Happy Halloween!

Logan's Aunt Catherine came down to visit us this evening to take Logan out on his first Trick or Treating experience. I'm so glad she came! It was a lot of fun having her there with me and she took a video of several house visits too!! Priceless!! The video is a little long, but I couldn't bring myself to cut any parts out - they were all just too precious.



Logan seemed to enjoy Halloween - he was really interested in helping me carve pumpkins and decorate our porch earlier in the day, and watch the kids come by our door for their own candy once the sun set. After the first visit, we knew it was time to take off ourselves, since the minute he saw them getting candy - he wanted some too!


We walked up and down our street and hit a few houses on the adjacent street. Poor little Logan got a bit tired toward the end, so I think the amount of houses we hit was just perfect. And, most everyone knew him by name which really helped as well. He was a bit overwhelmed by it all - couldn't quite say "Trick or Treat" until the very end - and was also a bit afraid of some of the carved pumpkins (standing back up against the wall at a few houses). Otherwise, he was very happy with the loot he ended up with and though we only allowed him one candy for the night, I think it kept him up a little longer than usual. ;-)


Thanks again to Tia Catherine for being with us on this special night and taking some wonderful pictures and videos!! Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

Yes, I left this fun "art project" until the very last day.

Logan was most interested in drawing on the pumpkins than anything else. He was most certainly not interested in touching or scooping out the insides. ;-)

Tellme Halloween Parade

Yesterday my work hosted the annual Tellme Kids Halloween Parade. Remember when I helped buy a ton of candy? It was for this. :)

Jon unfortunately got stuck in traffic (something about a bridge being shut down, excuses!) so he missed the parade through the office but hung out with us afterward. Logan had a great time - it didn't take long for him to understand the concept of collecting candy in his little pumpkin basket. We came home with PLENTY and we haven't even gone trick or treating yet!!

Since I was playing caddy for our little Scotsman, I didn't have a camera handy to take pics during the parade (several Tellmes did take pics tho, so I hope there's one or two great shots of Logan). Jon snagged a quick shot on our way home, with Logan pulling his golf clubs behind him. :)


Happy Halloween to all!

His Majesty

Every day this week Logan has asked to sit on his potty. We haven't
been pushing him at all on the potty training but I know enough to
encourage it every chance we get. :)

The only downside is he generally wants to sit on the potty right
before we have to leave in the morning, and he just sits and sits and
sits. It tries every ounce of patience in a body as you're scrambling
to get out at a decent hour.

Nights like tonight are no biggie tho. He tried out both the "big"
potty (our regular toilet) and the little potty here, drinking juice,
reading books and singing to himself.

He takes so long, there are cute little red rings on his butt once
he's (finally) all done. *sigh*

Distraction

Lately, anything related to art is a great distraction. I grabbed a brochure and pen for Logan to draw with while we waited (forever) at the vet's office this evening.

Unfortunately, Lola's cancer has returned. :( We're doing another set of chemotherapy treatments; not nearly as long nor as intense a program as before (her body wouldn't be able to take it) but hopefully it will help.

Make way, beached whale coming through....

I've had several ultrasounds so far, and everything looks wonderfully normal. The last several weeks have been exhausting, totally stressful and nauseating.

Literally.

I'm feeling much better now that we've consistently seen a steady, strong heartbeat and active movement at each visit. And, although I am expanding in all directions by the minute (oy! again?!?), we are getting more and more excited about the arrival of Logan's new baby sibling.


Due May 7, 2010.

One flu shot down...

Took care of Logan's regular flu shot this morning. He was a champ as usual, barely batted an eye. Now only 5 more flu shots (for our family) to go! ;-)

Chatty Cathy

Logan stayed with my parents for a few hours this morning while Jon and I visited Jenn and Jarrod at the hospital to meet their new son Connor - what a cutie! It's hard to imagine Logan was that tiny once too. :)

When we picked Logan up, he wanted to play with the phone while we chatted with my parents. He picked up the receiver, and held a short conversation all on his own.

"Hi."
"Home. Mama."
"Bye-bye."

Robert's a Big Brother!

Jenn and Jarrod welcomed a new little boy into their family this morning and we couldn't be more excited for them! He was a healthy 7 lbs, 8 oz and 20" long! Mama, baby and family are all doing great.

They haven't named him yet, so I hear everyone's calling him "Baba" in the meantime, since that is what his big brother Robert has named him. :)


Congrats guys!! We are so happy for you and can't wait to meet the little one!!

