Its going well!!

So far the potty training is going really well! And Mason is very proud of himself! He is really starting to know that "feeling" that its coming! I started out asking him to go but he would say, I'll tell you when I need to go...I remind him but for the most part he says, "Its coming, we better hurry" We have sat on the potty 3 times now to try to poop, he hasn't given me much grief about sitting there I read him a story and he says..."well, thanks for trying I dont have any poopy right now, maybe later." I love his responses to situations, they are all so grown up sounding....just the other day he was playing with some sunglasses while we were waiting to check out and he couldn't get them back on the shelf and he said, "UGGH, I'M FRUSTRATED"...what 2 yr old says that? :)...sorry about the rabbit trail there... My biggest shocker with potty training so far is that I wasn't prepared for him to already, only in day 2, to be asking me to get him out of his crib to go potty. During nap time he said, "MOMMY, I NEED TO PEE PEE" So I went in got him out and sure enough he went on the potty then was able to fall asleep about 20 mins later. Then bedtime again (But this wasn't as fun). He goes to bed at 8 so at 830 he calls out "MOMMY, MOMMY I NEED TO GO" I went in and cant believe the words that came out of my mouth..."you have a diaper on do you just want to go in your diaper?" What was I thinking? Thankfully he said no I need to use the potty...SO he did, washed his hands and put his sticker in his book then again at 145...same thing Crying MOMMY, I went in and he said, I need to go pee pee...so there we went again and he was right back to sleep. I'm hoping that he wont need to go as often in the middle of the night?? What else can I do but get up and get him out of the crib...I guess hes getting so big I need to move him to the big boy bed so he can just get out by himself...I know you're probably reading and thinking..."what, hes 2 1/2 and still in the crib??" But he loves that thing and he such a good sleeper I've not wanted to mess it up...I'm thinking maybe we will make that big transition mid September. Its so sad that he's growing up so fast! In a span of 3 months he will seem to transition from Toddler to Big boy! :( But I'm proud of him, I am hoping today we will have some success with poop on the potty. All day yesterday, other than nap and bed he was bottomless, I think that's whats helped him to know he needs to go so quickly and if he barely starts to go its like one or two drops...much less of a hassle then changing his clothes all day...I think I'll keep this bottomless routine up for the rest of the week and add shorts with no under ware next week and the week after that add some underwear...We aren't going anywhere, just staying around the house, I thought I was going to go crazy but Mason and I have been spending some quality time together so its been fun to just make the days all about him and its also sad because I know that our lives are going to change so much come mid November when Baby Micah arrives...its going to be a fun change but none the less a change that we will all have to adjust to!

Firsts

Little Ceasers was having a training day before their opening and we got an invitation to get free pizza!! Well, really the only time Mason has pizza is at a party or even an at home Pizza Party, like we have in KY...so he said I neeed a party hat and balloons...so Chris made him this hat and I blew up a balloon...wala...pizza party!! Here he is checking out the balloon...he wants to play volley ball with it after his pizza is all gone in his tummy...he ate 1 and half pieces and was nervous that there wasnt going to be enough for him to have as much as he wanted.
One of Masons new things is loving to Pretend Drive! But here is is "REALLY DRIVING WITH DADDY" through the neighborhood...he thought he was BIG STUFF!! and in reality he really is getting to be "big" :(

First time Flying a kite with Daddy!!

I feel like we've done so many new things in the life of Mason the past couple of days... hes had a lot of firsts! Unfortunately the first new thing has been him being really a bit difficult. The main thing that gets him upset is getting his diaper changed and going somewhere new or leaving once we are there. Mason is typically a very easy boy that is extremely corroborative but hes been testing us and whining and crying...just being very emotional...he cried over the fact there was only one egg left in the egg carton???

The second first was his first time going to Chucky Cheese or as he calls it "Chucky Cheeseits" It was Benjamin's 3rd birthday party place. Mason loved the token money, the band up front and unlike most of the other kids he wanted to follow the Chucky Cheese Mouse everywhere! But of course his favorite part was the cupcakes!

