17 months

While the last month has been a lot of fun, it has also brought a new set of challenges related to Mason's development. He is starting to get much more vocal, opinionated, and demanding, which is a tough combination when you have the comprehension level of a 17-month old. I try to remember its all just attention-seeking behavior and learning his limits, but its really tough when you're "that mom" in Target with the screaming child. But, the good comes with the bad and there is plenty of good to balance the tough days.

Milestones:
***He is walking about 75% of the time. He still can't stand up from sitting yet unless he pulls on on something, but he is really working at it. Watching him walk is hysterical because it reminds me of a zombie.
***He will finally let us put shoes on his feet without screaming. He still isn't fond of them and will pull them off if left unsupervised, but its progress so we'll take it.
***He is mimicking us a lot with words after we say them. He now knows the dogs names and which name goes with which dog. However, he won't say Aubrey's name. Go figure.
***He knows where his ears, belly, and eyes are and attempts to call them by name.
***He can follow simple directions and has started nodding his head when we ask questions.
***We haven't really had any success adding new foods to his diet except for ketchup. And he is obsessed with it. Like, sucking it off his fingers/food his obsessed. He makes a huge mess with it but it helps him eat and keeps him entertained while we eat so I try not to worry about the mess too much for now.
***He is still working on his bottom molars. Luckily, he is making good use of the teething toys we bought for Aubrey that she never used. If he can't find one of those, his fingers stay in his mouth instead.
***I took both kids to Discovery Place Kids for the first time this year. It was Mason's first time really playing with the toys there and he was so excited. Especially when we got to the water area.
**He had his first carousel ride and he was fascinated.
***It finally warmed up enough to get the water table and baby pool out for the kids and Mason took to both instantly.
***We took our first boat ride of the summer and even though he looks like a turtle in his life jacket Mason loves being on the boat.

Aubrey's Events

We have been living a crazy busy life in this house the past 5 months between school, parties, dance, gymnastics, and just regular life stuff. I am glad that its summertime so we can slow down a little from the hectic pace.

The past 3 weeks have been so awesome for Aubrey. It started with her dance dress rehearsal and recital on the 17th and 18th. She loved the getting ready beforehand and was all about making sure her make-up and hair were perfect. I had to fight back a few tears after seeing her all dressed and ready to go but luckily we were running a little late so I was also a little frustrated and this helped fight the tears. I was so excited that things have changed in the dance world since I was a kid. No longer are there 25 moms in a tiny dressing room fighting with their kids and costumes. Now, the moms are banished to the auditorium to enjoy the show while helpers take care of the kiddos and their costumes. It was nice to enjoy watching the other dancers and not having to worry about entertaining a bored 4-year old. I was a little nervous about how Aubrey would handle the pressure of being on stage in front of a crowd, but was pleasantly surprised when she turned on the performing light and sang and danced her heart out. On dress rehearsal night, we stayed after her dances were finished so she could watch the "big" girls dance and she was fascinated. It was a late night, though, and we didn't get home until after 11 so she was exhausted the next day. Her performance wasn't quite as entertaining on recital night but she still seemed to enjoy herself and that was good enough for me. She was so excited to get her first certificate from Mrs. Rhonda and then thoroughly thrilled with the fact she got flowers after the show. It was a lot of fun to see her enjoying herself and I hope she continues to enjoy it as she gets older.

The following Monday was her last day of preschool, which included a singing performance. She did a great job singing her songs and as usual, was one of the loudest on the stage. It was a little bittersweet after the show to tell her teachers good-bye because these ladies have worked so hard and done so much to help her grow, but we are all ready for a school break. I hope her teachers next year are just as awesome and love her just as much.

The last big event of the "school" year was Aubrey's first gymnastics exhibition. We debated on whether to let her do this event because it was a little expensive, but I wanted Todd to see what she has done all year and to see her show off myself. She seemed to have such a great time during the event, but it was so chaotic for us because they had 4 different "events" going on at the same time. The best part of the show was the end when Aubrey got her first trophy. Her eyes lit up when she got that trophy in her hands and she refused to let go of it until we bribed her to get out the car with frozen yogurt. I am glad we did the show, but we don't get much break from gymnastics as that is her only activity of the summer. We aren't sure if she will continue gymnastics in the fall since funds have gotten a little tighter in the house so we are glad she can enjoy it over the summer until a final decision is made.

16 months

I didn't think it was possible, but the last month has been even more fun developmentally for Mason than last month. Except for the nightmarish teething that sucks for all involved, he seems to be enjoying his new-found skills. Every once in a while I get the painful twinge of sadness that I wish he'd slow down and still be a baby, but mostly I just enjoy the fun that we're having right now.

