Just Hangin' Around

Yesterday we were at our friends house and Logan and Maddie (his friend) were having a snack. Maddie's sippy cup was on their kitchen table and Logan was trying to get it. He stood up and put his hands up on the table. In the meantime I was picking up a piece of food off the floor...and noticed swinging legs. Logan was trying to pull himself up and was doing a 'dead arm hang' on the kitchen table and swung back and forth 2 times! It was hilarious! He is so strong. I pulled him off, but I am curious how long he would've lasted!

My Buddy and Me...

Logan taking Buddy for a walk...

One of the BEST reasons to have a dog - after meal cleanup is a breeze. Not only does Buddy clean Logan's seat, but he pushes the chair back to the corner!!

Now Buddy....give me back my toy!

Uh-oh...we've been caught...

At the Airport

So as mentioned in the previous post, Logan, Buddy and I drove up to Wisconsin a couple days early to go the State Fair. John was flying up the next day (Friday evening) to spend the weekend with the fam. Typically John's Dad leaves to go to the airport (they live about 5 minutes from the airport) and brings John home. John says that when he gets off the plane there are usually some families waiting for their loved ones and he would like it very much if Logan and I were there waiting for him. I understood and since the drive to the airport is not a long one, I agreed.

About an hour before his flight would arrive, I mentioned this to John's family to let them know that we will be going with Bill to the airport. Then smiles and laughter ensued between all of us and this is what we did:

What a bunch of goofballs!!!! So we thought it would be funny if we not only all showed up, but made signs to welcome him home. If a family welcome is what he wanted, by golly we were going to give it to him! The girls also planned to dress up in some old dresses and huge glasses and hats, but his flight ended up being delayed an hour and a half, so people had to depart home to eat dinner...but did all re-convene for the big welcoming. Everybody had a sign to hold including Logan - his sign said 'Daddy'.

Oh boy, were we a sight for sore eyes! The other 'normal' families that were standing there waiting thought we were great - they laughed at us (who wouldn't??). The airport workers also got a kick out of us - I think it was a good end to their weekend. And at the small airport they probably don't get to see a lot of that!

John ended up getting 1st class, so he was the 1st person off the plane. We were kind of hoping that there would be some people around him to embarrass him further, however they were all waiting for their gate-checked bags....so it really was just for John. But the crowd of people waiting there with us got to see the embarrassment. John walked around the corner and smiled as he made a bee-line to hold Logan. He laughed at us! Later he told me that I should've told him in advance so he could've had a better reaction. Haha!

So I wonder if we're in this scenario in the future if he will ask again???

Wisconsin State Fair

A couple weeks ago, I drove up to meet some of John's fam at the Wisconsin State Fair. It was not only Logan's first time, but mine as well - we were both excited!

As soon as we got there, we raced over to watch the BMX racers. We happened to sit right by a section where the racers where using to gain speed before they flew over ramps. So while they were getting ready, I asked this BMX dude to pose for a pic with Logan. Little did I know that he is apparently pretty good and is 'popular' in that sport. For those of you that may follow - Austin Coleman was his name - and yes, he was pretty good! So it is kind of like Logan got a picture with a celebrity...hehe!!

Meghan and Logan

Brittany and Logan

Ashley and Logan

Meghan and Brittany

Logan was face to face with a goat that was trying to lick his hand through the glass...naturally by the time I whipped out my camera and pushed the button, the goat had its head down. Ah well....it was cute though.

Logan's 1st injury!!! A scratch on his face (he looks like he has whiskers). On our way to the fair, Logan was playing with his big caterpillar that plays music. It is also meant to hang on his carseat from the handle....therefore it has velcro. He was playing with it and apparently the rough part of the velcro scratched his face. Poor baby....I felt so bad just seeing it - he, on the other hand, was unfazed.

Aunt Sandy and Logan

We stopped by a booth and watched a demonstration of this very witty guy giving a knife demonstration. Part of his demo included him making a flower out of a potato. He gave it to Meghan because at the time he was doing it, everybody had their eyes fixated on him and ooh'ing and ah'ing...but Meghan glanced away to say something to Brittany and he made fun of Megs for it. So he gave her the flower. In this pic, Brittany and Meghan (who will seriously pose for no reason what-so-ever *I love that*) stopped to smell the 'potato' rose.

