One of Landon's Busy Days

As most of you know, Landon is walking 80-90% of the time now. It is amazing to think that it was only about 3 months ago that he took his first independent step. Today I decided to take my camera along a take a few video clips and pictures during his physical therapy and speech therapy sessions. I know many have asked what kinds of things Landon does during these times so here it is.

Today during physical therapy Landon got to swing very high like he was on a trapeze. As you can see in the video, after a while he became extremely confident and tried to let go. Thanks to Ms. Theresa he is always safe.



He also spent a lot of time walking up the ramp and stairs, with out any help. Last week he walked up the ramp with a little help but this week Theresa was well pleased that he did it unassisted. Great Job Landon!



A new activity Landon was able to do today was "jump" on the trampoline. Now that was fun. Landon had never really been on one before but I think he liked it. The video shows him doing a little bounce all by himself.



The best part of going the the therapy center is that when we are toward the end of therapy we get to climb up the latter and go down the BIG slide and land in the ball pit! So much fun!





After we went to the therapy center we rushed home to meet Ms. Cary, Landon's speech therapist. Landon just loves Ms. Cary and I think one of the main reasons is that she doesn't make him "work" as much as the others. Now having said that, she does a lot with him it just doesn't seem like hard work like physical or occupational therapy does. Landon loves to pull everything out of Ms. Cary's bag as soon as she arrives to see what kind of goodies she brought to play with. His favorites today were the pig puppet and the cow puzzle piece. He made the cow "moo" and "jump", and best of all, "dance" on Ms. Cary's head. Cary got cracked up when we showed her how to pout, think, yawn, and yell. His new sign was "baby". We have been talking about Baby Jesus a lot this week and so he decided to learn that sign. I think he is up to almost 90 signed words.






I would like to say a special "Thank You" to Ms. Theresa and Ms. Cary for all of their hard work. Landon has to work a lot harder than most kids to do the normal things that other kids just "do" and thanks to these two special ladies he is doing GREAT!

Tomorrow I will try to catch Ms. Brenda as she works with Landon during occupational therapy. I hope this has shown those of you who don't get to see what all Landon is do a little insight into how well he is doing.

Last but not least is a little short video of Landon walking to put the ball in the basket ball hoop. Enjoy!

A Day Of Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for all year long. I hope that I never wait for this one day to thank God for all He does for me and my family. I guess that is one thing I have learned more about in the two years that we have had Landon, be thankful about all things always. Landon's speech therapist said the other day," You know, I have noticed that you notice and appreciate the little things that Landon does that other parent's my take for granted." and I think that's true but I also find myself being thankful for other people more and God's grace more than I ever had in the past. This year I have reconnected with some friends that at one time were very dear to me but "stuff" got in the way. I am so thankful that we have allowed time and God to grow us back together. I think I have also come to appreciate Travis more and more. He has always been a wonderful husband and father but when I take the time to see the little things he does to take care of us, make us happy, and set a great example for Christ I see how blessed I truly am to have been joined with him.

Thanksgiving day did not exactly turn out as planed...another reason not to let your happiness lie in tradition. Travis is given a turkey each year by his work. This year we didn't get the turkey until Tuesday and it was 18 lbs....that's BIG. Also consider that there was only going to be 3 of us at dinner. Well, needless to say the turkey was not thawed out by Thursday so we had home made chicken patties instead. But knowing that was not why we celebrated the day it was no big deal...just something to laugh at.

We are have turkey tonight instead.

On Thanksgiving morning we took a fun trip to the playground and a nice fall walk. It was a wonderful morning.

The best part of the day for Landon was having his Dad home all day just to play and play and play. He is defiantly Daddy's little buddy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Fall

This post is written about a month late but I guess better late than never. Fall is such a beautiful time of the year. Living in the mountain we get to truly enjoy all of the changing colors. It's beautiful to drive from our house into Charlottesville.

