A nice weekend

Good Evening All!! I hope you all had a great weekend! We had a fairly low key weekend - at least it was for us.

Saturday morning we slept in a bit - which was LOVELY! Then had a pretty relaxing morning playing and goofing around the house. That afternoon we went out to Nathan's parents house and visited with them and Nathan's grandparents. We had dinner at his grandparents' church. It was a good time. Some of the folks at their church I knew from the church I grew up in. Made for a nice evening. We were even able to stop in at my parents' house for a bit on our way home. I must say it is very nice to have all our family so close!

Today we accidentally slept in again. We fully intended on going to church and I had the alarm set.. however I had not turned it on. oops! Logan REALLY slept in. I woke up at 9:05 and Logan was still asleep. I woke him up shortly after and he woke up such a happy little guy. He hasn't been eating/drinking so well this weekend though. It frustrates me when that starts happening. It seems at least once a month he goes through a phase where he doesn't want to eat much. Oh well.

He has also been napping great *knock on wood* lately - took one 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon! YAY! We actually were productive during that time and had the kitchen spotless. What a great feeling. I did our grocery shopping in the morning and made a big pot of chicken noodle soup. THAT was super yummy and our house smelled delicious. Between that and a roaring fire - it was a lovely day for the senses!

I also did some scrapbook projects for people who have hired me to do work for them! I must say though - as much as I love getting paid for something I enjoy doing. I do miss doing my own scrapbooking quite a bit. I'm going to need to figure out a time when I can make that the priority for a least a little while.

Logan had a good time with my sunglasses too - I managed to get him to hold still long enough for some pictures. He is such a ham!

So that was the weekend at the Wolfe house - hope you all had a great weekend as well!!

It's the little things...

When I am able I try to capture the little moments with Logan - little things he does that I just don't want to forget when he gets older. That is one of the things that just amazes me with modern technology and digital cameras and blogs... you can capture just about everything and it is pretty darn easy to do so.

This morning I went to wake Logan up to get him ready for daycare and he was just so sweet looking in his crib I had to pull out my phone and take a couple pictures. (Doesn't that sound wrong? Phone to take pictures... i digress...)

The blanket had come off him and he was all curled up, booty in the air, arms down at his sides, knees tucked up, feet crossed. Doesn't that sound crazy comfy?! No? Yeah - I agree. But Logan seems to think it is perfect! I'm just happy that I'll always be able to look at photos such as these and remember how he used to sleep all curled up with his little feet crossed. I love these special little moments. (The photo quality is crap, but oh well.)

MORE pictures by Logan

As you may recall from here, Logan really enjoys taking pictures with my phone. In his previous work he focused more on the abstract and color - only touching on photos with subjects and landscapes. But now my sweet boy has taken his art to the next level by including different subjects, landscapes and photos that really tell a story. *tearing up* I'm just so proud! ha! So here you are: the next installment of photos by the amazingly talented almost 18 month old Logan Arthur Wolfe!

First we begin with his heartfelt and soulful photo: The life of the lonely monkey

This photos is entitled: Things I can not touch

We affectionately titled this one: I bet you wish YOU had a butt chin!

Logan is never one to take himself too seriously and has entitled this: Don't you wish your double chin was hot like mine?

He was thinking thoughtfully of his time in mommy's belly and calls this one: The eye of my incubator

He enjoys his morning routines and calls this one simply: Diapered and dressed for the day

He even looks for his inspiration in unusual places... this photo was taken in the ER room when we went to see the doctor about his tongue injury. We call this: I dare you to look at my floppy tongue

Another self portrait entitled: Pucker Up

Logan often uses his art to get his point across to mommy and daddy: Things I'm STILL not allowed to touch and I'm not pleased about so take the gate down already. (I must say that is not a very create title.)

Standing on the couch is one of his favorite pass times and he calls this one: Please open the curtains so I can spy on the neighbors

Logan has always been a happy lover boy and this photo is called: my tunnel of loooooooove

A throwback to his photo taking roots we call this photo: The thumbprint

This is: Light at the end of the tunnel

Again to express things to mommy in particular we call this one: WOAH do some freakin laundry folding lady!

