6 months!

It's hard to believe Landon is half of a year old already...time sure does fly! It's very bittersweet. Yesterday (Friday, Feb. 19th) was Landon's 6-month Ped's appt. He was in the best mood and touching his toes and smiling the entire time he was laying on the table...it was too cute! Dr. Oliphant is always saying how he's such a handsome boy...Daddy and I think so too! :) The appt. went very well and he's right on for all the developmental things, growing right on pace, and is as healthy as can be (besides all of his cold sickness). Here are his current measurements:

Weight: 17lb. 10oz. = 52%
Height: 26.5” = 52%
HC: 43cm = 28%

Now we won't go back until he's 9 months, although I enjoy going every 2 months and asking all of the questions that I have saved up. The thing is, I google alot of things because I'm curious and love to learn but I need to get better about "not believing everything I read". For instance: I have read the average age for an infant to 'sit up on their own' is 6 months but really the Dr. says it's 6-9 months and usually closer to 9. She thinks it's best not to read all of that stuff, but as most of you know, it's pretty hard...the computer and google are two of my best friends, haha!

Introducing baby food....

Monday, February 15th was Landon's first night to experience baby food. We started with Squash and let me tell ya, he LOVED it! I seriously couldn't shovel it in fast enough and a few times he kind of choked himself with the spoon because he would completely attack it. Jeff and I were definitely cracking up and was able to get a few good pics and video. This is my favorite picture because it confirms that he loved his first taste of Squash! I had fun letting him get 'messy'. :)

Sunday Seven!

"7 of my favorite Landon pictures"



1. This was in the hospital - August 17th, 2009 (the day after Landon's birthday) - the best day of Mommy's life!









2. This was one of the newborn pics that Nina took when Landon was 5 weeks old.












3. Of course Daddy bought and loves this outfit...I think Landon will be a sports fan!









4. Landon's 1st Halloween (he was 2 months old).

5. I love this picture of Daddy & his little boy, sporting the Bears attire!

6. My all time favorite...he looks like such a big boy in this picture!

7. First time in his highchair....LOVE that big cute smile!

*Of course I have MANY more favorites but I had to narrow it down and stick with "7".

So silly!

Last weekend Landon learned how to touch his toes! So this has been his new thing to do, especially when I'm changing him. It definitely makes it more challenging to change his diaper! :) Here's a picture....

Sunday Seven!

Well it's been MANY months (okay, almost a year!) since I've done my "Sunday Seven", so I thought I'd try to bring it back! Enjoy!

SUNDAY SEVEN......

"7 of my favorite things with LANDON"

1. Play Time - I cherish these moments that I have to get down on the floor and play with my lil guy. He loves his Baby Einstein Activity Mat and has so much fun hitting the dangle toys and loves looking at the lights. He's also been enjoying his Einstein Jumperoo and has learned to touch the ground with his toes in order to bounce up and down. We also have a car seat toy that he loves to play with, along with his new light up toy computer Daddy got him and many other small toys. And "Fido" (his lil blue doggie) is also one of his fav's!

If any of you know me very well you know that I'm not a morning person. Well, 5am is me and Landon's play time...that's his new wake time (unfortunately) and Daddy doesn't take him to daycare until 7:15am, so I find myself playing with Landon for about an hour every morning. Fortunately Landon is so happy in the mornings and full of smiles, so it definitely lights up my mornings and makes it tolerable (lol!). I'm thinking Landon is going to be a morning person....augh...sigh, sigh!

2. Bath Time - I love, love, love bath time. For some reason this is my favorite thing to do with Landon, therefore I rarely let Daddy do it because I'm selfish and want that time with him. I feel it's my biggest bonding time with my lil guy. The past few weeks he has discovered "splashing" and the first night he did this I could not stop laughing. He was splashing so hard that water was flying everywhere! He was splashing it into his own eyes and they were all red and watery but he still wouldn't stop. :) He was having way too much fun! So recently I've been giving him a few bath toys (rubber duck and water books) and I think he's loving bath time even more than he did before!

