6 Months

Mason is 6 months old! Where does the time go? He's in the 85th percentile for height and 75 for weight. He's so much fun to have around. He sits up on his bottom and claps, showing his two pearly whites. He can roll over both ways but rarely does so. He's far too content just sitting up or laying on his back. I don't see him crawling anytime soon. He's quite the traveler too. He's been to Canada, the UP multiple times, Oklahoma, Florida and Las Vegas and been there for the 10,000 miles I put on my car in 4 months. He's got New York, Disney world and a cruise coming up in the next few weeks. He is a little guy with a busy schedule. It's been a really fun 6 months, but also a sad one. My grandma Annie died, and we lost our dog to AIHA disease. It made me sad to think Mason would never know either one. My grandma died a couple days before my sisters wedding and Walter died a week after. On a brighter note, my sister Francie's wedding went smoothly and turned out beautiful. Mason was a trooper through all of that. He hung out with his dad the whole day. Adam tried to make me think he actually changed a diaper that day but recently confessed he hadn't exactly been truthful. He's yet to change one. About an hour before the wedding started, while the wedding party and families were taking pictures, Mason decided it was a good time to spit up his entire meal. Thankfully it was just milk, but it drenched the front of my dress. I had to go the rest of the day, including the ceremony, as the maid-of-honor, (3rd most important person there, of course) with a large streak down the front of me. But the photographer swears she can photoshop it out. I suspect life is only going to get more exciting!

Oklahoma

This summer my siblings, parents and I decided to go to Oklahoma to see Grandma Annie aka: Grandma Scrooge, who is in a nursing home now and terribly lonesome. Mom and Bob were smart and flew. The rest of us drove. Me, Shannon, Kristen and Mason in my car; Ryan and Lisa, Hannah, Grace and Madeline in Ryan's car leading the way. Rachael, Lori, Bella, Tony, Jack, Ben and Katya to follow the next day in Rachael's car. My brother said we could make the 16 hour drive with only 4 stops if we stayed focused and only stopped for gas. That didn't happen. Not even close. We stopped 9 times. Ridiculous, I know! By the time we made the long trip we were still on speaking terms! Be shocked.

We stopped first in Muskogee for 2 days to visit my dad's side of the family, or should I say the rednecks? Nothing wrong with rednecks, they just dress and talk a little funny. My redneck comes out once in awhile as badly as I try to suppress it. We went to see the fireworks at the local festival this weekend with my husbands family and it wasn't until we got there and I jumped out of the car that I realize I was totally barefoot. Soo embarrassing!

The two days in Muskogee went well, and then we were off to the city; only a two hour trip, that's nothing. Lori and I rode together with her two kids and Mason. My boy is not perfect, but he's still pretty easy to please. Lori's kids however, were a little more of a challenge. They hated being in the car... the result: three screaming kids for 30 minutes. Yikes! I was soo happy when they all fell asleep. We stopped to see Grandma at the home on the way, which was about 45 minutes from where we were staying. She was not expecting us. She was under the impression we were to come the week before, so she thought she'd been stood up. How sad! We convinced her to let us pick her up in the morning and bring her to the house we were staying at for the day, which is what we ended up doing each day. She's so stubborn, she never would have done something like that in the past. She must have been really lonely. We stayed at my cousins house while they were in Hawaii and watched their two little girls. There were 12 kids in the house during the day! Thank goodness they have a humongous house and all the kids got along well.

It was a long, stressful week with all the commotion but it was totally worth it for Grandma's sake. She had such a good time! She ate like a horse. She's on a puree diet and still managed to eat 4 pieces of pizza for dinner one night and three bowls of potato soup another night; ice cream, snacks and lots of pie in between. All she had to do was say something and we would all jump. She was treated like a queen. There were lots of memorable events but I'm going to leave that up to my sister to tell, because she's a better story teller than I am.

Grandma Annie is on hospice, but unlike MI, where hospice means you are expected to live at best, 6 mo, in Oklahoma it's more like 2 years. So pretty much any old lady might qualify for hospice. We all thought it might be the last time we see her, but she was doing so well, there might be next summer. I'll be flying!

2 Months

At Mason's two month check up he weighed in at a hefty 13 pounds.

