Now for some fun things that Mason has been up to in the last few months: growing, traveling, growing, teething, gaining weight, visiting family and friends, learning, having birthdays, dressing up, growing, and teething some more, and did I mention growing?
He loves the bathtub, anytime he hears someone in the bathroom running water he pounds on the door to let him in, once and if you do let him in, he goes straight for the bathtub and will try to get in. One day I was in the tv room finishing up watching a show with my dad when I noticed it was too quiet. "uh oh, where's mason?" we came out of the room and down the hall in the bathroom was mason sitting in the bathtub, he had climbed in somehow and with no water in the tub just sat and played with his toys. He loves the water as well, puddles, cups with water in them, the hose, the toilet, he will do whatever he can to get that water on his hands, head, and mouth. He used to play in the toilet, putting Grandma's shoes in there, and pretty much anything else he could get his hands on... it was probably him who made the toilet overflow....
Mason is super strong, he pushes his high chair all over the kitchen, and when he wants to go somewhere, like outside he will grab your hand and pull you to where he wants to go, and he can move you. He loves to be outside, no matter if it is blizzard, snowing, raining, sunny, hot as ever, no matter, he wants to be outside and he wants to explore... so mommy needs to be prepared for every kind of weather so she can stay out there with him and not complain.
He now has 4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on the bottom. And the Dr. said his molars will be coming in shortly (well anywhere from now till about 2 1/2 yrs old).
Mason loves to eat... we try really hard to feed him healthy food and in moderation, he loves bread though... which is probably why he is so solid. Carrying him has become a workout for me... so funny story, I've been trying to work out, to Shawn T... Hip Hop Abs and Mason will come in and all he wants is for me to pick him up so we can dance together... It's like carrying a 25 pound weight while trying to dance... it's a bit hard, but who can resist a face like his!
His favorite foods are: grapes, peas, bread, lasagna, spaghetti, noodles, peanut butter, muffins, eggs, cheese, graham crackers, sweet potato puffs, strawberries, yogurt with either rice, barley, wheat, or mixed grain in it, applesauce, multi-grain cheerios cereal, oatmeal, and french toast. He will practically eat anything, and so far, he isn't allergic to anything.
Mason is ticklish in his inner thighs, rib cage, the back of his neck and in between his shoulder blades. We just recently purchased a carseat convertible, and he is now sitting front facing, partly because our car is just way too small for him and I to fit in when he is sitting rear facing. So now, when Jeff is driving I can reach back and tickle his legs and make all of us laugh! :) love it.
Grandma and Grandpa Hook are just so pleased and awed by him and how smart, clever, and persistent he is, so glad that we are here. Mason does this new thing, he will go into a closet and grab matching shoes and give them to their owner, then he'll walk away... sometimes the owner of the shoes will be all the way in the kitchen, the other side of the house, he'll carry them all that way just to give you your shoes then walk away. Sometimes though he'll give you your shoes, once you've grabbed them, he'll take them from you again and then either try to put them on your feet, his feet, or he'll take them back to the closet... and then he'll repeat the process 5 or 6 times, each time getting faster and faster... it's an interesting game. And he'll not only do this with shoes but also dvds, cds, remotes, pillows, etc.
Oh how time flies! I can't believe how fast my little baby boy is growing up, seems like just yesterday I was taking him home from the hospital. Valentine's day Mason had his year check up and my how he has grown. At birth he was 8 lbs 6 oz. and now he is 24 lbs. His height was 20 1/2 in long and now he is 31 1/2 in long.
Feb 7, was his 1st birthday, we kept it small and casual. Grandpa was able to cancel or move around his bishop meetings at last minute to attend the party. I made a two layer moist devil's chocolate cake with whipping cream frosting (I think I made too much, should have gone with a pudding cake or something). And we ate lasagna for dinner, I guess that's Mason's favorite, at least until he can tell us differently. He ate so much lasagna that when it came time for cake he wasn't really that interested, plus we don't really let him have dessert most of the time, maybe a few bites here and there, but to get an entire slice all to himself was very different for him; so all of these factors may have been why he wasn't that interested. However, to make matters more interesting because he was just sitting there poking at it, I sat behind him and fed him a little at a time, then I got a bit more aggressive and stuck his hand into the cake, made him grab some, and stuffed it in his mouth... I'm a horrible mother, but it sure was funny!
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Finally he is sleeping through the night! He has a routine; which I think was part of the problem. He now goes to bed between 8-8:30 pm (depending on how tired he is) and he'll wake up between 7-8am. Our routine for the night is: bath, lotion, pjs, milk, sing, scripture, book, bed.
Getting to this point of sleeping through the night was no easy task... we had heard from a friend a Super Nanny tactic and we decided to try it, I mean it wasn't going to make our situation any worse, we had nothing to lose (we already weren't getting any sleep).
