These are a few of my favorite things…

There are so many things that I love about you Landon, I could probably just go on and on. You have made my world turn upside down, backwards, forwards, and all around. You’ve made me laugh, you’ve made me cry, and you’ve made me pretty upset at times. You’ve made me worried and happy, proud and  joyful, and even sometimes a little sad. You’ve changed me as a person completely. I am no longer the person that I was before I found out that I was going to have you, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

There are so many things about you that I never want to forget. I get a huge lump in my throat and my eyes tear up just thinking about it. Don’t ask me why I’m so mushy gushy today…. your momma is just emotional tonight. (You’ll learn that about women one day. We’re all a little crazy sometimes!)

So back to the point… here are a few of my favorite things about you Landon.

#1  I love the way you hold me close at the doctor’s office. I love that I make you feel safe.

#2  I love the huge grin that you give me when you notice that I’m there to pick you up at daycare, and then you start crying if I don’t pick you up quick enough. It makes me know that you missed me.

#3  I love that you like having your belly rubbed and it puts you right to sleep. Your daddy figured that one out, and it works every time.

#4  Your laugh. It’s so infectious. It makes my heart happy.

#5  I love when you talk to me on the way to daycare. We have our own baby talk “conversations”.

#6   I love how you always try to figure things out. You like to turn your toys upside down and examine them every which way. I think you’re trying to see how it really works.

#7  I love when you shake your head no at me. It makes me giggle every time.

#8  I love the way that you “dance” when you hear a song you like on your table toy. You sway back and forth. It reminds me of Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder playing the piano.

#9  I love how you always have to have a blanket when you go to sleep. You take the blanket and ball it up all around your little face every time. It’s very sweet.

#10  And last but not least, I love seeing you with your daddy. You two have such an amazing bond. You both look alike, and sometimes even act a lot alike. He loves you so much, and I can tell that you adore him too. You want to be in his arms as soon as he comes home, and you never want him out of your sight. I love the way you look at him. I love my guys.

  

Happy 11 months Landon Riley!

Just wanted to say Happy 11 months to my baby boy! Can’t believe that in a month it’ll be a year since he was born. Wowsers!

Now that his birthday party is officially one month away, I went into party planning overdrive! Luckily, I’ve been getting a few things here and there for the past few months, but I’ve still got quite a bit to do.

Today I got the cake all picked out (it’s going to be AMAZING), bought some plates, napkins, forks, cups, and some tissue paper for some pompom décor for the party. The list just doesn’t seem to end though! I still need to get some pictures taken of him this week for his invitation, order his invites and get them sent, figure out birthday hats and favors, and so much more! I love planning this party. It’s a lot of work, but I’m so excited to be doing it!

My little baby is getting so much bigger every day. When we went to the doctor on Tuesday, he was already 22.9 lbs! Landon’s ears are starting to get better. We’ve been treating a double ear infection for several months now. If it didn’t get better this time, we were going to have to consider getting tubes in his ears. Right now, they seemed to be cleared up enough not to worry about it, but we’re still going to watch it pretty closely.

Landon is a total mess now that he can crawl. That boy loves cords and wires! Ughhhh!!! He drives this mama crazy! If there’s a cord to the computer or a lamp, he’s headed straight for it. Well actually, he heads right for anything that I don’t want him to play with. It’s like he has some kind of baby radar that lets him know what’s dangerous!

Landon’s also getting so good at eating table foods! I’m afraid he may have a sweet tooth like mommy though… he LOVES vanilla wafers! He’s been good about eating biscuits too. Oh, and he still loves him some sweet tea. He’s definitely Texan, we love our sweet tea!!!

Anyway, it’s been such an amazing 11 months. Our lives have been so blessed. Let the BIG birthday countdown begin….!!!!

Christmas Traditions

Since I have a little one, I’ve been thinking a lot about what traditions I would like to start for my family. I’m sure we’ll all open pajamas on Christmas Eve… but I also wanted to start a few of my own. Landon’s still little, but it doesn’t hurt to plan it out now. I need something to help my forgetful mind remember what I want to do! So anyway, here are a few traditions that I think I may want to have.

