Wandering Browns

I feel very accomplished that we have kept Landon alive for this entire year. Although Landon was a relatively easy baby, he is transitioning into this mischievous, devious little toddler boy. Here are some of Landon's favorite things : 1. Throwing things away (or putting things "in")... into garbage cans, down air vents, etc. His favorite is sending things into his diaper pail because he puts things into the spot where the diaper goes, and pulls down on the handle, and the object is gone when he raises the handle back up. We have found desitin, wash cloths, socks, and other things in his diaper pail. He also is getting tall enough to reach up to both of our desks, which typically contain important papers and things like Austin's wallet and keys. He has managed to get both of those down the air vent, but fortunately the vent has a bend in it that makes everything get caught before it actually goes down the wall into oblivion. This was a few weeks ago when Lan...

We had a great time celebrating Landon's birthday this past weekend. He had to open presents starting the evening before his birthday and ending the evening after because he had so many and he got bored after opening just a couple (plus, he wanted to play with them!) I think this post is best illustrated with the pics from the weekend: Landon posing with one of his many gifts... he learned how to efficiently open presents by the end On Landon's actual birthday, we went downtown to visit the Shedd Aquarium. First, we stopped by the Buckingham fountain. Posing at the aquarium Landon wore his "Chomp Chomp" shark shirt for the aquarium Since we knew Landon couldn't handle hours and hours of the aquarium, we purchased tickets for just the main floor, which ended up working out just fine. Landon petted a sturgeon, marveled at lots of different kinds of fish, and generally had fun. We also got the book "Baby Beluga" which i...

Landon reached the butter on the table, and decided to bathe in it... At 11 months old, Landon loved to point at people. I think we figured out that Mariah would point to him and say "no" when he was doing something naughty, so he started doing it back to her. He also started reaching things standing up that we did not think he could reach. He figured out how to stand on our desk chair's legs in order to reach higher up on our desks in our room. Very crafty, Landon, very crafty. He discovered the wonders of fresh berries- particularly enjoying blueberries. Don't worry, he still adores grapes and cheese. Probably the biggest accomplishment of this month, however, was learning to drink from a sippy cup. Dun Dun DUH! No more bottles for us (not that he was drinking from a bottle very much anyway). Landon LOVED the sea lion at the zoo... and his grandparents! Family Chicago temple trip with Mariah In the pool, Landon started dunking his face und...

Landon's ferocious face Landon turned 11 months a few weeks ago, but I have been SUPER busy, first on vacation and then getting back into work and working with the young women in my ward, so here it goes a little late. My dear sister, Mariah, who lived with us for a few months this summer, only had a few weeks left before she left Chicago, possibly forever. We felt it of dire importance to fit in everything that she wanted to do in the city before she left. My beautiful sister Mariah and the BEAN! We had an eventful July 4th week. We kicked it all of with a free outdoor concert in Grant Park July 3rd. Landon sat through about half of it, tried to upend several of our neighbors beautifully laid out picnics, and finally ended up hanging out in the back of the crowd with daddy until the concert was over. It was a great concert featuring various patriotic songs. The conductor was from Scotland and wore a patriotic kilt for the occasion. That tops last year's sequined Un...