The boy just doesn't stop!

One of Landon's most endearing (and exhausting) characteristics is that he just doesn't stop. If Landon isn't moving or jumping or talking or crawling, you know one of two things is happening:

A) He's pooping
B) He's about to fall asleep

Sunday morning, Landon and I were hanging out in the living room while Brian slept. Landon was plopped in my lap, bouncing himself up and down and chattering to himself. All of a sudden, he leaned his little head back, grinned at me, then leaned to lay his head on my knee. In the time it took me to reach over to the coffee table to grab my phone, the stinker was passed out. Observe the photo taken literally seconds after he looked at me:

In other news, as you probably have gathered, Landon has been crawling for about a month now, and he no longer finds it satisfying. As a result, he is doing everything he can to learn how to walk. For a while (in fact, for just about as long as he's been really crawling), he's been trying to pull himself up to cruise. Before last night, he only was able to do it when he'd hang onto his toy box or off the Harley glider at Grammie's house. However, last night he made real progress. He was on the floor, enjoying his before-bed bottle, when he noticed Panzer was laying on the couch. (Side note: he adores the cats and will do anything to try to get them.) He threw his bottle to the side, scrambled onto his knees and crawled (read: FLEW) to couch. He reached up and in a split second had propelled himself to his feet. Since he's already trying to take shorts steps between Brian and me without our support, it's only a short time until he tries the same thing from the edge of the couch, so we have to invest in more foam guards for the coffee table.

Finally, Landon hangs out with me in the bathroom as I get ready each morning, and he's always a little chatter box. Here's a video of this morning's conversation...

....and a picture of him snatching his towel from the rack behind him:

Landon has been doing a really great job at sleeping lately - he's finally back to sleeping through most nights, and if he does wake up, he's usually able to put himself to sleep.

That, however, might change soon because his 9th and 10th teeth are starting to push through. Yes, I said it. My son is almost halfway done teething...and he's not even 8 months old.

I am going to Atlanta for work next week, so for Brian's sake, let's hope these teeth come through before I leave. Otherwise, Bri is going to be facing some tough nights.

Rice cakes = YUM!

Good morning. 

While I finish my bottle, let me tell you about the wonderful rice cake I enjoyed last night. 

While Mom and Dad dined on hamburgers, I snacked on a tasty rice cake. 

I have a habit of trying to stick more food in my mouth that I can actually chew. I'm busy working on my 8th tooth, so I'm hoping this won't be an issue soon.

But when your mouth overflows and there's no more room inside for food, you can always use your nose to store the next bite. That way, you don't lose track of where you put it. 

Laughing Baby

Landon finds Brian's scruff incredibly amusing. It's a fail-safe way to make him laugh and put him in a good mood. 

You've heard of Wordless Wednesday?

This is Mute Monday.

Yes...I'm THAT Mom

Before Landon was born, I really didn't think I would be THAT mom. You know, the one who is overprotective, always stressing about silly things?

Well, I was wrong.

I put Landon down to sleep last night and he settled right in. What I didn't realize was that Panzer was hiding under the crib, so he ended up being locked in the baby's room. As soon as the baby started dozing off, Panzer started crying and knocking on the door to get out. As soon as I opened the door for Panz, Landon started fussing. He wasn't really crying, so I left him alone to fall asleep on his own. A few minutes later, I noticed his fuss changed a bit, and I told Brian that I thought Landon had flipped onto his stomach. Seconds later, Landon stopped fussing and fell asleep.

This left me in a sticky situation. Intellectually, I knew he would be fine sleeping on his stomach - after all, we all slept that way as kids, and once babies reach the age where they can flip themselves, the risk of SIDS decreases significantly. I knew this.

And yet, I was scared. I also knew that if something happened during the night,  I would never be able to forgive myself. Emotionally, I was convinced that if I let him sleep on his back that something would happen: he'd stop breathing; he'd shove his face into the bumper; he'd wake up and (try to) climb out of the crib. I waffled back and forth: do I flip the baby and risk waking him up, or do I leave him on his stomach and know that I won't sleep and I will be checking him every 10 minutes to make sure he's alive?

