Mason–37 Weeks

Big boy pulled up this weekend.  Cannot believe it.  He is 8 months and 3 weeks.  He needs to slowdown.  I love watching him develop but I don’t want him to grow up too fast.  They already grow up way too fast.  I would definitely recommend to any mommy or mommy to be out there, don’t wish the next developmental milestone.  Enjoy the day and what they are doing now. 

He makes us smile and laugh daily.  I cannot imagine my life without him in it each and everyday.  He is talking up a storm.  Mostly saying Bah Bah Bah.  He lets out an occasional mama and pa pa, but daily bah bah.  I think he thinks he is talking to Gabby.  He says it the most when he is crawling over to get Gabby.  He laughs and smiles a lot.  My favorite time is getting him out of bed in the morning.  One of these days I am going to record it.  Just too sweet.

FaceTime with my baby while out of town.Sleeping with his booty in the air.Playing with Gabby.Trying to steal Gabby’s bone.  Note Gabby’s paw on his hand.  He has started giving us kisses!Sitting in the yard.What’s up Mama…I just playinSame look.

Mason Pulling Up.

Jumping is hard to do.

Living Room Reveal

I got my pictures in yesterday.  Ordered Monday!  I, of course, had to hang them up immediately.  I am so excited to finally feel like my living room can be a place where we can start living!

Panoramic View of the Living Room!

From this…To This…

Wall Collage

I mentioned we moved into a new house.  Well new to us.  I am going to be SLOWLY changing rooms around.  We got a new sofa and chairs in our living room about two weeks after moving in.  This was our first of many BIG purchases for the new house.  We actually had not bought new living room furniture…well ever.  I had a couch from college that I loved.  We still have it now in our media room.  It is perfect in there because it is big, fluffy, and reclines.  After we got the new furniture in I quickly noticed how bare and big the wall behind the couch looked. 

First order of business, figure out a solution to the problem.  I have several pictures from vacations that I love and wanted to somehow incorporate them into a collage of sorts.  I started looking on Pinterest and then saw something in a magazine. 

When I saw this picture I just loved the different sizing and how each picture was large.  I also loved how it was themed.  In this case, by groups of people.  I got to looking through pictures from Hawaii and from St. Thomas and other beach vacations.  I love the beach theme and island theme.  It brings a feeling of relaxation that would be perfect for any living space.  *in my opinion.  I got on my trusty website for ordering pictures and frames  www.mpix.com. Love them.  Have ordered tons of stuff from them.  I already had a big picture of Mason above the fireplace and some pictures from our wedding on another wall and wanted to match the frames. 

The toughest part was deciding all the sizes for the pictures I wanted to have.  I got on the website and proceeded to play with masking tape.  I finally decided on this:

I then added to the middle picture an extra three inches for matting and frames.  I had almost forgotten and that could have been bad, but I think it will end up looking great.  Fingers crossed.  I decided on 1-10x20, 2-5x15s, 2-11x14, and 1-8x12.  The tape just shows the print size and now the frames.  I also decided to use these photos.  This is the big one.

Once I get them in this week, I will post a final of the behind the sofa look.

Visitors and Razorbacks

Anyone sad the weekend is over.  I was traveling all last week and so I am very sad.  I would like to still be snuggling my little bug, instead of sending him to school.  Even though Mason LOVES school.  Today when I dropped him off he couldn’t get out of his seat fast enough. 

A few weeks ago my brother was in town and of course he came over and spent some time with his nephew.  At first Mason wasn’t too sure about him, but quickly warmed up and loved him.  I really wish he lived closer.  It is fun to watch my brother with him.  Mason also got a fun gift from a family friend.  It was musical bath toys and several books.  We love books and anything that makes noise.  He loves to pound of everything, the floor, the highchair, the table.  It doesn’t matter as long as it makes noise.  We have been practicing making all the instruments make noises.  Mason watches us so close and tries very hard to mimic. 

Here he is trying to open the present.Oh Fun Paper!Uncle Eric and Mason! Why wouldn’t Mason love an Uncle who lets him do whatever he wants.What’s up people!  Just love this picture!

