TJ and Melissa

Rough Week

As you may have heard, we took Logan to the ER last Wednesday with a fever of 104.4 .  He didn't cry, he didn't throw a tantrum.  He just whimpered in the most pathetic puppy dog way and snuggled into my neck.  We rushed him there and they did a chest x-ray and gave him a catheter to take a urine sample.  Needless to say, I think everyone was shook up over it all.  We were in the ER until 3:30am and TJ had to go to work the next day.  I got off to take Logan to the pediatrician for further examination.  An ear infection.  Poor little guy.  It's still bothering him today.  Honestly, I think the other ear joined in and got infected a day or so after the first one.  He's pulling on both sides and spontaneously screaming from what I can only assume is the pain.  Ear infections have to be one of the most painful everyday illnesses you can get.  Logan wants held a lot and he's been sleeping a lot.  Can't blame him.  He's on a cocktail of baby motrin and baby tylenol every 4 hours along with amoxicillian in the morning and at bedtime.  He's a trooper and takes his medicines pretty well.  Yesterday he actually wanted to try his apple juice again.   Its the first time in a week.  I think things are on the mend. 

Logan is officially 7 months old this week.  He is also making great progress in crawling FORWARDS.  I know, I know.  It chokes me up to. When Logan gets tired of trying to crawl forward, he now barrel rolls to where he wants to go.  Sometimes almost off the edge of the bed.  We haven't had a "man over-board" incident yet, thank God.  We're watching him much more closely now that he is getting more and more mobile. Logan can pull himself up to a stand on almost any solid piece of furniture and he "walks" with the aid of our fingers.  He holds onto our pointer fingers and he stumbles down the hall and looks for the cats.  He loves the cats.  Especially Charlie because Charlie doesn't let him "pet" him or hug him like Oscar and Cody do.  Oscar and Logan are inseparable.  They sit together, sleep together, play with each other and talk to each other.  It is so cute.  We'll have to get video of that.  Speaking of videos, we've been REALLY REALLY busy lately.  Honestly, we have about 5 videos on the camera that need to be uploaded and formated to be put on the internet.  We're working on it.  I promise.  And I swear that by the holiday weekend, we'll have at least one up on our site.  Scouts honor. 

In other news, we have an update on our application to the jobs at West Point.  We didn't get them.  We won't be coming home this summer at all.  We are going to stay in Korea as planned and leave here in May 2009 and go to Virginia.  I'm still going to get out of the Army in October 2009 and apply for civilian government positions.  For those of you who are all, "Wha'? You were going to come home this summer? Huh??" Yeah, we were being a little sneaky and were going to drop by home for a week if we got to go to New York for a job interview.  But, we aren't now.  So...sorry.  No, there is no chance that we'll get this job.  No, there is no chance that we'll come home anyway.  Look for the Staudacher family tour to come around your neck of the woods in the summer of 2009.  Yes, we are disappointed.  No, you can't go beat anyone up.  Thanks for offering, though. 

So! Yes! We have rooms open for people to travel here within the next year for a visit.  Logan is getting bigger and bigger and funner and funner (is funner a word?) every day.  I think Tim and Jeri have formally submitted permission slips to reserve a room for a bit around Christmas.  So, talk amongst yourselves and we'll be happy to accommodate any requests you may have, should we be able to.  Of course, we need to talk all requests over with the head honcho, Logan Ryan, before anything can be formally confirmed or approved.

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my first Mother's Day, officially.  (I was pregnant last Mother's Day.)  We stayed home and I got a bouquet of roses from my boys.  Logan was feeling a bit icky, so we snuggled and took naps together most of the day, while TJ had to work from 3:00pm and didn't get home until 9:30pm. 

Being a mom is the greatest thing I've ever done.  People always told me that having a baby changes you.  They were right.  I've never loved anyone or anything more fiercely then I do that little boy.  He is my heart, walking around outside of my body.  No matter how crumby or bad I feel, a little smile from him changes everything.  I love his open mouth kisses on my cheek and his big bear hugs.  He hugs so hard that he leaves marks on the backs of my arms where his hands have dug into my skin.  (Darn those sharp little fingernails!) I love how he belly laughs when it's time to feed him.  It melts my heart when I come home and he sees me, smiles the biggest smile, starts bouncing up and down in Thess' arms and reaches for me.  Logan is vibrant, energetic, cuddly, sweet, smart, gregarious, curious, beautiful and all mine. 

