Learning...

I know most of my posts usually consist of what my sweet Logan is up to, but God has been teaching me so much lately I thought I would share. I debated on whether or not to start a new blog for my thoughts, but it would just be easier to post here. So, if you came for Logan you can just skip to the bottom!

Where to begin...The thing that jumps out the most at me is what God has been teaching me about friendships. When we first moved to the area, I was super excited to meet anyone and everyone. Well, the newness is wearing off. Being the "new" person after five months doesn't seem so new anymore. I think being away from familiar faces and close friends at Christmas time triggered some homesickness. We just recently decided to jump in and become a member at the church we've been attending, Sovereign Grace. We had a "new member interview" a couple of weeks ago with one of the pastors there. He actually just came over to our house and talked for a couple of hours. Towards the end of our time, he mentioned talking to a couple of other families that had recently been through similar situations as us. Then he said something that really spoke to my heart. He said that God is a kind God. He will preserve the friendships that He intends for us to keep, and let go of the ones he doesn't. In time we will build new friendships here that are strong just like some that we've had for years already. I am extremely thankful for those friendships that have already stood the test of time and I can say confidently that they will forever have a place in my heart. I've also learned a lot about being a friend through this process. I am much more likely to go up to someone I've never met regardless of the circumstances and invite them to be a part of my life, and hopefully become part of theirs. Growing up as a "shy" child and never talking to anyone I didn't know (and sometimes people I did) it's amazing to see how much God has grown me. Even still, I know that I have much much more to learn about loving others as Christ first loved us. I really do desire to be someone who warmly and lovingly opens my home as well as my arms to others. I know some of those people have really made the last few months an easier transition for me. So feel free to call me out on being selfish with my time as is my tendency (I still desire to put God and my family first). That is the other thing God is doing in my life - breaking my pride. Logan is the main tool he is using for that! That's a whole different post!

In light of the whole friendship blurb, I did want to mention one way that God kindly surprised me in a friendship. About a month ago, I was super excited to find an old friend on facebook. A really old friend...my neighbor from the time I was probably two until I was about 13 and my best friend growing up! God took us in different directions through the end of high school and college so we had lost touch. I sent her a message, and didn't get a reply (or so I thought). It turns out that I just didn't receive an email notification of her message. She sent me her phone number, and as soon as I saw it I ran downstairs (quietly so as not to wake up Logan) and called her. It was a very sweet time to catch up on the last few years. Our moms had bumped into each other here and there so we knew a little about what was going on in each other's lives, but it was very heart warming to reconnect with such a good friend. It's fun to look back on almost our whole lives and see the girls who sat on the monkey bars together and fought over who would be the teacher - the "Elizabeth sisters" and talk about our families now and who God has made us today.

And on one more friend note, the slide show at the bottom is from Christmas with some amazing friends who have been there for our family through thick and thin...the Johnstons. OK most of the pics are of Logan and Sadie, but I pray that God would give them special friendships as well.

*Let me know what you think of the smilebox program.  I'm thinking of signing up so the pages will appear bigger on the screen.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Merry Merry!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We enjoyed staying at home for the holidays this year.  All of our family came to our house.  The Ellis fam was here Christmas day and the Radez fam was here the day after.  We had a great time together!  

I've been trying to figure out how to spice up our blog a little bit.  Radez actually copied a background from a friend's blog that I really liked until I can find another one.  I must say I was a little sad when I spent almost an hour trying to read up on how to change the background myself, and then my techy husband came home and did it in about 10 minutes.  

I've been mulling around some other ideas for blog postings in my head, and hope to actually write them out soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the Christmas Day pics!  There are Christmas pics to come!  If you like the little slideshow, you can go to smilebox.com to create one.  They have lots of options.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My Favorite Things...

In fitting with the holiday season, I thought I would make a list of a few of Logan's favorite things!