Tradition #1

Bake Christmas cookies and decorate with icing on Christmas Eve. (Now, I’m pretty sure I better get started on this tradition early. I don’t know how great my cookie making skills are, and I’m sure I’ll need quite a bit of practice. I think Mr. Hubby is most excited about this one.)

Tradition #2

Drinking hot chocolate and making chocolate sundaes on the evening of Christmas Eve. Then we’ll drink and eat in our Christmas jammies (Hot chocolate and ice cream… can’t get much better than that?!)

Tradition #3

In addition to opening pajamas on Christmas Eve, I’m going to buy a book for my little one(s) to open, and we’ll read our books before we go to bed.

Tradition #4

Assuming I have more children in the future, I’m going to wrap each child’s gifts in a certain type of wrapping paper. Then I’ll hide a little bit of the paper in their stocking so that they know which gift is theirs. (If Landon ends up being an only child, I’ll just wrap all of his in paper that he chooses… then I won’t have to label any gifts, which I hate doing with a passion!)

Tradition #5

On Christmas Day, we’ll eat a special Christmas breakfast! (Umm, this is assuming that I learn to cook eventually!)

Tradition #6

Drive around town and look at all of the pretty Christmas lights. (This is just a fun thing to do, and I love looking at lights!)

Tradition #7

Make reindeer food and sprinkle out on the lawn for Santa’s reindeer. (So sweet.. and just plain fun!)

 

Well that’s all I have so far! I’m sure I’ll think of more when the time gets closer. Landon won’t really understand what’s going on this year, but I can’t wait to start doing some of these things soon!

My little man can CRAWL!!!

That’s right people! Landon can finally crawl! After months and months of waiting for it to happen, it finally did,  four days before he turned 11 months. I was letting Landon play on the floor while I was preoccupied with Pinterest on my phone… and all of the sudden I looked down, and he was crawling. I was so shocked, I just sat there with my eyes glued to him! There he was, on those little hands and knees moving all around the floor.

I had a feeling it was coming. In fact, I went to Wal-mart a few days ago to get some stuff to baby-proof the house. He’s really accomplished a lot in the past week.

One of his new favorite things is getting into EVERYTHING. (And that was before he could crawl, heaven help me.)

Here he is trying to get into all of the bathroom drawers one morning while I was trying to get ready for school.

It’s always fun trying to keep him occupied! I end up just handing him random things. He loves my brushes!

That little booger always grabs whatever he’s not supposed to!

And here he is trying to pull out the baskets from the shelf. That’s one of his new favorite pastimes!

Landon has also started sitting straight up in his crib, and trying to pull himself up. The other night, we put him down in his crib, and a few minutes later he popped right back up and started laughing at us. Such a goober! Mr. Hubby and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Lately, the Vick family has been getting into the Christmas spirit. It’s definitely more fun when you have a child!

Today we took Landon to the Lufkin Mall to get a picture with Santa. I was a little nervous about how he was going to react. Especially considering the fact that he tried to swat at Santa, pull his beard, and then cried when the daycare tried to get a picture of him with Santa yesterday.

Luckily he did much better today, and even though he wouldn’t smile and looked a little concerned, he did great! He tried to touch his beard for a second, and stared and him. Talk about adorable! I’m pretty sure I’m going to treasure this picture forever.

I can’t express what a proud mommy I am today. Landon reached a new milestone, and I can’t believe how much he’s grown.

There’s no denying it… life is definitely so much sweeter with Landon in it. I love him so very much.

Christmas Lights, Parades, and Tantrums Galore!

Wow little man, it’s been a busy week! It’s always rough getting back into the swing of things after a nice break. Even you were tired!

It’s  been a very interesting week with you. You're really figuring out how to get around a lot better now.

 

            

You’re really starting to figure out how to get into anything and everything!

You are also doing some things that I’m not too happy about! I hate to say it… but you’ve been throwing some pretty bad tantrums lately. You’ve been off the chain!

This picture pretty much says it all! I’m wondering where my sweet little boy went! You don’t like being told no at all. If fact, you keep right on doing whatever your told not to do, and then you laugh in mommy’s face when she tells you no again. NOT cool little man!

