LaNdRy aUsTiN

Landry is 15 weeks old already! I had a dentist appointment with my brother in law on the day he turned 15 weeks old so I got Amber and Nathan to pose with him for his picture. Aunt Amber got to babysit and kept Landry in Nathan's personal office while I was having my work done and she did great-just like Landry was her own. I think Landry liked all the smells and sounds in the dental office because I didn't hear one peep from him the whole time we were there- or it was the good baby sitter?? I'll let you be the judge! :)

Landry loves bath time these days. When he turned 12 weeks old we really have been trying to stick with a bedtime routine for him. For as busy as we stay I have to say we have done pretty good with this. Every night around 8:00 we give him a bath, put his pajamas on, I nurse him, and then either Austin or myself will rock him while we sing to him. He really seems to like the routine and starts to settle down when he realizes what we are doing because he knows bedtime is on the way. He is still sleeping really good also- "knock on wood!"

Landry got to go on his first walk in his stoller like a big boy this past week. I had just about given up on the stroller because he hates his carseat so bad right now but then it hit me last week that he could sit up on his own and should be able to ride it in sitting foward and just take the car seat out. He really enjoyed being able to look around at all the trees. This is a good thing for me especially since I like shopping so much. It's hard to shop while holding a 15 pound baby! :)

As I had mentioned above on how we were starting a routine with Landry with bath time- Sadie has started her own routine. As we are giving Landry a bath Sadie has learned that she loves to drop her duck in the water so it can go for a swim with him and then drops her head down and stares as it floating in the water till you get it out for her. This cracks us up every time because he will drop duck in the water as many times as you fish it out for her and give it back. Sadie loves attention! :)
He is raising his head so much better these days and is actually tolerating tummy time somewhat better. He is on the verge of rolling over and I know it will be any day now when he does! Don't worry I'll let you know when it happens!

Milestone: he is getting blanching on his bottom gums from 2 tiny tooth buds starting to shine through this past week. He has been chewing on his fist like crazy and poor thing has even gag himself on his fist! Let the drowiling stage begin right??

New tricks

I know I'm sorry I have been a bad blogger lately. However, I do have a really good excuse. Amber and I are in the middle of planning our parents a 30th anniversary party. So my time sitting down this week has been very limited. I will try to do better after the party which is this coming Saturday. First of all I would like to inform everyone that Landry will be getting a boy cousin in October. Martha, my sister in law, is expecting again and found out in the last few weeks that it is a little boy. Landry doesn't know it yet but he will really enjoy having a cousin close in age to him.
Landry has been growing like a weed lately. Everyone told me when he was born to enjoy him because they grow so quickly. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he was going to grow this fast! He has really taken off lately and isn't showing any signs of slowing down. I cleaned out his drawers this past weekend and took out all his newborn clothing. This really made me sad and I actually teared up a few times as I was storing it. Just knowing that he will never need it again made me a little sad. But then I started thinking about all the new stuff he has been doing and how much fun he is now and I was okay. Those little legs are really filling out and are quite chunky now. I love chunky legs on babies so of course I think it's precious! I keep threatening him that if he doesn't slow down I am going to put a rock on his head. He is growing up way to fast for his mommy and daddy! He has begun to really respond to Austin and I lately. He has been doing this for weeks but as of late when he starts crying if he seeing us coming toward him he stops b/c he knows we will pick him up. And when someone else is holding him he always checks around to make sure we are still standing there and are close to him. This is so sweet and melts my heart every time!! I love him looking for me- I feel like its the beginning of him showing that he loves us. He has also learned how to HATE 2 things that he used to love 1. his car seat/riding in the car 2. his swing. Poor thing absolutely loathes his car seat now which makes it extremely hard for me to go anywhere by myself anymore. And all of a sudden he started hating his swing also. I don't know if it's b/c it is shaped and feels like his car seat or what?? But this kinda makes me sad that he doesn't like it anymore b/c he used to love it and would just sit and coo and smile at his fish going round and round- but not anymore he tells those fish what is on his mind the minute he is placed in the seat- and lets just say it's not nice words of encouragement. I am lucky that his still really likes his bouncy seat thought our I would never get a shower! :) On a very good note he is sleeping like a champ. The past week he has been sleeping 7-8.5 hours every single night. I am getting spoiled by this so on a rare occasion like last night when he got up at 3am and again at 4:30and then for good at 6:00am I wasn't functioning very well and couldnt' seem to get going. He is also maybe starting to like tummy time a little better. He is lifting his head up really good now when he is on his tummy but he still hasn't rolled over- we are still working on that. He loves to hold toys with both hands now and tries to put everything in his mouth- including his entire fist. Forget the thumb he wants his whole hand and he even gags himself with it sometimes. ha! ha! Because of this new favorite "chew toy" I have had to really watch out for people touching his hands. I don't know why but that always seems to be the first thing people go for when touching or talking to a baby. So as soon as it happens in the back of my mind I am thinking "GERMS!" So he gets his hands washed many times a day now especially when we go out in town or in public. He also loves to stand up and support his own weight. I think he feels like such a big boy when he does this. We always kid him and tell him that he needs to do squats to work out those little chuncky legs. :)
We put his exercauser together this past week and put him in it for the first time. He wasn't a huge fan b/c as you can tell in the picture below he is still a little too small for it and his legs weren't touching the ground. I thnk this will be a favorite in a few weeks though with the way he loves to kick those legs all the time.

