The big ONE

Logan turned one last weekend and we celebrated with a joint Cairns and Ellis Family. Due to the smaller size of our home we decided to hold it up at my parents house. First off here is the invite Ben made for the event. I thought this turned out so cute. We decided to have a dog theme since Logan loves dogs and his parents do too. And it also was one of his first words. We started off the party with a dinner. Logan served everyone his favorite food....spaghetti. Then we opened his presents and I must say I was quite surprised at how many presents this kid got. He was a sport about opening them all. We had many other kids there that enjoyed helping Logan open his presents. But we would open one and show it to him and he would come crawling back. Thanks so much to all of you who gave him a present, he loves them all and it glad our house is getting more toys.

Then after the presents we went to do his cake. It was getting to be about 7:30 by this time and I could tell Logan was getting tired. To go along with the dog theme we made the following cakes:

I made a large one for everyone and then a smaller one for him to dive in to. Ben helped to construct the big cake and we frosted it to look like Cayman. I must say I was quite impressed with the results. We had some small mishaps in the process of baking so I was glad in the end it looked so cute.

Logan was quite shocked when all his guests started singing Happy Birthday to him. The look on his face was truly priceless. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake and I could tell he was just getting tired. However, I helped him get started and then he had at it for a bit. This is the damage he did before he was ready to be done.

We still can't believe our little boy is one. Some of Logan's favorite thing as a one year old include:

-climbing the stairs

-dancing to music

-eating saltines and animal crackers

-playing keep away from mom and dad

-eating pickles with his dad (yes he does like them)

-sleep at least 11-12 hours every night (ok so maybe that is his mom's favorite thing)

-giving you high fives

-singing and clapping to "If your happy and you know it"

-getting tickled on his tummy and chin

-crawling as fast as he can

-playing with his mom's purse

I then took Logan to the doctor a few days later and here are his stats:

21 lbs 14 oz (35th percentile)

30.5 inches long (75th percentile)

So his weight has slowed down a little bit but his height has continued nicely. Overall he looked very healthy and happy which is always good to hear! Logan isn't walking quite yet but it getting close. He is starting to take a few steps between objects without holding on and will use less and less of our support when walking. I know the walking stage will enter a whole new layer of mischief but we look forward to that as well.

Logan had a wonderful first party and we thank all of his wonderful family and friends that made his party and the first year of his life such a success!

Our First Trial

This weekend I entered Cayman in our first ever official agility trial. This was a USDAA (Utah States Dog Agility Assocation) trial held at the Davis County Fairgrounds conveniently located right behind our house. We have been taken lessons from a lady who recommended the courses we should run. We entered four runs--two Gamblers courses, a Snookers and Jumpers course.

Our first run was Saturday morning and it was a Gamblers course. This was the course I was most nervous about. We had practiced some at my agility lessons and didn't so well. The point of a Gamblers is you can select any obstacles you want for the first 30 seconds of your run. Then when a whistle sounds you have to go a do a marked closing or set of obstacles. If you do that set of obstacles then you qualify if not you don't. All of the obstacles are worth points that they assign to them and then you are awarded places based on if you qualified and how many points you got. My whole family came to watch Cayman and I and I was so nervous that Cayman would run off to socialize with the other dogs, I would fall flat on my face or do something else embarassing. However, this is what happened.

So we didn't do the closing perfect meaning he didn't take that final jup till I took him back over it, but you are allowed to do that and we qualified. And not only did we qualify but we got SECOND PLACE. I was so amazed that on our very first agility run we not only did well but got second place. I couldn't have asked for more. I went in with no expectations of running a qualified run. We maily just wanted to get our feet wet and had some fun.

Cayman did so well. He listened to me extremely well. In practices he often has a hard time watching the other dogs run. He gets very excited and out of control. However at this trial he listened so well to me and was able to be so calm. He couldn't have been a better dog. And most importantly he had so much fun. We was just prancing after he finished this run. He was so proud of himself.