Ashley, Logan and Alex!

A close up of Logan in the face board - such a cutie!

Alex, Logan and Brittany hangin by a tractor...

A nice cousin picture by the flowers....

And a 'fun' picture to end our day. We all had strawberry smoothies and were having a red tongue contest! In this pic, Alex takes the prize - however, just before mine was crazy red!

Walker Toy

Logan has a couple of 'walker' toys...one of which I moved upstairs since we have zero carpeting downstairs and I think you can imagine how well a toy on wheels works down there. ;) This past week, John and I have been trying to show Logan how to use the toy while standing, but he gets all excited and his legs turn in to jello and he crawls like a maniac with the toy. Yesterday though, he used it to stand up and walked from his doorway to the bathroom (which is about 7 feet...the wall got in his way). I was so excited though - he was controlling his pace really well with it! Go Logan Go!

9 month Checkup

Today Logan had his 9 month checkup (even though he is 9.5 months - when I scheduled his appointment, I hadn't taken school physicals into account, so this was the earliest date available). Here are his stats:

21 pounds (51st percentile)

31 inches (98th percentile)

head: 18 inches (50th percentile)

So as you can see, he is still very much my tall, slender dude! The nurses fell in love with his looks...specifially his sparkly blue eyes. :)

He did get his last Hepatitis B shot...and didn't cry at all! I gave him his pacifier, which I have done in the past just for the shot and we played with a little Elmo toy he got from a friends birthday party...and poof, that was it! What a big boy - the nurse said he was so brave! Yeah, we make 'em tough! :)

They asked me the typical line of questions: Does he crawl? Yes; Does he pull himself to a stand? Yes; Does he walk around furniture? Yes; Does he have stranger anxiety? Only sometimes. We did share that he is solely on formula and table food - no more baby food. I went over some of the items that he should not eat, and immunization schedules going forward.

He did have a crazy icky diaper rash last night, so he was lubed up with Desitin before bed. The doctor said that some of it looked a bit like a yeast infection (which is a form of diaper rash) so he was going to give me some cream for it....yeah, he forgot, so I need to call tomorrow to see if it is a prescription or just something I can buy over the counter...or just continue using Desitin and see if it goes away.

While the doctor listened to his breathing and checked his ears and teeth - he sat perfectly still. Knowing how wiggly he can be now, I was impressed. Although, when I clean his ears with a q-tip, he always sits extremely still.

A great checkup for a super-healthy little boy!

Logan's Favorite Time

I would have to say that while Logan is a very happy baby and typically not very whiny (although, he does have his moments), he best mood of the day is right after dinner. Once he is out of his high chair, he crawls around the family room - up on the ottoman, over to the couch, playing with puzzles, in between John and I. He is just so happy and makes the cutest sounds. John and I just sit there and watch him and laugh - when he notices us watching him, he smiles so huge and laughs. Too cute!

Baby #2 - 15 week appointment

This morning I had my 15 week checkup. It was with Dr. C who delivered Logan. She couldn't believe how big he was - 9 months already...and that he looked bigger than 9 months!

The baby's heartbeat was 160 beats per minute - nice and strong. I am still so ticked at myself for not blogging what Logan's heartrate was at this same time. I think his was around 140-150. So still nice and strong...but if heartrate theory does exist....could it possibly indicate a girl? Who knows. But we WILL know in one month! My ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, September 11th at 9am - yay! So exciting!!!!

A terrible sound...

Ugh. This morning Logan woke up a little extra early (6:45). Lately it has been 7:30. He was crying when he woke up, which indicated that he wasn't ready to get up...but alas, there he was standing waiting for a rescue. We rescued him and let him crawl around while John got ready for work. At 8:40 John walked out the door and I read the very tired-eyes closing, Logan, a story and put him down for a nap. He laid down just fine like he usually does, but then did decide that he wasn't sure about sleeping and started whining. I usually endure a few minutes of it, as 9 times out of 10 he falls asleep within those few minutes. Just as I was hitting the mark of going back in his room to see what was up, I heard:

KABOOM - WHAAAAAAA!!!!!

