All is calm, All is bright

I absolutely love this time of year!

Decorating, shopping for others, wrapping presents, baking! This year was definitely a little more challenging than the past 5 years, but I still have enjoyed every minute of it. Each year I like to come up with a few more decorations, either DIY'ed or bought on sale the previous year after the holidays are over.

Here are this year's additions:

Homemade Wreath

(I can see myself adding onto it next year)

Homemade Ornament Trees

Bigger Mini Tree

(our lights went out on the old one and it was starting to get crowded)

Ornament Hurricane

And a few shots of our other decorations:

Meanwhile, after some wrestling with the printing company and trying to track down our lost Christmas cards, they are finally out and in mailboxes right before Christmas, as opposed to a couple of weeks early as intended. Here they are, created by yours truly:

I had a hard time getting any great "Christmas pictures" of Mason because the boy will not sit still. And even though I had other hopes for the Christmas card pictures, the shots I took of Mason were definitely keepers for our family photo album. Here are a few from our photo op. I am sure he will love to see these on his wedding day... bahaha.

Enough already Mom!!! Bah humbug...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

-Luke 2:14

Eight Months Old!

Month Eight

Weight:

18 pounds (birth: 8lbs .3oz)

Length:

26.5 inches (birth: 21 inches)

Diapers:

Size 3.

Clothes:

6-9 month range.

Feedings:

Every 4-5 hours. Breast milk. 7-8 oz.

Mason loves finger foods now. He really enjoys feeding himself so we have started giving him chunks of banana, cheerios, and potatoes instead of just pureed food. He is an eating machine and still has not turned food away. The last week it seems like he has doubled his food intake, so I am guessing he is in the midst of a growth spurt.

Nights:

Mason is still consistently sleeping 11 hours each night, to bed between 7:30-8:00 and awake between 6:00-7:00 these days. Mason is back to his normal, great sleeping baby, self. For some reason most of the last month he seemed to have problems sleeping straight through the night for one reason or another. 

Personality:

Mason is still such a happy and active baby. Mason doesn't like getting in his carseat and hasn't really cared for his jumper for the last several months- mainly because he is stuck in one place. He does like to play with the toys on his jumper while standing next to his jumper though.

Development:

This month has been my favorite month so far because Mason is really talking and responding to us and trying to immitate our sounds more. He also really seems to understand things now. He tries to drop his food on the ground when he sees Dusty standing there, he looks around for Chris when I ask him where Dad is, he looks at things when we point and describe them and he looks for cats, cows, dogs, etc. when we mention them. I am really loving this phase and he is sooo curious about everything.

 He is still pulling up on everything, but now he can actually do so without the incidental falling. His balance has become really great and he will even stand by himself now for a few seconds at a time (as seen in the picture above!). He has taken a few steps away from the couch towards me, but he really just falls forward.

Mason still does not have any teeth! It feels like he has been teething forever and the poor guy just can't seem to cut any in yet. I know it really isn't that big of deal to have teeth yet, but it is so weird when we are around other kids his age and they have several teeth. His eyes are still blue and his hair is still blonde and getting longer and thicker by the day. 

We have finally reached nap time bliss. I say finally, but I have a feeling it will revert back to a struggle at some point in the future. At the moment, though, I am going to enjoy this bliss while it lasts. For the last two months Mason would not go to sleep without wanting to stand up in his crib and walk around, which ultimately cut into his nap time, which made for a pretty cranky baby the rest of the day until his next nap when he would repeat the 30 minute laps around his crib again and wake up nearly 30 minutes later once he finally fell asleep. A couple weeks ago the light bulb finally went off in both of our heads. I decided to leave the room, shut the door and let him walk around to his little hearts content. Day 1 he walked around for the 30 minutes, then cried for about 10 minutes and finally layed down and went to sleep. Day 2 he walked around for about 5 minutes, cried for about 5 minutes and finally layed down and went to sleep. Day 3 he walked around for 5 minutes and then layed down and went to sleep. Ever since, I continue to leave the room, shut the door and Mason lays himself down and goes to sleep. No crying. Bliss. For now.

I cannot believe our little boy is 8 months old. It still feels like yesterday that he was born. I know at times I am eager for the "next stage", like walking so my back doesn't hurt so much from carrying him around or so he will stop bumping his head when he tries to walk and can't, BUT most of the time I just want him to stay the way he is right now! I am so scared I am going to blink and suddenly have a 2 year old crazy little boy running around screaming and telling me no. Unfortuntately time does not stand still, in fact, it seems to speed up when you have children.

Here is Mason with his friend Reid yesterday. Boys will be boys!

We are just so grateful to have such a happy, healthy baby. God is using this little miracle in our life to refine us and shape us into his image, loving unconditionally, patiently, and unselfishly.

Thanks be to God.