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.