Thank you.  Thank you, Mom for all you did for me growing up.  Being "Mom" is a thankless job most of the time and you don't get the credit you deserve.  The late nights, the early mornings.  The hugs and kisses to calm the upset child.  The gentle (and not so gentle) guidance you gave and continue to give. All that and more, yet all you ask for is a phone call or an email to say we're okay.  You did a great job.  And now you get to be "grandma" and start a whole new chapter of your identity as "mom".   All I ask is that you look into your heart, find some kindness in there, and please don't buy me the loudest and most annoying toy on the shelf to give to Logan.  Thanks.

6 Months

Yesterday Logan had his 6 month Well Baby visit at the pediatrician.  He did really well.  TJ had to work, so I went it alone.  Logan was 18.6 lbs, 27.2" tall, and had a head circumfrance of 17somthing.  Basically, that means he's in the 75 percentile for height and weight and still in the 25 percentile for head size.  Big boy, little peanut head.  I guess I'd rather that then to have him look like Stewie from Family Guy. (BIG head, little body.)  The doctor said his ezcema is much improved from the last time we brought him in and to continue with whatever we're doing to keep it at bay.  It has spread to more of his body, but it is not as inflamed as it was.  Yea! We're doing something right!  The doctor also said that he was an "easy baby" and a lot of that has to do with how we are parenting, and to keep of the good work.  He was all smiles and laughs for her, so I think that had something to do with it.  She said he needs to sleep more during the day, but at this point, Logan seems more interested in the world around him and not taking a nap.  He's very curious and anxious to see what's going on.  He loves people watching and figuring out new things.  When we hold him, he lurches out trying to jump to stuff and is always reaching and grabbing things to see how they work.  He laughes easily and very often.  Peek-a-boo is a fan favorite this week.   The bathtub is handsdown his favorite place to be right now.  It doesn't matter what mood he is in, he loves to splash and play with his rubber ducks.  I take a bath with him sometimes which allows him to do more and play more on a large scale then if he were in his little baby tub.  A trick he started to do in the tub was to take one toy and put it in his mouth so that his hands are free to grab more toys.  It is hilarious.  He has now started to do that outside the bathtub as well.  I think he did it in the tub because the toys float away so easily and it takes him a minute to wrangle them all up.  Smart cookie, that one.   (Sorry, the camara fogged up in the bathroom.   Picture is a little hazy.)

TJ and the Band are still on track to go to China at the end of the month.  The Visas to China were being purchased this week and all the Official Passports are in.  Everyday the Band rehearses their show for a few hours.  It should be a good one!   I'm so jealous that I can't go.  Oh, well.  It's best for Logan and that's what really matters to me right now.  The weather here is finally turning to spring.  The cherry blossoms bloomed over the weekend and the temps are in the 70s during the day.  Yellow dust is picking up again, making it a little hard to enjoy the nice weather.  Thess takes Logan for walks almost everyday and sometimes at night when we get home, we'll take Logan out again down to the bakery or over to the park to watch the other little kids run around.  He loves to watch all the kids playing at the park and he especially hams it up for all the Korean ladies who  come over to coo and cluck at him.  They all love him so much.  The girls at the bakery know him and come out from behind the counter to play with him.  They all exclaim, "Ae-ghee Eeepp-oh-dah!!" (Baby beautiful!) After a minute or two of that he gets overwhelmed and the big bottom lip comes out and we have to say good bye, but overall, we're working hard to get him through the stranger=tears phase as fast as possible. 

I'll write more later this week.  We love you!

1-2-3...Jumperooooooooo!!!!

4 APR THE JUMPEROO!!! from Melissa Staudacher on Vimeo. Here is a video TJ shot of Logan in his Jumperooo.  While it doesn't show you Logan at his most manic in the Jumperoo, it shows you him having a good time with TJ.  He will wait for TJ to do a count down, then he'll jump.  Very cute.  Anyway, enjoy!

April Showers

We're into the first week of April.  Logan is growing like a weed.  The weather here is trying it's best to warm up, but the cold rainy stuff keeps coming back.  We found out this past week that TJ will be going to Shanghai and I will not.  He'll be there the last week of this month. 

