Autumn Update #2

After re-reading Autumn Update , I saw there were some things I forgot to write - thus why I am doing a part two!

One, is that a couple of months ago Logan decided that his favorite song is Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)." Whenever he hears that song he starts dancing and singing and when it's over he says "more!" He doesn't really do that with other radio music so it's hilarious considering the lyrics. It reminds me of when I was a toddler with the song "Elvira" by the Oakridge Boys.

Second, one day while I was thinking I made a t-t-t noise. So a couple of minutes later when I asked Logan a question, as he thought of the answer he went "t-t-t" which made me laugh.

He's been the energizer bunny since turning two-and-a-half (what I called him from 9 months to 18 months). But I think he still has more of the personality of a Taurus than an Aries (one of my first posts was titled My Son, The Aries or The Taurus? because he was supposed to be a Taurus but was born three weeks early making him an Aries.)

He has all of his teeth now! I don't know when his final two molars came in but they are there so he is done with teething forever -- yeay! Maybe that's why he's been so easy and well behaved this past month! He is acting more like a three year old lately (my favorite age when I've been around children in the past) -- more like a little boy than a toddler the way he moves, the way he looks, the way he acts, the way he talks, etc. Anyway, now he can go to the dentist at any time, but I think we'll just wait until his three-year check up.As for other things. . .he has an amazing memory. One day I took him to Babysitter's house and he pointed to the other car in the driveway and said, "Mia's car." I was like, "Okay," thinking he didn't really know what he was talking about but when I walked in there was the little girl Mia. I have only seen her a couple of times because she doesn't usually go on the same days as Logan. When I told Babysitter what Logan said about her car she said that was creepy because they are not usually dropped off/picked up on the same day. Joe later said that a few months ago Mia had come on the same day and Logan had seen her get out of that car so he must have remembered from that long ago!

Another day we were walking down the street and Logan pointed to a van and said, "Neighbors!" Once again I just shrugged and said, "oh" but honestly had no idea what kind of van our neighbors drove. Then we watched it pull into the driveway and into the garage! I was like, "How in the world did you know that?!" He doesn't usually point to cars and say who they are so it's not like he's just guessing -- he only does it when he is correct (for example, he can pick our vehicles out in the parking lot as well as my parents' SUV).

As soon as we go to any store or any place that we've been before, he starts reminding me of whatever occurred the last time we were there, even if it has been many months ago.

Whenever we go to Vala's Pumpkin Patch, he always points to one of the Halloween decorations of a man who has fallen into a trash can and Logan points and says, "Oh shoot!" He also says it's silly that there is a car parked on the grass. :-) (In my other autumn update I posted some pics of Logan at the pumpkin patch, here are three more as well as the very first pic on today's post and one later on of Joe & Logan together)For the past several months he loves skipping around so that is cute. Also cute was that day when we took the hour walk around the lake back in September -- as I had pushed him in the stroller he looked up at me and I said, "Hi cutie pie" so then after that he kept looking up at me and he said to me, "Hi cutie pie!"

He is still sensitive to light -- something we noticed on his first day of life in the hospital. He often doesn't want me to turn on the light when I change his diaper.

Two women I know are going to have babies in the spring (Sarah has son Elijah born in October 2008, her next is due in April 2011, and Sara is my friend Lisa's sister, this will be her first due in March 2011).

My oldest cousin's daughter is due to have a baby in either December or January which means my paternal grandma is going to be a GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER! Meanwhile, Joe's nephew & wife who are having their third in January found out it is going to be a boy (they currently have a two-and-a-half year old daughter and a thirteen-month-old son).

Since I wrote Autumn Update, Logan came home the next day with two pumpkins that he and Joe had designed at Joe's mom's house. Joe's was black with silver sparkles and Logan's was white with different colors of paint. Logan was so proud :-)We have mainly spent the month getting good use of our Vala's season pass, going nearly every day that he doesn't go to Babysitter's house.

We put up all of our Halloween decorations on Monday, October 4th so now Logan's not as scared of Halloween because he keeps commenting that he likes our Halloween stuff and now when we're at the store he wants to go down the aisle with the costumes, etc. However, my mom said he was deathly afraid of the scarecrow she had sitting on her front steps! I think he's going to be a tiger again for trick-or-treating since the costume still fits from last year, and probably next year he'll start caring what he wants to be every year.

On Thursday, October 7th Logan & I went to Vala's with Lisa and her daughters Lexi and Riley, and then with my mom & stepdad on Friday, October 8th because my mom's 60th birthday was 10/10/10 and she wanted to see what all of the talk has been the past year about Vala's! She was impressed and said it was a great birthday. Joe joined us that evening for his first time this year to the pumpkin patch, and we also went out to eat to a restaurant called Upstream.

On Saturday, October 9th we continued our annual tradition of picking out pumpkins at the store for our front step. Logan was bummed there weren't any little ones so we went on the hayrack ride today at Vala's and he picked out his own little pumpkin :-)

That evening Brooke and I had a mom's night out at the movies -- we saw Life As We Know It which was good and funny. I forgot to mention that our first mom's night out was in September (literally -- Brooke hadn't been to the movie theater since before her daughter was born a year-and-a-half ago!) when we saw Eat, Pray, Love. I liked it, but it was a bit long.

