4 months

Mason is 4 months old today! CRAZINESS!!! He is weighing at a whopping 16 pounds 11 ounces (75-90th %) and he is 24 inches tall (25%). I am so happy how healthy he is and how strong he is. This little guy loves to stand and do squats all day long. He is already working out his leg muscles so that when he is big he can leg press as much as his momma! (just shy of 400 lbs by the way)

He loves to smile and giggle and is really starting to do the belly laughs. He always gets the hiccups though when he giggles and it is really cute for him to do a giggle then be interrupted by a hiccup.

He loves to do tummy time, still in the middle of the night when he should be going to bed. He gets a kick out of seeing me lay next to him and his head is higher than mine. The doc is super excited by his development and still thinks that he will be mobile very soon. SCARY! I am starting to think about how to baby proof my home and what needs to be done.

He loves to talk to Daddy on the computer. He loves to get nice and close to the camera so Daddy gets a view of his forehead or just a super close up of his face. He loves to look at the computer and the TV and sadly my cell phone when I am using them! He is already such a technology baby. He wants to hold my cell phone and when I put it away he keeps looking for it to play with it. I think it has something to do with the red case more than the phone itself.

He loves to coo and gurgle his spit and just talk to me. He now "talks" with me when he puts his head down for bed, after the tummy time, but he will coo and then wait for me to respond then coo then wait. It is the cutest thing!

He is very strict about his bed time and nap times. He is out cold by 9 am for his first nap, then by 1 pm for his afternoon nap and 5:30ish for his late afternoon nap. And if I am not on my way up to bed with him by 7:30 for reading he basically loses it. He knows his nighttime routine and loves it and is always asleep by 8:30. Such a smart little guy. I could go on and on about how wonderful he is and how much he has changed my life and how much I love him. I just wish that Matt was home to get to know him in person and see him everyday. Almost 7 months left for Matt to come home and it will be here before I know it.

I thought it would be fun to post the "silly" pix of Mason from his photo shoot. Enjoy!

~Cue music: I'm too sexy for my hair~ 

 ~I call this the "Mr. Collins" from the 6 hour long A&E version of Pride and Prejudice. When he is waving to his wife, Charlotte, just to show Elizabeth that they are very much in love. Charlotte just kind of blows him off. It kind of is a freaky look~

 ~You want me to do WHAT?!?~

~"HeHeHe! I am finally on this quilt!" After months of looking at it hanging on the wall Mace was finally allowed to lay on it! I think he is having way too much fun!~

200

This is my 200th post ever! In 4 years 200 posts is pretty good, for a person that doesn't journal. I have always told Matt that this was my electronic journal. I feel like there should be a cake, but alas cake would not help shrink my hips back down.

My new word that I hate is: frustration. I am tired of being frustrated with myself and the lack of movement my body has made since I had Mace. When I think about the lack of weight loss I get so frustrated and upset then all I want to do is emotional eat. Which is not a good habit to get in to. My goal is to stop being frustrated and do something about it. I can't go back in the past and change how much weight I gained, and really I didn't do that bad but basically everything I lost prior to Mace I got back and it is stuck. So I am going to move everyday. I am already eating better and cut sugar out and eating more whole foods and healthier snacks. My goal is to do some exercise everyday, and housework doesn't count. That means some sort of workout dvd or outside and walk. That is my goal to get my butt moving to get it moving out of here! I will get back to how I was and will be even hotter because I am a mom and I am amazing! Time to get moving!

On a different note...

A couple of weeks ago Mace had his first professional photo session! He did really, really well. We were booked with an hour slot and we were done in 40 minutes because the guy already hit his max of pix to take. Mace did really well and we got some really great pix. Weirdly the favs among everyone are the ones including me. I did my hair and makeup just in case but I didn't think that they would turn out as good as they did. We did get some Christmas ones too, but I am going to save posting some of those until closer to Christmas and after the cards are sent out so you are surprised when you get it! So without further adieu...

~Grandma's Fav~

 ~Mason loves looking at Grandma's quilt!~

Pix Overload

I just spent some time updating my iPhoto app on my Mac. I have taken over 600 pix of my cute little kid since he was born. I love having so many pix of him available to look at. But I do have a lot of pix of the same thing trying to get that perfect pose. I don't want to delete any of them because they are so good, mind you I did delete photos that were blurred or didn't look right, so technically I have taken way more than 600 pix. At some point I will transfer them to another hard drive but Matt took them with him to Iraq so I will just have to wait until Matt gets home!

Things are going so well here. Mace is sleeping 8 hours solid at night and takes two 1 hour naps and one long 2.5 hour long nap during the day. And as you can see from the following pix he is a very happy boy, most of the time! Enjoy some random pix of my cute little kid. I will have more info on how Mace is doing later this week in his 4 month old post. Can you believe it, that he is going to be 4 months this week! He is just getting so big!

~Trying out his highchair for the first time! He loves it!~

~Cute little big feet~

~This one is for you Grandma!~

~Tummy Time, what movie am I watching, can you tell in the next few pix?~

Take 2

I really am not liking the time change thing this time around. Mason has his schedule and doesn't like it being messed with and what happens, the time changes messes with it. It has actually been a really long feeling day, since Mace woke up earlier than normal today and he has just been off all day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and we will be able to regulate his schedule again. 

