Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Logan's first birthday was Sunday, October 18th. We had a party for him at the helicopter park/playground in Chickamauga. Tons of people turned out in spite of the freezing cold. His theme was monkeys. I made a monkey cake, which turned out so cute if I do say so myself! He was a very good boy at his party and let everyone get their fill of him. He seemed to love digging into his cake. He got lots of presents. We bought him a Bounce and Spin Pony that connects to the TV and helps him learn animals, sounds, colors, etc and grows with him til he's 3ish. We'd tried putting him on it and showing him how it works but he legs aren't quite long enough to touch yet, so he holds on to the front to make it bounce and dances to the music it plays. I'm not sure why they say it's for 1-3 when Logan is above average in height and even he can't touch. He also got a Fisher Price Farm, lots of baseball toys, blocks, books, puzzles, cars, several educational tools, a Lightning McQueen ride on car, bath toys, a big bear, and several other gizmos and gadgets. All of which he loves! We cleaned out his toy box, but there still isn't room for everything he got. I'm hoping when I'm able to quit work we can turn my office into a playroom. Right now our living room looks like a toy store!

Logan and I stayed at my parents for the rest of the week while Brent went to Dallas on business. Logan was not a very good boy that week. He was out of his element and very clingy and fussy. He even had a hard time putting himself to sleep, which he'd gotten so good at in the weeks before. It seemed like everyday I was taking him for a car ride just so he'd sleep! Logan had his first play date while we were home. My friend, Kristin, has a 9 month old Noah. He and Logan played really hard and wore themselves out! Logan was a little nervous at first because Kristin's boyfriend was home, but once he left the room Logan started loosening up. There was one point where Logan had scooted me up just so he could wedge himself behind me on the couch and hide. I'm not sure where that came from. He's been so friendly in the past to everyone and never shown this shyness. He acted the same when we went to visit Brent's grandmother. He wouldn't let me put him down, wouldn't let her hold him and would love all on me. I don't want him to be shy but I kind of liked it because he's always too busy to give me much loving. The rest of the time I spent working or visiting friends. It was good to be home, but I'm glad to be back in my house and bed.

This week Logan has learned sooo many new things! He now waves. He doesn't really understand the concept of "bye, bye" because quite frankly we don't ever tell anyone "bye, bye". Brent leaves before he gets up, I never leave the house without him and if we need to go somewhere in the evening we either go together or one of us goes once he's asleep. We may go a month without telling anyone "bye, bye" other than the grocery store cashier or waitress at a restaurant. So needless to say, we hadn't even considered teaching him to wave bye. He picked up the waving part in about 10 minutes. He has also learned how to clap and does it when he does something good. He is also dancing a LOT! He dances to the music on his Lightning McQueen car and he dances to the pony thing we got him. It's so cute! He kicks his legs up and everything! He has learned how to stand up without pulling up on anything. He is also walking so much better! He still holds his arms out, but his balance has improved tremendously the past couple days. Today he started preferring walking over crawling.

Cute story....My brother got him a toy phone and he was pushing it around earlier. He got behind the couch and was a little quiet so I peaked around at what he was doing. He had the receiver up to his ear and said "hello" real soft and then proceeded to "talk" to someone. He did it over and over! It was so cute! Lately he's been giving us loving. He use to never do that and he really doesn't do it but for a second, but it's sweet nonetheless. If we sit in the floor, he'll walk over to us lay his head on our shoulder or put his forehead to our lips for a kiss. Then he's off again, back to playing. He can be really really sweet for seconds at a time, haha. He's definitely not the cuddly type though. He definitely has Brent's energy. I hope the next one is more laid back like I was.

Our Toddler...

We officially have a toddler. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad! Our baby boy is growing up so fast! He started walking more than just a couple steps yesterday. He started taking a few unassisted steps about 2-3 weeks ago, but now he can go clear across the living room! Of course he is still really wobbly, but I'm sure he gain more balance the more practice he gets. He even figured out how to walk while drinking out of his sippy cup yesterday, too! I have a video, but I'm not sure how to post it here. Hopefully I can figure it out soon though.


He is almost completely switched over to whole milk. I started offering it to him in a sippy cup about 3 weeks ago, he would take a couple sips and then have absolutely nothing to do with it. We started Friday mixing it in with his formula. Friday he got 2 oz whole milk with 4 oz formula. Yesterday we mixed 4 oz whole milk with 2 oz formula. We're going to do that same ratio today and hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I can switch to all whole milk. He seems to be tolerating it okay. The first time he had it he had diarrhea, but he hasn't had any issues since. As soon as he's completely use to whole milk, I plan on taking away his bottle and only giving him a sippy cup. He is doing sooo well with his sippy cup now that I don't think it will be an issue. We will see though! He is also doing much better with his diet. I figured out that I was giving him wayyy too many puffs/snacks before meal time and he wouldn't eat his real food because he'd been snacking all day long. He is doing much better now and eating new things. I can't believe I didn't realize that I was filling him up with snacks and that's why he wasn't eating....it makes perfect sense now! HAHA! Live and learn, right?! Yogurt, hot dogs, jello and pudding are his favorites...along with spaghetti-o's, broccoli cheese soup, chicken and stars...almost any Campbell's soup...and of course his watermelon! Of course he eats other things, but I can't remember right now what all, haha.

He is also putting himself down for all naps and bedtime now. I started about 3 weeks ago (apparently I started lots of things 3 wks ago!) just giving him his bottle and putting him in his bed without rocking him to sleep. It took him a week or so but he finally figured out that I wasn't coming up to rock him and he finally quit fighting. He does best at night and his first nap of the day. He hardly fusses at all for those times. He'll talk and whine a little and sing himself to sleep all by his big boy self. This week he has done much better at putting himself down for his afternoon nap. Sometimes he gets too upset and I have to go console him for a minute but I haven't had to rock him to sleep. In fact, he was a little too upset one day this week and I attempted to rock him and he absolutely refused to let me. He just kept reaching for his bed. My baby boy is getting very independent! I had been looking forward to the day that I could just lie him down but now I miss rocking him. He's also not using his passy very much when he puts himself to sleep, so maybe he's about to get rid of that too! I don't have a problem with passy though because he only uses it for naps and bedtime, if that. I see many many kids over 1 attached to a passy, so if he just needs it for sleep, then that's fine with me...at this point anyways.



One last thing...I keep forgetting to mention that he has 2 teeth now! He got his first one at 9 months and the second one a couple weeks later at 10 months.