Baby Mason and Momma

Chase sent me this picture recently to remind me how incredibly wonderful being handed my brand new baby boy was. I can't believe it has been over 2 years and I can't believe we are about to welcome another precious baby boy into this world.
I LOVE YOU MASON!

33 Weeks

Last Tuesday I was 33 weeks and I had Chase take these pictures. I swear Charlie is sticking out a lot further than I remember Mason sticking out. I feel like I look in these pictures the same as I did when I was full term with Mason! Charlie is definitely growing daily and showing no signs of slowing down. Chase and I have made guesses on how big Charlie will be and I have said 7 lbs 6oz and Chase has said 7lbs 2oz, so we shall see who is closer. I definitely know Charlie will be bigger than Mason. I can just feel that in the weight of my belly! We are all getting super excited around here. We recently got all of our baby gear down from the attic and are getting everything cleaned up. Mason has actually been carrying around a stuffed dog in a blanket calling it baby Charlie. He puts it in the bassinet and in the baby swing. He even diapered it! It is so incredibly cute and it makes me so excited for Mason to actually meet his new baby brother. I wasn't going to post a pic of my bare belly but I had to in order to show how BIG Charlie has gotten! Oh and we officially decided on a name, Charles (charlie) Joseph Malone. Charles after one of Mason's great grandfathers and Joseph after his other great grandfather, papaw Joe (even though it isn't the exact name we tried to incorporate the Joe some how)

Finishing out the Summer

We have a great front porch on our house (one that I will miss very much!) and not too long ago I placed all of Mason's summer toys on it (why I did not do this a long time ago I have no idea). Now the only thing Mason wants to do is "play porch mamma". That is all I ever hear. So Mason and I have been spending our early evenings (while Chase is teaching at night) and weekends on the porch playing. Right now the weather is perfect with a great breeze that blows across our porch so it is so relaxing and Mason gets to get wet and dirty and have lots of fun. It has been a great way to finish out the summer and welcome the fall! We decided one evening to take our dessert (watermelon!) out to the porch to eat and here are some pictures.

Silly Mason

Mason has recently become very silly. He makes Chase and I constantly laugh. We are also amazed at his creativity and imagination. It grows daily and we are so very proud of that. In these pictures he decided to put on a pair of Charlie's newborn socks, his flip flops, and Mr. Potato head's glasses. He was so proud of himself!

Family Pics

These are just a couple of family pics that Chase took in our backyard the other day. Mason's teacher had been asking for a family picture for about a week and I finally got around to looking in my box of pictures to find one just to realize we three had not taken a picture together since December! There were ones of Chase and Mason, ones of me and Mason, and of course plenty of just Mason but none of the three (actually four) of us. So we quickly took one in the backyard. Chase of course is very artistic in the way he takes self portraits (or in this case family portraits) and he just set the camera in the grass. I think they came out very cool looking.

Weekend with Friends

This weekend my best friend Sara and part of her family came up to Memphis. It was incredibly fun getting to spend time with them. We went to Pink Palace on Saturday afternoon to kill time in an air conditioned place. Chase and I have been hesitating taking Mason there because it is a natural history museum with a lot of reading that goes along with each exhibit so we thought Mason would lose interest too fast. We were wrong. Mason loved it and was so fascinated by all the animal skeletons and fossils. He also loved the miniture replica of a circus (his favorite part of course being all the animals). It was a fun way to spend the afternoon with friends and we will be taking Mason back again this summer.

28 weeks

Last Tuesday I was officially 28 weeks and on to my third trimester. I can't believe how incredibly fast this pregnancy is going. I told myself to try to remember and enjoy every minute of it but it has seemed to just fly by without me noticing. I guess in a way that is good. It means it has been a pretty easy and uneventful pregnancy which is never a bad thing. I can't say that I was prepared for a Memphis summer and being pregnant. It has been miserably hot here with the heat index reaching up to around 120. So needless to say I have been sluggish and plain out miserable some days but thank goodness for an inside job and air conditioning! We are so excited that baby Charlie will be here soon. Even Mason is getting prepared. Mason loves playing with baby Charlie through my stomach. The other day he was giving Charlie kisses or what we call Zerberts (where he blows real hard on my stomach with his lips to make it tickle) and baby Charlie kicked him in the face. Mason sat up utterly surprised and of course I couldn't quit laughing! They are going to have so much fun together. Chase and I can not wait to watch them grow together as friends and brothers.

Another Boy!!!

We found out at my doctor's appointment this past weekend that we are welcoming another little boy into this world this coming November. He will be named Charles after Chase's grandfather and we will call him Charlie. I was able to have both Chase and mason with me when I had my ultrasound and it made it that much more special. Mason kept calling the baby a dinosaur but I think he got the picture that there was something in mommy's belly (which was the whole point of having him there for it). I was glad to have a great ultrasound tech because this was the first ultrasound we have had since the one I had at 7 weeks and I had her explain everything to me as she did it. I mean every little detail. Turns out baby charlie is as healthy as they can tell from an ultrasound and growing just like he is suppose to (he weighed slightly over 1 pound). All parts of the heart were there, brain measurements were normal, long bone measurements normal, kidneys working, diaphragm in correct position, all ten fingers and toes, and boy parts. I am 20 weeks in this picture and still growing daily!

