New Daycare -- Take Two

As you remember, Logan just started a new daycare at the first of the year. That daycare closed. So today, he started another new daycare. But he didn't mind...they had a kitchen set, so he was all set! He is such an adaptable little boy and believe me, I don't take that for granted. As we were walking into the daycare this morning, there was a flock of birds flying overhead. Logan spotted them and said, "Look! Big birds!" So, we told him how great it was that his new daycare had big birds and he was sold. As soon as we walked in, he started exploring. The funniest part is when he sat down on a little couch in the classroom and looked around and said, "I watch tv?" Nope, sorry Logan, no tv at this daycare!

The report from the teacher indicated that he did great! They get to take walks outside and they have a lot of activities. He got paint all over his outfit, so I'm assuming they did something fun!!! His classroom is studying plants and flowers right now, so they have some plants that they must water and take care of. Of course, a day at a new daycare wouldn't be complete without an injury...just before I picked him up, he broke open his lip and scraped his chin. That's my boy!

Mean Guy/Happy Guy

Logan, what does a mean guy look like?

Logan, what does a happy guy look like?

We've been playing mean guy/happy guy for the past couple days and he just loves making these faces! I'm so glad that he did it today so that I could take pictures!

Count Your Blessings

Last weekend, a coworker of mine lost his six year old daughter after complications from a routine surgery. Logan has had two routine surgeries within the past year. It really hit home. And immediately, I praised God for watching over my little one. After hearing something like that, it's hard to find balance between loving your child so, so much and disciplining them because that's what is best in the long run (and I DO believe that you are loving your children when you are discipling them, but sometimes it doesn't feel that way!). I found myself, a lot this week, asking myself whether or not "whatever" it was would matter if this were the last day I spent with the little guy...perhaps that's morbid, but it's what has been on my mind this week. And so, today, when he said, "Mommy, come play in my room," I went. And when his face was covered in BBQ sauce and blue cheese dressing, and he said, "I need a kiss" (no kidding!), I kissed him. And it was lovely. And when he got play-doh on the floor, we just cleaned it up. This life is hard. It's hard to know what is the right thing for your child now vs. what is right in the long run. But I am thankful. I am thankful that he is here and he is ours. And I am thankful for every day that I get to spend with him. I seriously have trouble breathing when the thought crosses my mind that something could happen to him. I have to constantly remind myself that worrying is a sin and I need to train myself not to do it. But it's hard. Love your children. Love your husband. Love your parents. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Take the time and just do it because you simply never know when time will run out. {PJs from Uncle Darrell, Aunt Donna & boys...thanks guys! Wish you were here to see them! }

{ Natalie and Logan....so cute!}

{Logan made me an egg out of Play-Doh}

Logan Meets Peeps

Uncle Darrell, Aunt Donna and boys sent Logan some Peeps. He'd never had them before and as he was eating it, kept walking around saying, 'Thank you, Donna!" He obviously loved them!
If you notice in the ABC's video posted last night, Logan thinks that "kiss" is a letter of the alphabet...as in Q R kiss, T U V. I told him that it's Q R S, but he wouldn't hear of it. He also says H I K K L M N O... This boy LOVES his alphabet. He broke out in several Alphabet Song specials during church today.

He's also been saying "Doggie, Doggie, where's your bone?" And it stopped there. I had no idea what came next, so I looked it up online. Once I started saying the whole rhyme, Logan was so excited!

We also do "10 Little Monkies Jumping on the Bed" several times a day. This was another one that I did not learn as a child, but I had heard some other kids do it in recent years. Oh my, the things these kids are learning these days :)

Today, when I went to pick Logan up from Sunday School, his teacher let me know that she had just taken him potty because he told her that he had to go! We are making progress. One thing I am learning is that as the parent, I have to constantly remind myself to take him and it's so easy to get lazy. He's doing great, and I'm very proud of him, but I think that if I made more of an effort, he'd be trained by now. I need to work on that!

Logans "performance"

Untitled from Amy Johnston on Vimeo.

