Shutterfly Rocks

So... Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE Christmas cards to bloggers!! Thanks Sarah, for the tip! Just head over to their site to check it out here

We had my family over today for the Ellis family Thanksgiving and my brother has a great Nikon SLR camera (which by the way, my dad hinted in getting one for himself and me!!! Let me know if you see any awesome Cyber Monday deals) that he took our family Christmas photos with. I'm hoping that I can find a card that has a couple of photo boxes because there are too many cute ones to choose from! I do wish that Shutterfly offered more cards with Scripture and focusing the real meaning behind Christmas.

I'm so excited that I saw and picked up The Little Drummer Boy at the library recently. I'm starting to see a little more of the silver lining in Logan being so completely obsessed with drums lately. The little drummer boy knows that no gift is great enough for a king... Jesus, and he gives all that he has (playing his precious drum) and does his best! As we've been talking about how the drum can become an idol for Logan, this story presents a great transition into teaching Logan how those who love the Lord can do all things as if doing them for Him. OK, so I love, love, love books! I love cuddling up with my sweet little boy who doesn't always want to cuddle anymore and diving into a new experience, then relating it to our lives and learning from it.

I've used Shutterfly's photo cards before... for Logan's baby announcement. Their calendars are awesome too!

Be on the lookout for our family's super cute Christmas card soon! I can't believe how quickly Christmas is approaching!

Playgroup Birthday Party

Yesterday Logan started out his birthday celebration week with party number one of three! We escaped the forecast of bad weather, and made it to the pool for Logan's birthday party with our playgroup. It even ended up being a beautiful day! Logan had so much fun playing with his friends in the pool, opening presents, and his favorite part...eating cupcakes! We are so thankful for our friends!

We've been asking Logan how old he'll be on his birthday for a few weeks now, and he always responds, "Two (holding up 2 fingers)! I'm one now!" Sometimes he says, "I'll be two on my birfday (SO cute)!" A couple of days ago we started thinking that Logan might have trouble adjusting in a short time period to the idea of actually being two years old. So we told him that he's two a little early! He's pretty excited! He goes around the house saying, "Happy birfday Logan! Happy birfday Mommy/Daddy! Happy birfday to MEEEE!"

We're so excited about the Lord allowing us to continue watching our little "big" boy grow even more!

A Little Bit of Life...

Nothing extremely exciting has been happening here lately, but I just wanted to post a few of the fun everyday moments. We're still talking up and looking forward (bittersweetly) to Logan's birthday next week. I am more and more thankful everyday that the Lord blessed me by allowing me to care for, love, and enjoy this sweet little life!

We've been hanging around the house a lot...Logan was sick this week. And even though we have a million and a half toys, Logan seems to be finding creative uses for other things (when he's not playing trains)! Check out the pics of him and his boxes. We can play "Where is Logan (or anything else)?" for hours it seems! It's just getting harder for me to come up with new places for him to say, "Noooooo" to!

We had a moo-mentous dinner with our friends, the Stambaughs last week! We all dressed up as cows, went to Chick-fil-A, and got free meals. I think Radez and I told every pregnant cow joke there is on the way there! We had a blast meeting the big cow, and hanging out with friends.

We also had a party for our homegroup at Jordan Lake last weekend. Logan got to ride a real boat for the first time! He was pretty quiet once we sped up, and the wind was a little more forceful. He usually seems to take in new experiences like that...just observing everything going on around him. He said he liked riding the boat though, and was pretty excited he got to go!

Just to explain the pics of Logan with his car and the things in aluminum foil... He helped me wrap corn on the cob (or "cob on corn" as he calls it) for Radez to put on the grill, then decided he needed to take it for a ride! He was pretty cute trying to pack it all in the car with him!

Baby Radez Has a Name!

I thought I had lost the pics of our ultrasound where we found out the sex of the baby, but I found them...Yay! I think we have officially decided on a first name for him... Tate! We haven't decided on his middle name, but are very excited to be able to call him by his name now. I'm 24 weeks along, and feeling great! Tate is quite a little kicker most of the time, so we'll see if he's going to be an active baby once he gets here too! Just from looking at his ultrasound pics, I think that Tate is going to look a lot like Logan... and that means like his Daddy too!

