April 2, a special day for us

April 2, 2013 was a brutal day for us. That was the day that Landon underwent open heart surgery, his second heart surgery, at 3-1/2 months old. One year later, you would never think that this little boy had two heart surgeries already!

We are 1 year post-op now and he is going strong! We visit his cardiologist on Friday for an echo and EKG to make sure everything has progressed as expected. After that visit, Landon should be able to discontinue taking aspirin every day! We are thankful, every day, for the work the doctors and nurses did to make sure that Landon has been healthy.

At his last doctor appointment, he weighed over 24 pounds and measured around 31 inches. He is walking all over, and sometimes running. He is a great eater and isn't too picky, but he will let you know if he doesn't like something! He's a very independent child. If he can do it himself, you better not help him.

We had a beautiful weather day on Sunday, so we went to the park to swing. He is big enough now to go down the slide by himself and he thought that was great. I went down one of them with him and he laughed the whole way!

We are very blessed to have this little boy in our lives! He keeps us on our toes daily and brightens every day.

Sneaking out of the living room.

Petting the kitty. He loves Rig!

General Landon update

Landon is close to being 14 months old now! He is changing every day. It's so cool how much he can learn and how quickly he can learn it! He is very much like his dad, in that he will watch you do something and then do it himself. Sometimes it only takes him watching you do it once and he has it figured out. He likes to know how things work. Unfortunately, the poor child inherited our stubbornness, or as I like to call it, our independence. He does not want to be helped with things. When he was learning to walk, he would not let you hold him up to help him walk. He was going to do it by himself and figure it out himself.

He is walking now. For a long time he would walk along things like the coffee table or the couch. Then he started to get a little bit brave a few weeks ago and would take 2-3 steps between people. Then last week, he took off and got really comfortable and takes 10-12 steps at a time. He had a fall last week and cut his lip and required 2 stitches in it. It didn't seem to faze him. He was right back at it the next day.

He now has 8 teeth and seems to be working on others. He has four on the top and four on the bottom. He chatters a lot in his language and still really only says Mama and Dada. He also says dog, and the other day I told him to duck and he tried to say that. But that sounds a lot like dog, so.... I appreciated the effort though! I'm trying to get him to learn "bye bye" now. He still waves like crazy at everyone and flirts with all the ladies. He has taken to actually putting his head down on your shoulder to snuggle or give a hug.

I'm afraid he may have picked up on some of my obsessive compulsive tendencies. He is very particular about where his cup goes on his high chair. It belongs in the cup holder and if you put it somewhere else, he moves it back. Sorry kid.

He is still pretty skinny, but continues to grow up! He's quite tall. I'm not sure how he's so skinny. He is not a picky eater at all and eats a lot when it's time to eat. I suppose he burns it off pretty quickly since he is such a busy little guy.

The weather has been pretty nasty this winter and we haven't gotten out to go sledding at all yet. I'm hoping that maybe soon we'll be able to do that. Landon and I are heading to the circus this weekend while Nick goes to a seminar for the fire department. Hopefully he enjoys that! It's been hard to get out to do things with him. We've taken a walk in his wagon since Christmas when we had one warmer day, but otherwise, haven't been able to do much. We're starting to get a little crazy at our house, so the weather better shape up soon!

Does my child have ADD?

Last night, I decided to take some pictures of Landon while he was playing. As I'm taking some of these pictures, I'm realizing that he is playing with a lot of different toys. Enjoy his progression throughout his toys! He really did go from object to object. He almost played with all of them!

Foot stool

Shoe

Legos with a book

His dump truck and instructions

In his box

Activity walker

Back in the box, but with a police car

Big red tractor

Dump truck again

A book

Fire truck

Duplos

This was all in the course of about 35 minutes. He also played with a green tractor, but he was so quick with it, I couldn't get a picture of him with that! This is it folks! These are nights with Landon, constantly moving.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas from Landon! (Yes, I'm behind on this one too!) We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Entirely different from the one we had last year! I can tell you that it is much better to celebrate at home than in the hospital. Landon had a great time celebrating as a 1-year-old.

Santa brought Landon a wagon for Christmas. This wagon has a door, which is perfect for Landon since he has such an obsession with doors. He played with it in the house for a while after we opened presents. The weather was quite nice on Christmas Day, so we took it out in the afternoon for a stroll up and down our street. We had a slow, quiet snowfall that day and it was just awesome to be able to go out and appreciate it with Landon. Seeing him have fun in his wagon on the snow-covered street made me so happy.

First time in a wagon

Why buy presents? Just give him a box!

Or a box of candy that rattles.

"I love this door!!"

"Get in the wagon and let's go!"

Daddy's creation at Grammy and Papa Bausman's house on Christmas Eve.

Playing in the wagon on Christmas Day.

Christmas dinner

1st birthday!

