Brunch and a bunch

Today was a full day of fun. One of our good friends, Melissa, was
feeling pretty sick today and hadn't slept at all the prior night. So
because there was a big brunch in the morning at Rachel and Tom's place
(for the official 'Welcoming to the world of baby Steven' for Kristen
and Matt), we took Logan's pal Bradon along to get him off Melissa's
hands. Melissa and Liesl had made up a lot of food for the brunch.
Liesl herself stayed up until around 2 AM the previous evening getting
things ready, after first grading more essays for her Modern America
History class. The morning kicked off with a bang, with us getting
going at 6:30 AM and then heading over to the brunch at about 8:45 AM.
Fun was had by all as there were a horde of kids and adults at the
brunch and the wonderful hosts Rachel and Tom having had delivered some
large party toys and equipment to keep the kids all occupied. That, in
addition to all the cooking and decorating they did, everyone was
thoroughly impressed and thankful for such an enjoyable time. At around
1:00 PM we made it home and sat down to enjoy a bit of lunch with Bradon
still giving us some good company. Soon thereafter Liesl went and
picked up Bradon's younger brother 'Baby Seth' as Logan refers to him,
so that poor sick Melissa could get a few moment of 'complete' self time
to sleep or relax and try to get a bit better. With Seth back with us,
everyone took a bit of a rest with Logan and Bradon napping for an hour
or so. Soon enough everyone was awake and ready for a few snacks,
primarily to include 'cookies' (graham crackers) and grapes. Bradon and
Logan played very well together all day long, behaving themselves quite
better than expected, and so it was a positive 'sign' of possible things
to come when our second arrives that we might actually be able to pull
it off. Throughout the day, Logan had a case of the bowel movements and
had to be changed around 8-9 times (4 times within two hours). By the
time night hit, I guess he was so used to it, that instead of notifying
us he had 'poos', instead he was holding his nose and indicating the
word 'smelly'. Even Bradon chimed in and did it as well for Logan. Oh
yes, another learning note, throughout the day Bradon and Logan had had
helium balloons from the brunch. Logan would get very frustrated with
the balloon always going to the ceiling and couldn't understand exactly
how he could pull the string hand over hand to get the balloon down to
him. After all, he just wanted to hold the balloon itself. Well, by
the end of the day, he was a champ and got the hand over hand things
down pat, so that he could get the balloon lickety split. Before
dinner, Liesl took baby Seth home to Mom and came back to eat. Bradon,
who normally isn't known for eating much, was amazingly good all day in
wolfing things down, so we were very happy for him as he often goes
entire days eating nothing at all. After dinner, there was a bit more
play time (mostly of everyone crawling through the adventure playland
consisting of a tunnel and two tents), followed by brushing of the
teeth, and Mom reading books to the boys while Dad continued cleaning
up. Then it was night-night and goodbye to Bradon as Liesl took him
home, and Dad read Logan some more books before putting him down. One
book in particular, we call the 'Logan' book (because it is a
personalized gift book given to us as a gift), uses the letters and
associated animals beginning with the first letter of each part of
Logan's name on each page. Logan really enjoys the book and is really
picking up on the look and sound of each letter of his name. In fact,
tonight he was able to say his full name for the first time! His
favorite letter is 'G' because there is a gorilla on that page and he
really likes to pound his chest with his fists when it comes up :-)