This year for Halloween we, Landon and I were able to make a visit to Knoxville. Travis had a work trip to Florida and after that was working long hours along with everyone else he works with. Though we don't make a huge deal out of Halloween we did go to boo at the zoo with my friend Melani and her little girl, my mom, and sister. Landon's costume was a little skunk. It's amazing what you can dress your kids up as before they are old enough to know better. It was a nice day and we were even able to ride a camel. The best part was the Crispy Cream Donut at the end...YUM YUM!!



On Halloween morning Landon and I carved a pumpkin. This was the first year we tried it. I was interested in seeing if he would be willing to play with the guts and stick his hand inside. After a little "encouragement" he touched the seeds and at least half way put his hand inside. He was more interested in the fact that the pumpkin ended up with eyes, nose, and mouth. He loved putting his fingers in the eyes and mouth.



On Halloween night we went to our friends Jill and Ken Shinlever's to help pass out candy. It is just crazy how many kids that come into their neighborhood for candy. Ken and Jill had 5 gallon tubs to keep the candy in to hand out, now that's a lot of candy. It really is a fun time just to hang out with old friends and have a little fun.

This is Landon and Anna, Ken and Jill's little girl.





















Gayla and Landon

Balloon Fiesta #1

First, let me apologize for taking so long to blog about our vacation. I have a couple of not so good excuses. The first being: I'm tired! it's hard to catch up the 2 hours I lost and try to keep up with Landon at the same time. The second reason is that while we were gone our camera broke so most of the pictures we took were with mom's camera and she is mailing me the pictures, there are a lot, tomorrow.






I was concerned about the flight but Landon did great...even better than great. We read books, played with play-dough, ate and ate and ate, and best of all we looked out the window. During our layover we let him stay out of his stroller as much as possible. As you can see Travis and Landon had fun on the moving walkway.




Our first day at the balloon fiesta started very early. We were there by 5:30 a.m. The dawn patrol went up at 5:45 to check the wind conditions before the o.k. was given to the other balloons to take off. I'll tell you a sad but interesting story about the pyramid shaped balloon in this picture a little later in the blog. The dawn patrol was beautiful. It was still dark outside when they took off so they glowed like Christmas lights. Only about 12 balloons were involved.


At about 7:00 the Mass Ascension began. That is when all of the other balloons began blowing up and taking off. There were about 650 of them. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. There were so many of them it took almost 1 1/2 hours from them all to blow up and take off. Landon couldn't decide what to look at. The best view was from Travis' shoulders. It was as much fun watching him watch the balloons as it was to watch the balloons themselves. We taught Landon how to sign "balloon" on the plane trip to New Mexico. The following video is of Landon signing balloon during the mass ascension.





Now for the story about the pyramid shaped balloon. Toward the end of our first morning there we meet the people who fly that balloon. They have a basket that attaches to the balloon as well as a seat. They let Landon sit in the seat so we could take his picture. They were very kind and let Landon play with their ropes and bags that contained the envelope, which is the balloon its self. In the picture are two of the guys who work with that balloon. Friday after we arrived home we heard about a balloon accident which killed on man and injured another. It happened to be that balloon and we are still unsure if the men in the picture are the ones who were in the balloon at the time of the accident. Here is a link to the information we have so far:

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/balloon-fiesta-accidentother-media-source/72155807

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/man-killed-new-mexico-balloon-fiesta-accident

We pray for the man that survived and both of their families.

Well, That is going to be all for now. I will tell more of our adventures in a day or so. We saw more than just the balloon fiesta and recommend this trip to anyone who needs a vacation.

Fun Times

This was suppose to be sent out before we left but I forgot to send it. I'm quite busy right now trying to get things unpacked but I will try to post again today or tomorrow about our trip to the balloon fiesta. We had a great time and I can't wait to share it with you.

I hope you enjoy this short video of Landon having fun with Mommy's sandals. It was taken the day before we left.

Happy Birthday Landon

Today was the big 2 for Landon. It's hard to believe that he is already two years old.



