon's definition of playing was to want whatever truck the other boy had :-/ So I let him whine it up for about 10 minutes and then we came home.

While Arlan's feeling better today, he's still plenty stuffy and plenty grumpy too. But here are some pics of me actually getting him to smile. I shouldn't say it like that - he's a very happy baby (when he can breath through his nose!!), smiling lots for me. I just never seem to get it on the camera!! LOL But look at those poor red eyes ... poor little monkey :-(

That's the quick post for today...well for this afternoon at least :-)

No sleep for this mama

Arlan definitely has Landon's cold, and he's grumpy as can be with his sniffly nose :-( Poor guy. He was up most of last night. He woke by 9:30, we steamed him and set up the humidifier in our room. He slept from ~10:30 until maybe 1, then off and on til 3, then he was pretty much up til 6 :-( I did catch about 2 hours in little snippets between 6 and 10, as I gave Arlan to John around 8!!

He's been doing ok throughout the day though as we've had him napping in the swing. But tonight ... different story. He was so tired, with red watery eyes, but as soon as I'd try to put him down he'd be screaming full volume. So I put him in the swing. He's sleeping in there now, but I don't know how long that will last. I shut the swing off, so he's just sleeping sitting up, which is probably more comfortable for that stuffy nose. We'll just have to see. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight :-/

Landon's still pretty sniffly, but his energy level has completely returned. So he's just a cold ... no more fever or anything to worry about. And he's been loving playing outside as we've had some warmer temps. This week looks to be warm too - which is great news because .... Landon got a 'new' swingset today!!

John and I have been having this discussion for the past year or so ... I say we need a swingset, he's adamant we're not getting one. Well, the neighbour came over today while we were all in the backyard and said his swingset could either go in our backyard or out to the dump. John couldn't really say no as I was standing right there (he did admit that if I hadn't been outside he probably would've let the swingset go to the dump!!). So we brought the swingset over and Landon's super excited to have his very own swings! Can't say as I blame him :-) So we'll get rid of the little slide/swing thing that we have in the spring and the boys can have fun swinging swinging swinging all next summer :-D And I'll like it because I won't have to go to the park for 'finging' time (that's how Landon says swinging).

Well, think good sleepy-time thoughts for me. I hope I can fall asleep ... I'm in that 'just waiting for baby to wake up' mode :-/ *sigh* Hopefully these colds will pass quickly and we'll get back to some nice sleepy nights.

Good potty news...

Landon was such a big boy today. He wore gotchies for the first time :-) And when he had to pee, he had mommy help him to pull his pants and gotchies down and peed on the pot. WHAT a little man!!

That was before his nap. Since his nap he's been very content with a diaper. But that's ok with me ...

I think the little critter helped us out here. I bought The New Potty by Mercer Mayer yesterday, and we read it several times last night. Those books are fabulous!! I was going to look for another potty book, but I think this one may just do the trick. Landon loves the little critter :-) It has certainly helped him with understanding his feelings too. He's so cute!!

I think Arlan caught Landon's cold :-(

poor little sniffly guy :-( he's been sleeping and grumpy all day, and tonight he was REALLY grumpy, and even more sniffly. I don't think he's been up a total of 5 hours all day! We elevated the head of the bassinet, and he's snoozing away already, so we'll just see how it goes. He's also been eating non-stop ... every 2 hours or so ... which I'm thinking is his 3-month growth spurt. I don't know if that would bring on the sniffly-snuffly nose, but it could be why he's sleeping so much. *shrug* We'll just have to see what the night brings. Last night he was up lots, I hope he lets me get some sleep tonight ... I'm tired!

YAY Basement!

Well, the mudding / taping is almost done ... Jeff will finish on Monday. And our basement ceiling will be done tomorrow afternoon. WOWSERS!
So next John will likely put the sauna in, and we'll get the drywall primed in a week or two. After that I plan to paint Arlan's room in preparation for moving him into his crib. I picked out the colours today for his room and for ours (but not yet for the basement, go figure!). So there will be lotsa paintin' going on in our house :-/ But it's gotta' be done. And I sure won't miss the white walls!! Of course, I'll still have plenty of white walls ... the hall/stairs, bonus room, Landon's room, and all the bathrooms. Maybe I'll get to those in the new year.........

Landon's feeling better. Had a good sleep again last night. Arlan didn't of course ... he was up 3 times between 1 am and 7 am!! Yikes! Ah well ...

I got my hair trimmed this morning ... it feels SO good to get your hair washed by someone else, doesn't it? Anyways, I look the same, my hair's only about 1" shorter.

That's the quick post. I'm off to start trying to rid my house of drywall dust :-/

Landon's doing better

Landon's doing much better today ... he slept all night long, and has no fever which is a blessing. I must say, Motrin is an amazing drug. Landon woke from his nap yesterday afternoon very groggy ... he was feverish again, and told me "I sick. I just stay in bed." Given Landon's regular activity level, this was very shocking. So I gave him Motrin, and about 5 minutes later he said he could come downstairs and watch Treehouse. About 20 minutes after that he was full-blown Landon again, and continued until we put him to bed. Amazing!!

Anyways, that's the quick post on Landon's well-being. Just a cold, looks like the worst may be behind us. Phew!

Poor sick Landon :-(

Landon was up half the night with a very sore throat. He woke at 1, then again at 3:30 and was up until 6. Poor kid. At 3:30 he woke up, then Arlan woke up, so we had 2 crying babies in our house. I sent Landon down to watch Treehouse with John while I nursed Arlan, who then proceeded to poop EVERYWHERE! I was starting to wonder what kind of a night we were going to have.
But Arlan ate and went back to sleep. I watched some Treehouse with Landon and then we turned it off. He didn't want to go back to bed so I said 'let's sleep on the couch'. That 'thrill' wore off after him tossing around for 30 minutes or so, and he was quite happy to go back to bed -- of course it was 6 am by this point :-/ Poor guy.
I let him sleep all morning, and he's played pretty well this afternoon, so I'm hoping he just has a cold and nothing worse :-/ He said his ear hurt this morning, and he had a fever of 38.5', but since I've dosed him with Motrin his fever came down and he hasn't complained about his ear. We'll see what he's like when he wakes up from his naps. He'll be due for another dose of Motrin if the pain and/or fever is back.
But this does explain why he's been waking up SO grumpy the past several days ... whatever this is was probably working it's way into him. Usually my first sign that he's not well is when he wakes up grumpy.

