Moby Baby

Registering for gifts was probably the most fun part of preparing for baby Logan and I spent MANY hours online looking through products that I needed and adding them to my registry. It made me really excited and helped to pass the time as I waited through the summer. I read reviews from other moms and agonized over which lotion and diaper cream to buy. All of this time I would find out later was probably wasted for the most part because each baby is different and while I thought for sure Mustella was the best lotion/wash product out there....Logan would break out in a terrible rash from it and it didn't seem to make a difference weather I used Desitin or A&D on his cute little tushy! Oh well! While I thought for sure I had everything I needed for my little babe, the one product that has been my absolute most favorite thing (move over Oprah and your plasma tvs!) I didn't purchase until after Logan was born and from the advice of a friend (thanks Katie!).

My Moby wrap isn't cutesy (try tan and stained most of the time) and it didn't cost anywhere near as much as the swing (which he doesn't like) but I use it more than any other items that I purchased. Yes, it is just one long piece of fabric for $30 but I would buy it 100 times over! It was a bit intimidating the first time I used it because you have to wrap it in just the right way, but when he fell asleep within seconds of hitting the fabic I knew that I had found something great! Logan isn't a great napper so I put him in the Moby at least once per day and he sleeps for at least a few hours. Also, I can actually clean up the house while he is sleeping because I have both of my hands available. What a miracle!

I put Logan in the Moby in the airport for our flights to and from Arizona and he slept like a champ! Love it! Thanks Moby!

LoganBerry: Two Months

Look at my little man growing:

1 week                                    1 month                                    2 months

Logan had his 2 month check-up today and here are his stats:

10 pounds 5.5 ounces  (20th percentile)

22 3/4 inches long   (50th percentile)

He is a healthy and happy little boy!

He also had an immunization (we are following Dr. Sears' alternative vaccine schedule, so he only had one shot today).  I was so nervous about him getting the shot, but he didn't even flinch!  I couldn't believe it! He was totally unphased by the whole thing and we left with a smiley baby.  Phew!  :) 

Deal or No Deal??

Every other Wednesday is Mom's night out to go fellowship with the women at Midweek.  Dad's in charge of Logan and they get some good bonding time in.  

Just to preface this story, when Logan was first born,  Ronnie would always talk to him and tell him that they had a deal that all of the poopy diapers would be saved for Mom.  The deal actually seemed to be working as I changed every single poopy diaper week after week.  Every time I had to change a poopy diaper Ronnie would give Logan a huge kiss and tell him "Good Job!"

Ok, back to Midweek last Wednesday:  I get home from Midweek and Ronnie puts his phone/camera right in my face:

  
Logan's first blow-out!!!  I laughed so hard as Ronnie shows me the pile of 100 baby wipes and the onsie that he had to cut off because he didn't want to get poop on Logan's head!  Logan didn't keep his end of the deal....he was just saving the best one for Dad!

First (non gassy) Smile

During his 7th week of life Logan gave me his first real smile!  I can't even explain how much joy that little smile put into my heart....I almost cried!!  I was talking to him and he let out several smiles that were so cute.  Ronnie was home and was able to capture the moment:

Since that day he has given me more and more smiles every day and it makes me so happy.   He smiles when I talk to him and sing the goofy Gymboree songs to him and he often smiles just when I look at him.  How nice it would be to be able to be so happy at simple things like this...we can learn a lot from our infants!

Keep on Rolling!

"OMG-Logan rolled over!!" I scream as I am sitting on the floor watching my son roll from his tummy to his back. 'I am by myself and Ronnie is on his way home....no one will believe me when I tell them that he rolled over' . I put him back onto his tummy and he does it again! 'Oh wow...ok, Ronnie's going to be home soon.....maybe he'll do it again." Ronnie walks through the door and I tell him to come over quickly because Logan rolled over. I put Logan on his tummy and he rolls over again! Yes!! We grab the camcorder and try to capture it on video but Logan is frustrated and done with tricks. Later that night, however we were able to capture it on video:

