Megan Thurman Photography

Connor’s been saying I love you for awhile now, but it’s something we have had to prompt him to say. Like when we’re tucking in at night I’ll say “I love you Connor. Can you say I love you?” Or when Derek is leaving for work, “Say I love you to daddy since he’s leaving.” He usually obliges and says it when prompted.

Last night Derek and Connor were going outside to play some basketball, which is his favorite new playtime with Derek. He stopped in the doorway, turned to me and said “I love you, mommy.” Then, just to make sure I heard him, he said it again. So cute. I love you too, Connor.

Last night I got an unexpected phone call from one of my dearest friends. Juli Beth and I have been friends for pretty much as long as I can remember. I think we met around the 3rd grade or so at church, but it wasn’t until we were in youth group together that we really became close. We don’t talk that often and only see each other a few times a year. But we always just pick up right where we left off. I still consider her one of my best friends. I know I could call her for anything, anytime and she would be there. Talking to her last night was exactly what I needed. It got me thinking about all of the friends God has blessed me with.

RyAnn- We met in 5th grade but really didn’t like each other. However, we ended up with lockers next to each other and several classes together in 7th grade. And, since our last names were close we sat next to each other in those classes. What I remember most about that year were the endless slumber parties, pancakes every Saturday, and crushes on Blake. We stopped going to school together in 8th grade. We didn’t see each other too often, but we knew our friendship was something special and didn’t let it go. We still talk on the phone all the time, just like we did when we were 13.

Kristin-My friend who I’ve literally known my whole life since she’s my sister, too. I really hope that I have 2 girls someday so they can experience having a sister. Kristin and I didn’t really like each other until about 5 years ago. She came out to California to visit. We had such a good time going to San Diego in the rented Mustang that turned out to be a piece of junk. We felt so cool driving around with the top down wearing out cool new shades and tank tops…until the plume of black smoke enveloped us. Ahh…the memories. I’m so lucky to have a sister who is also my best friend.

Shauna-a.k.a. Roomate. We met at Sooner Youth Camp and lived together our Freshman year at ACU. I’ll never forget our handstand contest that has permenently scarred my elbow. I’ll never forget our last year at Sooner when we had a cabin to ourselves because none of our other friends came back that last year. I’ll also never forget the silly things we did as roomates-like naming ourselves Starlite and Shakazulu and painting that in our room, pushing our beds together to make one big bed the last few weeks of school, doing routines to get into bed at night, and the burial of our beloved fish Tyrone.

Annalee-probably the most caring person I have ever met. We lived on the same hall our Freshman year. We didn’t really hang out until the end of that year. We both worked at summer camps that summer so we became camp pen pals. We did pretty much everything together the first semester of our Sophomore year. We weren’t roommates, but she slept over on our futon all the time. It even had a sign over it-Annalee’s Domain. One of our favorite things to do was talk in initials. One of my favorite shirts is one she made for me. It says HBBFFAEAEAE on the front and ILY on the back. Obviously that means Happy Birthday Best Friends Forever and Ever and Ever and I love you.

Staci-Another great friend from high school youth group. Juli Beth, Staci, and I were a threesome. I can’t think about one of them without thinking about the other. I only see her once a year, but we keep in touch emailing. She’s another one that I know I could count on for anything.

Beth-My best California friend. I’m so lucky to have her out here. I don’t what I would do without her. I would be lonely and bored, that’s for sure. It’s great to have another mom to talk to every day. She encourages me constantly and she’s such a great mom to her two kids-I respect her so much. I’m sad to think about leaving California in big part because of her.

Derek-Last, but certainly not least. In fact, he’s the most. My best friend, my teammate, my everything. I can’t imagine my life without him. He puts up with my drama and loves me like no other. He’s so patient with me, listens to me when I need to get out ten million words, treats me like a princess, comes home when I need him, and lets me take up more than my half of the bed. I am so lucky to share my life him.

Thank you to all the friends in my life. I don’t know what I would do without you guys.

Last night when Connor got out of the bath he urgently needed to look out our living room window. He climbed on the couch and peeked around the curtain. I guess he couldn’t get a good enough view, so he climbed all the way up on the back of the couch and stood tall and proud. Keep in mind that he was fresh from the tub and naked as the day he was born. Our apartment location is such that pretty much anyone in the courtyard or outside anywhere could see Connor. Derek and I were cracking up. I decided to go outside and take a picture. The first one didn’t come out very cute, but I kept trying. I wanted to get him looking at me or smiling or doing something. It was just perfect how he smashed his face on the window and decided to look slightly angelic…especially since he was anything but.

I took some other cute pictures of the boys yesterday on our day out and about. Here’s what Connor typically looks like when we go places.

We went out to eat at On the Border where Connor enjoyed some tortillas and chips and also enjoyed a little bit of coloring.

Finally, exhausted after a long day of shopping and eating, he passes out in his car seat.

And, just for good meausure, here’s sweet Logan doing what he does best.

I’ve been playing around with Picasa lately and discovered I can make web albums. So, I put together an album of some of my favorite pictures from April that I didn’t already post on here. Click here to see the pictures.

