Audrey's Blog

The Sweetest Sound

I could listen to this all day long.  Enjoy!

Logan’s 1st Christmas

Even though he had no idea what was really going on around him, Logan had a great 1st Christmas.  Mamo & Grandpa flew in on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with us.  The adults enjoyed Audrey’s award winning chili & tamales for dinner on Christmas Eve (a family tradition).  Christmas morning dawned bright & early.  After Logan’s bottle, we got down to the business of watching him open gifts (and opening a few ourselves).  He actually enjoyed ripping the paper off the gifts and got pretty good at it.  Of course, most of the time the wrapping paper bits or the tissue paper inside the gifts were just as entertaining to him as anything the gifts themselves. 

We tried not to go overboard in putting gifts under the tree since he really didn’t have a concept of what was happening, but thanks to Mamo & Grandpa he definitely had a nice little pile of goodies by the time we were all done including some new jammies, books, a toy or two, & the hit of Christmas – 2 Build-a-Bears named  Bark & Huggy from Mamo & Grandpa:

We were also ticked with his first piggy bank:

Logan pooped out ½ through opening gifts, so we ended up having a second gift opening session after his morning nap. 

The rest of the day was fairly low key.  We had a nice Christmas dinner in the early afternoon and then we all settled in to watch some football and rest for the remainder of the day.  Overall, it was a great first Christmas for our little man.

 
Logan with Mamo & Grandpa

 
Obviously, this is us.  Chris was sportin' some great hair, wasn't he?

Logan's 6 Month Photos

I’m sooo far behind on getting updates posted from Christmas and Logan’s official 6 month report, but I have to share these … Logan’s 6 month photos that Angie did last Saturday.  They are incredible!  Enjoy!

Logan at 6 months  & A boy and his hats

 

Logan is #9

Well, he’ll always be #1 to us, but his name is apparently the 9th most popular name for boys in 2008 according to babycenter.com.   We weren’t really going for a popular name when we chose Logan.  In fact, I’ve always liked the name Aiden but since has been so popular the last few years, we actually shied away from it.  Having a rather unique name myself, it’s kind of nice when someone says your name that you know they’re talking to you and that they’re not possibly addressing umpteen other people in the room. 

If you care, they have a page on the meaning of Logan – “small hollow”.  Ironic, huh, since he’s neither.  

Pop Quiz – Can anyone guess how Logan actually got on our list of names?  Hint – It’s not a family name.

New Year’s Commitments

I really do dislike the term New Year’s Resolutions.  It seems that to make a New Year’s Resolution is to doom said resolution to almost certain failure.  In an effort to delude myself into more positive thinking, I like to call them New Years Commitments.  I know, I know … it’s just semantics.  But, it works for me.  And, Peter Drucker said "unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes ... but no plans."  So here goes …

For 2009, these are my New Year's Commitments:

1. Take better care of myself – Of course, this involves eating better (everyday!), getting to the gym (4-5x/week), and losing some weight (34.4 lbs to be exact), but it also involves taking time for myself – mentally AND physically.  One of the challenges that I’ve already faced as a new parent is that there just isn’t enough time for everything in the day and the things that drop off first are those small luxuries like time for hobbies or taking care of one’s self.  Specifically, I will spend at least 1 hour/week doing something in my studio.  In the beginning, that will likely be getting the darn thing put into enough order that it’s usable and is once again my happy place.  The other commitment that falls under this heading is spending time with my dear hubby.  We’ve done a great job of having at least 1 date night each month since Logan was born, and we will continue that in 2009.
2. Take my business to the next level – I know this is a crazy goal in this market, but it can be done.  Believe it or not, my 2008 was even better than 2007.  The plan is to grow my business by 50% in 2009.  It’s definitely going to take some hard work, but that’s not a problem once you’ve identified a good reason to work so hard.  And, that reason is simple – LOGAN.  So, if you know anyone looking to buy or sell real estate this year, let me know!  :-)
3. Be more organized – I’ve learned that with a baby comes a certain amount of unavoidable chaos in my house, but, frankly, it drives my bonkers.  I’m fairly certain that I have a touch of OCD.  It’s not debilitating or anything, but I really do need for everything to have its place and for them to be there!  My house is loosely organized now, but in the coming months, I will methodically work through the house to get organized what needs to be more organized and keep organized the things that can be organized. 

Phew!  I think that’s enough to keep me busy for 2009.  Wish me luck!

NYE 2008

For the last several years, Angie and I  and our respective significant others have celebrated New Years Eve together.  With all of the other holiday celebrations, we don’t usually get to spend much time together in December so NYE has always provided us a time together to celebrate, and 2008 wasn’t any different.  Since our lives are so much easier if we can hang out at home in the evenings to put the little man to bed on time, Angie and Jim ventured out to our house for an evening of food and laughs. 

We opted for an array of appetizers and finger foods so that we could gorge ourselves through the evening.  I fixed my version of Chili’s Skillet Queso, cocktail meatballs, spinach balls, and a couple of other dips.  Angie fixed her famous jalapeño poppers and rum balls plus she brought a box of wonderfully decadent chocolate cheesecakes.  (The Rx for New Years Day was a bottle of Tums and a trip to the gym!)

We decided that the appropriate attire for a NYE at home was PJs.  We all sported some of our favorite jammie pants – Angie in Marvin the Martian, Jim in Jack Daniels, Chris in Guitar Hero, and me in Snoopy.  We basically hung out, ate, drank, and had a merry old time while we exchanged Christmas gifts, played Guitar Hero and then a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples.  The seriously sad part was that we were all yawning by 11:00 and after a New Year’s toast, we wrapped up the festivities by 12:15am.  Talk about a bunch of old married folks!

We didn’t snap a whole bunch of pictures, but probably the most hilarious on was taken of Logan sitting on his Aunt Angie’s lap and making a play for her beer.  In Angie’s defense, she was sitting there innocently hanging out while Logan was making the play for the bottle.  He seems to think that any and all bottles are his.  Please don’t call CPS!  :-)

 

Happy 2009!

New Years Baby

My mom had a great idea to strip Logan down and take some photos of him with balloons to celebrate the new year.  Just to prove I still know how to operate my Nikon D100, I pulled it out yesterday and snapped off some adorable shots.  Here’s one to enjoy. 

Happy New Year!