Bounce, bounce, bounce

11 months and counting

February has brought many changes to our little man. I think that he's changed more this month than his entire life thus far. Seeing him change and grow makes me proud, but also a little sad. Here's what we've been enjoying this month:

Valentine's Day! Our little Casanova wore a special t-shirt to school that said "Love Bandit" and a sweat suit that said "Heart Breaker," (see photo above...thanks for the outfit Grandma Terry!). I had no idea that the other boys in his class (well, their moms really) would hand out Valentines, so I ran to the store and bought some cute animal-themed cards and some organic yogurt chewy granola bars for treats. His classroom consists of six baby boys, but they put their macho-ness aside and celebrated. :) I had a school board meeting that night, but when I got home, Jim, Landon and I exchanged cards and enjoyed some cake from the local German bakery. Yummy. The next night, my mom came over and brought Landon a recordable nursery rhyme book with her voice. Very special!

Landon is a waver. He. Waves. At. Everything. It is beyond cute and one of my favorite things. He waves to us as soon as he wakes up in the morning, he waves to the dogs, he waves at trees, mailboxes...you get the picture.

Brush-a, brush-a, brush-a. Landon has two teeth on the bottom and almost two teeth on the top. We can see the white peeking through the gums, but they haven't quite popped out yet. He's been such a champ through this long process. It's been more than four months of pain, drool and low-grade fevers. On the plus side, he's enjoying many more foods with his new chompers. His current favorites are spaghetti, Cheerios, raisins and wheat bread...any anything we are eating. We're still trying to get a picture of his teeth, but he doesn't like to show them off. All he cares about is his new Elmo toothbrush.

Less than one month until the big day. We are hard at work planning Landon's first birthday party. It'll be a small family affair at a local pizza party to the theme of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Landon's favorite book. the district's graphic designer made special invitations and a banner with all of his "month" pictures. He sure has grown! We're trying to keep it simple, but have added some special touches like a handmade (not by us) crown and birthday shirt. We are going to make him a special cake and make some fun bear cupcakes. We are so excited to celebrate Landon James' birth with the ones we love. Landon will move up to the Toddler One room after his first birthday. He's been visiting during the day to help acclimate to the extra kids and new teacher--who he loves! The toughest part will be moving from two naps to one. That'll make for one tired little boy. The great thing is that two of his friends from the infant nursery have already moved up, and our friend's son is in that class as well. I think he'll have a great time!

We have a mover. It can't be called a crawl, but Landon can certainly move. He scoots around on his bottom and has a very long reach. We have been busy baby-proofing the house and even bought some large foam squares to help pad our hardwood floors. He'd much rather stand than sit, and isn't shy about grabbing onto the couch, our clothes, the dogs, anything that he can use to attempt to pull himself up. Today he managed to get onto his knees and hung out there for a while. Tonight, we lowered his crib (now you can stop reminding me mom) and we always keep a firm hand on him while he's getting his diaper changed.

Oh the cow in the meadow goes "moo." Landon's bottles now consist of mostly whole milk and only one scoop of formula. Next month we'll make the full switch. Landon really likes the milk and doesn't seem to mind that his bottles aren't warm. We planned to heat them, but he's not very patient when it comes to wanting his bottles (thinking he gets that impatience from me). Landon's down to about four bottles a day, and isn't too interested in his sippy cups yet. However, he knows what they're for, but he'd rather play with them than drink from them. We're buying so much milk that we are going to start an account with the local milk man.

Da-da-da-da. Everything is "da-da" or "da." Landon has been able to say this since November, but now everything is "da-da." I am "da-da," the dogs are "da-da" his bottle is "da-da." If he wasn't so cute, I think it would be annoying. I can't wait to hear "mama!" He has started saying "ga" to the dogs after we enunciate "d-o-g." One of the best things we hear is "ugh." It's his little answer to everything. When we speak to him he looks intently at us and answers either "ugh" or "da-da." He's priceless.

Reading, reading, reading. Landon really likes books, so I got a brochure from the library that lists the top 100 books each child should hear before kindergarten. We are slowly checking out books, reading them, and marking them off the list. It's a fun activity that we hope will grow into a life-long love of learning.