CLOCKS!!!!! Otherwise known as "tock tick". (there have been some days in which Logan must have said this and pointed to clocks 100 times in a day!!)
Balls (or ornaments in the shape of balls)
Lights
Hats (All snowmen wear hats!)
Elmo (or "Melmo")
Eating!
Shoes (trying on anyone's shoes)
Stuffed Animals (Hugging and feeding them especially)
Books (Cuddling up and reading to Logan is one of Mommy's favs!)
Going "Bye bye" (story time, music time, and museums are some of his favorites. Also pretending to go bye bye in his car!)
Talking on the phone
Being tickled! (He even asks for more! This is Daddy's favorite too!)

Making silly faces/making people laugh

Hiding and playing peek-a-boo
Playing with friends and family
Blowing kisses
Making noises (animal, car, train, etc.)

Being chased by or chasing Mommy and Daddy

Babies

Rolling Trucks around

OK, so here's the top 20. I'm sure I could go on and on! The things that made the list were very easy to think of. Logan goes through phases of things that he is VERY interested in. He can point out some of the things mentioned above from a mile away! Sometimes I feel like I am living out a hidden picture puzzle!! Right now his favorite phrase is "want more".

The second slide show is of our playgroup's cookie making party (and by cookie making I mean cookie dough and candy eating!).  For those of you who know about my awesome baking skills - let's just say I am very thankful that someone else wanted to organize this event so Logan could experience Christmas baking!  We've been very blessed to be able to get together with this group of very sweet kids and moms!  We met some of them at the music time we go to, and they welcomed us into their group soon after moving to Apex.  Logan is the baby of the group, and it does show in some of the last pics.  After the group photo, I looked at the clock only to see that it was way past Logan's lunch time.  My poor little guy must have been starving.  

We've had a great time explaining the meaning behind Christmas to Logan this year too!  He absolutely loves his Christmas story book.  It helps that it has a clock on the first page!  We do actually get past the first page most of the time, and it does a great job illustrating the story of the birth of Jesus.

"Cheese Please"

Logan has been talking in phrases here and there for a while now, but he is saying more and more lately. A couple of nights ago he was so cute sitting in his high chair saying "cheese please" over and over again! The more we laughed at him, the more he said it! A couple of weeks ago I started noticing him babble for a bit and then say "you Daddy" or "you Mommy". I thought I had heard him say "I love you" in some of those, but last week he clearly said "I love you Daddy!". One morning this week he woke up and from his crib started calling out, "I want you Mama!". Of course I ran right to him and gave him a hug! It seems that everyday for about a week now I've been able to distinguish at least one sentence out of his babbling.

Logan has been practicing stacking blocks lately. He usually stacks three and then tries for a fourth, but knocks it down instead. Today Logan stacked five small wooden blocks on top of each other!

Tonight when I was giving Logan his passy before bed I asked him what color it was, and he said "orrge" or orange! I couldn't believe it! I had no idea he was starting to understand the colors I keep talking about!

Some of the pictures in the slide show are of one of Logan's favorite things to do for the last several weeks. Stand, sit, stand, sit, stand, and then of course..sit! Not only does he do this in his cute little chair, but he also does it on a shoebox, Daddy's guitar case, the stairs, or anything else he can find. Another thing I realized recently that he's been doing for months now is that anytime I hang up the phone with someone, Logan echoes my "bye". So if you've called in the last two and a half months, Logan has probably told you "bye" too! One other thing that has been very sweet to watch is Logan's love for books and reading. He routinely asks to be read books after breakfast and before bedtime, but also all through the day he loves to either "read" on his own or be read to.

Logan is growing so quickly, I thank God daily for every second I get to spend with him. Hopefully I can track some of the precious things he does on this blog.

Fun and Busy Week!

This past week was very busy, but fun-filled!  On Sunday, we finally made it to the fair after everyone recovered from being sick.  We had a great time hanging out with Shelley and JJ, riding rides, and eating lots of yummy food!  Sunday night we went to a Reformation Celebration with our friends Dave and Beth.  The party was on a farm so when Logan saw the animals, he ran over and starting making all of their sounds at each animal as soon as he saw them.  We just missed the horse rides, but Logan did get to sit on top of one of the friendly horses.  Monday we went to a Halloween party at Red Hat where Logan seemed to be right at home running around where Daddy works!  Tuesday was spent catching up on errands, then Wednesday we made it back to Storytime at the library where we made some new friends!  Logan gets so excited about going to the library.  He walks in and says "book, book!"  He's actually said "storytime" before too!  One of his favorite things to do is read books.  He has a great attention span, sitting and reading several books at a time.  He showed off for our friend Beth the other day by getting out his baby word book and naming tons of pictures, then pointing to the ones we asked him about along with all of his body parts (he knows hair, head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, fingers, hands, arms, elbows, belly, belly button, legs, toes, feet)!  He doesn't always "perform" when you ask, but then sometimes he surprises you and counts to three or sings his ABCs to E!  Beth asked him to go get her keys for her in the other room, and he went and brought them to her.   He is following directions really well now, but Logan is always a ham for Beth!  

