Some Skype Lovin

Andy is scheduled to return in 10 days (yea!). With his homecoming rapidly approaching we've been talking a lot about how Landon will react to him after his 5 month absence. We've been fortunate enough to be able to Skype about once a week so Landon can see his Daddy often, but it's not the same as a Daddy Landon can touch and play with. Landon's new mobility gave us some insight into his feelings about Daddy. I'm thinking Landon will adjust just fine to having his Daddy home again; what do you think? 

My Little Yogi

In his quest to crawl, Landon revealed his inner yogi. Here he is in some of his favorite poses:

Plank Pose

Upward Facing Dog

Downward Facing Dog

Namaste 

By the way, he did finally get the crawling thing. You can check out some videos of that HERE.

Florida

Landon and I just got home from spending a week in Naples, Florida, and while there are about a million other things I need to be doing right now, I decided to post some pictures. We went to visit Andy's dad and his girlfriend, Debbie, and we stayed with Debbie's parents (who've adopted Landon as a grandson of their own - a kid can never have too many grandparents) in their beautiful home. We left temps in the 20's and arrived to a blissful 78 degrees. It's amazing how happy palm trees and sandy beaches can make this girl. Landon had some fun at the beach although I quickly learned that, as much as he loved the sand, letting him play in it means he's going to ingest it. We also got to do some shopping and eating out, but I honestly think his favorite part of the whole trip was having bare feet for a week. Here are some pictures of our fun...

Gary, Debbie, and Landon at a restaurant on Marco Island

Playing on the beach is serious business

I can't think of  a better place for a nap

Examining some beach treasures

Picking an orange in the back yard

He loved the feel of the grass on his chubby little toes

Relaxing in the office... Did I mention their house was beautiful?

Our New Year So Far...

Landon and I were in Colorado this past month and while we were there he achieved a few more milestones...

First tooth

Followed a week later by a second tooth

First time playing in the grass

First presidential inauguration

First Super Bowl

First Build-a-Bear

He loves to play peek-a-boo

While we were there a friend of mine also did a 7 month photo shoot with him. You can check out some of her great shots of him on her photography blog. 

It's good to be home but we really miss all our Colorado family and friends!!!

6th Month Check-Up

Monday was the big day. Here are Landon's latest stats:

Length: 27" (70th percentile)

Weight: 18 lbs. 4 oz.  (60th percentile)

Shots: 3 (He only cried for the last one and I didn't cry at all... a big improvement!)

Some other news... Andy left yesterday for his deployment. He went to the UAE where he'll stay for the duration of this non-flying deployment. He's scheduled (which means nothing in the AF) to get home May 22. We miss him already!

 

 

Christmas Time

Landon in Grant's first Christmas outfit

This year's Christmas was full of firsts: the first Christmas we celebrated at home, the first Christmas without any extended family, the first Christmas with our new artificial tree, and of course, the big one, Landon's first Christmas. Being that it was just the 3 of us, things were pretty low key this year, but we still had lots of jolly Christmas fun with our baby boy. 

Christmas Eve we dressed Landon in my nephew Grant's first Christmas outfit. Andy had to work in the morning so we spent a quite day at home listening to Christmas music, playing with Landon, and tracking Santa on NORAD's Santa tracker. That night I finally convinced Andy that Landon could open one present early and from the expression on Landon's face, I'm guessing he liked the idea too.

Opening his first gift Christmas Eve

Can I please open one more???

All ready for his Christmas Eve feast...rice cereal anyone?

Christmas morning we opened presents for as long as Landon could stand it (Santa wasn't the only one interested in spoiling Landon this year). That afternoon we went over to Brian and Tammy's. Andy and the kids made homemade pasta and we had homemade minestrone soup as well. It was soooo delicious! After the kids went to bed we played Wii, which was our present from my parents. 

Opening presents Christmas morning

Making red and green pasta with Gracie and Joey

Tammy and me

Andy and Brian

Little Man in the Big Apple

On the train

Sunday we took Landon to Manhattan for the first time so we could all experience the sights and sounds of Christmas in the city. It was everything we hoped and expected... the weather was mild, the lights were beautiful, the tree was huge, and the sidewalks were PACKED! In anticipation of the crowds we opted not to take a stroller and decided to use the moby wrap instead. This puts Landon closer to eye level with people which usually gets him lots of attention from strangers and Sunday was no exception. I've never seen people in the city so interactive but locals and tourists alike were chatting it up with our little man and he was holding  up his end of the conversations with lots of smiles, goos, and foot kicking craziness. Landon was also the typical first time NYC tourist as he couldn't stop looking up at all the tall buildings.

We started our day at Macy's. After looking at all the window displays we rode the escalators up the six or so stories to the toy department at the top. We chose not to have our picture with Santa when we learned that the line was an hour and a half, but we did get a sneak peek of the big guy. 

One of the Macys Windows

On the Old Wooden Escalator at Macys

Macys Toyland

Then we made our way to Rockefeller Center where we saw the tree and the ice skaters below it. We also got a glimpse of the Saks window displays which were really neat as well. 

The Big Tree

We then moved on to the Disney store. We were delighted to learn the Minnie and Goofy were at the store that day and the wait to meet them was a very manageable 10 minutes so Landon got to meet his first real life Disney characters. They were very sweet to him.

At the NYC Disney Store 

Silly Goofy

Minnie Wanted to Give Him Lots of Kisses

On our way back to Penn Station we walked down 6th Avenue past Radio City Music Hall and lots of cool Christmas decorations that we knew were there from our trip to the city last Christmas. 

In Front of Radio City Music Hall

Some of the Sights on 6th Ave:

It was a great day and all the sights and sounds wore our little boy (and his mommy and daddy) out!