And in this corner, weighing in at the 95th percentile...

BOOYAH

This week, we took our son into the doctor's office. Part of the procedure of baby checkups is that they first check his weight and general health. When the nurse put Logan in the scale, I could have sworn I read this on the register:

Weight: CHUNK

Or, maybe it was 15 lb 11 oz, or something like that.

Ok, I'm the first to admit that my two-and-a-a-half month old son has a low center of gravity. I just hope that the weight of his cheeks doesn't stunt his growth (if his gene pool hasn't already done that.) The good news is he'll make a great first round draft choice as a linebacker in next year's fantasy football leagues.

Pick a chin and pinch it!

Logan's first endzone victory dance

By the way, Logan started rolling over a couple of days ago. We are pretty excited about that!

Almost a Month

As of today, Logan is now three and a half weeks old. We can't imagine life without him. Life with him has been a little hard to get used to (mostly the going off a max of 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night, not consecutively) but it has also been great to have him around. He is such a great baby and an amazing spirit to have in our home. We feel so blessed! Here are some fun pictures we've taken of him in the last month.

This is one of my favorites. He looks so much like Kevin to me!

Usually when he isn't eating or sleeping, he really like to just hang out on the floor. What a great baby we have!

Taking a nap with Dad.

Relaxing with Uncle Donnie and Renae.

This is Logan's favorite sleeping position. We usually try to burrito wrap him so he can't get his hands out but somehow he always does.

We love our little guy!

The Nursery

Logan's room has been done for a couple of months now and I have been meaning to post pictures ever since but am just getting around to it. So, here they are.

When we first moved in the walls in the baby's room were covered in permanent marker. So, Kev had to paint before we could do anything else.

Rather than getting a crib we were just planning on buying a pack-and-play because they are so much cheaper, but, thanks to Kevin's parents we were able to get a beautiful crib. Plus Kevin's Mom got us the bedding set we had our eyes on, which I love! Thanks Mom and Dad Hendricks!

The rocking chair we got from my sister Betsy and it has been awesome. It only takes about a minute to rock Logan right to sleep. He loves it!

Also, thanks to everyone for all the other great gifts we've received. Logan has enough clothes to last the first year or so, and I don't think we will have to buy diapers for at least another month. There is no way we could have done this without every one's help, so thank you!!

Baby care know-how from the pros who know

I have included here a list of essential must-know items for future parents. This list is intended to be comprehensive of everything you need to know in order to get you through the first week of baby rearing.

1. Be aware of barf. I believe to have discovered that a secret gland exists in babies whose purpose is to do nothing but produce barf. This discovery came as result of finding that after my pants and shirt had been spewed on in a bout of 3 or 4 good barfings, I realized that Logan could not possibly have anything more in his stomach. Yet, AGAIN he barfed! This vomiting appears to be a reflex that occurs in reponse to virtually any stimulus, such as light, darkness, blinking, eating, pooping, or the passing of time, showering, or especially diaper changing.

In mathematical terms, we can display this action as such:

Baby + anything = B^2 (where B is the barf constant)

2. Poop is deceptive. I have learned the fact that you can never trust a poop until the third passing. Here's an example:

Baby: *poop*

Parent: change diaper

Baby: *poop*

Parent: changing diaper...

Baby: in the middle of changing, *poop*

Parent: change diaper

Parent: wash hands

By the way, if the baby's a boy, and he is born with a sense of humor, he will think it's funny to pee only when his diaper is off. Have a shield on hand when changing the baby, and it might not be a bad idea to wear your K-mart rain poncho during the process. Remember that the best defense is a good offense.

3. The water balloon effect. The name of this one comes from the fact that though a newborn baby may have a stomach the size of a pea, they need to consume somewhere around what seems like 24 gallons a day. You may think it's physically impossible to store all that in a stomach so small, but refer to item #2 for further understanding.

By the way, I think I have a cute kid. Here are a couple of awesome pics from Meggan's photo shoot. (see her site) Thanks Meggan!

"Siiiiiiimmbaaaa"

"Calvin Klein for babies"

Baby!

Our beautiful baby boy, Logan Wayne Hendricks, was born Tuesday June 23 at 1:09 p.m., weighing in at 7 lb 13 oz, and measuring 21 inches.

We are very excited and love our little boy very much. Here are some pics...

Shannon two days before the baby was born.

A new mommy. Looking tired, but happy.

The warming lamp put him right to sleep.

Baby Logan

Logan meeting Grandma Hendricks

Grandma O'Neal with a yawner

We found that that it was time at about 11:30 at night when Shannon starting having regular contractions. She was holding up well and we waited around at home for a little while as we prepared to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital at 2:00 a.m. and Shan received an epidural at about 4:30 after she'd been showing really good progress. We rested for a little and then for the rest of the morning we just waited so she could push. Finally, at 1:09 the baby was born! We got to spend some good time bonding with our baby and Shannon finally got to rest after a long day.

It was an incredible experience and poor Shannon was of course exhausted. Shannon is recovering well, and both Shannon and the baby are very healthy.

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers, and for all the support and help we have received. We are grateful for our family and friends and are excited for the chance to spend time with our baby.