Westport. We took a day trip to the beach with Jim's sister, Emily. We took a long walk on the beach, where Landon promptly fell asleep all cozy in his backpack. Afterwards, we went down to the docks and got some fresh prawns and steamers. Jim and Emily even did an oyster shooter. Emily wasn't too thrilled. Landon really likes his Auntie Emily, so it was fun to spend the day with her.

Thankful

I am so thankful for my husband and my son. I don't often take the time to really think about how much they mean to me. I know how much I love them, and they know how much I love them, but I want EVERYONE to know how much I love them.

JIM
I have loved Jim Taylor since I was 17-years-old. That's a long time.
The best thing about our love is that it has grown with us.
Jim is smart.
He makes me laugh.
He's adventurous.
He has soft hair.
He gives the best hugs.
He likes to cook (and he's good at it).
Jim's blue eyes and long eyelashes are my undoing.
Jim is kind.
Jim loves me.
Jim always supports and protects me.
Jim is my rock.
Just when I thought I couldn't love him any more, he gave me Landon.

Landon
Landon is the perfect combination of Jim and me.
His big, blue sparkling eyes are always taking things in and let us see just how he's feeling.
Landon's hair can go from golden blonde to strawberry blonde to carrot red with no explanation.
Landon loves his blue blankie.
He knows how to click his tongue.
He likes to clap.
Landon loves to say "da da."
Landon's giggle is my favorite sound.
Landon loves reading stories, dancing and listening to us sing.
My son is a daredevil.
My son is curious.
He loves our dogs.
He loves to eat...and steal our food.
He's the world's best sitter-upper.
Landon James is the answer to our prayers.

I am a lucky woman who has been blessed with two wonderful men. Our family is small, but is full of love and is the one thing that I can ALWAYS count on. Jim, thank you for being my husband and making me a momma to my wonderful son. Landon, you're perfect.

Happy New Year!

I thought December was hard to wrap my brain around...well January 2011 is even more difficult. Landon is already 10-months-old and we are starting to plan his first birthday party. That makes me so happy, but a little sad too. I just can't believe how quickly my baby is turning into a little boy. Anyway, his favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" so that's the theme. We are going to use lots of primary colors and then do a few personalized things. Fun!

He had his most recent check up Dec. 28 and is a healthy boy. He weighed in at 25 lbs., 4 oz. and 30.5 in. with a head circumference of 19. He tops the charts in all areas at more than 100 percent. He's still working to get teeth and start crawling, but he's happy and oh so much fun. His most used word is "da-da" and he says it really well and clear. I can't wait to hear him say "momma." We are working on remembering to use our video camera more often (and actually post them here).

Christmas Eve was spent with the Taylor's at Jim's grandpa's house. Jim's mom stayed the week with us, so we spent Christmas morning with her and my dad, who came over for breakfast. From there we went to Jim's dad's house to open gifts and spend some time with his parents and brother and sister. Next was my aunt Cindy's house in Olympia, then we crashed at home. My mom came over the day after Christmas to exchange gifts. Lets just say that Landon was very blessed.

Anyway, we had a great Christmas and loved experiencing it with our boy. Here are a few of our favorite photos from the holidays...

It's the holiday season...

I. Can't. Believe. It's. December.

Where did the year go and who replaced my tiny infant with a 23 pound almost 9-month-old?

Okay, now that that is out of my system, I can happily share what we've been up to for the past month and one day.

We had our first snow and major storm the week of Thanksgiving. I was home with Landon for the two days before Thanksgiving because his school was closed for snow. We went on a long walk, but forgot to bring the camera. This cell phone picture is all we've got to document little man's first white holiday. He sure had fun though!

The holidays are in full season at the Taylor house. We spent Thanksgiving with Jim's side of the family at his dad's house. Landon enjoyed some mashed potatoes and rolls. He was quite the turkey (pun totally intended) at dinner too. When he wasn't getting enough attention he would start laughing or screeching until the entire table of people were looking at him.

