The Shepherd Family

Tessa is ONE!

2011-04-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, Tessa turned 1 on Sunday 4/3! I still can't believe my eyes and how fast the year went by. She has been the light of our lives this past year. Not that Landon hasn't been, but so many things are new with her and watching an infant grow into a toddler all over again has definitely been exciting and interesting to see how different babies are. She has grown up so much. She can now say 4 words (Mama, Dada, Dog, and Ball)...which I have to say is more than Landon could say at his first birthday. But then again, Landon was already walking at his first birthday, and Tessa still isn't. She's close though. I love having a little girl where I can dress her up like a doll and fix her hair. She loves to give kisses and cuddle. She is such a calm little girl, unless she sees something that she really wants. When she sees my iPhone, she immediately wants it, which is frustrating, but cracks me up at the same time. She's into everything, like my bathroom drawers and cupboards. She loves to unload the already folded laundry, which I can only laugh at cause she's so stinkin' cute. My favorite is that when she is concentrating on stuff, she always has her mouth wide open with her tongue sticking out. I really can't get enough of it.

You can look at the rest of the pictures in my Facebook album: www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2215219&id=193303664&l=55f2559030

Tessa is 10 months!

2011-02-09T15:36:00.001-08:00

This little girl is a big 10 months already! I can hardly believe that she is going to be a year old in only 2 months! Where has the year gone? Tessa has been the light of our lives the past 10 months. She's learning new things and growing every day. She FINALLY started crawling...2.5 months late, according to the bar her brother set before her ;) But now she is unstoppable. When she wants something...SHE GETS IT! She's very determined to say the least. She loves stealing fishy crackers from her brother and just today tried macaroni and LOVED IT! I never thought I could love another child as much as I love Landon, but this sweet little girl is proof that it's more than possible! Just looking at this picture below as I type makes me want to run into her room and wake her up from her nap and hug her and kiss her to death ;)
Some more things about her....she LOVES to play with the pretend kitchen stuff and stands up and tries to destroy the setup of Landon's train table. Every day, without fail, she crawls under the barstools and gets herself trapped under there. I keep telling her not to and that she'll get stuck, but she just doesn't listen, haha. She can clap and wave on command without me showing her what to do first. She is GAGA over her daddy and gets so giddy when he walks through the door after work. It is also evidenced by the fact that she constantly says, "da, a da da". You know her constant whereabouts because she does raspberries with her mouth all day long! I couldn't have asked for a better baby! I love her to pieces!!!

Here she is experiencing her first cupcake (with purple frosting) at Landon's friend's 3rd birthday party.(It makes me so excited for her first birthday so I can see her dive into all the cake and frosting...when Landon turned 1 he didn't really know what to do with it)

Look at her sitting ups like a big girl, in a big girl chair! I can hardly believe it!!!

Landon's Dream Come True!

2011-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

At the end of January we went to Mariner Fan-Fest at Safeco Field. Landon had the time of his life! It was freezing and rainy but Landon enjoyed every minute of it and I'm so glad we took him. He has such a passion for baseball and wakes up and asks to play baseball every morning, I just couldn't pass up this opportunity for him to experience the real deal.

Warming up in the bullpen

Got a picture with the new catcher Miguel Olivo!

Batter up!

Catching pop-flies!

Fireman Landon?

2011-01-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well Landon turned 3 today! Still can't believe it. I love this little man so much and he make my life so much better, I can't imagine it without him. Over the summer he was really into this cartoon called "Fireman Sam", so I decided that if he was still interested, we'd do a fireman themed birthday party for him. Time went by so fast and suddenly it was December and I still hadn't planned his birthday party, so I asked him if he wanted a Fireman party...Luckily he said YES! So anyway, it was a hit. We went to the local fire station for a tour of the firehouse and firetrucks and then we came back to our house for pizza and cupcakes. After pizza, my cousin Todd, who is also a fireman up in Everett, brought kid sized bunker gear and wore his own uniform. The kids got dressed up, went out back and fought the fires of Lakeland Hills (putting out flares on our back patio with the garden hose ;)). It was priceless and the kids loved it. Happy 3rd Birthday Moose!!!

Tessa is 9 months!

2011-01-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

Has it really been 3 months since the last time I posted anything. I guess the holidays were just so busy :P

Tessa is now 9 months old and we couldn't be happier with our life since she entered the family. She is such a sweet spirit and makes me laugh all the time. She is almost crawling and loves playing in the toy kitchen stuff in the playroom. She does these little shreek sounds when she is happy and loves to laugh with her brother. She's a really good eater, as you can tell from the photos...she's not as skinny as her brother was at this age, which I love because that just means there's more to love :) She really likes eating those little puffs and Mumm crackers. To her it's like catnip for babies cause she goes crazy over them.

6 months & Charlotte

2010-10-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-09-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-09-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-06-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

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 :(

2010-04-13T04:33:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2010-04-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-03-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

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

26th Months on St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-03-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

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

Recent Accomplishments

2010-02-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

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.

pg. 2 FINISHED!

2010-01-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

I've finished another page in Landon's quiet book. This is the Fruit & Veggies Color page. I used velcrow for Landon to adhere the fruit/veggie to the correct color. I'm so excited that I'm actually making progress with this project. It seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but it's actually not that bad. A little time consuming, but I've got a lot of time now that the doctors have put me on partial/minor bedrest. Kind of a long story, so here's the short of it...This time around I developed a pretty bad varicose vein down my right leg and they're worried about blood pooling and clotting below my waist. So if I don't HAVE TO get up for anything, I should be sitting/laying down. This is really hard to do with a 2 year old, but so far it hasn't been too bad. Only 79 more days to go. I think I can do it. I hope I can still get this project done too. Here are a couple pictures of the latest page I finished:

Happy Birthday LANDON!

2010-01-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today was Landon's 2nd birthday. I still can't believe how fast it has gone by. Obviously from the picture below, you can see that I ate a little too many birthday brownies ;)

Moose, I love you more than life and I can't imagine my life without you. You have made the past two years so much fun and eventful.

The kitchen Lola and Pop Pops got him for his birthday. He LOVES it!
Here are some of his 2 year old stats (not the official ones from the dr. office though):

Latest Words: "not yet", "Time out, 2 minutes, NOW!" (I think that one is the funniest thing I've heard him say, as he puts his stuffed koala on the stairs), "helicopter", "soap", "you're crazy", "come on...Mom", "Baby Tessa's", "baseball christmas", "christmas lights", "I swing da baseball bat"...he can say the entire ABC's without help now and counts up to 20. I am completely blown away with how much he has developed!

Favorite Things: his baseball bat and t-ball that he got for Christmas, the play park at the Supermall, telling mom what everything is in the room (light, chair, tv, etc.), playing with train sets.

Favorite Foods: still cheese, pizza, Italian chicken, macaroni, was introduced to hotdogs and now loves those too. Pancakes! Sunchips!

Dislikes: going down for naps, cleaning up after himself has really been a challenge lately too.

Accomplishments: Last thursday he was PERFECT for me at kidscare. He normally throws a tantrum every time I have to work and bring him with me, but that day he was a complete ANGEL! I was so proud of him!

Highs: He loves it when I let "him do it". He's so independent these days and just wants to do everything himself. He gets so pround of himself when he does something on his own. I love the look he gets on his face. It's priceless.

Lows: when mommy gets upset with him for touching something he shouldn't have touched. He immediately knows he shouldn't have touched it and cries. It's the saddest thing ever.

Tender Moments: I still love the fact that he'll come up out of the blue and hug me around the leg or say "thank you Mommy", for no apparent reason.

My new project for Landon

2010-01-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

So I decided that I wanted to make a Quiet Book for Landon. At first I thought it was going to be way to overwhelming but since I got a sewing machine for Christmas, thanks to my wonderful husband, I thought this would be the perfect first project to utilize the sewing machine. I also wanted to make Landon something for when Tessa comes...kind of so he doesn't think that Tessa's getting all the attention. I'm really aprehensive about how he is going to react to her and what his personality is going to be towards her. But anyway, here is the first page that I've completed and there's a treasure chest that goes with it, but I'm still working on it ;) I'm really excited that I'm actually getting it done...hopefully it will be finished before April 10th :)

December!!!! p.s. I only have 100 days left HOORAY!

2009-12-25T14:01:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of us during the month of December. Landon LOVED Christmas this year! He kept asking for "more Christmas lights" and pointed out Santa EVERYWHERE. The only thing he really hasn't figured out yet is snow...mainly cause we haven't really seen any. It snowed a tiny bit while we were in Utah, but not enough for him to think about what was really on the ground. I hope it snows in Seattle this year so I can show him how to have fun in it.

Landon helped out with the family gingerbread house this year. It's our annual tradition and Landon did a great job helping...although he kept trying to eat all the candy before it actually got on the house, haha.

This year Christmas lasted for 2 months in our house. I couldn't wait to get the decorations out, so I set everything up on November 3rd, as I put the Halloween decorations away. I used to think that Halloween was my favorite holiday, but this year proved that Christmas is actually my favorite. It's not necessarily the day, but just the time of year. I love all the decorations everywhere and the festivities. Going to Snowflake Lane, the Botanical Gardens, the Teddy Bear Orchestra and the Nutcracker ballet. This year my sisters and my mom saw The Christmas Carol with Jim Carey in 3D. It was pretty cool. I'd never seen a movie in 3D before, so it was definitely interesting. We went to Temple Square back at the beginning of December. Landon saw Santa while we were in Charlotte. He actually did pretty well. I was surprised that he wasn't histerical when it came time to sit on Santa's lap. Here's a video of him on Christmas morning. I can't wait for next Christmas, just so I can see this little boy's reaction again.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

This year has been a great one. These pictures were taken on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. We used these pictures for our Christmas cards, but unfortunately we didn't order enough of them...so forgive us if we missed you this year...I'll definitely order more next year! We took our summer vacation there with my family in early August. When we got back we found out that I was pregnant and we were very excited about that. Landon had is first "real" Halloween....meaning that he actually went trick or treating and somewhat got the concept of Halloween. He really enjoyed it. My parents visited just before Thanksgiving and we found out that we will be welcoming a baby girl in April 2010. We spent Thanksgiving at Ben's parents house and Landon and I just got back from visiting Charlotte, NC with my family a week before Christmas. Landon loved hanging out with his Papa Dirt and playing with Atticus the dog. He enjoyed spending time with Lola and his Aunts too. I'll be posting pictures soon. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and are able to enjoy time with family and remember the true meaning of Christmas. Love, Ben, Sarah, Landon, and Tessa (from my tummy).

Its a ___!!!!

