Logan's Baby Blessing

I can't believe Logan's blessing day was 3 months ago already! And I'm just now getting around to posting about it...

We were so blessed to have so much family and friends attend his blessing. My parents flew in for it, and that was really nice to have them here. His day was very special and Andy did such a great job with the blessing. It definitely brought me to tears, and one part specifically. I remember Andy blessing Logan to be a good big brother, an example and a protector to other siblings that will come in the future. I think that touched me so much because I look up to my oldest brother, Richie, so much. He is the ultimate "big brother". I mean, all of my brothers are wonderful, but Rich is the biggest big brother. He has always been such an example to me, and I'm so grateful every day for those few years that we got to spend together when everyone else was out of the house. So I just imagine my little Logan being like Rich to his siblings, and it just means so much to me.

I really wanted to write down Log's blessing, but I also wanted to just enjoy it in the moment. So I was a little disappointed that we didn't get it in writing. But a few weeks after the blessing, a guy from our ward handed Andy a piece of paper and it was Logan's blessing! He said that he often writes the baby blessings down and gives it to the parents. I started crying when Andy told me about it. It was amazing!

Here are some things that were said in his blessing:

"We bless you:

• To know that you are loved always by your parents and by your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
• That you will feel their Spirit and follow their example. 
• With love for your fellow brothers & sisters.
• To be able to do the things that Heavenly Father would have you do.
• To know that your parents will always love you no matter what you do.
• That as our family grows, you will love those that follow, that they will look to you as an example and follow you, and that they will see you as a protector and look up to you.
• You are a special spirit"

My favorite parts are when Andy blesses him to know that we will always love him no matter what he does. That's something we have always talked about, that no matter what choices our son makes, we will love him and support him. And again, that he will be an example and a protector to his siblings that might come in the future. I feel like Andy was very inspired to say those words and I am so grateful for the gentleman in our ward that wrote these words down so that Logan can read them one day.

We had a little get together at the house after the blessing. Of course we had way too much food, but the decorations were really cute. Yes, I did decorations for a baby blessing... Andy makes fun of me that I went so overboard with it, but it was cute and I enjoyed it. :)

Baby blessings have always made me cry, even when it's just some random person in a random ward we might be attending. I just love these sweet little spirits that are so close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It's such a blessing to be his mama.

I'm really bummed that we didn't get very good pictures from his special day, but here are a few.

It's just a little bit too big... ha!

Wow, is this what I really looked like after being a mom for a month?

Happy 5 Year Anniversary

I realized that I really haven't done a normal post, that isn't all about Logan since he was born. I got to thinking that although I LOVE doing a post just once a month about my little boy, there are so many other wonderful things happening in our lives that I want to write about and remember.

I love this photo collage. It shows the whole beginning of our relationship. First night we met, first date, engagement, and our wedding day. 

Like... 5 years of marriage to the greatest man on earth! (Oh gosh, here I go with the tears already). I have been so excited about this anniversary, well EVERY anniversary, but especially this one. I've been thinking about it for an entire year and deciding what HUGE thing we were going to do. Andy and I switch off planning every year, and so it was my turn. I knew that we would have a 3 month old and so obviously we couldn't do anything too big, but I really wanted to make the day all about us. That's one thing that Andy and I have been adamant about; we always want our anniversary to be all about us. August 9, 2008 is where it all began for us as a family and we don't want it to just turn into any regular day. We always want to make it special. Anyway... so I knew that it would be hard to do that with a baby, but my mind was working trying to figure out a way. My original plan was to have Andy's parents take Logan for the night while we stayed in a hotel downtown Seattle, got roomservice, and just spend all night together. Then the next day we would meet up with his parents and go to the Mariner's game. Sounds great, right? Well, things changed once we had the little guy and I stopped working. Hotels are sooo expensive! And Log wasn't sleeping through the night yet, so I didn't want to have the in-laws worry about that.

I kept thinking of ways we could make it work...and after discussing with Andy, I realized it just wasn't going to happen this year. I decided to just make reservations at a super nice restaurant and call it a night. But Andy brought up an idea that was way more fun, and more us! We bought tickets to the Mariner's game the night of our anniversary. It also happened to be a Fireworks night and a night celebrating Ken Griffey Jr. being  inducted into the Mariner's Hall of Fame. Ken Griffey Jr. is Andy's favorite baseball player, so it was really neat to be there for that.

