Monday, September 29, 2014

Walking

It’s official: we have a tiny walker on our hands! Landon has been taking steps the past few weeks, cruising around furniture, walking while holding onto our fingers or arms, etc. He has taken steps alone from one person to another, a few at a time, but just recently has his confidence been budding. He has just begun standing up on his own and taking quite a few steps just to get where he wants to go…

It’s a little scary, huh?

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Fall Things

I affectionately refer to this time of year as the “Start of School Crazies.” It starts to die down around three weeks in, which is helpful, but of course, there’s always plenty to do. Here’s some of what we’ve been up to the past three weeks:

We went to Great America on Labor Day with some passes from my cousin Kimberly, who works in their costuming department (Thanks, Kimberly!). Aiden loved the carousels and splash pad. We saw the new 49ers stadium next door.

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Aiden started preschool. It’s a few mornings a week at the Presbyterian church .6 miles from home, so it’s an easy walk. He loves it so far and always asks me how many “sleeps” it is until Preschool again.

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I started back to work (again teaching Eng 7 Honors and Yearbook and Eng department chair, but teaching six periods instead of five) only to find that one of our teachers got a district office job, so we hired a long-term sub, and I have been spending a lot of time helping her out, mentoring a second year teacher and advising the games club twice a month. I’m sure lucky to have a supportive family that is patient with me and helps everything roll along smoothly.

cute bib from our Union:

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Isaac & Dad cut down the branches from the olive tree in our yard. I’m all for having a big shade tree, but this one was SO messy, it was frustrating… so there it goes.

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It might take months for us to chop it all up and get rid of it in our green waste bin little by little…

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DSC_1304Mandy came to visit for a week while Bryant was out of state for work. We went shopping for lots of little girl things. At least I can shop for my nieces if I never have a little girl of my own.

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We are still having this awful drought, but the upside is that Aiden can ride his bike whenever he wants since the weather is always good.

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Mandy and I made these delicious Oreo Cheesecake Cookie Dough Bars, and we had a girls’ night to see The Giver, which I teach every year and practically have memorized… so the movie was kind of a let-down, honestly, but it would be interesting for class to contrast maybe.

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Aiden, Landon, and I got sick but are doing fine. We went to the Newark Days parade, and Aiden decided he wants to play the drum. I’m not going shopping yet because he’s a little indecisive… he changes his mind about what he wants to be for Halloween every day. It was Olaf then a plane then Captain America… who knows what it will be in a month?

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Grandparent Visit

We were lucky to see the Snows at the end of August. We were so happy to have them stay with us for a few days!

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Ten Months

Landon is ten months old! That sounds so close to one year!

At his last doctor’s appointment, Landon weighed in at 17.5 pounds (tenth percentile) and measured 29 inches (90th percentile). Because of the disparity, they tested his blood and found that he is a little anemic. So I guess we’ll be trying to pump this kid full of iron.

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He scoots around on his bottom and one knee and loves to walk around while holding onto someone’s fingers. He has taken some steps on his own, but only a few at a time and only when I plant him in front of me and let go, for example.

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We think he is saying “up” sometimes now and actually meaning it.

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He loves to play with his brother, he loves to eat, and he loves attention. He is shy around people he doesn’t really know and is particular about who is holding him and what we are doing.