1 Year Old

We just celebrated Mason's 1st birthday yesterday, I can't believe it's been a whole year already! It's been fun to look back on my blog & see how much he changes from month to month. He's so fun & has the sweetest personality. I love how much he's starting to learn & progress, but at the same time it makes me kinda sad to see how fast time goes by. Here's a few facts about Mason

• He walks all over the place, he hasn't crawled in probably a month now
• He says cracker, dad, papa (grandpa) & please (pease)
• He's got a mouth full of teeth, 4 on top, 4 on the bottom
• He LOVES The Mickey Mouse Club, he dances with the songs in it
• He's starting to mimic everything which has been fun cause he's not not done that too much
• Mase gives kisses, there open mouth, but i LOVE them!
• No more formula!! Wahoo!! I think we'll be saving about $55 dollars a month...he's a pig!
• He will try & try to get your attention, & he loves to make people laugh at him

For his birthday I had Chelsie come over & help me make cake balls, i was so excited cause I read recipes online & everyone said how easy they were. NOT TRUE!! The cake ball part was easy, it was the frosting them that sucked. Mandee tried to help frost them & it was not happening. I think we went thru 10 of them before giving up. We ended up just having cupcakes. Dang cakeballs.

I had Chelsie help me take the pictures in the post before of Mason eating the cake, I was thinking he was going to be shy at his actual birthday...but he wasn't. He first started to eat the cake without his hands...just went head first into it. 

He was excited to open presents....he kind of just looked at them until we showed him what to do, then he was all over it!  He didn't want to let his new toys go until he realized he had a new one to open...even then it was a hastle to get the toy away. He was so fun & lit up everytime he opened a present. He also LOVED the attention of everyone watching him & if you turned your head he would just keep watching you until you watched him. He's got such a funny personality & knows how to get exactly what he wants. I remember thinking how crazy our lives were going to be & change when we found out we were having Mason, but now I think back & can't remember what it was like without him. He's been the best thing thats happened to us & he brings so much happiness (& sleepless nights) into our home. Love you Mason, Happy Birthday! 

"Pre-Birthday"

 I was reading Kasey Williams blog & saw she had taken pictures of their cute little boy Ryder eating cake before his birthday, i thought that was a good idea because he was shy at his birthday party. So we decided to do the same for Mason. I think I had more fun watching him than he did eating the cake. He wasnt sure about it at first but then realized it was all his & scarfed that cake down!

11 Months

Where has time gone?! Mason is 11 months old now & nothing has changed, he is still all over the place!! I can't believe he's almost 1!!! Here's some fun facts about him

• He pushes his car around so he can climb onto things & get things out of his reach 
• He is a flirt when it comes to girls...he smiles then he burries his face into your shoulder pretending to be embarassed, when we know he's not!
• Mase has learned how to turn his tears on at the drop of a hat when he doesn't get his way, but only until he's disracted by something else in the room.
• He still only says dad, hi, dog & cracker
• Mason has learned how to start walking. He takes about 6 steps before falling down. He has this ball that he can stand up with & he chaces it around the house (but won't in front of Grandma!)
• He has this fake laugh he does...if he hears you laugh he does it, it's the funniest thing i've seen!
• He has "yelling" matches. Jlow was over the other night & they kept yelling back & forth, Mase is quiet a character.
• Mason goes to sleep pretty good! 8:30 comes & he's soo ready for bed!
• He loves to help with laundry. He will pull it all out of the dryer for me, even when the clothes are still wet.
• When you tell him "NO" he starts shaking his head no at you
• He can finally say the whole "uh-oh" after 4 months of just the 'Uh..."
• He still shakes his thing to Rhianna
• He cruises up & down the stairs

We went to Mandee's sisters wedding reception over the weekend & they had a photo booth there & we had some fun with it! Mase wasn't sure what to think!

On Sunday we had the Watsons come over to watch the Bears & Chargers game, we always say that Braylen is Masons girlfriend, well we got the pictures to prove it now! She went to give him a kiss & he opened his mouth for her, I can't believe we got a picture of it!

