Where have I been?

Man it has been over a week and I cannot believe today is Thursday! Where has the last week gone.

Well, we are going 100 miles an hour and might stop this weekend, but I doubt it. Last weekend we went to Lake Ouachita and we loved it down there. No cell service, just family time and friend time. Boat riding and eating good food. I will write more on Mason’s boating experience once I get my camera back from some friends. Lunch on the boat.

Monday, we drove the 3 hours back home to make it just in time for a house warming/birthday party for our Goddaughter. That is where my camera is at, because I was trying to take pictures and chase Mason around. Once he started melting, it was a race to get out of there. You got to do what you got to do. Busy long weekend.

And since the weekend ended, we have added a new family member. Our niece was born Wednesday!! YAY! We are going to see her tonight. I can’t wait. Hopefully it doesn’t cause me to get baby fever!

Today was short and sweet…Enjoy your Thursday

Hair Post Baby

Am I the only one who thinks her hair completely changed post baby? Is it because I am 30 now, so things change?

So, pre-baby I had stick straight hair. My hair rarely held a curl longer than an hour and never had to be straightened if I used a blow dryer. It was always super healthy. I colored it but you would never see split ends or frizz. I could have never washed it and for days it would have looked the same, minus being a little flat. Here is a picture of my little family prior to Mason joining the bunch. This was also prior to pregnancy. Blonde and long and straight.  Side note: don’t you love Gabby’s smile. Her eyebrow are getting gray. Maybe I should do a post about Gabby post baby. Now let’s talk about post baby hair. Right after I had Mason my hair fell out. I didn’t even realize how bad my hair loss was until I looked at pictures. I know people say you can have hair loss after baby, but it was pretty significant. My friend who does my hair said, at the time, if it gets worse I should see a doctor. Most of the hair I was losing was in the front. Here is a picture from Mason’s baptism at 10 weeks post baby. The hair is very thin. I am not losing hair anymore. But I have noticed other changes. My stick straight hair is no longer stick straight. In fact, I have a weird curl constantly in the same place of both sides of my head in one section. Not all over. Two sections. It is so bad that I have to straighten my hair daily if I don’t want it there anymore. I wonder, why he couldn’t have given me all curly or all straight. I can now curl my hair and it stays for days. I feel like I have to wash my hair daily. It is frizzier than it used to be. It doesn’t feel as healthy as pre-baby.   This little guy has also given me gray hair. Okay, okay, that side effect is probably from old age. I am going to have to start coloring my hair again just to hide this new found gray overload.

This is what my hair looked like after I went for a swim the other day. Waves for days. It looks pretty but it is not. My hair drying naturally now looks a little nappy beach. I need to find a spray to make it through summer, because I will be swimming daily and won’t want to dry my hair after each swim.Michael and I had a date night this weekend and this is what my hair looked like. I curled it in the morning and then worked in the yard all day. This is what the curls looked like the next day. I am wearing a hat to hide the flatness of the top of my hair, but the curls are still strong. Weird that my once straight hair that I could not do a thing with on my own now will keep a curl for several days.

Confessional Friday!

Linking up here with Blonde Ambition! TGIF!!!

• I confess that I realized earlier this week that next weekend…7 days from today…is Memorial Day Weekend!! What does that mean? Long weekend and spending time at the lake with friends and family! We are staying with friends, who we haven’t seen in FOREVER and I could not be more excited!
• I confess that I had a super proud mama moment this week. We took Mason bowling. Well, we went bowling with Michael’s family, and Mason came along. I was wondering how it would go, but the kid loved it. I should have known since he is obsessed with all things round. I love bowling, so it made me happy.
• I confess…I have been in a bad mood this week. It has been slow and sooooo boring with work, which makes me crabby. Work picked up yesterday and put me in a better mood. It also did not help that the first 3 days of the week Mason woke up at 5AM!!!
• I confess…Our house slept in this morning until 7:15AM yikes! We were all a little panicked to get out the door. We as in Michael and me…Mason was like, can I go back to bed.
• I confess…Michael and I are going out to dinner Saturday night all by ourselves!! I can’t tell you the last time we went out to dinner just us. We usually go with friends and we love taking Mason. First time in FOREVER!!!! Like more than 6 months. Now to decide where to go?!?!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Mason 16 Months

Weight: We are still growing and according to the home scale that Mason likes to get on daily he weighs 26lbs.

