Merry Christmas!

Did we really just celebrate Addie's fourth and Landon's first Christmas? SERIOUSLY?!

We had a blast. We started off the week by having dinner with my family on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, we went to Nana and Papa's for a "dessert drop-in" - soooo yummy and fun! Then they watched the kiddos while we went to a wine tasting hosted by Lynn and Leslie. It was such a cute idea! Each couple brought two identical bottles of wine. One was put in the "reserve," and the other was covered and marked with a letter. Lynn had made scorecards where each wine would be rated 1 through 10, and everyone went to tasting. All the points were tallied, and then the person who brought the highest scored wine went home with all the reserve bottles! Genius! Okay, I had never been to a wine tasting, so I thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. I still thought it was cool even though our wine didn't win. Ha!

Fast forward to Christmas Eve - annual Logan's lunch! We have officially outgrown a booth with four adults and two high chairs (yes, Addie still prefers a high chair when we go out to eat, and I admittedly love that she's "contained"). I'm trying to remember how this tradition got started, and I can't! I guess that's when you know you've truly got a tradition...

That evening, Mimi and PawPaw and Nana and Papa came over. Addie was bouncing off the walls, and Landon was pretty cute, too, of course, even though he's still been having some tummy problems and hasn't quite been 100%. The kiddos got Christmas books and new Christmas jammies (SO CUTE!) and the grownups got new Addie (and Landon, starting in March) calendars for 2010! THANKS, NANA!!! I think I speak for all of us when I say this is our favorite Christmas gift :)

Addie was super-excited for Santa to visit, but surprisingly went to bed without any trouble! We slept in a little bit (7:00) on Christmas Day, and were so excited to get Addie out of bed! She came downstairs and seemed a little confused, but then she announced, "It's a baby carriage!" That is the one gift she had asked for over and over. Precious.

We continued the day by going up to Nana and Papa's, then Gran and Pop's, then down to Mimi and PawPaw's before settling back home. It was a long day, but one of the best days ever. It's definitely the best Christmas I've ever had! Seeing Addie's face light up was just so exciting. Of course Christmas isn't about the gifts, but watching my little girl being so innocent and happy was just priceless. In fact, it actually was a constant reminder of the true meaning of the day!

Addie "helping" open Landon's first ornament

I promise I was not about to drop Landon, even if it looks like it.

Addie going through her stocking

"Seriously? For me?"

"Christmas can't be over already!!!"

Getting all better

We have had a yucky week. We got a call from Landon's teacher last Friday that he had thrown up and had three loose poopies (after two at school the day before), so we had to pick him up. John Michael actually got the call, so he went down there. He called me once they got settled and said Landon was acting completely fine and playing like normal. Yay! Or so we thought. We woke up to Addie whining/crying around 11 p.m. (yes, we were asleep that early on a Friday - don't judge ;)). I went up to check on her, but she was still asleep so I went back down. Repeat at midnight. Then, at 1:30 a.m., I heard her get out of her bed and she was screaming and crying. I nudged JM for his "turn" to check on her, and before he was even upstairs, I heard her screaming, "I throwed up! I throwed up everywhere!" Sure enough. We brought her to bed with us and she got sick three more times throughout the night. She woke up at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, good as gold! We even ended up going up to Nana and Papa's for JM to cut down our Christmas tree (and help Papa with theirs) and had a great day playing, but taking it easy, just in case. Poor Landon was still having...um...diaper issues, but seemed to feel fine. We came home and ate dinner, and were looking forward to decorating the tree on Sunday!

But then it started all over again. Addie woke up puny and threw up Sunday morning. She spent the day on the couch and was so, so pitiful! I have never seen her so weak-looking in her life. We talked to the pediatrician's office about three times that morning to go over both her symptoms and Landon's. Poor kiddos. But the nurses didn't seem concerned at all since they were both willing/able to take in fluids. Addie did start to perk up a little by Sunday evening, so she got to help with the tree a tiny bit!