Mason LOVES guys...he always wants attention from Nics friends. He's always been a fan of Justin Hyer, now he is of Jlow too! && he likes Alex, but i think he just confuses him!!

This is an example of Mason using his "car" to climb on everything, he wanted the lamp!

Halloween Weekend

This was Mason's first Halloween & I'm pretty sure he cared less about it, but it was fun to dress him up & go show him off! We had a fun weekend before Halloween. All of Nics family went to the Hyers for dinner & Mase got to play with all his cousins. He loved trying to find them buried in the leaves.

We love when we have Kamryn & Morgan around because we can give them Mason the whole time & not worry about a thing. They LOVE him & are the best babysitters ever!

We stopped at the park & took some pictures of Mason playing in the leaves. He is the biggest punk, he was so happy & laughing in the car, we get there & could hardly get a smile. So we're lucky we got the 5 pictures we did.

                                    

We have pumpkins on our front porch & Mase thought that the top coming off was the most interesting thing in the world. He got it off & tried & tried his hardest to put it back. This is the end result, he did pretty dang good!

Halloween finally came & we got to dress Mason up as a Monkey! (We only had a costume waiting to be worn for the past 2 months) We made some cookies & took him around to close friends & family to show him off. He wasn't thrilled about the costume but he liked all the attention!

 The Chargers were playing Halloween & so of course we had to bust out the jersey...this is Mase doing his "touch down". Mase & I were super tired and went to bed at 9, Nic stayed up to watch the game. They lost...not going to lie, i'm glad we were in bed & fast asleep! Happy Halloween Mase! It was fun!

                                    

10 Months Old

How weird!! My baby is already 10 Months old....it's going by way too fast but I'm loving every minute of it! It's crazy how much he's changed in the last month. He's so smart & has the funniest personality! Here's some fun facts about Mason

• He loves to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" & tries to do the actions by himself...he does a pretty good job!
• When we yell "TOUCH DOWN" he throws his arms in the air
• He walks all around the furniture & occasionally will try and stand up by himself (SOO NOT READY FOR THAT)
• He will pull everything out of drawers & cupboards just to empty it
• He still has the curliest hair!
• He LOVES dogs & he can say the word "DOG" also says hi, dad & cookie
• He scrunches his nose up & when he does you know he wants to wrestle you
• He likes to share his binki & food
• Brushing his teeth...Mase holds his own tooth brush and knows what to do. He doesnt just suck on the tooth brush, he actually trys to brush!
• When I tell Mase "Dads home" & he crawls into the kitchen and just stares at the door till it opens.
• He "helps" with laundry. While I fill the dryer, he emptys it.
• He is like a bottemless pit...he's NEVER full...he now weighs in at 20 lbs
• Bathtime is a chore...he loves it but thinks its so fun to stand up then drop down on his butt to make a big splash!
• Climbs in & out of his toy box
• Pushes his toys up against things like the bar so he can stand on it & reach things at the top
• He makes car noises...how in the world does he know how to do that? No one has taught him & everytime he pushes something around he does it!
• Picks up cell phones and holds to his ear and has coversations with himself

Halloween Party

Finally....we got some use out of Mason's Halloween costume! We went down to the Watsons Halloween Party Friday night. We debated on staying home cause Mase had been sick but he seemed better that day. He proved us wrong! He was the most whiney kid I've seen! Poor guy & poor mom & dad! He turns into a klutz when he gets sleepy and doesn't feel good, kept falling and just cried and cried. But with all that aside, we had fun! We had lots of food & pumpkin carving contest, of course Nic carved a Chargers sign in his & now it's displayed on our front porch! :) awesome.  It was a quiet ride home, Mase was out within 5 mins of putting him in the car. We say it everytime, but we wish we lived closer! They need to just come move to Cache Valley! Thanks for the fun Halloween Party Bri & Jac! That is one cute Mini Mouse you have! :)

Cornmaze

This weekend has probably been the most eventful weekend we've had in a long time. Sad, I know! Nic is back to working just one job & it's been so nice to have him around at night! We went to the cornmaze with Justin & Jess, JLow & Chelsie & Brooke & Cody. It was fun to get out & see JLow & Chels...it's been way too long & we've missed them!

