Just a tummy check

We took Landon to see Dr. Zapata today.  His last appointment was six months ago, so we were due to go in.  Everything went great!  Landon's following the growth curve very nicely now since we gave him a couple extra ounces of formula during the day.  Even with not feeling well the past week and a half, he has kept up with where he needs to be!  That's really nice because normally he would lose a little bit of weight or stay the same while he was sick and then we'd have to play catch-up.  Who likes doing that??  ...not me!!

Dr. Zapata seemed pretty impressed with how much food Landon was taking orally.  He said to just keep it up.  I wanted to get an idea of how much food a typical 3 year old eats because I wanted to have some sort of goal for Landon to get to.  Since I don't have anything to compare him to, I rely on the doctors to give me this insight.  I feel like he should be eating more for his age, but I don't want to be pushing too much if there is no need for it.  He said that the dietician could give me a better answer on that, and he would have her call me.

All-in-all, he didn't seem too concerned about Landon or his growth.  He said to keep doing monthly weight checks just so we could keep track of his weight in case he was to lose too much.  Other than that, we don't need to see him for another 9 months!!!  I was excited to hear that cause that means he's doing well enough to not need to be seen as often...always a good sign. :)

As we were leaving the office, Heidi and I were expressing how excited we were to not have to come back for a while.  I got to thinking about where we would be in 9 months.  Landon will almost be 4 and we will have a 5 month old little girl.  How exciting!  I'm so excited for the changes in our family in the upcoming months.  Life is good. :)

Oops!

Last night I was getting ready for bed and realized that I forgot to post a picture of myself.  Here we go...this is a picture of me at 20 weeks.  Not the best, but it will do. :)

I feel like I've definitely filled out just in the past couple of weeks.  I'm hoping I'm going to fit into my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding coming up at the end of the month. YIKES!

Landon's baby sister!!!!!

We found out that Landon will have a baby sister!!

I had my 20 week appointment with my doctor today.  We had scheduled an ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby and to make sure everything was going great.  Braydon went with me to this appointment.  It was so much fun to have him there with me.

We got to see the baby first before we saw Dr. NewMyer.  I was excited that I didn't have to wait!  The technician was so nice that did the ultrasound and was willing to wait for the baby to give us a good picture.  She did some regular ultrasound pictures and then she also did some 4D ones where we got to watch her move around in real time!!  The technology has changed so much in just the 3 years since we've had Landon!!!  She was a busy bug and moved around a lot, making it difficult for the technician to get her measurements.  Thank goodness the technician was patient. :)  She measured in at 8.8" tall and she weighs 12 oz. right now.  That's in the 65th percentile, so she's right around where she needs to be. :)

I know that some of these pictures might need a little explanation.  The first two are some of the images she got from the 4D ultrasound.  The rest are just the regular ultrasound pics...

This one is of our little girl's face.  She spent most of the ultrasound batting at the umbilical cord that was brushing on her face.  I guess it was tickling her. :)

This one is another one of her face, but she has her fist up to her mouth.  You can make out her eye and nose above her fist.  The umbilical cord is to her arm's left.

Just a profile picture.  You can see her spine to the right.

A little baby foot. :)

This is a picture of her cute belly.  The circle in the middle is what will be her belly button.

Finally, the "girl parts".  Honestly, I'm not even sure what I'm looking at here.  The arrow is pointing to the parts.  The things to the right and left of where the arrow is pointing is her little butt cheeks.  I guess it's like looking at her sitting on glass and you are looking up.  I think the rest of it is parts of arms and legs, but I'm not sure.

It was a fun day!  I was so happy to get to watch her swim around, and so happy that I got to experience it with Braydon.  We're really excited to get the ball moving and start setting up her room. :)  Let the fun begin!!!  What to buy first???? :)

A moment of silence...

We received news today that Braydon's long-time furry friend, Rory had to be put down after suffering a stroke.  Rory was Braydon's dog from when he was a kid.  He's been hanging around for 17 years.  He spent some time with Braydon and I in our first apartment as our guard dog.  He was the sweetest dog and we will miss him terribly.

RIP Rory-pup.  We love you!

Landon's computer skills

My son has turned into a computer geek.  Don't get me wrong, I love computer geeks.  I married one.  I just didn't expect my son to become one so early in life.

A little background story:

We had been talking with Landon's teachers that used to come to the house before Landon started school about getting him some sort of device that could talk for him when he pushed a picture on a computer screen.  They recommended that we go to a place that would do an evaluation on him to determine how well he would do with one, and how much the machine would need to help him.  So, I ended up calling them and sure enough they needed a referral from our insurance.  I called to get the referral through his pediatrician and they never got back to me.  Things got crazy and I ended up forgetting about it until one of the teachers asked me about it again.  I called again to get the referral put through, but with no luck.  Finally, we ended up talking with Ashley about it and she told me about one of her families that used a program on the iPad that was similar to what Landon would get through doing this evaluation.  I talked with Braydon about it and we decided that it was worth the money if it was going to help him communicate with the people around him.  I wanted him to go to school with some way to express himself to his friends and his teachers.  So, we ended up getting it.  It is the best money we've ever spent!!!  Landon is still learning how to use it, but he's doing great at school with being able to talk during circle time and tell his classmates what he played with that day. :)  He has a speech pathologist at school that also works with him on it, and she always has good things to say about him using it.  He tells the teachers what color he wants to color with when doing an art project.  It's really been a blessing.

So, with that being said, we've also been downloading some fun little games on it so we can enjoy it too.  Braydon found a bird game where you slingshot these funny little birds into these buildings to pop these little pigs hiding inside.  It sounds pretty weird, but it's actually really fun and addicting.  I've gotten addicted, Braydon's been addicted, and now Landon is unfortunately addicted too.  Poor guy. ;)  He just thinks it's fun and loves to watch the birds fly through the air.  The good thing about it is it's teaching him some skills of how the iPad works and how soft he needs to touch it.  It's also teaching him hand/eye coordination.

Here is Landon playing the "bird game" at lunch.  He's just so cute. :)

The countdown to know the sex of baby Walsh is 2 days!!!  Braydon and I will be going to the appointment on Wednesday and will get to see the baby on an ultrasound.  Hopefully the baby cooperates and we'll be able to tell if it's a boy or a girl.  I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that everything is going okay in there.  I feel it kicking and moving all the time, so that makes me happy. :)