My first hair cut....well sorda

Landry has been turning his head side to side a whole lot lately when his is asleep and when he is awake. OF course he has been doing this for a while now but lately has been doing it so much and so fast it looks like he is shaking his head "no" in slow motion. So the other morning when I pick him up I was rubbing the back of his head and I feel a knot. I look back there and he is not one- not two- but THREE little bitty tangles in his hair. They were the little small ones that you can't get out by brushing so...unfortunately I had to cut them out. This made me sad to cut his sweet little hair but I didn't have a choice. But don't worry I put them in his "First Curl" keepsake box we have for him so at least we have them. So if you look very closely in this picture you can see them.


We loved Austin getting to stay at home with us in observance of Memorial Day. It was so nice having the extra set of hands to help with Landry throughout the day and it was nice just getting to spend extra time with him on his 3 day weekend. I tried to talk him in to being a stay at home daddy with me I enjoyed having him home so much, but then I remembered that we needed to be able to put food on the table and keep a roof over our head so I decided that I would let him go back to work. We had a nice relaxing day and the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was really bright outside so I decided to let Landry try on his sunglasses that he got from the Easter bunny along with his hat. He wasn't too sure about the sunglasses at first but when he found out that he could open his eyes with them on he decided that they weren't so bad. He loved the hat and it never phased him. My Granny and Johnnie Faye (my great-aunt) were able to come over and we grilled hamburgers for dinner. Landry had all the fun he could take in one day and conked out halfway through dinner in Granny's arms without a fight. There is something about grilling out in the summer- I look forward to it every year. I am so thankful for all the men and women in the service who sacrifice their lives for me and you and for our country. Happy Memorial Day!




Today Landry, myself and Aunt Baleigh went to Mac Brown Photography in Lawrenceburg to get his 3 month old pictures taken. He did WONDERFUL!! He was really workin the camera. He was smiling left and right. The photographer made the comment that he did great and she was really impressed with him because normally she can't get babies to smile that much at 3 months old! Amber and I actually had our senior pictures taken by the photographer that took his pictures today. They do great work and are very reasonably priced! I am very anxious to get his proofs back!!

Milestone: Landry held a rattle and shook it for the first time this week. I wasn't able to catch it the first time he learned his new trick but I was able to get some good pictures of him with his rattle for his 13 week old birthday picture and one day while he was playing in his bouncy seat. Am I allowed to say that he is such a cute boy?? I am so proud of him and just love him to death!! :) We are still working on tummy time. He is not a big fan of it right now and when he is put on his tummy it normally turns into a melt down. But I was actually able to get a smile out of him for the first time ever this week while he was on him tummy propped up on the boppy. Hopefully it will get better.

