My baby boy is 8 months old today!!!

Baby “Nogan” or baby “Wogan” (from the mouths of my adorable nephews) is the best little boy ever! No, really I don’t know what I did to deserve such a sweet, sweet little boy, but I am ever so grateful.

The little dudes accomplishments:

-sleeps through the night…yay for me! (secretly, I miss getting up with him)

-rolls all over the place

-crawls backwards or shall I say scoots backwards (he can't quite get the forward thing down)

-is constantly in the plank position

-loves eating solids (lets be honest this boy has never had problems with eating)

-is in the 75 percentile for height and weight (he is what "they" call thriving)

The little dudes likes/loves:

-mommy and daddy

-baby signing time

-musical toys

-water spray bottle

-being outside

-driving in the car

-still loving his jumperoo and playmat

-bubbles

-likes to be carried around and loves when we dance to music

-his bottle

-being tickled

The little dudes dislikes:

-getting dressed

-having his face washed

-moving his arms to much (pat-a-cake is not an option)

-going to bed at night (just the past 3 nights) I end up going in and rubbing his back for 5 minutes and then he falls asleep

-the wind in his face (who does?)

We love this little man of ours. I hope he will always know how special he is to us. He brings us so much joy.

My Boys

I just LOVE my Boys!!!

My heart is full today and everyday!

Happy Valentines Day!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Who Doesn't Laugh at Monkey's?

Little Buddies

Thursday's add a little more excitement in mine and Logan's life because we get to hang out with cute little Hudson. Hudson is my friend Shay's little boy and he is just as cute as can be. Logan sometimes just stares at Hudson especially when he starts to squeal, probably wondering what all the fuss is about. The boys have quite different personalities with Hudson having a lot of energy, constantly moving and he has definitely found his voice. Logan on the other hand is very mellow and is content with just hanging out, he likes to talk but not quite as loud as Hudson does. It changes things up having two babies but it is a great time!

The Simple: Playing with two cute, cute babies.

The Not So Simple: When they have alternating nap times and when they both cry at the same time.

Is it already February!!

Well the last few months have been crazy, crazy!! December was so busy with Finals for Adam, Jazz games for me, all of the Christmas festivities, throw in a super fun vacation in Sun Valley sure made December an exciting and exhausting month all in one.

We were very blessed in December and were on the receiving end of a very generous gift. We are so very grateful for the love and generosity of our family and friends, we truly are humbled by their thoughtfulness. Thank you, thank you, to the anonymous couple who left us such a wonderful gift on our front porch. We will always remember your kindness and are so very excited for the day that we will be able to give to someone else what you have given to us.

Our baby boy is growing up! It is crazy to think that he is 5 months old today!! I can't believe how fast time flies by. He is the sweetest little boy and he brings so much joy in our life. Logan is just a good, good baby. He loves everything! He loves his swing, jumperoo, playmat, vibrating chair, he loves baby einstein and baby signing time (seriously he laughs and talks when I turn them on) he loves his baths and most of all he loves his mommy and daddy. I love the way he looks at Adam, it melts my heart every time.

Logan is still taking at least 3 naps a day and still sometimes 4 and lucky for me they are long naps. He goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps until 5:00-6:00 and then I feed him and then he goes back to sleep until 8:00-8:30. He sometimes sleeps all the way through the night but I like him waking up to eat (I don't want my milk supply to dry up) plus I just love our little connection. I love the way he wakes up now just talking to himself. He has outgrown being swaddled and he has mastered rolling over from his back to his stomach. So most the time I find him in his crib on his belly just gooing. Oh man I love him so much and I don't think I can kiss this boy enough. He has discovered his feet this week and loves grabbing them. He doesn't get his feet close to his mouth though probably because he is so chunky. My guess is he weighs 19 lbs! (Big boy!!) He loves being tickled and funny thing he has baby body odor! I didn't even know there was such a thing but I was playing with him one day and I lifted up his arm and sure enough his arm pit had a mild body odor smell. Luckily you only smell that if you actually lift his arm up, other then that he still smells like a yummy baby.

The simple: Being a mom, I love it!! If all of my babies are like Logan I would have 10!

The not so simple: Working until Midnight. I love working the jazz games and it really is a great mom job. I just don't like getting home at midnight.

