hungry hippo

first off, thanks for all your prayers this past week. it was another "rough and tumble" week for me, but i could feel the prayers and after a little break today and a nap (thanks grammy!), i'm feeling human again. brad is out of town this weekend visiting his friend will, so mason and i have been enjoying some quality time together. and much of that time, as the post title indicates, has been spent feeding him!

in just the past few days, the boy has become a hungry hippo. mason has always been a good eater. in fact, if you go by the "what to expect in the first year" book, he pretty much qualifies as a barracuda - meaning he sucks down the bottle with little regard for anything else. he typically eats 35 ounces of milk a day and i've been trying for the past month or so to get him to space out his bottles from 3 hours in between feedings to 4 - with no luck. on thursday, he acted more hungry than usual, so i upped him another ounce per feeding. we repeated this on friday and he still woke up screaming at 10 pm (not normal behavior). after trying a few soothing techniques to no avail, i tried giving him a little more to eat. the kid ate an entire bottle - bringing his total for the day to 45 ounces!

not that big of a deal, except the doctor mentioned at his 4 month appointment that he shouldn't be eating more than about 32 ounces of milk each day. hmm. i was willing to fudge on the 35 (i mean, really, it's close enough), but 45 is excessive, even in my book. i planned to wait until mason was 6 months old before introducing solids, but apparently he can't wait. after another hungry hippo day today, i broke down and bought some rice cereal. he loved it. here are some pics from our new adventures in eating...

"mommy, what's that in your hand?"

"what is this?"

"let me help you with that spoon..."

"i kinda like this stuff!"

"where's the rest of my meal?"

**note: the pediatrician recommends starting solids between 4 and 6 months, depending on the child. while we hoped to make it to the 6 month mark, mason has met all of the criteria for starting early...

a lot can happen in a week

exhausted. last week was the week that wouldn't end. and unfortunately, now that it has, i'm not ready for the new week either. despite the fact that there were several BIG blessings involved, i still can't shake the stress that came along with them.

1. brad interviewed with the same company for the 3rd or 4th time (i can't remember exactly) on tuesday. he thought it went ok - not great - and the waiting game continued.

2. we determined that mason needed to switch child care facilities. not cool.

3. kammy's work ramped up to levels she had forgotten since giving birth and was working on her day off to try to stay afloat.

4. all 3 of us caught colds, resulting in obsence amounts of tissue consumed & many nights of mason sleeping in one hour increments (which means we did too).

5. we found a new child care place and miraculously (seriously) bypassed the waiting list.

6. brad was offered the job mentioned above and is supposed to start a week from tomorrow.

obviously the last two should have trumped all the others on the list, but for some reason i'm still hung up on them. i'm furious that after all my research before mason was born on child care facilities, i made the wrong choice. i'm frustrated by the illness and lack of sleep as well as my reaction to it as i know how yucky everyone is feeling. i'm wondering how on earth i can have enough energy to excel at work and have the energy i desperately want to bring home to my family. and i'm waiting for the other shoe to drop on brad's job situation because it just seemed to go from ice cold to hot all in one week. ungrateful? maybe. overwhelmed? definitely.

i know in my heart that everything happens for a reason and that my God will never give me more than i can handle with him by my side. it's just getting my head to listen. please pray that this cloud i've been walking in the past week will be lifted, and i can once again focus on all the blessings in my midst. and that our family will accept God's best without questions or doubt.

"And my God shall supply all of your needs in accordance to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19

look what i can do!

a big boy indeed. although we've had a few "random" rolls over the last month, it's just in the past 2 weeks that mason has consistently begun rolling over. he particularly likes to do this when i'm not in the room, but doesn't seem to mind if brad sees. figures. we still aren't used to walking in his room to find him sleeping on his tummy!

mason has also graduated from cooing to squealing. it is hilarious to hear his happy screech (the loud whine is not nearly as endearing) and we are very pleased that he's "talking" more at child care (for the first 3 weeks he was really quiet, which wasn't his normal behavior at home).

brad braved the 4 month check-up solo and did a fantastic job consoling mason after the needle(s). mason doesn't remember a thing about it and enjoyed pulling the band-aids off later that night (wish i would have had the camera!) mason weighed in at 15 pounds, 10 ounces (73rd percentile) and was 26 1/2 inches long (95th percentile). we realize that the percentages mean absolutely nothing, but it is reassuring to know that he's growing at a steady rate!

