Weeeeee

Landon LOOOOVVESSS to swing!! It is so cute. So today we went on a family walk/run and stopped off at the park near our house to let him enjoy the "weeeeee" for a bit. Since mommy gets to push Landon when daddy is at work, we let daddy play with Landon since he is home today from work.

Gastro Doctor

Since it is now March 12 and we are still battling with Landon not keeping his food down, I'm so done with this. I'm going back to the GI doctor. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I still feel like something more is going on. He needs to be re-tested for allergies (milk, eggs, etc) and at this point, I want him to move forward to the next step to make sure nothing else is going on. Dr. McCloud decided we'll put in a request to our insurance to have an Upper GI performed on Landon.

Mommy & Me - We love it!!

sample pictures of our mommy and me class taken on March 11th

playing with the kitchen set. Boy does he love to open and clothes all the cupboards on this thing. Maybe that's because we have saftey locks on all of ours at home and so he's not able to do it.

Landon's buddy, Luca

Every Thursday Landon and I enjoy mommy & me. At first we went Thursday mornings from 9:30 until 11:30 as that class was supposed to be 7-12 month olds. However, that class was a very young class. One of the baby classes had overfilled and so the overflow were placed in that morning class. Well... that didn't really work for Landon or I. He was so much older than most of the kids and he was way more active than the couple kids that were his age. He was the only one walking with the walkers. He would never stay in one spot. I talked with the teacher about moving him up into the next age group. That group is supposed to be for 12-18 month olds. But... I really felt strongly that he would do better with the group. Plus, I thought he would benefit more by being with the bigger kids. So, we transitioned into the 12-18 month old class. This class still meets on Thursdays but it goes from noon until 2:00pm. I'm sooooo glad I moved him into this class. He LOVES it!!! He has so much fun. Although all the kids basically independently play at this age, Landon loves his school mates. It's so cute watching him. He goest non-stop for the full 2 hours. The tail end of class we all gather around and sing songs. I've been so impressed by Teacher Turid. She is so wonderful with the kids. Turid brings in all sorts of great speakers for the mommies. Landon loves going to school. The only bummer thing about it all..... he seems to have a new cold now all the time.

1st Official Music Class

Wednesday, March 10th I took Landon to his first music class. We had tried the class out about 10 days prior and he seemed to enjoy it. Today was class #1 of our 6-week session. Our class is every Wednesday at 12:15. The class lasts 45 mintues. Landon is so cute in class. He is so animated. He smiles, dances, claps, flirts with all the other mommies and with teacher Uta. He does a great job pounding on the drum. He's one of the oldest babies in his group. We also signed up with our friends Christina and Sophia. Sophia is Christina's baby girl who is just 3 weeks younger than Landon. It's them two and then the rest of the babies range from 3 months to 8 months. He really digs his class and it is so precious watching all these babies listen and respond to the music. It'll be a fun 6 weeks.

30-3-30

Sunday, March 7 we attended the Vecchinone 30-3-30 party. What's that you ask? Both Kirsten and Greg Vecchione were celebrating their 30th birthdays and my niece Bella was celebrating her 3rd birthday. Rain was in the forecast and with it being an outdoor event at a local park, we were all keeping our fingers crossed for decent weather. Although we saw slight rain showers, we all made cover under the large gazebo. The party was great! They hired a taco lady, had nachos, ice cream sundaes, etc. Landon, with the help of his daddy, hit his first pinata. Happy Birthday to the Vecc trio. We love you.....

Eventful Day- Grandma & Shelly

On Saturday, March 6th we drove out to my parents house to enjoy dinner and to hang out as a family for two very special reasons:

- celebrate my mom's birthday (which is March 4th)

- meet my little brother, Matthew's, fiance Michelle (however, we all decided she will be called Shelly since Eric's wife, Michelle, came first). I mean seriously... did they both need to find a Michelle to marry? :)

With all the 3 youngsters we thought eating in would be easiest. So, it was a very low key night of hanging out up at the house. But, it gave us an opportunity to visit with Shelly. Hard to believe my little brother is going to get married. Yikes!!!

