My Monkey Mason...

Man how my little Monkey has changed just in the past week! He has learned to SQUEAL (and its LOUD) but pretty funny when he does it. He can make the dogs scatter fast! LOL Besides the new octave he has found, and crawling, he is just all over the place! I can see that mischief look in his goofy grin! This kiddo goes nuts in his walker, chasing the dogs, going in circles, running as fast as he can and see how he can slide, and also makes me jump! He likes to sneak up behind me and ram his walker into my ankles! (jump from pain!) I might need to invest in some shin guards for my ankles!!

Playing Peek-a-boo with Daddy's Butt


There's that look I mentioned!


And again.....(but with Daddy)


Crazy Baby in a walker!


Walking fixes any fussy mood FAST!

Baby on the Move

My reason for cleaning? WELL besides having 3 dogs??? Mason started the army crawl last week and started actually crawling Sunday Night!

Are we ready to go?


See ya!


Gotta keep up with ME Daddy!


Keepin' tabs on the pooches...


Mason-Dog Master!

Mommy's Little Helper

Mason is not so afraid of the vacuum anymore- in fact yesterday he tried helping me vacuum, well really he just held the vacuum cord for me and followed me around everywhere!

"Daddy, This is what you should be doing, let me show you!"


"Lets see where Mommy went with that thing...off I go!"


"There she is....can I help?"


"Let ME show you how its done right Momma!"


"Good Job Mom!"

Power Prayer Request!

This isnt just a prayer request, a power prayer request!
If you know me well, then you know our friends The Davis Family in CA. I talk about them often (dont worry Cath, all good things of course!) They are very close friends of ours, Cathy (middle daughter) is one of my best friends. This wonderful family has been thru way too much in the past 7 weeks. It was heart breaking enough with Jimmy passing away July 3rd and now this. Heather (the oldest) pregnant with twins was put on bed rest at 17 weeks/4 months pregnant (she was almost fully effaced and having contractions) so she stayed in bed for a long time, poor thing..the dr said the babies had a good survival rate after 28 weeks in utero, but really if they could get to 32 weeks that would be best. This past week Heathers water broke (she was 29 weeks along) *for pregnancy illiterate folks, a full term pregnancy is 40 weeks) but remember when carrying twins its a whole 'nother story. when most twins are born they are not usually the same birth weight as normal single born babies, and lots of twins are pre-mature. Vincent & Bella were born Thursday after some complications of Heather not feeling well. Vincent was born at 3 lbs, and Bella at 2 lbs 14 oz. Thats TINY!!!
VIncent did not make it thru the night, somewhere along the way (while in utero) acquired an infection..E-coli, which you can get from ingesting fecal matter (poo), Cathy said the dr mentioned babies that young dont produce muconium (newborn baby poo) yet, so still unsure where it came from. Bella now has the infection, as well as Heather. Both are very sick. On top of being aggressively treated, Bella has another issue with a pump inside her heart that is pumping blood into her lungs, and may have to have surgery if other options dont work. HOW do you do a surgery on a 2 lb baby??? Cathy said its not the surgery that is the dangerous part, its the anesthesia. Heather is also very sick and Cathy said they are doing back to back blood transfusions on her. Bless her heart, this is not what a new mom deserves to be going thru, no one for that matter deserves it and especially not Heather.
After Jimmy passed away, I was praying for Terry, Candy, Heather & Cathy as much as I could, I know the pain they feel from losing a loved one, but losing your Mom and best friend is also different from losing your brother and best friend or even losing your Son (I dont even want to imagine that pain!) But it doesnt matter the relationship, losing a loved one is so hard. I couldnt wait for these babies to come in the fall, I knew they'd be that wonderful joy of new life and bring alot of happiness to the family. It just breaks my heart to see such a struggle after a major loss to such a wonderful family. Please pray (and pray hard!) for The Davis Family and that Heather and Baby Bella make a quick and miraculous recovery!
I feel at a loss of what to do. Being states away I can't do anything. I try to not call Cathy too much because I know how busy she is with everything, so the most I know I can do is pray for them!

Such a flirt!

Sara and Hendrix came over the other day to eat sushi and swim and Sara took these photos of Mason...of course he was flirtin' with her...these pictures of him are just precious melts my heart! You can really see his eye color! His eyes are a hazel like color just like Gavin's but they have a ting of blue from mine. I just love how cute and silly he was acting...but Man is a CUTE one! Watch out girls...oh wait..boy are WE in trouble!!!!