3. Interacting - This is by far the best! When their a baby they just lay there and sleep all the time and they have no idea who you are. Now it's so much fun that he knows Mommy & Daddy and loves playing at this stage. Playing and talking with Landon is so much fun and we look forward to interacting with him even more in the next few months.

4. Giggles & Smiles - Okay, so Landon smiles ALL the time now, we absolutely love it! He feeds off of your smiles and silly faces, etc....like I always tell Jeff, it's the one time now that I feel I can act silly/crazy all the time and it's allowed. At least Landon loves it anyway. :) Daddy has found his ticklish spot (under his arms) and can seem to make him giggle all the time. Daddy definitely loves play time with his little boy!

5. Our lil Trooper - I definitely have to say that Landon is quite the trooper for his age. I know alot of babies/infants that can't stand noise and chaos and cries when it's too loud or when it's past their bedtime. Not Landon...he loves the loud and chaos and is definitely a "people watcher", just like his Mommy! We went to the Ellis' Christmas Party and all of the babies went to bed or left early and Landon stayed up the entire time we were there (till 12:30am!), just looking around and watching everyone...he even enjoyed the loud karaoke! We have always taken him places and haven't kept him on a strict schedule since day 1 and I think this has really helped. Sometimes I think strict schedules are overrated. :) We enjoy the flexibility we have with Landon, although we know that this could change anyday.

6. Milestones - Each milestone is so special and makes you realize how fast time flies by. It's fun to see Landon smile, laugh, play, sit up (really good but with a little support), roll over halfway (he's trying so hard and he's almost there!), hold his head up strong, sit in a highchair, eat cereal from a spoon, focus on objects and follow them side to side...and watch Mommy and Daddy walk around the room, put all of his weight on his legs and dance with Mommy (lol!), and the list goes on and on. We are looking forward to each and every milestone, especially when he fully sits up on his own, starts to crawl, and then walks. We're really excited for the walking!!

7. Cuddling - I love my cuddle time with Landon and never want it to go away. For some reason I think he'll always cuddle with Mommy as I'm pretty sure he'll be a Mamma's boy...or I'm hoping anyway! When he's tired is when he really loves cuddling, and he always loves being held. He's quite the snuggler, and I'm so glad, as I know not all babies are like that.

It's Cereal Time!

We finally decided to start Landon on cereal the evening he turned 5 months. We felt he was ready and we were anxious to see how he'd react. As all of you Mommies know, each and every milestone is so special and so much fun to experience for the first time. So as you all probably did the same, we had our camera and video camera out and ready to capture this moment. I put Daddy's favorite bib on (Da Bears) and we buckled him in his high chair. I have to say he looked so darn adorable and so grown up too! He was full of smiles (see picture below) and seemed to enjoy his new high chair. Well he pretty much spit out every spoonful I gave him, which we expected, but it was so cute to see his little tongue a workin in a different way that he's never used it before. Also, we decided to start with Oatmeal cereal over Rice cereal because my sister said that Rice can cause constipation and he's already had issues with that in the past, so we didn't want to take any chances. Oatmeal is better for that.
We're already on day 5 of giving him cereal and he's doing awesome! We are so proud of our little Peanut!

Stomach Bug & Bad Cold

Augh, it's been a rough....I mean ROUGH week in the Grant household. Where do I even start?! First of all Landon has had a bad cold for about 2 weeks now. Him and I had it at the same time in the beginning but I was able to get over mine in about 5 days. Landon has held onto his and still has it to this day. I'm sure he'll constantly have 'something' since he goes to daycare with 3 other babies and about 10 kids. There's bound to always be something going on around there. :( Anyway, his cold has kept him from sleeping 'soundly' except we are shocked but thrilled that he continues to sleep through the night (yay for Mommy & Daddy!). He has been coughing lots, sneezing constantly, a runny nose and is super congested too. Poor thing can't breathe half of the time, especially in the mornings after he wakes up.

