Oklahoma Adventures Week 25

January 20th - 27th

I have a feeling this semester and next few months are going to go by really really fast. I hope we can keep up with everything. I guess that's good though, then it won't seem too long before we are moving on and settling down. :)

We really only have one story to tell this week and then I think it will just be a lot of pictures. I'm sure y'all won't mind. So, on Wednesday this week our furnace went out. I thought it was strangely cold when I got up to feed Logan at 5:00am. I decided he could snuggle with me and Morgan since it was so cold and when I climbed back into bed, the sheets were like ice. Usually they are still slightly warm when I get back in bed. So, a couple hours later, Morgan realizes that the furnace stopped working. He went and checked and the pilot light had gone out sometime during the night. This happened while we were in Utah if you remember, so he tried the same things to start it and after 4 tries we decided we better call someone. I immediately thought the worst and that we would have to replace the entire thing and it would put us out about $3,000 or more. ( I have no idea what it really costs.) Luckily we knew someone in the ward who just happens to be in the heating and A/C business. We gave him a call and they were able to squeeze us in during a lunch break. And to our wonderful delight, they only had to replace the ignition switch and it was only about $80. YAY for blessings! This truly was a blessing. We were able to have our heat on that afternoon and we didn't have to replace the entire unit.

Oh yeah, it also just happened to be the coldest day of the past few weeks on the very day we had no heat. Morgan had to go to school, so me and The Buddy brought the space heater in the office, bundled up and closed the door. We actually stayed quite warm I just rolled in his high chair when it was time for him to eat. So, all in all, it wasn't that bad of an experience, just an experience to put down in the records. :)Daddy bundling up Logan before he left for school. Oh yeah, we still had hot water too, so that was another good thing. :)The mittens and the hat didn't last long, but it was too cute to pass up a photo-op.

I think we all had on about 3-4 layers of clothes. :) .....TOUCHDOWN.....

I think Logan finds a new toy each week. This week he discovered the scale, much to my chagrin. So, rather than have him crawling on the bathroom floor (yuck), I just bring it out in the hallway for him to play with.

He flips it over and examines it very thoroughly.

And then when he's done, he's off to find a new toy. :)Hooray for the buddy. He puts his arms up and smiles whenever he puts some food in his mouth or takes a really good bite and we shout, YAY!It was actually quite difficult to catch on camera because he would get distracted by the camera and wouldn't lift his arms up.He's teething again, so he plays with his tongue a lot. And when he doesn't really want to take a bite, that's how he opens his mouth.This is my new favorite smile. He's been doing it for a while, but it's really hard to catch on camera, but he closes his eyes and grins really really big. This picture doesn't quite do it justice though.

Logan is our little monkey, he loves climbing on the shelves, he's going to be all over the place when he can walk and climb a little better. He has no fear and will dive head first off the couch or bed if his toy falls. So far we've been there to catch him every time. We're trying to teach him to go feet first, but he still likes to fly. We're going to have a lot of fun at the playground when he gets bigger. :)

Oklahoma Adventures Week 24

January 13th - 20th

Sheesh, this week went by way too fast. Morgan started school this week, so he's already up to his neck in homework. His one professor said, this class is supposed to have 8 hours a week of work and I'm going to make sure that happens....poor Morgan. At least we're one semester down and only 4 more to go. :)

Logan can move like wildfire now. He's still not crawling, but he's got this hilarious belly roll crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and lunges forward and flops down and does it all over again. We've got some great video that we'll try and get up later.

I'm also happy to report that he is an excellent eater now. We've finally got a good eating schedule, now on to fixing the sleeping schedule.

