2 Cute Things

We usually say a short prayer before dinner, but one evening, Tyler busted out his own prayer! We later found out that he says it every day at daycare, which I was pleasantly surprised about. It seems that they're still teaching the right things in some of our schools! :)



Then, he showed us how they also say the Pledge of Allegiance:

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This afternoon, Tyler was especially energetic: running around, hopping, jumping, falling down on purpose, etc. He kept asking me and Mike, "Can you do this?" and then he would do some crazy move like jump up and land on his knees, or something. When he did that (land on his knees), I winced and said, "No, Mommy is too old to do that." His reply, "But I can do it because I'm new?"

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Later, we were all rough-housing, Mike and I were on the ground and Tyler was taking turns jumping on top of each of us. Right after Tyler had landed on me, I grabbed him while I was laying down and tried to sit up with him in my arms. It was wholly unsuccessful, since I don't have the ab strength to sit myself up with an additional 35 lbs attached to my shoulders. I repositioned Tyler and tried to sit up again, finally doing it on my 3rd try. Tyler smiled at me and said, "I knew you could do it, Mommy!"
Me: Thanks Tyler, you had more faith in me than I did.
Tyler: More face? (Tyler touched his face with his hands) I only have one face, Mommy.

"I love you, Mommy."

Last night, after I gave Tyler a bath, I was trying to wrangle him so that I could get him dressed in his PJs. I sat on the floor in his room and held out his underwear for him to step into, exasperatedly asking him to put it on. He wrapped his arms around my neck and picked up one foot at a time so that I could stick his feet in his underwear. As we were doing this, Tyler said, “I’m hugging you, Mommy.”

Me: I know. Thank you.

Tyler: I love you, Mommy.

Me: (suddenly softening up, grabbing up my son and cuddling him in my lap…and not feeling so exasperated anymore) Ohhh, Tyler! I love you, too!

Tyler: I wish we could go to a school for grown-ups AND kids so that we could be together all day.

Me: I do, too. I wish I could spend all day with you.

These are bittersweet times, hearing Tyler say “I love you” in his sweet voice, so clear and sure, and knowing that all he wants is to be with me and Mike are things that I dreamed about while I was holding him when he was a baby. As a new mom, I loved him so HARD! I remember holding him as an infant and wishing I could hug him enough to show him how much I loved him, how I wanted him to always fall asleep while I or Mike was holding him, so his last moments of each day were spent in one of our arms. And I remember feeling like it would be FOREVER until Tyler would ever be able to say “I love you.” So, now he says it, and he says it often, which I love, but I know the times that I spent during his infancy wishing that he would get older so that he could finally verbally affirm his love are times that I should have enjoyed more. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy them! But, now that I know that the babyhood is such a short time in our children’s lives, and I know that our children KNOW we love them and that they DO reciprocate in their own way (by their first smiles at us, by not wanting us to leave them, etc.), I have enjoyed being Mason’s mommy in a more complete way. I’m sure the confidence that I’ve been through it before allows me to relax, but I’m also in no hurry for Mason’s babyhood to pass by. I look at his face as he gives me a toothless smile and try to fix that picture in my mind, so that I can go back to it whenever I choose.

Tyler does give great hugs, though. And he’s a strong little guy, so he’s strong enough to handle the hugs we give back!

Jumping Jumping

On Friday, I put Mason in a doorway jumper for the first time. He has been really enjoying the stand-up entertainer that we have (which we put by a window so he can also look outside), and he seemed to have more control over his head. So, I put him in the jumper and he LOVED it!! Seriously, he enjoyed it so much! At first he kind of just hung out, turned himself in different directions, enjoyed being upright…but then he figured out how to bounce. Mason bounced and jumped in the doorway jumper for nearly an hour! We went away for the weekend, and didn’t take the jumper with us, but when we came back yesterday (Sunday), I put Mason in the doorway jumper again while I was making dinner, and he was content (happily jumping and bouncing, and turning to face in the kitchen then in the living room) even while we ate dinner! Check him out!

"I Like to Move It"

Last night, Tyler sang and danced for us :)

Pictures

Daddy and Mason at Jaime's birthday party

Me and my superhero :)

Tyler a.k.a. Batman

Mason is 4 Months Old!