We hope you enjoyed Logan's latest installment of photography. We look forward to sharing his work with you as he develops his craft. ;-) HA!

"Ruff" and Tough!!

As I've said before - Logan is ALL boy! My mom bought Logan this outfit and it suits him on SO many levels. We thought we would do a little photo shoot before it was bath time. (He was in a bit of a Backyardigans haze in the middle one.) I wonder if I can fall any more in love with this little guy. Pretty sure there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him!

Logan's new favorite routine...

Can you tell I'm super excited to be able to take videos again?! Here is another one!

(We have lost our Flip video camera, but I recently realized I could take video on my new iPod! YAY!!)

Anyway - at the first of the year we started a new bedtime routine with Logan - it has been awesome and he has done great with it...

Here is a new little video:

Still quite the belly laugher...

As I posted on Friday Logan is sick. He is still sick - it is in his eyes and they are goopey and he just LOOKS miserable. LOOKS is the key word. More often than not he is acting like he is fine and dandy. He is a bit more fussy when he is tired, but that is mostly it.

We stayed home from from church today to not expose all the other kids in the toddler room. This afternoon Logan found his Daddy to be the most hilarious person ever. Nathan was kicking one of his balls at the base of the stairs and such and Logan was just in hysterics to no end. It was so funny. There is something about watching your little one laugh that just makes you laugh as well.

Please ignore the slight mess our living room is!

Snot and Booger land...

Greetings from the land of snot and boogers...

No posts because we are all just SICK right now. Logan has a major cold that is now in his eyes. I didn't even know that was possible until last winter when the same thing happened to him. He is acting more or less fine - maybe a little more fussy than normal and if you look at him he kind of looks like he is high as a kite. His little eyes are all red. Nathan and I are both sick too. Each of us have taken turns on the couch because between all the coughing and sneezing and snoring (Nathan, not me of course!) it is not a good night of sleep for anyone.

I am hoping the weekend isn't too taxing. We don't have any plans to leave the house - which is kind of nice if I'm being honest. Oh wait - we'll probably leave Sunday for church, unless we are all still this sick, then probably not. After all the wonderfulness that was my craft room last week Nathan is feeling motivated (or majorly encouraged by his wife, I'm not sure which) to start working on the other half of our basement. He says that is going to start tomorrow! YIPEE!

It wasn't that bad when we originally moved, but when some lovely workers hired by the township decided that freezing our pipes was a good idea and thus flooded what is now my craft room.... it was emptied, quite quickly and DUMPED, quite literally - into the utility part of our basement. To say the space is unusable is the biggest understatement of the decade. The space is literally a pile. Half of it is a pile of laundry I'm so behind on I swear there are some of Logan's summer clothes in there. The other half are bins and boxes that are half dumped such. It really seems like Oscar the Grouch opened up his trash can and just dumped everything he could find in there!

BUT on a happier note - we are selling things we find and don't need (and that someone may actually pay for) and the rest we are giving away on FreeCycle! LOVE me some FreeCycle!

Alright - so that is my pictureless post of the day. Hopefully we'll have some fun at home over the weekend if nothing else.

I hope all of you have a GREAT weekend and can't wait to hear all about it on YOUR blogs next week!

Craft Room Makeover!

What a weekend! I felt like one of those people on the home improvement shows where you have a weekend to makeover your space. But sadly there were no experts there to help me in this effort!

I think it tuned out okay in the end though!

I've been getting more orders from folks for me to make scrapbooks for them. (If you are interested email me at wolfe.lindsey@gmail.com!) With that excitement I kept walking into my craft room and wanting to claw my eyes out. It was HORRIBLE! And over the holidays it became a catch all for everything that didn't have a clear space. (When it comes to our basement - that is a lot of stuff... that place is a disaster!)

