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.

Seth is 2 1/2 years old!

I don't have my computer with all the pictures on it or my planner with the calendar, so this might be a somewhat abbreviated post.

We are in Texas right now for Christmas. Seth has been SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. Every day this week, he would ask me like 20 times a day if we were going to see Grandpa and Grandma today. It was driving me nuts. We went to Branson to see Silver Dollar City on the way there and Seth was initially not so happy about that because he wanted to be in Texas right then. He eventually mellowed out and had fun on the rides and tolerated the shows. He liked the lights, too. Then, he was not so happy when he realized we had a long drive ahead of us. He did not want to sleep in the car and wanted to go to his own bed. Of course, now that we are here, Seth says he wants to go home and ride his tricycle. Typical for him, but he is really having a lot of fun, here. What can compare with Grandma and Grandpa's toys and feeding the ducks?

Seth is NOT a fan on Santa Claus. I can not convince either of the boys to go and see Santa at a shopping center or something. A couple weeks ago, Seth and I were at Barnes and Noble and there was a Santa there. Seth gave him the dirtiest look when we came in. (Santa thought it was funny). And then, he gave an even dirtier look on the way out and said "I want to kill Santa." Yikes! Hopefully, we don't have a psychopath on our hands. He told me he thinks that Santa is scary, so it must be that. I think he will still accept presents.

Seth is finally getting his second year molars. They are almost all in. So that has made him a little grumpy and he has been waking up at night and coming into bed with us because he is in pain. Poor thing. Hopefully, we are almost all done with teething.

Seth has done okay with potty training this month. He likes wearing underwear, but we are still working on #2.

Andrew and Seth continue to be antagonistic to each other. Both was to be the first, to have all the toys, to be the biggest, and the best. They also have started wrestling and horsing around in earnest. Seth loves to hurl out insults, but then takes everything that Andrew says seriously, even though Andrew is just trying to get his goat. Then, Seth will either scream that Andrew needs to go to jail or go to time out. Or else, he will start beating up on him. It is definitely an adventure having so many boys.

Seth is now obsessed with Cars 2. We finally saw the movie, actually a few times, this month, and now we are always playing it at home. The boys have decided which cars are "super cars" and which are "bad cars", plus they even have a couple Cars 2 cars (Finn and Holly, maybe) and so they play and play and play. I love listening to Seth talking while he plays, so cute. Seth also loves playing games now - Candy Land and Memory especially, though he is still a little fuzzy on the rules.

Seth loves riding his tricycle and is very determined that I am not allowed to push him. As he is very determined about doing everything himself. He dresses himself, often backwards and inside out with several layers of clothing. That is how he prefers it, with one layer being soccer.

Well, I'll do a more thorough post later, maybe. It is Christmas Eve after all.

Andrew is 4 years 7 months

PICTURES:

ANDREW’S ARTWORK:

UPDATE:

Stop the presses!  Big news!  Hell has frozen over, pigs can fly, and ANDREW SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!  Seriously, both him and Seth go to sleep in their own beds and stay there ALL night long EVERY night (occasionally, Andrew’s coughing will get the best of him and he’ll check in, but still …).  I am ecstatic!  I knew it had to happen eventually, right?  And get this – sometimes, the boys wake up in the morning … and don’t bother us.  I was pretty tired a week or two ago and Andrew looked at me at dinner and said “You guys are pretty tired … well, Mom looks tired.  I know!  Seth and I will wake up by ourselves and get ourselves some cereal and let you guys sleep”.  What a sweet boy!

Well … most of the time.  I think adjustment to the baby is manifesting itself in the boys as hating each other.  Andrew has a bit of a short fuse and when Seth is bothering him (i.e., not doing things exactly his way), he will try to explain why his way is superior, and when that does not work, all hell breaks loose.  Pushing, biting (!!!!), and choke holds are Andrew’s coup de grace.  I suppose, if I always watched them and lived in their bedroom, I could avert the worst of it, but like that would ever happen.  And of course, the rest of the time they play okay together.  I am hoping this is just a rough patch, because I have a hard time disciplining Andrew.  Punishment of any kind just makes Andrew really angry and then he gets destructive and overturns everything in sight (and yes, I make his pick it up afterward, but that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent) or screams in this high pitched voice.  Incentives and rewards work better, but doesn’t work so well with crimes-of-passion.  Sigh …  We keep trying things, hopefully this will pass or we’ll find something that works.  I am hoping that maybe giving him lots of one-on-one time with me and Katsu will be more effective.  Hopefully.

