Lando's 5 Month

As I sit here and write this I'm almost overcome with emotion in the fact that my baby is 5 months old. People aren't kidding when they say it goes so much faster the second time around. I already look at Lincoln and can't believe he's two, but when I look at Landon my heart sort of breaks, I just love the baby stage so much and want to freeze time!

Being a parent can be a little bitter sweet at times. I love my kids but I want them to be little forever so they will always love me and be happy little beings. 

But of course this isn't possible so I'm trying my best to enjoy every minute. Landon has really blossomed into a beautiful little being this last month. He brings so much joy to all those around him and I feel so thankful to be his mommy. 

Here are some of our highlights

• Landon is always tracking me, he notices me above everyone else and is always flashing me his big toothless grin and I of course melt
• He is always so happy first thing in the morning, and is usually just laughing and kicking up a storm when I go to get him. 
• He laughs a lot. And thinks his brother is the funniest thing ever. My favorite moments are when Lincoln tries to get Landon to laugh. So precious!!! 
• He still loves his jumperoo. He stayed in it for almost 2 hrs! I got a lot of things done!!
• He still has only rolled over once or twice though he's really getting close going from his back to stomach. He rolls all the way to his side and will stay there but just not all the way over yet. 
• Tummy time is still an issue. He has now resorted to just laying there. He turns his head to the side and just lays there. Stubborn butt!
• He's still swaddled at night, though I'm now in the process of trying to wein him since mom gave me an article to read about the increased incident of SIDS with  swaddled babies...thanks mom...he gets up every hour now...something has to give!
• He loves sitting on my hip and has made it infinitely easier to carry him places. 
• He loves to grab rattles and toys. And will of course ALWAYS bring them to his mouth. I bought another bumbo play tray bc I lost he one we had with Lincoln and that has provided lots of entertainment for him YAY!
• He is indifferent towards bath time. 
• Before the weining for swaddling, he would go to bed around 8:30 and sleep until 6:30-7:30 and eat then sleep again until 10ish which was usually bc Lincoln woke him up
• He takes a 45-60 min nap in the morning about 1 hr after he wakes up and then takes a 2-4 hr nap in the afternoon...love my Chafin boys and their sleep!
• He's had some goopy eyes and running nose this month but I haven't taken him to the doctor  for it because it's not consistent. 
• He is eating every 3.5-4 hrs during the day 6/7, 9, 12, 4, 6/7, and 8:30. Is his typical schedule. Give or take. Sometimes it's tweeked bc of my work schedule. 
• He usually only eats once while I'm at work too which is awesome, so I've backed down to only pumping once a
• Shift yay!!!
• I'm selfishly holding him in his 6 month clothes. But he is definitely almost too small for them...I guess the 9 month stuff will have to come out this week (maybe after the {hopefully} last snow). 
• We've gone to the children's museum several times and he loves just watching the little kids!! Such a super baby!

Landon is so precious and I thank God for allowing me to be his mommy. I can't imagine my life without this little love bug. 

Here are some of my favorites from his photo shoot. And I had to go but a charger from best buy bc my camera died. But no worries I returned it the next day. 

I love our little more than words could ever express and yes he really is that happy all the time!!

Financial Peace

One of the hardest decisions of Adam and my's marriage was the decision for me to go back to school. I say this because it meant that we would be joining the thousands of individuals with student loans.

I was extremely lucky in that my dad paid for my first degree. But after graduating and realizing that the degree I had, in the field of construction wasn't what I wanted to do long term considering I wanted to be able to stay home with our future kids as much as possible, I had to choose another career path. It also didn't help that the construction industry was starting to fail and Adam and I made the decision for both of us to not be in the same field. 

Unfortunately I made the decision to go to Marian University, which is private school. I came out of my second degree in less that 3 years (2.5) but with more debt than I really care to comprehend. My student loan payments were more than our mortgage. And we have a fairly decent sized house! It was sickening to think about how much money we were paying each and every month on loans. 

In July we decided to refinance our house. We've lived here for 5 years, and we make an extra payment a year so we had a decent amount of money in our equity. So we paid down a significant amount (but hardly a dent) and saved ourselves $400 a month...but that didn't even cut my payments in half (I told you it was outrageous!)

Having two kids Adam and I are tired of living for Sallie Mae. We want to take vacations, fix up our house and be able to enjoy life instead of living paycheck to paycheck. I know we aren't the only ones who feel this way and I have heard over and over about Dave Ramsey, so we decided to start his class.  We started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in January. 