A B C's

Untitled from Amy Johnston on Vimeo.

Precious Little Boy

My little boy has blessed me in so many more ways than I could ever bless him. Yesterday, we found out that his daycare is closing. The place has been open for 23 years. Logan has been there for 6 weeks and they are closing!!! I was so upset all day. I hate the thought of shifting him around to some other place. I want him to have stability and familiarity with his daily routine. But this one is out of my hands. Anyways, I cried so much yesterday, just over the stress of wondering what we were going to do, etc. Last evening, tears were streaming down my cheek and Logan (through no prompting from anyone), wiped the tears from my cheek and said, "Don't cry. I love you." He has had such an awful cough ever since Saturday. It seems to be getting worse, although it doesn't keep him down. He did have a fever on Sunday, which is gone now, so he just has the cough and congestion. He's taking it all in stride and doing just fine. It's going to take more than a cough to slow him down.

Have I mentioned how many dinosaur names Logan knows? I'm listening right now to him and his daddy point to all of his dinosaurs and call them by name. Although I'm not sure what the "I don't know dinosaur" is. Now, they are pointing out which ones eat plants. I am SO glad that Zeb knows this because I know nothing about dinosaurs.

I love that Logan is a little boy who loves trains, dinosaurs and wrestling. Logan and his daddy get along so well and do boy activities for hours and hours.

Saturdays are for Snuggling

I love Saturdays.

Logan has started doing this thing where he smells his shoe (or someone's feet) and then acts like it smells so bad that it makes him pass out. I love this age...

Here he is, passed out.

Last night, I was in the other room while Logan was talking to his Grandpa Bill on the phone. I hear Logan start on his ABC's and he keeps going...all the way to the end. I ran into the other room and asked Zeb, "What is he doing?!" Evidently, he's learned his alphabet at school. GO SCHOOL!

Potty training is going very well. This past week, he had a completely dry day at daycare. He has even started telling us (not consistently, but every once in a while) when he has to go. He's by no means potty trained, but he's getting there! I bought him some pull-ups and today was the first day he wore them. When I put them on him, he thought it meant we were going swimming because back in November, he wore swimming diapers and he remembered.

Logan loves to build things....

...but his favorite part is knocking things down!

Since he only wears diapers occassionally now, we have transitioned from onesies to white t-shirts for the most part. Logan LOVES that he wears a white t-shirt under his shirts like daddy does. He loves it so much, in fact, that he does his happy dance whenever we take his shirt off to reveal his undershirt and remind him that it's just like daddy. And then he says, "Daddy, I just like you!" Seriously, does it get any cuter? Dear Lord, please let Logan stay two forever. Amen.

We are having some trouble with Logan saying "Shut up." He says it a lot, and it's quite embarassing. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get him to stop? And no, ignoring it doesn't help. Most of the time, he's not saying it to be mean, he's saying it in jest. Like Zeb will say something funny and Logan will say, "Oh daddy, shut up." We've tried to substitute, "Oh please!" But he usually ends up saying, "Shut up, oh please!" So, that's not working either.

Yes, sometimes, we jump on the couch. We just do, okay!!!!

Logan has started telling people that he's three and then he says that he's going to be four. I can't say it enough how much I love this age. Other than trouble getting him to go to sleep at night, I am thoroughly enjoying this age. He is funny and smart and adorable and so entertaining. He's always coming up with something that makes Zeb and I look at each other and I know we are both thinking, "We are the most blessed people in the world!" Or sometimes we're thinking..."where did he come up with that one?" At any rate, I honestly can't imagine how being a mommy could be any better. But I've said that before and it keeps getting better and better.

Snow Fun

It's hard to hate the snow when you have a little boy that finds so much joy and excitement in the snow. On Saturday, to our surprise (because I never watch the news or the weather forecast), we had more snow! Logan just loves stepping in the snow when we're walking to and from the car, catching snowflakes on his tongue and sticking his hands in the cold stuff. So yesterday, we broke down and got all bundled up and headed outside. When he was just a few months old, I got a snow suit that was 80% off...size 18 months. Although the price was great, it wasn't that great of a deal considering that he only wore it once last year. So we used the snow pants yesterday. They were a little short, but once we got his boots on, it was fine. The coat was definitely too small, as the sleeves were too short, but I'm glad we at least got one more use out of it ('cause I'm not planning to spend too much more time in the snow!)

