Goodbye, 2011!

Well, there goes 2011 and what a year it was! Logan is now one and Avery is, well, almost a teenager. This was a year of many firsts; fist big family vacation (Aruba), I finished my first year at a new job (Ashley says I travel too much), and it's our first complete year as a family of four. It's been crazy and a lot of work, but well worth it and so much fun.

One year ago, Logan just laid there not doing too much and now he walks all over the house, "talks" and insists on using silverware when he eats. He has gone from a helpless baby to an active and opinionated toddler.

Avery has really expanded on her singing career with her favorite songs being "Baby"- Justin Bieber, "Someone Like You"- Adele, and "Party in the USA"-Miley Cyrus. I doubt Simon Cowell would put her through to Hollywood but he would probably let her down easy.

Ashley is becoming quite the photographer and movie editor thanks to her laptop and extreme patience. For those of you who haven't seen Logan's one year video, email Ashley and she will send you the youtube link. I feel like I do a decent job with pictures but that's probably because I use intstagram on my iPhone.

Looking back there were definitely some great times, but then again there were some not so fun times. As many people who have kids who are two or older, this is the time where they develop some strong opinions. Let's just put it this way... if Avery was a model, she would be Naomi Campbell; cell phone and all. She is not always like this, but it has been known to happen. Logan on the other hand is still "mommy's little man". However, you can really tell the difference between him and Avery at one. He likes to roughhouse a lot more but is still a mama's boy at heart.

All in all, it's been a great year for us. We are really looking forward to 2012 and all of the adventures that come with it.

Wordless Wednesday

Merry Christmas

As another Christmas approaches, the Musselman family would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, plenty of good food and a possible visit from Santa. Who knows, maybe we will even witness a Christmas miracle of a White Christmas tomorrow!

Love,

Luke, Ashley, Avery & Logan Musselman

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Sweet Monster Man-

Happy first birthday, Logan! As I think about the past year with you, I can't help but smile. I so vividly remember the morning you were born. It was such an easy delivery as we talked and laughed with the hospital staff throughout your birth. When Dr. Roelands held you up and announced, "it's a boy!", I couldn't help but shed a tear of joy. You were perfect. The second I held you in my arms, I immediately fell in love with the sweetest, happiest baby boy I have ever met.

And now a year has passed since that amazing day. Throughout the year, I have witnessed your first smile, heard your first giggle, watched you try your first foods and cheered you on as you started crawling and took your first steps. It has been amazing to watch you go from a helpless, dependent little baby to a feisty, energetic toddler.

I feel so grateful to be your mommy, Logan. Because of you, my heart overflows with love each and every day. Waking up and seeing your smiling face and picking you and Avery up at school are the best parts of my day.

Sometimes I stare at you and wonder what you will be like in five, ten, thirty years. Will you play sports, a musical instrument or star in the school play? Will you become a fireman, a doctor, an accountant or serve our country in wars? Whatever you choose to do, I know there is something special planned for you.

So, on your first birthday, sweet boy, my hope for your future is that you become a stable, caring, smart, independent, and strong man. I hope you become a leader. I hope you always treat others with kindness and respect. I hope you fall in love and find adventure. And I hope you know that I will always love and support you.

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Love, mama

Wordless Wednesday

I took this idea from my friend, Katie.

Sporting News

The past couple weeks have been big for Missouri sports. Although I am not a huge sports fan, I do like to follow my hometown teams. First up, the Cardinals won the World Series. Love them or hate them, almost any baseball or sports fan in general can appreciate the Cardinals' road to winning the World Series. In the last month of the regular season, the Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the wild-card leading Atlanta Braves and somehow managed to erase that deficit to steal the NL Wild-Card from the Braves. After making the playoffs, the Cardinals had to power past the Philadelphia Phillies in a best of five showdown and outwin the Milwaukee Brewers in a scary best of seven series. Next up: the Texas Rangers in the World Series. On paper, anyone would have bet on the Rangers to defeat the Cardinals in the World Series. And what a World Series it was. The Rangers and the Cardinals provided some of the best baseball in recent history. In game 3, Cardinals' first baseman Albert Pujols played one of the best games of his career. He had five RBI producing hits and three home runs. And then there was game 6. Wow! If you haven't seen it, I recommend searching your DVR for a replay. Although heartbreaking for the Texas Rangers, Game 6 was amazing! Not once, but twice, the Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series and the Cardinals fired back. As one SI writer wrote, "If you're deep in the heart of Texas, Busch Stadium just became your own personal Halloween house of horrors." Finally, hometown boy and former high school classmate of Luke's and mine, David Freese, hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the game. It was amazing!

