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

Who needs a walker...

 

...when you have chairs, laundry baskets, BOB, and high chairs??  Landon likes to use his imagination when it comes to "walkers" around our house.  This is exactly how we wanted it.  If you really want to see Shani squirm then bring up walkers in her presence.

 

Why you may ask?  No, it isn't that they are considered unsafe because they can tip over or kids can go falling down the stairs in them (yes, this is a good reason not to like them too), but chiropractically speaking they are no good.  Structural and neurological development is to happen in a certain order for motor and mental development.  Kids should lay and get some tummy time to strengthen their neck, then start to roll over, then sit, then crawl, then stand, then creep along objects while holding on, then walk...on their own.  Babies progress through these steps at different rates depending on their own development.  The curves of the spine are developed through each of these stages as well.  The cervical curve (neck) is developed during crawling, the lumbar curve (lower back) when walking.  When walkers are used when babies should be on the floor crawling, it forces them to be upright and stresses the spine and hips before the joints are ready.  Babies also learn to walk improperly in walkers because they don't see their feet or where they are "walking" since the large trays are in the way.  Babies also learn to walk leaning forward too much, which makes it harder for them learn to walk properly.  Are you still reading?  Okay, Shani is done ranting... 

Anyway, what else has been going on with Landon?  He's been spending a lot of time at the park, especially with Daddy.  He loves crawling after all the other kids.  He usually is the youngest one actually playing around there, but not the smallest!  Lately the slide has been his new favorite thing.  We think it started after playing on it so much with his buddy Parker (who is 4.5 months older and probably 2 lbs lighter).  It's quite cute to see him know to turn and go down backwards on his belly.  

Landon and Parker

The next time we post our little guy will be 1 year old!  How time flies!

Landon using the computer, another favorite thing

waving

Bath time

someone has been watching Mochi eat too much

  

An Amazing Woman

We were in LA last weekend celebrating Shani’s Grandma’s 88^th birthday.  There is a Japanese rite of passage celebrated at various ages to pray for long life (70, 77, 80, 88, 90, 99), so this was a big one for Grandma Hori!  We almost had the entire family together to celebrate and it was a blast!  Dinner was at a  delicious Chinese food restaurant that Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bo picked.  The food was just amazing and we completely stuffed ourselves before going home for dessert.

Silly Uncle Bo

Landon playing with Uncle Ryan

Landon had a great time getting attention from everyone there!  Uncle Bo, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Kel, and Aunt Rox got to meet Landon for the first time.  He was a little shy at first, but definitely warmed up quickly like he always does.   He also had fun crawling around Grandma Hori’s house and playing in Kobe’s water dish.  We put together a makeshift bed for Landon on a futon between twin beds with pillows on both sides to prevent him from rolling off.  We were a little concerned on how well he would sleep being in a completely different place on top of his already poor sleep schedule.  Thankfully, he was on his way to his better sleep pattern and it actually worked out well.  The only “opps” time was when John heard Landon waking up from a nap through the baby monitor. He waited for a moment to see if he would go back to sleep or if he was up for good. Landon made noise again so John went to check on him. He opened the door to find Landon sitting by the door waiting patiently. He had crawled over from his little bed (good thing the mattress was only two inches off the floor). He gave John a big smile…no harm done! 

Eating a persimmon with Auntie Tak

Our little Japanese boy

Uncle Kel, Aunt Margaret, Grandma, Nonni, Uncle Bry

Cousins picture with Grandma

Great Grandma Hori and Landon (no he didn't get to taste the cake)

Surrounded by loved ones!

Playing tops that Grandma has had around since Shani was little

Almost as big as Kobe

Flying with Landon this time was tougher than the last time; that kid does not want to be held for too long.  Thankfully, Nonni and Papa were with us on this flight.  First off, Shani had forgotten her Ergo and was tempted to buy another one because of how much she needs/uses it.  Not being hands-free at the airport made things quite chaotic.  She thought she had misplaced her ID once she was on the plane because she had be trying to hold Landon and gather her things when going through security.  John had his hands full with our carry-on bags and Landon’s carseat.  Plus John gets major anxiety going through the security line that he takes literally every possible metal thing off as well as anything that would require them to send him back through.  It’s quite comical how much he strips down.  It’s surprising he doesn’t go through in just underwear!  Shani’s id turned out to be in her purse by the way.

The day before we left John took his final test in order to get his psychology license and he passed!  Hurray!  His license posted on January 17^th, so he is officially able to practice on his own…although plans for that aren’t in the near future.  Napa will stay his (work) home for a little while longer.  As a little celebration for passing we met our friends Pat and Kim in Long Beach for lunch.  Or as John would put it…Beer!  He’s been missing Beachwood BBQ since he moved back to Sac so this was definitely a celebration.  Plus it was great fun catching up with Pat and Kim since we hadn’t seen them in a couple years. 

Pat and Landon, the bottle is empty :-)

Kim supervises as Landon plays spin the bottle

We also made a quick trip to Downtown Disney while we were there.  We look forward to taking Landon to the parks one day but this worked great for our short weekend.  There were quite a few people there for a Monday, but we figured people had the day off for Martin Luther King Day.  A young group of friends were going to let their oh so exciting Mickey balloon go and offered it to Landon instead when they saw how interested he was.  He loved it!  Guess we don’t actually have to go to Disneyland, we just need to get him a balloon!

Landon loves fish tanks

Cute butt!

Toy Story lover in training

 

11 Months

According to Aviva Jill Romm, MD in her book Naturally Healthy Babies and Children, "Fever has another effect that often goes unnoticed. When children recover from a fever, they often demonstrate new skills and abilities.  It is as if the heat of the fever served as a motivating developmental force."  This book has been the go-to book for Shani when it comes to helping Landon with many different things.  It's right up her alley with all natural ways (mainly herbal and homeopathic remedies) to stay or get healthy.  Although she has heard that with a fever/sickness comes a jump in development from another source, it was reading it again after Landon was sick last week that she realized that it has definitely held true for him.

Our sick boy

For the past week and a half Landon has been fighting quite the bug.  He had a few nights of low-grade fever and several days of very warm temperatures.  He had the snotty-runny nose, cough, fussiness, even worse sleep, and trouble breathing.  We were definitely ready to be out of it and I'm sure he was too!  As he's beat his bug this past week we've noticed quite the change in our little guy. 

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

• Turned 11 months on Saturday!  
• Four teeth on top and just the two on bottom.  
• Weighing 21 lbs 1oz and 30.5 inches long
• Standing on his own for about 5 seconds
• Expressive signing: milk, more, light (his favorite), dog/Mochi, possibly all-done
• Can clap and wave on prompting (don't even have to do the motion first)
• Throwing toys/balls for Mochi,offering her a bone
• Points to people in pictures (mom, dad, Nonni, Papa, Uncle Chris, cousin Morgan)
• Gives high fives, kisses
• Feeding himself well and eating larger portions (no more purees)
• The Biggest of All: 2 nights in a row he's put his head down and fallen asleep in his crib by himself (with some supervision from mommy or daddy, but no holding and no crying).  Also with this he's giving us 4 hour stretches of sleep and only nursing twice/night.  Yay!