Update on Mason

Mason is getting so stinking smart!  He's started opening doors, at least doors that he can push open, and he's starting to talk more and more every day.  He's a serious babbler, and I have a feeling he'll be a jabbermouth as soon as he can really talk.  Some of the things he can say are "thank you" "doggie" "mommy" "daddy" "kitty" and "I did it!"  I think he said "Auntie" the other day too.

He has done some interesting things recently.  For example, he learned months ago how to plug and unplug the bathtub.  We just use a flat plug because our tub doesn't have plug hardware.  Anyway, he loves to put in on and he always lets the water out when he's done taking a bath.  But lately he's started doing something really smart, way too smart actually.  I usually had to take out the plug to adjust the water temperature, and then put it back on.  Well, the last couple of weeks, he has been waiting to put it down until the water is the right temperature. He's even been putting his hand under the faucet to feel the temperature the way I do.  Very cute!

Mason's auntie April, and I took him to the movie theater the other day to see Beauty and the Beast 3-D.  It was interesting, he'd never been to the movies before.  When we got there, the screen was blank, and the room was dark.  He was bored and frustrated and started fussing.  Right about the time we got him calmed down, the movie started and scared him pretty bad, because it was loud.  April and I were laughing hysterically, poor boy.  He calmed down pretty quickly though, and enjoyed the movie until about part way through when he got annoyed with the glasses and kept taking them off.  We ended up leaving early because of that, but I want to take him to a matinee sometime which is not 3-D.  He liked the big screen, but 3-D was not a good idea with an 18 month old, and 7:30 pm was too late also, that's his normal bedtime.

Mason turned 18 months old last Saturday, which means he gets to go to nursery at church.  It was a relief in a way, he's been so wiggly and can't sit still much.  He would sit still pretty well in sacrament meeting most of the time, especially because we usually sat in a bench and he couldn't go running off.  I haven't been to Sunday School in months though, because by that point he is too restless.  Then he would go with me to Relief Society or with Mike to Elder's Quorum.  He was pretty good most of the time, but he needed to go to nursery. 

Mike dropped him off the first time, we figured it would be easier that way.  He cried until they broke down and gave him a car to play with.  Then he was fine.  I had spies check on him every once in a while and I peeked in on him at play time.  He was confused by the singing time activities, but seemed to enjoy the playtime.  Afterwards, while we were waiting for a meeting I was having, he started playing with some other kids in the foyer.  Seems that nursery has given him a bit more interest in socializing already.

I cried.  I was sitting in Sunday School crying into a tissue about how he wasn't supposed to be so old.  My baby is growing way too fast.

Christmas

Mason didn't like Santa Claus.

At ALL.  Not even when Daddy was on his lap too.  And Santa was Grandpa Blake!  I kept telling him, but I guess he didn't believe me.  Oh well, at least we got a picture.

We went to my in-laws ward Christmas party, as well as our own.  It was fun, and Mason was adorable, as usual.

Below is a picture of our Christmas tree the night before we opened our presents with JUST Mason's presents "under" it.  We ended up opening presents on Christmas Eve, since we were going to church at 9 am on Christmas morning and since I am pregnant and always tired without getting up at 6 am to open presents.  Also, we were planning on spending most of Christmas Day at my in-laws, and we wanted to give Mason a chance to play with his new toys. 

He was very confused about why we were all getting up so early and why there were no lights on.

But then he got books!

And cars. Lots and lots of cars.

That evening we went to my Grandma's house.

She gave me a bunch of food for my food storage which she made in the shape of a little girl.

And she made us personalized gingerbread men.  Or at least mine was personalized.  Mason enjoyed the gingerbread men, he ate his whole cookie and part of mine.

Merry Christmas!

My husband is an evil genius

My husband came home from work a couple of days before Christmas carrying an Amazon package, my present.  He didn't bother to open it, just wrapped the box in wrapping paper and stuck it with the multitude's of presents for our toddler.  When I opened the present Christmas morning (or rather Christmas Eve morning, since Christmas was crazy busy) this is what I saw.

