My little man

Today we made another trip to the doctor for Landon. He is worth it, though. He is doing so well! In one week he gained 9 oz. In the doctor's words, "That weight gain is phenomenal." The doctor also gave us the okay to be rid of the heart monitor. Let's hear a HUGE shout out for that, yahoo! And also, I have to mention that I made it to the doctor at 8 in the morning with two kids and I was on-time, so proud of myself. I'm so happy that Landon is doing well. I finally feel like my life is slowing down a bit now.

Notice anything different?

No tubes, I love it!
What a stud muffin!

After another visit to the doctor today, my little man is officially free of his oxygen tubes! Hooray! We couldn't be happier with his progress. He also gained 6 oz. since his last visit last Thursday. I'll take all the credit for that, thanks to my milk! :-) The doctor would like us to keep his heart monitor on him at night until next Monday when we go in again. At that time hopefully we can be rid of that, too.

As of today I am finally starting to feel like life is settling down for us. I feel like how I should feel after having a baby. I can carry him from one room to the next without hauling a bunch of equipment behind me and I'm way tired from being up with him in the night. Oh well, all of which we are grateful for, just to have him home is wonderful.

New Year's Day Snow

We spent the night (a very sleepless night) on New Year's Eve at my parents house. We did manage to play a couple of Scrabble games once the kids went to bed. Can you believe it's 2010? Where does the time go? The next day the kids (Kayleigh and her cousins) were dying to play in the snow so Michael went out with Kayleigh while I had a little nap.

They built the cutest snow man! My mom got these snowman parts I think last year and it looks so good, I think. Kayleigh thought it was just like Frosty the Snowman and she's been singing that song non-stop. Michael said Kayleigh had to hold hands and dance around the snowman like the kids on the show. The snow was perfect for making a snowman. I was happy she got to do it.

My kiddos

It's crazy for me to think that I have two kids now. I always imagined myself growing up, getting married and having a baby, but never really thought beyond that. Now here I am and we are a family of four already. I love my daughter and my son. Michael took these pictures today right before Kayleigh fell asleep for her nap.

1st Doctor Appointment

We took Landon to see Dr. Doug yesterday for the first time. He has gained weight and is now up to 6 lbs. even. He is 19 3/4 inches long. I am so glad that he has gained weight! I was nervous about that. On Monday we take him back in. Two hours before we go we are supposed to stop his oxygen. Then the dr. will check him and if all looks well we will be done with oxygen, hooray! Then, hopefully the heart monitor will soon follow. That monitor is so annoying! It's almost always a false alarm anyway and it's just so loud!

More parties

Kayleigh with Bubba, her most favorite cousin of her Daddy's.

Michael's mom's side of the family always gets together sometime in December to celebrate Christmas. Each year we read the Christmas story from the Bible and play games. Usually one of the games involves lots of funny hats. This year Michael and Kayleigh both ended up with big bow hats, it was pretty funny! I had to post these pictures of them. My hat was just a plain old Santa hat, still fun though.

Kayleigh was so excited for this party because she got to see Bubba, or Kyler. He is Michael's cousin and for some reason he has hit it off with Kayleigh and she just loves him! Can you tell by the smile on her face in the picture that she's in heaven?! We have gone to watch him a couple of times when he played school football and basketball. Now every time we drive by the school she says,"That's where Bubba plays!" It's pretty cute!

This is the Place

Looks like she's about to sneeze!
Yummy hot chocolate!

Helping Kayleigh make her Christmas spider ornament.

All together with Father Christmas.

Eating our candy canes from Father Christmas.

After visiting This is the Place Heritage Park this past summer we all thought it would be fun to go back at Christmas time. They have a lot of fun things to do there even though it's freezing outside. It would have been sooo cold to be a pioneer in the winter! There were reindeer for the kids to see, a train to climb on, crafts in the cabins to make, a live nativity in the stable, hot chocolate, dancing and singing and even Father Christmas! They also run the train but since it was snowing they didn't have it going. Kayleigh was very sad about that since she remembered riding it in the summer.

We went on the night of the 22nd with my family. It was a very pretty evening with gently falling snow that really set the mood. I am grateful for my nice, warm house, especially at this time of year. I was a little sad knowing we were having a family outing without Landon, but I knew he was better off in the hospital all nice and warm. (Not like we'd have taken him if he had been home from the hospital.) I love Christmas time and I was thankful for this time together to celebrate the season.

Christmas Eve snow

While Michael visited Landon in the hospital and I wrapped presents, Kayleigh got to hang with my family and play in the snow on Christmas Eve. Growing up we would always build a hill of snow with all the snow we would shovel from the back patio. Over the years we'd get some pretty huge hills, thanks to my older brother who had to try to beat the previous year's hill. Anyway, my parents have tried to keep that tradition for the grand kids the past couple of years and this year was no exception. I think Kayleigh really enjoyed playing with her cousins outside. Thanks for watching her while we got things done, Marie and Mom.

Landon's 1st day home

What a stud muffin!

We love you, buddy!

Bringing him home

She's already such a big helper!
She HAD to put him in her new baby high chair she got for Christmas!

Family photo at my mom's when we went to pick Kayleigh up.
First time holding her baby brother.

All ready to go.

Our lovely room at the hospital, it was rather special if ya know what I mean.

The night before Landon came home Michael and I had to stay in the hospital overnight with Landon. We were trained on his oxygen and heart monitor so we know how to use them. We hardly got any sleep as the monitor went off a ton! We figured out that we didn't have the monitor on tight enough and once we re-did it it was better.

Landon was discharged from the NICU on Sunday, the 27th at 11:30 a.m. What a journey the past 15 days have been. Landon did great and progressed each day while he was there. He was 5 lbs. 8 oz. when he was born, he dropped down to 4 lbs. 15 oz. and then was 5 lbs. 9 oz. when he left. We are grateful to all the staff at Davis Hospital that helped him breathe and learn to eat. We are so lucky he did so well and that he's home with us now.

Kayleigh was SOOO excited to see us come to pick her up from Nana and Grandpa's. She was waiting at the door. She was jumping up and down and wanted to hold Landon right away. It was a great reward for her to finally see him/touch him after 2 weeks of waiting. As we drove home she said " We are all together as a family." What a sweetie. We love our kids!