Landon in his crib

We still haven't officially tried having Landon sleep in his crib downstairs at night but he does do fairly well sleeping in his bed for occasional naps during the day. Here's Landon on Wednesay, August 26th spending some time in his crib. He doesn't look very tired does he?

Everyone Naps in Landon's Room

So putting Landon down for a nap in his room didn't quite work out as well as it normally does. Instead, everyone but mommy mananged to fit, and nap comfortably, on the trundle bed in the room.

Hanging in the Heat at Ama's and Papa's

That's right.... on Saturday mommy worked a wedding so daddy and Landon went to Ama and Papa's house to hang out with them, along with Kirsten, Kajsa and Bella. It was hotter than hot!!! Mind you Ama and Papa don't have AC either so by the time mommy got to the house, Bella and Landon were only in their diapers and the rest of the family was hanging in the covered breezeway patio to find some bit of cool air. Landon ate rice cereal with daddy and aunt Kirstie, was entertained by cousin Bella and enjoyed being with Ama, Papa. Everyone stayed over for a pj party. The next day we ate breakfast together and Landon, being the big boy he is already, likes to drink out of a big boy glass. He was really into drinking water out of a glass and wanted to even hold it himself. Is mommy in trouble or what...she already has a little independent monkey on her hands.

- Pictures will be posted later...need to get them off Ama and Papa's camera.

Yesterday was a big day

for 2 big reasons...

1. Landon learned to roll on to his tummy from this back. Before he was rolling just over his right shoulder on to his tummy, then he managed to figure out how to do the same maneuver over his left shoulder and today he's figured out how to get back to his tummy from laying on his back.

2. Landon tried rice cereal for the first time- it didn't go over very well. He wasn't very happy with me. He grabed for the spoon though and handled it on his own for a bite or two. Daddy even tried when he got home but he didn't have much luck either. Today was day 2 and today wasn't much better either.

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Haven's

On Sunday we went to grandma and grandpa Haven's house to hang out. Uncle Matthew was in town for just a few short days before heading back to BYU for school so we wanted to see him before he left again. Uncle Eric and cousin Ethan was there too. We had fun being together and enjoying pool time.

Landon hanging out in the floaty that Uncle Eric blew up for him

Ethan with his big boy floaties on

Apparently when you have daddy pushing the floaty around, grandma Haven following with an umbrella shading you from the sun, and a damp towel to keep you cool it's just too relaxing for anyone to handle.

So relaxing that it put little monkey to sleep on the lounge chair....

We Said We Would Never Do It...

and we caved...we let him sleep in our bed.

Not that it happens all the time but it's happened enough that now we've created a little monster. He's decided he likes sleeping next to mommy and daddy better and he screams when we try to put him in his co-sleeper. We are now getting the downstairs crib ready for the big move because he's already pulling a fast one on us.

Landon's First Dodger Game

Poor Landon got scared...

Wednesday was a much nicer evening for our family compared to Tuesday night. We all got decked out in our Dodger game and headed up to the stadium with friends Brian and Liz. It was Matt Kemp bobblehead night with the Dodgers playing the Cardinals. Brian and Liz are huge Cardinals fans so they were proudly sporting their own team colors. Liz works for the Kings hockey team and got free tickets through her work to this game so we were lucky to join them. Traffic was OUT OF CONTROL!! Yes, we always have traffic in So Cal but last night was exceptionally horrible trying to get up to the game. We finally got there about 30 minutes after the game started. To our total disappointment, they had already ran out of Kemps bobbleheads...bummer!!!! Our seats were awesome though in the Lodge, right above 3rd base. The first major crowd roar and our poor baby got scared and started crying. Again, Landon cried a couple more times when his daddy forgot he can't yell out to the players with his little boy right next to him. After awhile though, Landon got used to the cheers, chants and boos and stopped crying with all the commotion. In fact, he was a real sport about the whole thing in the end. He stayed awake through the whole game and was still smiling when we got to the car.

Although the Dodgers lost the game, Landon got to see 2 home runs- one by Ethier and one by Casey Blake. He also got to meet my friend Denise who had come to the game with her father and was sitting in the Lodge section too off the foul line so that was a neat little treat.

To my friend Lisa.... we like the Angels but we bleed blue. :)

Oh... and I forgot to mention we saw the newest version of the beach ball toss at Dodger Stadium....a blow-up doll.

Dear Lord, Bless Our Baby

Tuesday was a rough night. That afternoon Landon was spitting up this yucky, phlegm-like junk with brown stuff in it. We called the pediatric 24-hr hotline and explained what was going on. He was coughing a lot, choking and sort of throwing up this stuff. My thought was that maybe he caught a little chest cold and it was mucous. The pediatric call line though said we should probably go to the ER in case the brown stuff was blood so we did as they recommended and went to Torrance Memorial Hospital. Luckily for us the ER dept. wasn't too busy and we were helped sooner than we had expected. The doctor swabbed the gunk and came back later and informed us that it WAS blood. So, they decided to do chest x-rays and blood work on Landon. Sitting in the ER with your newborn is a horrible experience. A nurse came into our station, pricked Landon's heel, drew blood and left to go run the test results. Meanwhile, we were escorted down the hall into the x-ray room. Sonje suited up in an x-ray coat and Landon was seated on an x-ray machine. A mini x-ray "coat" was brought for Landon and they tied it around his lap. Sonje held Landon's arms and head up. That's about the time I sort of lost it a little. With Landon crying in the chair and watching all of this behind a glass, I started crying. Afterwards, I carried my little boy back and we all waited for the results. Gratefully both the blood work and the x-rays came back okay. We were told then that perhaps he has a food allergy and that we would be put in connection with a Pediatric GI doctor. The doctor said that is more common/likely so we should start there rather than going straight to other more invasive methods (ie. scope to determine if it could be an ulcer, etc). We left the hospital around 11pm on Tuesday and I was EXHAUSTED- very mentally and emotionally draining process when you don't know what is going on. So... today we made with the PGI Specialist and we are going to see if it's perhaps I'm passing a food allergen through my milk ducts with breastfeeding and we are starting with dairy products. I'm now on a dairy-free diet (do you know how hard a dairy-free diet is...I'm surprised). We will try that for a couple weeks and see that's the problem. Please keep Landon in your prayers that this is all that is going on. It's not uncommon with babies to have an allergy to dairy and a lot of times, babies even outgrow this around 1 year old. Thank you for your prayers for Landon that we get this resolved and that its just a minor reaction to dairy.

