Scooter

Since Logan has started to scoot around a couple weeks ago, he's progressed very quickly. I wanted to get this up before he starts full-on crawling. I recorded him scooting today to get one of his favorite toys, his phone. Yes, one of Scott's old phones was dubbed "Logan's phone" in hopes that he would leave ours alone. P.S. I apologize for my annoyingly high voice. I've tried to stop but Logan just responds so much better and no matter what I do, I just can't help it.

6 Months

Logan went to the doctor last week for his six month checkup and shots. He did really well with the shots. I was very prepared and gave him his Tylenol right before he even got the shots. His growing has really slowed down since his last checkup. He weighs a little over 16 lbs and is 26 in long. Instead of being on the large end of average, he's now on the smaller end.
Here's just some pictures I took the other day.

This is one of his most common faces lately. He loves sucking on that bottom lip.

He wanted to help out with the picture taking and grabbed the camera right as it took the picture.
Logan is a great eater and has become very interested in whatever food we eat. He loves trying to help feed himself and really loves playing with the bowl afterwards. It's a good thing he's cute cause he is such a mess. I'm doing laundry and scrubbing the floor a lot more often than I'd like to.

Some recent accomplishments are that he can grab anything, big or small, within his reach. He can hold his own bottle (when he's not being lazy). And he can not only roll everywhere but he's now starting to scoot and "inchworm" around, especially when there's something he wants but can't reach.

I'm not sure why we buy him toys because his favorite things to play with are my water bottles, cell phone, and any kind of paper...especially magazines. He'll choose those over his noisy, light-up toys any day. If any of those things are in sight, he will find a way to get a hold of them.

Logan still loves looking at and talking to himself in the mirror. He loves being outside or just looking outside. Whenever he gets upset, as long as there's a window or a mirror to look at, he's pretty happy. He no longer likes his car seat as much or anything else, for that matter, that restricts him from moving how he wants to. He's also started to try and pull himself up and sit up all on his own. Both are still a working progress but we lowered his crib just in case. If I don't keep an eye on him sometimes he'll even unvelcro his diaper. He hates getting his face and hands cleaned and to get his clothes changed. He fusses any time he can't move to where he wants or reach whatever it is he sees. Needless to say he's become much more mobile and much more opinionated. I think I have my work cut out for me. For the majority of the time, however, he's a great baby. He eats and sleeps like a champ and is, for the most part, always happy, especially if he has someone to play and talk to him. Every morning I get him out of bed laughing and squealing with excitement. We just can't get over how much he's growing and changing. His sweet little face just melts our hearts.

Happy Halloween

Here's Logan's pre-Halloween outfit. The Friday before Halloween we made an appearance at our ward's trunk or treat. Logan loved riding around in his stroller and getting lots of attention. We spent Halloween with Scott's family. Christi and her family were in town and Logan was loving being around his cousins Westin and Grace. We just hung out, took family pictures, and some pizza and walked around a little with Grace while she was trick or treating.

Here's our little monkey.
How funny is this face?

I don't know what we were doing but we missed out on getting pictures of the cousins. I got this one from Stacy's blog. Here's Grace in one of her costumes. I love this picture. It's so Grace.

I'll have to get one of Westin when Christi gets her pictures up. He was so stinking cute in his little army outfit.

Squash

Last week I started Logan on foods other than cereal. I had decided before Logan was born to make all his baby food because, though some of them are much better these days, I'd just like to know exactly what is and isn't in his food. Plus it's cheaper...win, win. Well I had no idea how to do it so I did some research and found out the easiest way to cook a squash and keep in all the nutrients was cut it in half and bake it face down in an inch of water for about an hour. Then I just scooped it out and put it in the mill. So easy! I froze about half of it in ice trays and then bagged it up so I can easily defrost the amount I need when I need it. I absolutely love the food mill and am looking forward to putting all kinds of stuff in it. Apparently you can put in whatever you're eating for dinner and make it into baby food. Anyway, I went to take it out of the dishwasher and found the base melted to the bottom. It is dishwasher safe when it doesn't fall to the bottom and the heat dry option isn't on. I'm so upset about it cause I only used it once and it was such a good time. I do have the option to just order the part that melted but it will end up costing about half the price of a new one anyway. So now I'm on the lookout for a cheap one on craigslist. If you happen to see one, let me know.