AMAZING safety talk

Our mommy and me church coordinator highly recommended the moms attend this safety talk that was being held at the local presbyterian church. Apparently this same talk was given a few years back and the coordinator said it was the best safety talk she had ever been to. She pumped it up sooo much I felt I couldn't miss it. Originally I wanted Sonje to go but since Landon was still sick, he stayed home to watch him. I am sooo glad I went and very thankful that this amazing resource came my way. Our church coordinator was 110% right. This safety talk was so invaluable. Every mommy needs to hear it. My brain is on total overload from all the information. I wish I could have recorded the talk or something because we were given so much information I don't know if I'll remember it all. It was very informative. The company is called Safely Ever After. I was so fired up over the seminar, I even called the speaker the next day and left her a message to see if I could work under her by going out and giving these same talks to other mommies on behalf of her company. Unfortunately I haven't heard back. But, I thought the information was so important I really feel like she should have a team of safety speakers out there so this information can reach more people. She can only get to so many moms on her lonesome. We'll see if she calls me back. I'd be happy to be a mentoree under her and go spread her valuable words of advice. But, even if nothing comes of it from that standpoint, I'm still so happy I was informed of this talk and took the time to sit in on it.

Oh... and the other cool part- it was FREE!

Back to Dr. Pang's office

So... because we were NEVER seen last night (I mean, this morning) after all that, we made an appointment with our pediatrician. Gratefully the office squeezed us in. Landon's ears looked good, throat looked good, he seemed to be breathing fine, etc. so the doctor said it was probably just a virus. He said that often times a high fever goes hand-in-hand with throwing up. It's one of the effects (if you will) of such a high fever. He also said it's pretty common too that after a child has gone through a cycle of throwing up, often the next stage is diarrhea. Great! My directions were to bring his fever down so to switch off, as necessary, between the Tylenol and Motrin and give him extra water with Pedialyte. Glad its nothing I need to be too worried about but what a LOOOONG day. With just a little over 2 hours of sleep, Sonje and I are dead to the world. Poor Landon still has a fever but he's only thrown up once today. So far, no diarrhea.

Night in the ER

Waiting in the lobby- poor baby!

Ugh.... so, on Tuesday (Mar. 2), Landon kept throwing up his food. Mind you, its pretty typical for Landon to throw his food up, so I didn't think to much of it as first. However, throughout the course of the day the food wouldn't settle and he couldn't keep anything down. By that evening, he felt pretty warm. So, we took his temperature and sure enough he registered at 100.3. So... being a nervous nelly mom with a baby that hasn't had anything to eat or drink all day long, I wanted to get him in to see someone. We arrived at the emergency room around 8:45pm. When they took Landon's temperature there he was 103. They had us strip him of his clothes and they gave him infant Tylenol. We waited.... and a little later Landon was getting pretty hungry so they gave us some little chalky pill that would help him keep some food down. It worked. Poor guy though, normally goes to bed about 8:30 so between it being past his bed time and not feeling well, he was so tired. However, we waited, and waited....and waited in the lobby/waiting area till about midnight when they called his name. Well, you would think that that might not sound so bad -8:45 till midnight. It is with a sick 11-month old who is up past bed time. But, it gets better. Once they called us in, that only got us into a bedroom. By 2:15 we STILL had not been seen. I was sooooooooooo ticked. Also, I wouldn't be giving you the complete story if I didn't tell you that our nurse was supposed to give Landon Motrin for his fever at midnight. She forgot about us!!! When she finally remembered and reappeared it was 12:45 and Landon had JUST barely fallen asleep. She makes us wake him up. He NEVER went back to sleep. He screamed!!!!! At 2:30am I had had enough. We left. I couldn't do it anymore. I found a nurse to check his temperature. By then he had kept food down with the little medicine they had given him and his temperature was under control. I figured I would get into my normal pediatricians office in the morning rather than waiting around any longer. I mean 8:45 until 2:30 and NOOOO doctor for an 11-month old. Isn't that nuts!!!! So, I made up the spare trundle bed in his room and slept down there so I could be near him and keep watch over him. I should write a nasty letter to that hospital. We finally got to sleep around 3:30am. About 2 hours later, at 5:45, the alarm went off; it was already time to get up. Can you say sleep deprived?

Music Rhapsody Trial- Saturday, Feb. 27th

All the kiddos surround the large drum at the beginning of class and can bang it, scratch it, whatever. Mommies tap to the beat too. Then, the music teacher flips the drum over and all the babies get inside. We did a few songs with the kids sitting in the drum. One of them was "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". So, for that song, all the kids were sailors and got sailor hats.
Landon with his sailor hat on. Also, note the drum set shirt.
We had to wear music apparel to a music class- duh!

