If You're Not Getting Messy, You're Not Having Fun

Hooray!! We have reached the age/season that I have long awaited: Logan is now old enough to do arts, crafts, science projects, the works, AND the weather is good enough that we can do the projects without the house looking like a giant sneezed paint, paper, and supplies everywhere. I'm thinkin' we'll start blogging more to document our good times.

Today's project: Cool Whip Paint.  Two ingredients.  One is food coloring, the other, I'll give you 3 guesses and the last two don't count ;) Oh, and big paper, brushes, and a muffin tin come in handy. And we also found strawberries to dip do too, for the point when he quit painting and just wanted to eat the Cool Whip ;)

Here's the adorable pictures:

Milk Fireworks

Now that Logan is in full-blown toddlerhood he's constantly exploring - that's a positive word for "into-EVERYTHING!" My good friend Jessica Henrie suggested this activity, which Logan loved so much we have now done three days in a row. I've learned to conduct any fridge-business out of his sight, because if he so much as glimpses a jug of milk he'll be begging to do "Milk Fireworks". :) Here's a sneak peek of the fun we had, and how to do it yourself.

Pour milk onto bottom of cookie sheet until it's covered.
Dip Q-tips in dish soap.
Put drops of food coloring in the milk.
Touch the Q-tips to the color spots.
The color shoots out away from the Q-tip!
Afterwards, Logan had a blast just swirling the colors and slurping the milk. :)

INTRODUCING ADAM!!

Well World, you've been waiting for him and here he is: ADAM DANIEL BEENFIELD!!

He was born 1-31-13 (cool birthday, I know) and was 8 lbs 11 oz.  Labor and Delivery couldn't have gone better.  I did have to be induced (again) but when my waters were broken at about noon he was born just 5 hours later! I dilated so fast that the epidural had kinda a hard time catching up, but in the end worked great.  I considered writing a song about epidurals - there are songs for everything else lovely and good in the world, but I've never heard a single one about epidurals.  Odd. Pushing went insanely well, I had no idea it could go so positively.  And then my beautiful little boy came into the world!! He was able to be delivered to my chest, which was what I wanted most this whole pregnancy, since  Logan had complications and wasn't able to do immediate skin-to-skin.  I knew if I got to do skin-to-skin with Adam it would mean both of us were doing well, we'd have that meaningful time to connect, and he'd get all the miraculous benefits of skin-to-skin.  He came out healthy as can be and then ate for 40 minutes - that's my idea of getting things off to a good start ;)

He has such an amazing, gentle, calm, little spirit.  We are blown away that we got another wonder baby.  He has the most transfixing dark eyes and I'm so happy to be his mom.  Couldn't ask for a sweeter little baby. We love you Adam!

A Man-Child - yes, another one

WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BOY!!!! We're uber excited to have our new arrival coming the end of Jan/beginning of Feb :) Yes, I know that was pretty fast, but I always wanted my kids close together.  Logan and Baby Bean will be 21 months apart - a good age apart to grow up as buddies! Yay!

Logan is doing great, and just amazes us at how much he has changed this summer.  No longer is he a clueless baby, he is an all-over, non-stop-action, soaking everything in like a sponge, toddler. He's communicating a little with sign and some of his own words, which is so fun for all of us :) We just love him so dang much. Basically, being his mom ROCKS.

As for John and I, we're moving into a townhome soon! Very excited to be acting like adults again, living on our own, supporting each other :) It's been a wonderful summer though, and a great opportunity to get closer to my in-laws and have Logan get to know his grandparents better.

Of course, no blog is complete without pictures, so let me see what snapshots I can find for ya all...Loves!

Oops, I blinked and the year went by...HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Well, Logan is one now! I can hardly believe it.  Being his mom has been the greatest pleasure I've known.  How could I have thought all my life that it would be uneventful/boring to be 'just a mom'? He makes John's and my marriage better, daily moments funnier, and life itself so much richer.  Whenever I have to be away from him I wish I could be two places at one time, and one of me could just always be with him. ;) Well, without further ado, the adorable pictures of my charming one year old!! :)

Sending our love to you all! 

Logan our Lion!!

