Bandy Bean

New Words

2009-06-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Friday June 15, 2009

Layne learned two phrases that day. The first word was "mess". He said this one after he just finished off his soy yogurt (which he calls "goodie"). He abandoned his spoon and was fishing out the last of the yogurt by hand and wiping it in his hair. The cool part was when I pulled out the wet wipe and he started wiping himself off and cleaning his high chair tray.
The second thing he said that day was "Upsee Doozee" when I was lifting him out of his car seat. It was really cute to hear a 20 month old baby talk, grown relatives...not so much.

Bop Bop Bop all the way home.

2009-06-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday 6:15AM June 2nd 2009 (I-35 North)

After 16 hours in the car driving all the way home from Florida, Layne wakes up right outside of Dallas and starts singing country, which is his favorite kind of music by the way. Hey, I'm cool with country. I love me some Patsy Cline, Keith Whitley, George Strait, Rascal Flats and the like. "He's gone country," I think is how it goes...or something like that. I turned off the radio and let him take a solo.

This cute moment was a nice change from the feeling I had during this last leg of the trip of wanting to shoot myself in the face. Its these moments that keep you going when you feel like you aren't gonna make it. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Thank you Lord for good times!

Going for the Gold!

2009-06-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 13, 2009

Marcy Priest Jackson and her step-daughter Kristin came over to babysit Layne for a few hours while Kim and I hung out with a visiting youth group from Ada, OK doing a donation give away at the apartments. When they knocked on the front door, Layne pointed and said, "SSthat?" and ran toward the door. When Marcy and Kristin walked in, Layne ran around in circles a few times and went right into a headstand on our wood floor. He was so excited he didn't know what to do, why not a headstand?

We coaxed him onto the rug in the dining room for safety reasons. With a running start he went right into a headstand. He was staring at us between his legs and giggling when he got off balance and did a full somersault. "Uh oh" he said, and then more giggles. "This kid could take gold in the 2020 Summer Games I know it," I thought quietly. We cheered him on and he did two more for us before I had to go. What a little performer. All he needs is a couple of pretty girls and a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and watch out, here comes the charm.

123..."Meatball"

2009-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2009

Kim taught Layne to say "1, 2, 3..." while laying on the ground balancing him on her knees and then dropping and lifting him about twenty times. Talk about multi-tasking, Kim can incorporate pilates and arithmetic while watching the Biggest Loser!

Me on the other hand, I worked all dinner long trying to get Layne to say one thing and then he finally said it. He said "meatball" as he was finishing off a chef-boy-r-dee. Its the important things that I have to make sure get taught. Like anything pertaining to food, bodily functions and wrestling moves.

05/09 Beach Trip Memory # 1

2009-05-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Layne saw the beach for the first time and had no inhibitions at all about getting right in. His word for water is "OOWEE". Exhausted from the 20 hours he just spent in a car, it didn't take him long to put it together that this was the biggest bath tub he had ever seen. I think his first word was "mine" when he looked out over the expanse of the gulf coast.After climbing down the narrowest and longest board walk in Walton County, we hit the sand and Layne immediately took two hand fulls of the white power and put it in his hair. Then it was all "OOWEE" from there!

Tickle Me Layneski

2008-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

New in Layne-land

2008-08-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Layne's got a new room! It's so fun and bright and kid-proof and he loves it! One of the new additions is a rocking horse that a friend gave us. It makes a clip-clop sound when it rocks and Layne's in love. Now every time we move the horse while he's somewhere else in his room, he stops what he's doing and makes a rocking motion. We've only had the horse out for 4 days. Don't tell me that kid's not smart!

Flippidy do-dah

2008-08-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered that Layne (9 months old) loves to open and close my (Brad) cell phone. The other day Layne sat leaned against me in my bed for 20 minutes opening and shutting my phone. He would switch between his right hand and then his left each time getting more and more efficient. It's amazing to see his brain at work finding new pathways and modifying small muscle memory functions until his little fingers found the perfect groove to open the flip function. It made a little click sound too, which he also found irresistible.

I am learning everyday how to be "present" during these times with Layne. Everyone says it goes by so fast and that Kim and I will miss this age. They're right. Everything is new, literally, and he gets so excited about the smallest stuff, and he is so cute too. It is really cool just hanging out with him and experiencing the "wonderment" of life again (Yeah that's right I said it...wonderment.). I am glad that Layne is here to remind me in the busyness of life to enjoy the simple things... like a crappy cell phone I got for "free" after signing up for a two-year service agreement.