We kept both babies home Monday, because Landon was STILL not back to normal and Addie had said she needed to stay home. The cutest thing ever happened - I put Landon down for a nap at around 8:30 that morning, and starting at 9 a.m., Addie started asking if we could wake him up. She was saying, "I think he's poopie! I really think we need to go get him!" I kept telling her no, that he needed to sleep because his tummy wasn't feeling good. She finally said, "I stayed home from school today so I could play with my baby brother and all he is doing is sleeping!" Hehehehe.

Anyway, Addie was 100% Monday and went back to school Tuesday. Landon's poopie issues were still there, so he stayed with Mimi. She said he was really fussy and tugging at his left ear, so I made him an appointment to see Dr. Hood for Wednesday morning.

*Sigh.*

So, he continued to be fussy and have tummy problems throughout the night, and on into Wednesday. Dr. Hood was not at all concerned about the now-weeklong diarrhea, but did put him on a probiotic to try to help things. She did check his ears, and the left one was good. The right one had to be cleaned out (seriously, holding a nine-month-old while they take a WaterPik to his ear does NOT equal fun. Just in case you were wondering...), but sure enough...infected. Sooo...we're headed down the same path and it's time for Landon to visit the ENT doctor. The sweet boy had a later start with his ear infections, but he's a competitive one and decided to try to make up for them in a shorter timespan.

Boo.

Although, I must admit, I'm relieved when I think about how much Addie's tubes have helped her, and hopeful that if (ahem - when - let's be honest) Landon has to have them, they'll be just as successful.

So, that was our week in a nutshell. Poor little man's tummy is still having problems, making almost ten days. They said that viral diarrhea can last up to two weeks. Does that seem INSANE to anyone but me?!?! He's eating and drinking just fine (we still have him on a very mild diet, though - no baby food except bananas, plain yogurt, rice cereal and puffs) so that's good. We can't really tell if the probiotics are helping, because with the antibiotic for his ear infection, we don't know if the virus is still clearing its way out of his system or if the medicine is causing the problems now. I will be SO GLAD when he is feeling better. So will our water bill ;)

Unwrapping her Little Einsteins ornament



Poor sweet girl


Helping with the tree!



Snuggle time to recover from decorating

Landon "helping"

JM's year for the tree - it's huge (but yes, it's pretty)

All better and baking gingerbread!

Ooh, it's Christmastime!

We went to see Santa tonight after Landon's appointment! As I think we've done at least twice before, we managed to show up rightwhen Santa had to take a dinner break. HOW?! Anyway. We caught a quick dinner in the food court at the mall and headed back down to wait in line. Addie was SO excited to see Santa and tell him what she would like for Christmas. She said over and over that she was going to ask for a baby carriage and a new baby doll. When it was our turn, she hopped up on his lap, smiled really big for the picture, and then told him she wanted a baby carriage. After we left, she said, "Oh no! I forgot to tell him I want a new baby doll!" Daddy consoled her by telling her we'd just write him to give him the update :) Cute.

Landon was juuust about done for the evening, and his pants somehow got bunched up, but I'm still gonna deem this one an overall success (Addie's hat-head and Landon's deer in the headlight look and all ;)).

Nine months

Chubby McChubsters has apparently slowed down just a little bit! We went today and he weighed 19 pounds, 13 ounces. Now don't get me wrong - I cannot believe he is almost 20 pounds (I mean, I can, because I've HELD him...geez...), but he had been on the 50th percentile curve and he dropped slightly below this time. Addie's 9-month checkup was when she dropped from the 50th percentile to the 25th-ish, too, so I thought that was funny. He was almost 28 inches long (25th percentile) and his big noggin looked to have stayed on the 50th.

Anyway, Dr. Hood asked the typical questions and deemed him perfect! He showed off his standing and pulling up skills while we were there and she was quite impressed :) He also giggled practically the whole time we were there. What a charmer. It was easy for him to be entertained because his little monkey of a sister was bouncing off the walls!