Here are some fun pictures of our smelly monkey.

Some of them are so funny!!

So it went from this:

To this:

Pretty Much the cutest baby I know!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great time with the Wray family in St. George this past weekend. It was pretty low key for Adam and I since we have the little man now but a little R&R is just what we needed. Grandma Sherrie was great and would watch Logan while we went out for a hot chocolate or hot tubbing or to the new Harry Potter movie (which I loved by the way) but most of our time was spent lounging around.

I am thankful for such great in-laws they are the best and so fun to be around!

I am thankful for my boys, I love them so much!

I am thankful for my family I love them and I missed them this weekend!

On Thanksgiving day Adam set up his camera and we had a little family photo shoot. Josh who is married to Adam's cousin Hannah was the lucky one to be chosen as the camera man but really he just pushed the button to take the picture and never let go so now Adam has 150 plus pictures to go through to find the perfect family picture.

Adam put together a video of our photo shoot and I think it is pretty great. You almost have to watch it once for each person who is in the video because you notice so many funny little things by watching just one person through the whole video.

Our New Game

A friend of ours told us about this game they enjoyed playing with their child who is only six weeks older than Logan. We decided to try it for the first time when Logan was getting prematurely fussy. We wondered what the effect would be and we were pleased to find he stopped his crying, if only while we were playing.

12 Weeks Old!!

My baby is twelve weeks old today. Crazy! Life sure has changed since this little man entered our lives and we couldn't be happier. In fact I can quite honestly say that I am in love with my life.

Logan's Favorite Things:

his momma

his daddy

his binki

sucking on his hands

his bouncing chair and swing

watching mom walk around the room

being swaddled

bath time

baby massage

tummy time

talking to mom and dad

watching mom exercise

watching dad dance (I really enjoy this too!)

dancing with mom

his barefoot dreams blanket/doll

laying on his side

his play mat (finally!!)

being held so he is facing out

he loves smiling until we pull out the camera and then he just stares

Nicknames for the Babe:

love bug

little logan or L.L. or little L.

baby

babe

pumpkin

little man

baby logan

smelly

The little man only wakes up once during the night now and it is usually around 4:30 to 5:00 and then he goes back to sleep until 7:30 to 8:00. This is lovely and more then welcomed.

We caught the end of Logan's conversation on camera and I can watch this over and over and my heart melts every time.

The not so simple: The day after a jazz game. I am more tired and he is a little more needy but the snuggling is great.

HappY HalloweeN

HappY HalloweeN

Just a few pictures (or many pictures) to document our halloween. We had a great time with family and our nieces and nephews were just the cutest!

Thanks Brenda for the yummy taco soup and chili.

I'm sad that we didn't get any pictures of Jen's kids or of her house. Cole of course out did himself and his house looked amazing, a favorite of many trick-or-treaters. He is one talented man!

i LOVE my little love bug!!

we have cute elphaba, the witch from wicked...

batman...a dementor... and nacho libre.

cute, right!?

ian and abbey love baby logan

the wray clan

gracie and hunter getting ready for trick-or-treating

Logan's Blessing

We blessed Logan on October 17th and it was wonderful.

Logan, of course cried through the whole blessing but Adam's prayer was sweet and perfect!

After the blessing we headed over to Grandpa Taylor's and Grandma Sherrie's house for some yummy soup and great company.

It was a fabulous day!

Don't you just want to kiss him over and over and over again!?

With permission from Adam I am including one of his journal entries which I think describes our life perfectly.

Logan is growing so fast. He is becoming a chub of a baby. He crested the 13 lb mark just before he turned two months old. If you stop to think about it you can really tell how much larger he is than he was a month ago. We have already retired some clothes and we will soon graduate to a new diaper size.

Logan is also spending more time awake which means more smiles and more sounds. Usually after he eats we can get him to smile for a little while. He gets excited, scrunches up his face and flails his arms and legs. He is so close to combining his sounds and his smile into a laugh. Now he sometimes smiles along with a coo which warms our hearts.

After he is done smiling he usually needs some time alone. He will look away from us and if we try to put our face back in his field of vision he will look away; sometimes up, down, to the side and will even go to the painstaking process of turning his head just to not look at us. Apparently he needs time to process what he is learning as we smile at him, make noises for him and talk to him, but to us it just seems he gets bored.