For Halloween we were an Arabian prince and princess with our pet lion. Here's a few pics :

My Sunshine

It's been a while since I've updated you on our little sunshine! Though I'm sure all you moms out there disagree, we feel amazed that of all the kids in all the world, we got the best one. :) And he gets more and more fun everyday! He can roll and roll and roll so leaving him in one spot doesn't last long, he loves to be sitting up though still needs a little help, and loves the echoes in the kitchen so whenever we are in there he squeals to kingdom come. LOUD, much to our downstairs neighbors dismay I'm sure ;) His favorite pastimes are blowing raspberries and taking a bath. He splashes non-stop :) He's always smiling, laughing, or peacefully taking in the world around him. He's so curious. Well, if you're like me your probably mostly looking at this post for the adorable pictures, so here ya go!

Logan's Laugh

Logan is really starting to get the hang of this whole laughing thing! He's so dang much fun :) We don't even mind acting like idiots just to try and get a little chuckle or two out of him ;) Here he is!

Don't Blink

The other day I was taking Logan for a walk when a middle aged woman saw my stroller and asked to see him. We talked for a moment about child-rearing, and then she said, "Don't blink." And I realized she was choked up! It really hit me. It's become my new motto - to just soak up every single second of being Logan's mom. Things that are easy to look at as chores, like trying to put him to bed or nursing, I'm realizing are treasured moments that I won't have long. It's our special one-on-one time, and even when I have more babies I won't get to enjoy these moments the same way I can now because then there will be other kids to need my time.

Before becoming Logan's mom I looked at being a mom as mostly just stressful. Though he has taught me how to worry on a whole new level, I also have come to understand what the church leaders mean when they say that no other joy can compare to that brought by parenthood. His smile is so healing to me, I can face the world when he smiles up at me. Logan is the most beautiful soul I can imagine, and I'm honored to have him in our home.

On another note, John is the sweetest dad you've ever dreamed of. He's completely smitten with Logan and teaches me by example every day how to be a good parent. I'm so grateful for him and how he's taking care of Logan and I.

Here's a video of him smiling like crazy. Maybe to anyone else it's just another baby grin, but for me it makes the world go around. Ok...cheesy cheesy cheesy....here's the video:

Life as we now know it

Logan Jay is such a fun baby! Honestly, the best newborn you could ever ask for. He's so content all the time, and just has the most pleasant look on his face constantly. Something I love are his big dark eyes. This is cheesy, but they remind me of an eclipse: his eye color is a dark dark bluish gray like the night sky, and around his black pupil there is a faint ring of light.

He has flipped our worlds upside down, but we'd never put it back the way it was. We've loved giving him his first baths, cuddling with him in bed in the mornings, laughing at the hilarious faces he makes, and so much more.

I'll admit the first couple weeks were a bigger adjustment than I had been expecting. Plus my hormones from no longer being pregnant were ba-zerk! Poor John, I cried way more - both happy and sad cry - way more in those first two weeks than I ever did while pregnant. Probably more than I've done in our whole marriage! A funny story about that: John and I were singing to Logan, and John was playing on his guitar whatever song came to mind. He started playing a break-up

song. I am not in a break up, break ups in now way apply to my life right now, but I looked up at John, sobbing, and stuttered through my tears, "John, we gotta play a happier song!" He started playing 'You are My Sunshine' and I felt better - until the second verse "Last night as I lay sleeping I dreamt I held you in my arms, when I awoke I was mistaken so I hung my head and cried." We both laughed our heads off as tears streamed down my face! Haha!

But now my hormone levels have normaled out, thank heavens :)

Also, seeing John with Logan just melts my little heart. Today John was reading Logan a story book :) John has been such a big help to me

from the beginning of the pregnancy when I was so sick, to getting me through labor, to burping and helping with Logan so much. He's a phenomenal dad and husband :)

We're loving being parents and feel so grateful for our little

Logan Jay. We are so abundantly blessed!

Logan's Birth Story

Here is Logan's birth story! I typed it up to him earlier, and so rather than re-writing it to the masses, you're getting the cut-and-paste version to him. :) Giving birth was such a positive experience, and I love how both the highs and lows have led us to the incredible gift of being parents. Here's our story!

