Logan--16 Months

Ok. so I keep getting harassed about writing a new blog.  We still haven't gotten a new computer, so I'm using the ancient busted up one. This is my view.

Nice, huh?  Plus, Michael had to take the whole thing apart twice back in the day. The second time he didn't quite put the keyboard back with all the screws, so it's all wonky.

But I do have lots of pictures to share, so I guess I should get back on the blogging train.

To start I figured I'd do a little post about Logan.  Poor second kid. I haven't been as good about posting about him.  He didn't even get one year pictures done because it was right around when we were moving (mommy fail!).  He hasn't had a 15 month check up because of the move and waiting on insurance to kick in.  When it finally did kick in and I called to set up an appointment, they were booking well visits 12 weeks out.  So... he won't be going to get an actual check up until after he turns 18 months.

Unofficially, he is still right around 23 pounds (give or take a half a pound), which was what he was at his first birthday.  I'm not sure on his height, but it feels like he is not growing at all! ;)

He still wears 12 to 18 month clothes, but has a few 6 to 12 month Gymboree onesies that still fit!  He is also still in a size 4 shoe.

We just moved him to size 5 diapers recently.  He had a week where he was having some serious bathroom issues (like multiple loads of laundry a day kind of thing), so we moved up in size to maybe help with some of the blow outs.

The first year of his life was almost identical to his sister's.  They had the same sleep schedule, the same eating schedule, the same facial expressions, and so much more.  That pretty much came to a screeching halt around his first birthday when he started walking.

Now they are pretty opposite.  He excels in motor skills.  He climbs everything he can.  And if he can't climb it, he tries to figure out a way in which he can.  He has absolutely no attention span. By this time Olivia would sit and watch a half hour show, or play with her little people for an hour, or sit and flip through books for a long time.  He rarely stops and plays. He is always on the go.  TV doesn't hold his interest at all.  He just wants to go, go, go!  Funny enough, he can't say 'Logan' but he calls himself "Go Go". Super cute, and appropriate!

In fact, he is a bad example to his sister! Things like this... she has had this table since she was around the same age he is now.  She NEVER climbed it. The thought just didn't cross her mind.  He climbs in multiple times a day. And now since he gets attention for it, she has decided this is a good idea as well. Lord, help me with these two!

He has just transitioned from two naps a day down to one.  So I only get a "break" during the afternoon.  I'm going to have to change our game plan up a bit, because having to play at the house from 7 AM until 1 is just not proving to work out for us.  It's time to start filling our calendar.  No morning nap is both freedom to do stuff, and more work. Good and bad.

Olivia is an observer of people (like me) and Logan is an observer of things (like Michael).  He likes to inspect things, watch moving parts, see how things work, and challenge himself to get items to work the way he thinks they should.

We were walking around the mall one weekend and checked out the Lego store.  He immediately found a car, took it down, got down on the floor, and started driving it around making "vroom  vroom" sounds.  It's amazing to me that these kind of things are innate in a 15 month old boy.  No one showed him how to do that.  He just did it!

Along those lines, the things he does like are balls, banging things (anything!), and vehicles with wheels.

He's so funny.  He walks around with his hands behind his back like he owns the place.  He does this all of the time and it just cracks us up.  I told Michael we should just call him "the general".

His facial expressions are still amazing!  Even strangers comment on them.  I can't seem to capture it on camera, but he just knows how to use his eyes/eyebrows for humor.

He has just recently been into reading books. Admittedly we don't read to him nearly as much as we use to (still do) read to Olivia.  But we are trying to make an effort and he is finally started to actually sit and listen and enjoy.

He has also started dancing.  It. is. HILARIOUS. We have to get it on video!  Although, every time we try he stops.  But he will say "dance, dance, dance".

He only has a few words, and most of what he does say is not helpful when it comes to all the whining.  I mean it's adorable that he says "dance" and "sissy" and "ball" and whatever else he says.  But I am looking forward to the day where he can say, "Can I please have ______". For the love, the whining!!!