Anyway - I got it in my head to redo my craft room, do a mega reorganization and such. (My friend Joanne, whose blog I did that guest post on a while back, is redoing her space and that also inspired me!)

So here we go - The Before Pictures... yes - it is bad. REAL bad. Oh well. So many things got thrown in there in addition on all my current crap that it was just a huge mess. Who can be creative is such clutter?!




On Wednesday night of last week I painted the walls with primer. For the wood paneling the lovely people at Lowes said I needed to use an oil based primer. Okay - no problem. Note to self: do not use oil based primers in a very small confined space with exactly ZERO ventilation. Watch out! On Friday night Nathan helped me paint the room after Logan went to bed. I picked up a $5 can of mis-tinted paint from Lowes. I might have gone with a different color is I was picking it out, but hey - for $5 - I LOVE IT!



I dragged a bookcase back into the office and used that to help organize things. First was clearing off my desks. Nathan made my desks when we were at our apartment - they are doors mounted on 4x4s! Not pretty - but crazy functional! I covered my main work space with clear contact paper so I don't have to feel the weird wood feeling from the door. I hate that!



The book case really is organized. Each shelf has a different theme. Sure does look like a hot mess though!

Nathan put up some new shelves for me to help get things off the table.

Are you ready for the big reveal?! TADA!!!!!

The catch all bookcase is now full of mostly... BOOKS! What a concept. I bought the little shelf below for $20 from Ikea! Works perfect in the small space.

This is the "i don't really belong here, but there is no good place for me corner"

I (okay Nathan) put a hook in the wall for me so I could hang my mats for the Cricut machine. Love it. Those are a pain to store any other way.All my stuff! I busted out the label maker my brother and sister-in-law got me for Christmas. LOVE IT! Ran out of tape though - so will have to finish up the labeling another time. Feels good though to have EVERYTHING organized.

Okay - not totally everything. My paper is only separated into solids, pattern and scraps. I plan to put all the colors together and organize them that way later this week.

I even dusted off my elliptical. Maybe having a nice clean space will motivate me. Here's hoping it will!

Labels Labels Labels... love them!

Grand total for the project:

Primer: $13

Paint: $5

Shelf from Ikea: $20

Containers for Paper: $15

TOTAL: $53

NOT TOO SHABBY for a room makeover!

You know you played hard when...

Nathan has been on Logan duty all weekend while I redid my craft room (will post some pictures of that tomorrow I think.) We are trying to convince Logan he doesn't need a morning nap. Some days he is cool with that - other days - not so much.

On Saturday Nathan and Logan were doing some major playing in the living room (sounded like elephants to me beneath them in the basement!) Around noon he went in to the kitchen to make lunch and Logan was playing happily in the living room. Nathan says not even two minutes later it all of a sudden gets quiet. He walks out to find this:

Seriously - could this BE any cuter?! (Shout out to Chandler Bing!) Yes - he is still wearing his pajamas... we like pajama day at this house. Yes - he is wearing snow boots. :-) He is a completely awesome kid!

I'm gonna miss this...

Last night I was reading a post on MckMama's blog - find it here. You can read it for yourself if you like, but she was talking about those moments when everything is just nuts and other times that are just special moments with your children. Those moments when you realize someday your little one is going to grow up. I about lost it. (I may have been extra emotional from the insane amount of paint fumes I inhaled while throwing a coat of primer on the walls in my craft room... WOAH. It was bad.) ANYWAY - I digress.

It made me think... you know those nights when your little one isn't sleeping or doesn't want to nap or go to bed and needs to be rocked and cuddled until they fall to sleep? Or those nights when the teeth are coming in with a vengeance and Tylenol just isn't cutting it? Or when you have to take something away from them (for their safety) and they go toddler tantrum insane?