Well, I was getting myself so worked up that I called my mom. She kind of laughed at me (again, we all made it through babyhood sleeping on our stomachs!) but suggested that I flip him so I didn't stress myself and so I could sleep.

With Brian shaking his head in disbelief (I don't think he understood how concerned I was), I flipped the baby over onto his stomach. As soon as his back hit the mattress, he let out a wail to wake the dead...but seconds later fell right back to sleep.

I woke up this morning and realized that I should have been more concerned about Panz being in the room, since he is  slowly warming up to the baby.

Is this boy cute or what??

All's Quiet at the Hickerson House

At Landon's 6 month appointment last month, the doctor was a little concerned that Landon's weight gain had tapered off a bit and suggested that we postpone his flu shot and come back in January for the vaccination and weight check. We went back last night for our follow-up appointment. At 6 months old, Landon weighted 15 pounds 14 ounces. Last night, he was 17 pounds 12 ounces - a weight gain of almost two pounds! Honestly, the baby is a pig - it's impossible to fill him up. I swear he will eat until he explodes.

He was a champ getting his shot, too. He clouded up a bit when the nurse put his band-aid on, but as soon as she walked out the door, he was climbing all over me and trying to bounce on the examination table. I think the fuss was all for show.

Other than the good news regarding his weight, we've had a quiet few days. This weekend was fairly uneventful, so there is not really any exciting or interesting news. Brian has a cold (very noteworthy, I know) and is home sick today. Landon is cutting another two teeth (that puts the grand total to 7 teeth, which means he's a third of the way done teething at 7 months old). He's also moved up from army crawling to full-fledged, on-his-hands-and-knees, real crawling, so we have our hands full trying to keep him out of things and off the fireplace hearth.

The only interesting tidbit of news is that Panzer is continuing his path destruction. He is fascinated with the baby's things, especially anything plastic. I've lost track of how many binkies, bottle nipples, teethers and other things he has chewed up and destroyed. On Friday he struck again, and chewed the end of the nasal aspirator. (Eww. Not something I'd want to stick in my mouth, that's for sure.)

Sorry for the bad shot, but you can kind of see the destruction in this picture:

Any thoughts on why he might be doing this? He even absconded with one of the baby's plastic, chewy blocks. He's always been a thief (in fact, his nickname is Klepto-Kat) but he's never really eaten anything like this before. He doesn't always destroy what he steals - in fact this morning, he woke me up by dropping a bottle liner on my chest, meowing at me, then racing out of the room. Anyway you look at it, he's a little strange.

Picture time!

Hi everyone. Mom is letting me write another blog post!

One of my absolute favorite things in life (beside Mom, Dad and my animals) is FOOD! I've been super happy lately, since Mom has been stuffing me like a fat kid in skinny jeans before putting me to bed. Instead of only half a jar of food and then nursing, I now get an entire jar of food, 3-4 ounces of formula AND I get to nurse. I've been ecstatic these past few days.

I love, love, LOVE food!  Sometimes I get so excited that I make Mom miss my mouth...and that means sometimes I get veggies in my hair.

I am getting more and more proficient holding my own bottle. Mom says she really took this picture to document Huey stealing the Christmas ornament in the background. I think she took it because I am so stinkin' cute!

Oh, Landon....

We had two wonderful, glorious nights where Landon didn't wake up screaming. It was lovely.

And apparently, Landon thought two nights was more than enough...because last night he woke up not just once, but twice. A rare phenomenon, indeed.

Before you start shaking your head and yelling at the screen, telling me to just deal with it, that it's not unusual, that all babies wake up at the night at some point during "babyhood", I need to explain something: I know.

