13 Months

As with the other kids, I will continue to post monthly updates for Logan until he's 2. 

Logan at 13 months:

*Got 3 new teeth on the top - one of his central incisors and both lateral incisors.

*Points when he wants something.

*Mostly just jibber jabbers and usually it's dada, but Rog was gone for a few days and he was saying mama a lot more during that time, so I think he may get that Rog is dada and I am mama, but it's hard to know for sure!

*Plays fetch.

*Has the cutest little wave. He won't do it all the time, but when he does, it totally melts my heart.

*Like our other kids, he is not a fan of milk. He'll eat oatmeal made with milk and he loves graham crackers dipped in milk, but he won't just drink it. So he gets to eat a lot of pudding and yogurt. 

*Discovered fruit snacks and is a huge fan. 

*Always wants to hold a comb when I am doing Peyton's hair and loves to sword fight with me.

We had our friend, Tara Stephenson, give him his first haircut because he was starting to get a rattail and I am not one of those moms who waits forever for that first haircut. If it starts to look bad, it's gone! He did great with the clippers.

He loves lasagna! My parents sent us this picture when they were watching our kids while we were running Ragnar. They were so amazed he finished off at least a piece and a half by himself!

Sometimes he lets me brush his teeth without a fuss and other times he puts up more of a fight.

He's started to insist he feed himself which makes for the hugest mess, but it keeps him happy and busy for at least a few minutes.

Poor baby had the most terrible eye infection in both eyes (the doctor said it was one of the worst cases she has ever seen). When I took him in, he also had an ear infection in both ears! He wasn't even acting very bad or I would have taken him in sooner.

First Quarter Reading

Oh my poor, neglected blog! I am going to get caught up one of these days. If only life would just slow down for half a second...

Now that April is almost over, here are the books I read in January, February, and March.

Excellent:
1. The Martian by Andy Weir - Mark Watney gets stuck on Mars after his crew is forced to abort their mission and leave him behind. (They think he's dead, but surprise, he's not!) So he begins an insane struggle to stay alive until the next scheduled Mars landing in 4 years. What I loved most about this book was that it had a lot of science in it, but it was explained in a way that I could actually understand and I wasn't left scratching my head/feeling like an idiot. I enjoyed every minute of it (and also loved the movie based on it)!

2. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - At the height of WWII, Henry and Keiko become best friends united by their love for jazz music and America (despite the fact that Henry is Chinese and Keiko is Japanese). They are separated as the Japanese are sent to internment camps. 40 years later Henry comes across a crowd gathered at the Panama Hotel and watches as the recently-discovered belongings of Japanese families are brought out of the basement and is taken back to his time with Keiko. I apparently wasn't paying attention when we learned about the internment camps in high school (if we learned about them) because this was the first I remember hearing about them. As such, reading this book was quite an eye-opening experience for me. It was kind of a sad story, but I loved how everything comes together in the end.

3. The Lake House by Kate Morton - Alice is a teenager in the 1930s. She lives an enchanted life with her family in a gorgeous lake house until on the night of the family's annual summer party, her brother Theo (11 months) goes missing. 70 years later, Sadie is a detective on a (forced) leave of absence from her job. While visiting her grandfather, Sadie comes across the lake house and learns of the unsolved mysterious disappearance of Theo. She begins digging into the case and finds that Alice is still alive. It took me some time at the beginning to figure out who everyone was (since it jumps around a lot between the past and present and the narrator changes frequently), but it was well worth the effort. I've heard some complaints that all the loose ends get tied up a little too neatly, but that didn't really bother me. It was hard to put down and kept me guessing until the very end which is a good quality in a book!

Great:
4. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Clay receives a mysterious package containing cassette tapes. When he starts listening to the tapes he discovers they tell the story of Hannah Baker, a classmate who recently committed suicide. The tapes give Hannah's reasons why she did what she did and names the people who contributed to her decision to end her life. The book interweaves Hannah's narration on the tapes with Clay's thoughts and memories as he listens to the tapes. I read this for book club and I wasn't sure I would like it based on the subject, but was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It made me think about how our actions - big or small - can have a large impact on those around us.