4 Months Old

I know I say this every month with each boy, but seriously how is it possible that my baby boy is 4 months old? I swear it goes by so much faster the second time. I'm trying to savor each and every day but its not working, time is flying!

My lovable little boy is just a huge blessing! He seriously brings so much joy to my life every day. I live for his wide open mouthed smile that melts my heart the minute he looks at me. I love how happy he is and how much he so obviously loves me. I often think how blessed I am to have a small child show me how much he loves me with just a look.

I remember thinking when I was pregnant with Landon how it would be possible to love another child the way that I love Lincoln. I thought how can all these mom's love their second child like they love their first, there is just no way. Well there most definitely is a way, somehow once that child is born God opens up your heart to a whole new realm of possibilities and love. In fact I remember thinking when Lincoln was 4 months, that I didn't need to have any more kids because he so fully opened and filled my heart, but I'm so glad that we did because Landon has make my life so much better than I ever thought possible.

This month has been busy and cold and to be honest really boring and annoying. This weather has been the worst we have had since before I was born. The negative degree temperatures have made us hermits. I didn't want to take Landon out in the -40 degree weather so we've spent a lot of time in our living room with our space heater going. Talk about BORING, but none the less our little chunky monkey has started thriving and growing like a weed!!

here are his milestones this month:

• He is a SMILEY baby, he is always flashing his big gummy open mouthed smile. SO cute
• he just looks at me and smiles - melt.my.heart
• he laughs all the time! Lincoln is actually very good at getting him to laugh
• Lincoln loves him and plays with him all the time, giving him kisses and hugs, Landon just eats it up. 
• He hates tummy time for more than 5 minutes, but when we use the small boppy pillow he will lift his head off and to 90 degree angle. His biggest issue is he won't use his hands! He likes to superman it all the time.
• He LOVES his bumbo! He will sit in it for at least 30 minutes or more, it's a great way for me to be able to color with Lincoln and have him close by
• His favorite thing is his jumperoo! My goodness that kid will jump, jump, jump for 45-60 minutes before getting upset! Talk about a lifesaver in letting me get some things done around the house. 
• he loves to play with all the different toys and things on it. He bats at the different rattles and things 
• We are in the process of getting him to sleep in his crib. 
• he will sleep 10+ hours in his rock n play next to me
• in his crib he will sleep 2 hrs and then scream and I'm not a fan of crying it out so I go at least give him his pacifier. --we will keep trying
• He is eating every 3-4 hours during the day, and longer if my mom is watching him to allow me to get some more sleep during the day.
• He goes to bed around 10 and will get up between 8-10 the next morning
• He naps around 10:30 for an hr and then again around 2 for about 2-4 hours. 
• He has found his hands and feet and loves them. He will constantly play with his feet when on his back and is always putting his hands in his mouth.
• If I hand him a rattle he will hold on to it and bring it to his mouth. 
• He loves to stand and loves you to hold him up so he can stand and it really requires little effort on my part
• He will sit with a little help; but we are working on sitting on our own. 
• He's strong enough that I can hold him on my hip with no problems, he holds himself up really well and I may just have to help him balance occasionally. 
• He laughs, giggles and squeals all the time; best part of my day
• He has rolled over once, thought neither Adam nor I witnessed it; though he hasn't done it again. 
• The one thing that will make this kid mad is getting him dressed: he hates getting clothes pulled over his head
• to that he also sometimes gets mad because he is so sweaty and just wants to be naked (well with just a diaper on)
• I had to go up a snap on his diapers
• He is officially in 6 month clothes and I hate to admit it but even some of those are getting a little small....
• He is slowly disliking his pacifier. He rarely takes it anymore, and I can't say I'm upset about that, I just hope he doesn't move to his fingers! 
• He is still swaddled at night but I try to put him down for his naps without it, but it's a slow process.  

He is growing so fast and it makes me sad to think he's no longer a baby, but such is the life of a parent. When we went to his appointment last week here are his stats

• He's 26.25 inches (same as big brother Lincoln at this age)
• He's in the 90% for height
• He's 16 lbs 1 oz. (almost a lb bigger than Lincoln!!!)
• He's in the 75% for weight

Overall he is a growing little boy, and brings more joy to Adam, my and Lincoln's life than I ever thought possible. I think my favorite part of having two kids is to see how much they love each other. Lincoln is just obsessed with Landon and Landon is in awe of his big brother. Its such a raw and natural love that I hope they continue for years to come. We are so blessed to have two healthy baby boys and I thank God daily for them and I hope I never take their health and wellbeing for granted.