The other big issue in the house is … getting out of the house and getting ready for bed.  Andrew does things at his own pace or not at all.  For example, at dinner, every night Andrew is still eating when everyone else is done.  And yet still eating 15-30 minutes later.  And not because he is picky and just procrastinating.  No, just because that is how long he takes to eat.  Getting ready in the morning is the same way.  And then, I feel like this endless nag.  We are trying a new sticker chart.  The first reward is that if he gets dressed, eats breakfast, and brushes his teeth, then he has time to play before preschool.  Yesterday, he did not get to play and he told me it was too bad that he didn’t get ready in time so that he would have time to play.  Hopefully, it’s sinking in.  Andrew is pretty good at picking up, but it still does take quite a bit of reminding.

In other areas … Andrew has been having allergy issues.  It mostly presents itself in compulsive burping.  But then, if it gets worse, it’s lots and lots of coughing.  It got pretty bad last month, but we’ve been trying to figure out the right combo of medicine to get him better – Nasonex, Claritin, Flovent … so much medicine.  But the good news – he went to the dentist this week and NO CAVITIES.  Yay for brushing and flossing all the time.

Andrew is such a ladies man.  The picture from his preschool teacher of him surrounded by all the girls and a huge smile – so true to form!  He loves Peyton especially and is not afraid to say it.  One day when I picked him up from preschool he had told Peyton he loved her about 10 times just over the span of a couple minutes during pick-up!  This week, he told me that they are getting married (though thankfully when they are Katsu’s age) and when I said his feelings might change, he said that he would always love her.

He is also all about the bling.  When he went to get a prize at the dentist’s office, he opened the drawer and with a voice of pure glee, said “Jewelry”!  He came home with his first costume jewelry ring.  Which he shows off to everyone about how beautiful it is.  His favorite color is pink.  He loves to wear necklaces.  And we can only floss with blue flossers because they are so beautiful.  Ha ha ha.

Andrew is in love with Logan.  He is constantly on the floor holding Logan’s hand and talking to him.  It is a little aggressive, but otherwise very sweet.

FUN THINGS ANDREW DID THIS MONTH:

- Spending time with Grandma during the week she was here.  Andrew liked making cookies.  And he was SUPER excited when Grandpa was here for a day.  The highlight for them was definitely showing Grandpa and Grandma the Chinese buffet they love so much.

- Watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV (loved Dora’s float), watching the dog show later, eating Thanksgiving dinner (mostly in love with the cranberry sauce and ice cream), watching football with Daddy, playing at the park with the whole family, and riding his bicycle.  And making all his Thanksgiving crafts.  Andrew spent like a whole morning making turkey pictures from tracing his hands.

- Putting up the Christmas tree with Seth and Daddy and then going to the park and Sonic together.  And a morning of watching Cars and Curious George.  A great day-after-Thanksgiving.

- Some park visits, a trip to the zoo, and spending lots of time at home with family.

- Baby’s Go Bach – a free concert where the kids got to meet and play with instruments in the a jam session and then there was a little concert afterwards with pieces less than 5 minutes long to keep the kids interested.  Andrew was very well behaved and enjoyed going with Daddy.

- St Charles Christmas Traditions.  They get the city all decorated and then there is a Santa parade with all different kinds of Santa from here and all over the world.  Andrew was not that interested.  He liked his ice cream cone, but was disappointed by the 5 minute parade.  Where was the floats?  The bands?  The candy throwing.  Oh, well.  The kids were way more excited about shopping at Trader Joe’s afterwards.

- Dentist and NO CAVITIES!!!

- Going to Logan’s baby book shower and making gingerbread houses.  More like a gingerbread plane maybe or a tent.  My visiting teacher sent us home with the frosting since the boys had licked it all.  Yuck!

- Making gingerbread houses at the library with Katsu.  They turned out pretty well.

Logan is 1 month old!

I can’t believe it’s been a month already.  It’s funny, I was looking at posts from Andrew and Seth at one month, and Logan is more like Seth than I thought (though a much better nurser), though I guess all babies are mostly the same.

So, Logan basically eats, sleeps, pees and poops, and looks around.  He sure is a sweet little guy though. 

