Potty Training

Day 1: no accidents until about 3:30. Then it was all downhill after that. We went through about 6 pairs of undies.

Day 2: only went through half as many pairs of undies and most of them are poop accidents. Mason told me at the end of the day "me won't pee in my underwear more, mama". So cute and sweet!

Day 3: we spontaneously went to chuck e cheese for lunch and Mason had a blast!! So much so, that he forgot he didn't have a diaper on and peed all over the floor. I had a fresh pair of underwear for him. He didn't care that he had no pants on though. Daddy ran to the store and bought some new shorts for him.
Still not sure what to do about the poop.

Day 4: today. He's done awesome! He still poops in his underwear but he hasn't had but one accident. His favorite thing to do is "pee outside, like daddy".







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I don't know how Adam got so lucky. Today he changed only his second poopy diaper; it didn't go so well... The first time he put Mason directly into the bathtub; this time occurred while camping in Holland, so Mason got the hose. I only heard about it when I got home. I was surprised that it went down the way it did because David was with them and he at least knows how it should be done. I guess he decided to sit back and let Adam figure it out on his own, which is probably good for him.
Tonight was dirt bike night at the fair. Mason was pretty excited about that. When he hopped out of the truck he went running and exclaiming "two mum-mums!". For Mason, anything over one is two, whether it be two or 15.
Between Mason and I, we ate almost the whole bag of cotton candy. That kid loves that stuff as much as I do. Mason is very much like his dad but there are a few things we share in common and one is cotton candy, the other, we hate the window down in the truck. This one cracks me up because Adam hates it when I ask him to roll my window up, but he can't say no to his boy!
Yesterday there were the tiniest of waves but daddy gets bored at the beach so he brought along a surfboard. Mason really wasn't too thrilled about water in his face but the cold water doesn't even phase him, so in the end it worked out and the two had some fun catching waves. I loved seeing them do this together. I think it's so cute!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Home from CO and tired!

Wow, has it really been 5 months since my last post? So much for my new resolution...
We just got home from Colorado and it feels soo good to sleep in my own bed! It was a loooong drive. Mason did really well (considering). I believe we drove over 3,000 miles and purchased 376 gallons of diesel fuel at approx $3.60/gallon which we were pleased with, as it came down just in time for the trip.
We had a safe trip with only minor mishaps. Two blowouts on the rzr slowed us down, but not for long. Mason loved all the rides in the rzr and the scenery was breath taking... Literally, we reached over 12,000 ft above sea level at least once a day on our drives through the mountain. It's hard to breath that high up. We enjoyed white water rafting, (level 4) it was good for a small rush. We split up into two teams so we could all go and someone could watch the kids.
Our friends from college, Steve and Sarah joined us for a couple of days the second week. I got some cute pictures of Mason and Brielle running around in their diapers that I'll embarrass them with when they both get older.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Florida, January, 2012 Trip

