on a roll

busted.

"yes, mommy? what seems to be the problem?"

hi mom!

a better plan...

because driving to the local pool just seemed ridiculous, we devised a better plan. enter the classic radio flyer wagon (with the updated plastic twist -- hey mommy does work for a plastics company!)

we know we're biased, but we think mason is cuter than the kids on the box... :)

sometimes you have to lick the box to see if what's inside is worth it...

some assembly required

forgot to take a picture of the wagon in action...
here is the post-pool parking spot

pack your bag(s) - we're goin' swimmin'

after three weeks of breathing treatments (one of them preventative), mason FINALLY got to go swimming! and when we found out that the 100+ degree temperatures in houston all week made the pool feel like the bathtub, we knew we were golden. mason had a blast! from the splash-pad to the big pool, we tried it all...

we also carried it all... last year, brad i and grabbed a towel and sunscreen and walked down to the pool (about a .5 mile). this year, we had to DRIVE to the pool... with a huge beach bag (full of towels, extra diapers, wipes, baby sunscreen, our sunscreen, mason's snacks, a sippy cup, and a pacifier), an ice chest with drinks, a pool float, the camera, and of course, the pool passes. and that's just what i can remember!! my how times have changed... :)

"this feels a lot like a shower, daddy!"

me and my turtle friend

a modified back float (with giggles)...

practicing my breast stroke

every once in a while, mommy is in a picture!

crawling toward the geyser, rocking a mohawk

mohawk down

"what do you mean it's time to go home?!"

daddy and me

bite me

we always knew mason was sweet, but we had no idea that the mosquitoes would think so too! here our boy is sporting his many bites, including the giant goose-egg that popped up when he crawled toward the bathtub for his nightly scrub and the toilet reached out and "bit" him. so sad...

all aboard!

chugga-chugga, chugga chugga, choo! choo! here comes mason!

checking my rear view...

just a little "preventative maintenance"... the train is a great distraction!

i heart the children's museum

thanks to some free passes from special k, we visited the children's museum of houston this past weekend. here's our adventure in photos...

the sun's so hot... you gotta wear shades!

wonders galore... let's go explore!


how many mason's fit in one picture?


"oh good, they have toys i can put in mouth here, too!"

"there's so much to do!"

pop goes the mason!

"take me to the next station, daddy!"

"i was slippin' and a slidin' "

a new friend

"hop in, i'll drive!"

"this book is hilarious!"

"hey, i'm playing with this toy..."

"m is for mason..."

we had fun until the cow came home...

my little germ magnet

yesterday mason and i braved the grocery store alone while brad was at work. (i know, i know, i can't believe mason is 9 months and we're just now doing the solo grocery shopping experience... don't you remember this post?)

we arrived and i pulled out mason's (germ-free) cart cover and had it perfectly placed with mason securely buckled inside. things were going well and we had located all our food items. the only item left on the list was notecards - which were on the other end of the store. we trekked over there, found them, and ran into a friend of mine from work who hadn't seen mason in a while. as i stopped to talk to her, what does my son do? he finds the one square inch no longer covered by the cart cover and proceeds to lick the germ-infested cart. nice. hope those steroids he's taking are good for something!

mommy's first work trip

well, it finally happened... my first work out-of-towner. a trip to beautiful borger, texas to capture photos and video of a freshly built plant. i left monday morning before mason woke up and returned wednesday night just in time to see him for about 15 minutes.

the work part of the trip was packed. it included two sunsets and two sunrises - breathtaking, but exhausting. something about rising at 4:30 am and retiring at 11:30 pm, just doesn't leave you well rested.

i was able to call home each night to talk to brad and mason and was able to check in at least once a day at school on the webcam. while i'd like to think that mason couldn't function without me, it was pretty clear that he remained content even without his mommy. he showed off his furniture creeping skills and laughed as he cleaned off the entire shelf of toys as his adoring teachers looked on (they must adore him - who else would let him do that?!)

on the homefront, brad and mason were on breathing treatment duty. outside of brad's hectic work week (read: everything that could go wrong, did), they did remarkably well. i returned home to find everyone (and everything) in one piece.

i missed my boys dearly, but it was comforting to know that they could survive with daddy in charge (truly, i never doubted that fact). and wouldn't you know that mason started saying da-da while i was gone...

9 month well baby check-up

by now you know that i'm usually pretty prompt with blog postings marking month milestones. this one, however, was a bit different. as mason and i headed to the 9-month well baby visit last friday, i had already started mentally drafting the post.

20 pounds, 14 ounces (52nd percentile)
29 1/4 inches tall (80th percentile)
18 inch head circumference (55th percentile)
ahead of the curve in developmental milestones
and, of course, cute as can be

then the fun began. mason wiggled and giggled, crinkled and tore the exam room paper, crawled all over the table, stood up, and acted like he had never felt better. confident that this would be a quick check by the doctor, i relaxed and played with my boy. after all, there were no shots at this appointment!! the doctor came in and that's when it all came crashing down.

"oh, his ear is really red. this is a pretty good infection."

"wow, has he been wheezing like this for long?"

"is that a cough i hear?"

brad and i had noticed mason was a little congested earlier in the week, but we had been using the saline and suction technique and it had cleared up significantly. mason was happy, sleeping and eating well, and having a grand ol' time at school all week. he never ran a fever.

so how is it that we go from the perfect well-baby check-up to leaving the office with 4 prescriptions? i felt awful... here i am thinking that all is well, and clearly it was not. that's a boost to the mommy ego.

we returned today for the one-week follow-up and the kid is still wheezy and still has an ear infection. great. more medicine and more breathing treatments. plus, the added bonus of steroids - as if mason wasn't already waking up starving in the middle of the night! at least he's still in good spirits. but, sadly, it doesn't appear that the swimming pool is in his future for a while.

get well soon, buddy. the pool is calling! :)

welcome, neighbors!

ok, so we are a week late on posting our neighborhood crawfish boil, but for those of you that were not there it was a success. all the neighbors new and old attended (and a few that we wish were neighbors!) we had around 50 people here and we cooked 137 lbs of crawfish, lots of taters and corn. we think everyone had their fill (except for kammy, who was too busy running around to eat any crawfish!) due to the fact that the party was at our house, we completely forgot to take pictures! about a twelve pack later, brad realized this so he grabbed the camera and took some random pictures - sorry no pictures of crawfish but i promise they were there.

the babysitter (thanks billy & tanni)

the neighbors - desperate for some shade

we love a/c!

guess who slept through most of the party?!

bruiser

last week marked another first in mason's world - his first "incident report" from school. our fearless crawler had four-legged it over to toys in the opposite corner of the corral area and somewhere along the way, his hand slipped. this resulted in a face plant into a pop-up toy. needless to say, we think the pop-up toy won this round. better luck next time, mason!

besides the drool on his chin, note the bruises underneath his eye. we're sure these won't be the last, but it's still a little sad to see...