Here are some pics from his photo shoot: don't mind the fact that nightshift got to me and I wrote Sunday February 8th instead of Saturday...most of the time I don't know what day it is...my bad

Love this little guy so much! Life is so much better than I ever thought possible with him! 

Lando's 3 Months

Once again I have failed miserably at keeping updated on my littlest's monthly updates, at least this month I have somewhat of an excuse. On the day Landon turned 3 months old we headed off to Mexico and then I've been trying to adjust to being a working mom once again. What am I going to be like when we have 4 kids...I'm never going  to be able to keep up.

Well Landon's 3rd month of life was a fun one. He experienced his first Christmas, New Years and his first illness. I also went back to work unfortunately which has made my life so much more complicated.

He has grown so much and changed so much in such a short period of time. He has become easier to handle, yet harder at the same time. He has really blossomed into a little person that captures the hearts of everyone he meets. I am constantly being stopped by strangers who just want to gawk at him. I can't say I mind it. Children are such a blessing and if he can bring a bright spot to someone's day so be it!

Here are a few of his developments this month (i'm trying to keep them to before he turned 3 months)

• Unlike his older brother this kid is a pacifier kid through and through. He loves it, will suck on it whenever and wherever. Sometimes its just what he wants, I've tried to nurse him when he's fussy and sometimes it works, but other times all he wants is that pacifier...this is such a change from Lincoln, I don't know how to break him of this
• He fights going into his carseat most times, but we are able to rock him and give him his paci and he usually settles down a bit. 
• he loves to be in motion when in his carseat, so the bumpier the road the better, but heaven forbid you are at a stop light and not moving...cause he will SCREAM!
• I need to get out some toys to hang from the carseat to see if this will help
• He will occasionally get super pissed when you try to put clothes other his head, and honestly its been so cold that I pretty much just keep him in sleepers and rarely put him in anything else.
• he is still in 3 month clothes, but those are getting tighter.
• for our trip to Mexico I bough 6 month clothes...this breaks my heart that he's not little anymore
• He LOVES this play mat that my sister got him for Christmas, it has a piano at the feet and He will lay there for about 30 minutes or so without fussing most days...which allows me to get some stuff done around the house. 
• he has started to bat at the toys and even grab some of them...I've even caught him trying to bring them to his mouth when he is hungry...so adorable. 
• We brought out the jumperoo because we are remodeling our basement and we put him in it. He has great head control and can sit in it but his feet still don't touch the ground
• He is indifferent about the bumbo. He will sit in it but not for long periods of time. 
• He is the smiliest kid ever. I thought Lincoln was a happy baby, but man Landon is happier if that's possible. I swear almost every time I look at him he will smile at me. and we are talking this huge big mouth open kind of smile. melt.my.heart
• He is almost laughing. He has been giggling since almost 6 weeks, and it's starting to get to be a belly laugh. I swear there is nothing sweeter than a baby laugh.
• He squeals in delight all the time...makes me so happy 
• HE is super strong and holds his head up like a champ. 
• He almost sits on my hip, I still have to support him a lot with it but he does pretty good. 
• He is NOT a fan of tummy time, and I'm not good at making him do it, but I'm trying to be better. He isn't all that great at pushing himself up when on his tummy
• He is almost ready to stand...I'm betting in a few days he will be there
• HE is a CHATTERBOX! Holy smokes, He is LOUD, and will let you know he is there! When he's playing he is just blabbing away
• He is almost blowing raspberries. He is constantly pushing saliva out of his mouth and blowing...kinda gross but cute at the same time.
• He loves me! He will follow me throughout a room and sometimes when he is upset in someones arms all I have to do is talk to him and he will calm down. 
• Adam thinks he doesn't like him because he is fussier than he is with me, but I think thats because he hasn't had to spend as much time with just him. Adam plays more with Lincoln and I care for the baby so he is just more used to me than Adam...comes with a territory. 
• He is still sleeping in the Rock N Play in our room, in fact I found a suitcase that if I break it down I can fit it in to take on vacation :)
• I'm more afraid of SIDS this time and for some reason feel safer with him next to my bed

I had to take his 3 month pictures a day early. We left on his 3 month "birthday" at 3:30 in the morning for Mexico and I wasn't about to try and tackle these pictures before we left. I had bought this snowman prop over Christmas to avoid my fiasco of trying to find a january prop for Lincoln...turned out pretty cute I think. 