The day after the Cardinals' improbably World Series win, Mizzou defeated Texas A&M. In what is now a rebuilding year for Missouri football, it was great to see them beat a ranked team on the road. To end the weekend, the St. Louis Rams won their first game of the season.

Finally, Mizzou just announced their move from the Big 12 to the SEC. I'm so used to Mizzou being in the Big 12 that I am not quite sure how I feel about the move. Although the money in the SEC will be great for the University, I worry that my beloved Tigers might never make it to another football bowl game. Winning games against teams like Alabama and LSU just seems so improbable. Only time will tell if the move to the SEC is a good one for Mizzou. We will miss our friends at Kansas, K State, Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. Thanks for the memories!

Singing In The Shower

Since Avery was a baby, she has preferred showers to baths. Now, when she asks to shower, she often says, "I need to sing in the shower". The following is part of Avery's "concert" from last night. Enjoy! Luke and I sure do.

Eleven Months!

Monster man-

I can't believe you are eleven months old. Actually, as the lilypie ticker on my blog kindly reminds me, you are 11 months and 5 days old. Where did time go? I just want to bottle up everything about you right now so I can take it out when you are 13, 18, 21 or 30. You truly are the sweetest, happiest baby boy I have ever seen.

At eleven months, you are always on the move. You took your first steps about a month ago, but haven't taken off with walking. You like to stand up from a sitting position and look at me like, "look ma, no hands". You might take a step or two, but then quickly realize crawling is much faster. You usually crawl on your tip toes with your little buns in the air.

Over the past few months, you have become a complete mama's boy. Whenever you see me, you start giggling and crawling toward me to pick you up. If you ever cry, all it takes is for me to talk to you or pick you up to get you to stop. You giggle and smile nonstop. All of your teachers at daycare are in love with you. The teachers in the infant classroom dread you leaving and the teachers in the toddler classroom constantly tell me how excited they are to have you join their class. Miss. Tatiana is your favorite teacher. If she is there when I drop you off, you try to jump out of my arms to her.

Recently, you have become very vocal. You say, "mama, yeah, and thank you". You also like to say, "ba ba ba" all the time. We aren't sure what it means, but we love hearing it. You have the best belly laugh. It doesn't take much to get you to laugh so we get to hear it often. Growling is your other form of communication. It is beyond adorable.

Your favorite toys usually make noise. You love playing with the musical activity tables, maracas, cups, cars and door stoppers. You also enjoy bath time and splashing with your sister. The bathroom and I are both usually soaked by the end of bath time, but I don't mind because you and Avery have so much fun.

Table food is your preferred food. You haven't eaten baby food in over two months and drink very little breast milk or formula. We try to offer the liquid foods, but you simply prefer solids. You will eat just about anything and often eat as much as your mama. When you see food, you get ridiculously excited.

The following are some of your eleven month stats:

• Weight: 17lbs, 9 oz
• Teeth: 4 bottom, 2 top
• Sleep: 10-11 hours at night, 1 nap (1-2 hours)
• Favorite Animal: cat
• Favorite Person: Close tie between mama and Avery
• Favorite Toy: Car

I Love you!

Mama

Aruba

I know I have been terrible with the blog updates lately. The days and weeks just seem to fly by and life's other priorities always come before updating the blog. Thankfully, I have a wireless card on my computer and six hours in the car as we drive to Ohio for a wedding. I have already checked my e-mail, worked and surfed the Internet so I'm updating the blog.

We took a family vacation to Aruba during the first week of October. Other than the plane ride home (lots of tired meltdowns), the trip was a complete success. We had a ton of fun playing at the beach and pool, eating ice cream and donuts and simply spending time as a family.

Apparently sand tastes really good to a 10 month old because every time we got to the beach, Logan immediately started eating. We even tried giving him a pacifier, but he gladly spit it out in favor of eating sand. Logan cut two top teeth in Aruba. He already had four bottom teeth so I was beginning to think he might not ever get his top teeth.

Avery fell in love with the Iguanas and tried to convince Papa that she needs one as a pet. She also had fun floating in the lazy river, looking for fish "hiding in the water", running and building sandcastles.

This picture was taken the morning after Luke and my dad stayed out until 3am drinking and gambling. Needless to say, Luke was tired and not feeling so hot.