Water Boy!

Mason LOVES water- any form of it really...sippy cup, the sink, the bath tub and especially the pool! I found a great float for him at Walgreens on sale and he LOVES it, he loves that he can kick and can get himself all over the pool! Its kinda nice for me too so I dont have to hold him the whole time and can swim a little! We've been spending so much time in the pool lately he gets so excited!

Look how he just poses for the camera!

Sweet Stuff

Just a few cute picture of Mason enjoying Watermelon! I think he enjoys playing with it just as much as eating it...if not more!

My wierd kid

Sometimes i think the wierder my kid gets, he might be more like me! HA! He sure does crack me up though!
Crawling? Nope. Mason was so close to crawling a few weeks ago, and since then has given up because he has figured out how to pull up using your hands or fingers, and he loves to walk around that way. So according to him, its MUCH faster than crawling! So forget crawling for now. Even though he's not crawling still...or yet...he does get him self around pretty quick! He scoots pretty quick when he sees what he wants.

On a side note- despite the fact that he is not working on developemental skills- he can flip his tongue however! He thinks its funny when i curl my tongue like a burrito and blow air at him thru my tongue. I think he liked the look on my face even more when he showed me how he can flip his tongue over from side to side! I cant do that! But Daddy and Granma can (and granpa can only do it one way! LOL) So right now Mason is fascinated with his tongue. Yep....so its hanging out alot at the moment.

Mason also has his own language, besides the baby jibberish, he also communicates by growling. He growls mostly at the washcloth (which is used all the time, after every meal on his hands and face and every bathtime) and if and when he gets his hands on the washcloth he takes his frustration out on it, chews on it, whips it around and growls specifically at the washcloth! Today Granpa Tony started growling back at him and Mason responded with a whole conversation in growling. haha!
WOnder where it comes from? Yes, our dog shelby and her 2 temporary resident roommates (Molly & Bear- my parents dogs- keeping them while Dad is in HK) like to play fight and its Mason's entertainment, he loves it when they do that. He finds all 3 of them pretty funny, espcially while play fighting. what else do they do while play fighting? They GROWL. So my adorable son growls and learned it from the dogs! AHHH! .....great....at least he hasnt growled at me yet!!!! LOL and he hasnt barked yet thankfully!

PS- Mason is 8 months old! He cut his 5th tooth this past week and is working on the 6th tooth! Its so odd to see all these pearly whites when he opens his mouth! (and he likes to show them to you too!!!) I can't get over how I have a mini- toddler who always has to be entertained and constantly moving, he doesnt look much like a baby to me anymore! And his hair- he has SO much of it! the hawk is getting SO big, and starting to curl over!!! when it doesnt stand up straight anymore- thats when we'll go get a haircut!

Will post some new photos tomorrow!!

