Mason at 8.5 months!

A little video I took today!

8 months old!

Wow, time flies. Every night after we put Mason in bed we sit next to each other talking about how we just can’t believe how big that kid is. Or how much we love him. It’s so crazy how such a small little guy could wrap himself around our hearts the way he has.

He’s growing up so fast- he’s been pulling himself up onto furniture for awhile now (mainly the TV stand; probably because he gets to hear the wonderful “No don’t touch that” song. Kid’s turned off the sound to the tv too many times to count.) and he’s been walking with us for a bit now, too. He knows if he moves forward that he needs to put one foot in front of the other. The part that I wasn’t prepared for came today- he’s started letting go of whatever he’s holding onto while standing. He stands on his own for a second or two, then falls over, sometimes catching himself, sometimes I catch him. I figure the next step is, well, him taking steps. He’s great at walking around holding onto furniture, but I’m not ready for him to be running around everywhere else! He’s such a fast crawler that he’s in the kitchen before Nathan or I even know he’s moving. Unfortunately he doesn’t see the 90 pound dog in the doorway as an obstacle; he crawls right over Bruno every time (Bosco is normally nowhere to be found when Mason is crawling; he’s pretty skittish and runs away anytime he could be touched)- and he crawls over us to get to things too. Silly boy.

Here are all the pictures on my camera since last time. Yes, some are almost the same, but there’s something in all of them I like so I didn’t want to leave any out.

Gosh, this kid is ALWAYS smiling. Unless I hand him off to someone else (ahem, Jill or Brendon) then he cries until he can’t breathe anymore. Ah, to be loved.

I knew I should have put that dryer ball back in the laundry… Notice all the stone coasters are out of reach?

Why no, those are NOT toys.

My boys. Nathan is behind the wall, exactly where the dogs are looking. The little non-listening boogers.

Yes, that is where Mason chews. We’ve since turned the gate around so he’s not gnawing on metal At least the dogs are behaving!

I found this walking toy on craigslist, and I’m so glad we got it. The lion laughs and talks, but the best part is that Mason crawls up to it, stands up and walks around the living room with it! When he gets good at walking we just lower the handle to make a seat and he can ride it everywhere. #proudmama

I’m surprised there aren’t more pictures, I’m kind of giddy about this purchase.

He loves this stacking toy- if I stack all the blocks up he gets a silly grin on his face, comes crawling as fast as possible, and knocks the tower over. He also takes this large one, puts it on his head, and pulls it off and on while we say peekaboo at him. This is definitely our crazy kid.

We spent some time outside last Sunday so Mason wore a hat. He has hair, but since it’s blonde I don’t want him getting a sunburn on his head! It looks like he’s picking his nose, but it was just unfortunate timing as he was laughing/feeding himself some bread.

Bahaha, I don’t know why this one makes me laugh so much. Probably because I know he’s yelling like a dinosaur in this picture.

Mason has started wrinkling his nose up and breathing really hard and fast, then laughing about it. This picture isn’t the best, but it shows a bit of the nose wrinkle! He probably laughs because I ALWAYS laugh when he does this!

“The hockey game’s on? No big deal, I can eat and watch at the same time.”

Front view.

Time for chicken!

Goodness, this kid is too funny. He’s been learning what he can do to make us laugh, and just keeps doing it. Also, when he starts his dinosaur yelling I like to join him. Apparently it’s funny. Probably not to the people in the next booth (who am I kidding, kid’s loud, the people ACROSS the restaurant) at Pizza Hut last weekend. Don’t worry mom, I didn’t yell then. Just your grandson.

A few random pictures…

My camera told me it was full today, so I took the few pictures I hadn’t posted yet and put them on the computer… Mainly because I needed that space on the card for more pictures! So, here they are, right now, since I’d probably forget them otherwise. (Oh, and yes we were indeed watching Biggest Loser. Love that show.)

Mason found a jungle gym!

Also, we are fish-less. Yay! Now we only have the dogs and the bird. Hopefully after I put the craigslist ad up for the bird we will be bird-less too. Wish us luck.

Picture Post

It turns out that I’ve taken a lot of pictures the last few days (40. Oops.) Mason comes crawling as fast as he can to get the camera when I get it out, so when I want him away from something I whip out the camera. Sneaky, no? No? Oh well, it’s fun to see him run/crawl across the room.