For a little bit of background I will tell you that while I love the Lego games (I have played almost all the Lego games, and I have Batman, Harry Potter the first four years, and I bought Mike the Star Wars one for Christmas) I do NOT like Twilight.  I wouldn't say I hate it, that's a bit strong, but I am definitely not a fan.  And my husband HATES it.  Anything to do with Twilight sets him off.  In fact, I freaked him out once by telling him I had bought the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess game, because all he heard was Twilight.  So my first thought was that he had made a mistake and ordered the wrong game by accident, or Amazon had screwed up the order.  So I figured he'd either have to send it back to Amazon, or we could exchange it at Wal-Mart or something.  I didn't even think anything of the fact that there wasn't a receipt in the box.

Then ten minutes later, while I was helping Mason open some of his toys, Mike brought me this:

This was the game I had assumed he meant to buy anyway, because he knew I wanted it.  I was so confused!  I couldn't figure out how he had done it!  Turns out he MADE the cover himself, bought the game at Wal-Mart, replaced the cover with his version, and got a local used video game store to shrink wrap it for him.  Then he found an Amazon box (of which there were plenty, since I ordered all the gifts this year online) found a shipping label that wasn't damaged and transferred it to the unopened side of the box, put the game inside with some bubble wrap, and then taped it up.  He later said there were so many ways it could have gone wrong (I could have realized that there wasn't a Lego Twilight game and probably never will be, I could have noticed the taped up box, etc.)  and he was thrilled that I fell for it.

Here is a better view of the cover he made.  You should really read the warning labels and the game description.  If I had bothered to look at it, I would have figured it out, but since I would NEVER EVER play such a game. I didn't bother.

And here is a video of my reaction when he showed me the right cover for the game.

 Like I said, my husband is an evil genius.

Second pregnancy

I found out about a month ago that I am pregnant with our second child!  We are so excited!  The timing makes me laugh, the baby is due a week before Mason turns two.  I wasn’t really looking forward to another summertime baby, it was the hottest of my life!  But you can’t control everything.

Since Mike has only just finished school and doesn’t have a full time job yet, we don’t have maternity coverage, and I had to apply for Medicaid for the medical care.  We do have private insurance, but it is virtually impossible to get maternity coverage on a private plan. 

Anyway, as part of my application for Medicaid, I had to go get a pregnancy test from a doctor or somewhere to turn in to prove that I am pregnant.  Most places I looked into charged for the test, not a whole lot of money, but 20- 40 dollars more than I wanted to pay, so I decided to go with the free option.  It was one of those aggressively Christian places, and I had an interesting experience.

They had me pee in a cup, then pulled me in a room to ask me a list of questions about my pregnancy, and intentions regarding the baby.  It is one of those places which is largely intended to help people with unplanned, unwanted pregnancies make choices about it, so they had a long list of questions that were mandatory, even though I had explained my reason for being there was to get a pregnancy test to turn in.

Anyway, one of the questions was about what I thought of the Savior and what my relationship was with him.  I think the lady asking the questions had decided I wasn’t Christian, and that I didn’t understand Christ at all.  She seemed to feel sorry for me, especially after I made it clear that I was perfectly happy with my religion, and where it is taking me.  They had me watch a movie, which I felt was very manipulative, talking about how we are all lying, stealing, adulterous murderers.  I almost wished I had just gone ahead and paid for a test somewhere else.  But these services do serve a good purpose, and they do have other resources to help provide necessities that I might take advantage of if I need to.

Anyway, I got the Medicaid approved, and had my first appointment with my midwife on Monday.  She was concerned about the accuracy of the due date they had given me, because apparently my cycles aren’t as regular as they could be, so she decided to have me go get a sonogram to check the due date based on the baby’s development.  I was fine with that, it’s always cool getting to see an ultrasound!  So, I got to see the baby, it was upside down, and I could sort of see arms and legs.  I can’t find the pictures, or I would post them here, I brought home three of them, but I haven’t seen them since I got home.