May 12, 2011 at 8:44 p.m. our lives changed forever! You were 8 lbs 4 oz and 20 inches long, and came to us after 41 weeks and 1 day of pregnancy. Dad and I have completely fallen in love with you and can't begin to explain our gratitude for having you in our lives.

At one in the morning we came in to the hospital to be induced. The pill did it's job perfectly, and mild contractions started. At 7:30 a.m. my midwife Laurie Hansen came in and broke my waters. Boy, did the contractions get going then! After an hour and a half of positively horrific contractions at 9:00 the anesthesiologist came to give me my epidural - hurrah! I had no clue the epidural would work that well. Throughout the day as I waited to dilate completely, I was even able to sleep through contractions!

At 6:30 p.m. I was dilated to a 10 so it was time to start pushin'! Laurie decided to have my epidural cut way back so that I could feel when to push and how hard. I'm glad she did that, 'cause otherwise I would have had to have a C section. I could move my own legs and do positions, like a squat bar, that you generally never do with an epidural.

You, Logan, were really under stress during the pushing part. Not only were you posterior but also whenever I'd have a contraction your heart rate would drop down. We found out soon why.

Throughout this whole time your dad was being absolutely heroic. He was right there by my side every second, counting for me through contractions. Sounds little, but I couldn't have done it without him. There were so many ways the whole time that he made a world of difference where no one else could have.

Anyways, so at this point I hadn't progressed at all, so Laurie called in Dr. Newman to try using 'the vacuum' on your head. If the vacuum pops off twice you automatically get taken in for a C section. I watched it pop off once. So they gave me an episiotomy and in no time at all you were crowning! A few more hard pushes and suddenly - out popped your head!Yay!

Turns out one of the reasons you were under stress was because the cord was around your neck really tight. Your face was all white. And your head was huge! When your head came out Laurie said, "You're gonna have a baby!" and Dr. Newman said, "You're not having a baby, you're having a toddler!"

Then they cut the your off your neck, I pushed, and the most angelic, sweet, loved baby in the world was born! You were delivered to my chest for a few seconds before being whisked off for help. Because we had decided to be surprised on your gender, we now found out you are a boy! We named you Logan Jay Beenfield. Logan was my home growing up and the temple we were married in. And Jay is Grandpa Beenfield's middle name, and your dad's nick name. So you are named after two of the best men I know.

When you were delivered to my chest the fist thing I said was, "I just had a baby!!" Ha ha- no kidding! We've been preparing for this for 9 months, yet it was never quite real until you were actually here.

It was very scary thought because when you were born you weren't crying and had no color, and you weren't moving at all. In the room was an area they could meet your immediate needs, so first you were taken there. Everyone jumped into action, doing what needed to be done to help you. Because so many people were around I couldn't see you. I think I was just stunned, and because I couldn't see you the scariness of the situation didn't really hit me. Dad could see you though, and it really shook him up. He watched as they tried pumping air into you, and saw them pick your little arms up and see them fall to the table. You looked lifeless. It was one of the few times I've seen your dad cry.

Since the cord had been around your neck and they had to cut it off before the cord blood pumped into you, you were low on blood volume. Which meant your little heart had to work extra hard, and you had a slow capillary refill.

Also, since you were overdue you got meconium in your lungs and stomach, so that played a roll in your health. It caused some respiratory problems for you.

They took you to the nursery, and Dad stayed with you the whole time. Back in the delivery room I made a dumb mistake. I knew my episiotomy needed to be stitched up and I didn't want to feel that, so I asked for my epidural back. After I got it I was told that I couldn't see you in the nursery until the epidural wore off and they could transport me there safely. So from 8:44 to about 11:00 I just sat and waited to be allowed to see my precious baby. Dad took pictures that he sent back with Grandma Judd for me to see. So my first good look at you was on a digital camera. When I saw you I gushed, "He's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen!"

At 11:00ish my nurse got me a wheelchair and finally took me to see you!! Yay!!! You were so alert, wide-eyed and the most angelic thing I'd ever laid eyes on. And just like that I feel in love, and life as we know it changed forever for Dad and I. And as great as life was before we'd never go back. We love you so much Logan.