Last week Mason and I went to Florida with my husbands family. Adam didn't go, he said he had too much work to do. When we go to Florida, we stay at my in-law's condo overlooking the ocean. It's so relaxing: pool in the morning, lunch, then shopping and of course, out to eat for dinner. Adam struggles with all of the above except lunch. He can't relax in the sun (or anywhere) and he doesn't shop. He would have slowed us down; as much as we wanted him there, it was probably best for his sanity that he stayed home.
We went to the Miami zoo. If you're ever in Miami, with small children, I recommend it. You can get really close to the animals, which is why I recommend it for small children because they sometimes get bored if they don't see the animal close enough to realize it's real; which is probably why I don't enjoy most zoo's.
We also took the kids to an indoor jungle gym, which was a hit for everyone (everyone meaning the kids, but I got some exercise, like it or not). I'm overly protective and paranoid so I followed Mason around on my hands and knees through the tunnels and down the slides so he wouldn't fall or go down the "green" slide (the one that went really fast and was only for kids over 4. Seriously, they made us sign a form saying we wouldn't go down it). I'm pretty sure he would have survived but the mother in me came out strong, as usual (thanks mom, I get that from you).
The best part about the trip was watching Mason in the condo go nuts over the cruise ships, submarine, sailboats, all boats and airplanes that came and went constantly. He would run to the balcony (22 stories up, he was NOT afraid at all, even though the railing is all glass) and say "ooooooo" pointing, or "big boat, big boat, big boat" or "peee-ple, peee-ple" (not sure who taught him to people watch but I think I have a pretty good guess).
The pool was a huge hit. The first day Mason clung to me for dear life, which I loved having his precious little arms wrapped around my neck, so that was ok. But by the last day, he was kicking to the stairs or ladder, climbing out and jumping back in to whoever would catch him. (No one ever wanted to get their hair wet, and he made a big splash with his big arm and waist floaties). We would say "Mason, where's Papa"? or "go get Papa"! This kid LOVES my father-in-law. He's a very likable guy but he doesn't go out of his way to get Mason's attention, which he claims is why Mason is probably drawn to him. I agree, kids don't like to be pinched and squeezed, but how can you help it, they are so adorable?! He wanted "Paaa-puuuh" long after papa didn't want to play anymore, but being the good papa that he is, played with him anyway.
Mason and his two little girl cousins, Leah and Lily had such a good time together. They play really well together. Lily, who is exactly one year older than Mason, is his little side -kick. Those two follow each other around all day long. They look like the he and she versions of each other and they are almost the same size. Mason is a little shorter than Lily, but he weighs as much, if not more.
Mason has this weird quirk about him.... he's scared of random things, like REALLY scared, and the pattern tends to be faces. When he stumbles upon something that scares him he gets really quiet, tucks his face down to his chest and looks at the object out of the corner of his turned away face with this terrified look and then runs to the closest person he knows and hides his face and clings for dear life with a death grip. There were two things on this trip that really scared him, the first was an elephant head and tusk skull at the zoo and the other was a feminine looking Pharaoh face painted on the pillar in the cheese*cake factory. It's really weird and the funny thing is, you can always tell when he's spotted something he doesn't like just by the sudden change of behavior and the look on his face. If you follow where his eyes are looking (because for some reason he can't stop looking at it) you can figure out what it is. I know Adam had a few things he was scared of like this when he was a kid but not to this extreme and not as often as it happens to Mason.
One last note before I finish getting down all the fun details I don't want to forget: Mason has refused to say "MeMaw" or to even try saying it until this trip. We thought it was just too close to "mommy" and was confused. MeMaw even started referring to herself as Grandma because Mason could say it. Well, he can say "MeMaw" with no trouble at all. In fact, out of the blue one morning, as we were all going about our business he starts yelling "MeMaw, MeMaw, MeMaw" really loud. We all came out of hiding to see who was saying that so clearly, as it didn't sound like Lily's voice and sure enough, it was Mason! Such a Mason thing to do too.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

ABOVE: This is the elephant that scared him. It looks scary here, but it was behind the counter and really not that scary. In fact, it didn't scare the other two kids at all.

ABOVE: Mason and Lily watching the "big boats" and airplanes come and go.

BELOW: The face that scared Mason at the cheese*cake factory.

 ABOVE: playing in the tunnels. BELOW: swimming with Memaw and GG.

 ABOVE: Mason and Papa watching for big boats.

BELOW: Mason, after church, sporting the cute hat Memaw got him, that he refused to wear all day until this point, so I was glad not to have to carry it around anymore. Normally he loves to wear hats.

 ABOVE: feeding the giraffe. He liked it until the toungue came out of his mouth and tried to take the lettuce. He dropped it just as the giraffe tried to take it. He still thought it was pretty neat.

BELOW: getting on his goggle bikini.

A New Resolution for 2012 BLOG MORE!

When my little sweetie pie/monster does something really cute, I think "I'll never forget this", but I have been! I go back and read entries I've made in his baby book and think "that is so adorable, he did that?!" So thank you 2012, for motivating me to blog more. As a sufferer of procrastination... here goes my attempt to overcome and put things into words before I forget them.

