This & That

It's time for another Random Thoughts Tuesday! Logan has his first comfort item (he has never wanted anything to do with stuffed animals, blankets, pacifiers, etc.): balls!

In my post last Wednesday (Today's Agenda: Shopping) I mentioned that Logan hadn't put down a raquet ball when he was over at his friend Jaxson's that Sunday. Well, we went shopping as planned last Wednesday - and Logan wanted to take along three balls that came with his jungle toy we got him for Christmas. He's never wanted any toys in the car before (much to the disappointment of me, as that has always made more work for me, lol) so I let him take them with - and he didn't let go! I had to really make it seem like a lot of fun to throw the balls in the car so that he wouldn't take them into the stores. Then on Sunday there was NO talking him into letting go! Joe and I drove to some pretty trees to take pictures of Logan in the leaves since it was a rare nice day outside. He didn't let go of the two balls even when we returned home the rest of the day and then took them to bed!!!! Last year he slept through our photo shoot - here are two pics then compared to two this year, wide awake!For shopping last week, I did end up returning the purple jacket I posted a pic of, and instead I bought a red sweater for our family pic on Friday. But I guess it didn't really matter because we didn't end up buying a family portrait anyway! Just Logan's 18 Month Pictures.

I also bought myself some new foundation since mine had run out - and it had been three years since I'd bought any! I've only used it for special occasions because my face is prone to breakouts and also I've never felt I can get the exact right color. (I've used both Clinique and Lancome) But the skincare specialist at Sephora insisted that I can wear their foundation every day because it's so light I won't ever feel it and it blends into the skin so it finds your exact pigmentation. Also, there is acne fighting stuff in it as well as an SPF of 30 and anti-aging -- all which I need! It's also organic so it's very healthy for the skin. I've never really paid attention to skincare before, but now that I'm turning thirty in two months I feel it is a priority. Especially since I've been using clearasil for 12-13 years - it's time I say goodbye to that! I feel it has changed my skin to an orange splotchy color and might be doing more damage in the long run even though it is the only thing that works as far as preventing breakouts for me. (I also use that brand of cleanser and a toner.) I've tried everything out there - both organic and non organic products and I either get pimples or my skin dries out and peels or is so shiny I feel self conscious when I go out in public. So we'll see how it goes, otherwise I'm going to make an appt. with a demerotologist so I can find out how to survive without clearasil because I refuse to buy it anymore! The skin care specialist almost made me cry when she was talking about how the skin on my face is nowhere near like it is on any other body part (which are all soft and smooth and the same color) so I definitely need to improve my regiman, maybe even adding exfoliating and/or a moisturizer. For more on the 4 Basic Skin Care Needs, click here.

As for my lipstick, Logan has been ruining every tube he gets his hands on :( But I didn't buy any because I can still use them. . .even if they look like globs of clay.

Now that Logan's 18 months old we're having to hold him down when we cut his fingernails :( Fortunately he just cries for a minute and then he sits well for the rest of them.

Back to last week: I bought Logan the green shirt that he wore in some of his 18 Month Pictures, but it was good I still brought his original brown one because I ended up liking that one better.

We went to the library, too, which was fun. Unfortunately, Wed. night I heard him coughing on & off every hour so I wasn't surprised when he woke up with virus #6 of the year. On Thursday morning he went to Babysitter's and the rest of the day his nose was running non-stop. We had planned to go to a "Healthy Trick-Or-Treat" with Andrea and her son Drew that night but I wanted to make sure it wasn't the swine flu, so we didn't go.

It appears to just be another cold because he hasn't had a rash or temp (I've never mentioned here that when Logan was 11 months old my mom gave me a Temporal Thermometer which I love so much better than all of the other kinds out there. I don't see how parents could get accurate temperatures before! Logan is so squirmy, I never felt confident with the underarm one which we had used until then. This one is so easy because you just run it over your forehead and wal-la, you have a reading. Logan likes it, too, so he actually sits still while I do it and then wants me to do it again and again, haha). A few times he started to act crabby and so I gave him NatraBio's Children's Cold and Flu Relief -- I refer to it as "miracle stuff." It's almost scary how well it works -- within minutes he goes from being fussy to giddy happy! But it's organic and I've researched it and nowhere can I find anything negative about it! I prefer mixing things up so that I never use anything too much since moderation is usually the key to avoiding negative effects. Therefore, I only use Tylenol when Logan is teething, since the first time I gave it to him last year I wrote a post titled My Son's Fifth Month and talked about the problems associated with too frequent use. So thanks to this stuff, I never have to give Tyelnol for when he's sick!

I thought I might have to cancel our pictures on Friday, but that day his nose wasn't as bad and luckily we didn't have to wipe it at all during the photo shoot. I'd hoped that meant it was over, but although it's slowed down and almost gone - he's not completely back to normal yet.

