Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not bribe Landon with a pack of fruit snacks to sit still during a diaper change. Nope, not me! I would never result to bribery to make a diaper change easier.

I did not find a diaper in the sink after asking Landon to throw it away. I always make myself crystal clear and would never forget to add the words "in the trashcan" after saying "throw it away". Nope, not me! Even if I had, I most certainly would never make this mistake a second time resulting in me having to fish a diaper out of the toilet. Nope, not me!

I did not laugh when I found Landon covered in ketchup after instructing him to take his plate to the kitchen sink. Landon would never go to the sink and then lick the remnants of ketchup off of his plate. And I most certainly would never take a second too long to check up on him and make sure that the plate made it into the sink. Even if I had taken a little too long to realize that I never heard the plate hit the sink, I would never take a picture of my Landon covered in ketchup after discovering what he had been doing. Nope, not me!

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not make Ramen Noodles and tell Landon that it was chicken noodle soup simply by adding chicken and carrots to the noodles. Nope, not me! I would never take such a short cut in the kitchen.

I did not have to stifle a laugh when Landon peed on Tinkerbell. Nope, not me! I would never find such a disgusting thing to be funny.

I did not allow Landon to paint all over himself rather than on paper because I thought it fueled his creativity. Nope, not me! I would never make myself have a bigger mess to clean all for the sake of having some fun and I most certainly would never encourage body painting.

I did not allow Landon to watch a show with his Aunt Jenny that is a little too old for him. As a result, Landon did not learn how to point at people while saying "ha ha." Nope, not my son. He would never learn such a thing. If he had learned such a thing, then surely I was not the one who allowed him to learn it.

I did not cry like a baby when Landon got his first hair cut. Nope, not me! I would never be one of those crazy moms who cries over every little thing that their child does and every new milestone that they cross.

Van Gogh in the Making

Landon loves to color and I finally pulled out the finger paints for him. He sure did have fun. I had a smock for him so that he wouldn't paint himself, but completely forgot to put it on him. Although, if I had remembered it then I would have never been able to get these pictures!

Landon sure did enjoy painting himself almost as much as he enjoyed painting on paper.

He didn't allow one spot to go unpainted- notice his feet!

Hair Cut After Thoughts

It has been a couple of days since Landon's hair cut. I have been telling myself and everyone else that I like his hair cut. Although the truth is I miss his long hair. I regretted cutting his hair and wanted to undo what we had done. That was until today. Today I was in the bathroom getting ready and Landon was playing on the floor with his toys. I glimpsed down at him through the bathroom mirror and for the first time I told myself that I liked his new hair and believed it. I have finally started to like his new hair cut. It took me a little while to come around to it, but I finally have. Now I can say so and believe what I am saying. That quick little glimpse of Landon in the mirror changed my whole perspective on his hair. Somehow in that split second Landon appeared older to me and I saw the little man that he was becoming rather than missing the baby boy that he was. I also love that I don't have to spend a ridiculous amount of time brushing and drying his hair every morning. I also no longer have to carry his brush with us on every outing to keep his hair tamed at all times, nor does he sweat as badly in the car seat with his new short hair. His hair is growing on me and I am realizing that it will be ok that he is getting older.

Landon had a re-check with his pediatrician today because of the ear and eye infection that he had two weeks ago. All is well. His ears look great and we managed to escape his getting thrush from the antibiotics. He always seems to develop thrush after taking antibiotics, but not this time around. He had an allergy flare up last night, but all was well again this morning. He has been napping really well for me lately and I am wondering if it is from all of the growing that he seems to be doing. His head is now almost at the top of the stove!

Landon is starting to wake from his nap so I am just going to post this picture of him today in his St. Patty's Day shirt and then update some more later.

Landon's 1st Hair Cut!

We actually did it. We cut Landon's hair today. Kevin and I have been talking about it for a long time. Well, it was more like Kevin talking about getting it done and me telling him no way for the past year. We had compromised that when Landon turned two that we would cut his hair. I finally worked up the courage to do just that. We found a hair cuttery that specializes in children's hair cuts. It was called Cookie Cutters at Fleming Island and I must say that we couldn't have chosen a better place to get Landon's hair cut at. The place is decorated in bright colors- red, blue, yellow, green. It also has a play area with a slide and the seats that the children sit in are made to look like planes, cars, and fire trucks. It was absolutely adorable in there.

Landon was able to sit in a Mercedes seat and "drive" the car as they were cutting his hair. They also had tvs with cartoons running at every seat which kept Landon entertained. He could care less that they were cutting his hair. He was so fixated on the cartoons that I don't think he even noticed his hair being cut. Not a single tear was shed. At least not by Landon. I was a totally different story! I, of course, was a crying mess...surprise surprise! I knew I was going to cry, but I wasn't expecting to cry as hard as I did. I hated seeing his hair being cut off. I knew it was time for it to be cut because it was starting to bother him, but with each strand being cut I was becoming ill. I felt so sick to my stomach the entire time. I told Kevin pulling in that I was going to be sick. Thankfully, I didn't get sick. I was just a little emotional. I do miss his hair. I know we made the right decision to cut it, but I still miss seeing his long hair. Landon looks so much older now. I still feel as if I am looking at the wrong little boy when I see him with his shorter hair. We were able to save a good amount of his locks. We got a bag for ourselves and also a bag for each grandmother. The hair cuttery place also had a special for first time hair cuts that included a certificate and a photo that they take. I thought it was a cute momentum for the occasion:

Here is the back of Landon's head before his hair cut:

Here is the back of his head after his hair cut:


Landon was so well behaved during his hair cut:

He wasn't too fond of getting wet though!