2009-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

We found out today at roughly 11am that we are going to be welcoming a baby GIRL this coming April. We are so excited! The doctors say she looks very healthy and we couldn't be happier. Only 142 more days to go...we're half way there!!! I'm so thankful to Landon for helping me stay busy and making this second pregnancy go by faster ;) He's going to be such a good big brother. I kind of wish that the technician had gotten a print out showing the sex of the baby, but I guess this way I can keep my baby girl modest ;)

An Heirloom Tomato?

2009-11-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

So according to BabyCenter.com the baby inside of me at 19 weeks is the size of an Heirloom Tomato. I think it's very interesting that they compare it to the size of certain fruits and veggies. We find out what we're having this Thursday morning. I have a gut feeling that it's a girl. This pregnancy is totally different.
I was sicker this time around. I don't have the acid reflux that I had so badly with Landon. I've started getting varicose veins in my upper thigh (GROSS!). And I'm carrying much smaller than I was with Landon at this stage too. I've gained 13-15 pounds so far and I'm at 19 weeks...Last time I had already gained 27 pounds at this week with Landon. If I try to flex my abdominal muscles it looks like I've just eaten a little too much. It's very weird not looking very pregnant and being just about half way done with the pregnancy. But who knows, one of my friends had two totally different pregnancy experiences and she had girls both times. Anyone have any guesses as to what they think I'm having?

Halloween Week 2009

2009-11-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year. My sister Rebecca came to visit for the week and stayed until Halloween. It made Halloween week even better. This year we had playgroup parties to go to and we went to the pumpkin patch and to a corn maze too. We went to the cornmaze at night and I totally thought Landon would get scared but he had tons of fun running around in there. Its so much fun now that he's older and can understand the holidays a little bit more. We went to the movies and out to dinner a couple times too. Rebecca and I took Landon trick or treating on Halloween night. We had a great time and so did Landon. We taught him that he had to knock on the door first so then whenever we went up to the door he knocked on it and said "knock knock"...then they'd open the door and we told Landon to say "trick or treat"...it came out more like "trickeat!" Then he would either grab 2 handfuls of candy or when someone was getting the bowl, Landon would try to go inside their house. It was pretty funny. He was definitely an entertaining trick or treater. One thing he didn't like about Halloween was all the skeleton decorations. Everytime he saw one he would say "keton" and want me to pick him up and then he'd lay his head on my shoulder. It was actually pretty cute. I can't wait for next year!

21 Month Update

2009-10-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Landon is now 21 months old. He talks so much now. Saying 3-4 word sentences all the time now. He's a little copy-cat too. He always wants whatever I'm drinking or whatever I'm eating. He wants to sit where I'm sitting or lay where I'm laying. It's really funny. He's very interested in Halloween this year. He keeps pointing out every pumpkin that he sees. And he now knows what dark vs. light is and he always points out something dark and whispers "dark".

Latest Words: "night night time", "dark", "pumpkin", "sit doggy/bunny/giraffe", "swing the baseball bat", "throw basketball", "I see you", "Mommy, Daddy, Landon" (and points to each of us, or our spots at the dinner table), "2,4,6,8", "row, row, row your boat", "go to park", "drive a car", "shark", "polar bear", the lineup for Thomas the Tank Engine("Thomas", "Percy", "Gordon", "Toby", "Bertie", "Terence"), "bonkie" (whenever he bumps his head).

Favorite Things: Landon has always loved brushing his teeth ever since he got his first tooth, but I've recently noticed how much he LOVES Daddy's mechanical toothbrush. I really need to get Landon his own. He throws a fit if I take it away from him. Also his orange rain boots that he wears EVERYDAY. He won't wear anything else right now. He even wears them to church.

Favorite Foods: We recently discovered that Landon REALLY likes Cheeze-Its. He LOVES them. He'd rather eat those than string cheese, and he never turns down string cheese. He loves the lasagna that I make too.

Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed when he has a bottom rash. I don't blame him. He doesn't like getting in his carseat right now because he always wants to "drive cars", so I have to make a deal with him that if he gets in his carseat, we can drive the car when we get home. Usually it works and hopefully it works for a while.

Accomplishments: He can put his shoes on by himself and put his orange boots on by himself. I also caught him taking off his footie pajamas by himself when he woke up one morning, but he's only done that once.

Highs: When I let him sit in the driver's seat while the car is parked in the garage. His eyes just light up and he gets a big grin on his face.

Lows: When he has double ear infections (which he got a week ago) and then has to take an antibiotic that tastes really bad and gives him really bad diarrhea to the point where his bottom is so raw that it bleeds. I think its one of the saddest things I've seen him go through.

Tender Moments: The way he still looks for my thumbs to hold for comfort at night or when we sit on the couch and watch a show or when we're in the car. I also think it's sweet that when he bonks his head, he comes and asks me to kiss the "ouch".

Sorry for no picture right now, I'll upload one soon.

11 week Ultrasound

2009-09-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pictures of Shepherd baby #2. I had an ultrasound yesterday (at 11 weeks & 2 days) to test for any birth defects. I was so paranoid about the baby's health because of the scare that we had previously...and you can't feel anything at this point. But as soon as the technician put the ultrasound thing on my tummy, the baby was bouncing and moving around a lot. They say the baby looks good and healthy but won't know the definite results until the second test at the end of October. Ben says that "she" looks like me during my favorite pass time, which is curling up like a cat and napping ;) haha. We won't find out for at least 8 more weeks what the gender of this baby is, but obviously Ben thinks it's a girl. My gut instinct says it's a girl too, and I've been told that women who went with gut feelings on gender were 80% accurate. But who knows, I don't mind either way.

20 Months

2009-09-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

My little boy is now 20 months old. That's how old I was when my sister Rachel was born...so weird to think about. This is a picture of him trying on his Halloween costume for this year(he's a spider!). He didn't want to take it off for a whole hour...which was kinda nice actually cause at least he's not one of those kids who won't wear their costume, right. Well, I guess we'll see on Halloween.

Latest Words: "Hold", "I love you", "show", "train", "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10", "rainbow", "sun", "bunny", "Landon", "monkey", "crying", "seahorse", "crab", "starfish", "push".

Favorite Things: baseballs...the other night Ben went in to check on him and Landon whispers, "baseball" in his sleep. It's so cute to know that he was dreaming about baseballs. Still loves going outside and playing basketball. Its going to be sad when it starts raining so much that he's not able to go outside.

Favorite Foods: baked spaghetti, italian chicken, enchilladas, quesadillas, bread, macaroni & cheese, regular spaghetti, still likes string cheese, pretzels, crunchies, McDonalds cheeseburgers and dipping fries in ketchup andjust licking the ketchup off, Garden Salsa flavored SunChips (he LOVES them).

Dislikes: Kidscare. He threw the biggest tantrum this morning and it was sparked purely by approaching the kidscare playroom.

Accomplishments: Helping me make taco soup by dumping the cans of beans and corn into the pot. He climbed up on the jungle-gym by himself the other day, which was pretty scary for me cause I seriously thought he would fall right through the bars. Eating a bowl of spaghetti by himself.

Highs: Throwing the basketball in the hoop. Holding his own cup without a lid. When daddy comes home. Watching football on tv. Playing "chase" with other kids.

Lows: When Mommy doesn't let him hold something that he's not old enough to hold by himself yet. Having to go home from the basketball court.

Tender Moments: When we ask him where the new baby is and he already knows to point to my tummy and then kisses it. It's the cutest thing ever! And those unexpected kisses while he's playing are the best too. He is also very intuitive. He knows when people are sad or happy and will point out and say "crying" if someone is crying. Sometimes he'll even say Elmo or his bear or giraffe are crying if he throws them on the floor and then brings it to me to kiss better. Its so funny how they pick up on things so fast.

Battle Wounds...

2009-09-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago my little guy joined the official boy club. You know, the one where you get the scar underneath your chin. He fell in the shower just before church and hit his chin right where the shower slopes up. He had a nice split that was just gushing. Surprisingly, I was pretty calm about it and just called out to Ben to get Landon's towel cause he split his chin open...thank goodness it wasn't bad enough to need stitches.Then, on Thursday we were playing at the park just behind my house and I was sitting down and Landon was going down the slide. He's usually fine going down on his own. But I guess this time he decided to go down face first and must have banged his eye on the side where it winds a bit because he gave out a huge whale of a scream and would not calm down for like 10 minutes (which in crying time seems like forever). I looked at his face and asked him where it hurt but I couldn't find anything....and then I found the rug burn like mark just below his left eye. Now he's got a nice shiner. Poor little guy.

SURPRISE!!!

2009-09-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Its official. Another little one is coming to our family. We actually found out about a month ago, but we've just been keeping it a secret. This little spirit is due to enter the world on April 10, 2010, and I say, "perfect timing." Mainly because I won't be pregnant in the summer and he/she will be born really close to when the flu season is over.

We were hesitant to come out with the news of course because of the whole risk of a miscarriage. We already had a scare almost 2 weeks ago where I started bleeding, but I didn't have any cramping. This started on a Thursday night. The bleeding stopped on Friday but then started up again in the middle of the night on Saturday when I woke up sweating like I had just ran a marathon. I thought for sure that the pregnancy was over. I had an appointment that Monday and Ben and Landon came with. Landon was VERY well behaved. I'm seeing a group of midwives this time because my Dr. at Evergreen left and now I'm going to a closer hospital. So I saw a midwife on Monday and she was VERY nice. She asked me if we could try finding a heartbeat with the Doppler and if we don't, then she'd order an ultrasound. She immediately found a REALLY STRONG and healthy heartbeat with the doppler, which was very comforting. I was only 8 weeks along and she said the reason she was able to find it was because my pelvis tilts forward. She also said that she could see where I had been bleeding and that it was probably a blood clot from the placenta starting to form. She said that its actually pretty common for women to bleed in the first three months.

Anyway, other than that, things have been going well. I've been more sick than I was with Landon, which makes Ben think its a girl this time. But I told him that just because I feel different, doesn't mean that the sex of the baby is different. I really don't mind either way. I just want the first trimester symptoms to go away.

19 Months!!!

2009-08-23T15:22:00.001-07:00

Landon is now 19 months old. He's such a big boy now. Often getting mistaken for being 2 years old now. We've been back from vacation for about 2 weeks now and Landon adjusted so easily compared to how he adjusted to the time change in Charlotte.

Latest Words: "Hug", "Door", "Window", "I see water", "green", "house", "mouse", "Moose", "MOMMY!", "outside", "inside", "baseball", "basketball", "basketball hoop", "giraffe", "hand", "hair", "bread", "carseat".

Favorite Things: Playing with the big boys (3-5 year olds) and copying everything they do. Reading with mom, Thomas the Tank Engine, putting the basketball in the basketball hoop.