As I said in my post on Friday, we weren't as happy with our photography experience as in the past. We'd gone to Portrait Innovations last year and LOVED our pictures. The photographer had been great and I'd had no complaints except that I'd ordered too many, and so I went this time knowing exactly how many I wanted since they make you choose on the spot. But this time I don't know if our photographer was new or what but he didn't even introduce himself, he was just like, "Come on back" and didn't ask us what we wanted or try to warm up to Logan or anything. He just quickly told us to sit Logan down in front of the background. Well Logan was like what the heck is going on? So he made it clear he was about to start crying. So then the guy said, "Okay, let's start with the family pictures" and told us to sit down with him. Well Logan was still not sure what was going on so he just sat there stunned while the guy snapped one photo after another, like he didn't have time for us to try and get Logan to smile. I was hoping maybe one would still look alright, but I wasn't comfortable either because usually they tell you how to sit or what to do with your hands, etc. but he didn't! So I was just going by memory since I grew up getting yearly professional pictures.

Then when the photographer was done he was like, "Let's try just him again." When Logan started to cry, the guy ran off! He came back with a lady who was able to make Logan smile and gave me a fluffy thing to poke him with - so if it weren't for that, we wouldn't have gotten any shots. I was still expecting better, though - the guy didn't catch all of Logan smiling and also many photos were off center and not positioned right.

When we told him that we didn't want all of the pictures he was choosing for us to have, he acted as though it was a huge deal - like he couldn't believe we wouldn't want like 30 poses! I wanted to go through and eliminate all of the pictures I knew for sure I didn't want but he had to stop me after each one and explain what we'd be losing with a cheaper package and that the prices of the sheets actually go up that way. When we got down to 8 poses he was like, "This is our best deal, this is what everyone gets so are you paying with check or credit card?" Um, I'm not done! Plus, "everyone" doesn't do anything!

I continued to tell him which photos we didn't need until we got to three (this could have been so much faster had he not stopped me after every photo I eliminated). We decided to go with that package which I AM happy with and we even got a free bonus 10 x 13 that contained three other photos in one.

Needless to say, I'm definitely continuing our plan of "try every photographer around" rather than go back to them for Logan's second birthday pictures. We've done Target and JcPenney, so Wal-Mart is next. I'm hoping by the time I've tried every place around I'll have a favorite to go to from then on. None have been perfect, there's been pros and cons with all of them, but Logan's one year old pics (JcPenney) have been my favorite so far. Aside from them putting all of their photos in collages with effects for free, it could also be because Logan was the happiest, though - he smiled the whole time so it was easy and fast.

At least PI had a play area for Logan while Joe & I picked out which pictures we wanted. There were other kids there and he enjoyed playing with them. Afterwards, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I need to stop going out to eat each week!! The Five Factor Diet allows one "cheat" day a week and for the first week I didn't cheat at all, but the second week I did two full days and this third week I've done two full days as well because Joe & I went to Margarita's for Mexican on Saturday. But that means while I lost 5 lbs my first week, I only lost 1 the second week and I've lost 1 this third week (tomorrow will have been three weeks since I started it). I'm glad I've lost a total of seven so far, but I still have the most noticeable - 13 - left. I've been doing good with exercising, though. I had never done more than a half an hour on the eliptical since we bought it July of '08 but the past two weeks I've been doing it for a full hour while I watch TV!

Aside from going out to eat on Saturday, Joe went over to our friends' house to watch the ISU Cyclones Vs Nebraska Cornhuskers. We were so excited that ISU won!!!! (Where we went to college, we live in Omaha now.) I didn't get to watch the game with our friends because Logan decided to go down for a nap at 9:45 and didn't wake up until 1:45! By the time I fed him and changed his clothes, the game was almost over. But I was so happy to hear the news - ISU hadn't beat Nebraska in Lincoln since 1977!

On Sunday I snipped Logan's curls that he's had since 13 months old! He's not ready for his first haircut yet, but I think those curls were a fluke because the rest of his hair grows in super straight, so I thought I might as well cut off his one big curl and put it in his baby book :) I'm guessing it won't grow back, but we'll see. . .

On Monday Brooke and I were finally able to have another stay at home mom day. Logan and I went over to her place and stayed until almost 1! Logan fell asleep in the car on the way back home and slept for 3.5 hrs! When he woke up he ate and then we went for a walk because it was actually nice weather again outside! Something upsetting happened on our walk, though, but I'll save that for a future post.

To conclude this one - we were invited to two Halloween parties this past weekend but Joe & I didn't get a chance to buy ourselves costumes so we were party poopers. Logan, however, loves his Tiger costume now!!! (In my post titled Hello, I'd shown a picture and talked about how Logan hated it when we first bought it.) I'm so happy, it looks like he'll wear it for his first trick or treating this weekend! His babysitter is also having a Halloween party this Thursday. I'm excited for Halloween, I've always loved this holiday because it brings me back to my childhood when I loved to play dress up and, of course, eat candy! That's what it's all about nowadays - it's a holiday for kids. . .and parents get to be kids for a day, too :)