Somewhat busy two weeks

Well, it’s been almost two weeks since I last posted. I have a couple reasons for that; one, I’m just a little lazy and two, we have been sick. Last Saturday (Feb 16) we went to Wood River (near Grand Island) to see my brother’s house that he recently bought. We also did a little shopping in GI. Landen continued to have a runny nose throughout that weekend and I started to get a sore throat Saturday afternoon. Sunday, my sore throat was really bad and I gargled salt water several times to try to get some relief, but it didn’t make me feel much better. On Monday, I noticed a white spot in my throat in addition to it being sore, so I decided to go to the doctor. As it turned out, Landen had an ear infection and I had strep throat, so we were both on antibiotics. We stayed indoors for the next two days since it was so cold. Thursday we were both tired of being cooped up so I bundled Landen up and went to the post office and the bank just so that we could get out of the house for a little while. Friday was such a nice day and we were feeling better, so we got out the stroller and went for a walk to the grocery store. Saturday night, Connie and Larry babysat while Elliot and I went to the Cattlemen banquet. It was kind of nice to get away for the evening. Monday, Landen and I went to Lincoln with Connie and Larry. Landen did not enjoy the ride. I think the cold weather was bothering his ears. He is still pulling on them every now and then, even after a week on antibiotics. On a good note, Landen is crawling on his hands and knees almost all the time now. He falls when he tries to go too fast. It looks like he trips when he falls. It’s pretty funny.
Pictures:
-Landen stands in his crib a lot now. He grabs the animals on his mobile. I should take it down, but he enjoys watching it when he is tired.
-Landen climbed the decorative ladder at Adam and Kayla’s house.
-Sitting on uncle Adam’s shoulders before we left.
-Snuggling with his stuffed elephant on the living room floor. Landen has started this thing where he will lay his head on stuffed animal or blanket and will immediately stick his thumb in his mouth.
-Examining the bottom of the TV
-Trying to climb the gate around the front door.
-Landen loves to play with this balloon. If you look close, it is also a good shot of him sticking his tongue out.
-One of Landen’s favorite games. He could be throwing a fit, but it I toss him in the air a couple of times, he will start giggling.
-Landen loves bath time so much that all I have to do is turn on the water and he will crawl from the living room to the bathroom as fast as he can. The funny thing is that when he gets to the hallway, he will peek around the corner before continuing to the bathroom, so this is a picture of him peeking around the corner looking towards the bathroom.
-After church on Sunday, Landen just about fell asleep while watching TV. After Elliot took the picture, he perked up, though. He knows the camera and tries to get it now.

8 months old!

Landen turned eight months old on Monday. I mentioned last week that he has been waking up one or two times in the night wanting to nurse, well he is still waking up and I am still not sure why. We are still thinking growth spurt, but last night I got the impression that something else is going on. I heard him whining/crying over the monitor, but it wasn't constant, it was more like short bursts. After a while, I got up to check on him, and he was sound asleep, so I came to the conclusion that he is dreaming and just crying in his sleep. I hope this doesn't last too much longer, because he is also not sleeping much during the day. Another thing that he has started doing even more now is standing in his crib. If he is not sleepy, he stands up and "yells" until I come pick him up. The last couple of days he has has a runny nose and a little cough, so this is not help the sleeping situation. On Friday last week, my Grandma came up to visit since she wasn't home when we went to Norton on Thursday. We had fun that day and Landen was happy to see her (he doesn't look thrilled in the picture above, but this was a rare moment that he was totally relaxed and content to just sit there). We also finally got some baby gates this week (see pictures above). I got tired of chasing Landen in the kitchen and pulling him away from something that I didn't want him to get into. We put another gate around the doorway to keep Landen away from the front door. The gate was much easier than trying to keep that area clean, especially on muddy days. That's all for this week.
Happy Valentines Day!

Some funny pictures

I'm a little late posting this week because Elliot ended up staying home from work on Tuesday because of the snow. Since Elliot stayed home, I took advantage of it to get some stuff done that I can't do without someone else in the house. I got so much other stuff done, I ran out of time to post. Landen is getting better at pulling himself up on things. He can pull up to standing on the coffee table with little effort now. He has even gotten brave enough to walk along one side of the coffee table. He has fallen a couple times and even hit his chin on the way down, but he gets right back up after getting a hug. He is still working on crawling with his belly off the floor. He tries, but can't get his coordination right. He does it when he is trying to go over the top of something like the diaper bag. Last week was pretty uneventful, but we had a busy weekend. Saturday we went to Kearney to watch the Lady Lopers and my cousin play basketball. It was a very good game and the Lopers won 87 - 82. Landen was very good during the game. He watched intently for most of the first half. When he started to get restless, I nursed him and he fell asleep and slept most of the second half. After the game, we did some shopping and Landen was good the whole time. We had to stop in Holdrege on the way home so that I could feed Landen. We went to my parents' house on Sunday for a Super Bowl party. Landen had plenty of entertainment and gave me a break. This week Landen has been waking up one or two times in the night and wanting to eat. I think he might be going through a growth spurt or possibly having pain from teeth. I don't know what to think about teeth, though. Since about Christmas, I thought he was getting another tooth; finally last Thursday, his second tooth came through. I hope he doesn't continue this pattern of one tooth every 4 months!

Pictures:
1 - This is Landen's "poopy face." He has a little trouble with constipation and hard poops and this is the face he makes when he is pushing. This is probably a picture that he will kill me for taking when he is older, but it is sure funny now!
2 - The other night Landen was a little restless and was not satisfied with any of his toys, so I turned on a Baby Einstein DVD. Elliot had Landen sit on his chest and it looked like Landen was doing yoga with his legs folded and the way he was holding his hands. He was pretty focused on the TV.
3 - Landen has started sticking out his tongue when he is pulling himself up on something or reaching for a toy. I was trying to get a good picture to show how long his tongue is. I think that he will be able to touch his tongue to his nose like his Grandma Becker and his Great aunt Patsy!
4 - This morning I was in my room and Landen came in to see what I was doing. He found this basket of clean clothes and climbed in! He saw the camera and posed!
5 - This evening Landen was playing on his tractor and the noticed the jack-in-the-box on the table, so he tried to get it. I just hope that he doesn't pull my violets down.