the best part about the sunday paper

deep in the heart of texas

what would life in texas be like without spring bluebonnet pictures?! while we were out, we took advantage of the beautiful day and stopped by our church for more pictures... special thanks to the very pregnant katie who frolicked in the fields with us so we could have pictures of the whole family!

one year later

March 23, 2008

March 21, 2009

get me outta here!

my first...

it's been a week of firsts for mason and because i never bought an official "baby book," it is imperative that we capture them here!

• my first grocery shopping experience. it's no secret that brad and i both (equally) hate to grocery shop. before mason was born we spent a significant portion of our budget on eating out. now that dining out with a 6-month old leaves much to be desired, we've been cooking more. until this weekend though, we managed to ro-sham-bo our way into deciding who the unlucky shopper would be. apparently brad was tired of losing, so we made it a family outing this time. outside of one minor meltdown when we ran into a friend of brad's (and i guess we stood still too long), it was a total success.

"outside of a little squash on my bib, i escaped unscathed"

• my first big boy bath. now that mason is a proficient sitter, brad upgraded him to the big bathtub (ok, so it's only happened once so far, but mason really liked it!) he splashed and played and even got clean in the process. bathtime is by far one of mason's favorite times of day.

"daddy, you're fun, but where are my bath toys?"

• my first (and only) six month check-up. mason and i were solo for the six month check-up and mommy has vowed to never do that again. the weigh-in went well and mason is 28 inches tall (92nd percentile) and 17.5 pounds (55th percentile)! the shots (only 3!) also went off without a hitch. and then other stuff came up. mason managed to spit up on me no less than 5 times (twice on the left leg, once on the right leg, once on the shoulder, and once all down my arm) and for good measure, spit up once more, splattering the ground. after six months, we're used to the occasional spit-up. this however, was extreme. he spit up so many times, in fact, that i called the doctor back in our room to have mason examined again. the diagnosis? it must not be your lucky day. how medical. it should have clued me in though, that more digestive issues were a' brewing...
  


• my first tummy-ache-that-made-me-scream-all-night. yes friends, this was one that we could have gone without. it was so painful (for all of us) sunday night as mason just couldn't get his tummy to settle down. after events that would lead you to believe that there couldn't possibly be anything left in his stomach, the crying continued. mommy and daddy took shifts holding him and letting him sleep on our chests all night long. needless to say we were at the doctor's office when the doors opened monday morning where, of course, mason smiled and cooed at the doctor as if nothing was wrong. awesome.

• my first time to sit and play in the grass. with all the beautiful spring weather this week, we couldn't resist taking mason out in the backyard for some (free) entertainment. he laughed, played with his "toss the taggies" ball, pet cassie, and rolled around on the blanket until dinnertime. in exciting, post-daylight-savings-time fashion, we were back inside before the street lights came on...

"i'm having a ball out here - can't you tell?!"

i'm not sure how we could top this week of firsts, but we are definitely looking forward to the weekend so we can spend some more quality time with our rapidly growing and changing boy!

mason loves george

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how i roll...

classic

sometimes you just have to improvise...

six months!

last week mason hit the big .5! it's so hard to believe that we are already six months into this adventure. this month he has expanded his food horizons from rice cereal to include oatmeal, green beans, and peas. he has also mastered the art of sippy cup drinking (ok, so i'm not sure what "mastered" actually entails, but he can guzzle water almost as good as his mommy). mason is also surprisingly well balanced when he sits up on his own and plays... of course, he still topples over occasionally which he hates - he'd much rather lunge forward and end up on his tummy. you may recall from a previous post that this generally results in spit-up. after six months of this, we've learned to overlook the yuck factor!

our kid is fun! he loves spinning around and around (practice for the good amusement park rides when he's over 48") and his whole face lights up when he recognizes you. bath time is also known as splash time and the days of quick scrubbings are over - he now fusses a bit if you take him out too soon. he's currently fond of touching faces as you talk to him. it just warms my heart when he holds my face in his hands...

mason and i will venture out for the six month doctor's appointment on friday where we'll do the official weigh in and get a whopping 5 shots (how convenient that brad will miss this one!) add those tears to the fun we've been having with his teething and it all adds up to some drama-filled days! it's all a part of growing up and while we prefer our happy-go-lucky baby to the fussy one, we still wouldn't trade him for the world...

is this fun or what?!

i love a good game of peek-a-boo

just hanging with daddy!

canton or bust

this weekend marked a significant "first" in the reece household since mason joined us in september - mommy's first overnight trip away from the baby. gasp! you see, for over a year, i've had a trip to canton (the mother of all "trade day fairs") planned. i go every year (at least once) and decided that 2009 would not be the exception. besides, my mom & sister korey were going too, so it was a good time for family bonding. canton, however, is no place for babies. especially when you factor in 12+ hours of nonstop shopping per day.

we left on thursday and because of a video shoot scheduled at the crack of dawn - i was at work at 6:20 am - i wasn't able to see mason (awake) that day. korey hadn't seen him since october, so it gave us a great excuse to pop in at his school and say hi. what fun! mason was so excited to see us and just hugged and kissed (ok, slobbered) all over his aunt kant. with fresh snuggles on our minds, we headed north for the great shopping adventure. and shop we did. thankfully korey runs the outdoor ed program at her school in new york, so she was armed with all the knot-tying knowledge we needed to ensure all our treasures didn't fly out of the back of the truck on the way home!

mason, meanwhile had fun with daddy on thursday night and was then entertained by special k who spent the night friday night. she played with mason all day saturday while brad ushered in the high school baseball season with his signature "hu-uh" (think umpire-speak).

we all had a ball this weekend (although i think special k was exhausted by the time she went home!) and she wasn't the only one. sunday turned into a day of naps for us, with mason crashing the hardest. take a peek...

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for the record, mason is not a big snorer. but after 2 days of taking so-so naps, apparently he just needed his mommy (or at least that's the story i'm sticking to).

he smiles...

apparently we're on a lucky streak when it comes to mason smiling for photos... while we still get a memory stick full of the infamous wide-eyed look, we're beginning to get a few more grins along the way.

i promise that i'm working on a real post that shares a little bit about what's going on in our lives these days, but i'm too tired to finish it tonight. until then, enjoy a few more glimpses of our favorite gummy grin (still no teeth!)