Later on that day we ran a Snookers course which is a course where you have to take a red jump before you can do any other obstacle. Once you have completed all three red jumps then you have to do a marked course of obstacles called your closing. Cayman and I did so well hitting all the red jumps and then finding another obstacle to take. However, he knocked down the last red jump and apparently that means you can't take another obstacle you just have to go straight to your close. Since I am so new at this I didn't know that so we got whisteled off the course. Not Cayman's fault at all but his inexperienced mom. I am proud that we got so far though. Then we ran another Gamblers course on Sunday morning and again it was my fault he didn't do the closing properly. The whistle blew and I panicked and Cayman got on the wrong side and took a different obstacle. Then the last run we did was a Jumpers course. This is a numbered course with just jumps and tunnels. I thought Cayman and I could do fairly well at this course. Take a look and see for yourself.

So my lines were off a few times and I had to take him back to go over the jumps but that is allowed. The only reason he didn't qualify on this run is because he knocked down the second to last bar. Bummer!

Nevertheless we were still more than pleased with our weekend. It was long and tiring but so much fun. I have always enjoyed animals and I love being able to do something with them. I appreciated all of my family who came to cheer me on and help watch Logan so that I could focus on my runs. You can see how much fun Logan had.

I feel much more confident now about being able to do runs in the future as well. The next trial is in February. We are going to keep practicing our weave poles so that we can perhaps enter a standard run at that trial. Note: A standard run is a numbered course with all your obstacles (A-frame, teater, weaver poles, table, jumps, tunnels, etc.). Until then, however, we will keep practicing and having fun with our hobby.

Fall Festivities

So I know it has been forever since I have posted. We have been crazy busy trying to work more hours and get Ben on top of his school work. Here is a quick recap of our fall festivities.

We started by going to our local pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. I was impressed with this local patch and would definitely go back. They had other things like mazes and what not for the kids but we didn't do any of those this year. Perhaps next year when Logan is bigger. Logan loved walking around outside and helping us pick out pumpkins.

Next we had the Ellis Family Halloween Party. This year we dressed up as a Lion (Logan), Tiger (me) and Bear (Ben). Oh my!

I know a bit cheesy but it was cheap and I thought somewhat creative. Everyone at the party thought Ben was mouse instead of a Bear. Ben wanted to go as "french" bear, whatever that means. He would keep talking in french and hence the swirly mustache. We had a lot of fun at this party. Logan loved keeping up with all his older cousins and crawling around with his tongue sticking out.

Then the night before Halloween Ben and I finally decided we should carve our pumpkins. We had both been putting it off but were glad we decided to do it. I think Ben had grander ideas for our pumpkins but these were simple and turned out ok. Here are a few pictures of them at night and then us with them later on Halloween. This is Ben's scary pumpkin. And this is my pumpkin on the bottom looking up at Logan's baby pumpkin on top!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Video of Cayman doing agility

Cayman and I have been practicing hard on our agility skills. Here is a video we took at our last pratice of a short sequence we were working on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha4S1xMgHyI Sorry I am not blog savy enough to know how to add a You Tube video directly into my post. Impressive right? We are still hoping to be able to compete in a trial in February. Until then we will keep practicing.

A little more about me....

I was recently tagged and I often don't particpate cause I don't have the time, but I decided to do this one because people often say that they don't know a lot about me. I thought this would maybe help you all get to know me better. Here are the rules: List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 obsessions, 3 surprising facts and tag 3 more people on your blog.


3 Joys: My family (including animals), eating chocolate, and going on vacations.
I have the best family in the world. I love my artistic husband, active border collie and spunky calico cat. I also enjoy eating chocolate in pretty much any form. I love cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc (and it shows). I also love to go on vacations and travel the world. I only wish I had more time (and money) to do this.

3 Fears: Drowning, the dark, and being alone.
I have a huge fear of drowning. For me that would be the worst thing in the world. I still have to plug my nose when I go swimming and often have dreams of drowning. I don't like the dark. I hate even going out of my own house in the dark. When we go camping I always make Ben go with me to the bathroom. I also have a fear of something happening to Ben that would leave me all alone. I truely need someone else in my life.

3 Obsessions: Gelato, making lists and training my dog.
I love gelato as seen and explained more here. I am also obsessed with making lists. I have to have a 'to do' list for each day so that I stay focused. I drive Ben nuts because I make lists weeks before we go on trips to try to get organized. Lastly I love to train my dog. I always am trying to teach him knew things and enjoy getting out and training him. I have always loved animals and am obsessed with making sure they have a good home.

