pit-stop

we left for granny & papa's wednesday at 2 p.m. after 2 pit-stops (one for cassie and to stretch and the other for dinner), we arrived at our destination at 9 p.m. whew... long car ride!

glazed over from all the driving...

"daddy, i think i'll drive the next leg..."

"really, daddy, i'm a good driver!"

eyes on the road and hands at 10 & 2

"look out world, i'm going to granny's!"

packing for granny's

we packed for granny & papa's tuesday night so we could leave after work on wednesday for thanksgiving break. it's mason's first time to visit their house, so we had a lot to pack!

jacket? check. shoes? check. mason? check.

zippers are delicious.

i hope this closes!

enough with the pictures, mommy!

innocence

there are few no-no zones in our house that we haven't eliminated the temptation with cabinet locks, gates, or other baby-proofing techniques. the bottom door of the entertainment center is one of the only ones left. sometimes he just can't resist...

surveying the scene

"who me? i wouldn't think of touching that cabinet!"

"i'm just standing here, chillin'"

"how on earth did my hand get here?"

wrestlemania

it's no secret that brad loves wrestling... not the olympic, perfect form kind, but the over-produced, horrible-acting wwe (formerly wwf) kind. ever since the days of junkyard dog and hulk hogan, he's been hooked. and apparently he's been watching his dvr'd episodes in front of mason...

mason talking smack before the match
"you're goin' down, daddy!"

mason's signature move
(what you can't see is the bounce that goes along with this!)

the chokehold

down for the count - 1...2...3!

"are you ok, daddy? i didn't hurt you, did i?"

for some reason, i think this is just the beginning. just wait until those baby rolls are replaced with a lean, mean muscle machine!

a mad dash...

saturday was one of those days when you have 12 things to do and only enough time to get 2 of them done. i had a photo shoot at work that morning, meaning i had to leave the house no later than 7 am to make it on time. once i arrived and we received our marching orders, our caravan of 10 cars was stopped by a train for 45 minutes trying to leave the plant. that put us a bit behind schedule - all told, we lost an hour.

i had hoped to shoot all i needed by 10:30 so i could make it back to the woodlands for our friend dash's first birthday party. not so.

we missed the party, but managed to stop by dash's house before the family took off for san antonio (dash's mommy ran a 1/2 marathon today - go lauren!!)

thankfully, my mad dash that morning didn't result in a mad, dash. see?

the birthday boy!

real men ride backwards... or something.

at this age this is about as good as it gets
when trying to get a photo of them together!

the rest of the day is a bit of a blur, but it did end with a visit to lupe tortilla. somehow that always lifts my spirits!

trumped!

mason and brad held down the fort monday and tuesday as i ventured to the beautiful borger, texas for a work trip. the boys functioned just fine without the mama, although i like to think that they both missed me terribly!

i got home about 20 minutes before mason went to bed tuesday. i opened the door from the garage and mason spots me. with a giggle and a squeal, he runs from the chair and ottoman where he was playing straight toward me, grinning from ear to ear.

"what a perfect welcome," i thought as i stooped down to his level.

enter the suitcase.

mason adores our suitcases - he loves to wheel them around the house or push them over and climb on top of them. when he ran to me, his eye caught the suitcase and it was game over. he detoured to the suitcase, leaving me standing there with empty arms.

he eventually hugged me, too, but not before i was completely trumped by a piece of luggage. priceless.

couch potato

lessons in budgeting

new meaning to operating on a shoestring budget ;)

"let me help, daddy!"

diaper genie

ahh... the peace and quiet. wait a second! it's 9 am - there shouldn't be any peace and quiet... where's mason?

apparently we have our very own diaper genie.

he pulled the paci from his crib to stay extra quiet and magically all the diapers from the stacker ended up on the floor.

we have seriously underestimated his sneakiness!

bye bye bottle

first night without the bottle... cross your fingers! :)

go gators!

a glimpse into mason's saturday night... just chillin' on cassie's bed, checking the gators score. daddy put me in my lucky alligator pj's.

14 months!

oh mason, how is it that you are already 14 months?! i realized the other day that i forgot to do a 13 month post. oops. apparently mommy's brain doesn't always work like it's supposed to!

milestones we've noted in the past month include:

• sitting at the table like a big boy at school for meals (they also give him his own bowl that's not attached to the table - oh my, they are brave!)


• climbing on everything, particularly the ottoman and couch


• jumping on the couch (we are trying very hard to discourage this behavior)


• bumping his head on EVERYTHING. he used to have a new bug bite every week; now it's a goose-egg with accompanying bruise


• climbing out of the carseat when we arrive at our destination (we unhook him and he "rolls out")


• pointing at what he wants and/or pointing and saying "huh?" to learn what something is (we think it's hilarious that other kids say "what's that" and our kid says "huh?" :)


• eating on his own (seriously, he really doesn't want us feeding him; i can still get away with feeding him his oatmeal in the morning because he's absolutely starving, but those days are numbered). and there's no baby food in this house any more!


• using a spoon. we try to serve meals that are easy to eat with his hands, but he does enjoy feeding himself with the spoon


• 4 new teeth coming in (2 new ones on the bottom and 2 molars on the top - ouch!) this brings us to a grand total of 10 teeth (only 6 are fully in, though)


• making sound effects when playing with toys, particularly his cars. we now hear "vroom vroom" as he drives his cars all over the house


• a couple of new words! in addition to mama, dada, and huh?, he also says "khaki" (cassie) and mamamamama (which we think means mine)


• only 1 bottle a day (the nighttime bottle). he'd probably give it up, but he goes to sleep so easily with it that we're afraid to try! :)


• "sneaking" up on us. mason loves to come up behind us and surprise us by throwing his hands on our backs (if we're sitting down) or grabbing our legs (if we're standing up)


• running toward us for hugs, kisses, and snuggles when he spots us


• blowing kisses and giving kisses. i receive more of these than brad. boys, apparently, just shake hands and wrestle with each other. :)


• reading! he still isn't a fan of me reading to him, but he loves to flip through his books and touch the pictures. that's progress!

several of these were actually in effect at 13 months, but who's keeping track. oh right, that's supposed to be me!

mason, you are more fun every day and we love getting to see your personality blossom. your contagious giggle and smile light up our lives and we are blessed to call you ours. we love you!