Birthdays, Easter, and SUNSHINE!!

My baby (not so baby anymore) is now 2.. yes, 2 years old! Seriously?! Some fun facts at 2:

Wt~ 31 lb 9 oz (92%)
Ht~ 36 in (91%)

At two years old, he is so much smarter than I ever imagined a toddler could be. He knows the alphabet and can recognize all 26 letters, can count to 10, recognize most animal sounds, make 4-5 word sentences, and he knows exactly how to melt my heart and drive me crazy at the same time. He is extremely stubborn and strong-willed, but also loves freely giving hugs and kisses. Some of his favorite activities include going to the zoo (loves the monkeys, fish, snakes, elephants and alligators most), playing at the park, reading books, helping mommy cook, playing with his trucks/trains, and wrestling with Kyle and the dog.

our Friday morning routine- cinnamin rolls! dont judge...



yes, he is wearing rain boots and a onsie. its actually a step up from his normal attire, which is rain boots and a diaper.

With a baby coming in 2 months, we have tried to prepare Mason for being a big brother. People ask me if he understands the concept, in which I say NO. All he knows is that mommy has a fat belly, and he wants to know if whatever is growing inside has eyes, ears, and a penis. Luckily, I can say "Yes, just like Mason does". It will be a very interesting transition, but we are all (except for Cali, of course) very excited about the upcoming new life.

We celebrated Mason's 2 year party at Monkey's Treehouse with family and friends. I let his birthday last the entire week, so we endulged heavily on cookies, ice cream, and cupcakes. I think to this day he is still spoiled from it.

 We went to build a bear on his birthday... he LOVES his monkey and thinks he needs to eat whatever Mason is eating.

 He got a toddler slide for his birthday. He slides down and says "Again" over and over and over again. And, of course, he wants me to watch him every time he goes down!

Wake up Birthday Boy!!

Some pictures from the birthday party:

 

It's hard to teach a 2 year old the meaning of Easter. However, hearing him say "Jesus" and "Cross" and singing the words to "Jesus loves me" makes me think that we are at least on the right track. Last year we thought Mason would be too young for an Easter egg hunt, so this was his first experience at Otter Creeks Easter Egg Hunt. After some coaching, Mason rounded up lots of eggs filled with candy for preggers (me) to eat. I did share some of the candy... although he cared way more about carrying his basket around like a big boy.



This is the "Mason, you cant eat all the chocolate in the basket right now" lecture.

This past week it has FINALLY started to warm up. PRAISE GOD! This momma was about to go crazy indoors. We have enjoyed the zoo, taking walks around the neighborhood, playing with the jeep and bicycle, and going to the park with Cali. When we are stuck inside, Mason is helping Kyle and I get ready for baby #2. I even let him paint the walls with us (that's saying a lot for this OCD clan).


And the final piece of great news for our 2 year update- Mason went potty in the toilet! Maybe my hopes of having him out of diapers by June will come true?!

Here are some last pictures to enjoy of the last few weeks:

loves playing hide and go seek. his hiding could use some improving!

best buds, Mason and Will

eyeing the goldfish...

More posts coming soon...

A Valentine's Day Surprise

What better Valentine's Day "gift" then finding out the sex of the baby?! I purposefully scheduled the ultrasound on the 13th, knowing Kyle and I were having date night that night. We were PLANNING on having the tech right it down for us, I was going to take it to Gigi's and have them fill a cupcake with the corresponding icing, and we were going to find out together that night. I am TERRIBLE with surprises...I didnt even wait until we got out of the ultrasound room to ask.

 

It's another BOY!!

 

After the initial "oh my gosh my life is going to be crazy, can I really survive this?" reaction, Kyle and I are super excited about our new life with 2 boys. Good thing this momma really likes sports because I see a lot of it in my future!

 

 

Besides getting busy shopping for cribs and bedding, I have been busy planning Mason's TWO year birthday party, making Valentine's treats for school, and picking up my house a million times a day.

 

This month was Birthday Sunday at Otter Creek.. I love this long standing tradition of celebrating with the kids every month. I was really hoping Mason would share some of his chocolate cake with his pregnant and always hungry mommy, but that just didnt happen.

 

 

Pinterest has truly become an obsession of mine (along with online shopping for matching boys clothing). Thanks pinterest (and actually Megan for showing it to me) for this cute valentines day idea. Mason helped by eating all the extra teddy grahams...

