Birthday Boy

December 8, 2012

Dear Logan,

     I cannot believe that I’m already writing this letter to you. I honestly don’t know where to begin. You have brought your Dad and me SO much joy this year! I remember when you were born that I couldn’t believe that we were blessed with this perfect gift. You will never truly understand the amount of unconditional love that we have for you. It’s really all encompassing. You stole both your Daddy and my hearts instantly. It’s been so much fun watching you grow and learn this year. SO much has happened to you! You started out as this little, tiny baby boy who depended on us for everything. Then, you began to smile, make noises, laugh, roll over, sit up on your own, eat baby food, push up on all fours, crawl, pull up, walk, eat “big people food”, talk, talk, talk, and get into anything and EVERYTHING. J You have learned so much & you’re so curious about things…which is something I love about you. You have an amazing attention span for your age. Nana thinks you’re a genius! J You’ll sit and listen during the children’s message at church, and you really like to watch Sesame Street (particularly Elmo) and Sid the Science Kid, and Charlie Brown. You LOVE books! At first your favorite books were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? , Maddy, the Alaskan Moose  (a gift from Grandma & Grandpa McReynolds from their trip to Alaska), and your Sesame Street books, but honestly at this point the list of books that you love is endless. What a wonderful thing for this Mommy!! I LOVE reading to you (and so does Daddy)! You love Nuzzlebuttons, & will give him kisses. You also like your baseball bat, baseball, stacking cups, and everything you’re NOT supposed to play with (remote control, dvds, stereo system, pots and pans, etc., etc). J I love to watch you say “doh” for dog whenever you see or hear a dog, know who Nuzzlebuttons (your white polar bear…Daddy named him) is, and comprehend what we’re saying to you. I also love to watch you “dance”, make your excited face, and get kisses and squeeze hugs from you. I hope that you grow up to fall more and more in love with God and Jesus and want to help others along the way. Your Daddy is a good example for you to look up to (I hope you realize how fortunate you are to have him as your Dad). You really are the perfect gift to our family. Everyone loves you… and I mean EVERYONE! J Happy 1^st Birthday, sweet boy! Remember that you’ll always be my baby, no matter how old you are. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you and us this next year. J

                                                  Love,

Mommy/Mama/Mom

(whatever you choose to call me) J

29 years & 11 Months Old???

Nope....no one is that close to 30 just yet. ;) Today is Scott's 29th birthday, and it is also Logan's 11 month birthday to boot. I realize that I just posted some Logan information just the other day, but I had to share some of my favorite things right now that Logan is doing at 11 months old.


1.) He LOVES to eat shredded cheddar cheese, and almost everyday, Logan & I will share some cheese as a snack. We'll sit in the floor with the bowl of cheese, and he will lean over with his mouth open just waiting for his turn for a bite of cheese. He loves it, and I love sharing it with him! :)

2.) Just tonight, Logan began throwing his head back and laughing/squealing whenever we laugh and throw back our heads. He just kept doing it over and over again, and I kept laughing and throwing my head back because I was laughing at the fact that he was doing it. We all had a good laugh. Love my family!

3.) As I said in the previous post, Logan is walking EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING! Although this isn't always my favorite thing, it's so much fun to see how curious he is about the world around him & how clever he is about what he can figure out how to do.

4.) I love cooking with Logan. Now, obviously Logan doesn't aide too much in the cooking process, but he will sit on the kitchen counter in front of me & just watch everything that is going on. He will even imitate things that I do. When I add salt or other seasonings to a bowl, he will pick up the salt shaker and shake it over the bowl in the same way that I do. Super cute.....until he figures out how to open the salt & salt ends up everywhere. You'd think I'd learn to take the salt shaker away from him before he opens it.