Back to our week though, Thursday is music day where Logan loves to dance, then Friday we went to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences with Logan's friends Grace and Natalie (unfortunately we forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure we'll go back!).  Logan loved all of the huge globe exhibits...he kept exclaiming "ball, ball!"  He also loved the butterfly conservatory where the tropical butterflies fly all around you.  Then Friday night for Halloween we went over to the Scotts' house to go on a "hay ride" (hay on a trailer pulled behind the 4 wheeler!) and trick or treat.  What a blast!  When I told Logan we were going on a hay ride he repeated hay, but it sounded more like he thought I was saying "hey".  He repeats words constantly now, and builds his vocabulary more and more every day!  Then Saturday we went to Cary Band Day which was a parade of bands through downtown Cary.  Logan LOVED it!  We are definitely going to have to put him in a music class soon!  That will probably be one of his Christmas presents.  He asks to play music at home every day  (he usually dances with Mommy around the house!).  You'll have to check out the video of him dancing.  

Blogging Again...

A couple of weeks ago we had a chance to see lots of good friends that we hadn't seen in a while!  We packed in the fun starting in Greenville getting pictures taken (if you want to see those you can go to capturedmomentsbykaren.lifepics.com and enter event code radez), then catching a pampered chef party at the Johnston's, then coming back to Apex for my "little sister's" wedding.  It was so much fun to see Logan and Sadie playing together again, especially since the week before we went Logan said "Sadie" for the first time!  They had a blast staying up way past their nap times!   Logan has been talking so much lately that I actually made a list of all the words I could think of that he says on a regular basis and there are over 50!!  He also readily repeats words too!   Then off to Chris and Danielle's wedding where we had a photo shoot with the Delzers.  I'm sure Logan and Miles will be playing together soon!  Logan went out with the bachelors to catch the garter, but he must have realized what was happening right before it was thrown because he ran away just in time!  

Settling In

I'm not quite sure where to begin, but I'll do my best.  We have been super busy over the last 2 months.  We are settling into our new home in Apex, NC.  Thankfully, I still feel that this has been a good change for our family.  I think that the transition has been as smooth as it could possibly have been.  God is so gracious!  We have begun the process of finding a new church family, and are quite excited about the new family we have started to get to know.  Radez and I do tremendously miss our family from Greenville though.  

Well, Logan is now one!!  In the process of posting pictures, I figured more people look at Facebook than our blog, so that's where the 1st birthday pics went first.  I've just recently been reminded of my desire to continue blogging.  It seems strange how God uses people and events in our lives to remind us how important friendships, and keeping in touch with other people are.  Logan's first birthday was just as exciting as I had hoped for.  I documented on camera almost everything he did throughout the day!  It was so much fun to watch his excitement even though he didn't realize what was going on.  We'll definitely have to work on the cake eating for #2.  Both parties he had, he dug right in with his hands but hardly ate any cake. Even after trying to force him to eat a little, he seemed not to like it.  I guess that could be a good thing!  Playing in it was definitely more fun than eating it!    

I think in the slide show posted below are pictures from my brother's wedding and our vacation to Cape May, NJ with family.  Brian and Wendy's wedding was beautiful, and I'm so glad to have a wonderful new sister-in-law.   We've really enjoyed spending time with them since they've come home, and are looking forward to many more memorable times with them since they'll be staying in America!!  