The exciting part is, of course, not the making of the food but Logan's reaction to it. So here are a couple videos of the big event. They're kinda long cause I kept trying to get him to eat more since I knew he'd be very hungry if he didn't. I'm sure the grandmas will like them no matter how long they are.

I had decided to mix it with his cereal to see if he could handle it a little better so that's what this one is. It's kind of annoying at first cause he's so noisy but in the end he ends up liking it a little more and helping me feed him. If you listen closely toward the end you can hear Scott singing to himself while he's doing the dishes.

I'm happy to report he loves the squash now. It pretty much only took a day for him to get used to it.

Halloween Jars

This week I made a little Halloween craft thanks to my sister in law Christi who organized the whole thing. They are just made out of Mason jars with some modge podge and tissue paper. It was my kind of craft...very easy and cheap.

Nana and Grandpa visit

A couple weeks ago my parents came to visit for my mom's fall break. Besides skype, they haven't seen Logan since July so he's changed quite a bit since then. Logan was getting spoiled rotten and absolutely loving all the attention. He got lots of kisses and snuggles from Nana.

I got a nice break from feeding the little mess since Nana took over that job for me.

We went on walks pretty much every morning since the weather is perfect here now. There's a bunch of little farms by my house so Grandpa made sure Logan got to see all the horses, cows, pigs, emus, and goats.

He also made sure Logan got into as much trouble as he could. Since my parents came a week earlier than I expected, I was still working on organizing Logan's clothes before my parents came, which by the way happens about every few months since he's in and out of clothes so fast. Anyway, so Grandpa saw Logan eyeing the piles of clothes and thought it would be fun to let Logan play around and drool on his nice clean clothes. He also attempted sneaking him some chocolate but luckily he failed and just got it on his shirt. Busted! I have to keep a close eye on Grandpa cause is always getting into trouble whenever he's with Logan.

Something new that Logan did get to eat while they were here was some sort of baby rice cake. He wasn't sure what he thought about it at first but eventually figured out how fun it is to play with the mushy pieces.The last day they were here I made a big breakfast of banana granola pancakes, turkey bacon and eggs and we watched the OU v TX game. It was a heart wrenching game. Despite losing our quarterback officially for the season which is sad story in itself, the Sooners sucked me in and tricked me into being hopeful for a victory. In the end, we couldn't pull it off and lost by a field goal. We did a photo shoot before the end of the game. As you can see, we still have smiles on our faces. Sarah, a friend from back home that lives in Flagstaff came in town for the big game as well. I'm not sure why but apparently Grandpa and Scott didn't make an appearance in the shoot.

We mostly just hung out and enjoyed spending time together but we also went shopping, out to eat, and my dad's favorite...to the movies. Twice. I was a little worried about Logan cause we haven't taken him since he was a newborn and he just slept a lot. He actually really enjoyed it because he loves watching TV so imagine the excitement of a big screen. The only problem was he got extremely noisy. Not because he was fussy but because he was laughing, squealing and talking too much. We had to take him away from people in both movies because of that. We had so much fun together and were very glad they came but the trip was definitely way too short.

Oops. Were you talking to me?

When I was going to school and working, the only books I would read was the required reading for tests or homework and church literature. Now that I'm out of school and after first reading Twilight, I resurrected my long lost love of books. I haven't looked back since. Scott took this picture a few months ago. Apparently he was talking to me but I was so enthralled by my book I had absolutely no idea he was even in the same room as I was. As I'm seeing Katniss, torn between her two loves, realize she must go back to the games and fight to the death...I'll notice everything is quiet and I'll look up and see Scott just staring at me. "Oops. Were you talking to me?" I'll say as innocently as I can, not having a clue how long he'd been standing there waiting for my response. He's gotten used to this now and knows that no matter what I say, if I'm not looking at him, I'm not actually hearing him. After I read an amazing book, I try my hardest to convince him he's GOT to read this book. But so far, no luck. I'm hoping in a few months, after he's done studying for his Series 7 that he'll give it a try. I just need a great book to get him hooked. I never know what books I should read which is why I love going to book club cause they pick some really great ones. I'm also taking suggestions. So if anyone has any good recommendations, for me or Scott, I'd love to hear them. I started a list of what I've read recently, the ones I can remember, because for some reason I can't for the life of me remember what I read.