Did I mention that he climbs on everything?  He figured out how to use Olivia's step stool (which she likes to use as her doll's house--everything is a playscape!) to get up on her bed.  So I move it away from the bed when he is in there, because he doesn't know how to get off the bed. But he figured out how to push it back over to the bed and get up.  He also used a box in our room to climb up on the bench at the foot of our bed and get up on our bed.  Our bed is very high up, so not safe at all.  It's a constant watch with this one! 

He has also learned how to climb up on the couch.  Is that normal for a 16 month old?  I feel like Olivia was so much older.  But I'm not sure she was the normal in this area.

He still loves brooms.  You probably can't tell, but he actually has the real broom and the play broom in his hand.  If I open the laundry door he comes running and tries to grab the broom.  Hopefully he'll be a little cleaner! :)

He also loves shoes.  He doesn't care whose shoes or what they look like.  He carries them all around the house.  He brings me his shoes often and asks (whines) for me to put them on.  He will would probably wear them all day every day if I let him.

His current favorite song is "Wheels on the bus".  He especially likes the babies crying part and the mommy going "shh" part.  Hmm...

He loves to be tickled and he tickles everyone else all the time.  It is adorable.  But again, the word "tickle, tickle, tickle" is not exactly useful in our day to to day... Ha ha! :)

He loves Olivia.  He watches her and sometimes copies what she does.  He tries to play with her.  He tickles her and tackles her.  He doesn't always appreciate her hugs.  He also doesn't love to share mommies lap. But overall they do pretty well.  He's learning to be "nice".  He gives hugs and kisses, but he still pulls her hair (out of spite) quite regularly.

For the most part he is shockingly obedient.  If we tell him no, he stops.  Right away.  If we tell him to come, he comes.  But he is starting to show his will and test the limits more and more each day.  He has started throwing tantrums too.  More so than Olivia ever did.  I sent Michael a text last week asking how our BOY was more emotional than our GIRL ever was.  He said he was wondering the same thing! ;)

He's starting to learn some of his body parts.  He doesn't really say them, but he points to them if you say them. Speaking of body parts, he's obsessed with his belly button.  His hand is on it and playing with it often!

He's a pretty good eater. Although, I like to say he's like his Boppa.  He prefers meat and could totally do without the carbs.

It looks like we may need to go back to being dairy free.  He never did switch his milk, but it looks like the cheese and yogurt and that sort of thing is bothering him.  Which is harder now that it was with Olivia.  She didn't know what she was missing, so going two years without it was no big deal.  He's had it for 3 months and when he sees a string cheese--he wants it!

Overall he is a super fun, loving, and hilarious little boy.  He keeps us on our toes, but he brings a lot of fun with it too!  We love this little bundle of energy to pieces!

And even though I don't know that I believe the whole "boys are harder at first, but then get easier" thing... I'm claiming it.  I have to. This tired mama needs some hope! ;)

Life Lately

Hey y'all!  Well, my laptop is still broken.  At this point, I think it might just be gone for good.  Michael has done all the tests he can think of and everything is coming out good.  Yet, when we turn it on it just "thinks" and doesn't go past the load up page.  For the time being I am using a very old (and very busted up) laptop.  It's a mess.  And it works very slow.  So my posts will likely be few and far between.  But I'm going to try to catch us up a bit.  Most of these pictures could use their own entire post.  I just can't bring myself to spend all day trying to load pictures.  Hopefully these will suffice for now! :)

We have been visited by all sorts of princesses and fairies lately. :)

This cool dude keeps us on our toes.  He is ALL BOY, which is the complete opposite of his very girly sister.  He is into EVERYTHING, climbs EVERYTHING, and whines about EVERYTHING.  He's lucky he's cute!

We've gone on a few play dates.  We signed up for the Kids Bowl Free program.  My friend Shaye asked us to join her and her daughter Sadie for a play date.  It was the first time either girl had bowled, and they had a blast!  If you sign up for the program, each kid can bowl two FREE games a DAY for the entire summer.  You just have to pay for shoes.  (Which was only $2.50!  Cheaper than Ohio!)

Before this ridiculous monsoon of rain we have been getting (that's another story!), we had some rather warm days.  We broke out the kiddie pool and the kids had a great time.

Olivia and I had a girl's date.  Which included buying some more decor for her room, exploring the Disney store, drinking a milk shake, and riding some of the kiddie rides at the mall.