The third first was him waking after being asleep for about an hour and half with the most horrible scared scream that you've ever heard...Chris ran up to his room and Mason said, "I'm scared of the dark daddy!"...how pitiful is that and of course when you need a nightlight you don't have one. Well, he opened Masons door and turned the light in the next room on and that worked for about another hour then it happened again!...Scream, we go in and again, "I am afraid of the dark"...plus he had somehow leaked through or should I say past his diaper, his pj pants were wet and his diaper was dry???...he was sooo upset. So Chris told him he was going to go get him a night light and Mason said okay but then he got so scared for Chris to leave so long story short the whole family took at 10 pm ride to Harris Teeter in search of a night light! We plugged it in and it worked like a charm...he slept just fine all night!

The fourth first was him getting to fly a kite. He saw a kite in one of his little people lift the flap books and he said, "maybe one day my daddy will buy a kite for me" and Chris did just that, but we've been waiting for some wind to be able to fly it. We started out in the back yard but there wasn't really enough space so we drove over to the other common area in our neighborhood and that was a great spot. Chris would get it started and Mason could do it all by himself...he loved it...I did too, there is something really fun about flying a kite!

The fifth was our journey yesterday, I was planning on going cold Turkey the 1st week of August with potty training but Mason kinda lead the way yesterday...So... Mason did a huge poop so I got a rag and washed him off and decided I should let him air out a little so I just put his shorts on without a diaper and he went to the potty 3 times without fuss!! I made him a little book out of construction paper stapled together..."Mason's Potty Sticker Book" and hes been putting stickers in it..I figured that way it would be something I could take with me when we go out. After the 2nd pee in the potty he said he wanted to wear some underwear so I said okay and he had just a tiny little dribble come out and he said...Ohhh I feel the pee pee coming out we better hurry and he finished in the potty and the next time he told me again he needed to go...He refused to go before his nap but I put a diaper on and left the underwear on over top ...well, about an hour into nap he called out, "mommy I'm going potty! I'm going potty" So I went in and he had already gone in his diaper but that pretty much ruined nap time...we got up and went downstairs where we proceeded to watch a little "i can potty" video I picked up for free at one of Marbi's Y consignment sales. Its really cheesy all it is are different clips of kids going potty and going out to play and coming in to potty I think it was made in the 80s the hair is pretty entertaining! It has several catchy songs though...my favorite..."My potty, my potty I use it everyday, I use it for my poop and pee, then I go back and play!" After the movie he was all excited about it and we were talking about getting ready to go potty and he took a drink of H2O and started going on the floor but finished in the potty he said...oops I had an accident like those kids in the video. After bath he went again with no trouble, Chris came home and he went again with no trouble he was proud to show Chris how he could do it! Then right before bed we were hearing him pass some little toots, as he calls them, and we told him he may need to go poopy and we were on the way to the potty and he pooped in his shorts...He didn't get upset about it though...Overall I feel pretty good about his first official day of no diapers...so we're off! Chris told me that Success is when preparation and opportunity meet...well, I have read lots of blogs, sites and talked to other moms about their successes and so when Mason presented the opportunity I deiced that this was it...so now I'm just praying for lots and lots of success!! Today will be day 2!

GA Family Vacation

Mauch Family Vacation this year was spent in GA at Marbi and Andrews house. We've all been trying to make efforts to take a family vacation together we've been to the beach twice and we decided to go to GA and am I glad we did! We piled in their house which was plenty big to hold all of us! Mason, Chris and myself camped out down in the basement with one of the big screen TVs and the pool table and everyone else had their own rooms too...it was great! We started the days with good breakfasts, some time playing the Wii, we made picnic lunches, ate family dinners around their big table, took walks to the farm animals at the end of the road, played in the neighborhood pool, went to Stone Mt, watched movies and most importantly just enjoyed spending time with each other. I love that we have such wonderful times when we are all together and I really love that I actually like to spend time with my family, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to dread family time.