The tactic
1st night: do routine, then put him in his crib at his bedtime (ours was 8:30pm), kiss or hug goodnight, turn off light, leave the room. Let him cry (which was the hardest part for me, I wanted to make sure that I had done everything I could do for him, letting him cry made me feel like a bad mom). let him cry for 5 min, then go back in his room. Do not take him out of crib. caress his back, talk to him quietly to have him lie back down, whatever.... Time limit is 2min max to be in there, then leave the room and shut the door. Wait 10 min this time before going back in there, if he is still crying. (the first night we went into his room 3 times)... do the same thing as before, caress him, soothe him to sleep with a song or words, but remember time limit is 2 min max and you never pick them up or take him out of his crib) Leave room and shut the door. Wait 15 min before going in there again if still crying (the baby not you)... You can alternate between parents, first Dad after 5 min, then Mom after 10 min, and so on and so forth (we alternated because we thought it would be too stimulating for him to see us both in there with him)... so you go in again after adding 5 min to each stent. Eventually he will cry himself to sleep (after the third time going in.. he finally fell asleep and didn't wake up till 4am... which then we did the same thing, didn't take him out of crib, didn't touch him, just soothed him with our words or song and left the room. He went to sleep after we put his binkie back in his mouth. but for other parents who don't use pacifiers, eventually your child will learn not to wake up, and if they do, to soothe themselves to sleep)
2nd night: do routine, then put him in his crib at bedtime, kiss or hug goodnight, leave the room and shut the door. (if possible, this time when you initially put him to bed you both should be in there... then when he starts crying and you go in throughout the night, only one of you should go in, alternating if possible). When they start crying, again wait 5 min before going in. then add 5 min to each stint until your baby falls asleep and you don't have to go in there all.
3rd night: do routine, put in crib, leave room, shut the door. by this time your baby is thinking that you won't follow through, so instead of getting easier, it just got harder, but you do this tonight and it will get easier here on out. 5min, 10min, 15min, 20min, etc. each time you go in try and do one less thing than you did before and cut your time in his room by a few seconds, that way by the 5th night all you have to do is open his door and stand there, it becomes reassuring to him knowing you are there without even having to say anything.
4th night: do routine, put in crib, leave room. if he is crying wait 5 min then go in and do routine of the last 2 nights... 5min, 10min, 15min, etc... and if he wakes up during the early hours of the morning do the same thing as you would when putting him down the first time. Set a wake up time when it is alright to take him out of crib, for us it was 6am, anything earlier he would just have to cry himself to sleep, but after 6 we were allowed to take him out of his crib and put him in our bed or just get ready for the day.
5th night: by this night, baby should be falling asleep after 10 min of crying and only having to go in there 1 time. If not, then perhaps this method is not for you or your child.
Holidays, weekends, vacations, people come to visit, try to keep the schedule and routine as much as possible, and for the first night you and one visiting relative can put baby to bed, then perhaps the second or third night relatives can put baby to bed.
Hope this method works for you, if you aren't already getting sleep because baby is waking up in the night, seriously what have you go to loose from trying this method.... if baby still isn't sleeping through the night by night 5 then this isn't the method for you, but now you have one less method to try. I think what it comes down to is routine and follow through.
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Belated Christmas
gift from my parents, a tunnel.
Here he is just barely learning how to throw a ball...
Daddy thought it would be fun to put dvd stamps on Mason (which is was, fun and funny)
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Christmas in Utah... we stayed for part of the time with Jeff's parents in Clearfield and the other part of the time in Vernal and the other rest of the time at Jenni's in Bountiful.
Here Mason is playing with bubbles in our make-shift room
I took some photos in the car while on the way to Vernal
Mason is meeting Great Grandma Gerri Carroll for the first time, Vernal UT
She is bed-ridden, but today she was in good spirits, Mason can put a smile on anyone's face.
We went to the shooting range out in Morgan, UT for a fun activity... I look like a cop from the 70's with those glasses on...
even though I was in the military, it doesn't mean that I know how to shoot a handgun very well... at least I hit the target... sometimes I got pretty dead on and other times not so much...
Jeff was an extraordinary shots-man.
Mason wrestling with his tiger he got from Ashley as a Christmas present.
Just chillin at Jenni's condo
Got to hang out with my BFF Karissa for a few hours! It was so awesome to see her and hang out, she works wonders with the Mason child.
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In Nevada, Jeff and I went on a hike... it was rocky, and there even was a bit of a mountain climbing we got to do, unfortunately I wore the wrong kind of shoes, (like always) my rubber shoes are just too slippery for rocks.
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Virginia City getaway for a day... this car was just sitting in front of an old building, thought it would make a great shot.
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Halloween...
this picture he is wearing Mindy's binnie she made for him, this is the first time he's ever worn it, and the first time he didn't try and take it off.
For Halloween we went to the Trunk or Treat put on by our ward, my dad, the bishop was a pirate sheriff, Mason a sailor, mom "spider-woman", me a Dame or woman knight, and Jeff a mime (although not a very good one, he wouldn't shut-up!)
The actual day of Halloween, we were eating dinner while the trick or treaters were coming to the door, each time the door opened a swarm of bugs would fly in, attracted to the light, would rest on the ceiling, and one by one would drop dead in our food, drinks, on the table... eventually we all lost our appetites, and here, dad is vacuuming the ceiling and we're all standing around watching.
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I got a haircut! This is Ashley, Me, Mason, and Jeff enjoying fireworks up at Tahoe for Labor Day! Ashley came to visit with a group of her friends... how random.
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When we first arrived in Nevada, we went to go see my brother Jesse. Mason is giving jesse loves, this is the first time they've ever met!