While we were there, they offered the H1N1 vaccine, so we got the kiddos' second shots. Talk about feeling like the worst mom ever, since I had been telling Addie over and over that she wouldn't get any owies at the doctor's office. Oops. Both kiddos cried. Double oops. But - Landon was a CHAMP during his anemia test. He didn't even flinch for the finger prick. What a trooper!

So...at nine months, Landon is:
* pulling to stand
* sometimes taking a few "cruising" steps holding on to furniture
* crawling on all fours about half the time (army crawling the rest)
* "talking" all the time! He's added "baba" for bottle and "bye-bye" to his vocabulary for a grand total of three words (mama still being the most common :)
* EDIT: I did forget that he's been saying "momo" for "more" and Dada. Poor JM - I didn't mean to leave this one out! It was a happy day!
* plays peek-a-boo like a pro! He played with Cece by ducking below the arm of the couch and popping back up over and over.
* a human clock. He goes to bed - without fail - every night at 7 p.m., and wakes up - also without fail - at 6:30 a.m. You could also set a clock by his diapers, but no need to be any more descriptive than that ;)
* as happy as ever! He's a smiley, giggly boy.
* still a mama's boy
* the proud owner of three teeth (two on the top and one on the bottom)
* in 9- and 12-month clothes
* in size 3 diapers still
* wearing size 3 shoes!
* my precious little boy. I can't get enough!
* 100% a bottle boy now. He started nursing a few weeks ago, pulled off, looked at me and said, "Baba?" *Tear.*
* a table food king! We tried him with some red beans last week and he LOVED them! He's had bananas and lasagna (crazy, I know) since. I can't believe he is ready for this. I feel like we went so much slower with Addie, but since he was showing the signs, we gave it a shot.

Aw, shucks.

Yummy!

Speaking of chompers

Addie had her first dentist appointment today! Of course, we have been meaning to take her for months now, but since I was studying for the bar this summer, let's face it: all non-emergency appointments were pretty much on hold. Anyway, so the other night I was helping her brush her teeth and I took a peek at her molars. They were a MESS! I completely flipped out. It looked like one of them was broken and it was really rough to the touch. I was convinced that I was going to be awarded the "Worst Mom Ever" award because I was positive it was a huge cavity. I told JM about it and he said it was probably nothing, but the next morning, I showed him and he got quiet and said, "Oh my gosh." It really looked that bad. So I called yesterday and got an appointment for her today.

We went to Franklin Pediatric Dentistry and I was SO impressed. Addie walked in the office and her eyes lit up. Everything was so kid-friendly! She immediately went over to the coloring table and sat down. When they called us back, she was still pretty excited. Overall, she did well. In fact, she was very cooperative with the dentist (who was AWESOME) until the end of her exam. She took a little coaxing to get her teeth cleaned but ended up opening wide for the marshmallow-flavored toothpaste :). Unfortunately, for the fluoride treatment, we did have to hold her down. But we had to have that done. It turns out that Addie's "huge cavity" I saw was really enamel hypoplasia. In short, she has little to no enamel on her molars, and the enamel on the rest of her teeth is malformed. The dentist explained that this is usually due to some event that occurs when the teeth are being formed (likely, a high fever). Interesting, huh? He also said that we are doing a great job taking care of her teeth and to just keep going with what we're doing. She will be very prone to cavities because of this, so we'll have to keep a close eye on it. We are so blessed that she has no cavities at this point, because we would have likely been facing a surgery to cap all of the molars with crowns (the surgery due to her age and need for sedation, not necessarily the damage to her teeth).

Because I was so worried about this appointment, I didn't bring our camera!

Chompers!

