First Hike

Logan's first hike at Mt. Falcon with Mom, Dad, Auntie Kendall, and Buddy the dog

Two Weeks

At 2 weeks, Logan weighs 7 lbs 4 oz. They say he is in the 75th percentile for height and the 25th for weight. I have my doubts he’s that tall. The measurement system consists of laying the baby on a big piece of butcher paper, trying to extend his curled up legs, and marking the top of his head and the bottom of his feet as he flails around. But I’ll take it since he’ll probably never be that high on the height chart again.

He loves to eat—has ever since he was born. He sleeps most of the time—mostly in my arms or on my chest—but is starting to open his eyes more these days. He has a range of funny faces and he makes lots of squeaks, which has earned him the nickname Squeaky or Squeakers. He loves his pacifier but can’t keep it in his mouth and gets upset as soon as it falls out. He hates having his diaper changed, but if we turn on the hairdryer that calms him right down.

He likes being carried at all times. Mark carries him around in a sling and shows him guy stuff like climbing gear and tools. They watch the Bears together. They also play the piano and train grip strength (have to start early). We take walks every day around the neighborhood in the baby bjorn, to see the llamas and horses.

Newborn Photos

A friend of ours, Katy Moses, took some pictures of Logan at 11 days old. Thanks Katy!

Thank you Grandma!

My mom spent Logan's first 10 days with us and was a huge help. She cooked and cleaned, babysat so we could get out of the house for a little while or get some sleep, and stayed up at all hours of the night to help Logan through his billibed treatments (for jaundice). She was very unjudgmental as we figured out how to be parents. I don't know what we would have done without her (and Auntie Kendall)! Thank you!

Logan at 3 days-- looking a little yellow


Logan around 7 days-- a rare moment with his eyes open


Celebrating his one week birthday!

Welcome to the World

Thank you Janie!

Logan Frank Anderson

It took us a while to decide on Logan’s name. We called him Gunnar all through my pregnancy. It started as a joke, to put off people (I won’t say who) who kept badgering us about the name. But we’d grown attached to little Gunnar. Still, I didn’t want that to be his actual name. We brought a list of names to the hospital, but none of them seemed to fit. So, we spent all day in the hospital looking up potential names online, and graphing all the pertinent data-- which names do people with that name like most, which ones are the least made fun of. In the end we chose Logan. It is the second highest peak in North America, considered a more challenging climb than the highest, and it ends in a “gun” sound… just in case we want to keep Gunnar as a nickname. His middle name, Frank, we always knew—it is after my dad, who he would be lucky to take after. It was strange to see his name on the birth certificate—he was still Gunnar to me and I didn’t recognize Logan Frank Anderson. I called him Gunnar for the first few days but he is now firmly Logan.

The First 24 Hours

Getting weighed and measured

Logan's first bath

Auntie Kendall was Logan's first visitor, arriving the night he was born.

Grandma Z flew across the country and met Logan first thing in the morning.

Uncle Andrew came out that morning too, from Breckenridge.

The NREL ladies came too, but we forgot to take a picture.

All Babies Want To Get Borned

Logan was born Tuesday January 11, 2011, 2 ½ weeks early. Maybe it was the 8 inches of snow I shoveled off the driveway the morning before. Maybe he knew I’d finished the last of my work projects that day. Maybe it was because I’d finally set up his bassinet that night. Whatever the reason, he decided he was ready. My water broke at 12:30am on Jan. 11th. I was pretty sure I’d peed my pants and was becoming incontinent for lack of Kegels. I went through 2 new sets of pajamas before Mark decided it was actually my water breaking. Contractions started shortly after, and by 8am I needed Mark’s help. He spent the next 10 hours pressing on my back and squeezing my hips during contractions to relieve the pressure… he was sore for days afterwards. In between contractions, we had important stuff to do. I cleaned the microwave. Mark packed our hospital bag.

At noon, we called the doctor. They didn’t believe I was in labor and insisted we come to the office first before going to the hospital. We were admitted to the hospital around 1:30pm, 5 cm dilated. Our doula arrived at 2:30 and helped us through the next few hours which were as you'd imagine-- hard. Around 6pm, I got in bed for pushing. I expected this part to go a lot faster but I think I wasn’t pushing very effectively and in the end it took about 2 hours. What I remember most was being very hot, and very tired, and being forced to read a menu and decide what I wanted for dinner because the dinner service was about to close.

Logan arrived at 8:05pm. He was put on my chest and his eyes were wide open. He was covered in white vernix, which soon absorbed into his skin. He had a conehead and a bruise on his scalp which was gone within a few days. He was making hungry faces, and I waited for him to crawl to my breast like I saw the newborn baby do on YouTube, but in the end I helped him there. He nursed for an hour or so, and eventually was weighed and bathed. He measured 19 inches, 5 lbs 15.5 oz. We were very pleased with our creation.