Not sure if it was coincidental or what, but the evening he got his shots is when the stomach bug started and the diarrhea came on full force. This was Wednesday evening (Dec. 23rd) and he didn't get over these symptoms until Wednesday, Dec. 30th....a full week of a sick baby with a stomach bug AND cold does NOT equal a whole lot of fun. Thursday the 24th was Christmas Eve and we celebrated that evening with my family in Washington. We were looking forward to a fun evening but about half way through the night (during gift opening) is when the crying and screaming came on...and lasted for DAYS. At this point Jeff and I didn't know for sure what was going on but we knew he was obviously in alot of pain as Landon never cries unless he's overly tired, in which he'll stop and fall asleep within 5 minutes. Well the crying was not stoping so Jeff and I spent the rest of the evening upstairs at my parents house, trying to calm him, while everyone else was downstairs having a good time. Unfortunately we missed out a little bit and weren't able to get pictures with my family of Landon's first Christmas. It was a bit of a bummer but nothing we could do. My poor baby was so sick and he was letting us know. Tylenol or nothing would ease the pain...the only thing that took the crying away was when he'd fall asleep.
Friday was Christmas Day and we were hoping Landon would feel better. Thankfully in the morning he was in pretty good spirits so we took some pics and had him open his gifts (wink wink) and then he took a nap before heading over to Jeff's family's house for the day. Well I'm not even kidding when I say that 5 minutes after walking through their door the fun began....lets just say we didn't get to relax or enjoy much of the Grant's Christmas, as we spent the entire night upstairs with Landon, trying to rock him to sleep or at least calm him. Nothing would work...and he wasn't just crying but he was screaming crying so loud for hours on end. He would fall asleep for a little bit and then wake screaming again...you could tell he was in so much pain and all I wanted to do was cry with him. You feel so helpless and it's so sad to see them hurting like that. So unfortunately once again we weren't able to get any first Christmas family pictures. But we will still hold the 'memories' in our heads, as it was still very special having him there with us. It's just unfortunate that he was so sick on his first Christmas.
Well the crying, screaming, sickness didn't stop there...like I said it continued for an entire week. And because of his diarrhea he then got a diaper rash and would scream everytime we changed him. Poor little guy has had a rough time. Sunday evening we decided to take Landon to the OSF Peds after hours since he wasn't getting any better and I wanted to make sure he didn't have an ear infection or something we could get treated. Dr. said he looked good so we just had to patiently wait it all out. On Monday evening Landon passed the stomach flu to me and I was up getting sick most of the night and had to call in sick on Tuesday. I laid in bed and slept most of the day and didn't get out of bed until 9:30pm that night just to eat some pretzels and go back to bed. Daddy did a great job of taking care of me and Landon. Let me say it's soooo nice that Jeff is so hands-on and so good with Landon and knows how to do everything, as I never have to tell him what to do, he just knows how to do it ALL. Thankfully my mom (Mimi) watched Landon this day so he wasn't anywhere close to me and so Jeff could have a little break. Mom said he was really good and smiled and giggled lots. Because of this we knew he was starting to feel better. On Wednesday Jeff's mom (Nana) watched Landon while I was at work and so Jeff could have another break. That evening is when we finally witnessed Landon feeling better and getting back to himself....his happy, giggly, smiley self. :) What a relief and joy to have him back!!!!! It's been one very LONG week but we managed to make it through and I feel that we're stronger parents having to go through that.

Landon.....happy or sad, good or bad, we love YOU just the same. You are our precious little angel!!!!