Logan has his 6 month Well Baby appointment on 15 April.  He's outgrown almost all of his 3-6 month old clothes and is into his 6 month old clothes.  Big boy!  He sits up on his own, pulls himself up to stand, rolls in both directions, scoots backwards, did a mini crawl forward the other day and is slowly going into the world of solid food eating.  So far, he will eat rice cereal during the day with Thess, and we try some fruits and veggies at night.  He likes apple sauce and green peas.  Bananas make his gag.  Logan does not, at all, like bananas.  It isn't the texture I'm pretty sure, I think it is the taste.  Thess takes Logan out for walks every day that it is nice outside.  He loves to watch the kids play at the park when they get out from school at about 4pm.  We got him a new umbrella stroller which he really likes riding around in. This past week or so, Logan has gotten really good at mimicking the noises and speech patterns of me and TJ.  If we say, "I love you!" He responds with a sing songy, "Aaaiiiioooooofffffuuuuuu."  We know he doesn't know what he is saying, but it is cute anyway.  We say hi, he'll say aaaiii!!!

Last week we had friends stay with us.  Brad is a trombonist stationed with us and his wife, Jen, lives back in the United States with their son, Emory, who was born 3 days after Logan.  Jen and Emory flew to Seoul to see Brad for a couple weeks.  Emory is on the small side, and Logan is on the large side of average for their age.  It was fun watching do things with each other and also noting the differences in two boys so close in age.  Emory slept in Logan's crib since Logan still sleeps in our room.  It worked out well.  Neither boy really ever cried, so we didn't have epidemics of crying babies in our house.  We went on lots of sight seeing outing with Jen and Emory.  Almost every where we went we were asked if the boys were twins.  Koreans love babies, especially American babies, and to see TWO, well they were bonkers.  The boys just ate up the attention. 

This Monday we FINALLY got our video camera in the mail.  I've attached the video to this post.  Let me know if you can't see it.  Yes, that is Logan who says hi in the video, not me.  Ha ha.  You'll see what I'm talking about.  Please send us requests for what you would like to see videos of and we'll do our best to get Logan to comply. 

First Video from Melissa Staudacher on Vimeo.

Two-fer

Since my last post, quite a bit has gone on around our house.  Most importantly, Logan has officially gotten his first two teeth.  The middle two bottom teeth came in at the same time last weekend.  He likes to show them off, but the second the camera comes around, he clamps his little chompers shut and won't let us document it.  So you'll have to take my word for it.  Seriously, they are the cutest two teeth you have ever seen. 

Logan has also began trying to crawl.  He gets up on all four and lunges face first into the floor.  Then he pulls his front arms out and somehow scoots backwards.  This greatly pisses him off.  He can scoot backwards all day.  But forwards is something he's got to work out between his legs and arms.  He pushes instead of pulls with his arms and his legs are totally lost in the sauce.  Coordination is lacking.  But he does get all the way up and can go from sitting to all four in one fluid motion with some forward propulsion, but then face plants and heads in the wrong direction. 

Thursday last week I went to see Harry Connick Jr. in concert with a couple friends.  This is pretty much the first time I got to go out, at night, by myself since Logan was born.  When TJ got home, Logan looked around all over the house for me and was cool with TJ after he realized that mommy wasn't there.  TJ says that Logan acts differently when it's just him versus when Logan knows I'm in another room and all he has to do is crank a little for mommy and she appears.  It's come to the point that TJ is acknowledging that Logan is a Momma's Boy. For now.  Just wait until he wants to run and play and do hyper boy stuff, then he'll be all about Daddy.