Toy Story 3

We took Mason to see Toy Story 3 in the movie theater (his first movie theater visit)! I was very nervous about taking him to see a movie in the theater for fear we would spend all that money and then we would have to leave shortly after the movie started. Quite the opposite happened. Mason was amazed with "the big screen". He sat quietly through the whole movie eating his giant tub of popcorn. At the end of the movie, it was pretty impossible to get him to leave! He kept saying he wanted to see it again. So we are in the process of searching out the next kid friendly movie to take him to.


Posing by the poster


Dad and Mason in the theater with their giant tub of popcorn

My Baby Boy Turns Two!

Mason turned two on June 12th. We went up to Knoxville to celebrate his birthday with all of Chase's relatives (most of my side of the family was out of town. He ended up having a second party with them when everyone was back in Memphis). It was a toy story themed party (since Mason is obsessed with those movies right now) and I think he got every toy possible that had to do with toy story. I mean now he has a toy of every character in the movie. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending that time with family. I can't believe my baby is two. It makes me want to cry every time I think about how fast these past two years have gone by and no matter how many pictures, videos, or stories I jot down and take, I never can seem to document everything I want to remember about Mason's childhood. I just hope my memory holds out because I don't want to forget anything Mason has done!


Mason in the tent Chase and I gave him


Mason in his new cozy coupe


stuffing his face with birthday cake

"No Way"

Mason has gotten unbelievably cute lately. He is developing his language skills so quickly and he loves to put new words he learns daily into conversations. For about a couple weeks now, every time he doesn't like something or doesn't want to do something, he says "no way" and puts up his hand and shakes it back and forth. So since he is in that terrible two stage we constantly hear "no way mama" "no way dada". I can't help but laugh because it is so darn cute. He also will look at you now and have a whole conversation where you only understand a word here and there and then when you say I don't understand baby, he gets so frustrated with you. It has gotten to the point now that I pick up on enough words that I can usually pick up what he is talking about. The older he gets, I swear, the cuter he becomes.
Our newest addition has gotten big enough that I now can feel he/she move around and kick. It is not strong enough yet for Chase to feel it but I sure can. I forgot what an awesome feeling it is. We find out June 23rd if the baby is a boy or girl. Chase and I ran into the same conflict with this baby. He wanted to find out the sex and I didn't. I had the same argument that there aren't many surprises in life and this is a true surprise. One of my colleagues at work put it in perspective for me, however. He asked if we were finding out the sex and I said I didn't want to because I wanted to be a surprised and he said "well isn't it a surprise when you find out on the ultrasound?" I thought about that statement and decided he was right. It is a surprise either way you do it. Whether you find out during an ultrasound or when the baby is born, it is a surprise and you are happy and teary eyed no matter when you decide to find out. So I sided with Chase and we will find out at the end of this month.

14 weeks and counting

Chase and I are finally announcing that we are adding to our family. This Tuesday I will already be 14 weeks! We are super excited. I am very glad to finally be out of my first trimester,though. Just like last time I had pretty bad nausea but not bad enough to keep me home so I was just miserable at work. It worked out perfectly though because the month that it was bad I was on anesthesia rotation and got to go home at noon every day. This time around I am always so hungry. I mean I eat 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. I don't have time for 2 lunches or I probably would do that too! I don't remember being this hungry all the time last go round. Who knows what that means. We are slowly getting Mason ready to be a big brother. He doesn't understand what is going on yet but I am sure he will start to wonder when my belly starts expanding! We are excited to see how he will act with the new baby. We know he will be a great big brother!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I had a great mother's day. It started with Mason and Chase bringing me breakfast in bed and then Mason actually sat in bed with me and cuddled. That is extremely rare and made my mother's day. Mason had also made me a mother's day album in school that had his pictures, handprints, and footprints in it. It was such a wonderful gift. Because it was such a beautiful day (sunny and 67 degrees!), we took my mom, who was watching my two nieces, to Shelby Farms for a picnic. We had a wonderful time and the kids really enjoyed flying a kite, playing soccer, and riding in the wagon (thanks Chase! He did all the pulling). My mom and I were able to sit in the sun, relax and watch them play! It was wonderful. I hope every mothers' day was as enjoyable as mine!

Mason's PJ Party

Mason recently had a pajama party at school. His teachers at school absolutely adore Mason. I dropped him off that morning and they were commenting on how cute his pajamas were. When I left, I was still in hearing distance to hear one of them say, "I knew he would come in the coolest pajamas!" Mason's the coolest kid in school! or at least in my eyes he is. These are some photos from when he got home that day.
He has really gotten into the movie Toy Story and knows the name to all of the characters. We took him to Target before his party to pick out some PJs, and he chose these very quickly. If you ask him who the characters are on his PJs, he can tell you every one of them. We have actually caught him talking to his shirt. He pulls it out from his body, looks down, and starts talking to Buzz and Woody! It is the cutest!


Mason with Daddy (they were in the process of building a fort)


Mason not wanting to take a picture with mommy


Mason in the "coolest" PJs

Summer's 30th Birthday

We had a surprise party for a good friend and colleague of mine this past weekend. It was a lot of fun and it felt great to get out of the house and do something. It really sucks sometimes to still be in school but it is people like Summer and the rest of my colleagues that make it bearable and actually fun!


Me, Brittany (the other party thrower), and Summer


Summer and Mason


Daddy and his little man!


The most precious little boy ever!

My Precious Big Boy

It has been a long time since I have last posted anything. It is amazing what little time there seems to be during the day. Between clinic, school work, being a mom, and trying to keep the house in order, there never is enough time to blog. Part of my new years resolution, though, was to try to find time. It is a great way to be able to look back at what our family has done over the years and I would really like to have that. So here is the first blog of I hope many to come.