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.

Look at me climb!

We have a climber! In the past week, Landen has been pulling himself up on anything that he can get a hold of. If he can, he pulls himself on top and over it. He has been trying to crawl with his belly off the floor. He gets up on his knees, but doesn't really know how to move once he gets there, so he falls to his belly to move. Also this past week, he has started waving bye-bye, just not every time we want him to. He gives fives now (unless he is distracted by something). He also learned how to give raspberries on my cheek. Now that I think about it, he learned a lot this week!

Pictures:
1 - Landen pulled up on the TV stand. He kind of got stuck once he got in that position.
2 - He used the table to pull up to his knees, then proceeded to crawl through.
3 - He was trying to get my hand and crawled on top of my sewing box.
4-6 This actually started out with Landen pulling up to his knees on the basket of books. He then shuffled around to get something on the coffee table. As I moved it away, he just worked harder at reaching it. He stood on his tip toes for a little while and then discovered that if he put his knee in the basket he could reach a little farther. Then with a little work, he got both feet in the basket which is how he got on top of the table. Then the thing he was after fell to the floor and he tried the get it. Right after I snapped the picture, I stood up and grabbed his ankle just before he fell on his head. This kid is fearless!

My little musician!

Landen found a return air vent this afternoon and discovered that it would make noise if he ran his fingers over it. He was occupied for about 20 minutes. I was afraid that his fingers would be sore afterward. They were just dirty! I think that he is going to be a musician.

Funny boy!

Landen is back to himself this week. He is moving faster and getting into more every day. He explores everywhere he can go. He crawls into the kitchen (even when I am not in there), then through the kitchen to the back doorway/laundry room. On his way there, he will stop to chew on the high chair, examine the rugs/stove/drawer knobs/baskets or anything that catches his attention. The whole time he will make a high pitched "huh" sound as if he is saying, "Mom, are you watching me attempt to go somewhere or do something that I am not supposed to do?" It is really funny when he makes that sound when he is headed for the front door and I say, "Landen, NO." He stops for a short time, says "huh, huh," and then moves even faster to the linoleum before I get there to move him away from the cold doorway. Of course, he screams or cries because he has found the springy door stopper to be fun to play with or chew on. Landen loves to crawl through things. A couple weeks ago I posted a picture of him crawling through the legs of the coffee table. Now, he crawls through, turns around and crawls through again. This keeps him entertained for a while because he has to stop and slap the piece of slate which rocks a little if he hits it just right. Today, he crawled into the bottom part of his activity center (see picture above). Later when I was finishing my supper, he crawled into the kitchen and went between the chair I was sitting in and the wall. He spotted a couple of pop boxes in the corner and went right to them. The 7-up box was open and he wasted no time getting a can out of the box. He loves to chew on cold pop cans, so he started playing with it. Then it rolled under the table, and he chased it down. I watched the whole time, and couldn't resist taking a picture of him playing with a pop can under the table (see picture above).

The first picture is one from Christmas that I accidentally overlooked when I posted Christmas pictures. These are all of the Wragge Great-grandkids (Elliot's side). The second picture is a funny one after a bath one night. Landen was really wiggly and wound up and he kept rolling over on the changing table, so I thought I would take the opportunity to take a cute picture.

7 months

Landen turned seven months old on Friday. I took him to the doctor for his 7 month check up on Thursday. He weighs 17# 8oz, and is 27 1/4 in tall. He didn't gain and weight but he grew a half inch. Thursday after we were at the doctor, he started getting crabby. I thought it was just because he missed his nap. I had to cut my visit with my grandma short because his was not happy. When we got home, we both laid down for a nap (I had an upset stomach from lunch). When Landen woke up, he had a temp of 100.9. I expected to be up with him throughout the night, but he slept all night. Friday and Saturday he was fine. Sunday Landen and I both came down with a cold... stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing. Sunday night I heard Landen coughing during the night, but I didn't have to get up with him. Last night was a different story. He was in bed for an hour, then woke up coughing and congested. Elliot tried rocking him back to sleep, but he just wouldn't relax, so I had to get up to help. I had to call the hospital for advice because I had already tried everything (cold/cough medicine, vaporizer with vicks, one end of the mattress raised, vicks baby rub on chest back and feet). They told me to sit with him in the bathroom with the shower running to loosen the mucus in his sinuses. Then bundle him up and take him outside for a short time to stop the coughing. After trying those tricks and more medicine at 2:40 am, I finally got him to nurse to sleep. I continued to hold him until 4:00 am because the other times I tried to lay him down, he started crying. He finally stayed asleep until 8:30. Today, he was still crawling all over, so he felt better. He even took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. He seemed a little plugged up when I put him to bed tonight, hopefully he sleeps better. (I need the rest!)
Pictures:
1 - 7 month pic in the same spot on the couch that I take every month to show how big he is getting. I get him to smile like that by squeaking his rubber duck. If you got our Christmas card, that is what we used to get that grin.
2 - Landen crawled in the kitchen and was reaching for a butter dish on the bottom shelf. I had to clear that shelf because it was impossible to try to keep him out of it. Now I just put toys there to entertain him while I am in the kitchen.
3 - Landen LOVES the TV remote. He will dive out of our arms to get it. I try to distract him with toys, but he would rather have the remote.