Lets hear it for the boy!

So, after a loooooooong week of no sleep from baby boy, last night we finally got some! Logan and i spent the day with our good friend Judy Schneider (She used to work at Morley with me- amazing woman!), walking along the strand in Manhattan Beach (Quite the life, huh? I love it!)- poor Logan cried the ENTIRE time we were there....seriously, the ENTIRE time.

Ok, so maybe he didn't cry the WHOLE time...isn't he cute?

In front of my FAVORITE house along the strand!I love the low chairs in front!

Don't worry, Logan was covered most of the time- we just let him out of his wrap for a photo opt...I was the only Laubster that got sunburned this day!

In front of Judy's house before we started our walk! It was *H*O*T* out...I should have worn shorts!

Well, until we ended up at Wahoo's Fish Taco's for lunch- between the spinning fans and the lights on the ceiling and the waiters and waitresses who just couldn't wait to say hello to the CUTEST baby ever, he finally simmered down! But all that crying tuckered him out and when we got home, he slept for 4 hours! After cleaning up a bit, I got to sleep for 2! AMAZING! The boy hadn't slept for that long in over a week! Awesome!

That night, I did a few things different, so I'm not sure what attributed to his 5 straight hours of sleep followed by 3 more after a quick feeding:

1. I let him tell US when he was ready for bed. I tried the 2 hour rule, but he was just not tired- he was wide eyed and ready for an adventure, so I decided to go with it- every kid is different right? And sure enough, we let him play on his floor gym for a bit, then after he was rubbing his eyes and yawning I swaddled him up and cuddled him, then gave him to Daddy for more cuddles and away he went to sleep land!

2. I kept him in his PJ's all night in the swaddle. I have this fear that Logan will over heat, so most nights I put him to bed in just a diaper swaddled in a blanket, well, I'm wondering if since every night he gets OUT of the swaddle, he then becomes cold because we always have the A/C on...so kind of without thinking last night i just left him in his body suit PJ's and he slept the night away.

3. Now, this one may be the humdinger, and if so my Mom gets a big gold star....CAFFEINE. I made an innocent Facebook post the other day saying how much I loved caffeine. Like any good mother would do, my Mom noticed that post and when I mentioned something a few days later about Logan still not sleeping she put two and two together and asked "Umm...how much caffeine ARE you drinking?" I replied by saying "oh, not much just 1 or 2 Iced Teas from starbucks a week" to which SHE replied "And what SIZE iced tea are you getting?" to which I sheepishly replied "umm...a Venti..." to which she informed me "THAT's 24 OUNCES OF TEA/CAFFEINE!!!" Wowza...24? Really? Oh my! On top of THAT, I'd been snacking on some chocolate chip cookies during my midnight feedings to give me a little pick me up...guess what has a lot of caffeine in it? Yup, Chocolate!!! OOps! So, I've been off caffeine since Friday and while I'M not such a big fan of it, it may be the key to Logan's new found love of sleep!

Granted, I know this just happened one night, but I must say, his temperament has been a lot better today- he just seems back to his mellow self, so we'll see.

Getting out yesterday made me realize I need to get Logan out more...so I have a new goal- to leave the house at least ONCE every single day- be it for an errand run, or an exercise walk etc Logan and I WILL venture out even if he's screaming at the top of his lungs- its the only way to get him used to it, right??

I've made my haircut appointment for Thursday at 6pm and I am SO excited :) I've had short hair before, so I'm not nervous, just excited to have a new look to show off!

on Friday we are interviewing our first nanny- a girl named Brittany. Her profile seemed great online, so hopefully she is as good in the flesh!

Things Are a Changin'

I tend to always grow my hair out and then chop it off...well, I've grown it out pretty long so it's time to CHOP IT OFF!!

Coming to the head of a friend near you soon (hopefully this week!) I am hoping to have a similar haircut as this, found on the lovely and fabulous Tori Spelling!

The long hair is fun, but with my long face, I often feel that I start to look like a horse after awhile! Plus, I've started to shed thanks to not being pregnant anymore and I swear I spend a large majority of my day getting the hair out of Logan's fingers (Which can be VERY dangerous!)- plus, I don't DO anything with it- ponytail, ponytail, ponytail...blah. So, I'm hoping this style will be cute, simple and oh so chic!

Getting Creative

A few posts back I showed a pic of Logan chilling in his swing in the bathroom...while that worked really well, I just felt weird having my child sleep in our bathroom...so today, I decided to put him in the kitchen! I remembered at one of our hospital tours that the guide said when she had her babies she would often run her dishwasher without any dishes in them just because the sound of the water swooshing around put the babes right to sleep- I just HAPPENED to do the dishes this evening, right around the time of Logan's afternoon nap! Viola! Sleeping baby with white noise...BOO YA!

