Fall!

We are finally getting some nice fall weather around here. I love my warm weather, but I must admit that the heat and bugs are not good for little toddlers to play in! Its been so fun to get out in the cool air and not have mosquitos everywhere!

Brenden decided to help us rake some leaves!

Ooooh. These things are pretty neat!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Here Mommy, you need a drink!

We finally got around to carving the pumpkin from the pumpkin patch we went to. Brenden enjoyed playing with the seeds and the pumpkin "guts." For some reason he insisted on wearing his coat during this activity!

Scooping the seeds with a spoon.

Helping Dada make the silly pumkin face.

Brenden is finally experiencing a little bit of "I'm not the baby anymore" reality and has been acting up a little. He's become VERY attached to mama and gets mad if Dada tries to do something he wants Mama to do for him. He wants to be held more and will hand me his sippy cup and make me hold it while he drinks out of is. He will do the same with food. He has started protesting daycare as well. He's fine about 5 min after I leave, but when I get there he refuses to go inside and clings to my leg the whole time. He's also getting 2 bottom teeth and has a cold. The poor kid has just had some rough days.

He's talking up a storm now. He repeats anything he hears and remembers lots of new words each day. If he throws something he'll say "good throw" afterward because that's what Dada always tells him. He's got most of his colors down. He still has trouble with red, yellow, and blue - in his eyes they are all "bwue!" but he knows purple, green, brown, black, white, and pink.

Logan is getting his chubby baby face now. He LOVES to eat. I don't remember Brenden feeding this frequently! I could swear he'd go 3 hours between feedings but I'm lucky if Logan will hold off for 2 hours at a time. I am constantly on standby for a feeding! However he will go 4-5 hours at night without a feeding which has been nice. He's more alert now. I'm getting the occasional smiles but its tough to catch them on film.

Here is a half-smile.

Here he is playing with his activity center. Do you think he looks overstimulated?!


And here are my two boys together. Logan looks happy to have his big brother near by!

One Month Checkup

Logan had his one month appointment last week. He is growing really well. He weighed 9lb 4oz and was 21in long. His weight was in the 45%, his length was in the 25%, and his head circumference was in the 50% (this surprised me!, his head seems so big compared to his body!) So all in all he's a little short, but the rest of him is average. He had his second HepB shot and did really well. He let out a little cry but settled down immediately. He's starting to smile now on occasion. I haven't been able to really catch it on film, but it won't be long now. He's hit and miss with his sleeping. Some nights he does great and others he wants to stay awake and wants Mommy to entertain him. I think his eyes are going to stay blue. Brenden's eyes were never this light, they were a very dark gray-blue at birth and continued to stay dark and have brownish hues to them. I think in some ways he looks so much like Brenden and in other ways he doesn't look like him at all. It just depends on his expression.




Brenden is a good big brother. He likes to act out whenever I am feeding Logan and Daddy is at work. I'm sure its his way of saying "hey, why aren't you paying attention to ME" so we have some challenging days, especially on weekends when I have both boys all day by myself. Thank GOD Brenden still takes a nap and I get a chance to refuel.

I've been looking high and low for a child sized broom for Brenden. He always tries to use the big one and it is too bulky for him and he ends up getting mad at it. I finally found this broom at WalMart. It was with the younger child toys, I figured it would be with the kitchen toys or the girls toys. Here he is cleaning up under his table after his lunch - Yes, he has his own table. He was constantly fighting the booster seat and was hardly ever eating his dinner so we got a child sized table and chair and it works like a charm! He just didn't like being restrained and forced to sit in a seat. With this table/chair he feels like he's more in control.

Pumpkin Patch!

We decided to take our very first trip to a local pumpkin patch this fall. Brenden had such a great time! It was a fun family activity.

Here he is petting some baby pigs.



He was SO amazed at the rabbit in the cage!

My little pumpkin!

We took a hay ride to the actual pumpkin patch. Brenden had so much fun as you can see by the expression of pure joy on his face!

He wanted to pick the BIG pumpkin.


Logan hung out with Mommy in her sling and slept the whole time!


After our perfect pumpkins were picked we were back on the hay ride.


We ended the event with a sampling of some WONDERFUL local apple cider. The nice folks at the farm gave Brenden a refill after he had a HUGE melt-down when his cup was empty! It was lots of fun and something I hope to do with the boys every fall!

Toddler Hoe Down

Ever since having Logan, its been difficult for me to get a lot of good quality one-on-one time with Brenend. Logan needs me to nurse him every 2.5 -3 hours during the day and with each feeding and burping lasting 30 min or more, it just leaves little fun time for my big boy and his mama. On Friday, the daycare had a "Toddler Hoe Down" for Brenden and his classmates so I left Logan at home with daddy and spent the afternoon with my adorable toddler.

They had some pumpkins in the sensory table for the kids to explore the shapes, textures, and smells.


Brenden is showing Mommy his new pumpkin discovery!

He also got to play with some ears of corn - which weren't as fun as the pumpkin! (oh and notice his hoe down outfit!!)

Such a cutie!

Showing off his playground to Mommy

Picking flowers off of the bush.

Neigh!


What a big pony!


And taking another pony for a ride!


We had lots of fun and really got some much needed quality time together!

1 month old

I can't believe Logan will be a month old tomorrow. He is doing much better. He's still not always the best sleeper but I am starting to see some improvement and thats better than nothing at all. I thought I was never going to sleep again! He will now go back to sleep between feedings which has been nice. Occasionally he's interested in staying awake, but mostly he'll resume sleep. He also will sometimes sleep up to 4 hours at a time which is amazing! He's still sleeping in the bed with me. He seems to sleep better when he's snuggling with Mommy. It also allows me to snooze while I feed him.

He is definitely more awake and alert during the days now. He hates his car seat with a passion and, as with Brenden, my white noise CD has been a gift from God for car rides. Its the only way we can go anywhere without him screaming the whole time.

Brenden just continues to grow and become more of a little boy each day. He will repeat just about any words he hears or at least try to say what you are saying. He loves to try to sing along with his favorite TV shows. The top 3 are the Wiggles (which I am so happy to find they are on PBS Sprout now, I thought when Disney dropped them we lost them for good!), Blues Clues, and Jacks Big Music Show (he loves to sing the theme song to this and whenever it comes on he runs around with his arms in the air singing "SHOWWW!!!") He is learning a few of his colors. He's definitely got purple and white down, he gets the others confused. He knows all of the Wiggles names and can tell you who is who.


We had portraits made last week. Normaly Portrait Innovations does a great job but I wasn't as pleased with this session. Many of the good shots were out of focus so we didn't get those. There were also many good opportunities to get smiles from Brenden that she missed. And in general she went too slow for a family who stressed that we needed to move quickly because Brenden and Logan wouldn't last long. Its still nice to have pictures of both boys and of the whole family.