8 Months

I am so excited that my guy is 8 months old. Everyone keeps telling me that this is THE perfect age because they start to show their personalities and they are more active and they start to respond to you. Well, Mason has definitely started showing his personality. HE IS SUPER STRONG WILLED!!! Or STUBBORN! This kid takes after his momma in that department. When Mace doesn't like something he will let you know, very loudly!

Example: Mace has moved to his crib at night, yea for me, and has learned that if he cries I come in. Well one night he was just being mean about it and every time I just start to fall asleep he would wail. I decided it was time to be tough mommy and not put up with this nonsense anymore. So, I didn't come in. I didn't rescue him. I didn't coddle him. I let him cry, and cry and cry. He cried for 2 hours straight before he fell asleep. Only to sleep for 2 hours and start crying again. But it was a start. The next night same thing. He started crying. I left him there. I accidently fell asleep while he was crying, I was trying to ignore him while he cried and I actually fell asleep. Anyhew so I have no idea how long he cried for. The past 2 nights have been amazing he is waking up at a reasonable hour to feed and I am ok with that. Then he goes right back in until 7am. He might be very stubborn but I think I am more than him. 

Mason is crawling like a champ now! He has started to venture into the kitchen area where he discovered Archer's water bowl. Poor Archer went to see what was going on because he heard his bowl being messed with and ran away because Mace was splashing water EVERYWHERE! Very cute but not. 

Mason has stated to babble more and likes to say "ba-ba" a lot. And it is super cute the way he is figuring out how to make his mouth work. Also if you say "Hello" to him he will grunt back to you in response which is very funny. He loves to hear me say "mama and dada" but he hasn't said it yet. His fav food is still sweet potatoes and loves to watch Wheel of Fortune. He also knows how to work the cute factor with all the ladies, he is a major flirt already! 

Mason you are growing too big too fast. Yet you are the perfect size and perfect in every way, still in 6-8 month clothing! I am so blessed to have you in my life. You are a wonderfully sweet baby with a smile that will melt anyone in visual distance and are such a joy to be around. I love you baby boy!

~Out takes~

Mason's First Hair Cut

Well I caved today. After dealing with Taxes and a yummy lunch I was looking at all the shops near where I was. I saw a kids hair salon. Just for Kids salon. The inside was super kidded out and looked like a ton of fun. I was going to wait till we got home to AZ to have it cut but I contacted Auntie Kat and she said to have him get his hair cut there.

Mace was a champ. He found the whole thing very amusing. He thought the cape was fun, he loved looking at himself in the mirror and some girl was messing with his hair. He did so well and I am so proud of him. I was very nervous that he would just go crazy but he didn't. I got some cute pix of him however the light from the door makes the pix look washed out. Anyhew Way to go my little man! I love you. And he totally looks like a little boy now instead of a little baby.

I will have pix of the finished product tomorrow when I take his 8 month pix!

Mason And His Cuteness

Mason is crawling. Full on crawling. He still likes to crawl using his feet rather than his knees sometimes but is getting much better at the regular "traditional" crawl on his knees. He has finally made it into the kitchen which has been interesting for me, but the funny part. Who does he crawl to most. Answer: THE DOG! Mace loves chasing Archer around, and does Archer enjoy it, not one bit! Archer takes refuge on the couch, but Mace just crawls up to the edge of the couch and annoys Archer as much as possible. It is actually funny to watch this love hate relationship. Archer really does like Mason when he is throwing food on the ground, or spitting up, ewww, but slowly but surely they are becoming friends.

Mason likes getting his hands on EVERYTHING! He also will lick everything to make sure that it is ok. Including the dog. Mace licks Archer's legs, plates, toys, anything! Mason is such a good baby even when he is teething and I have no idea what the heck I am doing but Mason is such a loving and sweet baby. He loves to give hugs and will squeeze your neck as tight as he can. He also gives open mouth kisses all over your cheek. He is very vocal in things he likes and doesn't like. But will also talk to himself when he is playing and it is very cute. He also is responding back to me when I say "Hello" he does a little grunt back and it is very cute!

~Upper teeth~

 ~Lower teeth~

 ~He loves his bath toys~

Countdown

I really love and hate the countdown at the top. I happen to visit my blog page pretty much everyday to see if any of my friends updated their blogs but also for the countdown. The big CLOCK as I call it. 4 months 2 weeks 3 days is what it reads today. This might not be exactly the time when Matt comes home but it is close enough. I look at the clock and I can't believe that there are only 4 months left till he comes home. I only have the length of one of his civilian deployments left. This should be a piece of cake, but frankly after a year of this crap already, and yes I am counting this as a year because Matt was only home for 1 month between deployments that is was more like a shore leave, I just want him home. So already at a year at this point of him being gone. It sucks. Most days suck because I miss him so much, but I ONLY HAVE 4 MONTHS 2 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS, give or take a few days, until he comes home. I think I am seeing a distant light at the end of a very, very, very long tunnel! I can do this, I can do this. I have done this for the past long while, it is just a little longer! HURRY UP HUN! COME HOME TO US ALREADY!!!

End of rant.

Did I Do That???

Who would have thought that a 7 month old kid could actually make a mess. I surely didn't, and don't call me Shirley! Man I don't know how this kid does it but within just minutes, no maybe even seconds, he can have all his toys all over the floor. The fun game now is I don't take him to the toys anymore, I make him go and get them. Yes this is encouraging him to become more mobile, but alas, it is going to happen sooner rather than later. Also I only clean up the toys twice during the day so that he doesn't get mad at me, because once I start cleaning, all over the floor they go again!