One happy snug bug in a rug!

2 Months...WITH a T-Shirt!!

So, awhile back, I found these great onesies on etsy that had a number on them to correspond with the age of your baby- from 1 month to 12 months- they're adorable, but what isn't adorable is their price tag! Thankfully, I have in my pocket a fabulously talented lady named Iris Sasser who has agreed to make Mr. Logan his very own monthly onesies for no cost whatsoever! Woo! We were on the road for month "1" so the picture isn't quite as amazing, but month 2, and hopefully all months from here on out, were done pretty cutely with another white sheet photo shoot! Enjoy!

Sleeping in the car at 1 month!

Ready for his close up at month #2

Showing off his bicep!

What-Chu lookin at?

I LOVE being2 months old!

I'm a tough guy, don't mess with me!

Words of Wisdom from Mom

My Mom just sent this to me and its just too good not to share with the blogging world! I've been running myself ragged lately- Logan hasn't been the worlds greatest sleeper lately, Jason has been working a lot, the house is a mess, my first day back at work is swiftly approaching and I'm just feeling the stress of it all- It's all a balancing act and as of now, I feel as though I've fallen into the safety net...but this poem is great and I'm going to print it out, frame it and hang it in the nursery (Apparently my Mom had it hanging in our nurseries when my brothers and I were babies) to just get me through those tough days:

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth

empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

hang out the washing and butter the bread,

sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep

2 Month Appointment and Sleep for Mommy!

Logan had his 2 month check up today and it went great! We learned that our little chunk-a-monk is 12lbs! He gained a whopping 2lbs in 4 weeks- pretty impressive (i'm going to give a little credit to myself here as well, since I am that main food source for the "little" guy), he also grew a full inch and is now measuring at a nice 23-1/4" long! Quite the little string bean! His thighs are nothing to mess with though, those things are CHUUUUBBY! I love it :) His arms are getting there as well, but that darn midsection of his is just staying true to his Hanson/Underhill heritage and not quite expanding (Let's talk to him in 40 years though! Ha!)- but in my eyes, he is PERFECT so I am totally happy with any size he is. He's just above the 50th percentile for both height and weight...head circumference is a different story, however! I think he's in the 75th percentile there (And that's being conservative I believe!).

At the appointment Logan also received his first round of vaccinations-

he receive the DTaP/IPV/HiB (combo)shot, Prevnar shot and the Rotavirus oral vaccine (Funny story- as the nurse gave him the oral shot she laughed because he just pretty much gulped it down and she said "wow, most kids do NOT like the taste of this!" I looked her and said "C'mon, the kid is 12lbs, there isn't too many things he turns down in terms of food!"). He did pretty well with the shots- he was fine at first as i distracted him, but then suddenly it hit him like "Wait...that was painful! What in the HELL just happened??" and started fussing...but he was over it within a minute or 2. They gave him some Tylenol which allowed him to pass out on the way home. He didn't have too many lasting affects of the shot, he was a bit fussy that night as Jason took care of him (more on that later), and at around 2am I decided to give him another dose of Tylenol because he felt a bit warm- it calmed him down and he went back to sleep in a much cooler state. Today he's good- sleeping a lot and overall in pretty good spirits!

Now back to my husband...who is AMAZING. I'd been having a hard time sleeping because Logan was having a hard time sleeping. Well, come Wednesday morning the lack of sleep had taken it's toll. The first thing I did when I woke up was email Jason and ask him for help- I asked that he come home at a reasonable hour that evening and take over for Logan. I promised to have bottles prepared in the fridge...and without hesitation Jason agreed to come home whenever i needed him :) I think my day was do-able because I knew I would get hours of sleep uninterrupted! It was so nice to know that Logan was being cared for and I could just sleep sleep SLEEP! I slept from about 6:30 till 8, then got hungry, so I woke up and had some dinner with Jason then at 9:30 I went back to bed until 12:15 which is when Jason went to bed and I was back on Mom Duty :) Having those extra few hours was a true lifesaver...Thanks Babe! I LOVE YOU!

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures...

This is a picture of where Logan is sleeping right now....in the bathroom. Don't worry, he's not in trouble, this isn't a punishment it's actually a GIFT (To whom it's MORE of a gift to- him or me, I'm not sure), but being in the bathroom is letting Logan sleep...FINALLY!

I of course jinxed myself 2 posts ago when I raved about how great he'd been sleeping... because the last 2 nights he has definitely proven me wrong, especially last night. I think I slept maybe 2 hours last night? And he hasn't slept at ALL today...Not. At. All. I would be fine if he wasn't content sleeping in his swing and just wanted to sleep in my arms...but that's not the case...he just doesn't want to sleep today...so, putting him in the darkest room in the house is my last ditch effort at getting him some dark quiet time so that he can get the rest that he so desperately needs....and get me the rest I so desperately need too!

