Rolling

Don't get too excited we are not rolling over yet. 

We are working on it, with little effort because that is how we roll (get it?)

When I took Mason for his 4 month check up the doctor asked me if he was rolling yet. My response was "rolling? Ha is hasn't even attempted to do that." Apparently that was the wrong response. She informed me that he should have been doing that by now or at least trying. I wasn't too concerned that he he had not reached this milestone yet, he will when he is ready, but I have been spending more time on the floor with him rolling him from side to side hoping he will get the hang of it

 

I try holding and placing toys just out of reach and guiding him to get them. Usually he just lays there and flops whichever way he falls once I let him go.

 

 

My first Halloween

This year is my first Halloween. 

I am not too excited because it's not like I can have candy or anything, mom seems to think I just need milks still. 

Lame

Mom picked out this dinosaur costume for me at a second hand shop, she thought it would be warm and cute. 

Now if you know anything about my mom you know she likes to snap pictures of me constantly. I mean c'mon, I can't even lay on my silly floor mat for 5 seconds without hearing "Mason look over here, smile, look at mama"

Its annoying, so tonight when she decided to put me in my "cute" Halloween costume I decided to teach her a lesson.

 

They thought they were going to put me on my tummy and I would just lift right up, look at the camera and smile....wrong

  

Lift me up or I will just lay here and cry

 

 Yeah, I laid here like I had never been on my tummy before and had no idea what to do.

I sure showed them!

Happy Halloween

Going Bald

Mason has always had a ton of hair! He was born with lushes locks but lately we are noticing some bald spots. And not just your typical baby bald spot on the back of the head but all around

Yes, we give him a comb over to hide his already balding head. Poor boy is already sporting a grandpa hairstyle. Notice how it wraps all around his head?? He has a thick patch right up front and that's about it

p.s. As you can tell we are still loving every minute of tummy time and trying extra hard to life ourselves...not =)

umm ...Really?!

Austin was vacuuming the other day and I was in the kitchen with Mason, when we went to the living room this is what we found

Yes, Austin was vacuuming under the cushions but instead of using the hose he had lifted the whole vacuum up. He informed me it might not be easier but it was faster. Only a man would do this

is dad really doing that?!

at a second look, yes yes he is!

A week in my phone

I love snapping pictures of Mason throughout the day. Mostly I send them to his Aunties who are away at school or his great grandparents.

Here are some phone photos from this week

Playing with daddy

Checking out the ladies walking down the street

discovering his foot

The last picture is one of him in rare form, he usually hates the bumbo and cries in it and just lately has he decided to grab his foot. I put it in his hands all the time and help him bring it to his face because he thinks it is absolutely hilarious when it touches his cheeks or is in his mouth but he hasn't figure out how to do it himself. 

Faces of Mas

As I was going through my phone tonight I realized how many faces Mason likes to make. He has always made us laugh with his expression so I thought I would share and maybe give you guys a smile =)

This is the look that is one his face more times than not

He has moved away from blue steel but it was a favorite when he was younger

This is his Play Girl pose

The "I am not interested"

Zero expression, very common still today

AHHHH with Pauly D hair

Sour milk??

I. hate. my. l.ife

Do I live with a bunch of idiots?!?

Vaseline Hair

For those of you who haven't heard the story here it is...

Mason has had cradle cap, not bad but we have been trying to get rid of it since he was born. We make sure to rinse all the baby shampoo out of his hair during bath but it wasn't going away. At his 4 month check up I asked his doctor what I could do, she suggested rubbing Vaseline in his hair before bath and placing a warm cloth on top to help soak it in then bathe him and wash it out.

sounds simple enough right?!

Far from simple. He has a head full of hair and Vaseline is NOT easy to wash out.

I washed it for 10 minutes that night and little came out. When I was rocking him to sleep his hair was still standing up just like that. When he woke it the morning it was STILL in the same position!

Austin helped wash it in the sink the next morning but we couldn't get it all out. Needless to say it took about 3 days before it was back to normal. His cradle cap is better but was it worth it? If you ask him he will probably say no =)

sleep baby sleep

As I am writing this post I am listening to my almost 5 month year old throw a fit in his bed. It is 7:30 and he is choking himself screaming. 

Pause- I must go calm him

It took 7 minutes of patting, singing and talking to him for him to calm, by calm I mean he is at a fuss and tired talking not complete quiet. This is day 2 of our sleep training.

