A Belated Merry Christmas & Happy New Year's From the Merz's

I've always thought that the holiday season was an extremely busy time for us - but it seems like it was even more busy this year. But, I mean busy in a GOOD way. Christmas with a child seems more special. Since our last post at the beginning of December, we continued to enjoy each day in amazement at the new things Logan is learning and doing. We met with our "regular" pediatrician and learned that Logan has increased on the growth charts in each area by 25 or 50% from the time we brought him home. We had a hearing screening done on him, to be told that everything is clear and good with his ears. We made our first road trip to New Jersey to visit with the Maguire family, where Logan met his Great-grandfather and cousins. We got a chance to visit ChristmasTown at Busch Gardens (not with the grandparents since it snowed in NOVA that weekend). But, it was nice to go together as a family - Logan loved the Sesame Street Christmas show, meeting Elmo and seeing all of the beautiful lights and decorations. We spent Christmas Eve, just the 3 of us, going to the Children's Mass and then having a nice family dinner. Christmas morning we drove up to NOVA to spend the day with the King and Merz families. Logan was showered with many gifts this Christmas, that we had to leave some at the grandparents house because there was no room in the car! On December 26th, we had Logan's baptism by Fr Peffley and enjoyed a celebration with family and friends. Then we were off to TX to visit with Nicole's families. We loved seeing Logan play with his cousins Rylee and Jack (just a little younger than Logan). Logan did great on the flight down (of course this was a piece of cake compared to the last time we flew!!). While we were in TX, we were excited to be able to visit the Gladney Center (who we adopted Logan through). The emotion that we both experienced as we walked through the beautiful facility is hard to put into words - there is nothing we can say or do to thank them for bringing us our son - the gift we have prayed for for so long. We brought in the New Year's with the wonderful Hall Family at the Sullivan's house and then headed back to Virginia to get back into our normal routine. Logan came down with a cold the first week we were back. Even though he wasn't feeling well, we enjoyed all of the cuddling that he wanted to do. Now, we are dealing with teething again (his back molars are coming in). So, he's not feeling to well or sleeping through the night. But, we know that this too shall pass. Some new things that Logan is doing now - slowly learning how to safely come down the stairs, giving kisses and blowing kisses, loves to open and close drawers (as well as empty them out then put everything back in), he has discovered the toilet paper and loves to spin the roll so it all falls to the ground, he loves to play peek-a-boo and "come and get me", he can point out animals such as a cow, duck, dog, cat and sheep and continues to be a typical active boy. At 15 months, he is right on track developmentally in all areas except his speech. He continues to only say Dada (we're still working on Mommy), but his babbling and making different sounds has definitely increased. I'm sure it's a matter of time before he is talking up a storm. I guess that catches all of you up on our lives. We hope you and your families are all doing well. I have posted a couple of pictures on the blog, but don't forget to check out http://adaywithlogan.shutterfly.com for more pics. Love you all!!!