March pics online!

Hello all. I am obviously not keeping up on the blogging very well, so I figured I would just send out a quick note to let you all know that I updated the dotphoto website with the March photos. For those who haven't been on in a while, there are pics there too from months prior.

Some quick highlights from the month that correspond with the pics:

-we went up to Zehnder's Splash Village with Hillary, Tom and Tommy for a Saturday night. It was a TON of fun and I would recommend it to everyone!
-I finally took some updated pics of Logan's playgroup-we're still trying to meet with them once a week
-The Cruz family came over on Friday/Saturday for Easter weekend and Logan got to hunt for eggs with his cousins. The Ferrell side of the family were over for the rest of the weekend. Grandma Ginny spent some time with the sewing machine and put together a new Diego room for Logan. I'll make sure to post some pics for next month
-we went to Toledo for Jessalyn's b-day last weekend. I can't believe she's 7!!! It was fun and it was great to see Doug Nicole and Gabby. She's growing so fast.

So, that's the quick rundown if you want to check out the pics-click on the photo album link on the right!

Long time, no post

I'm not even going to try to make any excuses for my lack of posts over the past 6 months. I will say that I learned the hard way that if you get behind...it is very hard to catch up. So, I am going to start fresh and hopefully do a better job going forward. Thanks to Matt for the not-so-subtle kick in the butt in his blog:)

Things are going well in the Ferrell household! Logan is 15 months old now and rules the coop. He was 22 pounds and 32 inches long at his 15 month check-up. He has been walking since May and is now running all over the place. He is very hard to keep track of, but I am thankful that he is starting to know the limits and the meaning of "no". Sure he still loves to see how much toliet paper he can pull off of the roll or how quickly he can empty out the pan cupboard, but that's all in good fun. He stills ends most days with some type of bump or bruise..I like to call him the kamikaze kid. I've almost had quite a few heartattacks over the past few months (like last night when he thought he's try to climb up on the arm of the couch and fling himself over). Luckily, Alex grabbed him in time and distracted him with the pillow. He loves to run across the room holding the pillow and then flinging himself on it.

He is getting better at problem solving and loves to figure things out - like how to stack the blocks or find the ball under the cup. He loves animals and is getting pretty good at making the sounds. So far he can mimic a cow, a monkey, an elephant, a gorilla(including beating his chest:), a lion, a wolf and a snake. He is also expanding his real vocabulary too, but his favorite words are Mamma, Dada and dog. He loves chasing me around the house saying "Mamma, mamma, mamma, mamma...." Is is terribly cute, but also tends to try the nerves a bit. He loves giving kisses and hugs. I would still say that his favorite toys are balls and he loves to read books. He also loves being outside. I think we would be out 24-7 if he had anything to say about it. I don't know what we'll do come winter.

Alex's job is going well. He has been traveling quite a bit more than expected, but they are currently trying to hire another programmer. So hopefully, that will cut back on Alex's travel. The appraisal business is starting to pick up, so I have been working more too. We are both playing volleyball one night a week and trying to spend as much time as we can as a family. We both love being parents and are very fortunate to have Logan.

I didn't put a link in for the picures, but if you follow the photo album link on the toolbar it will take you to dotphoto. All the pictures from the last 6 months are there, so check them out if you have a few hours to kill!

Week 43 4/14-4/22

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Spring has finally hit opening up a whole new world for Logan to explore. We tried to get some cute pictures of him in the flowers, but he was more interested in playing with them. Last weekend, Alex's mom, grandparents, Uncle John and cousin Kyle came over on Friday night to play cards. Alex and I played in a 4s tournament on Saturday while Grandma Ginny watched Logan. It was nice because it was the first time we've gotten to play together in a while. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then did some relaxing the rest of the day.


This week has been a little hectic. Alex had found out that he has to head to North Carolina for work and we decided that it might be fun to all head down in the motorhome and camp while Alex is there for the job. We thought it would be at the beginning of May, but for once they are ahead of schedule and he needs to be there by next Wednesday. So, we have been frantically trying to get the motorhome ready to go. We're not sure how long we'll be down there, but it could be as much as a month. I may fly back with Logan if we get busy at work, but as of now we are planning on staying with Daddy the whole time.