Update: They have decided to name him Connor Austin Jodoin! :)

Halfway there

Not sure if this will work but sending a video from my phone to the
blog. If it doesn't work I'll fix it tonight when I'm back online.
This was taken last night. I was working and Logan was sputtering
(very cute!) nonsense for a good 15 minutes before the genius in me
thought to pull out the camera. You can hear a little bit of it still
but he got camera shy pretty quick. :)

I'm currently siting on a plane, in Houston, waiting to take off for
the east coast. Jon flew home today, via Houston as well. We waved
while we passed each other mid air. I'll have to wait till Friday to
get my "I'm finally back home" hug and kiss.

A testament to swim diapers

My little anal dude, takes after his mother. It doesn't matter if he destroys them right after, he's always sure to line stuff up perfectly first. :)

Tonight was - interesting. Since it's Tuesday, that means swim class. Unfortunately, Logan's taken a step back in terms of swim class, not enjoying very much of it, clinging to me the entire time as if he's going to D-I-E or as if I'm going to let him D-I-E. It's particularly frustrating when he swam like a fish during his last set of classes. :(

But tonight I knew something was off. More than usual. Most of the time Logan just lets his legs fall limp, not wanting to kick when I ask (even though he totally knows how to!). About 20 minutes into tonight's lesson however, instead of falling limp, his legs stiffened up as he pulled his feet into his chest. I was a total idiot, didn't pay attention to the signs, and instead tried to "kick" his legs for him (moving them up and down).

He started to whine, resisting my help. I looked down only to see Logan's infamous beet red face squished up into a painfully concentrated expression as he worked on a massive poop.

Right in the middle of class.

Right in the middle of the pool.

CRAP.

I quickly assessed which side would be easiest to clamor out of as my son clinged to my neck, scrunched up more than ever.

I turned to our teacher, handed her Logan as I climbed out of the pool, asking her to hand him to me once I was out. She was completely lost until I hissed "He's pooping!", as if to say Lady if you don't act fast and help me out, we may have a nice mess on our hands!

She got the point, helped us out, and I dashed us to the locker room as fast as I could.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my wipes in the swim bag (I found them later at the very bottom of course!) so I had to wet paper towels to clean up Logan's poor bottom. That actually wasn't as bad though, as trying to peel off a wet swimsuit that has a bigass piece of poop stuck in it, all the while trying not to get any poop on you, the kid, or anywhere else - it was a comical feat and let's just say I was too embarrassed to look up at all the other moms in the locker room who were probably staring at me in horror as my son stood on the changing table buck naked with bits of poop still stuck to his cheeks.

I had actually contemplated not going to swim class at all tonight since I had a major headache (after a long all-day training class), I still have to pack for my trip out tomorrow and take care of a million other chores before the morning. Had I gone with my gut, I wouldn't have been using makeshift wipes in a public restroom.

It's too bad I don't drink, because I'm pretty sure a big glass of Pinot would be perfect right about now.

I guess I'll have to make do with a few Ghiradelli dark chocolates instead. ;-)

Back to back travel

"Where Daddy go?" is a common question around the house these days. Logan was very upset when we dropped Jon off at the airport yesterday morning. After only getting Saturday (really) to spend time with his Daddy, I can't blame him. Unfortunately he's taking a lot of his frustration out on me - with more than a few tantrums over the last day or so.

It's been fun. Not really.

Jon took this pic of Logan just before we woke up to take him to the airport. We don't get as much sleep when he's in our bed since he tends to move all over the place, but he seems to sleep wonderfully in between us. *sigh*

I think the combination of back to back work trips for Jon, mixed with him leaving on a weekend when that time is usually reserved as 100% playtime with Mommy and Daddy, has been harder than usual for Logan. Logan is now also older of course and much more aware than during previous work trips - so I can distract him with visits to his grandparents or Uncle Zane (for Zane's birthday - Happy Birthday Zane!), but the minute we walk through our own front door and Logan notices that Jon isn't there, he gets extremely upset (a few times going to the front door, banging on it and calling for his Daddy). :(

Now that the school week has started up again, I'm hoping Logan will shift back into the swing of things without missing Jon too much more. The tough part for me is the rest of the week - since I will be dropping Logan off at school Wednesday morning (as usual), then heading to the airport for a business trip myself. Jon lands that afternoon in time to pick Logan up, but I won't get to see Jon or Logan until later Friday afternoon. Wheeee!

What does $450 worth of candy look like?

This was only a third of what we bought to get ready for my company's
Halloween Kid's Parade in two weeks. We had two shopping carts filled
to the brim. :)

Daddy's Home!

