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....