Life with the Reigner's

Project 365 Week 3

2012-01-22T20:50:00.000-05:00

January 15-21, 2012

Sunday the baby and I packed up and headed off to my parents after church and couples group. Kevin was still away at Winter Weekend, and what grandparent would pass up a chance to see their first (and only) grandson?

Fifteenth

Gotta pass at least 1 horse and buggy on the way

Monday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast, played until it was close to nap time and then went shopping. My momma is so sweet and offered to buy me a new pair of jeans. My 'nice' pair is no longer nice and actually had a hold wear through the knee that morning. Since we are on a spending freeze this month, it was a real blessing. Even though she was buying I didn't want to take advantage and get something that I wouldn't have bought for myself. So after checking many places out, I finally stopped in my favorite jean store, American Eagle. It just so happened that their clearance section was an addition 40% off, so I walked out with a pair for only $18. :-)

Sixteenth

Tuesday was a chill day at home. When baby's nap time rolled around I grabbed a cup of tea, my Bible, and my Bible study book and settled in on the couch. Sadly, only for about 15 minutes because my baby doesn't like to nap. :-(

Seventeenth

Wednesday Logan decided he wanted to watch a movie...only problem was he didn't know which one so he pulled them ALL off.

Eighteenth

Thursday it was time to run the dishwasher. I guess one nice thing about having a baby in the house means having a back up spoon...

Nineteenth

Friday we had a play date with 2 lovely momma's and their 2 boys. Ian was so sweet and was trying to give Logan his sippy cup. :-) Austin was content with just taking everything in.

Twentieth

Saturday was the first snow of the year. We woke up to a few inches, so we bundled up the baby and headed out. I think he might take after his momma and not be a fan of the cold.

Twenty-First

My blue eyed snow angel

P.S. I just realized that this isn't project 365, but 366 this year...oops!

Project 365 Week 2

2012-01-16T19:50:00.003-05:00

January 8-14

Sunday was Kevin's mom side of the family Christmas gathering.
One of Kevin's cousins is a foster mom. She got this cutie just a few weeks after Logan was born. His name's Cole and he's 2 1/2 weeks younger than Logan, although he's bigger since L is a little guy. We thought it would be fun to plop them on the floor and see what they would do.

Eighth

Whatcha got?

What is this thing?

Monday Logan thought it would be fun to hide my phone. I searched the half of the living room and entryway where he had been playing. Not until way later when I leaned over the side of the couch I glanced at the magazine basket and caught a glimpse of it. Finally!

Ninth

Can you find it? Lucky you only have a small photo to look for it :-)

Tuesday I got fed up with looking at a naked tree in our house and took it upon myself to remove it. Apparantly our tree was a bit on the overweigh side...

Tenth

Do you see how many needles are piled up on the right side? Yeah.

Wednesday we headed up to the PA Farm Show. Yeah, it was fun. Tons of food, fun and animals. Working on a post that may or may not get published (like 50% of them)

Eleventh

Thursday was a rainy, cold boring day, so Logan took a bath with daddy.

Twelfth

Not sure who had more fun..

Friday Kevin left for his first ever Young Life retreat. Winter Weekend! He will be missed, but he's going to have blast!

Thirteenth

Saturday was a lazy day, we went to Wegman's and that was it. Our excitement of the day was Kobe licking Logan's yogurt bowl clean. (Disclaimer: I normally don't let my animals on the table, or lick items we eat, and this went straight into the dishwasher so it got nice and clean and sanitized.)

Fourteenth

P.S. We got a new lens for Christmas and I am totally loving it!!! What do you think? Now to find time to edit the photos...

Project 365 Week 1

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

Project 365 Days 1-7 (January 1-7)

Every year for the past 4 or 5 years my family comes down on New Years Day for lunch and family time. This year was no exception. Although, my parents were the only ones who could make it this year.

We went to Olive Garden, Logan's first time, and it was delicious! We then hung at our place so Logan could burn off all the calories he ate. I think he might need to make a New Years resolution to not eat so much...
Sadly, I wasn't thinking and didn't get any photos. But later that night we broke out the Wii and played Wii Sports Resort, Kevin got it for Christmas.

Of course Logan didn't want to be left out. He was daddy's good luck charm and Kev kicked my butt in bowling...of course I redeemed myself a bit in archery.


Day 1

Monday was the Winter Classic. With the Flyers playing at Citizen Bank stadium, we had to watch. Two couples from our small group came over.

Logan was really excited that Maggie is getting closer and closer to being able to play with him.

Although, he was a bit embarrassed when he fell on his tush after showing off how he could stand by himself.

Day 2 -Maggie's not quite sure what his deal is...

Tuesday was freezing! Aside from taking the dog out quickly so she could 'do her business', I didn't leave the house! Logan was lucky enough to not leave at all! Even the poor kitties we're chilly and had to keep each other warm.

Day 3-Sister/Brother love

Buh-bye Christmas tree! Needles have been covering the floor and driving me crazy...but nothing beat the amount I had to clean up after removing all the ornaments and lights!

Day 4 - All the pine needles lost from un-decorating the tree

Buh-bye Kadee :-( Sadly, we had to take Kadee back to the shelter we got her from :-( We just don't have enough room for her. She will be greatly missed as she's become such a big part of our family in the 3 months that we had her.

Day 5 - She enjoyed her last day playing with LM

It's Friday!!! Logan's learning that I always put his toys back, so he has started to do the same...such a helpful sweet little boy! I love that he thinks the remote is his toy :-)

Day 6 - New toy?

My uncle is visiting from Minnesota, so on Saturday we traveled out to my parents to see him.
Oma and Granddad still had their Christmas tree up, and they can have ornaments on the lower branches...