Now that Landon is almost 14 months old, I thought it was time to write about his 1st birthday! We had a small party for him at the fire station. At that point he was getting into eating table food, so I attempted to have foods that he would be able to eat. Since we were at the fire station, we had a fire department themed party and some fire department-type food. I made chili, pulled pork, black cherry jigglers (cut into fire department shapes), fire department shaped sugar cookies, his cake and a cheesy bacon appetizer. We also had cheese and crackers, chips, fritos and punch. He was able to eat all of the things we had! He is a great eater and really isn't very picky.

At 1 year old, he had 7 teeth. He crawled all over, and quickly! He enjoyed playing with doors and drawers, and waving. He loved taking baths and splashing water. He is just a very happy boy!

His party was so much fun! We invited our immediate families and enjoyed spending the time with all of them and celebrating Landon's first year and all he has overcome. We feel incredibly blessed to have him with us. He became such a fascinating little boy and never ceases to amaze us.

Opening presents.

A rocking chair from Grandpa Irv and Grandma Connie

A fire truck that will spray water from Grammy and Papa Bausman

CAKE!!!

Playing with one of his new toys and his cousin Anna

"I don't want a birthday kiss Aunt Megan!"

Getting ready for Christmas

We've had a lot going on lately. On December 7th, we went to find our Christmas tree! It was Landon's first time and unfortunately it was very cold. He handled it very well and never fussed about it! We were lucky enough to have my whole family go with this year. Usually we go with my parents, but Taylor wanted to come with this year, so that included Megan also. It was great to have all of us there!

Later that afternoon, we had Landon's one-year pictures taken. They turned out great! And...he smashed his cake really well! His birthday party is this weekend, so I'm hoping for repeat performance! It's hard to believe he'll be one on the 17th!

On the 8th, we had the Fire Department kid's Christmas party. It was Nick's first and my first in about 23 years! They started the party by watching Monster's University. Landon did very well and sat and ate and played a bit during the movie. It was so nice to go and relax and spend time together as a family. We also got to spend time with our friends Jake and Kim and their son Michael. It was Landon's first time meeting Santa and he didn't seem scared of him. He seemed quite curious of who this person was. He also seemed quite possessive of his gifts! We had a great time!

Checking out Santa...

Such a ham!

Don't.Touch.My.Present.

My mom discovered a couple of days ago that Landon has his 7th tooth! He's been working on two more on the bottom for a while, so it's nice to have one of them through! Landon has been doing a lot of new things. He has learned how to clap and wave. He now says "dog" and when he says it he looks at the dogs and puts his hand up in the air. He has also learned how to push trucks along the floor. He has fallen in love with doors. He likes to open and close them. 

I was very excited for Thanksgiving because there was so much food that Landon could eat and it would be a great opportunity to see how he handled foods that are more solid than his purees. It was awesome! He ate everything that the rest of us ate! So, I've been trying some different foods as much as possible. He likes pulled pork and pot roast. They are nice soft meats for him to chew. He will eat baked beans, mashed potatoes, bread, cheese, and crackers. I find myself trying to make sure I make food that I know he can eat! I hear that tonight he will be having blueberry pancakes at Grammy and Papa's house while I'm at work and Nick is at the fire department.

We are very thankful for our sweet boy! I'm certainly looking forward to celebrating his first birthday with our families! This will be his second Christmas, but to us it's almost like his first since we weren't home for it last year. Very excited to celebrate at home this year!

Merry Christmas from Santa's Little Helper!

Halloween, leaf-jumping, and being thankful

This year we had a little giraffe at our house! Landon dressed in his cousin Taylor's 1st Halloween costume, which happens to be Grammy's favorite animal! We made several stops in our trick-or-treating extravaganza. Our first stop was at East School Park to see Papa at the fire truck. Every year the fire department sends out two fire trucks for children to trick-or-treat with firefighters. It's a great event for the fire department!

 

Our second stop was to see Grammy. Grammy had Butterfingers for the giraffe.

 

Then we went to see Grandma Connie and Grandpa Irv. They had Tootsie Rolls to share and Landon loved them!

Then we went to see Aunt Kelly and we were lucky enough to also get to see Aunt Rhonda, John, and Anna there as well! Landon's first Halloween was a blast!

 

My favorite picture from Halloween.



 

A couple weeks after Halloween, we had a leaf pile and jumped in it. Landon wasn't so sure what to think about all the leaves.

 

 

As I am writing this the week of Thanksgiving, I am thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for. I have an amazing family, immediate and extended. I don't know where we would be if we didn't have the love and support they have given us over the last 11 months. My friends are incredible and have been very understanding when I am short on time. I treasure their amazing personalities and souls. We were very lucky to work with the most incredible doctors and nurses in the first months of Landon's life. If it weren't for them, we may not still have our sweet boy with us. I am so thankful for their knowledge and courage to do what they do. I am forever indebted to them. Finally, I am thankful for the amazing gift that God gave me, Landon. He brightens my days and keeps me on my toes. I am constantly in amazement of him and how he has healed. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 11 months. The prayers, the love, the good thoughts have helped us so much. Sometimes I think that "Thank you" isn't enough. Please know how much you all mean to us and our family.

 

Landon's 1st birthday is only a few weeks away and I am having a blast planning his party! Can't wait for it!