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with old friends in Greenville this past weekend! We got to hang out at the Johnston's house for a while, and then go to a cookout with lots of Crossroads friends. It was such a sweet time to catch up with people we love! After dark, a couple of the guys actually set off firecrackers in the backyard! I really thought Logan would be terrified of them, but he did really well. He watched with Daddy for a little while, and then hung out with Mommy on the deck. I asked him if he liked them or if he was scared, and he said, "I'm scared." He never cried though.

I've been trying lately to do more activities with just Logan instead of over scheduling activities with other people. We love getting together with others, but I've been realizing recently how important it is for us to love being at home too... even if that just means inviting others to our house instead of going somewhere else. One fun thing we did this week was to make a surprise for Daddy! We made him some banana bread...his favorite! Logan did a great job helping with this more involved recipe. He stayed involved through the entire process, and it was even a good lesson in sharing when I had to take over to complete a step. Logan is really into doing things "by myself". He started saying he wanted to do things "self" several months ago which was exciting, but it's becoming a finer line between being excited about his independence and choosing which things he really shouldn't do by himself yet.

Some of our good friends from church welcomed their second baby, Sophie, into the world last night! Logan had his first sleepover (without a friend's parents here) with his friend Natalie. They had a blast playing at the pool and at home together! They both (Logan more than Natalie) wanted whatever the other was playing with though. That's where the pics of them each holding their Elmos, the same sippy cups, and snacks come in to play. By the end of Natalie's stay though, they were learning how to play with the same toys together! Logan has recently had a difficult time sharing his toys with others (especially at home) so I am thankful for this opportunity to focus on that, and it always helps when Radez gets to see what kinds of issues Logan is having that usually occur without him around. We also had a playgroup at our house this week which forced him to share with lots of friends at once.

When we dropped Natalie off at her house, we got to sneak a peak at Sophie! I explained to Logan that she was the baby that was in Ms. Alana's tummy and she came out last night, and we can see her now. He looked at me and very emphatically said, "Baby brother come out Mommy's tummy now and see me!" I thought it was the sweetest thing ever!

We are surprised at lots of the things Logan is coming up with to say now. A few days ago, I was rocking him for a couple of minutes before nap time as usual, which sometimes if he's exhausted he may fall asleep during, and with his face turned away from me he started yelling, "No get me, no get me!" over and over. I turned him towards me to find his eyes were still open, so I asked him what he was talking about. He said there was a tiger in his room! His imagination is certainly growing! He constantly finds different uses for things other than the ones they were intended for. It is really fun to see him becoming so creative! Another cute thing Logan says now is, "I'll be 2 on my birthday!" He holds up two fingers at the same time for everyone to see!

One last thing... Logan passed out from a breath holding spell for the first time since last September a couple of weeks ago. We were at a birthday party at the park, and he fell down but didn't really get hurt, just scared. It the first time Radez has experienced this firsthand, and it definitely made a lasting impression on him. As awful as these things are, I am thankful that the Lord uses them to teach us so much. I became very fearful of what could happen if I didn't have time to get to Logan while caring for an infant (head injuries, etc). I was once again reminded that God's perfect love drives out fear. He loves Logan more than I ever could (which is hard to imagine), and his eyes are on him even when mine are not. It is easy to try to control all things with Logan, but please pray that I would continue to trust God because his plan for Logan's life is better than mine could ever be.

Catching up...

WARNING: Really looong post! It's been too long. Don't feel pressured to read all of this, but I like to write it out for myself anyway!

To catch up with the biggest news I haven't blogged about yet... we're expecting a baby boy! His due date is October 27th. We are so excited about this little blessing from the Lord! I've gotten out of the habit of blogging lately since I've mostly wanted to sleep whenever I have free time. Getting further into the second trimester has helped give me more energy. Hopefully I can catch you up quickly on what's been going on in our lives. I started this entry a while back, and looking over it to actually publish it, a few things have changed!