It is fun watching him do his crawling figuring out thing because he does yoga and he kicks my butt at it! He can do superman's all day long, planks like nobody's business and rock out pushups. Now he has added cobra, and downward dog to the mix. And yes he rocks downward dog like nothing else! He is definitely trying to crawl. I am so proud of him and he is getting so strong and so big already. He is going to have fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all the new tile to slide around on!

I also took some pix of the snow that we got this past Sunday. We got a whole whopping 5 inches here, yes it is not a lot but frankly it is too much for this AZ native! The funny and crazy thing about Virginny is that today, Friday, it is 79 degrees outside and we are having heavy rain storms with thunder. This is not winter weather this is more like spring weather. I love todays weather and I have been enjoying the rain. I will say that I enjoyed the snow on Sunday too because it was a heavy wet snow, but I didn't have to shovel any of it because by the next morning by mid morning it was already melted on the sidewalk and my driveway! PERFECT SNOW IF YOU ASK ME. And there was still snow all over the lawn and houses so it looked pretty too!

~Did I do that?~

 ~Yep, I did~

 ~Super tuckered out little guy!~

 ~Our first official snow storm of the winter~

 ~Surprisingly, Archer loves to jump around in the snow~

7 Months

Tomorrow Mace will be 7 months old! Jan-Feb flew by and I am hoping that March does the same. I love this time that I have with Mason and I wish I could stop time but I wish Matt was here. If he was than I would be ok if time just stopped to cherish this time together. I do love all the time I get to spend with Mason all day long. Just the 2 of us and I will never have this time again like this with our next kids because I will have other children to tend to.

I don't think Mason has grown much this past month. His weight seems to have stalled which is great because he was growing so fast! Mason is creeping still but starting to move all over the house. I have installed the gates and I am ready for him to start crawling all over the place.

Mason is learning what he is allowed to touch and play with and what he is not allowed. He is already testing me, the little squirt! He is obviously smart because he remembers what I say no to and tries to touch it again, and when I say no, he just grins at me like it is a game. ARGH! Cute but ARGH!

Mason is a pro at eating his solid foods. Just getting them to come out is still the problem. But he really does like my cooking. I have been making all of his food, except for the rice cereal. I use a boxed organic kind that he really enjoys. I am also using it to help thicken up some of the really thin purees that I have made.

Mason loves to wiggle and do planks and has started doing Downward dogs now! He is learning how strong his body is in his own way. I honestly thought that he would be crawling by this week but it will probably be a couple more weeks before he figures out the hand leg coordination thing. Anyhew here are his amazingly great 7 month pix. I am having so much fun taking pix of him. He responds so well to the camera, except when he doesn't like the flash. It is great, though!

~He is getting so BIG!!!~

~His vest says, "Brave Like Daddy"~

 ~I love this picture! So cute!!!~

 ~Mason talking, more like squealing at Archer!~

 ~After all the pix were taken. Mace kept turning himself in circles and each time was pulling on the blanket!~

Mr. Independent

I have a baby who thinks he can do everything by himself, already! Mace got his first sippy cup yesterday. As I was trying to hold it for him to teach him how to use it he started batting my hand away and was grabbing onto the handles and wanted to do it all by himself. And anytime now I try to help him with it he throws a fit with me. Silly kid. At least he likes the sippy cup. He hasn't figured out how to get the water out on his own but he sure likes to bite it and man handle it. Archer is quite intrigued with it too. He understands that there is something yummy inside the drink and every time Mason throws it on the ground Archer comes a running to lap up what dropped. But thankfully the cup is spill proof. So here are some pix of Mace enjoying his new toy, I mean cup. (And yes, the pix above is blurry because my kid likes to move around a lot but it was just so dang cute I couldn't not post it!)

Mason is also getting his 3rd and 4th tooth. His bottom front teeth are in, and it is almost impossible to get a pix of them, but I have been able to capture his upper teeth along with a great shot of up his nose! But I was really going for getting the shot of his teeth. Because of his new teeth, he has been chewing on everything, and his sleep cycle, well is not at all what it used to be. He is waking me up about every hour at night to whimper and then goes back to sleep. Sometimes he just whimpers but he also starts screaming and will only be consoled with feeding. All I want is to sleep. So here are his upper 2 teeth.

On to me. Well I have been trying to get back into the working out thing and all trying to get back to my hot bod I had prior to my little miracle. It just isn't working. I finally decided to work out at 6 am while Mace takes his final stretch of sleeping thru the night but with the teeth, and the cold, and keeping me up half the night, it just isn't working. I finally told Matt that he will just have to deal with having a plump wife until he comes home and then he is going to be Daddy day care while Mommy works out. I am starting to lose some inches but not weight. And this happened last time. I lost a ton of inches before I lost any weight, and when I did lose weight it fell off very quickly. So hopefully that will happen again. I might be a Super Mom but I am not Super Woman and can not do everything. Mace comes first and I will squeeze me in when I can. Daddy will be home soon enough and then I can work on me. For now, my goal is not to gain weight and keep eating really well.

I am excited to say that Mace and I will be visiting AZ this spring. I am so excited to see my friends and family and show off my beautiful little boy to everyone back home and of course to EAT MEXICAN FOOD!!! AND A LOT OF IT!!! I need to get my fill of mex food. It has been a year since I had some decent food and I won't bet getting it again till this Christmas. I am so excited to visit and see everyone!

Matt is doing well. We finally have a date that he is leaving Kuwait to come back to the states. June 30th. We are hopeful that he will be home, here at the house, by Mason's first birthday. I am already starting to plan a Welcome Home and Birthday Celebration for the same day after Matt gets home. I am so excited for Matt to come home and get to know this little guy!