2 months old! Already?

I just like how Landon and Austin
are matching

The theme of month #2 was family, family family. Everyone wanted to come see our cute little man! Grandpa Jim came out for a weekend in the end of September. Austin blessed Landon September 30th while Jim was in town and did a fantastic job. He is so thoughtful with his choice of words and it was really special. I was very nervous right beforehand, because Landon was SO fussy. In our previous ward, there were several baby blessings where the baby just screamed through it, and I didn't want that to be our experience. On that Sunday, there was a new member confirmation and another baby blessing that took place right before ours. I had to go out into the foyer to try to calm Landon down because he was just being really fussy. When the baby blessing before ours finished, I rushed in and handed him off, just hoping he wouldn't start crying again. He was calm throughout the whole blessing, and began fussing right when he returned to our pew.

3 generations of Brown boys:)

Landon's blessing day

I love the matching tie and pocket square!

Landon is turning into a smily baby!

The weekend after Grandpa Jim came, his mother, Great-grandma Helen flew out from Denver to spend a few days with us. It was a weekend filled with REALLY good food. Grandma Helen is from Arkansas, so she made us biscuits and gravy for breakfast, chicken and dumplings, and cherry pie over the course of the weekend. She had never been to Chicago, so we took her on a driving tour of downtown Chicago. It was actually kind of cool just to drive around and see all the sights, since Austin and I have only ventured downtown once since we've been here. We went to a traditional Chicago deep dish pizzeria, and I decided that I really just don't like deep dish pizza. The "butter crust", which is super oily and does not have enough flavor, just doesn't do it for me. Neither does the cheese under the sauce, or the fact that the sauce is made up of uncooked tomatoes. It might also be because I don't really like sausage, and the sausage they put on the pizzas is not even spicy. Overall, for me, Chicago deep dish pizza is just flavorless and icky; I would prefer Dominoes or maybe even Little Caesars. And that is saying something.

Winter Quarters Temple

Anyway, back to our month. Emily, Austin's sister, flew out over her fall break and her stay overlapped with Grandma Helen's for a day. It was nice to have all the family together, and for everyone to be able to meet Landon. Emily bought Landon these adorable baby Nikes, and they are REALLY big on his feet right now so he'll be able to enjoy them for quite awhile. While Emily was here, I was trying to prepare for our road trip to Omaha, which happened over the weekend of October 13th. Zach, one of Austin and I's favorite swimming friends, got married, and Austin was a handsome groomsman! Landon wore his cute little blessing suit and was so well behaved for the long drive and the wedding and reception. It was a beautiful wedding and we were so grateful to be able to be a part of Zach and Laura's special day! We also got to visit the Winter Quarters Visitor's center and temple with our friends Carly and Logan and their son, Tate. It was a great way to spend the morning, and Tate and Landon are pretty much best buds now :) On the way back from Omaha, we made a pit stop at Amber's house. Amber and I lived together for 2 years at BYU, and I had not seen her since August of 2009. It was great to meet her sweet daughter and see her son all grown up! Not to mention it gave me an opportunity to feed Landon comfortably instead of at a gas station.

He's really happy about his baby Nikes

Our last visitor was Evelyn, Austin's mom, who came out the following weekend. It was so helpful to have her here; she helped Austin take care of Landon while I had my first day of work as a physical therapist! I was nervous about leaving Landon for so long, but he did great. We were even able to go on a date while Evelyn was here.

Happy fall!

As far as Landon goes, in the past month he has really started to smile more. He is happiest right when he wakes up in the morning; we spend the first few minutes of each day smiling at each other, while I talk to him and he coos at me. He has also started to laugh. We thought he might be figuring out how to roll, and we even caught one on video, but turns out it was an accident! He lifts his head up really well when he's on his tummy now, and he continues to be a strong little guy. At our last Dr's appointment at 2 months, he was 14 lbs, 8 oz, and 25 1/4 inches long. That puts him in the 97th percentile for both of those measurements. Hooray for big  babies!