He's starting to stand a little on his own against objects. He loves to look out the window and wait for daddy to get home. We also did some practice in the crib. He went from the middle of the crib all the way to the end. He's only done it once and doesn't really cruise as much as jump in place. The crib was just a soft spot to land when he falls. His new favorite place to play is "under anything" He'll go from under the piano, under his bouncer toy, or even under the table in the living room. I'm sure we'll be building lots of forts in the future. I have to pay much closer attention now, sometimes I'll turn around and he's gone. He's a quick little scooter. His other favorite toy is the kitchen mat. Needless to say we have to keep the kitchen floor cleaner (well, and all of them actually) now that he is moving around all the time.Logan loves to help daddy study for his classes too. He's a really big help, but at the same time, I think he misses all the attention he had been getting before Morgan had to focus on school more. What a blessing last semester was, but this will all be worth the sacrifice.We didn't really do much because of the change in our busy schedules. I do have a slightly humorous (someday I'll look back and laugh) and embarrassing story to tell. So, I decided I wanted to see what all the hub-bub about "Nair" was. For those of you that don't know what it is, you're lucky. It's a hair removal cream/lotion. And since I hate shaving, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great to just rub a lotion on and all my hair will disappear? hahaha, how naive I was. First of all, it smells more like you're giving your leg hair a perm, not removing it. And secondly, when it tells you to test a small area, do it. I'm regretting it now. I figured, eh, it's just my legs, if it turns out badly, I can always put some knee highs on at church and cover up the disaster. That's exactly what I have to do today, not only did it not remove all my hair, stink up me and the house, but I had an allergic reaction to it and it looks like I got in a fight with my razor blade and have a terrible razor rash. :( And to top it all off, it itches like crazy and feels like I have an entire colony of ants attacking me. Suffice it to say, the rest of the bottle ended up in the trash, I've probably used an entire can of Lysol to get rid of the smell, and I feel like an idiot. Oh well, you win some you lose some. But, if my experience can prevent anyone from making the same mistake I did, it was worth sharing my moment of stupidity. At least it didn't burn a hole through all of my skin, for that I'm grateful. :) So, after you're done laughing and making fun of me, here are some final pictures of cute little Logan to make your day. I know he's already made my day better, even if I'll be a walking anthill all day.

Oklahoma Adventures Week 23

January 6th - 13th

What an exciting week...well, not really, but then that all depends on how you look at it. :) We were going to do the post this morning, but then got too busy getting dinner ready (I love the Crockpot) and playing with Logan and I'm happy to report, he is over his cold now.

So, this week was amazing as far as the weather goes, it has continued on from last week. It was great to be able to go outside and just relax and not have to worry about bundling Logan up so much. Then, out of nowhere one night, there was this huge rainstorm that of course Logan slept through, but as soon as it got quiet he woke up again. We're still working on a good way for him to sleep. We've tried the hold him and rock him to sleep every time method, and the cry it out method, both are exhausting, any other suggestions? He'll get there again someday though. Anyway, back to the storm, we watched the news the next day and I guess the Midwest (except Oklahoma) got slaughtered with some very unseasonal tornadoes. I'm really glad they didn't touch down in OK, I'm really not ready for tornado season. :(

Other than not sleeping very well at night, Logan has been his very happy self again. We're starting to get into a better routine, which is good because Morgan starts school tomorrow and this semester will be a lot tougher than last. He also had to work all last week, but what spare time he did have at home he was doing projects like cleaning the garage storage area and moving a lot of stuff up there so we have room in the garage to maybe park a car this summer when it's dreadfully hot. And of course, he spent some good quality time with Logan,

I sure love the guys in my life! They make every moment worth living.

Every since that cold, Logan has been eating like a champ, maybe because he couldn't taste anything and realized that it felt good in his tummy and now he eats it. I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm grateful for it. Keep it up little Buddy!

His favorite used to be Beech-Nut Oatmeal with Bananas, and I was just about to buy a huge case of it because it was something that he actually ate, and then he got bored with it. hahah, so I'm glad I didn't go crazy yet. I think that is they key with Logan, he gets bored with food, so we have to have a lot of variety and different flavors for his picky palate. Right now his favorite is graham crackers and milk for a snack and Yobaby Yogurt-with fruit and cereal already mixed in it.

I think high-chairs are probably one of the most useful pieces of baby furniture one can own. They keep most of the food mess off the baby and the floor, and when you're all out of hands or patience you can stick them in there for a while with some toys or finger foods and they'll go to town for several minutes. And, it's a great place to play when you're trying to get dinner ready.

I was making dinner the other night and Logan was just babbling away and chomping on his Kix and then it slowly started to get quiet. I turned around and he had fallen asleep. :) Now, why can't he do that in his crib at night? hehehe.

Yesterday we decided to go to the temple since it would be a good way to start Morgan's new semester, and sadly, I haven't been since Logan was born because he was so dependent on me for food. It was a wonderful experience and we feel so blessed to be only 20 minutes away from the ONLY temple in Oklahoma. What a great date! (Since those might be scarce for the next 4 months during the semester.) Right now, life is good! Have a great week!

Oklahoma Adventures Week 22

December 30th - January 6th, 2008!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe that it's already 2008. This year will be my 5 year reunion for high school and Morgan's 10th. And Logan will be turning 1 year old in only 3 short months. Wow, time just goes by too fast.