Logan loved it so much. The weather was warm enough that we could be outside and not feel totally frozen, so it was good. Logan fell face-first into the snow. He can't really move in the snow suit (think Ralphie's brother from "A Christmas Story"), and if we hadn't been there to lift him up, he would have froze right there, face down. He thought it was hilarious. He had snow on his eyes, in his nose...everywhere!

(No, this is not a picture of him face-down in the snow...when that happened, believe me, we were both trying to get him up!)

He looks miserable, but trust me, he loved it!

Charlie was so excited that we were all out there together. And Logan loved watching Charlie run through the snow. Charlie is so little I don't know how he gets around with so much snow!

1 Year Waiting & Catch Up

Today, it has been one year since we submitted all of our paperwork for adoption number 2. I praise God that in His wisdom, He has allowed us another year of a one child family. Don't get me wrong, we are definitely excited about adding another little one to our family, but we are also scared! I just can't imagine what our life would be like if we had gotten a baby within a short period of time like some people we know (yes, Abby, I'm talking to you!). Would I have gone crazy having a 1 year old (now) and a 2 year old??? But seriously, I marvel at God's perfect plan for each family, and the time that we have been waiting has been perfect for us.

I'm further amazed how God has used both our adoption of Logan, and the waiting time for both Logan and this next child, to work in our lives and teach us many things. I'll admit, waiting for the first adoption was much harder than waiting for the next one. And please don't take that to mean that we want this next child any less or that we will love him/her any less. It's just that now, we can see that God does have a plan for our family and He is working His perfect plan day by day in ways that we simply cannot understand. Whether we add one or two or ten or no more children to our family, we are leaning on the Lord and we will humbly accept HIM doing our family planning! There is a great sense of relief when you give up control to the Lord. And believe me, I'm not preaching here, because this is a great area of struggle for me. And while some days, I definitely still want to take control of our adoptions (which is silly because I definitely have NO control over them), there are many days when I am reminded that it will all work out for His glory. All I have to do is look at Logan to remember that. Praise the Lord!


Logan is a typical little boy with lots of built-up energy just dying to get out. He's taken to beating up the couch. Yes, that's right, he will hit it and jump into it and body-slam it and yell at it. We have yet to see how this will play-out in real life...I'm hoping that it's good for him, kind of like boxing or something, and that he doesn't learn that it's okay to beat ALL furniture (or people, for that matter!). It's been good to see him let out some of his energy in this way. (I'm sure there are many people cringing at my parenting philosophy right now...sorry!)

Last Saturday, we went to the circus! I was so excited because I had only ever been to a very small circus, so I had high hopes!!! Unfortunately, Logan only last about an hour and he was restless. We left then, as the point of going to the circus wasn't to torture him by making him sit still. He fell asleep on the way home. Lesson learned...I will not be paying a lot of money for any event tickets in the near future.

But the first hour, he did have a good time. Truth be told, the circus' target market isn't really a 2 year old. The trapeze, the clowns on diving boards, etc....not really his thing! Maybe we'll try again next year.

This past week, we were BLESSED with a snowstorm! Both Zeb and I were able to have Wednesday off work. This honestly was such a blessing because it meant that we were all able to spend the day snowed-in together. And a day with my family is a blessing indeed!!

I don't know how many inches of snow we got, but it was a lot.

One of Logan's favorite things to do is make a "train" with all of his cars. He lines them all up and then lays on the floor beside them, looking at them, touching them with his index finger and/or rearranging them.

So, one year ago today, we decided (officially) to add another one to our family and we are still waiting. I have to admit, I do wonder if next year at this time, it will still be the three of us or if there will be a fourth one. I take comfort in knowing that there is ONE who knows and that's all that matters!