Two by Two...Teeth that is.

I have officially decided that Landon is not going to do anything "normally" - even teething is something that is done on his terms.

When he was three months old, Landon got his first tooth. Oh, correction - his first TWO teeth. Yes, not only did he teeth early, but he popped two of those suckers out at once.

We woke up this morning and saw that Landon has new teeth breaking through. We've been expecting a tooth to emerge for a few days now - he has been fussy, not wanting to sleep, running a slight fever and drooling non-stop, so this wasn't an unexpected development.

One of his teeth has already passed through the gums and another is right there as well. Again with the two teeth at once! I honestly think that he knows something is going on, because he seemed beyond proud of himself this morning, especially after both Brian and I looked in his mouth and felt his gums.

I'll try to get a few pictures of his new teeth, but he has a reputation for not cooperating when someone tries to get shots of his mouth. I guess he's protective of his "prized possessions!"

At any rate, I think we are quickly nearing the end of nursing him - Operation Wean Landon is going to have to start moving full steam ahead!

Picture People Portraits

I realized that I never posted the pictures after I complained about my Picture People experience.

As it turns out, I'm not the only one who had a bad experience this year. Our good friends have two kids - Mason is two and half and Brielle is about 3 months older than Landon. They also used Picture People this year, and Tiffany (the mom) swears she's never returning. Can't say I blame her!

Anyway, enough pontificating, it's getting superfluous. (That sentence is for you, Liss).

Again, not really the fun and festive shots I was looking forward to. (Was it really too much to expect a Christmas tree??) Landon looks a little disappointed too. At least he's a cute baby - imagine these shots and poses with an ugly baby instead! (I jest.)

Finally, I want to say congrats to Alissa and Bob for extending their family this week. Enjoy Finnigan, and be sure to share lots of pictures of your little terror! :-)

Baby Fun

Landon must have thought that yesterday's post was too boring, so he gave me quite a bit to write about today. Thank you, Landon. Your thoughtfulness astounds me. I could, however, have gone without you peeing on me while you ate this morning. Apparently we need to shop for bigger diapers.

Anyway, last night was another success in the "Get Landon Back to Sleeping Through the Night" front. I moved him from the Pack n Play in our bedroom where he'd been sleeping the last few nights back into his room and he was a champ! He slept through the night and only woke up once around 4:30, but he immediately put himself back to sleep. I am ridiculously proud of him. I'm still not sure what caused last week's night-time melt downs, but I probably will never take a full night's sleep for granted again.

As for the exciting news, Landon decided last night was the opportune time to really start working on his crawling. His form isn't perfect yet (hey, these things take practice!) but Little Man is mobile...which means I need to finally finish baby-proofing the house. We had dinner at Brian's parent's house last night, and after dinner Landon must have thought we needed an early Christmas present. Either that, or Brian's shoe was really, really interesting because the next time we know, Landon is pushing and pulling and tugging and wriggling his way to Brian. As soon as that shoe was in his little hands, he squealed with delight...and then spotted the tree. That cued him to roll over and start the process over. His little toes dug into the carpet and his fingers splayed and grasped and finally the tree was within reach. Luckily, Pop-pop saved it before it came crashing down on all of us. But as I'm sure you can imagine, Landon was more than pleased with himself. Unfortunately, this newfound skill was discovered right as we were preparing to leave, which irked the baby - he wanted to keep practicing and finding new things to catch. So we wrapped up a wailing, squirming little boy and headed home to gloat that our son is on the move. The kitties better watch out.

Honestly, though, I have mixed feelings. Not because I don't want him to develop - obviously, I want him to learn and grow and become his own little person. But with each new skill he learns, the fact that he's growing and growing fast becomes more and more obvious. Sometimes I wonder if I'm enjoying him as much as I should and really taking advantage of everyday with him. As impossible as it is, I want to remember *every* minute with him, and the fact that time is flying by is pretty scary. I don't want to look back on these moments someday and wonder if I missed something or if I've forgotten a detail. I want to remember with perfection the look on his face when he grabbed the tree. I want to remember exactly how mad he was when we picked him up to put him in the car seat. I want to remember the sense of prized and accomplishment that virtually oozed from his little body when he realized that he can move himself.

Since Landon's developing ahead of schedule, I almost feel rushed. Of course, I'm incredibly proud that  my little penguin keeps us guessing and reaches his developmental milestones before most babies. But I'm also afraid that his intelligence and strength means we have less time to really enjoy him as he is now - a fun, interactive little boy who loves people and games and STAYS WHERE WE PUT HIM...at least for the most part.

Well, I think we got our baby back! Friday night, after a rough day with his Dad, Landon finally slept through the night again. He repeated that performance on Saturday as well. Other than waking up last night at 10 p.m. because he was hungry, he also slept through the night last night too. Thank God! We moved him to the Pack N Play in our bedroom for the last few nights, so we're going to have to transition him back into his own room. At least he has decided that his sleep strike is over. (Knock on wood.) I don't think I will ever take a full night sleep for granted again.

Other than the good news on the sleeping front, this past weekend was pretty laid-back and low-key. Brian's mom and I finished our Christmas shopping yesterday. The baby went with us and was extremely good. Of course, he likes action, people and new sights, so shopping pretty much always goes smoothly with him.

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away, but I cannot wait for a few days off!

Blessed...even when we don't feel like it

The last few nights have been really tough. Landon had been sleeping through the night since he was about a month old - going to bed around 8 and waking up around 6. Monday night, his pattern suddenly changed, and we had an inconsolable baby on our hands. NOTHING was calming him down. His binky didn't make him happy. His diaper was clean. He wasn't hungry. He was just MAD and wanted us to know it. Eventually he calmed down and slept the rest of the night uneventfully.

Same thing Tuesday night, only worse - he would not go back to sleep on his own. After trying to get him back in his crib for more than an hour, I finally broke down and let him sleep with him...which meant Brian was relegated to the couch.

Landon's six month appointment was last night. Contrary to what we thought, he is not currently teething - or at least, from the doctor's perspective, his teeth aren't bothering him enough to warrant his night-time temper tantrums. He also doesn't have an ear infection. The final verdict was that he has a very slight cold - again, it's not bad enough that it should be keeping him up at night. The doc's fix? Tylenol before bed.

Well, we tried that - to no avail. Last night was worse than the previous two. Brian slept on the couch again, this time with the baby cuddled up by him. (I really really really don't want Landon to get in the habit of sleeping with us at night, so we have to nip this in the bud.)

So I woke up this morning mad. Mad at the baby for suddenly deciding it was too much to ask of him to continue to sleep through the night. Mad at myself for not knowing how to get him back to sleep in his own crib. Mad at myself for "giving in" and going in his room after he fussed and cried for 30 minutes. Mad at Brian for sleeping with the baby on the couch. Mad in general.

Then I remember a blog I came across recently. The family just lost their barely two-year-old son to cancer - cancer he'd been fighting his entire life. The little time they had with him was marked with tumors and doctors' appointments and chemo and radiation. (Their blog mentioned the fact that last spring - when the child was a year and a half old! - he'd already reached his LIFETIME limit on the heavy dose chemo. Can you imagine?)

So even though I'm tired and cranky, I'm thankful. Thankful that Landon is healthy and active and engaging and fun to be around. Thankful that he continues to develop ahead of schedule. Thankful that we still have the opportunity to look forward to the milestones to come - his first step, first day of school, first tooth (oh, wait, that already happened!), first everything.

We are blessed and I hope I never forget that. I'll take that lifetime of firsts...even if it means a few sleepless nights.

Hi! It's my birthday! Isn't it exciting?

Didn't you hear?? It's my birthday! Don't make me come out of the screen to get you!