Lap songs

one of the dancing songs

Using the shakers

Using another prop for the "Peek-A-Boo" song

During one of my mommy-me classes the founder of Music Rhapsody came in to do a mini music class for all the mommies and babies. Landon totally digged it. Well....right now they are running a special for all the mommies in the class- if we sign up for music classes with another mommy friend we both get 50% off the class fees. Sonje and I decided we would take Landon to a Music Rhapsody class, since they offer free trials, and see what a real class was like. He really enjoyed it. So, we found another mommy friend and signed up together to get the great deal. He'll start music class on March 10th.

Dr. Pang Re-Check

At our 9-month doctors appointment Landon had dropped to the 35% in weight. Up until then he had always maintained a 50% in weight and 50% in height. But, since that had dropped at his Jan 21st appointment, our pediatrician wanted us to come back in sometime between Jan 21st and his one-year appointment to do a re-check. So, it's now been about 6 weeks and we went back into Dr. Pang's office Friday, Feb 26th. Unfortunately, in those 6 weeks he only gained 2 ounces so now he's weight had dropped to the 20-something precentile. Yikes!!! I swear I feed this kid. He poops like 3 or 4 times a day so he has to be eating to be disposing of his matter that frequently. But, 2 ounces in that time frame is not good. I know all the throw-ups are a big contribution. Trying to maintain the dairy-free diet probably isn't helping. Anyways, our pediatrician is sending us back to our Peds Gastro doc and he also put in a request for us to try occupational therapy. Wish us luck....

Happy Birthday Eric

Tonight we met for Eric's birthday at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney. We had a nice dinner together. It was Eric's family, our family, along with Pop Pop and Grandma Haven, and Sonia and Dan Crosby. Luckily we had our own room so Madi and Ethan could get up and move around. It also came in handy when Landon decided to do one of his normal throw-ups. Thank goodness everyone else had finished their meals. Despite that little hiccup, it's always nice when we can all get together. Happy Birthday ET!

Baby Proofing

This evening we had a gentlemen come to the house that does baby proofing evaluations. We learned a lot of really good information. There are a few things we need to get like an emergency ladder since we have a 2-story home. We still have to get the cabinet locks for our bathrooms. We have them on all the kitchen cabinets but we haven't baby proofed our bathrooms yet. And... did you know the #1 killer of children in households every year- toilets!! That's right. More kids die by drowing in the toilet. So, for any one reading this, get safety locks for your toilets.

Ash Wednesday

This is Landon's 1st Ash Wednesday. Obviously he is not expected to fast or abstain from meat (hence the pictures below where he is enjoying pieces of chicken deli meat). After lunch, Landon and I enjoyed a walk to our local park where he went "weeeeeeee" on the swings. Later that evening daddy came home from work and the three of us went to OLG in Redondo for Ash Wednesday mass. Landon, like normal, flirted with the women in church. He received his first ashes. Lent has officially begun.

Landon making his little inquisitive noise

Trying to share with mommy

Landon being a silly monkey

Hanging out with my aunt Michelle and cousins

It's time for mommy to get her hair done. Mommy is LONG overdue on her highlights- major roots going on. Aunt Michelle was so kind to take Landon for much of the afternoon so mommy could go to the salon. Landon enjoyed spending time with his cousins Madi and Ethan. Lucky for him he got some good one-on-one time with his auntie too while his cousins were napping. Thanks Michelle for watching Landon.

You're so cute Landon

Landon was so pooped from all the fun at the park (below post) that he took a nice long nap. Look at those adorable rosy cheeks. Isn't this just the most precious "I just woke up" face? I just want to kiss him...

However, it didn't take him long to get into his normal playful mood. Within minutes he was dog piling mom on the floor and rough housing.

President's Day- Play Date

Today Landon and I enjoyed at play date with friends at the Irvine Regional Park. It's not often that Michelle or Jen are able to join us during our week day get togethers because of their work, so with today being President's Day and a holiday for most people, we planned a get together so they could join us. We had fun eating our sacked lunches and playing on the play ground. As if getting together isn't exciting enough, our friend Jen shocked us by announcing she was pregnant- WITH TWINS! Congrats Jen. XOXO to all you ladies and kiddos... The gang. Love how Landon is crying in this picture because he's had enough.
Kendall Duncan- born just 10 days before Landon

Kendall and Landon playing on the swings together.

Mommy Michelle & Kendall Duncan

Kim Pacella pushing her son Nicholas and holding Lauren Deschenes

Jen Montaya (newly pregnant with twins) and son-to-be big sister Maya

The Deschenes- mommy Kristi with Daniel and Lauren