5 Months

This week Logan turned 5 months. I seriously cannot believe how fast he is growing. Every day he's learning or doing something different. Everybody warned me about this but it never really sunk in until now. I measured and weighed him on his 5 month mark and he weighs 15.5 lbs. and is 26 in. long. He's grown a half an inch but hasn't really gained any weight. Hopefully that's not a bad thing. I figure since he's not underweight there's probably nothing to worry about. He's a drooling machine and he literally is chewing on something all the time. He loves eating his cereal and, if I let him, he would eat the whole box at one time. He can take off some of his bibs and loves to throw them and everything else he can get his hands on to the floor. Yeah, he's already discovered that game. Now he rolls not just one way but all over the place. If he wants something bad enough, somehow he rolls and scoots and finds a way to get it. It's been great because it seems he's much happier when he can get around. The only bad thing is he's been rolling into things and banging his head. He's definitely getting a lot more reckless. I have a feeling I'm in big trouble when he actually starts crawling. His new favorite toy is my new cell phone. He loves how it lights up and apparently it's the perfect size to chew on. Also, he doesn't just squeal when he's excited like he used to. Now he squeals and screams all the time. I think he just loves to hear himself and sometimes I swear he's playing a game to see how high and loud he can scream. It hurts my throat just to hear him but he seems to like it. Another new thing he's started doing is attacking our faces. He has to feel, grab, scratch and if his mouth is anywhere near, he'll try to eat it. It's the worst when I'm feeding him. It's like all of a sudden he's fascinated with our faces. He's gotten much more needy in the entertainment department. Sitting and looking around doesn't cut it anymore. He needs to be involved in everything, see everything, play with everything, and have all the attention. It's exhausting sometimes and I wonder if I've somehow spoiled him into this or if this is normal at this age. The good thing is, he LOVES laughing and talking to himself in the mirror so when I want to get some things done he can entertain himself that way. Also, with some exceptions, he usually wakes up around 8 or 8:30am and goes to bed around 8:30 or 9pm which has been wonderful. So, I'm guessing it comes with age and solid foods but everything about him is stinkier...his dirty diapers, his spit up, and (I'm sure he gets this from Scott) his gas. It's awful. I'm already starting to feel very outnumbered with these boys in the house. As you can see, he's started sucking his thumb and, that's right, his toes.

This is another thing he's doing. He just opens his mouth for no reason as big as he can. We've decided that he's doing this because we all open our mouths really wide when we talk to him and try to get him to smile. He's just trying to look as silly as the rest of us do.

When he doesn't have a toy, he's always got his hand to chew on.

This is how he likes to sit on the desk when we're busy at the computer. Notice the drool.

Here are just a couple other pictures.

And a video...

Labor Day Weekend

The Friday before Labor Day we headed to Huntington Beach. That was also my birthday and I was having one of the worst days I had had in a long time. Our air conditioner broke around 3am which we were actually happy about because it was under warranty but we live in Arizona and it's summer here until Halloween. Need I say more? I didn't sleep pretty much from then on and I definitely don't do well without sleep. I guess Logan isn't a huge fan of the heat because he wouldn't eat or sleep that day and I couldn't get him to stop crying. Dealing with him and my own discomforts of heat and fatigue as well as pretty much being trapped at home since we had to be there while the AC was getting worked on made for an extremely long day. And the 7 hour car ride hadn't even begun. The trip wasn't too bad but I couldn't sleep partly because I was too wound up and partly because our car is too small for 3 adults and a car seat. (Scott's sister rode with us too). Of course with less than an hour left, Logan decided to start screaming and he just wouldn't stop no matter what I did. This is extremely rare for him, if not unheard of, and I had already dealt with it all morning so I was ready to turn around and go home at that point. To make things worse, it was even hot in Huntington Beach when we got there that night and I was absolutely sick of being hot and uncomfortable. It seems silly now but I was just having a hard day and wanted to go to bed and get that day behind me. After that, things got a little better. Scott's family watched Logan and let Scott and I get out by ourselves for a little while. I'm sure after my behavior the night before they were willing to do anything to make me a little more pleasant since they'd have to be around me all weekend. It was nice, though. We just ran some errands and walked around downtown. Scott's bro in law Matt and his family are big BYU fans and though I went there myself I was born and will inevitably die a Sooner fan so we were pretty excited about the game. This picture was taken before the end result hence the smile on my face. For those of you that don't know, the ending results were a terrible loss and an injured quarterback for OU. I was no longer smiling to say the least. Not a great start for my team on the opening weekend of my absolute favorite sport.