5.) Logan loves to read books. He will hold up a book into the air toward me (or Scott) and make this noise that clearly means "here...take this & read it to me". Then he'll listen intently for a short period of time before he's off onto something else (unless it's a favorite book of his & he'll listen to the entire thing). Some of his favorite books right now are: "Maddy, the Alaskan Moose", "Bubbles, Bubbles", "Hands and Nose, Fingers and Toes",  "Elmo's Count to 10", "Time for Bed", "All the Ways I Love You",  "I Love You Through and Through", and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". HE LOVES BOOKS!!

6.) Logan also loves to sing songs. We can literally sing songs FOREVER! He loves it! If he really likes a song, he'll clap at the end of the song (with a big smile on his face) to let you know that he approves. He also will put his little fingers together when he wants to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". It's really sweet.


If you'll remember from earlier on, I mentioned that today is Scott's birthday. I can't imagine where I would be in life right now without him by my side. He makes me smile everyday, and he brings such joy to my life. He really is my best friend, and he is such a wonderful Daddy. I love seeing Logan and Scott interact together. Logan loves his Daddy so much, and his face is priceless everyday when Scott gets home. He's always so happy to see him. :) I'm such a lucky lady to have these two wonderful guys in my life. I am blessed for sure beyond anything that I deserve! :)

Is Anybody Out There?

What to say, what to say? We're not even sure if there's anyone out there reading our little blog anymore due to the less than frequent posts that are made. Several weeks ago I was talking to Scott about how I missed writing. He had no clue what I was talking about. I told him that all through high school, I was certain that I was going to be a journalist. I loved writing in school. It didn't really matter the topic. I loved having journal time in class, and I enjoyed writing papers just to see how all of my thoughts and words would come out on paper. I honestly didn't consider teaching to be where I was headed (although, now I don't know that I can imagine not being involved in a school system in some way in the future). Scott reminded me that we have a poor, neglected blog that I could turn my attention to if I desired. So, here I am. We'll see just how frequent these posts become. Quite honestly, I have a tendency to be fired up for something & then bore with it quickly. Hopefully that won't be the case here. Even if there is no one who reads this, I think it will be a good outlet for me. Just talking about our little life here in Kansas City with my two favorite people in the world. So here goes......



Logan is at such a fun age right now. I'm sure that I will probably say this again and again until he reaches the age of the "backtalk". I'm pretty sure that Scott never went through that stage, but let me tell you, this girl did. I'm hoping Logan will take after his dad. Haha! Right now there is no sassy talk, but he does wear me out on a daily basis (in a good way). He's into EVERYTHING and he is ALL BOY. No doubt about that. I definitely get in a workout everyday chasing him around the house & getting him out of places where he's not supposed to be. Just recently, I began shutting the doors to the bedrooms and hall bathroom in order to keep him out of things. Not that that stops him....he just makes his way to the kitchen. He's walking everywhere, too. I had hoped he'd wait until he was at least one before starting to walk, but he showed us that ten months was just too long to be confined to crawling around the floor. :) It's been such a fun year watching him grow and change. He's learned so much & surprises us all the time with what he already understands. He knows what several of his toys are when we ask him to go find them. It's so cool to see him comprehend what we're saying to him. I'm planning to write him a letter on his first birthday (and every birthday following) to keep to give to him when he leaves for college. I'm not sure what all I'll say. There's just too much I want him to know about how he's changed our lives since being born. I also want to give him an idea of what he learned each year & how he changed. He's truly a gift from God....even on the nights when sleeping doesn't sound too appealing to him. We love him bunches and bunches, forever and ever. I guess that's all he really needs to know right now.

Milestones

Since we never filled out a baby book, we thought it would be a good idea to get some of Logan's milestones written somewhere besides just the loose paper in the drawer.  So not to brag, but here's what Logan has been up to the last 10 months.