Day 7-Bad momma, taking photos instead of telling him not to touch

Loving Oma's chicken potpie


Story time with Uncle Denis

So I guess we are now one week into 2012! Only 51 more to go :-) Just kidding.

Logan 9 Months

2012-01-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

(December 27, 2011)

Once again another month has flown by! This month marks you living here on the 'outside' world longer than you grew inside me!

This month has been filled with tons of Christmas funness and loads of daddy time.

You saw your first Christmas parade, helped to cut down our first Christmas tree, decorated your first tree, saw Santa for the first time, and of course, had your first Christmas (twice in one day!!! First with daddy's family, then mommy's).

Your two front teeth cut through this month, so you really can say that you got your 2 front teeth for Christmas :-) Since the teeth first cut early in the month your sleep got right back on track! You typically lay down around 8ish and sleep till 5 or 6 and then go back down till 7 or so. You will take your nap any where between 10:30 and 11:30 and will protest until you realize how tired you really are.

Helping daddy paint is super tiring!

You also have created a new game that you L.O.V.E. It's called chase the baby. You play nicely and then suddenly stop, look and me and book as fast as you can out of the room...as soon as you get to the doorway you stop to make sure I'm coming and start giggling and you try to escape. You think it's hilarious to watch momma crawl after you.


Cracking up having Oma chasing you

Actually, everything has become a game to you. It's uber cute...except for when it involves biting. You love to bite daddy when he say's "looogaaan".

And you know how to play 'catch'. It doesn't have to be with a ball, you'll grab any toy you can throw and toss it to whoever is close and wait for them to throw it back. This game can go on for quite awhile.

Clapping has been a favorite since you were a teeny tiny, but now you can do it all by yourself. all. the. time. If anyone says "yaayyyy" you clap like crazy and get all smiley. It's super cute! You also cruising around tables and couches and anything you can get your hands on. And on occasion you will let go and stand on your own.

You love some good tunes to shake your cute, little, diapered booty too. You sit on the floor and bop to the beat.

My dear boy doesn't know how to sit still any more, so gone are the days of posing for photos.

You, my love, are such a happy, uplifting boy! You love to smile, and love even more to make others smile. You are the light of our lives. You find the smallest things hilarious, and change the way I look at life.
You are about 28 inches tall and 17 pounds and can still wear 3-6 months/6 month clothing, although some are starting to get small. Most of your sleep sacks are 0-9 months and you can no longer stretch your legs out completely. But since you sleep on your tummy with your legs tucked under you, you don't seem to mind.
You are shy in new places and with new people, I think that it's because you are observing everything and taking it all in. Because in no time at all you become comfortable and will talk up a storm to anyone who's listen.

You are the cutest, sweetest, funniest, silliest little man and I love you!

Check out his 8 month, 7 month, 6 month, 5 month, 4 month, 3 month, 2 month, 1 month
I can't believe how much you have grown! (Although with your appetite I can)

Looking Back

2012-01-05T21:00:00.004-05:00

I was just cleaning off my memory card and I came across this video.

I can't believe how tiny he was!!! I guess compared to some newborns he's big, but compared to the boy I see everyday he's such a little peanut.

And dude, he is seriously strong! He's still extremely strong, but at 3 days old...wowza!

Aww how I miss the newborn days...just not the lack of sleep :-)

Life

2012-01-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

I am realizing how precious life really is these past few days. It has nothing to do with the new year or anything, just circumstances of many different people in my life.

My mom recently told me about a family that I knew from home that the youngest daughter (I believe she's about 21 now) has an inoperable brain tumor! Wow! That's so young! On top of that, the girl's mom was just diagnosed with tongue cancer! They are in two different hospital in two different states! I couldn't imagine going through that. I'm so lucky that I'm healthy and so is my immediate family.

A girl who was a year behind me in school was in a really bad car accident a few days after Christmas. That in itself isn't anything shocking to me, but what is, is that her husband was killed in that crash. Her and her 5 month old son were in two different hospitals. Luckily, they have been released, but now they are husband and fatherless. I'm so lucky that I have my husband and Logan has his daddy.

Yesterday we were out to lunch with my family and my mom got a phone call from my 'sister'. (Long story...) She was in tears because her other 'mom' was in the hospital. She had just had a really bad stroke and was on life support. It doesn't look good for her, and even if she does pull through they say she will be a vegetable. Wow. Again, I'm so lucky for the health of my family.

I know that anything can change in an instant. Nothing in this life is for certain. Not to sound cliche, but we need to live each day like there is no tomorrow. We can't take life for granted. This life, here on earth, is way to short. Yes, we can have eternal life, and see our loved ones in heaven. But they are the lucky ones. They aren't the ones that are left behind, dealing with the life here.

Sorry to be such a down-er. My heart has just been so heavy for all of these people. Please keep them in your prayers! And don't take what you have for granted...you never know when it won't be yours any more.

Goodbye 2011! Hello 2012!

2012-01-01T21:01:00.000-05:00

Twenty elven was a great year! Every year we sit down and go over the highlight from each month. Kevin already did a great post on his blog if you want to check it out. Overall, March was the greatest month as we welcomed Logan into our family. :-)

I have seen project 365 all over for the past few years, and this year am going to try and make an earnest attempt at participating. Which means that I will take a photo every day all year. I won't promise that I'll post them every day, or that they will be the greatest photos, but eventually they will get posted, and they will be a memory for me.

We spent the last few hours of 2011 and the first few hours of 2012 with great friends!

We had tons of yummy food and drinks, awesome company, and crazy games.

Have you heard of the game Quelf? It's quite a different game...you never know what to expect. At one point (actually for about half the game) there was a global rule in effect that everyone had to end their sentence with 'izzle'. Every. single. sentence. It's not a game for the shy, that's for sure.