Logan rolls over almost every tummy time now and it is quite amazing. In Gymboree they do tummy time while we talk about the latest happenings with our tots. My turn and I say that Logan rolled over....and he's 6 weeks. I see the 'yeah right' looks on faces and as if on cue Logan rolls over and everyone sees. They are all so amazed and tell me that he's going to be an early mover. Oh great...I am not ready for this!! :(

Flexibility and Family

Logan LOVES his cousins Kelsey and Cole!!  The Montoya family (Ronnie's older sister Amanda, her husband Chad, and their two kiddos: Kelsey 4 and Cole 2) came to visit at the beginning of October and we had such a great time.  Kelsey and Cole are the cutest and they are at the age where they like to be moving and going all of the time.  I vowed when I had Logan to be as flexible as possible and to not be afraid to take him places, so this was going to be the true test.  I had been out for the babies class at Evergreen and to church and bible talk, but this week we had lots of plans for places to go every day.  We went to downtown Seattle twice (Pikes Place and the Aquarium), Pacific Science Center, Pumpkin Patch, Ballard Locks, and Gig Harbor (first overnight away from home).  Logan is on somewhat of a schedule (feed, wake for an hour, and sleep) so I think that he did really well.  As long as I had somewhere to feed him we were good to go!   I think that I did a pretty good job of being flexible (except for the day at the park when I wasn't feeling good and I was quite grumpy (sorry Amanda and Chad...and my husband!).   This week also gave me a lot of confidence that I could indeed take my son out places and have a life.  Next scary step is going to be taking him on an airplane to Phoenix for Thanksgiving....scary!

We had so much fun with the family.  Highlight:  Cole sat next to Logan in the car everywhere we went and while Logan sleeps he grunts a lot.  Every time Logan would grunt, Cole would put his pointer finger in Logan's face and say "SHHHH".   He was not trying to get him to be quiet, he was doing what he saw us do to calm the baby down (you know, that "shhhh" white noise sound).  It was so cute!!

Here are some pics from the awesome week: 



Cousin Kelsey loves to hold Logan



This is Cole soothing Logan

Aunt Amanda

Three Pumpkins!

Logan looking at his beautiful aunt

Uncle Chad and Logan

Weighing In

Breastfeeding is harder than I thought! I think I have spent hundreds of dollars on breastfeeding acessories, hours in the lactation consultant's office, hours at home pumping and cleaning pump acessories, and countless weary hours sending up prayers over the last few weeks in desperate attempts to increase my milk supply. I can say that it all seems to be paying off because my supply is increasing slowly and Logan is gaining weight!

At his 1 week appointment Logan had only gained 2 ounces since leaving the hospital (he was 6lbs 7 ounces from 6lbs 5 ounces at the hospital) and this was considered low gain. The lactation consultant put us on a feeding plan (breastfeed, pump, supplement with pumped milk and formula) to try to increase my supply and help Logan gain weight.

We went in for our weight-check appointment today and Logan was 7 lbs 3 ounces!!! He has gained almost a pound in a week!! I was so relieved and now I can focus on getting him eating enough without the supplemental formula.

It is amazing all that I will do to make sure my little LoganBerry can get the healthiest food possible. Luckily for us he is seeming to start to be on a schedule (eat, wake, sleep during the day and eat, sleep 5ish hours, eat, sleep 5ish hours during the night) which really helps me get all of the pumping and stuff done and still have a little bit of time to not have my breasts exposed! Wahoo!

Logan at 1 week (on the left) and Logan today on the way to his weigh-in (2 weeks and 3 days). Can you tell a difference?

I'm too sexy for my diaper

LoganBerry is my little model, but we need to work on his 'tude' so that it doesn't go to his head!  We were scheduled to have newborn photos taken at The Picture People on Satuday at 2pm.  Trying to be the good mama, I planned when I was going to feed him so that he would be sleepy and content for the appointment.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans....Logan was so fussy and hungry and in all of my planning for this first outing I did not bring my shield to feed him.  He was not having any of it and as soon as we would get him to calm down for a second you would think that the lady would be ready to snap a picture, but instead she would come over and move his hand or tell me to move him.  I understand that she was just trying to get the best picture, but I would have settled for any picture at that point.  I got pretty overwhelmed with his screams and so we just decided that we would reschedule to later that night. 