We took Mason with us, we didn't realize it was haunted & so we were hoping Mason wouldn't cry everytime someone screamed! He did awesome! He was super happy & made it fun! I think I only screamed like 6 times! After the cornmaze we went to Jess's place & watched a "scary movie"! It's sad how scary people in the 80's got!! I don't know about anyone else but Mase & I just slept. Good times!

SuPeRMaN

We've learned this past week that Mason thinks he's superman & can do anything he wants. His favorite is to dive off the couch or crawl into the drawer under the hot stove. He's had a very eventful week:

• Got shots on thursday
• Pulled a VERY HEAVY vase on his foot & shatterd glass everywhere on friday

• Sunday he learned how to shake our bar stools & tiped it over on his head, cut it pretty good!
 
• Tries to crawl down stairs...ends up rolling down them


• Smashes fingers in drawers probably twice a day

We watch him, it's not like we want him doing these things...but I guess boys will be boys? Even at 9 Months!! We're hoping he'll learn his lesson...but he's showing no signs of caring at all. If you watch the video, falling down the stairs doesn't even phase him & he's ready to go again. It makes me think of how lucky I am there's only one of him...haha I don't know how you did it with Nic & Alex Jewel...I now understand why Nic always says there is a special spot in heaven waiting for you just for raising them!!

9 Months Already!

Here's a little update on Mason, he just turned 9 months. Our little man is changing so fast & sometimes I wish life could just stop for a minute!

 

• Weights18lbs 10oz...he's only gained 8oz in the last 3 months
• Height = 28 1/2"
• Head is still in the 90%
• Mase has curly hair & we have no idea where it came from
• He loves to dance
• He will eat everything & loves to make a mess while doing it
• When he cries he says mom
• He sleeps thru the night
• Loves to play "patty cake" & will copy you while doing it
• He's starting to make messes as you see in the picture with toilet paper & spagetti sauce!
• He's learning the word "NO" and he will fake cry to try & get his way
• Babbles outloud to everyone
• He likes to jump in his crib
• Thinks it's funny to fall off the couch
• Walks around furniture & stands up against everything
• We're trying to teach him Uh-Oh...but all he says is "Uh-..." he tries tho!!
• He loves his dad!! He is always sooo nice & never cries for him!
• He's got 6 teeth
• He's shy...he won't laugh out loud, he always covers his face when you try to make it happen!
• He thinks the stove drawer is his...we're constantlly getting him out of it & telling him to not touch
• Talks on the cell phone
• Loves the bath...he's a little speed crawler & when he hears that water he comes pretty quick for the bath!
• He'll share his sucker, binki, bottle...anything that goes in his mouth...Thanks Mase, but no thanks!
This video is of Mason getting ready to dance, he's got this radio in his room & has learned what buttons to push to get it going. I need to put a different CD in, not only is this song not the best for him to learn but it's getting old REAL FAST!! He get camera shy, i need to hide it in his room to record him sometime!

Muddy Child!

Sometimes I swear, life is NEVER going to slow down. All we've done this summer is work on putting a yard in & it looks like we haven't done anything...it's starting to make me crazy!! We had mud all over the driveway & was washing it off...Mason wanted to be in that mud so bad so we finally gave in...& this is the results...

Last week I had a bridal shower for Ashely...thanks to everyone who came! I can't believe she's getting married in 2 days!! It's been so fun getting to know her a lot the past year since she's lived with my parents! We're so happy for her!

Mason update: he's now 81/2 months old & still into everything! His favorite place, still the bathroom. I've always got to keep the door closed. So that's when he goes to the next best place, the drawer under the stove. It doesn't matter how many toys you buy him, he loves that drawer more than a fat kid loves cake!

He stands up against everything and walks around the furniture. Mason has a new bruise every other day; he thinks he can let go of the chair he standing against...it never ends good. He's getting so funny, he just jabbers & he's finally starting to laugh out loud more, He used to get shy and cover his mouth so you couldn't see him laugh or smile but its starting to change.

