My Baby Boy isn’t a baby anymore…Facts about Logan at 15 1/2 months old:

Logan seems to be changing by leaps and bounds lately!

* After taking his first steady and completely independent steps just a few days before Christmas he already is very stable on his feet and not only walks but runs wherever he wants to go!

* He says more & more words every day - trying quite hard to repeat anything we say! He says: Patches, Ball, Juice, Momma, Dadda, Lex, up, please, and a few other random words we say to him & he tries to repeat. His favorite this week is definitely ball though! :)

* He does not say No like most toddlers (at least his sister always did at this age) but instead he simply shakes his head at every question we ask him - the catch is that its usually answering YES! Today was the first time I asked him a question and he shook his head No instead of Yes! :)

* He LOVES to cuddle! When he wakes up he gets his blankie & his “juice” (milk) and we cuddle for at least 10 minutes before he decides its time to play! If he wants to cuddle with you, you’ll know it because he will come to you and hand you whatever he is holding & then either put his hands up to you or he will simply start trying to climb up by you!

* He is incredibly smiley! Its rather simple to get him to smile at you if you try - simply smile at him or laugh and he’ll join right in!

* He is very sensitive to feelings! If anyone is crying he wants to comfort them -- babies included! He’ll immediately go to see what’s wrong if a baby cries. If momma cries he stops what he’s doing and comes over & hugs me! :) (I promise I don’t milk that one…okay maybe I do!)

* He loves to point at what he knows -- ask him where someone is & he’ll look around til he finds them & then point & try and say who it is!

* He has discovered he can reach our TV buttons & LOVES to turn the TV on & off!

* He likes to play in the bathroom/toilet WAY too much -- we must always have them both closed!

* He loves stairs and is quickly losing his fear of them…despite a few tumbles down them! He would spend all day going up & down my mom & sister’s stairs if I let him!

* He likes to upset his daddy by taking Patches water/food dish & running around the house with it (whether its full or not!)

* He LOVES to dig in my cupboards & is therefore usually banded from entering my kitchen!

* He goes down for 2 naps yet & for bedtime without ANY fuss almost all the time! All I have to do is ask “Logan do you want to go sleep?” & he will nod his head YES & then grab his blankie & come over to me & when I pick him up he lays his head down on my shoulder & cuddles while I bring him up to bed! :)

* He is both a momma’s boy & a daddy’s boy -- depending who is around! He does NOT like it if I am cuddling with Alexa or Patches without him! He must be included & usually must be between me & Patches if we’re cuddling! He also must be attached to Daddy from the moment he gets home until there’s been something that will distract him enough to separate them! -- Otherwise Daddy is not allowed to put him down in Logan’s mind! :)

* Logan has finally learned how to give kisses without his mouth open & usually gives them pretty freely if anyone wants a hug they will likely get a kiss too! :)

Coming home…

On Thursday we planned to leave Coby’s house around 9am so that we would have MORE than enough time to get our rental car returned & check-in & go through security & find our way around everywhere before our flight was scheduled to depart at 3:20pm. We didn’t want to risk getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and running out of time.

We left their house with our GPS directing our way and after slight miscommunication we got gas, found the way on to the freeway and were on our way! The view just before we entered the grapevine area and once we were inside it were completely breath-taking and add to it the warm, 80 degree sunshine pouring in our window once we reached the top of the pass area, we were loving being in California!

Approaching the pass (it was foggy on this side of the mountains, clear & super warm on the other!)
 

The sun began to peak through the clouds!

    

We also found a new love for the car-pool lane! Despite areas of snail-paced traffic once we hit the LA vacinity we were able to slide right through without really slowing down even once. We easily found our car-rental return location and even managed a nice lunch while watching the airplanes land right by us! We then returned our car and loaded onto the shuttle to find our terminal. After getting our tickets we found the security line and began the LONG and SLOW process of shuffling through security. Once through we found our gate with relative ease and began the hour wait to board our plane. The entire return process actually went rather smoothly. Alexa and Logan even found some other children to run around with and entertained themselves by exploring our gate area.

We boarded the plane right on time (3 pm or so) and found seats together easily. Surprisingly Logan was even being fairly well behaved as we waited for everyone else to board and find their seats. The Captain came on the speaker and announced that it would only be a quick 2hrs and 30 minutes of air time before we would be in Sioux Falls … a welcomed piece of news meaning we’d land at 8pm instead of 8:30! Our excitement didn’t last long, however, as we were then notified that the plane’s tanks had been over-filled & needed to have some of that released or there would be the potential for the bathroom’s fluid to pour over into the cabin. Not a big deal…and within 20 minutes it had been fixed & we were taxing out of our gate. We didn’t make it very far though before another announcement was made -- this time a warning light on the panel stating that there may be a mechanical difficulty with the plane -- which would need to be checked out. After about 30 minutes or so we were informed it was a false alarm and they would simply need to finish the paperwork and we’d be on our way. So about 20 minutes later we finally taxied out and began to prepare for take-off. The flight itself went fairly smooth -- Logan even slept for about an hour or so which definitely helped! We landed in Sioux Falls at about 9:10pm -- the same time the plane was supposed to be taking off for its return flight to LA! Oh well! We were close to home & that’s all we cared about!

We had an uneventful and quick trip home and after un-packing and getting the kids in bed we managed to get to sleep only a little after 11! That didn’t stop me & the kids from sleeping in until 10am though! :)

Wednesday (on vacation)

We spent Wednesday enjoying our last few hours with Kris (he had to leave on a business trip that afternoon) and then we took a beautiful walk to the park & enjoyed watching the kids play on the toys there. It was a fabulous and relaxing day…a great way to end a fun trip!

    
Logan LOVED holding & seeing Koen…pretty sure they’ll be great buds one day!
 
Playing at the park :) Ignore Micah’s hood being on & up over his head…there was absolutely no need for it!

Tuesday (on vacation)

Tuesday was our “busy” day! We were planning on going to Aunt Deb & Uncle John’s house in Fresno for supper that night so Alexa thought we should go to the zoo there first. We invited Aunt Deb to join us & she decided to spoil us & take us out to eat at the restaurant where cousin Kourtney works first. So we spent the morning relaxing & then getting ready before we headed out to Fresno for lunch, a trip to the zoo, and an amazing meal with family! All in all is was a perfect day and was a lot of fun!

 
When Alexa saw the Greenbay Packer football player statue she told me she HAD to have a picture with it so she could show Nathan(because he loves the Packers)! :)

 
Aunt Deb holding Koen during lunch (this was a RARE occasion…not really!) ;)

Logan & Alexa LOVED the zoo…and I think Koen had fun too!

 
Logan waving at the birds :)


Micah & Kris washed their hands so they could feel the sting-rays & Kris even felt one of the nurse sharks!

We decided we HAD to take pictures by the flamingos for Steph & Chris because we KNOW how much they LOVE them…at least the plastic kind! :)
   

Can you see the wolf in the first of these 2 pictures? :)


    


Cousin Johnny & his wife Kaitlin and Kourtney were all able to make it to supper at their parents house (Aunt Deb & Uncle John) so we were able to spend time talking & hanging out with them.

Kourtney is doing an excellent job here of babysitting “baby Haylee” while texting :)