You also like to throw yourself back and get mad and upset when you don’t get what you want, or when you don’t want to be put down. It’s really something else.

I’m seriously hoping that this is just one of those crazy baby phases that will pass SOON! Your daycare teachers say that all of the 10 month olds are going through it, but I kinda wonder if they’re just trying to make me feel better!!

I’m not sure what to do with you. It’s really caught me off guard that these fits are starting so soon. I just wasn’t prepared for it.

You threw one heck of a tantrum at daycare on Friday. When I walked in, you were screaming like crazy because Mrs. Brenda put you down to help another baby. You were MAD! You wouldn’t even let me hold you. Geez, talk about a temper.

Even with all of that, I still had so much fun taking you to my school’s annual Pajama Literacy Night. I just couldn’t resist showing you off to everyone! You were such a cutie too!

You sat on the floor and played with your toys, got a picture taken with Santa, and had a great time people-watching! Aunt Tamyla and Aunt Amy were even arguing over who you liked the most! It was such a fun night! I’m glad you could be there with me.

You are such a mess! Here you are sitting in your papa’s chair. I love how your looking up at him. He had what you wanted… the Ipad!

Love watching you try to get your little finger on it!

Today while I was shopping, you watched your daddy put up Christmas lights on Mia and Papa’s house.

Then, later in the evening, we headed downtown for the Lighted Christmas Parade! I was so excited about taking you because I just knew you’d love watching all of the floats.

Here we all are at the parade!

You enjoyed every minute of it! Your eyes were so focused on everything around you, and you clung onto the candy canes that people passed out to you.

What a great way to start off the Christmas festivities! Oh… and just so you know, daddy thinks you’re going to be mad at us for putting that adorable little hat on you! I think it’s so stinkin’ cute!

And the countdown begins again…

I really can’t believe that this week is over already. It seriously flew by, and I’m sad that it’s over. It was nice to relax and spend some much needed time with the family without the rush of everyday life, and the stress from work. Just three short weeks, and then we’ll be out for Christmas! Let the countdown begin!

Landon has grown so much over this Thanksgiving break. He’s way more mobile than he was just a week ago. He hasn’t started crawling, but he’s figured out how to get himself around, and get into things. I have a feeling that I better start baby-proofing the house soon!

He’s also learned how to clap this week. Clapping isn’t a completely new thing for him. He’s actually been doing it for a while now. But this week, he learned how to do it correctly! He loves patty cake, and he gets a big goofy grin on his face when I start singing it, and he excitedly claps along.

He’s also been a complete turd this week! Very aggravating, cranky, tiring, but still amazingly cute. I don’t know if he’s just not feeling well (he’s still not over his ear infection and runny nose), if he’s teething (his 3rd and 4th top teeth should be coming in soon), or if he’s just testing his limits. Getting that baby to sleep and stay asleep, changing his diaper, getting him dressed, has all been SO hard. The other day, when I took him out of the bath, he kicked his little legs back and screamed! I’m pretty sure he was throwing himself a little tantrum! He also gets mad and will throw his toys or hit his hands down. Woah! Does this baby have a temper or what?!?!

It’s so hard to not let him have his way. I guess because I’m not entirely sure if it’s just a tantrum, or if something’s wrong. I know that he’s way smarter than I probably give him credit for. He’s not a little baby anymore, and sometimes it’s so hard to remember that.

Since he refuses to lay down and take naps without a complete fight, we let him bounce himself to sleep in his jumper…  so bad.. but hey, Mr. Hubby and I were tired, and we needed some sleep too!

Even with all the fuss and frustration, I’m still sad to go back to work. I’m going to miss that mischievous little face. I’m going to miss him making loud grunting noises because he wants some of my sweet tea, and I’m going to miss those sweet naps when he falls asleep on my chest in the middle of the afternoon.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… I spent part of the evening wrapping up Landon’s Christmas presents this evening. I can’t believe that it’s less than a month away. Twenty days and counting!

Pumpkins, Fall, Halloween, and 9 months old!

Landon’s 9th month was soooo much fun! So much seemed to happen!