I’m tired tonight, but stay tuned for some really cute pictures of a day in the life of Connor!

Logan is a ferocious farting machine. Seriously. The gas that comes from this child is really quite amazing. It puts most grown men’s flatulence to shame. It’s pretty funny to hear such an offensive sound come from such a sweet, innocent baby. Except it’s not really that funny because Logan turns into the farting machine every morning sometime between 5 and 6 a.m. He’s been on a pretty consistent schedule the past two weeks or so. He eats between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m., sleeps, eats at about 1:30 a.m., sleeps some more and then eats again between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. He’s pretty good at eating and then going right back to sleep at these meals. It’s all smooth sailing until about 45 minutes after his 4:30 meal. He wakes up every single morning with horrible gas. He fusses and cries and squirms and farts about 15 times before the grand finale that fills his diaper. This is phase one and it typically lasts 30 minutes or so. Phase two lasts until the next feeding-usually an hour and a half or so. In phase two, he is just cranky. He’ll find momentary happiness sitting in his bouncy chair and sucking on his paci. He’ll doze off, drop the pacifier, and cry. Derek and I have started taking turns dealing with our ferocious farting machine. One of us camps out in the living room during the early morning hours. I’ve never before heard of a baby whose fussiest time was in the morning. Has anyone else?

Now, on to the elf ear. Logan has one ear that is pointy like an elf’s, and I’m trying to figure out who this came from. Neither Derek nor I have an ear with this shape. I’m really curious if anyone on either side of the family has an ear that looks like this.

I know the picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea. It’s the mystery ear. Most of Logan’s other features we can pinpoint to either Derek or I. My long toes, Derek’s forehead and cheekbone structure, my mouth and eyes, Derek’s floppy earlobes, etc. But the one ear is a mystery.

Derek and I have always had different ideas about what makes a perfect Saturday. Derek’s perfect Saturday would look something like this: Stay in bed until late. I say stay in bed and not sleep because Derek is the kind of person who loves to just stay in bed in that quasi-sleep/awake state. He might wake up at 9:00, but he would stay in bed and snooze until 10:00. Then he would want a good breakfast-perhapas waffles and bacon or maybe a breakfast burrito. He would then spend the rest of the day playing x-box, browsing the internet, or working on his computer projects. Dinner would be a good home cooked meal. He would crawl into bed sometime after midnight. The most important aspect of his perfect day is he wouldn’t go anywhere. To him, the best Saturdays are those spent entirely at home.

In the almost 10 years that I’ve known Derek, one thing is definately clear. We are opposites in just about every way. Perfect Saturday’s are no exception. My perfect Saturday would go something like this: I would wake up around 8:00 or 8:30 and immediately get out of bed. I hate staying in bed if I’m not sleeping. I would eat a good breakfast (preferably waffles) and drink some coffee while checking my email and the blogs I have become obessed with reading. After breakfast, it’s shower and get ready time. I would then spend some time shopping or just browsing around the mall, Target, or Kohl’s, and maybe a good scrapbook store. I would spend some time scrapbooking or browsing the internet. Dinner would be out at Chili’s, BJ’s or Chipotle. After dinner, I would watch a movie and scrapbook and head to bed around 10:00.

Of course, these perfect Saturday descriptions are the pre-kid descriptions. It’s highly unlikely that either one of us could have our old perfect Saturday. But, I think today was a pretty good mix of both our perfect days. After breakfast (which was just cereal, not waffles), Connor and I went to Target to shop while Derek stayed home with Logan. After lunch, Derek played X-Box Live for a few hours while I scrapbooked. After Connor’s nap, he and Derek went on a little 15 minute walk to look at the fire truks at the station down the street. When they came home, they had flowers for me. What a nice surprise! Derek said it was Happy Being You day. I certainly can’t complain about that. Connor spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside while Derek and I took turns keeping an eye on him. Dinner was leftovers, which makes Derek happy because he doesn’t have to go out anywhere and makes me happy because I don’t have to worry about cooking. After Connor goes to bed, Derek has an x-box live date set up with some friends and I’ve got my scrapping out, ready to be worked on some more. Today might just be my new perect Saturday.

Connor’s favorite fruit of the moment is watermelon. He asks for it constantly. He wants it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any time in between. Sometimes he wants to eat “big watermelon” (a big slice) and sometimes he wants to eat “forkin watermelon”-cut up into pieces, in his star bowl, and eaten with a fork. Don’t you just love the vernacular of a two year old?

