Mason Moo

After weeks of intense deliberation I was able to finally decide Mason was going to be a cow for his first Halloween. It was a good choice because he was the cutest cow on the farm…

However, this cow didn’t stay on the farm for long. After we took these photos we went outside to our enjoy the beautiful 72 degree day at our neighborhood party. But after about 15 minutes, my cow started to projectile vomit on the neighbors. Eek! At first we just thought it was a one-time thing. But after it happened twice and he went pale we went inside. He threw-up about 3 more times as we took him out of his costume. Considering he has been nothing but healthy we hollered up the exchange. After what felt like a 30-minute conversation with the nurse we had a plan in place. But by the time we were off the phone Mace was looking back to normal and acting normal! We ended up concluding that he just overheated in the costume…or else he really had wanted to be a lion.

Half-yearly

My baby is supernatural. He has aged 6 months in 6 weeks. Or at least that’s what it feels like…

My little bundle, who used to fit snuggly in one arm, now practically wraps around my body. Just months ago he would wail if we put him on his tummy…now that’s his preferred method of “chill”. 6 months ago we stared in amazement as he would slowly wrap his fingers around our finger. Now he is an octopus and grabs at everything!

Mace is one happy 6 month old! He is quite the talker too. But then again he is his father’s son. He is full of “Ba-ba-bas” and “Ma-ma-mas” which of course I interpret as “Beautiful Mommy.”

Everything is interesting and nothing goes without proper inspection and tasting, in Mason’s world. This includes Dixie, every time she is within reach.

I love this pic because it feels very National Geographic to me. It’s like Mace has just snuck up to a wild creature in the woods; he turns to the camera to make sure we’re capturing this species before proceeding with his inspection.

All I know is Dixie’s peaceful days are numbered….because Mace is days…hours…away from being very mobile…

Yep, Dixie, he’s coming for you! For about two weeks Mace has been on all fours, rocking back and forth, and lunging himself forward, backward, and in circles.

He’s got the posture down, just needs to work on the technique. In other news, I’m enjoying my home decor while I still can before it I have to put it away and rearrange once the octopus is on the go.

Clearly I can’t seem to find the same lighting or distance from the chair twice, but the growth is amazing. Mason’s 6 month stats put him in the 70th% for weight (18 lbs) and 95th% for height (28″). I’ll be enrolling him in basketball next month basically.

These first 6 months have been so wonderful that I’m torn between excitement for the next 6 months (all the new things he’ll learn! and he is surely going to only get more fun and adorable) and sad (I can’t bare to think that my little baby will be more like a little boy and a year old in 6 months.) Mat asked me the other day – if I could, would I want to see what Mason will look like as a boy? I said no because with all the new things he does, new faces he makes, new noises he lets out, I love waking up each day to a new surprise.

XOXO

Pinterest and a Can of Spray Paint

I’m obsessed with Pinterest and therefore I’m in the midst of a mini-home-makeover. This Pinterest thing coupled with spending much more time in the home means I have a lot of ideas and my house is my template.

First it started with my bedroom…making this its 9th makeover in 4 years…meaning I’ve come to the conclusion it’s never going to be complete.

Before:

I was inspired (on Pinterest) to incorporate some chevron fabric (aka zig-zag pattern)  into the bedroom. And what better place than some curtains….that I sewed myself! And when I say “myself” I of course mean under the watchful eye of my own Tim Gunn, my mom.

But the black and white curtains made the room too….black and white, so I needed a pop of color. Pinterest led me to turquoise! Specifically a turquoise bedside table. I happened to be at an antique mall and one of the booth owners practically gave me a bedside table! A couple coats of turquoise spray paint later and….

Loves! I purchased some $5 turquoise fabric and Tim Gunn and I hit the sewing machine again. (I added a stripe of gray patterned fabric that I had left over from a chair re-upholstery.) So it totally ties together the gray & turquoise in the bed.

After:

A little hint of blue on the dresser….

I love! Don’t you? Mom is painting me something fabulous to replace that print on the wall. It will then probably inspire another bedroom makeover.

