Brennan Michael

After 1st bath

My two boys!

Things have been busy and I am pretty tired! But, overall things are going well. Mason has shown a little protest to our new routine by waking at night (contributing to my tiredness!) Mason does seem to like Brennan though. He has tried to be very helpful by trying to feed him a banana, share his toys, and pat his back to burp him.

Today was my first day alone with the two boys. Overall, it went well. Brennan is an easy baby so far. It was a beautiful day and we spent a good part playing outside (Brennan in the front pack). I have recovered from delivery much faster than I did with Mason. Most of my aches and pains from childbirth are gone. Now, if I could just get a bit more sleep (maybe in a year!)

The lastest with the Chiovaro's

Taken three weeks ago: look at that belly!
Grandpa Mowrey and Mason
Mason loves golf!
Easy way to get the ball in the hole!

We have been so busy that I have not posted in over a month! My Dad came to visit in the middle of April. It was wonderful seeing him. Mason warmed up quite well to grandpa and he was the source of our entertainment. At the end of April we headed to Gordonsville, VA for a weekend getaway. We stayed at a cabin resort through our timeshare. Rick, Cathy and the boys joined us for a fun filled weekend. Mason and the boys participated in the following: small petting zoo, pony ride, horse drawn wagon ride, miniature golf and swimming. We will definitely return to this resort again and it is a short 30 minutes from home!
Rob and Rick went on their annual golf trip to Pennsylvania last weekend. Mason and I stayed with Cathy just in case the baby decided to come early. The guys had a great trip and Rob came in second place out of 64 participants. Mason and I both developed a horrible cold which made for a tough weekend. Mason ended up having a double ear infection…poor guy. Hopefully he will be back to normal soon.
Baby update: Well my body is definitely getting ready for baby boy #2. As of today, I am 80% effaced, 2 cm dilated and baby at -1 station (for all those people who know what that jargon means!). We are hoping he comes soon since I pretty much feel horrible now (backache, swollen ankles, can’t sleep, acid reflux etc.)We will keep you posted!

Easter Fun

Mason swinging
Coloring eggs (Not a great picture of me but shows of the big belly!)
Batters Up!

Mason continues to become more of a big boy. About two weeks ago we decided he needed to stop using his pacifier (binky is what we called it). I anticipated that it was going to be a horrible event. Really, it was tough for the first 24 hours. For several days he kept asking for it but seemed alright with the answer “binky all gone”. I am so glad that Mason has made this adjustment somewhat easy.

Mason can now count to five! He has been able to say one, two and three for awhile now. A couple of days ago, Rob was counting objects with him and Mason said “four, five”. It was so cute! He can also say “a, b, c, d”. His language has really taken off. Last week he picked up a piece of cellophane and asked “Is this trash?”.

Easter was a fun time. Mason’s favorite thing was the dying of the eggs. He really got into by dipping not only the eggs but his fingers in the dye. When he was done he had blue hands and he looked at them and said “Uh, oh!”. Straight to the bath he went. We took him to an egg hunt at a local park. Rob and I discovered that we are still very much rookie parents. As we pulled up I noticed everyone had Easter baskets to collect their eggs. I hadn’t even thought of it! Of course there were no bags to be found in the car. So, I emptied my purse and Mason used it to collect his eggs! It was a crazy event as there were hundreds of kids and Mason had no clue what to do. So Rob carried Mason as we ran to a spot where Mason could actually pick up some eggs. We will be better prepared next time.

We had a good Easter day. We started by going to church with our friends Joe and Julie, Sister-in-law Cathy, and the boys. We then had Easter dinner at Rick and Cathy’s house. Bradley, Ben, Blake and Mason hunted for plastic eggs in the back yard. Mason collected the eggs but quickly found out that Aunt Cathy had stuffed them with candy! He kept shaking the eggs and then prying them open to find the goodies! He has a sweet tooth! Blake and Mason played with Mason’s new T-ball set. Mason has a good stance and swing already!

I am starting to feel more uncomfortable. At my checkup last week, the Dr. said that the baby has dropped really low which is the reason for being uncomfortable. She said it will make for an easier delivery but I will be pretty much miserable for the next two months!

Popsicle Kid!

Popsicle time! Now that it is getting a bit warmer, Mason can enjoy his favorite treat!

Mason turned 18 months old last week. He had his Dr. Checkup and he received a healthy report! He weighed in at 23.5 pounds and was 32.5 inches long. He has been saying new words almost every day. He now asks “what is that?” when he is unsure of what an object is. He hates making a mess with his food! He always wants a napkin and if there are crumbs on his lap he starts yelling “mess, mess”. He had a big fall the other day that scared me. He was trying to go down the steps of our porch (which he does very well) and our dog Clemens knocked him from behind. This sent Mason flying face first into the dirt and rocks. He ended up with some scrapes and bruises on his face but he is healing well. He is a tough guy!
I am starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. This baby is really active at night making it hard to sleep. I only have nine weeks to go though! We are starting to get the house ready for the new arrival. We are also working on getting Mason as ready as we can. He has been playing with my old Cabbage Patch doll. I taught him that we kiss and hug babies. Now every night before bed he wants to kiss the doll! We have started a new playgroup as well. There are three infants that he seems intrigued by. The playgroup is also good for another reason… there are mostly girls in the group! Mason hardly ever gets to play with girls. He was fascinated watching them play dress up! He is very shy though and only started interacting when he discovered the trains.

Maternity Model

Yesterday, I had a maternity photo shoot. A local photographer needed a maternity model to add pictures to her portfolio. I volunteered as this meant free pictures for me! Mason was very shy about the whole process. However, the photographer was still able to get some great shots. I have only seen a few pictures that she e-mailed last night. She had to have taken over a hundred and we can’t wait to see the rest! Above are a few samples!

New pictures

Daddy and Mason showing off their balloon hats. Rob had a birthday earlier this month and the restaurant we ate at had a magician make balloon characters.
Mason and his valentine he made during craft day with the mom's club.
Mason was smelling my fake flowers today... so cute!

I can’t believe how fast time is flying bye! Here we are at the end of February and I am entering the third trimester with our new baby to be. I am still feeling okay… getting a little more uncomfortable. He is a very active baby; especially at night! This worries me as he is already keeping me awake by kicking and punching me!
Mason is doing well. He is teething again; not much fun. He is learning new words every day. His favorite phrase to say always starts with “I just…” and then he adds different words like “throw” or “did it”. His friend Jacob, who is three, tends to say “I just…” many times a day. Mason loves to imitate and copy!
Mason has grown a lot lately weighing in at 23 pounds 14 ounces! That is almost a three pound weight gain in the last two months! He runs at full speed, tries to jump, and throws a ball with some strength behind it now. Mason throws the ball so well that we have to take away harder balls for inside play now. He can throw well with both hands, but tends to prefer the left hand. We are having fun!

Ouch!

This morning I became a nervous mom as I received a call from Julie while I was at work. Mason fell and hit his head on a bookshelf. Julie was unsure if he needed stiches or not. So, I paced my office as Julie brought Mason to me so I could assess the situation. His eye was swollen and there was about a 1 inch cut. The bleeding had stopped but we were still unsure about the stiches. To be on the safe side, we headed to the doctor's office. The nurse practitioner felt that stiches were unnecessary and we were instructed to apply ice, antibiotic oitnment and to give him tylenol. What a relief! The swelling had already gone down by the time I picked him up at the end of the day. He took a 2.5 hour nap today indicating that this ordeal wore him out. It wore me out too... I think every mom's worst fear is to get a phone call at work reporting your child is hurt. I am sure we will have many more incidents to come though!