18 Months!

As of January 8th, Logan is 18 months old!  It is crazy to think we are halfway to age 2.  It is amazing to see how much Logan changes literally everyday.  He is like a big sponge soaking up everything.  A major development is certainly his ability to say more words.  He says at least one new word a day (most of the time more!), and he tries to repeat everything we say.  It is such a fun age!  A few of his latest words include light, door, school, Holly, yes, hey, airplane, and Amen.  Some of the words, like airplane, are not completely clear but he is trying really hard!  We have a lot of airplanes fly over our house constantly because we are in the path of the Memphis airport.  He loves airplanes!

I have to admit that 18 months is a challenging age too in many way for parents!  Logan is so active and wants to explore and try everything.  One night when Brian was traveling for work recently I was cleaning the dishes off of the table after dinner.  I had my back turned maybe 30 seconds, and when I turned around Logan was standing in the middle of the dining room table inspecting the light fixture!  He is ready to climb anywhere, anytime!  And, now he likes to climb and then jump onto another object.  So dangerous- he is truly 100% boy!

Other things Logan has been up to this month:

• Loving to "tickle" others and say "tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle" while he is doing it
• Holding out both hands (one to me and one to Brian) for us to take before saying the blessing at the dinner table.  He ends the prayer with a loud "Amen"!
• Using a fork and spoon really well
• When he thinks his food is hot, he will try to blow on it to cool it off.  But, it is definitely more like spitting on it.  It is pretty hilarious!
• Unlocking our smart phones and calling family members all the time!
• Knowing how to start and stop "Yo Gabba Gabba" on the iPad (something we only let him watch on long car rides or if needed while we are cooking dinner!)
• Developing his fine motor skills.  He can now unscrew tops off of many items, which is a skill I did not know would come so soon!  The baby-proofing never stops.
• Showing more signs of the terrible 2's with some pretty big tantrums.  The biggest ones usually come from getting dressed in the morning.  That boy loves his PJ's!
• Maintaining a good appetite and eating lots of veggies and fruits.  His favorite food is sweet potato- I think he could eat one every night.
• Still watching everything we do and trying to copy it.  From vacuuming, to blow drying my hair, to Brian's shaving, Logan tries to do it all.  If we are using any type of dip or sauce with dinner, then he has to use it also.  
• Learning more names of his loved ones.  His favorite name to say over and over is "Holly"- he just loves her!  He can also say Bess, Mimi, PawPaw, Jason, Greg, Alice, and Papa.  I think "Great Grandmother" will take a little more time :)

Logan's 18 month check up was great, and he weighed 33 pounds and was 34 inches tall.  Both are above the 90 percentile.  We still have one big, healthy boy!

We enjoy our time with Logan so much.  Brian and I talk all the time about just how cute and precious he is.  Those big brown eyes get us every time! 

Christmas fun!

Here is Logan trying on the Santa hat. I think this was taken when we put up our Christmas tree several weeks ago.  Such a cutie, even though his outfit does not match!

We had a great Christmas this year!  It started last weekend with a celebration at my Dad and Sandra's house, and we got to spend time with Sandra's sons and their families.  Then Friday, the 23rd, we celebrated with Brian's family.  Christmas Eve and Christmas morning was spent with my Mom's side of the family, and we ended Christmas night with dinner at Huey's.  Whew- a busy weekend for sure!

Logan enjoyed most of his 2nd Christmas, but I will say that all of the moving around and getting him out of his routine took its toll on all of us.  He was a good sport most of the time, particularly since he stayed up later than normal, missed naps, and interacted with a lot of people he does not regularly see.  Brian and I were so excited about Santa Claus coming to visit this year since Logan would know a little bit more about what was going on.  Here are Logan's gifts from Santa:

Logan was still tired from Christmas Eve when we took him into the living room Christmas morning, and he just started crying! I think he wanted his milk, breakfast bar, etc., first, so that part did not go as planned.  However, he quickly recovered and started playing with all of his new goodies!

I was not able to get very many pictures this year.  This was partly due to Logan's temperament, and each time I got the camera out, he thought he should be the one taking the pictures!  Here are some that I was able to get of Logan:

And here are some other family pictures:

Holly, Mom & Me 

Grandmother & Papa 

Mimi & PawPaw

I failed to get any pictures of my Dad & Sandra, but this is a cute one of Logan and Sandra's granddaughter, Isabelle.  Logan loved her and kept hugging her!  Isabelle is going to be a big sister next year, and she will be a great one.  She was so patient with Logan!

And finally, here are my two favorite guys enjoying a Christmas morning pre-brunch nap.  This was right before I had to wake them up to head to Holly & Jason's.  So sweet!

17 Months & Christmas Card Pictures

Below are some pictures taken of Logan by Lisa Mac right before Thanksgiving.  We used several in our Christmas card this year.  Logan literally ran the entire session and never sat or stood still.  I still cannot believe that Lisa was able to get any decent pictures of him.  She worked hard!  The first one is my favorite- it looks just like him always running and smiling!

As of December 8, our sweet Logan is 17 months old!  Since I missed the 16 month posting, I will update on what he has been up to the last couple of months.  We celebrated Logan's second Thanksgiving and we are busy getting ready for Christmas now.

Logan continues to be even more active, if that is possible!  He is climbing on everything and has already managed to climb (and fall) out of his crib.  Right at 16 months, Logan decided he would get out of his crib, and it left a nasty knot on his head.  So, that night we decided it was time to convert his crib to a toddler bed.  It was definitely bittersweet!  Having him sleep in his toddler bed makes him seem even more grown up.  Luckily, the transition has not been too bad and he is sleeping pretty well with the toddler rail up. 

Here are some other things Logan has been up to:

• Something he has done for as long as I can remember is play with my hair when he gets sleepy and is going to sleep.  He also does it to Brian and his Mimi.  Such a sweetheart!  If he is in the car and cannot reach anyone else's hair, he will play with his own.  
• Saying lots of new words.  Some of these include girl, child, hot, bath, baby, cup... the list goes on.  He also likes to say "go, go, go" and "no, no." As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he immediately asks for his "Ba, Ba" (his sippy cup).  He just has the sweetest voice!
• Also still talking a lot of nonsense but it is super cute! He talks long sentences that do not make any sense.
• Becoming more independent all the time! He wants to feed himself with a fork or spoon, and he is actually doing pretty well.  He also wants to brush his teeth himself, so we have two toothbrushes- one for him and one for us!
• Watching EVERYTHING we do and trying to do it, too.  He pulls out my blow dryer and roll brush daily and stands in front of the mirror to "pretend" he is blowdrying his hair, too.  Then he will grab the broom of vacuum cleaner attachment and "pretend" to clean the house.  He also loves playing in my makeup each morning when I am getting ready, much to his Dad's dislike! 
• If Logan is in a room and everyone starts laughing, he will start laughing, too.  He does not want to be left out of the conversation!
• Still loving to be the center of attention.  At a restaurant, he will try to get the attention of the people at the nearest table.  Once they acknowledge him and smile, etc., he expects them to just keep talking to him!  He does not understand that they are having their own conversations.  We are working on that :)
• Speaking of saying hot, asking if something his "hot" is one of Logan's favorite conversation starters.  He always walks up to the oven and puts his hand out and says, "Hot?" But, he also wants to make sure his food isn't hot, so he always asks, "Hot?" and holds his hand over his food.  He then proceeds to blow (aka, spit) on his food to cool it off.  So funny!  His "hot" kind of sounds like "ha" but it is still precious!
• Taking his climbing to new levels- he can now climb into almost any piece of furniture, and he loves to show us that he can.  One of his favorite places to climb is one of our chairs in the living room that is underneath light switches.  He climbs into the chair, and then stands up on the arm so he can reach the light switches.  He then proceeds to turn them on and off repeatedly.  I am so afraid that he is going to fall off the arm of the chair and hit his head on the hardwood floor!  So, we try to stop this as much as possible or sit beside him while he is up there, but there is really no stopping him most of the time!
• Wanting to sit at the big table with us, rather than in his highchair.  We have finally given in!
• Using a fork and spoon pretty well for foods that are easy to pick up.
• Still eating most anything, but his appetite varies from day to day.  Sometimes he will eat everything in sight, and the next day he will barely eat.  From what I have heard, this is typical toddler eating behavior.
• Still wearing size 2T clothes, but some of his longalls and t-shirts are getting too short!  We will probably be in 3T before we know it.  His shoe size is still around a 7.  Luckily, we have been able to get a couple of month's wear out of his newer shoes.
• A negative habit that Logan has started is hitting.  He does it sometimes for attention and sometimes in the middle of a tantrum.  We are using "time outs" with him, and it seems to be getting better.  I'm sure it is frustrating for him to not be able to communicate all of his feelings with words!

We have so much fun with Logan, and we just love being around him as much as possible and watching him discover more about the world around him.  We can't wait to see what else he has in store for us!

Our Little Pumpkin

Logan was a pumpkin for Halloween this year.  He does not like to wear anything on his head, so I did not want to buy an elaborate costume that required a head piece!  He wore his costume to Zoo Boo and to Parents Day Out on Halloween where they had trunk-or-treat and a hayride.  His teachers said he loved the hayride.  He is such a cute little pumpkin!

He even let me get a quick picture of him with his stem pulled up!

The three of us at Zoo Boo...

And, here is his with Mimi & Paw Paw before Zoo Boo...

I sure do love that little boy!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Happy Fall, everyone!  Last week we took Logan to the "pumpkin patch" at Second Baptist Church.  We have several busy weekends in October planned, so we did not know if we would be able to make it to a real pumpkin patch this year.  We were able to get several pictures of our sweet boy, and here are some of my favorites.  He is hard to catch!



Recent Pictures

Our big boy has been so busy lately!  Here are some recent pictures...

 Posing in his football jersey!  Maybe our Tigers would be better if Logan was on the team.

All dressed up for church in his knee socks and new white shoes!

Trying to run from me as I take his picture before Parents Day Out! 

Being so sweet running around outside. 

Trying to climb up his slide. 



And climbing down the slide with help from Daddy!

15 Months Old!

As of Oct. 8, sweet Logan is 15 months old!  He is growing up so fast.  Since it has been a couple of months since my last update, here are his 14 and 15 month pictures.

I have finally accepted the fact that my baby has blonde hair!  He has always had the darkest brown eyes, and his hair started off brown.  However, he lost most of that and what came back was always really light.  Since both Brian and I have dark brown hair, I just assumed his hair would get darker.  But, that is not the case!  It just seems to get lighter and lighter.  He sure is a cutie with his blonde hair and dark brown eyes!

At 15 months, it is time for another check-up.  We went today, and Logan is doing great!  We already knew that, but it is great to hear it from a doctor.  His height (33 1/2 inches) and weight (32 pounds) are still off the growth charts (above 97% in each category).  The doctor was impressed with the number of words he is saying- especially "kitty"- because he said that was a hard word to say!  Kitty was one of Logan's first words, so we were certainly proud!

Logan has been to two Tigers football games this year, and he LOVED it.  I cannot emphased LOVED enough.  Between getting lots of attention from girls, the band, the cheerleaders, and being outside, it was one of his favorite activities to date!  He never once sat down, but we managed to keep him contained in the small area that our friends group occupies in the Liberty Bowl.  It definitely wore out his Mom & Dad, but it was worth it to see him having so much fun.  And, he is too young to know that our football team is terrible this year, so the outcome of the games did not even put a damper on his mood!

Here are some things Logan has been up to the last couple of months:

• He is still as busy as ever! He hardly ever slows down (unless he is sleeping!).  He is always exploring, playing, running, moving, or dancing.
• Speaking of dancing Logan has some serious dance moves, and he loves for us to play music on the ipod player every morning so he can dance!
• Climbing on anything he can reach- including his Thomas train, music table, furniture- the list goes on.
• Talking all of the time. Some of his new words include puppy and ball, and he is also putting a lot more sounds together.  Sometimes he will talk for a couple of minutes straight like he is carrying on a conversation!  Most of it does not make much sense, but I know it is a sign of the talking that is yet to come.
• Still loving to read books.  He loves just about all of his board books, which are the only ones I let him have right now because he tears pages out of other books!  Most of his board books are already falling apart because of the number of times he has read them and flipped through the pages. 
• Still loving anything with buttons and electronics.  When he is watching Baby Einstein, he wants to hold BOTH remotes- the one to the TV and the one to the blu-ray player.
• Also still having major separation anxiety, especially when we drop him off at parents day out or the church nursery.  He just cries and holds his breath, and it is very sad!  We wait until he starts breathing again (literally) before we leave him, and it just breaks my heart!  I know he loves if after we leave (they tell us he does!), and this will get better as he gets older.
• Playing outside- he just loves it! Anything outdoors is perfect for him.
• Still eating most anything you put in front of him.  He prefers home cooked meals with lots of veggies!
• Having more frequent tantrums when he does not get his way or cannot adequately communicate his needs to us.  The tantrums usually involved lots of tears and throwing his arms around, and they sometimes involve him sitting on the ground in disgust.  But, that is OK- we know he is just trying to figure out how he fits in to this big world! 
• Wearing size 2T clothes and usually a 7 in shoes.  Those feet just keep growing so fast- we are buying new shoes all the time!
• Still taking two naps a day- with the first nap around 9 a.m. and the second around 1:30 or 2:00 p.m.
• Playing hard and tough- we are amazed at the hard falls he takes that rarely bring tears.  He is still one tough cookie!
• Turning bath time into a sport- he swims, jumps, and throws water everywhere
• Also loving to play rough with Dad and sometimes Mom, too!- he loves being thrown in the air or flipped upside down- he usually intiates it!  The term "All Boy" certainly applies to our sweet Logan.

Logan, we just love you so much and have enjoyed watching your personality develop even more these last few months.  You have TONS of energy, and you are also very sweet and loving.  We could not be more proud of you!