Rolled over from stomach to back - 1st time at 1 week, 1 day, consistently at 18 days (12/26/11)

Started "talking" - 2 months old

Laughed out loud,  3/20/12 - 3 months

Sitting up, May 2012 - 5 months

Rolling over from back to stomach, 6/15/12 - 6 months

Up on all fours, 6/24/12 - 6 months

1st tooth (bottom middle), 6/25/12 - 6 months

Pushing forward (army crawl/the worm), 7/28/12 - 7 months

Started Crawling, 8/7/12 - almost 8 months

Pulling up, 8/9/12 - 8 months

Says "mama" & "dada" (doesn't really know what he is saying), August 2012 - 8 months

Able to use sippy cup by himself, August 2012 - 8 months

Clapping when someone says "Yay" or "good job" , Labor Day weekend - almost 9 months

Standing alone for short periods of time, 9/4/12 - almost 9 months

Waving and says "buh bye", September 2012 - 9 months

Clapping after a song, September 2012 - 9 months

Says "dada" and knows who that is, September 2012 - 9 months

Feeds himself puffs (similar to Cheerios) and claps afterwords, September 2012 - 9 months

First steps, 10/11/12 - 10 months

Talking to Mom and Dad

2-16-12

A Baby Story

For the short and sweet version go here.

Dear Logan,

This is the story of the first week of your life.  Hopefully, one day you will be able to read it and appreciate how you came into the world.  This is also to help mom and dad remember all the details.

The date that the doctor anticipated you being born was November 30, 2011.  Since mom couldn't travel for Thanksgiving, Grandpa and Grandma Mac came up to help us celebrate.  We even thought you might make your arrival when they were here.  But you didn't come on Thanksgiving.  When you hadn't come on your due date, we made plans with the doctor for an induction on December 9, 2011.  We made plans to go in the hospital early Friday morning and let everyone know to get ready.

You had other plans, however.  Mom woke up early Thursday morning feeling uncomfortable.  After unsuccessfully trying to get more sleep she decided that she might be having contractions.  I finally convinced her to call the doctor and they told us to come on in.  When we made it to the doctor around 9am, they sent us back and hooked mom up to a monitor to check your heart rate and see if there were contractions.  Your heart rate was good and mom was having contractions about every 3 minutes lasting about 50 seconds apiece.  The doctor came in to check how dilated mom was.  At previous appointments she was dilated 2 centimeters, but now she was up to 5 cm.  They put her in a wheelchair because her blood pressure was a little high, and we went on over to the hospital. 

We were in the hospital room around 10am.  Mom was ready for an epidural, so the nurses started getting an IV ready.  It took a couple tries and a blown vein to get it in correctly but they got it in.  I had to leave the room after feeling queasy, but I made it through without passing out.  Next came the epidural.  The anesthesiologist got it in without any issues and the next few hours went well.  Before we knew it all of your grandparents were here or on their way and mom was dilated to 9 cm by around 3pm.

Things started to slow down after that, but we were ready to start pushing at 6pm.  Mom started pushing and was doing a great job, but things weren't moving very fast.  You were trying hard to come out and making a little progress, but not enough.  Over the next three hours we saw several different doctors, midwives, and nurses.  Mom hung in there while I tried to encourage her.

At 9pm Dr. Martin started his shift and came in to see us.  He said we could try the forceps or the vacuum, but he couldn't promise that would work.  We talked about it and decided to go ahead with a C-Section.  I put on an awesome hair net and some scrubs and mom was wheeled off to the operating room.  Before we knew it, we could hear your first cry coming from the other side of the room.

You were born at 9:54pm.  You weighed 8 lbs, 9 oz and were 20 inches long.

Mom was sewn up and taken back to the room.  Your grandparents patiently waited while mom fed you for the first time, but the time finally came when they were able to hold you for the first time.  After a couple of hours they took us to a new room where we would spend the next few days.  It was around 1:45am by the time we finally got to sleep.

The next day there we lots of people that came to visit you.  Grandpa and Grandma Mac and Papa and Nana Horton were there.  Aunt Connie also brought your cousin Emma Kate.  Lots of our friends from church came.  Travis and Tawny, Chelsea, Lindsay, Lacy, Jim Dalton, Doug & Angel Couch, and Melissa all came to see you after you were born.  Josh, Holly, and Conner also stopped by.