My mom came down on Tuesday to help with the baby so I could get some work done. We still tried to do our playdates throughout the week since Logan won't see his friends for so long. We also had the parent's group meeting at our house on Wednesday night. This was our first meeting without a speaker. It went well and we're trying to plan some fun things throughout the summer.

We took dinner over to Alex's grandparents on Friday night. Grandma had foot surgery earlier in the week. They had to remove a good portion of her heal. Depending on how the biopsy goes, she might have to be off her feet for as much as 2 months so we wanted to see them before we left. Aunt Marcia was there and she gave Logan a really cool bubble machine as an early birthday gift. We went back over to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday morning to have breakfast with them, Alex's cousin Tommy, Hillary and baby Tommy. They just moved back to Michigan. Tommy was born 5 weeks after Logan so it's going to be a lot of fun having them grow up together.

I had an appointment to get my hair cut on Saturday afternoon, so Alex took Logan to Babies R' Us to get some things we decided we had to have for our camping trip. He got a really nice all-terrain jogging stroller and a hiking baby carrier backpack. We went to church on Sunday morning and Nate came over that night to help build a cover for the step in the motorhome so I don't have to worry about Logan tumbling out the door. So, it was a pretty eventful weekend but we did actually get a lot of stuff done. It's amazing how much more room we have in the motorhome when everything is organized..I guess that's true with most things though:)

In other big news, Grandma and Grandpa Helsom both celebrated their birthdays this past week. Grandma turned 58 on the 13th and Grandpa turned the big 6-0 on the 21st. They are going to come camping with us on their way back from Florida the first week in May. So, we'll be able to celebrate then!

Week 42 4/6-4/13

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Alex only had a half day of work on Good Friday so we went to church on Friday afternoon. We watched the service from the Family Room which was nice to be with Logan, but we did miss the atmosphere in the auditorium. Then, Grandma and Grandpa Helsom came down on Friday night to watch Logan while Alex and I went to Palazzo di Bocce with Sa and Chad. It was our first time playing bocce ball and we had a lot of fun. We had dinner there too and the food was great.

On Saturday, we all went down to Tamie and Arnold's for Easter weekend and to celebrate Jessalyn's 6th birthday. Her party was on Saturday afternoon. She got a lot of great stuff including lots of outdoor sports equipment. Gotta start 'em early. The kids enjoyed hunting eggs and searching for the baskets the Easter Bunny left on Sunday morning. Logan didn't quite get the concept, but he had fun playing with all the presents.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter dinner with Alex's parents, Mandy, Marcia and Karly. It was good to see everybody and Logan enjoyed Easter dinner as much as everybody else did. He is really into people food at this point and loves to try bites of everything. He prefers that over baby food, but he still won't feed himself small pieces. He'll eat it if you feed it to him, but he only wants to play with it if it's on his tray. I'm sure he'll get it one of these days.

The good news is that the Prevacid seems to be helping his reflux issues. He's still up 2-3 times throughout the night, but he doesn't seem to be in as much pain as before. We also started him on yogurt (which he loves) to help his digestive system. Hopefully, things will get even better over the next week of the trial.

Logan spent the week perfecting his crawl and using the walker. He loves walking all over the house. He doesn't know what to do when he runs into something and just keeps ramming it with the walker until you turn him around. He's also learned how to get his toys out of his toy bins by himself. He loves to pull himself up and then pull everything out and throw it on the floor. It's very cute, but it will be better when he learns how to put it back in!

Week 40-41 3/22-4/5

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Wow! Week 40. It's amazing to think that if June 23rd would have been his conception date, Logan would just be due to be born. Granted, he didn't make it the full 40 weeks. But, it really puts how long pregnancy really is into perspective.

Alex and I were supposed to play in a tournament on the 24th, but we decided against it with Logan's ear infection and I still wasn't in great health yet. It ended up being for the best since we got a lot of stuff done around the house including some much needed baby proofing. A lot of decorative items were retired to the garage for the time being and we installed plug covers and other safety items like that. Logan and I spent more time recuperating the following week with a few activities mixed in.


