Mason 16 months

 Mason Alan you are 16 months old!

What have you been up to these past couple of months? 

 

At your 15 month well child check:

Weight: 25 pounds (80th percentile)

Height: 31.25 inches ( 51st percentile)

Head circumference: 19.5 inches ( 98th percentile)

 You are a big boy. You aren't a very chunky, rolly polly boy, just solid as can be! You wear 18-24 month clothes. You wear size 4 diapers.

You absolutely love your crib and love sleeping! You sleep from about 7pm-7am and you take about a 3 hour nap each afternoon. You sleep with your old and your new stuffed giraffe, your paci, a blanket and your sound machine on.

One night when going to bed, Daddy and I were sitting on the couch. We told you that it was time to go to bed. You started walking towards the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, you turned around and said "Nigh, nigh", waved and started crawling up the stairs. It was so sweet.

At 15 months you can walk across a room. You still crawl about 50% of the time. 

Finally, at 15 1/2 months you started officially walking everywhere. You seem so proud, and will just walk around and around our house. 

You can go up and down the stairs. You like to try and be a big boy and walk down the stairs, which you can't do safely, so you need need lots of reminders to go down backwards.

You love to play with your shoes but don't like to put them on.

You love food. You honestly will eat just about anything we put in front of you. We call you the garbage disposal because you will eat all of Matthew and Mollie's leftover food. You LOVE apples, eggs, Veggie Straws, string cheese and milk.

You have had a rough time teething. You are fussy and extra tired.

Your vocabulary is growing every day! You say a lot of words, but usually only say the first sound of the word.

You nod and say "yes" or "no" to questions appropriately.

You LOVE bath time and splashing with your brother and sister.

You absolutely love brushing your teeth.

You love when Daddy lays on the ground and you crawl all over him, and "wrestle"

You love keys. When Gabby is over, you immediately want her purse, so you can dig in it and find her keys.

If you are outside, you love being in the dirt, making a mess and working with Daddy.

Mason Alan, you seem soo big after having a tiny little baby brother! You absolutely love Miles. You call him "Muh". You love to kiss Miles and give him hugs with your enormous head. We do have to put Miles and his bouncy seat up on the table because you also love to crawl on top of him and bounce his seat way too hard! Oh the joys of 2 babies 14.5 months apart. Seriously though, you have adjusted wonderfully to having a new baby brother. You are so interested in him and have assumed the role of big brother perfectly! I couldn't be happier about this. You two are going to be best of buds in no time!

Mason Alan, you are just in the sweetest stage. Don't ever change buddy! We love you so much!

Miles 1 month

How in the world are you one month old already? Although you are still tiny, you seem like you are growing everyday! I think because you are our last baby, I am trying to savor and remember each moment with you.  The teeny tiny newborn stage is absolutely precious and one of my favorites. You are just the sweetest thing ever and we are so in love with you!!

What have you been up to during your first month of life?

Well, you sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep and sleep even more, we wake you up to feed, you pee, you poop every few days, and you go back to sleep. You are a pretty easy little guy! Thank goodness!

You have breastmilk jaundice, so we had to do home phototherapy. Your bili levels have been very slow to come down, so you spent your first week of life on a bilibed at home. I'm so thankful you were able to stay at home, but it was really hard having you just sleeping on the bilibed and not cuddled in our arms! We had to wake you every 2 hours to feed. This was challenging because you were so sleepy! We also had to syringe feed you after each feeding because you were so hard to keep awake while you nursed! It was a long and exhausting week, but we are so thankful that you are healthy! You are still jaundiced but it will take awhile for it to go away completely.

You sleep about 20-22 hours a day. You have very small periods of awake times, most of those being while you are nursing. We don't get to see those sweet, dark brown eyes very often! You have been sleeping great at night. I nurse you about 10pm, 2am and 6am when we get up for the day. After nursing at night, you go right back to sleep. You nurse every 3 hours during the day. Most of your daytime feedings I have to wake you for. Since you were almost 4 weeks early, we expected you to be a sleepy little guy!

Our one and only, you still have a full head of dark hair. Everyone loves to rub and touch your sweet head, so your hair tends to get oily quickly. I love after you have just had a bath and your hair is so clean, soft and sticks straight up! Bath time tends to be very quick because you don't particularly enjoy it.

You love your paci. It is very soothing for you. Lots of times you take your paci with such vigor and just chomp away on it.

You wear newborn diapers and newborn sized clothes. You have such skinny little arms and legs.