Eating … Logan loves to eat.  He has been a pretty good nurser from the beginning.  He eats every 1.5-3 hours.  It has been spreading out a little bit more this week – every 2 or 3 hours (about half every 2 hours and half every 3 hours) and has even been going a 4 hour stretch at night (this week only).  His nursing sessions are getting a bit longer now, so it’s about total 25-30 minutes.  He didn’t spit up at first, but now he spits up a lot.  He also seems to have an upset tummy quite frequently in the evenings and cries, but it helps to lay him on his tummy.

And boy is Logan growing.  He is so chubby!  We took him in to the doctor at like 4 days old and he had already gained weight from the hospital (a couple ounces) and then again at almost 3 weeks.  He was 10 lbs 15 oz!  So, in less than 3 weeks, he had gained 3 lbs from his birth weight.  I can only guess he is probably 12 or more lbs now!!!  My back is starting to hurt already, ha ha ha.  Logan was super chubby with huge double chin earlier this week, but he must have gotten taller, because he looks a bit skinnier now … a bit.

Sleeping … Logan sleeps most of the time.  Yay for typical newborns!  At first, he slept ALL the time.  Now, he is awake longer.  He is awake for awhile in the morning after he wakes up.  About half the time he is awake for up to an hour after he eats.  In the late afternoon he is awake a lot of the time from 4-6ish.  He goes down for bed somewhere between 6 and 7, generally.  Then, he sleeps his longer stretch from like 6-10 or 11 and then he goes right back to sleep after eating until around 4.  He will stay asleep after that but is LOUD – he is grunting and who knows what.  He wakes up for good between 6 and 7.  He is sleeping in a brand new crib right next to our futons.  Like practically on top of it.  I have to step on the futons to get to and from the crib or the door and we can’t fully open the door when the futons are down – oh, well.

Crying … Logan is pretty mellow – kind of more like Seth was.  Logan doesn’t cry too much, but the last week or two he has started to cry and be fussy from like 4-7.  Otherwise, he is happy and just looks and looks and looks.

He can reach up and grab things and it seems pretty intentional to me.  I’ve seen a couple smiles, but he hasn’t started smiling regularly.  He can track moving objects pretty well.  He is not a fan of tummy time (unless I give him a back massage at the same time), but can lift his head up 45 degrees.

Loan likes to be outside and have a change of scenery.  He loves to look at me and also at pictures and especially at the big window with the blinds in the living room.  He is not sure how he feels about the sling, but oh, well.  It keeps him from prying hands (our ward loves to hold babies, but it also not very vigilant about staying home when sick).  He likes the swing when he’s happy, but is not so interested otherwise.  He loves to stretch and stretch.  He likes being massaged.  He loves having his hair touched and even watched.  He does not like having his diaper changed.  He loves wearing socks, especially when he was first home from the hospital.  He does not like hats.  He enjoys being swaddled, but not too tight – then he is just indiginant if he can’t get his hands out with sufficient effort.  He is especially enamored with Andrew who loves to spend time talking to him and holding his hands.

I am totally in love with Logan.  I love holding him and watching him.  A 3rd child is so fun – you just get to enjoy them (especially when the older 2 boys are playing nicely together.

Seth is 2 years 5 months

Pictures:

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Monthly Update:

Wow – this has felt like a long and busy month.  And I guess it has, between Halloween events, a new baby, and Thanksgiving.  The biggest new change for Seth, of course, is the baby.  He at first seemed mostly ambivalent – would always want to know where the baby was when he came in the room and whenever he didn’t want the baby around, he was sure to tell me – “The baby needs to be in his crib”.  For the first week or so, he called the baby Jonas, because our friends had a baby named Jonas a few months ago.  He finally figured out it’s baby Logan now.  And he likes to kiss the baby and say hi, but I think he would still prefer if Logan was sleeping in the crib 95% of the time.  For awhile there he would tell me ever morning “I love Logan, but I do not love him at night”, so I wonder if Logan’s crying is bothering him.  He has started waking up and wanting Katsu at night most nights now, but I think is more a transitioning thing than a getting woken up thing.  He hasn’t showed any violence or anger towards the baby yet, so it is going better than expected.

Otherwise, Seth has gotten pretty whiny.  Although Seth’s voice is naturally so high, sometimes it’s hard to tell a whine.  But he is kind of whiny/grumpy lately.  It’s so nice when he cheers up and is happy and you get to hear a happy voice out of him – like a breath of fresh air.