If he starts to get fussy too quickly we have a sure fire way to calm him down momentarily so we can make preparations for bed time or nap time: the fuzzy nose of a specific stuffed animal. Actually this stuffed animal is just a head attached to a very small blanket, more like a hand towel or wash cloth. The nose is black and protrudes from the nose in such a way that makes it easily accessible for him to bite down on and lick. It can usually buy us enough time to get him wrapped up and then we can swap the animal for a binky.

He has already been able to roll over from his stomach to his back but is inconsistent at it and now has found joy in the halfway point. What this means is that it does not matter if we lay him on his back or his stomach we usually find him on his side fairly quickly. He arches his back and cocks his head and licks and drools all over his blanket. Once he is in this position he is stuck there because once he gets uncomfortable he can’t figure out how to get his chubby arm out of the way to roll to his stomach and when he gets angry he arches his back and cocks his head making it impossible for him to roll to his back; stuck between a rock and a hard place.

When he does spend any appreciable time on his stomach (called Tummy Time) he spends it relishing the taste and texture of his hands. He will drool all over those things and making sucking noises until he decides he has had enough and rolls onto his side.

Often times we find that he is enjoying creating saliva and allowing it to drool out of his mouth. He can get an impressive collection of spit bubbles on his lips poised and ready to slide down his chin. Heidi and I both love watching his lips. It seems so funny to us how he will spontaneously suck on his tongue and make some loud sucking sounds.

Even though he is spending much more time awake than he was even a few weeks ago he still tires relatively quickly and needs to go down for a nap. In general he has been a great sleeper. During the night we still (and by “we” I mean Heidi) do not enjoy eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. He usually can go four to five hours between feedings which was a welcome change from the three we were accustomed to. Unfortunately we have experienced an unexpected disruption in his sleep habits. For some reason, even though he will go down for a nap fairly easy, he will often times wake up well before it is time to eat again. However, the most distressing thing is his new night problems. Granted, he has only displayed and put Heidi through a few stressful nights in a row so there is no reason to panic; he may just be having a few difficult nights and then be right back on schedule.

Last night, Heidi had a Jazz game. It only takes two bottles, or two feeding times, before Heidi makes it home and usually feeds him when she arrives and then goes to bed. Last night was no different except for he woke up at 12:00AM and ate and then refused to go back to sleep. Heidi was up and down for the next two hours putting his binky in every ten minutes until finally she decided to feed him again almost an hour early. She was already exhausted from being up so late because of the game and then to have such a frustrating night on top of that was quite difficult for her.

Before you think ill of me I would like to point out that my wife is very nice to get up with Logan during my work weeks. I generally only get about six hours of sleep a night all week long anyway and if I were up for an hour with the baby I don’t know how I would pay attention in class. I am much more helpful during my off weeks and therefore these incidents would involved more sleep for Heidi and less of her involvement and less sleep for me with more of my involvement.

Logan’s favorite time is bath time. He can be screaming bloody murder and then you set him on his little bath cradle and poor water over his tummy and he will serenely stare off into space as if to say, “I feel safe with you, Mom/Dad, you have a gentle touch.” Getting out is not easy, however. The transition from tub to towel to living room floor is often difficult and perilous. Yet, his baby massage usually calms him back down quickly.

I have loved our baby since the moment his head popped out and probably before. Heidi has loved him as well but her bonding with him is much more complete. I look at him in awe and realize he is ours forever and we are his and we have sacred responsibilities toward each other. However, it wasn’t until recently that I can honestly say that I have started to feel a bond with him. I don’t want that to seem cold or calloused in any way I just think it has taking me some time to grow accustomed to our relationship and feel a special bond with him. It is difficult to describe because, like I said, I have loved him from the start, and I would have done anything for him from the beginning so hopefully no one will think less of me.