Okay so the Pinning-fun didn’t stop there. Our hallway to the laundry room was looking a little blah. So after seeing some frame-extravaganza on Pinterest, I gathered every black frame I had, spray painted some that weren’t black, and got to hanging…

Look to the right! It’s a Menu Board (also Pinterest-inspired). It’s an old frame that I put a piece of fabric inside. I used to write our menu out on a post-it every week. This is much cuter and eco-friendly. And plus I get to channel my inner-teacher and write with a dry erase marker every week.

So Fall is here and I pulled out my Fall decor only to be disappointed with my wreath. I have been disappointed in it for a couple years as it’s starting to look cheap and weathered. So I wanted to chic-it-up…but Mat said “no more spending money this week.” Boo. But who needs to spend money when you have Pinterest and a can of spray paint? I found some old pieces of burlap and of course, every girl-on-a-decorating-budget’s best friend, the glue gun.

Before:

After:

I have to admit, that the wreath in my head was better than how this turned out. If nap time would have lasted 3 hours I could have made a lot more burlap flowers but it doesn’t and I wanted to just complete the project, so up went the wreath.

There you have it. Pinterest: Fall 2011. If you want to see what else I’ve been Pinning you can follow me here.  I have been Pinning a lot for my brother-in-law as we’re redecorating his first floor. I can’t wait to show you how it turns out! What projects have you done after being Pinterest-inspired? Maybe I want to do those too….

Hugs & Spray Paint….

5 months

5 months and Mason is like a real baby now. Like, does real baby things as opposed to just laying there and looking adorable. He’s doing things that you imagine babies doing- gurgling, laughing, reaching for things, putting things in his mouth – including his feet & hands, rolling, drooling, smiling, giggling….you know, baby things.

He does have hair, I swear! It’s just so blonde (and fine) it doesn’t show up in photos. Let this be proof that clearly I am a natural blonde, despite my, um, enhancements, and passed that sunny colored hair onto Mason. That and the stick-straight, fine nature of the hair. That goes for Mat too. The kid will be cursed with delicate hair…but at least he’s got a big ole’ beautiful grin to make up for it!

If it’s within arm distance then it’s worth a taste-test….

…that goes for Dixie too!

The most common comments from strangers that we get are:

– “Such a big boy, what is he, 6-7 months?” Uh, no just the size of a 7 month old.

– “What a happy baby!” Yes he is! He will give a big smile and laugh to most anyone that talks to him. He is also very content just being carried around and is very observant of his surroundings.

– “Such beautiful, big, blue eyes!” Why, yes, he gets those from his mother.

Fun in the Frog

Quack-ing Up

Just a boy and his dog

It took 5 months, but finally Mace has acknowledged Miss Dixie! Dixie in return is starting to accept this new-found admiration but isn’t exactly loving it. It’s more like tolerate.  She is loving that Mace has started to eat pureed foods and I think she might find a little leftover sweet potato stuck on a thumb or a hint of banana on a chin.

Every morning though, Dixie wakes up, nudges our door open, and barges into Mason’s room to check on him.

Look who’s creeping in the background. She is so sweet!

If Dixie has a “spot” that she most frequently lounges, I’d say it’s on the living room rug. Unfortunately, this is also the only spot to put Mason down on the first floor. She is taking the invasion as well as to be expected. I think she tolerates it because it also happens to be the spot where we get down on the floor, so she thinks we’ve come to play.

“Are you going to finish all that?”

Here is an example of Dixie “tolerating” a Mason Invasion. Aunt Kirstin eased any concerns she had.

“I knew there was leftover peas under that nose!”

This is how Mason spends most of his time when Dixie is near. “Gimme. Gimme.” He adores her and follows her anytime she comes into his line of view. We’ve started to sit and pet Dixie. Well I pet Dixie and Mason grabs a chunk of fur with a wet hand. Dixie takes it like a lady. My bambino and pupbino….love!

4 months

4 months of baby love, drool, snuggles, poops, laughter, and new adventures! Who knew that things like getting an exer-saucer, adding rice cereal and pureed foods, and new schedules would be such adventures. But in our house it has been like we’re preparing for a national hike. There has planning and researching and questions and assembly….and all-be-damned, every new thing we try, Mace takes it like a champ! He loves his new exer-saucer:

Excer-saucer or exhausting?

