Christmastime Fun

The past three weeks have been full of holiday fun. Baking cookies, seeing Santa, football games, visiting with friends and family, cute clothes, new toys, and lots and lots of love! And the camera journeyed with us most of the time :).

My dear friend Erin (another Kindergarten teacher at the school I work at) kindly gave Landon a Christmas gift. It was the adorable "My 1st Christmas" outfit pictured below... reindeer hat and all. She also gave another K teacher's son the same outfit, so when we all got together on a Sunday afternoon to bake holiday cookies we decided to dress the boys in their matching outfits. Neither of them were too fond of the hat- although it was SUPER cute they were just a little bit snug as you can probably tell from the following photo.

Tre- 3 1/2 months, Landon- 5 1/2 months

Erin is so great with kids! Landon loves playing with her.

He is fascinated with Christmas trees and just has to touch and grab at the tree, lights, and ornaments when he is close by.

The weekend before Christmas PJ, Landon, Kingston and I traveled down to Coral Springs. We celebrated Ryan's birthday, and then on that Sunday Paul and I went to the Dolphins game while Grandpa (Nono) watched Landon all day! He did great (the sitter:)), as I knew he would. We traveled back up to Orlando on Monday, just to repack the car and head to Jacksonville on Tuesday for a 6 day visit. It was a great trip.

Paul and I got to visit with some very special friends of ours that we don't get to see often. I've mentioned them before and I'll mention them again. We stayed at Seth and Traci's, and Mark and Marlo came down from GA and stayed with them as well. It was just like old times... well, almost. The difference now is the four kids added to the equation. The Meyer's twins (21 months), and the Meyerhofer's daughter (14 months), and our little munchkin (almost 6 months). They are all going to be great friends, just as their parents are :)

Below- bath time! So fun :)

L to R: Landon, Martha, Merrick, and Marley

It's not easy getting a group shot with four children under the age of 2!

After our wonderful visit with our friends, it was off to Memere's (PJ's mom's) to celebrate Christmas. We ate delicious food, played games, watched football, and relaxed. And of course there were more adorable outfits... More Christmas tree touching... Lots of sweet faces...

And many Christmas gifts! (Especially for Landon). He's been a really good boy this year, so Santa was quite generous.

Here is Landon trying out his new shades... he's not too sure about them.

Landon also got a new laptop. Here are all the Kennedy boys hard at work :). There are hundreds of more pictures I could post (literally) but I'll spare you the time:). Landon's first Christmas was very special and we will remember it always. Although it's a little late, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and may you have a happy, healthy New Year. We're ready for you, 2011!

Landon is 5 Months Old!

I just love the holiday season. Decorations, seasonal smells, the cooler weather, yummy feasts, and most of all spending time with family. Landon enjoyed his first Thanksgiving at my parent's house. Once again my mom did a fabulous job cooking a wonderful meal for our family. We all had a great time.

A few days after Thanksgiving we were able to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday. We had a delicious meal at Maggiano's. Landon came with us and was such a good boy! In the picture below he is sleeping in his carseat between Ryan and I. And Landon's 5 month birthday was on November 30th. Somehow it has been 5 whole months since our amazing son entered our life. On Friday night I took him to a "Winter Wonderland" dance at the school I work at. Before leaving we had a little photo shoot.

We are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy boy.

Firsts

We've been having fun in the Kennedy household! Here are some of the things that have been going on.

We recently celebrated Paul's birthday which is exactly 3 weeks after mine.

Landon had his 4 month check up and was given the green light to try rice cereal. I followed the directions on the box to prepare for his first time eating it and it was VERY liquidy. So needless to say, trying to spoon feed it to him was commical. See for yourself!

After failing at our first spoon feeding, I put the remainder in a bottle and he sucked it right down. We'll try again this week.

Paul and I got ourselves a Flip video camera. It's been coming in handy! We're still learning the thing, so I apoligize if watching the clips gives you a headache. :) Landon is very vocal these days, and I had fun capturing it last night. He loves blowing bubbles. It's super cute.

As of Nov. 2nd Landon weighs 16 lbs., 13 oz. and is 25 inches long. He can easily roll over from tummy to back, and can also roll from back to front. Sometimes when I wake him in the morning he's on his belly even though I put him down on his back. He is sitting up unassisted for about 5-10 seconds before slowly falling to one side.

Here he is playing in his new toy. It's a bouncer and he really enjoys it!

In just a few days we will be traveling down to Coral Springs to spend the long weekend with my parents for Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday. I don't have to work this week and get to spend it all with my little boy! One of the wonderful things about my job. Enjoy the holiday!!!

Our Little Pumpkin

Okay, so this post is a little late but I've got a good excuse (boring and work related) that I'm not going to get into. Last weekend was AWESOME. I celebrated my 30th birthday with my amazing family and wonderful friends and then got to dress my little munchkin up for Halloween. The weekend consisted of having a delicious birthday dinner at Kobe, having a little too much fun partying at a club in Winter Park, baking cookies with Dad, carving a pumkin with PJ, playing with the cutest little pumpkin in the world, and passing out candy to the neighborhood kids (we had a pretty good turn out :)) So eventful! I loved every second of it.

This was on my actual birthday (Oct. 28). Landon was amazed by the flame and just stared at it.