TJ was out of town this past weekend as well.  Logan does not like this.  His playmate is gone.  When TJ comes home, Logan looks at him like, "Where the heck have you been!" I'm getting much better at managing home life with just me and Logan.  I don't panic about doing everyday things like grocery shopping or cleaning like I used to.  In fact, this weekend, Logan and I went and picked up our friend Brad's wife, Jennifer and their son, Emory from the airport.  Emory was born 3 days after Logan.  But Logan outweighs Emory by about 3 lbs.  Logan is in the 90 percentile and Emory is in the 25 percentile. What a difference.  So, we had three adults and two car seats in the car.  Plus we got stuck in traffic for over an hour, making our 45 minute drive home from the airport into an over 2 hour event.  Two crying babies, and a tired mommy made for a long car ride.  When we got Jennifer, Brad and Emory to Brad's place on Post, we noticed that Emory was unusually hot.  So we took his temperature.  He had a fever of 101.5, so we took him to the ER.  I left Logan with Brad's roommates and drove the family to the hospital where they took Emory's temperature again and it read 102.6.  Poor little guy.  They had to give him a catheter, two IVs, draw blood and much more.  I went back and forth from the hospital to Brad's house to get things like bottle nipples, changes of clothes etc.  I ended up bringing Logan back to the hospital with me at one point because he was hungry and tired.  Then, I drove me, Jennifer and Logan back to Brad's house, let Jennifer and Logan sleep, and I waited for a call from Brad to let me know when Emory and he were ready to be picked up from the hospital.  What turned into a day that should have gotten me and Logan back home at about 3pm, turned into a long day that got us home at 11:30 pm.  Logan did GREAT.  He is such a smiley, happy, easy going kid.  He didn't mind staying with Brad's roommates, who all work with me and TJ.  He didn't really care about going in the car multiple times, and he didn't really fuss much about not being on his schedule.  The next day, however, he slept A LOT.  He was wore out.  Sunday afternoon, TJ got home from being out of town since Friday morning and he helped out around the house.  We both had Monday off, and got to play with Logan and hang out as a family at home.  It was nice after having such an eventful weekend.  Brad, Jen, and Emory are going to move into our place for a week and a half at the end of this week, spending Easter on with us until she flies back to the US at the end of the month.  She wanted to see where Brad lived on post and spend time seeing his day to day life. 

The Band is going to Shanghai at the end of April for 7 days.  We are not going to Beijing for the Olympics in August.  We are doing a mad scramble to get people without passports, passports and TJ and I are trying to figure out a way to get Logan on a feeding schedule that works so I can go to China as well.  We ordered some super duper hypoallergenic formula that Emory uses since he has a very similar problem digesting dairy proteins like Logan.  It should arrive in the mail next week.  Logan has been trying applesauce and doing pretty well.  He spit it up the first time, but the second time, he kept it all down, and wanted more.  We cut him off after a couple teaspoons worth just so that we didn't over load his system.  We're buying some rice cereal today and are going to give that a shot.  We're still waiting on the video camera, but when we get it, we'll get shots of Logan eating on it for you. 

Slow Week

Not much went on this week other then TJ was gone, and has been gone for 11 days.  He gets back this afternoon late, FINALLY!  My time as a single parent has come to an end, and Logan isn't any worse for wear.  I didn't mess up anything terribly and did better then I expected, actually. 

Logan has started to do "the Worm", wriggling backwards when he tries to crawl forward.  It is the funniest thing I've seen yet.  I'll get it on video once that darn camera gets here.  (*twiddling thumbs*) (*glancing at the mailbox*) He gets so frustrated because he's looking in front of him at something that he wants and he tries so hard to get to it, but goes the wrong way in all that effort.  This week he's also found EVERYTHING hilarious.  You make a noise, any noise, and you at least get a big smile if not a laugh.  When I stick my tongue out, he grabs it.  He now pulls my glasses off from my face and sticks them immediately in his mouth.  They are very clean now. 

Really, there isn't much going on, so I hope everyone has been having a good week, and I hope the upcoming weekend is even better. 

Is it summer yet?

What is with all the snow? Crazy lots of snow and so cold here in Korea. 

(<--Logan laughing his butt off at you and the ridiculous amounts of snow piled up at the bottom of your driveway.)

Logan had his four month Well Baby doctor appointment and did quite well.  He weighed 16.6 lbs and was just under 26 inches tall.  His head was still small for his percentile bracket, but the doctor wasn't concerned.  She was impressed with his strength and ability to roll over and stand up.  His eczema still sucks and he can't take any formula either.  She wrote me a doctor's excuse so that I can't be away from him for more then 24 hours because he needs me to eat.  So TJ is in the field right now, and I'm at home being a "single parent".  Thess is there if I need her, so that's helpful. 

Next month, a guy in our unit, Brad, is flying his wife and baby boy over to visit him.  His son was born three days after Logan, so the boys will be hanging out at our house.  We still haven't gotten Logan to do more then nap in his crib, so Brad's boy will sleep in the crib while they are here.  It also saves them from having to pay for a hotel room or staying in Brad's little on post quarters.  We are going to have so much fun with the boys.  I know that Logan is getting more and more fun everyday. 

We bought a camcorder online at Best Buy last weekend and we are expecting it in the mail in the next couple weeks.  I'll post some video clips of Logan ASAP, or as soon as we figure out how to use it and upload the videos etc.  Look out for new! and improved! content.  Super cute baby, coming soon to a blog near you.