4-month immunizations

On Wednesday, December 23rd we took Landon to get his 4-month immunizations...1 oral and 3 shots. Thankfully Daddy goes with us cause Mommy would have a hard time holding him while getting these done. Although I sit across from them and watch it all...that seems to be easier than being the one holding him while he cries. This time was definitely alot harder than the last time. Landon reacted differently and you could tell he was in alot more pain, and his thigh actually swelled up pretty bad and was red for hours after. We were a little concerned since this didn't happen the last time but the nurse just said to keep an eye on it the rest of the evening. Again I gave him a dose of Tylenol an hour before the shots and had a bottle ready after they were done, but this time nothing seemed to help...he screamed and cried for a little while and it was so hard to see him like this...as a Mommy (well and Daddy too) it just breaks your heart and you wish you could get the shots for them. Thankfully Landon slept when we got home and seemed to be feeling better, although his thigh was still swollen for a few more hours. I decided to give him a bath to soothe him and so I could get the 3 bandaids off of his legs...I knew those would kill if I just tried ripping them off. Oh the 'little' things you have to think of now as a Mommy. :)

4-month appt.

Today we took Landon for his 4-month Peds appt. We were very anxious to see how much Landon grew from his 2-month appt. We were pleasantly surprised how big he's gotten, although we could tell he was getting longer. Here are his 4-month measurements:

Weight = 16lb (70th percentile)
Height = 24.75” (43rd percentile)
Head = 41.6cm (30th percentile)

He is good and healthy and everything is looking great. We are so thankful we have a healthy growing boy on our hands!

Of course, as always, I had a list full of questions to ask Dr. Oliphant. Thankfully she is so patient and laid back and doesn't mind all the questions. We of course talked about introducing rice cereal but she said to do it when he was ready, and she said we'd know when that was. I guess they start to really watch you eat and will grab for your food. Neither Jeff or I are ready to start him on rice cereal yet, as I've been told by my sister's and other mother's to wait as close to 6 months as you can, and that is what our plan definitely is unless he shows signs of wanting it before this of course. I know everyone has different opinions on "when" to start the rice cereal and baby food but Jeff and I both feel that it's not time just yet. Landon still seems to be satisfied after 5oz. of formula 6 times per day.

Lately I've been working on Landon's closet and packing away a few of the clothes he has outgrown. Although he is a whopping 16lbs., we still call him our "Peanut" and sometimes I can't believe he weighs that much cause he looks so much smaller than some of his "baby friends" and he can still fit into alot of his 0-3 month clothes. The only thing he's really outgrown in 0-3 are his sleepers and that's because he's grown in length and his little toes are crunched at the end. There are a few of his 3-6 month clothes he can wear but alot of them are still pretty baggy.

Landon is definitely alot of fun to have around and we can't tell you how blessed we are to have him in our lives. He is such a good baby and is extremely consistent with everything he does (i.e. eating schedule, nap time, play time, etc.), so that makes things a whole lot easier. He is getting alot stronger and is really good at holding his head strong...we keep wondering when he's going to roll over for the first time but it hasn't happened yet. Although we're looking forward to each milestone, we're also not wanting to rush them along too quickly...rolling around and crawling just means we'll have to watch him 24/7 and he'll be getting into everything...I can't say I'm quite ready for all of that fun, lol. Plus it means my baby boy is growing so fast, although we are definitely cherishing every moment with him. :-)

Catching up!