Working at Target is still going well.  I work three nights a week.  In one months time I have been trained on both cash register and service desk.  Which is a LOT of information.  I'm told I was put over at service desk so fast "because they like me".  So far, so good.  I like the people I work with.  I like the break from home life.  I like the discount.  The only thing I don't like is getting out of bed the next morning. ;)

My sister came to visit us for an extended weekend.  We had a blast!

She played with and loved on the kids. They had so much fun with her!

She and I shopped until we dropped.  We hit McKinney Square one day.  We ate, we talked, we walked, we shopped.  It was so nice to be having adult time with my sista!  Then we hit the outlet malls the next day.  We also ate out at lots of yummy new places.  I'm so glad she got to come and hang with me and the fam.  We are already planning a girl's weekend!

We've been exploring different parks around town.

After each one we go to, Michael declares it "his new favorite"! :)

We have sort of unintentionally already played in two splash pads.

We made our first trip to the pirate ship for some shaved ice--because that's what you do in Texas.

We also got Olivia signed up and registered for preschool.  It was a bit more of a process than I was anticipating.  I really, really, really didn't want her to go until 2 p.m., but that is the way 99% of the schools do it around here.  I had found one place that ended at 12.  Perfect!  I was all set for that to be the place. Then we went on a tour.  And for various reasons it was just not the place for us.  That put us back at the drawing board.  Most preschools (and private schools) do registration in February.  So we were behind!  After touring a couple of different places, we finally found one that will work for us.  She does have to go until 2, which doesn't thrill me at all, but overall we are pleased with our choice.  So staring in the fall she will go from 9 to 2 on Tuesday's and Thursday's. She can't wait!! A few weeks ago she said to me, "You found me a church, now find me a new preschool."  Ha ha! She is very anxious to get back into all that social interaction.

Speaking of church--after revisiting the one church, we decided that it wasn't really for us.  You know you are old when the light show and smoke effects put you over the edge. ;)  We have a list of a few more to try.  My goal is to get settled soon so that we can get involved!

We are all registered for MOPS.  It won't start up again until September, but they do registration now.  Our limit is 160 women because of child care, and they were already at 130 as of yesterday!  It is a great group, so it fills up fast!  Here's a funny story--while I was on my play date with Shaye she said, "It's too bad you can't be on steering or being a table group leader."  Those positions get filled in late February/early March, so I wasn't even in town when they were being decided.  I said I was just going to go this next year, get back into the swing of things, and then see.  Not two hours later, I got a text from my friend Lora asking if I would be interested in being a group leader. I said sure.  What I found out later is that one of the mom's had to step down. She told Berkley (who is in charge of the table leaders).  Within an hour of her telling Berkley she had to step down, Lora went up to Berkley at the MOPS meeting and told her about me and that I would be interested in being a table leader if she needed me.  All that to say, I will be a table leader next year, and it seems as though God had it all worked out for me!

This is also one of the reasons I am only sending Olivia to preschool two days.  She can come with me to MOPS three Wednesdays out of the month. It is included in my dues anyway, and I really want her to be involved with the kids at MOPS too.  That way when we do play dates and stuff, she may know some of them and feel more comfortable.  I can't wait for fall to get here!!!

There you have it.  That's what we've been up to.  I hope to post more soon!

Tech Troubles

Hey all!  I'm just popping in to let you all know that my laptop is dead.  My tech guy (Michael) is trying to work on it, but I'm not holding out much hope.  It might have actually bit the dust for good this time.  Either way, "texting" an entire blog message is not something I'm too interested in.  So I'm not sure when I'll be back to posting regularly.  Hopefully soon!

Five (or six) For Friday

The organizing and down sizing continues!  In the first six weeks of being here, I have made $128 at Once Upon a Child, $110 off of Facebook, and $170 at a consignment sale!  And that is just scratching the surface!  (In case you aren't familiar, you can only re-sell kids clothes during the current season.  So all fall and winter stuff has to wait.)  I haven't done much in the garage in the last week or two, but it's time to get back out there and keep going before it gets way too hot out!

I've also been organizing other things--like getting my email inbox from 2500+ down to 10.

I love organizing and decluttering! So while this process is a bit daunting at times, it makes my heart happy!