On Sunday, October 10th Logan had his two-and-a-half year pics taken. We weren't planning on doing any (as of two years old we're just going to do them once a year), but Brooke is a member of MOPs and they were doing a fundraiser where a professional photographer was taking outdoor pics that day and giving anyone who wanted a CD with rights to do whatever we want with 30 pics for $30. It was a beautiful fall day so we participated; Logan seemed to do a good job so hopefully we'll like the CD that we can pick up next week (earlier that week I'd done my seasonal clothes-buying but opted out of a family pic since my face isn't completely recovered yet from what I wrote about in my first autumn update -- although my lip is).

On Monday, October 11th we went to look at a preschool for Logan (as well as to the library). As I wrote about in Autumn Update, we are considering starting Logan around February. We liked almost everything about it but Joe wanted to go to another to compare which makes sense, so I began researching all of the others in the area. But I really only came up with one other one that I'd been interested in seeing. They have a new building just down our street. So we went there today. . .this is going to be a tough decision! Basically the only things that we were "iffy" about with preschool #1 were what we liked at preschool #2, but the things that we liked about preschool #1 were not as good at preschool #2! And then of course there were a lot of things that were exactly the same/equal. So Joe and I have no idea which one we'll go with. . .like, one has web cams for me to check in on him at any time (a plus) while the other one doesn't. But the web cam place is an open setting with all classes separated only by a small/short wall (making it noisy and possibly more overwhelming for Logan) while the other has individual closed classrooms (a plus). The good thing is that it sounded like we could get in whenever we wanted with either place so we have the next three-and-a-half months to make a decision. February is also the month that we're making the decision as far as when Joe will start applying for a new job. Although, not only has his job improved, but the position that he wasn't going to have a year-and-a-half from now has now been secured for another five years. Which means two out of the three reasons he was going to apply for a new job in February have now been eliminated. He still will apply if the third reason isn't eliminated, but if it is (and/or I get pregnant) then we will probably wait one more year until 2012 (I don't want to move at the same time that I have a baby). We plan to check out North Carolina this spring to see if Joe should apply there, but our only other interest is a Chicago suburb.

So, we left Omaha for Chicago on Friday, October 15 -- which was the day after we had a fun time at Vala's with friend Brooke and her daughter Kaelyn (you can read Brooke's blog post about it here).

We spent the night at Joe's mom's house in Iowa because she watched Logan until Monday evening and then my mom and stepdad watched him until Wednesday evening when we returned home. Logan cried when we left (he's starting to do that, even at his Babysitter's) but stopped by the time Joe and I got into the car (so there hasn't been any dramatic moments yet).

On our way to Chicago on Saturday, October 16, Joe and I ate at Chick Fil A for lunch. I forgot to mention that Joe and Logan had their first experience at Chick Fil A back when we went to Iowa in September, while I hadn't eaten there since I was in high school -- it was still as yummy as I'd remembered! I can't wait until Omaha gets one (expected 2012)! So it was great because we also saw one on our way home from Chicago so that made 3 times eating there the past month!

We checked into our hotel (Mariott at Medical -- the college area of Chicago) at around 3:30 pm. We didn't run into any bad traffic and the weather was perfect. Our hotel was very nice (a five star hotel) and at 5 pm we walked to a nearby restaurant to eat supper. It was excellent! Called DaVanti Enoteca, it had great atmosphere, great service, and great food! I ordered Riccio di Mare e Granchio (linguine + sea urchin + crab) while Joe had the Paccheri con Salsiccia e Pomodori al forno (giant rigatoni + sausage + oven roasted tomato + parmigiano). We were just in our jeans and tee shirts after all of our hours of traveling, but we still felt comfortable as there were both fancy dressed and casually dressed customers. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for anyone going to Chicago (in fact, this was the only restaurant that I'd recommend from our trip), you can visit their website here.We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our room and then got up Sunday morning, October 17, for the Bears game! After eating the breakfast buffet at our hotel, we arrived to Soldier Field at around 10 am and the game started at noon. Unfortunately, they lost to the Seattle Seahawks but it was still a terrific, fun experience as we had 4th row seats and nice weather. The morning was a little cool so Joe and I each bought a sweatshirt there (we'd forgotten our coats back in Omaha - duh) as well as I had a hot chocolate and then a hot dog for lunch.I didn't realize that if you have to go to the bathroom in Chicago, good luck finding one! The stores along the streets don't have public restrooms (maybe because of the homeless??) so twice I was almost in pain trying to find one!

We rode the subway around Chicago and visited the Navy Pier that evening. (We'd visited the Willis Tower on our Chicago trip last year, as well as The Hancock Tower and The Blue Man Group, which you can read about in my 2009 post Our Chicago Trip.) I was so glad I had on my walking shoes this year. Last year I wrote about wearing my high heel boots which left my feet blistered. This year I was comfortable! (We also didn't get valet parking at our hotel this time and I carried my own bags, preventing any injuries to the doorman this year :p)The Navy Pier was really neat -- sometime we'll have to take Logan since there is a Children's Museum. We ate Chicago-style pizza at a restaurant there although it wasn't as good as last year's popular Giordano's, of course!

When we returned to our hotel we refreshed our memory on the suburbs to visit the next day. We checked out of our hotel on Monday, October 18 and drove to the west. We don't want to live farther west than Naperville, so to get there we took I-290 to I-294 to Hwy-34 -- meaning we saw a lot of suburbs!

The winner was Naperville. LOVED it. It felt like home sweet home! "The one." Naperville was ranked the #2 best city to live in the US by Money Magazine in 2006. Located 43 minutes west of Chicago, it has a population of around 145,235. With cost of living being 18% cheaper than where we live now, we would be able to afford the house that we'd want. It is four-and-a-half hours away from our parents in Iowa so we'd be able to go there as often as we do now (at three hours away).

