Dress up Clothes

My sister made super cute dress up clothes for the kids for Christmas which went great with the hats that I bought them for Christmas.  I always wanted dress up clothes as a kid, and so I have been dying to get them for the kids for a while.  Anyways, the kids being kids were non-plussed originally when they got the clothes and would not try them all on and so my sister never got to see all the fruit of her labors.  Of course, the kids love them now.  They always seem to take awhile to warm up to new things.  So, since it was my sister’s birthday today, I finally remembered to take pictures.  The boys, of course, didn’t want to match clothes with hats and had their own ideas about how things go together.  Thankfully, they are pictures not videos so you don’t hear the comments that go along with the pictures – most of which are along of the lines of “I am a bad <fill in correct title here>.  I am going to kill you”.  Sigh.  Where do kids (boys) get this from?

The pictures:

And Logan being his cute chubby self:

Andrew is 4 years, 8 months old

PICTURES:

ART PROJECTS:

ANDREW THIS MONTH:

- Loves Logan and babies.  He has latched away from his love of Seth and now loves Logan and wants to talk to him and hold him and play with him all the time.  Same way with other little babies, too.  It’s sweet, but a little hard on Seth.

- Easier to rationalize with, but always wants his own way.  But he is starting to “get stuff” when we talk about stuff.  Like, I told him how much it means to Katsu if it is cleaned up when he gets home, and Andrew has started cleaning up really well.  When he is motivated, he really is motivated.  He does his chores thoroughly (although not that happily) and even asked for more jobs.  We’ll have to come up with something.  Oh, and he is finally realizing what the idea of a bubble is!  Or at least, he knows I have a very large bubble.

- Sees to be expanding some of friends at school, but still working on social skills.  He mentions playing with some of the boys (yeah!), though he still loves the girls.  He still gets really upset whenever he feels like someone is breaking the rules (like, the boys gets ahead of him in line or more legitimately pushing him).  He is having a hard time at playgrounds, though- he doesn’t want other kids to be there, doesn’t want to play with anyone but Seth and then is mean to other kids.  We are working on it, but I think he is just bringing a lot of aggression at having a new baby onto those situations.

- Getting better at riding bike, kicking, throwing.

- Loves to joke, have fun and cause a little trouble.  If he can do something to make him laugh, he will.

- Loves to watch self in mirror.  It is SO frustrating because their closet has mirrors on it, and when I am trying to get through to him about some discipline issue, he just looks at himself in the mirror.

- Really getting better at writing and is starting to learn some spelling / reading.  He loves this new scrabble game he got (thanks Kiyo and Hiroko) and wants to play it all the time.  His drawing is also so much better than it used to be.  He is always coming home from preschool with cards for people – like one said “I love you Martha.  Thank you” for our neighbor.  He says he doesn’t play enough at preschool, but I am pretty sure that he spends a lot of free time writing.

- He loved spending time with relatives, particularly Grandpa and Meghan.  One day, he started crying because he was going to miss seeing his aunt so much.  So cute.  Of course, he also cried when our vacation started because he was going to miss his preschool friends so much.  And was hugging all his friends.  He is an affectionate guy.  He also enjoyed spending time with his uncle Danny – who was trying to teach him all about army people and World War II.

- Andrew has been having stomach aches almost every day.  His preschool teachers said that I needed to spend more one-on-one time with him (I’ve been trying!).  Poor guy.  I think it is mostly psychological (gets to go down to the nurse), but I hope it’s not physical.  He does tell me he needs to eat more fruit and vegetables.  Which is good, because he is a lot more fussy about his food.

- Loved our trip to Texas but was glad to be home, too.

FUN THINGS THIS MONTH:

- Andrew’s Christmas program at school.  He was Joseph in the Living Nativity; his headdress was bugging him a little bit, but he was cute.  They also sang some Christmas songs.

- Winter craft day at the Library.  The boys made bird feeders out of sort-of-stale bread, but you would think they were starving because they were both eating SO much bread!  They made some pretty nice paper chains, too, but afterwards, Andrew wanted to put everything he made on the tree, even the pictures that he colored.

- Cookie Decorating Party at a friend’s house.  Andrew had so much fun and just sat and decorated cookies for like 30 minutes.  He was in love with the pretty colors (pink and purple) and the pink candy corn.

- Ward Christmas party, theme of Back to Bethlehem.  Andrew had fun winning a dreidel and making wax candles.  But we were all tired, so we got out early.

- Silver Dollar City on the way to Dallas.  Andrew loved all the Christmas lights and riding the rides.  The kids weren’t too impressed with the shows, but it was a fun little trip.  Of course, the kids probably enjoy going to McDonald’s on the way almost as much.

- CHRISTMAS!!!  We watched the Muppets movie the night before.  And left cookies out for Santa.  (Though the boys refused to ever see Santa and tell him what they wanted in case he changed his mind).  Andrew had a bit of a hard time because he felt like some of Seth’s presents were cooler than his.  I was a little worried because it seemed like he didn’t get the presents he wanted (like the pink Trio set).  But now I can see he loves all the presents he got – candies, a race car Trio set from Santa, dress up hats from Mom, dress up clothes from Sarah and Danny, Lincoln logs from Grandma and Grandpa, a new outfit from Grandma Clo and Grandpa Dick and some toy people from the Book of Mormon, and a big slide and horse from Ji and Ba.