Showing Mommy the bunny container that they placed in his lap to keep him looking down:

I guess I will no longer be able to style his hair like this during bath time!

I know that we will return there for the rest of Landon's hair cuts. It really was the cutest little place. Landon loved going up and down the slide and he also enjoyed kissing us through the plexi glass on the slide enclosure!

We ended the day with lunch at O'Charley's. Kevin and I use to eat there all the time and we hadn't been there in ages. It was the perfect ending to the day.

Landon looked so grown eating his fries:

I also must share one thing that Kevin did to make the day a little more special. Kevin went out and purchased Landon an outfit all on his own just for his first hair cut. When I opened the Children's Place bag I was rather impressed. It was really sweet that he had thought ahead of time to do so. I had already had an outfit planned for him because we all know that I am neurotic like that, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Kevin had something even better planned. Even if I was hesitant and am still missing Landon's long locks I couldn't be happier with the results of the day.

Alternatives to Pancakes and Fruit Punch

It's no secret that I like Landon to eat a healthy diet. It's also no secret that Landon hates eating a healthy diet. Since Landon is such a picky eater for me I have resorted to sneaking in healthy ingredients into the foods that he will eat. The other week I was able to make him fruit punch and banana pancakes. They weren't as big of a hit as I was hoping, but he did consume both of them rather well. Landon won't touch anything with bananas in it. Just the smell of bananas will make him turn his head. I put a whole banana into his pancake mix and then made his pancakes. He wouldn't touch it at first, but then he decided to top it with peanut butter and gobbled it up. I'm not really sure how the peanut butter came into play, but all that matter to me was that he ate the pancakes.

The fruit punch was a lot more expensive to make then the pancakes, but it was well worth the cost. I am not a fan of Landon drinking juice. In fact, we still water down Landon's juice. We usually fill his sippy cup about 3/4 of the way with water and then top it off with juice. I prefer him to drink water throughout the day, but there are times when he insists on drinking juice. I came across a recipe for fruit punch and decided to give it a try. I pureed pineapple, raspberry, and carrots to make the fruit punch. The only problem with it was that the raspberry seeds do not puree. Landon did not like the texture of the seeds and refused to drink it once he came across the seeds. I was then left with a whole pitcher of fruit punch that I could not drink because I am allergic to raspberries. I did take a sip of it and it was rather tasty, but after just one sip I felt my throat starting to close. At least I attempted to give him a healthier alternative to drink. I guess we will be sticking with V8. For all of you other moms who would like to try a healthier version of the every day juice here is the recipe:

• 2 cups raspberry puree (equals one large bag of frozen raspberries)
• 1 cup pineapple puree (equals one half of a pineapple)
• 1/2 cup carrot puree
• 2 cups cold water
• 1/2 cup sugar

The recipe did not make a lot. As you can see it was only half of a pitcher. It is also rather expensive just because of the price of raspberries. It was rather tasty what I could have of it. Landon just did not like the raspberry seeds. I'm sure older children will enjoy this fruit punch.

Sickness Be Gone

I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately, but with good reason. Landon and I have both been sick. I don't mind if I am sick, but I hate seeing Landon sick. When he is sick I have a bad habit of watching over him 24/7. Even when he is napping I can be found reading next to him just so I can make sure that he is breathing ok. I haven't even gone near the computer in a weeks time because I can't seem to pry myself away from Landon when he is not feeling well, even when he is sleeping. I have also been in bed right along with him by 8:00 p.m. most nights this past week. I usually do most of my computer time when Landon is in bed for the night. With me not feeling well and having to take care of Landon I have been even more tired than usual. Landon and I have fallen asleep more then once this week while the sun was still out and did not wake again until sunrise. I am glad to report that Landon is feeling much better today. He battled an eye infection, ear infection, fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, and upset stomach for the majority of last week. Since Landon had an eye infection I have been having to give him eye drops. When the doctor told me that I would have to sit on his head to administer the drops I thought that he was joking. It turns out that I have to do just that. It is near impossible to get these eye drops into Landon. On top of it I am expected to give him 2 drops in each eye 4 times a day for 5 days! It is by far one of the most horrific things that I have had to do to Landon. He is screaming and rolling around as I am practically sitting on top of him with my legs over him to prevent him from moving. I feel so bad for having to cause Landon such pain, but it is worth it in the end. After just one day of the eye drops his eyes cleared up. He no longer had gobs of goo coming out of his eyes. I still have to continue the drops, but only for 2 more days. Luckily, Landon loves the taste of medicine. No matter what medicine we give him he cries afterwards because he wants more. He absolutely loves his antibiotics so at least that part of the medicine dosing is going smoothly.

Since we have been sick we have been spending a lot of time indoors. Landon has been coloring every day this past week. He has become quite the little artist. Just take a look at his pieces of art: