Landon is 17 Months Old!

Landon, today you are 17 months old! I can't believe that your sister was this age when you were born! (Well, almost 18 months, which is what I tell everyone). Seems so crazy to me but we made it! You are an absolute blast and have the best, most fun personality. You are a stinker and are still into everything you can find.

You can say quite a few words now but don't choose to use them all that often. You still like to do your manly grunts to communicate, but that can only last for so long! You love to shake your head "no" and say "all done" quite a lot. You are still a wonderful sleeper, still taking 2 naps a day and sleeping at least 12 hours straight a night.

You have quite an arm on you when you throw. I'm thinking you may be a pitcher like your daddy! I know you are over 22 pounds and in about 18 month clothes and size 5 shoes. It's funny to me to see the gap of clothes sizes between you and your sister narrowing as you get so big! You love her to death but also love to pick on her when she's not in the mood to play, such as when she wakes up grumpy from a nap. You love to chase her and you love to growl like a lion. You LOVE cars and motorcycles and anything that goes "vrrroom."

You are all boy but you are my cuddly baby still. You are soooo very affectionate and give lots of hugs and kisses. You like to snuggle right before naps and bedtime. You have a very soft ducky blanket that you sleep with, and you like to snuggle with me with the blanket over your head. Sometimes you can't go to sleep until you have dumped all the toys and blanket from your crib, though. You attempt to blow your own nose, brush your teeth, and feed yourself. You love to eat a wide variety of foods but not a whole lot since you're so busy playing. You love to talk to Daddy on the phone and say and wave bye-bye.

 You love your yogurt.

You go to the nursery quite a lot and do great-you don't cry when I drop you off anymore. You typically start up if you happen to see me though. Although one time you were sitting in your little chair at the table eating your goldfish, and refused to come to me to go home until you finished your goldfish. You're still a momma's boy, though!

You've been drooling like crazy for a couple of weeks now. We're having to bring another shirt with us wherever we go because of your teething-you have a soaked shirt within a few minutes. You are finishing up getting 6 teeth at once. That makes 16 teeth total. Only the 4 two-year molars to go and you're done! You and your sister have always been insane with how many teeth you get so early.

This is your "cheese" face. Notice the drool bib.

I can't believe that in one month you'll be halfway to 2. Sometimes I wish you would just slow down! You get more fun everyday, and are such a great playmate for your sister. I'm so thankful for you and I love watching you grow!!

Daddy Daughter Date Night

On Saturday, Brad and Madison were able to attend Chick-fil-A's Daddy Daughter Date Night. Maddie was so excited about her date while I dressed her up. We had to change out her earrings, wear a pretty necklace, sparkly shoes, bow, and a tutu. Daddy surprised her first, and took her shopping at Target. The girl loves to shop, just like her momma! She had been asking for several months for a Sleeping Beauty dress. Every time I went shopping, even grocery shopping, she would ask me if I bought her the Sleeping Beauty dress. It was pitiful. She was finally able to have her beautiful dress and was soooo grateful. Daddy said she was holding it in the car and just randomly said, "Daddy, thank you sooo much for my Sleeping Beauty dress. I looove it." She was so sincere and so sweet. After that, they headed on to Chick-fil-A to eat their dinner together. Madison had a great time with her prince.

She's always gotta squeeze in some silly pictures.

 Looking at Daddy.

 Sweet moment. Heading down to get in the car.

 Yum!

 Time for more silly faces...

 and of course she had to put on her (slightly too big) dress when she got home.

I'm so thankful our kids have a Daddy who wants to do these things with them. This is the type of stuff they will remember and I hope we can fill our kids' lives with such wonderful, sweet experiences.

Clearly Fresh Bags Review

I normally don't do a lot of reviews or anything on this blog, but I have shared some products I've used before and really loved. I was recently contacted by Clearly Fresh Bags and sent a free pack of them in exchange for an honest review, and this is something that is practical and worth a review in my opinion.

Clearly Fresh Bags are bags that claim keep your produce fresh 50% longer. I know I'm not alone in the fact that I hate buying fruits and veggies all the time since they can go bad so quickly. However, Madison and Landon LOVE their fruits and veggies and when I saw Clearly Fresh Bags I have to admit, I got kind of excited. It's rare that we finish all the fruits or veggies we buy and we're basically throwing money away. So I tested them out for 11 days. I have to admit, I am VERY impressed! I normally wouldn't keep bananas for that long, but for the purpose of seeing how well they work, I did. They recommend storing bananas up to 9 days at the most, which is still a really long time!

