Saturday, August 30, 2008

Random pictures





Potty Training

I'll spare you the details, or the pictures, but we are making progress in BOTH areas of potty training. Funny story though...you know when you are praising your child a little too much when Mason follows Gary into the bathroom and slaps him on the booty and says "Good job Daddy!" when he's done.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Quite the conversationalist

Everytime I go upstairs, with or with Reese, Mason says "You be careful up there".

During Mason's bedtime routine, I read him books while Gary usually holds Reese and then they head downstairs. Reese started to squirm last night and Mason says out of the blue, "You can go downstairs now Daddy, it's fine".

"That's your problem". Not a big fan of that one.

Mason: "Is Scooby Doo on?"
Me: "I don't know"
Mason: "You check please"

Kiddo updates

Well she is not sleeping through the night, but only getting up once and then going right back to sleep after nursing. I'll take that! She has been better about falling asleep, now if we can just get her to like Gary after 6pm we'll be cruising along. She prefers me to do everything after 6pm.

As for Mason, we have to have him potty trained by Tuesday as that's when his preschool starts and they expect him to be fully potty trained. They are giving us a little exception and allowing him to start not fully trained and if he has too many accidents I have to go up and take care of him. So we completed day 2 of full day training. I have to give a big THANK YOU to Gary's parents for being right on top of things for us on the days that I work. He had no accidents today, but did spend a lot of time just sitting on the potty watching TV. It's a start.

As for Gary, the moment he has been waiting on for the last 9 months is here...college football has started. He has been watching the first televised CF games this season...Oregon State v. Stanford and South Caroline v. NC State. He doesn't care who it is as long as it's college football.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Working on a good sleeper

So it is night 5 I believe of Reese sleeping upstairs in her crib in her room. Here is the night by night replay:

Friday night: I slept in the guestroom next to hers waiting for any sound. By 1am I was tired of going back in to give her the pacifier so I took her downstairs and put her in the co-sleeper. She slept 5 hours there.

Saturday night: I slept downstairs. She woke up 3 times. Gary went up twice and I fed her once and fell asleep in her recliner for 3 hours then brought her downstairs at 5:30 to finish sleeping.

Sunday night: She fell asleep on me and then I put her in her bed at 9 and she woke up every 15-30 minutes for me to put her pacifier in until she was out for good at 10:30. She woke up at 3:15 to eat, I fed her, slept with her in the recliner for 1 hour, put her back down and then she didn't wake until 7.

Monday night: She cried for about 5 minutes then I went back upstairs, put her pacifier in at 8:30 and she did not wake up until 5:30. Of course she was wide awake after I fed her.

Tuesday night (tonight): She cried for about 5 minutes and FOUND HER PACIFIER BY HERSELF! She fell asleep all by herself, it's worth repeating, if you knew how our first child was (didn't sleep through the night or put himself to sleep until well after 9 months). I'll let you know later how the entire night went.

Can I just say we are thrilled with this progress!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Quesadillas and ketchup

That's right, you heard me. You may think that I am talking about Mason, but I'm not. That's what I caught my husband, Gary, eating last night for dinner. Now I like ketchup, but that's just not right.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Beub

Let me first say that I hope this neither offends or embarasses anyone, but it does involve part of the female anatomy, and I had to post this as we thought it was hilarious.

Beub, pronounced "bee-ube", is how Mason says boob. For those of you who have breastfed before, you know how painful toddler elbows can be when dug into just the right place. Those of you who haven't, I'm sure you can imagine. So I am always having to tell Mason to watch out for mama's boobs. Again, sorry! Well, apparently I have said it so much that when Gary accidently bumped into Mason's chest, he told him..."ow, you hit my boob daddy, watch out for my boobs". So that necessitated the boys don't have boobs conversation. We laughed for quite a while, especially because of the way he says "beub".

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Not good

We tried having her sleep up last night. She slept from 8 to 10:30 by herself and then off and on until about 1. Which meant that I didn't sleep much until 1. I gave up and brought her downstairs to sleep in her co-sleeper next to my bed. Then she slept 4.5 hours straight. Round 2 is tonight.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Movin' up!

Tonight we have moved Reese up to her room for the first time. I haven't getting hardly any sleep with her in her co-sleeper next to my side of the bed. She moves all the time and makes her baby noises, which makes me wake up and check on her and try to give her the pacifier back to sleep. Not to mention, she is still waking at least once and usually twice to feed during the night. Surprise, surprise, Gary usually sleeps through all of this. So we have moved her up to her crib in her room. That's right, I said up, which means either I will be getting out of bed and going up and down the stairs twice each night, or I will be sleeping in the guest room upstairs. I think I'll sleep upstairs tonight. I just want to sleep at least 4 straight hours. Wish us luck!