Jon arrived home safe and sound yesterday, though pretty tired since he had to get up at 1am PDT to make his early flight home. That didn't stop him from going to rugby practice though! ;-)

Logan and I both were very happy to see him and have him back home. I'm pretty sure Jon missed us too - since all he wanted were hugs and kisses all night long from the two of us.

Unfortunately he has to turn around and catch another flight out again on Sunday morning, so we're going to make the most of our evening tonight and day tomorrow together as a family.

Smashing Pumpkins

Today Logan's friend Molly turns 2 - Happy Birthday Molly!!

Yesterday, we met with Molly and several of her family and friends to celebrate her birthday at the Arata Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay. We were instructed to dress all the kids in their Halloween costumes to snap some pics of the kids together in the pumpkin patch. It didn't go as well as planned, since the kids were more distracted with everything around them than wanting to stand still and look pretty for the camera. So, we got the Dads involved, joining the group photo for a slightly better shot.


Molly was a cute little Ladybug.


Jessie was a caring Mama Kangaroo (with accompanying Joey).


Jamie was a mysterious caped Bat Woman.


Robert was a charming Fireman.


Logan was a snazzy Scottish Golfer who's favorite activity of the day was smashing pumpkins.

Costume idea courtesy of his Aunt Catherine and golf club accessory courtesy of his Abuelita Riedy!

We had a really great time - the weather was pretty chilly, so after the photo shoot, we dressed Logan in some warmer clothes to run around in. :) We hit up the huge Bay Hale Maze and then had a delicious spread of picnic food for lunch, topped with cupcakes for dessert. The highlight of our day? Our picky eater packing away a plateful of sugarsnap peas all on his own! (he loved snapping the pods open to find the peas laying inside)

After stuffing ourselves silly, we decided to head home since Logan was starting to get pretty cranky and showing the desperate signs of needing a nap. Most everyone else followed suit and we hit the road back home.

Thanks again Kim and Nathan - and Happy BIG TWO to Molly! :)


(Click on any of the pics above for more from our fun day!)

Long week ahead

At 4:30am this morning, Jon woke up and spent the next 45 minutes trying to be as quiet as possible but really making A LOT of noise. The shower is what woke me up - and then the slamming of drawers open and closed as he packed his suitcase that was thrown on top of the bed (the one I was sleeping on).

Suffice to say, I didn't fall back to sleep but more than that I was freaking out that the minute Jon's car service arrived and he slammed the door shut, Logan would wake up (like last time).

THANKFULLY, that did not happen.

Jon left at 5:15am for an early morning flight out to Virginia, where he'll be working all week. Logan (and Mommy) slept in until a lazy 7:30am before starting our day. It's going to be a long week for the two of us but I'm liking the start of it. ;-)

22 months old

Yesterday marked Logan's 22 month birthday. It's amazing I have an "almost 2 year old" when it feels like he was just born yesterday. Yes, time is whizzing by. I used to hear parents say that all the time; now I actually get it. Jon and I have really enjoyed Logan's development - despite his "terrible twos" we are constantly entertained by his fun-spirited, loving and happy personality. I keep thinking ok, now this is it. This age is better than the last few months. This is my favorite age. Of course, every month I say the same thing. We are just enjoying our little guy to no end.

He has also taken a strong bond with the two of us as well. We've noticed he wants more and more of our attention (ack!); pulling our hand along to come play with him or sometimes not play (or touch) but just watch. He loves our company and prefers to be with us at all times. Mornings are probably the easiest example of that. We three lounge in bed until we absolutely must get up and ready for work - but we spend those glorious first moments in the morning cuddling and kissing and playing. Logan LOVES to tumble in bed, using Mommy and Daddy as pillows to soften the landing, standing up next to one of us and leaping into the air, crashing onto either of our bellies, backs, sides, or faces. He screams with glee asking for MORE MORE MORE.

Jon has started a new game with him that they play morning, noon and night. It's so fucking adorable I'll have to catch it on tape sometime. Jon snuggles in real close to Logan and says ok, which side? Logan replies with "that side", while also touching his left or right cheek.

Jon swoops in for a big fat kiss on that cheek. Logan replies "more". And Jon repeats. "Which side?" Logan responds now with "that side", touching the other cheek. And another kiss. They go on and on until Jon's lips are blue. It's precious.

