My favorite things

In response to Alice Ann's blog from almost a month ago (yes, we've already established that I'm behind) here are a few of the things I've grown to appreciate since becoming a mom.

• HGTV, especially House Hunters and Property Virgins - they come on every night and I watch them after Michael and Logan go to bed :-) - I'm hooked!
• DVR, so I can watch Desperate Housewives in one sitting
• Parents magazine, along with Better Homes & Gardens and Southern Living - the best for parenting tips and recipes
• Anita soft cup nursing bra and Blue Canoe Jane's bra top - I searched high and low and these are by far my favorites
• Lansinoh nursing pads
• Like Remica said, the Boppy has gotten a lot of use at our house, too; I caught Bailey (one of our dogs) snoozing on it this morning :-)
• Nurse n Glow nursing pillow - for nighttime and early morning feedings in bed; it was great until the LED's (I think that's what they are) started going out
• Our new Maclaren Volo stroller - it's perfect for walks, is lightweight, and can zip through a crowd of people (trust me, Michael tried it at the zoo the other day)
• Graco Pack n Play - Logan slept in the bassinet part for several months in our room and still plays in the play pen when I get ready in the morning if he's up

The pack n play also keeps Bailey from obsessively licking Logan

My favorite baby things:

• Philips Avent iQ Electronic Bottle and Baby Food Warmer - it's fast and the formula usually ends up the right temperature; Logan even knows what the beep means when it's ready
• I have to agree with AA and Remica on the pump; mine is the Ameda Purely Yours Double Electric - it was cheaper than Medela and worth it's weight in gold, no telling how much money we saved on formula!
• Pampers diapers and Huggies wipes; we tried Huggies diapers and they aren't bad, but I think Pampers are still our favorite
• Aveeno diaper rash cream; it's the only one I've tried that doesn't stink and isn't as messy as some
• The bouncy seat and play mat before Logan could sit up on his own and now the walker and jumperoo - they keep him entertained while I get chores done
• Kozy Pal cart cover - it fits on all shopping carts and restaurant high chairs and keeps the germs off and gives the seat a little padding
• Gerber fruit puffs - these things are life savers when we are out to eat and Logan wants what we're eating; they dissolve, making them a good first finger food for learning to chew
• YoBaby yogurt - Logan will eat almost anything, but he loves his yogurt; when he's tired and fussy from teething sometimes this is all he will eat!
• Avent pacifiers - I think most moms probably think "my baby won't use paci's", but, yes, at 3AM, you tend to change your thinking and do whatever makes baby happy
• Johnson's baby Q-tips - they are big enough that they won't damage baby's ear canal, but go far enough in to clean little ears; we just discovered that Logan sits so still when I use them because he finds it relaxing - I've found my new secret weapon!

Logan's first Canton trip

We took our first trip to Canton as a family a couple of weeks ago. Well, I go every year with my parents and Logan went last year (in utero), but it was Michael's first time to go with us. I think I had the most fun, but Logan didn't seem to mind being along for the ride. He had it made, as you can see, with Ellie to entertain him, to boot.

He was good, for the most part, and didn't try to climb out of the wagon. He loves to play with Ellie's leash.
He even kept his hat on. I was so proud of my little guy!
Here he is all dressed up in his new pants and crocs (please make a note; he's got shoes on!), ready to go shopping. It was pretty chilly in the mornings, but by lunch he had the pants and shoes off. At least he wore shoes for a little while...
Poor Logan was exhausted by the end of the day. Looking cute and riding around in a wagon or stroller all day is hard work, you know. But, I have to say, he was a really good sport.

Logan's 9-month checkup

I can't believe Logan is already 9 months old, but the calendar doesn't lie. Actually, he's almost 10 months, but I'm a little behind, so humor me. We went for his 9-month checkup about a week after he actually turned 9 months. I wasn't dreading this one since he wasn't due for any vaccines. He ended up getting a flu shot, but one shot is better than four, right?! His weight is still on the low side (5-10 percentile), but his height and head circumference are at 25-50 and 75 percentiles, so that's good news. He just has a high metabolism, I guess! The doctor said it is fine if he stays in that percentile as long as he doesn't drop off the chart next time. She told me to put butter in his baby food :-0 and to come back in a month for a weigh-in. I have yet to spoon feed saturated fat to my baby, but he has tried avocado and loves it. I feel better about that since it's high in calories and fat, but it's unsaturated fat, which is exactly what he needs. I also put a little extra formula in his bottles. He doesn't look underweight to us, and he's otherwise healthy and happy so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing for now.

9 months is also when they take blood and test for common issues, one of which is anemia. Nana Kay took Logan to get his blood taken a few days after his checkup so he didn't have to get pricked twice in one day. She said Logan sat in her lap and the nurse raised his foot and pricked his big toe. He didn't cry! Then the nurse squeezed his toe to get a sample into the glass slide things they use and said, according to my mom, "this is usually the part babies hate." And he still didn't cry! He just watched her do her job. He's so curious and is just growing up so fast.

