Our Little Family

Normally, only one of us gets to be in a photo with StoneMason. (Somebody has to take the picture!!) One of Drake's brothers got married this week. We took advantage of having more people around. This way- THEY could take the picture and we could get a better family photo (vs one where I'm in a hospital gown). Thanks Bro!
*Drake's brother also taught us how to use the timer on our camera... so maybe we'll get a few more now.

Blessing Day

I was wondering what I would do for a blessing outfit and feeling a bit guilty knowing my sisters would hand-stich, crochet (spelling?), and more-than likely use their own hair to make a masterful and beautiful outfit for their children. I'm not that coordinated nor do I have the patience. I landed this beauty for $3 at DI. I love DI.
Note the satin stripe down the side as well! It makes up for the ruffle in front.

Sitting up...

...but not on his own.
Despite our ego-inflated, parental boasting that of course he would be spouting full-sentences by this age... he has not even mastered sitting up... at least not independently. Thanks to a gift from grandma- we can pretend though.

From the mouths of babes...

No, StoneMason isn't talking yet, but the neighbors are! I half expect this same story to show up on their blog in a few days.
I was watching "Princess" and "Mo" (respectively almost 4, and barely 2) the other day with Drake while their parents took a rare dinner date on their own. Princess was having the time of her life playing Hide-and-Seek with Drake and I. She's still at the age where she doesn't realize that hiding in the cupboard EVERY time does not fool us. (The giggling is another obvious give-away- she hasn't realized that either.) Well, to make a not-so-long story even shorter, Princess didn't want to go to bed at that fateful hour. So she prolonged hide-and-seek. She hid, hid the brother's pj's and did just about everything possible to keep playing. When I informed her she would be going straight to bed without any extras because she had not listened her reply was, "Don't tell my mom and dad." I wanted to laugh- but knew better.
Did I mention she's not yet 4?
I thought that line came much later in life. It makes me wonder what Mason will be saying at that age.

Pictures

Here's StoneMason in some more of his outifts and gifts (that are of course too big for right now). They won't be for long though- he's growing like a weed. He weighs about 12 pounds (as far as we can tell on our scale) and his stomach is huge!! At least we know he is eating well.

We cheated in this picture... he's not really wearing the onesie, its just tucked in the overalls...

Occasionally he does take naps... We're pretty excited when he does.

Very Expressive

I thought I finally had all the pictures turned the right way.... I guess not.

New Toys

We assembled some of Mason's new toys yesterday (not all are shown believe it or not). What do you think? I think he's a tad too small/ too young for some...

Cute

I took StoneMason over to our neighbors yesterday. Her kids seemed to enjoy him. It was very cute. Check this out. (It's nice to just link... the post is already done for me!)

Sleepless in Centerville

Now that you've seen the happy side of our boy- you should know he's only that way when he's had sufficient sleep. Which he hasn't lately.
Unlike our unlucky neighbors (who's baby would LITERALLY go for 24 hours without sleep and then crash for 6... then repeat...) he hasn't taken this quite to the extreme. However, there was a stretch where within a 30 hour span he'd only slept about 5 hours. YUCK!
While things aren't quite that bad now, he's still not sleeping great. The worst is he is a picky sleeper- meaning he won't just sleep anywhere.
For example:
His Crib: NO WAY. You can count to 30 and I guarantee he'll wake up.
Mom's Arms: Certainly. This is his favorite. Unfortunately I sleep sitting up propped up by pillows about 1/2 the time to satisfy this kiddo.
The Swing: Have I mentioned that I love our swing (its actually my mother-in-laws). He'll be satisfied for about 2 hours or less in the swing.... if its moving. Don't you dare turn it off. We've since bought a lot more C batteries to fuel this lifesaver.
Anywhere else: sketchy. He picks and chooses.
Now- if our neighbor "ice-cold-goats-milk" holds him... of course he's out. Why do babies do that? Do just what is expected when someone else is holding them- just not mom or dad.
So- if any of you have any suggestions on how to get our almost 5 week old to sleep more normally- we're open to suggestions. We feel like we can't force him to sleep in his crib yet- he's so little! He gets so so so so so mad. But... really, sleeping sitting up is not so great.

The Smilingest Hiccupingest Boy

So Mason has been smiling for quite a while now. The trick is catching it on camera! Funny boy.


The other thing he does a lot (besides eat) is hiccup. Those aren't any fun to catch on camera. So we didn't.