To celebrate, Mom is letting my write this blog post, so I wanted to share some of my favorite memories of the last six months.  Here we go!

I was born on June 14, 2011 at 8:31 a.m. Mom says she couldn't wait to get me out of her. But even as a newborn, I was adorable. No cone-head for me!

Everything was so new and fun. But every once in a while, I still got overwhelmed. So I learned to hide under my blanket. It's a scary world out there!

Even at an early age, I learned that Mom loves a good cuddle. So Huey, Panzer and I all snoozed on Mom in the afternoon.

It wasn't just Mom who got cuddle - Dad is warm and soft too, so I liked to hang out on his arm. 

As the weather got cooler, my clothes changed a little bit. Grammie and Mommy didn't want me to get too cold!

I am a bit of an early bloomer. I'm an overachiever in the tooth department, since I got TWO teeth at once when I was 3 months old. (I'm also teething again now - what a great present for Mom and Dad!) I also wanted to learn to sit up really early too - the first time I pulled myself up (and then fell over) was so much fun, I had to smile instead of fuss. 

No one can accuse Mom and Dad of not taking enough pictures of me. Sometimes they take too many. "Hey man, back up off my grill! Enough is enough!"

Huey is still a little wary of me - especially ever since I started rivaling him in the size department. 

I didn't understand the the fuss over Halloween - it's not like Mom and Dad would let me have any candy! All I wanted was a Reese's Cup - so I was the saddest penguin ever.

Mom is still a big fan of cuddle. So my brothers and I try to accomodate her as much as possible. Don't we look cozy?

Grammie has two little puppies - I like them a lot. But I REALLY loved Aunt Tammy's Great Dane. She was sooo big and sooo fun to pet! I told Mom and Dad that I want a big puppy for Christmas. Do you think Santa will leave one in my stocking?

I've had a great (and Mom says a fast!) six months on Earth, and I'm ready for even more fun! 

Happy Six Month Birthday, Landon! Mom and Dad love you more than you'll ever know, Little Penguin.

Stay tuned!

Landon is taking over the reins at some point today to celebrate his 6 month birthday! Stop back soon - it will be priceless!

Cali's Wonderful Creations

I mentioned yesterday that Cali Wieselman DeCaro is a fantastic photographer. She took some shots of Landon in July, when he was about a month old. Here are some of the great photos we got out of the session.

Little Handsome

On Black Friday, we braved the crowds to meet Santa. As Landon's face clearly shows, he LOVED it! Santa was his new best friend - complete with a beard to play with and a jolly belly to sit on.

As we walked the mall after meeting Santa, Landon kept calling out to all the people who walked by. I don't think he understood why people weren't paying attention to him. So he was super excited when the cashier at Saladworks talked to him - he reached out and grabbed her hands and squealed like he'd never had human contact before.

Picture People Christmas Pictures? Pathetic!

When it comes to documenting Landon's over-the-top cuteness, we've been really lucky - we have a great friend who takes even greater photos. (Look up Rambling Photography - Cali is fantastic!) So I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to get Landon's first Christmas pictures taken at Picture People. (In my defense, Cali lives an hour or two north of me - so scheduling a photo session isn't always an easy task.)

A month or so ago I received a coupon from Picture People in the mail, featuring fun and festive pictures and introducing their new holiday props. I wanted to do special Christmas cards for Landon's first Christmas, so I thought it was perfect timing. The props were beautiful and the coupon mentioned there were tons to choose from. I also wanted to get some shots to mark Landon's six month birthday, so I made an appointment.

Last weekend Landon and I ventured to the mall for his photo shoot. Although our photographer was pleasant and patient with my suddenly whiny son, it was beyond disappointing. We were taken back into one of the photo rooms, where they sat Landon in front of the white backdrop. She snapped a few pictures and the issues began almost immediately. Landon likes to try to walk, so we did one shot of him standing up with me holding his hands from outside the frame. I specifically mentioned that I didn't mind my hands showing, but since I was wearing it's-a-lazy-day, I-have-an-infant, un-festive, not-cute clothes, I didn't want me sleeves to show. "No problem," I was assured - "they are out of the shot."

We take a few more pictures before I realized that we weren't going to get any props unless I specifically asked for them. Our photographer looked around and told me that all she had were some (shoddily) wrapped Christmas presents. She arranged them behind Landon and took a few additional shots. I asked if the Christmas trees and mailboxes and sleighs I had seen on the coupon were available and I received a very curt "no" in response. Whatever, I thought - they had to have some cute props for baby pictures.

WRONG! I changed Landon's clothes for his six month shots, and the photographer looked at me expectantly, so I asked if there were any cute props for baby pictures. She dug around and finally came up with a snowflake. Yes, a snowflake. How a snowflake correspondes with a baby OR a birthday is completely beyond me. Where were the rubber ducks? Big washing tubs? Stuffed animals? Toy blocks?

By this point Landon is really starting to fuss. He didn't like the camera, he didn't like the photographer and he didn't like the fact that he hadn't eaten in an hour. (The boy has an appetite that would put a teenager to shame.) So despite my misgivings about the props, we went ahead and got the remaining pictures out of the way.

Eventually, the photographer asked if I was happy with the shots. I told her that since I hadn't seen exactly what she captured (God knows things look different from behind the camera!) that I wasn't sure we had enough, but if she assured me there were plenty of cute pictures to choose from, I trusted her judgement. She promised there were "tons" of great pictures and asked me to come back in an hour to see my proofs.

As we walked out of the studio to head to the food court, we passed the first picture room. Imagine my surprise as I saw all the wonderful props I had been expecting - a four foot Christmas tree, Santa's mailbox, beautiful gifts, huge Christmas ornaments, Rudolf, a sled. Obviously, not all of those props can be used at once - so telling me that nothing was available was nothing more than a blatant lie.

When we finally came back, I sat down to view my pictures. I have never seen a sadder collection of "holiday" pictures. In addition to lackluster props, my sleeve from Landon's standing photo was clearly in the shot. In other shots, a Boppy we had used to prop Landon up in previous pictures was still visible and that stupid snowflake was in pictures where it shouldn't have been, either. The employees seemed shocked that I requested those items been Photoshopped out so I could actually use the pictures - I guess they are used to passing off unusable photos to unsuspecting customers. And although I was assured there were plenty of great shots, my disc including a whopping 15 pictures - 4 of which were off-center or unusable even after being edited.

Long story short, I won't use Picture People again. Ever. We use them sometimes at work, but I've already told my boss that I won't patronize them even for work purposes. They didn't deliver on so many different levels - a baby's first Christmas should be special and memorialized, it's part of the job as a photo studio. Not having sufficient props available is inexcusable. Making customers request unwanted items be Photoshopped out of photos is inexcusable. Over-promising and under-delivering is inexcusable.

Cali, I am so sorry we cheated on you with Picture People - please forgive us and let's make a date for Landon's nine month and 1 year pictures!

Grumps and Landon

One of the toughest things, especially since Landon was born, is being so far away from my family. I grew up in a pretty close-knit family - I saw my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all the time. It hurts me a little that Landon doesn't have the opportunity. Granted, Brian's parents live nearby and Grammie watches Landon everyday (thank you, Grammie!), but I wish he had the opportunity to get to know Grams and Grumps, Aunt Alissa and Uncle Bob, Uncle Aaron and Aunt Michelle, Great-Grandma Douglas and Mamaw and Pappy. It kills me.

So, I was extra happy this weekend when my Dad unexpectedly came to down. Dad hadn't seen Landon since July - and trust me, the baby has changed dramatically since then! It was so awesome to see Landon start to bond with Dad. He reached out to Dad to be held, played with his beard, babbled and bounced and cooed. Seeing Landon with my family makes me even more excited for Christmas and the opportunity to head back to Ohio for a couple of days.