Favorite Foods: Crunchies, mashed potatoes, pizza, taco soup, pretzels, string cheese, bread with butter on it, toast, quesadillas, chips, chocolate chip cookies, vanilla soft serve from McD's.

Dislikes: He has a hard time falling asleep in his carseat and gets restless when its late at night. Won't take milk out of a sippy cup. I've tried everything. HATES going to nursery because there are two kids that are kind of bullies in there, hopefully it will get better.

Accomplishments: He can walk up the stairs without holding onto the wall or the rail. He can swing on the big kid swings. He'll sit and watch a movie with me for at least 30 minutes. He LOVES to color with crayons and he's really good at staying on the paper.

Highs: Doing "Ready, Set, GO!" in which he races from one side of the room to the other. And his favorite is to do it with me or another kid where we start at opposite sides and see who can get to the other side the fastest. Going to the Concerts at the Park here in Auburn, where he can run around and dance to the music that is playing.

Lows: He got his first ear infection this month and he spiked a 103.8 temp. He hated the antibiotic at first, even though it tasted like bubblegum. He's still having a hard time in nursery.

Tender Moments: When we sit and watch a show before going to bed and he gives signs of being tired by turning and cuddling into me.

Here's Landon chillin' at the Concert at the park and he found a little chair that was his size (and of course it wasn't his)

He's getting so big and he can hold onto the big spinning toys by himself and isn't even scared. He's growing up way to fast. I am so grateful for cameras and their ability to capture tender moments. I love this kid sooooo much!

More Pictures of Kiawah

2009-08-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the links to my facebook albums so that those of you who don't have FB can see them:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2136724&id=193303664&l=1f0222cd16

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137438&id=193303664&l=6c9fcb8c38

Enjoy!

Kiawah Island, SC 2009

2009-08-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken so long (a week) for me to post these. Landon's sippy cup leaked on my camera while we were on vacation so I was without a camera during almost our entire trip. Luckily I was able to dry it out and it works now. But I had to wait to have my mom make me a cd at Costco and send it to me... (and I appologize for the lack of pictures and the weird font, if you want to see more pictures, most of you are friends with me on Facebook and I have them all posted there)

Soooo, we took the redeye flight to Charlotte, NC to get there at 6am Thursday July 30th. Then on Saturday we drove to Kiawah Island. It took roughly 4 hours to drive there and Landon only napped for an hour and fifteen minutes of it. He was a pill for the rest of the ride. We had dinner with Rebecca and then drove off to the beach. The next day Emma and I decided to go on a bike ride with Landon while my parents golfed in the morning. Landon was in the childseat behind me and we decided to go through one of the tide pools. BIG MISTAKE! I was trying to look for a shallow one and mistakingly went through a deep on and couldn't pedal anymore cause the tires started to sink. Landon and I ended up falling over into the tide pool and Landon was fully clothed. It was so embarrassing cause there were tons of people on the beach and they totally saw the whole thing. It was pretty funny though, I kinda wish someone had taken a picture. I had and still have bruises all over my leg from the bike falling on me. Landon kind of started whining and I said "Its okay, we'll go home and shower and change you, okay." And Landon responded with a very cute, "K!"

We experienced a few really cool afternoon thunderstorms and Landon was always like, "Thundow, oooohhh, noooooo!" every time he heard anything that sounded anything like thunder. Then he would point out the window of the condo and say, "I see wawa!" because we had a view of the ocean. Then we went out for dinner with the guy who let us use his condo at the beach. He went to highschool with my dad all the way over in Australia. Landon was so good at dinner and it was a really nice change compared to how he had been acting the last few days.

The next day we slept in kind of late and finally got out to the beach around 11am. Landon had a lot of fun in the sand and in the waves. He doesn't like the saltwater too much though because it stings his eyes. He kept taking other kids' toys on the beach too because he thought every toy on the beach was his. We went to the grocery store and a torential downpour started while we were in there. It lasted almost three hours so we decided to watch a movie when we got home. Landon was in a really good mood when he woke up from his nap and was body slamming Papa Dirt and running around and laughing. And he sat and watched the movie with us...it was too cute!

Ben met us at the beach on Wednesday and we headed out to the beach, went surfing, and hung out. Rachel and Emma and I went boogy boarding. We were out there forever and got a lot of sun. We came back and made spinach artichoke dip and watched a movie while Landon napped. Then we went for a bike ride after eating a taco soup dinner, which was sooo good.

On Thursday we did pretty much the same thing and then in the late afternoon we took some photos that are hopefully Christmas card worthy. Landon was being a tyrant the entire time and just wouldn't cooperate. Guess that's what I get for being a pill growing up ;) Here's a few of the ones that are my favorites.

Friday we went surfing and went on a bike ride again and then we went out for dinner in downtown Charleston. Then we headed back to Charlotte on Saturday and went out for pizza when we got home because my parent's kitchen is being remodeled.

On Sunday we went to church with my parents and then had brunch after. Then we went swimming before Landon's nap and getting ready to go to the airport.

Cake #4

2009-07-27T18:55:00.001-07:00

So my friend Shellee's birthday is this coming Sunday but last week I made her a cake because she is leaving on vacation tomorrow. I wasn't quite sure what design I wanted to do, but since we had gone to the midnight showing of Harry Potter the week before, I thought I'd make her a Harry Potter cake. Here's how it turned out....

Happy Birthday Shellee!!!

18 Months & Swimming Lessons

2009-07-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Landon is FINALLY 18 months old. I say FINALLY because now we are free for 2 hours at church because he can officially go to nursery. He actually started going to nursery when he was 16.5 months old and could stay as long as he cooperated and didn't throw a fit. But now he has to stay in there regardless...unless he needs a diaper change. He's definitely become a favorite in our house. He makes me laugh and smile everyday. Yes we have our rough days...like today he woke up from his nap and was fine and then 5 minutes later just threw a fit and was crying histerically. We finally checked his diaper and he was absolutely raw from swimming earlier...poor little guy. And then on Saturday we went to the pool and had fun and on the way home (literally 3-5 minutes away) he threw up in the car, all over the carseat, because I guess he took in too much water. Anyway, here are some updates on him. He is in the 25% in weight at 25 pounds and the 95% in height at 34 inches. The doctor says that his vocabulary is at the two year old level but that we need to get him drinking from a sippy cup rather than the bottle and he needs to be eating with a fork (which he doesn't do all the time cause I'd rather not have a mess so I feed him...I know, I need to get over it).

Latest Words: "swim", "pool", "poopoo" & "peepee" (which I'm super excited about!), "potty", "blue", "k" (he says it after I ask him a question and say "Okay?" and then he's like "k!" its the cutest!!!) "grandma", "water", "turtle", "snake", "please", and he does little short sentences like "bye bye truck" and "bye bye car" or "love you".

Favorite Things: His white teddy bear that my friend Sara from PwC gave him, swimming, still loves to play with anything that resembles a ball...even if its an apple, loves to ride his new radio flyer scooter. He loves copying everything that I do too. If he sees me doing something, he totally mymicks it. The "Elmo Loves You" video.

Favorite Foods: Italian Chicken is his FAVORITE! String Cheese, Crunchies, not a food but he loves ice cold water in his sippy cup. Taco Soup, pizza, mashed potatoes, pretzels, anything his friend Sutton is eating.

Dislikes: Still hates getting his diaper changed and now will run away and hide under a chair as soon as he sees me grab a new diaper or ask him if he needs his bumm changed. Does not like to sit in grocery carts anymore...I thought I would never be the mom to push one of those monster grocery carts with the toy car at the front, but it just might happen if his protesting starts getting out of hand.

Accomplishments: Swimming in the pool. Kicking his legs and "reach and pull" with his arms, holding onto the wall of the pool, swimming under water. I'm so proud of him! Can read the words "clap" and "duck".

Highs: Playing at the park. Chasing the big kids at Kidscare. Loves to swim! When he sees his friend Abby. Singing the Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree song (and he does all the hand motions...it's too cute!)

Lows: When he realizes that mommy is not in the nursery with him. And today when it took me 25 minutes to figure out that it was a severe bumm rash that was causing his histerical tantrum this afternoon. It was seriously soooo sad.

Tender Moments: The cute smile he gives me while lying in his crib in the morning. When he brings me his bottle after he's done drinking it and then says "day toe" (thank you) and runs off to play with his toys. And I love it when he lays with me and watches the Office on my iPod with me.

Sometimes I think, why do I need to bring more kids into this world when I've already got the BEST ONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD? But I still do want to expand our family someday.

Here are also some pictures from swimming lessons this year. He did so much better this year compared to last year. I honestly thought he was never going to like swimming cause last year we literally had to take his binky with us into the pool to calm him down. But this time it was like he was a pro. He was even better than some of the 2 & 3 year olds in his class.

And this has nothing to do with swimming lessons, but this is the last cake that I made for Landon's little friend Maya's first birthday party at a water park.

Happy 5th

2009-07-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ben,

I just wanted to say Happy 5th Anniversary! I can't believe we're already at the 5 year mark. I love you very much and am so happy to be your wife. I'm thankful that I can count on you and that we work through the challenges that come our way. You are such a wonderful daddy to Landon and it always makes me smile at how good you are with him. He loves you so much. You are my best friend and I'm excited for many more adventures to come in our life together.

I love you more and more everyday!

Love your Feetheart!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

We went to Ben's cousin Jordan's cabin on Bainbridge Island for the 4th of July. Landon loved the ferry ride and had fun running around Jordan's house and backyard. I decided to make another marshmallow fondant cake. This was my second time making one of these cakes and it didn't really turn out as great as I wanted it to. I can be such a perfectionist when it comes to crafts/projects that I create, it's actually kind of annoying. I guess the most important thing was that it tasted good. But anyway, here are a couple pictures of how it turned out. Hopefully I'll get better as I get more experienced.

17 Months

2009-06-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

Landon is now 17 months. I guess you could say it's his "golden month" just like his "golden birthday" would be when he's 17 ;) We didn't really do anything special though to celebrate. Though he did give me the special present of blowing out his diaper while I was working at the gym and I had to rush him home because I had no change of clothes or anymore diapers for him. He woke up with a cold this morning and so did I, so that has made the day just delightful. However, he did give me a nice break and took a 3 and a half hour nap this afternoon, which allowed me to take a good nap too.

Anyway, on to his stats:

Latest words: "Yellow", "Purple", "Crunchie", "Choo Choo", "Truck", "Track", "Hat", finally can really say "Momma", "Cool", "Go", "Neigh", "Cheep Cheep", "Raarrr", "Cracker", "Fishy", "Sock", "Lola" (which is what he calls my mom).

