Unsweetened Applesauce: No Explanation Needed

Landon: One Half of One Year

Landon boy is 6 months. This may have been the fastest 6 months of my life.

But, oh my, how I love him. He continues to be a wonderfully calming influence. I about die every time his face lights up with a smile for me and am constantly kissing his chubby cheeks and pudgy feet.

He has two teeth and only had a few bumps en route to growing them. He's working on more (Ah, the wonderful time of life when anything can be blamed on teething!), much to my chagrin. I keep thinking he's much too young to have teeth and to eat 3 meals a day and to be outgrowing his car seat. He's siting up for a minute or so and rolls freely now. He is demanding more attention and is starting the phase where he hates when he cannot see me, and heaven forbid I walk past without picking him up. He's sleeping great at night (11-12 hrs) but started sucking at naps again. Surprisingly, he's turning out to be a stomach sleeper. 

During the past month he's begun to play favorites with the toys he prefers to slobber on, was introduced to the exersaucer and the jumper and loves both, and has started to protest with every attempt to buckle him in the car seat. 

 

His least favorite thing in the world? Having his face wiped after meals. He pretty much loves the rest of life, or at least doesn't complain loudly about the parts he dislikes.

So, to sum it all up, he's doing what most 6-month-old babies are doing. Oh, but have I mentioned he loves his toes?

The doctor pronounced him healthy and adorable. The nurse hated to poke his sweet thunder thighs, but Landon hardly cried at all. (Which cannot be said about his brother and the flu shot he received! Though Devin will tell you he was the brave one and that Landon cried and cried.) Landon's stats this time around are:

Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz (75th percentile)

Height: 26.75 inches (75th percentile)

We continue to count our blessings that this little man came into our lives and cannot imagine our family without him. 

Golden Gate Park

We met up with Michelle, Andrew, and Addy last week for lunch and a playdate at the Golden Gate Park. It was a fun outing, though I must remember that even when weather.com says it's going to be 70 degrees, it never is once you get close to the ocean! Landon had to wear an extra pair of Addy's pants since the extra outfit I packed was another shorts one. 

Of course I only took pictures once, but at least I got all three kids.  (After I typed this I totally remembered there were 4 kids there that day. Awesome mom award!)

 There was a really cool cement slide that Andrew was a crazy man on. Devin wanted to join, until he got the top and started down. Then he stopped himself and cried until I helped him climb down the rest of the way. It was a nice park and a great day with friends!

Labor Day Weekend: Crater Lake, OR

***This is going to be LONG.***

We headed to Crater Lake for Labor Day weekend. The lake is BEAUTIFUL. Everyone should go there to experience the crazy blueness of the lake and the gorgeous views. The weather was super nice, though almost freezing at night, and it was so much fun to have a little family time away. 

 

That being said, camping with a toddler is a MUCH dirtier experience than I ever imagined. Devin was filthy in 5 minutes flats and ate most of his meals with ebony hands because even with wiping them before eating, 2 seconds later he would touch something. Dirt is totally extra fiber when you're camping though. 

 Landon was as chill as ever the whole trip, excepting two of the nights. Those nights he cried his way into co-sleeping and nursing more times in the night than ever before in his whole life, counting when he was a newborn. But, we all survived and we still love him and think he's the most adorable camper.

 We took a boat tour of the lake on Saturday morning, and I am really glad we decided to do this. It was really interesting to hear the history of the lake and to get some up-close views.

 

The picture below showing two different colors of water is a poor representation of the coolness that is the lake. There are two colors because where the greenish blue ends, there's a cliff, making the water brighter blue (probably not as awesome if you weren't there to experience it!). 

 

The kids did great on the boat. I was super nervous about how they would do, but they're great, so I don't know why I worried, though Devin did tell us he had a potty emergency about 10 minutes in, but he ended up surviving. Landon was done by the last 10 minutes, but even this was not too bad since he slept the first hour.

 The worst part of the weekend was the hike back up. But the best part of the weekend was taking a nap after said hike, so it all evened out. Here's the long version of the hike, though I'm sure I'll never forget this adventure! (I don't know how to make the font look normal. I copied and pasted parts from a talk I gave in church. Because almost dying while hiking makes a great analogy for church talks.)

For those who don’t know, Crater Lake was created when a volcano collapsed on itself creating a crater that then filled with water. And it’s a pretty deep crater, meaning the trail down to the lake descends really steeply. When you book the boat tour tickets they tell you that the hike back up is very strenuous and is the equivalent to climbing 70 flights of stairs. The concluding thought from the ranger guide from the boat warned us about the hike back up by saying, “Enjoy the 10-mile hike back up. They told you this right? The hike down is 1 mile but the way back up is 10.”