Landon got his first tooth on Saturday! Oddly enough, it broke through the day after he turned 8 1/2 months - the exact time Addie's first tooth came in. This is his bottom right tooth. I was changing his diaper and noticed a little white in his mouth, and sure enough, there it was! Then Sunday, I was tickling him and noticed that his top two are right there at the surface! I'd expect them within the next week (and they are cutely as far apart as Addie's - if not moreso). The funny thing is that I can neither see nor feel the other bottom tooth at this point. He's been fussy the past few days, so I hope these teeth hurry up! Pictures will come as soon as they're visible to the non-mommy eye/hand. :)

It's official!

I'm official! An official attorney! Scary, huh? I attended the swearing-in ceremony this past Wednesday, November 18, at the War Memorial Building. It was AWESOME! Okay, admittedly, when I first got there, I thought it was a crazy mess and wished I had gotten sworn in locally. But being there with the Supreme Court Justices was amazing. I think the Chief Justice mentioned that 140 people were being sworn in that morning. Each individual got introduced by a "sponsor," so it did take about 2 hours. After each motion was made, one of the Supreme Court Justices would say, "Mr./Ms. [Sponsor], your motion is granted, and Mr./Ms. [New Lawyer], congratulations and welcome to the practice of law." It was pretty cool.

My wonderful boss, Shauna Billingsley, was my sponsor. She made her motion (which was so very sweet and personal) and introduced herself and mentioned that I have accepted the staff attorney position at the City. At the time my motion was made, Justice Gary Wade was granting the motions, but after Shauna made hers, Justice Connie Clark interrupted and said that she would like to take mine. She said (something to the effect of...), "Ms. Billingsley, I know that you come from a long line of wonderful Franklin City Attorneys - me being one of them - so I am honored to grant your motion. Ms. Corn, you have chosen an amazing career path. I welcome you to the practice of law - and the politics - of Franklin, and also to the bar of the state of Tennessee." Of course, the audience laughed, and it was very, very cool. At that point, I was so glad that I had done the ceremony. It was awesome to receive a personal welcome from a Supreme Court Justice! Shauna and I both guessed that she would say something personal because she was smiling pretty big at us when we were in line. AWESOME. Still kind of on cloud nine from that one ;)

And...I know I'm a dork. :)

Anyway, one thing that I believe all the justices pointed out in their speeches at the end was that none of us could have gotten where we are without the support of our family and friends. Although I do think that's true for everyone, I think it was especially true for me. I have THE MOST AMAZING family and friends and I certainly don't even pretend like this whole long, drawn-out mess of the past five years was anything but a joint effort. I am so very blessed.

Again, anyway...

It was dark in the auditorium, so the ceremony pictures didn't really come out, but here's a few (the first two are from before).

Daddy, me, Mommy and JMC
(oops - for blog purposes, I guess I should say: PawPaw, Mommy, Mimi, and Daddy :))



Shauna and me



Okay, I know it's hard to tell what's going on here, but you can see the Justices and the back of my head. :) Shauna was making my motion (the back of her head is to the left of mine :)). The man standing up is the Clerk of the Appellate Court System.

Three-and-a-half

I am also late on this post, but only a week. Look at me go! Slow down, Kristen!

I really can't believe that my baby girl is now closer to four years old than three. I used to roll my eyes at my parents when they would say, "Seems like just yesterday, you were..." and now I know what they're talking about. It really does seem like just yesterday that we were finding out we were expecting our first baby...then that she would be a girl...then welcoming her into the world. And now, here we are with a beautiful, smart, sassy little miss. I don't really know where to begin with my sweet girl. She is so full of herself and is well aware of how stinking cute she is. She is so exhausting with her little attitude, yet I am so completely overwhelmed with love for her and can't get enough of her. She is a little *girl* now and not a little baby, and SO MUCH FUN to be around! Her teachers still brag on how smart she is, and how "overall" she's such a good girl (yes, their words - ha!). She has started getting "sad faces" at school every once in a while, and although I take it seriously and we sit down and discuss why she got her sad faces, I get such a kick out of her explanations! My favorite one was this:

Me: Addie, why did you get a sad face today?
Addie: Because I wasn't listening.
Me: Did you not have your listening ears on?
Addie: No.
Me: Why not?
Addie: Because I didn't like the ones they had at school today. I was looking for some Princess ones.

