Happy 1st Birthday Landon!

February 14, 2012  One Year Old!

Landon turned one on Valentine's Day.  ONE!!  We were thinking back to this day last year and how amazing it was.  The fact that he's already one just is crazy to us.  It's amazing how fast time flies now that we are older.  This little guy has definitely changed our life...and we do mean for the better no matter how sleep deprived we are :-)  He has taught us about a deeper kind of love, happiness, patience, and most of all joy!  To see him smile at us when we walk into the room gives us such a great feeling.  This little one is ours and he's a perfect mix of the both of us.  We could not be happier to have him in our life!

We threw his birthday party with family for Landon on Saturday.  It was Landon's Lefty Party.  Landon has shown a little favoritism to his left hand and John wants to encourage him to continue using it. His (tongue in cheek) goal is for Landon to be a 6 foot 5 inch left-handed pitcher so he has a good chance for a college scholarship.  We decided to have family help model left-handed behavior at his party so we had his Lefty party.  It turned out to be more of a baseball themed party, but that's okay.  Shani made homemade coconut milk ice cream for Landon as well as his own cake.  This was Landon's first time having any grain.  It was a gluten-free, no sugar cake using dates as a sweetener. It was actually good!  The frosting was a cream cheese-maple syrup blend so there was sugar in that part.  We didn't make our family suffer through it though and got a regular cake for everyone else.  Although he didn't completely tear into it, he did enjoy the frosting!  We had a great time despite the lack of excitement that accompanies a one year old's party.  We do appreciate our family and the fact that they helped celebrate our little boy with us!

Toy chest Mommy got Landon

August, Zach, Karin, and Landon

Birthday Boy

Great Grandpa Chuck, Great Grandma Hori, Auntie Tak, Uncle Bo

Aunt Robin, Auntie Kat, Misty

Paco, Giovani, Jenae, and Marcos with Landon

Happy Birthday Buddy

Tyler and Auntie Kat

Nolan, Owen, August, Georgia, Levi, Tyler (back row) Giovani, Marcos, Landon, Morgan (front row)

Soccer girls: Lisa, Jenae (Marcos and Giovani), Kelly (Levi)

Frosting face!

Yummy cake!

Landon playing the left-handed pitching game with the help of Papa

Aunt Margaret, Uncle Bo, and Auntie Kim doing baseball trivia game

John loves that he has a good excuse not to celebrate Valentine's Day anymore.  He never really liked the Hallmark holiday in the first place, but now he has a better reason to celebrate February 14th.  In the past February 14th was the day that Shani would get him a silly gift (Petco gift card for worms to feed his blue birds, electric razor, texting for his phone, etc) and John would sometimes give a card.  In John's defense, we usually celebrate February 6th as that was the day we started dating 12 years ago!  We did celebrate this year and went out to dinner together at a local restaurant we enjoy called Source.  Anyway, John made the comment that since he gave us our son last year for Valentine's Day that should cover us for the rest of our life.  Shani told John that he's never gotten her anything before so what's the difference :-)  Although she feels like she gave him a son since she did most of the work last Valentine's Day.  However, John reminds her frequently that we do have our wonderful son about 1.5 years earlier than he was "planning" on having a child.  Shani just rolls her eyes.  Like there was any way she'd ever wait that long! Shani did get a wonderful surprise at work this year on Valentine's day from.  A box came in the mail from Sherri's Berries! Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bo gave us Sherri's Berries as a congratulations for Landon's birth and they were the most amazing thing ever. John thinks they make for a much better gift than flowers, so he decided to keep the tradition and sent Sherri's Berries.  It was the sweetest thing and a wonderful surprise for Shani.  So as far as Valentine's Day goes this year, it was wonderful!

Now let's talk Landon's first birthday (yes, the same day as above).  Shani had in her mind this wonderful day, even if it be nothing big, but nonetheless a wonderful day for Landon.  She figured they'd go to the park, play with his toys, maybe even take him to Leatherby's ice cream parlor, a fun first birthday.  Well, that wasn't the case at all.  Landon was sick!  We think he started coming down with it on his birthday party with the family day (Saturday) because he was extremely fussy and needy.  Well it just got worse from there.  That night he had a 101.9 fever that continued through the weekend and finally broke on Monday afternoon.  Then Tuesday is when his rash started.  He didn't eat much Saturday, didn't eat anything Sunday-Tuesday, and just started barely eating Wednesday.  He lost one pound in 4 days!  Shani was just thankful he was still nursing so she knew he was getting the nourishment he needed considering it was the only thing he would eat.  The rash is starting to fade and we are starting to get our little boy back.  It's been a rough week with very little sleep (he's waking every 1.5-2 hours), constant holding, complete fussiness, and whole lot of neediness.  On Wednesday he finally started smiling and playing a little on his own.  Are little guy finally got his first "real" bout of sickness (all the other colds seem so minor now that we've had this).  He had Roseola, a common childhood disease that most kids get between 6 months and 4 years.  We are just happy we had a healthy, strong, chubby boy so that when he did get it, he could fight it well and come out of it.  Now he has all the wonderful antibodies to fight it next time.  Way to go immune system!  Anyway, the point of that story is that his first birthday day was a complete dud and not what we had in mind at all.  Maybe we'll shoot for something more fun this weekend! 

Here are some of the new things going on with Landon:

20 lbs 11oz (was 21lbs 11oz) last week before getting sick

Sits at the door waving goodbye to ask to go outside

Makes car noises while pushing his trucks
New signs: outside, car, moon, water (for drinking), and food

Standing on his own for long stretches (not close to walking yet)

Happy Birthday Landon! We love you and are so thankful God has blessed us with you in our life.  Everyday you brighten our lives and we look forward to watching you grow.  We can't wait to see where life takes you!

Growth chart we made Landon

Uncle Bo giving Landon a push around the house under watchful eye of Suki