The West visit

Martha, Chris, Nora and Wyatt came down last week for a full week. Landry had a blast playing with his cousins and we enjoyed every second we spent with them. He wasn't too sure about his mommy and daddy holding someone other than him and to be quite honest he didn't like having to split the attention 3 ways either. I'll throw him a bone and give him a little credit b/c he was just coming out of an respiratory illness and then an allergic reaction to medication. So I will say that the first few days he wasn't in the best of moods b/c he wasn't sleeping through the night due to not feeling good. But I will say by the end of the week he did much better and warmed up to the idea of sharing attention and toys a lot. Our main problem was he wanted to throw EVERYTHING in sight and this included a whole corn on the cob while sitting at the dinner table, wooden blocks, dried leaves onto Wyatts head while trying to take pictures outside and anything else he could wrap those fingers around. Lets just say he was dying for attention!

We did a lot of fun things with the kids while they were in including going to the children's museum here in town, swimming, and many dinners and playdates. We are plan to visit them sometime this fall/early winter and can't wait to see them again!

16 1/2 month Milestone Update

Here are just a few things Landry is doing now at 16 1/2 months old:

~sometimes he will grab his diaper when going to the bathroom and looking up at me (it doesn't seem like he should be old enough to be doing this-he is growing up way to fast on me!)
~grabbing my hand wanting me to do the "bug" in his ear(the bug is when I pop my fingernails together in his ear)
~reaching for my face and kissing me and makes a smacking noise-LOVE THIS!!
~his language has exloded the past 2 weeks! he is really trying to repeat words(recently will say dog(comes out dauuug-he thinks he is from up north,Bible=(comes out bye-blea), bubbles=(ble-ble), Sadie= (deedee)

~wanting to drink out of big boy glass
~leading me to the garage door when he wants to go
~doesn't like me leaving his side-BIG mommas boy now(I secretly kinda like this)
~When he is ready to go he will come get in my lap or come grab my hand and lead me to the door and start waving bye to people even though I haven't even mentioned we were leaving or ready to go
~actually jumping off the ground when imitating a frog and to go along with this he climbs on everything now and jumps off them including the couch! ugh-i think i have had a few heart attacks!


~shakes head "no" now with a big smile on his face and his mouth wide open when we ask him if he wants something
~starting to refuse food-never thought this would happen!
~found out he is allergic to penicillin after HUGE red whelps appeared on his body and this picture does not do it justice


~he can now do animal noises for: elephant, cat, sugar bears(you'll have to look these up online-Evan and Alex got 2 of them and they are so cute!), frog, rabbit

He weighed 26.2 lbs with his clothes, shoes, and diaper on.

We had a blast last week with Aunt Martha, Uncle Chris, Nora and Wyatt. That will have to be a post all in itself later though.

Back to REALITY!

Let's just say the real world has slapped us in the face since we have gotten home from our nice relaxing 6 day vacation to Bermuda! When we arrived home Landry had the stomach virus. That was not fun and let's just say we went through some diapers to put it nicely. After 6 FULL days of battling that he was finally getting better. But my sweet little boy loves to share with mommy...so you guessed it. I got the stomach virus literally the day after he was getting over it. This didn't come at very good timing. Somehow Austin always escapes getting sick-I am determined that he has the best immune system of anyone I know and I feel like I have the worst!
Well every year we go to the Lake and have a family reunion that has been a tradition for about 5 years now. And not only do we have a family reunion but Martha, Chris, Nora and Wyatt were coming into town and we haven't seen them in 7 MONTHS!! Well I decided to go anyways because I was feeling better but I just knew I would take it easy and relax. Thankfully by Saturday I was back to normal but as luck would have it all day Saturday Landry just wasn't his happy go lucky self. He was being real fussy and clingy and not eating very much. This is never a good sign but I just thought maybe he wasn't completely over the stomach bug so didn't think much of it. Saturday night he DID NOT sleep-and with us being at the lake and all 3 of us sleeping in 1 room that means all 3 of us didn't sleep! I attempted to put him in bed with us(WHICH I NEVER DO-just to try to get some rest b/c remember I was battling the virus Landry shared with me) and that worked a little better but not really. He just couldn't seem to get comfortable no matter what position he was in. So at 12:00am I got up and held him all night in the rocking chair he started to sound very congested and seemed to have a hard time breathing though his nose. At 4:30 I finally laid him back down in his pack-n-play and tried to get some rest. He woke up at 5:30 and then was up for good at 6:15. Thankfully Austin got up with him and let me get some rest so I slept in till 9:00. It's just impossible to sleep at the lake with all the fun you know you are missing out on. So long story made longer Landry was not feeling good at all Sunday morning. We always have a family church service on Sunday mornings when we stay at the lake and we headed out to go see a doctor as soon as it was over.(Just as a side note I always envision our family church service is what heaven will be like. There is nothing better than being crammed in a single room singing songs and worshipping the Lord with your whole family right next to you. It's so intimate and personal and I have really grown to love that part of the lake more than anything else we do there. The only thing that would make it better is is Austin's side of the family were there with us also-we are still working on a weekend that works with them to get them down there with us.) So anyways back to Landry's story. We head home as soon as church is over to take him straight to the doctor b/c I just had that "mother's instinct" that something was going on. About 5 minutes after we left he starts screaming bloody murder in his car seat and nothing is making him happy. So we pull over on the side of the road and I take him out and hold him for a minute and he immediately lays his head on my shoulder and closes his eyes and it's when he calms down and stops screaming that I notice he isn't breathing good. It was like he was struggling for each breath. So being the nurse I am I immediately starting doing a head to toe assessment. Half way home he starts to use his stomach muscles to breathe but I was just hoping it was from where he was so upset and screaming in his car seat. I tell Austin to hurry up and get us to Columbia b/c something was wrong. I hold him in my arms the whole time we are in the car to Columbia. I was scared not only b/c he wasn't breathing good but he also wasn't in his car seat and those roads are not very safe they are very curvy and noarrow and you pass a huge truck with a big boat behind it about every 5 minutes that almost runs you off the road. Every time I tried to put him in his seat he would cry and grab at me with big wide eyes as if he was saying "PLEASE don't let go of me!" This scared me more than anything. I was shaking I was so scared and to make matters worse I knew we were more than an hour away from any sign of life and cell phone service is horrible on these back roads.
OK get this yall-we call the Pediatrician on call to let them know what's going on with him to see if we need to take him the the ER and she tells Austin "Just give him some mucinex and if he isn't better my Tuesday bring him in the to the doctor!" ARE YOU KIDDING ME LADY!! My son was having rapid shallow respiration's and you want to put him on mucinex! UGH! I am HOPING the only part she heard was "congestion" otherwise she doesn't deserve her degree! Luckily we are friends with his pediatrician and we give him a call at home on his day off and a holiday(July 4th) and he immediately tells us to bring him by his house he wants to look/listen to him before just sending us to the ER to make sure it's necessary. He listens to him for 5seconds and says "Go straight to the ER-he isn't moving air very good in his lungs-he may have pneumonia-he'll need a chest x-ray to rule it out." So off the the ER we go and by the time we get there Landry is completely INCONSOLABLE! He wouldn't quit screaming at the top of his lungs and at times it was almost as if he was delirious-he wouldn't look me in the eyes and his eyes kept rolling back in his head. We walk straight in they hook him up the O2 sat machine as soon as I told them he wasn't breathing good and his O2 sat was 87% and pulse was 190. My heart was sinking~they took us straight back to a room without making us wait for even a second and start a breathing treatment on him immediately. He finally calmed sown and was still having retractions, using accessory muscles to breath and grunting on expiration. It turns out he has upper respiratory inflammation, and double ear infection. Turns out his lungs were clear(Thank you God!) so no pneumonia! We really thought we were going to have to go back the ER again Sunday night around 8:30 b/c he wasn't breathing good again but we are lucky to have Pops as a good doctor(Thank you Pops!) and he listened to him and said he was moving air pretty good just to keep him at home and monitor him closely. He is now on steroids, antibiotics, ear drops and an albuterol inhaler. He is still having wheezing as of his doctor check up yesterday so he extended the steroids another 2 days and the inhaler another week and we go for another check up on Monday. To make all these matters worse cousins Nora and Wyatt Landry can't go around him until late Friday per doctors orders. They still aren't sure what caused all this so we wouldn't rather be safe than sorry. The last thing I want to do it get them all sick and then send them off to Wisconsin for the bomb to hit them when they are by themselves. To say this breaks my heart is an understatement! I have been looking forward to this trip since they left Tennessee the last time in December! So you can bet that Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday we are going to soak up our time with them till they leave Sunday night! Austin and I have decided that we are going to be going up to Wisconsin soon to get in a good visit since this one isn't really going to count for us-so I hope they have a room for us to stay in! :)
Please pray that the wheezing goes away and his lungs to get stronger and heal! Also-please pray for me b/c between the steroids and inhaler I have one hyper little boy on my hands all day! haha! He has been keeping me laughing lately and not even trying to! He has been so much fun! You wouldn't know he is sick now unless you heard his wheeze. I will update you when he goes back to the doctor on Monday.
That was how we spent our 4th of July-not the best but at least we live in a free country where we can go to the hospital, get medicine to get us better, and have an opportunity to take good care of our precious son of that God blessed us with! I am thankful for the courage it took those men to sign the Decleration for our independance even though it put their life and their families life in danger-that's just one of the many reasons why we are the "land of the free and home of the BRAVE!"

Sweet things!!

Before I write anything I know...3 post in one day- that's unusual!! I am trying to catch up after being gone last week!

Landry has been such a sweetie lately! Ever since we got home from vacation he has not stopped showing Austin or myself affection! I think he really missed us and is a little insecure now after us leaving him-that really makes me feel bad! He HAS NOT let us leave his sight the past few days! When I walk into the garage today to get something or if Austin walked outside to the back yard you would have thought by the way he cried that we were leaving him for good and never coming back! :( Of course he has no concept of time and only knows right now so he probably does think we are leaving him again for several days. It's pitiful yall and it breaks my heart but also makes me feel so good at the same time b/c it tells me he really did miss us while we were gone! I knew he would miss us but I didn't expect this reaction from him when we got home b/c he has NEVER been a clingy baby from birth!! He has always gone to anyone and everyone and could care less whose holding him-that's not the case since Thursday! I am really nervous about going to work my 2 days this week b/c I'm scared he will get really upset when I leave him and I just can't leave him when he's crying and reaching for me-I just can't do it I don't have the heart to I would start crying also! I was told he REALLY took up with Amber(aka Aunt Baleigh pronounce Buh-leigh) while we were gone. Everyone thought it was b/c she reminded him of me the most-so sweet. I do have to say though- he sure does love her even when I am around-I think it's b/c the 2 are inseparable when they are together. They just follow each other around like little puppy dogs but i'm not sure who follows who around the most. They equally are crazy about each other! :)
He has also been doing a new trick when I try to rock him to sleep for his naps. He will be laying on my shoulder and have me thinking he is sounds asleep and then all of a sudden he will raise his head up look at me with those beautiful big blue eyes and smile ear to ear and then put my face in between his hands and kiss me on the lips. As soon as he does this he wiggles out of my arms and gets on the ground and starts playing in his room. So far this new tactic has worked for fighting off afternoon naps. He KNOWS how to tug at my heart and that smile and sweet kiss does the trick every time!! How can I make him go to sleep after he has been so sweet and kissed me like that!!?? How do they get so smart so fast?? And how do they learn how to get what they want at such a young age?? The way I look at it is as long as he is in a good mood I could care less if he takes an afternoon nap b/c I have been trying to get him down to one long nap a day anyways for months and nothing has worked so far-he is still taking 2 naps for the most part. I think we are slowly getting down to one nap though. I am so thankful that he is a good napper-on average his morning nap last anywhere between 2-3 hours. That's good enough for me I have no complaints here unless he is cranky of course and then we try for 2 naps but lately that hasn't been working as he performs his new trick.

Cousins Nora and Wyatt!!

I was checking in on all my normal blogs before we left for our trip last week and I was able to get the sweetest pictures of Landry pointing to his cousins Nora and Wyatt. I showed them to him one time and said "Landry here's cousin Nora and cousin Wyatt" after he looked at them he wouldn't leave the computer screen and kept pointing to them and talking to me as if he was saying how much he missed them. He did this for so long that I was able to go grab my camera and capture him pointing to them for the 100th time! It was so sweet but also made me so sad at the same time! They live all the way in Wisconsin and we only get to see them about twice a year-so we really miss them and wished they lived closer!
Thankfully they are coming here next week so we are planning on getting some good play time in with them while they are here! I am very excited about this trip b/c they are all 3 at a stage now where they will be able to interact with each other more than the last time we saw them at Christmas b/c Landry was only 10 months old then and Wyatt was only 2 1/2 months old so Nora was the entertainer then and the most active-now I have a feeling they are all 3 going to be the entertainers and we aren't going to be able to keep up with any of them! I can't wait to see them especially my precious niece and nephew b/c I know first hand how they change from day to day and it's been a long 7 months since we last saw them! HURRY UP and get here Martha, Chris, Nora and Wyatt-we are ready to party and play with yall! :)