Luckily Arlan has been a good kid. He slept in until 9 am this morning, giving me some extra sleep. And he's napped fairly well throughout the day. Still cat-napping for 45 minutes at a time, but he does do that 4 times :-/ Last night I got him to bed a bit late (thanks to Landon's help ... he had a screaming fit that his legs were hurting ... don't really know what that was about), anyways - Arlan had trouble getting to sleep last night, and wasn't down until almost 9. Hopefully tonight I can get him to bed a bit earlier ... I like those evenings with only one kid to contend with :-/

On a different note....last night Landon was running around with no diaper on (this has been a regular occurence at our house all summer). Now, Landon usually has no diaper on and is outside. He's learned to recognize the sensation that he has to pee, and will stop to watch himself pee (whether he's in the tub, or out in the yard peeing in the grass). Well ... a stroke of luck that I just happened to look at Landon sitting on the couch as he looked down and reached with his hand. I was able to very quickly remind him to use his potty. So Landon got up off the couch, over to his pot, sat on it and peed all by himself. He was even fully prepared to take the now full pot to the toilet to dump out -- but I managed to intervene in time. So we put the pee in the toilet, Landon was very proud to flush, and we washed up.
So Landon went on to play some more, with no diaper, because now he's peed (and he pooped earlier in the day), we're fine, right? I'm upstairs with Arlan getting him ready for his bath and I hear Landon at the patio door "MOM! I NEED A DIAPER ON!! MOMMMY!!!!!" This is a sign that he has to poop, so I asked John to go put a diaper on him. Then I hear "It's not a big deal" This is a sign that he no longer needs a diaper on.
Yup - Landon dropped a log out on the lawn :-D Cracks me up ... I'm SO glad it was outside. And I think it's a good sign that he pooped without the diaper, even if it wasn't in the pot, right? And it's an even better sign that I was busy with Arlan so John had to do the clean-up, right? Heh heh
So that's the potty-learning news for now -- yes, potty learning, because apparently it's more of a learning process than a training regime, or so I'm told. Whatever.

Think 'get healthy' thoughts for Landon, and more importantly 'STAY healthy' thoughts for little baby Arlan....

Well, the mat clothes have left the building

Mom has told me that by doing this I've guaranteed myself to get pregnant again, but .... I have sold my maternity clothes (the winter ones anyways) and they have been mailed off. I love ebay :-)

This morning was a bit hairy around here, but this afternoon I'm hoping for a bit of peace. I just put Landon down for his nap, and hopefully Arlan has a nice nap too. I wouldn't mind some quiet for an hour or two :-/

On the bath front -- the last 2 nights Arlan hasn't screamed when he came out of the tub. The difference? I didn't use any soap :-/ I don't know if it's soap in general, or the type I was using. Tonight I will try a different kind of soap, see if that's makes a difference or not.

other than that -- pretty quiet around here. Until next time.....

Landon Logic?

I must admit, 2 year-olds can be logical when it comes to this English language. Landon looked at the picture of him mopping and said "Landon brooming" I giggled and said "Yes, Landon is mopping." But I got to thinking .... why is it mopping when we use a mop, but sweeping when we use a broom? I think Landon's got a point -- if you are using a broom, you should be brooming, not sweeping :-/ Or maybe brooms should be called sweeps if you prefer it that way. Either way....*shrug*

Just a thought...

Loving the exersaucer

Well, at least tolerating it!!

This is a picture of Arlan's first time in the exersaucer ... He's still in there actually, just a cooing and gooing and drooling all over it. Pretty darned cute I think. Also a good way to keep him upright (for that flat head thing).

We're having a good day. I had to have some bloodwork done this morning - we waited for almost 2 hours at the clinic! Ugh. Luckily I was smart enough to take Landon shopping while we waited (I was number 150, they were serving 113 when I got there) ... he got a new 'monster' truck and a story book to keep him occupied. Arlan was good as usual, had a snooze (that 45 minute cat-nap), and then sat on my knee and watched Landon play.

John finished dry-walling the basement last night. Tonight our mudder/taper is coming and should get started! YAY I can't wait til he's done ... I'm going to CLEAN my house top to bottom to get rid of this flipping drywall dust. Yuck!

That's the quick post for this afternoon ... I'm off to mop my floors while Landon's still snoozing ...

Just a quick post

Things are good here today. Arlan has been studying his hands at every opportunity ... who needs toys???? Cracks me up. He watches his hands even while he's nursing LOL
Now if only Arlan would remember his wonderful napping habits :-/ He has little cat-naps throughout the day ... gone are those glorious 2 or 3 hour snoozes. For now anyway. I will keep trying :-/ At least he goes to sleep well at night, giving me time with Landon.
Landon has been pretty good. He imitates every damned thing we do, that's for sure. He dropped his first F-bomb for me the other night (that should surprise anyone who knows my potty mouth). I was feeling guilty ... letting a few too many slip. Then he said F off ... I don't say that ... so I have my suspicions that he's learned more than just how to hammer a nail while helping daddy in the basement heh heh. Ah well ... I completely ignored what he said, which is the advice I've been given to do in those situations. We'll see if he repeats it, or if he drops it from his vocabulary.

Landon's so cute ... he just climbed up onto the chair behind, then said "mommy ! mommy!" and leaned around me to give me a kiss. Of course, since I started typing that sentence he fell off the chair and screamed blue-bloody murder :-/ Poor kid. I guess it's time for bed.

Until next time....

Arlan had a big day :-)

Arlan realized this morning, for the very first time, that he has FEET! We were hanging out in bed (b/c I was too tired to get up yet) and all of a sudden he saw his little feet wiggling around. How fascinating! He watched them for several minutes, while John and I watched Arlan watching his feet :-)
Then he was playing on the playmat and grabbed the little octopus. This is a big accomplishment for him too - he hadn't yet actually grabbed a toy (he's been batting at the hanging toys, but no grabbing). He hung on for dear life, all the while checking out the baby in the mirror hanging there. heh heh

One thing I can't seem to figure out with him is his issue after baths. Arlan loves his bath, he's smiling and cooing and talking the entire time. Then when I pull him out he screams ... sorry to say it ... like a little girl! You know ... that high-pitched, OMG you're killing me kind of scream. I have no idea why. One night he didn't, I don't know what I did differently. *shaking head* If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I've tried not washing his hair, washing his hair, carrying him facing out and facing in when I take him to get dressed, longer and shorter bathtimes, different types of towels... Tomorrow I will try no soap at all to see if that is bothering him. *shrug* Once we get him dressed, he usually calms right down, and then we get him ready for bed (nursing and off to bed). He responds so well to the bath otherwise, always ready for bed afterwards too so I want to keep it as part of his bedtime ritual (unlike Landon where the bath always got him revved up :-/ ). I'll just keep trying, but I might stick some earplugs in for future baths.