It's just one example of many where Logan is slowly learning how to tell us what to do. ;-) His favorite new expression these days is "my turn". It can be anything. I can be typing away at my computer. He asks to sit up on my lap and says "my turn". I'll be cooking dinner and he'll be standing on his stool next to me watching my every move, begging for "my turn" to begin. We will be reading him a book, and suddenly it's "my turn". I'll be helping him stack some new legos together when he tears them out of my hands with "no, my turn". He wants to try anything and everything himself, and doesn't hold back letting you know. ;-)

For the most part he's really been doing well at school. He listens very well, loves playing with the other kids, is obsessed with "art" time or reading books or dance time. We still struggle with the meals - some days he'll gobble up everything I pack him for lunch, and other days he picks at it and barely eats anything. He seems to be a grazer and can't get enough of snacks throughout the day. The class he's in now is pretty flexible with that, but I'm worried that as he gets older and moves up to the next level, they'll be more rigorous about sticking to lunch and only a couple snacks a day. We'll see.

We did have a problem just the other day when I picked him up from school, which I'm hoping was a fluke but I'm afraid may be the start of a new habit that we need to nip in the bud quickly. While picking him up, his teacher came up to report to me that Logan had punched a kid in the face today.

Not hit. Not slapped. Not pushed. But punched.

Like, with a fist.

*sigh*

The teachers seemed a bit upset by it - telling me they've never seen that happen before with a kid his age. The other kid that Logan hit was fine, mostly just shooken up from the experience (of course!) so that was a relief. And, they put Logan in a nice long time out so that he'd learn his bad actions have consequences. Still, our son has always been physical, from day one, and there is definitely a part of me that is seeing some spooky foreshadowing of parent-teacher conferences and detention in his future. :( We definitely have our work cut out with this one.

We haven't had a doctor's visit in some time (save when he catches a cold) so I have no idea how tall he is, but it definitely seems like he's had a growth spurt in the last month. We had to raise his basketball hoop from the 3' to 4' level and his clothes all of a sudden seem shorter, tighter, smaller. That, mixed with the colder weather that's finally coming on, meant we needed to get some new clothes. So, we spent most of the day yesterday at the mall buying all kinds of new fun stuff for our kiddo to wear. The good news is, a kid's growth does slow down a tad and start evening out by this age, so these clothes should (hopefully) last a full year before I need to start buying new ones. I'm really hoping that's true!

I'd say the other significant change within the last month is Logan's preference for a new TV show he's been watching, called Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. It's a cartoon about a little Chinese-American girl named Kai-Lan (who Logan has shortened to Kai, which he says perfectly, because he loves his Uncle Kai!). She and her friends speak both Chinese and English and work on teaching the kids new Chinese words and cultural traditions. There's a lot of singing included which can be sickening for any adult to listen to over and over, but seems to work magic on the kids. Logan has often times repeated words and phrases that the characters on the show are practicing that day. For example, Logan picked up on the word "Ye Ye" very quickly (which means grandfather, a main character of the show) and often times he'll now refer to the TV show as "Ye Ye" when he wants to watch it.

The funny thing is, he's been so mesmerized with the show lately that he even prefers it over his beloved "Melmo"! Which, can be a bit tricky when your absent minded husband decides to delete all the saved episodes of Kai-Lan you had recorded on the DVR to watch on a rainy day.

Jon now knows never to do that again. ;-)

Cool brisk mornings

Loving the crisp air of fall these days.

Logan must like it too, as all he wants to do is hang out on the front
porch eating his banana chips. Makes it a tad bit challenging getting
out of the house on time!

A few old pics

I finally had some free time tonight to post up a few old pics! The first set is from Jon's family reunion we went to a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get as many profile pics of family members that I had wanted to - I've noticed that now that I have a kid, I focus most of my photos around him. And those pics that I don't get, are usually due to me setting the camera down so I can chase after my son before he gets into some serious trouble. :) Click on the pics below for more.



The second set is from our quick visit to the Children's Discovery Museum last weekend with Jon. I just added the pics to the same page of previous CDM pics, so you'll have to scroll toward the end to see the most recent. I didn't take as many because our visit was so short, but I did catch a few with Jon that I wanted to save. :)


We have another busy weekend ahead, and a couple of busy weeks (both Jon and I will be traveling, at different times/places) after that! But I'm hoping now that most of us are over the nasty cold we caught last week (Jon is still recovering from it since he caught it last), I'll have more energy and time to post updates in a timely manner.

Al Bundy has moved in

Logan decided to strip down to his diaper this evening. And then tried pulling the diaper off next. I asked him, do you want me to change your diaper? At which he replied with the following gesture.... (while walking down the hallway toward his bedroom):

I guess that's a yes.