You sleep swaddled at night. You like to be swaddled but you don't need it all the time when you sleep during the day.

You love to snuggle on a warm chest, but you also really like to sit in your bouncy seat or on your boppy.

The Ergo puts you to sleep immediately. This makes trips to Costco with four kids and one Momma much easier!

After about 3 weeks, I got the hang of how to best nurse you and you finally figured nursing out. You were SO sleepy for the first couple weeks, but nursing is much improved and you now nurse for about 10 minutes on each side.

You absolutely have to be burped after you nurse. I've never had a baby who has spit up much at all, but you have started to spit up quite a bit after each feeding. Both you and I go through multiple outfit changes, bibs and burp cloths throughout the day!

Thankfully, you rarely ever cry. If you are hungry, tired or cold you will fuss and as soon as we take care of the problem or pick you up, you will calm down immediately. You are such a content little guy!

We love you Miles, and are so thankful for your sweet, easy, laid back personality. Thank goodness because I don't know how we'd survive a fussy, needy fourth baby. God always know what He's doing and what our family needed when He gave us you!

Miles Patrick, birth story

Some nights I lay down in bed completely in awe that at 29 years old Matt and I have been blessed with 4 beautiful children ages 4 and under. Most nights we just collapse from sheer exhaustion! I am continually amazed and humbled at the responsibility and privilege that God has placed on us, as parents to our now 4 children to raise them in the nurture and admonition of The Lord! I'm in awe at how perfectly created our Heavenly Father has made each of our children uniquely different and special.

I still vividly remember the day that I found out I was pregnant with Baby #4. Mason was almost 6 months old and at that time having another baby wasn't even on my mind. I already had a baby, as well as a 2 and 3 year old! I missed my period, although I didn't think too much of it since I was still nursing Mason, I wasn't feeling great, was slightly bloated and just had that sense that I should take a pregnancy test. I remember walking out of my bedroom to the top of the stairs, saw Matt and just said "I'm pregnant." Now don't get me wrong, I was very excited that God had blessed us with another pregnancy but it was very unexpected. I had to tell people fairly early on because I started to show by 8 weeks. I loved the responses I got from people because it was either that they were very excited for us, or they rolled their eyes completely not surprised that Matt and Cammie were pregnant again! At 20 weeks we found out that we were having another little boy. God knew one girl was enough for our family. Mollie will have 3 brothers all protecting and looking out for our little princess!

This pregnancy was by far my most uncomfortable and miserable pregnancy. 4 pregnancies in 4 years took a toll on my body. I had so many aches and pains, especially in my back and hips. Plus, I was completely exhausted from chasing around 3 little ones! This is the point where I get to brag on my husband because he was super Daddy, especially during the last couple months of my pregnancy when he was on summer break and I was miserable. My kiddos and I got spoiled daily by Daddy and he was a huge help with our kids and the house. I think Matt was so glad when I finally gave birth though!

At 36 weeks I could just tell that I was close to having this baby. On Saturday August 8th, we had a busy day. My mom gave me a baby shower that morning, where I was blessed with diapers and clothes from my dear friends and family, and we spent the afternoon at a family reunion. I had been having some random contractions but nothing regular, just exhausted, sore, huge, worn out,....done being pregnant! At 4:00pm, I had a few strong contractions and while in the bathroom at home, my water broke. It was time!

However, after my water broke my contractions stopped. My midwife had me stay home to see if labor would start on its own. Later that evening I ended up having to go into the hospital because my Group-B strep results weren't back yet. They ran a rapid Group-B strep test and did a non-stress test to make sure baby boy was doing fine. My Group-B came back negative and baby looked great, so about 10:00pm my midwife sent me home for the night to get some sleep and to come back in the morning for an induction.

I ended up having contractions throughout the night, but when I got up in the morning to shower, they stopped completely! We got the kids up and ready and my dad took Matthew and Mollie to church where they would spend the next couple of days with Aunt Amy, Uncle Kevin and their cousins. Matthew was thrilled, Mollie cried. I'm so thankful for family who loves our family and kids as their own. Bami came over to our house to take care of Mason there. With everyone set, my mom, Matt and I headed to the hospital to have a baby!

I started Pitocin about 8:30am. I was 3 cm dilated. By about 9:30 am I was having strong regular contractions, 3 minutes apart. Since I have had three previous natural, non-medicated births, I knew that this one would be no different. However, in the midst of painful, intense contractions, I dreamed of an epidural! Throughout the morning I walked the hallways and bounced on the labor ball. Around 12:30 my contractions seemed to really change and I began to feel the urge to push. My midwife checked me and baby was low but I was only 5 cm dilated. Needless to say I was a little frustrated and disappointed with my progress. My labor continued to be hard and intense.