Waiting for a nurse/doctor to come in to greet us

Landon was so cute. He was so tired and probably wasn't feeling all that well and yet he still smiled at everyone who came into the station. When the doctor was listening to his heart via the stethoscopes, he was watching the doctor, smiling away. Then the nurse came to prick his heel, he was smiling at her as she was rubbing the alcohol on his foot. He is just soooo sweet and happy. Have you ever seen such a sweetie pie in the ER room. He's so precious!!

Dodger Baseball

Okay... as many of you know my hubby is a HUGE Dodger fan. Up until about a month ago they were having a pretty amazing season and had an incredible record. Unforunately August hasn't been a very good month for the team. So to change things up a bit we put Landon in one of his Dodger outfits yesterday (he probably has about 6 of them given to us by various people that just know how much Sonje loves his team) and it brought LA good luck. We won!!! Knowing my hubby can be superstitious about his team, Landon might find himself wearing one of his Dodger outfits every game night/day.

In fact, this Wednesday we are going to the game with some friends. It will be Landon's first Dodger game and it also happens to be Matt Kemp bobblehead night too. Stay tuned for my report on Wednesdays game...

Note the drool all over his outfit too.

Some more recent pictures- plus an amazing trick

You probably can't tell what he is doing in these pictures so let me explain- HE IS STANDING ON HIS OWN. Okay, I'm not going to encourage this as I know it's best for a baby to crawl first but he's always wanting to stand up. He hates sitting on your lap; he would rather stand up on your lap.

Anyways, so there we were... Landon and I are hanging out on the carpet next to the couch, I was holding on to him with his little feet touching the floor. He decided he wanted to stretch his legs to stand so I figured I would let him. Shortly after him standing up, I thought I'll let go for a second and catch him when his chunky legs give. I'm not lying when he stood there, on his own with his back against the couch for literally 15+ seconds. It was wild. I couldn't believe it so I grabbed the video camera and camera to capture it. He did it again! I've known he's super strong but I didn't realize he was THAT strong. His face looks so cute concentrating. He seemed so proud of himself too.

Landon with Kim Garcia, one of my dearest friends from high school. This is her first time meeting Landon.

My "Little Rocker" with his fingers in his mouth- what's new

Murphy...

Since Sunday, August 9th, we've had a house guest...Murphy. Murphy belongs to my in-laws and while they are away in Cabo, he's temporarily moved in. Bergie is thrilled because they are best of buds; actually they are more like boyfriend/girlfriend (yes, by the looks of them they make a very odd couple). But, I have another one in this house that is just fascinated by Murphy too and that's Landon. Maybe it's because he's smaller in size, more vocal as he unfortuntely barks all the time, or he's just a new face around here, whatever the case, Landon is entertained by him. Murphy has been great with Landon. He actually watches over Landon. Every so often he comes over to check on Landon, gives kisses, etc. I've been really impressed with how sweet Murphy is with Landon.

New Discoveries

Landon continues to get more and more personality and its quite fun to see all his changes. Within the last few weeks he's found his feet. He's always tugging at his little toes. Its absolutely adorable but it does make diaper changing a little more difficult. He's more and more alert too. He responds to his name, absolutely loves our dog Bergie and looks at everything. He already likes watching TV (I total Berg trait). He also reaches out and grabs for his toys too and has better coordination when holding and studying them. He giggles a lot more and in fact, I think he's becoming rather tickleish. He already tugs and pulls on all his safety straps as if he is trying to figure out how to unclip himself (stroller harness, bouncer straps, swing straps, etc). I think we got a weasel on our hands. He even knows how to fake cough and cry and boy does he already use those tactics...little stinker. The kid has a set of lungs on him and he's surely figured out how to use them. The hard part is you don't want to respond to his every cry, especially the fake ones, because I don't want him knowing that he gets what he wants when he does this but I also don't want him causing such a commotion either....what do you do? Any advice out there?

Our Little Angel

with or without wings, he's our little angel and we are so blessed!

Couple Recent Pictures...

This past Friday, our dear friends Amy Beth and Diane came over for walk-in movie night. Uncle Martin also traveled quite some distance to be there too (from the back house). We watched The Code. We haven't done many movies this summer. Its always fun though to get in warm clothes, bring out the blankets and watch the movie under the sky (no stars) with popcorn and Red Vines. Here's Landon bundled in his movie-going gear.

Saturday Landon went to watch his aunt Kajsa's dance performance while mommy worked a wedding. This is Landon in his big boy outfit excited to see mommy.

Just the cutest little body. What you don't see are his adorable chunky thighs.

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.