One is Off and the Other is Trying Hard to Follow

Well, we have our video camera near us at all times these days. We just know that Logan will be crawling or pulling himself up any moment now. He actually has pulled himself up already on Daddy. He wasn't able to grab the camera due to the fact that he was being used as an anchor.

Logan is now getting himself from sitting down onto is tummy. He then rolls which ever way he needs to go to be closer to his destination. He has this butt up and down thing that he has been doing for the last week or so that is obvious to be an attempt to move forward. There are just so many little things he is doing that tell us it will be very soon.

We had to take Logan to the Dr. due to a rash and what we thought was an ear infection. She told us his ear is fine and the rash is dermatitis. Anyhow, the big thing she told us was that he has 3 teeth that are about to pop through. I knew about one on the bottom, but three all at once!!! No wonder he is fussy lately.

Zack started back to school this morning. He did not get his best friend in his class (which the moms aren't sad about by any means). He was knocking on my door at 6 a.m. completely dressed and teeth brushed. I don't know how he got himself up, his alarm was set for 6:00. What a dork. Who is excited for summer to be over? He was trying to go to the bus stop 20 minutes before it was time.

Due to the fact that school was starting today Zack got his head shaved! Well maybe not completely "shaved" but close enough. I have to say it looks much better that with the Mohawk though.

Stephen started his new job yesterday and was excited. He said that it went really well and likes the position. There is a full time spot opening up soon and he sorta wants to apply for it. I however do not want him to. It would be 5 varying days of 8 hour shifts in the evening (3-11:30 p.m.). Yea, I don't think so. This would almost totally eliminate any possibility of overtime for him since he would be working the same amount of hours in 5 days that he currently works in 4. He used to work that many hours in 3 days. I just don't think that the shift and the hours are that great. Not to mention that instead of paying for gas for 4 days it would be gas for 5 days for the same amount of pay.

I added another child to my childcare last week. She is working out really well so far. She is 3 1/2 and hasn't given me any troubles as of yet.

My friends had there babies!!!! I got a call last Thursday from Shannon Hoyle saying that her baby girl was born on that previous Monday. She was kept in the hospital due to jaundice.
Ronda then called me Friday at about 9:00 p.m. saying that her water broke. I rushed over and picked up Hunter so that they could go to the hospital. She had her baby boy just a few hours later. He was pretty healthy, a little jaundice too, but they let him go him with one of the UV lights.

Tanner Anthony Hall and Rebecca Angelynn Hoyle

Well that was a big update so I think I will stop there. Hope all is well with you and yours.

9 month Check Up

Logan had his 9 month follow up yesterday and every thing seems to be good. The main thing is that the Dr. wasn't very concerned about his back. She thinks it is just that he doesn't like to sit on his man parts or the bulk of his diaper. She thinks he would grow out of the bad posture and that his back will be okay. We may do an x-ray later if it doesn't improve.

Logan now weighs 17 lbs 5 oz (only 5 oz more than in June) which puts him in the 5-10 percent (not so great). He seems to be dropping percentile still so we are adding another feeding of solids into his day and increasing the formula intake. His length is good at 28 1/4 " which puts him the 50th%. She says that he isn't unhealthy or weak so it appears that he is just a small child. She would be concerned if his length was also off and or he appeared to be weak. She said it makes sense with how small Stephen and I are (especially Stephen).

The only thing a little off is that he still has a blocked tear duct. It isn't a huge deal. I guess they are pretty common and they usually go away on their own. If it isn't gone by his 1 year follow up then we will have to take him to an eye specialist. We just have to milk it and massage it daily to help prevent infection. If you remember we thought he had pink eye a while back. This is what it actually was, it was just really bad at that time so she just wanted to make sure he wasn't getting an infection (like pink eye).

He had his hemoglobin checked and it was good. Logan is all around healthy it seems. Just a little shrimp. We were hoping he would get my families body type, but it seems he is going to take after Stephen.

Well that is it. I just wanted to give everyone the Dr. appointment update.

Oh yea!! We are getting Logan's 9 month pictures taken on Sunday. We are excited!!

9 Months Old

I don't even know what to say about Logan right now. He has changed so much so fast that I can hardly keep up. He turned 9 months on the 20th and I just feel like my baby is gone and has been replaced by a wild little boy with a mind of his own.