During all of this, we still hadn't been able to decide on baby boy's name! We had decided that it was going to start with an "M" and had a list of about 4 names, but no winner yet. Finally, during labor we buckled down and Matt decided his name was going to be Miles Patrick. I loved it! Miles after my Pa's middle name and Patrick after Matt's dad. Miles Patrick Stevens.

At about 1:55 my midwife stepped out for a couple of minutes to order some food. I had 2 really intense contractions, during which I felt like I had to push again. Since it was only about an hour and a half earlier that I was checked and only 5cm, I was determined that I wasn't going to have my midwife check me again until it was really time to push. I didn't want to be disappointed by my lack of progress again. I decided that maybe I just needed to go to the bathroom (insert, WRONG choice!). Immediately after sitting down, I knew that I did not have to go to the bathroom, but that it really was time for baby, and NOW! I literally had to run to bed, my mom trailing after me with my IV pole. I had to leap into bed, because I had it elevated so I could stand and lean against it during labor. Immediately after getting into bed, Miles was born, self delivered, right on the bed. It all happened so fast he was just laying there on the bed, curled up in a little ball, not even aware he had just been born! My midwife walked (ran!) into the room just as I was delivering. She ran over, grabbed Miles and put him up on my chest. During all this (which was literally about 15 seconds), Matt stood I think in shock at how fast everything just happened. Miles just lay, so calm, perfect, pink, and wide eyed on my chest, not even letting out a cry. The one thing all of us couldn't believe was that Miles had a head full of hair! I always wished I had a baby with hair, but after having three bald babies, I never imagined that #4 would have hair, let alone dark, black hair. We all couldn't stop laughing and smiling at what just happened. I remember feeling so relieved that it was all over and our fourth baby was really here!

Miles Patrick Stevens

Born 8/9/2015 at 2:00 pm

7 pounds, 19.5 inches

He layed in my chest and nursed for about an hour. After that, I got up and dressed and Miles was wrapped up and passed around to an eager Daddy, Gabby and Grandma. Because Miles was 3.5 weeks early, they had to check his blood sugar. He nursed great, but it ended up that he had a very low blood sugar. I had to nurse a bit more frequently throughout the day, Miles had to have his blood sugar checked often, but we were able to steer clear of a visit to the NICU.

Aunt Amy, Papa and the kids came to visit. Matthew said "hi!" to Miles but was way more interested in the present that Miles had brought to him. Mollie was so fascinated with her new baby brother. She didn't want to pass him around and just wanted to hold him and kiss him. Grandpa brought Mason and Banna to come meet Miles too. Mason gave Miles a few sweet kisses on his head and was most interested in the snacks we had for him. The evening we ordered pizza and enjoyed a quiet night at the hospital.

The next morning Matt and I were so eager to get out of the hospital and bring our little guy home. Turns out that Miles had an elevated bilirubin and was starting to develop jaundice. The doctor had us wait about 8 hours to recheck his bili level. His level went up even more. It felt like a long day, anxious to get home. Our doctor felt comfortable with us heading home that evening with plans to return in the morning for another bili check. His bili level continued to creep up but wasn't at a level that required phototherapy just yet. We had an appointment with my pediatrician the next day and had another bili level drawn. This time his bili level went up to the point where we had to start home phototherapy. Miles ended up having to be on the bili lights for 6 days. I'm so thankful that we were able to do phototherapy at our house, but it's hard having a newborn baby you want to love and cuddle on, yet all you can do it nurse him and then put him right back on the bili lights. It also made for a tiring and challenging 6 days, having to try to wake and feed a very sleepy baby every 2 hours. Needless to say, we were all so happy when Miles was healthy enough to come off the bili lights!

Matthew, Mollie and Mason have loved having a little baby brother. Matthew loves to kiss and talk to Miles. He will hold him for a few minutes and then is off to play and explore. Mollie is my little helper. She loves to help change diapers, retrieve a new burp cloth, or grab the wipes. She will sit and hold Miles like she's been holding babies for years. Mason calls baby Miles "Muh". He loves to point at his baby brother and gives him the sweetest kisses and constantly hugs Miles by placing his head on Miles. So far our transition to 4 kids has been wonderful!

Miles Patrick, you complete our family and are so excited to love you, nurture you and watch you grow (but not too fast, okay?). Welcome to this world sweet baby boy!