I actually got a job at Target, and I'm pretty happy about it.  There are a lot of "fun" places I would like to work--another cupcake store, the teacher store, a children's consignment store, a craft store...but all those places close pretty early.  I can't get to work until 5:30 or 6, so a place that closes at 7 or 8 is just not going to work for me.  So I had to think of another place that I would enjoy, but would be open later.  I also considered what place would benefit me (discount)?!  Target!  I know there are some people that think I'm "above" Target.  Yes. I have a degree and could do more.  My dear sweet husband thinks I should start my own business... or run the world. ;)  But I run MY world every day!  I don't want to use my degree or work with kids or take on the huge responsibility of running my own business.  I just want to show up, do a mindless job, have a break from whiny/clingy kids (yep. I said it.), and make a little extra money in the process.  My kids are 3 and 1, so this is where I am at in my life right now.  And I am perfectly fine with it.

I will be working two to three nights a week.  I had orientation last Tuesday.  I was "trained" on Wednesday.  And by trained, I mean I observed for an hour and then got thrown on a register all by myself because the lines were long.  Awesome.  I have worked a handful of times since, and it seems to be going well.

For the month of March we had to pay for THREE houses.  Our tenant moved out of our condo.  She had been there 3 years, was a great tenant, but was ready to move on.  Her lease was up, so there was no scandal there. (It's crazy the questions some people have!)  We still had to pay for our rental house in Ohio even though we weren't there.  It was part of the 60 notice we had to give.  We tried to see if they could rent it out sooner to help us out, but they weren't being very gracious. Then we had to pay rent for our place here in TX.  So three house payments... and three different utility bills.  To say it was an expensive month is putting it mildly.  But it is April!  We have a new renter in our condo (yay!), we are completely done with the house in Ohio and should have our deposit returned to us by the end of the month, and things at our house here are going well.  This is a relief.  It's always scary waiting for a renter.  Thankfully this time it only took us two months instead of 8!  Onward and upward! :)

Olivia has been eating chicken!!  It's a Christmas miracle, as Michael says. :)  She hasn't eaten meat for nearly two years.  Like NONE.  She wouldn't even eat Chick-fil-a nuggets!  But she has found out that she loves sauce and that chicken nuggets/fingers aren't all that bad. When we went out to eat with our gift card last week, she actually ordered the chicken strip kids meal and ate almost all of it!  Progress!

A few years ago I read a blog about how a mom loved these Old Navy shoes for her son.  I picked up a pair for Olivia that spring.  We loved them so much, that I have bought her a new pair every spring for the last 3 years.  (Along with an Old Navy pair of jellies). They are great because they are close toed, which sometimes you just need when playing outside.  They let the air in so the feet can breathe.  They are cute and super easy to clean. Plus, she really likes them.

Funny thing is, this year I have seen no less that THREE blogs write about Natives from Nordstrom.  I'm sure the Old Navy shoes are just a knock off.  But I am so glad I pay $10 to $13 for a pair as opposed to $39-$44. :)  I'm going to keep buying them each spring for as long as Old Navy keeps making them!

We went over to our friend's house last week for dinner.  Michael and John went to high school together, and we both moved to Texas within the same year.  Michael stayed at John and Alison's house for the month before the kids and I moved down here.  They have three children.  Olivia love Avery and Jordyn (the girls), and have asked to go to their house numerous times since our first visit.  So she was ecstatic to go back.  We have had some not so nice encounters with other children and play dates in the past (that is a story in and of itself!).  It was a breath of fresh air to be around sweet, kind, and loving little girls. They all played so well together. Texas is going to be good for our kiddos!

Playing Outside

We had a fun day playing out back last week.

Logan couldn't keep the bubble machine alone!

Bubbles!

I brought the car out back for Logan to use, but Olivia used it more.

She did give him a little push... until he started trying to climb out while the car was still moving. :)

Even though our sand table has a lid, inevitably it gets filled up with water every time it rains.  So our sand table turned into mud table is great fun for these guys.

and then since we were already a hot mess we just added a little water table into the mix.

Michael and Olivia took the magnifying glass and went looking for bugs.

The kids went right in to the bath tub.  But they had fun.