He has recently changed my mind about thinking he is going to skip crawling. He is getting closer to crawling every day. If you put him on his hands and knees he will stay and rock a bit. He now loves being on his tummy and has even taken a few naps in the position. the other day he was sitting on the floor playing and I had to run outside for a minute so I had Zack watch him. When I came back in Logan was on the other side of the room. Zack said he log rolled over to a toy he wanted. He has not done it again so I can't be sure if that is what really happened. I have watched him get almost all the way onto his hands and knees though to reach for a toy.

Logan is doing some other new things that just amaze me. He now growls when he wants a drink or bite of something I have. He also does this if he is hungry and we are going towards the kitchen. It is sooooo cute. He gets a sippy cup now that he proudly holds on his own. He has learned how to clap his hands and is doing it all the time now. He looks for the excitement in Mom and Dad's faces when he does it. He gets so excited by it.

There has been a bit of a change with Zack too. Not in the same sort of way of course. His is more of a visual change. I will put a picture up and you see if you can notice what it is. He is getting ready to start school in 2 weeks so this new thing will be short lived.

Stephen and I are about the same. My birthday was pretty nice. I got a digital video recorder which is something Stephen and I have been wanting for a long time. It is just in time to record Logan and his new milestones.

We did finally put some rock in our back yard (this is what us Arizonans use instead of grass). We wanted it in before the Monsoons hit to avoid a big mud puddle for a back yard. We were successful.

Oh yea!! We sold our Scion. We didn't get much over what we owed on it so that is sorta a bummer, but oh well. We are glad to be rid of the payments. We are going to try to wait a bit before getting another car. When we do get another it will be a point A to B car this time.

I guess that is all I can come up with for now.

Happy 4th!!!

Happy Independence Day everyone!! And Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!

There are a few updates for you. First, Stephen was offered a job in the pharmacy at the hospital he used to work for. It is the sister hospital to the one he currently works at so all of his benefits and seniority carry over. There are some ups and downs to the position. The ups are that he would finally be working in a pharmacy so that he can get experience before he goes to school. It is also great that he can just transfer without giving up his 401K and insurance. One of the downs is the crappy hours. They are bringing him in and demanding that he take the hours that the other employees don't want; nights (2-11pm) and weekends. Another down is that he will have to take a small pay cut if he takes the job. Not a very large one, but even still. I guess that he makes more than some of the pharmacy techs do and they can't bring him in at his current pay and let him make more then them. He really wants the job so I think he is going to deal with the negatives. They know how bad he wants in the pharmacy and they know they can offer him no incentives and he would still take it. BIG DOWNFALL!!!

Lets see, what else is new? Zack is at his dad's. He went there this weekend and decided to spend a few extra days there. Hunter didn't want to come over for child care since Zack wasn't here. Ronda was put on leave from work early due to some pregnancy complications so he stayed home.

Stephen's sister Jennifer and her husband come for a visit. It was the first time we were able to meet Adam. He is very nice and we all think that they make a great couple. This was also the first time they got to see Logan. Logan took to Jennifer very well. He never fussed when she picked him up.

There is nothing really new with me (not that there ever is). We don't really have plans for my birthday (not that we ever do). I am not working the 4th so I decided to work the 5th. Stephen took the day off to be home with me. I am planning to make goulash. I refuse to bake my own cake and my husband would burn the house down so I guess that will be it.

Here are some pictures. One is a picture of the veiw from Larry and Kays living room. There is also a picture of Zack and Hunter having a water balloon fight. Any others are just too cute not to share.o.

Do the Logan!!

Logan does this cute little new dance when he is sitting down now. He bounces up and down on his butt and makes a cute little noise with it. We tell him to "Do the Logan" and he gets a big smile on his face and begins to dance. It is adorable.

We have discovered that Logan LOVES watermelon. We got a mesh bad that Aunt DeAnna recommended and gave him some watermelon and he was in LOVE!!! He goes to town on it and screams at you if you pull it away. I put a picture of him eating it, but you would have to see him do it to see how cute it is.

Zack is pretty much the same. He is such a chatter box these days. I can't get a moments peace. He and Hunter are inseperable these days. Not only is Hunter here all week for daycare, but they still have to stay with one another on hte weekends. Hunter stayed over on Friday and Zack stayed wiith him on Saturday. You would think they would run out of things to talk about, but they never shut up. Zack came home on Sunday and fell asleep on his floor in his room at 5:00 from being so exhausted.

One Short Week

We just got home from a very short seeming week in Illinois. We went back for my sister Laura and new B-I-L Joe's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and went very well. Laura looked amazing!!!! Congrats to them. Also congrats to Dad and Bonnie for marrying off the last of the girls. You can now close your check books with relief.