Andrew taking photos of his opponents while telling us to "work it"

Reading the card that resulting in all the "izzle" talk

Jason acting as a beached whale while Bethany was a cowboy riding an ostrich around him

Darrell as a jail keeper who had no lips, knees were glued together while being covered in maple syrup and feathers...told you it's a crazy game!


Kel and Kev trying to have a staring contest

We had a blast and are looking forward to what the new year holds for us!

Another Christmas Filled Weekend

2011-12-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

Actually, this was last weekend, this weekend was a pretty chill weekend filled with projects around the house. You can check out Kev's blog about what was done on Saturday and on Sunday. Because, let's be honest, I'm not going to get around to posting about it.

Christmas cheer continued around here last weekend.

Friday Kevin decided to work from home, which meant that I had a car. :-) I ran a few errands, including stopping by my old job to see a coworker who is in from Ohio this time of year. I must say that I don't miss the stress of buyback at all. This is the first time that I can thoroughly enjoy this season in probably close to 10 years! No working long hours or weekends. Just time for family and friends. Which is what we did Friday night. We traveled out to Lancaster for our annual besties Christmas dinner. There are four of us who were all super close in college, and now that we are all married our hubbies are too! We are spread out between Lancaster, Chester and Bucks county so it's hard to see each other often, but it's always a good time when we do!

Kel and Nate hosted this year and we did a breakfast for dinner theme. Mmm!!! Logan enjoyed every bit too...especially when Kevin decided to put a squirt of whipped cream on his plate. That kid dug into it quicker than I've ever seen him move before (and that's saying something because he can move!).

They recently inherited an old skee ball machine so we spent the better part of the evening in the basement playing. Actually, the guys spent most of the time down there, the girls got cold and left after we won 2 out of the 3 rounds of guys v.s. girls.

Saturday was a busy day, but a good kind of busy. Kevin surprised me in the morning with a Momma's Morning Out. The Smith's came over and Kevin and Andy watched the babies so Elizabeth and I could enjoy a lovely breakfast at Panera without the babies crying, feeding, puking, or climbing on us. It was so tempting to stay out all day until the guys called for help, but we had plans to meet friends to see Santa around 1. The guys did an awesome job and Logan took an hour long nap without a fuss!

As soon as he woke up we packed up and were off to see Santa at Waterloo Gardens! The guy really does look like Santa, he sits in a sleigh surrounded in poinsettias which is picture perfect, he takes time to talk to each child and it's free! You bring your own camera and capture the moment yourself. We met up with my friend Meghan (who was the one who told me about it) and her husband and 3 boys

We walked around the shop for a bit that is filled with gorgeous ornaments. And over sized stuff animals. Logan wasn't really impressed.

After that was a quick nap (for all 3 of us) then off to our first party of the evening. Sadly, we don't have any pictures of the rest of the night. The party was a luau theme and they went all out. Completely with a pig with an apple in it's mouth in the middle of the table. As always the food was awesome and the friends too. There were 2 other babies there who were 8 months and 7 months so Logan had some friends too. :-)

As if we weren't pushing his bedtime enough, around 9 we stopped at our final party, the Young Life Christmas party. I think this is like our 4th year or so going to one and it's always a good time. Once again the food is amazing and there are always so many leftovers that we are ~~forced~~ encouraged to take some home. As always they do the infamous white elephant gift exchange. Since we were late, we didn't partake, but it's still a blast to watch. I mean, it is seriously cut throat. If you touch a gift, it's yours and people will push to try and get you to touch something. Since there are over 30 people playing it takes quite awhile and gifts get forgotten, but there are always the few that get stolen over and over until they are frozen. This year got so bad that one of the college leaders actually stole a TV from one of the area directors young son. Luckily, his youngest brother stole it back at the end (after his other brother stole his goldfish). Gotta love it!

Logan 8 Months

2011-12-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

(Sorry this post has taken so long to get up, better late than never, right? I have been back and forth between 2 laptops that both partially work and it just takes too much time with having such an active little boy)

November 27, 2011

How is my baby 8 months?!?!?!

Time really does begin to fly when you have a baby! Although Logan wouldn't be happy with me if he saw me call him a baby. He thinks that he's a big boy :-)

I see new babies and I keep thinking that Logan is that tiny, but then I look at him and realize that he is rapidly turning into a little boy.

He crawls all over the place, no longer staying in just the room that I set him down in, or the room that I'm in. Although often if I leave the room he will come racing after me. It's quite comical almost like the old school game Red Light, Green Light, because as soon as I turn to look at him he stops. My man can pull himself up on anything too. And he's brave enough to only hold on with one hand, and to try and grab onto something else. He's slowing grasping that he can walk along objects, but that hasn't really been experimented with. He would much rather stand at the coffee table and hit it with his hands then walk along to the other side.

Closing doors are another favorite of his. He will quickly and stealthily scurry across a room and grab the door and push. There may or may not have been a time or to where he has closed the door on Momma or Dada to keep us out...

He also loves to read. Rather, he loves for someone to read to him while he grabs random pages and turns back and forth. Good thing I have his favorite books memorized or I would be making up a lot of parts to the story.

Logan also got to celebrate two holidays this month...his first Halloween and his first Thanksgiving. Both of them involved food so he loved them both. It took awhile for him to grasp the concept of Trick-or-Treating, but as soon as he realized that when someone put a bowl of crinkly things, he was suppose to reach in and grab as much as he could and proceed to shove it into his mouth. Needless to say, we ended up with a few piece of extra candy from a few house because they didn't want the slobber covered candy back. Darn. :-)

Although he spent most of the night walking around holding his Teddy Grams, I think the Tootsie Pop was his fave...all that's to Daddy Boy.