 

 

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Mason Alan 14 months

Mason Alan you are 14 months old!

What have you been up to this past month???

You are SO much fun right now. You have such an infectious smile, a sweet personality and are learning new things every day! You are at a busy age, moving from toy to toy upstairs to downstairs, happy to sad and back again!

You crawl everywhere! It's about time you start walking, but for now all you do is pull up and walk along furniture.

You let go of things when standing. Instead of taking any steps, you will dive with your head towards us and give cuddles. It's one of your favorite games.

Finally, at 14 months and 3 weeks you finally starting taking up to 4 steps at a time. You've done everything slow and steady and you'll be cruising before we know it!

You can crawl up stairs and have almost learned how to crawl down them too.

You love to play with empty water bottles, balloons and your favorite toy, balls.

You say "Oooooh" and "whoa" to new or exciting things,

Your new words are bubble, mama and dada.

Speaking of Daddy, you are such a daddy's boy. You love your mommy, but you absolutely light up for Daddy. Since Mommy has been so big and pregnant, and since Daddy has been off for the summer, you have spent so much time being Daddy's little side kick.

Mason, you love to swing, be outside, ride in your car, and dig in the dirt or sand. All boy!

We have had a hot summer, so it's a good thing that you absolutely love water! You play with the water table but your favorite is the kiddie pool. You crawl right into the pool, turn yourself around and sit down, and splash your arms and smile with such satisfaction! It's pretty adorable, but then again I think just about anything you do these days is pretty cute!

You went on Grandpa's boat for the first time. You loved swimming in the lake, but you weren't too sure about wearing a life jacket. You watched your bro bro and sissy inner tube for awhile and then fell asleep.

You have such a sweet, easy going personality, but you are starting to show your stubborn side. You have a little temper at times, especially when changing your diaper, getting into your car seat or riding in the car. You will throw a toy or hit whoever is within arms reach when you get upset. You are learning how to sit in time out!

You so badly want to be with the big kids. You are starting to play a lot more with your brother and sissy, but just can't keep up most of the time. You love to poke Matthew's belly button and giggle, and play in your crib with Sissy.

At 14.5 months you became a big brother!!!! Seriously, overnight you seem so big compared to your tiny little brother. You love to point at Miles and you call him "Muh". You like to kiss his head and give him hugs with your head. Miles sat in your lap one day and you were so proud and happy. You were gentle and ever so sweetly kissed his head. Melted our hearts! I'm so excited to see your relationship with Miles. You two will be best buddies!

Mason Alan, what a joy you are to our family!

 

 

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Mason Alan 1 year old

Mason Alan you are one year old!!

Mason Alan, you are such a light in our family. Sometimes Daddy and I will be talking on our crazy busy days when it seems like your brother and sissy are fighting and pushing our buttons all day long and we always say "Thank goodness for Mase!" God knew exactly what our family needed when He gave us you! You are happy, laid back, sweet, lovable and predictable. I can't believe you are ONE but I can't wait to see the little boy you are starting to grow in to. We have cherished our time with you this past year and are so blessed to call you our son!

You wear size 18-24 month clothes and size 4 diapers. You are a solid little chunk!

You're the best sleeper! You usually take 1 nap a day for 3-4 hours. Sometimes you will take a little cat napin the car. You sleep at night from about 7:00pm-7:30am. You sleep unswaddled with 1 blanket, a stuffed animal, your boo-boo, and white noise machine on. After a good night sleep you wake up one happy boy!

You love to eat and will eat just about anything and everything. You love fruit, especially bananas and strawberries. Other favorites are cheese, yogurt, PB toast, and eggs. We have started transitioning you over from formula to whole milk and you have done great. You eat with a plate. You have started to throw food at times. You will just smile when we tell you "no" but generally you obey that, for now anyways!

You love your Daddy. You make the same grunt noise every time you wants to gets daddy's attention. Your entire face lights up in a special way for him. You love to grab his beard, climb on him and show him all your toys. Daddy gives you your bedtime bottle and cuddles. It's a special time you two have been sharing together.

You spend most Fridays with Gabby while Mommy works. You are a happy little boy who loves his Gabby, although you are a total stinker and haven't been napping well for Gabby. It's getting better but you are a tired boy come Friday evening!

You LOVE balls. It's absolutely your favorite toy and your favorite word to say. Anytime you see a ball on the floor, outside, downstairs, a picture of a ball or anything round that might resemble a ball you will say "ball" over and over again. You are obsessed.