Mason turned 7 months old last week. Whoa, that happened fast. We’ve had to drop his mattress down twice this week since he’s pulling himself up on everything. He woke up at 3am the other day and he was standing, pushing buttons on his mobile, which turns on music, lights, and the actual mobile. Every morning at 7:30 when we go into his room to get him out of his crib we find him kneeling or standing at the end closest to us, just smiling. It’s cute, but I’d rather not find him on the floor after he flings himself outta there. Hopefully he doesn’t get too mad that he can’t get to the top anymore. We’ll see.

Since he’s started pulling himself up he’s keeping us on our toes. I move the dog bowls daily, we had to move the microwave cart out of the kitchen, he pulls himself up on the tv stand (new one comes next month, free of open glass shelves like ours now!), the coffee and end tables, the couch, me, Nathan, the dogs… You get the point. Kid gets around. Nathan plopped him down in his room the other day so he could run downstairs and Mason went straight to his bookshelf. Guess we have to anchor that in. Sheesh.

Here are some pictures. Will I narrate them for you? Why yes, yes I will.

This is the toy Mason pushes everywhere; his go-to toy. It has 4 different settings, including one where every button he pushes plays different music; and one that does spanish too. Maybe I’ll learn something.

Why yes, mother, I DO want my toy thankyouverymuch.

Here’s a tongue picture just for you, Great Granny! Probably more than half of these have his tongue hanging out. : )

Look how cute I am!

I like to read the paper. Technically, I’m on the toilet.  I’m learning young.

This here’s my buddy Bruno. Bosco doesn’t pose in pictures with me because he is a nutcase. Oops, you caught me off guard.

Bruno likes it when I play near him. He can’t wait till we can run together.

Bruno’s sad that I’m crawling away from him. Oh well, I’ve got things to do.

Look at me, looking all funky. And cute. I’m cute, right? I dressed up just for you!

See? Here I am closer! Just for you!

I’m the best drooler this side of the Mississippi.

Mom, put the camera down.

Yes, these are pretty much all the same, but I couldn’t pick the “best” cause they’re all just so darn cute.

Here’s my toy again, OH, and my tongue. There’s my photo album with all my family in it!

Wait, that’s a camera! I want to drool on it!

Ready for my close up?? Okay then.

My John Deere socks are falling off, but I don’t care, I like to crawl.

Slightly devious smile, complete with tongue. <Goodness, I love this kid.>

Nope, no dog bowls here. Mom took them away because I drag them around and sometimes chew them.

No I didn’t just lick a dog bowl. I swear.

Anyone bored yet? Me either.

I can’t help it if I’m always smiling. The crazy lady behind the camera is making funny faces.

That’s right, all the cool babies have puppy faces on their patoots. I like to play with newspapers.

And the Wii controller. Don’t worry, mom watches so I don’t get tangled up.

This is where mom finds me a lot. Eating the tv stand. It tastes like dust. <Seriously, this makes the kid so happy. He gets there himself! He’s just started pushing the dvd and dvr buttons, so we have to be a bit more careful.>

Nope, not doing anything over here. Quit looking at me.

Just kidding! Lots of fun is going on!

Look how funny my tongue is!

My first taste of real turkey! (Not the pureed stuff) Ground turkey mixed with sweet potatoes… yummy.

Whoa.

Mom picked this picture because of my seefood. Hahaha I ate the sweet potatoes off the turkey, then munched on the turkey for a bit. Look at me, growing up.

Okay, okay, YES that was a lot of pictures. But I had a lot to make up for. Sorry, guys. Life with an almost toddler is busy. I have to use to computer during nap times because Mason wants to play with anything electronic (my phone, the computer, the tower heater in the living room…) Plus with him crawling everywhere and climbing up everything, I have to keep my eye on him all.the.time. Maybe one day the whole place will be padded and everything will be cleared off of the coffee and end tables and I won’t have to worry. But until then, you know I’m standing behind him any time he tries to stand up near anything sharp/glass/any corners/things he can bump his head on/everything in general. Gotta keep this kid safe while he’s learning! Of course, I do let him fall on the ground, and bump into certain things so he’ll learn, and when he starts to get upset after falling we laugh together (Mason and I, not Nathan and I; that’s just mean).

Alright, I hope you enjoyed ALL the pictures. Whew, this is a long one.