Daddy showing Landon the moves

Smiley boy!

These are the FIRST pictures where I've captured Landon when he was smiling for real. These were taken on his 2 month birthday. I was getting ready to get him out of his swing and when I started talking to him he responded with big grins. I quickly grabbed the camera and this is what I caught. Also, here's his 1 and 2 month pictures with his bear. I think you'll know which is which by how much he's grown and changed!!

2 month check up

We had Landon's 2 month check up with our pediatrician last Friday. He weighed in at 11 pounds 13 ounces (54th percentile) and is 21 and 3/4 inches long (11th percentile!). His head circumference is now 15 and 3/4 inches (51st percentile). So, as you can see, he's a shorty just like his Momma. I just hope and pray that he has his Daddy's stature as he grows up. :-) Dr. Harrington said he is VERY healthy. He showed off for her when she put him on his tummy by holding his head high and pushing up with his arms and upper body. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that! We did find out Dr. Harrington is from Boston, which Scott found really cool. :-) We were talking about television not being good for babies and she was telling us the reasons why. She and Scott agreed that the only time T.V. is ok for Landon right now is if the Red Sox are on. She's GREAT and we're very thankful to our friends Dana and Bobbi for the referral! Here are a few photo's from our time at the doctor.

Bathtime

Landon out grew his "bath hammock" and is now just in the baby tub. He actually started to enjoy bathtime last week. We were able to get through the bath, lotioning and massage without any fussing! That was kind of a big deal. ;-) Here are a few of my favorite bath pictures....so far.

Father's Day

Here are a few pictures from Scott's first Father's day. I did my best to make his day special and I think he enjoyed it. We celebrated with his dad Saturday then had brunch with my Dad, Shannon and the twins Sunday morning. There was a lot of relaxing later in the day too!

Playdate with cousin Colby

We were so thrilled last weekend to have Angie (Scott's sis) and our new nephew, Colby, in town. Landon loved meeting his cousin and we got some pretty cute pictures of them together. The matching outfits were compliments of Nana. Thanks Nana! :-) It was so much fun to see the boys together and I just know they will be good friends through the years. It was also really nice for me to have a good visit with Angie talking about all kinds of baby stuff. It's wonderful to talk to other mom's who are going through the same thing, at the same time as I am. It was really special for me to bond with Angie through our babies. I've always felt blessed to have such a wonderful family and after marrying Scott I am definitely double blessed! I truly have the best in-laws!

Bumbo Boy!

We've had a super fun day today! I had to go in to work for a bit. I thought it would be a good idea to try to get there before 8:00 to see how a morning would go with getting both of us ready to get outta the house. It went GREAT! I was in the office by 7:45 and even had time to stop for an iced soy latte. We had lunch with Scott and then ran a couple of errands. I had one hot and tired baby boy by the time we headed home around 1:00.

I've been thinking about trying out the Bumbo with Landon since he's been doing so great holding his head steady. Well, I put him in it before his 3:00 feeding and he screamed, cried and wanted NO part of it. I decided to try it again when he had a full belly and was happier. You'll see from the video that he was over it pretty quick. I'm sure he'll come around and hopefully like it more as he gets used to it.

Playdate

We had a playdate today with Aunt Shanny, Ian and Adria. Oh what fun! Shannon made us the perfect summer lunch of BLT's and salad. After Landon finally woke up, the babies shared some good cousin time together. Here are a few pictures and a video. These are the days Shannon and I dreamed of for so many years and it's wonderful to share this time together. It's so fun to see our babies together! I also love to see my older nieces and nephews with the little babies. They are all so sweet!

Birth Photo's

We have a baby - Birth Story!

Let me start from where I last left off... I went for my 38 week check up Friday April 23rd. My doctor was out of town so I saw one of his associates. My blood pressure was high (again!) so he sent me to Wesley where I was admitted for a 24 hour urine collection. I was released Saturday evening and told to go home, rest and I was not to return to work. I still had two weeks until my due date so my plan was to rest up and wait patiently (ok, maybe not paitently!) for the baby to arrive. 

Scott and I went out Sunday to purchase our carseat/stroller system and after that outing I was ready to rest. I had taken my walk for the day! I went to sleep Sunday night at about 11:00 p.m. and was ready for a restful night. Ok, not really but I sure didn't expect to experience what happened next! 

