Baptism and more

We've had a lot happen in the last week and a half and I have a lot of pictures to share. We took our first overnight trip the 17th through the 19th. We stayed in Humphrey with Wendall, Elliot's brother, and shopped in Lincoln on Saturday. Landen was really good the whole weekend, Elliot and I couldn't be more lucky. We baptized Landen on Friday, so I spent most of the week trying to clean up the house. It's hard to get much done when Landen wants to eat every hour or two. The second picture is my brother, Adam, and Wendall is holding Landen. The next picture is my Dad and Landen. My cousin has a baby, Sutton, that is 5 weeks older than Landen, and that is him in the next two pictures. My Mom is holding Landen in the first of those two pictures. The next 5 picture are just some cute pictures from last week. He has been "talking" and smiling a lot lately and it has been a lot of fun to play with him. He has learned how to grab the chain hanging in his pack and play and tries to put it in mouth, but it doesn't reach. This was the first time he got a hold of it. He also loves to talk to the mirror on the swing. We found those adorable sunglasses in Target and he doesn't seem to mind them. They really help. He normally sneezes as soon as he gets in the sunlight without them, but he doesn't sneeze when he has them on.

2 months old

Not much new this week. Landen turned 2 months olds this past Saturday. The second picture is his 2 month picture. I decided to take his picture in the same place every month (every week for the first six weeks) to show how much he has grown in relation to that spot on the couch. If you look at the first post, he has really grown a lot. He does a lot of cute things right now. When he is sucking his thumb, he sometimes curls his whole body up like he thinks he is going to get something out of it. He also loves to watch our faces and he was pretty focused on Elliot's face the other night. We took Landen to the vineyard for the first time this week. We also picked our first bunch of grapes (the vines weren't supposed to produce this year, so this was a surprise). For those of you who don't know, we planted a small vineyard in Connie and Larry's (Elliot's parents) lot in town. Elliot and his dad have been making wine for two years now and have decided to grow their own grapes. So far the wine has been made from wild fruit, juice kits, or fruit that we can get in bulk. They decided the next step is a vineyard.

I've been asked by a few people if I am teaching this year. The answer is no. I decided that I wanted to stay home and enjoy every moment that I can with Landen because I know that I will never get those moments back. I might do some subbing, but right now I am dragging my feet on that. I can't stand the thought of leaving him with a babysitter right now. I have left him with Connie or my mom for a day, but that was just one day.

New skill mastered

Landen has mastered the art of rolling from his tummy to his back! You can see the progression in the pictures. It's really funny because he gets mad when he gets stuck and can't get his hips to turn over. He has also been sucking his thumb more when he gets hungry, as you can see in the first picture. He doesn't always get just his thumb, though. Sometimes it is his whole fist, and he is not very quiet when sucking. This morning I woke up to the sound of him sucking his fist or thumb over the monitor (it even woke Elliot up). He has become more and more active. Last night he managed to spin a 180 in the pack & play. Every time we checked on him, he had turned a little more until his head was at the opposite end from where I had put him. He is going to hit the ground running when he learns to walk!

7 weeks old

On Sunday we went to Norton to visit my uncle Dennis and his three youngest kids who were up visiting from Wichita. (that is my cousin Olivia holding Landen in the first picture) We spent the afternoon
at the lake. Landen didn't really like the cool lake water, so we just sat on the so-called beach in the shade of the umbrella. In the next picture, you can see how much Landen loves to sit in his baby papasan seat (it vibrates and plays music). The next picture is a little older; Landen was only 4 weeks old and could already hold his head while lying on his tummy! He also enjoys standing, especially when he can lean on grandpa. He has been smiling more, and he really grinned for daddy when we were getting ready to leave for church. The last picture is from today. He is watching the lighted star that plays music on his Baby Einstein play mat. He smiled and talked to it for quite a while this morning. I set it to motion so that when he kicked the arches over the mat, it would play a song. He really had it playing!

Meet Landen

Well, I am going to try my hand at blogging. I have so many friends and family that I don't see very often, that I thought this would be a good way for them to keep up with how Landen is growing. I don't know how often I will actually be able to post, but I will shoot for once a week, so be patient and keep checking.

Now, meet Landen. Landen Daniel Hoefs was born on June 11, 2007 (our 2 year anniversary). He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He is now 6 weeks old and we have seen a lot of changes in him since he was born. He is very good at holding his head up and is getting stronger every day. He was already trying to pick it up the day he was born! He loves to be held and cuddled, but when you put him down, he kicks his legs like he is running a marathon. He has gotten pretty wriggly and we have to be sure to hold him tight so that he doesn't squirm away from our arms. He loves being carried in the front pack carrier. He either stares at me or falls asleep while in it. I have to brag that he is already sleeping most of the night (and he started at only 6 days old)! He usually sleeps 6 hours before waking up to eat. The other nice thing is that I can just lay him down and turn off the light and he goes to sleep in a matter of minutes...without being rocked or anything! I don't think I will get this lucky with any future kids, but this is sure a nice way to start.

Pictures: birth through 6 weeks