Sleeping in my own crib!!

Landry has finally moved into his own crib this week. He has been sleeping in a bassinet by our bed since the day we brought him home from the hospital. I told myself I would put him in his crib when he turned 12 weeks old. Leading up to the week I had changed my mind and I decided that I really wasn't ready to move him yet. However, on his 12 week old birthday I was rocking him to sleep in his room and was looking at his crib. The thought ran through my head "I am never going to want to move him in here- I just better do it tonight." And so that night-even though he had never so much as touched a toe on his mattress- he slept in that big crib all by himself like a big boy. I don't think I could have done it if I didn't have the baby monitor that we have. My dad got us a great deal on the video monitor so that you can see them on a small tv screen even at night. It's WONDERFUL! It made me feel closer to him since I could still see him while he slept. Just for the record- it was a lot harder on me moving him into his crib than it was to Landry. It didn't even phase him but I cried like a baby for about an hour and even sat there and watched the monitor like it was a tv show all night. haha! I guess it's just me realizing he is growing up and getting bigger. He didn't sleep too good in it the first night- he went from sleeping all night the night before to getting up at 1:00am, 4:00am, and 5:30am and then for good around 7:00. I guess it could have just been coincidence but I'm sure it was just a totally new environment to him and he wasn't too sure about it. But he is sleeping much better again and actually slept though the night again last night. Knock on wood he keeps it up and I don't jinks myself by blogging about it! I attached some pictures of our little man from throughout this week. I love the one with his little lip tucked out. That is his pout face I was talking about in the previous blog. He can stick that lip out so far! And I finally got a cute picture of that little behind this week after we stripped him down to get ready for a bath.

Milestone: He held a rattle today all by himself for the first time- he shook it just a couple of times before he dropped it. I didn't get a picture of it but hopefully as we practice our new trick this week I will be able to get a good one.

WOW! I've got feet and I can sleep all night!

Landry has discovered that he really does have feet! We put him on the couch and placed his elephant toy in front of him and he began to kick it and look straight at his feet. He was very proud of himself and is so fun to watch him. Look at those little chubby cheeks looking down! ha ha!
On account of EVERYONE telling me that Landry looks just like my dad the past few weeks- I decided to take his 12 week old picture of the two of them this week. So what do you think?? They even have on matching colors (which was not planned). I think they look a lot alike as well! So cute- Landry loves his Dad-O to come visit during the day! We hit an amazing milestone that I am very excited to share. Last night Landry slept from 9:00pm till 6:15am!! YEA! I was so excited and SHOCKED when I woke up. When I heard him crying I had no idea he had made it all night long until I opened my eyes and saw the sun shinning- what a refreshment. I normally wake up several times and check on him throughout the night because he normally wakes up around 4am. But last night I didn't even move in my sleep- I think I was exhausted after our long day. What is so funny about this is that right before we were crawling in bed I made the statment to Austin that I wondered if I would ever get to sleep through the night again! Landry sure proved me wrong!! I am not holding my breath though- he could make up for it tonight! But I am still SO proud of him!!
Here is Landry in his carrier that Byrdi and Dad-O got me. He absolutely loves it! Yesterday was a long day- Landry woke up coughing at 5:00 in the morning and didn't feel too good all day. I had a cold last week so I was scared that Landry had picked it up. But he is feeling much better today and had hardly coughed at all- it just must have been allergies- poor thing he got that from me also! So needless to say I am looking a little rough in this picture b/c it was a long day. I decided I needed to get out of the house and go for a walk before bedtime- so we bundled Landry up got Sadie on her leash and went for a walk. They both really enjoyed getting out of the house. He fell asleep half way through the walk and Sadie was all tuckered out when we got back in. Landry looks so cute in his little hat- I never put hats on him because I didn't want to cover up all that hair!