BbBbrbBRBRRRrrrrrrrrrrrr

I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but here in Seoul we've had a very cold winter.  It snows maybe once a week and we freeze our tails off on a daily basis.  Even the electronic key entry thing at our outside front door to our apartment building froze the other morning, locking the nanny out.  When TJ marches an outdoor ceremony, his valves freeze leaving him unable to play.  Talk about cold.

TJ and I went to a firing range last Thursday.  I had so much cold weather gear on, that it changed the wear of my flack jacket so much that the way I hold my gun while I shoot changed.  It changed so much that the but of my machine gun slipped off my shoulder every time I fired and my gun recoiled into my nose.  I broke my nose.  It looks like TJ beats me or something.  I have black and blue eyes, a big red scab on my nose and my nose/sinus area is swollen.  Well, it's looking a bit better now, but I still get a bloody nose when I sneeze hard or blow my nose.  The doctor said it would take about 30 days to get better.  Great. I have to really be careful when I put my glasses on because even putting them on too hard hurts. (Yes, aparently you can put your glasses on "too hard.")

Friday TJ got promoted to E-6, Staff Sergeant.  I've never seen anything to do with the Army make him smile that big.  The Chief of Army Bands just happened to be in the country, visiting our unit that day, so the Colonel did the honors of "pinning"  the new rank on TJ.  The colonel asked if I had already spent the pay raise.  I said no, I didn't get a chance because there's a little boy at home and he spent the money on diapers and wipes.  Those things are expensive and he poops like a machine. 

Logan is doing awesome.  He is babbling up a storm trying out new noises and coos everyday.  We've got to get video out for ya'll to see this.  He is hilarious.  He's also learned how to all out laugh.  He giggles and squeels if you tickle his tummy just right.  SO FRICKEN CUTE.  TJ is working on sending out about a gillion pictures that he owes everyone.  Sorry.  We took the pictures, but we are holding the pictures hostage.  Send money for pictures....yeah, that's it.  No, actually, we're just busy trying to make that little guy laugh some more.  He's also sitting up almost all the way on his own, he's rolling over from tummy to back, he is trying to push up onto all fours when he's on his tummy making it seem like crawling is maybe something he's considering.  Not yet, but eventually.  He sucks his left thumb but will happily except any substitute like his other hand, both hands, your hand, his foot, his toys, well...pretty much anything he can grab and shove in that little drooly mouth of his.  Speaking of which, man can that kid drool.

Logan has his 4 month Well Baby check up next Friday, so I'll give you an update on how that goes.  I'm guessing that they'll give us a big thumbs up on everything.  'Cept the eczema.  That isn't doing so well with the super dry cold weather we've been having.  It's not horrible or anything, it just is There. 

Achoo!

We are doing as well as can be expected around our house.  TJ and Logan have a pretty bad head cold.  I took Logan to the pediatrician today to make sure everything was alright.  She said I was doing all the right things and gave me some saline to drip into his nose before I suction it to help loosen up the mucus.  Poor little guy. He's in a good mood despite not being able to breath so well.  He has a pathetic little cough in his sleep and a sneeze that sends boogers flying when he's awake.  Just one more bodily fluid of his that you can add to the list that saturates our clothes on a daily basis.  On the up side, he weighed in at 14.6 lbs and measured 24 1/2 inches tall.  Big Boy.  He's almost officially outgrown all of his 0-3 month old clothes.  We're trying to get our money's worth and finish up the last pack of diapers despite them barely fitting anymore.  They work, but probably not as well as the next size up.  My little baby is becoming more of a little boy everyday!

Our new nanny, Thess, is doing fabulous.  She wonderful with Logan and does a great job around the house.  She is sweet, considerate, friendly, professional and knowledgeable. Two thumbs way up! Logan takes right to her.  Actually, I've never seen him cry around her.  Not that I'm around the two of them all that much, but he cuddles right in when she takes him from me in the morning after I feed him and is either sleeping or playing with her when I come home.  TJ and I really like her and are so grateful for her. 

I got Logan's passport picture taken today and it turned out nice.  Friday TJ and I are going to the US Embassy to file all of the paperwork for Logan, like his passport, birth certificate, visa and only God knows what else.  We've taken all day off to make sure we get everything done.  Hopefully TJ hasn't killed anyone there and I haven't acquired a migraine by the end of the day Friday.