Striking resemblance

People tell me all the time how much Mason looks like Mackenzie. Maybe it's because their personalities are so different, but I just couldn't see it. To satisfy my curiosity, I went looking through pictures of Mackenzie and here's what I found. Both kids are 3 months old in their picture. What do you think?:

A striking resemblance, indeed

Along those same lines, I had a bit of a flashback the other day as Mason sat in his exersaucer smiling away at the sunshine figure on it. It hardly seems like four years ago that I sat watching Mackenzie doing the very same thing. So on my hunt for " look a like" photos, I found these:

Mack checkin' out the sunshine

Mason's turn!

A few minutes with Mason

Mason's up to some new things: He can direct his hands to touch things that grab his attention. He can also grab a hold of things like rattles, hanging toys,clothing , blankets and HAIR! He is determined that he will get his toes into his mouth but so far, he can old lift then up to his belly and then he opens his mouth as if willing the toes to go in! Though he is still Mr. Impatient and wants what he want when he wants it, he is a lot of fun and is still one of the sweetest babies I know! His little laugh is contagious and it leaves us all looking a fool to try and coax a few giggles out.

On top of that, he has a pretty set routine which includes waking about the same times twice a night and naps that are so predictable, you  could set a clock by them. His current routine isn't quite so ideal for Mackenzie's upcoming school schedule so we're working on tweaking that a bit to ensure plenty of time for getting to school and back as well as sufficient nap times for Mason.

Mini Clay

One of the first things Mike said to me as they wheeled me into the recovery room after delivering Mason was that he looked like my dad. We joked that Mason had more hair than he does and sort of left it at that.  As Mason's grown, the resemblance is still there but more and more we notice how Mason looks like a mini version of my brother. This isn't surprising since Clay looks so much like my dad with out the beard. Seeing these little glimpses of my brother who means so much to me in my son tugs at my heart strings . See what you think:

Mason looks a little fearful here but he really does love his uncle.

Clay telling Mason how handsome they are.

While on the subject of Mason's looks, I will add that Mason has the classic Taylor family ears. His ears look like a mini version of my moms whose look like a mini version of her dads. Maybe one day I can get a picture of their ears....but I wouldn't count on it! Genetics are so interesting, aren't they?

Celebrating Brooklyn

We had so much fun on Saturday celebrating Brooklyn's 9th birthday. It's strange to think that 9 years have passed since Taylor and Brooklyn came into our lives, just two weeks apart, and changed them so much. It always feels a little sad to celebrate one birthday with out the other but our thoughts were on Taylor as she celebrated her 9th birthday on July 14th in Arizona.

The whole gang ( minus the Arizona Hansfords who were missed) came to celebrate over pizza and cake. Brook was down the minutes to " present time". Her mom let her open this one early...

Mark and Carley's gift to Brooklyn was a hamster whom Brook
named Shark bait.

Shy Brooklyn being sung to.

Brook got a little too close to the cake while Mark was around.

Brooklyn has grown into such a sweet, sensitive girl with a playful side , always ready to play a practical joke. She is always willing to jump in and help any way she can, even if it involved a yucky diaper! We love the time we get with her and can't wait to see the young woman she becomes. We know she'll be great!

"BAD dog!"

I was upstairs putting Mason down for a nap when I heard Mackenzie shouting--no screaming-- at Ellie. The screams quickly turned to tears and, as I reached the top of the stairs ( a no longer drowsy Mason in arm)to find out what was going on, Mackenzie was already at the bottom of the stairs on her way up.

" Ellie ATE my nature!" . The tears were coming faster now.
" Your nature?"  I had no clue what she was talking about.
" My LEAVES! That I collected on our walk! "
Sure enough, I could see leaf bits scattered about the room below, a guilty looking Ellie chewing a stem near the stairs. I attempted to diffuse the situation, apologizing that Ellie had eaten her nature and reminded her that dogs eat things when they're left around and ended with a promise that we could later collect more leaves. Thinking this solved the problem, I resumed the nap time ritual but could still hear Mackenzie lecturing Ellie down stairs. I couldn't make out much of what she was saying from Mason's room upstairs but every now and again I would hear her shout " That's a BAD dog!" . This went on for a few minutes before Mack forgot about the eaten roughage and all was calm.

Fast forward a few days and Cass and I are sitting in my living room and I am telling this story to her. Ellie had found a comfy spot on the chair behind me . As I began to rehash this story, Ellie became uneasy and when I turned around, had buried her head in the throw blanket on the chair. This must have been a very traumatic event for poor El:

Poor girl

"I'm a cowgirl!"