Andrew let Mason use the water hose to spray the grass and Mason decided to turn it into playtime with the water hose! He first learned this fun game while at Papa and Grandma's house after playing in the lake we stripped him down and sprayed off all of the lake grime, He loves getting the hose!

Watch out Marbi, hes after you! "you yike the water don't you Marbi? Its just water you don't have to run away from it!"- Mason

For a little playtime for the kids we went to Alyssa's school and the church, while the adults were taking a tour I watched all the kiddos play on the playground they loved it! I kept trying to get a pic of all of them together, that's a difficult task!

SLIDE
Alyssa

Olivia

Riding in Grandmaw and Papas van is THE BEST when you are a kid because you get to watch a movie...even if you're only driving 5 mins away! All the grand kids were in the van the whole weekend anywhere we went...they loved it and I think Grandmaw and Papa liked it too!!

Wrapping up the night sharing some Dippin Dots...Aunt Sheilas Treat!

To get to the top of stone Mt we took a sky lift ride, Mason thought it was like the rocket ride from Little Einsteins!


Marbi and Mason walking out on top of Stone Mt, I think it resembled the moon!

I absolutely love it when Mason wraps his arm around my neck when he gives me a hug! It feels so good plus it makes for a really great picture :)

The whole Family on top of the Mountain! Brent, Mom, Chris, Me, Sheila, Andrew, Marbi, Dad, Owen Mason and Alyssa...oh and Olivia is hiding behind Mason

Olivia slept on part of the train ride, I asked Mason if he wanted to take a nap like Olivia and he looked at me like"Are you crazy mom?" He said, "no I don't want to seep right now"

This train ride was the highlight of Masons trip to Stone Mountain!

Waiting for the train!

I SEE THE TRAIN!! Here it comes...ALL ABOARD, CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOO CHOO!!!!!!













Stone Mt had lots of shows, here is the science show, this was a big hit with Owen, he was jumping up and down and cheering, he LOVED this part!

This was us waiting for the nature show to start...this show was crazy, Owls and Hawks were trained to fly RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD!! A little too close for comfort, especially for heads with no hair!

We ate our picnic lunch and all had a great time but Owen was a little bit nervous about the bees!











Here is a video of Masons favorite part!! The train ride!

Birthday Parties

OWEN IS 6!!!

OWEN AND JAX

PIZZA BEFORE RAYS SPLASH PLANET!!

COOPERS 1ST

CHEESE

KARIS, MASON and BEN

Let me just say I love birthday parties. I love going to them, planning them, and I love little kid birthday parties the most! So far we've had 3 summer birthday parties. Little Nigles 3rd, which I dont have any pictures of :( , Owens 6th, and Coopers 1st. They have all been different and all fun too! Mason loves parties, we've been making cards so now if I mention someones birthday he wants to know if its time to make a card. And he also knows now that birthday parties equal him getting to get some cake. I discovered the other night when we were at my parents house that I dont make cakes for us here at the house EVER...my mom had made a cake for family night and when she brought it out Mason asked whos birthday it was and if they could just go ahead and put a candle in it and asked if we could just sing the birthday song for him! SO...we all joined in, watched the little candle burn and Mason smiled as we sung, "Happy Birthday Dear Mason"! Here are some Pics of the birthday parties!

COW DAY

First of all I love Chick Fila. Chris and I have already decided that if Mason needs to get a "teenager job" at fast food we want it to be Chick Fila...they play Christian music all the time, they are closed on Sundays and they have lots of great family things...like today's event...Dress up like a Cow and get free food...you know I'll do anything to get something for free! Come to find out so will a lot of my friends, I even got a call from Kristel telling me that she was taking her kids to theirs in KY...Truth is I was so excited to finally have a kid at Halloween so I could have an excuse to dress up! ...Today, I told Mason that we were going to make some cow masks and dress up like cows and meet some of his friends for lunch at chick fila and he said "moo" while walking around on his tip toes! Don't know how proud my dad would have been of me as far as my creativity level with this project went but I was reverting to the preschool days of simple costume. So I just googled "preschool cow mask" and the first one I clicked on had a printable mask! (I love the Internet...I really don't know what I would do without it!) I printed 2 and we colored some black spots on them, taped on some Popsicle sticks and we both wore white shirts and dark shorts and taped some black spots on our shirts...Wala...Instantly we were cows! It was fun, to see everyone all decked out in their black and white and Mason even won the golden cow in his kids meal prize so now we can go back another day for a free ice cream! The cow mascot was there and Mason LOVED giving it hugs and high fives! How much of his kids meal did he eat? One bite of one of his chicken nuggets and 3 fries. He was too excited about all of the cows (people dressed like cows and also his cow prize and stuffed animal cow) balloons, friends and the playground...but he ate it all once we got in the car! I Don't know how much money Chick Fila gave away today but they gave me more than just a free meal...a fun memory with my little boy who wanted to search through his books at nap time to find any with pictures of cows! Now I'm wondering if he thinks nuggets come from cows??

