My snoozing boys

Dog days!

It wasn't even technically summer yet when we began our streak of 6 days with 100+ degree temps. On our hottest day, we hit 105 degrees. This was far too hot to do anything but run through the sprinkler so that's just what Gram's and Mackenzie did. :

Stats

Mason's 2 mo well child exam with Karen went great! Despite getting three shots, he did very well and is one healthy boy.

Weight: 11 lbs 11 oz  ( An almost 5 lb gain since birth!)
Height: just shy of 24 inches putting him in the 80%
Head: 39

Mason loves his big sister!

At last!

Before Mackenzie knew it, Grammy was here and the fun began! During her four day stay, I think Grammy read every one of the 18 books we'd checked out from the library and countless others from our own collection. She also spent time searching for insects in the yard, playing board games, doing puzzles , scratching a certain enthusiastic canine behind the ears and making silly faces and noises at our squirmy boy.  Mike, Mack and Grammy visited the Celestial Seasonings tea factory, the Leaning Tree card company and the art museum in Boulder before heading to the butterfly pavilion. When they returned home they were exhausted but each bearing a " I held Rosie" ( the tarantula) sticker on their chest.

Time with Grammy always goes fast but we are always glad for the chance to spend time with her. Mackenzie can't wait to start the countdown to Grammy's next visit.

That's quite the lap full!

Mack holding Rosie-Brave girl!

A long, long wait

Mackenzie has been very patiently counting down the days until Grammy would get here. Finally, the day arrived and the minutes dragged on. Mackenzie must have stood at the door for 20 minutes before I finally convinced her she could play outside for a while and I'd call her when I saw Mike's car carrying Grammy drive up. True to my word, a few minutes later I called out that Grammy was here....Let the fun being! To be continued.....

Captivating....

What could possibly hold Mason's attention for MINUTES on end?
( minutes are like hours in babyland)

The ceiling fan, of course! There isn't a baby that can't be
charmed by beloved " Aunt Fannie" , the ever present
baby sitter!

Smiles for Aunt Fannie

Mason is 2 months!

I guess, technically, he won't be two months until Tuesday, at which point he will actually be almost nine weeks...Thanks for all the confusion, Gregorian calendar!

Mason has figured out that he can fit his entire fist in his mouth and has mastered the art
of blowing raspberries! He is still working on mastering the
ever trying nap routine. He'll be visiting Karen for his 2 month
well child exam later this week.

Mason, 8 weeks

Looking more and more alert!

Chatting with Mason

Here's a quick clip of chatty Mason and me pulling out

                                                           all the stops for a smile. 

Shocking

When we brought Mason home from the hospital, Ellie developed a major case of sibling rivalry. Not only was she incredibly curious about him ( so much so that we worried she would pounce on him if we turned our back) but she also "remembered" lots of bad habits that she'd previously been broken of. Mike and I were unsure what to do. We love Ellie . She is part of our family . Not only that, Mackenzie and Ellie are playmates and we knew that , if came down to it and we have to find Ellie a new home, Mack would be heart broken. But we also couldn't be with Ellie every second of the day, reminding her not to chew on baby toys and not to dig, etc.Most importantly, we have to be able to trust Ellie with our kids and we just weren't sure we could. Brian and Annie had raved about e-collar training with their two dogs. Though we never liked the idea of using an electric collar with any animal, we also didn't know what else to do. So, we decided to give it one last ditch effort , hoping it would be the solution to our doggie woes.

We're happy to say that it has helped tremendously. In fact, we've only had to shock Ellie once or twice. Should she forget, we simply remind her with the " vibrate" setting on the collar and Ellie shapes right up. Thank goodness! Our house just wouldn't be the same with out Ellie girl.

Grammy is coming!

Grammy will be here before we know it so , of course, we needed to create a countdown so we knew exactly where we stood in the wait. This time, Mackenzie insisted on doing the entire thing herself. Each morning as she checks off the day, she also adds a new drawing to the poster:

Mack's handy work !
See the "slug bug" traffic jam at the bottom?

There goes another day!

Sweet siblings

 Mason is quite the little charmer these days. Here he is charming his big sister

                                           Take a peek at those  long legs on Mackenzie!

