We've been hit!

The beautiful fall weather brought along an unwanted guest: cold and flu season. Both Logan and Mike have come down with a nasty cold and it's been quite a challenge for me to handle a sick husband and a sick baby at the same time. Last night Logan's full night sleeping came to a halt as she woke up at 1:30am with a stuffy nose and some other cold symptoms. She was up from 1:30-5 and then went back down briefly until 7:30 and has been up pretty much ever since with the exception of a few 30 minute naps (she can only sleep until her nose stuffs up and then she wakes up uncomfortable--poor thing).

Today we had to stock up on pedialite, tylenol, motrin, dayquil, thermometers and the like. We've been cuddling and watching Little Einsteins for the better portion of the day. Though, looking at these pictures, you'd never know she had been up all night the night before and was feeling so yucky. She's a happy girl so long as it's not about time for her next dose of meds.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

We've been waking up to 52 degree weather here and so Logan and I have been taking morning walks instead of early evening walks. It's been fun. Yesterday we spent an hour outside together and she just laughed and let the wind blow through her hair. Here's a few pictures from the event:

Mama's Helper

Logan has gotten to that wonderful age when she cannot be left alone in a room anymore without making a complete mess or getting herself into something that leaves her stuck. Since I can't stick her in her pack and play to play around (because she screams bloody murder until she's picked up), that usually leaves me one option: bring her with me.

Where I go.

Yes, wherever.

Yes, even to the bathroom.

I know. You don't have to say it.

I always remember my mom talking about never being able to go to the bathroom alone after she had kids and I laughed it off thinking we just must have been crazy. I can say now that I know the unfortunate truth and that my child has to come to the bathroom with me now, too.

Anyway, I also have to stick her with me in the kitchen while I make dinner. To keep her occupied (so I don't have to spend 20 minutes bringing her toys into the kitchen) I usually throw a pot or something down for her and ask her to help me make dinner for daddy. She loves it! (pardon the food on her face in the first shot, the look was just too cute to keep off of here)

8 Month Photo Shoot

So, our monthy photo shoots are no longer an easy task. We spent 20 minutes this morning trying to get a good shot of her that could be compared to previous months. These are the pictures that got snapped on the way to the right shot:

(read next post to get the 8 month update)

8 Months Old!

Good morning, guys! I'm EIGHT MONTHS old today!!

Logan is well on her way to being a 1 year old! Ah!! We're 2/3 of the way there. She is quite a joy and as she gets older, we enjoy her more. We're at that age where she's getting to be very interactive and that's been a lot of fun.
So, Logan, you are eight whole months old--what have you been up to this month?

- You are clinging to mommy like GLUE. And when I say glue, I mean people have to peel you off of me to get to you and you usually don't go without a fight and some major tears. (you do go happily with your daddy, though, thankfully)

-You are wearing size four diapers when you aren't in cloth. You fit into size 3, but 4's are a lot roomier and prevent a lot more leaking.

- You wear 6-9 month clothing but you're fitting better into the bigger stuff (for example, if there's something that is 6-9 month and then there's something that is just 9 month, you fit much better into the latter).

- You wear 12 month PJ's. Not sure why we have such an issue with the PJ sizes. The 6-9 month PJ's definitely don't fit you anymore. You have a few 9 month PJ's that fit but mostly you're in the 12 month ones.

- You started waving this month. When you first did it we thought you were just playing with your hands but now you do it in response to people who wave at you. You also do it when you wake up from your nap and see your daddy--it's like you're saying hi, I'm awake now!

- You can say three words: mama, dada and banana (which sounds more like anana). You only say banana when I take food out for you, probably because you love bananas so much that during some point in your meal you usually have something with banana in it and that word is repeated to you over and over as you eat.

- You do not crawl yet. You've been rearing to go for about 2 months now but haven't gotten there. However, you did master the rolls this month. Up until now you have HATED rolling from your back to your tummy and pretty much refused to do it until one day this month you realized that if you roll from back to tummy and then back to your back...you can get places. So, you've been doing it a lot this last month. Along with that, you've learned how to roll out of your diapers when you're on the changing table which makes life a little tougher.

-Your first freckle showed up this month! It is on your right cheek and I don't know why it's so exciting to me, but I just find it adorable and kiss it all the time.

- You learned cause and effect this month. For example, if I sit you close enough to your bouncer (and the music happens to be turned on) you know that if you bat at it, it'll play the sound effects. This entertains you for hours. You also learned cause and effect by trying things you aren't supposed to do and getting swatted on the hand (i.e. grabbing cords, etc.). You already are testing your boundaries.

- You know the meaning of the word "no." When you hear it you immediately drop whatever you are doing.

- Your favorite books are still "Moo, Baa, Lalala" and "No, no, Noah!" followed closely by "Happy Baby ABC's."

- Your received a puzzle this month that has big knobs on it and it has quickly become your favorite thing to play with (or chew on).

- You've started taking two 2 hr naps a day, which is AMAZING for mommy because I'm able to get so much stuff done.

- Speaking of sleep, not sure if this is a fluke but for the last three nights you've slept from 9:30pm-6am only to wake up for a quick drink and then you go back down until 8:30. It's been incredible! This is the first time in eight months that I've slept more than 5 hours at a time.

- You now reach to be picked up. It is the sweetest thing and just melts my heart when you lift your arms up for me to hold you.

We love you so much and are so excited to continue watching you grow up! You are such a joy to have.

