8 months!

Hard to believe our youngest son is now 8 months old! He is growing and changing every day.


Here are a few fun facts about Logan these days:

--According to our scale, he weighs exactly 20 lbs
--He has 6 teeth (3 on top, 3 on bottom) and 2 more coming in
--He is now army crawling but still prefers to walk via holding someone's hand
--He loves the vacuum
--He loves plastic straws and will jack the one in your drink if given the opportunity
--He makes this hilarious alien static clicking type sound and squints his eyes when he gets excited about something. You have to see it to really appreciate but trust me when I say that it's adorable! :)














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More Mommy Confessions

It's not as bad as peeing in my kid's diaper or refusing to tend to monthly female needs in order to keep the baby in my arms asleep, but here is today's confession....

Logan has been sick the last few days with a virus, sinus infection, and ear infection. He's not a heavy sleeper to begin with so not being able to breathe when he lays down has not been helping things. Friday night, I could not get him to sleep in his crib to save my life. I tried everything. We even have a crib wedge and one end of the crib propped up on books. After about the 7th failed attempt to get him sleeping in the crib, I went to plan B. I laid Logan down in his crib and then I climbed my ginormous adult self into that tiny crib, curled up into a semi-fetal position so I could actually fit, prayed with everything I had that my weight wouldn't send the crib crashing onto the floor in a million pieces, and then nursed my baby while laying on my side and him next to me so I wouldn't have to move him after he fell asleep. And then I climbed my ginormous adult self out of the baby crib with as much grace as possible - which was pretty much none. But at least Logan stayed asleep and the crib remained in one piece. A definite victory.

Confession #2: I did it again last night. And I foresee this going on until my poor sick baby is well again. To be honest, I'm ok with that.

To top everything off last night, after I finally got Logan to sleep, I went downstairs and found my husband asleep in his chair and Korben passed out on the floor soaking wet in pee. Yay. I picked him up and carried him upstairs to his room and got him cleaned up with a clean pair of pajamas on. I told him I was going to go get his medicine (he's sick too) and change clothes (mine were now wet with pee too from carrying him) and be right back. By the time I made it back with his meds, poor little man was already conked out again.

And that was my night. Pretty sure I would have laughed at anyone who told me what kind of things I would submit myself to as a mommy before I became one. :)

But looking at those 2 (now peaceful), sweet little boys sleeping made all of the chaos that it took to get there totally worth it. I wouldn't trade these days for the world.







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Pumpkin Patches

We hit up a couple of pumpkin patches last month; first in Rockwall with friends Max and Rylee and then in Flower Mound with cousin Caroline. Both were a lot of fun. The Rockwall one had story time and small crafts each Saturday during the month of October. It was smaller and more intimate. The Flower Mound one was a lot bigger than I imagined it being. It had hay rides, train rides, bounces houses, and a few other things that we never made it to. It was fun but also a lot more crowded when it came to doing the activities. Korben had a blast at both so I'm sure we'll do them again next year! I'm also a big fan of the Dallas Arboretum pumpkin patch but we didn't make it to that one this year and I was really bummed. Maybe next year. Maybe not. I always seem to think that life will settle down and be less hectic the following year and it always ends up being the exact opposite! LOL

  

Listening to the story

Love Korben's pirate face

My attempt to get all 3 kids (minus Logan because he was sleeping in the stroller)

Showing off the pumpkin wind sock he made

He wanted a pirate painted on his face to match his shirt :)

Korben and Max showing off thier painted faces :)

This was the best I could get of them with the pumpkins. They both ready to leave to go eat lunch and play at Chick-fil-A!

Hangin' the Phineas and Ferb gang at the Flower Mound pumpkin patch

Since Logan's nursry is done with giraffes, we thought it appropiate to get a picture of him with the Madagascar giraffe :)

Hangin' with Daddy

Child labor law abuse, anyone?

That's better :)

:)

Love them! Thanks for the matching turkey shirts, Stacey. :)

My family :)

Obviously thrilled about taking this picture

Love my sweet little niece, Caroline!

Who needs a double stroller anyhow?

Ok, bad idea on so may levels, I know. We tried. It didn't work.

Train ride!



Robin could almost pass for a little kid! :)



Through the Eyes of Korben

Lately Korben has taken an interest in actually using my camera to take pictures instead of just look at the picture that are already on there. I got him a toy camera last Christmas that takes real pictures but it didn't have an LCD screen and you had to connect it to the computer to see the pictures you took so he didn't show a whole lot of interest in it. We may be getting him another kid camera this year with an screen to see the pictures you take. :) Here are a few shots that he's gotten with my camera...

7 Months and Halloween

One of these days, I will catch up and post stuff on time. For now, here's another combined post since I'm late as usual (with Logan's monthly pic).

So my youngest son is now 7 months old! C.RA.ZY! He is just growing up way too fast for my liking! Although, I have to admit, I'm really enjoying watching his little personality blossom these days. The first thing I should point out about his personality is that he is a MOMMA'S boy through and through! He will tolerate other people for a while but then he wants his momma back! This is also the case during the day when I try to put him down in his exersaucer or in the play pen... he's good for a few minutes but that's it... then he's ready to get out and be held by mama again! I love the snuggle time but it does make for some difficult times getting anything done. If I'm being completely honest, it does get hard carrying a baby on your hip 24/7 but I try not to complain too much because I know these sweet baby cuddle days will not last forever and the day will come soon enough when mama is no longer his favorite person.  Actually, I've already got some competition with big brother! If only Korben was big enough to hold Logan by himself without having to sit down and be supervised. :)

Some other things that I'm enjoying seeing with Logan these days are his sweet little talks. He is talking a heck of a lot more these days. He alternates pretty regularly between saying "mama," "dada," and "buba." And Korben cheers him on every time. Pretty cute stuff. Logan has also started sreaming more... not in the "I'm upset" sense, but just because he thinks it's fun. He is so cute to watch when he get's excited about something. He kicks his legs, waves his hands, and lets out this little shriek! So so funny!

For Halloween, I had this super cute idea for the boys. Here is what I had in mind for Korben....

And this was going to be Logan's costume....

I mean really, how cute would that have been? A pirate and a parrot! But Korben saw a catalog with costumes and when he saw a Green Lantern costume, he had his little heart set on it and there was no changing his mind! And it didn't stop there... he wanted baby brother to be Incredible Hulk, Mommy to be Batgirl and at first, he wanted Daddy to be Green Lantern with him. His words were, "We're going to be a superhero family!" And how can you say no to that? I just couldn't crush that sweet little 3 year old's dream of having a superhero family for Halloween! Eventually though, Korben changed his mind about Josh's costume and he ended up being Captain America. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. :) And I'm sure Logan will appreciate his big brother picking out his first Halloween costume!

On the actual night of trick-or-treating, we met up with a group of friends that we've gone around the neighborhood with for the last couple of years. It was a little chaotic as it always is with such a large number of kids involved but super fun as always and we can't wait to do it again next year! 

The whole trick-or-treating gang

Our little superhero family :)

He absolutely loved being Green Lantern! His costume lit up and was completed with a light up sword and lantern bucket!

6 Months & A Couple of Firsts

I'm a little late posting this, but here is Logan's 6 month picture along with a couple of others from his first time eating rice cereal and trying out a sippy cup for the first time. He had the rice cereal for the first time on September 11, just a couple of weeks before he turned 6 months. He didn't seem as excited about it as I thought he would be but he didn't hate it either and he ate the whole bowl. After a few weeks though, he grew tired of it so we dropped it and moved on to pureed fruits and veggies. He's been a little picky with those so far too but really likes carrots and peaches. :)

We finally moved Logan to his crib at night. He's done really well. I was anxious about it at first but he slept 9 hours his first night in his crib! He's had several nights of sleeping 7+ hours but nothing consistant yet. Hopefully that will change soon; although I'm not getting my hopes up yet. :) He still mostly sleeps on me for his naps though just because he gets longer naps in that way. I really don't mind the snuggle time either. :)

He's not crawling yet but he acts like he wants to so we'll see what happens. Since about 4 months old, he's been walking with support (either holding on to someone's hands or in the walk around toy he has) so I think it's possible he may walk before he ever crawls! When he's on his tummy, he likes to roll from one side to the other. I'll post a video at the end of the post that shows him doing it at the beginning. It's probably not as cute to everyone else but I think it's pretty funny and adorable; especially when he does it a lot. :)

Logan is up to 5 teeth now too. He has 3 on the bottom which were the first ones to come in and now his top front teeth have also come in. There are days here and there where the teething has bothered him, but for the most part, it really hasn't been too bad so I'm very thankful for that!

He really likes his sippy cup but he can't hold on to it by himself unless he's laying down so using it can be a double edged sword when it calms him down but you have to sit there and hold it for him!

Korben is still Logan's favorite person and they make each other laugh all the time. I love it. Whenever Logan starts to get upset about something, I can just call Korben over and the problem is solved! It seriously is cute how sweet the boys are with each other!

And here are his 6 month stats from his last doctor's appointment on 9-28-11:

Height: 27.5 inches (85th %)
Weight: 18 lb. 10 oz. (75th %)
Head Cir: 45cm

6 months old already!

First time eating rice cereal

And first time drinking from a sippy cup!

Major Sweetness

I meant to post about this when it happened a couple of nights ago but just didn't get around to it.

Anyhow, last Wednesday night Josh wasn't feeling well so I ended up putting both kids to bed; which meant Korben was still up when I was putting Logan down. Korben was being really good and was actually being quiet so Logan could fall asleep. He was playing on his MobiGo game and Logan had just fallen asleep when something on the game happened that Korben found funny. He started giggling pretty loudly and I fully expected Logan to wake up... to my surprise though, his eyes were still shut and he didn't flinch at all BUT there was a huge grin on his face from ear to ear! It could have just been a coincidence but Korben laughed 2 or 3 more times at his game and Logan smiled (with his eyes still shut) every single time! It was seriously THE most adorable thing ever! You probably had to be there to appreciate it as much as I do, but that is one of those memories that will stick with me always.


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How Thunder Cat Videos Came to be Banned...

For the longest time, it has been the norm to read Korben a book before bed. After the story, Josh or I (whoever is putting him down) might lay down with him for a couple of minutes but then we say goodnight, leave the room, and Korben goes to sleep shortly after.

This past week, my dear husband has decided to change that routine. Instead of reading him a book, he's been letting Korben watch Thunder Cat videos on his phone. Apparently Josh would start a video and then tell Korben that when the video is over, it's time to go sleep. Yeah. That might work if Josh didn't fall asleep first.

Korben likes sleeping with one of us in bed with him and I've been feeling guilty about the lack of individual attention he's been getting since Logan takes so much of my attention these days so I didn't make a big deal about Josh falling asleep in Korben's room every night this past week. The problem is (and I didn't realize this at the time), Josh is falling asleep while Korben is still watching videos.

A couple of nights ago, Josh told me he felt bad because he woke up at 1:00am and found Korben still watching videos. He took away the phone and Korben finally went to sleep. We both kinda laughed it off since it was just a one time thing.

I just learned that this was not a one time incident. Tonight Logan woke up at 3:30am. After I put him back down, I thought I'd go peek in on Korben -- and guess who was passed out and who was STILL WATCHING VIDEOS???!!!! As soon as I walked in, this little head peeked up at me from over the iPhone, and very casually said, "Oh, hey Mommy! I'm watching Thunder Cats! Can you get me some chocolate milk?" What in the whole wide world???? This was not in a sleepy voice that may have just woken up, this was in a very alert "I have not been to sleep at all" voice! WHAT THE CRAP???!!!! 3:30 IN THE FREAKING MORNING!!!!!

I got Korben his milk, took away the phone, kissed him on the forehead, and told him to go to sleep. And when Josh wakes up, I will be notifying him that he is now banned from putting Korben to bed - at the very least, all Thunder Cat and any other videos are banned at bedtime and books are back in.

For now, I will try to calm down and get some more sleep myself.


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Tooth!

While I was playing with Logan on the pack-n-play, I noticed he has a tooth coming in! It's his front bottom left tooth (on our right when looking at it). His gums have been super swollen for a few days so I figured it was going to happen fairly soon but I didn't realize it would be THIS soon! He's not even 6 months old yet! I tried to get a picture but it's barely visible so it's impossible to see it on camera. But since this blog is also acting as a scrapbook, I had to document it! Hooray for teeth!


You'll have to take my word for it that there is a tooth inside that smiley mouth :)






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Houston and Great Wolf Lodge

Alright, so my apologies for the picture overload again! We had a super busy but fun weekend last week and I tried my hardest to cut down on the pictures but failed to do a very good job at it! 

We started the weekend off by going to Houston on  Friday. My Uncle Rick (he's really my dad's cousin but we call him Uncle) turned 60 and retired from Union Pacific so my cousin, Carla, threw him a surprise retirement party on Saturday. We've haven't been down to visit that side of the family since Korben was Logan's age and I cannot tell you how good it was to see so much of my family!! We had an absolute blast and the look on Rick's face when he walked through the doors to his party and saw everyone was priceless! One of my favorite parts of the weekend was watching my young cousins, Morgan and Mikenna, with Korben and Logan. Korben lovingly referred to them as "my girls" and every time they left the room, he would ask, "Where did my girls go? I need my girls!" It was precious. Korben and the girls were pretty much inseparable the whole weekend, except, when Morgan and Mikenna were fighting over holding Logan! :) Josh and I got to have the girls hang out with us for a while on Saturday while Carla finished up some last minute arrangements for the party and we had so much fun with them! I adore those kids! And I realized when we got home and I started going through pics on my camera that I got so many with the girls and I did not get a single picture with the man of the hour, my Uncle Rick! Sorry Rick, maybe you should work on your cuteness so you can make the cut next time! ;)

Uncle Jamey and soon to be Aunt Tonya with Logan :)

Super Korben!

Trying on the new puddle jumper for the first time

Carla and Logan :)

Morgan and Mikenna with Logan :)

Nothing says family bonding like some shared quality time on the iPad! :)

Logan was passed out and Daddy was being goofy, as usual :)

Passed out at the party!

Hittin' up the dance floor! 

Cake!

We ended the weekend by heading to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine on Sunday morning to spend some time with Josh's side of the family. We met up with Josh's parents and brothers and had a great time! Even Memaw showed up for a surprise visit with Aunt Cindy and Aunt Liz! And even with all of the pictures that I got, I still seemed to miss some shots and didn't get everyone in all the pictures. Oops... sorry people! The hotel was just as much fun as I remember from our trip there last summer! We stayed in the Kid Kamp room and Korben loved it! He had his own little room area with his own bed and TV. I seriously wish every hotel had an option like that for kids! Last summer, Korben was terrified of the slides. He wasn't super enthused about them this year but he did go down a few all by himself. My only complaint about GWL is that they don't allow lap rides on the slides and this year, they wouldn't even let adults go down the kids slides at all. Korben wouldn't have been as reluctant go down them if Josh and I could have gone with him. Oh well. We still had a blast! :)

Hugs for cousin, Caroline, before we hit up the water park

On our way to do some swimming!

He actually liked the toddler slides and went down those several times :)

Riding the giant banana!

Logan hanging out with Granny 

matching puddle jumpers for the cousins! :)

Caroline was like a little fish in the water :)

Love this expression!

Korben got some new Crocs while we were there.  He loved picking out the colors and accessories. He went with green shoes and an orange strap with monster eyes, a robot, and a "Worlds Best Brother" button. We got his last pair of Croc's at Great Wolf too so this may become a tradition for us! This was the best picture I got of the new shoes. 

He LOVED laying down in "his" room watching cartoons :)

The very last thing we did (literally, on our way out the door), was build a wolf... even though it was really a raccoon!

Korben with his new "Wolfie" :)