We originally thought that we would get to take you home on Sunday, but we had another thing coming.  Overall, you were a healthy baby.  You started to lose a little too much weight so we started a little bit of formula to supplement nursing.  After that, things went well for you.  You were actually released from the hospital before mom was.

Since you were released before mom was, I got to take you to your first doctor appointment by myself.  While this could have been an adventure fit for a sitcom episode, you were a very good boy and we didn't have any issues.  You were measured and were around the 48th percentile in height, weight, and head circumference. 

Mom's blood pressure was high all during labor and after you were born.  It reached as high as 180/120, but was typically less than that.  However, the doctors weren't comfortable sending us home until they felt is was under control.  They put her on medication and increased the dose and added a second medicine to try and figure it out.  By the time we left the hospital, mom was on 1200mg of Labetalol and 90mg of Procardia. 

After mom's blood pressure was averaging about 150/90, we were able to talk to the doctors and they let us go home Thursday morning.  After we got home and got some rest, mom's blood pressure went down significantly.  We are still monitoring it, but we are down to 400mg of Labetalol and 30mg of Procardia.  It is likely that that will be reduced again when we see the doctor.

After all was said and done, we spent a week in the hospital, which was about 4 days longer than we hoped, but we left with a beautiful, calm, sweet little boy.  If you asked either one of us, we would do it all over again.

Love,

Dad

A Baby Story (Dragnet version)

"Just the facts ma'am" Version of Logan's Birth.

Logan Scott McReynolds

Born December 8, 2011 at 9:54 pm via C-Section at Overland Park Regional Medical Center

8 lbs 9 oz

20 in long

14 1/4" head circumference

The hospital stay lasted a week due to Stefanie's elevated blood pressure during and after labor.

Partly Cloudy with a chance of Showers

We were treated to a lovely shower from our Red Bridge family.  Thank you for all the wonderful gifts.  They will be a great help as we continue to get things ready.  Stefanie is now 32 weeks along and we are getting closer to arrival day.  We are getting anxious and trying to make sure we have everything prepared for when he arrives. 

It's a ...

BOY!

For those of you who weren't aware, Stefanie and I are expecting our first child around November 30th. We are very excited and anxious about the way our life will change from now on. Hot summer days will quickly turn into brisk fall evenings, and before we know it, baby will make 3. Our new addition will be the first grandchild for my parents and the first one in several years for Stefanie's.

Ever since we first started talking seriously about kids, I have found myself observing parents much more as I have struggled with all the different challenges that are sure to come our way. I have no doubt that I have underestimated both the joy and difficulty that this child will bring, but I know that I have never met a parent that would give his child back.

Stefanie will not be going back to school this fall and is looking forward to staying at home with our little guy. Names are still being discussed, but the inner planner in us will soon take over and a decision will probably be made sooner rather than later. The last sonogram showed no signs that the baby was abnormal in any way, but we continue our prayers for a healthy baby and mommy.

We would love to hear your thoughts about what you wish you knew before having kids or any recommendations (diapers, toys, furniture, cameras ...) that you are willing to offer.

Thanks for checking in with our seldom updated blog!

Spring has Sprung, kind of

Spring is officially here. However, it doesn't exactly feel like it. The forecast is calling for a bit a snow today, just to remind us that we really have no idea what to expect. For those of you who don't know, we have purchased a house just south of Olathe and we will be closing at the end of April. We are eager, excited, and ready to have a little more space.



I have done pretty well so far keeping up with my reading goal this year. Now the real challenge is to not just read for the sake of reading, but to actually gain something through the process.

As warmer weather draws closer, Stefanie winds down her school year and construction season picks up for me. Stefanie is anxious to get standardized testing out of the way and I am looking forward to getting outside again and blocking traffic.