[She also often tells me that she left her listening ears in the car, her toy bin, in bed, etc. :)]

Addie says the funniest things and is very into pretend play lately. I overheard her bossing around her stuffed animals a few weeks ago and asked her who she was talking to. She said, "Emma." When I started to look concerned (yes, I know imaginary friends are normal, it just surprised me), she said, "Don't worry, mom, I'm just pretending." Hehehe. She also thinks she is hilarious and now likes to fake laughing after she'll say certain things. She cracks herself up.

Along with keeping us in tears from laughter every day, Addie also amazes us with how smart she is! She is getting really good at writing her letters and loves to write "mom" all over everything. She can also write other small words if we help her spell them, but she is great with her name on her own (but has a little trouble with the 'e').

She is still a great big sister. She's really started getting upset with Landon when he gets her toys and has started occasionally wanting to pretend she's a baby. As long as she doesn't start truly regressing, I'm okay with that ;) Addie is also very good with Landon when he's upset. Sometimes all he wants is to be held, and she'll give him a hug or just say "boo!" to him, and both make him giggle immediately. I am so excited to watch how they play together as they get bigger.

There's so much more I could say about my sweet girl, but it'll get way too sappy. She is my pride and joy! Oh, and I'm well aware of how hellacious her teenage years may be ;)

Helping Daddy make dinner - she is such a good helper in the kitchen!


Mess of curls!


Love.




JM was trying to get a movie of Landon standing up on the dollhouse and got this instead - glad she's so concerned ;)





How old??

Eight months

Okay, a teeny bit (almost two weeks...) late, but no big deal! I'm not quite sure where to begin with my sweet boy. He's growing too quickly! He is still such a happy, sweet boy, even if he's a SQUEALER! He's been getting in "trouble" at school the past couple of weeks for waking up the newborns with his squeals. He thinks it's so funny. His teacher, Ms. Jen, says that he'll squeal really loudly then look at her to see her reaction. He loves school SO much but is quite happy to see mommy at the end of the day! That's good, because picking Landon and Addie up is the best part of my day, too! So, here we go again...at eight months, Landon is:

* still heavy :) He won't be weighed again until his 9-month checkup, but we did the non-scientific step-on-the-scale, step-off-the-scale technique the other day and it said he was 20.5 pounds. I'm guessing that he's a little over 19, realistically
* in 9-month and 12-month clothes (but can still fit in a few of his 6-month - mainly Carter's brand, as they seem to run bigger)
* as mobile as ever with his army crawl. I'm not sure he'll ever "officially" crawl since he is so successful with his current technique...
* pulling up to stand a lot lately
* sleeping from 7 p.m. until somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. (and that's the only time he'll nurse!)
* still a paci baby, like big sister was!
* expanding his "vocabulary," including "mamamama" and "momomomo" to his babbling (and these honestly seem meaningful sometimes for "mama" and "more"!)
* a wonderful eater - he has had almost all of the prepared baby foods and loves them all
* loves his big sister so much! He thinks she is so funny and always wants to be near her.
* showing some signs of curly hair! YAY!!!!

Attempting to get an "8-month-old" shot...


And there he goes...


Still moving...


Landon "camping out" in the living room



Always running his fingers through his hair (after he puts them in his mouth and gets food on them...yummy...)


Cutie.

Happy Halloween!

(Okay, is anyone else just blown away by the fact that we're officially in the holiday season? AAAH!)

