Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep those babies rollin'

Yes, our less than 3 week old baby can roll from belly to back already. He did it at age 6 days, but I was too in shock to really think it happened. His umbilical cord fell off a few days ago and so we are able to do tummy time. I just got out the play mat today, put him on his belly and within seconds he rolled over. I have no voice right now due to a bad cold and so I sent LT to get Brian (but he got distracted along the way). I thought Bri would never believe me and say I was crazy for thinking our little tiny baby could do such a thing. A few minutes later, I put Adler back on his tummy and away he rolled, and this time Brian witnessed! I knew our two kids would have different personalities and already I see those differences. When we put LT on the play mat for tummy time, he just decided it was too much work to roll over and would go to sleep. Adler doesn't follow the same path. He was ready to figure out a solution to the problem of having to be on his belly. We have been calling Adler "Roto" for roto rooter (the kid can eat!), but his official new nickname is Roto Roller.

Mama, where we got dis?

Almost every night since Adler came, LT has asked me, "mama, where we got dis food? Mama, who gave us dis food? or Mama, who make us dis food?" They are all very legitimate questions given the generosity of our friends and family with food. I honestly wasn't expecting anything with a second child and yet had two baby showers and now yummy food to enjoy! Any of you who have had kids know that you won't say no to food being delivered to your home. It really is the most helpful thing we could ask for. So... this is not only a story about LT asking legitimately who brought us this yummy food, but a thank you to those of you who have kindly showed up with food, treats and drinks for us to enjoy!

Day Out With Thomas

Today was "Day Out With Thomas" at the Colorado Railroad Museum. For several months we've been looking forward to when the 'real' Thomas comes to town and actually pulls coaches full of kids and families.

Here's LT with the tickets he insteded that he carry and his "cut cuts" [pliers]. Kari told him the night before that he could use them to open the tickets and he absolutely remembered this morning.

Still got the tickets!

Here's LT waving to people from the train.

For most of the ride he was making "woo woo" noises. The picture doesn't really do it justice but he was very into the experience.

A bunch of LT's friends were on the train after us so we hung out at the museum and watched the model trains while we waited for them. During this time Kari got a text message, that she's showing LT above, with the great news that Issac's little brother was born early in the morning.

Dylan and Z waved to us as they went past on their turn with Thomas.

LT haging out in one of the cabooses on display.

Dylan checking out his map and schedule of the day's activities.

Joe made a break for it after his picture but he got caught and here he is being hauled off while Dylan gets his picture taken in front of the famous train.

Z waited in line for a picture in front of Thomas but then didn't want to sit for it when their time came. So we all tried to snap a shot or two of him with the train in the background as he walked out.

Little bros

LTs friend Maike and her little brother came over on Wednesday for a play date and to meet Adler. They really got along well and Maike seemed to enjoy all of LTs Bob the Builder tools and his trains.
LT really wanted some "breksfast" cereal for a snack. We put cheerios and "muk" into the bowls and they both enjoyed it. Maike had been taught (or figured out) how to drink the remainder of the milk from the side of the bowl like a cup. LT looked at what she was doing, decided he would try, and went straight for the middle of the bowl like a dog. It was so funny to watch and we just let him continue trying to slurp up the milk rather than correcting him, although I did show him at the end what Maike was in fact doing.
This is the four kids, Maike with her 7 month old brother, Lucas and LT with Adler who was almost 2 weeks at the time. Its amazing how different in age Lucas and Adler seem right now, but soon enough they will be doing the same things!

First Bath

Adler had his fist bath last night. I had a little trouble getting good pictures with LT trying to 'help' by dumping his toys in the top on top of the baby.

Gymnastics class

Last week LT started a new session of gym class with a few of his friends including Z, Joe and Ewan.

He's clearly enjoying it.

The boys needed some snacks after all the hard work in class.

A Fall Sunday

Last Sunday Steve and Madeleine came over during the Bronco game and, in addition to bringing pizza, entertained the boys for several hours and even did yard work! Which is nice...

LT, complete with his 'Bob Builder' hat that's required for just about any kind of job, worked on a gardening project with Madeleine.

While pulling up a ton of weeds they found one little basil plant, which LT promptly ate.


He had a blast gardening (something he loves to do with his Grandma too) as you can see from the look on his face and he also talked about it for the next two days.


But he also takes his work very seriously.

Meanwhile Steve helped Adler learn about NFL football.

Da Boys

With the arrival of Adler, the name "LT's Blog" and the blog location of http://landon-t-c.blogspot.com don't really fit anymore. I don't want to risk losing either of my readers or my highly optimized Google search rankings that have netted well over $22 in revenue from advertising so I don't think I'm going to change the URL from landon-t-c. The name, however, is easy to change so I hereby announce that "LT's Blog" will be known as "Those Campbell Boys..." from this day forward (unless I or anyone thinks of something better) in an effort to more accurately reflect our new family hierarchy (don't worry, I'm still at the bottom).

LT sees his brother for the first time ever and, at first, isn't exactly sure what to think.


It didn't take long to warm up to the new family member, however.

LT holding his brother for the first time (with a little help from Grandma).

Baba trying to protect Adler from LT's overzealous attempt to share his book. At least it's a soft book and he *is* sharing.

On Friday night, the second night in the hospital, I went home and stayed with LT. First thing in the morning we went to visit mom and Adler. LT was very excited to go see them and I manged to get this cute picture of him with his green elephant, his water and his new monkey on the way out to the car.

Very happy to see Adler even though "his eyes closed?"

The boys team continues to grow. Only Bowen is missing from this picture - we'll have to try and get a full team photo soon.

Holding his brother shortly after the whole family was home together for the first time.

Mom and her boys.

Dad and the boys.

Mama juice

To be honest, I am not one of those pregnant women who craves anything during pregnancy. In fact, I am pretty sick the whole time and food doesn't taste good. However, towards the end of both pregnancies I did want a margarita. It was especially hard this pregnancy with the summer weather and watching folks sip margaritas on patios, but I knew my time would come soon enough and it was well worth the wait. Yesterday Sofi, Ofelia and Renee came by to drop off a jug of margaritas for me and a juice box for LT. LT wasn't sure what was in the jug and I wasn't sure how to explain it to him in a way that he wouldn't want to have some, so we just called it "mama juice". Luckily, Adler came early enough in the fall that I can still sip on a margarita in the warm afternoon air and not feel like I totally missed patio/margarita season. Thanks Renee and Mike for bringing the "mama juice".
Soon after Brian left with the camera to get LT and I some dinner, LT grabbed Sofi's hand and the strolled off down the block together.

Adler: the first 5 days

Just some pictures of the little man from his first five days of life.


Grandpa holding AC for a rare shot of him with his eyes open.


Going home from the hospital (you can't really tell but he's wearing the exact same outfit that LT wore home from the hospital). The dogs have been much less curious about the arrival of Alder than they were with LT.

In the hospital issue gear.

09/10/09

I wouldn't go so far as to say I knew Alder was coming last Thursday but something did feel different. I remember remarking to a coworker that I couldn't get anything started because I wasn't sure I'd be there the next day. And I felt like I had to check in with Kari before going to workout in the afternoon (something I'd never do normally except maybe to try and prove I'm not lazy).

Kari's parents had kindly offered to take us to dinner and although Kari had been having some contractions throughout the day, they were pretty irregular and not too differnent than the previous few days. S0 after I got home from work we all walked to House, the local restaurant that took the place of Gemelli's.

Papa entertained LT at dinner by folding up the kid's menu into various things including a boat and a hat.

LT did a little entertaining with the menu as well.

We had a nice dinner but something something about Kari was just off - I don't know how to describe it. We walked home and even though they offered to stay and watch LT should we need to leave, Kari insisted her parents go home. It couldn't have been more than an hour later when she called them to ask that they come back. We started timing contractions around 9 o'clock and while I didn't attempt any house projects on the roof this time, I did learn that even if you are completely capable of multitasking, this is not the best time to watch a football game on TV (yes, even if it's the season opener). We were on our way to the hospital by 9:45.

We'd talked a bit at dinner about how we all sort of hoped that AC wouldn't be born on the eleventh. It wouldn't be the end of the world but the date 9/11 evokes such immediate and emotional responses in people that it just seemed like it might be a hard birthday for a little guy to have. As we arrived at the hospital around 10PM, however, it was seeming nearly inevitable that Adler would be born on September 11th.

I parked the car in the loading zone, left all our stuff in it, and took Kari inside to check in at the ER. The moved her though the process very quickly and it wasn't long before she was in a delivery room. Though it probably seemed like an eternity to her, it wasn't much longer until she had an epidural in. At that point things had calmed down a bit and I asked her and the doc if it was OK for me to run down to park the car and grab my camera. The doc said I could go get the camera but leave the car for later. What he'd said didn't really sink in but I did what he said all the same. I didn't run to the car but I did go quickly and was frustrated at being held up at the ER for a couple minutes to get back up to the delivery room. Much to my surprise, when I walked back in the room the mood was starkly different than it had been when I left just a few minutes before. The doctor and several nurses were all right around Kari and polity told me to "forget the camera and get over here, now." It couldn't have been more than a minute or two later that Adler was born - 11:43PM on September 10th.

I nearly missed it but I was lucky and it all worked out in the end. I did have my camera so I was able to capture a few pictures of Adler's very first moments in this world.

Brown B

LT has two things that are not allowed to leave the house because he is so attached to them that we dare not risk losing them. His green blankie is one and it was actually Kari's when she was a kid. The other is Brown B* and he's shown above holding it (a very common sight). Brown B was a gift from Z's grandparents for LT's second birthday. Landon has tons of stuffed animals and he loves them all but for some reason Brown B quickly ascended to a very special status as far and away the favorite stuffed animal.


* He says B for Bear

Welcome AC!

I am please to announce that Adler Cole joined the Campbell family at 11:43PM on Thursday, September 10th. Like his older brother he was born at Rose Hospital but apparently he was in more of a hurry to get out and see the world because we were at the hospital for less than two hours before he was born. Mom and baby are healthy and are doing very well. LT met his new brother this morning and is showing some early potential as a great big brother.

I guess comparisons between the Campbell boys are inevitable so I wont even try to avoid it. Adler sure looks a lot like LT did when he was a newborn. They were also similar in size with Adler being 20 inches long/tall and weighing in at 6lbs 14.5oz.

Furlough Day

Some people love having to take furlough days, others not so much. I don't know how Emily feels about having to take a day off, but I sure loved that she had a furlough day and was able to hang out with us at the Botanic Gardens yesterday.
Emily and Riley enjoying the warm morning air and having a snack.
Riley and LT looking at the fish in the pond.
Snack number 1 of the morning with Phoebe.
As usual, the free umbrella stroller we have was the biggest hit to push around. The kids all worked a lot on their sharing skills.Snack number 2 or 3 for LT.