Our time in NJ was amazing!  We drove through the night right after Brian and Wendy's wedding so Logan could sleep through the entire trip...mostly.  We had a great time sitting out on the porch and on the beach relaxing and hanging out with family.  I think we had ice cream 4 nights in a row, and Radez and Molly had creamed chip beef 3 days in a row (kind of like biscuits and gravy...not my fav)!  Good thing we go for walks every morning!  Logan LOVED the beach!  An unending sand box can entertain him for hours!  One of the cutest things he did was try to chase the birds down the beach!  He kicked his crawl into high gear, and followed a couple of birds as long as they would let him!  The water was unusually cold even for NJ, so he wasn't thrilled about the ocean until it finally warmed up...the last day we were there.  Thank goodness for video cameras!  We were able to capture his excitement.  

Other minor exciting things we've been doing around town are going to the library for story time, going to Bruegger's Bagel Shop for music time, and we recently got a membership to Marbles Kids' Museum in Raleigh.  Logan and I love getting out during the day.  It's been a great way to meet new people, and I think the social interaction has been wonderful for Logan!

Click on the picture to see more.  It's a little long.  I'm still trying to figure out how to select a few without selecting all.

First Steps...

Logan took his first three consecutive steps Friday night! He wanted to get from one chair to another on the back porch of his Grampa Radez's house. We've noticed his balance greatly improving after walking in the baby pool so much recently. He is able to take several steps independently in water up to his chest. He usually progresses gradually in major milestones, so in the next couple of weeks we expect he'll be walking around everywhere! I'll post pictures when we get home (we're in Raleigh), and video whenever we can capture him in the moment!

We also took our first steps to moving into a house in Apex, NC. We signed a contract yesterday on a house that we are hoping to buy in a couple of weeks! Time is flying by! God is so faithful to provide all that we need for life and godliness! We are so thankful that although plans did not come together in our timing, His timing is much better. He used this circumstance to grow and teach us in several areas. Patience was a big one! Due to the last minute timing, we were also able to get a better deal on this house! I'll post pictures soon...or you can view it on Radez's blog.

Summer Fun!

Logan has had a busy week playing with friends! We've been trying to make the most of our time left in Greenville by spending time with friends. Logan had a blast playing in the sand with Sadie. Sadie just learned to share, and had a busy couple of days trying to teach Logan how. He tried to imitate her sharing by holding a toy out to her. But when Sadie tried to take the toy, Logan did not want to let go. That didn't stop Sadie, though!! She can pull pretty hard! Logan also had fun playing at Barnes and Noble and at the pool with Bryce and Molly! He's so excited that Bryce is starting to like the water as much as he does! And today, he had fun playing with Mallory Kate and Connor. Mallory Kate was pretty upset that he wasn't staying so she could babysit him! They had fun playing anyway.

We've been trying to adjust Logan's nap schedule, so he's been quite tired in the mornings.  I thought he would at least wake up for lunch when we got home this morning!  I was wrong...I did wake him up to feed him.  

Click on the picture to view the slideshow!  By the way, Logan did not actually drink the beer!

We're back...for now!

It feels good to be home!  I'm not sure how long it's been since we've spent an entire week in our house, but hopefully this week we'll be here all week!  We have been super busy trying to find a house in Apex.  We are under contract on our house, but there are still details to be worked out before we can make an offer on the house we like there.  We should be able to make an offer in the next few days though.  We are excited about the upcoming move, but we are starting to realize how short of a time we have left with our friends here in Greenville that we will miss so much!

Our new favorite activity is going to the pool together!!  Logan absolutely loves the water!  He has no fear.  He loves to walk around in the baby pool, play with other children (he tries to "talk" to all the kids), and jump up and down in the water.  When we pull him around on his tummy, sometimes he kicks his legs and paddles with his arms (check out the video!).  He even tried to blow bubbles in the water after watching us blow bubbles today!  Logan had a great time swimming at the pool in Granny and Grandpa Ellis' neighborhood when we spent the night with them this week!!

Logan has been crawling now for a couple of weeks!  I've been trying to capture a good crawl on video, but of course he doesn't crawl long distances when I'm video taping him.  I expected him to be into everything, but he's learning his boundaries well for the most part (especially at home).  He responds fairly well when told he's not allowed to do something... most of the time. 