Obsession

Much to Luke's dismay, cloth diapers have become my latest obsession. They are so much fun, cute, SOFT and "green". Aside from the obvious dirty diaper cleaning, what's not to love? Since switching over to cloth diapers, I stopped using diaper creams and haven't seen a single diaper rash. It's amazing! These diapers are unbelievably soft. I can only imagine how comfortable they are for my babies.

The switch to cloth has led me on a quest to find the "perfect" diaper. Luckily, I think I may have found it. By far, my favorite cloth diaper is the Bum-Ware Extreme AIO. Dear lord, these things are incredible! My favorite thing about the Bum-Ware diapers is the fit. They are so trim and absorbent. When the kids wear these diapers, their pants fit perfectly. Luke likes the Bum-Ware because of their ease of use. They work exactly like a disposable diaper so he doesn't get confused about inserts, snaps, etc. Bum-Ware recently introduced the Bum-Ware Adjustable AIO diaper. These diapers are very similar to the original Bum-Ware Extreme AIO except with the added benefit of being adjustable. The one downside to the adjustable diapers is that they aren't quite as trim as the sized diapers. In the end, although I do like the adjustable Bum-Ware diapers, and they are certainly more economical, I think I will stick to the sized diapers for future purchases.

When it comes to the best overnight diaper, Fuzzibunz One Size Pocket Diapers get my vote. They are trim, easy to use and have flexibility in their absorbency. I love that I can add extra inserts for nighttime use and can still keep the diapers trim for daytime use. With the FuzziBunz diapers, the only downside is the pocket itself. Stuffing diapers is an extra step that would rather not deal with. Additionally, the inserts must be taken out before washing so there is always a little more contact with bodily fluids than with AIO diapers.

Lastly, my vote for cutest diaper goes to NiteOwl Dipes. These are diapers made by a WAHM and they are beyond adorable. NiteOwl Dipes are custom made cloth diapers in a variety of prints. These diapers are adjustable all in two diapers and fit great. The same diaper fits both Logan and Avery and we have never had any leaks. The only downside to these diapers is the bulk. They are incredibly absorbent, but they are also quite bulky and don't fit well under shorts or pants. They are great for dresses or one piece jumpers, but since I usually have to bribe Avery to wear a dress, she does not wear the diapers often. We usually use the diapers for nighttime or Logan wears one while we are hanging around the house with a shirt.

Love

How could I not love these two?

Eight Months!

This past month has been a month of growth and change for Mr. Logan. The biggest news is that he is now MOBILE! Yes, I said it, Logan started crawling. A couple days before turning eight months, Logan started a very slow crawl, but he is now all over the house. He loves chasing Avery and Scout and is happy because he can now get to mama whenever he wants. I love having a mobile baby, but know this is just one more indication that my sweet baby is growing up.

Another fun milestone is that Logan can now sit up by himself from a lying down position. At first, it was funny and frustrating because Logan would sit up in his crib, but then didn't know how to lie back down. Now that he is able to lie back down, we all sleep better at night!

Finally, Logan started pulling up by himself. He loves standing and walking with assistance. Before long, I know he will be walking all by himself. We just love this little guy. Seeing his smiling face each morning makes me such a happy mommy.

At eight months, Logan:

• Loves cats.
• Thinks his sister is the coolest person on earth.
• Has two teeth.
• Wears a size 2 diaper.
• Weight between 15 and 16 lbs.
• Hasn't found a food he dislikes.
• Eats cheerios and puffs.
• Drinks water out of a sippy cup.
• Has developed slight separation anxiety.
  

Birthday Celebrations

For Avery's second birthday, we decided to skip the big birthday party and instead spread her birthday celebrations out over a couple weekends.

In mid-June, Luke's family came to Columbia to celebrate Avery. Luke's Grandparents and Aunt Amy even made the trip from Michigan. Avery loved seeing all of them and even made Grandma jealous by willingly saying Amy's name over and over.

Unfortunately, I had a work meeting on Avery's actual birthday so we chose to pretend her birthday was a day earlier. Luke and I woke her up singing "Happy Birthday", took Elmo cupcakes to her school, took her swimming and opened presents. It was a perfect day. (Thankfully, Aunt Jen was off work on Avery's birthday and took Avery to the science center, lunch with uncle Joel and out for ice cream. I think Avery had a perfect day!)

Finally, we celebrated with the Greene family the first weekend in July. We had pizza, cake and presents on Saturday night and went to Grant's Farm on Sunday. Although it was brutally hot and I spent most of the day in the gift shop staying cool with Logan, Avery had a blast at Grant's Farm. Her favorite part was playing with and feeding the goats