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!

Good things are growing!

Colorado is the only place I've ever seen gigantic dandelions and, though it's contrary to the normal reaction, I was very excited to find that one had snuck it's way into our yard. Mack couldn't believe the size of it!


Blow, Mack!


And almost as exciting is the goodies growing from the plants we inherited from the previous owner of our house! Mack had been watching the lone strawberry plant for a few weeks now. Yesterday, one was red enough to eat! I could barely get her to hold off on eating it for a picture!

I caughtcha!

After much coaxing, I finally caught that sneaky smile:


And it looks like tummy time is working! Check out those neck muscles:

Mx4

I wanted to have a shot of our family with Mason as a baby so
I pulled out the tripod, rounded up the family got to snappin'!

This picture is priceless to me. It's a true snap shot
of life in our house right now. Poor Mason
just wasn't having it.

My little Macky

I've gotten a few glimpses into the mind of Mackenzie the last few weeks and I just love how her brain works. Here are a few "Macky Moments" from the last few weeks:

We drive past a power plant each time we go to my mom's so Mackenzie is constantly asking questions about it. As we drove past it last week , she said " Mommy. There's the power plant. It's a BIG, BIG building full of light switches!"

My sister came over for a visit and brought along Hayden, the five year old girl that she babysits. Mackenzie provided her usual introduction (" Hi. I'm Mackenzie and I'm four years old." ) and Hayden shared hers and off they went to swing in the back yard. A few minutes later, Mackenzie came pouting into the house and planted herself on the kitchen floor followed close behind by an equally pouty Hayden. When I asked Hayden what was wrong she said " Mackenzie said she won't be my friend any more!" ( Yes, unfortunately, that game still exists.) . I said to Mackenzie " That is really not something that is ok to say. That hurts Hayden's feelings and you need to apologize" . I expected that Mackenzie would realize that what she had said was hurtful and she'd refrain from saying it again. What I got, instead, was this; " I'm sorry that I'm not your friend any more Hayden."  Oh. That didn't go as planned. She later shared with me that Hayden had broken a house rule and, when Hayden refused to correct herself, Mackenzie didn't want to play anymore. She knows that, even still, it isn't good to say such things.

Mack's all about jokes these days. Some are funny, some would be funny but the idea of the punch line isn't quite in place yet and some are just plain weird. Yesterday Mackenzie was letting Ellie lick her hands after she'd put on hand sanitizer. I told her that hand sanitizer could make Ellie sick. Mackenzie, dead pan, replied " Then we'd have to take her to the " DOGter!" Good one, Mack!

She has been so proud of herself as she's gotten even better at reading. Last week she read most of new a step one early reader book on her own. She was so elated by herself that she danced around and gave me every type of "high five" known to her four year old brain.

Little Mackenzie is such sunshine in our lives. Not a day goes by that I don't look at her and marvel at what an awesome gift she is to us.