***He has finally made some great progress with walking. He can walk quite a bit by himself, but only when he's motivated. He is gaining confidence and I've spotted him walking a few times when he didn't  think I was looking and he seems so proud of himself. He loves to walk in public holding someone's hand so we try to let him do that a lot to get him moving.
***However, he refuses to wear shoes, so walking outside or in public is a challenge. I can't say I blame him because I hate wearing shoes myself, but he screams from the second you put shoes on until you take them off.
***Both of his upper 1st molars broke through on April 27. He is still working on more teeth and has bitten me more times than I care to remember. He is chewing on everything and we go through ibuprofen like its going out of style. Luckily, we are halfway through with teething and so the end is near.
***His language is about the same as last month. He hasn't really added anymore new words, but will imitate a lot when we use words with him. He is using the words he knows a lot and is thrilled that we understand him. He's also become obsessed with pointing and grunting and will get highly frustrated if you don't understand or don't give him what he wants.
***He's gotten very good at getting up and down from chairs, getting down from the couch, and crawling off and on his riding toys.
***He started protesting when we cut his food up too small so we've been giving him bigger pieces and that seems to make him happy. He eats his bananas cut into about 4-5 chunks and is able to take reasonable-sized bites.
***He is making progress with feeding himself with a spoon. He will still pick up the bite he wants and put it on the spoon, but the rate of the food actually making into his mouth is increasing.
***He did another dairy challenge with him this month and it was a fail. I didn't have high hopes it would be a success, but part of me hoped for the best. We'll try again at 18 months.
***He is interacting more appropriately with his toys, like pushing cars and trucks around on the floor or holding the phone up to hear ear and talking. It melts my heart to see him pushing cars around outside because he looks like such a big boy playing with his toys.

Spring/15-month pictures

He is obsessed with the oven drawer and loves to crawl in it while I am in the kitchen.

15 months

Things are really starting to get fun. I love, love, love this age. Both of my kids have been so much fun around this time. The development is exploding, there is some independence, and personalities are shining. Fun, fun stuff.

Milestones this month

*Mason finally had a language explosion. It seemed like all we got for months was momma, dada, and bye bye but that has finally changed. He can now say uh oh, dokie (doggie or duckie, depending), ba (ball or Boo, the nickname of our dog Bailey), and yelo (hello). It is amazing how much he can understand and when his language catches up to his understanding we are in trouble, I do believe.
*He took his first step, but we are not 100% sure it wasn't an accident. He refuses to let go of things and attempt to move his feet at the same time. He can and will stand for quite a while by himself. He just prefers to move by crawling so we'll keep practicing and see what happens.
*He can climb really well, including climbing the stairs and the picnic table (more gray hair is sprouting on my head from watching this happen)
*Poor little guy had his first stomach bug/virus and it was terrible on all of us. Aubrey started with it Easter Sunday and was good by Wednesday just for Mason to start up that night. It was a long week that week.
*He has started some serious food strikes. The 5 major food groups according to him are waffles, PB&J, graham crackers, peaches, and milk. He pretty much refuses anything else and will promptly throw it to the floor for the eagerly waiting dogs.
*He enjoyed helping Aubrey find Easter eggs and playing with the empty ones afterwards.
*He had his first taste of sugary goodness this Easter and it was like watching an addict. He loved it.
*He is loving the warm weather and being outside. He gets so excited when we go outside. The only part of being outside he doesn't like is touching grass. He just outright refuses to touch it with any body part.
*I took him to his first visit to the airport overlook and he was giddy with excitement. I wondered if the loud sounds would hurt his ears, but he loved it.

Gma was helping him hunt for eggs.

Poor little guy was so weak and tired from the stomach virus, he just fell over and went to sleep.

1/4

As I was working on my 365-photo project, I realized we are now roughly through the first 1/4 of this year. That just seems crazy to me. So, I thought it was a good time to benchmark myself and how I am doing in reaching my New Year's resolutions. Yeah, I know most of the time they are out the window by now, but I've done a pretty darn good job of keeping mine going.