Favorite Things: The Spiderman and Hulk Motorcyle with figurines that we have in the Kidscare at work. Oh and the Mickeymouse race track.

Favorite Foods: Macaroni, Lil Crunchies, string cheese circles, Cheeseburgers, Spaghetti-O's, the tomato sandwiches that we make...but without the tomato.

Dislikes: Still hates getting his diaper changed. Still hates being put in the carseat. Going to bed is getting a little bit tougher cause he wants to stay up and play cause it's still light out when he goes to bed. Sharing his mommy with the other kids in the Kidscare.

Accomplishments: Knowing to grab my hand when we cross the street. Eating with a fork. Putting his toys away. Going down big slides by himself. Kicks when we're in the pool as if he's swimming.

Highs: Playing with his friends. Throwing the ball. Still loves going to the park.

Lows: Having a cold and diahrea at the same time. When he has to share mommy's attention with other kids for too long.

Tender Moments: When he comes up to me and gives me a hug around the leg out of the blue. Kisses without asking for them. When he brings me a book and wants me to read to him.

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Weekend was pretty eventful for our little family. Usually we don't do much; we just hang out at home or at the park or something like that. This weekend started out with Landon's first date with his little friend Avery who was born 4 days before him. (Of course, Landon won't really be able to date until he's 16, but this was just too cute). Avery is my Mom's best friend's grand-daughter...so naturally they've already arranged their marriage ;) We went to Medina park up in Bellevue and had lunch and played on the playground. It was really cool to see them really click. There were other kids at the park and they were only interested in each other. They started out on the swings.Then Landon showed Avery how the trucks worked.The cute snack sacks that Bev made for the little munchkins.Landon was a pro at the teeter-totter...he held on all by himself.Then they sat in their matching chairs and ate their snacks together. I swear they'll be sitting like this together again in 60 years ;) If you look at the look on Avery's face, I don't think she was too happy with Landon stealing her juice box...Already playing "house" togetherI don't remember whether this was the beginning or the end of the tantrum that happened while they were fighting over the shovel and the bucket. I wish I had caught it on video...they were both screaming, "NO!" And Bev and I could not help but laugh...it was really too funny.They're "engagement photo" haha...Landon showing Avery the airplanes that kept flying over the park.And boy I'll tell ya, this kid doesn't waste any time!!! They're first kiss.We all had an awesome time at the park. Thanks for everything Bev and Avery...love Sarah and Landon!Then on Saturday it was off to Ocean Shores with Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd. We were really excited to spend the day at the beach and we had never been there before. It took us 2 hours to get there and we even stopped at Wal-Mart where grandma and grandpa got Landon some sand toys and bubbles and a ball to play with at the beach. When we got there we stopped for lunch at this great fish & chips place and then it was off to the beach.Little did we know that it was FREEZING down by the shore. They had horseback riding and mopeds and dunebuggies and kites down there...but it was just so windy and cold that we either stayed in the tent or the car for the majority of the time. It was really sad that we didn't even get to play with the sand toys or the bubbles or the ball.

Landon was OBSESSED with Grandpa the whole time. Everytime he would leave his sight, he started crying...it was actually pretty cute.

Then on Monday we went to Dash Point in Federal Way. It was AWESOME! Landon fell asleep on the way for about 20 minutes. Then we had a little bit to eat and then headed down to the water.

Landon absolutely LOVED every second of it.He and Daddy made sand castles and played in the sand. And there were TONS of sand dollars. I mean tons...And this was the tiniest sand dollar I've ever seen. It was pretty funny that Landon wouldn't let us make a big sand castle. Everytime we'd try to build something, he'd come knock it over.I love this picture because I started this thing at home in the kitchen where I go, "don't get me! don't get me!" and Landon will chase me and do this thing with his hand as if he's trying to tickle me...it's hilarious and cracks me up everytime he does it and I'm glad that I was able to capture it on camera.He loved watching the "big boys" playing on their skim boards...they were even nice enough to let him stand on one at one point.I swear I love this kid way too much.Landon ended up not even taking an afternoon nap because of the mini one this morning...but after his bath, he fell asleep while I gave him a bottle. It was such a nice ending to a perfect weekend!Oh and here's a little taste of Landon's enthusiasm for the majority of the time we were at the beach.

16 Months!!!

2009-05-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Landon is now 16 months and learning more everyday. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but his favorite thing to say right now is "NO!" I wish I knew a way to make it stop. He's getting a lot of attitude...and I have no idea where he gets that from ;) I love how independent he is getting, but it does make it hard sometimes. I love this little buddy of mine...besides Ben, the love of my life, Landon is my best friend.

Landon loves it when we chant "Too cool for school! Too cool for school!" while he has his sunglasses on (actually, that's the only way he'll keep them on)

Latest Words:"Car!" as he points to EVERY car that we see while we're in our own car. "Pizza", "Toe", "Baa Baa", "Quack Quack", "Moo Moo", "Cup", "Sutton" (the name of his little buddy who's 2 weeks younger than him), "Hot", "Gorilla", "dog", he does the signs for "please" and "sorry" and "twinkle twinkle little star", saying "shhh" with his finger up to his mouth.

Favorite Things: His new Hotwheels cars. The coffee pot from the kitchen set (which is funny because Ben and I both don't drink coffee). His stuffed gorilla "Go Go" that grunts when you sqeeze it's tummy. Shoes that are not his. Anything that looks like a ball.

Favorite Foods: Lil' Crunchies, String cheese, Pasta pickups, Raviolis with Alfredo sauce, Mashed potatoes, Special K with Strawberries cereal. Pretty much anything that Mom is eating, he wants to have shared with him (I think it's too cute, cause I kinda do the same thing to Ben).

Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed...still. Being put in his carseat. Most foods that have little chunks in them. For example, spaghetti-o's with little chunks of meatball, or mashed potatoes with corn in it. When momm or daddy leaves to go work out.

Accomplishments: Getting himself up into a big chair at the table. Picking up after himself. Walking up and down stairs without the assistance of Mom or Dad. Going down the BIG slides on his own. Throwing the little football with one hand. Catching the ball.

Highs: Running to the park behind our house. Trying to "tickle" me. Playing "tug a war" with a t-shirt or blanket. Running around the house in only his diaper.

Lows: Teething, when his nap is cut short, when he pouts after being put in his carseat.

Tender Moments: When he pats me on the back while he's hugging me. When I take him out of the car after he's fallen asleep and he lays on my shoulder. When he's done with his bottle and hands it to me and says "tee too"....really if I give him anything and he says "tee too" (which he does almost every time...I LOVE it!)

Here are a few videos of him as well.

My Birthday & 2nd Mother's Day

2009-05-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

This year I was surprised when I came down stairs to make Landon a bottle and found this on the kitchen counter. Ben had gotten me a dozen roses and 3 Disney DVDs. One of them I had been looking for forever. It was Mickey & the Beanstalk on DVD and the original finally came out recently and we spotted it at Costco. I grew up watching that movie...almost every day. I wanted it so that Landon could have it to grow up watching, just like I did. But Ben wouldn't let me get it because he said it was a "want", not a "need." Little did I know that he just said that so that he could throw me off so I didn't suspect anything... I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw them laying out on the counter. The icing on the cake was the card that Landon made for me, with a little bit of Daddy's help. They made it while I was at Mutual/Youth Group, and I totally didn't suspect that they had even put anything together. Honestly, it was one of the best birthdays that I've woken up to.

This was the project that we made for our mothers for Mothers day at Mutual...

Then on Saturday Ben made me french toast, which happens to be my favorite breakfast. I don't have it that often because its so unhealthy, but it was AWESOME for my birthday. We walked around our neighborhood because they were having the big Lakeland garage sales and I found a couple things for Landon. I got 2 shirts and 2 pants for him for $3, 7 Clifford the Big Red Dog books for $1, and the best of all...I found Landon a bike for $5!!! That was the best deal! Then we had everything packed up to go to Dash Point, but we didn't end up going because we didn't have enough time.

Ben had told me that he was going to take me somewhere on Saturday, but I had no clue where. Landon took a nap on the way up to the Eastside. I fell asleep in the car too and I woke up just as we passed the sign to Ferrel McWarder Park. I was SOOO excited!

I grew up going to that park as a kid. My mom would take me and my sisters there occasionally. There are farm animals and sometimes they even had baby animals there too. Landon had a great time there. According to him, every animals said "Baa" (like a sheep/goat).

Ben taught Landon how to blow Dandilion puffs...sometimes he got the seeds in his mouth...but the funniest part was that he'd say "bubbles" after the seeds would blow off.

Landon decided that he was too tired to walk and took a nap in the middle of the trail..haha.

Then we drove by the old house that I used to live in until I was 6 years old. And then he took me to Theno's Dairy, which my mom took me to get ice cream or a candy every now and then. It was the best birthday/mother's day weekend I've had in a long time. Ben never does things like this for me. He DEFINITELY did an awesome job! I was VERY proud of him :) We ended the day by going to my favorite restaurant, California Pizza Kitchen, and hung out with our friend Aaron too while Grandma and Grandpa babysat Landon.
We went to church on Mother's day and Landon had the cutest outfit on...at least I thought it was cute (except for the fact that his shoes didn't match that well). Ben thought Landon looked stupid in it...but it was my day, so I wanted him to wear that ;) Then we went over to Ben's parent's house where Ben and his dad made us dinner. All in all, it was a great week/weekend!

Melt Downs & The Zoo

2009-04-25T20:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Landon had a major melt down. It was my first day of training at the gym in Maple Valley and my friend Shellee was a saint and watched him from 7:30am to 12:45pm! She said that he was happy the entire time and played with her son Sutton. I was so happy to hear that and I was so excited to see him when I was done. He gave me a huge hug when I got there and we quickly went to the grocery store before taking him home and putting him down for a nap. He slept for 2 hours. He obviously needed to sleep longer because he was totally cranky when he got up. Then when Dad got home, changed his clothes, and was ready to go on a walk, Landon totally broke down and started crying. It was as if he had fallen really hard or thrown up or something like that because it was an emotional crying meltdown that seemed to last for 20 minutes! It probably was only 5 minutes, but it seemed like FOREVER! We kept trying to calm him down and tried to tell him that we were going to his favorite place (the park), but nothing was working. He suddenly just started to calm down and we went on our walk to the park. But when we got there, he wouldn't go down the slide. He acted as though he was scared of the slide. He was just in a funk, I guess. It was hard on me because I hate to see him upset, but at the same time, I don't want to feed his tantrum or give him his own way all the time...

