Grandma and Nana

When Logan wasn't even a week old my mom(-in-law) came to help. We relaxed and talked and cuddled babies for a week and then a few days later my mom came to help too for another 10 days. She helped me clean, organize, sleep, and just get ready for our new "normal" when she left. It made the transition so much easier and I really appreciate all their help. I am so grateful to have them both in my life!
Here are some pics of Logan's first few weeks of life.

Ethan is sharing his blanket?! You know it must be real love!

Future Spratling basketball team. Trent point guard with Ethan and Logan as his right and left wings respectively. Or at least that is how Trent tells it ;). 

Grandma and Ethan doing the dishes. Both of them were big helpers!

Haha! I love this one. Although I don't think Logan did at the time ;).

Logan

We are SO happy to have Logan in our lives. I just wanted to write down a little about his birth and first few weeks.

Logan was due on January 7th and I went into labor on the evening of January 5th. I didn't feel hardly any pain with Ethan and I was at 5 cm when I got to the hospital. I was at 4 cm with Logan just two days before Logan was born and I am going to admit that I was slightly surprised that the early contractions that I was having with Logan really hurt! It of course wasn't too bad starting off, I just had never felt that pain before. We called the hospital, dropped Ethan off at our neighbor/friend's house and headed to the hospital. After lots of lower back pain, an epidural, and some sleeping during the night, the midwife came to check me in the morning and found that the baby's head was right there! So she started to get everything ready for me to start pushing. After about 45 minutes our sweet baby was born! They placed the baby on my chest and as Trent and I looked at its little face, the midwife and nurse both said: "Well?! What's the gender?" Trent and I both started (how could that not have been the first thing we checked?) and Trent lifted up its little leg and said/yelled, "its a BOY!" Then he turned to look at me and repeated it with this look of pure joy and excitement: "ITS A BOY!" I will never forget that face. It was better than a little kid at Christmas. I am telling you: PURE JOY. He can't believe he's been so blessed. He has his boys now. I am so happy too. And now I want my girls :).

 Getting ready to go to the hospital! I thought I should have one last picture so that I could prove that I really was as big as I felt ;). I carried Ethan like this throughout my whole pregnancy and it never got hard. Then, after I got home from the hospital I could barely pick Ethan up! It was like my arms had gotten used to carrying a 9 lb baby and my brain just said that Ethan's 32 lbs were too much. Hahaha.

Here he is, officially weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz! One of the first things

I thought when I saw him was that he was a little chunker! Hahaha.

Eeesshh. This is an awful picture. But it shows how tired we were
even though we slept most of the night!

Trent is so proud to have two sons. He is so happy that I can't help but be extra happy for him too!

24 hours old. Look at that hair! Trent and I kept looking at him, saying, "Who's baby is this?" We aren't used to chunky, hairy babies around here ;).

It was kind of weird to have such an uneventful birth. I kept thinking, "Is this it? It seems too easy..." 

It was so wonderful to take my baby home with me though. Really wonderful.

This is the best picture I have of his chubby little face. The closest thing to what I remember when they first put him in my arms. Except his eyes were open then. It was so precious to see him just looking around, so alert. I never got to have that with Ethan, so it was 

extra precious to have it with Logan.

When we came home our neighbor Jen walked Ethan home. At first he just wanted to me to hold him. But then he got so excited to see Logan he started jumping around and yelling, "Baby brother, baby brother!!"

First night at home. I didn't think Ethan really understood that we were bringing a new baby home. One that would stay forever. But he was so excited to see Logan and he couldn't get this permanent smile/look of awe off of his face. I think he understood though because he has never really acted jealous of Logan and he loves him so much. He will be so happy when Logan can actually play with him!

I was a little terrified to have another baby because I didn't know how I would handle two kids, but Ethan has been amazing. He loves Logan and is surprisingly helpful. I actually find that I spend more time with them than I thought I would (and I get less done around the house too) and it has been wonderful. I can't imagine life without Logan now. I can't wait to see the little person that he will grow up to be!