Gruene, Texas

Every summer for the last several years, we've gotten a group of friends together, caravan down to Gruene/New Braunfels, Texas and float the river. This year we stayed in Gruene instead of NB and we were really close to the Guadalupe. Although it was closed for 'toobing' we floated the Comal and still had a good time! It was my first time leaving Mason behind, it was kind of hard, but we both survived! He stayed with Granma & Granpa McNosky and I think he had a pretty good time! I think they enjoyed all the time with him as well!
Once we got to Gruene, we had an amazing trip. I'd have to say it was our best trip yet. We rented an adorable house that was so accomodating and worked out really well for us. There were 9 of us that went, all veterans but my friend Erin joined us this year. Gavin, Me, my brother Josh, David (Gavin's best friend) and his wife- my good friend Jes, Kevin (David's Cousin), my friend Analisa & her brother Ian and our friend Erin as well. We had a great group of people go, and overall it was just a great trip period! I can't remember the last time I laughed so much! We drove down on Friday, walked down to the river and wandered around, stopped by to see my Uncle Ronnie who lived really close by, went to San Marcos to shop, had Rudy's BBQ for dinner, picked up our groceries and headed back to the house for some drinking and games! We played "Apples to Apples", stayed up too late, and had SO much fun! The next day we took our time getting up and lounged around before heading out to the river. Since the Guadalupe was closed, we floated the Comal which is a much smaller river (only 3 miles long!) its a spring fed river and it was PACKED since the Guadalupe was closed. We only floated it once since it was so packed, we would have really enjoyed going once more down the river, but it was just too congested, so we headed back. We hung out by the Guadalupe for a while and watched the White Water Rafters (thats how high the water was!) We waded around in the river and hung out, even swam a little bit before we headed home for the day. Last night we decided we were too pooped to go out anywhere so we all ordered pizza and played "loaded questions" finished off our beer stash (or tried to at least!) and again stayed up too late!
We headed home today- I think we would have liked to stay one more night we had so much fun!
I gave myself a photography project while we were there- I have been wanting some 'Rustic Texas' photos to hang in our bedroom and I had the absolute perfect setting! Gruene is such a cute town, very rustic and vintage- it looks like its just caught in time, so I had a great time shooting! Everytime I visit Gruene I have a moment or an experience that just takes me back in time, it's hard to explain, but but it's something that just truely amazes me. Last year on Sunday morning we were walking around Historic Gruene and were standing by Gruene Hall where once a month they have a "Gospel Brunch". While standing there looking at the oldest Dance Hall in Texas with the screen window and Country Gospel Music echoing out and seeing the women inside wearing wide brimmed hats and fanning themselves just took me to another time in history. It was the sounds, the smell and sights- everything! This year my moment was while we were headed to the river riding out the river outfitters old bus, on our way to the river I was looking out these old dirty bus windows that were down, we drove past all these old houses that looked like they were straight out of the country in the mid 60's, along with the same era music being blared by the bus driver, the smell of an old school bus leather seats again just took me to another time! Moments like these are memories burned in my brain that I just won't forget and yet I have nothing to document either experience except my memories!
I really wish I spent some time in Historic Gruene, I really could have gotten some amazing photos there, but our house was just such a great setting, I really think I got some amazing photos. I am so impressed with myself!! The house we stayed in was so well done- stained concrete floors, rustic wrought iron and leather decor, vintage furniture inside and out. It was on 3 acres and had all the natural hill country vegetation including Cacti, Mesquite Trees, the Old big Oak trees and more. It was perfect we even had the gravel drive AND an outdoor shower! (yes we had an indoor one too!)
I'm already looking forward to next years trip!

























Jes waiting for me at our front gate....she later got her panties frozen! ;-P

Goofball baby!

I'd say my sense of humor is one of my best qualities (some may like it, some may not! haha!) and i like to think that Mason got that quality from me! I LOVE to laugh, and I find humor in just about everything. I'm so blessed that so far, Mason does too! I LOVE that this kid has such a funny sense of humor and he knows how to make me laugh (at most times when i shouldn't be!) He knows he can be silly with me and make funny noises and funny faces, and he just knows how to get me going!
Tonight at bedtime he was laying in his crib and i was resting on the edge of the crib waiting for him to fall asleep, I had my eyes closed enough that I could see him, but he'd think I was asleep. Well the little turkey crawled up to the side of the crib as close as he could and craned his neck up so far that his face was about 2-3 inches from mine so when I opened my eyes his face was just RIGHT THERE! I knew what he was doing so I was trying to not laugh and of course i started breathing funny while holding my laugh in and he has this funny noise/laugh/giggle when he catches me at something like this and i SWEAR he's saying, "haha made ya laugh!" and of course he flops back onto his back and rolls around babbling and giggling. What a goof!
I love that he loves to laugh- he finds the most random things funny, which is good- i want him to stay that way! I love that we have that in common!

One thing he's started doing- not sure WHAT he's really doing, or why...we havent quite figured it out yet, but i'll hand him a piece of bread. Bread is rather spongey, so he can grab it, tear it, squeeze it, mash it, maybe eat it, but he'll kind of pulse it in his hands and pump his hands while straining his face in concentration, yell into the ball of mashed up bread and then he throws his fists up in the air (with bread) and growls (i think he's learned that from the dogs) or makes some other funny noise. After he does this awhile, Mason realizes he has an audience (Gavin, me & the dogs...well they're just waiting for the bread thrown on the ground) and then he'll start laughing and being even more silly after his serious moments. Its the oddest thing and its that point that i just laugh and say, "I have a wierd kid!" but it is just too funny watching him do it! Gavin snapped a few pictures today of his engrossed moment, i think he even caught some bread flying in the air! LOL
Enjoy!

"What's on the menu today?"


"Hmmmm, kinda bland but tasty..."


"must. destroy. bread."


(growls)


Flying Bread photo


"Watch out i fling bread!"


All of a sudden...he realizes he has an audience!


"Now I'll show off!"


"I'm a funny little man"


"You want some now Mom?" (graciously I declined and treated the dogs! LOL)