Today the crankiness was not over. We were invited to the Woodland Park Zoo by some friends of ours, the Crossleys and Scmalles. And of course I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to go to the zoo just because Landon was being cranky. We left our house at 9am and luckily Landon napped on the way there. He NEVER takes morning naps. But that seemed to help a bit because he was happier when we got there. He was fine in the stroller for a while but once we took him out to see some of the animals, it was a challenge getting to sit back in it.

Landon & Daddy's first time to Woodland Park Zoo!

Yes, this is the sense of humor that made me fall in love and marry this man ;)

This was what I was talking about when I said it was hard getting Landon back in his stroller. We'd say, "bye bye Landon, we're leaving", and he'd wave at us and walk off the other way...like I've said in previous posts, this kid has no fear anymore!

"Look momma! EGGS!" I love the look of excitement/surprise on his face!

He was very excited to see the gorillas...

I love the look on this tiger's face...I can't believe I caught it on camera. Landon was pretty excited about the tigers too. He's familiar with gorillas, tigers, elephants, and hippos because they're in his favorite video and book.

Landon and Logan had a great time together on their first trip to the zoo. But Landon was definitely in need of a nap.

He should have followed the example of these brown bears.

Little buddies sitting on the Komodo Dragon!

Landon was intrigued by this lion...

So much, that he gave him a hug before leaving...

My favorite! I LOVE giraffes!!! And I told you that Landon was in need of a nap ;)

We all had a great time and it didn't even rain like it was supposed to. I'm definitely taking Landon back when he gets a little bit older. That way he'll get even more excited about the animals. I just love it when he gets excited about things.

15 MONTHS!!!

2009-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

I say it every month, but I still can't believe how fast Landon is growing up. He is 15 months old now and curious as ever. We had his check up today and he is in the 75% for height and 25% for weight now. He is 2'8" (32") and 23 pounds. He had to have 2 shots today so I decided to take him for his first McDonald's Happy Meal because he got more emotional than he has in the past. He loves McD's cheeseburgers for sure!

My friend Carly started doing this thing on her blog and yes, I totally stole her idea, but I think it's a great idea and something fun to look back on. Anyway, I don't know if I've posted it before but I started it in my "Landon" journal (the hardbound book that I've written in ever since the day he was born).

Latest Words: "Daddy", "Momma", "Baby","Jesus" (and he points to a picture of Jesus and then kisses it...I LOVE IT), "Thank You" (sounds more like tee too...and he signs it with his hand too), "Bubble", "No No", "Boo" (and he totally tries to scare me by popping around the corner...it cracks me up), "Shoe", "Kick", "Ball", "Sticker", "Hi", and "Eye" (as he points to his eye).
Favorite Things: His stuffed animals. Especially Elmo, his blue Britt Bear, my pink bear from Potterybarn Kids, Koala bear from My Lola and Papa Dirt, and also his white teddy bear from my friend Sara, who I used to work with. His new blue golf club from the Wallises (we sent the other half home with My Lola & Papa Dirt, so that he'd have some toys to play with when we go over there this summer), the nose sucker (the blue bulb to suck out snot with), watching his reading video, airplanes...not riding on them, he loves seeing them take off and when they pass by in the air, getting his teeth brushed (doesn't matter if its the electric toothbrush or just the one that slips over your finger...he LOVES it!)

Favorite Foods: Italian Chicken, Mom's Enchilladas, Pizza (don't judge me ;)), fishy crackers, string cheese, pasta shells & cheese.

Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed, getting his nose wiped, when Mommy is on the computer, being in the stroller for too long, sitting still in church, riding on airplanes, having to go home from the park, sitting on the "time out" stair.

Accomplishments: Knowing who Jesus is...at least in a picture, Jumping, putting things away (with help from me, of course), going down slides on his own (this kid has no fear anymore), drumming without sitting on Daddy's lap (he can sit at the drum kit, on the chair on his own). Blowing his NOSE, not blowing through his mouth, when I say "blow" when I hold a tissue up to his nose.

Highs: Seeing Mommy in the morning, when Daddy walks through the door when he comes home from work, playing peek-a-boo with a blanket, chasing each other around the island in the middle of our kitchen, playing with friends, going to the park (mainly going down the slides), when he sees a dog (and I just started to realize that I need to have a little talk with him and try to teach him that not all dogs are nice, because he sticks out his open hand to every dog that comes close to him or he runs up to...kinda scary...I know he doesn't really understand right now, but hopefully soon)

Lows: Teething (those molars are really wretched!), being sick, going to the doctor...

Tender Moments: When he gives me a kiss and cuddles into me. The best is when I'm sitting in the chair in the tv room and he walks by to go to his playroom (right behind where I'm sitting...it doesn't really even qualify as a playroom) and stops and gives me a kiss and then goes off to play with his toys...its the best thing EVER!!! When he wants to climb into my lap to read him a book or put on his shoes. When he holds my hand when we walk to the park or just comes and grabs my hand and wants to take me somewhere in the house (up the stairs or over to his toys).

Last Week, Palm Springs & Easter

2009-04-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday Landon was invited to his friend Kai's birthday party at Bouncy Place. He HATED it at first, but eventually warmed up to it after 45 minutes.

Notice Landon's face, he's totally fussing.

This is one of my favorite pictures...he's such a little sweetheart!

Last week Landon and I joined my parents and sisters in Palm Springs for their spring break. We had a great time. We got there early morning on Tuesday and we hit the pool right away. I love this picture...he looks so funny and reminds me of a Teddy Graham for some reason...Me and my baby sister Emma...who's totally not a baby anymore...but I still think she's 8 years old (she's actually 16 now). I'm never going to let her grow up ;)Some family friends, the Wallises, came over for the day and evening and brought Landon a life jacket and a little golf set.

Landon and Papa Dirt...they are such buddies!

They're so sweet. On Wednesday we went to the airport to pick up Aunt Beta (my sister Rebecca) and then we went to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Landon LOVED it! He was so amazed by the fish tanks and the "realistic" animals. We sat by the gorillas and Landon would get really excited when they came to life.

My sister Rachel's best friend Lawranne from growing up. We bumped into her after eating at the Rainforest Cafe...how random is that.We went on walks on the golf course and Landon loved catching the players off guard with his squealing. Future pro-golfer...I think my dad was in heaven.Landon kept doing this thing where he'd walk around with his hands behind his back...it was hilarious!We found this lemon off a lemon tree on our walk...it was practically the size of Landon's head. I'd never seen such big lemons!!!We went in the pool and then after a little while Landon got out and decided to go over to the spa tub with my dad. He was standing on the first step and I told my dad that he needed to hold onto his hand or something because he would end up falling in. My dad was busy on his Blackberry. The bubbles turned on and the blue floating thing that holds the chlorine started going around the tub and Landon was determined to catch it. He reached out when it got close to him and, of course, fell in. He was in there for about 5 seconds...but it felt like forever and my dad jumped in, slacks and all, and pulled him out. I was at the other end of the yard, so I wasn't able to jump in after him. It was a little scary, but he was fine.

Landon and his M&M face. He loves those things.

Later that evening we went out to dinner at this place called the Jackal. I think that's what it was called. Then we went home and watched The Office. We did a little bit of shopping and went out again on Friday to Hog's Breath...Clint Eastwood's restaurant. Landon was acting like a pill the entire time.

Landon and Aunt Beta

That night my parents and sisters went to the airport to go home because they had a flight at 1am. Landon and I stayed at the condo because our flight wasn't until 10:20am the next morning and I got a cab to go to the airport. It was so weird because we had the air conditioning going in the house but that night heat started blowing in my room. Landon had to sleep with me in my bed because my parents took the Pack n' Play home with them. He just kept moving around and was so warm. So I took his pajamas off to see if that would help and he just slept in his onesie. He woke up about every hour and was just so hot and I decided to move us out to the couch because I thought it might help being in the AC. It still didn't help. I was so worried that he had a fever because he wasn't cooling down. I usually keep infant Tylenol in the diaper bag, but I didn't have any on me this time. I couldn't go to the store to get some because I didn't have a car, so I just prayed that his body temperature would go down. I swear I got about 3 hours of sleep that night because I was worrying so much. The next morning I thought he was fine because he was in good spirits. We got on the plane and he slept for the first 2 hours of the flight. The last 45 minutes was very frustrating because he was whining and fussing and when I'd give him something to try to make him happy, he'd just throw it on the floor. Ben came and got us and I asked him to bring Tylenol. It had been in his system for about 40 minutes by the time we got home and I took his temperature and it was 101.6 degrees. Later that night, after the Tylenol had worn off, I took his temp again and it was 103.2 degrees. I felt so bad for him.

I decided to make a fondant cake for Easter when I got home from Palm Springs, to take over to my in-law's house. It's the first one that I've ever made using marshmellow fondant, but I think it turned out pretty well, considering it was my first one. I thought it was going to take all night to make but it only took about 2.5-3 hours. That was including making the actual cake, the frosting, and cooling and dying the fondant. It was really fun and I can't wait to make another one.

Easter morning came and the Easter Bunny had visited Landon ;) He had his first own little egg hunt and it was so cute to watch. I got it all on video which you can check out below.

Having too much fun!

2009-03-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

Landon is now 14.5 months old and he's just having too much fun in life. Fun with friends and going to the park, seeing family and doing other crazy activities. He now does the motions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and to "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and will nod his head "yes" and shake his head "no." Where is the time going? I swear, the next time I blink he will be graduating, going on a mission, and getting married.

Here he is playing with his best buddy Sutton, they're only 2 weeks apart.

Landon with his new friend Micah, watching a show togetherLandon found this really cool Harley trike at a playdate we went to...he could not stop riding it.Riding the fish at the Toyota play park in the mall...he loves that place. We got a kick out of watching him play at Gymboree. He LOVES bubbles and he had fun climbing on and through things all night.

Making his dad proud....SLAM DUNK!!!

Playing in the little fort that he and mommy created. He didn't like it at first, but then I showed him how to crawl into it and he wouldn't come out for like an hour.

Playing "ghost" with the table cloths after Aunt Krystal's wedding reception.

With Aunt Krystal and Uncle Steve

Playing at the park near our house

Visiting the Easter Bunny at Bellevue Square last week. He was kind of scared at first, but then he kept wanting to go back and look at him.

Trying on Daddy's shoes...those sure are big shoes to fill.