The reason we went to Huntington Beach was for Logan's new little cousin Westin's baby blessing. We took lots of cousin pictures. Logan was absolutely fascinated with Westin which was interesting since he's never paid attention to any other babies he's been around. Only this could put a smile on my face after that game.

Grandma Bair got the boys matching outfits. Westin was nice and mellow while Logan wiggled all over the place, wouldn't look at the camera, and tried to move Westin to where he thought he should go.

We even did bath time together which was pretty hilarious. Logan was having a good ol' time. To him, having people around, regardless of who or what the situation is, is a good time. Westin took a little beating with Logan's excited kicking legs and Logan just decided to take advantage of the situation and chew on his feet. As you can see, only Logan thought this was a fun idea.

Here's a picture of Scott's family that went to the blessing, which was absolutely beautiful. It was great to be a part of that big day.

We've been working on getting some pictures taken as a family so Matt and Christi took some pictures of us. We took a lot of really cute ones on the beach but Logan was not looking up or smiling because it was apparently too bright. Though we woke someone up in the process, we luckily got a good picture next to this wall by someone's bedroom window.

In the end it was a great weekend and I was so glad that we went. We had a really good time hanging out with Scott's family and meeting cute little Westin. Once we got home, we were extremely happy to walk into a nice cool house and have an air conditioner that didn't require us to turn up the tv or yell in order to hear over the awful noise it once made.

Happy Birthday...I think

My birthday was September 4. This is always a joyous occasion for me since I love celebrating ME. The excuse "but it's my birthday" applies all month and I make sure we have multiple celebrations of birthday shopping, dinner, and parties, with cake, friends, family, etc. so it is sure to last as long as possible. Friday Scott gave me my present which was a shirt he picked out all by himself and a card he wrote telling me all the things he loves about me. I got some money and clothes from family and Matt, Scott's bro in law, made me an ice cream cake that was delicious. We haven't finished celebrating yet because I have lots of birthday shopping to do and we haven't gone out yet so things are going according to plan. But...this year feels a little different. I just turned 27. For those of you who are older than I am, I mean no disrespect. But wow! I'm getting old fast and it seems like I'm getting smacked in the face with it. I noticed toward the end of my pregnancy that I was getting dark circles around my eyes and here we are, almost 5 months later, and they never went away. I hear that's a sign of aging. I was told by my doctor for the first time the other day, "sometimes that just comes with age." I just about fell out of my chair and then I didn't know if I should laugh, because surely that was a joke, or cry. Also, it could be a combination of post baby body and my obviously ever increasing age, but I'm finding that no matter how much weight I lose I just can't seem to get that body I once had. I'm also nursing and, yes, I can already see "the ladies" succumbing to gravity. And last, I noticed as someone was editing my picture on their computer that I'm starting to get those little creases around my eyes that some call crow's feet. The funny thing about getting older is you remember when you're younger imagining how different you'll feel once you get to a certain age. But you always feel exactly the same as you did before with just a few more life experiences and knowledge. I went to an enrichment a couple days ago that talked about not taking on more than you can handle and prioritizing things in your life. With my birthday in mind, I really got to thinking how short life is and how important it is to just enjoy every minute of it and not procrastinate your dreams, or doing things that are important to you. I've also decided to try to not dwell on the floor that needs mopped or the laundry that needs to be folded or the fact that Scott leaves his shoes everywhere and doesn't wipe off the counters after he cooks. (I know. He cooks and I still get annoyed.) Last year on my birthday I was praying and fasting for a baby not knowing if it would ever happen and 3 days later we found out I was pregnant. There's no telling what this year will bring and I look forward to all the experiences that come, good or bad. I plan on focusing more on cherishing each new day I have with my sweet baby and loving husband. That's the good thing about getting older. You go through life with the experiences that make you who you are...and hopefully become a better person along the way doing the things you've always dreamed you'd do.