So often Logan doesn't want to sleep and we have to rock him more and pat his back and sing to him more and such. We keep thinking - my gosh - he is 17 months old - he HAS to be sleeping through the night by now, right?! Well you know what - he isn't going to go to college needing to be rocked to sleep. If I'm honest - it annoys me. My patience is short and more often than not I send Nathan up to get him down. (Yeah - can't believe I just admitted that.) After a long day at work for me and daycare for Logan and he is just a handful of tantrums for the night I am SO ready for it to be his bedtime. Ask any mom - after your 5th tantrum you are pretty tired of it. (Or is it just me?)

HOWEVER -he is going to grow up so much faster than I realize. So very soon he isn't going to want to be held or sang to or rocked. Can you imagine that time? I don't want to. Just last night at bedtime I took him upstairs to sing him the special lullaby I wrote for him. I sat down in his chair and he cuddled right in held his hand to my cheek. My gosh - I'm teary eyed just thinking of it. I sang it to him again and asked him if he was ready for night night. He looked at me smiled and gave me a kiss. Could it get any better than that? I laid him down and he was out like a light. I love this sweet boy more than I can express. The smack in the face from reality of someone pointing out, "hey - your little one won't be so little forever..."

I have to soak in so many more hugs and kisses and cuddles before that time comes when he doesn't need to be held by his mommy. (Please let that be years and years from now...) I know for me - I'm going to take this chance to reframe my thinking. Realizing that all the hard stuff - the sleepless nights, the tantrums, the teething... it will all pass. BUT so will the great things about having a baby! As they say - take the good with the bad. I look at Logan now and he is becoming so much more a little boy from my sweet baby we brought home from the hospital.

Enjoy your little ones if you have them. If you don't yet - just remember when they do arrive... hold on to each and every moment. You think you will, but it is easy to forget.

It is better than the Oscars!!

I got an award?!? It seems so!

My friend Heather over at Three Lees in a Pod selected my blog for The Happy 101 Award and the Lemonade Stand Award. Since it is better to give than to receive I will be passing these awards on to 10 bloggers that I really enjoy! I know for sure she selected me for the Lemonade one, but I'm giving myself the Happy one in case she didn't because who doesn't like to write about happy things?!

First Up: The Happy 101 Award

Here is what is required for The Happy 101 Award:

A. List 10 things that make you happy. (seems easy enough!)
B. Try to do at least one of them today. (no problem there!)
C. Tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. (there are so many these days!)
D. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to my blog and create your own "makes you happy" list.

Alright - 10 things that make me happy in TOP TEN fashion...

Number 10 - Checking on Logan every night before I go to bed and watching him sleep.
Number 9 - Scrapbooking for myself and others.
Number 8 - Seeing the joy on Logan's face when I walk in the door.
Number 7 - Seeing that joy get even bigger at the sight of his Daddy! (yes, I do get jealous of this sometimes... but I love their special bond.)
Number 6 - Having Nathan/Lindsey time.
Number 5 - Wet kisses and Cuddly hugs
Number 4 - Tortilla Chips and dip
Number 3 - Jesus
Number 2 - Taking turns chasing Logan round the living, dining room, kitchen circut at the house while he can barely run he is laughing so hard.
and the Number 1 thing that makes me happy...
Looking at my little family and realizing I wouldn't trade it for anything! (All together now... "Awwwwww..."

Second: The Lemonade Stand Award

The requirements for The Lemonade Stand Award:

A. Put the Lemonade logo (directly above) on your blog or within your post.

B. Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.

C. Link the nominees within your post.

D. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

E. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Now I must say - reading Mommy blogs is by far one of my favorite things (as well some folks personal blogs.) There is nothing like seeing pictures of adorable little ones to brighten your day! Therefore my list is:

1. Kelsey at Viata in Romania

2. Chantal at Twice...life with twins

3. Andrea at The Simmons Family

4. Lisa at Michael and Lisa's Little One

5. Jennifer at Reflections

6. Jen at An Adoption Story

7. Beth at A Little Bit of Us

8. Christina at butterfly lights

9. Katie at Preston T. Wiley

10. Arwen at Meet the Robinsons

Thanks to all of you bloggers for making me smile!!

Logan is SUCH a boy!

