Dear Landon,

Well, we are well into your twelfth month and I’ve definitely slacked on getting this letter written but its really just because we’ve been busy playing and doing things together, so at least its a good excuse. At your 12 month appointment you were 21 lbs, so you’re a skinny little squirt, I have a feeling you may have your Uncle Nick’s frame, at least mullets aren’t in style anymore, right?

Just before your first birthday we finally got that crazy hair of yours trimmed up and you look like such a big boy now, definitely not a baby anymore. You did pretty well, Mamaw cut it of course, and Dada held you and you sat still for the most part. You actually are really patient sometimes, like when we trim your nails, you just watch in amazement as I clip away, or when we use the q-tip in your ears, you’re so relaxed and zoned out, but that’s probably because its like a little massage, we are definitely a q-tip lovin’ family.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We were able to get you out in the snow a couple of times, you weren’t too keen on the snowsuit. I have to admit that you do look like a blue marshmallow, but you stay warm and that’s all that matters to me. I think we expect too much of a reaction out of you when we do these “firsts” but you’re still a little young to get excited about snow.

On your actual birthday we took you to Monkey Joes for the first time, not really sure what to expect. You did AWESOME and had way more fun than I could’ve imagined. It was amazing to me that we put you and Maura inside of this blow up play area and you both saw the slide and immediately knew how to climb up the ladder side and then lie on your tummy and slide down feet first….HOW DO YOU JUST KNOW HOW TO DO THAT?? Your faces were hilarious while going down the big slide. You had this wide mouthed look of terror on your face but you loved it! And so we did it over and over and over for almost two hours, you two kept at it and finally hit meltdown stage.  Lasted a lot longer than I would’ve guessed, we’ll definitely go back soon.

The weekend after your birthday we had a family party to celebrate. You got a lot of presents and you were impressed with all of them. Lots of ride on toys, including a wooden rocking horse that Papaw made just for you.

And of course we let you dig into your own cupcake. I made Snickerdoodle cupcakes with a cinnamon buttercream frosting which hardens up a bit after you ice them so you didn’t get as messy as I expected, you downed the whole thing though!

This has felt like an incredibly long winter because we had to be home almost all the time and now the weather is just starting to change. Your dad and I cant wait for all the things we get to do with you this year that weren’t possible last summer. All the new experiences of the Zoo, riding our bikes, exploring at parks, fishing, camping, hiking…..it’s going to be a fun year!

I plan on doing an update letter at about 18 months, so in August we’ll recap all the things we’ve done. I know you’re not technically a baby anymore, but I still love you just as much as the day you were born and its cliche to say, but you’ll always be my baby boy.

Love,

Mama

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“How big is Landon?”

“SOOO BIIIIG!!”

It’s so freakin’ cute!

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Quite a danger loving daredevil we have on our hands….or I guess about as dangerous as an almost one year old can get.

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Dear Landon,

Wow, I don’t even know where the last month went, it seems like I just wrote month 10’s letter last week. Now I’m in the process of planning your first birthday! I took pics of you to make your invitations and they really turned out great, although they could’ve been better had you been in a better mood. You definitely weren’t crazy about wearing those boots, luckily I was able to get one shot and one shot only that you weren’t frowning.

This past month has been a whirlwind of new milestones for you. You got a second tooth! You started taking steps! You’re independently feeding yourself with your own little fingers, I know lots of babies do this earlier on but you were just so stubborn about it, so I have to say its the most exciting development, no more trying to shovel food into my mouth fast enough to get back to putting bites into your mouth.

You’ve added to your vocabulary, we were trying to name out all the words you can say now and they include, “dada”, “mama”, “baba”, “nana”, “ha ha haaa” and this new one that were not quite sure yet what it means, we cant decipher the first letter, I think you’re saying “that”, that would be the most general guess because whenever you say it, there really isn’t any consistency. We thought maybe “cat” but the cat isn’t always in the room when you say it, or “hot” or “hat” or maybe all of the above, who knows?

You’re looking less and less like a baby every month now. Your spiky hair is starting to lie down (on good hair days) and getting long around your ears and neckline which means we need to trim it up before long. But you’ve still got the chunky cheeks and Buddha belly that are a dead giveaway that you’re still my little baby.

Love,

Mama

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Landon started taking his first independent steps last week, it’s very exciting and also extremely hard to catch on camera but I managed to get a couple of little snippets.

It’s not much but I’m assuming he’ll pick up and take off before long. YAY!

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We got our first big snow last night and I got this crazy idea to bundle Landon up in his snowsuit and take him out right before nap time.

Needless to say, it didn’t go very well.

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This year has been a year like no other, with joy and fear, love and sadness, birth and death and hard work and very little sleep. My New Year’s Resolution, well, really more of a goal for myself this year are to focus more on photography and get a portfolio going so that maybe in a year or so I can start a freelance business. Happy New Year to you and I hope 2010 is an amazing year just like 2009:

(we couldn’t figure out why the pictures are pixeled so, sorry)

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I am semi-hiding my pissed-offedness right now.

