Mr. Sensitive

My little Logan is such a little sweetie.

He is happiest when someone is giving their total and complete attention to him. He prefers to be held instead of sat in a bouncy seat, thank you very much. He wants lots of smiles and in return he will give you some of the best little grins and giggles ever.

Logan has started cooing and laughing. How cute!! Sometimes he just has a lot to say and he will just coo and gurgle and bubble and coo as long as you look at him. When people walk up to take a peak at him he always rewards them with his million dollar toothless smile.

If Alexis, or any other baby for that reason, starts to cry or get upset - he will sympathy cry. He just feels so bad that they are sad he will join in.

Logan is also the total Mama's Boy. He will cry and fuss when other people are holding him and he will stop the minute that I pick him up. He has a very different personality than Alexis or Katya. The girls were very independant from early on. Don't bug me, I'm busy rolling over or exploring. It has been challenging at times because I really do have other things to do than just hold him all day. I do have to make sure that I block out time to just sit and hold him during the day and talk to him. The only problem is that he gets so happy and content that he falls asleep. If I put him down, he will wake up and cry like I broke his little heart because I didn't want to hold him anymore.

I knew that each of my kids would be different - it is just a lot of fun getting to know their personalities.

Katya's Last Track Meet

Yesterday was Katya's last regular track meet of the season.

The weather couldn't have been more different than last week. It was HOT (in the low 80's), sunny and blue skies. Alexis was with Ginger again so I just had Logan with me. We had a hard time staying cool and out of the sun for the five hours that we were there.

Katya was still running injured, but she gave it her best. She opted out of high jump again to concentrate on the 110 low hurdles, 200 and 800 relay. Katya came in 3rd in hurdles, 2nd in her heat for the 200 and first for the 800 relay. Her relay team has been so strong that they will be going to the District meet next week in Redmond to compete. Katya will find out tomorrow if she qualified for any other events.

I had made some rice krispy squares for the kids on her team, but it was too hot for anyone to want to eat them. It has to be hot for kids to turn THOSE down.

I was really bummed with my ability to take pictures. The sun was really intense so a lot of my pictures turned out looking almost white. And my camera had just enough of a delay during key races that the picture that I wanted was long since past and I got Katya's foot. Some days are just better than other with camera karma. I did manage to take a video of her running the 200, but the first couple of seconds were aimed at the trees while I was trying to find her. It is hard to keep that camera level with it zoomed out so far.

We went to the doctor today about Katya's knees and ankles and she thinks that Katya is overusing them. She will be seeing a podiatrist and going to some physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around her ankles and knees. Hopefully those things will help for the long haul. Luckily, Katya's lacrosse practice was cancelled for tonight so she is able to kick back and relax a little. This is a really good thing since she has a lacrosse game tomorrow night.

Well, her last track meet will be next Thursday. I guess if she places well in any of the events at the District meet the next place to go is the State meet. Wish her luck!

Shuffle Mode

I do a LOT of walking. I walk four to five days a week for at least 45 minutes (a little over 3 miles minimum) in the grand hopes that some day my baby fat will eventually melt away. I have found that I actually can take advantage of some morning time after I feed Logan and before Bob and Alexis wake up. Walking the same routes every day can get pretty dull, so I hook myself up to my little IPod that Bob gave me for Christmas a couple years ago and go on my way.

While walking this morning, I noticed a theme with my IPod. Even in it's shuffle mode, I get certain genres of music primarily played each day. Now, I have some really eclectic taste in music. I like rock, pop, hip hop, some stuff that is considered rap, alternative, 70's, 80's... the list goes on. So, of course, my IPod music reflects that. But, it doesn't seem to stop the IPod from playing certain artists on certain days.

Today was primarily Beyonce and Destiny's Child. I must have heard at least 10 songs that were Beyonce related. Her new one with Shakira, some old stuff with Destiny's Child and a couple from her first solo album.

Last Friday was mostly rock. I heard Nine Inch Nails, ZZ Top, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 3 Doors Down, Evanescence, Outcast, Everclear and the like.

One day last week I spent my whole walk hitting the shuffle button because I was wanting music that was more upbeat. All I mostly got for that whole walk was Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Norah Jones, Vanessa Carlton, Enigma, Elliott Smith, The Fray and Dido.

My favorite walking days are ones where the IPod plays a lot of pop and hip hop. I get some speed up when I'm listening to Will Smith asking if I can "Switch", or Gwen Stefani telling me about her "Sweet Escape", or 50 Cent telling me about what it going on "In Da Club". Nelly, Black Eyed Peas, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Pink and Prince (true, not current but one of my favorites) make my walking time just wizz by.