I was telling my boss the other day about Logan's latest ouchie. He asked me, "Is there any question in your mind that Logan is a boy's boy?" HA! Clearly. He is all boy through and through. You build a tower of mega blocks... he busts it and then cheers himself on for his immense destruction talent. You buy him a new cool table and chair... he insists that he stand on the table. You buy him a very cool sit and spin and he thinks it is better to stand on the part you hold with your hands to spin it. The kid has no fear. It is pretty ridiculous if I'm being honest. God Love Him - he is a dare devil rebel. (A new post about that coming in the next day or two.)

On Sunday when I was taking a lovely after church nap Logan and Daddy decided to do some handy work! This involved putting a "anti-Logan" device on the pantry. As Logan gets taller, our pantry gets smaller. Logan has mad pantry skills as you may recall. Little did Logan know that by helping Daddy - he was really creating a world of pissiness for himself! (Later when he realized what he had done... Holy Tantrum Batman! Oh well - he'll learn.

Please note - no toddler was harmed in the taking of these photos. The drill bit was removed prior to picture taking!

I can't tell if he is looking happy or slightly evil in this picture. I wish it wasn't so dark as I think it is cute either way.

Nathan said Logan was a great help with the drill and was happy to hand it back when Daddy asked. Although Logan's concept of sharing is, "Okay I gave it to you for .2 seconds - now give it back." Yes, we are still working on sharing. It is getting better though! You can see the sit and spin in the background. See that red and yellow part? Yeah that is what he likes to stand on! What it the world?!

Our first BIG ouchie!

On Thursday I got a call from daycare saying I really should come get Logan and take him to the doctor. They said he was playing in the gym and fell off a toy and bit into his tongue. They weren't kidding!! It was horrible! I called his pediatrician's office and they said to bring him right over. His doctor said we needed to take him to the ER because she felt he needed stitches! Are you kidding me?! I couldn't fathom how that was going to work out. Nathan was out of town and my parents were out of touch so thankfully my mother-in-law met me at the ER so I wouldn't be alone.

We got to the ER and the doctor said that he bit a little more than half way through his tongue and she could do stitches, but the trauma to put him (and me) through that would be horrible. She probably would have to sedate him and that would pose its own risks. Ultimately she decided not to do stiches. The picture below just doesn't do it justice I must say. You can't see the other 1/4" of the cut or how deep it is. I grabbed this picture the day after with my phone so it isn't that great.

When we were at Ikea yesterday we ran into his pediatrician (how funny is such a BUSY store) she looked at his tongue and said we could cancel his appt on Monday to follow up and that it looks great. To be honest from the time I picked him up at daycare unless you looked in his mouth you couldn't tell anything was wrong with him. Since then he has been eating and drinking just fine! We have avoided salty, acidic and crunchy foods but other than that it is life as usual!

On a side note - at the appt at the peds office they weighed Logan - he was 26 pounds 13 ounces! Such a growing boy!

Okay - you have the choice NOT to look at the photo. I will put a lot of spaces between here and there and you can decide if you want to look. I really isn't THAT bad. But I am sorry if I gross anyone out! Consider yourself warned and me free of any squimish feelings you have after looking at said picture. :-)
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New toys

Yesterday the three of us made a trip to Ikea. I love that we have one less than twenty minutes away! Makes a quick trip easy to do. However, yesterday we were there for over three hours! SCORE! I was just in the mood to get out and go somewhere. Logan was great riding in the cart around the store. We took breaks every so often so he could run around a confined space to get his wiggles out. Worked out well. While we were there we bought Logan this super cool table and chair. The table was on sale for $10! Here is Logan modeling it for you this morning while doing some aquadoodle work. He really likes it. Especially since he can push it all around the room and rearrange all the Logan sized furniture.

We also bought Logan a new step stool for the half bath downstairs and we can easily wash his hands after he eats and brush his teeth. Logan seems to love it. He got really excited that he could see himself in the mirror, reach the water and turn the light on and off. It is the little things in life don't ya know!