I love my little mini-Matt so much! He just thinks I am the most funny thing ever. He is laughing all the time, and his face just lights up when he is smiling and happy. Life has been so much better since his colic stopped and his other problem stopped 2 weeks ago. I am enjoying watching him grow, sadly grow out of his clothing, and also learn. He loves reading with me and looking at books and every night we get to listen to daddy's voice reading to him and he is so good at listening to him. I am also trying to get him used to eating at the dinner table in his high chair. No he is not eating solids, yet, and probably won't be for a couple of months. I am really wanting to wait as long as possible before I start him on solids so at 6 months or later but I do want him to be used to eating at the table with me and enjoy being in his high chair. Also, same with his crib. I want him to be used to sleeping in there on a regular basis. He took his long nap yesterday in the crib and I want him to get used to the crib so that I can get him out of my bed when he is 6 months old. I have attached the proof of Mace being in his crib and high chair.

Matt is no longer in Iraq, his unit has moved to Kuwait. Matt is safe there and not enjoying the heat and the sand which he says is worse than it was in Iraq. We get to skype almost everyday, and his connection is better in Kuwait so Matt can actually see Mace move instead of just getting frozen images on the screen. Mace loves to look right at daddy, but I think he likes playing with the computer more. My little technology based baby! Glad that we still have some old laptops for him to bang on when he gets older.

This week my goal is to continue with Zumba, but more than just 3 times a week! I am actually really liking the dvd's. It is a great cardio workout and it is fun! So wish me luck this is round 2 trying to get a regular workout schedule with Mace. My hips need to shrink back down and I am hoping all the shaking will help out with that. That's all for now, I have to go wake Mace up so that he will sleep tonight!

Halloween 2011

Halloween is done and over with. I love the holiday, but sitting in the cold for 1.5 hours handing out candy and then with a wiggly baby didn't quite make it any easier this year. We get so many little goblins that it is a steady stream of them for 2 hours straight so it is best just to try and brave the cold instead of having your doorbell rung a million times. I ran out of my 7 bags of candy by 7:30. Then Mace and I went out with another family to go and visit our neighbors. I had fun with my first trick or treating experience, I didn't get that much candy only like 6 pieces plus a full sized candy bar and hot chocolate from one of our amazing neighbors. I didn't want that much candy anyhew, cause who is gonna eat it, me, the momma, and it is going to go straight to my hips which still refuse to shrink. Still working on it though!

I didn't take Archer with us because Mace didn't want to go in the stroller, he wanted to be held. And who could blame him, I was his personal furnace. So we walked around the entire neighborhood, 1/2 mile, with me carrying a 16 lb baby. Good workout for me. I just wonder how I was able to walk while carrying him inside of me because I was pooped from carrying him last night. Poor Nan, who is 36 weeks pregnant, enjoyed the walk less than I did as her baby was doing acrobatics inside of her the entire time. We had fun and Mace did get a lot of attention from all the kids! It is amazing how much children love babies. Also some of the moms asked if he was a candy to give away because he was just so sweet. HAHA! So here are some pix from Halloween. We were ASU fans. Even Archer got in on the fun. I got to wear jeans and an ASU sweatshirt. This is the most dressed down Halloween in 4 years. I am already thinking about next years outfits!!!

8 months left

We are in the 8 month mark until Matt comes home. Yes, I know Obama announced the other day that all troops in Iraq will be home for the holidays, but don't count all your chickens yet. Few things, Matt, at that point, will have been deployed for still less than 6 months. I highly doubt that they will release him when not even half of his deployment is left. Next, there is still plenty of things that have to be done or need to be done in Afghanistan, and this is where I think Matt will be going to next, that they will just transfer Matt's deployment team straight to Afghanistan. Also, lets just say Matt does come home. He has a high chance of being re-deployed again any time because he did not complete a full year deployment, and the "re-deploy" would be for another full year. It doesn't matter that he had already done a 5.5 month deployment, they won't care, to them he hasn't done a year deployment. So we are hoping that he goes straight to Afghanistan so that when he comes home in July he will be home for a while.

If he does come home, that would be great. Don't get me wrong I would love for Matt to come home for Christmas or just thereafter. I want him to get to know his son and to really know he has a son because to him Mason still doesn't seem all that real in a way because he has barely spent time with Mace.  But I really don't think he will be coming home and I don't want to get my hopes up either. So to answer all of your questions, because I have been getting many questions, we don't know what is going on yet and these are the options. I will let everyone know when/if we hear anything. Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers and keep them coming.

3 months: Newborn No More...

Mason is now considered an Infant!!! It has been 3 months. It is amazing how fast time has gone by. Some days are very, very, oh so very long, and others it is already bed time and I don't know where the day had gone. I have decided that I will take a 4 month deployment anytime over this year crap! If Matt was only gone his 4 month deployment he would be coming home next month!!! I wish.

Mason is growing so very much . Every week it feels like more and more outfits no longer fit him. He loves to be tickled and he is giggling more and more everyday. He seems to like being naked the most because that is when he laughs the most. During diaper changing time and clothing changing time. Such a boy!

Mason loves watching TV and also my computer. He is drawn to the changing pictures and bright lights. It is hard to believe that he will be so computer savvy at such a young age when I was 14 before I really knew how to use the computer. I am going to start playing some old Disney cartoons for him to watch to get him to like Mickey so that he likes Mickey on our family trip.

I am so thankful for Mason being in my life and the blessing that he is to our family! I truly wish that Matt was here to see how much he has changed in life instead of just seeing him on skype. But I am so very thankful for Skype so that Matt can see Mace on a regular basis. Oh and Mace loves to look at his daddy on Skype and yesterday Mace tried to take over the computer to get at Matt. Very cute. Anyhew we are doing well. I start teaching horn this Friday and we shall see how well that goes. I am also going to start Zumba to work on getting back to how I was before our little blessing. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes! Enjoy so super cute pix of Mace at 2.5-3 months.

~Mommy, that flash is too bright!~

 ~Argh!~

 ~Who is this monkey anywho?~

 ~Archer has finally started getting a little closer to Mace.~