3 Surprising Facts: I at one point knew how to play the bagpipes, I am not a morning person and I play World of Warcraft with my husband. During High School I learned to play the bagpipes for a group I was in. I was never very good but I could get out "Amazing Grace" on a good day. So it may not really be suprising that I am NOT a morning person to those of you who know me. Everyone told me once I had a baby that would change but it hasn't. I still don't like getting up early. Of course, I get up 'early' with Logan every morning but if I had it my way I would stay up late and sleep in. Finally, I recently started playing World of Warcraft with my husband. There will be more about this in a future post.

I hope this helped all of you to get to know me a little bit better. Quirks and all! I tag any of those who read this and feel up to the challenge.

Updates

Logan has a new car seat! First off thanks to all of you for your advice on the car seat and bottle feeding--it was all greatly appreciated.

I spent many hours researching car seats and concluded that the Britax was rated the highest by so many different reviews for its safety and its ease of use. I, therefore, decided that this was the kind of car seat I would like to get. However, before we got one I wanted to go check out the features, put Logan in it, etc.

So Ben and I headed up to Babies-r-Us on Friday to check them out. We had a wonderful associate who knew a lot about car seats. I asked her to start off explaining the differences between the lower end ($80) and higher end ($250) car seats. She said, which confirmed what I had researched, that the weight limit was one of the biggest differences. Many of your lower end car seats can only be used until your child is 30 to 40 pounds. The higher end car seats can be used until your child is 60-70 pounds.

At first I wasn't sold that we needed a car seat to go up to 60 pounds. However, I soon decided that the longer I can keep Logan in a 5 point harness the better. Having a higher weight limit would allow us to do this.

She then explained that not all car seats are created equal. Yes all car seats have to pass a safety test but that test is a front crash test at 30 mph. (That doesn't seem like much of a test to me). She then told us that Britax, since it is a British company, holds its car seats to higher crash tests. They do front crash tests at speeds of more like 50 mph.

I think Ben and I were instantly sold on this. Call us crazy but we wanted to get a car seat that we thought was safe for our kid and would protect him if anything did happen. I had also read many others talk of how safe their child was in this seat when they had been in a car wreck.

The car seat has so many other wonderful features. It has these Velcros on the side so that you can put the straps out of the way when getting your kid in our out of the car seat. It also has the same Latch system as the Chicco Key Fit base that we had which makes it so so easy to install and un-install. I think this car seat is even easier to install than our Chicco one. (I can't say that the lower end models are easy to install. They have hooks instead of the Latch system like on the Chicco which makes it harder to get in and out of the hooks. You also can only adjust the straps on one side which means you have to do lots of threading of the straps to get it secure. With the Britax each side adjusts independently which makes it so easy to install. ) Since we will only have one car seat for now we wanted a seat that would be easy to move from car to car if we needed to.

One of the other wonderful features is the bar on the side that allows you to move the latch from front to back depending on how you want to install the car seat. This means that you don't have the thread the straps through any holes to change from rear facing to forward facing (which you have to do in many of the lower end models).

So there is my review of this car seat. I think other car seats are great but this one fit best for our family. I am also happy to report that the lovely associate that checked us out gave us a 20% off coupon which made me feel even better about my purchase. I wish I was able to get her name but I didn't catch it. She saved us a good $50 and we TOTALLY appreciate it. Nothing like getting what you want for cheaper.

Logan started crawling last week as well. It definitely isn't a mastered crawl but he can get around the room. He does a little army scoot. He has also taken to the bottle quite well, except for at day care, and is almost totally on bottles. I still nurse him in the mornings but that soon will go. He still seems really pick y about the temperature of the formula. He doesn't like it when you mix it up, put it in the fridge and then warm in up later. I guess we will keep working on that. It is nice to think now that I can leave him and not worry about him getting what he needs.

Lastly, this is how Logan likes to sleep now. My mom tells me I used to sleep like this all the time so I guess this too must be genetic.

9 Months Old

Logan turned 9 months old on Sunday. We took him in to the doctor today and he has had quite the growth spurt. He is now 19lbs 4 oz and 28.5 inches long. His weight has gone from being in the bottom 5th percentile to now about the 35th percentile. His height is actually more in the 50th percentile.