Good:
5, 6. A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, How to Ride a Dragon's Storm by Cressida Cowell - Corbyn and I made it through two more fun dragon books this quarter. They continue to be something fun we can share together and I think we both look forward to reading our "dragon book" each night.

Meh:
7. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein - The town library was torn down 12 years ago and has just been rebuilt by famous game developer, Luigi Lemoncello. For the grand opening, 12 (12 year old) kids get to have a sleepover at the library. The sleepover turns out to be a giant game to find the secret escape route. I decided to read this book because it was one of the books Janssen was reading and I could get it without a wait on Overdrive. I thought it was fine, but a little cheesy at times (written for 3rd to 6th graders) and not really my favorite book. Turns out Janssen felt pretty much exactly the same way.

1 Year

Logan turn 1 year on March 18th. I'm always amazed at how quickly that first year goes!

He had his 1 year checkup on March 21st. He got a few shots and had his finger pricked again because his iron was a little low at 9 months. This time it was in the normal range. (They didn't tell me it was low at 9 months which was probably a good thing because I would have worried if I had known it was low even though it was no big deal.)

His stats:

Weight: 22 pounds, 5 ounces (60th percentile)

Height: 29 1/2 inches (30th percentile)

Logan at 1 year:

*Got his second tooth.

*Loves to carry around a Wii controller wherever he goes in the house. Not the best toy and we've had a few close calls (see the next 2 points).

*Loves to dunk things in the toilet. Once he dunked his Wii controller in. Fortunately I saw him do it, so I was able to quickly pull it out and dry it out, but it could have been trouble had I not been right there!

*Loads things in the dishwasher. We have to check it before we start it because he's been known to load his beloved Wii controller with the silverware.

* Stands up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything.

*Is a walking pro!

*When he's done eating something, he'll drop it from his tray onto the floor.

*Loves putting lids on containers. (He's not great at getting them on, but I'm impressed that he knows where they go.)

*Is fascinated by his shoes. If he finds them, he'll try to put them on his feet.

*Loves avocados and tomatoes - I buy a few pretty much every time I go to the store just for him.

^These pictures make his hair look much redder than it really is. In certain lights it has a bit of a red tint, but nothing like his dad's hair. We think he'll be a strawberry blonde.

I bought this huge 1 balloon for his birthday party. A few days later, I wanted to take some pictures of him playing with it. He wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a picture, so I finally put him in his crib where he was contained. Worked like a charm!

 Logan's 12th month in pictures...

He still loves bananas and can eat them without having them cut up.

If he ever sees the fridge open, he'll help himself to a tomato from the bottom drawer and eat it like an apple.

He's usually a pretty good sport when the kids are playing with him and puts up with silly things like this.

For a few weeks he decided he hated the bath and would cry the entire time he was in there. It was so sad! (We finally helped him get over this by reminding him how much he loves splashing, but bath time was pretty terrible there for awhile!)

He didn't get to wear a lot of Corbyn's 12 month clothes because they were all summer clothes and it was very much winter for most of the time he was wearing that size. As it started to warm up a bit, I was able to put him in Corbyn's 12 month pajamas some nights and it was so fun. It's funny how I remember Corbyn so vividly in certain clothes and these pajamas definitely fit into that category. 

Such a good helper with the dishes!

"I know this shoe goes on my foot, but how do I get it on?!"

Big sister Peyton pushing him on the swings.

If he's tired, sometimes he'll just lay down on the floor and roll around.

Dancing at Rog's cousin's wedding reception. I think this is the funniest picture!

Our happy go lucky boy on his first St. Patrick's Day - the day before his birthday!

We love this little guy so much and are so grateful he's a part of our family!