The most beautiful, angelic baby ever has entered the world!! Logan Jay Beenfield was born May 12, 2011 at 8:44 p.m. weighing 8 lbs and 4 oz, and 20 inches long! Having a baby has been the biggest adjustment of my whole life, but we are absolutely loving it and loving him to pieces! We couldn't ask for a better baby, he's an absolute dream. John is the sweetest dad you've ever seen, he runs home from work every day to see Logan :)

Logan's birth was pretty eventful, he was under a lot of stress and came out not breathing or moving or anything. He'd gotten meconium in his lungs and stomach, had the cord around his neck, and a had few other problems that stemmed from those, but after one night in the nursery he was able to come stay with us in our hospital room, and now 9 days later is by every definition a perfectly healthy baby :)

We feel so blessed to have this miracle in our home, and have been amazed at the spirit he has brought here. We love him more than we can describe, and feel honored to be the parents of such a perfect spirit.

Plan on more blogs from me, now that I've got such an adorable baby to show off to the world ;) !

WAITING FOR MAY....

Well, to my mass of blog followers, it's time to announce : WE ARE HAVING A BABY! Our baby is due May 4, so we are now 4 months along and I have the pooch to prove it :) We're 50% sure it's a girl....aka, we don't know what it is. We've decided to wait and be surprised, so we'll see how that plan goes! Any guesses? Girl? Boy?
We feel so blessed to be having this new angel joining our family. The Lord has really been watching over us during the pregnancy, and there is no denying His hand in how everything has been turning out. This is what the Lord has prepared us for our whole lives (which isn't at all nerve-wracking, haha) and we are just so excited to have a fresh spirit from Heaven to come into our home.
Well, just wanted to put the world out there! We'll try to keep this updated :)

Life is a daring adventure...

Well, it's about time I posted something new! And John and I have plenty to update. The past few months have really kept us on our toes. Besides work and school, in May my younger sister got married! A week after the wedding the whole family - all 8 of us now including the two sons-in-laws - packed our backpacks, drove to the airport, and flew to EUROPE!!! We were there 5 weeks and saw 10 different countries - Spain, Turkey, Greece, Monocco, Liktenstien, Austria, the Vatican (yes, we counted it), Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. We spent most of our time in those last three. It was the trip of a lifetime and we LOVED IT!!! We made memories that we will look back on for years to come. Thank you Mom and Dad!

Now that we are back in the good ol' US of A things have slowed down a bit - but not much. We visited John's family for the 4th of July - and got to go kayaking!-, jumped back into work, and we;re having John's brother Jared stay with us for a couple of weeks.

We are so grateful to our earthly and heavenly parents for all that they have given us this summer. My parents sacrificed so much to take the family on this adventure, and there will never be enough that we can do to thank them. It was touching to see all the beautiful buildings and paintings that Europe had to offer as a way of showing their devotion to Christ, and beyond that the beauties Heavenly Father showed us of this miraculous earth and good people touched our lives. We met so many people who were instruments in the hands of God, and helped us whenever we were in sticky situations. These are the type of people that restore your faith in humanity. It was obvious that from the people we met, to the people who took us, to the places we saw, that God's hand was and is in our lives.

And now it's good to be home, starting the next adventure. 'To live shall be an awfully big adventure.' -Peter Pan

Signing out! Til next time!

One more time, from the top...

I've been reading everyone's blogs about many travels, or babies, or life changing experiences, and I gotta admit, it made me feel really itchy for a change and to be able to talk about something totally new on here! Then I decided to focus on the adventures we are having, big or small, and share that with you.

Every Valentines Day our stake puts on a huge dance, which has turned out to be a yearly highlight. We have so much fun dancing, but as a marriage couple your options for going dancing are pretty much limited to the kitchen floor. It was great to get to strut our stuff together :)

Another fun adventure was having my sister Lauren and her almost-fiance down for president's day! It was wonderful having them here, and we were able to get out and enjoy Red Cliffs (the place that john proposed almost 2 years ago). If you are up north with over a foot of snow, please note the blue sky, vegetation, & sunshine in this picture...jealous? Yep, I know.