Let's talk about this 365-day photography project that is kicking my rear. It has been so much harder for me than I really thought it would be. I have been in a major creative rut and really haven't had much desire to get out the big girl camera. So, it seems the majority of my recent pictures have been taken with my cell phone. Which, in a way, has been a huge lesson in forcing myself to work on composition. I can't do as much with the settings on my phone (however I did find an app that will let me focus and set exposure separately, pretty exciting stuff) so I attempt to do more creative composition. Notice I said attempt. Some days, its still 10:00pm when I realize I haven't taken a picture and I force my dogs to do something crazy and I take any old picture and call it a day. I am really hoping that now that the weather is getting nicer I will get out of the creative rut and take some nicer pictures. But, for now I am proud that I have taken a picture every single day and so I can call it a success so far.

The other goal I had for the year was the weight loss goal. Well, I can proudly say I have met this goal. I finished the 30 Day Shred and eased back into Insanity and it kicked my rear for 60 days. It was a fantastic workout but I can honestly say I am glad to be finished with it. It became really monotonous at the end and I was tired of doing to same moves day after day, 6 days a week. However it pushed me when I needed it and gave me results. I started running again this week and even pushing Mason in the jogging stroller I have a faster pace than I did this time last year running by myself. I restarted Couch 2 5k at week 4, but it was too easy so I jumped to week 5. I am hoping to finally be able to run a sub-30 minute 5k and run a solid 4 mile race July 4th. 

So, between all of my workouts and calorie reduction, I have managed to lose a total of 24 pounds since Thanksgiving. That's a few pounds over my original goal and I am completely stoked. The downside is, most of my clothes are now too big and my limited budget hasn't allowed me to buy much to replace them. But, I guess it is a good problem to have and I'll take it. BUT, the most aggravating thing I'm dealing with at this point is the bridesmaid dress I have to wear in June is still a pain in my side,  literally. It will zip but it is totally not pretty on top and I can barely breathe and its now 2 sizes bigger than what I wear in regular clothes. My stupid rib cage seems to be wider than most and makes wearing any dress with a zipper a huge problem. I usually avoid dresses for this reason, but this is not a dress I can avoid. Soooo, I have decided to keep going on the weight loss and go for a few more pounds. I have until the middle of May before I need to get my dress altered so hopefully I can look a little more presentable in it or throw in the towel and have it let out on top. I am really kind of over the whole serious calorie restriction, 6 days a week of working out mode I've been in the for the past 5 months, but then I remember how hard I've worked for that long and realize 1 more month isn't that huge of a deal. 

So, I think I can call the first quarter of the year successful as far as my resolutions go. My next challenges are to maintain the weight loss, maybe lose a few more pounds, and keep my motivation up to keep working on my 365 project. I think I can, I think I can needs to be my mantra for now.

14 months

I am thankful that Mason turned 14 months today because it reminded me this little guy turned 5 today! Not quite sure how that's possible, but he is such a big boy now. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him since he was 2.5 because they moved to Texas, but I miss him and hate that Aubrey and Mason can't get to know their cousin and my brother and his girlfriend.

Ok, on to Mason's milestones.

*His right bottom lateral incisor broke through March 1 and the left one finally came through March 8. I thought we might get a break from the teething misery after the left incisor, but his hand is still a constant fixture in his mouth and he has still been pretty whiny so I am guessing another tooth is starting to come through as well.
*He now loves to say bye-bye and wave. He gets the biggest thrill over using this new combination of skills.
*He will point at things and grunt at you until you acknowledge it.
*He will stand independently only for a second, but really prefers to hold on to things for dear life.
*He had a sick visit to the doctor following a 104 degree fever, but as expected it was diagnosed as just a virus that we had to just ride out.
*He can drink from straw and is constantly going after my Tervis tumbler and straw
*He has developed a love of being outside. He will stand at the backdoor and stare outside with this longing look. Luckily, we've had some nice weather and have been able to spend some time outside and he loves it.
*He was able to to see his first big snow (the big whole inch of it) but wasn't able to go outside and play because 3 of the 4 of us were sick.
*First haircut
*He has started to climb up on things, like the PBK chair or the picnic table outside.

First time drinking from a straw

I was able to catch him standing independently for a split second.

First hair cut

After weeks of agonizing and procrastinating, it was decided Mason finally had to have a hair cut. I was so sad about this necessity for some reason. I hated to cut the sweet little baby curls. Plus, it was just another reminder that he is getting so big. But, a few comments had been made about his crazy hair so I knew it was time. So, we took him to a children's salon and it was just about as crazy as I imagined it would be. He had no desire to be strapped in a chair and have his head tugged this way and that by some strange lady. We tried all the distracting tricks in our book, but they all failed. But, in the end we were happy with the end result, even if he did look like a such a big boy. However, I am not excited to know I get to do this every month or so to keep it looking good.