While we were in Illinois we stayed at DeAnna and Andy's house. We had some much fun spending the week with them. MaKayla is getting so big! Even more interesting than that is the fact that she has 6 teeth now. Logan has ZERO. We had fun watching the two of them play together. MaKayla is on the move now which is adorable. We took the kids to Magic Waters and they had a lot of fun.

My mom, grandma, twin brothers, Ed, and Nisa came up for a cook out. It was nice that Logan finally got to meet all of them. Mark was covered in poison ivy so he did not get to touch the babies.

We went to Grandpa Johnson and Elaine's house while we were back. We had a very nice visit. Grandpa cooked my favorite dish, Mac n' cheese. Grandpa is staying busy in the yard while Elaine works her new job.

We visited a few of my good friends while we were back. We saw the Hoyle family. Shannon is quite pregnant and Joseph is giving her a hard time with his terrible two's. Mat Shuck and his family are doing well. Mason didn't like me at first but he warmed up to me by the end of the visit.

We made a couple of trips to Madison, WI also. Erick, a friend of mine lives there and he did us a favor of showing us around the city. Stephen had an appointment with an advisor to look at the School of Pharmacy. He really likes the school and plans to apply. It is a bit hard to get in as an out of state applicant though. We wish we could just pick up and move back now to establish residency. Maybe soon, we will see.

We finally made it to see Jen and Ben's new home. It is beautiful and I am very jealous. Caden and Zack were instant best friends. Caden come up to stay with us at DeAnna and Andy's house one night. They were adorable.

Well that is our trip in a nut shell. We had a lot of fun and wish we didn't have to leave. The desert is a pit and we want to move ssooooo bad!!! Maybe someday.

Sorry Ya'll

So we had some major computer troubles for a while. We are up and running again though. There is a lot you haven't been updated on I suppose. Let's see here.

Well, DeAnna and MaKayla came to visit us in April which was AWESOME!!!! I fell in love with that little baby girl the moment I saw her. She is adorable!! Her and Logan had a lot of fun playing and watching each other. They are very different from each other. It was nice to see DeAnna too, we had a lot of catching up to do. She looked beaurtiful.

Logan will be hitting 7 months in 2 days from now. At his last Dr.s appointment which was about 1 month ago the Dr. told us that he had dropped from the 35 % to the 10% for his age and length. We have had to really pump up his solid food intake in attempt to get his weight up. I would say it worked. He looks like a little chunker to me now. We will see what the Dr. says in about 2 weeks. Logan is sitting up now as you can see in these pictures. He also can say Mama and baba (not that he really knows what he is saying). He loves to laugh. For the most part is a pretty calm happy baby.

Zack will be out of school next Thursday. I think he and he friends stepped out mentally about 2 weeks ago though. They are so excited for summer to come. I don't know how excited I am about them being here ALL DAY though. I hope that doesn't make me a horrible mom. Zack has lost a couple more teeth since my last post also. Oh, he also received the Owl of the Month award again! GO ZACK! Zack also got a puppy. Her name is Jasmine, she's a rat terrior.

Stephen is finally off of night shift (thank God). He is really enjoying being on a regular sleep schedule again. I am happy to not have to sleep in the house alone. I hated when he was gone at nights.

I am pretty much the same. I have been really tired and run down lately. Doing child care in my home is the hardest job I have ever had. It is really hard watching 6 kids from 630 am to 530 pm. I am ready to pass out by 600 pm. Not to mention how dirty my house gets so fast. I feel like I can never get caught up on anything.

Stephen, Zack and I all got to go to the movies together for the first time in about 9 months. We saw Spider Man 3. It was pretty good, a little more cheesy than the first two we thought though. It was nice to be able to hang out with just Zack again though. He really enjoyed not having to battle for attention for those few hours.

My in-laws sold their house after being on the market for only a few weeks. They moved into the town house that we were living in before we moved into our house (they own the town house). The house they are having built has had some set backs, but they should be in it soon. I will have to post some pictures of the house once it is done. It is just amazing!!

We will be going to visit my family in Illinois in 3 weeks from tomorrow!!!!!!! My sister Laura is getting married and we will be going back for her wedding. We are very excited!!!! We haven't all been able to go back for about 3 years. There are many people who haven't gotten to meet Logan yet and are aching to do so. It will be a nice reunion.

Until next time.....