My Layne-List

2008-07-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been thinking about this blogging idea for Layne and am realizing that part of why I haven't done it much is because not much translates into writing with a kid his age. If I could just post a lot of video throughout the day of his new-found sounds and facial expressions, that would work. But, I can't exactly recount a funny conversation I had with him or anything. But, when I was walking with him today, I thought of a few things that I CAN write about to put on my Layne List of favorite moments.

1. I love the intensity with which he shakes the bars of the industrial strength baby gate leading into the kitchen. He focuses, sets his stance wide, and then tugs away with the best of them, completely frustrated that Brad and I can walk right through at the slightest desire for a bowl of ice cream or a tortilla chip.

2. I'm a pretty big fan of how he immediately slumps down in the jogging stroller, propping up his leg and resting his elbow on it so he looks like he's watching football in his Lazy Boy.

3. I love that he's not old enough to notice that his jogging stroller is, in fact, not used for jogging so he can't make fun of me for my less-than-olympic-worthy speed.

4. It cracks me up how happy his dad makes him. It doesn't matter how many times Brad walks through the room Layne is in, he still beams to try to get his dad's attention--and it usually works.

5. I'm becoming fully aware of his boy-ness. Without any prompting from us, and never having watched WWE Wrestling (is that the right acronym?), Layne still crawls over to any stuffed animal placed on the floor and wrestles with it until it taps out. This is on my list for now, but might have to be removed if he ever transfers this energy to a fellow human.

6. I love the way he idolizes his friend, Averi. At the wise age of 2, she accomplishes feats he could never dream of, and he understandably admires her for such things as walking, talking, and playing peek-a-boo with him.

7. I love when I'm riding in the back seat with him and he just happens to crack up at one thing I say to Brad. From then on, I can say it un-ending times and it's still just as funny to him.

8. And, finally, I love the 2.4 seconds that he will actually snuggle with me when I pick him up from the car seat or the stroller to put him in his crib to finish his nap. It's only added up to about 45 seconds snuggle time total in his life, but I'll take what I can get!

More Pics

2008-07-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

We're officially bloggin' now!

2008-07-26T04:46:00.001-07:00

Ok, the Bandy family has been completely lacking in our blogging skills. Layne's almost 9 months old and we haven't put up pictures or given any information! Partly, that's because we gave the blog address to exactly 4 people--so we're going to be serious about updating and actually letting people know about the blog now. Here are a bunch o' pictures from the last few months.

My new favorite pic

2008-01-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

Little Layneski

2008-01-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

I came up with the nickname "Layneski" for my son Layne. This was my first attempt at creating a father son bond. Our first guy thing if you will. Whenever Kim first started using it she added an "s" to the end. Who said she could use it in the first place, much less changing it to the plural. She didn't realize it but she had trespassed an unspoken age-old male bonding ritual. Is there nothing sacred anymore!!???? We finally had a talk about it and she relinquished her usage of the nickname. I felt bad and apologized later. He's still got his rattail though. "Adda Boy Laneski!"

Pedro the Penguin

2008-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Layne playing with his favorite toy.

An outfit from Aunt Shannon!

2008-01-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

Layne says hello to dad

2008-01-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

Bath Time!

2008-01-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

Week 4

2007-11-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

Layne's doing very well. Thanks so much to everyone who's been around, offered help, and fed us the last few weeks. Tomorrow will be his fourth week in this world! Can't believe it's gone by so fast. It's come to my attention that I haven't been great at updating his status. So, for those of you who will read this, his heart is doing very well. He won't officially be "cleared" until his 2-month check up, but the doctor says it's pretty much cleared itself up. He's quite the talk of the town, though! No one at Children's or at Lakeside had seen such a "strip" before from his fetal heart monitor or the EKG after he was born. Thank the Lord that all is well! Here's a pic of Brad feeding him his first bottle. Through the magic of storing milk, mom gets a break from a feeding around week 3. Wonderful!!!

First day home

2007-11-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

New photos

2007-11-23T14:44:00.001-08:00

More Pics

2007-11-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more pics. This is after his heart monitoring process when we finally got to spend time together!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

2007-10-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, again, friends and family! This morning at 4:45, Kim gave birth to a beautiful 9 pound 2 ounce baby boy. Mom and Dad are very excited and they wanted to share a few pictures of the baby with you. Layne Everett Bandy is being welcomed by friends and family and we are all so grateful for your prayers and well wishes. We will post more information/pictures as soon as we can!

Bandy Bean Updates

2007-09-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!

Brad and I have set this up so you can see pictures and get updates quickly on Bandy Bean. So far, there's nothing to see or read b/c Bandy Bean's still cooking away. But, soon we'll have info on little Liv/Lane--for instance, if it's a Liv or a Lane! Thanks for caring!