Logan loves to walk around the house. He can walk up the stairs with our assistance. It is cute to watch him stick his foot out so far to get it over the stairs. He still isn't crawling. He rolls around the house and does a little scooting.

He mostly sits on his tummy and kicks his legs and hands and then gets frustrated that he doesn't move like he does in the swimming pool. He can pull himself up on things now but hasn't mastered how to pull himself up on our furniture. He doesn't quite cruise our furniture yet either. I think it is the coordination of moving sideways he can't quite master. He will feed himself now and loves to eat bread and cheerios. He is starting to say things like "mom", "dad" and "dog" more and more. He knows his name and will respond if you say it. He also knows what the word "stop" means and usually ends up screaming if you tell him to do so. He also loves to help do laundry. His favorite part is to hide in the towels and blankets. I don't know why he gets a kick out of it but he does. He also loves to ride around in the laundry basket.

The biggest milestone is that Logan will now take one of these. YEAH!!!!

I know it is just a bottle, but I have been trying since 6 months to get him to take one. He took one just fine at first but at 6 months he decided it wasn't for him. So for the past 3 months I have tried many different techniques. I have tried a several sippy, a straw, a latex nipple, a silicon nipple, a fast flow bottle, a slow flow bottle, a mis of breastmilk and formula, straight formula, and just breastmilk. All of these resulted in a few sucks that ended with screams.

On the 11th I tried one of the orignials bottles we gave him when he was a few months old except with a fast flow nipple, which he couldn't handle before, and he took right to it. Not sure why today but I won't complain. He still won't take breastmilk out of a bottle (he doesn't think that is where it should come from) but he is taking to the formula (if freshly mixed with warm water). So perhaps he is still picky but we are making progess. Today he drank 22 ounces! It has been awhile since he has drank that much. I am thinking this might be a good time to ween him altogether. He seems to have a real lack of interest in nursing these days so perhaps this would be a good time before he changes his mind. What do all you experienced mothers think? Although I will miss nursing, just in the aspect of bonding with my child, I am glad to be able to think I can go out now and not have to worry about whether he will take a bottle or not. I think part of the reason I hate to stop nursing its because it makes me realize how big he is getting. But I don't want to be nursing much past 1 year anyway.

We are also on the lookout for a new carseat. I am just starting my research and would appreciate any feedback you might have. We have been looking at the Britax models along with Recaro and some other cheaper ones. I guess I wonder are the more expensive ones really that much safer?

On an update, Logan's pick eye has cleared up, thankfully. We no longer have goopy eyes at our house. Now we just have these cute eyes to look at us!

Sheep Dog Trials and Goopy Eyes

For Labor day, yes I know it was awhile ago now, my family went up to Solider Hollow to the Sheep Dog Trials. They day started out looking very gloomy but ended up turning out very nice. Here we are before we took off bright and early.

This year we went on the final day of competition so the herding was even more challenging. They had to bring two herds of sheep down the hill and then combind them. It really is amazing to watch these dogs work.

Their owners send them up a hill where they find a herd of sheep and slowly bring them down the mountain through different gates. Then they have to split the sheep and seperate 5 sheep with red collars from the rest of the herd of like 16. Once they have seperated them they have to put them in a pen. It truely is a skill and I could sit there all day and watch it. I am truely amazed at how behaved their dogs are. Once the dog has gotten the sheep in the pen the owner sounds a whistle and calls them off of the sheep. Then another border collie comes running and takes over the sheep and puts them into a holding pen. If you have ever owned a border collie or herding dog you know that they have lots of energy and to simply sound a whistle to tell them to stop herding and come with you is just amazing.

You can actually become a member of the Stock Dog Assocation and they have events where you can let your dog attempt to herd sheep. I think this might be something I have to look in to cause I think Cayman would love it.

Logan loved walking around up there. I think the dogs were too far away for him to see. Towards the end they handed out free popsicles of which Logan was persistent he was going to try. We let him have some and he was addicted. It seems like lately he will eat anything.

In addition to the sheep herding they also had Splash Dogs this year. This is a sport where you see how far your dog will jump off a platform into the water after a toy. You can be any breed of dog to compete in this and it was fun to watch. Ben got some good action shots of them.

Then this is my boy today.

