End of the Week, End of the Month

I can hardly believe it's the end of the week...and even the end of the MONTH. Mason's nearing his Birthday and I'm not prepared for him to turn ONE. I'm perhaps a bigger mess than he is!

THURSDAY
Well, you wouldn't know it from their serious faces, but we actually had a nice dinner last night with Leah and Baby Carson from church. Carson is exactly 2 months older than Mason and I think the boys will get along just fine. Mason's Pediatrician stressed that at 1 year, M needs more social interaction with his peers {especially because he has such one-on-one adult during all of his waking hours...he needs to interact with babies too!}

FRIDAY

Here's Mason and Nanny C this Friday morning; they're dressed alike!

Mason gets so excited to run around the house...

Because he can now get into things he shouldn't...

And when I get onto him, he just runs away to get into some more trouble...

I better lose at least 10 lbs this year just from chasing this child!

WEEKEND PLANS

We have great plans to lay low. The only thing on schedule is a playdate tomorrow with some new friends, the Smiths {hehe}, but we haven't yet decided what we're going to do tomorrow...either way it'll be fun.

On Film for Gigi

Gigi, this is for you. It's just the best I could get on camera with Nanny C here {otherwise he'd be too interested in grabbing the camera from me}.

Monumental Milestone: Mason's First Steps

Yes this is an older picture, but it simulates Mason...taking his first steps! Yep, at 9.5 months my child took his first two steps on his own. He was upstairs with Nanny C and her daughter. They have a blast squealing and crawling around and then when Mason was at his nursery door, he just decided to pull up on Nanny C and turned towards the door to test out this whole walking thing out. Two weeks ago, I'd witnessed Mason trying to take his first step at the stair landing, but he fell immediately so that doesn't count. He's still figuring out balance, momentum, and has no fear!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Mason took another couple of steps for me and Uncle Josh {yay! I got to see it}. Mason kind of just does things on his own though. So there's not much I can do to encourage or discourage walking {well technically I could discourage it by pushing him down everytime he stands up, but that's just cruel!} My little guy is starting to walk!

An Eventful Day

Mason's had a very busy day chock full of several milestones. He must have been waiting for Gigi's visit to show off.

1. Let's see this morning...he was lying on the sofa with Nanny C and he pushed himself into a sitting position, turned towards the back of the sofa, and pulled himself up. This kiddo is Herculean.


2. Then this evening...we found he's cut his 2nd tooth. His first was yesterday, but today that second booger pushed on through. {which hopefully will give my poor teether some relief...we're thinking his cold-like symptoms may have been caused by or at least exacerbated by this major teething week}
3. And lastly...while Mommy was trying to take a naked-baby-butt-blackmail photo (you know the kind you break out when his date comes to meet the parents), Gigi and Mommy were laughing at his muscular little booty and MASON CRAWLED! Three quick crawl sequences, but by jolly he crawled! I had the camera on photo mode and not video, but here's the picture right before he crawled.

When my child reaches one big milestone, it's almost always coupled or followed closely with another {case in point: he was able to bear his full weight standing, turn from tummy to back, and turn from back to tummy in a 3-day period at 10 weeks old---now he's cut 2 teeth, pulled himself to a standing position, AND finally crawled in a 2-day period at 6 months, 1 week}

So you see, it's been quite the eventful day...

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

...it's SUPERMASON!

***PLEASE NOTE: No Masons were harmed in the picture-taking of this "freestanding" 10 week-old.***

No worries, Mommy was standing nearby and she caught Baby Mason when he lost balance.

I also caught a great shot! See, I've kept telling everyone how strong this little guy is. And yesterday (April 23, 2009), Mason completely rolled over from tummy to back. I missed it completely, but Nanny C saw the whole thing. She said he was immediately startled...I can't wait to see it myself! Twice yesterday he was pretty close to rolling from back to tummy, but we still have a LOT of work to do before that.

Way to go Super Mason!

Poor Nanny C

Nanny C just came back in from taking Mason on a walk as he'd been fussy this morning. Even after a feeding. Normally a stroll either puts him to sleep or calms him down. Well this morning it did neither.

I asked how Mason was doing after his walk and a little exasperated she said,

"Well, we got up to the road and he made a dirty diaper so I told him we'd come back in and I'd change it. But now he's just mad. AND HE WON'T TALK TO ME!"

(this pic is his ANGRY face at 5.5 wks)

Jungle Critters

Meet our Jungle Friends...

Leon the Lion, Ellie the Elephant, Gina the Giraffe

Zeke the Zebra's around here somewhere, but he ran off to the watering hole and I can't seem to find him...

These jungle critters were the icons used for Closet Dividers that help sort out Mason's hanging clothes. Nanny C has done a wonderful job of cleaning up after messes: dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, clearing off the deck...all in addition to caring for Mason. But we ran into a bit of a problem with the laundry. I'll typically wash and dry our clothes at nighttime because it can be a bit noisy during the day, but Nanny C will put the clothes away. We started to have the sizes mixed up a bit in the closet, so the other night I made these dividers that hang on the clothes rod and they clearly mark the sizes and keeps our clothes nicely organized.

And of course all we're missing is Mason the MONKEY!

"Hog say 'De First Dutty Water Mi Ketch, Mi Wash'"

A Jamaican saying that means:
[Make use of the first opportunities that come your way]

As of last Friday, we have a Nanny for Baby Mason!

It was such a blessing finding Nanny. Years ago she was a live-in nanny in New York but moved to Alabama for another job, met her husband, had her daughter (a beautiful, precocious now 9 year-old) and they live less than 5 minutes away. Mom was able to help interview her and we both feel very good about Nanny's qualifications, experience, and especially her attitude and the way we feel she'll handle caring for Mason...she starts next Friday!

P.S. Oh and she's Jamaican, mon =)