Logan is beginning to become more snugly!!  We love it!!  He's starting to give hugs and cuddle longer.  He even went around his room one day hugging his stuffed animals!  It was the cutest thing ever!  When I was giving him a hug and rubbing his back before bedtime, he started rubbing my back, too!  The funny thing is that my mom loves to tell the story of when I used to pat her back when she patted mine too.  We hope we can continue to teach him to be loving and kind, and that he would understand what that means. 

Click on the picture to see the slide show!

The verdict is...

It has been two weeks since I started the poll to see when people thought Logan would start crawling.  Only one person thought that Logan would crawl in two weeks.  I have to admit that that person would be me!  I had faith in my child even though no one else did!  Friday night Logan took a couple of "crawls" and then stopped.  I debated on whether or not to count that.  He must have known his time was running short because yesterday morning he crawled right over to the computer!!  Granted it was only about three or four feet, but that has to count!  He definitely is able to crawl.  The key is finding things that are worth crawling for.  The computer is off limits for him so of course he wants it the most!  Isn't that how it always goes?  It reminds me of Romans 7...even though we died to the law through Christ that we might belong to him, the law is not sin.  The law showed what sin was so that sin could be recognized as sin.  In setting rules and boundaries for Logan, we hope to show him that he is a slave to sin without Christ.  We hope one day God would change his heart so that he desires to turn away from sin and to Christ.

A few days ago I posted that Logan was getting better from his cold...not so much!  Monday night he woke us up approximately every half hour or so since we could hear him coughing through the monitor.  We took him to the doctor Tuesday and found out he has an ear infection (possibly both ears).  He's now on antibiotics, and doing much better!!  We're still trying to recover from exhaustion and the beginning stages of colds ourselves.  Thankfully we have a long weekend to rest and recuperate!

We took Logan to the strawberry patch a couple weeks ago, and wanted to post a few of those pics here.  This was when he first started getting sick, so there aren't many smiles.  There are still some pretty cute pictures of him though.  We'll have to go back again soon!  And yes, the strawberry stains came right out of his white shirt!!

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Bath Time

I know some have you may have already viewed these on the Johnstons' blog, but they are too cute not to post!  These are a couple of videos of Logan and Sadie playing in the tub together one night while JJ and Shelley went out on a date!

Fun Times

We've had a fun family weekend! We got to eat some of the Hammell's famous beer-battered chicken Friday night. Logan had a fun time playing in the sand with Bryce, and laughing and blowing kisses at Molly! Logan actually has a reputation for blowing kisses at Molly. Molly (2 yrs.old) walks around the house saying, "Logan says 'mwa'. Logan says 'mwa'." We'll see where that leads! The pool opened up on Saturday, and even though it was too cold to get in, we splashed around a little and ate dinner there. Logan LOVED kicking his feet in the water and watching the other children play! We are very much looking forward to spending lots of time at the pool this summer! We also went out to eat with friends after church Sunday, and then to the park Sunday afternoon. Logan had a great time playing "Twinkle, Twinkle" on the chimes with Daddy at the park. There are tons of fun things to play with there! We also cracked ourselves up playing at home Sunday night (as you can see in the video)! Logan loves the letter "E"! He can already pick it out of the puzzle. What a brilliant child!

We are so excited that Logan's cold is almost gone!!! Last night was the first night he didn't wake up in the middle of the night in a week! He let us sleep in until 6:45 am! I still woke up at 5:20 out of habit... forget sleeping in after having Logan!

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Mystery Solved

After the choking incident, Logan took a nice long nap.  When he woke up he kept coughing, and it sounded like something may have still been stuck in his throat.  After a long hacking session, I saw something brown coming out of his mouth.  It was a leaf!  He must have found this small piece of a leaf on the floor, and put it in his mouth.  He really will put ANYTHING in his mouth!

Logan's Alive!!

