monday.

heavy traffic. long training. dead car. sick baby. tired mama. faithful God.

everywhere that mason goes...

... the dog is sure to follow.

and yes, we always push around the two push toys
that make the most noise.
at the same time. always.

favorite pose

exercise plan

brad's been working out lately. after running, push-ups, and sit-ups, he bench presses whatever is available. i'm just glad i get to hold the camera!

presidents' love

when it comes to holidays, presidents' day usually doesn't make my top 5, but having a day off of work today was fantastic! mason and i hung out all day. after the rough nature of last week, it was especially enjoyable to spend one-on-one time with my little man.

from the time mason woke up this morning to when he laid his head down to sleep tonight, he was just plain silly. normal rise-and-shine time is around 7:20 or 7:30. today (because mommy didn't have to get up for anything else) it was 7:10. you wouldn't think that 20 minutes was that big of a deal, but it sure felt like it today! :)

i tried to bribe him into going back to sleep with the paci. (mason only gets a paci for nap times and those days are numbered - and he never gets one at night). so, you can imagine his excitement when i offered it to him this morning. he swiped it from my hand and popped it in his mouth in the blink of an eye. when i told him he had go back to sleep, he flopped back down on the bed! now, it was clear that there would be no sleeping going on, but he understood the rules of the game: if you want the paci, you stay in bed. i stretched out on the floor beside his crib and for the next 25 minutes, he enjoyed his paci and i exercised my laziness. every now and then i'd ask him for the paci, and he'd shake his head no and curl up on the blanket. too funny.

then he proved that he is his daddy's son. i looked up from my position on the floor and he was standing in bed, holding the paci out to me. i said, "oh, are you ready to get up?" as soon as i reached for the paci, he grinned and popped it back in his mouth. oh the little jokester. this continued for a couple more rounds until he finally forked it over and we went about making breakfast.

after breakfast, mason wanted to play in my bed. i picked him up and climbed in with him and we played peek-a-boo with the covers for a while until we could peek no more. my oh my this boy loves that game!

the rest of the day went by way too fast... we met elmo (his first sesame street viewing experience), visited the doctor (a pre-emptive strike against full-fledged illness), ate at chick-fila, shopped at target, played at the indoor playground at the mall, ran errands with daddy, raced cars through the kitchen, and ended the day at lupe tortillas. busy. fun. much needed.

top mason moments from the day:

• gobbling like a turkey in target (gobble-gobble-gobble-gobble)
• sitting on every riding lawn mower in sears
• jumping up and down with the elmo song
• clapping along with "if you're happy and you know it" every time i sang it
• reading books on the exam table like a big boy instead of running around the room like a wild banshee (our usual routine!)
• giving mommy a big sloppy kiss in the pharmacy
• hugging me so tight in chick-fila when we bumped into his teacher (as if to say - it's very nice to see you, but i am staying with my mommy today, thankyouverymuch)
• dancing in between bites of guacamole at lupe's
• splashing in the bathtub signing and saying "mo mo" to get me to dump water on his head over and over and over again

so many smiles today - from both of us. this is not to say that there was no whining and no mini-meltdowns, but tonight my heart is filled with joy and just want to soak in every moment. thanks for the best presidents' day ever, mason.

rough week

it's been a rough week. it started monday when mommy had to leave work at 11:15 with a 101 fever, a killer headache, and other assorted symptoms. then we found out that mason did a face-plant on the playground slide, scoring a nice bruise a mere 5 minutes before valentine's day pictures were taken. as for daddy, after a morning of jury duty his phone rang off the hook at work resulting in the usual stress and hoop-jumping.

but the real kicker was when mason and daddy went for a run around 5 pm. about halfway through the run, a huge thunderstorm (with hail) hit without warning. mommy heard it from her position in the bed and went outside to look for them. then daddy called to say they were at the end of the street, soaking wet, and couldn't make it home.

mommy jumped in the car and found her men posing as wet puppy dogs at the edge of the woods in our neighborhood. mommy took mason, daddy wrestled the jogging stroller (which doesn't fit in mommy's car by the way), and we drove home with the hazard lights on and daddy perched in the back of the rodeo keeping the stroller from falling out of the car. fun times.

we peeled off mason's clothes and let him warm up in the shower. it was quite the dramatic ending to a rough day.

warming up...

the rest of the week wasn't as full of adrenaline, but was physically draining nonetheless.

tuesday brought a trip to the doctor for mommy where a series of tests revealed "something viral." but plenty of rest and fluids broke the fever so that mommy would be ready for wednesday's activities.

thankfully mommy felt better on wednesday because she had to travel for a video shoot in williamstown, kentucky. they were some of the lucky ones who had 8 inches of snow that week. as we stood outside shooting thursday, the wind chill was 14! so cold!!

the flight back on thursday was delayed, and then the 2 hour flight turned into 3 in the air. we landed an hour and a half late, squashing my plans to tuck mason into bed that night. brad had several buildings to visit that night, so we basically "high-fived" in the garage as i came in and he headed out.

thank goodness for friday! if nothing else, it marked the end of the week! needless to say, we have a whole lot of nothing planned for the weekend!

yum

gotta love spaghetti night!

who dat?!

out of 35 photos, (sadly) this is the best one...

our sports fanatic.
apparently it's not enough to wear a football jersey;
you also need a baseball bat!

check out that swagger...

special shout-out to "uncle" will and (now fiancee) jennifer who gifted mason with saints jersey 2 christmases ago. how they knew it would fit perfectly today, we'll never know! :)

round and round and round we go

"mama, i want to ride THAT!"

"look at me daddy!"

such a big boy

"hey, we just passed granny & papa!"

that was fun!

chopper

ready for liftoff!

p.s. if you're visiting the woodlands mall,
save your 75 cents... the helicopter is b-r-o-k-e-n. :(

mason's warm up

before any strenous physical activity, you gotta stretch!

touch your knees...

then your toes!

stand up straight...

then jump!

and jump!

every once in a while, daddy wins

mason and brad have a nightly wrestling match. due to the obvious size differential, [brad usually lets] mason win. not this time!

mason started out strong with a sneak attack...

... and followed with a fancy flip over the top!

don't worry, he's ok!

mason climbs on again and thinks he has daddy down for the count.

but he didn't. no contest... daddy wins!

the (pantless) escape artist

mason was too excited that granny and papa were in town to go to sleep. so he attempted to escape instead. we're not sure why the plan included taking off his pajama pants and socks, but apparently it's easier to climb naked. who knew?!