Christmas at home

Spending Christmas in our first house was amazing. We didn't know if we would have closed on the house by Christmas so it was really exciting to have our close date moved up to a week and a half before Christmas! The house was barely unpacked but we had room to move around and play inn and we had such a nice relaxing time together. Trent worked the whole week so that we could save PTO days but he came home around lunch time each day so it wasn't so bad.

We got Ethan a bike for Christmas. We are so excited to finally have a place for him to ride it around!

He in his jammie-jams that we got him that he wore on Christmas Even and then in the pajamas that Grandma and Grandpa gave him that he opened (and then put on) Christmas morning.

The little tree that we decorated, various presents, and the bike helmet from Nana and Papa.

There's the balance bike we got him. We hid it in the closet that is in this living room and had him go look in there for his final present. When he opened the closet door he exclaimed softly, but excitedly, "my bike!" He cannot get enough of it!

We feel so at home in our new house already. Like we belong here and always have. It certainly made spending our first Christmas alone a lot better than it could have been. Heavenly Father is so good to us.

Day Date

The weekend before we moved into the house Trent and I got a sitter and went shopping for some things we really needed, like a fridge, washer, dryer, and glasses. It was so fun to just go do those things alone. We had a great time! We also went to lunch at Jason's Deli where you can make your own ice cream cones after you eat. After we made ours and walked out to the car we realized that mine was short with a big bump on the side and Trent's was tall and skinny. Just like we looked at the time!! Hahaha. Short, baby bump and tall, skinny. Trent thought it was funny too, even though he's not smiling ;).

We bought a house!

So we put an offer on a house last June and finally moved in December just a week and a half before Christmas. The house is so wonderful-I never thought my first house would be so perfect. It has everything we most wanted: four bedrooms, a nice kitchen, a backyard and a garage. Plus, some extra things that are great bonuses: a pantry next to the kitchen, a dining room NOT covered in carpet, a huge walk-in closet and a master bathroom in the master bedroom. It is an old house with lots of projects, including a dirt backyard but it is wonderful. And we are feeling super blessed. As if the house isn't good enough, we just happen to be kiddie-corner backyard neighbors with my best friend in the ward! Whose kids are Ethan's best friends too! Life just doesn't get much better ;).

I don't have any pictures. Sorry. Maybe some day when all the boxes are put away and we have stuff on the walls. But for now just imagine a rock front yard and flat-top roof (both typical of Albuquerque and both things I said I would never have. Hahaha.)

Pumpkin Patch

 Ethan got to go to his first pumpkin patch this year! We went with some other young families in our ward and it was fun.We got to go on a wagon ride to choose a pumpkin. There were also a ton of other activities like a corn-sandbox, slides, and rabbits!

Ethan, Calvin, Jefferson, and Perry

Ethan and his buddy Calvin went down the slides over and over again, coming down and then running around up the stairs and back down again. Ethan liked coming down feet first on his stomach the best.

Balloon Fiesta

One of the things that Albuquerque is famous for is its annual Balloon Festival. It is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world that lasts nine days and has around 750 balloons that participate. My parents wanted to come visit this fall so we had them come during the balloon fiesta so that we could experience it together!

Unfortunately, the day we went with Trent was cancelled because of bad weather and he missed out when we went back on Monday morning. The upside is that first day we had our first New Mexican Breakfast Burrito. And it was delicious. People rave about them and now I know why. We did try to take Trent again later in the week, but we ended up with the stomach flu/more bad weather. I guess we HAVE to go again next year!

Here are some pics of that one successful attempt on Monday morning:

 Famous Creamland Dairy cow balloon. Its crazy to me that they can even get it up in the air!

 The ice cream cone was an Ethan favorite. He kept mentioning it for weeks after we went!

Basketball. Of course.

"Special Shapes" balloons are a huge attraction here. Here's a fireman and Darth Vader. Darth Vader's balloon crew all wears storm trooper uniforms and march around in formation. It was pretty fun to see them!

 You can see the pregnant belly a little in this one. 

It was fun to get to stand next to the balloons and watch them take off one by one.