Bermuda Cruise 2010

Happy 4 years to us!! We had an ABSOLUTE BLAST on our cruise to Bermuda!! But oh did I miss my baby!!! I bawled like a baby the whole way to the airport, on the plane, and after we got to New York even when we went to bed I was still crying!! I did better the next day but as soon as the ship set sail I started crying again b/c I knew there was no turning back then and that would mark the 1.5 days I wouldn't be able to hear from him! Later that day I was feeling a lot better and enjoying being "free" to do as what we wanted when we wanted to do it. They literally wait on you hand and foot on the boat! Let me just say I would recommend Bermuda to everyone!! It's such a beautiful place and the people are so friendly there. Behind Hawaii, of course, it is my new favorite place and the cruise was just an added bonus!
We got home on Thursday afternoon and I was more than thrilled to see my precious baby boy!! As soon as we spotted each other at the airport he has a HUGE grin on his face and started running towards us! I was crying and I don't remember anything b/c it was such a blur and exciting moment but Austin said I kept say "Hi baby, hi baby, hi baby"-while crying of course! No one existed in that room for the first several minutes when I saw him. It's a close 3rd place to the the feeling I felt the day I walked down the isle to Austin and of course the top moment being when I held Landry in my arms for the first time. I was so overwhelmed with emotion! Friday Austin went back to work and I called him during the day to see how his day was going and see what he was up to and he started laughing and said "actually I'm on Royal Caribbeans website looking at deals they are running on cruises to Bermuda in October!" ha ha!



Austin's favorite part of the ship was all the "free" food and mine had to be the shows-I'm a sucker for any type of shows but I especially loved watching the professional ballroom dancers! I know for a fact Austin ate his weight in food on the boat! Seriously-I'm not kidding. He always order 2 appetizers, and entree', and usually 2 desserts and that was just at dinner! He really enjoyed the pizza bar also! One night at 2:30am as we are literally crawling in bed he looked at me and said-"I'm hungry I think I am going to get some pizza"-so being the supporting wife I am I got out of bed and went and got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream so that he wouldn't have to eat all by himself!! Aren't I sweet! :) Austin played on Port Royal golf course where they have held several PGA tournament there in the past and are actually holding another one there in October. It was the prettiest course I have ever seen and had so many breathtaking views and it was worth going and sitting in the heat for 4 hours just to see them!

We plan to go back to Bermuda in the future and I suggest you look into it also-you won't be disappointed! Here are just a few snap shots of our trip-we really didn't take very many pictures b/c we were enjoying being "free" and not having to carry anything around with us! ha ha! And just in case your wondering I have not photo-shopped this pictures in any way-the water really is that beautiful!

Sad Tears!!!

Well here we go. We leave tomorrow around 11:30 for the airport and then we will land in New York(do a little shopping...shhh Austin doesn't know that part) and then we will take a taxi to New Jersey. Our boat will set sail at 5pm Saturday. I am SOOOOO nervous about leaving my precious baby and to be quite honest I am having regrets of planning this trip-don't get me wrong I am very excited but part of me wishes SO bad that I could take him with us!! But I know we will have a wonderful time and will enjoy our 1 on 1 time with each other and Landry will enjoy his time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandparents! Come to think of it I don't think he will have time to miss us b/c he will be to busy being the entertainer he is and getting LOTS of special attention!! I told Austin last night that I would be shedding enough tears to make our boat float when I leave him!! I will take lots and lots of pictures but in the mean time this is what I'll be looking at for the next 5 days! Austin is playing golf on this course "Port Royal" when we get there I printed off an 8x10 of this picture of Landry to take with us and put up in our room so I could look at his precious face every day! :) I am also taking a pair of his pajamas with me that he has worn several times this week so it will smell like him! ok I am tearing up thinking about this so I will stop now and update yall next weekend on how our trip went! Say a special prayer for us this week as we travel and leave our precious boy!!