We had an exciting Halloween weekend! Thursday night we went to Addie and Landon's school's Trunk or Treat. Addie was so excited to go and wear her costume! That lasted all of two seconds once we got there. It was outside in the parking lot (duh) and I'm not sure if it was the darkness or what, but she wanted to be picked up and held the whole time! So our exciting outing ended up lasting about five minutes. Oh well :)

Friday, JM and I both had Halloween parties at our offices. He took Landon up for his (since their outfits kinda had to go together :)), and then I picked Addie up and we all went to mine that afternoon. Addie had a BLAST trick-or-treating between the departments in City Hall. She was a doll. Landon was a hit, too! Everyone loved his and JM's outfits.

Saturday started off kinda stinky - we went to get our H1N1 vaccines. From the time we got there til the time we left, it took about an hour and a half. Thankfully we had Mimi's help to keep the kids entertained! Landon didn't even flinch when he got his shot, but Addie flipped out! I was surprised because she didn't even whimper for her seasonal flu vaccine. Not so much this time. Poor punkin! We cheered her up by taking her over to see Holland and share some of his Krispy Kremes! Mmmm. Then we walked downtown to Franklin's Pumpkinfest. It was madness, but it was fun!

We then went home and got ready for Mimi and PawPaw to come over to have dinner with us and go trick-or-treating. All was going well until Addie had to take a bath. Oh my goodness - that set off the biggest tantrum she has EVER had. Ever. It lasted almost an hour. There were tears, there was screaming. Whew. She was screaming that she didn't want to be a froggy anymore, she wanted to be a princess! I put it off as long as I could, but finally gave her a little spanking (y'all know that means she was BEYOND BAD for me to do that - not that I'm against spanking, it is just my very last resort with Addie), and she shaped up practically immediately. We sat and talked about why she got her spanking and what mommy and daddy expected of her, and she was her sweet self from that point on. She later came up to me and said, "Mommy, I'm so sorry I had a fit." Hehe. *Sigh.* Little stinker. It was definitely one of those "she's lucky she's so cute" evenings ;)

So, all said and done, Halloween was great. Our little froggy and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man were precious!

The White Rabbit and Froggy Princess, on the way to Pumpkinfest!



Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a Ghostbuster



Tantrum Princess



Jumping the day after Halloween :)



John Michael taught Addie how to do bunny ears - silly!

p.s. Before you guys think I'm a slacker and am just now getting this up, I really did start it the day after Halloween (like it's dated), but Blogger froze and lost most of the post and I just now got around to being motivated to re-type it. :)

Before I get disowned...

Okay, because I think my mom is taking applications for new daughters, I figured I had better get a post done! But we've had a fun couple of weeks! I found out on the 16th that I passed the bar exam which has been both exciting and terrifying :) I spent two and a half months worrying and it was a huge relief to see my name on the site! However, going from paralegal to attorney is quite a scary transition! I have to keep reminding myself that every new experience has an adjustment period, and I just have to make my way through this one!

We left the same day to go to Miami because I had a conference for work. I was so lucky to be able to have John Michael, Addie and Landon come along with me! We left our house to go to the airport about 20 minutes after the bar results were posted (I'm still not sure what I would've done had I not passed...thank goodness I didn't have to find out :)) and got into Miami that evening! We checked into our hotel and within 20 minutes decided we needed to upgrade our room. I can't imagine us all having stayed in that regular hotel room for five nights! It didn't even have a refrigerator! I was trying to figure out what in the world I would do with my milk when John Michael called the front desk to see if we could move to a suite. The only downside was that we were three floors lower in the suite, but still had an amazing view!