Thanksgiving was a crazy of family, fun and food and Logan enjoyed it all! You can read more about his first Thanksgiving here.

You had your first(and second) overnight at Oma and Granddad's. We went on lots of walks, baked, and played. Both you and Kadee loved the door leading out to the desk.

We finished using the last size 1 diaper and have now moved onto size 3. Totally skipping size 2 since you are at the upper limit for them and we don't use disposables enough to make it worth it. The size 3's should take us up to your first birthday at least. (I did not just mention a 1st birthday! My baby is not that old! *Tear*) Diaper changes have become quite the entertainment around here. You hate to lay still on your back and will squirm and twist and push while I try to change you. You are quite the contortionist. We try to distract you by giving you toys, but your new game is to throw/drop the toy and make us pick it up. You think it's hystarical! I counted once...20 times during one change!

You can still wear 3-6 months as well as 6 months. You wear 6-12 months too, but some of them are still swimming on you.

Sadly, you also experienced your first cold this month. Not fun for either of us. You were a trooper though and didn't let it get you down. You enjoyed spending the nights cuddled up on Momma...as did I. :-)

So baby doll, you are growing bigger and bigger and smarter and smarter every day. Nothing holds you back. Your are a very determined little boy who achieves whatever you set out to do. You are still such a joy and bring smiles to everyone. You bask in attention and think it's hilarious when we copy you or cheer you on. Still a Momma's boy, but loves Dada time. I love you so much, more and more each day!

And just so you can see a little bit of what I go through on a daily basis...nothing stops this kid! Including momma's face :-)

Check out last months, 7 month post to see the links to Logan's past 8 months.

December - The Holidays are in the Air

2011-12-04T09:46:00.000-05:00

We have started off December with a kick. I (Kevin) love the Holidays and do everything that I can to maximize that joyous feeling that one gets during this time of the year. It got so bad that this year when church announced that you could sign up for their Christmas concerts via internet, I logged in to their website and ordered tickets on my iPhone during the rest of the announcements (Renae shook her head at me, but last year we almost weren't able to attend any because we waited so long).

Dec 1 - I bowed out of a field trip to Pittsburgh that I was originally signed up for, and surprised Renae by having my mom and sister come up and watch Logan for the night. We escaped and hung out with some really awesome friends of ours from church and just had dinner, talked and played Mario Kart Wii. It was good for us to hang out as just a couple, and Renae really seemed to enjoy the getting out without a 17lb hip attachment.

Dec 2 - I took a half day from work to surprise Renae. We spent the afternoon running some errands together, and then got ready for the West Chester Old Fashioned Christmas parade. To read more on that you can check out my blog (Daddy Daze) for the post "A Christmas Parade Tradition."

Dec 3 - This was a busy day. We started off the day meeting up with some good friends and tree hunting for our first ever Reigner Family Christmas tree. It was fun taking the little man through the tree fields and find the perfect tree for our living room. Again, you can read more about this adventure from my blog in the post "A Christmas Tree Hunt"

Later that night we had a Thanksgiving/Christmas ....Thankistmas.... Dinner with our Couples Group Bible study friends. The Behm's have been hosting this group for almost 2 years at their house, and some very great friendships have formed as a result of them faithfully opening their home to us every other Sunday afternoon. The night started off with some appetizers and lots of talk, then transitioned into a series of games (which were awesome) followed by a group dinner, and then one last game before calling it a night (Yeah, we were there from 3-9:00). Mark organized the game time so that you would continually be paired up with a different person from each couple, which was great because it got us to interact more with one another...not that we need that. Here are some pictures from the night:

Always a fun time when you have to act out things without using words.

I had to figure out how to act out "angel" I should have just pointed at Logan...haha yeah right

After a few rounds of just the guys going, Renae stepped up to bat...she did very well!

LOL, Andy trying to get Elizabeth to guess "mole." From this picture I feel like Igor or Hunchback would be the word.

Scattergories was another aggressive game, looks like Steve is challenging a word.

I would not mess with these two. Dawn and Alayna are super competitive and only settle for excellence. Alayna was undefeated throughout all of her competitions.

Darrell and Sung-yoon patiently waiting for Mark to pray so that they can begin eating.

I love this group because everyone can cook and bake, and almost weekly we get together for a meal where everyone brings something for the meal....we are truly blessed to have all met one another (the guys especially, cause we like to eat)

Logan made up his own version of Guesstures. Not really sure what the object was here.

To end out the night we all came together and played a Guys vs Gals Guesstures competition. Get this...the final score was Gals 59-58. Rob had the pressure on to get that final point, but the time ran out too soon :(

The night would not be complete without a little Logan getting himself into trouble. At this point he was making a nest out of Renae's hair and it took the efforts of Dawn and Sung-yoon to release the Momma.

2011-11-25T20:35:00.000-05:00

Hi!

Things have been crazy around here, as I explained in one of the post that I started but never finished...

Basically my computer sucks, and I can't seem to get either camera to download pictures to it. I don't like to blog without photos, hence no blogging. That, and the reason why the pictures won't load is because my computer's 6 years old which means it's super slow. Like SUPER slow. As in it can take 5 minutes to load a page sometimes. So long that I walk away or get distracted doing something else (baby, dog, cat1, cat2, house, crafting, etc.).

Logan had his first Thanksgiving yesterday! So fun! Thanksgiving is always a fun, crazy holiday because my dad is one of six. So even with people growing up and moving away or spending the holiday elsewhere we always have between 20-30 people at my parents house.

My nana and I come up on Wednesday night to help with the prep and sometimes a cousin will too.

