The frog

When Logan was little, we used to call him the frog, because he would sleep on his belly with his legs tucked up to his bottom. Well, now, he can play in the frog! He loved the spraying water.





When the spray didn't spray inside the pool, we tried the pool on the grass, thinking maybe that the slight pull of Logan's weight on the bottom would make the spray go inside the pool. No such luck, but Logan enjoyed climbing out of the pool and playing both with the hose and in the pool at the same time. Check out this video:

I hate sleeves!

So, the other day at breakfast, Logan decided that he did not like his sleeves. Well, okay, just one sleeve. Apparently, it was keeping him from properly flopping all over his high chair. So I helped him take is arm out...through the head hole...

Watch out puppies!

Logan has finally figured out the doggie door. Not that he's gone through it yet, but he'll open it and put his head through. This was actually the first time he's played with the doggie door, so apparently, he's a fast learner.

Of course, he wasn't so excited when Zoe almost ran him over on her way in. Watch out Bug and Zoe!

Six Flachman Males...

They survived the weekend! Mikell and Shane that is...

The Flachman Daddies were taking care of the Flachman boys this past weekend. Talk about a testosterone filled house - SIX guys. The poor little girl puppies that had to deal with it...

Apparently, they had a great time. And Logan loved hanging out with his big cousins. It sounds like they were helper bees for Uncle Shane. Ethan and Nathan fed Logan (and you have to stick out your tongue to feed the baby). Jayden played peek-a-boo with him, and all three of them pushed the stroller in Cabella's.

Daddy and Uncle Mike helped introduce Logan to new foods. Shane gave Logan a yummy lemon. Notice the look on Logan's face. Shane said Logan would take a bite of the lemon, make a face and shiver, take it out of his mouth, then put it back in. Uncle Mike gave Logan the pickle off his plate. That was tasty as well!

When the boys got home, Logan went for a ride in the swing in the backyard. He had a great time! I love this video.

Jenn and I had a great time at Women of Faith. Anita Renfroe was hilarious, Nicole C Mullen was amazing (and ripped, if I may add), and all the speakers were interesting. It was also a great time just hanging out with the girls. Of course, we got like ZERO sleep, but whatever.

Check out this picture of Logan on the plane - you can see his top teeth coming in!

WOOHOO!

CONGRATULATIONS MISTY MAY AND KERI WALSH!

Beach volleyball was awesome! Wow...they're so amazing. I can't believe they can move that fast on sand. Wow.

Good luck Rogers and Dalhauser!

Two golds in beach would be so cool!

Playing around

Logan likes to play - with Daddy, with Bug (though he tends to growl and walk off), with his toys. He has also learned how to "play" with his bedroom door. He now knows how to close it (he can even latch it), but can't figure out how to open it. So he'll sit right next to the door and scream because I'm on the other side of it. I end up having to push him with the door so I can get in. Poor little guy!

This weekend, we're all going up to Dallas to see the Big Flachman family. Aunt Jenn and I are going to Women of Faith and all of the boys (yes, all 6 of them) are going to be on their own. I hope I remember to take "before" and "after" pictures! I'm sure they'll have a blast... hopefully, just figuratively speaking...

Look at my teeth!

Check out Logan's teeth! This is a pretty good shot of them (total fluke). They came in mid-June, but man, they are sure sharp - especially when they bite into knuckles!

Goin' boatin' with Big Shane

The past two days we've spent a bunch of time on the boat. Yesterday, we took 4 boy scouts out. Two of them actually completed their merit badge (yay!). We were out and about for 5 hours. Good times!

Today, we took Shane's Little Brother, William, out. Yay for him, he actually got up on the wakeboard! And I have the pictures to prove it! Big congratulations, William! What a way to start your freshman year!

While we were out there, we ran into Shane's friends from work, Fred and Gary, who were out on Fred's wakeboarding boat. To say that we ran into them makes it sound like a crazy coincidence, but we knew they were going out, and they were the only other boat on the bayou today. But I actually got to wakeboard behind Fred's boat, dog-gone (Fred-speak). It was awesome. You get air just going over the wake. Sweet! Except for the whole falling down thing, not so sweet.

Both Big Shane and Big Fred (again, Fred-speak) went out on the wakeskate. This is a wakeboard-sized board that has only grippy tape on the top (no bindings). So you stand on it like a skateboard once you get up. Yeah, they both got up, first time. Showboats. They're both naturals though. Sort of sickening.

I tried for an hour on the wakeskate and couldn't get up. I'm super sore now! Notice the beautiful blood blister I got from having the rope yanked out of my hands!

All in all, it was a beautiful day (cue the U2 song).

Whatever it takes to get it down...

Apparently, we have not been teaching our family good table etiquette. Please take note below of my dog who loves to eat lying down. She has also been known to eat sitting up, but lying down is her favorite. Perhaps it makes the food taste better?

Now, here is a short video of my sweet, bouncy Logan (please note, the bruises on his face are not because we are bad parents, but because Logan stands up on everything he can hold on to, including, but not limited to, dogs, suitcases, books, tables, legs - with or without hair, entertainment centers, water bowls, boat seats. This standing up has resulted in falling down... sometimes on tile, sometimes on sharp edges - note, Phil and Hope's house is not babyproofed).

Anywho, I digress. This is a video of Logan bouncing up and down in his chair. Try putting rice cereal and fruit puree in this mouth as it bounces! This is not a feat for the faint of heart! But perhaps this makes the food go down easier (or come up easier?). You be the judge.

Visiting the crazy relations

Okay, so I'm a little behind the times, but last week, Renee, Logan, and I made the trek up to Ft. Worth for the family crop. There is seriously, NEVER a dull moment with Renee. Gotta love her! It is so much fun driving with her (plus she keeps me awake, keeps me from hitting big 18-wheelers, and uses her short legs to get into the back and take care of Logan). I so look forward to these weekends to catch up. Seriously, she's a hoot and a holler, and a complete blast to be around.