Most importantly, it has everything we are looking for. It's hard to describe a "vibe" but basically there was a certain feeling that I was going for (that reminds me of the place I lived the first 8 yrs of my life and where my parents still live). It was all very nice, well-kept, and new-looking with everything that we'd need without seeming too "big city." (Despite it being the fifth largest city in Illinois, it was very cozy.) There would be no adjustment since everything looks the same as Iowa and Nebraska (the only other two states where I've lived).

The people were friendly -- we went to Walgreens to buy some cough syrup because I developed a cough on the trip just like last year (thankfully I am almost over it), and a woman paid for the stranger in front of her's purchase because she didn't have enough money. Cars were very courteous (traffic was no problem), the whole suburb had a calm and peaceful, family-oriented feel to it.

I had been to Naperville once before (back in 2007 for Joe's nephew's wedding) and had noticed all of this back then. In fact, if it hadn't been for that I might never have considered a Chicago suburb as a place to live (although I loved the city of Chicago back when I visited the first time at age seventeen and almost worked there as an intern TV reporter in college, hoping to someday get a fulltime job there, but now that I'm a SAHM I feel the suburb is more my fit). So Naperville held up to the foggy memory that I had of it three-and-a-half years ago.We also liked Lisle, where we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant (the food was just okay), but housing is not affordable there (it's 101% more expensive than where we currently live). However, there are job openings in Joe's field so if he can't find one in Naperville, he could commute to Lisle (9 minutes away). There are also job openings in Downers Grove (16 minutes from Naperville). So even though we didn't care for that suburb to live, Joe wouldn't mind working there if it meant a good job and living in Naperville. Other suburbs that he could commute to for work (but we wouldn't want to live) are Warrenville (7 minutes) and Woodridge (15 minutes).

From Naperville, we drove 24 min. north to stay in Lombard that night. We saw more suburbs along the way, but didn't care for any. We liked Lombard, but even though the population is 42,975, it seemed more "big city" than Naperville. I think that's because it was more businesses vs housing, whereas Naperville was more housing vs businesses. Also, even though it's only 17% more expensive than where we live now, there does not seem to be affordable housing (when viewing their houses for sale sites). However, there are job openings in Joe's field, but with no nearby suburbs to live it does not seem likely that Joe will apply there (Glendale Heights, only 12 min away, was affordable but not our fit to live. We liked Itasca, 19 minutes away which is borderline for a commute, but I think it might be too "small town" with only 8,302 residents. However, even with it being 25% more expensive than our current place, it does have affordable housing.)

We stayed at The Fairfield in Lombard and ate supper at the Clam Jumper where I had a grilled chicken ceaser salad.

We checked out on Tuesday, October 19 and drove to the north suburbs. During our prior months of research, we didn't think we'd want to live farther north than Elgin (because the suburbs we looked at have the same weather as what we're used to, but go north and it's colder), so we stayed at The Courtyard there but didn't care for Elgin.

We liked Schaumburg (located 43 minutes northwest of Chicago), although even though it's only 16% more expensive than where we live now, there doesn't seem to be affordable housing. It is where the most openings are in Joe's field out of all of the suburbs, so statistically that would be the best place for Joe to apply for a job, but like Lombard we feared it had too much of a "big city" feel, despite it being smaller than Naperville, with a population of 75,936. There are a lot of big corporations there. Sure enough, after talking to someone familiar with Schaumburg, it can get crowded, traffic can get heavy, and apparently the holiday season and tourist times are awful since the second largest mall in America is there. It is also farther from our hometowns at five-and-a-half hours.There is a nearby suburb of Streamwood (pop: 39,497) with the best housing out of all of the suburbs that we saw on our trip, but we didn't care for "the look" of the actual town as much, however it runs right into Schaumburg so if we lived on the skirts we'd feel we were living in Schaumburg.

I kind of wish we would have gone a little farther north on our trip. Even though the housing looks "iffy" in the Palatine to Deerfield area based on their houses for sale sites, those two suburbs have been recommended to us (and Palatine is only 15 minutes east of Schaumburg if Joe got a job there to commute, while Deerfield has job openings in Joe's field). Looks like we're going to have to make another trip! We also didn't get to any southern suburbs but there doesn't seem to be as many opportunities for Joe's job there, so we've kind of decided to cross that area off our list.

We ate lunch at Wendy's that day. Before crashing in our hotel room in Elgin, Joe and I walked around a nice park and went to the movie theater to see The Social Network (it was just okay). We checked out on Wednesday, October 20th and headed home after eating breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (they are all over the place in Illinois so since I've only eaten there once in my life, when I was a kid, we decided to splurge)!

Logan did great at both grandparents' houses (he was still napping when we arrived to my mom and stepdad's place so we just talked and then I woke him up after he'd been sleeping for three hrs) and he was easy on our car rides. He now likes his DVD player too much (for the first time I have to start saying "no more" when it comes to TV -- his favorite show is Blue's Clues, he calls it "The Good Guy" and wants to watch him over and over and over! It's not bad, though, because it's taught Logan the alphabet -- he can say it now and recognize half of the letters when seeing them)

The dogs, however, were awful at my mom and stepdad's place. In my Chicago post last year I wrote about how we weren't going to travel with them anymore since they seem to deficate all over my parents' house for some reason (and bark non stop). For the past year we've had our neighbors let them outside while we go away for weekends, but this trip was five nights so we thought that'd be too long to leave them by themselves (and they did fine at Joe's mom's place). But they seem to be more comfortable being alone here than traveling (since there are never any accidents here and the neighbors say they don't even bark at them when they come inside), so next time we'll see how they do staying by themselves even when we're gone longer because there is not any obvious reason (to change) to why they behave like that at my mom & stepdad's.