On Sunday we had Cailen, Justin &  Jess over for the Chargers Game, good thing they won so I had a happy husband the rest of the day!! I forgot to buy a roast the night before so sunday morning I ran to the store to get one, came home to Mason & Nic both in the Chargers gear, Chargers blankets hung over the railing as decorations, footballs on the floor....he was a little excited! It was like watching a little kid on Christmas, he was so happy for the game!! It's going to be a looonnnngg season :)

While i'm talking about football, Nic's birthday is coming up & i'm looking for a shadow box so i can put a jersey, tickets & a few things in it from the game we went to like the picture below, anyone know where to but a big one for cheap? Hobby Lobby is expensive!! Our FB & Blog has both our names on it but we all know he doesn't know how to use it or even care so let me know if you see anything!!

It gets easier

I was getting my hair done by Chrishel (she does an awesome job btw!!) & saw Kelszi's cute new baby girl Luxi! She's adorable!! We were talking about how she sleeps & it made me think how things have gotten easier with Mason...but harder at the same time!

EASIER: Sleep. As hard as it is to believe at first, you will eventually be able to sleep somewhat soundly while baby is sleeping. You'll no longer wake at every tiny snort or cough. You will not leap out of bed multiple times through out the night to get bottles, binkis & diapers.

HARDER: Sleep. Your baby will stop spending 95% of his time sleeping. You'll be consumed with getting him to sleep & keeping him asleep.

EASIER: Changing diapers. Eventually your baby will not go thru 12-14 diaprers & 1/2 a dozen outfits a day. He might even sleep thru the night with just one diaper!

HARDER: Changing diapers. Once your baby starts eating solid foods, the urge to gag while changing a dirty diaper may become uncontrollable. Plus, the baby is no longer willing to lie on his back for 10 seconds and will try and get away violently, most the time they do!

I've learned alot the past 8 months with Mason, things you should & should not do! Like,

If you accidentally wake a sleeping baby, never make eye contact! Seriously, It’s more dangerous than looking directly at the sun.

If choosing between the newest & coolest toy & a random household object, the baby will always pick the spatula, remote or the toilet-paper tube.

Don’t care that Dad is the favorite. That way, when they are crying early in the morning they cry for Dad, and Mom can stay in bed

And the list can go on & on....! Mason is now 8 months old & into everything! He's sure getting a fun personality! Mason loves attention, he's always trying to get it & usually does. The video below is of Mason after being asleep in bed for 20 mins tops...we go thru this for about an hour every night. We just let him bounce around till he falls asleep!

Who wants my kid!!

Looking for childcare sucks. Especially part-time childcare for the under-2 set. I’m a working mom. Now that Mason is crawling & getting into everything, I can’t take him to work with me all day. Mason doesn’t tolerate long phone calls, he gets annoyed when I’m working on the computer. He’s even been known to rip the mouse out of my hand and bite it with all 4 teeth.

  Sure, I could probably find a job in the evenings and on weekends. Except that I have this thing called a husband & he occasionally likes to spend time with me when he has a night off. Exchanging text messages over the baby’s head as he flings peas from the high chair doesn’t exactly count as quality time, you know what I’m saying?

For the past 4 months, I’ve had Kassidy watch Mason & that’s been great, but she’s starting school Monday so I’ve been on the look out for a new sitter. I’ve asked at church, friends, asked friends of friends and sisters of neighbors, online…The result? Nada.

People either want more money or more hours. Finally I called a childcare locator service, they dug around in their database and gave me some numbers for in-home day care centers. I called them all. They either didn’t have any openings for infants or weren’t accepting part-timers. A couple said they might have openings in October…I need one now!

I don’t need an early-childhood education major. I don’t care if the sitter engages Mason in “age-appropriate” activities or teaches him sign language. I just need someone to chase him around the house, stop him from eating pennies he finds on the floor & just keep him alive until I’ve done a couple hours of work.

TIP O’ THE WEEK: Become independently wealthy.

Look at this kid...how could you say no?!

Crazy Couple Weeks!

