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!

Christmas Portraits

Im curious what other families (specifically families with toddlers) picture experience is like? Im not talking about around the house.. Im talking professional photos. Before I had a child I always looked at family portraits and thought "How beautiful... I CANT WAIT to take pictures like that". Since having Mason, I never have that feeling. Family pictures are a force to be reckon with..terrible...miserable...no good day. The pictures rarely show how the day really went. It was NOT a peaceful, beautiful moment like the picture shows. Poor Jocelyn... I'm glad I'm a nurse and not a photographer of toddlers (or at least, my toddler). Anyways, photographers are amazing because they seem to make the day look enjoyable, and the pictures always turn out amazing despite my thinking that it was all for nothing.

I think this was the first problem... we showed him the toys in the downtown toy store first thing. The rest of the morning he wanted the train inside.

Running away....

But then this face makes it all worth it!

There's a snapshot of the morning's photo shoot. You wouldn't think it was a terrible morning, right?! Here's what the in between REALLY looked like:

A picture that actually captures the truth behind picture taking with toddlers...I guess despite it we have lovely photos to hang on our wall!