Other fun adventures are those to come in the near-ish future! Such as going to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and possibly Scotland with my family this summer! My dad has been saving up for over a decade for this, it's one of his life dreams! Thank you Daddeo! Then John and I are going to stay in Europe for a week after my family leaves and spend it on our second honeymoon in IRELAND!!! We are only going to go to a couple of places in Ireland, but intended to thoroughly enjoy those places. Are plan for getting around all the little quaint towns? Biking! Is the so picturesque? I can hardly wait.

A little more long term plan that we have decided to pursue is John getting his masters at Colorado State University when he graduates spring of 2011! One year away! AH! As we've been looking into CSU I think we both feel really good about it, for a lot of reasons. It is the 8th best school in the country for Occupational Therapy, it's only 7 hours from Riverdale and 8 hours from Smithfield so we could still come home for the holidays! And it is completely BREATHTAKING! Money magazine actually rated the town that CSU is in as the #1 place in America to live! I would love the chance to be in the minority for a while and learn what it is like to be out of my comfort zone, and yet still close enough to see our family on special occasions. Of course, we still have to apply and get accepted, and visit, and pray some more, so I probably shouldn't be making this public yet, but hey, how many people really read this blog anyways? So that is the more long term plan, cross your fingers for us!

We are just so happy and grateful to the Lord for bringing us together and giving us this beautiful life. It is such a beautiful thing to feel the Lord's love in our relationship and all the blessing that have been poured down upon us, from close uplifting friends to such a lovely place to live to jobs we both get to enjoy going to, to a wonderful marriage to get to come home to. We're love our hectic, adventurous, romantic life!

Our Seasonal Update!

Well, stuff with us Cedar City Beenfields have been going great! Still just plugging away - work is going good for both of us, and John just finished up his finished final's week with a bang! He did really well in all of his classes, but I'm especially proud of what my baby got in some of the hardest classes a person can take - he got an A in chemistry, the highest grade (an A as well) in his biology class! Who's wearing the smarty-pants now, huh? And he's simply AMAZING in his graphic design class - I'll put on some of his artwork, if I can. He made some beautiful art pieces with photoshop from some aspens this last fall.

I recently started selling Usborne Children's books...Ok, I actually became a consultant like 6 months ago, but only recently woke up to how truly awesome these books are and have loved selling them. That's really the only new thing in my life.

We're keeping busy - we went on a really fun date the other night!Our plan was to go to a coffee shop and get hot coco then walk around Cedar City's beautiful lit up main street and go to all the cute little shops. Well, all the shops were closed, but instead there was a night time Light Parade! It was completely enchanting. That's pretty much the latest with us - stay tuned for more come spring!

A Beanie Baby!!!

It's a really exciting time right now for the Beenfield clan. The family just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John's cousin and his wife had a baby! Ha! Wait, did you think I was implying about US?! John and I?!?!No, not yet, but did I trick you into looking at my blog? 'Cause let's confess, babies news and pictures are definately the what gets blogspot most of it's attention. No, someday I will have a purpose in having a blog, but not yet, right now I'll just tell you about our amazing summer since it has been so long since we've updated this! We worked hard and played hard - no big vacations, but plenty of daily adventures. We've seen family for Father's Day and camping, at Fish Lake, at the Judd Cabin in Brighton, Utah, all of which was amazing!!!! It was great to spend that time with family. Brighton is one of my favorite places in the world, so that was particuallary wonderful. We also rocked up the summer with friends on trips to Sand Hallow - a big lake where you can go cliff jumping-, Toquerville Falls - one of Utah's hidden treasures, it's an awesome waterfall that you can swim in!-, hugh swings that if you use at night you can swing out over the lit up Cedar City into the stars! We got free tickets to see Harry Potter and some Shakespearian Festival plays - John saw his first Shakespeare play, As You Like It, and he really liked it! We've made homemade ice cream, visited Bryce National Park, BBQed, moved downstairs, gone to a close friends wedding, hiked, and read Harry Potter! Everyday has had it's own adventures and we've just been really happy with what each day has brought us. Pretty much, life is good, and we are happy and blessed. :)