Well this year was an extra special Thanksgiving. No only because it's Logan's first one, but it is also the first holiday that my cousin David has spent with the family in 31 years! (I'm not even touching 30 yet, so you do the math, my first holiday with him) So fun!

Of course he got placed at the 'kids' table with all of us (Side note: it really needs a new name because technically Logan and Skylar are the only two kids, and the 'kids' out number the adults by more than double!) out in the living room. I have only seen David 2 times since my age has moved into the double digits, and once was my wedding and the other was my cousin's (his half sister) wedding. So it was great spending actual time with him. Even though he hasn't been a Crnkovich since he was 7, it's so crazy to see the family resemblance. Obviously in looks, but also in the way he talks and personality.

Logan had a blast and gobbled down as much food as he could! I love the fact that he's able to eat real food and could fully enjoy his first Thanksgiving. He had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (I scooped some out before the sweet glaze was added), stuffing, bread, cranberries and fruit cocktail. That kid was in heaven! And he feed most of it to himself...and the floor :-) He soaked up all the attention he could get, and since he's the first baby (and only) he got plenty of it.

I'll try to get a post up with photos later, but who knows when, so at least now I'll have something to look back on when I try to remember this Thanksgiving :-)

I'll leave you with a photo from Kev's iPhone, which apparently I can't use, so excuse the blur.

(Mmm is that all for me?!?!!?)

Logan - 7 Months

2011-10-29T21:50:00.000-04:00

(October 27, 2011)

(This is the typical Logan face)

My baby is now full out into the second half of his first year. Wowzers!

This has been a crazy month. Honestly, I don't what happened to this month...did it totally fly by for anyone else? I kept saying that Logan was 6 months, and this weekend Kevin had to correct me by saying that he was going to be 7 months this week. WHAT!!?!?!

It has been a good month though, with lots and lots of changes...maybe that why it went so fast?

Logan is now full out crawling, pulling himself up to standing on EVERYTHING (including his crib)(Why do you leave me in this thing? I want freedom!)

and is now the proud owner of 2 bottom teeth. Oh, and we are F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. back to sleeping through the night! YAY!!! Too bad momma is still on the wake up every 2-3 hours schedule...

Crawling takes us all over the house, including discovering the stairs the other day. Time for baby gates?

(Nice puppy dog, come here puppy dog, let me hit/grab you puppy dog)

Oh, and you have been making this awesome, funny noise with your mouth. No one can figure out how you do it, but you make this popping noise as you move your lips up and down and in and out...quite charming.

Bath time is still a favorite, as long as there are fun toys. And a washcloth to suck on. Actually, the washcloth to suck on is good for anything because after chowing down you like to try and steal the cloth I'm cleaning you with.

And you are LOVING your puppy! She is much more tolerant of you than the cats are...

(Hmm can I take her for a walk?)

All of your 0-3 cloths are packed up and you are in 3-6 or 6 months. We are still going strong on using cloth diapers. We had to move the up a notch to a larger size, and are using up the last of the very few size 1's in disposables we have lying around. You eat anything and everything. Seriously. If we're eating it, you want it. And as long as it's homemade, I'll give it to you. You are so over purees and what stuff that you can feed yourself. You really are growing up way to quick for me!

Monthly photos are getting harder and harder to take with my active little monkey.

(Ooo check out this book!)

(Yo Mr. monkey what's shakin'? You ready to bust out of this chair?)

(You go that way, I'll go this way)

Logan, you are still my favorite! Even though we had a fussy time this month with teething and all. You are finally getting over your stranger anxiety which makes momma's life a bit easier. I love seeing your face light up when you see me. You no longer are mad at us when we leave you in the nursery at church or when I hand you off at Bible study. You are such a friendly, loving boy and want to hold hands with any baby or child you see. It's super cute. You are a total sweetheart.

If you missed months 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 6 month update (does anyone know how to add those fun tabs at the top of the web page?)

Take A Stand

2011-10-28T07:25:00.004-04:00

That's what my baby is doing.

Yup, that's right, he's STANDING!!!

(Sure he stood on the boardwalk at 3 months...but I made him)

He's been trying to pull himself up on stuff the past few days, but he's a full out pro now. So much so that 2 evenings ago I went into his room to get him after a nap and he was S.T.A.N.D.I.N.G. there! Wha!?!?! My baby? Standing in his crib!?!?

(Sorry for the crappy cell pic)

Once he does something, he just keeps doing it and doing it until he has totally conquered it and is ready to push on to the next thing. Like rolling. Or crawling. He's only been pulling himself up to a stand the past few days and already he's trying to stand on his own.

I miss my baby :-(

Oh, and I'm working on his 7 month post...just need to take his photos this morning since we were out all day yesterday. (Side note: we got Kev's car inspected yesterday and it's the first time EVER that we didn't need any repairs done for it to pass! And we had a AAA voucher that needed to be used, so we paid a total of $10.02 for the inspection! Swwweeeeet!!)

Oh, and I'm also linking up to the Fall Follower Fest which you can link up here if you'd like :-)

For anyone checking out my site HI! and here's a bit about me:

My name's Renae, I'm wife to Kevin (who sometimes post on here), mom to Logan who just turned 7 months yesterday, and we have 2 cats and just got a dog 2 weeks ago. Crazy I know. We bought our first house just over a year ago via a short sale and have been working on making it our home. I love making new friends (IRL or on blogland) and I am so looking forward to finding some new blogs to read!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Baby!

2011-10-26T07:43:00.000-04:00

We had a party at our place this past weekend (post to come), so we were left with bales of straw, cornstalks and pumpkins...add in a super cute baby boy and it's a photo shoot waiting to happen :-)

These are just a few...

Have I mentioned lately I love this little boy???

