Logan is two months old!

I never got around to doing an "official" 2-month shoot, and well, the kid's almost 3 months already so I thought I'd better get on this post now, with whatever snapshots I've taken of him thus far :)

First, an update:

* At 2-months Logan weighs 14 lbs, 10 oz and is 23.5" tall (already 2 lbs more than Luke at his age!)

* Size 1 diapers, 3-6 months clothing (wah!)

* At 8 weeks Logan was noticeably smiling and giggling in response to us talking to and smiling at him. He does both often, so it's not misinterpreted (with Luke I remember thinking everything was misinterpreted, haha, i must be an expert now ;)

* Logan still doesn't cry much, if anything, he yells/screeches when he's hungry or has gas pains.

* Logan is very strong, he holds his head up on his own (when in an upright/inclined position) and is able to hold it up when on his belly for a few minutes at a time.

* He's very nosey observant already! He clearly knows who mommy and daddy are and greets us, always, with smiles.

* He still sleeps a ton! He only, maybe, spends a total of 3-4 hours awake, daily.

* He sleeps swaddled and goes down sleepy but awake. He's been sleeping in his bed in the nursery since 6-weeks old and absolutely no problems with sleep issues!

* He's pretty much on a nighttime sleep routine and is fed and in bed by 10 pm, up around 5-6 am to eat and then goes right back to sleep again. It's an easy routine that I've adjusted well to!

* He absolutely LOVES watching his big brother horse around. Whenever Luke is in the room, Logan turns his head to find him and once his eyes are locked, forget about it, he's there to stay! It's really the sweetest thing! I shared photos of this in this post, here.

* Loves his baths, eats like a champ and has no problems with gas or acid reflux like his brother did.

He's an all-around easy baby, I'd say. The rare occasion that he doesn't sleep through the night (hello first and second day back to work!), it completely throws us off, that's how routine he is!

Here are a few photos to document the occasion :)

and yes, I'm that mom that posts 5 of the same photo, only with slight change in facial expression ;) maybe by baby #3 that will change... or not, haha.


this one is a little awkward, it's hard trying to get full body shots because i try to get some kind of expression out of him by putting my big face in front of his little one, coochie-cooing and boo'ing, then jumping up on the stool to get the full body shot.. and well, this is what i always end up with... but still want to show his slender figure ;)




he lives such an exciting life, haha!

Logan's 7-week update

Logan turned 7-weeks young on Tuesday. For his birthday, my hubby took him to the pediatrician for his HepB vaccination, some birthday gift, right?! The hubbs said that he did great, a little cry at the injection and that was it! Maybe we'll get lucky with him like we did with Luke, who never cried with shots or blood draws!

At 7-weeks Logan weighs 13 lbs, 5 ounces and is 23" tall (96% and 76%, respectively). The doctor is anticipating another 6'1" boy!

Logan eats, on average, every 3 hours and sleeps very well at night, 6 hrs then wakes to eat, then sleeps another 3-4 hrs. Last night was special, he slept 8.5 hrs straight!! He woke at 1:30 am, ate, I swaddled him and put him back down to bed with a pacifier (yep, he takes one of those - very different from his brother already!), awake, and he was asleep within five minutes.. how'd I get so lucky?! We've been putting him down sleepy but awake for at least a week now and he's fallen asleep every time!

I, on the other hand, am not usually able to get back to bed during the middle of the night. Tonight/this morning, after 30 minutes of lying wide awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to my hubby breathe heavily (which is usually how it goes every night!)... I decided to edit a few photos I took yesterday and share them. I can't tell you how much I love his lips and adorable little face! I'm so glad that I'm able to document these days because my memory is so bad, I'd surely forget them soon enough!

Side note: I ordered a few enlargements from his newborn session (to frame and hang over his crib)... I cried when I unwrapped the images from my print lab, seeing my baby boys precious face, the way I see it now, preserved for me to enjoy every time I walk into his nursery just created an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my baby boy (his life, his health, all the joy he brings to us each and every day, etc. - I could go on and on, lol), that brought tears to my eyes. It's quite silly, of course, but my bad memory really makes me appreciate photos even more than the average person, I can only imagine. I'll share a photo of his nursery as soon as I have the frames up.

