i love...

1) that Dylan always says, "I love you too." Even if you didn't say it first. I especially love when he says, "I love you too sweetheart." How cute is that? He makes my heart happy.

2) that if you show Logan a photo with him in it, he points to himself and says, "Baby!" Dylan always calls Logan "Baby" or "the baby" and apparently now Logan has adopted it as well.

3) that Dylan announces the emotional impact of every decision made in our household. No more apple juice today? "That makes Dylan sad." Going to the playground today? "That makes Dylan happy!" And yes, it's always announced in the third person.

4) seeing Logan attempt more and more complex words. And he does so well with them too - "alligator" and "octopus" among them.

5) how every meal - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner - Dylan tells me he wants fish sticks, green peas and dip. (All he really wants is the dip... aka ketchup!)

6) how Logan only wants mommy to pick him up out of his crib in the morning. If Kevin goes in to get him, Logan lies back down and pretends that he's going back to sleep.

7) that Dylan loves to cuddle. Every morning tells me, "I want to sit with mommy." And he does. He just wants to sit on the sofa and cuddle until he's fully awake.

8) that whenever you ask Logan if he's sleepy, he vigorously shakes his head no, even if he can barely keep his eyes open. I ask him several times a day now just for the fun of it. :)

the knight and the lion

The boys and I stopped by the park this morning to get a few quick pictures of them in their Halloween customes. Dylan is loving his knight costume - especially the sword! Logan was less sure of his lion costume, but I think he looks adorable. Not that I'm biased or anything. ;)

In honor of Halloween, an oldie but goodie...

This was my Logan last year at Halloween. I call it, "The pumpkin ate my baby!" Appropriate, don't you think? What a cute little chunker he was. It amazes me to look at this and then see how much bigger and older he is now, a year later. Walking. Talking (a little anyway). And into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

This photo reminds me of what a sweet, happy, easy-going baby he was. (After all, I did stick him almost naked in a giant, slimey pumpkin and he still smiled!) I just love it.

Pumpkin Time

While Dylan was at Mothers Day Out this morning, Logan and I headed out for a little adventure of our own. We met up with some other moms and kids for a little get together at the local "pumpkin patch." I put that in quotes because, well, it's not really a pumpkin patch per se. More like a large collection of picked, stacked pumpkins. But it's cute and it's as close to a real pumpkin patch as we get this close to the city. :)

Not that it matters, because the kids certainly don't care. Logan had a great time exploring the pumpkins. And me... well I had forgotten how nice it is to get out of the house for something other than errands!

Look mom! A scarecrow!

Look! I found the pumpkins!

what my children do when I'm not looking...

Yes, that would be three very empty totes strewn about the room and all of the toys normally in those totes piled in the closet. Why? God only knows. Should I just be happy that they did it together without fighting?

Mr. Wild Thing

Logan goes by a number of different names on any given day. Loganberry. Sweet Thing. Loganzilla. Destructo Boy. And lately Wild Thing. Or, if you're feeling formal, Mr. Wild Thing. He is all snips and snails and go, go, go. In other words, he's all boy. ;)

So I made a quick run to the park with him for some updated photos the other morning after I dropped Dylan off at Kid's Day Out. It was terrible timing. Logan was sleepy and cranky before we ever got there. And it was HOT. But I got in a few cute shots before he self-destructed on me.



I call this "blue steel," lol:

wishful thinking

I'll be honest. This afternoon was pretty miserable. There I was, in the pouring rain, toting two cranky boys from the tile store to the post office to the bank. Fun times. In fact, most of the two-hour excursion was set to the whiney two-year-old tune of, "I wanna go home. I wanna go home. IWANNA GO HOME!"

Yup, fun times.

So as we pulled into the driveway (finally), I expected Dylan (of whiney two-year-old fame) to be ecstatic. I turned around to talk to him.

ME: Dylan where are we?

DYLAN: Mommy's house.

(Okay, not bad. I'll take it.)

ME: Is it Daddy's house too?

DYLAN: Uh-huh

(always the eloquent one, that boy)

ME: Is it Dylan's house too?

DYLAN: Uh-huh

(again, very verbose)

ME: Is it Logan's house too?

This time he stops to think. And says...

DYLAN: No. Baby lives there. (pointing to our neighbor's house)

Wishful thinking, my boy. Wishful thinking.

life's a beach

Just a quick shot from here on the gulf coast of Alabama. We went out last night for a quick mini session with my boys and my two nieces. I used Logan for my test shots and I just loved this one of him. The little baby buddha belly hanging out the bottom of his shirt is just so HIM. My little beach bum. ;)

Much more to come!

this cracks me up...

A week or so ago I took both of the kids (and my mom) out into the Quarter in an attempt to get Logan's (late) one year pictures done. I was also attempting to get that most elusive of all images... a good picture of both of them together. This is what I got:


Not exactly what I had in mind. But at least it amuses me. Can't you just see Dylan thinking, "Dude, what is your DEAL???"

fourteen

That's how old Logan will be on Monday. Months that is of course.My little baby... where does the time go? And is it totally pathetic that I'm a photographer and I'm doing his 1 year pictures two months late? Please tell me it's not. Even if you have to lie.