Monday, August 18, 2008

What was your favorite?

First of all, I know, 3 posts in the same day...crazy!

I have started something new with Mason. Just recently I have started asking Mason what his favorite thing was that day while we are getting ready for bed. Last night, it kind of made me feel bad. Right now I have to think about his day and give him choices of what it might have been. Well last night I went down a long list, which included hanging out with mama upstairs in Reese's room while he played with some old putaway toys while I got consigment sale stuff together. I really thought he was say that was because we were up there a while. Well he said no to that. So I thought what could it be? Then I remembered, for about 5 minutes Mason and Gary played a new game where he would run around the living room, Gary would block his path with his legs on the couch, and Mason would try to climb over them laughing the whole time. This was his favorite. So a 5 mintue game with daddy overruled about 2 hours of him and I together. Then I thought, he got more attention in those 5 minutes with Dad then those 2 hours with me thinking I had to get "stuff" done. Well, that opened my eyes. Sorry Mason, I'll do better tomorrow.

As for his favorite thing today...squirting Miles, the dog, with a water gun before bath time. Even after Miles jumped on him and accidentally scratched his face and chest. Apparently, it's the little things that make a lasting impression.

Dallas World Aquarium

Today we all went to the aquarium and met some friends and grandma and grandpa there. Mason had a blast. He has been several times since he was about 1 year old, but now at 3, he was so excited to see everything. He kept saying "come here everybody" over and over again at each exhibit. He even remembered where the sharks were and it had been quite a while since he had been last. And for once, he didn't fall asleep on the way home.

3 down...4 to go

I have decided to give up all sweets for 1 week...crazy I know. For those that really know me, you make think this is impossible. Lately, I just felt like I needed to cleanse myself of something that had a hold of me, and sweets, mainly chocolate is constantly consuming me, or I'm consuming it I guess. I originally decided no chocolate for 1 month, but even I knew that would be too much. So I am starting with 1 week of no sweets. 3 days are down and 4 more to go. I sure was tempted to go to Braum's tonight but instead made a grilled cheese sandwhich. So obviously I'm not cutting out calories, just sweets.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Lil' Red Raider

Mason said the funniest thing today, although he didn't know it was funny. All you Aggies out there might appreciate this more than others. We were at an intersection stopped by a red light and two cyclists rode through in front of us. One was decked out in Texas A&M attire, so Gary says "there goes an Aggie". Mason pipes out from the backseat "you see Shaggy?", as he is a big fan of Scooby Doo. We thought it was hilarious. Surely there's an Aggie joke somewhere in that.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

That's what he said

Mason was making cookies in his kitchen and Daddy asked "what kind are you making" and Mason very matter of factly stated "man cookies".

Apparently I have said "are you kidding me" one too many times. That was Mason's response to me saying to Mason that the trash truck was coming.

Mason had 2 minutes to pick up toys before I claimed them. His 2 minutes was up so I was in the process of picking up all his new birthday toys, and he said "don't get my joot (juice) mama". So he knew exactly what was going on, the stinker.

The tattling has started already. Reese grabbed Mason's finger when he was sitting next to her. Mason's response was to say that Baby Ree bit him. His finger was nowhere near her mouth. We had to have a talk about lying.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Over-acheiver





We need to quit calling her Baby Reese because that will probably stick for a long time. Mason and several of his friends only know her as Baby Reese. She is now 4.5 months old...I can't believe it's been that long since we took her home from the hospital. She teased us for about 2 weeks around the 3 month mark by sleeping through the night, but not so much anymore. She wakes usually once to feed, then goes right back to bed. I usually stay up with her on me for about 20-30 minutes for her reflux. I take this time to check emails and read the latest news on my phone. She does wake up the happiest baby though around 7am, except for this morning at 6am. Gary was nice enough to take her so I could sleep-in until 7.

As far as the over-acheiving, she is almost sitting by herself. As her mama (a pediatric physical therapist for those who don't know), this makes me very proud. Who cares that I have done absolutely nothing to promote this physical therapy wise...here's a cute picture of her trying to sit. She will be graduating out of her co-sleeper within the next couple of weeks and move upstairs to her crib. So hopefully that will coincide with her sleeping through the night so I won't have to navigate the stairs at 2am.

3 year old stats





Mason had his 3 year old check-up today. He already acts so grown up at the doctor's office. He does everything they ask him to do all by himself, expect talk. I swear he has never spoken a single word while in the exam room. So they just have to take our word for it that he talks.