When we first told Logan the news about the baby, we were surprised to see that he too was excited! He said things like "baby Mommy tummy", and when asked when the baby would be here his answer was "8 months"...for about three months of the pregnancy! Whenever we asked Logan what he thought we were having, he was pretty consistent, he said both little sister and girl...we'll find out soon if he's right!

In April, we took a family trip to Chicago to tag along with Dan as he went to a conference. His sister Molly came along also. She made it possible for Logan and I to go sight seeing. Chicago is not a stroller friendly place! We carried Logan up and down many sets of stairs in the train stations. We had such a full, fun trip! We made it to Navy Pier, the Chicago Children's Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo, The Art Institute, Sears Tower, China Town, the Shedd Aquarium, and of course shopping on Michigan Avenue! It only took a day or two for Logan to adjust to the time difference and sleeping in his stroller while we were out and about. His favorites were the Children's Museum and the aquarium, but he hung in there through the guided audio tours we took of the Sears Tower and the Art Institute like a champ!

Otherwise, we've been trying to keep up with our everyday activities while Mommy has not been feeling well. The Lord has been teaching me so much about denying myself through this pregnancy. This life is not about me, it's about Him! I'm sure I'll need to be reminded of that again once the baby arrives!

Some of the things Logan is really into now are:

PLAYING HIS GUITAR (or turning things into drums) - his hit single is "Een Een Washed Out" (with the excited emphasis on "washed out")! Otherwise known as "The Eensy Weensy Spider". He'll play and sing a little, but if Daddy plays, he can do all of the hand motions too! We tell Logan that he "rocks out" on his guitar when he plays. Well, one day he wanted to bring a rock in from outside so I let him. He went over and put it in his guitar, and said, "get rock out please Mommy!"!!! He cracks us up! He loves to sing and dance. He can learn just about anything through music! He's recently learned several scripture verses through songs. Whenever applicable, we can sing them during the day as reminders of what God's word commands us.

DRIVING THE CAR - his biggest obsession! He looooves to sit in the driver's seat, push all of the buttons, and steer the wheel. If I leave my make up in the car, he'll also open up the mirror and put some on! He's too cute to stop! He doesn't like to beep the horn though. He tells me at random times driving down the road not to beep the horn, and I assure him that I won't unless it's necessary! He's warming up to it though.

LOVING HIS ANIMALS - this has been a long time favorite of Logan's, but it's been interesting to watch his "relationship" with his animals change as he develops. He's always fed, hugged, and kissed them, but now he reprimands them for things that he knows are not allowed and then proceeds to discipline them if they disobey. They learned to climb, jump, and do flips right along with him. They even act out some of his favorite stories. Logan's animals have begun to eat with him too. We were having a difficult time at mealtime until the horse starting taking turns eating with Logan. He's actually eaten a few new things that he would not even touch before like salad!

JUMPING - Logan set a goal for himself to learn how to jump, so for most of the month of April it didn't matter where we were or what we were doing we would see Logan trying his hardest to pick his little feet up off of the ground! Then by the end of the mongth, he finally learned to jump one day!!! Now he jumps all over the place saying, "Mommy, Jump high!".

TRUCKS, TRUCKS, AND TRAINS! Logan loves any type of truck and loves looking out for them on the road or listening out for them in the house. We MUST make it to the window to see any truck that drives by! If he's waiting for me to get him out of his room in the morning, he lifts the blinds up to watch. He especially loves dump trucks, tanker trucks, buses, and mail trucks. He recently got some tracks and trains that he loves to play with. He loves to say, "Mommy come play trains me!"

As Logan is starting to speak much more clearly, one of the things he says that we think is adorable is, "Moo Me" or "excuse me". We're holding on to the little fun words and phrases now that remind us he's not quite grown up yet! Ok, so this has changed since I originally started this post...he now even says that correctly. He often says, "Mommy/Daddy look at this!" and "What is that?" His longest sentence (that we counted) so far has been 10 words (2 thoughts put together)!! He's usually talking in 3-6 word sentences.

One last thing that we've been excited about lately is Logan's love of counting! He sometimes breaks out counting in the middle of playing alone even. He counts to 11 very easily, then with a little prompting can count to 20 (but usually skips 13 and 14).