I need to peruse my IStore to see if there are any new songs that I want to put on my IPod in the grand hopes that someday it will feel like playing it.

Katya's 3rd Track Meet

Yesterday was another track meet and let me just say that it was really, really, really cccccooooooooollllllllllllddddddddddddd!!! We were snowed on several times, the wind was just brutally fridgid, and once there was hail. What fun conditions to do a meet in.

Luckily, my most wonderful Aunt Ginger and fantabulous sister in law, Debbie K. babysat the kids for me. Ginger had Logan at her house while Doug was hanging out and visiting. Debbie K. had Alexis at her house. Alexis was totally spoiled! Debbie K. had a small kiddie pool blown up in the living room and had it filled with those play balls you find at McDonald's. She also had an inflatable Elmo toddler bed that Alexis got to play on. The kids had WAY more fun with their aunts than freezing their hiney off at a track meet.

All kinds of parents were out there supporting their kids in this awful weather. People were wearing parkas, covered with blankets, huddling under umbrellas and one woman was wearing a sleeping bag. Hats off to all these parents! Their kids may act like they don't care if they are there, but we all know that they really do care. I think that more parents should be out there supporting their kids and letting them know just how fabulous they are just for trying at these events. But that is just me and my personal push for the parenting world at large.

Back to the meet. Well, Katya did three running events and although she was scheduled to do the high jump - she opted to scratch since she was really not in the mood. Unfortunately, Katya has been suffering from some sore knees and ankles for the past couple of weeks. She had one really bad ankle during the meet and I know that the fridgid temps didn't help it out at all. She has been going through a lot of Icy Hot and we have a doctor's appointment scheduled for next week to see if she maybe needs orthotics.

Katya ran the 110 low hurdles and since she wasn't feeling 100% she placed 5th overall.

In the 200, Katya placed 2nd overall.

For the 800 relay, Katya and her team placed 2nd overall.

Totally stellar performance! Especially considering she was running injured.

Rock on girlfriend!

What Mother's Should Be Paid

Ok, I was looking at my My Yahoo homepage this morning and a news article caught my eye. It was titled "A Stay-At-Home Mother's Work Worth $138,095 a Year". Of course I had to read it.

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.

This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.

The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.

A mother who holds full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85,939 for the work she does at home.

Last year she would have earned $85,876 for her at-home work, it said.

Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home."

Not too shabby, huh? Go MOMS!!!

Katya's First Lacrosse Game

Last night was Katya's first Lacrosse game of the season.

For those of you that don't know what lacrosse is ( I didn't know until last year), I'll give you a brief explaination. It is played kind of like soccer with a goal on each end of the field. There is a small heavy ball that is passed from player to player and they try to get it into the other teams goal. However, the ball must be passed at least two times before a goal attempt can be made. Each player passes the ball with a stick that has a small net attached to the end of it. If the other team has the ball you are allowed to hit their stick with your stick to bounce it out (hence some really gnarly padded gloves that they are required to wear) and you are also allowed to use your body to push the other team out of the way. Required equipment is a full face helmet, padded gloves and the lacrosse stick.

At the game last night, some of the players on the other team got a bit overzealous in the body checking and one person started hitting another person in the chest and on his back with his stick. The game was stopped twice to go over rules and then people started going to the "box" until the other players started to mellow out. The first two minutes into the game Katya fell and twisted her knee so she was out for the first half of the game. She felt better after letting it mellow for a while so she went in and played the second half.

Oh yeah, she is only one of three girls on her team. I don't think the other team even had a girl on it.

Katya was hanging by the opponents goal to try and help the ball in. She wasn't up for too much running so she played very safe. However, this didn't stop her from scoring the tying goal! I was filming some of the game on my camera and the memory card was full 60 seconds before she got the ball in. I am not kidding! You can check out what I did catch on You Tube.

I'm buying a new memory card before next weeks game. Heck, there is a track meet tomorrow so I should do it before then too. I guess I'm going to Costco.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

Today is my parent's 25th wedding anniversary.

It is hard to believe that they have been married that long. I remember the day that I first met my Dad. It is too bad that I was so mean to him for so many years. He didn't deserve it. The fact that he stuck it out with my mom (and me by default) is amazing. I have learned a lot by watching my parents relationship over the years. I am much more aware of what is truely important, when you should give and when you should take, when to put your foot down and when to just roll with it and what it really means to "be there" for your spouse through good times and bad.

To mark the occasion, they are going on a cruise with their friends from Barcelona to Istanbul in August. What an amazing trip that will be!

So.... Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!