Baby Girl Hoke

Most of you already know that we are expecting baby Hoke #2...and it's a girl! I'm 22 weeks pregnant today and due June 7th. We are so excited to have another baby and even more excited to find out what raising a girl is like :) So far this pregnancy has been a lot easier than the first with many fewer sick days (yeah!). I'm so looking forward to having the baby before the heat of the summer this time (hopefully less bloating and swollen feet!) More pics to come soon...

Morning blessings

I'm always awake and off to work way too early in the morning...before 6, while it's still dark and everyone in the house (including the dogs) are still fast asleep. The other morning after getting ready, I walked quietly downstairs to put my lunch together for the day. I try to be as quiet as humanly possible while I'm walking around the house, especially since Landon appears to have inherited mommy's "light sleeper" gene. Most of the time I manage to get out of the house while all is still silent and everyone is still asleep. By the time I walk downstairs, I usually feel I'm in the clear...since Landon's room is upstairs and on the complete opposite end of the house. That being said...as I was pulling things out of the fridge last week, I coughed quietly to myself. Thinking I'd heard something, I stopped for a moment to listen. "bless you," I heard from upstairs. I glanced at the clock...5:50...way too early...time to ignore him, stay quiet for a moment, and hope he goes back to sleep... "Bless you, Mominna," he calls again. Again, I ignore him. "MOMINNA! BLESS YOU! BLESS YOU! MOMINNA!" Now dad's awake too...I guess it's too late to go back to bed. "Thank you, Landon," I call upstairs. I'm not sure what was funnier, the fact that he was blessing me for a tiny little cough or that he wasn't going to be satisfied until I heard and thanked him. Yes, honey, you do bless me...more than you'll ever know :)

Busy, Busy, Busy Boy

I simply adore Fall: caramel apples, earthy colors, cooler weather, scarfs...so much more. Spencer and I were so excited to take Landon to his first "real" pumpkin patch (we made an appearance to a parking lot pumpkin patch last year...but we all know those don't really count). This year we headed to Wheatland's Bishop Pumpkin Patch, free train tickets in hand. The weather was gorgeous! Landon had so much fun visiting all the goats, pigs, donkeys, and chickens. He wasn't too sure about bouncing on the hay, but gave it a try. The train ride was so exciting - he especially loved when it blew its horn! But his favorite thing of all was exploring the pumpkin fields. He was running from pumpkin to pumpkin yelling, "pum-pum!" He even decided to kiss a few :) We left that day exhausted, but full of life-long memories. I love family traditions, especially around the holidays.

One Year!

I am blown away that my baby is already a year old. I find myself already reminiscent as I look back on pictures from this past year and can't believe the enormity of the changes he's gone through. The human body and especially a baby's development in the first year of life is simply incredible. I've always known this in some capacity, but it's so different seeing it first hand in a life that was started in some small way by me.

We've had so many incredibly memories in the past few months...so many that our world has been too busy for me to keep up this blog as much as I intended and wanted to. We finished out our summer with gymnastics class, lots and lots of tomatoes from Grandma's garden, and Landon's first Rivercats game. He couldn't sit still in gymnastics class and loved every minute of it, and he spent the duration of the Rivercats game running up and down the cement walkway and the grassy hill. He wanted to have two tomatoes in his hands at all times and refused to share, even when he was frustrated at not being able to hold one and eat the other at the same time...so so stubborn.

School then started and I again had to hit the ground running. Landon's 1st birthday fell on the Wednesday night of the first week of school, and we celebrated at home with family and frog cupcakes made by Nanny. (Of course, even with just the grandparents over...three sets + great grandparents...it was a packed house.) Landon was so lucky to have Grandpa and Poppy visit for over a week. Then, we celebrated again this past weekend. Landon completely enjoyed entertaining a house full of guests and devoured more cake (icing) than he needed for a whole year. He has some really great friends who came and played with his new car and blessed him with some really great new toys and clothes. Thank you all :)

Hopefully as things begin to settle back into routine, I'll find more time to keep up with the everyday laughs and adventures of our family.

Shampoopie

It's amazing how much this little man already makes me laugh every day. This one was good for a real good belly laugh :) So, whenever Landon is working on a nice poopie diaper, he grunts a lot and his little face reddens. This is when I usually say, "Are you pooping?". Well, apparently we do this little scene enough that now if I simply ask if he's pooping, he responds with a grunt whether he's pooping or not. This in itself makes me laugh and he smiles along with me, proud that he understands exactly what I'm talking about. (I know, classy huh?) Well...the other day we were hanging out at my mom's salon and Landon was VERY interested in the bright colorful bottles of shampoo on the shelves lining the hallway. He, of course, said, "dat? dat?" repeatedly until I told him that those were bottles of shampoo. His response??? A BIG grunt and a smile. Clearly I put a little too much emphasis on the POO part of shampoo.

Say, Peas!

It's hard to believe that someone with a face like this could be so incredibly sneaky. During dinner tonight, I actually caught Landon dropping some of his peas on the floor for the dogs! I thought it was supposed to be a few years until he started hiding his veggies :) When I turned around and caught him in the act, he just grinned at me...probably wanting to remind me of just how adorable he is...good thing, too.

My Little Monster :)

First of all, I'm beginning to think we've created a monster, an adorable monster, but a monster nonetheless. I say that affectionately, of course :) We were elated when Landon began signing his first few words and have been eagerly teaching him more and more. His favorite of all signs has been "light"...and this is where our little monster comes in :) He knows light so well and has to point them out everywhere...EVERYWHERE. Oh yeah, and EVERY time. We pass no fewer than 10 lights on our way from his crib, down the stairs, and into the living room, and he points them out and signs "light" for all of them...every time we pass them. First thing when he wakes up, he no longer wants to smile at mommy. No, he wants to make sure that I've seen the light in his room...the same one we talked about before his nap. Imagine his astonishment when we took a trip to the hardware store last weekend and took him to the lighting department. OMG! His legs were kicking like mad and he was signing frantically with both hands :)

Second of all, he has learned that he can control his eyebrows, with which he makes GREAT angry eyes. He enjoys making this face anytime something doesn't go his way and uses it at will to manipulate whomever he can. He also uses these angry eyes on poor unsuspecting, ogling strangers at the supermarket. They admire his cuteness and try talking to him sweetly, and then...all of a sudden...he gives them the angry eyes. They never know quite what to do at this point...I try to reassure them that he's just practicing a new trick he's learned, but...
The look he's giving in the picture isn't quite the same one I'm describing, (the usual one includes a closed mouth with pouty lips) but it is another variation...and also very fake :)