I know that we are lucky that when he wakes up, he generally only gets us up once at night. I know that there are countless parents out there who would trade places with us in a heartbeat, because their almost-seven-month-old wakes them up three, four, even five times a night. I know his behavior is not abnormal and that every child has his or her times when they just won't sleep.

I know.

See, it's not the waking up in and of itself that's frustrating. It's knowing that he is capable of sleeping through the night, but not being able to determine why some nights are a struggle and some nights pass peaceably by. It's the awareness that physically and emotionally, he is ready to sleep through the night - after all, he's been doing it since he was 4 or 6 weeks old! - but not being able to take away whatever circumstance/situation/factor that is preventing him from sleeping well.

It boils down to the fact that, at the end of the day (or night, I suppose), Brian and I feel helpless that we can't help Landon get back to his previous sleeping habits. I know all first-time parents (and experienced parents, too, I'm sure!) go through periods where they feel incompetent and incapable, but all I want is a happy, healthy baby, and the lack of sleep is preventing him from being the social, content, engaging little boy that he should be. That is where the frustration lies.

As soon as my iPhone emails them to me, I will post some new pictures of Landon. Stay tuned!!

Yes! We slept through the night!

I can't begin to explain what a good mood I am in this morning.

When I picked Landon up from Grammie yesterday, she mentioned that he finally started napping like he did a month or so ago...and so I started getting my hopes up that maybe, just maybe, we might see a night where Landon didn't wake up. I was determined to anything in my power to prepare the baby for a full night's sleep.

Once we got home, we played for a while, took a nice, long, warm bath and ate...a lot! The boy was stuffed like a sausage! He had a full jar of food and four ounces of formula, then nursed a few minutes until he got drowsy. There was no way he was going to wake up hungry.

I ended up waking up around 11 myself...I guess he's getting me into that habit. I heard him making noise but he put himself right back to sleep. I was so proud of him - we finally got past 11:30 without a meal!

This morning, we had a completely different baby on our hands. I hadn't realized how off Landon had been the last week or so, but this morning he was happy, vocal and much more active than he'd been recently. So we are hoping for another good day with Grammie...and praying for another full night of sleep.

Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions!

Now, to celebrate this most momentous day, enjoy the following:

Landon is a total little rocker - he loves Papa Roach, Disturbed, Shinedown and the Foo Fighters.

Little Charmer strikes again

Despite the tough couple of days we've had in the Hickerson Household, there have been some real gems as well. Even when he's driving us completely and totally bonkers, Landon manages to charm us, make us laugh (actually, I've found much of the time, we're laughing at ourselves) and show us that it's the ones who make us the most crazy that are the most important, interwoven parts of our lives.

This weekend was no exception. We fought for naps and for 10 minutes to get housework done. We distracted and cajoled and begged the baby to let us at least have some sort of semblance of a productive weekend. And just when we were both about the pull our hair out, the little stinker did it again. He showed us that even with the dirty laundry on the floor and the dishes in the sink and toys scattered across the living room, the weekend was still a success simply because we spent it with him.

While Brian and I were hanging up a towel rack in the bathroom, Landon was entertaining himself in his walker in the hallway. All of sudden, I caught a whiff of a telltale odor - Little Man had loaded his diaper. My hands were filled with Brian's drill, a few drill bits and other miscellaneous things. So I looked over my shoulder and said, "Landon, Mommy is busy helping Daddy...but if you say 'Mama' right now, I'll drop everything to change your diaper."

The next thing I knew, Landon wheeled his walker into the door of the bathroom. With up-reached hands and a big grin on his face he said, "Mah. [Pause]. MAH! [Pause] Ma [half beat], ma. Mama!"

I had to keep my word. So I dumped everything I had into Brian's capable (albeit full) hands and left him to finish the bathroom. I had more important things to do - like show my baby boy how much Mama loves him.

OK Mommies and Daddies...we need some advice

For the first 6 months of his life, Landon was a great sleeper, especially at night. I could put him to bed at 8 p.m. and not hear a peep from him until 6 a.m.