Andy works from home on Fridays, so I decided to make a yummy Anniversary breakfast of french toast and bacon and the most delicious chocolate milk. Then we just spent all day together hanging out and playing with Logan. Andy's parents came over later to watch Logan, and Andy and I headed to the game. The weather was great, our seats were great, and we just got to enjoy being together. The game was not great...we lost like 10 - 2 or something. But who cares, we still made it fun.

Andy was so cute when we first got to the ballpark. We walked in and I noticed a sign that said "Anniversary/Birthday" and then all of a sudden Andy said "Uh, I need to go get something". So at that point I knew that he had put an Anniversary message on the board, but I tried to play dumb and let him think I was surprised. :) It was kind of hard since it took forever for his message to finally show. But it was super sweet and I totally didn't expect it when we first bought the tickets.

It was so much fun to have a night off from being "mom and dad" and just be "husband and wife" for a few hours. Nana and Papa said that Logan was a great baby for them, so that made me super happy. I think that we will have to use them again when we want to go on another date. And I'm hoping that we make a better habit of it, instead of just waiting for our anniversary to come around each year. :)

The past 5 years have been amazing, sometimes hard, but still always worth it. Marriage is work, but that just makes it better knowing that you've worked so hard to make something so great. I love Andy more and more every day. I love the wonderful husband that he has always been. I am crazy, I'll admit it, and he puts up with me with so much patience and love. He is such a great dad to our little baby boy. I love watching them play together; I have a smile on my face the entire time. Happy Anniversary honey, can't wait for more years to come. I Love You!!

Baby Boy is 4 months!!

Oh wow... little baby Logan is 4 months old! I can't believe it. It's so funny because sometimes it seems like he's only 4 months! Why isn't he more mobile, eating solids, saying words and signing... and then I remember, do I really want those things to happen already? No! I want him to be a little snuggly baby as long as possible! I think what's hard, is that most babies we hang out with are older, so I think that Logan should be able to do what those babies are doing. I really need to get over that, because then I think that he's not developing. Oh geez...what's wrong with me? Sorry, Andy that you have to put up with me. :)


All about Logan at 4 months:

• He weighs 15 lbs 11 oz and is 25.5 inches long. I was guessing that he was at 16 lbs, I was pretty darn close. These are all in the 75th percentile, which is awesome, but makes me a little concerned because he's been in the 95th up to this point. I'm not concerned for his health...more concerned that he's going to start showing that he got his mama's genes. Yikes!
• Logan loves to talk and make so much noise. It's so cute when he's just playing with his toys and just talking to them.
• As much as he loves to talk to his toys, he always gets pretty frustrated with them. One second he will be happy and giggling, and then the next he'll be fussy because he can't reach one, or can't bring it to his mouth. He's just been doing that the last few days and it's kind of funny, but sad. 
• He's lost a lot of hair...he's got a pretty sweet bald spot in the back. You can see it in some of the pictures. Sure hope it grows back soon...
• Log loves his tongue! He used to suck on his thumb, but now he just sticks his thumb and pointer finger in his mouth and grabs his tongue. It's so stinking cute. If Andy or I stick our tongues out at him, he will smile and sometimes stick his out back at us.
• He's hit the 4 month sleep regression...AWESOME! It hasn't been too bad, but he used to fall asleep by 7 or 8 for bedtime, and not wake up again until 3. Now he's up by 1 or so... Oh, there was one night where he woke up at 1:00, 2:00 AND 3:00. It was super awesome. :)
• Logan will now start reaching and grabbing his toys when he's on his belly. 
• When he's on his playgym, he will start reaching for toys that are farther away from him (this is about the time he gets frustrated because he can't reach them...). So cute to see him reach though, and not just automatically grab what's right in his face.
• Logan has enjoyed his first few concerts. During the summer, the city of Kirkland puts on Kid Concerts at the beach near our house. So Log and I will walk down and enjoy the sun and silly music. My favorite is Caspar Babypants (seriously, look him up). I think I love him because he was the lead singer for Presidents of the United States of America (so, a rock band) and he now plays kids music. Super fun!
• Logan is very close to rolling from his back to his tummy, but can't quite get over that shoulder yet.
• He is getting more adventurous and loves to be tossed (ever so gently). He finally recognizes what's going on and realized it's pretty fun. He's also started to jump up and down a little, with big smiles and giggles of course.
• He's still such a snuggler. I LOVE IT! 