I nearly threw my laptop across the room and ran into his room. Yes, there he was on the FLOOR, face up, with his head towards his crib and his feet towards his dresser - smack dab in the middle of the room, staring at the fan and crying. Oh, my heart dropped - I quickly made sure he was moving and not paralyzed in any fashion, then scooped him up and hugged him tightly. Just then, oddly enough, John came back home (he had forgotten his phone...which he never does) - so I yelled down to him and he rushed up the stairs to console our baby as well and make sure that there were no huge bumps or bruises. He quickly calmed down (what a tough guy...). After he was calm, I cried a bit - oh, just hearing that sound made me quiver.

When we lowered his crib just over a month ago, we thought (for a quick second) about putting it down all the way, but said that since the lowest part of the crib rail came to his chest there was 'no way' he'd get out. Apparently we didn't consider his excellent climbing skills that he would soon learn, nor his crazy-amazing upper body strength in which he would learn to pull himself up.

I wish (and yet I don't) that I had been looking at the video monitor (it wasn't plugged in since I was awake and just across the hall)....I'm just curious how long he'd been working on it and how fast it happened - and how he did it. Granted, had I been staring at the monitor, I obviously would've run in there 'before' he fell out.

Anyway, he is fine and tonight we did lower his crib to the 'very' bottom. I don't dare him to get out, but really at this point he could not. I know that this is only the beginning of his falls, but I think the distance in which he fell is what scared me. I don't get all in a tizzy if he falls on the ground, after standing or sitting...but the distance from the crib to the floor is a lot more than just standing. I did have to put him in there for a nap today and had the video monitor on and the second he woke up, I bolted up the stairs to get him before he could even stand up. I don't need 2 falls in one day. :)

Felt the Baby Move

Just thought I'd post quickly - as just minutes ago as I lay in bed working on my class and drinking some delicious chocolate milk, I felt a tickle in my stomach. I felt it again. Then it dawned on me - that is the baby moving!!! YAY! I love this feeling and have missed it since November 5, 2008. :)

9 Months Old

My little baby Logan is 9 months old today! Man alive...time sure flies. He has come such a long way - I can't believe he's crawling around like crazy, climbing stairs and walking with help! What a big boy! We love him dearly and are the luckiest parents in the world!

Logan's 1st Baseball Game

On August 1st after we finished redoing the deck, we met up with some friends at the minor league baseball field near our house. Since we were still working on the deck, we got there more than half way through the game, but we got there for good food, goofy games with the crowd, a win by the home team and fireworks afterwords! Logan is still enamored with fireworks - he stares at them, isn't scared of the noise and just watches in utter amazement. We did take a video of his straight face, just staring as you can see the flashes of light from the fireworks on his face - very cute!

It was a real nail-biter (or blanket-chewer)!

The cheerleaders went right down our aisle and Logan was all about watching them shake their pom-poms (really, just their actual poms).

After the game, we took him closer to the field for pics.

We went to Oberweis afterwards, but he was plum tuckered out!

Indiana Dunes

Last Monday, Logan and I went to the Indiana Dunes with Dawn, the boys and their longtime friend, Riley. We used to go to the Dunes often as a kid - climbing on the big sand hills and playing in the beach. I completely forgot about it until Dawn mentioned it - we had a lot of fun!

This is TJ or Michael rolling down the sand dune with their friend running after!

Tuckered out!

Our Deck

We decided that our deck needed a bit of a facelift. It needed repainted badly and while doing that, why not redo it a bit? This is a quick before picture.

Logan helped his Dad redo the deck. (Yes, on August 1st Logan is wearing jeans and a jacket in the middle of the day - it was 68 degrees and randomly rainy).

The almost-finished product! We picked out a paint color and I started painting the deck, but stopped when I realized it looked more like a purpley-taupe instead of a medium brown taupe. So....I need to go back to the store to really finish it off!

Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Michael, TJ and my Dad's birthday recently. My Mom made another awesome cake - a Harry Potter cake!

We participated in a gooey egg toss!

Logan and Jakob hung out in Uncle Steven's truck with Grandpa (they were watching a remote control car go up and down the street).