Birthday Celebration at Disneyland

Did you know that if you register your birthday at Disneyland during 2009 you can get into the park on your actual birthday for FREE, yes FREE. I registered over a year ago knowing that on July 24, 2009 I would go to Disneyland for my b-day and that's what I did. The nice thing too was that Sonje had Back-to-School night on Thursday so he had a half day on Friday and got to join us without having to take the day off.

The party participants included me (of course), Sonje, Landon, my in-laws, my sister-in-law Kajsa, and my niece Bella (they all have annual passes). We got to the park around 3:30 and stayed until 11:30 at night. Yes... almost midnight. Landon did so well. He was an angel!!! We lucked out that the park wasn't too busy and by going a little later in the afternoon we beat some of the intense heat.

I got to wear a special Happy Birthday button and Landon was given a "First Visit" button. His first ride was Its a Small World and he was so alert, looking at everything and definitely loving it. I thought he would be too little but he was looking around at everything and smiling. It was amazing how curious he was. Landon slept through the carousel , Dumbo and Finding Nemo ride but was awake and entertained by the train ride, haunted mansion and Winnie the Pooh rides.

watching the fireworks...

Happy B-Day Date Night

For the first time since Landon was born, Sonje and I had an evening alone. Sure, I've left Landon with Sonje when I've worked weddings but Landon's never been alone without one of us being around. We had a special date night in honor of my birthday and went to the Pantages to see Topol's farewell performance in "Fiddler on the Roof". Sonje's sister, Kirsten and her hubby Greg, watched Landon for us. My parents, my aunt and her husband Matt, and my in-laws joined us. The production was AMAZING! So awesome that we got to see it with the original star. It was seriously such a great musical. We all had a fabulous time but I've course I called Kirsten a few times while I was at the theater just to make sure my baby was doing okay. Kirstie said he did really well and my little monkey was sound asleep when I went to pick him up. That night I put him next to me in my bed because I missed him and was worried he had felt abandoned (I know... silly me).

My babies....

isn't this so cute? These are my babies chillin' in the front yard (July 21st).

Sonje was playing ball with Bergie and Landon had front row seats from his bouncer.

Welcome to town Tricia

Tricia Stadelbacher came over on Monday, July 6th and emailed us this cute photo of her visit. Unfortunately her hubby Paul had to stay back in Alabama for Air Force work (missed seeing you Paul). It was nice to see Tricia and I'm so glad she got to meet Landon as it might be awhile until The Stadelbachers are able to come back to Cali.

A Beachy Weekend

Landon experienced the beach for the first time. On Friday, we meet up with Ama, Aunt Kajsa, Aunt Kirstie and cousin Bella down in Huntington Beach. Kajsa had just got out of the water therefore her swimsuit was quit cold when she picked up Landon....he did NOT like the chill.

Then on Sunday, we drove down the street to Manhattan Beach. MB was hosting the AVP tournament. I'd never seen it so crowded. Since we didn't have tickets to sit in the stands, we watched part of it from the pier. We also walked-ran from MB to Hermosa Beach and back. We ate dinner at the Manhattan Beach Brewing Company before heading home.

Family Portraits

On June 23rd, we had family portraits taken with a friend from high school. We just got the disk of images and have posted just a small handful of the pictures. Landon didn't exactly cooperate. Although you might not be able to tell, he was quite fussy during this process. I stopped to nurse him and that still didn't work. Despite our best efforts to make him happy so we could get lots of cute family shots of Sonje and Landon in matching Kinsley shirts, Landon eventually fell asleep. I'm surprised the pictures still came out as well as they did.

Carol & Luiggi Come Over

Last night, Carol and Luiggi stopped on their way home from the OC Fair. They brought back a cute gift for Landon - a shirt that says "my parents are exhausted". They stayed for dinner and watched my favorite show EVER, "So You Think You Can Dance", ( I love Wednesdays) with us. We had a nice time hanging out with them. Landon kept flirting with Carol. It was so cute to watch but boy are we in trouble already.