Clearly Fresh Bags use a technology called BreatheWay, through this little patch on the front:

For comparison's sake, I left out 1 banana on the counter like I normally would store it, and put all the others in a Clearly Fresh Bag. I did an apple too, but those take longer to go bad, so I focused on the banana. Here is Day 1:

And here is Day 11:

Amazing, huh? They're from the same bunch. The one on the left was kept in the Clearly Fresh Bag for 11 days, the one on the right just sat on my countertop for 11 days.

These bags have come to my rescue and the kids are enjoying their fruits every day!

What's also awesome about these is that they are very inexpensive! They come 10 to a pack, and they are all reseable, reusable, and recyclable! You can go to their website www.clearlyfreshbags.com and order some there! I have found myself buying more produce now that I have these bags, because I know that it will now get eaten before going bad. Hooray!

Monday Madisonisms

One morning, she was up somewhat early, so she came to my bed and slept in a little bit with me. I'm still half asleep when she pops her little head up:

Madison: It's time to wake up, honey!!

Another morning, when she REFUSED to get up out of bed, I was having to drag her while she giggled. Then I threatened to eat her.

Madison: No, no!

Me: Yes, you look tasty, so yummy. I'm gonna eat you if you don't get up!

Madison: No! I'm not tasty or yummy! hehe

Me: Yes, you are. (I pretend to start eating her arm or leg.)

Madison: No Mommy!!! We don't eat PEOPLE!

I gave her her vitamin with breakfast one morning. She LOVES her vitamins and always wants more.

Madison: Only 1 bite? I said I wanted 2 bites!!

Me: Nope, sorry. We can only have 1 vitamin a day.
Madison: Pooooooor Madison.

Spending plenty of time in timeout lately...I remember standing in the corner a LOT growing up. Don't ask why they're both shirtless. I'm lucky to get a picture of them with ANY clothes on.

Riding in the car with my parents, as they took the kids to my grandparents' house. She was critiquing my dad's driving.
Madison: No, don't stop!
My dad: Are you being a backseat driver?
Madison: No, I not driving this car!!

Monday Madisonisms

I'm late getting these up tonight, as Brad and I celebrated our first date 8 years ago today. Amazing how different our lives are 8 years later! It was a wonderful day though, I'm so blessed!

Madison's preschool teacher, Mrs. Kelly, also attends our church, and she told me that Madison came running up to her at church last week and exclaimed:
"Mrs. Kelly, it's a JUNGLE over there!!"
(I don't know where she gets this stuff)

Playing with one of my scarves as I cleaned out my closet, wrapping it around herself:
Madison: I LIVE for fur!! (in a Cruella deVille voice from 101 Dalmations)

This morning, waiting on the rain to die down at preschool in the parking lot, Landon was trying to hit her.
Madison: NO Landon, NO HITTING! DON'T hit me! Throw the baby in the fire! I throw my babies in the fire.
She's talked about throwing her baby dolls in the fire before...yikes..I honestly have no idea.

Walking into a room full of toys everywhere:
Madison: Hey! I made a beautiful mess! I love messes!

On the way home somewhere, she had picked her nose til it was red.
Me: Don't pick your nose, it'll hurt and bleed and you'll be sad.
Madison: (crying) But I'm ALREADY sad!
Come on (boogie), come out please!!

Gave me a kiss.
Madison: I kiss your cheek, I not kiss you on the lips.When I get married, I kiss on the lips like a princess. I kiss my bigger prince. Like Ariel. and her prince.

Told me to be a monster and roar, so I did.
Madison: You a mama monster. and Landon's the baby monster.
Me: OK, well then who are you? Are you a monster?
Madison: Ummmmmm........probably princess monster.

Madison: We going to the mall!! I LOVE the mall!! Woohoo!! I'm so excited!!!
.....Mommy, where we going?

Landon's First Haircut

This morning we headed up to the same place where Madison got her first haircut. Landon is gradually growing out of that stage where he doesn't like strangers touching him so I wasn't sure how well he'd do. I was prepared with suckers and apple juice in case we had a meltdown, but he seemed to love Mickey Mouse on the TV and loved steering his airplane. I could not believe he sat so still for the girl, even with the razor. She was very good and we had a wonderful experience just like last time!