He was come down with conjuntivitis or pink eye. Not fun. I don't even think this picture does justice to how horrible his eyes look. His eyes are so goopy it is crazy. We had to go get him from day care and have to keep him out for at least 48 hours while he is on some medications for it. Overall he still seems pretty happy but as his eyes keep getting worse I can tell they are bothering him and he doesn't feel good. I sure hope that this too will pass and that no one in our family will get it.

What Logan Loves

Logan loves looking at himself in the mirrorLogan loves riding in shopping carts
Logan loves computers Logan loves his dog Cayman Logan loves reading stories with his dad
Logan loves sleeping with something on his head especially stuffies
Logan loves taking baths

Logan loves his playpen especially when his cat Paradise comes in to play with himLogan loves his teething biscuits and feeding himself 'real' food
Logan also loves his Baby Enstein videos

We love our Logan!

Back to School

Ben and Logan went back to school yesterday!

Ben started his last year of graphic design school at the U. I think he is very excited to be done soon.

Logan started Kindercare. We didn't have much luck with our blog ad as far as finding a sitter so we decided we needed to make another plan (but that you all who kept your ears open for us!) We really liked the idea of having someone come to our house, but after researching it many of them want $10 or more an hour and let's face it, Ben and I can't really afford that right now. So we decided to go and check out a daycare I had heard people talk about called Kindercare. We went to an open house night and checked out the facility. Ben and I were both quite impressed. Each child has their own bed and dresser set. They have tons of toys that Logan just went nuts over. His favorite was a mirror with a bar in front of it. He could stand up like a big boy in front of the mirror and he thought he was so cool. They also let all of the kids be on their own schedule. They have you fill out a form each morning telling them what you would like them to do today--i.e. work on tummy time or taking a sippy in our case. So after thinking about it for awhile we decided to sign Logan up. Part of us was excited to have Logan interact with other kids. The other part was nervous that he wasn't going to get the same attention he does at home with a one on one sitter. In his infant class there are 8 kids under the age of 1 and there are 2 teachers. We didn't have to commit to any certain length of time so we decided to give it a try. At least this was a sure thing. They will be reliable and always there unlike nannies who often have schedule changes you have to work around. We figured if we don't like it we can then start to look for a nanny by advertising in the U paper or something.

So Logan's first day was on Monday and they said he did really well. I was most worried about him going down for naps because they have to sleep in the same room that all the kids are playing in so I was worried there would be too much going on for him to calm down. However, they said he did great. He didn't fuss going down and took 2 one hour naps. He usually takes a little bit longer naps but I was glad they were able to get him down without a fight. They said he was very cuddly which they loved. They also said he loved playing with the other kids but didn't like it when they got too close to him. I thought that was funny. I guess he needs his personal space. He definitely enjoyed all the new toys and ate ALL the food I took him which was like 12-14 ounces. The teachers were impressed. He still wouldn't take a sippy with formula in it for them but I guess we will keep working on that.

I will admit I was nervous all day about him and how he was doing. However, when I picked him up I could tell he was just fine. He just crashed on the way home as you can see. He hadn't taken a nap in like 4 hours so I knew he was pretty tired. He woke up after a good power nap and was just a happy lark at home so he couldn't have gotten too traumatized.

I think this picture sums it all up.......

Help Wanted

1 fun nanny/babysitter to watch 1 bubbly and expressive 7 month old boy

Ok so our nanny/babysitter has to go back to school in a few weeks and Ben and I are left, once again, trying to decide who to watch Logan. We have loved having someone come to our house. It has been nice to not have to pack things up every morning and for Logan to be with his toys and bed. However, I feel a little weird about going through some of these nanny services such as gonannies.com simply because you don't know much about the people that would be coming to your home. I have looked at daycares like Kindercare but am amazed at the cost and don't like the idea of leaving my child at a daycare where I am not sure what they do with him.

So the reason for my post? I am wondering if any of you mothers out there know of anyone or are related to anyone that might be interested in a babysitting job. We only need help 3 days a week and can be really flexible. It seriously would be such a good job for someone going to school cause they could do their homework when Logan is sleeping. We are also open to the idea of taking him to someone else's house as well--perhaps someone with one child that feels they could take on another a few days a week. I really just don't want to take my child to a large day care facility at this time.