Anyway, things are going well here.  One adorable baby boy walking, talking, playing, and cuddling, and one adorable one inch baby growing and soon kicking, flipping, and punching!

Mason's cuteness

So here is an update on how my little bug-man is growing up!  He is almost 17 months old, now, and is starting to talk.  He has about a dozen words he uses regularly.  We noticed the other day that he says his own version of “thank you” when you give him things.   Today we played a fun game where he gave me his cars and then took them back and each time, we said thank you.  He is so cute!

I have weaned him off the middle of the night feedings, and he is sleeping better these days, which means I am too.  He wakes up once in the middle of the night, but calms down quickly, then he wakes up around 7 or so, and either sleeps in bed with Mommy or with Daddy on the couch. 

This morning, I was reading on the couch while he was playing, and he decided he was done and climbed up on me on the couch playing with my face.  He reminded me of some cats I’ve had in the past who liked to get in the way of my book.

He’s had all eight of his front teeth for about 6 months now, and he has started getting his molars.  He has two that are mostly out on the bottom, and I felt one starting to come through on top this morning.  He is remarkably even-tempered while he is teething, the worst so far have been the two lower molars, I had to give him some baby Tylenol every night to help him sleep, but he is doing much better now.

He’s such a happy little boy!  I love him more every day!

Winter Wonderland! Sorta

So something different happened this morning.  Daddy took Mason out while Mommy was running errands.  Mason got all bundled up for the cold and was met with a surprise!

 

There was a bunch of wet white stuff on the ground that Daddy called snow! There wasn't alot, but it was enough to notice.  Mason doesn't remember snow. 

He was so surprised to see the snow!

He was very timid at first, but then started exploring.

  Then he started to wonder where his foot prints came from, and 

why they kept appearing wherever he stepped!

Then Daddy and Mason went for a short walk, Mason following after his daddy's footsteps.

Then Daddy started to doodle on the sidewalk with a stick! Mason enjoyed stepping all over them.

Finally it was time to head home. With stick in hand Mason led the way back into the warmth and away from this strange wet stuff.

Six months at home

So I've been a stay at home mom for a little over six months now, and we have settled into our routine.  Mason is almost 16 months old, and very happy.  He's had a cold the last few days, which has mainly been affecting his (and my) sleep and his appetite.  But our lives have gotten better in many ways.

It has been a bit of a stress financially to have me home, but I have been able to make a little money babysitting, enough to pay for a couple months worth of groceries, and we still have a decent amount of savings.  So things are going well there.

I really have no regrets about quitting my job.  Mason has responded so well to having me home, and I have enjoyed being home with him all the time, and being able to play with him and be there for him.  I love him so much more than I could have ever imagined.

It's been good for me too, in a lot of ways. I didn't realize just how stressed I was until I quit and the stress was alleviated.  I have high standards for how my house should be kept, and I wasn't anywhere near to keeping up with those standards while I was working, but now it's much easier. 

There are some interesting aspects though.  I have absolutely no sense of time anymore, as far as when things happened.  I remember trying to figure out when my niece was born and being totally off.  I never know what the date is without my calendar I rarely know what day of the week is unless it's the weekend, and I've started forgetting plans unless I check the calendar, which never used to be a problem.

There are some downsides to being home all the time.  I am trying to work on the social life aspect of things, I don't have a lot of friends outside of family, and they are all busy.  It makes it tough that I don't have a car the majority of the time, I usually have to drive Mike to work on the days I need to go shopping unless my sister-in-law has time to go with me.  A friend of mine from work asks me to meet her for lunch occasionally, which is nice, but once again, it has to be when I have a car, and it doesn't happen very often.  So I need to make some friends.  There is a lady who lives down the street who is always home with her two little girls, but I don't want to impose on her too much, and it seems like half the time when I do want to go over, Mason is sick, or I'm babysitting.

Overall, life has improved in the last six months, and I am very happy with the change, with no plans to go back to work until all my kids are grown up.