.5 YEARS!

Family Swim with our whiter than white little family...

Landon is officially 6 months old. Being a new mother is a very interesting dichotomy. On the one hand, I can't believe how fast 6 months has flown by. On the other, it is hard to remember back to the days before we had sweet little Landon in our lives. He has the best little personality and, in my completely unbiased opinion, is one of the best babies on the planet!

Exhibit A: His smile

Landon loves it when Grandma Ev comes to visit!

My cute boys!

This month Landon spent quite a few weeks battling a cold, so our sleep hasn't been the best. He continues to wake up at least once per night, with occasional nights of sleeping all the way through. HALLELUJAH! He has fallen into a very predictable routine, which is nice because I know now exactly when he is getting tired and wanting a nap. Grandma Ev came to visit the weekend after Valentine's Day, giving Austin and I a chance to go on a little date. We also went to the Chicago Auto Show, which was much bigger and cooler than I thought it was going to be. Austin sat in a lot of cars, and enjoyed learning about all the fancy cars he wants to be able to buy someday. Landon liked all the people. He loves looking at people and connecting with them. He smiles and then moves on to the next person, trying to get them to look at him.

Superman outfit and overalls

At our 6th month appointment, Landon weighed in at 20 lbs, 13 oz and was 29 inches long. He continues to be in the 97th percentile and is currently growing out of 9 month clothes and fits comfortably in most 12-18 month clothes. We bought him a new carseat that should fit him until he's 100 lbs, and that means no more infant carrier! Good thing he can now sit up on his own. I was worried about the grocery store but he can sit in the cart just fine. He can sit up now for 20-30 minutes at a time, although he can't get into this position on his own yet. He can play with toys and lean out of this position as well. He rolls like a little maniac and has mastered the art of rolling to get where he wants to go. We are still working on the coordination and strength for forwards crawling, but he can scoot backwards better and better every day. He chases toys in the bathtub on his belly by propelling himself forward, so I think that is a good start. Being the son of a physical therapist, he gets a lot of attention and practice with skills like crawling, passing toys hand to hand, and standing. He can stand holding onto furniture or my fingers, and I can tell he will be pulling himself up to stand soon.'

Hangin in the jumper!

Landon has gotten really talkative this month with all different sorts of sounds. For a week or so, he was smacking his lips ALL THE TIME. He loved it when I would smack back at him. I call him "bubs", "bubba", or "Landon baby" for nicknames, and he has gotten really good at saying "bubabubabub" over and over again. We are working on "mamama" and "dadada", but he hasn't quite figured those out yet. He also has a wide variety of squeals and squawks that he usually reserves for when mom or dad tries to sit down at church in sacrament meeting or Sunday school. Austin and I call it the "Sunday School Squawk". Needless to say, I try to go to smaller classes where he can play on the floor, or I end up in the halls during 2nd hour of church.

Landon doing his freestyle

Yummy breakfast...

Sunday tie onesie

Landon can now eat all kinds of solid foods. He has not disliked any food so far, including split pea a, Greek yogurt, and all sorts of vegetables. He has two teeth that are completely grown in, and 2 teeth on top just started to emerge.

A few days after his 6 month mark (we did not have a party, sorry), Landon and I flew to CA to visit my family for a week or so. It is wonderful to be in a place that is not snowy, and be able to enjoy the outdoors! Landon met a horse, and is very fascinated with my family's two dogs. They are great with him and let him pull their fur and explore them. We went to the beach on a beautiful 80 degree day and Landon LOVED the sand. He dug a hole, loved having his feet buried in the sand, and even faceplanted, filling his mouth with sand. Grandma helped him clean his mouth out, because he didn't like that part. The waves were awesome and made for some great bodysurfing. Hooray!

Landon has the cutest Sunday outfits... this one
courtesy of Emily and Baby Gap

Beach day with Grandma... he loved the sand!

Landon's sand hole

At about 6 months and 1 week, Landon decided to start crawling! He was scooting backwards really well. Grandpa made him a space ship car to sit in for a "drive in" movie primary activity at the church. Landon was sitting in his car being thoroughly entertained by all the people, his car, and Veggie Tales when he heard Hannah's chip bag crinkle. He loves that noise and lunged out of his car to get the bag. Hannah kept moving it further away, and he kept following it. He has continued to perfect and quicken his crawling every day. I am in trouble when I go home Tuesday. I'm sure Landon will be into everything!

Feet in the ocean!

 My aunt Annette wanted to take more pictures of my cute boy. She has a good camera and ideas for pictures, and Landon is more than happy to oblige for about an hour at a time. I will try to post these in another post, since this one is pretty much pictured-out. In conclusion, Landon's crawling debut: