6 Months

Time flies when we're having fun.  I didn't get around to taking many pictures with the camera this past month.  However here are some fun ones.  He's gotten to be a bit bigger.  He had his 6 month appointment a couple weeks ago.  He's weighing in at 19 lbs (73%-ile) and 28" (88%-ile).  He has gotten to be quite boisterous...especially today being no exception.  Today was slightly unusual.  He would be cranky, cranky, cranky...then out of the blue he'd be laughing.  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason...no teething, he doesn't seem to be getting any symptoms of being sick.  It's a mystery.  It is not exactly making me day dream about our next child :)  We adore him however his personality.  Just wish the weather would cooperate a little more so we could go out more to counteract such fun moments.  Onto the next month before long...we're excited for this one as our trip to Utah is around the corner.  I just got all the wedding gifts making it all that much more real that the time is quickly approaching.  

Bath Time...

He loves bath time...he spends it splashing
 and is busy busy with his fish and net.

He's gotten to grabbing that faucet which is
as far out of the way as possible.

Clearly loving it....one of those times he
ignored the camera in his face.

Logan at grandma's farm.  He mostly just
loves eating all the animals.

He thought this was funny putting pants on his head.   

Yup...and the face most of the times with that outfit upside down.

 He's funny if you do anything out of the ordinary, he loves it.  Another constant enjoyment is being tossed into the air.  Jimmy will take him and toss him in the air doing a 180, so one moment he's facing Jimmy and the next out.  His laughter is priceless.  Someday I'll have to take video of it.  6 months is officially my favorite age.  It's perfect...you can take them and plop them down wherever you are at.  He can't crawl yet to get into mischief, however he is great at entertaining himself...most of the time.  He seems to be using more vowels in his babbling which is fun.  It sometimes seems like you're hearing "da da" or "ma ma" of course it does not seem to have any correlation.  Regardless, he is growing way too fast...it's constant change.  We just got him out of our room again.  It's such a relief to not worry about making the slightest creak in the bed.  Logan still seems to be adjusting to the change (last night he did end up back in our room in his swing).  We'll get there.

Growing More and More...if only we could slow it down :)

Finally now that we're to February I am updating the blog.  Let's face it I am not really going to update it because then it would be the boring details of how life can be stressful day to day.  In between our crazy lives is this little guy to make it all better.  Logan has continued to be a joy.  Most times he is just so easy to please...if he's not happy.  We've learned the instant gratification is a short jaunt outside.  He LOVES the outdoors.

Short story: I was a terrible mom the other day when giving Logan a bath.  One of the worst parts is that it is a rare occasion I get to do bath time with him.  Well, needless to say I had just taken a second off of him.  He was up on the counter and must have swung his legs.  The next moment after hearing something had fallen he was face down on the floor.  I was every emotion you could think of, however I held it together to help him the best I could or at least could think of.  He had a bloody nose as it was basically a cement floor and started swelling.  NOTHING would satisfy him.  Why am I telling this not so fun story?  Well, Jimmy and I learned a really great lesson (aside from never taking your eyes off them...even for a second) is that he can be the most terrible kind of cranky, cool wash cloths, singing, playing, feeding, tylenol...etc.  None of it worked...Jimmy just decided to take a shot and walk outside within two steps he was dead silent gazing up at the sky.  So...now...we go on walks quite regularly outside and it seems good for the both of us.  Rain rarely stops us (my lack of sleep does time to time).

Did you know?  We're coming to Utah in March.  I'm super excited.  One of my best friends is getting married and I really didn't want to miss it.  We were able to swing it to get us both plane tickets, so the whole lot of us are going.  It'll be so good to see all the people we love there.  Utah still feels like home in a lot of ways.  

His first time at the playground on the swing. 

Love the face...

It seems whenever the camera comes out and we're taking a picture.  We tend to get the face above or the face below...so either this blank stare or shocked sort of face.  There are SO many photos we delete, etc in hopes of getting a normal everyday face that we get when the camera is not out :)

Dancing with Dad

What a nice mess!

Ah yes, he has taken to persistently grabbing at the food bowl he's being fed.  Those hands are fast!  I kind of threw my hands up in the air and let him go crazy this night.  It gets exhausting fighting off those arms that so desperately want to feel every substance going to his mouth.

The next 4 photos should be easily deciphered as not our kind of handy-work.  Grandpa, aka my dad took these.  Aren't they terribly cute!  It makes you not believe my hub bub of him giving these hard to work with faces....however, Jimmy and I never claimed to be pros :)

my favorite

This is our black and white, that has yet to have been edited.

Smiles

Yeah, this kid...our photo shoot was a challenge initially getting smile out.  My dad came up with the idea of the lamb rug and getting him naked (+diaper).  Suddenly we didn't have to work so hard.  Logan loves to be naked & loves to grab his feet.  Pretty proud that he can make those feet touch his face.

More cuteness

A bit younger (early October), however unable to get due to
it being my dad's camera.  It was a fun halloween to have someone
dress up!

Our December Happenings

Life seems to be going at super sonic speed and we can't seem to slow it down to save out lives :)  Life is good though.  Seeing these two faces makes everything better!  Well...haha, until Logan has hit a cranky stage, although the pictures seen would not make it seem that ever happens.  Regardless, he makes up for all that crankiness.  I'm working a lot a lot...the other day was 17 hours straight.  This week will be around 57 hours.  It's crazy...but I guess we need the money.  It just makes me miss these two a ton.  I guess the plus is it makes me really appreciate the times we do get.

It's been a wonderful Christmas season and we have been so blessed.  All those answers we've been seeking as to why for all the changes are slowly coming up with answers and we are starting to see the bigger pictures it seems.  

Just prior to church decked out in a bow tie...what a stud, right?!

The face..."what, me?  why are you looking at me like that?
  I never make a fuss.

Good old daddy time...their little love fest.

Logan has continued adoring his dad.  The moment he is with him...Logan can be cranky all day and suddenly dad is home and the world is right again.  It's actually quite cute.  They never stop talking with one another.  Jimmy is the best with him.

Aren't we just how you pictured the manger seen

Haven't we told you...our church ward asked us to be Mary & Joseph.  Well...and of course, the star of the show Logan as baby Jesus.  He did PERFECT on stage.  We moaned and groaned a bit about being the center of attention, but in the end it was great...and actually fun for us.  When will we ever get such an opportunity again.  Jimmy even grew out his beard for this moment.  As can be seen moreso in the picture above.

Him in his snow suit...I just want to squeeze him.  

It's funny this suit is like the one on Christmas story.  You push the arm down at his side and it just pops right back up.  Logan thought it was pretty goofy.  Worked well for the times we've needed him to stay warm and just a cheap garage sale find.

The cutest!

So...I had NO intentions of going and seeing Santa.  In fact we weren't ever going to go to the mall.  We were supposed to see the zoo lights this night.  Did it work out for our good though.  We were not in the mood to be out in the bad weather, so we changed our plans to venture into Portland.  We go into the Macy's and want to check out all the Christmas-y items.  As we're enjoying our walk through suddenly Santa came up to us.  Being as wonderful as he is, he said he would love for us to come and even take a picture with our own camera.  Before long we suckered into the whole shin dig.  How can you not fall in love with such an adorable couple for the season.  It was perfect!  Hard to see this small, if you click on the actual picture I do believe it enlarges.  Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving, New Car, Piano's

It has been a great couple weeks, but stressful!  Thanksgiving was probably the best part of it all.  We went out to Seaside with my grandparents and had a DELICIOUS feast.   

Happy boy in his Santa suit

We were the lucky ones to spend Thanksgiving with these two :)

What a blast.  It was perfect weather for Thanksgiving.  We even walked down to the coast on the way we saw a herd of Elk.  The food was out of this world.  On our way out the door Grandpa Steck asks to hold the baby.  Mom was hollering to "quick take a picture".  Any excuse to take pictures works great for us!  It was great to have time off and spend it all together.

Our 2004 Toyota Prius

Wow...what an adventure purchasing a vehicle.  We were not quite prepared for what the day would entail.  We started at a Honda dealership...didn't like the cars all that much.  Although we learned from this dealer what to do in the future.  The salesman called us later that day to attempt to get us back in.  The following day he called to tell us he got the boss to lower one of the cars $500....next time we'll not act interested and leave.  Regardless we went to the Toyota dealership.  It was pouring rain.  The guy had trouble knowing prices of cars etc. after much searching this is where we ended.  It seems to be a little fancier than either of us initially expected to end up with, but hopefully it lasts us a long time and has minimal problems.  It's one of those moments with used cars that you wish you had a glass ball.  Then I would maybe feel better about such a huge purchase :)

You may not be able to tell even with the wood pieces taken off the piano above, but the pedals are quite broke.  The metal is sheared off.  The hammers on the piano, about 5 or so are entirely snapped off.  The sound is super bad...that really takes the cake.  It's becoming a practice piano for my dad to work on to maybe fix the nice one below.  Crossing our fingers it works!

The piano Jimmy & I are going to take on isn't it beautiful!

I have to mention a little about this piano.  The guy we got it from has quite the story with it.  He got it at an estate sale.  It came totally black and cheap.  He told us that it was due to being in Europe (I can't remember what country), but to make people who might steal the piano not be interested they painted it black.  This guy took it and stripped the black.  He replaced the top.  He flattened out one of the wood pieces that were warped.  It actually in really good shape.  Our only concern is my dad recently tried to tune it and for the one note he tried it won't tune.  We're hoping it's a one string fluke thing.  Hopefully no restringing is needed.

Getting Bigger

We have so many great videos I wish we could post...maybe someday.  Until then there's only one to tell the story about.  Him eating his first bites of "real" food.  I started him with a couple tablespoons of rice cereal and propped him up in the high chair.  He definitely knew something was about to happen.  His first few bites were entertaining as he seemed to look at us like, "what do you think I'm supposed to do with this stuff in my mouth....aww I know, lets spit it back out."  I then resumed to shovel that newly spit out goodness back in the mouth.  Eventually he got the idea.  End result...he ate the entire bowl!  I was so impressed.  I guess it's all those times of having him taste/lick our food, haha.

He's getting to be so big.  I don't remember if I posted this in my last post, but he's in 3-6 month clothes...I can't even handle it.  We also nearly completely weaned him off breast milk.  I am partially hate this.  Aside from enjoying simply nursing him most times.  His diapers have now become potent!  I mean I never recall it this bad at Primary Children's Hospital potent.  It's terrible...maybe eventually my schnozz will get used to it. Until then...I will keep on complaining.  Good thing he's cute :)

Onto happier things...he's taken to being tossed up in the air.  It's so fun to have nearly instantaneous laughter.  He loves it....which means I can't get enough.  His other funny favorite thing is anything to do with his feet.  Those shoes and socks come off and we're meeting a whole new Logan.  He just giggles at having me make him eat his feet or having me eat them.  It's hilarious.  He also is quite ticklish around his upper shoulder rib area.  He bunches up and doesn't breathe much.  As soon as you stop, he lets out this giggle.  He's taken more to jibber jabbering.  Mimicking seems to get the most out of him or dinner time.  He just assumes he's part of dinner talk, it's cute.  My only complaint there is his volume level seems to have risen recently with that jibber jabbering.

Pictures...

smiles

Notice him being caught sucking on the back of his hand.  He does it ALL the
time...he also gets his finger involved adding to a great array of noises.

The only time he's done this on his own...putting himself to sleep.
He was jumping and jumping until apparently this energizer ran out of energy.

Jibber jabbering with dad.  He seemed to be having quite the conversation with him.

3 Months Old & Halloween

Our little man is officially 3 months old!  Logan has now bumped up sizes it's now 3-6 month clothes.  Can you believe it?  I can't believe how fast babies grow...I wasn't done enjoying his cute little 0-3 month old clothes.  He needs to slow down!

I've started work and suddenly I am missing this little guy all the time.  It's all for the best, but man it makes me that much happier when we all get to be together.  Such as Halloween and the property this weekend.  It was great to have so much down time. 

It's been raining a ton up here, like I've known in the past I didn't realize how long it had been until the sun started poking through the clouds today.  It makes it all the much better.  The leaves have been beautiful up here changing.  Logan loves being outside, however the rain and him get along for only a short duration.  

Jimmy and I are still just poking along the trail of work.  Jimmy is on his final month officially.  My job is growing on me...they just didn't leave the best first impression.

His CUTE hat I have to show off

Being a bashful raccoon, occasionally when he smiles now he tries to hide his face in your shirt/couch/etc.

Halloween night indoors, there was tons of rain!

Jimmy carving his skeleton pumpkin

Grandpa's birthday which was fun to be able to celebrate together :)

Up at the property

Had to get a closer view of this adorable jacket hoody...it has a face along with ears.
He loves it, he'll just snuggle right with it alone in his car seat.

An Easy Baby

What a day today!  We had this baby over today that my mom was watching...it really made me grateful for how great Logan is.  This baby was not only a shrieking banshee, he also had a rather impressive fountain of spit up nearly constantly going.  My mom did 2 loads of laundry in a day for this one child...to top it over the shrieking never ceased.  Well, okay it did for the 5 minute nap and minimally with eating.  The decibal the child would reach still sends shivers down my spine.  Haha...while Logan was eating I could swear he took he arm to cover his ear with it....priceless.  Now I've learned Logan barely whimpers to let me know he needs something and basically never spits up.  What have I ever been complaining about.  I can even get him down for his naps in the pack n play.  My mom's "no fair" when laying him down for his nap just settled the deal for me how great I have it.  LOVE love love my boy!!

For news in our lives...we got a piano.  Guess...what did we get?  The ugly piano that plays beautifully OR the gorgeous piano that plays like crap.  You may have guessed it...the second one.  Well, we were happy with our find...afterall who can beat free.  Then my dad went online and found an even better deal for hardly much more money than free.  This piano is beyond gorgeous, the guy simply wanted it off his hands quick for a move.  It has a fun story attached to it as well.  SO...hopefully soon to come are pictures of the beauty.  Oh, I forgot to add my dad let us have a choice between the two which we would want to have move with us.  I am just thrilled to have a real piano that can play.  We just picked up this second one today...I'm still on cloud nine...never thought we'd get a chance like this for a number of years to be piano owners.

No car yet...I'm officially starting my job tomorrow.  I'm excited and yet not excited at all at the same time.  Having these months off of working has been absolutely wonderful, yet I am excited to finally start a real RN job of which I have been working forever towards.

One of the first times in the jumperoo

...he loves it!

Already a couch potato, he gets GLUED to the tv.
He can be somewhat fussy and the light up screen puts him dead silent.

more tv time...waking up from a nap

post tummy time...he rolled over multiple times.