I feel like there's more, but that's all I can think of right now (and that's a lot, anyway). Here are a few pictures of the little guy the last month or so. Such a cutie-patooty!!

He is a big boy sometimes and holds his own bottle

Loves bathtime and showers 

He loves to watch soccer with Daddy (note his bald spot)

Cuddling and being tickled by daddy

Loves to suck on his blankets

Logan's car buddies

He loves to read

Seriously, the sweetest face

He loves to sit and hunch over and cuddle me. Pretty funny

Cutest smile ever!

My Pregnancy Journal

Click here to view this photo book larger

Start your own Shutterfly Photo Book today.

Throughout my pregnancy I kept a journal week to week of how I was feeling and all the fun things that were going on. I knew that I would want to turn it into a photo book once I had the baby. I started making this book on Shutterfly and soon realized that I did not have enough room to type out all of my ramblings and have pictures. So this book is mostly pictures and a few of the most important snippets from my journal. I love it! So excited for it to come next week. This was my first Shutterfly so I hope I did it correct and it turns out okay. :)

And you know the best part?? It was practically FREE! I had a coupon from Similac (any new mom can get this I'm pretty sure, I think I got it from the hospital? But then I also signed up for Similac emails, and they sent me a coupon for it as well. I highly recommend doing that!) Anyway, I love free stuff and especially when it's super cute like this! 

3 months already?!?

Here I go again... one month later and Logan is now 3 MONTHS OLD! The time has flown; I really don't think there have been 3 months in my whole entire life that have gone by this fast. It's so much fun to see Logan grow and develop more and more, yet he's still a little baby that needs his mama and daddy so much. I LOVE it!

I didn't have a doctor appointment for this month, so I'm not sure how much he weighs or his height. I kept meaning to measure him before I did this post, but I've got to take advantage of the time I have to actually write a post. :) Maybe once I finally weigh and measure him, I'll update it.

Here are a few things that Logan has accomplished this month:

• Logan has moved into his own room! He's been in there about a week and a half and he really seems to be happy (which, in turn, makes mommy very happy!)
• He's still waking up once or twice a night to eat...I'm hoping that will end once 4 months rolls around. But we will see.
• Logan rolls over!!! Well...he has rolled over, a few times, at least. He will roll from his tummy to his back. The first time he rolled, Andy and I were both there. It was a lot of fun to watch him! He did it once, and then we put him right back on his tummy and he did it again. Now he's just done it a few times since then, but we still practice every day. 
• He is able to grab his toys hanging down from his play mat and any other toys that we dangle in front of his face. He's finally grabbing and holding on to this cute football that I've wanted him to play with forever. 
• Logan LOVES to giggle at my singing! The first time he did it, I was singing some 80's song after my morning workout. And for the most part, he only giggles when he's in his car seat (probably because that's when I'm being the goofiest so that he stays happy)
• Logan has chosen a favorite snuggle buddy. For anyone who follows me on Instagram...no it is not his adorable giraffe (sad day). It is a cute little ducky blanket instead. It's still cute...but I really wanted him to love the giraffe. He smiles and grabs onto the duck so tight, there's no denying that he loves it. So I couldn't take it away and force the giraffe (as much as I wanted to...) :)
• I was once told by someone that babies can start to teethe as young as two months and that a sure sign is tons of drool and obvious chomping, not just sucking. Logan has been drooling for a while, but he has recently started chomping on his fingers, and also has been a tiny bit grumpier, so I'm curious to see if there will be a little tooth pop out soon? 

I'm still enjoying being at home taking care of Logey. I have so much fun with him and love having play dates with his "friends". It's been especially nice for the last few weeks because the weather has been amazing, so we've been going outside a lot. I even have a bit of a tan. Yay! 

