New Cold Year

Geez! You'd think we'd have been more prepared for the winter, but no matter how hard you try, the cold comes and makes itself at home in the goosebumps that form when your lover's icy toes run up your leg. The sky is bright blue, and a few poofy clouds drift outside my window. The temp this morning was about 8 degrees, and I could feel my beard crackle as I waited for the bus to school. I love it! Landon is the most freakin' cutie ever, and he's finally sleeping longer at night (joy joy). He hit 3 months, and we hit nine years, on the 23rd. El tiempo sigue volando (time flies). Hallie has been more of a support than I can possibly imagine over the last several years, but especially as we have been getting settled in Detroit and working on being good parents. We have not written about Christmas, so here's a brief run down:

We had a little Christmas at home before flying out to California on December 21st. We flew to Northern California and visited Hallie's brother and his wife and their kids and her extended family. Landon has two cousins; one is three and very adorable, and the other is a few months older than Landon, and he is huge! Everyone Landon met thought he was the cutest thing. We went to eat and open presents at a lot of people’s houses, and we drove over a lot of beautiful winding roads (Landon doesn’t remember a whole lot because when he gets in that car seat, he falls asleep really fast--usually. We went to Angel’s Camp, home of a famous frog jumping contest, and Landon got his picture taken with a huge frog on Main Street.
On the day after Christmas, we flew down to Southern California to visit our folks. Landon got to spend a lot of time being visited with and held. We saw siblings and more cousins, and Landon got to play with lots of new toys. He got to visit his great grandma. He also caught his first cold. Yuck. He had a hard time sleeping for a few nights, but then we got smart and got him a humidifier, and then he slept a lot better. We went to Santa Barbara, and Landon went to the beach and got to dip his feet in the Pacific Ocean. Mike described to him all the different things he was experiencing, like the salty smell in the air, the cool breeze by the water, the gritty feel of the wet sand between his toes, and the warm sun on his face. The only thing he didn’t do was taste the sea water (we think). By the end of the trip he was beginning to get too big for his clothes, and he was only getting up twice a night!
Mike has to teach school, so we had to go back home a week after New Year’s. Landon has been on airplanes six times now. His seventh trip will be when he comes out to Salt Lake when we finish the adoption paperwork.
On January 10, LX went to the Dr. and had a check up. He now weighs 11 lbs 12 oz, and he is over 21 inches long. Needless to say he's quickly moving out of his 0-3 month clothes. He has clothes he has never even worn that he has outgrown. As noted above, the weather here is pretty cold, but Landon likes it. Every time he goes out and feel the cold breeze, he wakes up and looks all around (shock to the system?). If he's crying, he stops and just enjoys the cool against his skin. We are careful to not let him stay outside too long though.
OK, back to work. Hallie will probably add more soon.