This morning we went to the park and had a great time playing with Lisa and Caden Ellis!! Logan and Caden are great buddies! They love to swing and play on the alligator together. Logan loves to play in the sand, and can't wait for Caden to be old enough to play in it with him! When we got home, I started tickling Logan on the floor and with his mouth wide open smiling I could see some sort of discoloration on the roof of his mouth. My first thought was that his mouth had been burned somehow, but we don't give him hot foods. I felt around a little, and it did feel a little rough but nothing moved. By this time my curiosity was piqued! I went looking for a flashlight. When I couldn't find one, I called Radez to see if he knew where one was since part of our house is packed up to help sell the house. As I was on the phone with him (thankfully) Logan started choking. Immediately, I noticed that there was no longer any discoloration on the roof of his mouth. Whatever that had been was now blocking his airway. I automatically thrust my finger down the back of his mouth and throat trying to dislodge whatever was being held captive there. When that didn't seem to be helping, I started hitting his back. Really, I have no idea if that actually helped or not but after a couple times I heard a beautiful scream coming out! I was a little shaken up afterwards. After taking some time to think through it though, I realized that this was the third time in Logan's short 9 months that he has stopped breathing (twice from choking and once from a breath holding spell which was most likely also choking just from reflux). It was tempting to wonder what I have been doing wrong here, but thankfully I know that God is in control of Logan's life. He purposefully planned these situations and will use them for His glory. He has definitely shown me through these times to not take Logan's life or life in general for granted! It is only by His grace that we have life! I continually pray that God will protect Logan's life and one day allow him to see that he is sinful (even from birth) and in need of a Savior. If you think about it, please pray for him too!!

Determined!!

I have some VERY cute pictures of fun things we've been doing that I CANNOT figure out how to post as a slide show in the center of my blog!!  When I add the slideshow element, it comes up on the side of my blog too narrow to actually view the pictures.  I know it can be done because I've seen it before!  I'm using flickr to upload my pics.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open!   I know mac has a web program that easily converts pics over to a blog, but I'd rather not pay for it.  Does anyone know of a more mac friendly blog?? 

Logan's First Hair Cut

Hi all!  So I started this blog a while back, but never actually sent it out or kept up with it.  That's why there's a post before this one.  Not that too much happened in between.  Logan is still walking while holding our hands (much stronger though) and scooting around in circles or backwards.  He is able to get up onto his hands and knees now, reach for what he wants, and then flop down to his belly again!  Maybe he'll crawl, maybe he won't!!  He would much rather walk holding on to someone's hands, furniture, or his newest thing - walking behind the push toy.  His personality is definitely shining through more and more now.  One of his favorite things to do is to play "peek-a-boo".  He has many variations...around a chair, around the corner, under a blanket, around Daddy's shoulder, and I'm sure there are more.  He also gets very excited when you play with him!  His new excitement response is to stiffen his whole body until it shakes with his hands waving around.  He'll also shake his head almost uncontrollably when he's excited.  

Well, Logan had his first hair cut this week!!  How exciting!  He was SO funny!  He was so curious that every time he heard Amanda trying to cut his hair, he would try to turn around to see what was happening.  That's our curious little observer!  He got his hair trimmed, but there was no way we were going to sneak the electric clippers by him, and no way to use them when he's constantly turning around.  That will have to wait for another time!  He looks more like a little boy now than a baby.

Here's a short video of Logan's hair cut (the batteries in the camera ran out!).

In Response to Popular Demand...

Recently we have had several people ask us why we don't have a blog.  Well, now we do!  You can now check out our CUTE baby any time you like (and us too)!  Logan is now 6 months (almost 7) months old.  He is a sweet, observant, and for the most part a pretty chill baby!  His latest and greatest new development is walking while holding someone's hand for support!  He did this for the first time at his Granny and Grandpa Ellis' house for Granny Ellis' birthday (Feb. 9).  We have yet to capture this on video, but don't worry I'm sure we'll get it soon.  Logan also recently started scooting around on his tummy to get toys.  Sometimes he ends up going backwards though.  We're still working on that!  He can turn himself in a full circle while he's on his tummy once in a while.  One of Logan's favorite activities lately is swinging at the park.  He smiles and giggles while he swings... until other children play near the swings.  Then he just stares!  He loves to watch everything going on around him.   

For more picture fun check out our photo gallery at:  http://mythtv.radez.net:81/gallery2