We blessed Logan three weeks ago today. Dave Lawrence’s mom drove to our ward to record, in short hand, the blessing. We got off to a good start but Logan cried through three fourths of the blessing. We struggled as he spit his binky out. The first time it landed in someone’s hand but the second time it fell to the floor and that was it. There was no comforting Logan. There was a brief moment where he opened his eyes and saw me. We locked eyes and for a second or two and then he started crying again. The eye contact was as distracting as his crying so I wasn’t able to gather my thoughts. After the blessing I felt I hadn’t said anything I had wanted to, however, upon reading the transcript I had said enough and kept it succinct so that the blessing alludes to much without much detail. It was a great experience as a father to bless Logan and I am excited to continue to be a priesthood leader in my home.

I am thankful for my husband he truly is an amazing man and father.

Our Little Love Bug

I don't even know where to begin to explain how much joy and happiness my little man brings me. Along with the joy he brings me a little sleep deprivation but he is worth it, every minute of it.

The Birth
August 27th I went to the hospital because I had a fever and the doctor wanted to check me out. My heart rate was high and so was the little man's and since I was so far along (maybe 38 weeks) the doctor decided to induce me. I was in labor a little over 7 hours and Logan was born August 28th at 3:07 a.m. He was 22 inches long and weight 8lbs. and 4oz. We were in love the minute we saw him. What a miracle it is to have a baby. I am so happy that I am a woman and that I was the lucky one to bring this little piece of heaven into the world. The delivery was easy breezy just like my pregnancy was and I feel very fortunate for that and look forward to doing it all over again.

The not so simple:
The last week of pregnancy. I was miserable pretty much the whole time.

my BIG little baby

Our little family

Our Love Bug

Week 1
Oh man is he really mine? I could just let him lay on my chest forever and ever. He smells so good and I love his little hands and feet. His hair is so soft and his cry is so sweet and I can hardly believe he is mine. I LOVE this week, I LOVE my baby, and I LOVE my husband! It just so happend that Adam had the whole week off and it was so great to have him around. He seriously is the BEST!

The not so simple:
Breast Feeding. I knew that it would be a struggle but you don't know how much of a struggle it will be until you are actually in the situation. Luckily by the end of the week we started getting the hang of it.

Our little man's photo shoot taken by my talented husband.

Logan ended up peeing and pooping without his diaper on. We thought it was pretty hilarious!

Week 2
Thank goodness for all the kind women in my ward and for our wonderful family members. We have been well fed! We get 7 dinners from members in our ward and when we didn't have a dinner coming from them someone from one of our families sure picked up the slack. Those dinners were seriously heaven sent. It was so nice to not have to go grocery shopping or think of what to make for dinner. Thank you so much to everyone who brought us dinner they were all so delicious. Adam was back to work and I sure missed him. I realized how easy the first week was because of him. Thank you boy for all of your help.

My little man is everything I could have every hoped for. I just want to be with him all the time and many of his naps get spent in my arms and i just cherish this time because I know it won't last forever.

The not so simple:
1. Sleep or lack there of-I think it is finally starting to catch up to me and I miss it. It is sad to think that this is just the beginning of my tiredness and that it will probably only get worse.
2. Headaches-Killer headaches! I hear that it can be an effect of the epidural and it sure is effecting me. I hope they will go away soon.

Week 3
St. George-Logan's first vacation. It was so much fun to have a little get-away with the Wray's and much needed (by me). We really just hung out but I didn't have laundry to wash, a house to clean, dishes that needed to be put away, all I had to worry about is feeding the little man, taking naps, and reading books, it was awesome! Thanks for the invite Taylor and Sherrie, we had a great time.

The not so simple:
Stopping 2 times on the way to St. George to breast feed effectively turning a four hour drive into five and a half.

Hanging out by the pool

Weeks 4-5
I'm starting to feel like a normal person again and it feels great. Me and the little man go for a walk every morning because the weather is nice. Logan is such an enjoyable baby and his routine consists of eating then playing then sleeping and as a mom I love all these activities.

Logan's Firsts:
First smile for Adam: September 30th (so he say's) :)
First smile for Me: October 2nd (this made my heart melt)
Rolled over from his belly to his back on September 30th and we both saw it. It was an exciting moment for us, we love him!

The not so simple:
1. Adam's work weeks-I miss him!
2. Sleep-If I could sleep 4 hours strait or even 3 that would be awesome.

Week 6
My baby is 6 weeks and I can't even believe it. He is darling, darling, darling! He is such a good baby. I'm in love with my life!