Seth had hives again this month – for like 5 days or something, pretty bad and all over his body.  At first, we thought maybe a food thing, but not when they stayed around that long.  Thankfully, they didn’t seem to bother him, but they sure looked awful.  I always get worried taking kids to the park when they have stuff like that, even though I know he isn’t contagious.  I mentioned it to the pediatrician and she said it could be environmental – probably related to the stress of having a new baby … interesting.

Seth’s new favorite thing to do is to hide things.  The only reason I know that he did it, is because he will say, “I swiped it.  Ha ha ha ha ha”, with like this really evil laugh.  Of course, he is fascinated with Swiper from Dora – definitely his favorite float during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Seth is getting a little more stubborn lately.  He refuses to pick up toys.  We have gotten the Gunny Monster out this week and he takes away all the toys that aren’t picked up.  But that doesn’t seem to motivate Seth and then Andrew just suffers, too.  I guess we will have to try something else.  We have really been trying to push potty training this week, but Seth is also really not motivated about that.  It’s a little frustrating – kind of wishing I had pushed it more when I was pregnant even though I was super exhausted.  I know he can do it if he will try.  Some days he comes to me wanting to put on underwear “so I can get candy” he says, but most days he just wants to wear diapers.

Seth is definitely a love/hate sort of person.  He never hesitates to tell me if he is tired of me and wants me to go to work.  Lately, anyone he is not happy with, he will tell to go to jail, which I guess is in Mommy and Daddy’s room (not sure why).  He also told Grandma when she was here helping with Logan that he wanted her to go home half the time.  On the other hand, he will also just come up and say that he loves you, too.  Not sure why.  He also is having a love/hate relationship with Andrew.  Half the time they play together well, the rest of the time they are beating up on each other and Seth tells me how he does not like Andrew and (again) he needs to go to jail.

Seth is really into building his train tracks and does really great tracks that are elevated, even.  He loves to play with his shinkansen on it.  He also really loves doing his Dora puzzle, looking through books, and building things with Trio blocks, and playing with the large trucks – especially the fire truck.  He is still pretty shy and prefers not to go out places without Andrew along.  Well, he says he always wants to go to the park, but actually he gets lonely/bored without Andrew and doesn’t like to play much with kids he doesn’t know.

Seth really really loves the new tricycle he got this month (after playing with it at a friend’s house) and wants to ride it every day! 

He really loves Nursery.  He wears the craziest clothes to church because he refuses to be dictated into wearing clothes.  The days I have tried to make him wear church clothes (and I am pretty lenient), he throws hour-long fits and once threw up in the car on the way to church.  Just not worth it.  But he is supposedly the best kid in nursery.  He knows all the songs, talks and participates and plays nicely.  So at least my kids are well behaved somewhere!

Well, we love our little Seth – he is a sweet boy (though a bit grumpy).

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Fun Things He Did This Month:

- Halloween events (which I already posted about):  Trunk or treating at the church, trick or treating and costume parade in the Central West End, Andrew’s Halloween preschool performance, and trick or treating in the neighborhood.  Another year with our cute Seth dragon.  Seth would have been happy wearing his costume all month long.

- Visiting Mom and Logan in the hospital and also getting to spend a couple days at Matias’ house and a day at Owen’s house.  The boys were so excited about spending time with friends that they were disappointed when my induction happened later than scheduled.  Seth was pretty hesitant when he first met Logan all by himself (while Andrew was at preschool), but he has quickly warmed up to him.

- Spending lots of time with Dad the week he took off work.  He especially is enjoying riding his trike and playing football and frisbee in the front yard. 

- Spending time with Grandma during the week she was here.  Seth really enjoyed helping make cookies!  And he was excited when Grandpa was here for a day.  The highlight for them was definitely showing Grandpa and Grandma the Chinese buffet they love so much.

- Watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV (loved Dora’s float), watching the dog show later, eating Thanksgiving dinner (mostly in love with the cranberry sauce, though Seth liked the turkey, pie, and ice cream, too), watching football with Daddy, playing at the park with the whole family, and riding his tricycle.

- Putting up the Christmas tree with Andrew and Daddy and then going to the park and Sonic together.  And a morning of watching Cars and Curious George.  A great day-after-Thanksgiving.

- Some park visits, a trip to the zoo, and spending lots of time at home with family.