Thursday Things

We had plans for our nephews to come over and spend the night tonight, but Logan is running a fever so we had to postpone that. It makes us sad because there are really few opportunities that we have for them to come and stay, so I hate to miss them!

Logan is officially done at Miss Carma's and will start his new preschool on Monday. I talked to his teacher today and she is 100% ready to start potty training him, and she's not scared of "accidents" so Monday will be a big change for Logan in so many ways! We are excited about this new step for him. I personally think he's going to reap so many benefits from the structure, the interaction with other children his same age and the opportunity to learn school-like things!

Logan and Miss Carma -- we will miss her!

Logan is so funny. Yesterday at the store, he took two bananas and acted like they were phones. "Hello, Ummm, bye." I was so happy that I had my camera to snap some pictures...

We are going to spend the next couple days in our cozy home, fighting off whatever it is that Logan has so that he is ready to go come Monday morning!!!! Happy New Year everyone!

My Tank

I've heard about one's "emotional tank." Like we all have this tank of energy and some things/people/activities drain the tank and some fill it back up. A full tank is best. As I was pondering this modern-day analogy, I thought about everything that drains my tank -- phone calls from angry students, people who are demanding of my time with no regards to how that makes me feel, activities that I don't want to participate in, but do so as to not "offend" someone, folding laundry, traveling for work, the stress of work, working extra jobs, simply getting out of bed!...I could go on and on. There are SO MANY THINGS that drain me both physically and emotionally. My tank often runs on empty.

And then I started thinking about things that fill up my tank. Unfortunately, the list was so much smaller. But at the very top of that list of things that fill my emotional tank is Logan. It is not wonder that God calls us to be as little children. Logan drains me physically, of course, he is very active! But emotionally, he asks nothing but love from me. He does not judge me. He does not ask me questions like, "why do you do this?" or "why don't you do that?" or look down at me because our house isn't clean or my hair isn't fixed or I've gained a few pounds. He wouldn't care if my body was covered in tattoos (he'd actually love that!), and he wouldn't care if I held a full-time job or not. He LOVES to make me laugh. He loves to make me imaginary ice cream and pizza and serve it to me. Sometimes, when I ask him for a kiss, he'll offer a bonus hug by saying "hug, too." Imagine the energy that puts in my tank.

Any emotional energy that I expend on him is natural because I love him and want to protect him. Tonight, he filled my tank by asking to see my new iPod and then laughing hysterically when I showed it to him. I have no idea why...he just thought it was funny!

As a mother, I long to protect my son, to raise him in the way God would have me to, teach him all the important things and ultimately assist him in becoming a godly man that makes a difference in the lives he encounters. As I reflect on this, I wonder how I am filling his "tank." Are the choices that I make going to fill his tank or drain his tank as the years go by? Is my attitude going to fill his tank or drain it? Does the home we create give off positive energy and happy feelings or is it a place of tension and chaos?

I am so thankful that Logan, in all his sweetness, and without even knowing it or without even consciously trying to, he fills my tank to get me through all the other stuff in life. What a blessing he is!

Christmas

Christmas with a toddler is amazing. There's just no other way to say it. He was so excited, so thankful, so loving, so everything that's wonderful. We ended up buying him a kitchen set at the last minute...we debated this because we were afraid how others would perceive a little boy playing with a kitchen set. But I am so glad we went with our gut on this one and just did it. He LOVES his "kichin." He makes me chocolate and banana and strawberry icecream. Meet the next Bobby Flay:

Grandpa & Grandma J. sent him more presents than should be allowed. Seriously, the box was so big that I couldn't carry it inside myself. I had to leave it on the porch until Zeb could carry it in. Our living room is currently over taken with the entire Chuck the Truck sets. We have some videos of him opening his presents that Zeb will have to post at some point.