we're still hoping to hold off a little longer on solid foods. while the hungry hippo does suck down 35 ounces per day, at this point it seems to satisfy him. should that change before he's 6 months, we'll introduce him to the deliciously bland rice cereal!

we continue to believe that he's the best baby in the world, and we never imagined how much joy and fun could accompany something so small!

gator bait

mason and brad tried to tell everyone that the sec is the true power house of college football and that florida would come out on top as national champions again. one day everyone will learn to listen to us. GO GATORS!!!!!

four months!

time sure flies when you have a baby! i can remember each day slowly ticking by during my pregnancy, wondering how on earth i would make it to the due date (much less, 5 days past the due date!) and now it's been 4 months since mason exited the womb and what a big boy he is becoming!



at his last doctor's visit (a mere week ago due to some weather-related congestion), he topped the scale at 15 1/2 pounds. on our official 4 month check-up, they'll weigh and measure him and give us those crazy percentile numbers, but for now, we just know he's heavy! he is rolling over (on purpose, but only when mommy's not in the room) and loves to put anything and everything in his mouth. he particularly likes licking his napkin (aka the burp cloth) and slobbering all over the hands/arms of anyone who happens to be holding him... charming, we know.

to celebrate the new month and take advantage of his excellent neck control, we took him to the park for some "tot lot" fun. and because the weather in houston is always awesome, you'll note that he wore shorts and a t-shirt with a winter hat (it was a very windy 80 degrees and we are NOT interested in adding an ear infection to his list of firsts!)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

open mouth, insert foot

why yes, that IS pineapple-man's foot in his mouth...

apparently we can't wait for real food!

santa visits mason

with our plans to be at my parents' house over the real christmas day, santa was very thoughtful and visited mason early so mommy and daddy could enjoy some baby's first christmas time with their adorable little boy. since mason has been such a good boy this year, santa surprised him with a baby einstein exersaucer. what fun!

a huge box magically appeared under the christmas tree. mason and cassie discovered it first...

and mason couldn't stop staring...

he couldn't wait to open it and see what was inside...

mason wanted to make sure daddy put it together correctly, so he read him the directions...

once it was assembled, he hopped inside to play. "huh? mommy, i'm too busy playing to take a picture," mason exclaimed!

"this new toy is awesome! thank you, santa," mason said.

christmas catch-up!

we've had a severe case of the lazies since christmas. no reason, just lazy!

to catch up on the past week... mason's first christmas was a success and we had a great time watching his reactions to his presents, the dogs (at my parents' house), and his first christmas eve service. i was battling a cold the few days prior to christmas and still have some lingering effects, so my brain was not fully funtioning - otherwise, i would have NEVER left the camera at home when we went down to my parents' house (bad mommy!) thankfully, my dad's camera was available, so we were able to grab a few shots, but just not nearly as many as i normally would...

brad and i were blessed to be able to attend our own church service on monday night while aunt kasey (aka special k) stayed with mason. but mason wanted to attend the christmas eve service too, so we ventured down to my parents' church wednesday evening for the real festivities. our pediatrician has recommended no church nursery until after flu season is over (since everyone brings their sick kid to the church nursery), so mason was with us. i was nervous about how he would behave in church as he is quite the talker, but he did well for the first 25 minutes or so. he absolutely loved "o come all ye faithful" and sang right along. i am pleased to report that he was even on pitch for some of the song!

then he started getting wiggly. when another kid yelled out, he started making noises, too, so we followed the lead of the other kid's parents and escorted mason out of the service. read: we were not the first meltdown! :) brad hung out with mason in the car for the remaining 15 minutes, reporting that after one lap around the parking lot, mason was fast asleep in his car seat.

the next morning, mason woke promptly at 7:30 am and woke the entire house up when i suctioned out his nose (he was battling the same cold i was). this typically isn't considered that early on christmas morning (especially to kasey who likes to wake up at the crack of dawn, open presents, and then climb back into bed!) but by the time we had fed mason and eaten breakfast, it was naptime again, so kasey graciously agreed to hold off on present-opening until mason could join us.

an hour and a half later, we were ready to roll!

mason didn't quite get the whole present opening thing...

but he did enjoy the goodies inside... particularly the curious george stuffed animal from grammy and pappy (with books!)

and mommy got everything she wanted for christmas too...

all in all, it was a fun day, spent surrounded by family with thankful hearts - for our own baby boy and especially for the birthday boy, God's own son, who arrived over 2000 years ago to bring hope and salvation to the world.