 

 

Another Pinterest idea... Muffin Tin Monday's. Sounds strange, but anything to change up our meal time is nice. Mason has gone through a weird phase with what he eats (specifically, he only wants to eat goldfish, apple cinnamon cheerios, and girl scout cookies), so I started a new tradition on Monday's. The idea is simple... add a variety of foods to choose from and put them on something besides a plate. Skeptical came to mind.. but surprisingly it has worked. If you have a picky eater, or just a toddler going through a "phase", you should give it a shot. Here's a couple ideas:

turkey, bananas, chex mix, carrots and raisins.

sliced cheese, strawberries, ham, wheat thins, cottage cheese (which he didnt touch), and chick peas.

And finally, just to add some excitement to my week...

 Happy Valentines Day!

 



Snow Day

The weather in TN is crazy. In one week it went from 60 and sunny, to 15 and snowing.  You can never really put the short sleeves away because there is bound to be that day in January that you will need to pull it out. My thinking is that if it is going to be cold, at least snow. If I must be stuck inside with my highly energized child for 3 months, at least give me snow to play in every now and then. Praise God, He did! It was beautiful to wake up to, and I couldn't wait to get bundled up and take Mason out.

Cali loves the snow... its one of the few things that will get her lazy butt off the couch

despite my numerous attempts at a snowman, the snow wasnt quite sticking enough for it.

My photographer (Kyle) got too cold and went inside, so we didn't get a lot of pictures. To sum it up, Mason had a BLAST in the snow and Cali made for a great snowball target. I think I'll buy a sled for next year...

Catch Up

Life seems busy lately. I have a daily routine... it works well for me (and Mason). What doesn't work well for me is when my routine gets changed. That has happened a lot this month. Maybe it's God's way of preparing me for when the baby comes. I have a long way to go with that.

Life with a toddler is... fast paced, hard, demanding, exciting..all rolled into one. I'm usually a pretty calm and even tempered girl, so this whole discipline/stubborn/"I want it my way, right now" phase that Mason is going through has thrown me for a loop.

But he is just too cute and funny to really ever be mad at. He is affectionate, extremely curious, smarter than me, and has more energy in his finger than I have in my whole body for a week. He loves learning new things, but yet gets fixated on old things (e.g. right down the road from us is a pond with lots of geese... EVERY single time we pass by he drops everything to point them out). He is starting to have a wild imagination.. he plays with his bear like it's his best friend and drives his cars like he's Dale Ernheirt (not sure how to spell that).

99% of the time he is SO fun to be around. He literally makes me laugh everyday, and I am amazed at the things he picks up on so easily. It's that 1% of the time, when I'm reminded that yes, indeed, he has entered toddler world..that is the hard part. Why does he all of a sudden hate yogurt when it has always been his favorite food? Why does he think it's okay to throw his leapfrog at the dog? Cheerios are not meant to be found all around my house... so why does he pour them out everywhere? And mommy's make up does NOT belong in the toilet.



obviously Im still giving him his paci... might be a while before we cut these out

This is what Mason looks like when he doesnt nap and then wakes up 515 in the morning
 

I thank God that He has never given me more than I can handle, and usually a "bad" day is followed by an amazing day. And on "bad" days, I'm thankful for the leapfrog.

Two are better than one...

It's hard to believe anything could be more amazing than having one amazing child, so why not add another one to the mix?

WE ARE PREGNANT! And Mason is very excited to be a big brother, even if he has absolutely no idea what that means. I think all that he knows is that his mom has spent A LOT of time with her head in the toilet and laying on the couch with a blanket instead of playing with him. That probably helps explain this look:

this is the "mommy, PLEASE come play with me" look

At 15 weeks  I'm finally on the mend and feeling like life may actually go on after all. Kyle and I are super excited and can't wait to add another addition to the family. More updates to come soon!

Much to say in a month...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this...December needs to be twice as long. It's so busy you hardly get to enjoy the holiday season. The week of Christmas is so hectic that you look back and have to catch your breath afterwards. Despite the business of it all, our family had a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun surprises.

What else should we do on a cold, rainy morning but dress up in our Christmas clothes, listen to carols and wrap presents? My favorite kind of day!

 Since our family traveled to Auburn for Christmas this year, we had to have our own "family" Christmas a few days early. Mason loved seeing the presents downstairs for him to open...

 The first stop in Auburn was to Kyle's family's house. He was showered with gifts and tons of love to go around.

Just in case we wanted to see his belly

cuddle time is my favorite... never gets old

Next we headed to my parents house, where we (meaning the boys and my sister) stayed up until 2am putting cars together. I guess this is what our future Christmas Eve's hold (as long as we buy toys that have to be assembled.. which are, of course, the best ones!)

Mason's first "big boy" toy from Santa

What the kids woke up to Christmas morning

a special note for Mason...

and a family reunion wouldn't be the same without an attempt at a cousin picture. I think we are headed in the right direction here... at least they are all sitting down

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know we feel blessed and thankful for all the material "stuff" we received, but we could never be more grateful for the best gift of all.. Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas all!