Other words you are saying are: mama, dada, dog, bro bro, ba ba (bottle) and nana (banana).

You wave hi and bye. You recently started waving by opening and closing your hand. It's pretty cute.

You sign more, thank you and all done,

When you are excited you get all tense, pump your legs and squeeze your fingers in and out.

You have started making a scrunchy smile face. It's my favorite.

At 11 months and 1 week old you learned how to go from lying down to sitting up on your own.

At 11 months and 3 weeks you finally started to crawl!! You are just starting to get the hang of it, but I know you will be flying in no time.

You have been trying to pull up on furniture but have only pulled up on the couch twice so far. You love to stand holding on to furniture and people though. Your balance is much better, although we can't leave you by yourself yet. Again, I know you will be cruising before I know it.

You love to stand on the couch and look outside.

You're still experiencing separation anxiety. It's really hard to even go to the ymca right now, and about 50% of the time we are called out from church because you won't calm down in the church nursery!

You love to take your socks off in the car.

You have 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth. A few more are starting to come in. You drool more, are a little fussy and have your fingers in your mouth a lot.

You know where your head and mouth are. You like to poke your bro bros belly button.

You lay your head down on us if we ask you too. It's adorable and turns into a fun game!

In about 3 months you are going to be a big brother!

Happy birthday Mason Alan!!

 

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Mollie Lynn 3 years old

Mollie Lynn you are THREE years old!

My sweet, precious daughter, I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that you are three years old!

You wear size 3t clothes.

Sleeps about 11 hours at night and usually take a 2-3 hour nap. Some days you go without naps, but you are absolutely exhausted by bedtime. You are such a noisy little girl when you go to sleep. You share a room with your bro bro so going to sleep at night always involves lots of giggles and silly conversations. You nap in Daddy and Mommy's bed and most days you can be heard singing songs on the top of your lungs before deciding to go to sleep. You sleep with your purple blanket and your "new baby".

You are such a talker and have such a big personality when we are at home or you are around people that you are really comfortable with. You are quarkey, goofy and always making us laugh. You can be stubborn and somehow you feel the need to throw something when you are mad. However, you are so quiet and shy at church or around new people. You are more of an independent little girl. You enjoy playing by yourself and like to stick pretty close to Daddy and Mommy.

You LOVE to color. You like to draw pictures for other people. You amaze me at how well you color inside the lines. You love to draw circles and have recently learned how to write your name! You love to learn and know about 1/2 of your letters and sounds.

You have mastered your stridere bike. You love to cruise up and down the neighborhood and sometimes Mommy thinks that you get a little too brave cruising down hills. This summer you will learn how to ride a 2 wheeled bike.

You love dairy. Your favorite foods are milk, cheese and yogurt. You would live off of milk if you could. You also love Daddy's protein shakes, lemonade, and crackers.

Your favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, although you rarely sit through an entire show. Your favorite songs are "Jesus Loves the little children", "Old McDonald", and "Wheels on the bus".

You love spotting motorcycles and buses while we are in the car.

You want to be a princess when you grow up.

You have beautiful curly hair with natural highlights in it! I'm quite envious. You think that Gabby does your hair the best. You are quite opinionated about your hair and like to either wear a clip, have a small braid or a big ponytail. You just recently started wearing headbands too! When we brush your hair, you tell us that we are getting the rats out of your hair. We got your hair trimmed for the first time on your birthday. You did such a good job and now your hair is all one length.

You are a total daddy's girl. You sit with him, rub his beard, follow him around and love all over him. It's adorable.

You completely dress yourself and are proving to be very opinionated about your clothes. Your favorite outfit is either a long sleeve shirt, jeggings and tennis shoes or shorts, a short sleeve shirt and flop flops. You do not like tunics, flowy shirts or dresses. Sunday mornings are a bit of a battle, because it's the one day of the week where I pick out your clothes, and I make you wear a dress or a skirt to church. Once you give in and let Mommy win, you are fine wearing it for the morning but always ask if you can change your clothes once you get home.

You are our little helper around the house. You have quite the servants heart already! You love to help make daddy's lunch every morning before he leaves for work, reminding him each day not to forget his lunch. You love to help me fold laundry, put clothes in the washer and dryer, hang clothes in the closet, load and unload the dishwasher. Whenever I am cooking or baking, you are always sitting on the counter helping out and tasting whatever is in the works. You love to crack the eggs and have me open them, or get a lick of something yummy!