Ever since his top two teeth came in, his sleeping habits are hit or miss. Some nights we get a full night's sleep, and other nights he wakes up around midnight screaming. (Not just a fuss or a cry - a full-fledged exorcist-type scream.)

Before bed, Landon gets about a half to three-quarters of a jar of baby food, then nurses until he gets drowsy, at which point we move him into the crib. The nights that he is waking up, he is waking up and acting like he hasn't seen food in years. Case in point, last night. He ate his food, nursed a while and fell asleep in his crib. At 11:30 he woke up screaming like a banshee. I tried walking with him,  rocking him, cuddling him, giving him his binky, laying him in his Pack n Play where he could see me and I could lean over him so he felt like he was being held. I tried distracting him for nearly 45 minutes and no dice. Finally, Brian and I broke down and gave him a bottle. The little pig devoured 7 ounces. Normally, during the day he only drinks about 4-5 ounces at a time, so 7 ounces isn't insignificant.

Any ideas on what could be waking the baby, or what we can do to make sure he's completely full before he falls asleep? We still have good nights when he makes it through without waking up and needing fed, but as I'm sure all the parents out there can appreciate, this is getting old really fast. I've tried letting him cry himself to sleep, I've tried walking in his room so he can see he's not alone. I've tried walking in after he's cried a few minutes, talking to him and rubbing his back (and maybe picking him up if he's really upset) then walking out for a while and repeating, but staying out for a little longer each time. Nothing works but food. But the kid can't possibly be so hungry that he can't sleep - according to friends, doctors and books, we're well past the stage where he *needs* food at night.

We're getting to the end of our rope, so I'm up for any suggestions or ideas. Thanks in advance!

Excuse me....

...but is there something on my face?

More Exciting Times

Landon mentioned that he didn't feel he had a chance to include ALL of his most favorite memories when he blogged last month, so here is a follow up to Landon's post on his most memorable and favorite times from the last six months.

Aunt Alissa and Uncle Bob came out to visit when I was 6 weeks old. I was so little, but I didn't like hearing it. I cried every time Aunt Alissa said I was small...and every time someone said I was a happy baby. So everyone started calling me an "HB" so I wouldn't catch on. 

A week or so after they visited, I took my first trip to Ohio. Traveling to new places and meeting family was so exhausting, I just had to pass out on Grams. 

Aunt Alissa bought me a John Wayne onesie. I had to prove I was tough enough to wear The Duke on my shirt, so I tried to pick fights with everyone. They just laughed though...I'm still not sure why they weren't more intimidated.

Uncle Bob is cool and taught me to fist bump!

Then in October, Aunt Alissa came out on a spur-of-the-moment visit. We had so much fun - but entertaining your Aunt is exhausting work! 

While she visited, I got to take my first pony ride... 

...and met a turkey. I wasn't sure what to make of him. He was a lot bigger than me.

The week after Christmas, Mom, Dad and I went back to Ohio. While I was there, I caught myself a Grumps. See? He's still on his leash. I wouldn't let him get away. 

Wrestling with a Grumps is dirty work, so Mom and Grams made me take a bath. 

Splashing is so much fun! 

I love baths! 

Afterwards, Grams wrapped me up in a towel, kept me warm and told me how cute I was.  What was she thinking - of course I was cute! You can't wash that off in a bath!

I also visited Great-Grandma Lucy's house and had so much fun mugging for the camera. 

I love my family - I always have fun when they are around. 

Un-Landon Related Rant - GO!

I am making an effort to keep this blog *mostly* focused on Landon, with sprinklings of information and updates on Brian and me mixed in - I know the baby is the big selling point. Not that I blame anyone for caring more about him than me...he's adorable, funny and undeniably full of it.

But every once in a while something comes up that irks me so much that I just have to go off. With that said, I'm about the commence a rant about companies' hiring policies.

As most people know, Brian works in law enforcement - he's been in his current position for nearly three years. Through a connection, he found out about a new opportunity and started exploring whether it would be a good fit for our family.