For now, here are some recent shots of my baby boy ♥


*I take full credit for his adorable little butt chin ♥

His eyelashes finally grew in at about 5 weeks. They're getting so long so fast!




All photos were taken with my macro lens (100mm f/2.8L) at f/2.8 with an ISO of 6400 and a shutter speed as slow as 1/60 (I told you I live in a cave!).

Logan fell asleep in my arms and instead of putting him in his crib like I would normally do, I laid him on my bed and just watched him sleep for soooo long! While asleep, he pulled him arm up and wriggled it out of the sleep sack; he looked so cute with his hand at his chin I jumped up and grabbed my camera to capture it! I wanted to focus on him, his cute little features (and NOT my messy room) so I switched out my 50mm lens with the macro... and I'm so glad I did ♥

Luke is 8 months + pics

i'm slacking already! Luke is 8.5 months old and i never got around to taking his cute little "monthly" pics with the stickers :( i usually wait until i can get those pics before updating my blog but since half the month has already come and gone, decided to just use his park pictures as his 8-month pics. and ugh, i've been doing such a poor job, too, of keeping track of his monthly progress so i'm writing this completely from memory.

- 22 lbs 6 oz, 28"

- Still EBF, eats about 4-5 times per day. Each session only lasts 5-10 mins, it's amazing how quickly he can eat!

- Luke has 2 teeth now, both lower central incisors, and looks super cute when he smiles (though you have to be taking a pic overhead to get them in the shot).

- He's a great eater, my little boy. He eats 3x's/day, about 2-3 oz per meal. He tries a lot of new foods, I basically go off the suggestions found on wholesomebabyfood's website here. He does really well with his pincher grasp and picking up banana bites, cheerios, toast, etc.

- Luke still isn't much of a talker, just yesterday (5/13) he started babbling, "ba ba ba ba," and we got all excited, lol, just goes to show how rare it truly is. He is a screamer, however. He loves to scream like a dinosaur when he's excited and/or frustrated. It's still the cutest thing.

- He just started rocking on his hands and knees within the past few days. Still not crawling but can get around on his belly in no time.

- He somewhat understands the word "No," and will pull back when he hears it. It's probably more of the firm tone in our voice that he's picking up on but it works nonetheless (well, not when he's trying to get into my purse of course, then he's got tunnel vision).

- He loves standing! LOVES it! whenever we put our arms out he reaches for them and pulls himself up to a standing position. He doesn't stand on his own yet, but i'm sure that will come soon enough

- Luke recently discovered how to look around objects to see behind them, again, the cutest thing ever! So now when we play hide-and-seek, he's looking for us when we hide, lol.

- Luke is super curious. Super super curious. He loves looking around and can't eat in new environments because he's just too distracted, taking in the new surrounding.

- Both tear ducts are official clear as of 7.5 months! his right eye was a stubborn one, but thank God it cleared up on it's own and we don't need to worry about the surgery anymore.

- what else? He's transitioning into size 4 diapers and wears 12-18 months sized clothing.

- He still loves his nightly baths and has been going to bed by 8:30-9pm. Since his teeth came in he's had more disruptive sleep patterns and will sometimes wake 1-2 times/night. We're doing better about not jumping out of bed to tend to him, allowing him time to work it out on his own, sometimes he just wants to nurse back to sleep and I'm good with that.

Here are some pics from yesterday, taken with my new Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (have i mentioned that i LOVE this lens?!).

iron deficiency anemia

that's what his pediatrician called me yesterday to tell me luke has :( luke went in for allergy testing last week (we thought he may be allergic to cats as he always comes back with little red rashy spots on his face after an afternoon at his grandmas - she has 2 cats) and while they found him to be free and clear of all allergies... he tested low in iron!

my baby boy has an iron deficiency!! fail as a mother! of course it's all my fault, right? because i made the choice to EBF, because i make all his food, because i don't give him commercial iron-fortified cereal.. because instead of said iron-fortified cereal, his first solids were avocado and butternut squash. IT'S ALL MY FAULT! that's exactly how i felt at 10pm last night, crazily researching the causes and long-term effects of IDA while sobbing because IT'S ALL MY FAULT! between sobs telling dh not to tell his sister because she would say, "see, i told you you should've started him with cereal!" big.fAt.FAIL! that's how i feel.