Height: I feel like he is getting taller by the minute. I need to get one of those big rulers to measure how tall Mason is getting. Some days, I think he looks huge.

Eats: Mason has slowed way down on food. Maybe because he isn’t growing as much or something. He loves rice and noodles. He loves fish more than chicken. His favorite food right now are blackberries. The kid could eat a entire container of blackberries.

What he is enjoying: He is such a happy baby. The weather has been a lot nicer and we have been spending a lot more time outside. He loves to wander the yard and pick up Gabby’s toys and throw them for her.

Teeth: 12 teeth total. He is cutting a canine tooth right now. I swear this tooth is causing more problems than the molars caused. We are waking up early and being just a little extra fussy. Please Please come in already. I can see the white just mocking us through the gums.

Talking: Mason is just jibber jabbering a ton lately! Not making much sense. He will try and repeat everything we say. Time to be very aware what comes out of our mouths. While I was gone last week, Michael told me he said walrus and airplane. Haha. Repeater!

What’s new this month? We have had a big month. Mason is running everywhere and is into everything. This is causing so much fun for him. The only problem is that when we redirect him or have to tell him no, we turn into an emotional basket case. I feel like we are turning into terrible 2s. I can imagine it is very frustrating not being able to communicate and not understanding. Mason’s favorite no no thing to do is play in the dog water. He like to step his foot/shoe into it every chance he gets. We have started time out and he gets so mad when we talk to him about why. Tears galore. This phase hopefully passes soon.  

Playing at the dinner table. He loves to push the chair out. Makes me nervous that he is going to tip over. Mason is wearing 24 months clothing here. 24 months at 16 months old!! WHAT WHAT!

Scary Mama Moment

I landed from a work trip late Thursday. I was so tired. I had gotten sick while out of town and it was miserable. So, when Mason woke up at 5:45AM Friday morning, I went upstairs to get him to bring him to my bed. I wanted to snuggle. He immediately laid his head on my shoulder…a sure sign that he is going to go back to sleep. I started back down the stairs. We have 15 steps. 15! I apparently in my half asleep state thought I had hit the last step. I was actually 3 steps away. Mason and I fell down the stairs. It was more like a fly down the stairs.

I landed on my one good knee at the bottom. I had a hold of the rail with one hand and Mason with the other when I went down, but at the bottom I had the rail hand behind Mason’s head. Not really sure how it all happened. Motherly instinct, I guess. Mason was perfectly fine. Not even a whimper or cry. I yelled to Michael. I was sure something was broken. He came running and saw me. He grabbed Mason from me, who was sitting on my lap just looking confused. Hello Mom, why are we sitting on the floor. I was, of course, crying. It hurt so bad. Michael thought we should go to the ER. I told him NO. Even if something was broken I was not going to the ER. I am fine. Just a messed up knee that is swelling still and some bruises.

The best and sweetest moment. When I was sitting crying in pain Mason would grab for my hand. I just loved that he knew Mama needed a hand to hold! I am sure if he could talk he would have been saying it is okay mama. He is the sweetest little boy ever. It is amazing to me how in tune babies are to their surroundings.

It was scary. We both could have gotten seriously hurt. I am so glad we did not. I cannot sit on my knees or put any amount of pressure on it, but I am fine. I think it is just a bad bruise. Every time I have gone down my stairs the rest of this weekend, I counted the steps. Next early morning stair climb, I plan to try to be more awake. 

Mother’s Day Weekend

We had a big weekend. Mason did not even want to wake up this morning. You know when your 16 Month old won’t wake up on his own that he had a big time. Saturday morning we got up and went to Eureka Springs to Turpentine Creek. It is a big cat rescue outside of Eureka. We went out there to hang out with our friends for their daughter’s birthday. I knew Mason would just love it. He loves lions and tigers. We talk about them and he will roar if you ask him what they say. When we got to the rescue and Mason saw the first tiger he roared at it. It was so funny. I figured he would like them, but they are big and real, so I did not know. He would do his little happy dance and point at them and roar. So fun!

