6 months & Charlotte

Wow! Tessa is 6 months old! She's now sitting up on her own and babbling and playing with things. She actually sat up a week earlier than her brother did at this age. She loves jumping in her jungle bouncer, the same one Landon used to use and loved as well. She's such a joy to have in our family. She makes every day brighter with her adorable smile and funny noises. I wish I could get a video, and some day I might, but she does this funny thing where she scrunches up her nose and mouth and breathes really hard through her nose. It's hilarious. We went to Charlotte recently at the beginning of October and all her Aunts just LOVED her! We went to the pumpkin patch and rode on a huge tractor and we went shopping and hung out as a huge family. It was awesome. Landon loved playing baseball everyday because it was stil 80 degrees over there. Papa Dirt took him to the golf course 5 times while we were there too. He LOVED that! Landon loved all the animals that Papa and Lola have in there house, but he still doesn't understand that Teddy (the big orange cat) doesn't like being tormented. Teddy gave Landon a battle wound right across his left cheek, but Landon kept coming back for more as if he had never been touched. I guess he'll learn one of these days.

Family Camping for the First Time!!!

This last weekend we joined some friends who invited us to go camping with them. We have never gone camping before as a family, except an overnight (more like a sleepover) with our church that was literally 5 minutes away from our house. That was a nice warm up to see how the kids would do, but this weekend was 10 times better and it was actually 2.5 hours away from our house. We went to a place called Wenatchee Confluence State Park. We did your traditional camping activities: roasting marshmallows, eating hot dogs, dutch ovens, and we even got to go out on our friend's boat. The kids were great and Landon loved every minute of it!

5!!!

Tessa Elizabeth is 5 months already! I say this every month, but I truly cannot believe how fast time flies. She of course got to be 5 months old much faster than Landon did. Of course, that's probably because it was just me and Landon last time...Tessa is such a sweet little spirit and she's brought a lot of joy to this household. Landon absolutely adores her and she can't get enough of her handsome brother either. She constantly stares at him. She loves bouncing in the jumperoo that her brother once used when he was a baby and she's now able to sit up in the bumbo and eat rice cereal mixed with green beans. YUM ;) She rolls and babbles and makes spit bubbles with her tongue and lips. She gets so happy when daddy comes home and makes her smile. She really is quite the perfect baby. I do say my prayers and thank my Heavenly Father for bringing me such a wonderful and well behaved baby. I think he knew that I wouldn't be able to handle a fussy or colicky baby. I have been truly blessed with two very well behaved babies.

August 2010

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't blogged in quite a while. So many things have been happening. We had my family in town at the beginning of August and then I had my 10 year highschool reunion, we went camping, and did a lot of other stuff. The kids have been keeping me pretty busy and this last week everyone including myself was sick. If you'd like to see some pictures from the past month click on these links below. One is from the reunion and the other is from the rest of August.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2175561&id=193303664&l=9fb6796902

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177453&id=193303664&l=77d2b8fb41

I'll be posting soon about Tessa being 5 months old....stay tuned :)

Tessa's blessing

Tessa was blessed on the 4th of July when she was 3 months old. Ben's family and some of my friends came to take part in this special day, it was wonderful. Tessa giggles so much now and she has so much personality. I got a video of her...and of course I'm looking like an idiot to try to make her laugh. It's worth it though! Ben and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Boy, time flies! Here are a few pictures or Tessa and how big she has gotten.

Baseball...BASEBALL!!!

Calling all pro scouts.....I think we might have a new professional in town. Of course, he's only 2 and a half, but he's got a bright future ahead ;).

All Landon talks about is BASEBALL! His favorite words right now: NO and BASEBALL! When he wakes up in the morning I ask him what he wants for breakfast and he says, "No breakfast, play baseball!" When we get home from our morning errands or play dates, I say, "guess what time it is?" (alluding to nap time) and Landon says "play baseball". Then when he finally gets in bed for nap time he tells me, "nap time, then baseball". And after his nap, Daddy gets home and first thing when he comes through the door, Landon says, "Daddy, play baseball".