I love that it's not just about the presents for him. Although today, he was asking for presents, he also just as excited about the Christmas movies, the cookies, the lights, the trees and the time together. I certainly received a lot of hugs and kisses, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I wish I could say that the whole Christmas has been filled with nothing but joy and happiness, but being true to our "ruin your days off by being sick" fashion, we've been passing around nastiness germs that won't seem to go away. We all have different forms of it, although some of the symptoms overlap. It is awful. Zeb is currently the most affected. I was hit a couple days before Christmas, did okay on Christmas and hit again yesterday. Logan has been having symptoms the past few days. Yuck. Yuck, yuck! If you remember it happened to us last year at Christmas, as well.

I'm going to try to push all the sickness aside and remember the wonderfulness of having a two year old at Christmas, because it was wonderful.



Logan likes to play in the sink these days. His dad hates that. Whenever he comes to me and says, "Come on mommy," and reaches out his little hand, I can't help but follow. I follow him right back to the bathroom where he dumps water from one cup to another and has the time of his life. I love this boy.

Christmas Eve

It's hard to believe that another Christmas is here already. Today, we stayed at home and enjoyed lots of family time! We made homemade pizza and Logan got to help!!

Logan got his new pair of pjs tonight. This year, it's Thomas the Train.

Zeb is putting together Logan's Christmas present right now. I am sick...have been for a few days, but I'm determined not to let that ruin Christmas. I can't wait for tomorrow morning to see how Logan reacts to "Christmas"!

HELP!

Someone Get Me
Out of

My Dad's Sweatshirt!

No, we're not that mean! Logan asked to wear Zeb's sweatshirt tonight, so I had my camera ready to take a cute picture of him in an oversized sweatshirt. Before we knew it, Logan was in a panic trying to get out and got all tangled and twisted. Trust me, it was cute!

In other noteworthy news, I bought the Narnia characters from McDonald's years ago when the first Narnia movie came out. Logan found my stash tonight and asked if he could play with them (I was saving them for when he was old enough to make the connection between the movie and the characters, but whatever). Anyways, he picked up a boy and a girl and pointed them towards each other (you know, in typical, playing fashion) and said, "Mommy, Daddy." "Hi, how doin'?"

I Love This

I love our life with a two year old. I love our life with one child. I love our life just exactly how it is right now. Don't get me wrong, we are very excited to add another baby to our mix, but we are very happy with the way things are at this very moment.

Tonight on the way to church, Logan said to Zeb, "Go faster, daddy!" Where does he learn things like this?

It's wonderful having a child at Christmastime (all the time, really, but especially right now!) because he notices everything. Christmas lights that I've spent the past 30-ish years just ignoring are suddenly the BEST THING EVER. That little guy has us all looking out the car window trying to spot the next house with lights.

Christmas carols are all new to him, too. Today, I realized that I don't really know all the words to "Over the River and Through the Woods" but Logan didn't care. He kept saying, "Sing it again!"

There are only a couple presents under the tree right now, but I've been very proud of how he keeps his distance from both the presents and the tree. When he wants us to turn the lights on, he picks up the plug and says, "Here, Mommy."

Zeb and I celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday and we went out to supper and did some shopping. Even though Logan was with his grandparents, we pretty much talked about him the whole time! We talked a lot about how the first four years of our marriage were okay, but since we've become parents, that's what has really drawn us closer together and also added so much to our marriage. Neither of us is offended by that or feels that the other doesn't love us. Logan made us a family, plain and simple.

