diff --git a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/CloudWatchLogDownloader.csproj b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/CloudWatchLogDownloader.csproj
index 0063a99..12060b4 100644
--- a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/CloudWatchLogDownloader.csproj
+++ b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/CloudWatchLogDownloader.csproj
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
     <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
+    <Compile Include="DebugLogger.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Models\CommandOptions.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" />
diff --git a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/DebugLogger.cs b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/DebugLogger.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec2d166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/DebugLogger.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+using System;
+
+namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
+{
+    internal static class DebugLogger
+    {
+        private static bool _debug;
+        public static bool Debug
+        {
+            get { return _debug; }
+            set
+            {
+                if (value && !_debug)
+                {
+                    WriteLine("debug mode active");
+                }
+                _debug = value;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void Write(string str)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.Write(str);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void Write(object obj)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.Write(obj);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void Write(string format, params object[] args)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.Write(format, args);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void WriteLine(string str)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.WriteLine(str);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void WriteLine(object obj)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.WriteLine(obj);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+
+        public static void WriteLine(string format, params object[] args)
+        {
+            if (_debug)
+            {
+                var oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;
+                Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
+                Console.WriteLine(format, args);
+                Console.ForegroundColor = oldcolor;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Models/CommandOptions.cs b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Models/CommandOptions.cs
index 3296cf6..cb0e41b 100644
--- a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Models/CommandOptions.cs
+++ b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Models/CommandOptions.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader.Models
         [Option('l', "liveStream", HelpText="Keep pulling logs until Ctrl+C is applied")]
         public bool LiveStream { get; set; }
 
+        [Option('d',"debug", HelpText = "print additional logs to console")]
+        public bool Debug { get; set; }
+
         [ParserState]
         public IParserState ParserState { get; set; }
 
diff --git a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Program.cs b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Program.cs
index 75e82e5..d15644f 100644
--- a/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Program.cs
+++ b/CloudWatchLogDownloader/Program.cs
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
             var opt = new CommandOptions();
             if (CommandLine.Parser.Default.ParseArguments(args, opt))
             {
+                DebugLogger.Debug = opt.Debug;
+
                 client = new AmazonCloudWatchLogsClient();
                 var logGroup = GetLogGroup(opt.LogGroup);
                 var logStream = GetLogStream(logGroup, opt.LogStream);
@@ -29,8 +31,10 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
             DescribeLogGroupsResponse lgResponse = null;
             do
             {
+                DebugLogger.WriteLine("Getting logGroups...");
                 lgResponse = client.DescribeLogGroups(new DescribeLogGroupsRequest { NextToken = (lgResponse != null ? lgResponse.NextToken : null) });
                 allGroups.AddRange(lgResponse.LogGroups);
+                DebugLogger.WriteLine("Got logGroups, have {0}, {1} more pages", allGroups.Count, (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lgResponse.NextToken) ? "still" : "no"));
             } while (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lgResponse.NextToken));
 
             if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(logGroup) || logGroup[logGroup.Length - 1] == '*')
@@ -64,12 +68,14 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
             DescribeLogStreamsResponse lsResponse = null;
             do
             {
+                DebugLogger.WriteLine("Getting logStreams...");
                 lsResponse = client.DescribeLogStreams(new DescribeLogStreamsRequest
                 {
                     NextToken = (lsResponse != null ? lsResponse.NextToken : null),
                     LogGroupName = logGroup.LogGroupName
                 });
                 allStreams.AddRange(lsResponse.LogStreams);
+                DebugLogger.WriteLine("Got logStreams, have {0}, {1} more pages", allStreams.Count, (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lsResponse.NextToken) ? "still" : "no"));
             } while (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(lsResponse.NextToken));
 
             if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(logStream) || logStream[logStream.Length - 1] == '*')
@@ -126,6 +132,7 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
                 GetLogEventsResponse leResponse = null;
                 do
                 {
+                    DebugLogger.WriteLine("Getting events...");
                     leResponse = client.GetLogEvents(new GetLogEventsRequest
                     {
                         LogGroupName = logGroup.LogGroupName,
@@ -133,13 +140,14 @@ namespace CloudWatchLogDownloader
                         StartFromHead = true,
                         NextToken = (leResponse != null ? leResponse.NextForwardToken : null)
                     });
+                    DebugLogger.WriteLine("Got {0} events", leResponse.Events.Count);
 
                     foreach (var ev in leResponse.Events)
                         sw.WriteLine(ev.Message);
 
                     sw.Flush();
 
-                    if (!leResponse.Events.Any() && !lsMessage)
+                    if (!leResponse.Events.Any() && !lsMessage && liveStream)
                     {
                         lsMessage = true;
                         ConsoleColor oldcolor = Console.ForegroundColor;