4 months has brought a lot more talking, laughter, and smiles- which is like a trifecta of thrills for me. I can’t get enough of that gummy smile!

He has started to reach for everything in front of him and bring it to his mouth.

Hey, what’s this?

I keep insisting these two take a picture together each month and no one seems too happy about it. But I think Dixie is a good example of just how big Mace is getting. Just 3 months ago…

Mason is almost 16 pounds now and 26″ long. It puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. Tall and skinny! Skinny but he likes to eat! We got the go ahead to start with rice cereal and recently pureed sweet potatoes. He loved them and although we worried how he’d do with a spoon, he took it like a pro.

Do you know it’s impossible to feed a baby with a spoon without opening up your own mouth? Mat, unknowingly demonstrates…..

So all this food has really given Mason some energy I guess because he is a little rolly-polly now! He rolls mostly from back to front {which the doctor says is like a 5 month milestone. My baby is sooo advanced!}

But this also causes me great worry as he rolls in the middle of the night and now sleeps on his side.  It still means that I wake up all night to go check that he isn’t nuzzling the mattress. One good thing that has come out of him being able to sleep on his side is that he must be more comfortable because he has been sleeping at least 11 hours at night and is getting so much better at naps! We’ve eliminated one of his cat naps and now he has been napping at least 40 minutes in the morning and 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon!! Yay!

He makes us so proud! I never realized that being able to bounce in an exer-saucer, smile, eat out of a spoon, sleep well, grab for toys, and just be cute could make us proud, but it does! XOXOX

You Can Say That Again

I am still terribly missing my Mad Men on television this summer. And although I know it will eventually come back, thank gawd ABC has decided to fill my bee-hive, red lipstick void with Pan-Am this Fall. I loved this quote from Heather McDonald on the Chelsea Lately show:

“I’m excited for the new show Pan-Am to start. That’s my favorite new genre on television: sexy, slutty professions of the 1960s.”

Me, in all my 1960s housewife glory, preparing Sunday lunch after church:

Dress, apron, wine. My hair started out a lot bigger and flippy {they must not have moved much in the 60s.}

Can I Get an Amen

The bambino is officially a legal Catholic…if that is in fact what Baptism does for one. I kid now, but Mason was having none of the laughs during the ceremony. The fam gathered for an intimate ceremony a couple Sundays ago. Mace was all smiles and giggles and gurgles galore beforehand. We stepped up on the alter, the Deacon started speaking, and Mace went into his tired-nap time cry. It was, afterall, naptime. Even though it was just the family in the church, it still made me sweat like crazy -I was practically doing a jig, bouncing around the alter trying to calm him.  When it came time to pour the water on his head, Mason got quiet and was rather peaceful. He loved it and would have probably not cried at all had I let him sit naked in that tub of water the whole time. When the ceremony ended so did his crying. He was back and ready for more pictures to be taken! The boy loves the camera!

Isn’t his outfit adorable? There is an embroidered cross below the collar. And his little booties were stitched with his initials and the Baptism date.

The outfit is couture…aka handmade from a cute little shop on Etsy.

Afterwards the fam came over to our house for a big Sunday dinner. I felt very Southern- the whole family, dressed up, coming over for lunch on Sunday. Mat said, “Why do you think that’s what Southern people do?” Duh, because that’s what they do in books and movies.

Southern Sunday lunch also requires china and crystal! So I literally dusted off my placesettings that we received for our wedding {and had yet to use} and set the table…

We chose Uncle Mark & Aunt Edna to be Mace’s Godparents. And although I know as Godparents they are to guide Mason on his religious path, we chose them more so because we know they will both help to guide him on his life path. They are both rare examples of wholesome people. They both have a willingness to try new things, are up for doing anything but are also are thoughtful in their actions. They are kind, honest, and trustworthy. They are entertaining and loving….

….Although Mason doesn’t look too thrilled about it….

There we go! Happy {blurry} baby. Before the ceremony, I made Lauren put on a cross necklace that I had. I told her she’d “look more godly”. I think the Deacon was impressed.

Amen.