So here are his stats:
38" tall
34.2 lbs

We talked about the fact that he is not at all interested in potty training yet. Believe me, we have tried everything! The PA had one more suggestion...have a very special toy that sits on top of the fridge that is reserved ONLY for when he goes in the potty. So we went directly to Target and went down each aisle in the toy section. He first picked out a Disney Princess watch...YIKES! Then after several suggestions from mom and dad he finally chose...drum roll please...Buzz Lightyear. So it sits on top of the fridge, waiting. I personally think it will sit there a while, but we'll see.

Mason also subscribes to the toddler diet. I don't think he has eaten dinner in the last 3 nights, but has still managed to be in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. So that is one less battle I will be fighting since, apparently, he is not starving.

Here's some pictures from his birthday party.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Bring the Rain

I admit that I am one of those people that randomly ready strangers' blogs and I have found some that are very interesting, entertaining, and downright inspirational. My latest discovery has, in all seriousness, changed my life and I wanted to share it with everyone. It is about the Smith Family, Angie and Todd, and their children. Todd is one of the singers from the Christian group, Selah, and this story kept me up all last night after I cried the entire time I read their blog, from the beginning. Let me just say that inwardly I am a very emotional person, but outwardly, I'm not. I didn't even cry at my wedding or the birth of my 2 children, so that should give you an idea of how emotional their story is. So I now look at things very differently, as a mother, a wife, a Christian, and a human being.

Here is their blog...and it is at the beginning. After each entry there are sometimes literally hundreds of comments so you have to scroll down to the very bottom of each one to find the newer post link which brings you to the next one. Grab some tissues.

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/2008/01/beginning-of-story.html


Here is a video that was made at their local church to share their story also. I would read the blog first if you have time.

http://www.vimeo.com/951902

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Thrill Ride

Just had to share a scary, but VERY funny story from yesterday. I rented a larger SUV yesterday so that all the family could ride around town together while they were here for Mason's party. It has a 3rd row so Mason and cousin Austin (4) were delegated to the 3rd row by themselves. That was the cutest thing to begin with because I don't think I have ever heard Mason have a conversation with another kid before. He usually just nods his head and goes with the flow. But they were back there talking about their dogs, daddies, and donuts, to name a few. So we pick them up at the airport, go to Valley View mall (which I don't plan on going again, ever), then home for naps. So let me set it up for you. Mason is riding in his car seat, which we weren't able to use the latch system for so his car seat was just seat belted in and he was sitting next to cousin Austin who is just in a booster seat with regular seat belt. When we turn into our winding neighborhood, we took a corner a little faster than I wanted, afterall I was in a new vehicle. So after the turn I hear from Mason "I want to go on a ride again". I don't remember what I told him but he said it again. As we make the next swerve, I happen to look in the rear view mirror and see his entire car seat tip to the right and then back to the center as we finish the curve. Apparently, cousin Austin was trying to be very helpful at the mall and undid Mason's seatbelt to "let him out". We obviously did not know this and Mason rode the approximately 20 miles home without his car seat attached to anything. Scary! But the funny part was the last 4 or 5 curves in our neighborhood, I intentionally took a little faster so Mason would tip from side to side as everyone was cracking up laughing about it. It was all under control.

Sunday, August 3, 2008


Mason has been saying some of the cutest things lately...


"I got an idea!" When he wanted grandpa to hit the ball instead of pitch it.


"You not supposed to be out here, you supposed to be in there." As I came out of my room from a nap.


"You need anything else mama?" After very carefully bring me a glass of water while feeding Reese. That was the sweetest!


When asked how old he is, here are some of his responses...

"I little"

"Not much"

"I big boy"

Gary also convinced me to give Mason his first summer buzz cut. I have to admit I didn't like it initially, but now I do. Mason doesn't mind getting his hair cut now.

Reese update

Sorry for the long gap between posts, but not much down time for mama these days. As I type this, I am sitting the same place I am every night around 9-10...in my recliner in my room with the lights turned off (which makes typing fun), Reese asleep on me, typing with one hand, and with my snack and water readily available while Gary works out or studies. Let's just say that Reese shows a definite preference for her mama, especially after 6pm every night. At least she's not colicky like Mason was...she just loves her mama.


She had her 4 month check-up last week.

13 lbs, 7 ounces - still a chunky monkey but slowed down her chunk a bit

24 inches (thats right, 2 feet tall)


She is a very active girl...she loves to stand and believe it or not, she is almost sitting. I guess thats what happens when your mama is a pediatric PT.