• 93rd percentile for height


• 81st percentile for weight

And he got 4 immunizations via needle and one orally. He was such a champ. All the shots were in before he even realized what was going on. He only cried for a few seconds. He would have been fine from the shots the rest of the day, but he got a really bad cold and a sore throat with ulcers. He and mommy had a rough week! We tried to go to Vacation Bible School but the doctor wouldn't let us go back after the first day once we found out Mason's throat sickness was highly contagious to other little kids. That first day was lots of fun though. I can't wait for him to get a little older to really enjoy it more. Right now Mason's favorite thing to do is go to the beach. He sleeps like a rock in the heat under his umbrella. He also got his first hair cut last week. I trimmed the hair that stood up in the air but couldn't bring myself to trim the hair in the back. It's so soft and cute.

What I've Learned from Motherhood

Only six and a half weeks into motherhood and I already feel like I've learned so much. Looking after my nieces Madeline and Kristen a little when I they were younger made me think I already knew everything there was to know, but that's certainly not the case. Here's are just a few things I've learned so far:

• Being a mother is the most rewarding thing I'll ever do.
• I couldn't love anything more than my own child.
• Getting up in the middle of the night multiple times isn't so bad (especially when you don't have to get up and go to work at 5:30am).
• Baby wipes removes eye make-up.
• Dried out pacifier wipes laying around in my car make better tissues-on-the-run than receipts.
• 30 pounds are easier to loose than ten.
• Being a stay home mom is soo much fun!
• Cover up the baby's face a little, to block surrounding stimulation while rocking him and he'll go right to sleep. I just learned this one today.. thanks Rach!
  

(Mason's first day at the beach)

Who's he look like?

MommyBaby
Daddy

Mason Smiling in His Sleep

Less Than 4 Weeks, Room Pics

Although the baby's room isn't completely finished, I thought I'd better get some pictures posted or it might never happen. I still need to get the rocking chair in there and hang some pictures. The chair goes in the big empty corner next to the book shelves.

Baby is due in 3 and a half weeks. I feel like he might come sooner, but what do I know being a first timer? I don't know what it should feel like, but I do know that he feels really big, and I couldn't possibly get any larger myself. I'm still doing pretty good for the most part. This has been as easy as it can be for anyone. I never got sick, I'm still working on my first roll of Rolaids and it wasn't until just this weekend that my shoes wouldn't hardly go on, but those shoes were pretty snug to begin with. I'm starting to get sick of the rude comments. One guy at work asked me if I was having twins. I'm pretty sure my response was not what he was expecting. I wasn't exactly mean, but I'm confident he won't ask any more questions. Lots of people say mean things in a funny way, and I have fun with it, because I know they are just joking with me, but it's the ignorant comments that get to me... like "are you having twins" when you know I'm not!

Two weekends ago my church held a shower for me. All my sisters drove over and my mom and nieces Madeline, Bella, Katya, and Kristen and my nephew Tony came too. There were people from my church that I don't think I've ever met before. It's so nice to have all these people who care that I didn't even know about. They did a candy land theme. It was so adorable. I wish I could post pictures of that but those pics are stuck on my nice camera until I find the cable. One of these days, when I find that stupid cable, I'll surprise everyone with a long post in pictures of the past year.

My mom has been busy crocheting and sewing. She's made 5 blankets and 8 burp rags and she's still working on more blankets at home and some baby hats.

My pastor preached a few months ago that babies are strongly influenced by the actions of their mother while in the whom. Which means this baby will love motorcycles, snowmobiles and off road vehicles. I guess that also means he will hate cleaning, working and exercise. At least he'll make up for it by eating vegetables and taking naps. Speaking of cleaning, I had to work Friday, so I have a full day of catching up... I'm so excited (I'm trying to trick the boy into thinking cleaning is a good thing, but I think he already knows better).

I'm Having a Monster

Today was my 31 week, 1 day doctors appointment. I have 9 weeks to go. I like my doctor; he's a big, chubby, old guy. I have a soft spot in my heart for old men. He's not grandpa-old, but I still like him. He said the boy is two centimeters larger than average. I asked him if that meant I was gaining too much weight or if he was a big baby; he said he's probably just a big baby. Unfortunately that doesn't mean he's coming early or even on-time. He said not to be surprised if I have an eight or nine pound baby and that I was tall enough to handle it. He said I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 7 or a 9 pound baby. I'm pretty sure 2 pounds makes a BIG difference! I knew he was getting big. He kicks and pushes and rolls around like a monster.
I'm really taking it easy with this pregnancy. I hoped I would exercise more and eat less but that's not the case. I eat more, exercise less and I'm very much in love with my comfy pants.

