One-Armed Wonder

There is a certain skill set know only to moms. The skills are necessary for day-to-day living and can only be learned on the job. Skills such as running a household on little/no sleep, sustaining oneself on soggy cereal, handfuls of trail mix, and cold coffee, showering in less than 5 minutes, and the ability to fold laundry while talking on the phone and cooking spaghetti sauce. 

I am proud to announce that I've just mastered one of the most difficult (and useful) skills of them all: one-armed living  - the ability to do any activity normally associated with two arms (and/or hands) with only one

Examples:

• Eating my lunch. While out to a nice Santa Barbara restaurant I can eat an entire sandwich (stuffed with slippery ingredients), a salad, and sip my iced-tea with lemon with only one hand (as my baby is in the other).
• Driving the car. Sometimes Landon needs to suck on the fatty part of my right hand in order not to pass-out from extreme screaming, therefore, leaving me my left to steer the vehicle. 
• Pushing a stroller or shopping cart. It is amazing how many shopping carts have terrible alignment. You don't really notice how bad it is until you have to maneuver one through a packed Trader Joes with your son in your left hand and only your right hand to push.  Much, much harder than it sounds. Also, there are days Landon just can't stand another minute in the stroller and his pathetic mom gives in to his cries to be held.
• Typing an email. Sometimes you just really want to send a quick email, but Junior feels like sitting in your lap and since he isn't old enough to sit on his own you need to use one hand to hold him up.

Not only is this new skill incredibly useful but now I know how I'll answer if Holly's weekly question asks if I would rather lose a leg or an arm?!

Weekends

RJ and I have had to find a balance lately. Usually we're both on the same page when it comes to our free time, but now that Landon's here we find ourselves wanting different things. Since I'm home with the little guy all week I can't wait to get out during the weekends. I'm so excited to have RJ's company and I'm eager to spend time with friends. RJ on the other hand has been working all week and looks forward to spending the weekends at home - doing housework and having quiet family time. 

This weekend we found the perfect mix of both. Friday night we went to LA county to spend some time with our good friends Dallas and Meg. These two are so fun - every time we hang out I end up with flatter, stronger stomach thanks to all the laughing.  Plus, they love Landon, and nothing is more fun than spending time with people that oogle-and-aahgle at your kid. 

Saturday we said good-bye and headed home to plant sod in the front yard. It looks awesome! Pictures to come soon. And today was full of sunshine (it is unusually warm here today and I love it), yard work and Landon's first "pool" experience. Landon cooled off in the pool with his favorite girl Avila. He really enjoyed himself, although I am fairly certain he might have enjoyed he nakedness more than the actual pool water.
 

Avila and L enjoying the guitar music. 

Strong-Man! He can hold his head up now and sit in the Bumbo 

Summer

Basically we just have lots of cute pics of the boy.

Landon had already decided that he doesn't like helping with the yard work....but he does enjoy the fruits of the labor. 

Oma came to visit again and he got held for an entire week; which he thought was heavenly.
Thank goodness for self-soothing!
Loves his snuggly. Loves eating it more than anything. (I'm not looking forward to crawling. Landon loves to put anything that comes near him into his mouth.)
Pretty much the cutest face ever!

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Running (and more on Landon)

Yesterday I ran for the first time in a year. We found out I was pregnant at the end of July 2008. Prior to pregnancy day I had been running at least a few times a week for 8 years; and before that I was involved in sports since age 6. So the moment those two little lines popped up I told RJ, "Hand me that FREE card, I'm taking a break!" 

So for 9 months I sat around on my tushy. Taking short walks around the neighborhood to stretch my legs and the occasional water aerobics or yoga class, but anything that might actually cause me to sweat was off limits. It was heavenly. 

Until about month 8 - when all I wanted was my normal body back. And I nice long run actually sounded invigorating. But holy-moly was I unprepared for how sore my body would be after labor and delivery. So I pushed off running for at least another 6 weeks - doctor's orders! 

Well, here I am, nearly 3 month later and I finally feel ready. I headed out the door last night and promptly lasted 7 minutes! I thought I was going to die. And everything has changed. My hips are in a completely different place. I actually need my sports bra. I'm looking at a very long, uphill battle. :)

**********

Landon is 12 weeks old today! Time is flying by. He is the most WONDERFUL baby. Seriously, where did that little monster I brought home go??!! Once I started giving him that reflux medication (and sleeping him on his tummy) everything changed. He's so, so fun to hang out with all day.  

Landon has accomplished so much for only 12 weeks. 

• He started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old (Thanks to lots of prayer during pregnancy and loose Baby-Wise scheduling.) and last night he sleep for 11 hours! 
  
• Thumb sucking. He now consistently finds his thumb and is able to self-sooth. 
• Smiling spontaneously and some laughing. THE BEST part of hanging with him.
• Hold objects (including fistfuls of my hair)
• Loves watching his feet and swinging toys
• He also loves to "talk" with anyone who will listen and definitely dislikes being left in a room alone (unless he's tired and napping)

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Beach Day

Friday RJ and I took Landon for his second beach day. We were quite the spectacle at the Malibu pier.  Since we didn't have an umbrella for Landon (In retrospect we should have just stopped at Big Lots and spent the $5 for one) I wanted to bring down the car seat so Landon could get some shade. Between the car seat, RJ's surf bucket (wetsuits and such), our picnic lunch, my beach bag, Landon's diaper bag, and RJ's 10 foot surfboard we had enough beach gear to live at Malibu Point for a year. And to top it all off, we figured it was easier to hold the baby and load everything onto the stroller and push it all down. So there we went, RJ pushing the BOB stroller loaded down with beach toys, his 10 foot board strapped across his shoulder, and Landon and I trotting behind. 

We had a great time at the beach. RJ surfed his new board, I got a bit of a tan (finally!), and Landon mostly snoozed. We considered putting him in the water for the first time, but it was still cold enough to be considered cruel, so we passed. Afterwards we were lucky enough to run into our neighbors and good buddies Blair, Michelle and Avila at Neptune's Net were we dined on fried seafood.