Dammit. As I finished this blog...he woke up. Literally slept for 24 minutes. Sigh.

Logan is 2 Months Old Today!!

And I think he's pretty happy with it!

Lack of Blogging = Busier Days!

Hello to anyone out there who reads this :) I know that in the recent weeks I haven't updated the blog very much- I wish I could update more, but it seems that may days recently just don't allow that!

Logan has been doing great- he's growing like a week (Mainly from top to bottom, not so much from side to side!). Jas and I weighed him a few days ago (Weighing myself, then holding Logan and weighing myself again to get the difference) and when we did that he was 11lbs 10oz I think, which is quite the weight gain from 4 weeks ago when he was 10lbs even! Logan has his 2 month check up this Wednesday, so we'll get a more accurate weight check at that time.

At that appointment Logan will also receive his first round of vaccinations...it's a good thing because he'll be more protected from the big, germy world we live in, but a bad thing because I'm not sure if I can handle seeing him be in pain from getting the shots! From what I hear, it's not all THAT bad, and that by the time you make it home afterwards he's completely forgotten he was ever pricked...I'm trying to convince Jason to go to this appointment with me, but so far I think I'm heading to it solo...drat!

I've started doing a few activities with the Mom's Group here at Playa Vista- I've attended 1 weekly group date with the other newborn moms, a monthly mixer at the local restaurant which was great (Though a bit nerve-wrecking because Jas was home with Logan and I was worried Logan would wake up while i was gone and demand a TON of food- and we only had 1 bottle available!...it didn't happen and i made it home without incident) and a New Mom Meet N Greet. The Mom's here are all very friendly and I'm really excited to do more events while we live here...they have a big DATE NIGHT planned for the end of September- it's a Casino Night theme for all of the moms and their partners- so as long as we can find a babysitter for the night, Jas and I will be in attendance! Should be a good time- and probably our first night out together without little man!

I've also somewhat started to work out...we're past the 6-week point now so I'm cleared to exercise. Its very weird having the post-prego stomach that i have now...I used to have amazingly strong abs (It was actually a bit odd that they were as strong as they were,given that I don't work out a lot... or at all), my upper abs were definitely my most firm...that area is now...squishy. It's disturbing to me to say the least. Everyone tries to comfort me by saying "It's only been ## weeks" but in my mind I say "OMG, its already been ## weeks! Get yourself together!" I'm sure it'll all come back with time so I just need to be patient, but boy oh boy is it hard! I did take Logan on a long walk today which felt really good- I tried to push myself and walk at a fast pace, and I also walked up a large hill...so walking up the hill (And down, naturally) while pushing our bulky stroller that held our 11lb 10oz baby was a pretty good workout! Haha. Hopefully I'll get to a place soon where my pants fit again and I don't cringe every time I run my hand across my stomach....

As for Logan (The real star of this blog, who cares about what I'm up to!)- he is doing great. I spoke to two friends who recommended a book to me that gave some sort of guidelines for infant sleep patterns. The main point I've gotten out of it thus far is that Logan should not be awake for more than 2 hours at a time- I cannot express how great it's been to learn that! So every day when he wakes up and is ready to go, i watch the clock and mentally prepare myself that I need to work on getting him BACK to bed in about 90 minutes- so I feed him, play with him, get in some tummy time and/or some book reading time and then it's back down for the little one. Amazingly, he falls into this schedule without much of a fight- and sleeps for a couple hours each time. This goes on all afternoon, then in the evening time it's like a switch turns on in his head and he knows it's night-time and he needs to get in mode for bed...when he goes down around 7, he'll sleep until about 10- I'll feed him, change him, swaddle him and he's ready to go back down for the night! No wide-eyed boy ready for playtime, he's ready to sleep! While last night wasn't all that great in terms of long stretches of sleep, Friday and Saturday night were amazing- especially Friday night when he slept from 9:30pm-3:30am, then 4:30am to 10am! Wow! So I definitely think we're on track to sleeping through the night which is great.

Logan is also smiling up a storm and he has found his voice- oohing and Yaa Yaa-ing at Mommy and Daddy every chance he gets! It's very cute to hear him express himself in more ways than just a cry. His crooked little smile just melts my heart- I love it. I think he's very close to turning over from his tummy to his back...I thought he was going to do it the weekend Jason was out of town, but thankfully he didn't (I would HATE for Jason to miss that!). He's close, but lately he's just gotten SO frustrated when on his tummy he doesn't do much but lay there and cry...part of me thinks that the frustration will fuel him to get on his back, but so far- it hasn't happened...but I'm sure our Roley-Poley boy will be rolling over in no time.