Have you ever been mad about something and it affects how you handle little tiny situations, like say perhaps you step on a little triangle plastic block and it feels like someone carved a cave into your sole with a rusty, dull knife, except probably like 10x’s less pain but still, you’re pissed off about one thing and it triggers you to yell muffled unrecognizable curse words because the baby is watching and you want to punch the stupid bucket from which the block is from, but yet again, the baby is watching so you just imagine slamming the bucket into the wall repeatedly until it breaks into small pieces? No?

I think I have unresolved anger management issues but that’s a whole nother story.

I recently interviewed with a local rec center to come on as a personal trainer and the job sounds almost perfect. WAY WAY WAYYYY better than what I’m doing now, which is basically being a janitor about 80% of the time and training people the rest, so the interview went great and the Coordinator I interviewed with basically made it sound like I had the job but she just had to run it by the big boss to make sure he didnt want to interview me himself. Welll, two weeks later and I still haven’t heard from her. No email. No phone call. I sent her an email, with her okay, with more questions that I had: no response.  Okay, maybe it went to her spam. I tried calling last Tuesday asking if she could give me a call back: No response. I know I’m probably getting over excited about nothing, I usually do.  It was Christmas and now its New Years week, more than likely she and/or he are out of town/not working as much so that’s where the delay is. But I don’t think they understand HOW BADLY I WANT TO START!!! I’m trying not to be a freakish stalker chic and call her all the time, but I’m SO ANXIOUS about this. I’m so burnt out where I’m at now and ready to quit and every day that goes by without word, I grow more and more pissy.

Plus, it’s freakin cold and windy as fuck outside so I can’t get out of the house with Landon and I go a little crazy when I’m cooped up all the time.

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This is coming late and I really don’t have much of an excuse except that it’s cold outside and that means I’m extra lazy, you should know that about me by the time you are old enough to read these letters, Mama doesn’t like to do much in winter time but sit underneath a blanket and dream of warmer days when wearing pants is optional. Also, Wordpress was being a [insert whatever you think is a really bad word here] and didn’t autosave my draft when I actually finished it last week, which resulted in me throwing things and trying really really hard not to punch the computer in its nutsac.

10 things to remember about you at 10 months:

1. You finally cut a tooth! About two weeks ago, it finally was visible through the gumline and it comes out more and more each week. The first week or so you constantly had your tongue  sticking out of your mouth trying to feel it.

2. You are really into the animals. You love to hang all over Ziggy, even if he drags his lips over your head and face. You get right up in his face and squeal and squeak and laugh, it’s pretty cute when you pinch his skin he starts nibbling your hands and arms to get you to let go and you just think its the funniest feeling. Still in love with the cats, although I’m not sure why, they certainly aren’t in love with you. Tater bites at your hands from time to time and you seem to know that it means back off because you let go of the patch of fur you were pulling on with a look saying “Dang dude, I was just playin“.

3. You’ve gotten into dancing just a little bit, your key moves consist of bobbing your head while rocking your body and shaking your head like you’re saying “no”. And there doesn’t necessarily have to be music on for you to start dancing, you just get that feeling going and beebop away.

4. You’re not too fond of Santa. You’ve seen him three times so far. Not that were trying to torture you with as many Santa visits as we can but rather he came to Grandma and Grandpa Judens on Thanksgiving to check in on you, Grandma Breuer wanted to see you with him at the mall and Papa and Grandma Dawn also wanted to get a picture of you with him at the Christmas Tree Farm, each time you seem more and more concerned.

5. Kind of goes hand in hand with #2, but you love feeding Ziggy treats. You get the cutest little belly laugh going when his mouth engulfs your little hand and nibbles the treat away from your fingers.

6. I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but you are definitely into EVERYTHING now that you’re more mobile. One of your favorite spots to get into is the kitchen drawer with your spoons and bibs in it so you can practice feeding yourself and throwing the bibs all over the floor.

7. You and Maura are getting along really well now. She’s always been very excited to see you and you’re finally catching up to that stage where you can reciprocate the feelings. It is going to be a challenge getting over the hitting, biting and sharing toys phase, but I think you’ll be best buds before long, obviously though, she’ll be the boss and you’ll be along for the ride.

(hilarious photo caught by Eric)

8. Another favorite pastime is kissing the baby in the mirror, I guess since were at home just you and I most of the time, he’s the one friend you see the most.  So you’re always happy to see him and let him know by laying some big smackers on him.

9. Your favorite book is Baby Cakes.  We discovered it one day at the library and it quickly became the one book that you would sit still for no matter what, so now we read it before bed every night. It’s so cute, there’s one part in the book that reads “Laugh with little baby cakes, ha ha ha!” and you get a smile on your face every time we read that page.

10. Your personality so far is pretty laid back, go-with-the-flow, happy go lucky. I think you’ll be a little shy like me but you love to make us laugh, so you’ll probably be sort of a class clown, winning friends with your sense of humor.  It’s fun for your dad and I to talk about what we think you’re going to do or how you’re going to be in the future. Just know that we are truly enjoying every minute we get to spend together.

Love,

Mama

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If I were to one day lose my dignity and resort to stripping to make some cash, then I would totally use this song to grind the pole and jiggle my buttcheeks.

Hawt-t-t-t-t.

And my stage name would totally be Badussy.

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