I have to pinch myself daily for the abundant blessings God has bestowed on me in being Lincoln and Landon's mom. Through the screaming fits and the laughter I feel so truly blessed.  I feel like this is a dream that I'm going to wake up from someday soon. (I sure hope I don't). 

PS I think Landon's going to have a hint of red hair....what do you think?

Two months Old

I know I'm undoubtably late in writing this...I guess when you're good at something you should stick to it, mine is clearly writing my posts late.

My little Lando-man is two months old. I had wanted to wait to write this post until his 2 month appointment which was monday, so I guess I'm not all that late. :)

As another month has passed I still find it hard to wrap my head around being a mom of two beautiful and healthy boys. God's blessings never cease to amaze me. I find myself wondering all the time...how did I get so lucky to have been chosen to be the mom of both Lincoln and Landon.

As Landon has gotten older it's become more and more apparent that he is the easier of my two children. Both as a baby and now. As a baby he is easy peasy. He sleeps A LOT (a true Chafin at that) and eats well and is growing like a weed.

I'm so glad that he is such an easy baby because compared to his brother he's the easy one. Lincoln has hit the terrible twos and loves to throw tantrums making me want to pull my hair out especially when he starts screaming as Landon is falling asleep, but I wouldn't trade these moments for anything. As I bathe the boys it makes me sad that these are days I will never truly get back. As they grown they will want me less and less and become more independent and even as a grandparent you don't get to enjoy the little things of them giggling at you as you put lotion on them, or change their diaper. These are the sweet moments that I love more than life. Where the bonding happens and the times that I cherish most of all.

Today I'm feeling very grateful for all the blessings I have in my life. One of which is that my best friend is in school to be a physical therapist and her favorite concentration happens to be peds. We got to spend a few days with her this week and she had noticed that while Landon will look both ways he significantly favors his right side. He doesn't love to look to the left. Which is why feeding him on the left side can be such a challenge at times! She said he has the start of torticollis. Which is also know as wry neck, which is defined as an asymmetrical head or neck position. She said this most likely happened in utero. While his head is perfectly symmetrical and he has no flat spots yet, if not corrected early on it could lead to this. She's given us a few therapy treatments and exercise to help prevent it from getting worse and to help strengthen the left side of his head. I swear when she said it I felt so relieved and it was like a light bulb went off. Hopefully with some daily exercises and work he will be back on track in no time!!

For his second month here are a few of his milestones.

• He is sleeping a lot like I said, but now it's more of a schedule. He usually goes to bed around 10:30-11:30 and then will sleep until 7 or 8 depending on when he went down. That's 9 whole hours! Doctor said he is quite advanced in the sleep category (this is typical of a 4-6 month old)
• He naps a lot, but his good naps are about 10/11 in the morning for about 45 min to an hour and then in the afternoon around 2 he will sleep for about 2 hours! 
• The jury is still out about bath time. Sometimes he love it sometimes he doesn't
• He is so smiley!! he smiles all the time
• He has started to giggle! I finally got a video of it the other day. Baby laughs are the best
• he also squeals in delight
• He is still exclusively breastfed, but I'm trying to get better at giving him bottles. 
• he seems to need it warmer than I thought 
• He eats every 3-4 hours during the day, sometimes every 2...doctor said this too was advanced for his age but given he is gaining weight he's not concerned. 
• He's not all that fond of tummy time, but he does better if I use a small boppy type pillow under him. But we do do it on my chest and he does a lot better with that. 
• He does lift his head to a 45 almost 90 degrees though when he does it
• He will sit in the bumbo for a short period of time
• He will sit on my hip and be able to hold his head up
• He still loves to be held and Adam and I use either the moby or the ergo almost daily with him to do things in the evening
• He is the happiest baby in the morning. usually giving me about an hour or so of smiles and laughs. 
• He is beginning to like his play yard for a little while. 
• He still loves his swing and his rock n play (lifesavers for newborns!)
• When he is tired he is GROUCHY! There is NO pleasing him and he's kind of a pain!

He is growing like a weed! I can't even believe it!

• He's 24.5 inches
• He's 85% in height
• He's 13 lbs 5 oz
• He's 75% for weight

All in all these last 2 months have been amazing. I love my little so much. This next month is going to be quite fun too with his first christmas and getting ready for his first plane ride and first vacation (we leave for mexico on his 3 month birthday!)

Here are some pictures from his 2 month photo shoot

love this kid so much!!!