We went back at 8pm and I brought every baby item I could think of that might possibly comfort my little man.  Things went much smoother and they were very patient with us as we tried to settle him between poses.  Take a look at the end results....here is the beginning of my little model's portfolio:

*The rest of these were taken the morning we left the hospital*

"When Are You Due?"

So I have to share a funny story with you....(It is at my husband's expense, but I asked him if I could share).   As a preface to the story I need to explain that Ronnie has a phobia of that awkward situation where you ask someone when they are due and they reply that they are not pregnant.  I am not sure where this phobia stems from, but he has created a rule for himself to not ask, even if the woman is obviously pregnant.  I know about this rule and find it kind of cute, because he really fears hurting someone's feelings. 

Ok, so on Wednesday we were at our "2-day" checkup at the postpardem care center at the hospital and we are sitting in the waiting room waiting for our appointment.  A very nice woman with a quite large belly asks me where I got our diaper bag because she has been looking for one.  We chat for a few minutes and Ronnie chimes in with the words that I never thought I would hear leave his lips:  "when are you due?" 

"Oh, I've actually already had my baby" she politely responds.  I don't think I've ever seen Ronnie's face turn more red!    "Yeah," I say "she has a baby in the NICU".   (I had overheard her talking to the lady at the counter).  To be fair, the lady did still have a significant-sized baby belly and she did not have her baby with her. 

As soon as she left Ronnie turns to me and gives me this 'how could you just let me say that?' look and I burst into hysterical laughs.  He can laugh at it now, but you can bet that he will stick to his rule even tighter from here on. 

"Doh!"

Faster (and more painful) Than a Speeding Bullet

My little superman decided to make his entrance into the world in record fashion on Sunday morning (9/5).   I could never have prepared myself for the birthing experience that I had and I really hope that the amnesia that everyone talks about sets in sometime before I plan to have baby #2.   Ok, so here is the 'quick and dirty' (literally) version of the story of LoganBerry's birthday.

Friday night (9/3)-got to play the novice pregnant lady by going to the hospital for false contractions.  They were regular (coming every 3-4 minutes) and painful (so I thought...to be proven very wrong the next night) but the triage nurses said that I was dehydrated and that can cause contractions that don't do anything.  So, we went home and they gave me some medicine that allowed me to sleep and also made the contractions stop. 

Saturday (9/4)-We walked and walked to try to start the contractions again but nothing worked.  I was convinced it just wasn't going to happen this weekend.  We went to bed at about 8pm because we had been up all night the night before.  I woke up at 9pm to go to the bathroom and my water broke as soon as I was standing.  Contractions started 3-4 minutes apart and INTENSE pretty much right away.  We drove to the hospital and in triage they did some tests which came back negative for my water breaking (but blood could have skewed the results so I still think that my water did break) and I was only at about 3cm so they wouldn't admit me.  The doctor said to send me home, but my contractions were coming every 1 minute and they were super painful so the nurse said to go walking for an hour and come back to get checked (11:30pm).  One hour to me seemed like an eternity and I was in the worst pain of my life.  I would stop every 30 seconds or so for a contraction and tear Ronnie's shirt practically off of his body.  About 30 minutes later (12:00am) I walked back into triage and begged to be checked.  The nurse saw that I was having serious trouble with the contractions and so she agreed to check me.....4 cm!!  Ok, I can be admitted and get my epidural....I can do this!  The nurse tells me that the anesthesiolgist is going to be going to an emergency c-section and he will come over as soon as he can but that in the mean time they are going to start my iv and get me admitted and transferred to my room.  Contractions are killer and I really want the epidural...they give me some meds that make me a little out of it so I don't recall a lot about what was going on during the next bit of time.  I get wheeled into my room at 12:30am and they check me again.....6 cm.  Contractions were still super painful and I was pushing with each one.  The nurses were telling me that I couldn't push yet because it would hurt the cervix, but I really couldn't control it.  I was pleading with them to get the anesthesiologist, but they just kept telling me that he was coming.  At 1:30 they checked me again and I was 8cm and still pushing with the contractions.  Not good!  I am BEGGING for the epidural because I am so afraid that I won't get one in time.  "He's coming" was the only response that everyone would give.   2:00am the anesthesiologist finally walks into the room and is able to give me the epidural and this man is my hero because it kicked in 5 minutes later (which I guess is not normal).   Mom and Ronnie went out to the car to get our stuff because we hadn't had a chance to since everything was moving so quickly.  The doctor came in while they were gone and checked me again...10 cm!  She literally held Logan in and asked how long Ronnie and Mom were going to be gone.  They walked in 5 minutes later (2:15am) and the doctor told them to grab a leg! 