2011 & Beyond

As I look back on the recent blog posts, it appears that fall was completely skipped in what had become seasonal updates. I had originally intended to post more often than that, but it just hasn't been a priority. A lot has been going on the last few months, but I won't bore you with all of the details. It mostly involved the usual things, family, friends and travel.

Moving on to recent events, I finally found out today that I passed my PE exam. Sometimes I wish that was for physical education, but it is actually for my Professional Engineering License. I had a wonderful wife who supported me during my endless hours of studying that spanned the months of April - October.

Stefanie and I also spent time this fall teaching Financial Peace University at our church. It was beneficial for us to go through the program again and we had a great class join us.


Like you, we don't know what 2011 will bring, but we are ready for the ride. One of the things I want to do is to read more this year. I haven't read much in my adult life, but I think it will be good for me. The nerd in me is even considering purchasing an ereader. I have already started reading one book that I got for Christmas.

Summer Happenings

It seems like once a season is about as frequent as this blog gets updated these days. Stefanie and I have had a busy, but enjoyable summer, so far. At the beginning of the summer we sat down and started talking about all the things we wanted to do. Even though most of the items on the list were only weekend long excursions, dates filled up fast. We started out the summer by heading to Piedras Negras, Mexico with a group from Joplin. This was one of several times for me to go with the church I grew up in. However, this was Stefanie's first trip and we were very excited for her to get to experience it. Vida Nueva (New Life) Ministries is the organization we have always gone down to help. It is amazing to see how this area has changed since the first trip I made in high school. One of the special things about this trip was the decision that Stefanie and I made to sponsor a child so they can attend preschool. The cool thing was that we got to meet Maria, the child we are sponsoring before we left (Thanks for the picture, Bethany). If you are interested in sponsoring a child I would encourage you to get in contact with Lorena (lorenavidanueva AT hotmail.com) and see how you can make a difference in a child's life.

After Mexico, we've spent about every weekend traveling to see our family and friends across the midwest. We've purchased tickets from scalpers, danced in the car, and watched fireworks with captivated preschool boys.

For the most part things have been positive. However, there is always the good that comes with the bad. I lost my last living grandparent in May and Stefanie's dad has been in and out of the hospital a couple of times for surgery to repair some of the ailments that are a result of the cancer that recurred two years ago. He is home now and has started recovering, but we would still solicit your prayers.

In all things, we know that God is good and that we are Safe in His arms.

Bring on Spring

The time is finally here. It is officially spring and this week's forecast looks amazing. The Final Four and Opening Day are near and I am ready to spend some quality time in the great out of doors. This season should bring plenty of grilling, occasional camping, disc golfing, some geocaching, and maybe even a reemergence of the slackline. We will hopefully get a chance to go see some ball games, visit some parks we haven't been to yet, and discover new ways to enjoy this wonderful season. If this is your allergy season, I apologize, but otherwise I hope you find ways to savor and enjoy the next few weeks. So get off the internet and start making plans.

Stuff For Searching

There's no such thing as a free lunch, right? This is true, but there is such a thing as a good deal. I recently started using Swag Bucks. Swag Bucks is a way to earn points for purchasing things like gift cards or electronics just for using their search engine, which, by the way, is a conglomeration of Google and Ask.com. It's a pretty simple way to get a little bit back for what you already do. In case you were wondering, yes it is improves when you get referrals. However you don't need referrals to start earning bucks. Keep an eye on the swag bucks blog for ways to earn some extra swag bucks. This could be your method to earn Amazon.com gift cards to use as you please, if you are willing to adjust your searching habits a little bit. If you are interested, check out the web site and if you want to help me out, sign up under my account. Thanks.

Video about Swag Bucks on KMBC 9 KC

Canada, eh?

If you want to keep track of the olympics, make sure you check out NBC's olympic site. If you missed an event, it is likely you can watch a replay or at least highlights on the video section of the site. A couple of things to note, if you want to watch video, you may have to download the latest version of the plugin silverlight. Also, to watch some "premium" content you may need to input your cable company info for full access. Be sure to check out the video player tutorial and the FAQ sites if you have issues.