Jim wasn't feeling well that day and promptly got the flu...full on nastiness...when we got home. Needless to say, he was banished to the bedroom all weekend while Landon and I spent some quality time reading, playing and watching Baby Einstein DVDs. (Neither of us got sick, phew!)

Landon met Santa at the Festival of Trees on Dec. 1. When Jim sat Landon down on Santa's lap, Landon was looking at Santa very intently. It took a lot of effort to get him to look at the camera for a photo. When he finally did look at me, he realized that a stranger in a bright red suit with a blazing white beard was holding him, so he began his infamous "Ughhhhh" until Jim picked him up.

This past weekend was full of Christmas spirit. We started off with a trip to the Red Barn Tree Farm where we looked (and looked) through their entire inventory before finally deciding on a Shasta Fir. Landon rode in the backpack like a champ and didn't seem to mind the cold. Boy was it cold.

That night we hosted the First Annual Taylor Family Christmas Extravaganza at a local restaurant. We'd been wanting to throw a Christmas party for our friends for the past several years, but our house just can't hold a large group of people. So, Jim had the good idea to host it at the restaurant. It was an ugly sweater party, complete with a white elephant gift exchange. We had about 20 people attend, with their kids, and we had a great time. This was the same night as the Apple Cup where the Huskies BEAT THE COUGARS and clinched a spot in the 2010 Holiday Bowl where they'll play Nebraska Dec. 30. It was a great game!


Sunday was spent putting up the tree and trying to relax.

The Christmas cards have been ordered and feature some great photos of our little family, taken in October before we went to Vegas.

We are busy trying to finish shopping before all of our family get-togethers start. Jim's mom comes to town the weekend before Christmas and will stay with us until the 26th. She's very excited to spend some time with Landon who she hasn't seen since October. (She lives in Virginia.)

Although it will be busy, we are looking forward to sharing Christmas with both sides of our blended families and introducing Landon to the holiday while starting important family traditions.

Lions, and friends and school, oh my!

SO, my plan to blog at least once a week fell flat on its face. However, we've been very busy and I have the pictures to prove it. The CP Homecoming game ended up being really fun, and Clover Park won. I went with my friend, Jen, and we met up with our friend, Tammy. CP is actually in the playoffs right now, which isn't a place they're used to being.

The weekend before Halloween Landon and I bundled up and went to Zoo Boo with some friends. It was a clear, beautiful day, but damn cold outside. Landon wore his skeleton outfit, but it had to be covered up by his snowsuit, so we just called him a pumpkin instead. The zoo was full of little people (kids, not midgets) dressed in their Halloween best. Even the animals were festive—the polar bears were playing with pumpkins and the otters were swimming with little squashes.

Landon was a lion for Halloween and was so darn cute. His costume was from The Children's Place, but I scored it at a children's consignment store for $4.50. What a steal! On Halloween, we visited Maile and Gabriel and finally met baby Lili, who is gorgeous. After our visit, my dad came over for chili, beer bread and apple crisp...a very "fall" meal.

Two weeks ago, Jim and I made the difficult decision to enroll Landon in daycare at a local church learning center. My mom had been watching him since I returned to work, but we felt that this was best decision for everyone and gives Landon the opportunity to be around other kids and be on a consistent schedule. It also allows my mom to enjoy the freedom of retirement.

The center does arts and crafts, music and family-style eating. Granted, we're not sure that Landon gives a hoot about art right now, but he loves music and remains a very polite, well-rounded eater.

There are five other babies, all boys, in Landon's class. (We're calling it "school" to hopefully set the stage for a love of learning. Plus, we think that sounds a lot better than daycare.) Turns out that I know two of the moms of Landon's classmates—one from work and one from my master's program. I met another one of the mom's who works for the district too. My friend Krista also just started sending her son there. He's in the toddler room, but Landon will join him as soon as he turns one.