Pushed for 15 minutes and LoganBerry was here (2:31am)!

From start of contractions to Birth=5.5 hours!

                  Welcome Logan James Yeager!   6 lbs 11oz  and 20 inches long 

"Woah....look at that belly!"

OMGoodness! Why didn't anyone tell me that my belly was getting so huge?! I know that I need to get bigger for little Loganberry, but dang! I guess seeing it from an outside perspective is just shocking (which it probably shouldn't be since I feel like I am waddling around as if I ate an entire beach ball). Anyway, the human body is amazing and this really makes me realize that things were designed perfectly!

John Mitchell is an amazing photographer and he really captured this special time so artfully. Thanks John....you rock! Check him out at www.johnmarkphotography.com.

Vroom Vroom!

Having the summer off as a teacher gave me plenty of time to agonize over the details of Logan's nursery. Ronnie loves cars and so the antique car theme seemed to be a perfect fit. Of course Logan will probably never appreciate all of the work that Dad (and Grandpa) put in to everything, but I do! I love to just go and sit in the room and imagine my baby boy being here!

LoganBerry-What the heck is that??

Logster, Logie, L-dawg…..Hmmm. When you name your child you are making a HUGE decision for them about their social life. Nicknames are inevitable and if no better options are available you could get stuck being called Logie all throughout your life! Not my son…no way! Ever since we landed on Logan as the name, I have spent my time talking through nicknames with my little fetus and nothing sounded quite natural. I remember my sister Ali giving me a baby shower card and she wrote “Logster” and I laughed out loud. Then I started to panic….”what if that is what people actually start calling him?” I can just picture his high school sports sweatshirt with 'LOGSTER’ printed on the back! Can’t happen! I have to insert a slight topical detour here so you can understand something about me. I have to confess, (and anyone that has been around me and my precious puggle Phoebe knows this already) I tend to spit out affectionate nonsense nicknames for all of my animals (and often my hubby) without thinking about what I am saying. Phoebe is known in our household as: Pumpkin Butt, Pumpkin Bread, Nutterbuttsquash, Princess Pat….and the list could go on and on. Whatever comes into my head at the time is what I call her. It is hardly ever simply Phoebe. My husband is also affectionately known as many pet names that end in the word ‘butt’: snuggle butt, sweetie butt, bumkins. Back to Logan now….although I am sure I will make up many a nonsense nickname about his cute, wrinkly bum I really don’t want any of those to be his permanent moniker. One day, I was talking to him while he was jabbing me in the ribs with his foot and "LoganBerry” slipped out from the depths of my brain. ‘I like that’ I thought. That comes off the tongue easily and sounds ‘cute’. I called him that several more times and it really grew on me. YES! I found a nickname that could work (maybe not on high-school sports sweatshirts, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!). Today I was sitting with my hubby (sweetie butt) trying to come up with a name and logo for my blog so that it is all ready for when Mr. Man decides to arrive. LoganBerry was the first thing that came into my mind…done! Name for blog-check! Logo for blog-not check! Hubby hops onto Bing and searches for LoganBerry and I rudely snark “You aren’t going to find anything on there…I made that word up!” Two seconds later:

Ok, so I didn't make up LoganBerry, but hopefully Logan will know how much thought I put into this imortant decision for his future! The first of many worries, I'm sure! Wish me luck!