Geez, it's been 2 months since I've written a post so I figured I'd better get back on the bandwagon...so I've also been reading up on all of your blogs the past few days. I honestly don't even know where to start! Well today Landon is 4 months old...I can't believe how fast these past few months have gone and it's crazy how quickly Landon is growing up! It's both exciting and a little sad all at the same time. Happy to see him grow healthy and exciting for what the future holds and to be able to actually "play" and interact with him someday soon...but also sad that he's getting bigger and he eventually won't want to snuggle as much and I won't be able to hold him in my arms the same. This past week Landon just graduated out of his 0-3 month sleepers...yes he's still a little guy...especially cause he still wears quite a few of the 0-3 month clothes. He's just gotten too long for the actual sleepers. His 4 month peds appt. is on Monday the 21st so we're anxious to see what his measurements are. We know he's definitely grown alot! Also since I wrote last I have gone back to work. I was on maternity leave for 11 weeks so I went back Nov. 2nd. Luckily I was able to do a half day on my first day back so I could ease myself into it. I really thought I wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom but Jeff encouraged me to go back for a few months and then decide. Well after only 3 days back, I decided that I was cut out for working and knew that was what I wanted to keep doing. Also I love my job so much that I couldn't ever imagine leaving it. Landon goes to an in-home daycare only 5 minutes from our house, in which a husband and wife watch about 13 kids! They are SO wonderful and the kids call them Mimi & Papa. My niece Lexie goes there and also some of our friend's kids, so we had alot of good referrals. Landon and Ryder (my friend Julie's son) are only weeks apart so they are going to be the best of buds! Landon really seems to like it there and Mimi just adores him. He's her little buddy. Jeff takes Landon every morning and I pick him up in the evening. He's always full of smiles when I come and I'm always dying to see him! Soon after we get home he's ready for a nap, so our playtime is very limited through the week. Kind of sad but I have to make up for it on the weekends. Jeff and I have adjusted well and love taking Landon with us everywhere. There's not much we do without him, other than some nights we take a break or have a date night and either Mimi or Nana or one of the proud Aunts watches him. I don't think we'll ever have to hire a babysitter...ever...as we have too many family members around that would love to watch him. Well this is about all the updates I can think of for now....I will post more after his appt on Monday.

Dr. Appt....CPR Class....and Shots

2-Month Dr. Appt.....

Landon went for his 2-month check-up on Monday, Oct. 19th and everything went really well and he's good and healthy! And a bonus: I didn't get pee'd on this time...lol! I had my normal list of questions to ask and Dr. Oliphant is always so good at taking the time to chat and answer all of my questions. Since Landon's gas is better and he's doing good, she told me to cut his Zantac dose in half for a few days instead of quitting cold turkey so we can see if he does fine without taking the meds. This way we can find out for sure if he does or doesn't have acid reflux.
Going on a week, Landon is still sleeping through the night!!! He is doing so great and making Mommy so proud! I usually have to get up once in the night to feed him but sometimes that's not till 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, so that's not really even considered the 'middle of the night', as this is already morning time. So I guess you could say some nights he's not getting up at all. Last night he ate at 9:45pm and then didn't wake up again till 6:30am...awesome!! The bedtime we decided on for him is 9:00pm, but due to feeding times and having plans that doesn't always happen. We try to stay consistent as much as possible as we think the bedtime routine is good for him, and it also allows Mommy & Daddy to get some quiet down time before we have to get in bed. It's a win win for everyone!

As of 10/19 -
Weight: 11lb. 6oz. (39th percentile)......he's definitely a growing boy!!
Height: 21.5" (5th percentile)
Head Measurement: 38cm (10th percentile)

Infant & Child CPR (at OSF).....

We've been trying to get into this class for the past 2 months, as our first one was actually scheduled the evening after I had Landon...so obviously we had to cancel that one. This class was very important for us to take so we can feel confident if something should happen. Jeff and I were the only ones in the class but we actually liked that because we got more 1-on-1 attention and was able to ask all the questions we had. We both feel so much better after taking this class and I would definitely recommend others to take it.

2-Month Shots.....

