Logan is 3 Months Old!

Little man is 3 months old! 

 Unfortunately, much like my blog, these photos are very hard to find time to do so in this particular case, you can see Logan's excitement when I opt to do a quick photo shoot at probably 8 pm instead of putting him to bed. Poor little guy. Even the girls helped with his board this month. Maddy wrote a little note in the top left corner and Emmas say's "I (heart) U -Emma" bottom/mid right.

He is amazing.

He is so sweet.

He only cries when he has a reason. Sometimes that reason is that I put him down so I could pee but, hey, he knows what he wants. He certainly loves his mama. He's going through a bit of a clingy stage but that's okay.

He is incredibly strong. He tried to sit up on his own anytime he's laying down. Not to mention, we can no longer prop him up on the sofa...this happens...

 He can't quite get his chest off the ground while on his tummy but he can hold his head up for as long as he feel inclined to do so!

People are still quite surprised at the amount of vomit this child can produce. I think he gains his weight at night because he doesn't throw up much during the night. He tolerates dairy much better than the girls although he doesn't love lots of it. The few times I've consumed a big bowl of ice cream he spent quite a bit of time screaming.

One thing we have done different with Logan is that we've been incorporating a lot of essential oils instead of commercial medications. They seem to really help with colic and gas. He LOVES catnip & fennel, lavender rub downs, and peppermint tummy/feet rubs. Who wouldn't love some foot rubs though??

The girls went back to school and I can tell he misses them. He gets very excited when we go pick them up.

He's MUCH bigger than the girls were at this age. We're trying to cloth diaper again but it's been a bit harder this go round. He too big for his newborn cloths and too little for the AIO's. Not to mention the crazy amounts of laundry we have in this house.....don't get me started.

I'm sure I could go on for hours about his milestones and how much we love him but he's hit his limit for how much he's going to let me type in one sitting so I guess we're done for now!

We love you all!

Logan at 1 Month

I am one month old today! I am an amazing baby. They all love me so much. I love to snuggle and I'm awake more than any newborn ever known. But I sleep at night so no one is complaining. 

I am loved.

The board does say he pukes a lot!

From the Beginning With Logan

Considering I didn't post here for more than a year, I obviously didn't document my entire pregnancy with Logan. So here is Logan from the beginning.....the condensed version. For the most part, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

I was actually 4 weeks,who knows why I put 3.

8 Weeks

13 Weeks

16 Weeks. Emma wanted to take a picture.

 18 Weeks

Here is our pregnancy announcement. We don't typically announce to the world until we are pretty far along but this time, the girls started spilling the beans right around 12 weeks when we told them. 

18 Weeks

 Maddy had to get in on the action.

19 Weeks

20 Week Ultrasound 

21 Weeks

24 Weeks

27 Weeks, MARDI GRAS 2014! (Making tutus)

 30 Weeks                                                                      34 Weeks

 Poor 36 Week Feet. :(

37 Week Toes. I got horrible pitted edema that lasted until Logan was about a month old!

38 Weeks

Obviously this is NOT a pregnancy picture but it had so much to do with this pregnancy. I graduated with honors with my associates degree! 

 40 Weeks 3 Days. Leaving for the hospital!

June 4, 2014 Meet Logan James Patrick!

(Birth story and pictures in another post.)

My Once a Year Blog Post

If you're reading this, I guess I figured out how to allow people to read my blog when it's set to private! And you must be a grandparent or other family member, so Welcome Back!  :) Or I possibly couldn't figure out how to add reader while it's private so I just made it public again.

I know I do a blog post maybe once a year, and I always say I'll do better, but I'm actually determined to do it this time. Three kids and an associates degree later I've decided it's time to simplify. My life always seems stressful and crazy so I'm stepping back, deleting my Facebook app (gasp!) reading more (well, reading period), spending time with my family, journal-ing (what we see here hopefully), teaching and learning, and developing better reliance on my Heavenly Father and less on everything else.  