Our Growing Family

2011-10-14T10:58:00.003-04:00

No, I'm not pregnant again.

But we did just add the cutest little girl to our home. The four legged, furry kind.

We are currently trying to get the two cats acclimated to her, so it's a bit of a mad house over here.

Meet Kadee

A Jack Russell/Beagle mixed and total sweetheart.

6 Month Check Up

2011-10-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

Logan finally had his 6 month check up.

(Disclaimer: Parental bragging ahead)

Yes, he is almost 6.5 months. Some how we got a week behind on them, and then a few days before his scheduled one the doctor office called and said they doctor wasn't going to be around for it so it had to be pushed back another week.

Not sure if he remembers the place, or just his stranger anxiety, but he put up a fight to be weighed and measured. Like he literally hung onto the sides of the scale! Poor baby. He clocked in at 15 pounds 1.5 oz and 2'1.67" long. Little man is growing! He's still in the super low percentile, which is funny because people always comment on how big he is.

His bottom teeth are getting ready to pop through soon , which I'm hoping that explains his crankiness lately. I don't know how much more fussy baby I can take...those teeth better cut soon! :-)

As the doctor was checking him, he was trying to play and take her instruments, even after she moved them away. She said he was a very intelligent baby and it would be fun baby proofing our house when he starts to crawl. So I told her that he was already crawling and she was a bit surprised.

Once she was finished she stood him up to hand him over and he started 'walking' over to me. Again, she was surprised and said that he would be walking early. She said he is really athletic. I didn't think that was possible to tell with babies, but when he was born you could totally see muscle and I (and Kev) thought of him as an athlete, but I just thought that was parental biasness. (Yes, I made bias-ness a word)

So it looks like we still have our super healthy son who's also intelligent and an athlete :-) Love him.

And what's a post without some photos?

(What do you mean I need a shot!?!?!)

(Blue Steel)

(How you doin'?)

(This kid knows how to flirt...he's been capturing hearts of ladies everywhere)

End Parental Bragging :-)

Maggie :-)

2011-10-07T14:54:00.002-04:00

Good friends of our just had a baby girl last week :-)

I was blessed enough to go over to their place to take a few newborn photos of her. She is such a cutie!!! I'm in the process of cleaning them up, but here are a few.

And the littlest Phillies fan :-)

Also the photo I'm using for Our Footprints On the World Friday Foto edit.

Fall Filled Funness Part Dos

2011-10-06T14:40:00.000-04:00

Friday night was the fair and Saturday we went apple picking with a few friends.

A few couples from our small group met at Highland Orchards for some apple pickin' fun...so much fun that we spent about 4 hours there! Crazy I know! Logan was a trooper :-)

It must have been a popular Saturday to go because we ran into a bunch of people we knew.

Once we rode out to the orchards, a lot of the apples were ones we hadn't heard of, so we had to try them. Luckily, Kev brought his pocket knife so we could all have a slice...and then Logan got the privileged of sucking on the remaining part of the apple :-) I think that was his favorite.

Actually, he (Logan) got a bit confused. He saw us reaching into the tree and pull stuff out, so he thought he'd help.

It was so funny! He would reach out and grab a handful to eat. And would cry hysterically if we took it away until we let him pick another leaf.

So of course Momma had to show him how it was done.

Maybe now he can understand why it was taking us so long! Lol.

Soon-yung took it upon himself (aka, Dawn asked him) to climb the tree to retrieve the perfect apple.

After our crazy long excursion, the Kang's came back to our place to help us bake and hang out. We made an awesome apple pie and some slammin' apple crisp! :-) We were so caught up in the process that we totally didn't take any photos. Oops!

I did snag a picture of the pie all wrapped up so we could take it to our couples group.

Then on Sunday we had our couple's group after church and then got to meet our friends new baby girl. So cute!!! I did a few newborn photos for her yesterday, so I'll post a few of them later.

Fall Filled Funness

2011-10-05T21:00:00.001-04:00

Yes, I said funness. And yes, funness is a word in my book (blog).

We had an awesome weekend! So awesome that I need yesterday to recover. Actually, Logan need yesterday to recover, which meant that I had to recover from him recovering!

Friday night we drove up to Lancaster to go to the Lampeter Fair with my family. It's the fair I grew up with, and haven't been to in years. As we drove up I was flooded with memories from all the years spent there. As I shared some with Kevin he laughed and said that he didn't realize how much of a hick I was. Oops. I guess not everyone participates in a greased pig contest. How was I suppose to know? The fact that he didn't know that you actually grease the kids and not the pig showed that he wasn't kidding.

Friday night at the fair is the horse show, including bull roping!

When we arrived we checked out the animals, then heading on to the food. Can't go to a fair and not get some yummy fair food! I can't get over how many people I ran into! It's been 10 years (*gasp* I'm old!!!) since I've really lived in the area, but I guess a lot of people stay around. Almost everyone has kids too! So crazy!!!

All the (not so) little oinkers were sleeping, I guess we came by right after feeding time.

The sheep were wide awake though! The one kept jumping up at us! Logan liked watching them, but I think he got scared when they jumped at him.

We stumbled across this huge pumpkin...2oo pounds! Craziness!

Little farmer boy :-) He loved pulling up the straw and kept trying to eat it. Go figure.

Hands down the cows were Logan's favorite! He LOVED them! My dad was holding him facing a cow and mooing and the cow mooed back...which got Logan mooing! The whole time he was staring at them he was mooing to them...sooo cute! (Have I mentioned my kids smart? Yeah. He is.)

Since it was the horse show, there were horses seriously everywhere!
This one has her mane all gussied up :-)

Flirtin' with a cowboy ;-)

And since we are at a fair, there are tractors E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E
There are antique ones (notice the Keep Off sign? Oops!)