The following weekend, we spent some time together as a family on Saturday and then we went to church on Staurday night. On Sunday, I played in the women's state volleyball tournament while Alex and Logan had a Daddy/Son day. Our church sponsored an Easter egg hunt and activities in a park in Southfield. Logan had a great time and enjoyed meeting the Easter bunny. Unfortunately, Alex forgot the camera so we don't have any pictures to share.

We decided to take advantage of the last warm day before the cold spell hit and went to the zoo on Monday with some of the Parent's Group babies. Logan was a bit crabby so he didn't seem too interested with the animals. We bought a zoo membership so hopefully he'll be more interested this summer. I went up to work on Tuesday so Logan got to spend time with Grandma Helsom. They just got back from Florida the weekend before. On Wednesday, we met Angie and Ella at the mall. On Thursday, we went to Grandma Ginny's to participate in the daycare's Easter egg hunt. It was a little strange hunting eggs in 3 inches of snow, so we only kept him outside long enough to get a few pictures.

He has perfected his crawling over the past few weeks and is getting pretty fast. He can also pull himself up on pretty much anything and is getting good at transferring from one object to another. Last Sunday, Daddy got to witness a great "first". Logan figured out how to push his Tigger scooter and walk along behind it. So, we pulled out the walker aid and he is getting pretty good at walking behind it. Logan's right front tooth also came through on the 29th. His left tooth made an appearance on the 3rd, but his gums have swollen around it again. Hopefully, it will pop through pretty soon.

Logan had his 9 month well baby checkup on the 5th. He offically weighs in at 19 lbs, 4 ounces. He's still in the 25th percentile for weight and head circumference and the 50th for length. The doctor decided to change his reflux medicine. Nights have been pretty difficult for the past 3 weeks or so. He can't sleep for more than 3 hours at a time and it gets worse towards the end of the night so most nights I end up holding him upright by the end of the night. I'm sure being sick didn't help matters any either. The doctor has put him on a 2 week trial with Prevacid, another acid reflux medicine. Hopefully this will work!

Week 38-39 3/10-3/22

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One thing is for sure. I am glad that I started this blog. I just read the previous post so I knew everything to include in this one and it is amazing how many new things Logan has learned just in two weeks! As you can see from the photo, he now waves. It has to be one of the most precious, heartwarming things to walk into a room and have your son smile and wave at you. I know I say that with a lot of the new things he learns and I'm sure I'll continue to be impressed and overjoyed with all the new things he does. Each new thing is so special.

He still says Da-da on a semi-normal basis and has also started to say Duh when the dogs are close to him. I've heard something that sounds a lot like Ma-ma when he's crying, but I refuse to accept it as a real Ma-ma until I get it in a happy context:) His baby babble is really starting to sound a lot more like true conversation. He also reacts well when you call his name and he understands the word "no" at this point too.

We had to upgrade to the next size car seat since Logan was getting too long for the bucket seat. It's a lot easier to carry him out and strap him in. He was getting way too heavy to lug around in the seat all the time. He likes shopping a lot better since he can sit up in the cart like a big boy. He loves to people watch.

He is getting better at crawling. Now, he'll get up on all fours and then lunge forward. But, he doesn't really want to work on the crawling as much as standing and pulling himself into a stand. His favorite pastime is having Alex or I lay on the floor so he can practice pulling himself up. He can stand for long periods of time by himself too to play with toys and is working hard to perfect his bending over to retrieve dropped toys. Sometimes I think he's dropping them on purpose so he can try to pick them up. I guess it's better than Mommy-pick-up! He also has learned how to furniture walk. He can walk along the couch and will also transfer back and forth to the ottomon or one of us. He's tried to go "no hands" a few times, but promptly falls on his butt.

We've picked up at work a little bit, so Logan has spent a few more days up at Grandma Ginny's daycare. It is a good thing too because he has started to refuse the bottle. We're not quite sure how it happened, but somehow Logan went about a month without having to take a bottle. So, we're slowly trying to get him back in the habit so hopefully I can wean him one of these days.