 

After some lunch and an attempt at fishing, we started our “10-mile” hike back up. We can blame a lot of the struggle on the higher elevation, and that nice, soft, ashy dirt that pulled us back a few inches with every step, but the real problem was the extra baby weight I am still carrying around, and the actual baby strapped to the front of me. Devin was on Rich’s back, and I had the backpack with water and food on my back and Landon on the front. We had to stop a lot, which prompted “why” questions from Devin about “Why are we stopping?” or “Why are we stopping again?” I made it only about halfway before Rich had to carry both children, Devin on the back, Landon on the front. The most wonderful part of the hike (I'm being serious, not sarcastic) was Devin singing the entire way up the trail. His song of choice was the fourth article of faith. He did sprinkle in “I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” and a song about speckled frogs, but mostly he preached the the word of God by sharing the first principles and ordinances of the gospel with those we met along the trail. It was a rough hike up, but we made it. And I still say the boat tour was totally worth those brief moments where I thought I might pass out or that I would never, ever make it back to the top.

Too bad Landon isn't looking at the camera because this is a priceless family moment. Since they won't remember that time we almost died hiking, this picture is proof we have that we made it back to the car!

Devin thought roasting hot dogs was one of the coolest things ever and was overjoyed at the prospect of having free reign of the marshmallows. We tried the Pinterest craze of sugar cones in the fire, and I was disappointed. I'll stick to banana boats from now on.

 I bought a tracing pad from the dollar store and Devin took right to it and sat still for longer than the rest of the weekend combined working on his "school work" or "paperwork."

On Sunday Grandma and Grandpa Downing joined us for the camping fun! We met them at Plaikini Falls and enjoyed a beautiful hike together.

We were so glad Grandma and Grandpa could join us and meet Landon for the first time. And, let's be honest, breaking down camp with two other adults there to occupy Devin was heaven-sent! Devin totally scored with the grandparents and their thoughtful gifts--the excavator from Grandpa about made the boy giddy.

Devin also thought it was super cool to shave Grandpa's face, though Grandpa got an extra-special shave thanks to him.

On Monday we did a short hike through the wildflower meadow. It was a nice hike, but, sadly, there weren't any wildflowers left. I imagine in the spring/early summer this is the place to be.

This is how Landon felt about most hikes:

All in all it was a wonderful weekend with gorgeous scenery. We're so glad we decided to make the drive up to check this destination off Rich's bucket list.

Laughing for Devin

Landon absolutely loves Devin. Devin can get him to laugh more than any of us. Landon prefers to look at Devin over any of us. And whenever Landon starts to get fussy (especially in the car), Devin makes sure to sing to him, as Devin, more than any of us, cannot stand to hear Landon cry.

Seriously, as happy a kid as Landon is, he doesn't chuckle very often. But when Devin is involved, laughter is sure to follow. I just can't get enough of them interacting and am loving that Devin is getting more and more interested and excited about talking to and playing with Landon. (I made no attempt to edit this video's length. Landon's chuckle is just too cute to cut.)

This picture was taken 30 seconds after the video ended.
There was no animation left for the Mama!

Middle-Named

I'm way behind on all the posts I need to finish up, but I had to write the following "Devin-ism" down while it was fresh on my mind. My future self will thank me.

Devin was eating lunch and wanted my attention, which I was instead giving to some mail. He kept saying "Mama, Mama" on repeat. Finally, he used his really loud voice to say,
"Mama Richard, listen to me!"

I couldn't help laughing and asked if he just middle-named me. He looked genuinely surprised to learn that this was not my middle name! Is not everyone's middle name Richard? Clearly he gets middle-named a lot. He also gets told to listen a lot. A LOT.

Landon's First Tooth

My suspicions of two teeth arriving proved to be correct. Landon's first tooth popped through our first morning of camping. We just woke up to the freezing morning air to find a tiny tooth peeking through when he gave us his adorable Landon smile. (Ironically this is the night he slept the best, and the next two nights were co-sleeping events!) The second tooth is well on its way, and I expect to see it any day--I'm even suspecting the two top teeth are trying to make their way down as well. I really feel like he's much too young to be growing things like teeth. 

He's getting too big too fast!

If you look close, you can see that well-documented baby tooth glistening in the camera flash.

Landon Rolls!

Landon can now roll both ways. 

 

Took him a bit to learn how to get his chubby arm out of the way, but he did it.  

 

This is how he felt about his accomplishment.

 Because, ya know, he hates being on his tummy :)

Puzzle King

Devin is quite the puzzler. He loves puzzles and does them over and over. He's moved on to doing some jigsaw-type puzzles and really enjoys them. Marinda let us borrow her giant dinosaur puzzle, and, as Devin says, "That is a pretty cool dinosaur puzzle."

After doing this puzzle at least 3 times a day every day for the first 2 weeks of having it, Devin can now do it all by himself. The little grin on his face after completing the puzzle is adorable, and he's so proud of himself. 

After doing the puzzle all by himself for the third time today I asked him if he was using the brains in his head to do the puzzle. His answer: "No I didn't. I just used my arms." Newsflash: He's kind of a literal child.