A year ago today...

my Loganberry arrived in this world and in my life. While I knew I loved him right from the start, I could not have known how much more I would love him as I got to know him and watch him grow.

His ready smile. His deep, deep belly laugh. His determination. His big-brother worship. His mischievous eyes. His scrunched up "happy" face. His love of food. His happy disposition.

All of these things make my baby boy who he is and make me love him all the more for all of his quirks. I can't even imagine how much more I'll love him in another year.

Happy birthday Logan! And many more. I love you.

A perfect evening...

It's funny how things change. When I was in my 20s, if you had asked me to describe a perfect evening it likely would have included a hot date or perhaps a night of drinking and dancing with my girlfriends. But now in my 30s, it's something else entirely.

Tonight after dinner I was in Dylan's room with him. I forget why. Perhaps I had just changed his diaper. Or perhaps I was picking up the dozens of toys off of his floor. But he suddenly grabbed my hand and said, "Sit Mimi. I wanna play."

So I obediently sat on the floor and asked him what he wanted to play. He grabbed a bag of foam block and immediately dumped them out in front of us. So Dylan and I had fun building some foam block towers and laughing when they inevitably got so high that they toplled over. Even Logan was in on the action, happily munching on the blocks and crawling around with them in his mouth like a dog with a bone.

Then Dylan went and got Kevin from the front room. "Daddy, you do it!" Kevin was a bit confused as to what exactly he was supposed to do, but he followed Dylan obediently as well. So as a family we built more foam block towers. Then somehow the building of towers degenerated into Dylan knoocking down towers and strewning the blocks around. And then somehow that even further degenerated into an all out foam block war between Kevin and I with Dylan delightedly in the middle.

And as we all sat around laughing and acting silly, I was struck by how perfect it all really was. Our kids were happy and we were all having fun. Kevin's eyes caught mine and I know he was thinking it too.

I don't have any pictures to add to this post, but that's okay. Sometimes it's more important to live the moments than to capture them.

Ten months ago today...

at 12:31 in the afternoon I was blessed to give birth to my second beautiful son. It's hard to believe that time has flown so quickly. Today he crawls like a madman, pulls up on everything, cruises around the living coffee table and laughs hysterically at everything his brother says or does to him. Logan is truly just a sweet, happy baby and a pleasure to be around. I can't believe that in just eight or nine weeks my bouncing baby boy will turn ONE. It's so bittersweet. I love watching him grow and develop and reach new milestones, yet I'm so sad to see that chubby, jolly baby slowly fading from his sweet face.

Where I've been

It's been a busy couple of weeks! We had barely packed up our beads and ladders and said goodbye to another fun Mardi Gras before it was time for Logan and I to hop a jet to the northern tundra.

I was actually surpised when we emerged from Greene Airport in Providence, RI. It was chilly of course. But not that chilly. It was pretty comfortable really. So Logan and I went about our merry business of visiting family (including a little newborn session with my newest cousin - who was conveniently born eight days before I arrived) which eventually brought us to my sister's house in southern New Hampshire for my niece's third birthday party. The visit was great. The party was fun. But we were ready to get home come Monday morning. Until a nor'easter dumped fourteeen inches of snow on my sister's house late Sunday night/early Monday morning.


Needless to say, flights were cancelled and Logan and I hunkered down for an extended stay. Bummer. In the end though we were able to catch an early flight Tuesday morning and get home just about 24 hours after our originally scheduled arrival. All's well that ends well I guess!


And just because I don't want to post without a picture... check out these chunker legs. I just love 'dem rolls. :)

Crazy Hair

Logan has the funniest hair. It's stick straight. And fluffy. Yup, I said "fluffy." Even freshly washed and brushed, it never lies flat on his head. It's always just sort of fluffy and fuzzy, puffed out around the top of his head.

So the other day I doused his scalp in baby oil before his bath to help get rid of a bit of cradle cap(It works, moms. I promise!) I must not have washed the baby oil out well enough because I put him down to nap with damp, mussed up hair and he woke up with it pretty much like this. And it stayed like this for the next day and half until I could wash it again! It's back to normal now, but I'm sure with a little styling product, Mr. Crazy Hair might make another appearance. :)

Just one of the pudgemeister

Isn't he soooo cool? :)

Mooooooooo!

My aunt bought Logan a super cute cow hoodie for Christmas and I've been dying to get a picture of him in it. Yesterday was a beautiful, but cool, day - perfect sweatshirt weather!




And one of my Dylan too of course.

Damn, I love this kid

Cuteness like this should come with a warning label. :D

For my niece Lauren

Loooogan's toooooes :)

Happy Holidays

from my little stinkers to yours!

Amy Drouet Photography closes at noon today for the holidays. I'll be back online on Monday, December 29.