This doesn't have anything to do with the above post, but I came across an anti-adoption blog this past week. The writer of the blog was forced to give up two of her children many years ago. This lady is so bitter (as I would be if someone forced me to give away my children against my wishes). I have no idea how painful her situation is, but she was inappropriately bashing all adoption. She said that mothers and fathers who adopt are not mothers and fathers at all...a child only has one father and one mother period. And her basic opinion is that all adoptions are awful. She was writing from her perspective as if it were the only one. In the posts that I read, she never considered that some birth mothers choose adoption out of love and what they believe is best for the child. I don't know why I kept reading...it was like a train wreck that I couldn't look away from. But it did leave me a little sad. It left me sad for her and sad that people out there are so very uneducated about adoption that they would believe that it is never a good thing. And for a moment, I was scared that someday Logan would have negative feelings about adoption. I love that little boy with ALL of my heart. I couldn't possibly love him more and his adoption is just part of his very special story. I pray that the lady who writes that blog will find peace one day and I pray (over and over and over) that Logan sees his adoption as the blessing that we see it as. I'm not trying to be overly dramatic but reading that blog was like reading something that was attacking the core of who I am. To read that the only way my child would only have unconditional love in our home would be from a dog (because adoptive parents could not possibly unconditionally love a child that was not biologically theirs, according to this writer) was just plain sad. I praise the Lord that He thinks so highly of adoption that we are adopted into His family and I can't think of a better example of a Father loving His children than our heavenly Father adopting us. Praise the Lord!

Vacation Wrap Up

On Tuesday night, we ate at Lambert's. They throw your roll to you from across the room. I was so nervous that I wasn't going to catch mine, but I did. The food was AMAZING.In addition to your meal, they also have these things called "pass arounds." While you're waiting for your meal, servers walk around and offer you a variety of appetizer/side dish foods including: fried okra, macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, friend potatoes and onion, and apple butter and/or molasses for your rolls. Zeb, Michelle and Andrew (Michelle's boyfriend)

Lambert's had a wooden train out front. Logan loved playing on it!

After supper, we went to a campground to hear some friend's of Bill's play Blue Grass music. The highlight was when they took Logan on stage and asked him to sing a song. He froze with stage fright, but it was pretty cute!

After the concert, the campground let us ride on their train! It was a train similar to the one at the Children's Zoo. It was dark outside and a little bit cold (like 60 degrees, I think -- it felt colder), but it was worth it! Along the train ride, we saw many of those huge blow-out Christmas decorations all throughout the campground.

Our train stopped at the "North Pole" and to our surprise, there were a lot of Thomas the Train things there. This next picture just might be one of my favorites from the trip. Logan was soooo excited to see that Thomas!

On Wednesday, Logan got to meet his Great Grandpa & Grandma J! Of course, it took no time at all before Logan was hugging them and playing with them. At this point, he was in HEAVEN with a house full of people paying attention to him, playing with him and pretty much tending to his every want/need!

We went to a pond to take bread to the ducks. Unfortunately, the ducks stayed on the other side of the pond, but Logan didn't mind. He had fun throwing the bread in!

Logan with Great Grandpa J.


Aunt Michelle had to do a project for school, so she let Logan help her decorate the backdrop for her presentation. He was so proud of his creation!

Great Grandma J., Logan and Great Grandpa J.

4 Generations:

Grandma Alice and Logan

Wrestling with Grandpa



We left Florida on a Saturday morning. It was bittersweet, as the end of vacations usually are. We were ready to get home, but sad at all we were leaving behind. I kind of like age 2 when Logan doesn't completely

understand goodbye quite yet. The whole way home, he was asking to see the family members we had left. Logan licking ketchup off of his french fries like most 2 years olds!



We stopped in Kentucky for the night, where we got our hotel room for $25 because we used up some hotel points we had. Logan had so much fun swimming in the pool.

And there you have it! That sums up (in very few words) our vacation. Although I packed all of our clothes for our night in Kentucky in Logan's small suitcase, he insisted on pulling it himself. So, all I had to worry about carrying was my purse. I could get use to having a strong young man carrying my luggage around :)

Who is that boy and what did he do with my baby?

Home sweet home. I don't know that I've ever seen two friends more excited to see each other than Charlie and Logan. Charlie stayed with my Grandma while we were gone (his favorite place!). Once we got home and unpacked the car, Zeb went to pick Charlie up. I was with Logan in the living room when he heard the door open and he heard Charlie's collar chiming. Logan's jaw hit the floor as he realized that Charlie was home. He said "Char Char!" and ran to greet him.