Mason 8 Months

8 Months!! OMG! Too quick too quick.  Can we take a step back and think about the newborn version of Mason.  Tiny itty bitty Mason.  I miss this less mobile version of Mason, but not the yellowish version. Attitude! What up Mama!So Happy and Smiley as always!Sucking on that bottom lip…feeling those teeth.

Weight: He doesn’t have to go back to the doctor until next month, but my professional opinion says he weighs in at 20+lbs.  SO BIG.  I sometimes pick him up and he just feels SO heavy and then I hold our friends little girl who is 8 months older and I think she weighs less.    

Height: I believe in my professional measuring job he is about 30 inches. Long and lean.  When I look at how tall he is getting it makes me realize I am QUICKLY losing my baby and getting a little boy. 

Clothes: Mason is in 12 month footy PJs.  9 Month most things.  Because he is so long he needs to go up a size, but onesies and all other footless outfits are 9 month.   

Eats: He is still not picky at eating.  Thank goodness.  I have started venturing off the straight puree.  I let him try anything I can smash easily.  He loves all fruit, which mean he is not my child.  I hate all fruit.  I am loving his faces when he tries new food. 

Sleeps: My great sleeper is still doing so well.  We have the occasional bad night aka he wakes up once, but there usually is a reason.  Recently cutting two teeth didn’t help.

What he is enjoying: My little man is CRAWLING everywhere.  It was one day barely moving across the room and the next day he is army crawling every place.  The kid gets around fast too.  It is time to baby proof this new house ASAP! He wants to be standing already.  I am nervous it will be no time at all before he is taking steps on his own.  He will already walk, yes he takes steps picking up his feet and walking, as long as we have his hands.  Now he is no one near ready to try alone, our balance is not their yet, but you know what this mama is not ready!

Teeth: We have three teeth cut through the gums! The bottom two central incisors and an upper lateral incisor.  He looks a little funny, but it is cute and I can tell the two top central incisors are trying the meanest to cut through.

WPS! Go Hogs Go!

In honor of the Razorbacks playing this weekend.  A family that wears red together stays together! I love this face, because it is his I am up to no good face! That is Gabby’s tail Mason is going for in this picture and he thinks it is too funny.

Labor Day Overview

It was a busy weekend.  What else is new?  There was an Arkansas Razorback Football game.  Woot Woot.  We looked better than I expected.  I had two friends in town and my brother is also in town, so our house was full the whole time.  Sunday, we had a semi relaxing day by the pool.  It was great because Mason almost always takes a nap from 1-3 or 2-4 and so Michael, Gabby, and myself spent the afternoon swimming and I did some sun worshiping with sunscreen 50!  I got some cute pictures of Mason playing with these festive pinwheels my mom brought up.  Of course, they ended up in his mouth.  That’s where everything tries to go at this point.Trying to eat both of them at the same time.This picture makes me happy, because somewhere there is a baby picture of me with this same look.  I saw this and thought he does belong to me.Always smiling.Jumper toy is still his favorite.  They tell me at school he would play in there one all day if they would let him.Monday morning, us and several of our friends went on a hike to a waterfall.  The best part was…everyone survived.  That’s the goal when taking 5 kids under 3 hiking.  Mason had a blast! He spent the entire hike just looking around and checking everything out.  He was so quiet we almost forgot he was with us.  Once we got to the waterfall, Mason started talking and jabbering.  It was fun.  It was like he was saying this is so cool.Mason’s girlfriend.  Checking to make sure we are all coming up from behind.Mason giving me the stink eye for taking photos.Our friend and Mason’s girlfriend (her daughter) laughing and enjoying the hike.Me with that same precious little girl who is also my god-daughter. We found the waterfall!You can kind of see Mason’s hat in this picture.  Family photo attempt.Mason saying WOW Dad look at that.Hanging out in the pool after our morning hike.  We definitely needed to cool off.Auntie Peggy working on Mason’s swim lessons.