Anyway - I had a training seminar all day Saturday, but that evening we went out to dinner with my boss, Shauna, and her family to Bubba Gump's. I must say that for a chain restaurant, the food was really good! I was pleasantly surprised. And it was kid-friendly, which obviously is what we were going for. The next day we went to the Miami Zoo - AMAZING!!! I loooove our zoo here, don't get me wrong, but this one blew it out of the water. It was awesome. Addie loved it and was such a good girl! Landon was a joy, too. Monday, I had class again and right now I can't remember what JM did with the kids (and he's asleep right now so I can't ask him!). I think he had a blast with them, though, and was SuperDad once again, handling them on his own. Thankfully, both kids were really great the whole trip. We got a short trip to the beach on Tuesday but it was super windy. Landon was loving sitting in the sand and Addie was loving kicking it (*sigh* :)). We left to come back home on Wednesday! We had a great "becation" (as Addie called it). JM and I ended up with at least one baby in our bed every evening, but besides the sleeping issues, it was great. Oh, I also have to add that both babies were PERFECT on the airplane rides. I could not have been prouder. We got tons of comments about how good they were, and questions as to whether they are always that good. I, of course, said yes. HEHEHEHE!

Anyway, we celebrated my birthday last weekend and had Addie's last soccer game. Landon and I ended up not going because it was cold and drizzly, but Addie refused to play. She did have a good time tumbling on the sidelines! The other mommies got a kick out of it (they told me at her team party, which we did all go to right after the game). She's definitely a free spirit!

Saturday afternoon we watched a little of the UT-Alabama game with Lynn & Kris and then went over to Mimi & PawPaw's for my yummy birthday dinner. Sunday was fun, too, as we got to see Uncle Nate & Aunt Rissa and Gran & Pop at Nana & Papa's. I only wish birthday fun-time could've lasted even longer :)

Movie Star Addie in the hotel room

(Loved her hair in this picture!)

Too cute

Sissy was exhausted after a fun day Monday and fell asleep watching CareBears on her little DVD player!

The view from one side of our room. We had a corner room so we had great views all the way around! It was a great hotel - we'd recommend it (and the upgrade to the suite) - Hilton Downtown Miami.

Addie getting her first trophy!

Seven months

Landon turned seven months old last week. My goodness! And so far, this has been the most eventful month (especially considering we're only 5 days into it). Phew! He came down with a little cold last weekend but seemed to be doing okay. Then on Wednesday morning, he seemed a little wheezy, so we gave him a breathing treatment, which helped. We took him to school, assuming the treatment had done the trick. Not so much. Around 1:30, I got a call from the daycare director that his teacher had called up to the front desk because she was really concerned about his breathing. The director said, "He's wheezy. Like, concerning wheezy." Goodness. After what seemed the l o n g e s t drive of my life (well, up there, at least), I got to my sweet boy. When I opened the door to the classroom, he was sitting on the floor with his teacher playing and laughing. BUT - I could hear him wheezing immediately. From the door. That's how loud it was. We went straight home to do a treatment (these are supposed to last at least four hours) and headed up to see the doctor. By the time we got seen, he was having a hard time breathing again. He was still smiling and laughing, so I wasn't too terribly freaked out, but it was still worrisome. Dr. Hood did a "super-dose" of an oral steroid and he got another albuterol treatment while we were there. Also, bad/good news: Landon will start a daily steroid breathing treatment, just like Addie. I say bad news for the obvious reasons, but I say good news because (knock on wood) I am hopeful that this will keep him from having another serious episode again. I'm especially cautious during this flu season (I had a young, healthy co-worker pass away from H1N1 about three weeks ago - it turned into pneumonia), and hope we can keep future colds from settling directly into his lungs.

Anyway, he's been doing...okay...since then. Not great, not bad, still smiling, but not quite my sweet Landon. But this morning he woke up with two VERY gunky eyes. Yup, pinkeye. It's by far the worst case I've ever seen. My mom assures me I had worse as a child, so that made me feel good :) We got eyedrops called in as soon as our pediatrician's office opened this morning, so hopefully that'll be cleared up by tomorrow. Poor sweet baby!

