Monthly Update! (or bimonthly)

So I thought I would do a quick update on us, the parents. Nate finished up his semester and was very busy. He had some big papers to write, finals to study for, and grading to do for his job. I helped out a little with some of the grading. He was also feeling a little jealous that the people he started law school with were graduating. Nate still has some summer classes and fall classes since he is doing his MBA as well.

Nate has also been very busy applying for internships for the summer. In the beginning, he was getting some interviews, but we've had a dry spell which has put some stress on us. So I have applied for some part-time jobs. (Just retail jobs. I want a job that I wouldn't feel bad about quitting in just a few months.) If Nate doesn't get an internship by the end of May, he's going to start applying for basically anything. I also decided that we needed to cut down on our spending. Now, we are really cheap in general and hardly ever buy things so there really isn't much to cut out. However, I decided that one thing I could cut down on is the grocery bill. I decided to budget $40 a week since that is how much I make teaching piano lessons every week. Now, I normally spend anywhere from $55-$70 so I would have to cut out as much as $30 a week. I know that there are extreme couponers out there who get tons of stuff for way cheap so I decided that I would get into that. My goal is to get something for free, but so far, I haven't been able to find the right coupons to do that. But I have been doing this for the past 2 weeks and have stayed under our budget so far and have gotten some good deals! Like a 4 pk of toilet paper for 0.50! We set up a spreadsheet where I keep the list and how much those things cost. Then the day before I grocery shop, I check out a blog where they ad match stores with coupons. I might add a couple of things on the list from that and find some coupons that go with what I was already planning on buying. It's worked out so far! The real test will be when I have to do the food for Logan's birthday party and keep all that under $40!

Other things I've been doing: I finished up volunteering so I am trying find an administrator to sign my license renewal application and then I will be able to send it in! I did a piano recital where my kids joined up with another lady in the ward who teaches. That way my kids didn't have to do a family recital but actually had more experience and a chance to get really nervous! For a Relief Society activity, I went to a Baroque musical concert at a Christian church in Akron and it was great! I love that kind of music. We all went to the service project that the BYU Alumni put on (that I did all the advertising for). It was a random cold day, and we were out at the Cuyahoga National Park picking up trash and big sticks (out of the way of the lawn mowers). But it still turned out good and I think people had a fun time.

Logan is 11 Months Old!

I can't believe my baby has almost been alive for one whole year! There have been some tough times, but overall, it's been wonderful being mommy to this little boy!

I actually had a WIC appointment and they have to weigh him and measure him, so I have some 11 month old stats. His height is the same (28 inches) but he is now 20 lbs 8 oz. Healthy as can be.

Messy boy. Peas & black beans

The big accomplishment for the month would be learning to climb the stairs. Logan just can't go back down them yet. We try to teach him (we help him move his legs down each step), but after going down just a few steps, he wants to go back up. So maybe after the novelty of going up wears off, he'll be ready to learn how to go down. But in the mean time, we always have a chair in front of the stairs except when we want him to go up. We did actually buy a gate, but something is wrong (we think the hardware they gave us is wrong and I wrote them to change it but they just sent us the same stuff), it is nearly impossible to slide it to expand it or shorten it.

I find it interesting that just before Logan learns something new, he gets ornery. For example, for a couple of weeks before he learned to climb the stairs, he would cry pretty often and always wanted my attention. He followed me everywhere I went and cried every time I went to a different room. I couldn't get much done except when he was asleep. And he seemed to get bored really easily. I do always spend some time each day playing with him, but that wasn't enough. Then he learned to climb the stairs, and our happy Logan is back.

Logan tries to be sneaky when trying to play with our computers.
Basically, I don't pull out my computer anymore when he is awake

Logan can also stand by himself without holding onto anything for up to a minute if he doesn't realize that he is standing by himself. As soon as he realizes that he's not holding onto anything he will either grab the closest thing or sink to the floor. I've been trying to get a picture of it, but as soon as the camera is out, he's trying to grab that instead!

Two bottom molars are growing in, making a total of 10 teeth for our little guy.

Logan doesn't have stranger anxiety but he will sometimes cry when one of us has to leave.

He will sometimes wave "hello" or "goodbye" but not on request. He waves best when it is at his reflection in the TV.

Logan repeats things after us sometimes. Like doggy - "oggy" or "do do" (short o), daddy - daddy or "da da", stuck - "uck",  who's that? or what's that? - "sat". I know he knows what the words doggy, daddy, mommy, and Logan mean. He gets so excited every time he hears a dog bark and especially excited when he sees one! Or a cat, bird, squirrel, anything! One time it seemed like he was trying to copy a dog's bark. It was so funny!

He really likes to throw things. We try to encourage him just to throw his balls, but sometimes other things get thrown. It's really cute though because he gets so excited as he's doing it! The ball barely gets in his hand, and it's out again! It's fun to play, even for me!

 Swinging in the park

Logan is very persistent. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. It is getting harder to distract him from certain things that he isn't supposed to play with (the sliding door blinds, cords) because he wants to play with that and nothing else! The good thing is that when he is working on a task, he continues at it until he feels like he has accomplished what he wanted. For example, we have these toys that are stacking toys but also "nesting" toys. I watched him figure out the "nesting" part.

He is still violent and I am seriously surprised I don't have a bald spot on my head yet with how often he pulls out chunks of hair. I'm seriously considering implementing time-out anytime he pulls hair or bites (either by being held so tight he can't move, or being put in the pack n' play in a room by himself). Is he too young for that? I know he's just playing, he plays with his stuffed animals the same way, but it hurts!

Logan's 3rd haircut. Before and After. A lot of people were calling him a girl so I
figured we needed to do something. Nate held him, he watched Baby Einstein's,
and I cut. The first side I did was better than the second since he started getting
 antsy.  I didn't cut a lot off either.

His hair

For some reason, I don't have very many pictures from last month. So kind of lame. Sorry!

10 Month Old Photo Shoot

I've been wanting to get some 10 month old pictures of Logan but originally, I was going to do it in his Easter outfit. However, every Sunday he either got the outfit messy before I could take pictures or it was rainy. So I finally just did it in the middle of the week. So these are done by me with my amazing photography skills and great camera (ha ha) and my sister edited some of them to make them presentable and printable. I have to say, it was really difficult to get Logan to look at me because he was just enjoying looking at everything outside and exploring the cement/sticks/rocks. I tried the stuffed animal, fruit snacks, a rattle, I wore myself out!

Can I play with that?

And he's done

Family Time at the Playground

One Sunday a couple of weeks ago, the weather was really nice! So we decided to take advantage (since Spring has been so late in coming) and go for a walk. We stopped by the little playground that is in the middle of our complex to play for a bit. The equipment is pretty old, but Logan had lots of fun on the swing! At first, he was a little nervous about it, but soon he was loving it! Especially when we tried to catch his toes.

Logan didn't care one way or the other when it came to the slides. He just didn't show any expression.