Jeff and I took Landon for his 4 immunizations (3 shots & 1 oral) on Wednesday, Oct. 21st. I was dreading this day but luckily Jeff was able to leave work early so he could go with me for support, as I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up. Surprisingly I didn't cry, although I felt completely nauseas the whole time as I was watching. Thankfully my Mom and Sister gave me a few tips that I also want to pass along to new Mommies out there......
1) Give your little one Tylenol 1 hr. BEFORE his/her shot so it has time to kick in. (BTW - I asked my pediatrician about this just to make sure it was okay).
2) Have a bottle ready as soon as s(he) is done with the shots. This helps to calm/soothe them and take their mind off the pain.
That being said, I did BOTH of these and am so glad I did. The bottle tip was a lifesaver...we stayed there and fed him and he was sound asleep as soon as we got in the car! I also gave him 1 more dose of Tylenol 4 hours later just in case he was still in pain. He did of course cry so hard that nothing came out...oh man was this hard to see...but he did great and was such a trooper! I already dread going back for more shots in 2 more months, but know it's a good thing to keep him good and healthy.

Sleeping through the night!

Exciting News: the past 3 nights Landon has slept through the night!!! Yippee!! I think this is really good for only being 8 weeks old. Although we know it may not continue, our fingers are crossed that it will. I am reading the 'Baby Sleep Solution' book that teaches you how to get your little one to sleep 12 hours at 12 weeks of age. While I have not started Step 1 yet (to up his formula to 6oz. and feed 4 times a day), we did up it a half ounce and have started swaddling him only at night time, that way he knows the difference between day and night, and we finally started putting him in his own room at night with his white noise cd on. Although he's still sleeping in his carseat, we wanted to get him used to his room and I needed him out of our room cause he makes loud noises all night long and that keeps me awake. I'm honestly not in a hurry to get him in his crib, as he has started spitting up some and we're still not sure if he might have the acid reflux, so we want/need to keep him elevated at night. The carseat allows us to do that. Thankfully he has only gotten up for 1 feeding the past few nights...we're making good progress...and Mommy is loving it! Oh sleep, how much I've missed you!!! :-)
I am so proud of my little boy!!!!!!!

Behind on blogging....I know!

Sorry I have not been the best at blogging lately but time gets away from me now that Landon is here. Although I know alot of you Mommies out there are equally as busy and still make the time. I'll do my best to back track a little and get back on the blogging bandwagon. :-) Hmmm, where do I begin?! Guess I'll start with this.....
The day Landon turned 6 weeks was the toughest week so far. I know my friend Robin warned me and so did the "Baby Sleep Solution" book, in which I highly recommend, but GEESH....I never would imagine it would get like this. Landon started getting very fussy at night time and having bad gas/tummy pain, so much that it would last ALL night....the kicking his legs up, grunting, moaning of pain, and straining. Let me tell ya, if you haven't had to experience this then you're one lucky Mommy! It has been very tough for Jeff & I to see him in this much pain and know there was nothing we could do. You feel very helpless and that's a terrible feeling as a parent. After a few days went by I finally decided to call our peds office to see what they'd say. At this time they told me to change the formula to soy, make the bottles up ahead of time (so the bubbles are gone and don't get air in his tummy) and to try gripe water (people try this when Mylicon doesn't work...and Mylicon did not work for us at all). We immediately switched his formula and my mother-in-law ran out to get us the gripe water and a bottle warmer, since we had to make the bottles ahead of time and refrigerate them. Days went by and nothing had changed or got better, unfortunately. I called back again (I think they were tired of hearing from me!) and thankfully they said I could come in to have him seen by the Dr. I knew I wouldn't get many answers but I honestly didn't know what else to do. I had a list of his symptoms and since the soy formula wasn't helping, she told me to go back to my regular formula, and then prescribed Zantac so we could make sure he didn't have acid relux. She also mentioned that he was probably just "colicky"....although I think people use this word too freely. Of course after a VERY stressful and long night and a trip to the Dr. to hear my son is colicky, I had a little break down. This is the first time I really cried since having Landon, and I know my crazy hormones weren't helping either. :) As we drove to Walgreen's to pick up the prescription, Landon bursted into a loud cry. I pulled up to the drive-thru and gave the lady my 'medical card'. She told me it was the wrong card (she needed my 'prescription card') and I just bursted into tears and said I'd have to come back. Funny thing is that I had the right card with me but I was too stressed and upset to function and get it out of my wallet. Ohhhh what sleep deprivation will do to you!!! Anyways, over that week and a half timeframe we tried 4 different formulas, gripe water, Zantac, and different kind of bottles...none of these worked BUT the past 5 days or so has been SO much better and it seems as if the gas issues is much better, therefore he's not really fussy anymore. This makes for much better nights and fun days too!