Landon attended for two days last week and is doing really well. Jim and I dropped him off and picked him up together, which was nice, because we could support one another on this difficult day. Landon did really well. He looked around when we first got there and was intently watching the other babies before we handed him to his new teacher. She sat him down on the floor and he immediately stole a toy from one of the other babies and began having a great time. We said "bye bye" and gave him a kiss and then left. We peeked at him through one of the side doors and he didn't seem to care that we were gone. (He was surrounded by all of the toys at this point, so we knew that he was already staking out his territory.) I was proud that I made it out of there and to the car before I got emotional. But I managed not to cry.

Although he's only been there for two days, he already has some new tricks that he has picked up, which are quite amusing. For instance, he loves to shake his head "no," but he doesn't know what it means just yet. He is also a crazy bouncing man in his exersaucer now. There's one at school and one of the other boys jumps like crazy in it. We think he picked it up from him.

We are looking forward to a quiet November and are working on plans for Landon's first Thanksgiving, the First Annual Taylor Christmas Party and Landon's first Christmas. We want to establish some meaningful traditions that we can celebrate as a family and are really excited that the holidays are almost here!

Holy cow, it's fall!

I cannot believe that it's already fall, but it's my favorite season, especially in Washington. We've been having great weather too, which makes it nice.

Jim is busy in his second year of refereeing football and really likes it. He officiated his first varsity high school game last night.

Landon continues to amaze us daily. His newest charming trait is to say "who, who, who" very breathy-like. We can't figure out if he's trying to bark like our dogs, bark like Husky fans, or communicate something totally different, but it's out-of-this-world cute.

I feel like there's so much to say, so I'll use some recent pictures for my update...

Hello Dawg fans! That's right, it's football season. Landon is a champ and has a blast at the games. There's almost too much for him to look at...he has a hard time falling asleep, but the rides home are usually really quiet. (Side note, I just got my hair cut short—it was time for a change—and I think it's super cute.)

Landon loves his veggies! Our boy has very diverse menu selections. He loves carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and avocados. The great thing is that I've been making all of his food at home. It's really easy, it's cheap and I know exactly what's in it (and what isn't). He also digs the organic baby oatmeal mixed with a little bit of formula. He eats twice a day and really enjoys it, as evidenced by his cutie chubs.

We have a sitter! It took a lot of wobbling and a few face plants, but Landon has it down. The only thing he needs to work on is some gracefulness when he decides he'd like to go from sitting to laying down. Right now he resembles a slug.


Gulp, I'm 30! That's right, Oct. 6 marked the big day. The weekend before my birthday we took Landon to Sandpoint, Idaho for the weekend and stayed up at the ski resort. Since it's the off-season, it was so quiet and peaceful and very scenic. We stopped off in Spokane on our way and Jim showed us his old stomping grounds, including River Front Park.

Speaking of my birthday, my fabulous husband threw a surprise party at a local Irish pub in downtown Tacoma. Our immediate families were there and some of my best friends. We had great food, cake and drinks and I even had a personalized banner hanging on the wall! I was amazed that he was able to surprise me and I had a really awesome time!

Behold, the Great Pumpkin! Oct. 12 marked Landon's first annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We decided to take advantage of the nice weekday weather and hustle down to Olympia right after work instead of waiting for the weekend. There was hardly anyone there, which gave us ample opportunity for photos. Isn't he a doll? I think we need a few more photos...

My goal is to update our blog at least once a week. Ultimately, I want to use these posts to create a commemorative book once Landon turns one. He's growing and changing so much every day and, while we want to capture it, have been busy just enjoying it.

I took him to the Clover Park Homecoming Game last night with some friends and we had family pictures this morning (Christmas will be here before we know it and I'm psyched). We're off to the zoo tomorrow for Zoo Boo and headed down to Vegas to see Garth Brooks next weekend. (How many seven-month-olds can say they've been to Vegas?) So, in order to report on all of our adventures, I promise to be a better blogger.

Summer, summer, summer time!

Mmmmm, oatmeal!

Me and my little swimmer

First time in the pool...loved it!

