I was reading through some old blog entries and realized that because I only get a chance to update the blog every few weeks now that I often leave out the cute little every day details about the boys that really highlight their adorable and unique personalities that are truly starting to shine through. So today I’m going to focus on all things Landon and share some of my favorite things about him (and Logan's blog will follow in a few days)....
Without a doubt, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Landon is his SMILE. Reason being is that he’s ALWAYS smiling or laughing. I suppose a lot of babies at this age are ridiculously happy but he is undoubtedly the happiest baby I’ve ever met! He has the most radiating and contagious smile and his eyes and whole face seem to just light up, it’s truly heartwarming. One would never guess that he was yanked out of safety and into the world 15 weeks early and endured months of IV’s, needle sticks & heel pricks, tubes down his throat or up his nose, being poked & prodded every 3 hours on the dot, blood transfusions, infections, eye disease, lung disease, heart surgery, and the list goes on and on. One would never guess that he was extremely ill with meningitis weeks before he was even supposed to be born. One would never guess that he had to come home on an apnea monitor and had (and continues to have) countless doctors appointments each week and month. He just breezes through each day enjoying everyone and everything in which he comes in contact.
He has the cutest little spiked blondish/brown hair (it still seems to be making up its mind as to what color it wants to be) and we often joke that it looks like he got a military buzz cut. It’s not quite long enough to lay flat on his head so it sort of sits straight up and sometimes it looks like he has a bad case of static electricity! He looks just like Mommy (and therefore Aunt Jill) and Pop-pop did when they were babies and most certainly inherited Mommy’s big forehead (and head in general – he’s in the 95% for head circumference for babies his age)! He has such soft smooth skin (as I suppose most babies do) and a pair of the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen, which are without question my favorite trait of his. There are no other family members we know of in either my or Steve’s immediate family with blue eyes so we had virtually ruled out the possibility of ever having a child with blue eyes and declared with solid certainty that both of them would have brown eyes. I’m not used to staring into anyone’s blue eyes (most of my friends don’t seem to have blue eyes either!) and I must say, I just can’t get enough of it, particularly given that he is ALWAYS staring back at me just sitting and waiting for me to look, talk to or play with him!!
That is a perfect segway leading into the second thing that comes to mind when I think about Landon: he just LOVES LOVES LOVES to be the center of attention and everyone must have their eyes on him at all times when he’s awake! It is the most precious thing – he will just sit in his boppy or swing and I can always feel his eyes on me (or he will kick me or “talk” to get me to turn his way) and as soon as you lock eyes with or begin talking to him, he just breaks out into this big smile and/or giggle and gets all excited and starts frantically waving his arms and legs! It just never ceases to make ME laugh! Often times, I have tried to put Landon in his swing so that I could focus on feeding Logan but have come to realize that this is just unacceptable for our dear Landon. He simply sits there swinging all the while staring intently at me. And then the pouting begins. And I mean bottom lip turned down with a little hint of whimper pouting and it’s just about enough to bring me to tears and of course I always have to jump up and go get him (and he knows it, I’m such a sucker)! He does this the entire time he’s awake. If I’m paying too much attention to Logan (which according to Landon means if I’m paying ANY attention to Logan), he does he same thing. I now have to carefully position him in his boppy right next to me when I’m feeding Logan so that I can continue to talk to him all the while. I’m beginning to think that sharing in any aspect may not be Landon’s forte in a few years.
Landon has the absolute sweetest softest cry. During the 3+ months time our boys spent in the NICU we were subjected to host of different babies screaming and crying at any given time (with the operative term here being screaming). Some of these babies had nails-scraping-against-the-chalkboard excruciating cries that, although I ached for these tiny little souls and the pain they were in, it sometimes made me want to rip my hair out and filled me with a dreadful sense of anxiety and foreboding. And I’m truly not just saying that because they weren’t my own babies because other babies we heard really did have what I thought were just adorable little cries. Landon’s cry actually makes me smile sometimes because it’s just so damn cute (and because often times I know he’s faking it just so Mommy will come pick him up and play with him)!! I can’t express enough how thankful I am for that (and the fact that he’s just so happy he rarely uses his cry!).
Without a doubt, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Landon is his SMILE. Reason being is that he’s ALWAYS smiling or laughing. I suppose a lot of babies at this age are ridiculously happy but he is undoubtedly the happiest baby I’ve ever met! He has the most radiating and contagious smile and his eyes and whole face seem to just light up, it’s truly heartwarming. One would never guess that he was yanked out of safety and into the world 15 weeks early and endured months of IV’s, needle sticks & heel pricks, tubes down his throat or up his nose, being poked & prodded every 3 hours on the dot, blood transfusions, infections, eye disease, lung disease, heart surgery, and the list goes on and on. One would never guess that he was extremely ill with meningitis weeks before he was even supposed to be born. One would never guess that he had to come home on an apnea monitor and had (and continues to have) countless doctors appointments each week and month. He just breezes through each day enjoying everyone and everything in which he comes in contact.