Birth Weight: 5lb. 4 oz.
New Weight (as of Oct. 1st, 2009): 10lb. - he almost doubled his birth weight already...WOW!! = 30th percentile

Birth Height: 18.5"
New Height (as of Oct. 1st, 2009): 20" = 1 percentile (man, I guess he's really short!)

New HC (Head Measurement): 37cm (14.57") = 10th percentile

Note to new Mommies out there: the AVENT bottles leak and are annoying...I would not recommend them to anyone. We spent about $175 on 16 of these bottles and we're now using the Playtex VentAire bottles and we really like them alot. But all in all it's a personal preference, but my advice is to get something other than the AVENT ones.
The Playtex VentAire bottles are good because they have holes at the bottom, allowing the air to flow out that way and not go through the nipple and into his tummy. Also the bottle has a slight bend in it which they say is good for preventing ear infections.

Another tip that was passed onto us and is helping Landon alot is "prune juice". It's really good for constipation, in which Landon had issues with also...we give him a 1/2 teaspoon at night and in the morning, diluted with a little water. This helps him to have a stool more consistently.

Do you have some good advice to share?? I know I LOVE learning new things from other Mommies and think we should all share stories and knowledge with each other more often!

Mommy & Daddy's ANGEL.....

Here are a few of my favorite newborn pics that were taken by my friend Nina! Landon was 4 1/2 weeks old.

Landon's newborn pics

On Sept. 10th we had Landon's newborn pics taken at our house by my friend Nina. If you're interested in contacting them for family/baby pics, here's their website: http://ninaceciliacreativespark.com/ Nina and Cecilia do GREAT work!! We were excited to have Landon's pictures taken before he grew too much but now I'm wondering if I should have waited a little longer....Landon didn't cooperate very well and ended up fussing/crying pretty much the entire 2 hours! But part of it really wasn't his fault...he hates being moved around, hates being cold, and hates being without his binky....three things of which we really couldn't help. :) But I have to say that Nina was SO patient and really took her time with us, letting us calm him when needed. We'll get our cd in about 2 weeks and I look forward to sharing some with all of you! Stay tuned...

Landon's 2-week Dr. Appt

On Sept. 4th I took Landon in for his 2-week appt. (well, almost 3 weeks). I was super surprised to see how much he had grown since he was born on August 16....

Birth weight: 5lbs. 4oz.
New weight on 9/4: 6lbs. 10oz.

Birth length: 18.5 inches
New length on 9/4: 19 inches

His head has also gotten larger. Dr. showed me the electronic graph and he is right on the chart for growing healthy. Landon is a VERY good eater...it only takes him about 8 minutes to finish 2.5 - 3oz. of formula. We are definitely blessed in that area, as many people tell us we should be. Everything else looks good too, so we are extremely happy to know he's growing and is doing great. Our next (2-month) appt. is when he'll get his needed immunizations. As I know all of you moms out there feel the same way, I am completely dreading this appt., as I know it's going to be super hard on me. But their important to get done so he can stay good and healthy!
Landon always does so good when we're at the Dr. and apparently it's obvious how much I love taking him with me everywhere! The Dr. said "you love being a Mommy, don't you?"....I said "Yes!" with a big smile on my face....she said "I can tell, you have this glow about you". I thought that was a great compliment, as it's good to know others can see how happy I am...Landon is the greatest joy and I am so in awe of him all the time!!