Keep track of your money in 2010

Several popular New Year's Resolutions involve money.  Get out of debt, save more, and give more to charity may be among your desired changes for 2010.  If you don't know where your money went last year, maybe these tips will help.  Being the self-professed nerd that I am, I put together a spreadsheet to keep track of our spending.  We use it to come up with our monthly budget and keep track of how we are doing.  You can download it from the link below if you like.  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2887593/2010%20budget.xls

Another great tool is mint.com.  Mint (which was recently purchased by the makers of Quicken)can import your bank information using the bank's online banking system and categorize it for you.  This is an easy way to see where your money goes with fancy charts and graphs for you non-spreadsheet people.  We use both to see where our money is going.

If you are completely lost and confused about money, we highly recommend taking a Financial Peace University class.  If you don't think you have the time, much of the same information is covered in Dave Ramsey's book, The Total Money Makeover.

In closing I'll leave you with the baby steps to Financial Peace.

1.  $1,000 Emergency Fund
2.  Get out of debt using the debt snowball
3.  Full Emergency fund (3 to 6 months of expenses)
4.  Invest 15% in retirement
5.  College funds for the kids
6.  Pay off the house early
7.  Build wealth and give

For more information see http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/

You can do it.  Have a buddy keep you accountable and make those resolutions last all year.

and to all a good night

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Enjoy time with your family, take a deep breath and relax.  When in doubt, just ask Linus about the true meaning of Christmas

The Evolution of Christmas Lights

It's that time of year again. The Christmas lights are out in full force. I've put together a few photos/videos that illustrate how I view the evolution of Christmas decoration. Enjoy.

Original post

see more Epic Fails

It's been awhile

August 29, 2009. That's the date of our last post. It seems like we have been going almost non-stop since then. Stefanie has been busy with her new 4th grade class and I've been staying busy at work. In our free time we've been on the road quite a bit. We've been to Rogers, St. Louis and Joplin all in the last several weeks. We've visited family and friends and enjoyed spending time with everyone. We finally had a weekend at home to relax a couple of weeks ago, and I did a pretty good job of making it less fun by being sick all weekend. Now that there is a little bit of a lull before holiday season starts, we hope to do some relaxing again.

A Musical History

Musical History

I've thought about putting this together a couple of different times, but have just now got around to it. Music is such an important aspect of many people's lives and I often find myself looking back at my musical past. This is in no way a complete compilation, but is pretty accurate. Sit back and enjoy as I take you on a journey through time.

1. The Basics of Life - 4 Him

2. Yakety Yak - The Coasters

Growing up we basically had two options. Contemporary Christian or Oldies. I now realize why this is. There is a lot of inappropriate material on the radio, and it makes quite a bit of sense for a parent to limit their children to one of these genres.

3. Jesus Freak - DC Talk

"Cool" Christian music, especially for youth group trips.

4. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Main track from the movie Armageddon I went to a lot of movies in early high school. I'm pretty sure everyone saw this one. I think the soundtrack was the first CD I ever purchased.

5. Higher - Creed

The 90s rock phase

6. Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins

7. My Name is Jonas - Weezer

8. Lucky Denver Mint - Jimmy Eat World

I have Nathan to thank for introducing me to the foundations of my current music collection.

9. This Bitter Pill - Dashboard Confessional

Every single guy needs to sing along with Chris Carabba at least once.

10. Walls - Emery

11. Reinventing Your Exit - Underoath

In case you're curious, this is classified as screamo. It actually will grow on you, some of you.

12. Giving it Away - Mae

13. Bixby Canyon Bridge - Death Cab for Cutie

The calmer side of my college music collection.

14. The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists

Trying to find my corner of the indie music scene

15. Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin

I still appreciate a well written worship song.

I hope you enjoyed your quick glance through my musical history.