I woke up at 1:00 a.m. thinking I needed to urinate but something was different. I wasn't sure at that time what was happening but I knew it was definitely something. Scott came in and asked me if I was ok and I told him I thought something was happening with my body but that he should go back to sleep and I would wake him if things progressed. One of the big things we learned in our Bradley classes was to not wake your husband at the first sign of labor. He would need his rest so he could be good support for me later. I was having the first signs of labor and contractions started shortly after Scott went to lay back down. I kept going back and forth from the bathroom to the bedroom. Scott couldn't sleep so he got up and started timing my contractions. By 2:00 a.m. they were only about three minutes apart! He was packing our bags and texting with our doula while I did everything I could to relax and get through each contraction. Our doula, J, got to our house at about 5:30 a.m. and by that time my contractions were more intense and I had no doubt that I was in labor. Scott and J made me some eggs and toast to help keep my body fueled up to help avoid early exhaustion. J suggested I take Benedryl so I could try to get some rest. Yeah right!! I got in the bathtub shortly thereafter and the water really seemed to help with the pain. J encouraged Scott to take a nap and assured him that she had things covered where I was concerned. 

I went back and forth from the bath to the bed but every time I would lay down to rest in between contractions it would cause another one to start. I wasn't able to sit or lay down during contractions so I paced all over the house. I was working hard and getting no rest but I had a wonderful support system to help me stay focused. I asked Scott to call my boss (who is also my friend and Chiropractor) Matt, around 10:00 a.m. to see if he would be willing to come work on me to help things move along. Thankfully, Matt agreed to come work his magic and arrived at about 12:30 p.m. He was so kind, gentle and patient (poor guy had to stop working about every 2-3 minutes so I could walk through another contraction) with me and after his treatment things definitely picked up and my labor changed. 

I labored at home until about 3:00 p.m. and decided I was ready to head to the hospital. My contractions were about two minutes apart at this point. The ride to Wesley seemed like an eternity! Upon arrival I was checked in and the resident doctor determined me to be dialated to about 6-7 cenimeters. WOW, I thought, "I'm almost to transition. I can do this!" I got teary and cried a little just knowing I'd made it this far. I got in to the bathtub and the jets felt amazing on my laboring body. J continuously poured water over me, which was really relaxing. I was so thankful to not be strapped down to the bed! The nurses were WONDERFUL and allowed me to move about freely. Each time I felt a contraction coming they would just stop what they were doing, stay silent and let me get through it before resuming whatever it was they needed to accomplish. They kept the lights low and made a very peaceful environment for me. I don't remember talking much or even having my eyes open much. What I do remember is moaning a lot and walking around the room a lot. That is what got me from one contraction to the next. That and the amazing support of my birth team! Dr. D arrived around 5:30 to check and see how I was progressing. He told me I was only dilated to 4-5 centimeters. I was CRUSHED! However, I was also determined to continue with my Bradley Birth plan and he told me he would be back in a couple of hours to check on me.

He returned around 8:00 p.m. and I was dilated to about a 5. Not much progress! My contractions were only about a minute or so apart and I should have been dilating at least one centimeter per hour. Dr. D said I was doing absolutely everything right; walking and relaxing through contractions. J suggested I get an epidural (I'm still not quite sure why I did that though because I felt like I was doing great managing my pain). Dr. D talked with us and said he was concerned that the baby may be stuck in the birth canal but agreed I could labor for another hour. He also talked to us about our options, one of them being a cesarean section. After they gave me the epidural he came back in to check on me. I asked him for his honest opinion on if he thought the baby was stuck. He thought the baby was stuck and thought it was a high probability that he would be quite large to fit through the birth canal. {Remember from my previous post that I was measuring 6 weeks ahead and they had estimated from the sono a week earlier that he was about 8 pounds 7 ounces.} 

I decided at that point that if I was going to end up in a c-section anyway that we should just do it. They whisked me away to the operating room and got everything prepped. Our precious baby boy, Landon Scott, was born Monday April 26th at 9:08 p.m. I remember hearing Scott say, "he doesn't look that big" and when I looked at him, all naked and pink, I thought the same thing. Our little darling came in to this world weighing 7 pounds 5 ounces and measuring a whopping 19 inches long. Dr. D said he was indeed stuck with his face pressed sideways against the bony part of my pelvis. 

I never in a million years thought I would end up with a c-section but it was obviously the way Landon needed to make his debut. Our ultimate goal was a healthy mom and healthy baby. We achieved both! I am very thankful that I was able to labor naturally for 20 hours and I believe that gave him a lot of massage while still inside. He scored a 9 out of 10 on his APGAR and had NO fluid in his lungs, which often happens with c-section babies. Believe it or not we didn't take any photo's during labor. See my next post for photos taken after the birth.