i talked to his pedi today, he helped relieve some of the guilt; homemade cereal is perfectly healthy but i should increase his solids intake from 2 to 3 times per day and make sure to include lots of iron-rich food like chicken, beef, and green veggies. i'm also adding wheat germ to 2 of his meals, he seems to love his food just fine (thank God!!). oh, and the pedi prescribed an iron supplement, because luke just LOVES taking supplements (insert sarcasm)! so great, twice per day, now, i have to fight with him to take his vitamins and iron, ugh. the iron actually makes him gag and spit up, it's horrible. i've tried adding it to food, he just refuses the food. ugh, here's hoping and praying that a month of lots of iron-rich foods increases his hemoglobin level.

here are some of the pics taken at the park last night, trying to get out of the house after a pretty rough day for both mommy and baby. the plan was to take his monthly pics outdoors this month (sure - after i've got my handy dandy seamless setup all ready to go ;) but i completely forgot to bring his 8 month sticker!!!

oh well, there are worse things in life. maybe another photo op will present itself within the next couple of days.

oh, and check out this crazy hair!!! luke has, like, 4" bangs! we desperately need to cut them but wahhhh, i'm in denial!

he's on to us... he knows to turn away when he sees the dropper

and then he promptly spit it out.. nasty iron!!

ahhh! all better!

my attempt at b&w conversion... still learning and struggling!

7 month update

**let me start by apologizing for the very boring and repetitive closet doors in the background. luke's nursery is the only room in the house that gets any decent amount of sunlight so we end up there every month. i've looked into setting up some sort of backdrop but am limited due to the room size so... this is it, the awesome closet doors**

gosh it seems like these weeks are just flying by!! luke is almost 7.5 months old and i'm barely updating on what he's been up to. the past week we've been dealing with a semi-sick baby boy, doing all we can to keep him from getting worse. we put his mattress at an incline, have his humidifier running 24/7, vick's him up on his chest, back and feet every night (boo to the doctor who says this doesn't work), and just give him all the love, cuddles, and kisses that he can stand.

here's what luke's been up to the past month:

* 21 lbs 8 oz, 28"

*first cold at 7 months 3 days old

* cries when he something he has (that he shouldn't) gets taken away, like a bag of chips, lol.

* eats solids twice a day now, breakfast and dinner. has oatmeal and applesauce for breakfast (1-1.5 oz) and a veggie at dinner (1+ oz)

* still ebf, nurses 6 times/day

* transitioning from 4 to 3 naps/day (usually a 1-2 hr nap in the a.m., 1-hr nap at noon, and a 2-hr nap in the late afternoon

* bedtime is about 9 p.m.

* right eye tear duct is still clogged :(

* his hair (that fell out at about 4 months) is finally starting to grow back

* occasionally sleeps on tummy (but wakes up grouchy when he does!)

* still loves, loves, loves playing in the bath.

* favorite toys are: sophie, book teether, fisher-price musical/read along book, plastic bath book, taggies book (maybe we have a reader on our hands ;)

* LOVES having his ears swabbed

* on another bottle/sippy cup strike. he just flings it off his highchair now. ugh! all those hours of (painful) pumping usually end up down the drain because he refuses to eat out of anything but me!!

* and my personal fave... growls like a baby dinosaur!!!

i just love this age, he's so interactive and aware of everything around him. he's barely starting to show emotion when he doesn't get what he wants. he still never really cries, more fusses when i try to nosefrida his nose, lol, or we take away something he's managed to get ahold of that's not baby safe. once we gave him a bag of chips because we were picnicking at the park and dummy mommy forgot some toys!! see pic below, he was a good little model until we took the bag away.

here are some pics of how big my baby boy is at 7 months old :(

mommy playing with her new macro lens :)

look at all my hair!!!

Happy 7-month Birthday, Luke!

i'll update with more when i have a few minutes, but here's a pic of my little 7-month old baby boy taken a couple days ago. i never imagined how much love my heart would hold for such a small little boy...

Luke's 6 month session

with mommarazzi! every month i grab my poor little boy and play photographer with him. here are a few shots from this month's session :)