Happy Boys

Mason learned how to grab and hold onto a rattle last week!  This is awesome because it means he'll be able to entertain himself for a few minutes soon. :)

Spencer picked out Mason's outfit this day.  Ha! Ha!

2 Months

Mason turned two months old on the 11th and had his well-child check-up the next day.  He is doing well and his pediatrician wrote, "very healthy baby," on a form we had to have filled out for finalization.  Mason now weighs 11.68 lbs (49.85%tile) and is 23 inches long (53.22%tile).  People always tell me that he looks big, but I was thinking he was a little small for his age.  Now I know he's completely average!

Mason had to get his first immunizations at this appointment and that has been a little rough.  He got three shots and just didn't feel well for several days afterward.  I remember Spencer reacting badly to his first shots too, but handled it better as he got older.  Hopefully Mason will too.  There was a lot of fussing and we were all up a lot in the night this week.

The only concern I had at this appointment was that Mason's eating has gotten increasingly worse.  We've had him on "sensitive" formula because he was having a lot of gas pains on regular formula, but his gas was getting worse and worse and he wasn't able to eat more than 1-2 ounces at each feeding.  Mason's doctor suggested trying soy formula so we have been using that the last few days.  Mason's had fewer gas bubbles, but he's still fighting eating.  I'm guessing that he doesn't like the taste of soy.  He takes it a little easier if we warm it up versus feeding it to him at room temperature like we have since placement.

Mason's sleeping was improving until he got his shots.  He was going to bed around 7:00 and waking up at around midnight, 4:00 and 6:00.  Two long stretches was good.  Now, he still has one long stretch, but is then up every 2-3 hours the rest of the night.  Thank heavens Alan is here to help!  Napping is going better though.  Mason takes all of his naps in the vibrating bouncy chair.  That thing is awesome!  Depending on when he ate last, he'll sleep up to 2 hours in there.

Alan is actually taking two months leave from Farmers at the moment.  He will have all of November and December off!  It's not paid, but Uberthons is making up the difference and we keep our benefits.  Alan just really wanted to have some good bonding time with Mason.  During his busy race season, if Alan was home in the evening it was during Mason's fussy time so Alan never got to see him happy.  It has been really nice to have the help the past two weeks.  I actually get to go running and take a shower without worrying about needing to rescue a crying baby the second I jump out.  Alan is such a good daddy!

In other fun developments, Mason discovered his hands and his voice this week.  He will sometimes stare cross-eyed at his hands and then put them in his mouth.  He doesn't always remember how to use his voice, but we can tell when he is trying and he's starting to coo more and more.  He is super smiley now and it's really fun to try to get him to laugh.  He's getting close.

Sometimes I look at Mason and still can't believe he's really ours.  The miracle of his adoption is still so powerful.  We are getting closer to finalizing the adoption.  We're really hoping to be finished by the end of the year, but the holidays may push it to January.  We sure love this darling baby and can't wait to have him sealed to us in the temple!

We had a family movie day on Veteran's Day - Planes Fire & Rescue and popcorn.

2014 Family Pictures!

Our favorite photographer/friend came all the way from Arizona to take family pictures this summer, but we decided not to have her take ours since we were still waiting for Mason to join us.  Luckily, a HS senior in our ward was offering to take family pictures for a discounted price so we had her do ours at her house out in the country last week.  We really lucked out and got the one dry day in the middle of a two-week rainy stretch.  While we didn't get as many good shots as we have in the past, these are by far my favorite family pictures because our family is so much more complete with Mason.

In the car on the way there, Spencer announced that he would only smile with his mouth closed.  Since family picture time is the one time I think it's ok to bribe, I told him he could have a special prize if he cooperated and did a real smile.  I was sure he would pick a toy or a book from his school's book order, but he wound up choosing to have screen time without finishing his usual contributions that afternoon!  Works for me!

Moms (that includes you Heidi!), I numbered them so you can let me know which prints and what sizes you want.  I can play around with cropping them too.

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2)

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6) SO much better than his school pictures!

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10)  I think this is my favorite.  Maybe.

11)

12) Maybe this one instead.

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14)

Happy Halloween!

We wound up getting three Halloween outfits from different people for Mason - a sketelon, a Frankenstein, and a jack-o-lantern.  The jack-o-lantern was my favorite, but it was still too big and his feet kept getting caught in the holes between the snaps.  He looked super cute in all of them though.

I just liked the light and his quiet contemplation in this picture.

It took Alan less than five minutes to discover that white pumpkins have way harder shells that the regular old orange ones.  Kitchen knives were not going to work, so we decided to have Spencer paint it instead.  I think Spencer had more fun doing it and it was WAY less work for Alan and I.  A win-win for everyone!

I finally found a way to get Mason to nap during the day!  (Well, sometimes.)  He has had several great naps in his vibrating bouncy chair.  It even helped facilitate a small miracle on Wednesday when I had a horrible migraine and was out of medication.  He slept in there for 2.5 hours while I slept to escape the pounding and nausea.

Spencer's first grade class had a party on Halloween afternoon and parents were invited.  This was the first time I had been able to go to his classroom since school started.  (I really miss knowing the kids and what's going on there this year.)  Mason slept in the carrier and I just observed and visited with parents.  Spencer had a great time playing games, decorating cookies and making crafts.

Mrs. Ayers' first grade class:

A happy skeleton

Spencer wanted to be Green Lantern this year.  I know almost nothing about this lesser-known super hero, but that's who Spencer wanted to be.  I wanted to make his costume because homemade costumes are the gold-standard to me, but decided I didn't have the energy to do it this year.  I did hem his pants and make his mask though.  He also had a glowing green power ring that he wore for night time trick-or-treating.

We have always just gone trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, but it was sunny and warm during the afternoon so we decided to check out the fun at a small strip mall in town.  Spencer was nervous to say "trick-or-treat" to strangers, but I assured him it was ok on Halloween and when your parents were right there with you.  He was pleased with his loot and it's a good thing we went because he would only go to three houses in our neighborhood.  Such a funny boy!

Smiles!

Mason has gotten a lot more smiley this week and I LOVE it!  The only problem is that he usually stops when I put a camera in front of his face.  I managed to get a few shots though.