Alexander is a high school graduate! He had his graduation on Saturday from Columbia Academy. It just doesn't seem possible that he is old enough to graduate! I still remember plain as day getting to leave my first day of kindergarten early to go to hospital because he was born. And now here he is heading to Freed Hardeman for college in the fall and I have a baby boy of my own! We are proud of you Alex- you are such a blessing in our life!!

Landry has not only found his feet but has also started to get better coordination with his hands. He has decided that he really does not like his car seat one bit. I think it's because he isn't being held! But every now and then he will be happy while he is in it and will play with his strap covers that have monkey's on them. I was finally able to capture this the other day while he was playing with them- however he still has a look on his face like "mom i'm still not too sure about this car seat thing- please get me out of here!"

Please feel sorry for me!!

Poor little Landry has started to produce tears this past week really well. Yesterday I put him in his swing (I know how dare I put him down) so I could put my clothes on b/c we were heading into town. I bet he wasn't in there a total of 3 minutes and he was crying and wanted out. As I bent down to get him out I saw this single tear rolling down his little face. I just had to take a picture of it b/c it was so pitiful. There is something about those tears that pulls at my heart. I never like hearing him cry but when I see tears it makes it that much worse. I think he has figured me out and knows how to make me feel sorry for him when he is mistreated and put down for 5 minutes at a time! haha! He has also mastered the pouty lip. He does this lip whenever he has been scared by a loud noise or when he is just beginning to fuss. The other morning we were laying in bed playing and it was really quite for a minute b/c I was just watching him observe his surroundings. All of a sudden I sneezed and there was a 5 second delay before he stuck his little lip out. I have never been able to capture this on camera before b/c it only last for a second but this is the closest picture I could get to it. It's sooo adorable and I love that little pouty lip!

On the other hand he is smiling like crazy now also. Here is his 11 week old photo with a big grin and his tongue sticking out. Several weeks ago I was reading a baby book and it was saying that if you stick your tongue out at your baby they should be able to copy what you are doing. This is Landry's absolute FAVORITE thing to do now. It has surpassed tracking his fish in his swing by a long shot now. So if you want some entertainment just stick your tongue out at him and he will smile and stick his right back out. This could be a problem in the future but right now he is having so much fun learning new tricks. Landry is in his "my aunt is crazy about me" outfit. This is aunt Amber's favorite onesie and has been looking forward to him being able to wear it since he was born. So this picture is for you aunt Amber! Please look back to his previous 3 week old photo where we have him propped up on his boppy like this photo and just look how much those little legs have chunked up~ so cute!

Milestone: Landry has been looking at his toes lately when we are changing his diaper. He still has a look on his face like "hey are those mine??" but he is at least finding them.

The Happiest Baby and a Houdini

I know- I know 2 post in one day!! I have had so many things I have wanted to blog lately but haven't been able to. Landry has decided- well actually, he has never been a big fan of nap time. Don't get me wrong- he loves to sleep, but only when in the arms of someone. So, unfortunately that limits my time on what I can do in one day. For example, last Friday Landry and I went over to my mother and daddy's house for the afternoon just to hang out. I was letting her take care of him while I just relaxed. She had a load of laundry in the dryer when we got there- 3 hours later she still didn't have her clothes folded. ha ha! I find this absolutely hilarious! I just kept telling her- "now you know why my house looks the way it does and why I can't get anything done!" She would have him rocked sound asleep and as soon as she would lay him down his eyes would pop open. But what is so funny is he is totally opposite at night. He is such a good sleeper and is only getting up about once a night to eat but he immediately goes back to sleep. That little booger just wants to be held during the day. I know all the books say this is a bad thing- but the way I look at it is he is only little once so I am going to soak it up b/c there will be a day when he will not want me to hold him anymore- so until then I will hold him and cuddle with him as much as possible b/c he loves to cuddle!

