Happy Weekend!

Well, I'm impressed....you're still reading our blog. It's been 4 months now, and we still have at least one or two people that peruse this thing from time to time...I want to thank you for all your positive comments about this thing...it's been a great way to share Landon's first few months with family and friends (both in and out of town)...I especially impressed if you're still reading it after my last post....I've had a couple of people contact me with an "Are you ok?" or a "Do you need a hug?" email...I appreciate the support....honestly though, that last post was just a culmination of 4 months of comments and things, where I thought it was finally time to put something on the blog...I 100% promise that it was not aimed at any one person, and I do hope that I didn't scare you away from further readings...

By the way, to all you future parents out there, you'll totally understand that post after your first born...and to all of you parents out there, I'm sure that you felt the same way at some point during your child's first year....

Ok, on to new stuff!!!

I decided to post a couple of pictures of the dogs today...both of these pictures were taken by Michaela's 7-year old cousin Alyssa, and they're fabulous! We're especially impressed with the picture of Jack, as it's pretty much an impossible task to get him to look at the camera when you actually want him to...well done Alyssa!

This week has been another interesting one...we have heard that you get a "new" baby every 3 weeks, meaning that they're developing so much that their behaviors can be entirely different from what they were 3 weeks ago...that statement has been proven to be true time and time again with Landon...his most recent foray into the unknown has been his proclivity to wake up from time to time during the night to talk...so let's say it's every couple of hours that we wake up to him...it literally sounds like he's in his bassinet talking on some imaginary baby phone to another baby that speaks his language...only the other baby is very hard of hearing so Landon has to make sure that he's yelling loud enough to be heard!!! Needless to say, it's been tough...it's especially frustrating because he was sleeping through the night for a few consecutive weeks before this new change...we don't really know if he's waking up because he's still hungry, or he's getting too much sleep, or what...but we're trying different things and I'm sure we'll figure it out soon...in the meantime, we're just getting used to not sleeping as well as we were...ahh the many joys of parenting!!! :)

Another development, which is much more fun, is that Landon can now recognize Mom and Dad's voice when we enter a room...he can be on the other side of the room, but as soon as we say something, he turns his head to look for us...it really is fun!

The verdict is still out on whether or not he has begun to teethe yet...we think he's getting close, as we can feel his gums preparing for it, and he puts literally everything within 5 feet of him into his mouth...

As you know, Laura and Alyssa have been staying with Landon this week, and we are so grateful to them...they have done a magnificent job, keeping the baby on our preferred eating/sleeping schedule....the baby loves to smile and laugh at both of them, and he is completely infatuated with his cousin Alyssa...Unfortunately, they are leaving tomorrow morning...but we are welcoming Landon's Nana Rachael to our house for the next two weeks, so Landon continues to get his "family fix"...

You may have heard that the air quality out here in Sacramento has been bad lately...that is a total understatement!!! It has been absolutely horrible this week, which really makes us feel bad that it coincided with Laura and Alyssa's trip...they have been couped up inside with the baby and the dogs all week because of the dangerous conditions...their have been many fires in Northern California (not close to us though, about a 2-hour drive from where we live) and the smoke has blow into the valley...when you walk outside it literally feels like you've been sucking on a car's exhaust pipe...not at all appealing...so our time outdoors has been quite limited this week...the good news is, the winds of change are blowing...the air quality has improved significantly over the past two days and it is actually a pretty nice day today, so we'll definitely enjoy the weather!

On the home front, I'm starting to work on landscaping our front yard now, and should hopefully have that knocked out in a couple of weeks...then we're pretty much ready to get the house on the market...so keep your fingers crossed.

I also have my last day with Raley's this Wednesday, and I start my new job in Rancho Cordova next Monday...so there will definitely be a lot going on while Rachael is here!

I hope you all have a great weekend, and thanks again for reading!