- Rest of Texas.  Grandpa took Andrew on outings everywhere – feeding the ducks, to the park, around town – he had SO much fun.  He also loved playing with the toys at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  And spending time with the relatives.  Also, he got to experience playing old school video games (sigh!) – Mario and Duck Hunt.  And dancing along with us to Just Dance 3 (of course, he called it a “workout video”).  And going out for ice cream! 

- New Years!  We threw a little party with everyone and the boys at 6:30ish before the boys went to bed after having yummy appetizers.  The boys loved making so much noise!!!  The next day, Katsu gave the boys traditional new years money (otoshidama).  Andrew is starting to get more interested in money, though he says he wants to earn more so he can give it all to poor people.

- Trip to the zoo and the science center (finally getting out after having Logan).

Hooray!

A fluke perhaps, but guess who slept through from 7:30p – 6:00 am yesterday?  Logan, the champ.  I am just loving that sweet boy, good or bad sleep.  But I’ll take any night of good sleep I can.  Hooray!  I had dinner made, worked out for 25 minutes, read scriptures, fed the boys, showered, ate, and built the boys a ramp all before 9 am.

Logan’s 2 month stats

Well, the stats are in.  And appropriately enough I hurt my back this morning on the way to the doctor office trying to carry Logan and his car seat.

Weight – 16 lbs 6 oz – that is greater than 98%, and the size of an average 5 month old.  And bigger than either Andrew or Seth at this age.

Length – 24.5 inches – 85%

Head circumference – 40 cm.

What a big boy!

Logan is 2 months old!

Cute pictures:

The Post:

This post is a bit late because we were driving home from Texas all day on the 2nd and I am still completely exhausted.  But I want to get it all down before I forget.

Logan is getting bigger and bigger.  I swear, some days I get him in the morning or after a nap and I swear I can tell that he has grown.  And then other times, he must be getting taller because he looks thinner.  I weighed him shortly after we got to Texas (about 2 weeks ago) and he weighed 15 lbs, but who knows how much he really weighs now.  Suffice it to say, that he is big and looks way older than he is.  He has almost grown out of size 2 diapers and is now only in 3-6 month clothes.  We had some many 0-3 month clothes that were so cute, I kept him stuffed in them for way too long.  Logan is eating pretty well (pretty fast and more like every 2-4 hours now).  He also will take a pacifier sometimes, like when he is sleepy, but doesn’t just suck on it unless we are holding him and holding it most of the time.

Logan still sleeps a lot most days.  He doesn’t really take consistent naps – still more like consistent awake periods.  He was starting to have long stretches at night – in Texas, for a few days he was sleeping from 7 pm – 3 am.  But everything is still somewhat erratic.  He is finally quiet at night (no more grunting) and sleeps all night in his bed (instead of the swing or car seat).  Naps still vary, especially since we are in the car a bit for preschool pick up / drop off. 

Logan is pretty mellow.  He likes to look around and be quiet.  He cries when he is upset at us (like when we make him do tummy time or take a bath) and is somewhat fussy in the evenings before bed time.  He is starting to make cooing noises and it is so cute.  He loves to have little conversations with me.  I love it.  He also loves to just stare at me and watch me.  He is good at following objects and can watch me even across the room.  He likes when Katsu plays with his lips and gives huge smiles.  Logan really loves to smile, especially when he sees one of us (or the boys – he really loves the boys).  I love to watch his eyes just light up and his huge grin.

Logan likes to look out.  He wants to be held outward.  He also is not a fan of the sling – it’s okay – he’ll protest a little bit, but then he will chill out and fall asleep.  He likes being held on his tummy, but not as much as facing outside.  He likes being rocked and especially being walked around.  When he is tired, he has this little nuzzle thing he will do, moving his head back and forth on my neck until he finds the perfect position and falls asleep.

Logan had a nice Christmas.  He was great during the drives and not too fussy at all.  He slept most of the time, which was great.  He enjoyed Silver Dollar City in this cute little fuzzy suit and cuddled up in the sling, but he got cold toward the end and we were ready to leave.  He got a few presents for Christmas – a mobile from Ji and Ba and a little bell dog thing that he likes to reach for and kick from my grandparents.  I think he mostly enjoyed having so many people to hold him (I know I did).

Logan was blessed in Texas on the January 1st in my parents ward.  Katsu gave the blessing and my Dad and my brother-in-law Danny stood in the circle.  Katsu blessed *us* to help be good parents to Logan (guide him in the straight and narrow).  He also blessed Logan to learn to love and care for his fellow man, to understand the sorrow and challenge of others and care for them.  To remember the example of his Savior and remember him and have the Holy Spirit with him.  And also to live his life and learn wisdom to forgive others.  It was a great blessing.  Logan looked really cute in his outfit (same as my brother Michael and also as Andrew), but he was busting out – we couldn’t even do some of the snaps and we had to smuch his arms in!  So, as soon as the blessing was done, we had to take him out.  And then, we never got any pictures.  Oh, well.

His appt is tomorrow and I’ll post his stats.

Fun Things This Month:

- Santa parade at St. Charles.  Of course, Logan pretty much slept all the time in the sling while people commented on how cute he was.

- Baby shower that my visiting teachers threw for Logan – a book shower.  Logan got tons of new books and mostly slept most of the time.  It was a lot of fun.

- Visit to the science museum.  Obviously, did not enjoy the program about color – so we had to leave early while he screamed his head off because he decided he was hungry.

- Trip to Texas.  The highlight was spending time with all my side of the family and the blessing and enjoying the warm weather and having lots of walks.