We have found a book that my aunt Susan gave us when I was pregnant with Landry a complete life saver! It's called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. When Landry was about 6 weeks old he went through a phase where every night around 7:30pm he would just have a complete breakdown and cry. We tried everything- bouncing, singing, walking, rocking, shhhh'ing. Nothing really worked very well and by 9:00 we were completely exhausted and out of ideas. He would finally calm down and go right to sleep. I asked our pediatrician about this and was worried he was becoming colic. He assured me that if this was the only time of the day he was doing it that he wasn't colic b/c colic babies cried at least 3 hours a day, at least 3 days a week and at least 3 weeks out of the month. He did not reach that limit by a long shot. But I was confused b/c Landry has always been a good baby- but he was just getting really fussy. Our pediatrician told us that babies are like elderly patients who have Alzheimer's. They get so much sensory input throughout the day and their bodies just need to shut down. But instead of them just going to sleep they need to get rid of all that energy so they just cry it out. I didn't want to accept him crying for and hour at a time so I picked up my book and begin to read it. The author talks about how babies really need a 4th trimester outside of the womb to comfort them. To accomplish this you need to perform the 5 "S's" when a baby is crying (if they aren't hungry, hurting, or need a diaper change). They are 1. Swaddling the baby 2. Turing them on their side or stomach 3. Shhhh-ing them 4. Swinging them (or in our case bounce) 5. Giving them a pacifier to suck on. This has worked very well for us and Landry and we owe aunt Susan big time for this! She has made our nights a lot more peaceful and Landry a lot happier at night!! I know it probably won't work for all babies but would recommend this book to anyone and at least let them try it. Thanks Aunt Susan!! :)

Due to the book I was just referring to we swaddle Landry nice and tight every night before he goes to sleep- somewhow he always seems to break free during the night!
Please notice in the first picture no arms or hands are outside of the swaddle. When I get up to feed him in the middle of the night his hands are somehow out of his swaddle and are up by his face. We call him our little Houdini. We have no idea how he gets out of it- I think he knows magic!!

I took a chance and made this picture of him one night when he was already asleep and just hoped he wouldn't wake up so I could share this story with the evidence.

This is Landry the next morning wide awake and smiling. He always wakes up smiling with his arms out of his blanket we have swaddled him so tightly in! There is nothing that makes my day better than waking up to his smiling face every morning!

Wonderful FIRST Mother's Day!

This was my first Mother's Day and it was absolutely wonderful!! I am so blessed by God to have a wonderful loving husband and beautiful baby boy who made me a mother! I got a wonderful present made by Landry with Austin's help. :) Early Saturday morning Austin got up with Landry, like he always does, so that I can get a little extra sleep and they made my present together. Austin had bought a really pretty frame from Hobby Lobby and he put 2 of my favorite pictures in it along with Landry's footprints in the shape of a heart. It is absolutely prefect and I will always treasure my first mothers day present- I love it! There is actually a funny story that goes along with my present that he made me though. When I got up on Saturday I was playing with Landry and noticed his onesie looked dirty so I asked Austin if he knew what was on him. He said no so I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes later I am looking at his little fingers like I always do b/c they are so precious and I see what looks like dirt all under his fingernails. I again ask Austin if he knows what it is and he said-"Just don't worry about it I know what it is and it's fine." It turns out the footprints that he made me for my picture frame was made with cocoa and water. So it was cocoa that was on his onesie and all under his fingernails. Here are just a few pictures of me and Landry on Mother's Day and me opening my present. The outfit that Landry has on was actually one of Evan and Alex's.

This is a very yummy cupcake that Amber made for me!

Here is Landry in his 10 week photo last week. He is sitting up in his Bumbo seat that a friend is letting me borrow. Please notice the outfit in these pictures- Landry is styling. This was a very special gift from uncle Nathan. He wanted to get him a gift that no one else had gotten him so he bought him this Ed Hardy onesie. It is so cute on him. Thanks unlce Nathan!!

Here is uncle Chris getting to meet Landry for the first time.

Busy Busy Busy

The past 2 weeks have been very busy days for us. So I am going to catch you up on our big events the past several days. Many of my family members had not met Landry yet. Aunt Amber and Unlce Nathan had a cookout for us at her house last Thursday so they could finally meet our precious little boy. Landry did great- he basically slept on Bridget's (my 1st cousin) shoulder the whole time.























