Our Kids

So Landis generally uses Jason’s office as her poo zone. She goes in, makes everyone else leave and then does her business in her diaper. We also have a potty in there (I know Jason loves that!) and she will go in and strip down and go pee all on her own. She is sort of potty training herself which is kind of cool. Anyhoo this morning the office was a flurry of activity and no matter how much she commanded folks to leave, it just wasn’t happening. Finally, Jason said if you want to poo go somewhere else or go on the big potty. Resigned to her fate she said “otay” and headed to the big potty with Jason where she dropped a kiddo in the pool! She did it, she really did! We all went in and clapped and cheered and she was tickled with her big girl success. Seems like the addition of Phoebe is actually solidifying her place in the family as a big girl in her eyes.

Landis is a motor bug. She is pulling up on absolutely everything and is pretty stable. She can walk along the furniture and even reaches out a tentative hand to adjoining furniture to continue her journey. She can crawl across the entire house, will follow the girls anywhere and has even been seen standing unassisted for a few seconds. I am sure she is going to be walking soon.

I have to say that I am so blessed with a little baby that is totally in love with me. It makes all those late night wake up calls and long days of carrying around a 22+lb baby around worth it. I think the girls were in love with me but not like Landis, maybe because they had each other. Landis tracks me when I enter and leave a room and cries when I leave the room (she only cries for a second to show her disapproval). She is a very expressive baby and is even babbling mama while looking at me.

Her sleep schedule is still adjusting from Texas time and it is hard on her but she is doing okay. We had a few late nights (for us) where she went to bed around 9:30 and the last couple days we have been successful in getting her to nap twice a day and go to bed around 7PM which is what we are used to. She wakes up around 6-7AM and is napping right now at 9:25AM but was ready for a nap at 8:40AM. Jace and I need to get on baby proofing the cabinets, right now we just have all the cords and outlets covered but there is nothing toxic in any of the lower cabinets anyway so maybe it will be alright.

Well we are back from Texas and we had a great time. The girls did so well I can hardly complain (I said hardly:). We spent time with my folks in San Antonio and my BFF Shannon her DH and her wonderful twins:) We all had a really good time. The girls were great with the twins and had a blast being outside at both my mom’s and Shannon’s. Lela tastes like chicken to the mosquitoes so she got a bunch of bites and she is a scratcher too. So by the time we got home she was covered in about 10 band aids which was cute and kind of sad. Of course she is still wearing said band aids and the same barrette we put in a month ago, she no like change that gal.

Landis was a dream baby the whole trip and that was nice. The driving went surprisingly well for everyone, thank goodness for the VES (video entertainment system). I still love my minivan even more so on long trips.

Landis is crawling up a storm these days and she is never where you left her. I am not used to a mobile baby but our house is great for it because you can see every corner from just about anywhere so she is free to roam. She has some really cute interactions that we have to get on video to share.

We are all recovering from the trip so I haven’t posted much. My computer is acting up so Jason is working on that and I am using his (much to his dismay I am sure). We are getting back into the swing of things and catching up on our rest which is good since it is 110 outside. But it feels better than Austin did to me which is a little bit of a surprise. I guess I like dry to humid or at least it is what I am used to these days.

Well, it started with Lela… seems to have landed a glancing blow on Piper (so far) but then landed completely on Landis. What is it? The nasty-cough-runny-nose-makem-feel-puny bug. Wheee… it provides loads of entertainment, especially for parents!

It’s certainly painful for a parent when their child is sick… there’s only so much you can do and at times you just feel completely helpless. But with Piper and Lela at least you can sit down and explain things with comforting words… they can even have some relief purely by distraction (Leap pad, Doodle pad, Cat in the Hat, etc…)

But when it hits Landis… ouch. It’s terrible hearing her cough then cry because the cough just hurt her throat. And then her cry is so hoarse it makes things even worse. Poor thing.

Uber-kudos to Mystique, though, for taking care of not just Landis, but a sick Lela, a somewhat-sick (but certainly grumpy) Piper, while still managing to make wonderful meals for her goofy husband. All the while surviving on just decaf, too!

So that’s what is going on around here… a couple of sick kids. Who knows how we got sick but we like to blame it on a nearby park that we’ve nicknamed, “get-sick-quick park.” That nickname has stuck so well that Piper was even referring to it by that name when she was talking with my parents over video-Skype. I’m not sure my parents caught it, but when they asked her what she did that day she replied in a cheerful voice, “get-sick-quick park!” Cracked me up.

Landis is really trying coo and respond to your noises with her own noises. Pretty cute… especially in the mornings. Right when she wakes up she is ready for some chit-chat… she’s fussing about, stretching her arms and legs… if you lean in and give her a big smile she’ll return that favor with an even bigger smile.

This morning Piper came in when Mystique and I were cooing at Landis on our bed… first thing Piper did was make a beeline to the side of the bed and say, “Hi Landis!”

The girls have also been getting a kick out of whenever Landis looks at them, or brushes their hand while stretching, etc… We hear a lot of “Landis likes me!” and “Landis touched my arm!” It’s great because those are happy exclamations. Not like, “Piper is touching me!” “Lela is touching me!” Quite different

Yes, the wide eyed stiffy has reared its head. No not that one, Landis you dirty minded readers. Anyhoo, she is wanting to stay awake more but can’t do it without some physical help. The help she has enlisted includes the wide eyed stare with no blinking. I think she imagines toothpicks holding her eyes open, it is so funny to see. The other helper is the stiff as a board muscle reflex. Just as she feels she is starting to relax she stiffens from head to toe and all of the sudden you are breastfeeding, cuddling or rocking a piece of hard wood. When you get the wide eyed stiffy brace yourself, she is either going to let loose and scream at you or fall right asleep depending on the alignment of the moon and stars:)

We are combining the blogs!

Landis continues to grow and grow.  I have hidden my scale so that I can focus on fitness goals rather than weight loss so I don’t know what she weighs.  I think her next dr. appt is first week of Dec but will let you all know.  She still sleeps a lot and loves to be in her Moby.  I don’t think any sort of schedule or routine has emerged yet but I am not really paying that much attention.  With the girls I had to have a schedule so I would not go out of my mind but with Landis that it is not such an issue.

She has taken another bottle from Jason and doesn’t seem to have much trouble although it is not her preference.  She is starting to take a pacifier because she loves to suck.  It took me about a week of serious upchucking (from her) to realize that at night she doesn’t always want to nurse, sometimes she just wants to suck.  Since I can’t control my milk flow we finally added a pacifier:)  Duh, apparently the third child still has some tricks up their sleeve to teach her parents:)

Today Landis smiled at me about 6 times. I know it was a real smile because it was 3 in a row each time. You could almost see the thought process she was going through as she tried to smile. It was so cute. The first time it was just she and I sitting in the glider, the second time my friend Erin had dropped by and she did it again. Three in a row:) It was the cutest thing ever.