Connor has also been expressing his artistic side lately. He loves to color outside with his chalk and inside with his crayons. Today he decided to be artistic on our kitchen wall (Can you see the orange on the wall?) Cleaning crayon off the wall feels sort of like a parenting rite of passage. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Logan finally got to enjoy his first real bath yesterday. He had the most stubborn umbilical cord. At his doctor’s appointment they put some silver nitrate on it and voila- it finally came off. I, of course, pulled out the camera for the momentous occasion. 🙂

I decided it was time for a little website update. What do you think? Learning how to make this blog more asthetically pleasing is one of the perks of being married to a computer nerd. For anyone who has questioned Derek’s geek-dom, you should really check out his blog. Despite his rampant geeky-ness, I really do love him and think he’s pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Do you ever just have one of those days? One of those days where you just want to crawl into bed and forget it ever happened? That was my day today. It didn’t really start out that way. It actually started out really good. Logan had his one month check-up today. He weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 inches long. (Side note: my best friend RyAnn had a baby last November. Her son weighed just about that at birth. You go, Ry! You’re my hero!) Anyway, Connor was GREAT at the doctor’s appointment. The kind of great where I start to think that I know what I’m doing as a mom and that I’m doing an okay job. He behaved, he listened, he didn’t get impatient. He charmed the nurses and doctors. He was so well behaved that I took him to Mickey D’s for the coveted Happy Meal.

Then came nap time. Since we moved Connor to his big boy bed, naptime has been somewhat of a struggle. Okay, a major struggle. He’s only fallen asleep once since we moved him a week ago. I’m not sure exactaly what is causing this resistence. Is it just his desire to be independent? Is it because he no doesn’t have his paci anymore? Is it because he’s ready to drop his nap? I highly doubt it’s the last option. My guess is it’s just a test-a power struggle, his drive to be independent. Whatever the cause, it stresses me out. As much as I try to not let it bother me, it does. I know I should just consider myself lucky that on the days he doesn’t sleep he is happy to just stay on his bed and talk and sing and play with trucks. But I want him to sleep! The afternoons are so much better when he sleeps. I’ve tried several different things to get him to take his nap. Today, I decided on a few rules for naptime. No toys, no getting out of bed, and no looking out the window at cars. If he followed these rules and went to sleep, he would get a special cookie for snack. I figured with no toys to play with and the added incentive of a cookie he would eventually fall asleep. Boy, was I wrong! He spent the good part of two hours whining, crying, and complaining about this. He snuck cars in his bed once, climbed up to look out his window once, and pooped twice. I had to rearrage his room in the middle of naptime so his bed is no longer by the window. He never went to sleep. By 3:30, Connor was cranky and I was even crankier.

Just when I think I’ve got this mom thing figured out and when I think doing good on my own, God reminds me that I really need to rely on Him. He humbled me in a big way today. When I don’t turn to Him for wisdom and guidance I fail miserably.

Will Connor take a nap tomorrow? I’m not counting on it. But, I will be patient with him and pray for wisdom. I will trust that God is making up for all of my many shortcomings as a mother. I will remember Proverbs 3:5. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

I just know that he’s going to hate all the pictures I took of him. This one is just priceless!

Since Logan was born, I’ve only made it to church one Sunday. For the first two, he was still kind of little and I was still recovering. The third Sunday, the Thurman’s were here and we can’t all fit in the car so I stayed behind with Logan. The 4th Sunday I finally made it. Granted, we were late and I spent most of the service feeding Logan in the ladies lounge. But I made it. I had every intention of going today, but it just didn’t happen. To be on time, we need to be pulling out at 10:20, which means walking out the door about 10:13. At 10:00 I had just gotten out of the bath tub. Logan was sleeping and still in his pajamas (actaully his 3rd pair-we had a little episode of projectile spit up this morning…) I could have rushed to get ready and we might have only been 10 minutes late. But, I decided it would be better to send Derek and Connor to church and I could have a little break. And as much as I love going to church, this morning was wonderful. Logan was a little bit fussy, but I really enjoyed getting to spend one on one time with him. Once he fell asleep I had a chance to scrapbook, which is something that hasn’t happened much in the past month.

All in all it was a really great morning. I feel refreshed and ready to start another week.

It’s hard to believe that Logan is one month old today. Why is it that the last month of pregnancy went by so slowly but now time is flying by? I was talking to my sister yesterday and she thought it was funny that this is supposedly Logan’s website but there is more stuff about Connor. She did bring up a good point. I guess maybe I should change the web address since this is turning into more of a family thing and not just a Logan thing. Anyway, since today is Logan’s one month birthday I will talk about him some. He is such a good baby. He’s rarely fussy, eats like a champ, and is a pretty good sleeper. One night he slept for 6 hours, but I think it was a fluke. He hasn’t gone longer than 5 since that one blissful night. I guess the reason I haven’t written much about Logan is he just doesn’t do much right now except eat, sleep, poop, grow, and occasionally smile. He really is growing a lot. He’s starting to get those pinchable baby cheeks. I’ve decided that every month I’m going to take a picture of him in the purple chair wearing only a diaper. It’s the scrapbooker in me-I can already picture the cute layout! Anyway, here are just a few from today’s photo shoot. I can’t decide which one I like the best.

I like this one because he looks like he’s performing.

I like this one because he looks like he’s about to go on a water slide and I love water slides!

I like this one because he’s cross-eyed. It makes me laugh when babies forget how to focus.

And I like this one because his smile melts my heart every time.

Happy one month birthday, little munchkin head!