It was 9:15 pm by the time we pulled into our driveway so Joe and I were exhausted and glad that he'd taken the rest of the week off from work! My step grandparents are staying with us this weekend so that will be fun.

Aside from seeing the second preschool this morning (Thursday, October 21), Joe, Logan, and I spent the afternoon at Vala's. (Here is a pic of Logan with his little pumpkin that he picked out.)Only one more week before it closes for the year :( It's been nice weather this fall, I wish it would stay like this year round.

Okay I think that is it this time for our autumn update! See you in the winter!

Autumn Update

When I concluded this blogsite on August 4th, I said that I would still update once a season. So today I will catch you up since my Final Update two months ago!Logan will be two-and-a-half years old in a couple of weeks. He is 31 lbs (50-75 percentile) and 38 inches tall (75-90 percentile).

His big thing the past month is to ask "why" to everything which is humorous. We've learned that after the fourth or fifth "why" (to the same subject) we just say "because and that's that" and then he says, "okay" and moves on, otherwise he'll just continue to ask "why" which can get a bit annoying, LOL. But now when we ask him "why" (once), his only answer is "cuz." :p

He's been very hug-y lately. I am treasuring every second -- sometimes he just wants to hold on tight for the longest time. I rocked him in the recliner in his nursery the other night and knew it may be one of the last times now that he's in his big boy room!

As I wrote in First Night In Big Boy Room, he slept the entire night for the first time in his car & truck room on September 10th. For the next couple of weeks we let him go back and forth when he wanted, but the majority of the time he always picked his new fire truck bed so it was an easy adjustment. Now he's sleeping in there all of the time, so last night we moved the crib so that his nursery can be our second guestroom (which is what his new room had been) until baby #2 comes. We told him to say "bye bye" to his crib and he happily waved and said "bye bye" so I'm glad that went smoothly.So far he hasn't gotten out of bed himself yet which I am fine with! He still calls for me to come get him from his nap or in the morning. He still has his appreciative and sweet spirit, as after Joe & I put car & truck stickers on his walls, nearly every day he says: "Me like car and trucks on walls. Me like car and truck room." (By the way, why is it that some kids say "me"? I'm just glad he's not referring to himself as "baby" anymore but I don't know how he got to calling himself "me" since everyone around him calls themselves "I" and when we talk to Logan it's "you.")

Other things he can do now is, open the fridge (I can't find any safety lock for it at the stores so far, but thankfully he has been obeying when I tell him to shut it).

When he wants "one more" he put up his tiny little pointer finger and gives me puppy dog eyes and says "last one?" Joe and I both become mush at that point, haha.Joe has continued to work a lot, as he has all of 2010; one day Logan came over to me and said, "Me miss Dadda." I was like OMG that's the sweetest thing you've ever said. When I told Joe later he was like that's the saddest thing he's ever said!

Fortunately, just last week Joe's boss took him aside and said he was reviewing all of the overtime from this year and doesn't think it's fair for Joe to be doing as much work as he has, so he's going to trade it to someone else now. So hopefully that means things will go back to how they used to be.

If not, the plan is still February as far as possibly looking for a new job. We are going to a Chicago Bears game in two weeks and are going to check out the suburbs while we're there so that if February comes and Joe feels it's best to look for a new job, then he will apply near the area(s) that we get a good vibe from while visiting.

We have spent the past few months doing a lot of research so we have narrowed down a lot based on that (since there are so many -- I think I have memorized every suburb within an hour north, west, and south of Chicago)! But we also need to visit Raleigh, NC so as not to rule that out. I did not get pregnant on our first try in September so now we are available to travel there -- we're just not sure when since the holidays are coming up and we don't want to go when it's cold (although NC is nowhere near winter in the Midwest).

I took the quiz at Find Your Spot where they give you a list of your twenty best match places to live. Almost all of mine were in North Carolina. I don't know how or why, but considering I loved the Asheville area when I went five years ago, I do feel a draw there. So does Joe based on the perfect weather year-round. . .it's just the question of do we move out of the Midwest where we only can fly home once or twice a year?

There was one place in Illinois on my results list and it was the Urbana/Champaign area. But that is too far to see on our Chicago trip this month (it's 3 hrs south) so if we don't get a good vibe with any of the suburbs that we visit, then we'll consider that one since it is just 5-6 hours from our hometowns in Iowa (the other suburbs are 4 hrs which is only an hour more than where we're living now in Omaha).

Back to Logan. . .

One day I heard him playing with his Elmo Live and Elmo must have fallen down because I heard Elmo say, "Will you pick Elmo up, please?" Then I heard Logan answer, "No."

I couldn't help but laugh.In my Final Update, I mentioned that I watch the show Mad Men now. When I rented the past season DVDs in July Logan saw me watching the intro when the guy falls from the building and he yelled, "Woooaaahhh!!!!!" the way you would if you were actually falling.

I gave him some of my old toys recently but he took one look at one of them, a miniature Popeye, and shook his head and said, "No Popeye. No Popeye." I laughed and said, "Why don't you like Popeye?" Then I looked closer and I saw that Popeye has a mean scowl on his face.