Andy and I finally figured out a budget this last month so I've been trying to do more meal planning, because I know that we will save a ton of money on groceries if I have actual plans. With meal planning comes actual cooking... I've really enjoyed cooking actually. I still follow recipes to the "t" and usually overcook my chicken (for fear of getting salmonella), but I'm slowly getting there. As much as Andy always says that he doesn't need big meals, that he could just eat peanut butter & honey sandwiches every night...I think he is enjoying home cooked meals (when they turn out...that is!)

Andy's really doing well at work, and upper management is noticing! He's gotten a few comp days for having to work so much, and also got a nice bonus for all of his hard work. He will be getting another raise in September that we are very excited about, as well. I am so proud of him every day. The thing I love the most is that he works so hard and is often stressed, but he doesn't bring it home. He comes home and just enjoys being with Logan and I. Don't get me wrong...he is often tired, but I'd rather him be a little tired than stressed and in bad moods all the time. I'm so appreciative of his hard work. I LOVE HIM!!!! :)

Alright, here are some pictures of our cute boy.

Mama and baby. I try to remember to get pictures of the two of us.

He looks so grown up with his hat on!

We were riding in the back of Papa Tolton's car. I think Logan liked having a buddy sitting next to him. He wouldn't stop smiling at me. I loved it!

I love his outfit and love how he sleeps!

Such a big boy sleeping in his own bed.

Bumbo!!

This is his cute football that he finally holds onto now.

Love Daddy/Baby time!

So strong!!

Logan was just chillin' here with Andy. It was so cute!

This was almost Logan's 3 month picture. Ha!

Baby Boy is 2 months old!

Such a chunker!

Our little guy is 2 months old! Wow! I am having so much fun staying at home with him. At times I am feeling a little bored. Andy always asks me if the laundry is done...haha! Doing laundry will not make me less bored, but I need something to do after all of the housework is done. :) Silly Andy. I've had a few playdates with friends from the ward and a few other friends. It's been a lot of fun to sit and visit and play with other babies and Logan.

Here are a few of Logan's accomplishments at 2 months:

• He weighs 12 lbs 7 oz and is 23.4 inches long; still in the 75th percentile
• He is a grunter!! He loves to wiggle and grunt during his sleep (at night only, of course!)
• He's starting to lose a little bit of hair, I found quite a bit on his crib sheet the other night. From all of that wiggling, I suppose
• He is so smiley! He is starting to respond to me talking a little bit with big smiles. I love it!
• He loves to stare up and play with toys. He doesn't quite get his arms high enough to hit the toys, but he likes to look and play.
• He wakes up usually no earlier than 3:00 am to eat; but if he wakes up at 4:00 or later...then he thinks he should be awake for the day and that I should play with him...he is mistaken!
• He is enjoying tummy time more. He is so strong and starting to push up his chest a little bit. He holds his head up really well!
• He loves to stand. It's my favorite thing because he just looks so cute and his face is always so precious when he stands. I love it!

Big standing boy

Logan's torticollis is all gone! His doctor said that his neck is perfectly straight and that his head is perfectly round. Oh my, that made me sooo sooo happy! We don't have to do his stretches anymore, which I know he'll be happy about. 

Guess what?!? I have been peed on!! TWICE IN ONE DAY! I should have known better really. I had just changed his diaper and was headed to the sink to give him a bath and he just peed all over my hand. I was glad that I at least had a wipe covering it. And then, after his bath, I was cuddling him all nakey (because I LOVE a naked baby) and I just felt a warm wet feeling on my belly. Awesome, baby! Haha! But hey, at least he hasn't squirt-peed on me (or in my mouth like someone I know!)

Big stretches and pursed lips. Love it!!

He slept like this for HOURS! I was in heaven.

Love this squishy Logan face

Logan's Room

I think I'm finally all done with Logan's room! I'm in love with it. Here are some pictures.

I LOVE his crib! Too bad he doesn't sleep in it yet...

My mom and aunts quilted this blanket. I love it! My mom designed the whole template, it's so cute.

Cute mobile his Aunt Megan made

I painted the elephant and hippo. Not bad for an amateur, right?