Logan Wallace

Logan was born August 18th, 2003 at 9:19 a.m. he weighed 5 lbs. .5 oz and was 17 inches long. He was the second one born and had been breach for the the majority of the pregnancy and made it so I could not breathe. I had several boy names in mind throughout my pregnancy such as Ethan, Graham and Trae. Rich and I could not agree on a name for two weeks so the poor kid did not have a name. Every day we went into the NICU the nurses would give him a new name. Rich had him named Elijah for two days. Originally Rich wanted Richard Wallace IV and me, not so much. So we settled on Logan Wallace. Logan, UT being were Rich and I met and at the time we were living in California so it was a pretty uncommon name in those parts. He is definitely my Logan Boy and from the get go I got to be rougher with one kid and more delicate with the other. He loved to be thrown on the bed as a toddler and in pillow fights with Dad, the rougher always meant more fun and the more giggles we got out of him.

Baby boys as preemies struggle more so than girls and he was always a step behind his sister. However he too was never ventilated or incubated in the NICU, he did however have to be on oxygen during his feedings because he thought it would be too much work to breathe and eat all at the same time. So he would stop breathing and set off all sorts of alarms and turn blue. He was born with a twisted foot so he did get some physical therapy from a very cute lady every now and again. He moved to three different beds in the NICU he got so big near the end of his stay they got him a full size crib, it was silly. Once he was able to come home at ten weeks he was a chunk with a feeding tube in his nose, it was hilarious and the local pediatrician we went to in town laughed and said take that thing out. The night we took him home Southern Cali was engulfed in wild fires and I will never forget the smell outside and the ash all over the cars in the parking lot, it was weird.

Logan was a very laid back baby and was on the perfect schedule as was Rileigh, it was perfection. Except from 5 o'clock on, they were an ornery bunch to hang with. So I would put them in the stroller and we would walk. Rich was working and going to school at night so the days were soooo long. My neighbors called me the walking girl because some days we went on four walks. This was Fall, Winter and Spring in Southern California it was bliss. We had two kid swings on the front porch and some nights I would sit out there and push them until they fell asleep. Logan walked soon after Rileigh, at 14 months he was into everything and climbed everything. He has always been a little spastic and I have to blame it on the fact that I was always a little more playful and rambunctious with the little guy, we have had some good laughs.

Logan has been my cleaner kid when it comes to his room and keeping it up. When told to do his chores and then he is free to play for the day, he is done within minutes and out the door for the day. He is pickier than ever these days with his clothes and would wear the same thing everyday if I let him, just for the fact that it is a DC t-shirt and baggy shorts. Thankfully they are dark in colors as to not show the filth! It will be interesting getting him to wear different outfits to school each day. I did take him school shopping and hopefully that will help with picking clothes to wear daily for school.

He has done very well in school with Kindergarten behind him and on to First Grade. He is a pretty good reader but his best qualities are his social skills, the kid has made some friends and I mean friends from all over. The first week of Kindergarten he came home with notes from other mothers requesting that their child would really like to play with Logan some time and could I give them a call to set up a play date. I just like to credit his great personality and he super fun spirit that makes him so fun to be around from me, he gets it from me!

So this last year we took him Snow Boarding and he was instantly addicted and has done very well for himself to the point of us saying "Okay, Logan do some runs with Rileigh and we will see you in a few." This summer he has gotten into skate boarding and begs to go to work with Rich to clock in some hours of work then to skate. He negotiated his old man into $2 an hour to save up for a DS then he finishes up the day in the skate park. CIK Skate is in the adjoining building. he gets pretty frustrated at learning specific tricks and has the older kids working with him and teaching him new tricks to work on. Then he comes home and practices into the night. He got a Mtn. Bike this year and is waiting for his Dad's arm to heal to hit the hills!

Logan you are a super fun energetic kid to be around and we love the company minus the whine. (There is a lot of whining these days). I think we have spoiled him rotten and need to fine tune some things with the kid. I love watching you play and giggle with your sisters and never tire of that in the least. I get asked occasionally if you can have a brother ha ha! Love you Logan and am so proud of the MAN you are becoming. Love you, Mom

Rileigh Ilene

Rileigh Ilene was born at 9:18 a.m. on August 18, 2003 weighing in at 4 lbs. 5 oz. and 16 3/4 inches long. She was the first one born and was head down for the majority of my pregnancy, hence the large stretch marks on the left side of my upper hip! Her name came from an old College neighbor of mine who happen to be a guy from Canada. I loved Rileigh for a girl and it was like one of ten names on the girl list. Rich knew how much I loved and adored my Grandmother, my Mom's Mom who had passed in 1998. So while discussing names with family it was Rich's sister who put together Rileigh Ilene Whitemyer.

Rileigh did very well considering she was premie. She was never ventilated or incubated just hung in the NICU for 7 weeks. She did have some reflux that prevented her from keeping her feedings down and prevented her from gaining enough weight to go home. Rileigh was the "BIG" sister and got to go home before her brother by three weeks. She was kind of a cranky baby at times and Rich always said, "the Squeaky one gets greased," so once Logan came home she for sure got the majority of the attention.

Rileigh progressed a bit slower than your typical baby but was always a step ahead of her little brother. I honestly think by about 18 months they had caught up physically to where they should be compared to the average toddler and those crazy growth charts the doctors use at each and every visit. For a short time Logan and Rileigh shared a crib and Rich called it the two headed monster. Rileigh walked at 13 months and from then ran and refused walking and just ran every where she went. With running would come a lot of falling, Grandma Thatcher even questioned if something was wrong with her because she would fall all the time and was so bruised up. Rileigh was a thumb sucker and the verdict is still out if she may or may not still enjoy a good thumb sucking these days. When checked on in the wee hours of the night there is no thumb sucking but I think to soothe herself to sleep there maybe some. She does still sleep with her rag of a blanket which is a huge danger to her health ha ha!

Rileigh is the person in our family to go to if you ever lose anything she knows where it is and responds with, duh! She is a miniature version of me in so many ways. I honestly remember my mom telling me that one day she hopes I have a daughter like myself and sure enough I did and now I know why my Mom is crazy, I drove her crazy. Rileigh is the type of personality that when she wants something she wants it NOW! So we struggle with this, oh and when I ask her to do something she wants to do it LATER! We struggle with this even more. Like keeping up with the cleanliness of her room, watch out it is a MESS! She is getting smarter with age and even more conniving. Once again can be good and not so good. She is my right hand man, we enjoy each others company a lot, so I like to think. She is always up for what ever I want to do and vice\versa. She was my running partner, her on a bike me on foot. She is craft partner and an amazingly talented one to boot.

She is my day planner and reminds me on numerous occasions of things I forget or need to do. She is my babysitter, my maid and my friend.

I cannot believe she is going to be 7 years old, where has the time gone. It freaks me out a bit, I mean a lot. I look so forward to the future with her and watching her do the Rileigh things that she does. Her dad calls her Earl and thinks it is a great nick name. She is very excited for 1st grade and just today got some new jeans for school. She has become very opinionated about the taste of her clothes these days, but not as much as Logan that kid is even more opinionated about clothes. So good luck to Miss. Foster a brand spanking new teacher and graduate of college. Rileigh was told by her Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Lake who the teacher was and who the student is. She had to be reminded to back off and to let Mrs. Lake teach. I love that story it kind of makes me laugh a lot on the inside. My little control freak, in time it may be a good thing ha ha ha!

I love you Ri and am so proud of the sweet little girl you have become and am going to miss you when you are going to be gone at school allllllll day. Nellie is going to be so bored without you. Happy 7th Birthday my Ri Ri!