Madisyn and Ethan

This weekend we spent Saturday on the Muskegon River with our friends Doug, Patty and Ethan. It was part of an all day fundraising event through Action Water Sports called Splash for Cancer. Madisyn and Ethan had a blast and were able to go tubing and Rob got to try out Doug's new wakesurf board. We had a fantastic time relaxing and catching up with them!




The kids also got to play at the cottage together since Ethan's grandparents have a cottage next to Rob's parents. Two-year olds are so much fun to watch play together (sometimes more like side-by-side) :)

Rolling

Big pimpin'

It's completely unbelievable to me that Landon is going to be four months old this coming Monday! He is looking more and more like Rob everyday :) I think I've mentioned this before, but he is doing immeasurably better regarding the reflux. He still spits-up after every feeding (full size towels work great for burp clothes), but he doesn't seem to be in any pain, which is all we're concerned about. Happy Landon = Happy family! He's at the wonderful stage where all you need to do is look at him and he smiles from ear to ear and then babbles away.



I'm pretty sure he loves the new seat from Grandma Dykema!

He's been sleeping absolutely wonderfully and is now on a great schedule. He eats at approximately 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm, and sleeps from about 8:30 pm - 6:30 am (and naps between each feeding - yes, four naps, usually only an hour to an hour and a half each). He's definitely growing (as can be witnessed from his cute chubby thighs :) ).



Just over a week ago, Madisyn got Nursemaid Elbow. It was really incredible the amount of pain that she was in and yet as soon as the doctor "fixed" it, she was using her arm like nothing had ever happened! (and then she got Dora ice cream... ah the power of ice cream) Her latest and greatest is opening round doorknobs. Like the Miss Obvious that she is, she came in our bedroom the other day and said, "Mommy, I'm opening doors." :) God bless whoever came up with the plastic safety doorknob covers!

4th of July

We spent this past Tuesday through Sunday at the cottage. It was a wonderful time to relax, be outside, have some fun and spend time with family. There were tons of kids at both neighbors, which was a blast for Madisyn! Most days she spent all day in the water. A couple of weekends ago she got her first Seadoo ride and this past weekend she got her first tubing ride. She did great, even wanted Papa to go faster! We actually got going a lot faster than I thought she'd like.



Meanwhile Landon has been getting very strong! He rolled over for the first time on the 7th and has several times since then. One night at the cottage he even slept nine hours! I think he's finally getting more consistent with his sleeping patterns. Or at least we hope :)




Oh yeah... one little piece of bad news. I managed to sprain my ankle for the third time since Landon was born. It happened during my six mile run a week and a half ago, while I was still a mile and a half out! It's still slightly swollen and hurts :( I'm going to try to tape it the way the trainers in college did so that I can get running sooner rather than later. I think for a while, I'll try to stay closer to home when I'm running ;)

Work...

(We're on the 7th floor)

This week has been quite a whirlwind! It's been nice to get out of the house, challenge my mind and get adult interaction. As you can guess, I miss the kids tremendously! I typically call home 3-4 times, just to see how things are going and to talk to Madisyn. It's so sweet to hear her say, "Mommy, you come home?" or "Mommy, you at work?" And she always love to tell me about all the cool things she's been doing with the grandma's.

Luckily Landon has been doing extremely well during the nights. Most nights he slept for a good seven hour stretch. Now we just need to work on that coordinating with our sleep.

Overall, things are going great! We're tired, but hopefully after a few weeks we'll be better adjusted (or we'll figure out that we really need to go to bed earlier!). This week was also my first week of training for the GR half marathon or marathon (yet to be decided). I'm following Hal Higdon's 18 week training schedule (even though I've run a couple marathons, it's been so long that I feel like I'm starting all over again). So maybe that's contributing to the exhaustion :)

Pure Joy!

One of Landon's first experiences in the exersaucer!


He was trying despritely to get that butterfly in his mouth!


A picture says a million words!

In two days Landon will be three months old already! He still has his ups and downs, but in general is doing very well. He's been sleeping an average long stretch of 6-7 hours per night except when he wakes up with terrible gas. We're trying something new AGAIN... a formula for fussiness, gas and spit-up. Rob's hesitant to think that anything is going to help, but I'm willing to try. I'm not ready to give up nursing, but if this helps, I think I'll slowly start to incorporate nursing again and see if we can find a happy medium.

Monday I start back to work, still three days/week. The kids will be staying home with the grandma's, except for one day that Madisyn will go to daycare. I am SO grateful that the grandma's are willing to help out this summer because I don't think I'm ready to start Landon in daycare.

I have mixed feelings on returning to work. On one hand I think it will be a great "break" from the exhausting days with both kids. On the other hand, I will dearly miss my time with Landon (and the naps I still despritely need). I'm not worried about Madisyn because I know how much she loves time with her Grandma's. It will be an adjustment, but I recall it being a smooth one after Madisyn, so I'm hoping for the best!

Speaking of...

4 days old


2 months old


3 months old (I can't believe Landon's almost this old!)


4 months old


5 months (after pulling her hair up while it was wet, then taking it out for bedtime)


1st birthday

In response to the comments to our last post, I didn't realize until recently how rare the amount of hair that Madisyn had really was. Sure, I knew she had a lot of hair, more than most kids... but even comparing her to Landon, there's no comparison! Not to mention, I gave her haircuts regularly (because she kept on growing a mullet). Her first was at three weeks (and I didn't even take pictures, it seemed so normal).


I actually gave Landon a haircut about a week ago (against Rob's will). He was losing that ring around his head, so he had a chunk of long hair near his neck and then had a huge bald spot all the way around his head until the top. I think it looks better now :)

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy and Madisyn 3 days old


Daddy and Madisyn 6 months old


Daddy and Landon 5 weeks old

Today Rob was able to go to the NASCAR race at MIS with Brad and Dan, so we celebrated Father's Day yesterday. Although I think the race was kind of the icing on the cake, since he deserves some fun (maybe a little too much fun ;) ) and relaxation after the emotional ups and downs of the past three months :)

I can't believe that it was Rob's third Father's Day already! Where has time gone? Madisyn has typically gotten him some sort of cute "daddy" gift... like a mug with her picture on it, outfits that say "I Love Daddy" or "Daddy Loves Me." You know, the pretty typical Father's Day gifts. This year was different though. Landon wasn't all about the typical present, and since it was his first Father's Day, he won. He chose to get Rob this edger:

I think Landon did a pretty dang good job (for being less than three months old). Rob used it within about an hour!

Thank you Honey, for being a wonderful husband and amazing father! Everyday I feel so blessed to have you in my life. I love you!

Nigh-night video

What kind of mother have I become? Today I found myself bribing Madisyn to finish her hot dog before she could eat her Light and Fit yogurt (when a couple of months ago I wouldn't have even let her eat hot dogs). Then she wanted to take a nap. I was trying to get her to stay up and finally told her that she could go to bed once Wonder Pets were all done (thus her repeating to me that the Wonder Pets were "all done" in the video). We rarely even let her watch TV, and now I'm bribing her with it??? I thought about the whole situation after the fact and just laughed :)

Broccoli