Landon's 6 Months

As I sit here and write this I can't believe that my little is almost 7 months old. I also could kick myself that it's taken me so long to get things down "on paper". I just hate that!!! But once again I'm late to this little party!

I just can't believe that my little is already 6 months old. He is growing so much, and gaining such a personality. This has to be my favorite age! He is so easy, chill and laid back, and we are constantly complimented on how good of a baby he is. He rarely cries, only when he's hungry, tired or dirty. I often say that everyone deserves a baby like him, because he's just a dream!

I swear everyday he just melts my heart the way he looks at me and smiles. It's like you can see the love he has for me in his eyes. There truly is nothing better.

Here are his stats for the month:

• He's an EXCELLENT sleeper. He will go down between 8:30-9:30 and sleep until about 9 the next day. Sometimes he wakes for a early morning feeding around 6 but sometimes he doesn't. When I work if he wakes up around that 6 am time, they feed him 2-3 oz and he falls back asleep until I get home to feed him around 8:30-9. 
• If he wakes up before 9 he will take a 45 min-1 hr nap in the morning. If he wakes up later than that then he usually skips a morning nap. 
• He takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons around 1:30-2.
• He hasn't started solids yet. He's not really showing an interest in eating what we do. He doesn't look at the food we eat when we eat in front of him and he eats every 4 or more hours so he's very satisfied with just the breastmilk. His doctor said it was completely fine that he's not eating  solids yet. by the time he's 9 months he would just like to see him eating probably 1-2 small table food meals for developmental reasons only. 
• His hands are his favorite "toy" they are always in his mouth. Everyone keeps trying to tell me he's hungry but I know he's not because he won't nurse anymore and he just likes to put things in his mouth. Everything goes to his mouth; all his toys, blankets, anything he can find on the floor!
• He's quite talkative. He is actually so loud sometimes you can't hear the TV or other things above him.
• he laughs, grunts and blows bubbles out of his mouth. just loud! 
• He loves to stand up, and bounce for that matter. We often go from sitting position to standing and he just loves that!
• He loves to follow you with his eyes and head. He will follow the sound of my voice and even try to move towards me.
• He works to get things he wants, such as toys or other objects on the floor
• He passes toys from hand to hand (they toy rings is where I noticed this)
• He is a master roller. He rolls in both directions and will even roll a few times over. I'm sure that he will be rolling across the floor in no time!
• He doesn't mind tummy time as much anymore, he still gets frustrated after a little while
• His favorite thing is his jumperoo. It's his favorite thing, and he will stay in it for hours
• He like is bumbo for a short period of time, but gets frustrated after a while. 
• I've started to put him in his high chair when we eat so that he will sit with us, and give him a new place to "play". He doesn't love it, I feel like it will get better once he starts to sit up but he's not doing that yet, so he falls from side to side. 
• He's not sitting up yet; I need to try and work on this skill a little more. 
• Once he starts to sit up a little more he will be able to sit in the cart too!
• He almost always falls asleep in the car, even if it's only for 10 minutes! 
• He loves to be outside and go for walks. He's not quite as in love with it as Lincoln was but he still likes to be outside and I'm so grateful it's finally getting nice out so we can enjoy it. 

I'm sure i've missed some things, and I'm sure some of these he may have mastered after 6 months old, but thats what I get for waiting so long. I tried to keep these to what he did before 6 months old. you know me, I just don't want to forget anything!!!

At his doctor appointment, his Doc was impressed with him, and said he looked great. He told me once again not to worry about how he's not eating solids, I think I'm going to do more of a baby lead weaning thing instead of just being in a hurry to get him on solids. Breast feeding has gone so much smoother this time, and I really love doing it, so I'm in NO hurry for him to wean!

Here are his stats:

• He's 18 lbs 10 oz
• He's 60% for weigth (almost 1 1/2 lbs bigger than Lincoln!)
• He's 27 1/2  inches long
• He's in the 80th% for length (same length as Lincoln)

Here are his photo shoot (at least this is the one thing I'm good about actually getting done on time!)

one of my favorite of his smiles!

of course I had to get a pic of him and Lincoln together since
Lincoln was 2 1/2 on the same day!! so here they are
30 months and 6 months :)

I love my little Landon so much, I look at him each and every day and just have to pinch myself with how amazing of a little being he is. He has blessed my life in ways I never thought possible. He is such a fun, loving, beautiful, old soul. He has been the perfect addition to our family and we are truly so blessed.

And because i already have these pictures back I have to share some of my favorites from his 6 month photo shoot with Alicia Monahan. 

Love my boys more than anything on this planet. They bring me so much joy each and everyday! I can't believe they are 2 1/2 and 6 months! where does the time go???

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!