Oh how the time flies by. We had a great, yet rainy, day. This morning Landon and I went back to the discovery museum. His favorite thing to do was push the button so that the air would make the ball float. We then went by a local cupcake bakery and bought 3 cupcakes. We decided that there was no need to have a whole cake for just the 3 of us. None of us need too many extra calories. Though Landon's was just the cutest with a little monkey on it, I didn't get a picture. He got to it before I did.




When Travis got home from work we jumped in the car and headed to Christian's Pizza, the best pizza place in town. Pizza is Landon's favorite meal. We have to bribe him to eat veggies when there is pizza around... one bite of veggies= one bite of pizza.





Of course everyone knows the best part of turning 2 is opening gifts. Landon celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago with his cousin Spencer, Happy Birthday Spencer, and all of my side of the family. Travis' parents are building on to their house so they have their hands full and we unable to come but sent a special gift from the whole Kerr family. He loved the taking, singing radio but most of all he LOVES the purple ball. If you look at most of the pictures he has the ball in hand. After he saw the ball the other gift were o.k. but he would have rather just played ball with Travis. Thank you Gee, Papaw, Uncle Kevan, Uncle Brian, Megan, and Caylin. We will have hours of fun and learning.





I just love the following pictures. I know that this post has included several pictures but it is a very special day and we wanted to share it with you as much as possible.

Step, Step, Step

Yes. That's right. Landon took his first independent, no help standing up or walking, steps last night. Was it for Mommy....No Way...it was for Dad. I was warming up Travis' dinner because he had to work late. All I heard was, "Well, come here......Yea! Good Job!!!" When I went into the play room Travis said that he had turned his head for just a second and when he looked back Landon had stood up in the middle of the floor so he told him to come here....and he did. Landon took about 3 steps to get to Travis. Landon had been taking a few steps before but we were giving him a lot of help. This was the first time he stood up in the middle of the floor and took independent steps with no hands guiding him or someone balancing him. Now this morning he has done is several times more. I'm sure he is thinking, "O.K. mom can we play with my cars now?" I'll try to catch a video of it later today...if he will cooperate. We continue to give God the glory. Our God is GREAT!

I feel like I need to give a little background on the original purpose of this blog. I know that now, many old, not by age but by time, friends have started keeping up with us through this blog which I am very excited about. I started writing because a close friend of ours, Julie, started one to keep not only her relatives that live far away current with her kids but also her husband who is deployed with the Coast Guard right now. I thought what a great way to keep friends and family close though they may be hundreds of miles away. So the kerrfamilyupdate blog began. Now for what this blog is not.....I do not pretend to be a great author or English teacher. This blog will never become a great novel nor is it grammatically error free. Most of the time when I post, time is short. It is usually when Landon is down for a nap and I need to be doing housework or at night when Landon is asleep and I need to be spending time with my wonderful husband, or I need to be sleeping. I write all of that to say this: Please excuse any mistakes that you find and and shortness of the posts. I just want to share with my family and friends the everyday things that are going on in our lives to help us stay close though the miles may keep us apart.

For those friends that have blogs of their own, thank you for taking the time to keep us involved in your lives.

God answeres prayers

Landon's surgery went wonderfully. I was a little worried about them doing the surgery or not due to the fact that he had a 101.3 temp on Thursday and developed a rash, that is not getting better, on Saturday. Why worry when you have prayer warriors praying for you? They did the surgery without a second thought. When they took him back he was already getting sleepy because it was almost nap time, I'm sure the "special" medicine they gave him helped too. He went with the anesthesiologist without a fuss. After the surgery was over they came and got me...he was still asleep and continued to sleep for about an hour longer. No problems, he was just having his normal nap time. When he woke up he was happy and ready to drink some juice and eat a few animal crackers. No fussiness which usually happens when children wake up from anesthesia. God definitely had His protective had over Landon and the doctors. Right now Landon is down stairs playing with Travis acting like nothing different happened today. We thank you for your prayers.