Jumperoo

Since Landon is so strong and does such a great job holding his little head, and since he absolutely LOOOOVVVEEESS to stand up, I decided to give his Jumperoo a try. His little feet wouldn't hit the floor so I put a pillow underneath. He enjoyed it before about 5 mintues before he wanted to get out. He's not quite ready for it and I figured as much but a mom is ready to try anything new when her baby is fussing. He sure looked cute in it. He spent the whole time trying to bite at the seat. I'll keep giving his jumper a try every now and then. Eventually I think it will become one of his favorite toys.

Special Lunch Date

Great Grandpa Jimmy and Landon.

Grandma Haven with Landon

with Auntie Joy

Yesterday Grandma Haven brough Great Grandpa Jimmy out to see us. Auntie Joy also meet us at the house before we all took a quick 10-minute drive to Manhattan Beach. It was a beautiful day. The lovely beach town was much more congested that it normally is but I think that's because this weekend Manhattan Beach is hosting the AVP tournament. It was really cool to see them set everything up. The tournament is quite the production. While we were down in Manhattan Beach we went to lunch at the Manhattan Brewing Company. The food was great- we started with fried calamari, had baja fish tacos with this yummy spanish rice. Then we took a long walk down the pier and boardwalk. Landon was in his stroller and grandpa in his walker. We went to the ice cream parlor after our walk before heading back to the house.

Great Grandpa Jimmy sure likes Landon.

Pre-Teething

As if the reflux didn't bother him enough, he's also pre-teething. So on top of the spit ups, he's drooling too. But, besides this we are so blessed he's a healthy little boy. He's definitely a happy one too which is just so sweet. He's got the best gum smile. Since he's pre-teething, he has his little fingers in his month all the time. Often, its not just his fingers he wants either. He has this little thing that whenever daddy is holding him, he's got dads fingers in his month too. This has been going on for probably about the last month. He doesn't do it with me so its cute that its a special little thing that he shares with his daddy. I've tried giving him different teething toys but he doesn't quite have the coordination yet to put them in his mouth.

Vaccinations

Poor Landon, he had to get another shot on Tuesday. He did one last week too. I definitely believe in fully immunizing babies but I am spacing out the shots so he's not getting too many vaccinations at any one particular visit. I hate having to do his shots though, it breaks my heart. The first time I cried a little because I felt so bad. Its crazy how many shots kids need now days compared to when Sonje and I were little. Its something like 42 shots before 2 years of age. That's just out of control. He'll have to do more shots in another 2 weeks. Poor little guy!

Girls GT- the latest version

Hard to believe that I've known my friends from sorority/college for over 10 years already. Our GTs (aka get togethers) used to be dance clubs, Vegas trips, state line turnarounds, dinners, etc. More recent years it was wedding showers, weddings, baby showers, etc. As alwasy, it's fun when we girls have a little gathering and that part will never change. What has changed is the type of GTs we have these days...photo speaks for itself.

Now, let me tell you why Landon is conked out in his travel swing under a beach tent by the pool... that's probaby due to the crazy commotion we had during lunch at Angela's house before we ever even made it out to the pool. Really can't be avoided when you have:

Landon- my little 3-month old
Nicholas (26 months)- Kim's little man
Daniel (turning 3 in August) and Lauren (turning 1 this weekend)- Kristi's two kids
Kendall (born just 10 days-ish before Landon)- Michelle's first
Grace (born end of February so not quite 6 months)- Angela's first
Makena (4 years) and Mandy (3 weeks old) with Maycie who is about 18 months and not in the picture since she's at home so that Nicole didn't have to juggle 3 kids for a brief break

And for those of you that are wondering... yes, with kiddos we brought tent to shade the little ones, travel swing, blow up basketball hoop, diaper bags, 4 strollers, and the like and oh yeah---- a little mommy punch.

More Vegas Pics...

Here are some more pics of Vegas from another camera we just downloaded...