My goals for this blog have changed over the years. It started as a way to keep connected with Thomas during deployments.  Now being in recruiting and deployments behind us (at least for the foreseeable future), I've decided to switch gears and make it more personal for myself and my family.  I want to document all the things I don't want to forget (think birth stories, spiritual experiences, special days) as well as have a place to hold myself accountable for personal goals. Meaning, hopefully, you will see lots of scripture study and patting myself on the back for getting in shape. Lofty goals, I know.  

So....check back for pictures, rants, and updates on us! 

The Tabby Table

This is Tabby.  She's a very special table to us for many reasons. 

1.  She was given to us by a very dear friend of ours, Tabetha.  Well, it had been sitting in her backyard and I needed it for a party.  She graciously let me borrow it until after the party when she said, "It's your problem now!"  I was thrilled!!  I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, but I knew it would be awesome.  

2.  We built it as a family.  Every person (even our neighbor boys!) took part in this table in one way or another.  

3.  We love it.  The decor around the table could use some work, but hey, one thing at a time right?  It's exactly what we wanted. 

4.  Now we can have some of our garage back and quit moving this table from one house to another!  I was running out of excuses as to why I needed to keep it.  

I'm not going to go into major detail about how we did it.  If you want that, just ask.  But here's the nutshell version:

Step 1:  Find some super crappy chairs at a salvage store.

Step 2:  Fill all the gouges from the crazies that had them before you.

Step 3:  Strip the varnish.  I just used liquid sandpaper and called it a day.  (Worked great!)

Step 4:  Paint whatever color makes you happy!  For me that was bright red.  Why?  Because I can decorate them for about 90% of the holidays in the year!  I'm super stoked about Valentines day.  :)  I'm going to put cute little envelopes on the back of them for love notes.  But, I digress.....

Step 5:  Cut the rounded edges off the old table and sand sand sand!  We totally cheated.  We were going to completely remove the table top originally but we liked the idea of having it a bit larger.  And I liked the cascade effect that the different levels make.  :)

Step 6:  Prepare the 2x6's for the top.  Sand, sand, sand, sand, epoxy, sand, sand, stain, wipe, dry, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, dry.

Step 7:  Arrange boards how you like them, and affix the now painted (yeah, didn't mention that step, did I?) table to the top!

Step 8:  Flip the beasty thing over.  It is HEAVY.
Step 9:  Try to break a few toes getting it inside without dragging it across the concrete. : /
Step 10:  Find the super awesome 150 year old pot your husband got you and put it on top.

Step 11:  Step back and vow never to do it again.  Just kidding.  We love it and I'd do it a million times over.  It would be easier now that we've figured out all the mistakes you can make.  : )

Thank you Tabetha!!

It's Christmas Time, It's Christmas Time (To the tune of Racing Day by the Backyardigans)

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year.  I'm sure it would have been just as wonderful if we had done it differently, but we did what we did and we loved it.  Low-key, quiet, just me, Tom and the girls.  We got up, opened presents, watched TV and played with our new toys all day.   Bliss I tell you.  Bliss.  No make up (aka: no pictures), no food to fix, we didn't even call people!  I think my mom and my siblings may have called me.  But that was the extent of it.  Here's the few pictures we took....

Stockings

Maddy was searching for anything with her name on it.

Her present from Emma.  She had been telling Emma exactly what to get her for weeks. 

 Luckily Emma came through!

Opening Presents.

Emma's present from Maddy.  She too had been telling Maddy for weeks exactly what she wanted.

My gift from the girls!!  I of course, did not want a picture but when the girls really really really want to take a picture with you and their present, what can you say??

And.....dun dun dun....The Kindles. 

Oh, yeah, that too.  We set it up right outside the window and they NEVER saw it.  We had to make up a reason for them to look out the window.  : /

And here is the rest of our day.....

Maddy is the only one that finally decided to get dressed, I think.

And that sums up Christmas 2012!!  Nice and boring.  It was really weird.