3D Pics of the Boy

Thanks to my sister, who is an OB/GYN, and her willing U/S tech (who stayed late for me) I got a 3D ultrasound today, for free! Insurance doesn't pay for these things and they are expensive. They are purely for entertainment purposes. Keep in mind the picture tends to look a little distorted, as you can see he has a different nose in each picture. These are the best three that didn't look alien-ish and I think he looks pretty cute. His chubby cheeks and adorable chin in the second picture remind me of my sister's boy Ben. As I was saying about the distortion... in the last picture you can see his brain.

I think I'm 28 weeks, maybe 29... And a Big Belly Button

I haven't been very good about documenting milestones during my pregnancy. I can't even remember how many weeks I am. But that doesn't mean I'm not really excited about this little boy! I'm just not sentimental enough to write down every detail, although I know I'll probably regret it some day. I have, however, reached a milestone worthy of documentation: my belly button popped. Yep, it sticks right out. Especially after dinner and when I stretch. Last week at my doctors visit I was told I needed to take it easy with the eating. I have never really been told that before. It kind of surprised me, but she's right. I gained nearly 15 pounds in 2 months. I think there might have been an error with the scale or I was just weighing really heavy that day because I'm down 4 pounds. I have been eating vegetables like crazy and staying away from sweets as much as possible. I also reached another milestone: up-sized in underwear. I have been meaning to go get some for awhile but it was my blogger friend who unknowingly motivated me. I love new underwear. Have you heard of "cheeky" before? They are the new style of underwear at VS. I thought they would be perfect for me; being "cheeky" surely meant they were for people who were a little more cheeky than usual... no. They SHOW more cheek! If I wanted to show more cheek I would just keep wearing the ones I have that I've nearly outgrown. I went for the ones they only display in the back half of the store; there is NOTHING wrong with comfortable coverage when you are pregnant! Or any time for that matter.

Baby's Blanket

Here's pictures of the almost finished baby blanket for the nursery. I just got it back today. I paid someone to top stitch it. That's when I found out I had to do the edging by HAND. My finger tips are killing me, 2 hours later. I still have about 1/8 of the edge to do before I can go to bed. I lost the cable for my good camera again, so the pictures are horrible.

U.P. Snowmobiling

Last Wednesday we got out of work early and headed north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For those of you who haven't been there, you're really missing out. Michigan takes first place for every category of snowmobiling except luxury resorts. Which doesn't surprise me; the U.P. wasn't designed to cater to the pampered. There are over 6000 miles of groomed trails in MI. This is the second trip up north this year; the first was with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their two girls. (I didn't pull my camera out once and I'm regretting that). This time my brother and his two boys drove from up-state NY. I wasn't going to blog about it, (because I'm lazy) because I didn't really get good pictures, but my sister insisted that I post the ones I took, so here they are.

Oh yeah, Adam's friend Justin came too. In case you're wondering who the other guy is. (p.s. if you zoom in on the picture above, it looks like Justin is smoking a cigarette...??? he isn't, but what was in your mouth Justin? Just have to note that for the record)

Lake Superior - on a very calm day.

Lake Superior - Log Slide: Back in the day, they used to roll logs down the sand dunes and into the lake, where they would haul them to Chicago. It was far more impressive than it appears in the picture.

Stuff for the Baby's Room

I haven't decorated the baby's room yet, but I have been busy collecting and making different things I want to go in it. I dropped off the quilt to have it top stitched on Tuesday, so I can't show you a picture of it yet. I finished painting last weekend... it was horrible. I hate painting. Thankfully I finished. I just need Francie to come out here and help me put it all together some weekend. She is much better at decorating than I am. I still need a lot more cute stuff, but at least I've started. Adam has an orange surfboard that he wants to hang in there. Not sure how that's going to look but I'm trying to stay optimistic that it will look cute. Plus, there is a lot of orange in his bedding. I'll keep you posted when the bedding is done. I might have to get started on the bumper this weekend. Wish me luck. Why do I still rely on my mom to make the curtains? It's not like I'm not capable. I made his pillows and bedding and plan to do his bumper for goodness sakes, why don't I feel like making the curtains? It doesn't help that I saw the perfect ones in potterybarn that are way too expensive (even if I was rich, it would be a waste of money). This boy is really stretching my belly out. I have felt really good this whole pregnancy until I got front heavy! Now I feel like I'm going to burst at the seams. I still have a long ways to go. He still has to get much bigger! I'm so glad there is only one in there. I still feel great, don't get me wrong, it's just so strange to feel so full and crowded all the time. I feel kind of like I do after Thanksgiving dinner times 2.