Here’s a picture of Landon on the day that he turned 9 months old. I love this little monster!

Landon’s smile melts my heart. I’m so lucky to have him in my life!!!!

Landon still wasn’t pulling up on anything, but he was able to stand and lean on things without support! Just a week or two before, he’d wobble and stick his little booty out. He got good at standing fast! Daddy and I were so proud!

One thing that I knew I wanted to do with Landon was take him to a pumpkin patch for pictures!!! My mother in law and I headed over to the Christ Episcopal Pumpkin Patch for a photo shoot. We got some pretty cute shots of Landon. He was in a great mood!

Look at this little booger standing! This is my favorite picture.

Landon with his pumpkin pail that his Mia made him.

Then some mommy and baby pics.

Mr. Hubby says that this is his favorite pic of us.

Mr. Hubby and I also got to pick out Landon’s Halloween costume! There were SO many adorable ones that it was really hard to choose! We had them narrowed down to a few, and I decided to let Mr. Hubby make the final decision. He chose the dragon costume, and I ordered it right away. When we first put Landon in his costume, he wouldn’t move his head at all with that hood on. He’d only move his eyes. It was so funny. It was a little big, but it’d work.

The daycare was having a costume contest one day, and all of the babies and kids came to school in their costumes. I was able to take off of work to go. I just couldn’t miss his first contest!

Landon was excited to see me when I came to the daycare, and seemed to be in a great mood, even in his costume. If only they would have started on time…. because I think he got a little tired of being in that thing after a while!

Now I have a mommy confession. I was totally checkin out those other babies and sizing up Landon’s competition. Is it awful that I was secretly saying “PICK LANDON! Come on!!! Win!!!” ?!?!

But hey… I always think he’s cutest. I’m his mommy after all. So finally they announced the winner, and of course… it was LANDON!!! WOOO! (I knew he’d win!)

Landon, on the other hand, was not too excited about it by that point. His nose was runny, and he wanted that thing off!

He won a little prize for winning, a toy car, and a plastic book.

We also headed back to the pumpkin patch for some pics with my friend Sarah and her baby Mason.

I just love these boys! I know they’ll be best buds.

Mr. Hubby and I had tried taking Landon to Scare on the Square downtown the weekend before Halloween. It’s a fun little event where everyone comes dressed in their costumes. There’s food, games, and even a petting zoo. Unfortunately Landon was teething. Those top two teeth were trying to make an appearance, and Landon just wasn’t feeling too hot. We went for just a bit. I knew he’d love looking at everything. He’s a people watcher. After a quick run through, we left. Maybe next year he’ll be able to enjoy it!

When Halloween came around,  I dressed Landon in a little Halloween shirt for daycare.

Since he’s a little young to trick or treat, we made plans to visit the Gayler’s (Sarah, Murphey, and baby Mason) and hang out. Before we left, we took a family picture.

Then off we went to help pass out candy at the Gayler’s. Mason was all dressed up in his pumpkin costume. I didn’t want to bother putting on Landon’s huge costume. Maybe next year!!!

So that was Landon’s very first Halloween. Lots of fun, but I bet next year will be even better!

This month, I took Landon on a little date. We went to hang out with some friends at his first Ladyjack Basketball game. I was a little worried about how he was going to react to all the loud noises. He HATES anything loud. It makes him upset and he usually cries. He hasn’t always been like that… just started happening these past few months. But he really did great! I had such an awesome time with my little man!

If you notice, Landon’s shirt is all wet. Well its not drool this time! I tried giving Landon a little water out of a regular cup to see what he’d do. And oh boy, did I create a monster! He LOVES drinking from cups like a big boy! We’re just not that good at it yet.

We also went and watched Mr. Hubby play soccer for the first time. Landon absolutely loved being outside and spent the game picking pieces of grass and playing in the dirt!

This is how Landon watches Sunday football! Cutie!!!

Last but not least, we took Landon to the zoo for the very first time. It was an unusually warm Sunday afternoon, and perfect weather. Landon was more interested in the people than the animals, but we still had fun, and even rode the train!

I think he had a great day at the zoo!

Here are some more random pics for Landon’s 9th month!!! Enjoy!