Morning Playtime

Wordless Wednesday

My Baby Fish!

Logan is has learned to really love the water! He spent an afternoon in POC in the pool---and loved every minute! Here's my little fish

There's a 1st and 2nd time for everything

So our weekend in POC didn't go exactly to plan...of course, with kids, you can never expect things go according to plan. Evidently some slightly "off" behavior of Ben on Friday should have been tell-tale signs for me that he wasn't feeling so good. But Ben hasn't been sick in a long time, so I really played off the behaviors as not having enough sleep the last couple of days, due to Sea World and having to take his nap in the car heading to POC (naps in cars are never as good as a bed!). Anyway, Ben slept BAD Friday night. He was up every couple of hours, crying and fussing. He evidently had a fever that broke in the night too, because he woke up drenched with sweat in the cool bedroom. And when we eventually got up in the morning, he was laying around, not playing, complaining that his throat hurt really bad. So, after breakfast, Randy and I loaded up in the Tahoe and headed to Port Lavaca Memorial Hospital. It was our 1st trip to this hospital. It was very small, but nice and very clean. (This nurse was impressed!) After seeing the doctor (who was really weird), Ben's strep and flu test came back negative (thank goodness), but his throat was really red. And since he had been having fever, we got an antibiotic anyway to cover what might be going on. With Ben's immune disorder, we can never be too safe. So after spending most of the day in Port Lavaca, we headed back home to POC. With Motrin and antibiotic, Ben felt better and was able to play between doses and even got to go fishing. Here's my little fisherman. Ben caught his 2nd fish---a small trout! Yea Ben! He was very excited!


Heading to the dock to fish with Daddy and Gran!

Waiting for Daddy to rig up Ben's fishing pole!

Ben and Gran---fishing buddies.

Ben and Daddy---watching their bobber!

Still watching...

He caught something! A little speckled trout!

Proud Ben posing with his catch of the day!

Happy Fisherman!

Sunset on the Beach

We went to Port O'Connor for the weekend. And after putting Logan to bed on Friday evening, Ben and I enjoyed some more "Mommy-Ben" time. We headed to the POC beach to hunt for hermit crabs (there are always a plethora of them!) and to watch the sunset. We had a great time together. And after watching the beautiful sunset, we headed to the local ice cream shop and shared an ice cream sundae. It was a perfect evening.

Sea World Fun!

This past week, I took Ben on a much anticipated trip to Sea World. We went with some good friends, Cooper and "Mama Shana". The Mommas had so much fun and we really enjoyed our quality time with our toddlers! (We both have young babies at home and we both agree that it is much harder to have good, quality time with our older boys since the babies were born!) Anyway, we had a blast! Ben and I had so much fun playing, seeing shows, feeding dolphins, and riding roller coasters---yes! I took Ben on his first roller coaster rides!---that I really don't know who had more fun...Ben or Mommy!?! Here are some pictures of our fun-filled day:

Feeding the dolphins!

Ben, waiting to GO on the Shamu Roller Coaster (in the kiddie park!). He was a little nervous, but after the initial jolt on the coaster, he screamed and even raised his hands in the air! He loved it! :-)

Ben and Cooper posing in front of a race car!

Silly Ben at lunch. :-P

Waiting patiently for Shamu to arrive!

SHEER JOY at the sight of Shamu!!!! (I absolutely love this picture. It completely encapsulates our day.) :-)

Since the Shamu roller coaster was so fun, we decided to take the boys on Rio Loco! Ben wasn't too sure about getting so wet, but when it was all said and done...the water felt good and we loved it! Here's our "wet t-shirt pic"!

The Mommas let the boys ride on a ride by themselves! Here is Ben and Cooper getting ready to ride on the Penguin Egg ferris wheel!

Can you see Ben peeking his head out at the top of the ride? :-)

At the very end of our day, we let the boys play around in more water! It was a whopping 102 in San Antonio that day, and probably hotter at Sea World with all that pavement. Here is Momma Shana and the boys splashing around!

Ben LOVED the water pipe waterfall! The water was cool--and quite refreshing!

Two Silly Boys. (This is what you get when you ask two boys to smile at the camera.)

And finally, we treated the boys (and ourselves) to some candy on our way out of the park. The boys opted for chocolate (Kit Kats) and the Mommas wanted yogurt covered pretzles and vanilla Rocky Road fudge! Yummy! Perfect ending to a perfect day.

STUCK!

This morning, while I was cleaning dishes after breakfast, Logan decided to play in one of the cupboards. No big deal, it was full of plastic travel mugs! Well, after he took all the mugs out and rolled them around the kitchen for awhile, he decided to crawl into the cupboard and get STUCK!!! He couldn't turn around; He couldn't sit down; He couldn't get out!!! Of course, Mommy thought this was really funny---but Logan didn't.