And huge new ones...I think he liked the older (smaller) ones a lot better

They even had a baby station in one of the tents! How cool is that??!?!!

For the cattle ropin', they drove the trunk down to one end of the arena, dropped them off, then when they were roped, herded them to the other end and back into the truck. Only to do it all over again when they were all caught.

(Since it was so dark out by that time the only hope in getting some shots was black and white courtesy of Kev (as are most of the photos in this post )

We were standing right at the fence where they herded the bulls afterward... it was crazy! They would hip check it, and we were told they could actually jump a foot higher then what the fence was. Great. Talk about adrenaline rush! But that's the fence that's blurred in the bottom of a few of the next photos.

You've heard the saying "being bull-headed"? Watching these guys, and how stubborn they can get, the phrase makes perfect sense. They would just stop and not budge. At all.

So brave guy had to help them along. All I can say is better him than me! I wouldn't want to be that close to those horns!

So that was Friday night...and this post is already way too long, so I'll do another write up on Saturday's apple day. :-)

Oh, and if you didn't already think that this was a 'real fair', they had to make an announcement for someone to go to their horse and buggy because the horse was getting sick! Lol. Only in Lancaster (Or I guess a southern town) :-)

Attic Remodel Reveal

2011-09-28T21:32:00.005-04:00

Finally! I've been waiting to share this for way too long! Are you as excited as I am? This is seriously awesome! Kevin did such an awesome job! I'm so proud :-)

It isn't finished. I'd say we're about 90% done. The banister needs to be put up, window casing installed, the stairs painted and photos hung. But I can't wait any longer. Those things will take time, especially since school's back in session.

We started with a hot mess! Like bare bones, studded out, filled with junk kinda mess.

The week before we moved in we rented a dumpster and most of the junk got trashed.

The week of Christmas break the insulation was installed.

And then we were stalled. Stalled because of our budget. Stalled because it was the school year. Stalled because the next step was drywall and that wouldn't fit in either of our cars.

Enter the back door replacement. Our good friend Brent had to pick up the door to install it, so Kevin was able to throw a few pieces (26) of drywall in the back of his trunk. Then they sat in our dining room for-ev-er! He swore he was taking pieces upstairs, and there were pieces creating walls, and little piles of white dust downstairs, but the stack never seemed to go away.

Finally the walls were up and painted, Kev's bro and dad came over to help install the floors, chair rail, baseboards and quarter round were painted and installed, and the furniture was brought up.

(Just to show I helped in the process :-) )

And....

We have a room!

Big change, huh?

Before :
After :

Props to Kev to doing most of it himself with help from a few friends and family :-) Pretty good, huh?

Logan - 6 Months

2011-09-27T13:35:00.004-04:00

September 27, 2011

(GO PHILLIES!!!)

Half a year. Six months. 26 weeks. 183 days.

That's how old my baby is. Sniff, sniff, sniff.

How is it that time seems to drag on when you are waiting for something, but then seems to fly by? I remember being 26 weeks, entering my third trimester, excited to meet my little one in 3 short months. How long in felt for me to reach that point.

Now, another 26 weeks have past and it seems like just yesterday (okay more like last week) he was a newborn in my arms trying to hold his head up, but bobbling around. Now not only can he hold his head up, but his entire body as he scootches across the floor!

With movement comes new territories. Nothing is off limit. Including kitty toys. I guess cat toys make good baby toys and baby toys make good cat toys.

As always you are a drool machine. I guess it could be worse, but I'm not enjoying stepping in the puddles across the floor.

And everything goes into the mouth. Seriously. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Or just poking yourself in the eye trying to get it to the mouth.

You tried your first fruits and veggies and love everything but avocados. You started with carrots, then had green beans, apples, pears, bananas, butternut squash and potatoes. All of it homemade by momma. Next up is meat. You definitely love your food! And this photo makes me want to eat more on the back porch before it gets too cold.

You are a fantastic eater, whether it's solids or nursing. You still nurse about every 3 hours except overnight. Some nights you are the good sleeper you used to be and only wake up once. Other nights you may be up 2, 3 or even 4 times! Momma is hoping that stops soon because she has gotten used to her beauty sleep.

Naps have gotten a lot better thank goodness! I typically only have to go back in once before you fall asleep. Although it still only last about 45 minutes.

I'm wondering if all the moving, moving, moving doesn't wear you out? Not only are you creeping along but you also sit like a pro!

Oh, and gone are the days where I can simply prop you up and snap a photo. Nope, my love, you are a mover.
Can't even lay you on your back to measure you against your monkey!

You are still able to wear a few 0-3, although momma is working on packing them all up, so you will strictly be in 3-6. Your doctor's appointment isn't until Monday, so we'll have to wait to see how much you weight/how long you are, but my guess is that you're close to 14.5 pounds and maybe 27 inches?

You are still in clothe diapers on the same setting and can still wear size 1, but they are getting small, so we'll have to use up the last few that are still laying around. Since starting solids you poop 2-3 times a day and go through more diapers than we're used too, so it shouldn't be too hard to use them up.

Logan,

Even thought it's *only* been 6 months, it feels like a lifetime, and I can't imagine life without you. You are such a light and just draw people to you! Constantly getting compliments where ever we go on how good you are or how cute or how amazing your eyes are.
You share your parents passion for the camera, although I'm not sure if it's just because it taste good.

You are the light of my life and I love you!