It is pretty cute when I pull him out of the bath (before the screaming starts). He has discovered that baby in the mirror too. So I just hold him standing up while he smiles and talks to that other baby. Cracks me up. I just love watching him learn all of these things. Soon he'll sit in the Bumbo longer and then I'll put him in front of our mirror for awhile and he can goo and gurgle to his heart's content!

We sure had a sleepy day today (must've been all of Arlan's learning). Me and the boys all slept for the entire afternoon!! Arlan went to sleep ~1:30. Landon went to bed at 2:30, fell asleep around 3. Arlan woke up at 2:30, so I crawled into bed with him to nurse him back to sleep. I fell asleep with him, and we all got up at 6:00!!!!!!! That was despite John working in the basement and making gawd-awful noises too. We must've been sleepy is all I can say.

It was nice to have Arlan sleep that long. He hasn't been napping as long in the afternoons these days ... I think he's transferred that afternoon sleep to the evenings, as he's been going to bed earlier for me. Can't have it all, right? But he is falling asleep on his own for his naps and at bedtime, which I like. He even had his morning nap in the crib yesterday (usually we're out at the park or whatever in the mornings). His afternoon nap is in the bassinet, and today most of it was in bed with me (he was soooo sweet, snuggled right up to mommy!). Then he usually has a cat-nap right around the time we're eating supper, lately that's been in the swing.
After supper we bathe him, listen to him scream, nurse him and he goes to bed. He wakes up twice overnight to eat ... usually 5 hours between meals (i.e. if he nursed at 7:30, then he wakes ~12 or 12:30, then again at 5 or so). And we've been waking up for the day at 8, which isn't too bad. He's happy when he wakes up in the mornings now (before he used to wake up cranky and hungry, it was a rude awakening for this mama, let me tell you!), so we have nice morning times before Landon wakes up. Of course, Landon still keeps rock-star hours (I'm putting him to bed when I post this), but it does give me a chance to have one-on-one time with both boys throughout the day. Hopefully we'll get Landon's schedule moved up a bit too, now that mom is out of bed in the mornings :-/ Heh heh

Anyways, that's enough about sleep -- what a sleepy day! LOL Until next time...

Of course, Arlan's amazing too :-D

our little munchkin is growing and learning so much! He can sit up in his Bumbo already, although he doesn't enjoy it for too long yet. He's also learned to blow 'spit bubbles' -- there are some in this pic, but don't know if you can see them.

Right now his favourite is on the play mat, looking at himself in the mirror. Landon loved the octopus, Arlan loves the mirror. If he's fussing, that's the place that will calm him down. Sometimes he'll be squawking when you put him on there, then he catches site of himself and calms right down - cracks me up.

Arlan also loves his bouncy chair. He checks out the little bears that hang on it (or the shapes on the bouncy chair upstairs), and coos and talks. He has been talking lots - telling plenty of stories. He smiles all the time for mommy too. When he wakes up I go in to get him and once he sees me his whole face lights up and he squirms and puts his hands to his mouth. I love it!

I think he may be a thumb-sucker some day if he ever finds it. He always puts his hands to his mouth, and will even push the soother out to get his fingers in there. But when he's falling asleep he still likes the soother (likely because I swaddle him so he can't get his hands to his mouth!! lol).

Speaking of swaddling - he's learning to sleep with his arms out. Not by my design, but because he gets his arms out himself. Last night he had his arms out within an hour of going to sleep for the night, and he slept like that for 4 more hours. But when I tried to leave one arm out of the swaddle when putting him down for a nap yesterday it was unsuccessful. So I'll still swaddle him to put him down for now, he'll have to keep working his arms free himself ... for a week or two more anyways :-)

And I think his flat little head is rounding out ... we haven't attended a positioning class or anything, I think it's just rounding out because he's moving his head around on his own when he's sleeping, plus he's spending more time upright with us while playing, or moving his head around on his own while playing. So I don't know if I'll worry about going to any classes anyways (they're full at this point, so I may not have a choice). We'll see what the doc says at his 3-month check-up on the 18, but I just don't think it's going to be a concern.

Anyways, that's the news for the second amazing Keller-baby :-)

Landon is Amazing!

Of course Landon is amazing, aren't all parents' children amazing?? Maybe I should say Landon is amazing for me to watch as he learns so many things.
These days, Landon has so much fun reciting the letters wherever he can find them. He can sing his ABC's, has been able to for awhile now. But now he recognizes the letters wherever he sees them and takes great pleasure in reciting them all. He gets G and H mixed up, but those are the only ones usually. He is starting to learn the 'small' letters too (he recognizes the capitals only at this point). I think the fact that he knows his alphabets and recognizes letters is pretty amazing, though :-D

Landon also jumps on one foot. He will show off this new feat to anyone who will watch. Of course, this shouldn't be that surprising, given how much he loves to jump!! LOL Makes me giggle to watch him do this though :-)

Landon also has a very annoying voice that he enjoys using. For anyone who's ever watched MADtv, he sounds like Stuart!! So in order to save our sanity, we remind him that he needs to kick his foot out (like Stuart does) whenever he uses this voice. It usually gets him giggling and he stops whining -- meanwhile John and I are laughing at his antics -- so it's a win-win situation.

Other big things Landon is learning to do -- he can wash his hands by himself (mostly he loves the soap part of washing his hands ... ). He helps mommy by fetching baby blankets and towels and soothers and all sorts of things. He reminds mommy whenever Arlan's crying to "plug in the soosie, the crying stops!". He cracks me up when you ask him if he wants something by replying "Oh! Sure!". Yesterday we saw a big semi truck, he's babbling in the backseat and says "Oh look! A big semi truck! That's NEAT!". Landon also always wants to direct our driving ... "not that way, this way!" I keep reminding him it'll be 14 years before he gets to drive, but he doesn't care, he keeps telling us where to go (literally!).
And we have to be oh so careful of what we say these days. Landon walks around saying "oh my bloody gawd" a lot. He also says "Drive my NUTS!" and "no whining/hitting/throwing" right after he's whined/hit/threw something.

So that's a little bit of info about Landon. He will be 2 1/2 years on Sunday ... hard to believe. *shaking head* I can still remember the ride home from the hospital with him...thinking "now that was fun, but do we have to take it home??" LOL Ah well...

Here's your happy post Nikki ;-)

It's already SEPTEMBER???!

aiaiai...where does the time go?

Well, Saturday night Arlan certainly didn't go to sleep so nicely as I was hoping. It was a frustrating night to get both boys to sleep :-/ Last night wasn't much better either. Both nights Arlan didn't settle for the night until after 10! He just gets my hopes up with an early evening and then BLAM! 2 late(r) nights in a row!! LOL Ah well, we'll just keep on keepin' on.