Dear Mason,


Although I find it hard to believe, yesterday you were 4 months old. When “they” tell you that time flies with your second child, “they” really do know what they’re talking about. At your recent check-up (about a week and a half ago), you weighed 17 lbs 14 oz. and were 25 inches long/tall. Your weight is off the growth charts J and your length is in the higher percentile range.

I have cherished all of you sweet smiles this past month, which you give out so readily. You smile most when I kiss and nuzzle your neck and ears, so I do that quite often. When you’re in the mood, you like zrrbrts blown on your bare tummy. Your big brother, Tyler, has recently tried giving you zrrbrrts, too! You like any attention from him, so you always smile when he’s around you.

A great majority of the time (at least 95%), you are easy to please and quite mellow. In the past month, you have learned how to really, really cry. You’ve grown out of the quiet newborn cry to a full-blown, red-in-the-face, ear-piercing cry. You also have tears! But, I must say that your crying is not unpleasant to me. None of it is annoying, and since we hear it so rarely (the other 5% of the time), nobody minds hearing it for a minute or two while your bottle is prepared or while I’m rocking you to sleep.

You sleep through the night like a champ! We try to get you in bed around 9 or 10pm, and I usually have to wake you up around 6:15 or 6:30 am during the week and feed you before I drop you off at daycare. On the weekends, you have slept until 8:30 or 9am! Usually, you will wake up around 7:30 or 8am, and most mornings you wake up happy.


You love to coo and gurgle at us! You enjoy when we talk back to you, too. Every day, we usually have a conversation or two with lots of back-and-forth between you and either me or Daddy.

You are definitely grabbing things, though not quite so controlled yet. You can grab a toy or a blanket and bring it to your mouth, and you love to use your feet & legs to kick and stand. Your legs and tummy muscles are SO strong!

Mason, we love to snuggle with you, hug you (it’s so easy now that you’re so nice and chubby), play with you, listen to your cooing, and rock you to sleep. You are a joy to be around! You and Tyler have made us (Mommy and Daddy) look like really good parents! Thank you for gracing us with your gorgeous smiles and for showing us every day how truly blessed we are.

Love, always,

Mommy

My Birthday Surprise

When I came home from work on Thursday, my birthday, one of my girlfriends (Laurie) was sitting in my living room!! I was totally caught off guard and surprised! After many exclamations of joy and hugs, the plan was divulged to me:

Apparently, for the past year my dear, sweet, awesome husband has been scheming with my college girlfriends to plan a girls' weekend. My friend Sara was arriving that evening and Julie was arriving the next morning. Mike had covered all his bases to make sure I didn't find out that they were coming down to visit. He had been planning his weekend with them over email through his work account for the past year! Unfortunately, Mike's grandfather passed away the week before and the funeral was scheduled for the same weekend that my friends came down. Mike had planned to watch our kids while my friends were in town, but since he couldn't, he enlisted the help of our sister-in-law, Michelle, who graciously took our kids in a few times over the weekend so that I could go out with my girlfriends.

Anyway, like I said, my friend Laurie was already at our house when I came home. So, after I got over the surprise, I thought,"The house!! We left it in shambles last night!" But, as I looked around, I saw that everything was picked up and the kitchen was clean! Then found out that Mike had gotten up in the morning and got dressed to go to work and drop Tyler off just like any other day, but he actually had the day off. After he dropped off Tyler, he called me and told me he felt sick and was going to go home and "rest." Instead, he spent all morning cleaning the house (he vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, put toys away, scrubbed the kitchen...) until he had to leave to pick up Laurie from the airport. Then, he and Laurie ran a bunch of errands (if you call picking up beer and a birthday cake errands) until I called and asked if he could pick up Tyler later that afternoon. Mike had even checked with my boss to make sure it would be okay if I took Friday off, since I'd want to hang out with my girlfriends!

My girlfriends and I had a great weekend. I got to show them around, they got to meet Mason and play with Tyler, and we did lots of shopping and eating out :) We went to the Melting Pot for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! I had so much fun just talking and chatting with them. It had been a long time since I had seen any of them, so having them here was a real treat and probably the best birthday present I've ever received. Knowing that my friends would take tim out and travel to celebrate my birthday and that Mike would go to such lengths to plan something like this just so I could have a good time is such a wonderful feeling!

So, anyway, I've got wonderful people in my life and my husband is totally friggin' awesome!!