Crazy Busy!

Sutton and Landen playing together at Sutton's birthday party








Sutton and Landen in the bathtub after the party.










11 month picture (I made the mistake of putting the same outfit on him as the 10 month picture.)








Playing with a pinwheel on a breezy afternoon.








As I mentioned in my last post, we have been busy lately. May 3rd was the Becker branding and the last one for this year. We did not stay all day because we wanted to go to Sutton's birthday party since Landen and Sutton are only 5 weeks apart in age. The following Wednesday my Mom, Landen and I went to Norton to a supper with my Grandma at her church. While we were there, Landen's temperature went up and he was not feeling very good. As I mentioned in my last post, Landen has been working on three teeth on top, so the fever was likely from teething. Another symptom of teething was a really runny nose. The runny nose drained into his throat and caused a really bad sounding cough for the past two weeks. Anyways, I had a doctor appointment the day after the supper with my Grandma, so I had the doctor examine Landen while we were there. She didn't see any infection and was sure that it was all from teething. My exam went well too. We were able to here the baby's heartbeat and it was 140 beats per minute. It is always relieving to hear the heartbeat when you can't see or feel the baby growing inside. On Friday we left with Elliot's parents to go to Atkinson to Elliot's cousin's graduation. Landen traveled pretty well. I was worried that he wouldn't sleep good in the hotel because he hadn't spent the night away from since he was six months old. He slept as good as he does at home. The only difference was that he was in the same room as us so I responded a lot quicker when he woke up...and he got to come to be with us for an hour or so until we were ready to get up. He actually didn't feel too good the whole weekend, but he was pretty good most of the time. He also took a dive off the bed in the hotel room. I think he was reaching for the alarm clock and leaned too far and fell of the bed and scrape his head on the bed side table. Once I finally got him calmed down, he was back to his playful self. I spent my first Mother's Day wrestling Landen during graduation and riding in the van for 4 hours.

We stayed home to relax last week (at least Monday - Thursday). Friday, May 16, we left my parents' house at 6am and drove to Wichita for my cousin's graduation party. We came back that night. We got back to my parents' house at 2:30am. Landen slept all the way home...we left at his bedtime. Once we got back to my parents' house, he decided that he didn't want to sleep anymore and it took me about 45 minutes to get him to go back to sleep and not start screaming when I put him down in the pack and play. Luckily, he slept in until 9am after that. After that we had a pretty quiet weekend and enjoyed the nice weather and did lots of yard work.

Other news...All three of the teeth that have been giving Landen trouble have come in...hopefully the cough goes away now. Landen also took his first step while we were in Wichita; he was trying to get the dog that was entertaining him. A few days before he stood up from the ground without help for the first time, so I knew it wouldn't be long before he tried to take a step.

Where has the time gone?

not really liking the grass, but he is getting used to it









first time on a horse; we didn't walk around because my horse was acting up a little (he hadn't been ridden in a year)







Watching for the cows with Grandma Becker








Riding Taylor's tractor after Blickenstaff's Branding (Taylor had been pushing the tractor with Landen riding...it was so cute)






Redneck playpen!!!












Finally, I got a picture of Landen standing on his own. He hasn't taken any steps yet, though.








We have been pretty busy this last two weeks. The last two weekends we have gone to some brandings. (For you city folks, we brand calves, give shots and castrate the bull calves) This is a once a year thing that I look forward to because I love gathering the cattle on my horse (and he enjoys it, too). Last year I was 7 months pregnant and didn't get to ride, so this year I was really looking forward to riding (especially since it has been a year and a half since I last had a chance to ride). I am riding with a little more caution than I would if I wasn't pregnant, but I am experienced enough that I will be fine. Other than our busy weekends, we have doing some yard work...planting flowers, tilling, and hoping the buffalo grass will finally grow. If we ever get a day when we can get away, I have been wanting to go to a greenhouse to get my veggies for my garden and some more flowers for my planters. I hope I can get this done before we get too far into May. I had my garden planted by about this time last year. Landen and I also went to Norton last week and on Tuesday this week to visit my Grandma. She was in the hospital last week (she is home now), and then Tuesday was her birthday. Landen was good for both trips.

The last couple of days, Landen has been pretty cranky because he is getting three teeth, all on top, all at once. They have been hanging out just inside the gums, but they are slow about breaking through and the last few days have been rough. On Monday I thought I felt the middle left tooth, but it was teasing and I haven't been able to feel it since. He has the middle right tooth already, and today I felt the tooth one the outside of it, so they are coming in in a strange order. I'll be glad once he is done teething because he is not dealing with it very well. This time around he has had a runny nose and even been coughing some. On top of his crankiness from teething, he has been throwing fits when we take away something he isn't supposed to play with. The other day my Mom was letting him play with a coozy cup (i don't know if i spelled that right) and he bit off a small piece, so she took it away. He screamed and cried so hard that he nearly hyperventilated. He finally got over it but he has done that other times with different things.

He also remembers things really well. Our office is right off the living room and we try to keep the door shut because there are a lot of small things that Landen could get into. The other day I did not get the door shut very tight. Landen was playing near the door and he used it to lean on as he stood up. Before he got stood up, the door popped open and he fell to his hands and knees. He was a little surprised, but excited because the door to the mysterious room was open and he was free to go in and explore! Of course that didn't last long and got him out of there and shut the door tight (and he threw a fit). Later he went over to the door and stood up and started pounding on the door. I'm sure he was thinking "I know I got this open earlier by pushing..."

Well, I didn't realize I had this much to write about. I have a feeling I may go another two weeks before posting again because we have more busy weekends coming up. This weekend is the Becker Branding. We are also going to go the North Platte to Sutton's first birthday party. Then we have two weekends of graduations. I'm looking forward to a weekend of nothing.