His rash seems to be getting a little worse. I plan on calling the pediatrician tomorrow and try to get it checked out. I'm sure it's not be deal but I'm thinking a rash all over his body that has lasted for more than 3 days and is getting worse instead of better is worth the call.

Update on Fun with Dad

I was finally able to get the video up on the post "Fun With Dad" on 8/19/08. This is Travis helping Landon race his "box car". Hope you enjoy.

New Tubes Tomorrow

Not much has been going on here during the past few days. Well, maybe I should say that nothing exciting has been going on because there is ALWAYS something going on and it usually involves Landon making some sort of mess. Landon has his surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11:20. We have to be there at 9:50 which means Landon can't have anything to eat after midnight (who is going to wake him up to give him something after his bedtime?) and only clear liquids before 7:30. He will not be a happy camper in the morning. He usually wakes up at around 6:30 and is asking for breakfast by 7:30. Too bad we don't have a new pony to give him in the morning to help take his mind of breakfast...Ha Ha! Please pray that things good smoothly during his surgery. Pray that Dr. Early gets a good nights rest and has a go morning. Pray that God guides his hands not only for Landon's surgery but also with all the children he sees before and after.

Landon has been babbling a lot lately and so I am hoping that the new tubes will allow him to hear better and in turn help with his speech. Travis's favorite thing Landon does right now is roar like a dinosaur. I will have to try to get that on video and post is soon.


We are beginning to get ready for our trip to New Mexico for the Balloon Fiesta. We are getting so excited. Landon is working on taking his first steps so Travis and I make him practice each night walking back and forth between us. We hope being able to walk a little bit will help him not get so antsy on the plane trip. I know how much he liked looking at the balloons when we went to the local fiesta and he was only a year old so I can't imagine how his eyes will twinkle this year. I'm sure there will lots of pictures to post when we get back so get ready.

I'll try to post tomorrow evening to let you know how things went.

NO and YES

Have you ever heard the old story, "He thinks his name is "no, no" because he hears it more often than his name." We have sort of felt that way during the last couple of months. When you told Landon no he would shake his head no. It was so cute, but the bad part was he didn't know yes. I kind of felt bad about it so I have tried to be more diligent about saying yes when he does something I ask and shaking my head yes. Finally, yesterday he did it. I was so excited that I took him outside to show Travis who was working on mulching the flower beds. Now all you have to do is say the word and he shakes his head. The video shows you just how cute it is.



The visit to Knoxville was great but it is nice to be back home in our own beds. Since we've been home Landon has been sleeping much better. I think being in a strange place wasn't allowing him to sleep very well which in turn was not allowing me to sleep very well. During the past several nights he has been taking naps and sleeping through the night like such a big boy.

Landon had physical therapy today and Ms. Thereasa said she thought it was just a matter of time before Landon takes his first steps. We can't wait! He works so hard and I love to see him making progress.

Happy Early Birthday Landon and Spencer

Landon shares his birthday with his cousin Spencer who is a exactly one year older. Because Landon and I were in town so close to their birthday, we decided to have a small early birthday party for them. We went to a local park and grilled out. I think Spencer's favorite toy was his Batman remote controlled car. Landon loved his dump truck and his bus. Landon's gifts were perfect. When he woke up from his nap that's all he wanted to play with. Thank you Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jill for the truck and thank you Aunt April and Uncle Bobby for the bus.



Granny and Papaw were in charge of holding Landon and Spencer so that we could take a picture of them with the cake. Of course they encourage them both to stick their fingers in the cake to get some icing. And as I'm sure you guessed, Landon and Spencer went along with it happily.


It was a pretty hot day so one of the treats was playing in the water. Skyla, Spencer, and Landon had a great time. Landon was not happy when it was time to go.

Granny and Papaw Bill had to leave the party just a little early in order to head out on the disaster relief team. They volunteer for the Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief and they go out to cook meals for the residents and workers in areas after a storm. They love what they do and we are glad they were able to spend a few hours with the whole family before they left.