Little Bowl of Knowledge

2009-03-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

So Landon is almost 14 months now...and I am starting to realize how quick he is at learning things. It used to be that I had to repeat myself over and over again for him to catch on, but now he seems to get it after the first time I tell him (except for when he's not supposed to do something, he's a pretty strong-willed child....I have no idea where he gets that from ;)). For instance, when we go to the park, he sometimes falls down, wait no, he always falls down in the bark chips and looks at his hands and then looks at me so that I'll come over and pick him up and brush the dirt off his hands and clothes. But just the other day I decided to teach him how to brush it off by kind of clapping and wiping his hands together. Its so cute cause now he does that every time. He still looks at me after he falls but I just say "Brush it off, brush it off" and then he does the hand motions and then goes off and plays some more. We took him to the play park at the Supermall on Saturday and he wasn't too sure about it at first. There were sooooo many kids and there were definitely some that were too big to be playing in there. He had so much fun though after he figured out that most of the toys were slides and that all he had to do was turn himself around or skoot himself to the edge. He just went crazy running around and going down the slides over and over again. It was great to see him having so much fun. On top of the stuff that he knows from my previous blog, he also now knows "arms up", "arms down", "arms out", "baby", "eyes", "nose", "ears", "mouth", "clap", "cat", "dog", "kiss", "mommy", "daddy", "Landon", "tummy", "tiger", "elephant", "wave", "hi", "bye"....He can't say these words quite yet but the way we know that he knows these words is because we ask him "where's your mouth?" and he'll point to it....or we show him the word and he points to the corresponding object. He also knows how to say "thank you" in sign language too. Gosh he is growing up way too fast.

13 Months = many new skills

2009-02-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Landon is now 13 months. His skill of walking is getting much better. It still makes me laugh the way he looks like a little drunken sailor/he just got off a horse though. The other day he came through the kitchen and found a tissue on the floor. He then put it up to his nose and started making blowing sounds through his mouth. It totally cracked me up that he knew what the tissue was for. I've never told him to "blow" his nose when I wipe away the snot from his face,but I guess just the fact that he sees us blowing our noses shows him what he's supposed to do with a tissue. There's proof right there that we are obviously HUGE examples to him. Another thing he did, and I think it was on the same day, was put the phone up to his ear...well, actually he put it up to his forehead. It was the phone that was connected by a string to his Kettler Toy Car riding toy. The string is too short for him to get it to his ear, so he bends down and puts it to his forehead. He's getting smarter and smarter as time goes by. It just amazes me what he learns without me really knowing it until it's apparent that he's learned it. Another example, I think I may have mentioned in my last post, was that he knew to put my comb up to his hair and try to start brushing his hair. He did it with my round styling brush and my regular brush. Ahhhh, I can't get over how cute it was to see that. His sixth tooth is coming in too, which has made him a bit cranky. Oh and one other thing...recently I asked him where his tummy is. He either lifts his shirt or bends down so that he can see his tummy himself. I love this kid so much!

He's Walking!

2009-02-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a little video so you all could see Landon and his new talent...he's walking. It's too funny, Ben calls him our little drunken sailor...which is a pretty good description of how he walks. He took his first step right after Christmas at his Aunt Rachel's house in Charlotte, NC. So he was a little over 11 months at that point. From then on we were practicing with him, letting him walk from mommy to daddy. After a few weeks of that he got really sick and decided that crawling was a lot easier than trying to balance on two feet. So he protested and stopped trying to walk before his first birthday (Jan. 17th) Then on the 30th of January he just got up one day and walked from the door to the garage all the way to the front door! (about 50 ft). So he's been walking completely on his own for two weeks now.

Oh another cute thing that he just started doing a couple days ago...he'll grab my hair brush off the bathroom counter and try to brush his hair. I think its funny that at a year old he knows that "brush" is for his hair...but he does it with a "toothbrush" too...so I need to teach him that not all brushes are for his hair (example: toiletbowl brush).
Here are also some pictures from his birthday parties in the middle of January...they were a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from Maggiano's

Landon is pretty much always the spotlight of the party, as you can see below ;)

Papa Dirt and Landon, buddies forever!

Happy 1st Birthday, My Moose!!!

2009-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

A year has gone by already? I can't believe it. Landon, you are my pride & joy and you make me so happy. You bring a smile to both mine and your daddy's faces. We love you more than anything in the whole world.

Here are some pictures from your first year of life

The day you were born : January 17, 2008 11:37 am, 7lbs. 10 oz. 21.5in.

4 days old1 Month6 Weeks, Baby Blessing day2 Months3 Months4 Months5 Months5 & 1/2 Months, Visiting the Woodhouse family in Charlotte, NC 6 months, and the first day you were able to sit up on your own. 7 Months8 Months9 Months10 Months 11 Months I hope you've had a wonderful first year with your mommy and daddy. You have many more years to come and you are such a special little boy. I can't even express how much I love you and how wonderful you have made my life.

Some of Landon's Firsts over Christmas

2008-12-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well it was actually Landon's second time going to Charlotte, North Carolina, but he happened to have many firsts while he was there. He turned 11 months old on the 17th and we got pictures with Santa, which I'll have to post later. He had his first Christmas with his Aunts and My Lola and Papa Dirt (Grandma and Grandpa Woodhouse). He got his first 5th tooth (if that even makes sense). He had his first haircut. And he even took his first steps.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

2008-12-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

(Landon's Christmas Letter)

January 17th, 2008, was the most glorious day in the world: I was born. Now I'm almost 11 months old and I'm so unbelievably smart that I'm already using words like "glorious" and "unbelievably." I've seen a lot in my short life so far and it has wizened me up to the ways of the world. When I was born, my mommy had a hard time leaving me alone because I'm so darned adorable, so she decided to stay at home with me every day. At first I have to admit I was pretty boring... I don't know why she wanted to hang out with me so much because all I could do was lay there and poop in my diaperJ But now I'm way cooler and my mommy takes me to the park to play on the swings, story time at the library, and even to a play group where I can hang out with my friends! But wait! That's not the best part! The best part is when I see my daddy come through the door after work. He's as tall as our house and he lets me play with these big huge banging things (drums) in his music room. I'm a natural, so they say!

When I was 2 months old my mommy's side of the family came to see me. They were crazy! They kept trying to make me do stuff... but I told you! When I was that young, I only liked to lay there and poop! And have you ever seen 4 red-headed girls in the same room? It was too much to handle at my tender age. My mommy has a mommy and daddy too and I call them My Lola and Papa Dirt. They came to visit with my three crazy aunts. Papa dirt is one handsome guy (but only because he was born fortunate enough to look like me). When I was 5 months old I went to visit all of them in Charlotte and it was so HOT! And since I was so much older I was way more entertaining to them. They couldn't get enough of my cute little tummy or the way I danced in my new "Exersaucer" with all the cool toys on it. Did I mention how many animals Papa Dirt and My Lola keep in their house? WHOA! Every other Sunday, Mommy, Daddy, and I go to Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd's house to play and eat good food. I love going over there and seeing my Daddy's side of the family!

Do you want to hear how amazing I am? I started sitting up the day before I turned 6 months old! Shortly thereafter, Daddy taught me how to crawl when I was only 7 months old. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of mischief! Thanks Mommy and Daddy! Wait, I'm not finished... I started pulling myself up on the coffee table and couch when I was 8 months old, and I've become very experienced with the treacherous terrain and the knee over hand action of these amazing things called the stairs. I'm not really SUPPOSED to climb them, but I've gotta keep Mommy on her toes. I also found a huge white shiny bowl with a lid that makes a really loud noise when you touch the knob (toilet). There’s water in there too, but Mommy doesn’t let me play in it L When I was 8 months old I started swimming lessons with my friend Sutton. I hated it at first when my Mommy put me under the water, but now you might think I'm related to a dolphin with the way I splash around everywhere! At 9 months I got to dress up in the greatest costume for Halloween. I was a giraffe! I loved it! But then, the next morning, woke up with this sharp thing in my mouth... Don't worry! It was just a tooth! And I have 3 of them now!

This month, Mommy and Daddy put up these tall trees with bright lights and shiny balls on them in our house and I hate to admit it, but they scare me! Mommy keeps telling me they're for this thing called Christmas... She sings and plays happy music all the time. I think it might be a conspiracy. How can you be happy with two scary trees in your house? But even if it is, I still get to go visit My Lola and Papa Dirt in Charlotte for Christmas day! Oh... and those crazy aunts...

Love, Landon

On His Way to Walking!

2008-12-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple videos of Landon with his walker. I just had to share :)

Landon's First Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know this is kinda late. I hate to erase a whole bunch of stuff on my computer in order to have enough room to upload more pictures. Anyway, we spent Thanksgiving up at my cousin Todd's house with his wife and kids and my Aunt and Uncle. We had a great time. Lots of yummy food and they had tons of toys for Landon to play with. We've gone up there for the past 3 years.Landon loved the mashed potatoes, turkey, and green bean casserole.Playing cards and board games with the big kids
Riding Alia's horsiePlaying with Alia

Here's a cute video of the two of them as well.

My 10 Month Old MOOSE!

2008-11-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Landon is 10 months old already! Already?! YES! Already!!! I still can't believe it. He's all over the place. Getting into anything and everything. He's got 3 teeth coming in. The left one on the top and two front bottom ones. I wish I could get a picture of them, but he won't let me get the camera that close to his face without grabbing it. I'll try again when I can see them better.

A Rough Couple of Days

2008-11-11T13:52:00.001-08:00

Saturday was the roughest day I think I've had with Landon since he was born. Daddy was at work until 9:30pm and I was left to take care of Landon. I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal, since I do it every day during the work week. But this day was dreadful. Landon's teething became so bad that he didn't want to nurse or take a bottle. It was really frustrating because I couldn't get him to eat anything. He kept pushing me away and even though I know he loves me and still needs me, it still hurt my feelings. It was hard doing it on my own all day. He had two major crying meltdowns that put him to sleep in my arms both times.

Sunday he did perfectly fine, like as if Saturday never happened. We were late for church because Ben was so exhausted from his 2 full time jobs and because Landon was napping. Landon took a bottle just fine at church and took a short nap during the last hour. Then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd's house for dinner to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. We watched Madagascar... I REALLY want to see the 2nd one so badly.

Being that Sunday seemed like a much better day than Saturday, I wasn't aprehensive for Ben to go to work on Monday. Little did I know that it was going to be a repeat of Saturday. He wouldn't nurse or take a bottle again. I tried putting formula into a sippy cup because when I gave him the sippy cup with water in it, he would drink it. But once he noticed it was formula and not water, he pushed the sippy cup away. Then I tried giving it to him without the bottle top on, like as if he was drinking out of a glass. He drank some, but most of it went down his front and I realized that I wasn't able to gage how much he was drinking because he was wearing most of it. I put him down for a nap and it took him almost an hour to fall asleep. I went upstairs to check on him and this is what I found. Notice that he no longer has on the socks and jeans that he was wearing when I put him down.