Check month 5, month 4, month 3, month 2, month 1

(Edit: Check out his 6 month stats from the doctors here)

Fall Fell on Us

2011-09-26T20:28:00.002-04:00

Seriously though, fall fell on me like whoah! Where did the time go? I love the fall though. If heaven were just one long season I would imagine that it was a crisp fall day where all the colors of the leaves were showing their most colorful selves and the air was filled with a cool breeze that sent only a small chill down your back. Nighttime would consist of standing around a fire drinking something warm and laughing with friends. And when you lay down for bed you cuddle close to your loved one to stay warm through the night.

So this post is in honor of all that I love about fall!

To kick off the fall season we went to a Penn State Football game which we blogged about earlier. If you missed it you can read it by clicking here....or here.

But to really officially kick off Fall (after the official First Day of Fall), we went to Linvilla Orchards in Media, PA to check out the Apple Fest. It was a great family time, and Logan absolutely loved it...we know this because when we put him belly down on a pumpkin he began to move frantically, while slapping the pumpkin and giggling. Here are some pictures from the adventure:

We were baffled at how they had Pick Your Own Trout Fishing...maybe they had fish in the trees from the hurricane???

Strapped Logan on to Mommy and they were ready to go.

Logan does a good job of keeping us a tight-knit family.

This was his first Pumpkinland experience, he really seemed to enjoy it.

Logan even earned a position there directing the visitors to the hayride.

This is what I was talking about when he went cray and began banging on the pumpkins.

This was one of those outtake photos, where Logan decided that if the pumpkin looked good...then it must taste good!

He enjoyed seeing the "me-sized" pumpkins with mommy.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarf Pumpkins were there.

As well as Cinderella and her Pumpkin Carriage.

And the giant 20ft scarecrow!!!

Logan hasn't quite grasped what to do with his head in these photo stands.

Mommy couldn't resist.

And neither could Daddy.

Logan even showed us how to take the bull by the horns.

All in all it was a great day, despite the Eagles loss to the Giants. This coming weekend will be another fun packed weekend as we take off Friday night to go to Lancaster, PA to visit a local fair. Then on Saturday we are going to go apple picking with some good friends of ours and hopefully make some awesome fall goodies. Can't wait!

Coming Up This Week

2011-09-26T12:31:00.002-04:00

Is it really the last week of September???!?!? Wow!

I don't like how fast time is going. At all.

I have a few post I've been meaning to write, that I'm going to tackle this week.

* Logan 6 month

* Attic Remodel Reveal (yes it's finally as finished as it will be for awhile!)

* Recap on our beach trips

Now that y'all are expecting these, I need to get my butt in gear and get them written :-)

Yesterday was Apple Fest at Linvilla Orchard, and we are suppose to go apple picking with some friends on Saturday, so I'll have fall post with Logan coming up soon. If you're on facebook you've seen an overload of these, but here's one from our time at the fest. :-)

Oh, and Logan should have a little buddy any day now! We have friends who are due today (or Wednesday depending on which doctor you talk to) so we are anxiously waiting to hear if he's going to have a best friend or a girl friend :-)

Linking up to Mingle Monday for the first time in a long time.

We Are...Penn State

2011-09-24T10:13:00.000-04:00

Penn State University. Land of the creameries and sticky buns. Infamous Joe Paterno. State College is home to 40,000 + students, PSU itself containing 80,000+ students throughout all of their campuses. If you are quiet at night sometimes you can hear the Nittany Lion roar! During the fall season one of America's favorite sports gears up, and that is non other than football. When you have attended PSU you know the dedication, passion and joy that comes with Penn State football. It was a honor and priveledge that friends of ours had presented us as a family the chance to go to our very First Family PSU football game.

My head was held high this day and my chest was puffed out. It meant a lot to me that we were able to go because I take great pride in my Alma Mater. Below is a photo story of how the First Family PSU game went. September 17, 2011 PSU vs Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.

We had to get Logan all decked out in his PSU gear. Later we found out that they make Nittany Lion outfits complete with the lion head gear....something for possible future games???

This was a very proud moment for me as a father, to see my son dressed in his PSU gear. We were ready to go and route on the Lions!

Mom was even in her PSU gear, sporting her pinkie Penn State hoodie!

Logan was taking in every aspect of the atmosphere. For the first solid 20 minutes he was content just looking around at the players, the field, the fans and anything else that comes with being at a football game.

In Logan's mind he was the real reason why there were thousands of people gathered on this day. I do have to admit he stole the thunder when we walked in a few minutes late to get our seats. He had so many people talking about him and how cute he was. The girl sitting behind us told us that we should have painted his bald head and face...maybe something else for the future???

Mom was getting into the game and sharing the excitement with Logan. The game had us on the edge of our seats for some parts.

The band took the field at half-time.

The coolest usher in the world came out at half-time, since we told him it was our first family football game, and so he climbed a few rows back and snapped some shots of us all together at the stadium.

In the last 5 minutes PSU had possession and led an attack down the field trying to come from behind and take the victory.

Going for 1st down at 4th and 2.

Ready, set, hike.

PSU has possession.

They had to bring out the chains to make sure that we had the 1st down.

Penn State drove into the end zone with only a little over a minute left.

Temple tried to make several attempts to get back down the field, but the PSU defense was too much for them.

Temple failed to bring the ball back, leaving PSU in the lead for the victory.

Happy First Day of Autumn!!!

2011-09-23T07:31:00.006-04:00

It's here!!!!

I feel like I was just saying the same about summer. Hmm?

We have a bunch we want to do this Fall, including but not limited to apple picking, pumpkin carving, pie making and hosting our 2nd annual Fall Fest.

I would also like to snap some photos. Especially of our little pumpkin :-)

Looking through my old photos, I realized the only Fall photos I have are from when we first bought our camera and I was messing around trying to learn how it works.

These are all from waayyy back in 2008!!!

Time for an update?

I think so. And I'll have a cute little helper :-)

What would you like to do this Fall?