Fort Worth Trip

This past weekend we took a trip up to Fort Worth. Kara, Mom and I hosted a baby shower for Krista Gordon. She is having a baby girl in September and we can't wait to meet baby Makenna! :-) And while were there, we got to meet up with some special family. We had dinner Friday evening with Aunt Barbara and our cousin Steven. It was so good to see them--it had been way too long! Saturday, while the girls were giving the baby shower, Randy took the boys to the Fort Worth Zoo. Randy said the zoo was awesome! (We love our SA Zoo, but he said "hands down, Fort Worth Zoo is better!".) We would love to go back and spend some more time---Mommy wants to experience this awesome zoo too! :-) And Saturday evening, we drove up to Keller and visited with Randy's step-dad, Jamie. It was really good seeing him. And Ben loved playing around "PaPa's" new place! Here are some pictures of our trip!

After the long weekend, filled with fun, we made it home---and Ben crashed on the couch!

Logan is 9 months old!

OK--So I am a couple weeks late, Logan is now 9 1/2 months old! We went in for his 9 month check up and the doctor thinks he is looking great. He is growing right along with his growth curve and seems to be healthy by all standards! He weighed in at a whopping:

20 lbs 8oz, 50% weight

29.25 inches, 75% height

Logan is crawling (fast) everywhere and cruising along furniture with one hand. He will transfer from the couch to the coffee table with ease. He loves to walk around the house too...if you will hold his hands! But even this week, he just wants you to hold on to 1 hand...so he is getting braver and braver and will be taking his first steps on his own very soon. Ben started walking when he was 10 months old, and we think little brother is on the road to following big brother's footsteps! Only time will tell...and then we will be in even more trouble around here!

In the last couple of months, Logan has suffered from one long ear infection...it lasted 25 days, to be exact. (This is the same ear infection that prevented us from traveling to Colorado!) And one bad sinus infection. Miraculously, the sinus infection did not cause an ear infection though! We were shocked! Logan's pediatrician put him on a maintenance drug called Xylarex, shown to decrease the incidence of ear infections in children prone to reoccuring ear infections. Ironically, the drug started out as being prescribed by dentists for children to prevent tooth decay caused by an increased presence of oral bacteria. They found that the children who took the drug not only had decreased incidence of tooth decay, but also had a remarkable decreased incidence in ear infections! So, after clinical trials, the drug was approved for children with reoccuring otitis media (ear infections)! The main ingredient is Xylitol, and it solely works to prohibit the growth of oral bacteria. Logan is a great candidate because of his brother's health history and the fact that his first ear infection took 4 different antiobiotics to clear up. And, so far, Logan has been great---and like I said previously, his sinus infection did not cause an ear infection. So maybe the Xylarex is working!?! We are hopeful!

Logan has also been loving to feed himself. He gets mad if I pull out any baby food---really turns his nose up at it! And I have been loving the fact that I only have to make one meal every night for dinner! Everyone eats the same food again! Yea! Here are some pictures of Logan's 1st spaghetti dinner. If you can't tell, he loved it!

1st time in the Big Pool

We took Logan to my parents' neighborhood pool for the 1st time Sunday. Yes, it is August, and my sweet baby has never been in a "big" pool before! It has been so brutally hot this summer, that it is honestly too hot to swim during the day and by the time it is cool enough to swim in the evening my sweet Logan is ready for bed! So Sunday, both boys napped until 5pm (yes!), and we decided it was perfect timing to take him for his 1st swim. Logan loved the pool. He wasn't ever scared and when he was accidently dunked under, it didn't scare him or make him cry! He had a lot of fun and loved watching his big brother dive and jump in the water too.

1st dip in the pool with Daddy.

Logan and Mommy swimming around.

Splashing fun!

A family shot! Having fun!

Weekend with the Aldis Family

This past weekend, my cousin Laura Lea and her husband Jeff, one of their beautiful daughters Emily and their niece Kelland came for a visit to San Antonio. They stayed the weekend at my parents' home but we had a great visit with them Saturday evening. We figured out that we had not seen each other since Win's wedding---5 years ago! Unfortunately, Laura and Jeff's older daughter Abby, decided to stay at camp one extra week, so we didn't get to see her. Maybe next time! We all had such a great time visiting and catching up. Their visit was loved and enjoyed by all.

Mom, myself, and Laura Lea.


Laura, Ben and Jeff. (Ben LOVED playing with Jeff. Jeff is so good with kids--they are naturally attracted to him!)

Kelland and Emily; playing around and being silly.

The girls, being great sports, playing a game of Candy Land with Ben. Thanks girls for being so nice and playing with a 3 year old!
Emily and Kelland jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler. Kelland and Emily are great at flips and kart-wheels!

And Ben LOVED "splatting" them with the water hose gun while they were jumping!

After dinner, my Dad even got on the trampoline with the kids! Go Gran!