Just a few sweet shots

"Snake face"


Amber was able to get several really sweet pictures of Landry at the lake this weekend. Landry had an absolute blast and worn smack out doesn't begin to describe how he was Sunday night, Monday, and today! He went to bed Sunday night at 8:30 and didn't get up till 8:30 Monday morning!! PEOPLE this is a RECORD!!! His entire life he has never slept past 7:30 and that's a rare occasion b/c he is normally up around 6:30-7:00!! Let's just say that was very nice-and then to top things off he took a 4hr and 20min nap Monday afternoon!! Then today he slept in till 7:30 and took a 3 hour nap. I'm not holding my breath and I keep telling myself-it won't continue but it will be oh so nice while it last. Thick little feet are oh so sweet!
This grin melts my heart everytime!!


Landry even got on the inner tube. He sat in the middle of Austin and I and actually did a lot better than I thought he would! I am hoping to expose him little by little b/c I don't want him to be scared of the water or to try stuff at the lake when he is older. So the younger and faster he is exposed I am hoping the less it scares him-that's my hope anyways....well see if that happens. As you can see in the last picture-he was DONE with all of it by this point!

Landry's many outside hobbies....

Oh ME!! This little boy LOVES LOVES LOVES to play outside. From the moment those little thick chunky feet hit the ground in the morning he is going to the back door doing his "please" sign and then pointing to our backyard. He loves it outside and will stay out there for hours!! I have to make him come back in b/c it has been getting so hot during the day and he sweats till his hair is wet. (I think he got a double dose of that from his daddy and dad-o!)
He doesn't care what he is doing as long as he is outside. We recently purchased him some water shoes b/c he loves to get in and out of his swimming pool we got him. But the concrete would be so hot to his little feet and the minute his feet touched the concrete he would whimper and then when I would pick him up he would look and me and say "OT" aka HOT while pointing to the ground! They were a great investment and were a whopping $5 from big lots! haha! I know they are the most stylish shoes but he loves them and so do I b/c his tennis shoes were getting soured b/c they were getting wet and staying wet and not having time to dry. I know his outfits in these following pictures aren't the best and he is in big over sized T-shirts in all of them but I refuse to put good play clothes on him when I know he is going to be in the dirt and water-let's just say he is ALL BOY!!

He taught himself how to drink of of the water hose this week all by himself! He was cracking me up b/c as soon as he would get a drink he would look at me and smile and say "AHHH" and of course I would start laughing so he did it over and over again till he was tired of that and moved on to the next thing. He is such a HAM!



He has learned to run away from me know what I call him. That's what this picture is about. I was trying to get a picture of him smelling the flowers and he decided he wanted to run and play in the flower bed. When he got to where he was going he threw his arms up in the air almost as to say "I'm down here mommy-"

Oh the lawn mower. He loves to ride with Austin on it. It's so funny though b/c he always has such a serious face when he is riding with him though-he never smiles on it. But I know he has a blast b/c as soon as we get him off he wants right back on and will even sometimes cry when I take him off! I think he is going to like yard work like his daddy!

He even waters my plants for me! For the longest time we didn't put water in his watering can he got for Easter from Byrdie and Daddy and he would make and "EEEE" sound while he was "fake watering" the plants. We still aren't sure where that noise came from or why he makes it while watering but it's so funny-he will go around to every plant in sight and say "EEEE!" (Please notice the water shoes in this picture! ) :)

Well it's official. We can now say that Landry has his very own set of golf clubs! I know what you thinking....i can't believe he is 15 months old and that Austin doesn't already have him a set and taking him out on the golf course with him. You may also be thinking that Austin bought these for him-but he didn't-I did! Can you believe that?? As soon as we got home from Wal-Mart Austin had to give him his first private lesson! So cute!! Isn't there just something about seeing your husband playing with and teaching your child that just makes your heart overflow with love!? I just love it! I know Landry will be on the golf course in no time and Austin told him that night that is has a natural swing and has high hopes for him! haha!

He is also a good digger and can actually dig a whole in the ground with his very own garden tools. Last weekend Austin and I got some tomato plants and made a little garden in the back yard for them. While we were planting them we gave Landry his tools to just play in the dirt. A few minutes later we noticed that Landry had actually dug a 3-4 inch deep whole in the garden. We couldn't believe he had actually done this-he kept looking at the whole and pointing to it. I could just hear him saying in his mind "Look Momma and Daddy-i dug a hole just like you!" Once again monkey see monkey do! (more pictures to come of our tomatogarden later)
All these pictures are a pretty good glimpse of our daily life and just a FEW of Landry's cute hobbies that I have been able to capture on camera over the past few weeks. I don't even want to think about how bored he is going to be when winter rolls around again and we are stuck inside-but until then we will soak of the sun and enjoy every minute of it!!