A big group of family and friends enjoyed dinner at Kobe. I had such a great time and am so grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life. Thanks so much to my loving husband and best friend Kelly for planning such a FUN night! And thank you mom for my sparkly "30" crown!

After dinner, we all hit a small pub and then took it to the club...

So much fun!!!

Baby boy's first Halloween

Grandpa already has his hand in the pumpkin goop...

Not bad for free hand, huh

And see what I mean? CUTEST PUMPKIN EVER!!! I'm already excited for next year :)

It's Been a While...

It's late on a Saturday night and I'm finally finding the time to write. The whole working mother thing is no walk in the park! It's VERY demanding. Up at 5:20 a.m. M-F, and then it's go, go, go until 10:30 at night. Phew! I'm two weeks in now, so I am getting the hang of it. At least I think I am. Not much time for me though... if I make it to the gym twice a week I'm lucky. That's okay, though.

Interesting facts about Landon:

Age: 3 1/2 months

Weight: 16 lbs.

Length: about 25 in.

Eyes: blue

Hair: light brown/blond

Clothes: 3-6 months; 6 months

Diapers: Size 2

SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Goes down around 9:30 pm and I wake him at 6:15 am for breakfast :)

"talking" and giggling often

fists in mouth as much as possible

grabbing and tugging at things (including my hair)

still loves music and when mommy sings to him

likes blinking lights and looking in mirrors

has fun kicking his toys

enjoys watching sports on TV (no, really)

Do you see the resemblance? Landon is adjusting well at the sitter's. He has really taking a liking to Iara. And oh how she adores him. Going back to work is hard enough, so it's extremely comforting to know our baby is in great hands during the days I cannot be with him.

I'm very excited for the upcoming holiday. I've always enjoyed Halloween, but now that we have a child to dress up and act silly with it's that much better! Landon is going to be a pumpkin. It is the cutest thing ever. You'll have to wait a few more weeks for pictures of that, but for now here are some from his first trip to a pumpkin patch. Happy Fall, everyone!

Landon is 3 months old!

It is so fun watching Landon develop and learn new things. We just love interacting with him- making him coo, smile, wiggle, and just recently giggle. It's a little giggle, but it's definitely something! And he squeals too~ it's so incredibly cute. As you can see from the pictures he is a BIG boy. He weighs 15 pounds now, and is about 24 1/2 inches long. Healthy little thing. He's sleeping better with each passing week, and right now on average will stay down for 6-7 hours, feed for 20 minutes, and then go back down for another 3 hours. That's really great since I go back to work next week. :( But enough about that.

Landon is very strong, and he's been grabbing things and playing with his hands for a while. He recently started putting his toys in his mouth. He's rolled over a couple times, but I don't think he's doing it intentionally. He LOVES music and flashing lights. I sing to him often, and I always get a big smile in return. Sometimes he even joins in with his baby talk. Oh yeah, he also can't get enough of... the television! I know, it's horrible! 3 months old and already he gets sucked into the boob tube. And what's his favorite thing to watch you ask? What other than FOOTBALL! I'm not even kidding.

The boys watching a football game.

I'll leave you with a little clip I took this morning. I get to wake up to this each day. Sorry about the poor quality of the video, but you get the point!

Thankfulness

There are so many things for me to be thankful for. Even though things with my job and our home have been challenging these past couple weeks, in the end I have so much. I'm thankful for the wonderful family that although we don't get to see much we talk to often. I'm thankful that although stressful at times, PJ and I have jobs and are making money in this rough economy. I'm thankful for our comfortable home in a neighborhood where we feel safe. I'm thankful for our wonderful doggy who loves us unconditionally. And most of all, I'm thankful for the beautiful, happy, healthy little boy that is the light of my life.

Sleepy head!

What are you thankful for?

Landon is 2 months old!

On August 30th our baby turned 2 months old. It's amazing how quickly babies grow and change. He is much more alert these days- smiling in response to us (which is just the best thing in the world), making the most adorable little sounds, enjoying music and listening to new/different sounds, loves looking at and studying faces, is getting into a better sleep pattern, and is continuing to pack on the pounds. We may have a little football player on our hands...

Yesterday we had our 2 month check up. Landon is doing great!

Weight: 13 lbs. 5 oz.

Length: 22 1/2 inches

Sleep: 4-6 hours (lately closer to 6 hours :))

We've been keeping busy. I've been taking Landon to a Mother Baby T.E.A. class. It's more for me; a bunch of moms getting together to discuss questions/concerns with a couple nurses. I really enjoyed it. However, now that Landon is too old for that class we'll be going to a Moms Meeting Moms class for the next couple weeks until I have to go to work. That day is approaching much too quickly.

This weekend we're taking our first road trip (yikes!) to Coral Springs to visit my family. Landon loves car rides, so I'm really not worried about him. I just hope we remember to bring everything we need! We're also going to take him to the beach for the first time. It'll be a very short trip, since he's so young and his skin is so sensitive, but he'll get to see the beach none the less. And don't worry (Mom), he'll be well protected from the sun. The first of MANY visits to the shore :)

I've been feeling great! I'm getting a little bit more sleep, which is AMAZING, and I'm back at the gym. I recently got my hair cut and a pedicure. Not usually a big deal, but when you've been couped up for weeks and weeks, these little things are so enjoyable!

Strengthening his little muscles during tummy time!

Kingston- such a good big brother :)