Summer eats and treats

The calendar may not agree that it's summertime, but the mid-90 degree temps make us feel otherwise! With the heat and the Colorado clear blue skies, we have been exercising our grill with yummy, summer-like dishes.

Hard to pass up corn on the cob!

Mike made strawberry shortcake as a way to use
up a big batch of strawberries threatening to go bad

You can see what else is hard to resist!

I stand corrected....

Mackenzie, while filling time waiting for Mason's turn at the lab, was writing her name .
" Look, Mommy, " she said " I wrote Mason's name, too."
Sure enough, next to her own name, she'd written her brothers' only she spelled it " M-a-s-i-n". When I told her she'd done a great job sounding it out , but that Mason's name was spelled with an "O" not an  " I" , she said " Mommy, It's 'MasIN' not 'MasON' " followed by a mini-lecture on the sounds that "i" and " o" make.
Thank you, four year old. I'll be sure to run any further spelling or naming issues by you first.

Stingray jammies

I read this blog entry from a favorite mommy blogger that I happened upon and it really reminded me how quickly childhood speeds by and that , when possible, parents should say " YES!" instead of automatically swatting down some of the zany ideas toddlers and preschoolers have. So when Mack found out that Mike was taking her to the aquarium , she asked if she could wear her sting ray jammies to show them to the sting rays. What else was there to say, but Yes!:

Mason Thomas- one month

I wanted a photographic way to measure Mason's growth during his first year and struggled with a way to do it. There are onesies you can by with the month stitched on it. Those are ridiculously expensive and seemed like a waste since they'd be , for all intents and purposes, a one time wear. Besides, it's be really nice to do something a little more personal to our family. Enter Casey.

Mason : one month

Casey is Mike's favorite doll from when he was a kid. He was special enough to Mike that he asked his mom to burrow through Mike's childhood treasures and send him to us so that he could be Mason's. This, I thought, was just what I was looking for!

It's almost hard to tell which is Mason and which is Casey at first glance.

Drive safely!

Each night before Mike leaves for work, he makes the rounds, planting kisses on each of us and  a nice head rub for Ellie, who refuses to be forgotten. Mackenzie walks him to the door and waits there as he drives off to " Ping" him one last kiss, bidding him farewell with a " Drive Safely, Daddy!"

This is a snap shot of how my bouquets have been coming to me lately. It's amazing how much longer they last with the root system still in tact (which is a good thing since getting them by the bunch means there will be fewer bunches to be given):

And lastly, Mackenzie thought the blog needed this photo of her pouncing like  a cougar. Yes, Mack, I think it's just what the blog needed. :)

Our Sensitive Boy....

                                

Remember when I wished that our boy would be like his daddy? I think my wish has come true! Mason is such a sensitive little soul. He won't ever fuss over being cuddled and kissed and he loves to be massaged and caressed as he fall asleep, signing off with a sweet smile before he goes off to dream land. This is just like Mike who would never turn down a massage and loves to cuddle. With the hugs and cuddles and sweet smiles, there's a flip side. His heart is unbelievably fragile. If he wakes up and doesn't get the proper amount of lovin' and cuddles before his diaper change, his face turns read, tears pour from his eyes and from his mouth escapes the most heart wrenching wail you've ever heard. This is true with bath time, when it's time to get swaddled and just generally any time that he isn't snuggled tight in someone's arms ,sleeping soundly in his bassinet, or happily chattering to the ceiling fan. And though that gut wrenching sob is so sad you could just cry with him, it's also the most endearing thing about him and I hope I never forget how his lip quivers once he starts to settle back down. The same is true for Mike. He is not one to hold back his emotions even if they bring tears to his eyes.This is  contrary to Mackenzie who will snuggle under the right conditions, very much like her mama.

All ready for a pre-nap snuggle

One other part of Mason that is sensitive is his tummy. So much so that my already limited diet has been trimmed down even more. Stricken from my diet are : anything spicy, chocolate, caffeine, milk and all other forms of dairy , many veggies and did I say chocolate?  But of course, he is completely worth every ounce of chocolate I couldn't eat . Hopefully in a few weeks, his tummy will be a little more mature and we can test the waters with some variety in my diet.

I'm off to bed. It won't be long before I am awakened for a wee hours snuggle with my little sensie!