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).

Bathtime!

He gets to sit up now for his baths at Aunt Holly's house (where Nana Kay watches him while Mommy works). Until recently he used a little seat that looked like a waterproof bouncy chair that sat in the sink. He loves the water!
The other day he was really fussy (trying to cut new teeth is my guess or just tired). We went into the bathroom and started running his water and he instantly calmed down. That's the only time he doesn't mind changing clothes - when he knows he's going to get a bath.

Logan is on the move

Logan is so close to really being able to crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Then he lunges forward and falls onto his stomach. He picks himself back up onto all fours and the process starts all over. He occasionally moves one knee forward like he might stay up and crawl, but then he lunges forward again. He gets to where he wants to go, though, and I don't think he really cares how he gets there. He is quite curious and keeps us busy. I can't imagine when he starts walking how busy we will be chasing after him!

He loves the camera already; he starts inching toward you when you get it out.

He loves crawling over you when you're sitting or laying on the floor; he has his own personal jungle gym. Here, he was crawling over Daddy's leg.

Sitting pretty (well, handsome)

Logan is sitting up so well now. He was pretty wobbly up until recently. Now he can sit up for a long time without getting tired or falling over.

This was before he could sit up as good as he can now. Nana Kay and Aunt Holly bundled him up in the comfortor in the kitchen with his toys so he could play while they took down wallpaper.

This walker Nana Kay bought for him helped him practice sitting up. He loves tootling around in it. I know they say walkers are unsafe now, but not everyone has two story houses! This walker stays at Aunt Holly's house. He likes it so much I just bought one for our house.
His Bumbo chair was good practice sitting up, too, but now he can wriggle out of it.

He's into everything, as you can see. He's got his own drawer at Aunt Holly's in her craft room where Nana Kay works. He can open the drawer and get his toys out! The paci keeps him from chewing on the drawer.

He went furniture shopping with Nana Kay and Aunt Holly and they let him practice his sitting-up skills in all the cute little chairs.

Baseball...

Football... both of Daddy's favorites!