Here are your comparison pictures:

And this is when it really hits how much you've changed:

Da-da

Logan's been saying "ma-ma" now for about a month and while she's said it once or twice before, Logan has just now latched on to saying "da-da" and she says it all. the. time. It's SO cute and Mike just lights up every time she says it so I had to capture it on camera for you all. She's actually watched this video herself a few times and sits and smiles and repeats dada over and over again when she does. It's very sweet!

Big Girl

Logan is getting to be such a big girl! This week we introduced two big things to her: yogurt melts and her sippie cup.

Yogurt melts are a wonderful gerber product. I can't find them in any generic brands so, even though it's a little pricey, gerber wins this battle. They are freeze dried yogurt bites perfect for little baby mouths that are learning how to eat. When we first introduced them, we had to break them apart for Logan so she could suck on them and if she happened to swallow before melting them, she wouldn't choke. She has now figured out how to chew the melt with her gums and she also knows how to suck on it until it just slides down. She l-o-v-e-s them so much she just begs for more when I pull them out.

We also got her using her sippie cup well this week. She's actually been using one for about a month now, but up until this week we were having to hold it for her because she couldn't quite figure out how to hold it up and get the liquid out. This week the light clicked with her and she figured out that if she tilts her head back when she sips the juice comes out. She was so proud of herself I had to post some pictures! I know it's hard to see them in the collage so I included the originals, too.

And yes, her hair, as you can see in the pictures, is becoming very red. It's a little more strawberry than blonde, you can really tell when you look at the brows because they're very red. It's simply gorgeous and I can't get enough of it (especially the sweet little tuft in the back that's so kissable; I now know why my mom used to call kisses to the backs of our neck sugar kisses).

Baby Nole.

Here's our little seminole on gameday! *fingers crossed* for a win against BYU. Maybe this sweetheart will give us the luck we need with her cuteness...whadya think?

A girl and her puffs

We've added "afternoon snack" to our list of daily activities now! Logan gets a handful of puffs (puffed rice cereal pieces that melt on her tongue) to play around with and eat every afternoon. She's just started to enjoy them, which she didn't at first--wasn't quite sure what to make of having to dissolve her food before she swallowed.

I mostly like to play with the puffs.

Most of the snack that I have on my tray ends up on the floor or stuck in my bumbo.

Don't let this picture fool you, I may LOOK like I can feed myself but I haven't figured out how to open my little fist to get the puff in my mouth.

So mommy has to do it for me.

What do I think about the puffs?

I think they're GREAT!

Inspired By Cake Boss

Ok, I can't lie- I'm a bit of a cake boss fan. I like to record several episodes and then sit down and watch them all at the same time and marvel at the creativity that he has. I usually watch and will say something along the lines of, "I bet I could do that" to the screen, knowing deep down that I'd be lucky to create something minutely as good. I've been dying for a chance to give it a try and didn't want to just make a cake for the heck of it--I wanted there to be a reason. So, when Patty, one of my best friends from high school, found out she was having a baby girl today, I decided it was time to test myself. This is what I came up with:

Not too bad for a first try, eh? I know it could be a lot better, but I was just experimenting to see if I could do anything remotely artistic. I really do like the result though. :) I made my own pound cake from scratch and my own fondant (which was insanely difficult).
Then we took it over to Patty's and celebrated the news of their sweet little girl.
And I had to keep Logan from digging in herself. Such a precocious girl!

New Love

I have a new love: baby leggies. Before Logan was born, I saw them all over the place online (mainly in those winter months of my third trimester) and always thought, "well, those are cute, but WAY too expensive." They usually ran $10-20 a pair and that was just way out of my price range. Our hero, Target, now carries these wonderful creations for under $3...hello affordability!

Don't I look like the star of an 80's workout video?

Ok, dad, enough of that, I'm way too mature for kisses. :) (actually, she really loves them and will return them to both Mike and I in the form of a very slobbery, wet, open mouth on the cheek and a "muuuuuuuuuh" sound)

Anyway, the leggies are great because it's a little cool here some mornings and so I can throw them on her with a short sleeved onesie and know her little legs are warm. They also have been wonderful for her sweet little knees since she's trying to crawl and on them quite a bit AND they are incredible during diaper changes--no more pulling pants off to get that diaper done!

Mommy Creations

I've been crafting like crazy the past few weeks in effort to:

1. Save some money on L's accessories/clothing

2. Get ready for some big things: a consignment sale that is selling my bows and a craft fair in November and I'm getting ready to re-vamp my etsy site so that I can start really selling my stuff there.

So, the other morning L and I headed out for a morning of watching flag football. We have so much fun playing outside, BUT, Lo has very very fair skin--more fair than her Danish grandmother--and so we have to do several things to keep her from burning. One of the easiest, of course, is to stick a floppy hat on her. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my crafty desires), floppy hats don't come with bows on them, so we had to fix that.

I present to you exhibit A: mommy made bow.

And what the little bow does for her hat just tickles me:


Logan was excited too!I meant to get pictures at the game but forgot my camera so our little porch had to do.

Hello world!

Onto craft #2! I've been working on some different patterns for Logan. I mastered the pillowcase dress and had been working to make the pillowcase shirt work and finally got it down last week. Here's L in her mommy created designer outfit (please pardon the open drawer in the background):

Getting a 7 month old to look at the camera when you want her to is a daunting task.

But we got it!