My superstar

Logan got these glasses in his goody bag when he "modeled" at the Liberty County Aggie Mom's Tea Party in February. I just put them on the computer and had to share them!

We thought we had lost the book that he's carrying, then I found it under the couch one day. Logan was so excited and wanted to sit down and read it right then. It's "Moo, Baa, La La La" by Sandra Boynten. I love her books and that one is especially cute.

Yes, he's wearing the Michael Jordan onesie again. He just loves the outfit his cousin gave him. :-) And it goes great with the glasses, don't you think?

I took this a while back when the weather was dry and we discovered that if Michael rubbed a fleece blanket on Logan's head his hair stood up like his Aunt Holly's did when she was a baby!

Website for Dylan

Here is a website that has been set up for Dylan Mills. It has an update as of Friday afternoon.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dylanmills

Recent Pictures of Logan

Here are some pictures my mom took the other day (ok, last month, but who's counting?).

Here's Lo eating some of my dad's slow-cooked oatmeal in the high chair that Holly and I both used when we were little. :-)He's just starting to use the spoon by himself more. An article about feeding toddlers on his doctor's website says, "By 12 months of age, your child will begin to use a spoon and he should be able to feed herself completely by 15 months of age." Yeah, he could probably feed himself, but do you know how messy it would be to let a 15-month old feed himself yogurt and applesauce? We draw the line there. He can feed himself pretty much everything else, but that will have to wait until he's a little more coordinated.

Here he is demonstrating how big he is. You ask, "how big is Logan?" and he raises his arms and you say, "soooo big!" Aunt Kari taught him and it's too cute. Notice he's also wearing the Michael Jordan onesie cousin Kaleb gave him.


Here are Logan's Valentine's Day pics at Aunt Holly's. My mom actually took these a couple of days before Valentine's Day, but she didn't have any assistance and she had trouble getting him to cooperate. He loves the camera, but he wants to touch it!



Here's Lo and Rufus, one of Aunt Holly and Uncle Josh's dogs. I'm not sure what he's doing, but he's always busy, busy these days.

I hope to post more pictures soon if I ever remember to get them off the camera!

Update on Bryan and Dylan

Here's an update from Sonny's (Bryan's brother) mother in law:

Little Dylan is still in very serious condition but we are encouraged by what is happening. He is still heavily sedated but he has been breathing the whole time on his own, which is very good. He had surgery to place a trach on Tuesday but it was purely a precaution. He responds when he hears his mother's voice or the machines beeping by turning his head toward the sound. He had pigskin grafts to his neck, chest, and abdomen yesterday. We were very encouraged that they did that so soon. His little eyes are still swollen shut but the doctors' believe that they will be okay when the swelling goes down.

His daddy, Bryan, is going to remain in Hermann Hospital in Houston for a while. He has second degree burns to his arm, shoulder, and side and third degree burns to his ankles and legs. I do not know how far up his legs the burns go. All the skin was burned off the bottom of his feet. He is in a great deal of pain and, of course, is very worried about his son and feeling guilty that he could not get to him. Sonny spent a couple of days helping his dad tear down the part of the house that was burned. The Baptist Men on Mission, a group of retired men from our church, are going to help them rebuild the house. Wiley had built the house himself the first time. Several benefits are being planned. One is a barbecue at the VFW hall in Cleveland on April 5.

God answers prayers; thank you for your prayers (I know the family appreciates them more than we know) and please keep praying!

Prayer request

This family needs all the prayers they can get, so I'm asking everyone I know to pray. "On Sunday Afternoon March 8, 2009 a house fire broke out in Tarkington leaving Dylan Mills (17 months old) and his father Bryan Mills seriously burned. Dylan was flown by helicopter to a Shreveport Burn Center, and Bryan is in Memorial Hermann’s Jones Pavilion Burn Unit. They are both undergoing multiple surgeries and could use all the help that we can get. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated! Please keep the Mills family in your thoughts and prayers."

Bryan's parents house also burned down in the accident and they didn't have homeowners insurance. Obviously, that isn't the main concern right now, but the entire family is going through a LOT right now and all need our prayers and support.

There are two accounts set up to for the family.

