Sisterly Love

To say that Miley loves Landon is a bit of an understatment.  I would say it more borders on the edge of OBSESSED.  She is always interested in what Baby Landon is doing, wants to hold him, wants to help feed him, etc. 

She really is sweet with him...she will be playing with some of her toys, and Landon will be lying on the ground and she will randomly throughout the day just go up to him and give him a kiss on the head, then go right back to wherever she left off.  She will look at him and say to me, "Awwwww, tute (cute)."

I am so lucky that she handled the transition so well.  She really does love her baby brother, and I know he loves her too...she seems to have an easier time getting a smile out of him than I do already!

I sure hope these two know how lucky they are to have each other, and that they continue to be great friends throughout the rest of their lives.  My sisters are two of my very best friends, and I am so thankful for them every day, and I hope my kids feel the same way about their sibling(s).

My only problem these days, is too much love from Miley sometimes, and I think I will take it.  :)

Making Life Easy - Amazon Mom

I will be the first to admit that I am a terrible coupon shopper.  I really admire the people that can save hundreds of dollars by couponing, and know all the strategies to doubling up and hitting sales etc. and can get some things for free by doing all this.  I would like to be better at that someday, but right now I don't feel like my organizational skills and such are up to par to keep up with that. 

So when I see a great deal that is a no brainer, I have to pass it on.  Now I know I am probably way behind the curve on this one, but humor me anyway.  :)

Enter Amazon Mom.  My new found love.  I order a lot of stuff from Amazon.  Everything from movies and books, to kid toys, to camera stuff.  Amazon Mom is a free service that gives you deals on baby stuff, but inparticular, diapers and wipes (or at least, that is what I use it for).  If you sign up for Amazon Mom, you get 15% off on all your diapers and wipes.  Plus, free two-day shipping.  As if diapers delivered straight to your door isn't cool enough, if you sign up for a thing called Subscribe-and-Save (a scheduled delivery every 1, 2, 3 or 6 months), you get another 15% off.  So a total of 30% off diapers!  Just to give an example...

Landon is in Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers diapers: 

Target price for a 216-count box:  $41.99 ($39.89 using the 5% off with Target credit card) = $.19/$.18 per diaper.
Amazon Mom + Subscribe-and Save Price for 216-count box: $28.38 = $.13 per diaper.



Miley is now using the Size 3T-4T Pampers Easy Ups:

Target price for 96-count box: $29.99 ($28.49 using the 5% off with Target credit card) = $.31/$.30 per Easy Up.
Amazon Mom + Subscribe-and-Save: $23.31 = $.24 per Easy Up.

Plus the perk of not having to run out to the store when you need diapers. 

I was a little skeptical of the Subscribe-and-Save option, because I didn't want to sign up for it, and have my kids outgrow that size, or not need it as often, or more frequently than I signed up for delivery.  However, it is really easy to go in and change the size that you need, change the delivery timing, or cancel it altogether! 

I'm sold.  With a house coming in our near future (again, I will post about that SOON), I am trying to find ways to save a little bit of money here and there, and diapers are one thing that seem to eat up our money.

Plus, on other qualifying baby items you get free two-day shipping (Amazon Prime) for a limited time. 

Again, I realize I am probably way behind the curve on this one, but I like to share good deals like this in case anyone doesn't know about them!

How Can I Resist?

I try not to buy too many silly things for Miley, but there are just some things that I have a really hard time resisting that fall under the *want* rather than the *need* catgory...

For example, this little gem that we stumbled upon while out browsing yesterday...

OK seriously.  I die.  I don't think I have seen anything so cute in a while as these little mini golf clubs.  Not too mention, the little sweater-wearing, Shox-rocking, visor-beanie bearing little girl that was all smiles while working on her form...

We are currently full-blown in potty-training mode over here.  And I am very tempted to buy these as a completion present.

What say you?  Too cute too pass up, or too silly to spend the money on (mind you, they are on sale for $50 off the original price)??

I just have visions of summertime, playing in our yard (yes yard...more on that to come later!), and Miley playing with her little mini clubs.  Too cute.

I don't know if I can resist much longer.  :)

Yes, We Are Still Here...

...and wearing our green to celebrate St. Patty's Day!  Miley wasn't too into the whole picture thing today like she normally is...I can see a lot of this in our future when she thinks she is too cool for her ol' mom and dad...

I know I still have much to catch up on, and I am working on it (all the posts I have up until now will be posted eventually, but under this one).

But we have been spending our time sleeping (when we can), house hunting/meeting with builders, enjoying our new spring-like weather and taking walks (and by spring-like I mean in the high 40's...and yes, that feels GREAT!) and recovering from colds (me) and pink eye (Miley, and now me...lovely).

Landon is already 1 month old today.  I know...we can't believe it either.  He is one laid back, sweet little guy.

I just wanted to share a couple pictures and let you all know we are still here and I will get caught up once I feel like I have myself back together!  :)

Random Landon

I have so many pictures to catch up on of Landon, so here are some pictures from his first few weeks!

We are so in love with this little guy and can't imagine our family without him!

Grammy and Papa!

I was so lucky to get to have both of my parents here right when Landon was born, and also lucky to have my mom here for 8 days, and my dad for 5!  That is the longest time they have ever apent with us up here in Minnesota, and I was thrilled...I just wish it could have been longer!

My mom had made airline reservations a few weeks before Landon was due, and without knowing exactly when he would make his arrival, she scheduled a flight for the 17th (he was due the 18th), with the thought that since I went a week early with Miley that Landon probably would have been here by then.  Little did we know, she timed it perfectly, and flew in 4 hours after he was born!

