WOW!!!

Ok, Landen really surprised me tonight while I was getting his bath ready. I put him in his crib so that I could fill the tub. When I went to get him undressed, I found him as you can see in the pictures. He has pulled himself up to the coffee table to get something that caught his attention, but he falls back right away. He stayed on the crib rail for a long time and could have stayed longer if I hadn't picked him up. I guess I will be lowering the mattress sooner than I thought. You can see in the picture that his is on his knees; I wonder how long it will be before he figures out how to stand!!!

We are going to the doctor on Thursday, so I will post again sometime after Thursday.

Crawl, baby, crawl!!!

Here is a short video of Landen crawling on the kitchen floor. Surprisingly, he is also this fast on carpet! I really have to watch him close now because he can get across the living room in a matter of seconds. I have to constantly pull him away from the TV, front door and other things that I don't want him messing with. He is learning to stop or slow down when I say his name, though!

Happy New Year!

Landen has learned yet another skill starting last Friday. He is crawling now! It is actually more of an inch worm type crawl. With his belly on the floor, he pulls his knees under him, reaches his arms out as far as they will go then pulls with his arms and pushes with his legs at the same time to scoot himself forward. It is pretty funny to watch. He is also surprisingly fast. We spent Friday night with the Hoefs' family for Christmas. Elliot's cousin Erin has triplets (second picture: Xander, Will and Grace) that we actually got to see for the second time in less than a month. It was a nice quiet night compared to the other Christmases that we had. Saturday Elliot and I decided to got to Kearney at the last minute to do a little after Christmas shopping. It was a quick trip, but it was fun. Sunday was relaxed. Monday night we went to a New Year's Eve party at a friends house. Landen was pretty good even though it was very noisy. In the 3rd picture, Landen is playing with noise maker at midnight. He was very tired, but he wouldn't nurse or fall asleep. We all slept late the next morning. Tuesday, once we got up and around, we took down all of the Christmas decorations. Today I took Landen for a sled ride around the yard (last picture). He loved it. He was giggling at the neighbor's dogs when they would bark. The last couple of days, Landen has been cranky. I think it is a combination of teething (no new teeth yet), the crazy holidays with messed up schedules, and separation anxiety. He screams if I set him on the living room floor surrounded by toys, then go to the kitchen for something.

The first picture, Landen is surrounded by all of his new John Deere toys and wearing his new JD shirt and socks.
4th pic: Landen crawled under the coffee table

Merry Christmas

We had a busy two weeks. The 14th and 15th we went to Lincoln to do our Christmas shopping. Then the following Monday, Landen got his 6 month shot. I had the nurse weigh and measure him, and he has grown a lot in the last month. He now weighs 17# 12oz and is 26 3/4 in. long. The rest of the week, I worked on making my Christmas candy. Friday we went to Pierce to have Christmas with Elliot's family. The fifth picture is Elliot's uncle Jack and Landen in their red jumpsuits. The sixth is a 5 generation picture. Myrtle, Landen's great-great-grandma, was sure excited to meet him. We came home on Sunday and we weren't home long before we went to visit some friends who were up visiting from Texas. On Monday we went to Becker Christmas. It was pretty crazy with 4 babies there. With all of the commotion, Landen was not happy. He is not used to loud, crowed places. Then Tuesday, we went to my grandma's house for Christmas Day.
Pictures: 1- Landen pushing up onto his knees - Christmas Eve; 2- The four babies: My dad is holding Bryson, Justina is holding Braiton, I am holding a cranky Landen, and my mom is holding Sutton. (Justina is my cousin and is an aunt to the twins and Sutton); 3- Landen and Sutton playing and talking; 4- Landen sitting on his John Deere tractor that Grandma and Grandpa Becker gave him; 5 & 6 described above; 7- Landen with his presents from us; 8- Landen is checking out Bryson 9- Sutton and Landen in their Santa suits.

6 months old!

I can't hardly believe that Landen is 6 months old already. We had another busy week. Last Wednesday was my birthday, so we went to Beaver City to have supper with my parents. On Saturday, we went to Beaver City again so that Landen could see Santa Clause. I managed to leave the house without my camera, luckily my mom had her camera. We couldn't get Landen to smile while sitting on Santa's lap, but the picture we got was better than if he was looking at us with a smile. Since we got such a pretty snow, I decided to take some pictures of Landen wearing his snow suit in the snow. Then Elliot had the idea to make a snow angel. It turned out pretty cute! The second picture is Landen's six month picture in the same place on the couch that we take his picture every month. He doesn't look so tiny in that spot anymore. The fourth picture is my dad holding Landen. Landen loves to grab glasses; he has even bent Elliot's glasses. We were lucky to get a picture of Landen smiling while my dad is holding him. Lately Landen has been crying when my dad holds him. He doesn't see my dad very often, so he doesn't really know him. Landen is also starting to get separation anxiety (which could explain why he cries when my dad holds him). He will sometimes starts screaming if I leave him in the living room while I go to another room. It is very difficult to get anything done around the house when he does that. Speaking of screaming...that's all for today.

Landen's laugh

I managed to get Landen's laugh on video. I mentioned it in the previous posting, so be sure to read it. The video is 45 seconds (I was feeding him lunch, so he has peas and carrots all over his face).

Baby on the move!

Landen has discovered that he can go places when he really wants to. He mostly rolls to get around, but if a toy is just out of his reach, he has figured out a way to get it. When he is on his tummy, he will rock himself back and forth and reach until he has scooted enough to reach his toy. It is pretty funny to watch. The first time that Elliot saw him do this, he was worried that Landen was upset that he couldn't reach the toy, so he moved it closer. I told him that Landen is actually learning by struggling to get it and to let him try until he either gets it or gets pissed. The next time, Elliot was surprised when Landen was able to get his toy. Since then, we have seen him move around a lot more easily. He also spins on his tummy to get toys or to look at something. It won't be long and I will probably be finding him in some odd places. I think I might need to get a baby gate soon. Landen is still loving the new perspective he gets while sitting up. He loves to sit and stare a the TV or the Christmas tree. He has also discovered that he can throw his toys. The first few times it surprised him when it went so far. He just looks at me with a puzzled look on his face like he is asking "what happened?" He is starting to giggle when he gets tickled. He also laughs at the TV when we watch Sesame Street. It is hard to describe his laugh. It is like a half giggle with a big grin (that doesn't do it justice). I need to try to get a video of it, but he usually stops as soon as I hold up the camera.

Pictures: 1 - Landen fell asleep in the high chair while I was eating my lunch (he had already eaten); 2 - If I were to put a thought bubble on this picture it would say, "I see it, now how do I get it?"; 3 & 4 - Landen is showing off his Santa suit; 5 - Landen is fascinated by the lights on the tree. You can't really tell, but the room is dark except for the lights on the tree.