Here Logan is in the parking lot of the hospital trying to pull the band-aid off already.

Needless to say, my mom let him pull it off and then took it away. I had warned her about band-aids, after reading an article about a 5-month old who swallowed one. Then, what did I do? I left his band-aid on from his flu shot until he took a bath and didn't even think about it! To my credit, it was on his leg and it would have been pretty difficult for him to get it off himself and he wasn't nearly as interested in it as he was in the one on his toe. But, regardless, I'm going to try to follow my own advice a little more closely in the future, especially that about safety.

We survived Hurricane Ike

I'm trying to get the hang of blogging, but I can't seem to find the time between being a mom, cooking dinner, doing laundry, and tidying up between visits from our cleaning service. I could update it while Logan's napping on the weekend, but 2 hours sure flies by fast when you've got all those other things to do. Before I know it he's awake and on the move again. I could update it after he goes to bed on week nights, but I'm addicted to HGTV and that seems to occupy my time while I get lunch and Logan's stuff ready for the next day. Of course, I should also use that time to exercise, but I haven't been motivated enough to do that either. One of these days... We do take lots of walks, though, especially since it's not so hot, but now we have mosquitoes to contend with. I know, excuses, excuses.

Anyway, I digress. I was just thinking about how I have lots of stuff I could blog about, but not enough time to post it. But I found a spare moment, so I thought I'd share how we fared the hurricane with those of you I haven't already talked to about it. We, along with everyone else in my family, were very fortunate. We have several shingles missing from our roof. Well, they aren't really missing; they are stacked neatly on a window sill on our back porch for the adjuster to view if we ever get a hold of him. But that's not where they belong, so we're hoping he'll agree that we need a new roof. And a couple of sections of our fence were knocked down, but Michael had them up in no time. He's such a handyman. We couldn't trust our dogs not to wander into the neighbors' back yard, so he fixed it as soon as he could. One of the "whirly birds" (you know, the spinny things they used to use, before ridge vents) on our roof came loose during the storm, but our wonderful neighbor climbed up there and put it back on (we were at my parents' house in Cleveland). I think the winds had died down by that point, but it was still raining. So we had minimal water get into the attic and no damage to speak of. Others around Baytown and LaPorte, where my sister Holly lives, were not so lucky. There are whole houses demolished and others whose contents were completely ruined by rising water. Several of the houses in our neighborhood have pretty big pine trees on them. I guess that's a risk you take when you live in a subdivision called Pinehurst.

Our power was only out for a week, thank goodness, and we had a generator running our fridge, freezer, and a window unit in the bedroom at night. Logan and I stayed at my parents' house Saturday night after the storm while Michael went home to assess the damage. My dad had a generator running part of the time to keep the fridge cold and we turned a fan on to keep Logan cool. It was still pretty warm, so Logan was wearing nothing but a diaper most of the time.

He is wearing a diaper in this picture! And, no, he couldn't reach the fan with his hands. I know at 9 months old we should be breaking him of the paci soon, but it keeps him from putting other things in his mouth. I bet those parents whose kids still have paci's at the age of 4 said that, too, when their kids were babies. :-0 Anyway, he developed an interest in flash lights while there was no electricity since we were all carrying them around. He thought he needed one, too, so we found this little plastic one, removed the batteries and let him play with it, supervised of course. He really doesn't need toys, like my mom says, he's just as happy with Tupperware (Gladware, these days).

Besides the heat, Logan didn't know anything was going on. He enjoyed all the attention and we took walks every day. After all, what else were we going to do but play with him? It was a good break and I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with him and Michael, but after a week off work, with no electricity, we had all the songs on his Fisher Price activity table memorized. I'm still trying to get them out of my head!

Rockport 2008

Logan took his first trip to Rockport this year and even got in the canal! Here he is in the big float Nana Kay and Papa Dave brought. Here he is in his float, inside the big float, just kicking back and relaxing.

Here's Logan and cousin Kaleb.

Logan eating

Logan loves his baby food and you can't feed it to him fast enough! Sometimes he wants to help.

He's thinking, "where's my food!?!?"

Happy baby with a full tummy!

The next Michael Phelps

Logan loves the water. Of course we haven't dunked him yet, but he doesn't mind getting water on his face. He just loves floating around and hanging out. But we have to make sure he's shaded or covered in sunscreen because he's got his mom's complexion!

This was his first swim in Nana Kay's pool. He's a natural!

This was his very first swim (in Lake Travis in Austin). The water was a little chilly still since it was only May, but he's such a good sport. He didn't seem to mind, at least not for the few minutes we stayed in.

More pictures from Nana Kay's. And, of course, the dogs have to be right there where the action is.

Swimming with Daddy (notice the mohawk).