Here's Nae and Logan. Yes, they both have red hair. I promise, he's mine.


This is Logan with Faith (l) and Erica (r), Renee's girls. Erica wanted to "practice" babysitting Logan. What a super helper!


Anyway, the crop was fabulous as always. Aunt Julie and Uncle Dale are truly blessed with the gift of hospitality. Long nights of catching up with cousins, scrapbooking, and watching the Olympics were had. Super fun! I got up to July 4 on Logan's book, so I'm super stoked about that. Yeah, I've almost completed a book, and he's only 7 months old! Better stop taking pictures (yeah, right!).

Here's the crazy gang: (left side from top) Becky Beckham, me, Renee Houck, Julie Stoneciper (right side from top) Jennifer Stonecipher, Cheryl Stonecipher, Rosie Callicott. Nutcases, all of them.


I am really looking forward to the next Fabulous Female Crop next August!! (And I think Shane will be looking forward to it by then as well!)

Logan and I at the end of the trip. We were both a little pooped!

Daddy and Logan

Shane and Logan are so similar. Check this out...

They both LOVE the dishwasher (Logan 7 months, Shane 11 months):

And they just really do look alike! (Shane 6 months, Logan 7 months)

Girls Weekend!

Mary and Jamie came down to Arkansas on Saturday, August 2. And it started out a hilarious weekend. Jamie somehow made it on an earlier flight out of Midway, and called me when she landed in Little Rock to tell me she was an hour early. "No worries, we're almost to the airport to pick Mary up." "Okay, see you in a bit, Karen." Then a voice from in front of Jamie says, "NO WAY!" Mary had been sitting in front of Jamie the entire flight!

We had such a great time of hanging out and catching up after a year. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to linger over coffee in the morning (remember, my sweet husband works midnights and doesn't drink coffee). We sat around and talked for at least an hour each morning. How relaxing!

Jamie and Mary also enjoyed Logan. And of course, he loved them (Held whenever I want? Check. People who will hold my hands while I walk? Check. Good lookin' chicks that dig me? Check.).

Mary cracked me up though..."How many internists does it take to change a baby?" I guess that answer would be one. Logan's one mom, on the other hand, had some issues changing him. Let's see - three outfits in 2 hours. I think he teeteed on himself just to spite me...

On Monday, we had a girls day out. We went down to Hot Springs and had a bath. No, not the first one all year, but close! We had 1pm reservations at the Arlington for baths. So wonderful! We stripped down to nothing and put on a white towel. Then we each got our own bath-room that had a deep bath filled with water from the hot springs and what looked like an outboard boat engine. But really, that's just what made the whirlpool. Even Mary got into the tub in front of her personal attendant, Miss Glenda.

After a twenty minute soak, Mary and I put out white towels back on and went into the aromatherapy filled steam room. So nice! Jamie, on the other hand, was so red from the bath, she was almost purple and was lying on the vinyl bench/beds in the middle of the room. As I walked to the steam room, I asked if she was okay, but got no response. I assumed she was completely relaxed, but afterwards found out that she was channeling all her energy to cooling down!

The steam bath was followed by being wrapped in hot towels as we laid on the benches. Hot towels were put on our backs, our stomachs, around our arms, and around our legs. To balance out all this heat, an ice cold towel was put on our faces. Talk about a strangely satisfying contrast!

When the hot towels were taken off, our attendants took our white towels from us and wrapped us up in king sized bed sheets. At least that's what it felt like. A different sensation than the towels. Our whole package was supposed to be 1 hour long, but they allowed us to linger with the hot towels and in the cooling room. We didn't leave until 2:45, when we were supposed to be out by 2pm! Here we are in all our glory - like old ladies, rocking in our rocking chairs, chatting away.

What a sweet time we had! I'm so looking forward to next year!

Visiting Gram and Bapa

This past week, Daddy Shane was nice enough to let Logan and I go up to see Gram and Bapa in Hot Springs Village. Of course, Shane slept a whole lot better with us gone, and got some of his quick house projects done. But he did complain of it being lonely...we missed him too!

Anyway - Logan and I went up to Little Rock on July 30. Gram and Bapa were there to meet us. From there we went to Krispy Kreme (hot donuts!), Corky's BBQ (a transplant from Memphis - and so yum!), and WalMart (you have to make a pilgrimage when you're in AR - it is the birthplace of WalMart after all).

Gram had had surgery on Tuesday, so she couldn't pick up Logan that much, but that was okay with Bapa. He loved getting to hold Logan and play with him in "Toy Central". Logan, who loves music, got to play the guitar! Okay, so he wasn't all that good, but you have to start somewhere. Someday, maybe he'll be as good as Bapa and Uncle Doug.

Logan was pulling up on everything in sight: the back of the ratan loveseat, the covered teabox, the dog... he even got pretty good at navigating between objects that were close enough together. Gram said, "watch out, he'll be walking really soon!".

While we were there, I got to go running with Bapa on the golf course behind their house. Yeah, 9 holes were just enough for me. And being a treadmill runner, the hills were a bear. But Dad was nice enough to take it slow with me, although the first day, Sam decided to run the holes with us. That was nice, because then the going slow was not my fault! Heehee. Sam was not feeling well after the run (would you if you were a 10 year old dog with a heavy fur coat?), but I think he was pretty proud of himself. Anyway, the second time I ran with Dad, we did the 4 miles in 39 minutes! Personal best for me...personal worst for Dad. Oh well... I guess that I'm the albatross around the neck (The Ancient Mariner).