Landon turns 3

Can you believe that it has been three years since we were blessed with our little guy? It's hard to fathom that so much time has passed and yet it also seems as though we have had him forever. Travis and I can't image life without Landon. He has brought us so much joy during the past 3 years. Looking back we can see how God has had His hand in our lives and how much He has proven that He is in control.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

These two pictures are from his preschool on Thursday. This was his first school celebration. It was so much fun watching him and his classmates enjoy the cupcakes.
Thees pictures are from Friday which was his real birthday. It was kind of a rainy day outside so we had to do inside. We didn't have many choices so we just went to the mall to have a little Chick-fil-a and play at the "happy zone". When Travis got home we went out to eat and back home for cake and presents.


Then, when we got to Tennessee, we had another party to celebrate Landon and Spencer's Birthday. Spencer is Landon's cousin who also has a birthday on September 25. We had a great time with both my family and Travis'. I love being able to get together with all of our family's and celebrate. Everyone gets along and seems to have a great time. Travis and I are truly blessed in so many ways.

First Day of PreSchool

Well, yesterday was Landon's first day of preschool. I knew that he would have a good time but I wasn't sure how I would do leaving him. He had been in his classroom twice before now, once for back to school night and once for his IEP meeting, so he already knew where the cars, toy animals, and books were kept. As soon as we walked into the room he went straight for the "big" teachers books and pulled out the one about dinosaurs. He wasn't the least bit hesitant.

I got all of his things organized on his hook and left him in his room so that I could drop his registration papers in the office. When I came back, I asked if he had even missed me and he hadn't which made me feel better. He was sitting down next to a little boy coloring. I gave him kisses and left him to his first day. I did better than I thought, no tears, because he did so well. In matter of fact, when I went to go pick him up at 12:00 he didn't want to leave. When I said, "Landon, are you ready to go home?" he stamped his feet and shook his head. I guess that's the sign of a good first day.

His next day will be Thursday. Though I miss having him with me, I know that he is being well cared for and, so far, he loves going. I pray that this will just be another step that helps him grow and develop in the way that God has planned. I pray that Ms. Lisa, his teacher, Ms. Shelly & Ms. Doe, his TA's, will grow to love him and enjoy having him around as much as we do.

I know that there will be more to come so just stay posted to see how things go.

King of the playground

Landon has been working for months on trying to climb UP the slide. Now, I know that most "good" parents try to teach their children good playground etiquette, and going up the slide is a "no, no" but Oh well. He has watched other children slide down and turn around and go back up for so long now and was determined that he was going to accomplish this goal one way or another. Here is the video I made of him on his second day of his new ability. Of course on the video you hear Travis being the concerned father asking about him falling off. The clarity is not great...I forgot to get the camera focused before I shot the video but you get to see his trick.



We always have a lot of fun at the play ground. Here is another short video of Travis and Landon going down the slide. I am so thankful to have a husband who loves me and our little boy. I love watching them play together and doing things that only dad's can teach their sons such as the noises cars, trains, plans, and boats make, and how to burp :(. I can "do" those things but just not the same way Travis does. I am also thankful that Landon is so determined to do all of the things little boys should do. We are so proud of him and all that he is.

Fire Truck Bed

Yes, I know it has been a while since my last post but I just had to let you see the bed we found for Landon this weekend. He isn't quite ready for a toddler bed but he is getting close. I drove by a yard sale and the woman was asking $15 for this fire truck bed. It was just too cute but I knew I should ask Travis what he thought first. As soon as I told him about it, he got in the car and drove down the street to get it. I can't wait until he can sleep in it. Here are some pictures of what it looks like.




There are so many things that have happened over the past few months so I can't believe this is the first thing I have put on here but.....What can I say. I will try to do better and go back and write some about all of the other things that have occurred such as our two week stay in Knoxville, Landon getting his tonsils taken out, playing at the pool, etc. Just wanted our moms and other family members to see Landon's cool bed.

We love you all.

Easter

He is Risen! Our church does a neat thing with the children on Easter. They have a cross that is covered with chicken wire and the children bring in flowers to cover it. Here is a picture of Landon putting his flower in the cross with his Sunday School teacher Ms. Jamie. I don't have a picture of the cross filled but it was beautiful.
The meaning of the cross:

The living flowering cross of Easter Sunday dramatically and visually represents the new life that they are celebrating as thy witness the very instrument of death and endings transformed into life and new beginnings.




Of course also was visited by the Easter Bunny though we didn't make it a major part of the day. His basket contained, among other things, a bag of Jelly Bellies... Yum Yum!! Here is Landon having his first taste of a Jelly Belly, not a jelly bean- Jelly Bellies are MUCH better.

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross and Praise you God for raising Him three days later.
Happy Easter!

A short update on Landon

Well, we have been home from the hospital for a week now. Landon seems to be tolerating the medication well thus far. We still have 9 more days until he is up to the therapeutic level. He is still having seizures while he is sleeping but we have only noticed two in the week we have been home which is great. I say "noticed" because the doctors told us that he was having 1-2 per night that were so small that we just didn't notice them. We are assuming that once the ones we are seeing go away then the ones we aren't seeing will be gone as well. We go to see his doctor the first of May.

We are so thankful for all of you who have been praying for him. We KNOW that God the Father hears the prayers and will answer. Please continue to pray.

Landon met some little lambs

Landon met a little lamb its fleece was white and brown. And everywhere that Landon went the lamb was sure to go. It followed him for the milk, but he didn't mind.... (And that's the end of mom's terrible rhyme!)