Back to the stats...at 7 months Landon is:
* getting heavy. Not sure how much he weighs ;)
* in size 3 diapers still
* in 6 month clothes but can also wear up to 12-month
* army crawling like a mad man!
* pulling up to stand with the teeniest bit of help
* not really content to be held but always wants someone nearby
* still in his mommy phase
* sleeping much better and now putting himself to sleep with NO cry-it-out phase! HALLELUJAH!
* enjoying his solids. He has had peas, green beans, squash, applesauce, pears, carrots, apples & prunes blend, squash & corn blend, vegetable blend, and tonight, he tried (and adored) whole milk plain yogurt (I'm super excited about that one - it was Addie's favorite :))
* still only drinking breastmilk, but I anticipate having to supplement a little with formula at some point this month. *Sigh.*
* INTO EVERYTHING! I mean, seriously! I thought Addie was into everything, but he puts her to shame. I know all my friends with boys are now saying "toldja so!" :)

Okey doke...looking for the camera. I'll find it and get pics posted asap, I promise!

Over and out, soldier!

Dear Time: Slow down!

We've got a serious army crawler! Video to follow...

Only a couple weeks late

We went to east TN a few weekends ago for the UT/UCLA game with Nana and Papa and had such a blast! We stayed in a cabin in Wears Valley, right on the border of the National Park. Ahhh...so relaxing. The babies were both so good, and...(drum roll, please)...no one got sick! Sure, I do have to admit that they were both stuffy & coughy (is that a word?), but no puking! This is a first for Addie in the mountains - WOOHOO! She was 3 for 3 before this trip. Score one for us, finally.

Anyway, we arrived late Thursday night and then went hiking Friday. We did a 2-mile hike to and from Laurel Falls. It was gorgeous, and an easy hike (for out-of-shapers like me ;)). JM and his dad each carried a munchkin on his back and both kids seemed to LOVE their rides! I lost count of how many passersby said something to the effect of, "Now THAT's the way to travel!" Awesome. And I also lost track of how many times I responded, "Yeah, I tried to get them to carry me!" I think I'm so funny sometimes.

;)

Again, I digress. Soooo, the hike was great, dinner Friday was awesome (King Crab legs...mmmm...), and Saturday, we went to campus. Although Addie had been to a tailgate before, she had never been to a game. The last one I had been to was when I was pregnant with her! I can't believe I made it so long. Craziness. The tailgate went well, overall. We actually got there a little bit late (we had been checking out the black bear at the cabin!), so we ended up dropping Landon & Addie off with Nana and Papa for a "few" minutes to go to the bookstore to get a hat for Landon. Of course, it was Vol Walk time, so it took us a little longer to get from the Communications Building to the UC than we expected (yes, we now know to go to Stokeley, but we weren't thinking...), so we got back with only a few minutes before the game. It was SO exciting to walk into the stadium with my babies! It may sound cheesy, and I know they probably won't remember it, but I was so super excited to share that with them. What a feeling.

The game ended up being at Landon's feeding time, so he took a bottle and passed out for the whole first half of the game (yes, I really did pump in the car surrounded by about two dozen tailgate parties before the game - awesome :)). Addie started out a little timid with all the noise in Neyland, but then really got into it and was clapping and cheering. It was way too cute. She did great until about two minutes left in the second quarter, so we took our cue and left then. I'm still surprised we got to see (nearly) an entire half of a game with two little ones! We definitely couldn't have done it without the assistance of 1) Nana & Papa; 2) popcorn; and 3) Dippin' Dots. Ha!

It was such an awesome, relaxing weekend and we are so very grateful to Nana and Papa for it. Can't wait to do it again!

On the road (after nap #1)



Addie & Papa shelling beans in the cabin. Addie is a natural!




(actually, this was on the trail right outside the front door of our cabin, before our "big" hike)




Look at that face! AAAH!


Ready to hike!


On the way to campus


Landon was apparently not feeling so photogenic. But 3 outta 4 ain't bad... ;)


I think the Elmo hat was her "security blanket" for the stadium...



YAY!


As a matter of fact, I did airbrush the random girl's cleavage out of this picture. So there!