If you remember awhile back I wrote this post. At first I wanted Mason to sleep on his own and for longer than 2 hours. It took him 3 and a half months to sleep more than 2 hours at a time at night. I was exhausted to say the least and was ready to sleep train at 3 months. I asked for advice and realized I needed to cherish the moments of rocking/nursing him to bed. After all the comments and encouragement I decided I was going to wait till Mason was 6 months to sleep train him. I spent the next month rocking him to sleep through cries and hours of shhing.

Things have changed. Before Mason would fuss when being rocked but it was a tired fuss, he would whimper and dose off just to wake up and whimper more. I thought it was cute. The last 2 weeks he has decided to take him whimper to a full blown scream/shriek/yell/choke. At first I thought he was just extra fussy or tired but as the days continued he continued. He was doing this any time we tried to put him to sleep, all 3 naps and bed time, he was also doing it for 2+ hours at a time. It was getting old fast. I am home in the evening with Mason by myself during the week due to Austin's work schedule and I was getting stressed quickly. 

I always told Austin of the struggle at bed time and how I didn't know what to do. I tried moving bed time up but unless I nursed him to sleep then held him super still for 20-30 minutes before putting him in bed it was a scream fest.

Last weekend Austin experienced it with him. After 3 horrible naps attempts and 2 hours at bedtime we both decided we had to do something. 

Like I said I wanted to wait to sleep train him but when he is screaming uncontrollably in attempts to fight his sleep we knew we had to stop it. We have no problem rocking/walking/singing him to sleep but when he is acting this way through all of that we knew it was best to teach him. Yesterday he napped nicely, falling asleep within 5 minutes of being placed in his crib. Night was different. He cried for 44 minutes, I patted and talked to him the whole time.

Another thing you need to know is that when I go to calm him, patting does not work, I consistently patted and talked to him for the whole 44 minutes and never once did he calm till he fell asleep. I have stopped writing this post numerous times to go in and calm him. I can pat and pat till my hands have fallen asleep and it doesn't work, picking him up only makes it worse as well. Once we pick him up he continues to cry for a good 5-10 minutes and the second he is placed back it starts again.

Today he napped twice. First time laying down nicely and the second throwing a fit for 20 minutes. I hate hearing him cry,it breaks my heart.Doesn't help that it sounds like "ma ma mamama"  but I know I am doing the right thing, for us at least. He needs to learn that sleep time is not a time to throw fits. 

I wish I could rock him to bed every night but when it has gotten to the point that it is at what else can a mama do?

It took me 53 minutes to write this post and him to fall asleep tonight. I hope this gets easier for him and me

Pumpkin Patch

We were super excited to take Mason to his first pumpkin patch! We  wanted to go to one with lots of different stuff to do and see. 

We loaded up and headed to Clearwater with some friends. Mason napped on the way there which was nice so we would have time to hang out, pick pumpkins, play around  and see all the farm animals.

Mason enjoyed "driving" the tractor

Farmer Mas

We first watched the pig races, my favorite. Then we played in a small maze, sat on a tractor, went through some tunnels, and dressed Mason as a farmer.

Next we put him in the swing which was his favorite! We weren't sure if he would get scared or love it, he loved it. All smiles

I love this picture,even though you can't see his whole face you can tell by his eyes he is loving it!

Finally we saw some animals

Went through a larger maze

and picked our pumpkins

We had a great time and I can't wait to take him next year when will be able to enjoy it just a bit more

4 months

Mason is 4 months!

He has changed so much! We finally have a pretty set schedule and Austin and I have learned so much about parenting in these 4 months. Looking back I laugh at how little we knew when we first had him. Poor guy probably thought he had the worst parents ever.

Here are some likes....
playing, smiling, talking, BATH TIME, eating, bouncing, being outside, trying to hold himself in a sitting position, cheech.

Dislikes.....
changes in his schedule (he pretty much likes the same thing to happen at the same time each day, a blessing and a curse)
his teething toys in the freezer, putting himself to sleep, the carseat, wet diapers, and the bumbo

Zoo

I was super excited to take Mas to the zoo and secretly much of the reason was because I wanted to go myself

We headed to the petting zoo first. We thought he would be more excited than he was because he shows lots of interest in our dog. I think he was a bit confused about all the animals

next we saw the penguins

snakes

my favroite, the jungle!

then crashed for a bit

woke for the tigers

and finally the chimps

we had a great time and the weather was perfect! can't wait to go back