Last Friday Great Grandma Shankle came into town to meet Landry and visit with Martha and Nora. We met her at Olive Garden in Spring Hill to eat lunch during Austin's lunch break. Landry was very excited to finally meet her! Landry and I also went to CA on Friday to take pictures with "uncle" Alex and Haley for their senior year banquet. Later that night I officially left Landry for the first time since he was born. A good friend of mine from Harding had a wedding shower so I headed up to Cool Springs to eat at PF Changs. I have to say it was nice to get away for a while but it just wasn't the same as it was before I had Landry. I constantly thought about him and talked about him the whole time I was gone (which was only 2 hours- ha ha!). I was texting Austin the whole time I was there making sure he was ok. And of course he was- but that is just the motherly instinct kicking in just to check on him. As I was leaving the restaurant I called Austin just the check in one more time and as soon as the phone picks up I hear Landry whaling on the other line. Austin reassured me that he was fine that he was just fighting sleep but of course I speed up the car on the interstate thinking to myself "I've got to get home- I should have never left him- He is just still too little to be without me right now." I literally watch the clock for 3 minutes to pass to call him back. ha ha! I didn't want to call back too soon and make Austin think that I didn't think he could handle him -which wasn't the case at ALL. I was just thinking he needed his mother- and who doesn't need their mother at times?? So when literally 3 minutes has passed I call Austin and as soon as he picks up the phone I hear peace and quite. He had finally given up the fight and fell sound asleep. He did such a great job with Landry but I didn't expect anything different- he's a great daddy!



Last Saturday we went to Shannon Yokley's surprise 40th birthday party. Her and Greg have been long time friends of Austin and his family. Greg was in the army with John and they were stationed in Texas together back in the late 1980's- it has been fun getting to know them over the last few years and Greg telling me stories of Austin when he was a little boy. Everything was so nice and I have been raving about her birthday cake since. Greg ordered it from the "Puffy Muffin" in Franklin and it was in the shape of a Coach purse. It was amazing- it looked like a real purse. And of course our good little boy slept through half the party. Happy Birthday Shannon!



Last Monday -Landry finally got to meet his great aunts on the Simmons side of the family. It was perfect time for them to meet him since Martha and Nora are still in town. It was really nice all of us getting to visit for a while.

Last Tuesday -poor Landry got his 2 month shots on his 9 week old birthday. That was not a fun day for Landry or myself. However, I do have to say I was pretty proud of how well I handled myself that day. I just kept telling myself these are to help keep him healthy and I knew that 3 shots couldn't be worse than then spinal tap and IV they started on him that night in the ER when he was just 3 weeks old. He handled the shots pretty good and ran just a slight fever- but we just treated with childrens Tylenol. I know his diaper is full in this picture but we had to act fast to get a good picture that day- he was worn out and we didn't want to take a chance of getting him upset before we could take his 9 week old picture. At his appointment he weighed 12lbs and 15 oz and was 23 and 1/4 inches long. He is on growing boy!!

Last Wednesday he had his first big shopping trip with me, Byrdie and Aunt Baleigh. We started the day off at Burlington coat factory and spent 3 hours there. Yes- I said 3 hours in that one store alone!! That store is huge and has many great finds if you are willing to dig a bit like you do at TJ Maxx. Then we decided to head to Opry Mills for a while. Since it was Wednesday night we had limited time so we could get back in time for church. We were there for about 4 hours and only made it to 5 stores!! Once again that mall is HUGE and we didn't even get to cover 1/4 of the mall. Landry did GREAT! He loved all the lights and music. I think he is going to be a shopper like his mama! :) However, his daddy has different plans for him and I think they have to do with the golf course! :)

This week seems to be much calmer and hopefully I can get caught up on some laundry, cleaning, and sleep!

Milestone: These past 2 weeks Landry has stated laughing. It is so sweet to hear that little voice! I could be having a bad/overwhelming day and as soon as I see that little grin or hear that laugh everything seems to be so much brighter. I was finally able to catch a few pictures of him smiling.