During a conversation with the recruiter, Brian was told that they don't interview anyone who does not have at least 60 college credits - previous work experience and/or military experience factor in, but are not considered as heavily as education.

This is understandable - within certain fields. I can see wanting a someone working with nuclear material to have an education in that area. The same thing within the healthcare field - I want my doctor to have 60 college credits.

But Brian is exploring another law enforcement position. Are you honestly telling me that college credits is the deciding factor on whether someone makes a good cop? Do people with a college education shoot better and more accurately? Is a criminal going to be intimidated if a cop yells out, "Stop! I have 60 college credits and I know how to use them!" When it comes to public safety, I'd think previous experience in law enforcement, combined with exposure with multiple weapons, training on how to assess stressful or dangerous situations and military experience would trump college credits.

On a positive note, Brian has more than 60 credits...but it's still irritating that, when it comes to this job, those credits are more important that his experience.

Another tooth

Landon took us all by surprise and cut another tooth this weekend. It's really starting to break through, so he's a bit upset. But this means he's up to five teeth - all before he's 7 months old. At the rate he is going, he will have a full mouth by the time he's a year old!

After Landon enjoyed his first Christmas, we had a few uneventful days at home. We celebrated Brian's birthday with dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which upset both Brian's and my stomachs. We left for Ohio the following day, and it was a miserable trip for me. There is nothing worse than having an upset, grumpy stomach AND having to ride in the backseat with the baby and my stomach voiced its protest by emptying its contents.

Once we got to Ohio, we had a great time. It was so nice to see Landon play with all the family he doesn't regularly see. I really think he recognized Grams and Grumps. He enjoyed his second Christmas, and loved the toys he received. Brian and I got a chance to go target shooting with my brother and dad...but Brian didn't get to make his annual pilgrimage to Summit Racing.

We left Monday morning and the drive back was uneventful. Landon slept through most of it...which meant he woke up wide awake at 4:20 yesterday morning. I think we're back on our schedule, at least for the most part.

As for my stomach troubles...I don't think it was the food, I think I had a virus. Because from Sunday on, the rest of the family started getting sick. I think I infected about 5 people. Oops. In all seriousness, I'm sorry to anyone who I got sick - I really thought it was the food. I would have quarantined myself had I realized I was legitimately ill.

Once Landon's tooth breaks through, I'll take a picture of his pearly whites.

Back to reality

Well, we're back from hiatus! The last week and half was jam-packed and busy, but we're back in New Jersey. Brian and I are back at work and Little Man is back to enjoying his days with Grammie.

Landon had a great first Christmas. We really went out of our way not to spoil him...but that doesn't mean everyone else followed suit! He had so much fun opening his presents and playing with the paper. I lost track of how many times we had to pull tissue paper out of his mouth!

Yum, stocking stuffers are tasty. And I know what these are for!

(He started pulling out his stocking stuffers without any encouragement from Brian or me.)

I got it, Mom! Lay off and let me open my own presents. 

Where is my special Christmas breakfast? 

Landon surrounded by his pile of presents. I waited until Christmas to give him all his 6-month toys. 

I think he knew that they were for him...

...because he immediately started opening them!

Thank you, Pop-Pop. I couldn't reach that one. 

This paper is so exciting! 

Blocks! Yay! 

I gotta hold the present with my feet while I rip as much paper as I can.

Still working on opening the blocks. 

Finally! They are free...now what do I do with them??

Again, I have to hold them up with my feet. 

Trucks!

My first Christmas...and I liked it *THIS* much!

Bring that back here! Where are you taking my toys?

Thanks again, Pop-Pop.

Well, what else do you have for me?

Seriously...where are the rest of my presents??

Thanks, Mom. 

Keep 'em coming!

Woo! I love paper and I love being the center of attention. 

Dad, bring me some gifts, please. This is fun.

You can take this one back. I'm not sure I like it. 

I'll write more about his first Christmas and our trip to Ohio soon.