Landon hasn't been feeling that well the past couple of days. Nothing specific nor major, just waking up kind of cranky, and he's been telling us his neck hurts (pointing to his throat). But once he's up for awhile he's back to full-speed ahead. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets, I don't want a sick kid ... not yet anyways, I know they'll be enough illnesses throughout the winter months!! But we'll just have to keep an eye on it, and have nice quiet days.

Yesterday I went shopping for most of the day. But I didn't buy much :-/ I got some nursing tops for these cooler days (now that it's fall - man, ALREADY!). Then I looked for warm fleecy pj's for Landon -- I guess they don't exist (or else the stores just don't have them out yet). So I will go back to ebay. Ebay is much more enjoyable than the mall on a long-weekend rainy day just before school starts as well :-/ Luckily I had left Landon home with John and so it was just Arlan and I. He was a trooper - although he didn't nap that well while we were out (which may explain his super-fussy evening last evening). Today we were at the park for Arlan's first nap, but he's snoozing peacefully in the bassinet for this afternoon's nap! And hopefully Landon starts snoozing soon too ... He has SO many trucks in bed with him, I don't know if he'll ever fall asleep!

So that's that. Not too much excitement here. Just hanging out close to home...........

Oh yeah - we're working on getting Landon more interested in potty training too. Yesterday he wore a pull-up (in the evening), and he even pulled it down, sat on his potty, and pulled it up by himself (no pee that time though). He also sat on mom & dad's toilet (with the big fancy seat) and peed a little too (with mom's help, otherwise he'd fall into the toilet!! LOL). So we're working on it ...

Sleeping Stuff...

Well, we've figured out how to get Landon to sleep under covers. We blew up his Thomas bed, and now that's where he wants to sleep. Since there's a blanket as part of it, he'll sleep under that blanket. Just now he was playing on his bed with his trucks, getting ready for naptime. He must've gotten sleepy because I just went by his room and he's crawled into the Thomas bed, and even covered up with the Thomas fleece sheet he has in his room. So much for that twin bed!! LOL To think Ricki gave that bed to us as she wasn't using it, and now Landon is using it full-time! aiaiai I'm not sure he'll want to move back into his twin bed (what he calls the 'hard' bed now). It's been up since Thursday afternoon, and he's slept both nights and all naps in there since. I don't know if that's the best bed for him, but I guess we'll go with it for now :-/ Mom suggested telling him that this bed is for special times only, and in a few days I may just have to do that. But for now it's just neat to see him crawl into bed when he's tired and fall right to sleep.

And Arlan slept really nice last night. Gotta love it! He fell asleep after his bath, ~8:30. He slept until 3, ate and went back to sleep until 9 am! And not a grunty, stick-the-soother-in-to-keep-him-sleeping type of sleep ... nice, quiet, mom's-sleeping-soundly-too type of sleep! YAY I think it's to do with him getting simethicone the past couple of days ... he's not as gassy, and when he does need to fart it's not as difficult to do. Good thing!

So hopefully tonight goes as smoothly. John's going out, so I'll get both boys for the night and for putting to bed. The evenings are the most difficult it seems, Landon wants attention and Arlan's somewhat fussy and tired but doesn't always fall asleep so nicely as last night. But I'll have to get used to it, John's gig schedule is filling right up - already 3 gigs for Sept. I'm just looking forward to starting v'ball (late Sept) ... one night a week out! YAYAYAYAY!! lol

Arlan didn't develop a fever last night at all either, so no more Tylenol for him. If anything, I think he reacted less to these shots than Landon did. *shrug* Maybe the steady Tylenol the first day held off any reaction he would've had. I'm just glad those first shots are over with.

That's the scoop from here for today...

We survived the shots...

Arlan is a trooper, making it through his shots. He sure bellered though, and for those that have heard how strong his lungs are, you know just how loud he was!!! Afterwards, I was nursing him and the nurse sat beside us to review some information...he gave her quite the look -- like "YOU are the mean one! Back away...back away very slowly...keeping your hands where I can see them!!" Heh heh
But he hasn't had a bad reaction so far. We were advised to give him Tylenol every 4 hours for the first 24 hours due to Landon's history of febrile seizures. But last night Arlan slept so well that I didn't wake him for Tylenol -- he went for 8 hours between doses and was none the worse for wear because of it. I did check him several times while he was sleeping, but he had no fever at all so I wasn't worried. And tonight he has no fever either, so unless he gets one shortly I won't give him Tylenol before bed at all.

Stats: He's 13 pounds, 3 ounces, and 23 5/8" long (weird b/c at his 6 week check the nurse measured him as 24"....I think she must've read her tape wrong :-/). So he is growing just as he should...~ 1 ounce a day.
He nurses a lot faster than Landon did, finishing a side in ~10 mins or less, so it's good to see such solid weight gain. And if he could sleep as well as he did last night every night, we'd all be better-rested!!! LOL I am giving him simethicone again to help him fart easier in the hoped he'll wake less often overnight...hopefully it helps. I asked the nurse yesterday...simethicone isn't absorbed at all so it's very safe to use; and it certainly does seem to help.
Oh yeah ... he has a flat head on one side, and his right ear is slightly forward on his head :-/ He's always had the flat head...I think from being squished in the womb. But the nurse was concerned and suggested we take a 'positioning class' to help his head round out. Of course the classes are all full -- must be lots of kids with mis-shaped heads out there. It's called positional plagiocephaly, and if not corrected the shape could become permanent. I'm not overly concerned at this point as Arlan is starting to sleep more on the other side of his head, and he's spending more and more time upright or with his head in varying positions when he's playing. His neck is getting a lot stronger too, so he can turn his head easier. But I guess it's something we'll have to watch. After Landon's perfectly round head this seems a weird problem to have :-/ Hopefully it rounds out...otherwise they'll want him to wear a helmet ... at $3000 each!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways...that's the news on Arlan today. He's pretty precious, and I'm proud of how well he screamed at the nurse for poking him (and for how quickly he stopped crying afterwards too).

Potty news...

Landon has been peeing on the toilet the past couple of days. He likes to do it because he gets to flush the toilet afterwards (it's like he pees just to get to flush!). But I don't particularly care. I'm going to try putting him in some pull-ups and put a smaller seat on the toilet with a stool in front so that maybe he'll try it on his own? He may be one of those kids that doesn't like the little pots and goes straight to the toilet, who knows?! Or maybe this is a 2-day thing and it will end now that I've gotten my hopes up.

The other news on that front: Landon was running around naked last evening (like usual!), and all of a sudden he says to me "Need diaper on! Need diaper on!" So I put a diaper on and he pooped. I had asked if he wanted to poop on the pot but he said no ... just to give him the option. But I was pretty impressed -- shows that he recognizes the sensation of having to poop, and the need to do it somewhere specific (versus just letting it fly). So that's a good step too.