That's something that has changed from last fall to this fall. Last year Logan LOVED Halloween. Those of you who read my posts last year might remember me saying how much fun we had going for walks or at the store because he'd say "wooo" at all of the Halloween decorations. This year he is going through a scaredy cat phase. Just passing a talking doll in the toy aisle at the store scares him. He doesn't cry, he just strongly shakes his head and says "No, no." Now that the Halloween decorations are out he doesn't smile at all when looking at them. He just wants to move on.

We went to Vala's last week for the first time this year. (I wrote about our amazing pumpkin patch in last year's posts Our Life This Week and Halloween-Part Two. We loved it so much last year that we got a season pass for this year. We plan to go every day that Logan doesn't go to his babysitter's during this month since it is only open until Halloween.) Last year he liked watching the singing & dancing dolls but this year he shook his head at them so I am glad they have a ton of play stuff for his age group. I kept having to tell him there was more to see because he just wanted to stay in each area the entire time. We were there for three-and-a-half hours which wasn't long enough so I can't wait to go back on Monday. (Here he is jumping into hay and climbing on a choo-choo)Other things we've been up to since the first week of August. . .

Joe's high school friend Andy and his wife Ashley came over with their two kids on August 5th (Andy had his daughter Karlee in 2003 with a previous relationship and Ashley had her son Logan in 2005 with a previous relationship; they were married in 2008). They told us the news that they are expecting a baby in February!

Logan had a blast playing with the kids, he started crying when they went to bed! We went out to supper at Roja for Mexican food and that night went to the school playground.

Earlier that day I had met my friend Stacy's baby girl (Olivia) who was born on July 14th. (I look like I've never held a baby before!) Talk about a coincidence -- her daughter has same hole that Logan had in his neck, only her's is in a different place. Now over two months old, she has to have an MRI to see whether she needs surgery because this location can cause problems, too. I am thinking that this gene is far more common than what I was originally told when Logan was diagnosed.

Speaking of the gene, I heard back from Boys Town following my post BOR Syndrome on whether the same gene that causes BOR Syndrome is also the gene that causes the brachical cleft fistula in Joe's family (a hole in 8 of the family members ears or neck). They said that it is very likely, however they had to stop the study due to lack of funding so when they get enough money again they would like to test both Joe and Logan for the gene. Not only would that help them understand why some people with the gene have a serious case of BOR Syndrome while others show no problems other than having a BCF, but that way we'd also know whether to watch out for kidney problems down the family line since that is what BOR Syndrome is.

I wanted to clarify that finding out about BOR was a positive thing -- some people misunderstood that post -- but I was HAPPY to learn of a possible "answer" for Logan's BCF. BCFs are not serious, but if there is any way to prevent future babies from needing surgery then I'm sure all parents would be on board with that.

On August 12th (the day after Logan got into my nail polish for the first time :p) we met Lisa and her daughters Lexi and Riley at PetSmart's Reptile Exhibit. Logan enjoyed seeing all of the different-sized snakes. (This one was 155 pounds!) Afterward we ate the lunch buffet at Old Chicago. The waitress tried to charge us full price for our toddlers which has never happened anywhere before so fortunately after Lisa & I talked to her for a couple of minutes she let Logan and Riley eat free (considering they hardly eat anything at all).

That evening we went back to Iowa for a fun weekend (Joe took Friday off from work) -- we wanted to take Logan to The Iowa State Fair and Adventureland for the first time (Iowa tourist attractions)!My mom and stepdad's 22nd anniversary was on Friday, August 13th. We spent that day at the Iowa State Fair which was a blast even though it was really hot! It also rained, but that cooled things off so we didn't mind. Logan enjoyed the "Happy Baby Farm," having a taste of the famous corn dog (he only wanted one bite so I had the rest), "driving" tractors, saying hello to all of the animals (we even watched a cow give birth which I had never seen before -- pretty cool), and playing on the playground.

Farmer LoganJoe's high school friend Grife was there with his wife, too, so we talked to them for a bit.

That evening Joe & I went out to Macaroni's for supper since there is still a location of our favorite restaurant in Des Moines (unlike Omaha). By the way, I learned weeks later that Logan prays at my mom & stepdad's house because I want to start doing that with Logan every night before bed, so when I told him that he said, "Me pray at Papa and KayKay's!" I called my mom to ask her and she said they've only done it a couple of times but he apparently caught on! I asked him what he wants to thank Jesus for and, with the most beautiful light in his eyes, he said "Mama, Dadda, Bella, and Cosmo." How cute!

On Saturday, August 14th we spent the day at Adventureland. I loved that amusement park when I was little, but I can't tell yet whether Logan will like amusement parks or not (Joe doesn't -- he wouldn't even ride the kiddie rides with Logan)! That was the month that Logan's scaredy cat phase started so he didn't want to ride any of the rides by himself. Problem is, the majority of toddler rides are only for toddlers! But there were a few that I could go on with him and had a fantastic time on those. He smiled the whole time -- we also went to his first circus there!

That night we went over to Andy & Ashley's house since they live in the same town as my parents now. We went out to eat and then Ashley and I chatted while our hubbys played video games.

On Sunday, August 15th my step grandparents came over from Eastern Iowa to see us so that was nice, we all went out for Chinese food for lunch and then headed back to Omaha.The following weekend, Saturday, August 21st, we went to Kansas City to visit my mom's side of the family. It was our second time in a hotel with Logan (the first being in KC last year) and he did well again except that he didn't want to sleep in his own bed. He's outgrown the pack n play now and didn't want to sleep on the couch mattress, so he shared the huge king bed with Joe and me. (Here he is climbing out of the pack n play)We went out to lunch at Bristols and had supper at Houlihans. In between those (while Logan & Joe napped), I went to church with my grandma and stepdad (my mom was sick).

That night we went to Target and bought Logan some swimmers to put on his arms so that he could go swimming in a big pool for the first time! We had the hotel pool to ourselves, Joe and I wished we'd brought our swimsuits but we didn't so I just took pics and Joe wore his gym shorts. At first Logan was hesitant but then he became a fish! He begged to go swimming again the next morning, Sunday, August 22nd, so we did! We finished our KC trip over at my aunt & uncle's house for lunch. My cousin Bridget was there with one of her little girls, Lily, who is one year older than Logan (she was born in May 2007) so they had fun playing ball. Her other little girl, Sophie, who is 5 had just started kindergarten the week before and came down with the flu so she was at home with Bridget's husband.

My uncle Dennis and Logan had a fun time chatting (if you knew my uncle you'd have a fun time chatting with him, too, LOL).

That week, on August 27th, we went to the zoo with Brooke & Kaelyn as we tried to do almost every week over the summer, but it was our first time this year for riding the train (last year was his first time ever). Logan had done that at Adventureland, too, he LOVES LOVES LOVES trains. Next year we will have to go to the Thomas The Train exhibit in Boone (near where my parents live) -- they have an actual Thomas The Train to ride.

After his nap we went to the store and bought him his first real underwear! As of August 25th he can hold his poop and pee :-) He's still not fully potty trained yet, but at least that means he can be soon! He's also waking up not as wet during the night (until then he still had SUPER full diapers in the morning so we're going to see how not buying overnight diapers anymore goes and just use regular ones). I'm planning to put the undies on him this month during the day to see how successful it is (obviously there's going to be some accidents)-- it'd be nice to have him done with diapers by Christmas (not counting nighttime) but I think it's more realistic to shoot for his 3rd birthday.That weekend, Saturday, August 28th, we went to my friend Andrea's son Drew's 3rd birthday. Logan had an awesome time. He enjoyed playing with Drew's choo-choo set and never wanted to get out of the sandbox. He devoured a hot dog and Thomas The Train chocolate cake, oh and chips -- he had his very first temper tantrum at someone's house because he wanted the entire bag of chips and when I told him that he couldn't, he freaked out. I was not having any luck getting him to stop (Joe couldn't come because he went to a baseball and hot dog eating competition with friends from his work) and everyone was staring at us so I was thankful when Lisa's husband Darin scooped Logan up and began talking to him and took him out of the room -- because Logan immediately stopped and then was Darin's buddy the rest of the time, playing catch in the yard, etc.

I have figured out that is Logan's terrible two's -- OCD stuff. He wants the entire box or sack of food, he needs his bowl or cup completely full, he can't have his food touching so he wants his food in separate dishes, he can't eat something if it breaks or has a crack in it -- he gets upset if anything breaks (even if it can easily be fixed). He's always seemed to be a perfectionist (despite having an easy going personality) but Joe and I are hoping this is just a phase or else it's going to be a long life, LOL. We are trying to reassure him that it's okay, these aren't big deals, but these are the things that now send him screaming. Thankfully there hasn't been anything else so I can kind of predict when they're going to happen. On the bright side, since he was 28 months old he finally lets me cook without complaining and he also doesn't need to eat all day long (3 meals & 2 snacks are sufficient).

Meanwhile at the birthday party, I enjoyed meeting Andrea's baby girl (Ashton) who was born in June. Logan had picked out a motorcycle for Drew as well as a semi with a car, and Drew gave Logan a hug to thank him.

The next day, Sunday, August 29th, we went to The Amazing Pizza Machine since it had been three months. Logan remembered it as if he'd been there the day before. We follow him around now rather than lead him around!On Monday, August 30th, Logan & I went over to Stacy's house for a fun playdate with Jaxson. She fixed yummy homemade pizza for lunch (little Olivia slept most of the time -- she makes it look easy to have a second child) and the boys played with toys and on their swingset.After Logan's nap we went to the library, I had to pay for a new library card. . .I can't believe it's already been a year since I bought my first one. . .we didn't really get our money's worth :( I had thought we'd attend more of the toddler time stuff but we only went a few times. Hopefully this winter we'll make up for it.

On Friday, September 3rd we went over to my neighbor Jenn's for scrapbooking. I finished the scrapbook that I'd been working on which means I've done three total in my life (Joe and my dating life and wedding which took 6 yrs, Joe and my honeymoon which took one-and-a-half yrs, and Joe and my years before Logan which took one-and-a-half yrs). I have one more that I'm almost done with (Logan's baby scrapbook). Logan enjoyed playing with Jenn's youngest, Makenna, who is a year old already, as well as with her other kids on their new trampoline that they just got! Logan had never jumped on a trampoline before but it is just his thing so he wants to do it all of the time now! Joe's taken him over there a couple of times.On Saturday, September 4th, Logan went to stay with my mom and stepdad on a solo trip for the first time since Memorial Day weekend. Joe and I went on a date that night to the Cinedine (we saw Going The Distance with Drew Barrymore which was funny) and on Sunday went out to eat to our fav wing place, Wing Stop (which we hardly ever get to because it's far away). We picked Logan up on Monday, September 6th.

That weekend, Saturday, September 11th, was Joe & my college (ISU) playing their rival (U of I), unfortunately the Cyclones lost to the Hawkeyes :( But Joe and his friends have been doing well with their Fantasy Football so far.

