My name is Mason....I like to dance!

Mason is becoming quite the little dancer. I guess he also has a thing for big band music??

Oh and fyi....yes I know his clothes are on backwards...thats the result of Daddy and Mason trying to make Mommy laugh. :-)

Peek-a-boo!

Mason loves playing peek-a-boo and he has discovered that only covering his face his for babies!

New Car!

We have a new car at our house!

It's Shiny,

Red,

and the perfect size for.....

Mason!

My favorite things

I am absolutely loving the stage that Mason is at right now. While it's definitely challenging, it is also the most rewarding. He is doing so many new things right now and I know if I don't document them, I will forget about them one day! So here are "my favorite things" that Mason is doing right now:

He LOVES giving kisses. Right now he kisses any cat, dog, or baby he sees. He also kisses Mommy and Daddy but no other adults just yet! Saturday night we had a neighborhood music night in the park and Mason made friends with one of our neighbors who is almost three. She was fascinated by his wagon so the two spent most of the night sitting face to face inside it. Well after a while Mason worked up the courage and planted a big kiss on her cheek! The poor little girl was totally caught off guard and just said "No, no be nice!' Yet a couple of minutes later she started leaning towards him to give her another kiss! It was too cute.

He dances or claps anytime he hears music. I love that Mason loves music and it makes me smile every time he starts clapping and stomping his feet and bouncing his head.

He is quite the little explorer. He has no fear and just loves to take everything in. Every little thing is exciting to him and I love his sense of curiosity. When he sees something that interests him he starts pointing and saying "that! that!"

He thinks he's a ten year old. At our neighborhood get together a few nights ago, there were four or five older boys playing soccer. When Mason saw them, he ran over to them raised up his hand and if saying "wait for me!" then proceeded to try his hardest to catch the ball.

He is a momma's boy and I love it. No matter where we are or how much fun Mason is having, he always stops every few minutes to come over and give me a hug and a kiss. It melts my heart!

He is fascinated by all types of balls. It doesn't matter if its a beach ball or a tennis ball, Mason will love it. Ball is one of his new words- (although it sounds more like "ba") and any time he sees one he starts pointing and excitedly saying "ba! "ba!

He loves books. Every morning he will sit in my lap and we will read four or five books. I love that he points at the pictures and laughs at funny things he sees. When we stop reading and put the books away, he will normally go and get yet another one and want to read even more!

He loves when his Daddy gets home each day. When can be in any room in the house but as soon as Mason hears the car pull up and the door unlock, he makes a mad dash to go give his Daddy a welcome home hug.

We are so blessed to have Mason in our lives and can't wait to watch him grow up!

Where have we been?

I don't really have a good excuse for not blogging for the past few weeks- except for the fact that I spend most of my waking moments chasing around a crazy 13 month old. Other than that I am really hoping to be better about it in the future! Anyway, here are a few of the things we have been up to over the last month!

Mason is in full toddler mode. The tantrums, the curiosity, the adventurousness and the independence all proof that he's definitely not a baby anymore! He is hilarious and keeps us laughing constantly. A few of his favorite things right now are going down slides all on his own, swimming -specifically at pools with spray parks, pulling everything imaginable out of every cabinet in the house, and dancing! Poor Mason did not have much of a chance to be a good dancer considering neither Jared nor I are talented in that category. Mason's dancing though although a little awkward is the cutest thing I have ever seen. He starts bouncing up and down to the music then slowly sticks out his foot and moving it back and forth. If you are lucky you might get a couple of claps thrown in their too. He dances anytime he hears music now and I love it!

We have also been busy with our playgroup spending lots of time at parks, pools and baby playdates. Mason loves being around other kids and its so cute to see him interact with them. In the past week, he has kissed one girl and hugged another. Haha I think I might be in trouble when he gets to Jr. High!

Last weekend we took a trip to San Antonio for my brother in law Jeff's Air Force basic training graduation. I was a little concerned about having our little crazy man in the car for almost 6 hours but he did great! He slept, snacked and played with toys the whole way! Mason got to spend a lot of time with his cousin Liev and had so much fun. I know these two little guys will grow up being great friends!

Our little beach baby in Florida!

We spent last week in Florida! It was our first family vacation since having Mason and it was great to get away! We went with my parents so it was nice to have an extra set of hands to help with Mason. Speaking of Mason, I don't know if it would be possible for any child to love the beach more! My little guy who is terrified of strangers and thinks cribs are the scariest place on earth was little tough guy at the beach! He would walk into the water, get knocked down by a wave then get right back up laughing just to be knocked down again. I think he would have stayed all day every day at the beach if we would have let him! We also spent lots of time in St. Augustine. It's the nation's oldest city and was amazing! It's so neat to see a place with so much history and culture without having to leave the US! Here are some pictures from our trip!

One year old!

I'm about a week late in posting this but I wanted to wait until Mason's one year appointment so I would have his height and weight. Mason officially turned one last Tuesday! I have to admit I was a little sad that his first year was over and he wasn't really a baby anymore. He is most definitely a full-fledged toddler now from the walking to the curiosity to the tantrums! Here's what Mason is up to this month!

He weighs 21 pounds 14 ounces which puts him the 34% percentile for weight

He is 31 1/2 inches tall which makes him the the 87% percentile for height.

He's still tall and skinny!

He is wearing mostly 12 month shirts and 6-12 month pants.

He is saying "mama", "dada" "baba" and "nana" and I'm pretty sure he's saying "that" when he points to something.

He is shaking his head yes and no and seems to understand the meaning of both words!

He is starting to follow simple directions- I will tell him to go get his ball and he gets it or when Jared is at work I tell him to go find Dada and he waits at the door!

He loves loves loves water! The other night we went for a walk and stopped to let him play in our neighbor's sprinklers. I have never seen him so happy! He was running through giggling like it was the neatest thing he had ever seen!

He is now riding forward facing in his car seat and loves it. It makes for much easier car rides!

He's on strictly whole milk in sippy cups. Hooray for no more formula! It took him a few days to get adjusted but he seems to love the milk now!

He is walking everywhere and trying to run! It took him about three weeks to really get the hang of walking but about a week before he turned one he completely dropped the crawling and became a full time walker. It definitely makes things a little more challenging having a walker around the house but he looks so cute with his wobbly walk that I don't mind too much!

Happy first birthday Mason!!