Ama & Landon

The look on Landon's face is priceless! We got a little gambler in the family

Chillin' at the Hilton Resort pool

Recent Tricks

It's the coos and smiles that make the not-so-fun-reflux manageable. Recently we've also enjoyed experiencing a few new Landon tricks: giggling, realizing how to use his voice via fake cries and fake coughs, becoming more aware of mommy and his surroundings therefore getting scared when new faces/sights are around him, and within the last few days, rolling onto his back from his tummy. The latter has not been perfected yet. It started a few days ago when he accidently rolled over. I put him back on his tummy and he rolled over again. However, the trick ended there and he couldn't figure out how he'd rolled and become very frustrated. It was so funny watching him try to roll again and get increasingly more upset that he wasn't doing it right. He is more and more like his daddy every day. :)

Blessed Day- Landon is Baptised

On Sunday, July 5th, Landon was baptised at American Martyrs Catholic Church. It was a beautiful day. Landon did really well. He even smiled during his sacrament and the priest got a kick out of that because he's used to babies crying. He wore a baptismal gown that has belonged to the Berg family line for 109 years. The gown traces back to his great grandma and has been used since for all baby baptisms. Sonje wore it, his siblings wore it, his father wore it, etc. Pretty special. After the mass celebration we hosted a dessert reception at the home.

Vegas Baby

We went on our first family vacation to Las Vegas. The purpose of the trip...Taggart family reunion. However, we also got to enjoy Ama, Papa and Aunt Kajsa for a couple days while in Vegas too. We caravaned to Vegas with Ama, Papa and Kajsa on Friday, June 26th. Landon pretty much slept the whole way there. He awoke for a quick feeding in Baker. It wasn't until we were practically pulling into Vegas when we hit bumper to bumper traffic and the little nugget awoke. That night we ate dinner at the Rio Buffet (yum!!!).

The next day we enjoyed spending a day at the pool together. Later in the early evening, Grandma & Grandpa Taggart came into town. They joined us down at the pool for a bit and later we ate at the Cheesecake Factory in Ceasar's with the Berg side of the family too...so nice that we could all be together. Grandma & Grandpa Taggart stayed over in our hotel

room that night; pull-out couch style.

On Sunday we hung out some more at the Hilton pool, said our goodbyes too Ama, Papa and Kajsa, and relocated too the Taggarts' resort. Aunt Kayla, Uncle Austin and cousin Kollen arrived later that night. We got to meet little Kollen...boy is he tiny.

Uncle Chris and Aunt Joanna came into town on Monday night so that was a nice treat. Everyone enjoyed meeting Landon and Landon reciprocated the introduction with smiles. Sonje tried teaching Grandpa Taggart how to play black jack. We had some brief lessons at the resort before heading to South Point Casino to play some $5 tables. Lets just say dad/grandpa didn't have beginners luck and we'll live it at that. I on the other hand made $45 with the $20 I was playing with...yeah!We were bummed to leave on Tuesday June 30th but we had to get daddy back home before he started a new school year the next day (July 1st).

Here's some photos of our fabulous trip!!!!

Casey, Nikki and the kids.... we missed you! Wished you could have flown out from Florida. Monty, Michael and your families.... sorry we couldn't stay through the week to be

with you and your families. Love to you all!

Grandpa Taggart & Grandma Taggart meet Landon for the first time

Family pool fun

Swimming in my cute swim trunks

Cute as can be in his car seat

Us with aunt Kayla, uncle Austin and cousin Kollen.

Both mommies just nursed and we got a kick out of us both wearing our nursing shawls.

New addition, Kollen, to the Armstong Family

Shannon and Landon with Shannon's sister, Kayla, and newphew, Kollen

Family Photo

Cousins Landon & Kollen...just 8 weeks apart

Uncle Chris (Shannon's brother) and Aunt Joanna with Landon.

Looks like Landon could almost be Joanna's baby.

However, their baby girl Rachel is on the way....

So behind....

I'm soooo behind on blogging. I seriously don't get online much. Any free time is spent doing other things- ie. cleaning, errands, showering, etc. I really don't want to stay up late either just to go online but since so many of you have asked for pictures, here's a quick blog with past photos about what has gone on. I hope to be better about blogging though since this started out as basically a journal/record of Landon and I've just been terrible about keeping it up to date. Shame on me.

The 3 Generations on Father's Day

With Aunt Kajsa

Just precious!!!

Meeting daddies Gage Middle School family of friends

In his rockstar outfit. How perfect is this shirt since daddy is a drummer in a band.

Landon kisses back. His version of kissing is opening his mouth since he can't pucker up yet.

Chilling out with his duck

Daddy got mommy and Landon sleeping alike. Maybe he gets his one-arm up from me.

First time in a pool- Grandma & Grandpa Haven's home over Memorial weekend

"Talking" to his playmat buddies

Just out of the bath

First time attending church