Today we were able to go and see the little lamb's that were only 2 weeks old. It was muddy and cold but Landon didn't care. The first thing Landon did when he saw them was say, "Baa". Everyone there just laughed. It was so cute. The farm belongs to the parents of a lady that Travis works with. They only fed the babies part of their bottle this morning so that Landon could feed them the rest. They were just too cute. There were about 20 babies total but the rest were out in the pasture with their mom's. The mom of these triplets isn't around anymore so they feed them by hand.

This is a "real" farm so they also had donkeys, cows and chickens. We didn't get up close to any of those animals today due to them weather conditions but we do plan to go back when it is nicer.


Once we were done at the farm we had to take Dad back to work. We all had lunch together, which was nice. Landon liked playing with the hard hats that were laying around.

What a great way to spend the morning.

Let it Snow, Snow, Snow

We awoke yesterday to about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Needless to say, Travis stayed home. He spent a lot of his morning cleaning off the porch, steps, sidewalk, and cars. With 8 inches of snow, that's a lot of work. Landon just looked on hoping that one of two things would happen: one being he could go out and help dad do "whatever" it was that he was doing. Or two, that dad would stop and come in a play.






The morning started with one of Landon's favorite things when Travis is home in the mornings...sharing his cereal. Landon will not take a bite of it if Travis offers him a some while standing in the kitchen. He waits until Travis sits on the couch, Landon climbs up to sit next to him and then he will take some. He knows his dad pretty well and keeps an eye on the bowl to make sure that Travis is sharing.



At about 11:00 I got Landon dressed and ready for the cold outdoors. Bags went on his feet, over his sock and under his shoes, to keep the snow from getting in his shoes and to keep his feet dry. He thought it was funny when I put them on. Once he got outside Landon thought the snow was OK....but there was just too much of it and it was COLD! The snow was so deep that he couldn't really walk around in it but it was fun to see him try. We didn't stay out long, just enough to say he had been out in it and to snap of few pictures. It was such a nice day to be home with the family just being lazy and having some fun.

So much learning going on

I have discovered that Landon learns things very quickly. Sometimes I don't even realize that he has learned something until he just randomly shows us. A couple of weeks ago I found a great site, www.letteroftheweek.com , that has some simple lesson plans for children from birth up through school age. It has simple ideas for working on the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. Here is a picture of the first week's learning poster. The poster shows all of the things we worked on during the first week.
Landon did the coloring and the placement of stickers. To put the macaroni on the "A" I put glue all over the letter and just pointed were I wanted him to place each piece. Of course the pieces that ended up not on the letter just didn't stick. The web site also gives a great list of books that go along with the theme and so each week we make a quick trip to the local library to pick some of them up. It has really been a lot of fun.

As most of you know I have done a lot of research dealing with children with DS and their ability to read. I have made Landon a few flash card containing some of the words Landon can sign. Each day we flip through the cards a couple of times just reading the words. It is amazing what he can already read. The following clip contains Landon finding the correct shape when asked and reading a few of his first words. He was not to into reading during the whole video but I think you'll get the picture that he can read a few words. I hope you are as proud of him as we are.



Last night Landon brought Travis his alphabet train ( just a little hand made book that looks like a train and has each letter of the alphabet on a separate train car). As Travis flipped through it he was surprised at how many letters Landon knew the sound of, I must say that I was surprised as well. All I can say is "Watch out world. Landon Kerr is here!"

Christmas, finally!

Yes, I know it is Jan 16 and I am just now posting pictures from Christmas. What can I say, I'm just a little behind but what's new. I did take Landon to see Santa. I was afraid that he would cry but instead he just looked at him. He was just so interested.

It was great to be in Knoxville with our family for the holidays. Landon and I make trips in often but Christmas time is special because Travis gets to come with us. As I grow older one of the things I cherish more and more is time spent with family and friends. God has so blessed us with such as supportive family and caring friends. We love them all.

This year "Santa" brought Landon a Little People race track. I thought he would like it but I just didn't know how much. Here Landon's cousin Megan is playing with him and the race track. He also got a tent/tunnel from his Uncle Brian, Caylin, and Megan. That's Caylin in the tent with him.


One of Landon's extra special gifts was from Gee. She has been working on the quilt for quite some time. She calls it a conversation quilt. Each 8 patch square is different which gives us something to talk about. Right now it is spread out in the floor and Landon points to pictures and tells me what they are. It is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you Gee.

The other special thing Landon had a Gee and Papaw's house was an outdoor Christmas Tree. Landon loved it. They would turn it on at night and when he got a glimpse of it you knew because he would sign tree over and over and point outside so that you could see too. Thanks Uncle Kevan and Caylin for hanging the lights in the holly tree.

We also had a great time with my family...though I don't have many pictures because my sister had her camera and I just let her take the pic and I'll get them from her later. Landon got his very first sit and spin....boy does he love that! His Aunt Jill was determined to find one and I'm glad she did. It has been a lot of fun.

As I said before, one thing Travis and I enjoy doing while we are home is visiting with friends. Travis enjoyed catching up with John Coatney and I loved watching them play with Landon. John and Helen don't think they have enough toys but who needs more than blocks and trains? The Coatney's have meant so much to Travis and I......Our first kiss was at the house you know!
We were also able to meet up with David and Mendy Henderson. It had been WAY to long since we had seen or spoken with them. I LOVED the dinner we had and can't wait until the next time.

This Christmas I spent some time thinking about Joseph. We always hear about what a faithful woman Mary had to have been to be chosen to be the mother of God's son but what about Joseph. As far as we know he loved Jesus like his own son. He agreed to lay his reputation on the line to marry Mary. Not only did God chose Mary but He also had to have also chosen Joseph. He couldn't just have anyone being the earthly father figure to Jesus. What a man he must have been. I just praise God for loving us so much that he was willing to send Jesus and give us a chance to be in fellowship with Him once more.