You also love to be outside. There are lots of boys in the neighborhood and you reign them all in, put them in your place and fit right in. You love to speed around in Matthew's jeep, blow bubbles, ride bikes and play with chalk. You also love to help pull weeds, rake or help daddy with a project outside. You always help pull the garbage cans in and out.

You buckle yourself in your car seat.

You are Matthew's little side kick. You two are each other's best buds. Always playing. Always giggling. Sometimes fighting, hitting and screaming. You keep us busy!

You absolutely adore your little bro Mason. You are always getting him a toy to play with, wanting to give him his bottle, help me wipe his bum, feed him or pour his food on his tray for me. You love to pick his boogers, which Mase absolutely hates! You are always doing something silly to try to make him giggle and sometimes are just a little too rough with him. You are such a good big sissy!

You are going to be a big Sissy again and will be having a new little brother the end of summer! I have no doubt you'll absolutely thrive being the only sister amongst 3 brothers. Daddy and I secretly know you'll be the princess of the family and laugh when think about the first boy you ever bring home to meet your Daddy and brothers!

Happy 3rd birthday Mollie Lynn. God knew exactly what He was doing when He blessed our family with you!

 

 

 

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Mason 10 months

Mason Alan you are 10 months old!

What have you been up to this past month??

You had a pretty rough month of teething. You got your first 4 teeth all at once! Your top 2 and bottom 2 teeth came in at the same time. You have had the hardest time teething out of your Bro bro and Sissy. Tylenol, chew toys, lots of snuggles, drooling, fussing and middle of the night wake ups finally resulted in a happy little boy with a cute toothy smile!

Right about 10 months you started to experience separation anxiety. You do not like when Mommy or Daddy leaves the room. You cried so much at the YMCA they had to come get me, and then twice in one week I had to be paged out of church because you were so upset in the church nursery! I'm hoping this phase passes quickly!

You still aren't moving anywhere. But I think you are getting close. You seem to be getting more frustrated lately that you aren't moving around. Maybe that will give you the motivation to put it all together and be on the go! You can push backwards a little when you are on your tummy. You twist around and can move side to side. You LOVE to stand. Your balance seems to be improving, but I can't leave you standing alone. You love to stand on the couch and look out the window, or at the coffee table and grab at everything you aren't supposed to touch!

When we sing "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands", you actually start clapping your hands. It's pretty adorable!

You sign "thank you" by putting your fist to your mouth. You sign "all done" by flapping your hands to the side, and you can sign "more".

You love to wave hi and bye!

You give high fives.

You love your Daddy. We are right in the middle or baseball season, so we don't see daddy as much, but you absolutely light up when you do see him. When you get excited you open and close your hands and pump your legs. You love to grab at daddy's face and beard. Whe I talk to him on the phone and tell you that I'm talking to da-da, you repeatedly say "da-da"! We try to go to as many of Daddy's baseball games as we can. You are such an easy little boy to take out and about. You love to watch all the action and people at his games and if you get fussy I just put you in your stroller, feed you or give you a toy or bottle!

You are obsessed with balls. They are your favorite toy. Your whole body tenses up and you flap your arms when you see a ball. You love for someone to play toss with you.

You also love to play with an empty water bottle.

Mason Alan you are pure joy and such a little blessing to our family. You are so loved and I can hardly believe how fast you have grown!

 

 

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Mason 9 months

 

Mason Alan you are 9 months old!

What have you been up to the past couple of months?

Weight: 21 pounds (76th percentile)

Height: 28.5 inches (53rd percentile)

Head circumference: 18.7 inches (97th percentile)

You are a big, healthy boy! You have the most kissable, chubby cheeks! You are wearing size 12-18 month clothes. You wear a lot of Matthew's hand-me-downs. It's so fun for me to see you in the same outfit that your big brother wore! Matthew also thinks it's pretty fun to tell other people that he wore the same thing when he was a baby too. Proud big brother!

You are a wonderful sleeper. You have been sleeping in your own room since you were 6 months old. We started weaning you from your sleep bundle, by bundling you with 1 arm out when you were about 6 months old. By 7 months old, you slept with both arms out, and by 8 months old you were, and still are, sleeping in a fleece sleep sack. You sleep on your side or on your tummy, with your stuffed giraffe and white noise machine on. You take one nap a day, usually for 2.5-3 hours at the same time as Matthew and Mollie. If we are in the car in the morning or evening, you will usually take a cat nap as well. You are exhausted by bedtime and sleep from 7:00pm-7:30am. You wake up happy and on most days that smile doesn't leave your face all day.