The weekend before last, Alex and I both played in the Doble. It's a big volleyball tournament one of our friends throws every year with a huge party afterwards. I just played in the tournament and then headed back to get Logan from Grandma's. He still isn't taking a bottle well enough to leave him for too long. Alex ended up staying out there for the night and had a good time at the party.

Last weekend we spent some time with Alex's family. Alex's Uncle Jimmy, cousin Anthony, Anthony's girlfriend Becca, and their daughter Kaylee were up to visit from West Virginia. Kaylee is 10 months old so it was cool to see some of the developmental differences. We went up there for a bar-b-que on Saturday and enjoyed some green beers in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Then, we met them for lunch at The Rain Forest Cafe in Great Lakes Crossing on Sunday.

Last week, Alex wasn't feeling too great and I ended up getting it this week. Logan had some really rough nights this past week and after a doctor's visit on Thursday, we found out he has a double ear infection. He's also getting hit with a double wammy with his top two teeth about to come through. They also increased his Zantac dosage since he now weighs almost 20 pounds. We're hoping the increased Zantac dosage will help since he is still up at least twice a night with the reflux issues. Hopefully, everyone will be healthy by the next posting!

Week 37 3/1-3/8

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Last Thursday, a lot of the stay-at-home/part-time moms from our parent's group decided to meet at Great Lakes Crossing. We usually meet at somebody's house, but it was a nice change of pace to go to the play area at the mall. Here is a pic of all the babies lined up. As you can see, Logan wasn't too happy about the photo op:( From left to right: Parker, Drew, Anastasia, Logan, Adam and Sebastian.

Friday was a busy day. Logan and I went up to Grand Blanc in the morning to take care of some things, then we went grocery shopping and then we were back to the house by 3. Debbie dropped off Anastasia for the night so they could go up to the Whiting to see the opera. One thing is for sure...I am thankful that Logan wasn't a twin. It is definitely a lot crazier with two to take care of...I'm sure I could handle it though (covering myself in case the next pregnancy produces multiples:) But, it was fun to have them interact together. Arnold also got some Red Wings tickets last minute, so Alex and Arnold went to the game and my sister and the girls came over to help out. Alyssa's reaction was funny when she came to the door. She said, "Logan looks different." Of course, I was holding Anastasia so we got a good laugh out of that.

On Saturday, we took the Cruz family out to lunch at a good Mexican place by our house and then we watched the girls while Tamie and Arnold went to get their taxes done. Logan and I had colds since we got back from Florida which we shared with Daddy so it was good to get some R & R on Sunday.

Logan had a big day on Monday. He learned how to army crawl sort of..he looks like an injured soldier dragging himself along. He's so funny because when he gets up on his hands and knees, he always ends up going backwards which makes him very frustrated. Now he's working on reaching out with his hands in the army crawl. So he's got the leg part figured out, now he's working on the hands, and once he puts them together...look out! It's actually pretty surprising how quickly he can move without doing a true crawl. It's been a lot of fun working on it all week.

He also learned how to twist himself out of the Bumbo seat. We had been using that to feed him on the kitchen counter. So, Monday night we put the high chair together and retired the Bumbo chair to the garage. It's a good thing because I have already started to give him more table food for him to try and feed himself. It's really a lot easier in the high chair...once again, we probably should have gotten that out sooner. He loves the teether biscuits and the wagon wheel snacks. The funny thing is that Logan won't try to put smaller things in his mouth (bits of turkey, puffs, etc) . He just likes to play with it. It's rather ironic that the kid puts everything else in his mouth.

On Wednesday night, we had our parent's group. It was the "focus on fathers" meeting where the men all took the babies to play and hear the speaker and the women went out to dinner. Logan had spent the day at daycare so I could get our taxes done and head to Grand Blanc to get some work done. I had a complete brain lapse and ended up not heading home until 6:45 (our meeting starts at 7). But, Alex was a trouper and went to the meeting by himself. I was able to drop Logan off to him at about 7:40 and then I went to meet the girls. He was glad he went to the meeting....even if he did have to show up without a baby. He said the speaker was great. He learned a lot of interesting facts about a child's development in correlation with the father's involvement and it was great to interact with the other fathers. I think all the guys opened up a bit more since we women weren't there:)