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

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!!!

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 ___!!!!

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?

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

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

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

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.