Matthew and Mollie love to come into your room when you wake up in the morning. They climb into your crib, read you books, and play and giggle with you until you decide you've had enough and are ready for your morning bottle!

You are one happy and content baby! On weary and tiring days where it seems like we have toddlers whining and fighting all day long, Daddy and I always say how thankful we are for our Mason! We can usually count on you to be the easy, go with the flow baby boy.

We said goodbye to nursing all together this month. Over the past couple of months, I had been supplementing with a bottle right before bedtime, and eventually before nap and bedtime. My supply went way down and you completely lost interest. Thankfully it made the weaning process flawless and you have transitioned over to formula very easily. You get so excited when you see your bottle and have learned this month how to feed yourself your own ba-ba.

You are eating everything! You have not met a food that you don't love! I really can't even tell what are your favorite foods because you will literally eat anything that I put in front of you. (Don't change this habit once you become a toddler, okay?) We did puréed baby food for awhile, but you were always grabbing at the spoon, trying to feed yourself. It just wasn't working well. I started trying more cubed, soft cooked foods that you could pick up and feed yourself, you loved it and we haven't looked back since! You eat what we eat now and it makes mealtimes so much simpler! You eat three meals a day, a snack in the afternoon, and drink 3-4 bottles. You also love to drink water from a sippy cup.

You have very good fine motor skills. You usually just full on fist grab your food and stuff it in your mouth, but you also have a good pincer grasp and love to pick up Cheerios one at a time. You pick up a lot of your toys one handed, love to play with balls and you are starting to show us your toys and make a "Oooooh" sound. You are just too cute!

On the other hand, you've been a little slower with your gross motor skills. You can roll back and forth, but you don't cover any distance rolling from one side of the room to the other. You sit like a champ. You are so content to just sit on the floor and play with toys, sometimes too content! You aren't crawling or scooting yet. You love to stand, but have no sense of balance. I guess when you have a big brother and sister who entertain you and bring you all your toys to play with, you don't really have a reason to start moving yet! I know it will come soon enough!

You said your first word. Both Matthew and Mollie's first word was Mama, so from the time you were a little baby, Daddy was determined you would say his name first. He was a proud Daddy when your first word was "Da-da". You say it so sweet and happy. About 2 weeks later, you started saying "Mama, mama, mama". Except the only time you say it is when you are tired, fussy, or whining for your bottle.

You are starting to wave and say "Hhh".

You have two big siblings that you think the world of. You watch them and want to follow them around so badly. You give them the best smiles and giggles. I love that all three of you are so close in age, and am so excited to watch your relationships continue to grow.

You LOVE to swing.

You are still a cuddler, especially at night when you are tired, but you love to look around and watch people and the sights around you.

You're grabbing and reaching at everything. You put anything in your hands into your mouth!

You do wonderful in the church nursery and don't experience any separation anxiety.

You love your binkie and can put it in your mouth by yourself!

You take baths in the big bathtub with your bro bro and sissy! You absolutely love bath time. You splash and play with toys.

You are ticklish, especially around your neck and upper back. You have the best belly laugh and give some of your biggest laughs to Matthew when he does silly things with you.

You have 2 upper and 2 lower teeth ready to pop through, but no teeth yet!

You absolutely hate getting your face washed or nose wiped. I think that's about the only thing you don't like.

Mason Alan, you bring such joy to our house. Your Daddy and I are constantly amazed and so thankful for your sweet, laid back personality. God knew exactly what we needed when He gave us you! We love you to the moon and back baby boy!

 

 

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Matthew Jay 4 years old

Matthew Jay you are 4 years old!

What have you been up to lately?

Matthew Jay, I can barely wrap my mind around the fact that you are 4 years old! Can time please just slow down?? I still vividly remember the day you were born and placed into my arms for the first time. Now you are a rambunctious, lively, social little boy who steals my heart each and every day. I fall more and more in love with you with each day because I get to know you more and more.

You love to meet new friends. You are happy running around and playing with Sissy, but you two are always eager to meet a new playmate at the park, McDonalds playplace or around the neighborhood.

You are a polite little boy and always saying "Hi!" to random people at the store or on walks. I love your heart for others.

Some days I don't think I can handle any more whining and crying, or can bear to hear the word "NO!" one more time, and then you do or say something so sweet, kind and caring that I remember how worth it being your Mommy is, even on the hard days. You are a little boy who is full of joy, and is learning how to test boundaries, especially with your mama!