We'll take him to the park and play for at least an hour if the weather is nice and he just can't get enough. He just doesn't get tired of it. He's got a pretty good swing and he throws pretty well for a 2 year old too. It's amazing that he actually makes contact with the ball after Ben pitches it to him, I don't know too many 2 year olds that can do that. Check out the video. He's such a funny kid. He HAS to stand in the same place when he's batting, he HAS to do the wind up when he throws the ball, and Mommy and Daddy HAVE TO wear baseball hats if we're playing with him. Oh and I forgot to mention that Landon LOVES to watch the big boys play baseball at the park too. It's the only time I've ever seen him sit for more than 30 minutes straight. I LOVE THIS KID!!!

2 Months...

and TOO CUTE! I know I always say this about my kids, but I just can't believe how fast time goes by. I guess it's because when you have kids, your life is just so much busier so you don't really have time to sit back and say "gosh I wish time would go by faster"...although, I am kind of saying that in the midst of being busy because I wish the "terrible two" stage would be over already with Landon. Anyway, back to Tessa. At her check up on Thursday she was 11 pounds (50th percentile), 22.5 inches (50th percentile) and her head size is also in the 50th percentile. Basically she is a perfectly average baby. I really love this little girl soooo much. She's started talking and smiling. I love it.

Wild West...

We went to The Old Cannery and Fudge Factory in Sumner today for their Memorial Weekend Sale. Landon LOVED it. There were trains galore and he found bunk beds and wanted to get them so badly, but we had to pass for now. They had raffles, free hotdogs, pop, popcorn, and we had our western family photo taken. I just love the expression on Landon's face and he loved holding those guns. Thank goodness we don't have any of those at home though. We had a great time.

RSV :(

Tessa started sounding congested this past Friday so I called the consulting nurse and she said that it's very possible that she was spitting up milk into her nasal cavity. I wasn't too worried and it made sense since the color of the stuff I was suctioning out of her nose was the same color as my milk. So I was really calm over the weekend until she started coughing too, but then part of me thought that it was probably just the mucus draining down her throat. But this morning I had a gut feeling that I should bring her into the pediatrician to have her checked out just in case it had gotten into her lungs or something. It turns out that her oxygen levels were pretty low (at 91 and they'd like it at 95-100) so they put her on an oxygen tank. We were transported to Children's Hospital by ambulance (which was honestly kinda cool because I'd never been in an ambulance before, but I was still scared for my baby girl, so it wasn't THAT cool) because she had to stay on oxygen during the ride to the hospital. While they had her on oxygen at the Dr. office, they decided to test her for RSV, which is a lung infection, just to be on the safe side. Turns out that she tested positive, so that's why they admitted us to the hospital. I was pretty scared because I didn't know the details of this infection and I really didn't want to be in the hospital again after just having been in the hospital to give birth to her. She has to be monitored over night and we could be here as long as this Friday. I know that she will pull through because she is a strong spunky little girl, I just need to be patient and let this thing run it's course. Patience is probably one of my worst qualities and I have a feeling that Heavenly Father is trying to help me get better at being more patient.

She's FINALLY here!!!

Little Miss Tessa finally arrived on Saturday, April 3rd at 12:38pm. She was 7 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches long. She's absolutely perfect...in her parent's eyes. She's such a good sleeper (11pm-3am then up again at 7am). I'm seriously so spoiled. She's only had one complication so far, which is spitting up into her nasal cavity which makes her sound like a little snorting pig. I can't get over how precious she is and how much I love her. I never thought I could love another child as much as I love Landon, but it's obvious to me now that it's definitely possible. Landon is SO good with her. He loves to hold her "all by himself."

Happy Easter!

Easter pictures I had taken of Landon last week. He looks so grown up.