We just had our first weekend away from Logan a couple of weeks ago. We took a trip to Wrightsville Beach while Logan hung out with Uncle Brian and Aunt Wendy. We had a wonderful time and so did he! We had no idea how he would handle us being away, but thankfully he did great! He talked about us, but never got upset that we weren't there while he was at home. We're a little relieved to have that experience out of the way before we go to the hospital with the new baby! We've found that the more we talk about things in advance with him and prepare him for what's going to happen, the better he does.

I'm sure I've put in too many pictures in the slides, but they're way too cute to cut any more out than I already have! Hope you enjoy!

18 Month Explosion!

I've been meaning to post lately, but when I realized that Logan turned 19 months today, I knew I needed to actually get it done!  This has been an exciting time in Logan's development!  So much has happened with him that I'm not sure where to start...  

One thing that has blown me away is that Logan can recognize all of his letters and tell you what sound they make!  I've been singing a song of letters, sounds, and a word that starts with that letter to him off and on casually for a while.  Well, the last week of January I bought Logan a puzzle of the alphabet.  I thought since there were so many pieces it would be too difficult, but left it out for him to play with just to see how he did.  Boy was I wrong!  Logan could already tell me about a quarter of the sounds, and had no trouble putting the puzzle together!  In about a week, he was telling me about half of the sounds, and a month later he recognizes them all, knows all of the sounds, and is starting to recognize some lower case letters too!  Who knew he had been listening to my song all along!  He loves music and sounds.  Letters are beginning to be the new obsession... he loves to point them out everywhere.  He's even sounded out words in order, the sounds just don't blend yet.

There is a pretty funny story about his letters.  We were blowing bubbles the other day on his alphabet mat, and I could not get him to stop putting the bubble wand on his lips.  As we were playing, I asked him what sound P made.  When he answered, he unknowingly blew a bubble from the bubble residue on his lips!  

Another thing that Logan has significantly progressed in is numbers.  Most of you know about his obsession with clocks... I can't tell you how many times my child has asked me to count the numbers on a clock!  I think this is what contributes to his number recognition.  He recognizes numbers 1-12, but sometimes confuses the 6 and 9.  He has also counted more himself.  If I say one, he can say 2, 3, 4, 5, I say 6, 7, he can say 8, 9, I say 10, 11, he can say 12.  He doesn't do this often, but I've started counting to 20 with him now to challenge him more. He also understands one to one correspondence.  He usually moves things one at a time as I count.  

Logan also talks in many more short phrases and sentences now.  He usually strings together 2, 3 or 4 words.  His vocabulary has increased tremendously this month.  One day early in the month, I was astonished at how many new words he said, and counted 16 in one day!  I don't think I realized how much he talks nonstop at home until I was sick recently and couldn't sleep because I kept hearing his sweet little voice (which has no quiet setting!)

Being a former kindergarten teacher, I am super excited to be able to teach him all of these things!!  Logan constantly amazes me doing things I don't expect him to be able to do.  It makes it even more fun that he enjoys learning so much!  I pray that God would use these things to show Logan Himself. He is the One who created them all. Even though I teach them to Logan, He is the one who allows him to understand. I have to remind myself constantly that none of these things matter without Christ. Proverbs 10:14 says, "Wise men store up knowledge." I hope I can teach Logan to balance that with 1 Corinthians 8:1 that tells us "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up!"

Don't miss the video of Logan rocking out!

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Snow Play

So I'm a little late in posting about our fun snow day.  As soon as we could all get bundled up after breakfast, we headed out into the snow to play:)  I found a small toddler sized sled at a yard sale last year for $1, and picked it up just in case we ever got a chance to use it (highly doubted it though).  Logan absolutely loved it!  The snow was so deep, he wouldn't have been able to stand up for very long without freezing.  We got about 6-7 inches!!  We love our view of the woods and going to look at the creek behind our house, and it was even more beautiful laden with snow.  God has been reminding me of His work in creation lately as I teach Logan that He is the creator of all things.  I've been asking Logan who made him or whatever we're looking at, and it is the sweetest thing to hear him say, "God" even at such a young age.  

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