It seems like your favorite toy changes every day. Some days it feels like you love your toys and want to play with them all day and others it seems like they are invisible to you and all you want to do is to run around and jump on your bed with Sissy. You like to build legos (Daddy loves this!), race cars and play with your action figures. You always take 1 or 2 books or toys to bed with you, and they stay tucked away in the top drawer of your bedside table until you wake up.

Your favorite shows are still Mickey, DocMcstuffins, and Little Einsteins. Your favorite movies are Cars and Planes Fire and Rescue. You rarely ever sit through a full show and never through an entire movie before playing or exploring something.

You know all of your letter sounds and can write a lot of your letters. You can write your name, but you need lots of reminders to write neatly and on a line. You love to play playdough, paint and color.

Your favorite foods are waffles, Mac n cheese, pizza, bananas, granola bars, carrots and hummus, pb & j and turkey, strawberries and frozen blueberries.

You wear size 4-5T clothes. You are quite opinionated about your clothes. For the most part, you pick out your own clothes and dress yourself. Sunday mornings can be hard when Mommy insists on picking out your church clothes, and you'd rather wear your worn out play jeans and character t-shirt. You like to layer your favorite shirts and some days will wear two or three shirts at once because you couldn't pick just one.

Your favorite outfit to wear is your pajamas, especially your batman ones. Usually as soon as we are home, the play clothes come off and PJs go on. You also can't take a nap without wearing your pajamas.

You love spending time outside, as long as you don't get too cold. You have mastered riding your bike and scooter. You also like to skateboard, lying down on your tummy. You recently got your first pair of roller skates and you're doing a great job learning how to balance on them. You love playing outside with our next door neighbor. You two boys love to ride bikes together, play frisbee, baseball, golf or shoot your nerf guns.

You absolutely love going to church, learning about God and seeing all of your friends and cousins.

Your best friend is Joshie. You also say that Big Mason and Sissy are your best friends too.

Your favorite color is blue.

You want to be a superhero when you grow up.

You love superheroes but have never seen a show or a movie about them. You also really like Ninja Turtles. You think that all superheroes and Ninja turtles exist to help people (and not fight!)

You love playing with your Sissy. You two have so much fun together and I'm so thankful that you have each other. You also like to fight, hit and scream at each other. Your new trick is that you and Sissy have somehow figured out a way to both go potty on the same toilet at the same time. You guys are pretty proud of this. You two are always making me laugh, sometimes make me cry and keep me constantly on my toes and thankful.

You have a very special relationship with Mason. You are so sweet to him and Mason is absolutely smitten with you. You love to play with him and find silly ways to make him giggle. You love when I leave the room because you take such pride in 'babysitting Mason'. You tell me about how God is making Mason grow bigger, and then you stand up and show me how big you are getting. You tell me about how God is starting to give Mason teeth, and then you show me all of your big teeth. I'm so excited to see the relationship between you your little brother grow!

As we approach 4 years old, nap times are becoming a little more hit and miss. You generally sleep from about 7:30pm-6:30am. You and Sissy share a room, so sometimes the time you actually fall asleep is later depending on how much you and Sissy talk and giggle before going to sleep. You sleep with your big stuffed hippo in the corner of your bed. Hippo must be completely covered by your blanket at night, blankets must not be twisted and your little blue and white blanket must be in bed with you.

You had your first trip to the ER. Mommy was out at dinner and Daddy was home with you, Sissy and Mason. You and Sissy were running around the kitchen and you slipped and hit your head on the corner of the wall. Mommy got a frantic call to come home! Daddy also called Grandpa and Gabby to come over quickly and help. You gave your Daddy quite the scare! Daddy finally got the bleeding to slow down and when I came home your were glued to Daddy's lap with a rag over your forehead. You only wanted Daddy to hold you and would not remove your rag without a fight. One look at your cut and I knew we had no choice but head to the ER. Thankfully they took us right back and took wonderful care of you! You got some medication that made you quite loopy and goofy. You ended up getting 10 stitches and were quite the brave little boy! We had one little accident on Super Bowl Sunday while you were playing downstairs with your cousins, where you bonked your forehead and a couple of your stitches popped out. Five days later all of your stitches came out. Your forehead looks great, is starting to heal up well, but you'll always be left with a scar! Since your accident, every time you fall, bump your knee, or even have a runny nose, the only thing you are worried about and your very first question after it happens is "No blood? No blood?". Poor kiddo!

Matthew Jay, you are a loved little boy. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of the young boy that you are growing up into. You love God, your family and others. You have a smile and laughter that is contagious. I pray that you never lose those things.

Happy Birthday Matthew Jay. We love you so much!!

 

 

 

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