I don't recall anything else from that weekend, but we've been able to go to the park a lot again now that the weather is cooling off (I am so glad summer is over). Even Logan thought it was too hot to play outside most of the summer (although he did sometimes play in his sandbox for up to an hour which was easy for Mama)!

On Monday, September 13th we took an unexpected walk around the lake at the park near where we live. We had met Brooke & Kaelyn for lunch at Culver's that day and had about 10 minutes to spare before going home for Logan's nap. We stopped at the park but rather than Logan playing on the equipment, he said he wanted to go for a walk. Last year I tried a couple of times but only got about 10 minutes into the hour-long-walk because Logan would get antsy, so I assumed it'd be the same thing this time. Nope, Logan did excellent (am so glad he still loves his stroller) so I kept walking. Pretty soon I got to the point of no return -- it made more sense to just keep going. At the time I didn't think it should be a big deal, I used to walk for an hour around our neighborhood and have done an hour on the eliptical plenty of times.

Um, there is a difference with an actual trail! It just kept going and going -- I actually walked by the road near my house and realized it'd be easier to walk home! But my car was parked in the parking lot so I did the entire walk in my jeans and no water on a hotter-than-I-originally-thought afternoon! (Here Logan is on a break, he wanted to throw rocks in the water.)It was a fun mother-son bonding day and I got my workout which is good because I never did get back on my weight-loss program after returning from Seattle, I've lost my motivation, so I'll just try again after I have baby #2. However, I am hoping to get back into the daily neighborhood walks now that it's my favorite season: fall!

Logan got his first Hep B vaccine on September 16th so he just has to get his final Hep A, his second Hep B, and his only MMR and then he will be caught up on vaccines. He's done great health-wise, only one cold since his birthday in April.

That weekend, Saturday, September 18th, we went to Iowa. For our anniversary back in April my mom & stepdad had given Joe & me reservations at a hotel in Ames (where we met), so we finally had a chance to use that. They watched Logan while Joe & I planned to walk around campus for the first time in years and reminisce -- but it POURED rain the entire day so there went that idea! :( We drove around at least, and then met my old college friend (Emily, who I hadn't seen in 4 yrs) at Hickory Park (Ames' most popular restaurant that we hadn't eaten at in 9 yrs)! It was good to catch up with her (and the food was as scrumptious as I'd remembered) and then Joe and I went to the same movie theater where we'd had our first date! We saw The Town which is what I think should win Best Picture this year! In my Final Update post I wrote about seeing and really liking Inception which I'm sure will be the winner, but I personally liked The Town even better. It was a brilliant film from Ben Affleck. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterward. I was glad when I read how well it's done at the box office, it's continued to dominate and pull in major $ each week.

On Sunday, September 19th, we went over to my dad & stepmom's house since we hadn't all seen each other since June. My brother was visiting from California (he'd been in a wedding the day before) so it was great to see him again. Joe headed back to Omaha that day, but Logan and I had driven separately so we stayed until Tuesday.

On Monday, September 20th, I was able to see another college friend (Christy, who I blogged about in my post titled Our Weekend when I last saw her July '09) because she and her boyfriend just moved to the same town where my mom & stepdad live! We went out for supper at El Charro's for Mexican food and then she came to the house to meet Logan for the first time.

That Thursday, September 23rd, Stanley Steemer came over and cleaned my entire house for free! ($600 worth of carpet!) I had blogged in June about how they never showed up to my appt. (but kept saying they were coming) and so I wrote a complaint letter. . .I guess it "paid" off. The quality director came out personally to apologize and clean my floors better than they ever have! They definitely redeemed themselves.

On Saturday, September 25th, Joe and Logan had a father-son bonding day at the Air & Space Museum for the first time. (I started coming down with a virus so I didn't go and thankfully fought it off before it turned into anything.) On Sunday, September 26th, we finally got our first internet phones! I love my Droid2 and Joe really likes his Fascinate. Unfortunately, Logan got what might be his worst injury yet (his first was being bit on his head by Bella at a year-and-a-half old, his second was a black eye at around two years old from falling off the couch onto a chest, and now this was at almost two-and-a-half) -- he tripped over his sandal and hit his forehead on a display at the Verizon store. There's been a scab all week that is just now starting to fall off, revealing a scar -- I hope it fades and doesn't stay forever. But although he cried, he was back to happily playing there minutes later (we were there almost 2 hrs).The next night, Monday, September 27th, we watched The Chicago Bears beat the Packers! Rather than have Logan go to Babysitter's on Tues & Wed as he usually does, he went Tues & Thurs because Wednesday had 80 degree weather so that was when we went to Vala's for the first time. (Here is Logan with the new shirt I bought him. I bought myself a black sweatshirt and wanted to get him a matching one, but he insisted on this white tee-shirt.)We were going to go to Vala's on Friday, October 1st, as well (after scrapbooking at Jenn's -- I made the ice cream oreo dessert to take over that I blogged about on June 11th here -- making a total of 4 times that I've now made it, it's way too good). However, we weren't able to do either because Logan and I spent the day at the doctor's office instead :(