After watching Mike taking a ride on Chica a few weeks ago, Mack decided she was going to go for a ride, too. Papa is always ready to saddle up a horse for rides and so off they went, Mackenzie chattering about being a cowgirl.

Gramps giving Macky some riding tips. She says she's going to keep
practicing so she's the best cowgirl EVER!

Two cow girls! Mack and Brooklyn

We made it- Three months!

Mr. Serious is not easily impressed

 Mason is three months old! This is officially the end of the newborn phase which means we survived! This always sounds weird to me ( and probably to other people as well) . The newborn phase is such a purely innocent time full of moments that will forever be remembered but ,if I'm being honest, it's my least favorite time of the early years. And it's not that I don't love and treasure any time with my babies. It's only that ,along with this sweet time of "firsts", the sweet smell of a bald baby's head and the complete contentment that comes with having a sleepy newborn passed out on your chest, also comes  the total lack of routine that tends to drive up my anxiety and make things feel chaotic for me. I am a type A personality to a tee so having things feel so unsettled is really hard on me, especially when there is one more child. Having said that, I adore my babies and seeing them through this stage, even with all the anxiety it provokes in me, is something I'd never pass up on. And as Mason reaches the end of the newborn phase, I smile thinking of all the memories we've collected over the last three months.

He sure had changed a lot! He came into the world screaming and demanding attention. From the start he's been a boy who knows what he wants and, for him, there isn't any middle ground. Don't get me wrong, when Mason is happy he is VERY happy but it doesn't take much for his switch to be flipped from " happy as can be" to " I'm mad and YOU better do something about it". This hasn't really changed much but his happy times are far out weighing the crabby ones. Up until a few weeks ago, the only place for Mason to be was in a warm pair of arms, preferably mine. Now he is content to spend time laying on the floor under his baby gym or in his exersaucer or bouncy seat. He also is a much better traveler and has learned that his car seat is not a torture device. He is a much happier passenger these days. He is full of coos and giggles and full out laughter. One of his favorite things is watching his sister prance around the room or making funny faces at him. My favorite memory of the two of them so far is listening to Mason in his exersaucer  laughing his little heart out at Mackenzie, playing with her shaker eggs, dancing ever more wild to keep the laughs coming and so proud that she is the one who provoked such happy sounds.

One of the things I have been most proud of since Mason's birth was that I was able to successfully and exclusively breast feed him. It was something I was not able to do with Mackenzie and I felt robbed of an experience that everyone woman should be able to do if it is her desire.  Mason and I established a great nursing relationship, one that went strong for nearly three months. At that point Mason was no longer sleeping more than an hour or hour and a half around the clock. He would nurse , have time to "play" and just as he got settled in for a nap, his little belly was empty and the cycle restarted, this time with a slightly crabbier baby than before. Night time showed no reprieve . Thankfully, our wonderful pediatrican called to see how things were going and found an exhausted, overly stressed mom , dad and baby . She gave me suggestions for how to get our little guy sleeping better. The major thing was to add rice cereal to a bottle of my pumped milk at one night feeding. While this did help somewhat at night, our days were still full of a nonsleeping, always hungry boy. To make matters worse, he had decided he really liked the faster flow of the bottle and became a very lazy nurser who would only eat 5-10 minutes before he'd stop, only to be hungry again in 45 minutes to an hour. Maybe it's because I was so exhausted or maybe it's because this time, stopping was MY choice, but making the gradual switch to formula wasn't so bad for either of us. Mason has been sleeping so much better at night, usually waking only once for a feeding, and going longer stretches on a full belly during the day. This means he can get in some good naps and I feel like I has a weight lifted off my shoulders because I am able to spend more time with Mackenzie as well as gaining some sense of normal life again. I will always be in awe of those who can nurse their babies for longer periods of time. It really is a bond and experience that I won't ever forget and I am so glad that I got the chance to do it ,even if it wasn't for as long as I'd wanted. And since I had such a healthy supply and was able to pump daily, I am still able to give Mason breast milk in at least one bottle a day . 

Mason's first bottle

The last three months, though trying at times, have also given me some of the most joyous times in my life- kissing another bald, newborn head and drinking in that newborn smell, seeing my daughter love her brother with a natural, real love right from the start, hearing Mike talking to Mason on the baby monitor and referring to him as " son" , first coos, first laughs all shared as a family. As Mike said- it really does feel like Mason has been here all along.

Mason Thomas 3 months

There's that smile!