Look Dad, a Tiger! Note the death grip on Michael’s shirt. Someone does not look too impressed, but she was. My blue eyed boy! Cannot get enough of those eyes. This big boy had pretty blue eyes too. The lion behind us starting roaring so loud while we were close. Mason ran to get closer and Hattie said I scared. It was so cute!We were walking by a bobcat here. She was staring at Mason and Hattie like they would taste yummy. It was so weird. Mason wants to get closer to the animals. I think it is time to take him to a zoo!Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!Hi, Mr. Lion, Can we be friends?He spent the entire time so interested in them. Maybe he will grow up to be a large animal vet. No fear!I think Hattie and Mason had tons of fun. Stella was not too impressed with the experience. She is all girl! Hattie loves Mason and of course the second we pulled up next to them, she was saying Hi Mason Hi Mason. She loves her boyfriend!

On Sunday, we went to my parent’s house. Mason just loves to spend time with Nana and Papaw. He especially loves his Papaw and has him wrapped around his little finger. Sounds familiar to how I kept my grandpa. We had lunch and Mason danced around the house and got to swing in his new swing that Nana got him. I think it is time to find Mason a swing set.  It was the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day weekend.Climbing ladders with Nana.  

Big Day for Birthdays

Happy Birthday to our sweet sweet God-daughter!!! She is so fun and loveable. Every time we see her, she walks up to Mason and just says his name over and over again. Mason, Mason, Mason. In her cute little voice. She loves him. She is the opposite of her sister and keeps life fun! I can’t wait until tomorrow when we are all going to Turpentine Creek to see the big cats together!! Mason misses his friends.

Hattie helping Mason with his birthday presents. Plus she is Mason’s girlfriend! Like he has a choice.

Happy Birthday to my bestie!!! She is turning the BIG 30 today!!! We are all old together. Just wait until you find your first gray hair. Love you and how you keep me entertained. You are never short on a funny comeback and always willing to poke fun at me.  *check out my blonde hair from our wedding…I think it is time to go back.

The other exciting moment for today is…today is the day we found out we were going to have a baby!! The same day our god-daughter was born. 2 years ago. It makes it easy to remember. I remember waking up and just thinking something felt different, took a test and that word pregnant appeared I thought I was going to die from excitement. I called Michael immediately and told him. I remember taking lunch to our friends having my god-daughter and just felt high. I wanted to tell them so bad, but waited until they made it home first. I was going to be in their shoes in 9 months!! It is great to know this is just a very special day on so many levels!!

Baby Shower

Saturday, Michael and I hosted a baby shower for his brother and SIL. They are having a little girl in less than a month. I can’t wait. Another sweet little girl to buy cute outfits for. I live for buying other people’s girls clothes. Each time I see a super cute little girl outfit I just cannot help myself and have to remind myself on many occasions that I have a little boy who would look ridiculous is that dress. But with soon to be another niece, I will have plenty of little girls to get dresses for in the future.

So, back to the shower. Since it is their second baby we wanted to do something fun to celebrate but not go over the top. I don’t know if I understand the terms not over the top. I, of course, turned our house into pink land and got everything ready. Michael’s job was to man the grill, which he did quite well. I loved having fun decorating. Here is the invitation I made. Michael thought we were going to be cooking some babies. Oh honey. 

The soon to be parents of two little girls…can’t wait to meet my new niece. I went to Sam’s Club and made these little arrangements. A perfect little touch of pink.These animal cookies are addicting. A bet you can’t eat just one.Another beautiful and yummy cake from Shelby Lynne’s cake shop. Perfectly simple.

Mt. Rainer and Seattle

Well, I was off last week, traveling for work. I left on Saturday and came back late Wednesday night. I am glad to be back. I always miss my baby while I am gone, but traveling over the weekend was super hard.  The only thing that made the trip better was that Seattle was having the most beautiful weather last week. It was actually warmer there than in Arkansas.

I have been out to Seattle on several trips. In all my trips to the Emerald city I have never ever seen Mt. Rainer like I did last week. It was cloudless. We ate outside and really enjoyed the few free hours not working. I spent the majority of my trip inside and at meetings.

Mt. Rainer from Pike’s Place Market, along with Seahawks stadium. Sunset from dinner on the water. It was so wonderful. The snow cap mountains in the distance with the incredible weather. Beautiful. As we were taking off I snapped some shots of the mountains. The best view of Mt. Rainer is from a 737. I could not believe this view. We flew around it perfectly and so of course I took a million pictures.