He has the cutest little spiked blondish/brown hair (it still seems to be making up its mind as to what color it wants to be) and we often joke that it looks like he got a military buzz cut. It’s not quite long enough to lay flat on his head so it sort of sits straight up and sometimes it looks like he has a bad case of static electricity! He looks just like Mommy (and therefore Aunt Jill) and Pop-pop did when they were babies and most certainly inherited Mommy’s big forehead (and head in general – he’s in the 95% for head circumference for babies his age)! He has such soft smooth skin (as I suppose most babies do) and a pair of the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen, which are without question my favorite trait of his. There are no other family members we know of in either my or Steve’s immediate family with blue eyes so we had virtually ruled out the possibility of ever having a child with blue eyes and declared with solid certainty that both of them would have brown eyes. I’m not used to staring into anyone’s blue eyes (most of my friends don’t seem to have blue eyes either!) and I must say, I just can’t get enough of it, particularly given that he is ALWAYS staring back at me just sitting and waiting for me to look, talk to or play with him!!
That is a perfect segway leading into the second thing that comes to mind when I think about Landon: he just LOVES LOVES LOVES to be the center of attention and everyone must have their eyes on him at all times when he’s awake! It is the most precious thing – he will just sit in his boppy or swing and I can always feel his eyes on me (or he will kick me or “talk” to get me to turn his way) and as soon as you lock eyes with or begin talking to him, he just breaks out into this big smile and/or giggle and gets all excited and starts frantically waving his arms and legs! It just never ceases to make ME laugh! Often times, I have tried to put Landon in his swing so that I could focus on feeding Logan but have come to realize that this is just unacceptable for our dear Landon. He simply sits there swinging all the while staring intently at me. And then the pouting begins. And I mean bottom lip turned down with a little hint of whimper pouting and it’s just about enough to bring me to tears and of course I always have to jump up and go get him (and he knows it, I’m such a sucker)! He does this the entire time he’s awake. If I’m paying too much attention to Logan (which according to Landon means if I’m paying ANY attention to Logan), he does he same thing. I now have to carefully position him in his boppy right next to me when I’m feeding Logan so that I can continue to talk to him all the while. I’m beginning to think that sharing in any aspect may not be Landon’s forte in a few years.
Landon has the absolute sweetest softest cry. During the 3+ months time our boys spent in the NICU we were subjected to host of different babies screaming and crying at any given time (with the operative term here being screaming). Some of these babies had nails-scraping-against-the-chalkboard excruciating cries that, although I ached for these tiny little souls and the pain they were in, it sometimes made me want to rip my hair out and filled me with a dreadful sense of anxiety and foreboding. And I’m truly not just saying that because they weren’t my own babies because other babies we heard really did have what I thought were just adorable little cries. Landon’s cry actually makes me smile sometimes because it’s just so damn cute (and because often times I know he’s faking it just so Mommy will come pick him up and play with him)!! I can’t express enough how thankful I am for that (and the fact that he’s just so happy he rarely uses his cry!).
He seems to be learning new things every day - he can roll over from his belly to his back on occasion, though not consistently, and sometimes rolls from his back to his side. He absolutely LOVES both standing and sitting up and just refuses to lay back in his boppy anymore (I mean, come on, how's a guy supposed to check out the room and be the center of attention if he can't see everyone!). If we do put him there, even temporarily, he will try to do a sit up all by himself. We have started propping the boppy and sitting him in it so he always has a good view of all the action - this little boy doesn't want to miss a thing! We also recently began putting him in a little bouncy chair so he can stretch out his legs and bounce on them like he enjoys so much. He would sit in that thing for hours if we let him, he just can't get enough of it! And I must admit, it's a comforting sight to see him "standing" in his bouncy seat rather than laying in a boppy or sitting in a swing as I feel like they've been laying down for months (probably b/c they HAVE if you include the months they were in the hospital and the first few month or so after they came home since that's really all they could do!).
As I expect any mother would feel of her child, he is such an incredible gift from God and has brought purpose and joy to my life that I never knew existed. I'm not sure if I will ever truly get over the unfortunate events of my pregnancy and those traumatic 3 1/2 months they spent in the NICU but coming home to these boys every day has made every single minute of that ordeal worth it.