4th of July Camping Weekend

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jimmy have a campsite at Raccoon Holler and they invited us and mom and dad up for the weekend...I was so excited because I've really been wanting to take Mason camping. I had no idea his favorite part would be playing in their golf cart!
We set up the tent and Mason thought it was soo much fun! We had an air mattress for us and he has a little blow up ready bed too! He was very excited about sleeping in the tent!

Ahhh...its actually cool here in July!

One of my favorite parts about camping is the eating! We had some yummy food...thanks to Jackie and Jimmy! I think it tasted even better since I didn't have to cook it!

Mom and Jackie cooking inside the camper...come on is this really camping??

Masons favorite pass time...taking trips to see all of his family, taking trips to Target, the pool, KY and GA

He drove Papa around on pretend trips too!

Getting ready for bed in the tent!

SOO EXCITED about his flashlight!

It took him forever to get his shoes off because he didn't want to put his flashlight down!

The fireworks got a little loud for Mason so he wanted Chris to cover his ears

He liked them but was a little nervous ..."they are really Youd Mommy"

He would clap thinking they were over and more would start and he'd say, "make it stop mommy, its too Youd, cover my ears daddy"
The fireworks were great, they were over the little pond and they lasted a really long time and Mason was right they were loud...his little brother inside was even jumping at the loud noise!

I love fireworks!

Mason Cheeezzzin with Papa...I think Mason went up and down this slide like 45 times!

YUMMY SMORES!

Roasting some Marshmallows

Sitting with Daddy is so much fun!

Maybe my next son will look something like me??

Mason enjoyed this slide when Chris went with him...it was an old school metal slide that was SUPER FAST!

Daddy kept him safe!

Nervous trying it alone!

Uncle Jimmy let Mason "drive" And here is a good belly shot of me at 21 weeks pregnant!

Yummy candy from the golf cart parade!

Mason would wave that little flag as hard as he could

They would throw candy...

and he'd wave it some more...I think he thought if he stopped waving they'd stop coming and throwing candy.

Mason was so nice to share candy with all of us!

HAVE TO MENTION THE FIRST PART OF OUR TRIP!!!!!

Might be the hardest I have laughed in a while!

Its July 4th and we are on our way to Raccoon Holler campground to meet Jackie and Jimmy for a camping trip. This first picture is our first destination after our car ride of crazy long map quest directions and mom and dads van needing new breaks. Dad pulls into a service station to look up some numbers of places that may be open that we can go to to get new breaks and it just so happens that a man standing outside knows how to put on breaks and he only lives 15 mins away so mom and dad decide its fate and off we go to this mans house!...

At the bottom of the hill on his property is an old shop where the man explains he will need cash because he has no checking account to cash a check. Dad, Mason and Chris accompany the man as he changes the breaks on the van...

Meanwhile mom and I sit on a rusty glider and hold the mans 11 month old little girl while he fixes the van...Never would I allow a complete stranger to babysit my child but maybe this is how things work in Raccoon Holler??

She was a sweet little girl but I just couldn't stop laughing at the fact that I am on vacation, at a junk yard/house sitting on a rusty swing, holding a strangers kid while the breaks are fixed on mom and dads van...fun times!