Logan really is a good kid and pretty easy going. I hate having to leave him at all, but it is only a few days and bills need to get paid.

So pretty please send me an email (ellisfam320@gmail.com) or leave a comment if you know of anyone that might be interested in watching my great boy a few days a week. We seriously are pretty flexible and can discuss details if interested. Thank you blog world and I will keep my fingers crossed this ad will be fulfilled.

Disclosure: If interested in coming to our home must be a dog lover and able to play with our border collie.

Me, My Dog and My new hobby

I have always loved animals. Growing up my family raised Guide Dogs for the Blind and Canine Companions for Independence. I always loved working with and training my dog. Many of you fellow bloggers probably know this but what you probably don't know is one of my latest hobbies--agility. For the last year and half or so I have been training my rescue red and white border collie Cayman on agility.

We rescued Cayman over 2 years ago from a back yard breeder. I decided I wanted a red and white border collie when I saw one in a show at Sea World. I thought they were pretty and was intrigued by all you can teach them. Of course, to start we took Cayman to basic puppy classes. We loved going to them and when they were all over I began to find myself wanting to continue to do something with him. We turned to try agility. One of Cayman's rescuers taught agility so I contacted her to help me get started.

According to the American Kennel club "Agility is a sport that appeals to young people and to senior citizens. It has great spectator appeal. Agility is designed to demonstrate a dog's willingness to work with its handler in a variety of situations. It is an athletic event that requires conditioning, concentration, training and teamwork. Dog and handlers negotiate an obstacle course racing against the clock." If you have ever watched animal planet it is the sport where the dogs run around all sorts of obstacles---jumps, poles, walks, etc. Ok so I may be the only one who watches animal planet but agility is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the United States.

To start agility, we started by teaching Cayman many basic things like to be aware of his hind legs. Then when he was two years old we started him on the obstacles. We have been working with a new trainer and at home to teach him the many skills he will need to hopefully compete someday.

He has come a long way, and I must say so have I. Going into it, I had no idea how much training and work goes into this sport. It truely is a working relationship with your dog. You have to read your dog constantly and help guide them through the course. We are still a ways out from ever competing professionally but we are getting there. And most importantly we are having fun.

Cayman is now starting to take his jumps at angles and do them in varying patterns. He is getting faster at his weave poles and more consistent at his contacts. He is also starting to rely less on me and take the many obstacles on command. This means I don't have to keep up with him which is a good thing. If you could see him run this course in full drive you would understand how hard it is to keep up.

Here are the two of us running through the course. Don't we look like we are having fun! This picture was on the 24th of July. Ben and Logan came down to watch Cayman practice--and take some pictures for me too. One of the things I like most about the sport of agility is that the dogs look like they are just having so much fun. Many of them bark the whole way through the course because they are so excited. It almost seems like a playground to them.

I am always amazed at how quickly Cayman learns this stuff. He really does think through different situations. For both being new to the sport we have come a long way. We owe a lot of thanks to our teachers who help us out each week. Cayman and I hope to keep getting better and hopefully enter a competition next year.

Tony Grove

A few weekends ago we were able to go camping with my family up at one of my favorite camping spots--Tony Grove. It is located up Logan canyon and has the most beautfiul flowers like the ones below in addition to all the beautfiul pine trees.

I love to go camping and just relax. It always amazes me how fast the day goes by even though you don't do very much. We tried some new camping foods this trip including chicken and stuffing tin foil dinner and chocolate marshmellow bananas. Both were very yummy. We always seem to make way too much food when we go camping. My other favorite we made was yogurt parfaits. Yum yum!

Logan loved playing in the dirt. He liked to pick it up and watch it fall out of his hands. We took his pack-n-play up with us and I was suprised at how content he was to just sit and play in it.

Logan and his daddy

Logan on his first hike. He liked it so much this is what happened.......he fell right asleep!Three happy campers--my mom, sister and brother-in-law

I can't believe summer is almost over. I always look forward to camping trips. We didn't get any pictures but there as a lake up at Tony Grove that all our dogs loved to swim in--some more than others. We had 5 dogs up there with us. They all get a long so well and just had lots of fun. There was a lot of pine sap up there this year, however, which got stuck in all the dog's fur. That wasn't fun cleaning out. We all had tons of fun though and can't wait to go again!