We've had a busy couple of weeks. We are finally doing our lawn...I went home for lunch & there was a HUGE pile of dirt sitting in front of our house (Nic's cousin Lacie calls it brown gold & we now understand...too much money!!) Nic & I spent like 4 hours on Saturday spreading it out, we didn't have a sitter so we put Mace on the neighbors grass, that lasted 2 mins...his new favorite thing to eat is dirt & rocks.  Tuesday night we were trying to finish it up & this guy drove by with a tractor & asked if we wanted help...well duh! He did it in like 20 min...where was he on Saturday?! So we thought we were done, well the next day 2 more truck loads of dirt showed up, so we called out new friend  & trust me, it was definently worth paying him to do it all!!
Mason is now all over the place!! He has learned to stand up against everything, the wall, couches, me...everything. He opens drawers, turns on our radio...he's into everything. He's getting fun, but WOW....we're just always going going going with him!!

My friend Kassidy (she's Masons babysitter....& he absolutly LOVES her!!!) well she had a paparazzi jewelry party & I was putting Mason in the bath to go. He thinks it's funny to stand up in the bathtub & jump up & down....we're still trying to teach him "no"...haha it's going well, not. He was jumping up & down & biffed it right into the side of the bathtub. He hit his mouth & it was bleeding so bad & got a fat lip. I felt so bad, hopefully he learned his lesson! He did sleep good that night!! I wish I could have gone, she did get me a couple of super cute bracelets!!

(mason & his fat lip)

 We went over to Randy & Crishels for dinner one night & watched a movie, it was fun! We need to start doing stuff with them more often!! Randy even cooked...what a good husband he is!!

Hoggle Zoo

We took Mason to Hoggle Zoo on Saturday & met up with our friends Brian, Jacquelyn & their cute little girl Braelyn...(there is an arranged marriage for her & Mace..haha.) It was fun to see them, they live in Bountiful so we see each other probably every 6 months, wish they lived closer! Mason liked the monkeys but that was about it. He just rode in the stroller & did his own thing. About 2 hours after being there it was definently time to go, Mason was getting tired but that stubborn boy won't sleep in the stroller.

Nasty snakes everywhere! We took this just for Nana :)

We tried to get Mason to look at the elaphants but they didn't move very fast so he wasn't intrested. He thought the people around him were more interesting then the animals.

This picture wasn't very easy to take...haMason didn't know what to think!

And this is the cute Braelyn!! a.k.a. Mace's girlfriend...she's the cutest little girl I've EVER seen!

After the zoo we headed over to the Watson's house that they've been remodeling & it looks so good! It takes them alot of time & effort & they have done a lot to it, haha it makes us feel lame for complaining about getting our yard done! We went to dinner at the Pizza Factory...so good! I could just eat their breadsticks the whole time!! Braelyn was so funny, she figured out how to shake the table & Mason was just mad cause he wasn't getting enough food, go figure! Like I said at the first, we wish they lived closer, they have gone through alot of the same stuff we have & we can relate to them alot!

Bronco's jersey?! What?

 On Sunday we were over at the Hyers & going thru Nic's old pictures, we came across one of him in a Broncos Jersey...can you believe it?! So I had to take a picture to prove it because I was shocked! He swears he doesn't remember it! Our family is definently Chargers Fans & seeing him in that jersery about killed him! Football season is about here & it makes me laugh because there's always commercials for DirecTV saying if you sign up or move you get free NFL Sunday Ticket...that ticks Nic off!! He called and complained because he's pretty mad that we've been customers for awhile now & we still have to pay like $300 for it...poor Nic, guess we'll just be watching televised games for now! Good thing there's no more lock out, I don't know how he'd survive the season!! :)

JuST KeeP SWiMMiNG, swimming, swimming...

 I had Friday off work and so I decided to Mason to the pool for the first time & he absolutely loved it! My mom went with us. At first he thought he needed to drink that nasty water...after about 10 mins of trying to get him to stop he realized he could play in it. There was a little girl who kept playing with him & he just laughed the whole time. I wish I didn’t have to work as much so I could take him more! I’m hoping to start getting off early on Wednesdays so we can go more! :) Towards the end he was getting so tired & looked like he was going to fall asleep so I took him out & he just cried.  He did not want to leave! But after 2 hours it was time to go! We were in the car for probably 2 mins & he was out!