At the aquarium with Daddy

We have been having a great summer...busy, busy, which is why I have been negligent on the posts. So much has happened over the past months. Here's a quick recap:

• Landon has got a set of lungs on him. He squeals and screams with delight when he is amused. He loves to giggle and he doesn't hesitate to scream when he's unhappy, which isn't that often.
• We have a roller! It took him awhile to master, but he's got the rolling (from back to front) down and has mastered the art of getting his arm out from underneath him. As soon as you put him on the ground he flips over. So cute!
• Bath time is fun time. Landon LOVES his bath and has a great time splashing and playing. The screaming and attempted rolling add to the nightly fun.
• Landon went for his first swim at the Taylor's. He really enjoyed the pool and he really enjoyed his turtle. While there he got to meet his great grandparents and his great, great aunt.
  
• Landon has been enjoying his organic baby oatmeal each evening and has even forayed into the world of homemade baby food. We started with sweet potatoes and are planning on peas, carrots and avocados next.
• We took Landon to the zoo for the first time and he really enjoyed the aquarium. There was so much to see, that he was pooped and fell asleep for most of the trip.
  
• We took a camping trip to Packwood a few weekends ago and had a fun time. We even saw a large elk walking down the street.
• Husky football started on Saturday and our first home game is Sept. 11 against Syracuse. It will be another Taylor family adventure. We will be sure to take lots of pictures.
  

Phew, I think that's it. Fun times in Taylorville!

The great outdoors kicked our butts!

Landon and Daddy on the bridge

We made it to the lake!

Phew! We are tired!

Proud of ourselves!

Mister Cutie Pants!

We hiked six miles this weekend to Lena Lake on Hood Canal. We started at 2,200 feet and gained 1,200 feet over three miles. The area was gorgeous, but the hike was tough! The majority of our climb was on switch-backs up to the lake. It took us about three hours to get to the lake, because, let's face it, we haven't hiked in forever and I am out of shape from having Landon.

Speaking of Landon, he was a champ! He rode in his carrier on Jim the entire way. For the first part of the hike he was just looking around wide-eyed and taking everything in. He really liked looking up at the trees and the sun shining through. You could just see his amazement. The rest of the time he spent sleeping and only fussed when we stopped moving, which kept our butts in gear.

The lake was beautiful, but we didn't have much time to enjoy it, because we had to get back to the truck before it got too late. The hike down was easier on our hearts and lungs, but our knees and ankles were angry. We are very sore today, but feel very accomplished. We hope to make hiking a regular part of our lives...we might chose an easier hike next time though!

Almost five-months-old!

Our little baby isn't so little anymore! He's almost 19-weeks-old and seems to change every day. His four-month checkup went really well. He was 15 lbs 8 oz and 25 1/4 in long. His head was 17 in in circumference. That's the 75th percentile for height, 70th for weight and 75th for head. He got three shots and did really well--I was more upset than he was.

We stayed close to home for the Fourth of July. The weather was decent, so we hung out at home in the morning and then went to Jim's dad's house for a BBQ and some fireworks. We made it home just in time for Steilacoom's professional show, which was awesome. Landon slept through the entire thing and wasn't too bothered about our neighbor's show either.

We spent a week in mid-July in Bandon, Oregon with Jim's mom, grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. It was the first time Landon met his Great Grandma and Grandpa Roberts and his Great Aunt and Uncle. There were 12 people in the rental house and seven dogs, including Kona and Rusty. We had sun everyday, which was great, but it was really windy. The days were spent with lots of walks on the beach, shopping in town, site-seeing and scenic drives. Jim and I went to a nearby state park with Landon and saw more than 200 sea lions on a rock in the ocean. It was really neat!

Family dinner

Landon and Momma at Shore Acres

Daddy and Landon on the Bandon Pier

I went back to work July 19, which was really hard. Landon is going to my mom's house during the day. Mom only lives five minutes from my office and ten minutes from our house, so it's nice and convenient. I went to visit Landon on Monday, which turned out to be harder than dropping him off in the morning. He was gassy and fussy and didn't want to let me go when I tried to put him down. Made me sad.

The first week went well overall. Landon and my mom and Mike (her boyfriend) are getting used to one another and establishing routines and systems. Even though it's really hard not being with him all day, Jim and I feel very blessed that my mom is giving us this gift.