July 22, 2009 First trip to the zoo & Bass Pro

July 22nd, 2009 was an exciting day. We went to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield in the early afternoon and to Bass Pro in the evening. Logan showed his excitement by blowing bubbles when we got there...bubbles without bubble gum so I'll let you figure out what he used as his bubble medium lol.


It's a really nice zoo with water features like fountains and waterfalls. This is as close to the waterfalls as we could get but it still made for a good picture.


We got to see lions and tigers and bears...oh my! Sorry I just had to say it! It was pretty warm so most of the animals were sleeping. Here is Logan at the lion enclosure. The lioness is on the ground and the lion is sleeping on top of the wooden platform. Like Logan's "ceiling fan"? It works perfectly! Kept him nice and cool and me from fretting the whole time about him getting too hot! Jeff gets all the honor for coming up with the idea of attaching the fan to the carrier shade.


The Malayan Tiger was awake and pacing in his enclosure...but he was kept going and waiting at the building so I think it was feeding time. Here he is in the grass.


The only time Logan opened his eyes was after the Malayan Tiger exhibit...he slept through 3 hours of the zoo...but we still had a good time.


We had some ice cream to cool down in the shade. Jeff eating his ice cream.


And turn-about is fair play so he took a picture of me eating my ice cream. I have my sunglasses on in all the pictures or I'm squinting so sunglasses it is lol.


The giraffes were really really tall and we got to get up on the observation deck and take some pictures. Here's Logan with a giraffe behind him....sorry about the trash can but it was the only place the stroller would fit for a picture where there wasn't a bunch of little children running around....well little children who didn't need to be in our photos anyways.


And this giraffe liked to have its close-up taken so I took one lol!


We went in the snake and amphibian house but everything is behind glass so the glare pretty much obliterated the photos so here's a picture of one of the many statues through out the zoo of a bullfrog that's outside the amphibian house.


We made Logan two souvenir pennies in the gift shop, one has a lion on it and the other has an elephant but I can't get a decent picture of them because we used brand new pennies so they are really shiny. Here's Logan doing pretty much what he did all day...yes sleeping!



Then we went to Bass Pro but didn't take any pictures there. He slept through most of the store and they were doing a bunch of construction as well. We had dinner at Hemingway's and just browsed the store. But it was a good day in Springfield. Next time we're going to try to go to the Civil War Museum as well, it was closed when we got there yesterday.

July 14th, 2009=OUCH!

Logan had his 2 month doctor's appointment yesterday. He's a whopping 10.12 pounds, & 23 1/4 inches long. He scored average on his height growth chart and just a little below average on his weight growth chart but he's not on formula so his growth is good. Everything went good...well until he had to have his vaccinations...he got two shots on his left leg and one in his right....poor guy. I know they're necessary but still pretty heartbreaking to have to watch him cry and not be able to prevent it. But I gave him some Infant's Tylenol beforehand so after he quit crying he went to sleep. He also got a Rotovirus vaccine but it was oral so that wasn't bad. Next appointment is 3 days before my birthday so I'm going to try to get that week off.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Just wanted to put up a quick blog wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a great and SAFE 4th! So glad I'm not at work tonight or since Missouri started selling fireworks anyways...I remember last year and the firework injuries....I prefer not to smell burnt human.
Logan is doing great. He was 10.83 pounds earlier this week when I weighed him....wow....growing like crazy, wanting to be awake and interact more...of course I'm missing him taking naps where I could lay him down, he's been waking up within 3 minutes of being laid down this week, makes for a long day....oh well, this too shall pass. He's starting to do better with it.
Some pictures I've taken in our early morning sessions...he looked like he was dancing when I snapped this one, I can almost hear him singing "We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind, 'cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance well they're no friends of mine..." Although he doesn't have the weird hat and bullwhip that Men Without Hats used in the music video lol!


"Hey! Get that camera out of my face!!!!!"


"Crud! She is sooooo going to post that....sheesh what am I gonna tell people?"


And here's my favorite pajama outfit we bought him it reminds me of the fox from "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery....it's a great book...give it a read.



We went to my Dad's wedding on Sunday, here's Logan in his attire sitting on Daddy's lap...had to put up the close-up of his face, too sweet.

Wow! I'm a slacker lol!