Here's before pictures--crazy baby curls growing everywhere. The girl said that he is going to have a lot of hair. I guess that's good news!

Once she started, he did great!

All done!! So much better!!

They even styled it for him.

The back looks so.much.better.

Ok I'm all done!

And now he looks even more like a little boy!

Landon is 16 Months Old!

Landon, today you are 16 months old! You have begun that stage where you are practically changing and learning new things every day! You are starting to say more words which is going to help so much. You've always gotten frustrated easily when we don't understand your grunting and fussing! You learned the word "out" the other day because all you ever want to do it go play outside! You can say several other words like ball, bird, baby, byebye, all done, thank you and of course mama and dada. You like to try to brush your hair, your teeth, put a q-tip in your ear, blow your nose and take your own temperature. You are quite the silly little boy and laugh constantly. You are still the main instigator in everything and know how to torture your big sister like a little brother should. You love to chase her around and tackle, but we are working on the hitting thing. You are still very sweet and loving, and love to give good slobbery kisses with a wide open mouth. You are still a momma's boy but you are getting better around others. If I am not around, you are perfect and play very independently! You still take 2 naps a day and sleep almost 12 hours without a peep. Bathtime is your favorite and we have to pull you out all wrinkly and screaming. You NEVER want to get out of the bathtub, regardless of how long you've been in there! The water is usually cold by the time you get out but you don't care!

You have slimmed down a lot, I know you are a little over 22 pounds. You run, run, run all day long and don't take the time to eat as much as you used to! You constantly have places to go and things to do. You're mostly in 18 month clothes (with a few 12 month ones still fitting). You love to eat everything...I can't think of anything you don't like! You are looking like a little boy even more now. You have 11 teeth, going on 17. Yes, you are getting 6 at once...right now. Including molars. You are hanging in there like a champ, though. All 6 are about to break through the skin any day now. Your hair has gotten long suddenly and I can actually put it in a ponytail..yikes. As sad as it will be to cut off the baby curls we are going to have to very soon! You are quite the clumsy kid and it's rare that you don't have a bruise or scratch or carpet somewhere on your face. Especially when you get tired, it's rare that you don't fall every 5 feet when running. You are so silly and just laugh about it.


We had a first yesterday at your cousin's birthday party-someone actually thought you were a girl. A lady kept calling you "she" and "her" several times, even though you were wearing boy clothes and have short hair. I know you are a pretty boy and have perfect little features like your daddy, but there is NOTHING feminine about you! You are extremely masculine looking  and even act ALL BOY. I'm not quite sure what she was thinking! I guess there is a first time for everything. Maybe it's because you have an obsession with vacuums and like to sweep. You were sweeping yesterday...haha. Although she didn't see that.

You honestly keep getting more and more fun everyday! I love it that you and your sister are so close. The older you get, the more stuff we can do and places we can go all together! It's going to be a blast. I love you so much and am so privileged to watch you grow up. You are our sweet baby boy!

Wordless Wednesday

It's been awhile since I've done Wordless Wednesday. We're all trying to get back in our routines, with everything starting back. Busy lives, here we come again.

Finally able to do another hairstyle with Maddie. Her hair is getting long but you can't tell because the bottom curls up sometimes. When it's wet in the bath, it actually lays on her chest in front and down her back. Amazing. And the longer it gets, the redder it looks/the more she stands out. People pay good money for that hair color!

But check out the little curl at the ends. This child has perfect hair and I'm kinda jealous!

I took her out for some Mommy/daughter time while Brad kept Landon. We had a playdate with some friends at DacKids then hit the mall to exchange something. We indulged in a little Chick-fil-A before we left.

Here's my sweet baby boy. Notice the bruise on his head. That's normal these days. He was dancing with Madison and suddenly they hit, face to face, HARD. His forehead looked like it had a golf ball poking out. Luckily his carpet burn scab on his nose was already gone, but then he got another at the top of his forehead later on. A few scratches here and there too. I am beginning to learn what it's like to have a little boy. Someones going to think we beat our kids or something. (we don't, I promise!)

He's still pretty stinking cute though. My kids are blessed to inherit their good looking Daddy's genes.