We were so lucky the timing worked out like that, because she was able to stay home with Miley and Cameron could spend the time at the hospital with Landon and me.  Miley loved having Grammy there...I don't think she even cared/noticed that Cameron and I weren't around, and this was the first time that we had both spent the night away from her.  Grammy took great care of her while we were in the hospital.  :)

We came home on Saturday morning, the 19th, and spent the day settling in.  That evening, Cameron graciously offered to keep both the kids at home, so my mom and I could run to Target and just browse.  When I still hadn't had Landon on the 16th, before my contractions started, my mom and I were laughing about it, and just saying that we would have a couple days to have some fun and shop before I had the baby.  Well, I guess Landon was having none of that, and came the next day.  As we were on our way to the hospital, I was telling Cameron how sad I was that I wouldn't have a couple days where I was a little more "free" to spend with my mom.  Well, I guess he felt bad enough, so that is why he offered to take on the 2 1/2 year old and the three-day-old at the same time so we could get a little bit of that time in...no easy feat for him, I am sure.  :)

My dad flew in on Sunday morning, and barely made it, as there was a huge snowstorm that day.  He kept having his flight cancelled out of Denver, and finally got on a later one...we could never quite figure out why the earlier ones were cancelled, because it hadn't started snowing at that point, but we were just glad he made it!  I was so glad he got to meet Landon so shortly after his birth...he didn't get to meet Miley till she was about 6 weeks old, and they change so much in that short period of time!

We mostly spent the week relaxing and getting rest and just enjoying each other's company.  We squeezed in a little shopping, and house hunting as well.  My poor mom, started feeling sick on Saturday or Sunday, and was battling a sickess the rest of the time we were there, and I could tell she was just exhausted and feeling lousy.  My mom is amazing though, and still cooked every night (we did pizza and PF Changs in there too, to give her a little bit of a break!), and gave in to all of Miley's demands for attention and play time.  I didn't get any pictures of her while she was feeling crummy, and I am wishing I had gotten more while she was playing with Miley.  My dad was wonderful with Miley too...she was their little shadow the whole week.  I think it was probably really good to have my folks around this first week, because it eased Miley into life with another little baby around, while she was still getting a lot of attention.  I was SOOO grateful to have them to help with her!

I am always so sad to see my parents go, and I know Miley was too.  She is STILL asking about them, and calling the guest room "Grammy and Papa's Room."  I really think my parents are the best, and I am so excited for them to make their next trip out here for Landon's baby blessing!   

Hospital Stay

The day Landon was born was a little crazy...of course, mostly due to the fact that I had just had a baby, but we also got to pick my mom up at the airport that day!  Well, Cameron did, not me obviously.

I had Landon at 12:35 pm, and we were in our postpartum room by about 2:30.  My mom's flight got in at about 4:00, so Cameron had about an hour to hang out after we moved rooms before he got to go pick up my mom.  I am so glad I had Landon as fast as I did, because we weren't really sure how we were going to get my mom picked up if it had taken any longer, but fortunately, he gave us plenty of time.  I was so excited that my mom got to be there the day that Landon was born, and it was pretty good timing because Don and Cindy were heading out of town for a couple of days to go skiing, so it was nice to have my mom there to watch Miley for us (and Miley thought it was totally AWESOME to have her Grammy there with her for a couple of days!).

Cameron got back with my mom around 5:30...

...then around 6:30 Don and Cindy and their family came down and brought Miley in to meet her baby brother for the first time.  At first, Miley didn't even want to come into the hospital room - she has a major fear of doctors, hospitals, doctors offices, you name it.  But once she realized that she wasn't there to see a doctor, she warmed right up.  She LOVED Landon, and seemed to think the whole thing was pretty neat.

Everyone got their turn to hold our new little man, and then around 7:30 Don and Cindy had to leave to head out of town, and Cameron took my mom and Miley back to our apartment to get Miley settled down for the night.  Since he was going to be gone anyway, I told Cameron to go play his church basketball game at 10:00 that night...church basketball is like, the highlight of Cameron's week, and he also gets a little stir crazy just hanging around the hospital, so I figured it would be good for both of our sanity if he got out for a litte bit!  He made it back around 11:30 that night, and we sent Landon down to hang out with the nurses in the nursery and we got some sleep.

Friday was a very low-key day.  We FINALLY got Landon his first bath...

We had some beautiful flowers delivered from Cameron's work...

We had the normal hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of our room (nurses, doctors, lactation consultants, photographer, meal delivery, birth certificate, etc.).  My mom and Miley also came down to visit us again.  When I heard Miley coming down the hall, I stuck my head out the door, and expected Miley to act somewhat excited to see me.  Instead, she brushed right past me into the room asking for "baby Landon."  Oh well...at least she was excited to see her baby brother, right?  We all got to have lunch together, and then my mom took Miley back home to get her down for a nap.

We spent the rest of the day just kind of resting when we could, and holding Landon without too many distractions (besides all the millions of distractions I listed above!).  Our friends, Alan and Kimberly, brought their kids and came down to visit us that night.  It was so nice of them to come, because by that evening I think Cameron and I both were starting to get a little stir crazy, so it was great to see some familiar faces.  :)  We settled in for the night, and enjoyed one last night of sending Landon to the nursery.  :)

On Saturday morning, I was definitely feeling ready to get back home and see Miley and get to hang out with my mom, although I don't think I am ever ready to leave the nurses behind.  We got all of the discharge forms and were ready to head home at about noon.

Our experience at the hospital was really pretty good.  Our nurses were awesome and were so helpful with anything we needed. 

Now, it was just on to the next step...learning how to be a parent of two!