So maybe now that we're company free, we'll spend some time focusing on the potty ... maybe. I do have gotch for him too, which I may just bring out to show him what he can wear when he starts peeing on the potty regularly.....maybe. heh heh (I sure hope I haven't jinxed this just as it was getting started...)

And one more thing -- Landon now has his last 2-year molar. Phew! Again, we'll be done with Landon's teething just for Arlan to start in upcoming months....Ah well.

Visit from Aunty Yvonne and Uncle Greg

Aunty Yvonne and Uncle Greg were up for the weekend. Landon had fun showing off for them, mostly his whining voice and unpleasant behaviour :-/ But I guess that's a 2-year-old!!

We had a good weekend though. Saturday we went out to Olds to the birthday party - Aunty and Uncle spent most of the time chasing Landon around, the other portion of their time was spent 'dancing' with Arlan. I'm so thankful they were there though as I wasn't feeling very good, firstly with a major headache, and then some stomach upset. All of it went away over the course of the evening though (mostly when we got in the car to come home actually), which is good. I was worried I was getting mastitis again :-/

Sunday was a quiet day as Yvonne and Greg visited some of Greg's relatives, so I had the opportunity to take a nice nap with Arlan. Sunday night we visited some more, and then Monday morning they were off.

Sunday night we also had Jenay for the night as she was on her way back to Korea. It sure is good to get the chance to visit with her on her arrivals and departures ... I don't know when she'll be back next so I'm happy to have seen her several times over the summer. Visiting is hard with 2 young kids, but at least it's adult conversation that doesn't revolve solely around the kids (like mine and John's conversations most of the time!!).

So this week is quiet thus far. Just trying to sleep as Arlan has been a gassy pants, waking up a couple of times a night :-/ I'm just keeping my chin up, thinking 'maybe tonight he'll sleep better'. He's getting better at napping throughout the day though - I'm learning his 'tired signs' and what to do to help him relax, and he's falling asleep on his own in the bassinet for naps in the afternoons. In the mornings I try to get him outside, and he's napped quite well in the stroller while Landon and I go to Superstore, or the library, or just to the park.

I bought a new stroller last week. After having to carry Landon half the time while we were out n about with Allison, I invested in a Baby Trend sit & stand stroller. I bought it through craigslist (gotta' love that site!!). I LOVE IT!! Landon refused to sit on the 'old' stroller in any way (which I don't blame him, it's meant for only 1 rider), but he'll sit and sometimes stand on this one. It looks normal at the front end, but behind the main seat there's a bit of a 'jumper' seat where Landon can sit facing backwards, and there's a small deck for his feet to rest on or he can stand on that deck and face front. There's full seatbelts and a belt for behind his back if he's standing. It's lighter than the Graco, and it's easier to maneuver (although it's harder to 'tip up' to get the front wheels onto the curb, just because it's that much longer). I haven't put it in the trunk of the car yet ... hopefully it fits well. But let me tell you - I'm loving that thing and am no longer concerned about longer walks where Landon may tire out. Now we'll just go for walks and he can ride if he wants to.

I'm not looking forward to Thursday -- Arlan's 2 month shots :-/ We've finally just gotten through having to get Landon shots so frequently, and now we start with Arlan. Poor little stinker! Hopefully he won't have any bad reactions, and will actually be *like* his brother in this way (Landon would get slightly fussy, but usually some Tylenol was all he needed). At least it's on Thursday evening, so if we have some bad nights we'll be into the weekend and John can watch Landon while I nap with Arlan if needed.

That's the news for now ... until next time....

Landon Shenanigans...

Landon has been having such a busy summer, but now our trail of company has come to an end and we are getting back to 'normal' - whatever that is!! LOL
So here are some pics of the munchkin just doing 'stuff'.
Lately, he's been having such fun playing with soap in the bathroom. We have the CLEANEST SINK (and toilet seat, and faucet...). He has just learned how to wash his hands by himself, but when he's been in there for awhile, with no water running, we know what we'll find. He even has soap smeared on his face here ... :-/
Landon loves Thomas, and has the bedding to prove it. Can you find Landon in this picture??? This is what I walked into his room to find one morning ... just an arm and two feet!!


Landon loves to help me as much as possible too -- although his definition of help may be slightly different than mine :-/ He had loads of fun mopping the other day for me ... he didn't do too badly, as long as he remembered to have me help him wring the mop out before slopping half the water onto the floor!!

We went to a birthday party in Olds for the lead singer of John's band on Saturday. While there, Landon got to go on a horse-drawn wagon ride, which he enjoyed. He also learned how to jump on a trampoline -- he jumped on that thing for probably 45 minutes, non-stop!!! I finally had to drag him off of there to go and watch John play (which was the entire reason for us going out there to begin with)!! He had tons of fun running around with the kids. Thankfully Aunty Yvonne and Uncle Greg were there too, to help me out so much by following Landon around as he was having fun!! Arlan was a good baby while we were there, snoozing, eating, showing off his lungs when mommy was watching Landon jump on the trampoline and he woke up hungry :-/

And the last picture is Landon with his favourite friend of the summer, Murphy. Our neighbours were dog-sitting for the first 2 weeks of August, and Landon fell in love with Murphy. What a beautiful dog! Every time Wendy or Trevor took Murphy for a walk, Landon would somehow hear that gate open and would go running outside "Murphy! Murphy! Wanna see Murphy!".

Two Months Old!!

Hard to believe our little Arlan is already two months old!! He is such a smiler and a talker (see previous post for pics). He really communicates more than I remember Landon doing at this age (I try hard not to compare the two, but I just can't help it!), but he's less physical (no jumping yet!). But Arlan can hold his head up pretty well now, and likes to look around. He's awake for longer stretches, so he's getting more playing in. He's liking the play mat regularly (often he fusses until put down on there, then he's happy). He's so-so for the swing, likes his bouncy chair, and thankfully likes the stroller / car seat as he's spent plenty of time in there these past few days.

He's nursing like a good little gobbler -- usually waking only once overnight. He goes to sleep between 8:30 and 9:30 most nights (sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later), and loves to have a bath before bedtime (again, so different from Landon!). He wakes between 2 and 4 for his mid-night snack, and sleeps until about 8, give or take half an hour. So I'm getting pretty good amounts of sleep which is a blessing. Thankfully Landon is such a good sleeper - once he's out for the night we seldom hear from him until morning, so I don't have to worry about him at all - again usually (don't want to jinx that!!).

Weight-wise, Arlan is 12 pounds, 8 ounces ... 4 pounds over birth weight! So he's right on time and growing like a pro. Must be all that nursing going on all day. He's a bit more regular for nursing, but not yet routine. He's good when we go out though - usually nursing very well while we're in various places. It's when we're at home that he nibbles more, but I think that's because I'm maybe nursing when I should be trying to put him to sleep (whereas when we're out, the stroller puts him to sleep). Ah well....As long as he's happy!

So that's the 2-month stats for little baby Arlan. He is pretty adorable, and we are enjoying our time with him as he starts to communicate more :-) I just can't believe that he's two months already!!!! aiaiaiaiai They do grow too quickly :-/

Tuesday at Heritage Park

Yesterday was Allison's last day here in Calgary, but her flight left late in the day so we took in Heritage Park in the morning. Landon was being SUCH a 2-year-old that it wasn't all that much fun. He was scared of the train, the boat, and pretty much grumpy about everything in life :-/ He did enjoy the sheep though, and when we were describing our day for John that was the one thing he really remembered (the black eyes, black legs and black ears specifically). He also tried to feed the sheep his pine cone :-/ Goofy!

And here are a couple of pictures of Arlan that Allison took - she was able to catch his smile and his talking. He is SO smiley -- I LOVE it!! Especially when he first sees me (if I've been in the other room, or when he first wakes up). He smiles such big smiles, then starts telling stories. Adorable!! These pics are from Prince's Island Park on Saturday.

Banff trip Sunday

What a beautiful day to take a trip to Banff. The weather was hot but not too sunny, although we were boiling by the end of our time there. We didn't do the entire Hoodoo Trail because at 32' before the humidity, neither of us was up to it (needless to say Landon was exhausted by then and Arlan was fussy too!). But we spent time downtown, strolling along the Bow River (by far the most beautiful setting I've ever had the pleasure of nursing a baby in!! lol), and letting Landon chase birds in Central Park (tired himself right out doing that). We did some sight-seeing, checking out Bow Falls (Landon wasn't too scared of that big drop down to the water ... although his mommy was certainly concerned!), the HooDoos, Banff Springs (a quick drive-by) and just driving through the town. We provided Allison with the 4-hour whirlwind tour of Banff ... we didn't see all that we'd have liked to, partly due to the hot weather, partly due to Landon's general pokiness when walking anywhere, and partly due to Allison's fear of heights (the Gondola was definitely OUT).

It was a beautiful day - but by the end I was tuckered right out. The drive and the heat were too much for this mamma. That was okay though - we just stuck close to home on Monday anyways, which was good for all of us as the temperature was over 33' and then there was humidity :-/

Sat at Prince's Island Park

On saturday, Allison and I took Arlan down to Prince's Island park to just hang out. It was nice to get out without Landon (how horrible does that sound!!??) just because we could set our own pace and not have to be watching for Landon to disappear off into a crowd. Arlan was wonderful, sleeping the entire time, except for a brief time to eat (and hang out on the grass a bit). It was a beautiful walk, we waded in the Bow, watched Bow rafters, learned some stuff along the 'walk of learning', and just generally enjoyed the scenery. I would love to take the boys down there again (with John) just to hang out, it was so beautiful. Hard to believe it's right downtown Calgary ... some planners had their heads screwed on straight in 1970 when they designated that island a park (see ... we did learn some stuff down there!! LOL)

Monday...Monday

It's bloody HOT here...aiaiai. We are hiding out in the house after a busy weekend sight-seeing around Calgary and Banff. The computer is acting up (actually blogger is acting up) so I am unable to upload more pics at this time, hopefully soon.

Aunty Allison has been visiting since Thursday afternoon. She came at the right time if she likes HOT weather. We've been close to or over 30 all weekend. Friday we went to the zoo with the boys -- see previous post. Saturday Allison and I took Arlan down to Prince's Island Park and just walked around and enjoyed the weather. Yesterday we took the boys on a road trip to Banff. Allison hadn't been to the mountains before, so we took the chance to head out. It was a long day, hot with lots of driving, but it was beautiful out there and I'm so glad we went. I'll go into more details when I'm able to post the photos.

Today we are hiding in the house - even though it's hot in here too!! Outside is 33 or 34, plus humidity! Blech! Tonight we'll sit in the backyard under the sprinkler I think!! And maybe tomorrow we'll head to a spray pool or something as it's supposed to be a bit cooler (high of 26 with humidex of 29 is sounding cool these days!!)

This morning I took Arlan to the doctor ... poor little stinker has a cyst on his anus :-( So he gets topical antibiotic for a few days, and we're back to the doc on Thursday. If it hasn't cleared up we may have to go into the pediatrician to check it out. Luckily it doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort, but I am concerned about it nonetheless.

Anyways, I have a wiggly kid on my knee wanting to look at pick-up trucks, so I will post again when I can get the photos to upload. Until then....

Aug 15 Trip to the Zoo

On Friday, Landon, Arlan, Aunty Allison and I went to the zoo. It was the one thing Allison wanted to see on her trip to Calgary, and I'm glad we were able to go on a nice day that wasn't a weekend!!

Landon has finally been impacted by the zoo -- it's what he's been talking about since we went on Friday!! Even while driving around Banff he was asking to go see rhinos and hippos and giraffes (pronounced giraffeeeees). He was showing off his rock-climbing skills here, amazing considering how hot it was that day and this is on the way out. You can't really see, but his cheeks were flaming RED. He was a bit of a slow-poke going through the zoo, we were there for several hours and only saw about half of it. Firstly he wanted to see the tigers, so we continually coaxed him towards the tigers, then it was the giraffes we bribed him with. :-/ All along the way he was constantly eating eating eating, which is likely why it took him so long to walk anywhere!! But we got the see the baby elephant and the baby gorilla and the baby giraffe, plus the red pandas were out playing, so we did get to see the cutest things at the zoo (in my opinion).

And of course, here's a picture of Arlan taking it all in :-/ Man that kid can sleep!! LOVE IT!

No wonder ... no soosie!

Landon has been having such troubles falling asleep at night ... yes, more than 'normal'. We've been thinking he's just still out of sorts from the mini-tornados who visited a couple weeks back. Then it dawned on me ... NO SOOSIE!! No wonder he's having trouble giving in to sleep at night :-/ He's getting better though, the past few days have been markedly better. He has caught up on his sleep, which is undoubtedly helping as well. And he's learned to ' lay quietly, close his eyes, take deep breaths, and not to kick the walls' when he goes to bed. He still gets loud sometimes, but usually one reminder is all he needs. But when he's singing his "A B C D's" sometimes he gets too excited. He also likes to sing "Sing a song of Sixpence" and "Fe Fi Fo Fum" at varying volumes. Oh yeah, and the Mighty Machines theme song still. And he's always jabbering about "grandpa grandpa fireworks!" ... wherever that came from *shrug*

So Landon's doing a bit better at night. Arlan's doing a lot better too. He usually starts quieting down (or getting wound up if we aren't letting him quiet down) by 8:30, and is out for the 'night' between 10 and 10:30. He has been waking up once to eat ... between 2 and 4 sometime. I better not be jinxing this by typing it out!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then he's up between 8 and 9 am. But a lot less crying going on these days, although there still is a fair bit, it's about half as much as before. He's settling down and I'm getting better at understanding what it is he's needing too.

And we're getting ready for "Aunty Allison" to visit ... she'll arrive later today. She is the great aunty that gave Landon the puppy blanket :-) She'll be here through the weekend ... poor gal, I'll be enlisting her help all over the place! lol Ah well ... It's going to be SO hot this weekend, I'm trying to think of what we should do to keep us somewhat cool :-/ We'll see.

That's that for now. Will post again soon ... hopefully with some new pics. Until then...

Cute Kid #1

Here are a couple of pics of Landon - he's started to pose a bit more for the camera again, instead of just trying to grab the camera away from whoever has it. Must be jealous of Arlan getting pics taken (not that that happens all that often, that kid just sleeps too much!! LOL). But I do love these pics ... little cutie-pie.

poor cold kids!

Well, I think I've figured out why Arlan has been waking so much in his bassinet -- poor little bugger's COLD! *sigh* There goes that mother of the year award I was trying for :-/ He went to sleep nicely ~9:30 pm, and woke up briefly at 10:30. Then he woke up 'early' again, by 1 am. Instead of just feeding him, I picked him up and did my little bum-pat dance to put him back to sleep. It worked, quite easily. So I laid him in bed with us again, he slept until 3 am!! Then I fed him, he was sleeping again by 3:30, and this time I wrapped a big fuzzy blanket around him as well as the swaddling blanket. He slept until 9 am!! YAY He made lots of noises between 6 and 6:30 where I kept trying to put in a soother to keep him asleep. He just kept spitting it out and grunting more. I finally realized he was working burps out, and once he'd burp he'd be right back to sleep (if he was ever actually awake). So I just ignored him until he made big noise at 9 am. Much better - I feel better today too.

Landon slept in until after 10 this morning too ... maybe he'll be caught up fully now? We'll see. I'll be putting him down for his nap shortly - we'll see how that goes. He went right to sleep for John yesterday which was good. Of course, he's just devoured 4 freezies so I may have some difficulties...???

Not much news aside from the poor cold kids. Oh yeah - Landon woke up at 3 and was cold too ...kind of crying. John went in and snuggled him up and he slept well for the rest of the night. We keep miscalculating the coolness in the house after the hot hot days I guess -- we just aren't realizing how cool it really is :-/ Ah well ... we'll do better tonight, hopefully! until next time...

YAY - a good nap!

Landon just might be recovered from the cousins' visit!! YAYAY Yesterday he napped for 3 hours, and last night he went to sleep at his usual 11:30 (!! - I know ... he was in bed by 10 though!! argh). This morning he woke up on his own at about 9:40, which is a BIG improvement over us dragging his very sleepy-head out of bed at 10 only to have him whining and crying for the next hour! lol And this afternoon, for the first time in a week, he went down for his nap nicely -- one story, close the door, and off to dreamland. No standing there reminding him to close his eyes, to lay down, to take nice deep breaths, etc. Finally! Hopefully he's caught up on his sleep now and our lives will be a bit easier with him.

Of course Arlan is a little gas-monkey, waking me up all night long and having a hard time napping during the day. He's out right now, in his car seat downstairs because I didn't think he was going down for a big long nap yet! He slept through the USC rep coming to get his RESP signed up and everything! Now if he'd just sleep a bit better at night without having to poop all night long! Poor kid ... and poor mommy :-/

Last night I was in Landon's room 'helping' him to fall asleep (see above ... deep breaths, closed eyes, nice and relaxed, lay quietly, no kicking the walls, shhhhhh, deep breaths, closed eyes..........). John went down to prepare coffee for this morning, and he was grinding coffee beans. There's Landon, laying nice and quiet, eyes closed, nice deep breaths, whispering to me "that's the coffee grinder making noise, mommy. mommy, that's the coffee grinder!!" What a kid ... doesn't miss much. Made me laugh though, which is good. As long as I can still laugh at the little bugger, life is fine.

That's my 'report' for today -- until next time....

Pics of Arlan...

Here's our little monkey. He's getting big, and is spending more of his time awake during the day, which is nice. He is liking this bouncy chair, and is starting to kick his legs a bit while in it. His favourite place to sleep is the bassinet, which is GREAT, and the car seat is #2, which is also great. This pic is Arlan having a snooze outside yesterday morning. I also tried to get a couple shots of his smiles ... they didn't capture quite as well as I would've liked, but here they are. And of course, with his big brother who is helping him keep his soosie in his mouth :-) Landon is quite the helper these days, which is wonderful for mommy (as long as mommy keeps a VERY close eye...heh heh).

Summerstock

Landon had a fun time on Thursday. First, we went to the airport to get Jenay - which in itself was very exciting. Then we took the c-train downtown -- even MORE exciting. Once there we had a picnic supper and watched Danika in GREASE. It was lots of fun. Mostly Landon just ran around the grass, he was a dirty monkey by the time we got home. Arlan, as usual, was wonderful -- he hung out in the stroller for the first 45 minutes or so, then had a snack, then was quiet the rest of the time on mommy's shoulder. As long as we have a soosie he's usually pretty darned happy!

Loving my cousins

Landon had so much fun with his cousins...he got to show off his new sandbox, and run around squealing with Izzy. Plus Aunty Liz read lots of stories to the kids too, which Landon really enjoyed as well. He's still trying to catch up on his sleep, but he had a fun 4 days with Thomson and Isabel, that's for sure!!

hot days of August

We have been having some nice hot weather here ... Uncle Rob would enjoy Calgary weather this week if he felt it wasn't hot enough last week! We've been managing to keep the house fairly cool, thankfully. Gotta love how the evenings cool down here.

We have brought our bassinet up to our room now, and Arlan has slept in there the past 2 nights. The first night was a bit rough ... he was up twice to eat, and now that I'm used to only one overnight meal that was hard on me!! LOL But last night he slept until 5 am for his snack ... although I bounced out of bed about half a dozen times to check on him over the course of the night. But he snacked and then went back to sleep nicely until 9 am. It's nice to have our bed back - we can roll around and no worries about laying on Arlan or waking him up by our movements. He naps in there too in the afternoons, although in the mornings and evenings I usually have him outside with us (it's so beautiful out these days - and he doesn't sleep that long then anyways, usually only 45 minutes or so). He's SO different than Landon was at this age!! LOL He cries a lot louder than Landon did too....

