Crazy Busy Week!!

First of all, we hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Ours wasn't quite as warm as we make this picture look, but it was a fun day, nonetheless. It ended up that we were in WV afterall, since my cousin's reception the night before was in the area anyway. It was fun to be with family, though, and see some people we hadn't seen in quite a while.

Tony presenting the lion cub, Simba- I mean, Mason.

I looked EVERYWHERE for little dress clothes to put Mason in for Easter! I checked all of the department stores, Carters, Gymboree, Baby Gap, Old Navy, Osh Kosh, Target, Walmart, you name it, I checked there. Most of the stores had ties and stuff, but only for sizes 12M and larger. I was about to call it quits, but made one last stop at The Childrens Place. Much to my surprise (and joy!), they had ties for 6M and up!! And then Mason was able to celebrate Easter properly...ha ha. Actually, it was great because their prices are quite affordable and I even got the shirt on clearance. And the tie even looks great once we wipe it down after spit up fests. Even better!

At my cousin Adrienne's wedding, her friend's little baby and Mason decided to play nice. They look really similar! The little stinkers threw several people for a loop when they weren't in the same place and could be mistaken for each other.

We tried to make a little stop in Harper's Ferry on the way back to the reception after the wedding. It was pretty rainy and cold, and we weren't well prepared at all. But it was fun to spend time with my Aunt and Grandma. Grandma's quite the happy trooper!

Road Trip with Grandma

So Monday, Mason and I were planning to drive down to Midlothian, VA to visit my grandma. We were most of the way there and she called, asking if we wanted to see her other house (for retirement) in NC. I'm not the most spontaneous person ever, but this sounded like fun, so we did it! When we got to her place, we switched cars, fed Mason, and left for Apex. We were only there in time for dinner and took off early the next morning, but Mason got to meet Uncle Nathan, Aunt Myra, and my cousins Lauren and Morgan. It was fun, and I even decided to give sushi another try. It was better than I've had before, but I still don't get it.

We then drove back to Midlothian and visited grandpa in Richmond. It was the first time he got to meet Mason, also. He kept saying how cute a little guy Mason was. It was really special for them to be able to meet because we're not sure how much longer grandpa will be with us (he is living with Alzheimer's). But as of right now, he seems to be in good health, good spirits, and we're happy we got to meet up with him! And, I'm glad we were able to get some pictures of Mason with him. I have a feeling he'll cherish these for years to come.

Signs of Spring!

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE winter. My favorite season of all is actually autumn, when the leaves are changing and the air is crisp and chill at all of the season's football games. But by the end of winter, I also LOVE to see spring creep around the corner as much as the next person. Above are some of the blossoms on the trees around our place. It's finally warming up and time to get out of the apartment! Hooray for that!Tony walking with Mason. I just recently transitioned him to the stroller without the carseat after I found out he was solid enough to stay upright. He loves walks, but always falls asleep about halfway through. Oh well! Another thing we've done recently is finally figured out a way to make our apartment into a pseudo-two-bedroom place. We went to IKEA and bought some shelving units that are essentially acting as a wall so we could make a place for little Mason to stay. We moved him out of our room Sunday night. It was so funny because I was expecting to only be happy to have our room back to ourselves, but as we were making the transition I had a hard time fighting back the tears! I felt like he was so grown up and moving out or something! Crazy, right? I am suddenly finding myself a little more understanding of the crazies on those nanny shows (where their kids are out of control and it takes an outside discipliner to come in and get things back to order) who have toddlers, or even older children, still sleeping in their rooms with them. I'd never let it get to that point (I hope!!), but I can sort of understand why they might be motivated to do that, now. Anyway, we moved him out, and I'm getting much better sleep now because I don't wait for him to move or breathe loudly or anything when I wake up during the night. I can just go back to sleep. And I think Mason is sleeping a little better, too.

Bucket Boy

Tony wanted me to take this picture. He thinks it's hilarious to put Mason in anything in which a normal-sized person would not fit. Sometimes it is kind of funny, I must admit, but in this particular instance I don't think Mason agrees. Poor little guy...

It's all in the genes

So what can I say? He's shaping up to be quite a bright little fella!

I haven't been able to bring myself to cut his hair yet. It's a little out of control but it's so cute! He has some curl in it, which is most evident right after baths. Much later than that & he's rubbed it all over kingdom come and straightened the curl right out.

Family and Trips

So my family came recently (YAY! We were so excited!). We decided to trek out to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History that Saturday. The weather was rainy and coldish, so I thought we would be good in terms of crowd control. How wrong was I?! It took us over half an hour to find a decent parking spot on the opposite side of The Mall. However, I thought it was funny because on the walk over Michael said "This is so much fun!" I wish I had the same simple mind that I used to once have...

Once we got inside the museum, it was virtually standing room only in all of the exhibits. I was not terribly smart and took the stroller (because of the long walk), which was then loaded down with coats and umbrellas and ended up being a constant pain trying to maneuver around the building. We should have had a "wide load" sign or something, maybe it would have helped! Of course, as soon as we got inside, Mason decided it was time to eat. I must say I was impressed with my ability to walk around and feed him (thanks to the nursing cover I got at the baby shower). It all worked out pretty well, really! It was fun, even with all the pushing and noise. And after taking the stroller all around, Mason ended up being carried most of the time. Now we know for next time just to take the little carrier on us instead!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was when we reached the gem section and Cathy decided she was done. She just sat down and didn't really want to go anywhere else. She wanted 'juice' and wasn't moving until she got it! Once, Ashley actually tripped over her because she didn't realize she was planted just below. I eventually got her to move by two conversations. One, that the juice was ahead and we had to keep walking. And two, we would look for crystals of her favorite color, which she decided was black. Anytime she saw one, she wanted her picture by it. But then she refused to smile for any of the pictures. Silly Cathy.
I really wanted to get a good picture of Mason by the T-Rex. With it being so packed, we couldn't be too picky about pictures and could rarely get one without tons of other people in it. This isn't quite what I had in mind, so I guess we'll have to go back!

A small example of spoiled Mason being carried all over by Ashley (and then my dad). My mom was reading about the exhibits to Michael and Cathy most of the time.

Story of my Life

I feel like this picture in a way explains the story of my life these days. Mason has to be the master of all spit up!! He's such a big help when I have just showered and fixed my hair, then as we're walking out the door he'll spit all in my hair, down my shirt, on the floor, on his newly changed clothes... Though I think my favorite is sometimes when he gets the hiccups and just spews with each hiccup. You may think it's over because he couldn't have possibly consumed that much milk, but just at that moment, he spews some more! Also, of course, the one time you decide to chance it that he won't mess the couch and don't put anything down under him, three seconds later, guess what! Spew!

The hard part, I think, is that he doesn't seem too upset when he spits, and spits in silence. That translates to me not having any idea he HAS spit up on occasion until he has rubbed his entire face, hands, sleeves, chest, and hair in it. So long for the bath!

Honestly, though, we've got him on Zantac which is helping with his discomfort but not having any effect on the amount of spit up. If anyone has any advice on mega spitters, it would be more than welcome!


Other than that, I'm excited for a good friend who just got engaged, my cousin who is getting married over Easter weekend, and another cousin who just let us know he and his wife are expecting! Yay!