Well, we started this week off in Utah and headed home on Monday. We decided to drive all the way home in one shot - I don't recommend this at all! Things were going fine until it started to get dark and Logan couldn't see his toys anymore and wasn't tired. That was about when we hit Texas....ugh! The rest of the world feels that 70-75 miles/hour is a decent speed limit...well, not Texas. We didn't even notice when we crossed the border until the lights were swirling behind us. In the normal world if the speed limit is 75 and you sent your cruise control to about 80 you're going to be just fine.....until you hit Texas and they decided that the speed limit should only be 60 at night and 65 during the day. Needless to say, we got a ticket. I'm sitting there in the car with a screaming baby that I don't dare take out of his car seat for fear of another citation and Morgan is asked to step out of the car and has to go sit in the patrol car. Maybe the cops were just more alert because it was New Year's Eve, but still. We just wanted to be home!

The car ride didn't get much better after that, because we stopped the car Logan woke up and was crying for probably an hour. Finally we pulled the car over on some random exit into nowhere and both took a deep breath, Morgan stepped out of the car and took a little walk to stretch while I tried to feed Logan in the car. We switched from our book on tape the Primary Children's Music and about an hour later of some very fervent prayers for patience Logan fell asleep and stayed that way for the last 2 hours of the drive.

We pulled in to our driveway about 1:00am oblivious to the New Year, all we were thinking of was sleep and more sleep. We had turned the heat down in our house before we left, so of course it was freezing when we got in. I grabbed the space heater and put it in Logan's room, bundled him up in several blankets and didn't even bother to change him into pajamas for fear he would wake up. Luckily he slept somewhat peacefully that night.

Boy I'm glad we're home. We had a great time, but it's still nice to be back into the familiar. At least the strenuous drive was on the way home and not the way there, otherwise I'm sure those first few days we would have been slightly disgruntled and not as pleasant to be around. So, enough of the negative because overall it was definitely worth the trip to see all our family, but we're going to start saving our pennies and fly next year. :)

So, this week was one of mostly just catching up and settling back into a routine. Logan has a cold. :( It's so sad to hear him cry and use his scratchy voice. However, he's actually been sleeping and eating solids much better that usual. He's not been so great at breastfeeding though, probably due to the fact that he can't breath and if anything interrupts him while he's eating he just says forget it. We're working on that now. He's been enjoying his Christmas presents and just being able to play around in the floor.

Other good news, he's "crawling" well, the army crawl anyway. He can get about anywhere he wants to and is getting better and better everyday. The first big stride was at our stop in Green River and my brother was teasing Logan with a toy and Logan fell for the bait and just kept moving along to get it. I guess I just give in to quickly before letting him struggle a little. So, thanks Uncle Mikey! (who by the way they just had their first baby boy - I hope they don't mind me saying - on January 4th. We're so excited for them. He was 6lbs 8oz )

Logan is excited to have another cousin to play with next Christmas.

The only other really eventful thing this week is that our church is now at 1:00, so we'll try and have the blog done before then. We had some great weather yesterday 72 degrees...in winter...it was awesome. There was no way we could stay indoors. So, after getting some projects done around the house we headed up to Morgan's campus to have a look around. Here are a few pictures from our little family outing:

We shot some hoops at the Union Center. Morgan won "PIG" but I creamed him in "HORSE" (essentially the same thing, but I won the bigger word). We had fun and Logan just chilled in his stroller watching us and cheering. You can see his little eyeballs poking out from under his hat. It wasn't cold, but it was a little windy.

He just loved being outside. We really need to get out more. Hopefully this warm weather will keep up so we can.

This is the student union building. We went inside and played ping pong and Morgan beat me. I can't believe. He bested me 2 out of 3 and got to choose our treat for the evening. We went to Braum's later for dinner and ice cream.

This is the soon to be new college of Allied Health that Morgan will get to go to when it's complete this fall and his parking spot is right behind the building...how lucky can he get?

This is me and Logan by a cool reflection pool. We'll have to go in the Spring when all the swans and ducks are out playing.

Daddy and The Buddy by the water wall.

This is Dr. Dan. This buffalo stands in front of the OU Medical School towers. What's the deal with all the statues of buffaloes everywhere. Don't they have one or several up by the capitol building in Salt Lake? Seriously though, does anybody know?

Logan - King of the Buffalo. :) Well, that about wraps up our week. Until next time....