We went to watch a friends daughter in Summerstock downtown on Thursday -- she was in GREASE. It was very good, although our seat was on the grass off to the side, so our view wasn't always that great, plus we were taking turns chasing Landon around. We had a surprise too with Jenay needing a pick-up from the airport on her arrival from Korea -- we picked her up and dragged her along to the play too. We rode downtown on the c-train which Landon LOVED!! But by the time we got home we were all bagged, and the house was boiling hot to boot. ugh But we got ourselves cooled off and in bed and saved our sanity (now remember, that's the night Arlan was up twice, so I was still plenty tired yesterday!! heh heh).

Jenay was here for a few hours yesterday morning before being whisked off by her family ... she's back in Canada for a wedding this month, but hopefully we'll get a chance to see her once more on her way back out. That's our benefit for living so close to the airport -- people really have to search for an excuse NOT to see us when flying into or out of Calgary!! Ha Ha

Other than that, we've just been enjoying the weather. Landon is still having trouble settling down for his naps, although it's getting a bit better. We're working on getting him settling down better at night too, although that's taking longer. I usually stand in his room reminding him to close his eyes and relax and take deep breaths... Last night he was doing nice deep breaths, and on his exhale he asks me to 'siiiiiiiiing soooooooongs' I couldn't answer for several minutes because I was laughing so hard! But he's getting better sleeps again (finally) and hopefully we'll get him rested up and back on routine soon. He'd better, Allison is coming for a visit this weekend!! LOL

And even better news -- Aunty Yvonne is coming to visit too, next weekend (22 - 25). Very excited to see her. I can't wait to introduce little baby Arlan. Grandma L will be jealous of aunty's visit I'm sure - she's wanting to come up for a visit again too but that darned harvesting thing is interfering. Ah well ... hopefully they'll be able to make it up if there's any lull in the activity, or else very shortly after harvest is done. Little Arlan is just a-growin!! Which reminds me...I should get some pics uploaded, so I'll quit typing now! until next time...

Returning to normal ... ahhhhh

We are getting back to normal again, I think. At least I feel more normal. Likely to do with getting this mastitis under control (no more pain, just another 6 days of antibiotics!!). Plus I got some clothes washed and we had a good sleep last night, and yada yada yada. Oh yeah, and having my first full day with the boys and no John under my belt, so I know I'll survive it now (although it might not always be fun).

This morning we got our trees and flowers watered, and the pool set up for Landon in the backyard. I'm using his old turtle sandbox for a pool as the blow-up pool has sprung so many leaks it's time to retire it. He helped me lots, and Arlan squawked and squawked until he finally had a snooze in the car seat outside. That was nice because then Landon and I could have a picnic lunch out on the grass.

Landon has been plenty cute these days. He's loving the orange kitty that Grandma Pat sent to Arlan. So much so that he treats it like his baby. He tells me the kitty is crying, then wraps it up, puts it in the bassinet to sleep, and will even feeds the kitty by holding it up to his chest. Cracks me up and melts my heart. Today Landon told me he loved Arlan *so Sweet* heh heh Don't know if he understands the full meaning, but at least he has a positive attitude towards Arlan. He also wants to see Arlan lots (as Arlan still sleeps so much, I think Landon wants to check that he's still alive or something) and today wanted to hold Arlan. Last night he even tried to pick Arlan up out of the bassinet!!!!! Thankfully we were right there, and Landon isn't nearly strong enough to pick Arlan up anyways! *sigh*

I had my post-partum check-up today -- all is healed up and good. No signs of thrush or yeast infections (from antibiotics) which is good. Arlan introduced himself by having a HUGE crap in the doctor's office ... thank gawd I had a change of clothes there for him. Nice, hey? heh heh

So I'm off to try to get Landon to nap now that Arlan is down. I'm sure Arlan will wake up as soon as Landon goes down...that IS the way isn't it? I am tempting fate though, as I've put Arlan down in his crib :-/ We'll just see how the day goes ... after all, John will be home in 3 hours, what can go so wrong in three hours (DON'T answer that....it's rhetorical!). Until next time....

My house is peaceful again ...

Liz, Rob and the kids left yesterday morning for Saskatoon. They were here a day longer than anticipated thanks to Hertz providing such ridiculously poor service when they went to pick up their car on Sunday morning. So Landon got one more day to play with his cousins - which he took full advantage of. Landon and Izzy were too priceless -- they'd run and chase and squeal to no end. Thomson wasn't too interested in playing with Landon ... I guess he's just too small for him ... he'd usually be complaining about how Landon wasn't playing right (i.e. tattling on their hiding locations while playing hide-n-seek, or not building the train tracks right, etc). In a few more years they'll likely figure it out. But Landon LOVED having his cousins here -- holy moly! So much excitement for one little boy. I think by tomorrow we may have his routine back ... it's been a bit mucky as far as sleep schedules and meals go, but we're getting there.

Arlan's doing pretty well. His sleep was quite disturbed too with all the ruckus going on, but I think he's bounced back all right (since he didn't have a schedule to begin with, who's to really know??). But he's eating like a piggy, and gassy as can be :-/ I have mastitis and am on antibiotics, which I think are upsetting his poor tummy even more than it usually is. But his pooping seems to be getting more regular and less frequent, which makes it easier for us to deal with his poor upsets. He's having a good sleeping day today - which is a blessing!!! (Landon too - he's napping, something he refused to do yesterday ... can you say OVERTIRED?).

Yes, mastitis for me. It's usually a sign that you're doing too much ... which was likely true in getting ready for visitors. Now we are settling down again, and finding our routine with John back to work today. I have been on antibiotics since Sat, and am no longer sore, so that's good (no abcess to worry about). I just hope neither Arlan nor I get thrush or yeast infections from the antibiotics!

Landon is officially SOOTHER FREE! YES YES YES!! I must say, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be ... especially since Izzy still has a soother I thought Landon would want his back. But John and I worked to prepare him over the past few weeks (since giving Arlan a soother at 3 weeks we've been telling Landon that soothers are for babies). He has asked for it occassionally, but when we say soothers are for babies he replies "soothers are for Arlan". So that's good.

Landon is breaking his final 2-year-molar as well. Phew! I'll be glad when it comes on through ... I'm hoping it does this time anyways. That particular tooth made a bit of an appearance awhile back and receded, so hopefully this is the final debut :-)

So that's a quick overview of the past days. The weekend was exhausting (too many kids too young when you have a newborn & mastitis to boot), but we're all recovering :-) I will try to find some time for pics in the next few days too.....until next time....