I just realized I haven't posted a blog in 3 weeks! Oops!
Hmmn I guess I'll go in chronological order...when Logan was 3 weeks old he got a visit from his Great-Granny Westerhouse and his Great-Uncle Randy. He slept through most of it. But it was great seeing them as we haven't seen them in a long time. They both look and are doing great!
When Logan was 4 weeks old his Great-Grandparents Swann came down to visit. It was really nice. We went to Bella Peppers with Logan's Uncle Billy and Auntie Sarah and went back to their hotel suite and visited until Jeff had to go to work. But it was nice seeing them, we haven't seen in them in over a year & a half, it's been even longer for Jeff because he was out of town last time they came through the area. They had just gotten back from a safari in Africa and told us all about their adventures there. This was also the week our air conditioner quit working....so I felt like we were IN Africa!
Logan got to visit both my and Jeff's work on the night he turned one month old. He got to be held by Barry, Dara, Michelle, and Stephanie and he weighed in at a whopping 9.24 pounds (4.2 kg), but then they had patients so we went to Jeff's work where he got to meet Lacey and Amanda...he slept through both places which was kind of surprising.
Finally got our air conditioner fixed, a part either fried from a power surge or it got struck by lightning in a bad storm we had...but life became better after that!
Week 5 was pretty uneventful, we stayed in most of it, but we had Grandparent time which was nice. Logan got to hang out with Grandma Paula and Grandpa Don while Jeff and I took a nap after we'd all gone and ate Chinese...well Logan got his a few hours later, he's still loving that processed food lol but it was nice. And it was so nice of Don to help Jeff mow the lawn since our mower's deck broke...I was losing Gwen right outside the door, the grass has been growing like crazy with all this rain!
Yesterday was the first day of week 6, we went to my doctor's appointment...it was good, I'm released so I can now start working on P90X...I've already lost everything I gained with pregnancy but I want to be in better shape, so Jeff and I are challenging each other to do it....seems straight forward enough...I'll update on progress. Then we went to Babies R Us and bought shoes for Logan to wear to my Dad's wedding to go with his outfit..glad he was wearing the outfit he'll be wearing that day because the shoes I was crazy about looked horrible with it so we got some cute little blue shoes. Then we went to Cheddars and he slept through it all.
Have to do more shopping today...later today...make some important phone calls....and then hopefully sleep....but it's 0200, and Logan is asleep so I'm going to get the laundry in the dryer and move him downstairs and we are going to go to bed.

3 weeks old and an innie!

After my last blog, I changed Logan and he had lost his umbilical stump, so we now have an INNIE! It's too cute, haven't been brave enough to tub bathe him yet, he's doing ok with sponge baths for now lol. He smells like a baby so obviously it's working.
Definitely nocturnal, he wakes up between 0300-0400 and stays awake until 0500 or later....he's done this all week, so I'm getting used to it, not crying, not screaming just hanging out, so I lay him in bed with me and we cuddle. I know when he's older and able to loco-mote he won't want to be held and cuddled very much because there is just too much stuff to see and get into so I'm trying to get in as many now as I can.
Enjoying my time staring at this cute little face....his hands are getting pudgier and it's just wild to feel and see the differences in him in just 3 short short weeks!

3 weeks old tomorrow!

Logan turns 3 weeks old tomorrow. He's still nice and mellow, although now he's starting to wake up around 0400 and stay up until 0500 or so, not crying or anything, he eats, gets his diaper changed and then just wants to be held while he looks around at the world.
He's gotten to meet a lot of people, he seems to do okay with meeting new people for now, although he's not a huge fan of people not knowing how he prefers to be held and then he gets fussy.
Here he is at the "Welcome Home Logan" barbecue at Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Jan's. Lots of people, great smoked chicken and barbecued brats, very tasty, of course he did have to have his re-processed but he didn't seem to mind.
This is after he'd had his clothes changed 3 times (we had some spit-up and pee issues) and he was finally asleep, the picture is a little grainy because I took this with my cellphone.

One of our 0400 hanging out sessions. How can anyone mind staying up to look at this face?


Worn out and napping in the nursery, we take a nap every day in the glider lol.



Another 0400 session, our little night owl! Thank God for Nuk binkies otherwise he's scratching his face with his hands trying to figure out how to suck on them.


And he is still in newborn diapers and clothes! Still has his umbilical cord stump, but it should be coming off any day now...he's growing so fast! But he still can't wear his 0-3 months clothes because they're too huge on him...soon though....of course he's too darn cute in his newborn stuff, yes I'll be crying when he outgrows them! But he has lots more cute clothes just waiting for him. Jeff is just waiting on him to be big enough to wear his "Army of Darkness" onesie....might have to buy a 0-3 one the one we have is a 3-6 month...thought he'd follow in our nephew and niece's footprints and be wearing 0-3 at birth, but the no sugar after week 24 diet from Dr. Lacey did help keep him small, and the weight off of me too! Our neighbor didn't realize we were pregnant, asked if we were babysitting when we brought him home one day when Jeff went to show him off, of course I slept pretty much all day every day while I was pregnant though and tried to stay out of the sun as well so they didn't see me that much. The neighbors with the pit bulls have finally moved out, thankfully. The dogs think he belongs to them, Hannah guards the Pack 'n Play at night and Gwen tries to eat anyone who comes near him....she'll have to start with the pinkie toe of course since she's so small herself lol.

One week old today!

Wow! It's hard to believe that Logan's already one week old! Everything has been going really well. He had his first doctor appointment on Monday, he has to go back to be re-weighed tomorrow since he was 6 pounds 10 ounces on Monday which is down from his discharge weight of 6 pounds 11.9 ounces, but he's eating and needing his diaper changed like he should so I'm certain it'll be better tomorrow. He didn't even have to be checked for jaundice he looks so good! Tomorrow he also gets to go to Miami for the first time, but he rides great....just sleeps through it so it'll be good. Here he is when we were about to go for a ride. He prefers his Nuk binky to the one from the hospital, he spits that one out but keeps the Nuk in.

He sleeps really good, no not through the night, but he sleeps for at least an hour and a half at a time, normally more like 2 to 2 & 1/2 hours at night. Here he is in his crib, just sleeping away. He put his arms like that by the way, and kept them there for about an hour too.



And I FINALLY caught a smile! Ok, well a half smile but it's still a smile! He normally just smiles long enough for you to point the camera at him and then quits! So we have a bunch of straight-faces pics or smirks lol, but I caught one! Yes he's absolutely precious and I still get distracted looking at his little toes and fingers lol. Hard to believe something so small and fragile could completely change your life and how you think about things....but it does, it definitely does.