My friend Shellee came over to hang out for a little bit and so that Landon and Sutton could play. Sutton and Landon are at the stage of grabbing at each other's faces (they're only 2 weeks apart). But they still love each other. Sutton has a REALLY strong grip too and totally attacked Landon. I thought it was pretty funny, but sad at the same time.After Shellee and Sutton went home I finally just decided to make Landon some rice cereal mixed with turkey dinner. He ate that, which made me happy. Then we went upstairs and I gave him a bath. He loves splashing in the water. Then it was time for him to go to bed and he was very cooperative and went down just great.

Today has been awesome so far. He nursed this morning and at lunch and he even took a bottle. I love that little monster with all my heart.

Landon's First Halloween

2008-11-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy this past week and I've been meaning to post Landon's Halloween pictures. Here are some of this pictures I promised.

He had a great time on Halloween. Landon was obviously a giraffe and Ben and I did Grey's Anatomy again because we didn't have time to do our makeup to be vampires from Twilight this year. Maybe next year. Here are our pumpkins that Landon and I carved (well, I really did all three of them).

We went trick-or-treating at my old office to visit our friend Amanda.

Then we had the "Trunk-or-Treat" at our church. Grandma and Grandpa came too. Landon loves spending time with them.He even got a picture with "Smurfette"...I still don't know how Leona got all that blue off her face the next day ;)I know, I'm such a bad mom. I let Landon try some of his Halloween candy. I couldn't resist. He kept watching me put Dum Dums in my mouth so I let him try one. It was hilarious.

Play Group Halloween Party

2008-10-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

This year I decided to have a play group Halloween Party. There were TONS of kids in my house, but it was fun. I decided to make cupcakes with bugs on them and little smokey hotdog mummies. It was great. Here's how it all turned out.

Dirt got tracked around the house from our tree that's in the corner and the kids had fun taking apart the alphabet play mat. Kind of made me nervous but I soon got over it. I guess the're just getting me ready for what Landon will be capable of when he gets a little older. Clean up was easier than I thought it was going to be. Thank goodness for my Dyson vacuum. I LOVE that thing!!!

Our friend Dena surprised us with her presence and her two wonderful kids. She moved to Utah this summer and it was so sad to see her go. We were happy to see her again.
Landon and Kaile played well together. She used to beat Landon up...but he can hold his own now.

Landon and his best bud Sutton. They're so cute when they get together.

Baby Kate in her tutu. She was soooo cute!

9 Months!!!

2008-10-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Our little monster is now 9 months old. I seriously can't believe it. I guess I always say I can't believe it every time a month goes by. Time just goes by way too fast...especially when you have a kid. We had some pictures done on the day he turned 9 months. We had some Halloween pictures done too, but I'm going to post those a little later.

Landon can now stand up at the couch or any table...holds onto cupboards and the dishwasher...crawls everywhere....even up the stairs...he can feed himself finger foods like yogurt bites and stars and cheerios. He is fully sleeping through the night too. Sleeps from 7pm to 6:30am. Still no teeth yet, but you can see the little buds in his gums where they're about to come in.

I seriously love this kid!!!

Our Little Drummer Boy!

2008-10-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Landon LOVES playing the drums. Ever since he was about 2 months old, Ben would sit Landon on his lap and let him try to hold the drum sticks and then motion for him to play. He's sure come a long way. Watch.

Awesome Hair

2008-09-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Landon's hair is getting so long. It's fun to play with. I love these pictures.

Cracking Up

2008-09-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

I love watching him laugh.

8 Months!!!

2008-09-17T19:45:00.001-07:00

Our little booger is 8 months old today. Gosh he cracks me up so much. He's crawling and can now do a raspberry with his lips. He loves cuddling and playing "pat-a-cake" too. He is seriously the BEST little guy in the whole world. I love him SO much!

1st Swimming Lesson

2008-09-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

We went to swimming lessons for the first time this morning. It was fun until I dunked Landon. Then he cried for the last 20 minutes. Every time the teacher came near him he would start crying...it was sad. Hopefully he does better next time.

p.s. My baby is crawling!!!

2008-09-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

Landon crawled today! He finally did it!!! We were over at my friend Melissa's house and he moved his arms and his legs. Before he would only move his arms and that would cause him to belly flop onto the floor. But now he's on his way....and I need to go baby proof the house! I got it on video too!

Going to Orcas Island

2008-09-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to my friend Leanne's wedding on Orcas Island. I have not been out to Orcas Island since I was in the 3rd grade for Indian Princesses (like cub scouts but for girls...dads and daughters). It was a fun trip. We had a great time together and with a bunch of friends from highschool.

7 Months!!!

2008-08-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Our little buddy is 7 months old! I cant believe it. He's getting over his cold finally and becoming so curious with the world around him. He loves roughhousing with daddy. I love this kid sooo much!

Crawling 101

2008-08-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last night Landon balanced on his hands and knees! Daddy helped him out a little bit, but still...he's on his way to crawling. Which reminds me, I need to go get busy baby proofing the house! Uh oh...

First Cold :(

2008-08-14T20:47:00.001-07:00

Well Landon managed to get his first cold right before turning 7 months. I can't believe he had not gotten one sooner, seeing as he was born in January (flu season). The past couple of days have been hard on him but he's been pretty good, considering. This picture is so sad of him though...you can really see how the cold is affecting him. On top of everything...the second day of his cold, I put him in his bebe pod (its like a bumbo) which I usually put on the coffee table to give him some rice cereal...I literally turned away for 2 seconds and he fell off the coffee table SMACK on the hardwood floor. I'm such a bad mom! But hey, my dad propped me up on the back of his bicycle when I was barely 2, told me not to move and I fell face first on the pavement and I turned out fine....didn't I????

Funny Little Guy

2008-08-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

Landon does this new sound that is hilarious. Watch it in this video. It cracks me up.

Landon & Kaile

2008-07-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

We had our neighbors over for dinner on Saturday and they have a little girl that's 3 weeks older than Landon. It was so funny watching them interact. She dominated him. I hope he can fend for himself when he gets older ;) They were having so much fun together. Until Kaile decided to take Landon's pacifier away from him and put it in her own mouth :)

Landon was not happy with her when she did that! (I think this picture is too funny)

The BEST!

2008-07-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

K, there is no doubt that we have the best baby in the whole world! Before we went to Costco today, I fed Landon and put him in his carseat because he fell asleep while eating and I wanted him to take a nap while we were at Costco. Well, he woke up right when we got there, which was fine. So then when we got home I fed him applesauce mixed in rice cereal and he LOVED that. He smacked his little tray just like he was playing the drums. He was soooo cute. Then I breast fed him and covered him with the blanket because I wanted him to fall asleep while eating again. Well it was the same as last night...he wouldn't go to sleep. So I turned on his lullaby CD and kind of rocked him and sat with him and I told him that it was time to take a nap. So then we went upstairs and I put him in his crib and I turned on his sleep sheep. Then I closed the door and went downstairs. I turned on the monitor and I could hear him talking and it was really funny listening to him. That lasted for about 10 minutes and then he let out a shreek. I didn't go upstairs right away, but listened to see if he was going to start crying. I didn't hear a peep. So I went up 10 minutes later to check on him and he was sound asleep. He put himself to sleep. He's seriously THE BEST BABY IN THE WHOLE WORLD! He did the same thing last night. It was 9pm already and I had fed him cereal and formula and I even tried breastfeeding him and he still wouldn't go to sleep. He looked up at me with his big blue eyes as if he was saying "what's wrong?" and I just looked at him and said that it was time to go to sleep. I was so frustrated because I was tired and sunburned and just wanted to go to bed. So I just took Landon upstairs and put him in his crib...turned on the sleep sheep (which makes soothing noises like the sound of a stream or the ocean or rain) and then I went into my own room. I turned on the monitor and listened. Nothing. He put himself to sleep. AMAZING! And on top of that....he slept until 6am :)

6 Months Old!

2008-07-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Landon is 6 months old already! Time just goes by way too fast. I got a couple cute pictures of him yesterday. He finally sat up all by himself while I took a picture of him outside in the grass. I love this picture so much and the other picture I had to take because he just sat on the couch waiting for me while I got stuff together to go to play group. He's such a sweetheart.

Charlotte to See Papa Dirt and My Lola

2008-07-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yes I know this is about a week late, but things have been so busy with the beautiful weather and all. Landon and I went to Charlotte, NC for two weeks to visit "Papa Dirt" and "My Lola" and his aunts. We had a great time. I took lots of pictures, as you can see.

Landon's first time hiking.

I love this picture! I think its the cutest one I've ever taken of Landon. I love is little butt crack!

Landon's first time to the pool. He loved the experience until I dunked him under....big mistake. He hated it from then on. We'll try again later.Crazy sisters on the 4th of July.This is Landon's "Kissy face" I LOVE IT! Awww, we're all so sensible in this picture!

We get bored when we're in the car though!

5 Months!!!

2008-06-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Landon is 5 months old today. Wow, I can't believe how time flies. He's starting to look like a little boy and not so much a baby anymore :( He's such a sweetheart I love him more than anything! He's loving his jumperoo as you can see in the video.

Landon went to his 2nd Mariners game on Saturday. He cried again every time the crowd cheered. We went over to Ben's parent's house for Father's Day. Landon was so sweet all day and got worn out. We're getting ready to go to Charlotte, NC this Sunday to visit my side of the family for two weeks. We are so excited, except for the plane ride. I'm not very excited about that. I have to travel by myself with Landon because Ben won't be coming. I'll be sure to post an entry after we get back.

Peas

2008-06-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

Landon tried Gerber peas tonight for the first time. It was so funny to watch him eat the mush. He quivered and made such a funny face every time I put a small spoon full of peas in his mouth. He did a pretty good job though of eating them and not spitting them back out. I think they kind of upset his tummy though because about five minutes after he started crying like he had gas and then suddenly he held his breath and let out a big scream which scared the crap out of me. He got so tired, so we just put him to sleep right afterward. He's been such a goofball lately and has been fighting going to sleep. It's been tough because we got to where we could just leave him in his crib and he would fall asleep on his own...but we went to the doctor and she said that his head was mildly flat...so we have to lay him on his side and he won't stay on his side unless we swaddle him. So now we've been having to swaddle him, sing and rock him to sleep, and then lay him on his side. I hope he'll be able to go back to what we were doing before once his head rounds out a little bit. We'll see.

Busy Month Of May

2008-06-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry we have been pretty busy this last month. I celebrated my 26th birthday on May 7th. I also celebrated my first Mother's Day with my to favorite boys (Ben and Landon) at Outback Steakhouse that weekend.

The following weekend we went to Lake Tapps beach here in Auburn. It was gorgeous!