Here's what he loves these days:

• "dactors" (tractors): real ones, pictures, even the reality show Gol#d Rus%h, Alaska@ because they use lots of tractors, but his favorite is the one daddy found on the side of the road the night before trash pick-up. It had a bad battery but the "choo choo" we have in our sun room (summer)/living room(winter) used the same battery so now we have to switch the battery out back and forth between the two because he loves his train too! (The train was a garage sale splurge from auntie Shannon, $35 well spent).
• "snack snack": Fruit snacks are so important right now that I hardly buy them anymore because when I do, they are gone in a couple of days and I have to hear Mason say "snack, snack" or "I wa snack snack, I wa snack snack" over and over! He's stubborn and does not forget.
• stuffed animals and "BB" (blankets): no particular blanket, just anything soft. He will find a small, half yard of minke fabric in my sewing room and carry it around for a few days calling it "BB". He loves the isle at Joanns fabric store that has all the fleece. I have to push the cart up against the fabrics for him to lay his head on them and rub them. I'm laughing to myself, picturing him going nuts over the bolts of fabric! On bla*ck Friday* I bought myself a "bb" so that Mason would stop stealing his from me when I wanted to lay on the couch and be warm. It's really soft and fluffy like lambs wool and velvety on the other side. That didn't stay mama's for long. He still stole it from me, even though it was mine! It's in his crib right now, as we speak.
• opening presents: he opened all the presents he could reach. They were all up in the window seat where he couldn't get to them, rather than under the tree. We wrapped and rewrapped a lot this Christmas.
• Matchb&ox cars: he insists on having one every time we go to the store. They are only a dollar so I always let him pick one out.
• "bop": (pop). Rediculous. He opens the fridge and says pop! He does the same thing grandma Cece does, he takes a sip, makes a funny/miserable face like he hates it and then takes another sip.
• tools: he loves to be in the garage with dada too. He is always fixing things.
• Food: bananas, asparagus, cooked carrots, grandpa's corn, tomatoes, spaghetti, grandma Cece's applesauce and pears, mandarin oranges, pomegranates, kiwi, strawberries, etc. (NOT Mexican, which is funny because Adam's side of the family LOVE love love Mexican). He's at a funny stage, where even if he doesn't eat his supper, he will always eat the vegetables.
• motorcycles: real ones and toys. He had a blast at the motorcycle show and now daddy wants to buy him a dirt bike this summer. He's big enough, but mentally, not so sure but a few months makes all the difference when they are this young. They progress soo fast.
• waffle Wednesday: we go to the shop to see daddy every Wednesday morning and make waffles for the office. He runs around like he owns the place. As soon as we pull up he says "papa!" (grandpa). He loves his papa. He loves his cousin Jack too. When we stayed at their house for a week with the kids, while Rach and Derrick were in Ukraine, Mason and Jack hung out all the time. He was so sweet to Mason even when he was whiny and being difficult.
• "ball ball": footballs, volleyballs, anything resembling a ball.
• "Ellll-uh": Ellie, he loves the cat. He thinks all cats are named "elll-uh". Any time he sees a cat he yells "Elll-uh"! He's an animal lover, unlike dada. He gets that from mama. If it were up to dada, we wouldn't have Ellie or Stanley but he would never get rid of them because he sees how much Mason loves them. Dada likes to do anything for Mason that makes him happy, even if it's not what's best for him. He bends over backwards for his little buddy. Mama too, but I see the whole picture a little better than dada. I don't let him have all the candy, or skip his naps, etc.
• Christmas lights!: he loved them!! he would point and say "oooooooooooooo" in a really excited voice and he'd say that for every single house. When we drove down regular roads that didn't have christmas lights he'd say "more, more, more". And a few times he even got angry when there weren't any more. We got into the routine of letting him out of his car seat to drive down the short distance of our street so he could get a better look. He would go from ooo-ing and awe-ing to pushing all the buttons he could get his hands on and then back to ooo-ing and awe-ing. I hope he enjoys them next year just as much.