Finally Recovering

Logan's been down and out since the start of last week. We thought he was doing better on Wednesday morning since we didn't detect a fever, but just to be safe, he and I hung out together that morning before I took him into school mid-day, just before lunchtime. A few hours later (after nap time), I got a call from his school that his fever had spiked to 101. Funny thing is, he didn't feel unusually warm to me when I picked him up (I can usually tell when he's running a temperature since he's emanating heat!) and when I took his temp after we got home, it was at about 98-99. Nothing extreme. Still, he had started a cough and seemed more clingy than usual, so I gave him some meds and a little TLC the rest of the day.

Thursday was a light day for me at work so I stayed home with Logan for the day (school rules say a child can't return until 24 hrs after a fever breaks). We went to my parent's for lunch and although he was still a bit clingier than usual, he was in great spirits for most of the day. Though his cough was pretty bad, I still wasn't detecting much of a fever which was good. So I thought we'd probably take him back into school on Friday, especially since it was picture day and I wanted to make sure and get some new pics for the family album.

Unfortunately, Logan had different plans. His cough kept him up all night - Jon finally brought him into bed with us about 2am (later I asked him why and he thought it was 6am and almost time for us to get up anyway).... which meant a REALLY rough night for Jon and I. Logan slept better between us I think - but he continued to cough up a storm, scattered with a few punches, kicks and bolting to an upright sitting position every now and then, in the middle of his sleep. It was distracting and nerve racking for Jon and I, to say the least. And, sometime around 4am I noticed a tickle growing in my own throat as well. Yay.

So, Friday I stayed home with him again since he clearly wasn't better, and I was starting to come down with the bug myself. I got an early morning appointment with his doctor just to make sure he didn't have anything more serious than a cold, and luckily that was all that was diagnosed. Lungs were clear, no bronchitis or pneumonia detected. And nothing like swine flu to worry about. Phew! ;-)

I did have one meeting on Friday that I absolutely could not cancel or reschedule - so my dad came over to the house for an hour to distract and entertain Logan out in the front yard while I took my call. THANK YOU DAD. After that, Logan and I lazed around the house all day long sipping juice and eating fruit and watching tv and being bums.

We've been taking it easy for the rest of the weekend because of the colds. Logan and I did make it out Saturday morning to a special ribbon cutting ceremony and building dedication of the brand new El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, which opens on November 15th (I was invited to attend since I sit on the Community Advisory Board for the Women's Hospital). I didn't think about it at the time, but it was a full hour of several folks speaking about how great the team was and the community was and the staff was at creating this new building, blah blah blah, before the actual ribbon cutting event. All very boring for an antsy hyper 2-year old toddler. :(

There's a cool circular water fountain in the front of the hospital where the ceremony was taking place - which we played in for about 10 minutes before security told us to cut it out. ;-) Soooo, we ended up spending most of the ceremony walking around some paths nearby looking at ants and slugs and picking up acorns and leaves and flowers. Logan was a champ and actually did really well putting up with Mama's boring community/hospital work that morning. :) After the ceremony, the hospital was opened for attendees to do self-guided tours - so Logan and I traipsed around the brand new hospital poking our noses into every nook and cranny. The building is well laid out, beautifully designed and you can tell someone put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was also really eery to walk down hallways and around the E.R. (for example) with not a patient or doctor in sight. :)

Today, Jon joined Logan and I for a quick hour of fun at the Children's Discovery Museum. The weather has been turning colder and colder (Hello Fall!), and although Logan was feeling much better, none of us were in the mood to go out to a park or take a walk, even though we all needed to get out of the house for a bit. So, the Discovery Museum it was. We had a nice time but Logan got tired pretty quickly (he woke up at 6am, the bastard) so we headed home. Really really loving the 'in and out' membership benefits! :)

I'm still not 100% myself, but not that bad either. I think it'll just take me longer to get over the cold because of the interrupted sleep and early morning wake up calls that Logan has been giving us lately. Logan, however, seems to be much better now and coughing less and less - thank goodness! I still have several pics to upload from last weekend's family reunion and our play time at the museum today - I'm hoping to get to that this week once I start feeling back to my old self!

Look Ma!

No roof, only the wind and trees!

Putting the top down

My dad recently bought his dream car (an SL500), something he's been talking about getting ever since I can remember.

Logan, of course, is in love with the new car (who wouldn't be??) and likes to sit in the front seat, push as many buttons as possible, all the while begging to "go!!". He loves having no roof and being able to look up at the trees (see next post/pic).

Maybe he can talk my dad into letting him drive it to prom in 17 yrs? ;-)

A boy's house

Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
No princess dolls, play kitchens or pink tutus to be found in these here parts.