26th Months on St. Patrick's Day

Landon is now 26 months...but I swear it feels like I'm talking to a 3 or 4 year old most of the time. His progression is just amazing. He'll tell me things like "Landon wearing green and mommy wearing green....wear green together". And I'm like, "where did I get this kid? He's way too smart to be mine!" The other things he says are things like, "Not chicken nuggets, not french fries, JUST ice cream!" Sometimes I think this kid never stops talking. He tells me that he's going to show Baby Tessa his choo choo trains and that he's going to push her in the stroller, which I think is too cute. He says that he's going to hold her hand in the car too. I really hope he likes her when she comes.

This last month has been so fun with him. He's seriously my little buddy and best friend (besides Ben of course). I just love hanging out with him. I can't believe that I'm going to have 2 kids pretty soon. I hope Tessa's personality is as cute as Landon's. She sure has a lot to live up to ;)

Here are some pictures from the birthday party that he recently went to. He's so big and sits at the birthday table all by himself. Gosh he's growing up way too fast!

Potty Time?

I'm still not sure if the potty training has "officially" begun, but Landon went on the "big boy" potty for the first time yesterday after he had a shower before church. It was just a couple trickles, but still counts in my mind. We've decided to give him Fruit Loops as his reward because he LOVES "fruit zoots". Today was day 2 of this trying out the potty training and he left a couple drops in the froggy potty after his nap today. We tried again tonight right before putting a "good night" diaper on him and he sat on the froggy potty again and did an AMAZING job. It was the best one he's done so far and it seems like he's figured out that he can push out whatever he has left. Sorry if this is "too much information" but I'm just so proud of him and I want to document it for myself. It was so cute though because he kept clapping for himself after anything came out. He was definitely proud of himself too. We'll see how this goes. Wish us luck!

Don't Leave Mascara Out!

May I remind all you mothers out there not to leave your mascara out on the counter...where little hands can reach them. Luckily I have REALLY good eye makeup remover. Something tells me though that this is just the beginning....

Skateboarding 101

So here are a couple videos of Ben's attempts at teaching Landon how to skateboard. I seriously couldn't watch it at first, especially because he wasn't wearing a helmet or any sort of padding (don't judge!). But he's actually pretty good at balancing and I didn't even get videos of his best rides. He's getting so big. It makes me grateful that a new baby is coming soon because my baby doesn't seem like a baby anymore...he's becoming such a big boy! I love this age though cause it's so much fun to have conversations with Landon. It definitely makes our days more interesting. I haven't done an update in a while, but here are some little things that have changed for him. He LOVES apple pancakes that Ben makes for him on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He does this fake whimpery cry to make you feel sorry for him. He's pulled all his clothes off in the morning...including his diaper, which now makes it obvious that we need to go in and get him sooner. He rides Ben's skateboard pretty well. He likes to pull the wagon when he goes on a walk with dad. He tells me things like "Mommy's a gworrell (girl) and Yandon is a spiderman" and that "Baby Tessa a come soon". I love hearing the things that he says. He loves doing the song "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and "If you're Happy and You Know It" and "Sticky Bubblegum". I LOVE THIS KID!!!

more quiet book pages

Here are some of the recent pages that I've finished.

Recent Accomplishments

Ever since Ben got me a sewing machine for Christmas, I have been pretty much OBSESSED with sewing projects for kids and friends. I have found some great blogs and websites that give you instructions, step by step, on how to make cute little gifts, etc. Below are some of my recent accomplishments.

The crayon roll I made for Landon's little friend Maya

This is the crayon roll that I made for Landon and we call them his "Cowboy Crayons."And I found another really cute website that makes scripture covers and totes...but there are no instructions on how to make them, so I tried to figure it out on my own. This is the first one I made. And the pink one is the second one I made. The black one was pretty easy to make...but the pink one, the black flower took forever to make and figure out how to securely attach it.

3 more

So here are three more pages that I've finished. The treasure chest holds the shapes from one of the previous pages that I made. Then I made a "tic-tac-toe" page to teach him the game.

And I made a clock with moving arms so that he can learn his numbers better and how to tell time. And right now, he always points out if there is a clock in the room.