Landon loved being outside at the beach. He was happy the entire time even though it was over 80 degrees outside.First time dipping his feet in the lake. He didn't like it too much because it was freezing! I don't blame him ;)

Then we had fun Memorial Day weekend. We went to the Old Cannery in Sumner and got western pictures taken. They were having a sale and had hot dogs and pop and pictures and face painting. It was really a lot of fun. We wanted to show Landon all the trains, but we didn't make it that far because he blew out his diaper and we had to go home. Typical ;)

The past couple of months I've also been going on walks almost 4 times a day...this was all in order to get back into my cheer uniform. Issaquah High School was having a commemorative night because they are tearing down the highschool and building a new one and asked all the alumni cheerleaders to come do the fight song in their uniforms. I managed to get back into it. I was pretty proud of myself :)

Boise Trip

2008-04-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on a roadtrip to Boise, ID for Ben's uncle's 80th Birthday party. It was Landon's first road trip. He did very well in the car. Of course he blew out his diaper just 2 hours before we got there, luckily I brought enough clothing for him.

We made it to Boise in 10.5 hours, which was pretty good considering we had to stop and feed and change Landon just about every two hours. Everyone was at the party. Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd, Mike & Lanette and their kids, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Shepherd....it was a lot of fun.

I was so happy that Landon got to meet his great grandparents.

Four generations of Shepherds :)

Landon holding his bottle all by himself in Taco Bell ;)

Happy to be back home!

Landon Rolled!!!

2008-04-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday (April 22nd) Landon showed me his new trick. He can roll over from his stomach to his back!!! He's getting so big.

I had to add this picture below, it cracks me up cause he's just so cute!

Here is a video of him playing on his stomach.

Skate King!!!

2008-04-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

We went down memory lane and joined Sanna for her 26th birthday party at Skate King. I forgot how hard and uncomfortable it was to rollerskate. But it was a lot of fun and Landon loved the lights ;)

First Mariner's Game

2008-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Landon went to his first Mariners game last night. It was 80 degrees (according to the thermometer at Safeco Field).

Landon wore his little baseball sleeper outfit, which I think was probably too warm for that day.

But we went at night time so I thought it was going to be cold, oh well. We had a great time. It was so sad though because every time the crowd would cheer really loud it really scared Landon and he would start screaming.

Later in the game we started to give him a sip of his bottle every time he would get startled. He got used to it by the end of the game. It was a great game, the Mariners won...which was a perfect outcome for Landon's first major league game :)

Sonics game

2008-04-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I haven't blogged in quite a while and I'm sorry for that. Landon is getting so big and he's doing so much. He's started cooing and he found his feet and has his own signature noises, it's so sweet. On March 24th we went to Landon's first Sonics game, which is good since the Sonics might not be with us much longer :( He did very well at the game. Although, he blew out his diaper and luckily his cousin Tony surprised him with a Sonics outfit that we were able to change him into. I think he looks too cute in his outfit. Maybe he'll play for the Sonics one day, seeing that he is in the 75% for his height right now :)

2008-02-25T16:51:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute video of our little bundle.

One Month Old

2008-02-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe our Little Landon is already one month old. Time has gone by so fast. He's started talking...well, "coo-ing" and it's so cute. He's starting to get a little personality and it's just so fun to watch him. But I wish he would stay this little forever. He's just so sweet. My favorite thing is napping with him. He loves to either sleep in the nook of my arm or sleep on my chest when he has a tummy ache. Here's a picture that we took of him on the 17th when he was exactly a month old. He wore this outfit to church. I think he looks so cute. He's such a little peanut.

I'm trying to get him on a bit of a schedule but it's kind of hard to be strict with it right now. He makes it within a half hour here or there. So that's a good start I guess. I think I might try tackling bottle feeding this week, just to get him used to taking a bottle. I'm strictly feeding him with breast milk though but if I have to go back to work, then he'll need to learn how to take a bottle. We'll see how this goes.

Our Little Family

2008-02-16T17:28:00.001-08:00

We had our first family portraits taken a little less than a month ago. These photos were taken when Landon was 9 days old. McKenzie Montague did them for us. She is soooo talented. If you want to see other work that she has done go to www.mckenzie-photography.com

During the 3 hours that we took to do the photo session, Landon managed to poop on daddy's jeans and peed 4 times on the black backdrop. It was pretty entertaining. He peed in my hair and on my shoulder as well. Landon was very well behaved for a newborn but we discovered that he really hates being naked.

I love this picture of the two of us. It's my favorite. I wish he could stay this way forever.

These are my two favorite men. They're both so handsome. I love them, I love them, I love them!

Deleted!

2008-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how or why it happened but somehow my Myspace account was deleted. I did not delete it. Someone must have hacked into my account and deleted it. I was so depressed today when my friend Leanne called me and asked me if I had deleted it. I had no idea what she was talking about and then I tried to sign in to my account and it would not let me. I have a request into their customer service to see if there is any way they can recover my account, but most likely they won't be able to and I'll have to start a new one. So SAD!!!

So Fast

2008-02-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by. Landon is already 3 weeks old. My mom came to help us out and boy was she a huge help. It's so hard to get things done when you have to watch a newborn baby at the same time. I don't know if this house will ever get picked up again. I miss having my mom here and I know Landon misses his Dooby (grandma). It was nice having someone to hang out with everyday and just run errands with. She kept me company. Now Landon keeps me company, but it's different....he sleeps all the time, and it's not like I can really have a conversation with him. But I love being with him and watching him grow up. He's started smiling back at me and he makes these little "coo-ing" noises that are just so adorable. We gave him a bath again tonight before church tomorrow and once again he screamed through the whole thing. He hates being naked.

Of course I've taken over a hundred pictures of him but here are a few so you can see how he's grown.

Our Precious Gift

2008-01-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hello All.

It's been a while since I blogged last. So much went on in the last month with the end of my pregnancy. We had three false alarms and then I finally had Landon Troy on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 11:37pm. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and measured 21.5 inches. He's the most perfect little being and he makes us sooo happy. I was in labor for 10 hours total and only had to push for 45 minutes. Everything went just smoothly and I've been recovering really well.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift from God. He's such a good sleeper and eater. I love him so much. He looks like my side of the family, but he has Ben's hair. I'll be posting more pictures of my perfect little angel as soon as we get internet at home ;)

Leavenworth

2007-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

We decided to go to Leavenworth last Saturday for the Christmas Light festival. It was a lot of fun but it was REALLY crowded.

We went to the Australian store, the Christmas Store, the Gingerbread house for hot chocolate and frosted cookies, and then we went to Gustav's for dinner....YUMMY!!!

It was so pretty to see Leavenworth all lit up with Christmas lights. I loved it!

I love Leavenworth with snow. It's gorgeous! I'm excited to go back next year and bring Landon with us...but we'll be going after Christmas, when it's a lot less crowded ;)

Lookin' A Lot Like Christmas!!!

2007-12-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Even though I've been listening to Christmas music since November 1st, it's really starting to feel like Christmas. It really helped on the 1st of December when it snowed. Man, was that beautiful! Of course Ben and I started putting up all the Christmas decorations on Saturday right after Thanksgiving. Ben did such a good job putting the lights on the house. His height really does come in handy ;)

I've taken pictures of all our decorations, just like I did for Halloween. But they're not final yet because we still have a little more to do.

Our little Christmas Tree in the TV room. Themed with white and red Christmas balls and little icicles.

This is our larger tree in the Australia themed room. It is themed with white, silver, and red Christmas balls. Ben also decided to wrap the Didjeree-doo (Aboriginal instrument) in Christmas lights, which I thought was a great idea!

And here we are working on our gingerbread house. Ben was going crazy with all the candy. But it was fun building it together. That's one of the things that we did together when we first started dating...

The finished product!

It Snowed!

2007-12-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

It snowed on the first day of December this year. It was so exciting. I love the snow so much and had been wishing that it would snow for the past month, I think. We hung out in Kirkland (where is snowed the most, according to the news) at Ben's parent's house. I was up in Bothell earlier for my friend Amanda's baby shower. Gosh I look HUGE!
So after that I went over to Ben's parent's house to wait for Ben and his dad to come back up from our house cause they were doing our Christmas lights. Then when they got back up to Kirkland Ben helped the neighbor shovel the driveway and I got some pretty pictures!

SO PRETTY!!! I love the whole month of December!

Halloween Party

2007-10-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday we went to Aaron and Sharla's Halloween Party. It was awesome. Lots of food and spooky decorations. Everyone's costumes were so cute. We had a punch bowl with dry ice and Green River Soda, so it was witches brew. Pretty cool.

Ben and I went as the Milkman and the knocked up house wife. David and Victoria Beckham also attended the party (Melanie and Troy). Sharla was a 50's girl and Aaron was a Greaser. Blake was a pirate and Tahni was also a pirate. And then Aaron's sister was Mrs. Clause and her husband Mike was Santa. SO CUTE!
On Monday night Ben and I carved our pumpkins and we carved a little one for little Landon. Ben carved a little ghost on his pumpkin. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Ben also carved a hanging bat on his pumpkin and I carved two flying bats in front of the moon on my pumpkin. Scraping the outside of the pumpkin to do the moon was pretty tough cause we didn't have any good tools to scrape with, but I got it done. It took forever though. I thought they turned out pretty cool.I'm kinda sad that Halloween will be over tonight. But I'll be looking forward to next Halloween because then we'll be able to take Landon Trick or Treating...which will be a lot of fun :)

29 weeks

2007-10-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be 29 weeks...only 11 more to go! Landon has been kicking up a storm in my stomach and Ben finally felt him kick last night. Well, he's felt him before...but not as powerful as he did last night. I was so excited that Ben finally got to feel what I feel all the time. Being pregnant is such an amazing experience. I love being pregnant. The only thing I don't like about it is feeling tired ALL THE TIME and the acid reflux isn't very fun either, but it's not as bad anymore. It's just crazy to think that I haven't even met Landon yet but I love him so much and I would do anything for him. I think it's the most incredible bond anyone can have with another human. I can't wait to meet him and I know Ben is extremely excited to meet little Landon. We've got all of his furniture put together and he's set with all his toys and blankets and many outfits. Time has gone by quickly but I know this last trimester will go by even faster because the Holidays are here : )

Here are our treasured first pictures of Landon:

This is our first ultrasound of Landon at 9 weeks. He's so tiny!!!

Here he is at 13 weeks and he's already sucking his thumb...just like his dad did when he was a baby.

And here he is at 21 weeks when we found out that he was a boy. He's looking right at us :)

I would love to get one of those 3D ultrasounds done because I would love to see what he looks like now.