Landon's Birth Story

August 16, 2009....we were scheduled for my "External Version" procedure at 1:30pm, where the Dr. tries to manually move a breech baby into the typical head-down position for birth. Landon had been in the breech position for several weeks, so at 37-weeks we decided to attempt this procedure since I was really wanting a vaginal delivery. This procedure is done on the Labor & Delivery floor in case complications occur, and you have your very own nurse watching you and the baby very closely. My mom and dad came to see me before the procedure and ended up staying in the room during the procedure, along with around 7 or 8 other people. I had residents and nurses asking me if they could watch because they had never seen the procedure done before, as it's fairly rare and not all Dr's will even do it. Fortunately my Dr. was successful with the version and it only took her about 5 minutes. I guess it was pretty freaky to watch her maually turn baby, as Jeff said you could see her take his butt in one hand and his head in the other and flip him around. Luckily I had an epidural so I wasn't in any pain. After the procedure baby and I were still being monitored very closely for a few hours as my epidural wore off (it took about 3.5 - 4 hours). Due to a few complications including Landon's heart rate dropping from 190 to 40 (this was super scary!), the possibility that my uterus had detached, no activity from Landon since he had been turned, and I started having contractions, the doctors decided it would be best to perform an emergency c-section. It was an extremely scary and emotional time for Jeff and I. Literally the nurses and Dr. started rushing in the room saying "we need to get this baby out now!"....talk about scary and unexpected...I tried to stay calm but couldn't hold back the tears after they rushed me out of the room without my husband, as they thought I was gonna have to be put under...hearing this I was scared and sad, knowing Jeff wouldn't be able to be in the delivery room with me and I wouldn't be able to see my baby right away. I began to pray, pray, pray, as the tears were rolling down my face...I felt alone in the delivery room since Jeff wasn't able to be in there with me yet. The scariest and saddest moment I've ever felt in my entire life was when I heard one Dr. whisper to the other Dr. that he couldn't find a heartbeat...for approx. 10 very long seconds I thought Landon was dead. I remember closing my eyes during this moment and praying, and God was telling me that everything was going to be okay...this was the only thing keeping me calm...let me just tell you that God is soooo good...fortunately the Dr. looked over at me and said "your baby is going to be okay". And then he said my Dr. was on her way, only about 5 minutes away and that we were able to wait for her and I wouldn't have to be put under. I was just dying to have Jeff in there with me, and luckily they told him to hurry and put his scrubs on and get in there. He ended up coming in after they had already started the surgery. Literally about 5-10 minutes later my handsome baby boy entered the world, at 5:56pm! But Landon had to be taken to the NICU right away as his lungs were not fully developed (he was 3 weeks early) and he was having a hard time breathing. They immediately had to put a c-pap on him for a few hours until he was able to breathe on his own. Thankfully they wheeled the incubator over by me so I could quickly see my baby boy. Although it wasn't the ideal situation and a little sad that I didn't get to hold him right away, I felt at ease knowing he was in the best care possible (OSF is awesome!) and that I would soon get to see him. I can't explain my calmness but just know that God was really watching over and taking good care of us. I couldn't stop smiling, I just felt so happy and so blessed! Jeff followed Landon down to the NICU and I went to recovery for an hour. All of our family was there so they took turns keeping me company. After about 2 hours the nurse wheeled me down to the NICU in my bed so I could meet my baby for the first time. He was all hooked up to IV's and had a feeding tube in, but they placed him on my chest and I got to hold him for a few minutes...this was one of the best moments in my life! Jeff and I couldn't stop kissing and staring at him...he was the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen!! He looks just like his Daddy, which is definitely the greatest compliment. I seriously couldn't be a happier Mommy! :)

Landon Jay Grant
Born at 5:56pm on August 16th, 2009
Weighing 5 lbs. 4 oz. and 18.5 inches long
He is just PERFECT!!!!!!!

Landon....you are a dream come true!

Pics of Landon...our little peanut!