Those of you who are long-term readers might remember me talking about my face breaking out earlier this year. I thought it was the Moroccan Oil that I used on my hair, but although my face cleared up, it broke out again and nothing I have tried or done has helped. (I went on ProActiv for 4 months as well as tried three other brands of acne cleanser, toner, and spot treatment and two different brands of organic non-pore-clogging make up, although as a stay at home mom I don't wear it often, and I even reduced my progesterone cream to once a day for two months to see if that would help, but nothing improved.) It's the worst it's ever been (including puberty). My last straw was Tues. night before bed I could feel a pimple forming below my lower lip. When I woke up on Wed. morning I couldn't see the pimple -- instead my bottom lip was soooo swollen! Joe and I couldn't help but laugh because it was embarrassing to go out in public that day. Thankfully, each hour it "deflated," but that night the same thing happened -- I woke up on Thurs. with my bottom lip huge. I began to get a bit concerned, as that is not normal, but as the day went on it seemed like it was getting better again. However, Fri. morning it was swollen for the third day in a row! Meanwhile, my chin (where it felt like I had a pimple but couldn't see anything) was incredibly painful with bumps all over. So I was relieved that I could get right in that day with Omaha's #1 dermatologist. (Back in February I'd made an appt. with a dermatologist because I've only been once in my life, when I was thirteen, but I canceled since I thought my skin was clearing up after stopping the Moroccan Oil. Now I wish I would have gone so I could have saved myself the past 8 months!)

He told me that the acne had caused an infection in my chin and so he prescribed antibiotics and a cream to put on my face. After just two days it is already working -- my lip was normal this morning and my chin no longer hurts (although I can still feel the pimple inside of my chin). My face already looks like it is getting clear for the first time in a year. I am praying that even after my prescription runs out that my face will stay spot-free. . I am THIRTY years old!

Anyway, I also had my annual exam this past week (Thurs) and my last massage that night. . .well not last as in forever, but I've decided to just do them once a season to save money now that we're thinking about baby #2. I also went 6 weeks between eye brow waxes when I had my appt. this past Wed, and think they are finally done growing so I'm only going to do those once a season now, too. I haven't been to the hair salon since the end of July but will be going to my friend Stacy for the first time for a trim the end of this month but no color or highlights (and Logan will get his second haircut).

Speaking of baby #2, in my post Change Of Plans For Baby #2, I mentioned we'd try in September and if it didn't work then we'd wait until the spring and just try until it happens. Well, we're considering revising that. Since it didn't happen in September, we think we might as well just keep trying now until it happens. But we haven't decided for sure yet. . .we're not desperate. . .I don't particularly like the time of year for the next few months' due dates. . .but part of me feels it's the right time. So I really don't know what we're going to end up doing. . .I change my mind every day. :pEither way, I want Logan to start preschool before his brother or sister is here so that he won't have too much of an adjustment at the same time. Originally, I wasn't going to have him start until next fall but now I am thinking the first of February (two-and-a-half months before he turns three). Next week Joe and I are taking a tour of the place that Lisa's daughters Lexi & Riley have gone to since they were babies. It is a full time daycare that also offers part time preschool. So, instead of Logan going to his babysitter's two days a week, he will instead go to preschool two days a week. (But I will keep my babysitter on hand for if I ever need her one of the other three days of the week.)

At this preschool they don't have to be potty trained, they have a web camera on all day so you can check in on your child at any time, and they give detailed report cards every day (to tell you what kind of mood your child was in every hour, everything they ate, how often they went to the bathroom, how long their nap was, etc.)

Even though I have liked his babysitter the past year-and-a-half, I don't like not knowing what he is doing all day. She doesn't give me any details as far as what he does, interaction between him and the other kids, his diapers or naps or food, etc. I try and ask but it is often like pulling teeth. Also, remember that kid who I said is always being bad when I pick up Logan? Well he's there after kindergarten now, and his brother who is six months older than Logan is now acting just like him. I picked Logan up the other day and the kid said, "You're ugly! You're a weiner!" I know kids can be like that anywhere, but Babysitter didn't even do anything or say anything. There's always something aggressive going on with those two boys in just the few minutes that I'm there. (I told her that starting in November I'd like to change his days to Monday and Friday -- those are the days those boys aren't there although I didn't say that was why. I actually had planned to change it after Joe's golf ended last month but decided to keep Tuesdays and Wednesdays for another month.)

But at the same time, Logan doesn't seem to mind -- in fact, he's a chatterbox there now so he's more comfortable than ever. When Zay is there (two months younger) they are best friends. One day when I came to pick him up, he and Zay were outside with their faces plastered to the window when I just happened to come in. I'm sure my face lit up to see that cute sight! So I don't want to stress him out by changing his routine. . .but I think he will really thrive in a structured environment. At preschool they have an hour-to-hour schedule and are educated (they are taught Spanish; the kindergartens around here say they can tell which kids go to this preschool because they do better in school). At Babysitter's he just plays all day. That was the intent when I first started taking him there at a year old (I just wanted him to play with other kids and be okay being away from me), but now I feel like he's gotten the maximum he's going to get out of it and now it's time to move on.

Lisa's already answered a ton of my questions so I feel comfortable with the preschool and have liked everything I've heard. So if the tour goes well then I plan to sign him up!

I believe that's it as far as our two-month-update! (Here's Logan on Thursday, showing his first tattoo which he got at Blimpies)This morning (Saturday, October 2nd) Joe took Logan back to Iowa by himself for the very first time! It sounded like the drive went well (Logan loves DVDs now so my second solo trip with him went easily last month, too. He still loves his music CD which, by the way, I sang through 3 songs the other day with Logan not in my car before I realized what I was listening to. . .that's how you know you're the parent of a toddler)! Since we weren't able to see Joe's mom when we went back a couple of weeks ago (her dog had to have a $3000 knee surgery), we were going to all go back this weekend to her house -- but then she got sick and hurt her knee as well! So I made other plans, but then last night she said she was feeling better so Joe and Logan will be there until tomorrow. It's October. . .my favorite month is here!!!!