Wachovia Bank under Bryan and Dylan Mills in c/o Jennifer Wood& Chase Bank under Dylan Mills

Please contact Jennifer Wood or Amy Ayers for any other information regarding donations or the family:
Jennifer Wood – 281-659-7492 or jenicwhe@yahoo.com
Amy Ayers – 936-402-4317

Please also pray for the family of Paul Mitchell, who passed away on Jan. 29th, especially his wife Joanna and young children, William and Ashlyn. Another request is for the family of Brad Wims, who passed away on March 2nd, including his wife Jenny and their young children, Zeke and Kaelyn. www.thewims.blogspot.com

This is all so sad, and all I want to do is cry and let the weight of these tragedys get me down. It's ok to be sad, but I know that I cannot let the devil keep me in dispair, because it is he who puts these negative thoughts in my head. For we know that GOD calls us to cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We know He listens to our prayers and answers them in His own time and in His own way. All we can do is offer them up to heaven and trust His perfect grace to see us through. This last paragraph is more for me than anything; somehow writing it out is therapeutic and reminds me of God's promise. But I hope it comforts you as well in these troubled times. We have to treasure every moment God gives us!

Logan's first haircut

Logan got his hair cut a couple of weeks ago. It was sort of unplanned so we only have pictures with the camera on my phone (sorry they are so small), but at least we captured it some how. My mom was watching Logan that day. I was supposed to get my hair cut at 4pm and my mom was supposed to get hers done at 5pm, but she got the times confused and showed up before I did. So she went ahead and had hers done since Sela, who cuts our hair, is pretty fast. Logan sat in her lap with the little kid's cape on and was apparently very well behaved.

Then I showed up and got my hair cut. Then Sela shaped both our eyebrows and offered to cut Logan's hair. He just needed a little trim in the back, but I figured I would take him to one of those kid salons so he would tolerate it better. He was feeling right at home, though, so I figured, "what the heck?" He sat in my lap in the chair, she put the cape on, and went right to work. He was busy playing and didn't even notice until she pulled out the trimmer (you know, the buzzer thing) at the end. He was curious, but didn't fuss at all and was pretty still. Now he looks just as precious as ever and doesn't have a crazy-wavy hair when he gets out of the bath tub.

Logan's 1st Birthday

Logan turned one on December 18th, but we celebrated on December 13th with family so that it wasn't too close to Christmas. It was great! I wanted to keep it small so he wouldn't feel overwhelmed; he's going through that stranger anxiety phase right now and even family that he doesn't see often enough are "strangers" to him. I know he'll outgrow that soon enough, but I wanted his big day to be special for him, not just us. He warmed up to everybody really quickly, though, and enjoyed his first taste of Chick-fil-a nuggets.

He didn't really open his presents. I felt silly opening presents I wrapped, but I have a feeling I won't be doing that again next year. Plus, he got a lot of great presents from other family members. Once the paper was off, he was very curious about each gift and would get so engrossed in a toy that he didn't even notice I was opening a new one. He was a little overwhelmed by all the new toys, books, and clothes and so were we. We are so blessed with such generous and loving family and friends.

This is the first gift he opened (I opened) and he was so fascinated that he couldn't focus on anything else.

Then we opened a Build-a-bear dog from Aunt Holly. She recorded a message so you hear her say, "happy birthday, Logan" when you push his paw. He thinks it's pretty neat, but you can see he's still got his hand on that piano.

So I just took the piano away so he would pay attention to me opening other presents and then we opened a lawn mower and it had his undivided attention. Uncle Rick couldn't get it put together fast enough. They were trying to figure out how to get the handle to stay up and finally realized it's not supposed to. Logan didn't care either way, as you can see.

And here is your stereotypical 1-year-old playing with one of the boxes. (It wasn't a computer) :-)

We sat him in his high chair and sang happy birthday to him and he just loved it. He got this big grin on his face, like he was thinking, "all this, for me?" Then I blew out his candle and set his little mini-cake on his tray. He just looked at it and wasn't sure what to do. I guess he knew Daddy was watching and he had better not make a mess. I finally fed him some with a fork and he decided it was not half bad. The only sweets he had had before that was a few bites of pumpkin cheesecake at Thanksgiving. Needless to say his little taste buds were in shock, but in a good way. There's no turning back now.

He eventually tried to turn the plate over, so we put his cake right on his tray and he went to town. He never really got icing everywhere, like I was expecting, but I did find blue icing in the cracks and crevices of his high chair the next day. He absolutely loved it and ate almost the whole piece, mostly cake not all icing, thank goodness. And the best part is he still eats his peas!

He wasn't too sure at first...

When he realized how good it was and how he had everyone's undivided attention and how we all laughed when he made this face after taking a bite, he did it every time.

Whoops!

I want to thank all of our family for helping me with Logan's party, including Michael's dad for taking the great pictures and letting me use them on my blog. His are the ones with the border. He says he's not good at indoors and photographing people, but I have to disagree.