I'm heading out with Logan tomorrow to get his birth certificate so that the 2 of us can take our first plane ride to Seattle in mid September. Lindsey is pregnant and is having a baby shower on Sept 18th and Logan and I are flying out for the big event! Thankfully my Dad is going to be with me for the flight UP to Seattle, but then on the flight back down to LA I'm on my own- I'm pretty nervous, but I'm flying Alaska on the way down so it's a direct flight and my game plan is just to bombard the little man with food so that he is either sleeping from take off to landing or is at least quiet for the rest of the passengers. Wish us luck! Jason is staying home for this trip, we'll miss him dearly, but it'll be nice to know that we can do it on our own!

ok...Little man is sleeping right now so I'm going to take advantage of the quiet and try to catch a few Zzz's of my own- to make up for the ones I didn't get last night!

I'll post some pics and videos later tonight as well :)

xo

I Heart Kellymom.com

There, I said it...I love www.kellymom.com if you are a new mom and have a question- go to this website. Even if you DON'T have a question, go to this website and learn something- it's amazing. It's not a fancy website, it's just there, with great information to calm a new family down. As i mentioned in my previous post, Logan has been up every couple hours today looking for food- my first thought was that it was a growth spurt (I joked with a few of the moms in my Mom's group that we call EVERYTHING a growth spurt if that baby is acting up! So true!)- I googled "When Do Babies Have Growth Spurts" and of course, an article on www.kellymom.com popped up- I read it and was routed to another article that answered ANOTHER question I had that I hadn't even asked yet! Brilliant!

Seriously, I just wanted to put it out there for some of my mom friends who hadn't heard of it- this website answers questions about breastfeeding, pumping, milk supply, fussy babies, sleeping babies...EVERYTHING!

I LOVE YOU KELLY MOM- WHOEVER YOU ARE!

Ok...I think the exhaustion has finally gotten to me...

What is Wrong With Me?

Ok, so starting last night at midnight, Logan decided to be a total weirdo and sleep for 2 hours and then get hungry again...he then got even MORE weird and continued that pattern and ate every 2 hours until he finally fell asleep at about 6pm tonight when Jas and I headed to the airport....so that would bring us to a whopping THREE hours that he's been asleep, for those of you horrible at math, that's an additional ONE hour than he's given me in the past day...an additional 60 minutes! So a NORMAL person would be sleeping right now- a normal person would be reveling in this new found silence and would not be able to keep their eyes open and instead would have their head, that weighs a tone due to the exhaustion, slam down on the pillow before one could even utter "Goodnight!" THAT is what a normal person would do...what am *I* doing? I am online. I am eating In N Out. I am sending emails like a neurotic person that has never seen the Internet. I am watching Real Housewives of DC and BEthenny Getting Married (But c'Mon, it's the lost footage episode...how could I not?) Never mind that these shows are TiVo'd for my pleasure WHENEVER i want, never mind that facebook is not expiring in 3 hours...nope, all of that stuff will be here when Logan wakes up, but I still can't stay away...why? Because I'm enjoying ME time. ME time cannot be fully enjoyed by viewing the insides of my eyelids, ME time can only be fully enjoyed when one is AWAKE and doing what one loves- for me, that involves PJ pants, burgers, and reality TV...oh, and online shopping...look at THESE bad boys I just purchased for $30!!! WHAAAAT?


I can sleep when I'm dead....or the next time the baby falls asleep....hopefully that's not 2 hours after he wakes up!

UPDATE!

Sorry everyone for being so MIA lately! I'll try to add a more detailed post in a bit, but in a nutshell, here's what we've been up to over the past few weeks:

- Newborn photo shoot with Monkey & Peas Photography

- Grandma Hanson arrives for her visit

- Jason, Logan, my Mom and myself make our first road trip up to San Francisco (Logan did Great!)

- Jason runs and VERY successfully completes the SF 1/2 Marathon with his cousin Jenn!

- My Brother, Sister-In-Law and Nephew visit us from Seattle for a few days

- My Mom leaves (Saaad Face)

- My Brother, Sister-In-Law and Nephew leave (Another sad face)

- I attempt to resume life without my Helper Mom

- Logan sleeps 8 hours (I sleep 4 hours because I didn't got to bed when he did...dang!)

- Logan sleeps 6 hours (Mom sleeps 6 hours!)

- I get comfortable enough with everything to venture out 2 days in a row- 1 day being almost a full day outing to Pasadena!

Here are some pics of these adventures...again, I'll do some more detailed posts later...maybe this weekend :) Enjoy!

Naked Baby! Hasn't quite grown that Bubble Butt yet, but have no fear, it will appear!

"Hello, penny for your thoughts?"

Go Jason and Jenn!!

Mom, Nate, Gretchen and Mr. Luke!