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.