Happy Father's Day!!

Yesterday was Garret's second Father's Day.  What a difference a year makes!  Here is a shot from last year's holiday.

I love Mason and Garret together.  Those 2 love each other so much.  Seeing how much Garret loves our little man just makes me fall in love with him all over again.  Here are a couple other pictures from yesterday.

Mason loves his big brother!  He's giving him a kiss.  :)

Jackson got hurt over the weekend, so he was laying low.  He hid under the kitchen table, so Mason crawled under there with him to keep him company. 

Garret is such a fantastic father to Mason and an incredible husband to me.  He works so hard and we appreciate everything he does.  Mason and I love the days we get to spend together when he's off of work.  He is such a supportive, caring, hard working, and loving father and husband.  I love you so much Garret and look forward to celebrating many more Father's Days with you!

Finally homeowners!!

For about 3 years now, we have been thinking about buying a house, looking at houses, working on getting financing for a house, blah, blah, blah.....

As of March 14, we can finally say we own a house!  It wasn't without complications of course, though. :)

We started looking at houses in January (for the second time).  One day, we looked at 7 houses!  That day, we found one we really liked on French Island.  We thought about it for a few days and were ready to put an offer on it.  Our realtor wanted to make sure that was the one we really wanted and encouraged us to look at a few more, just to make sure.  We picked more out and looked at about 8 or so more over a couple days.  We are soooo glad we did that because we found a house we loved even more.  It had one more bedroom, a bigger deck and yard, and just a little more living space.  We were supposed to close on March 8, but the mortgage company didn't have all the paperwork processed by then, so it was put off a day, then a weekend, then 3 more days.  I won't go into all the details, but it was so frustrating (that's probably an understatement).  Anyways, we still moved in on March 9 and haven't looked back! It will be even better once we're done dealing with our previous landlords and the ridiculous fees they are charging us....

Jackson soaking up the rays while Garret and I do some work on Day 1

Play Room

Mason's Room

Master Bedroom.  It is amazing to finally have colored walls after 28 years with white walls in every house I've ever lived in!!!

Living room with a fresh coat of paint

Welcome Back!

After seeing a cool idea on a Pinterest post I decided to start posting on here again.  Each month, they suggested jotting down that many facts about your little one.  For example, Mason just recently turned 14 months, so this post will be 14 facts about him.  This will be a cool way to look back and see how much he changes and grows.  I might make a few more "update" posts about things that have been going on the past few months.

Anyways, without further adieu, 14 Mason Facts:

1. We are eagerly awaiting his 15 month appointment in a few weeks, however, at his 12 month appt, Mason was 30 1/2 inches and weighed 21.6 lbs.  I'm pretty sure he was 25% for weight and somewhere between 50-75% for height.   

2. Mason is doing great with his signs.  He signs 'more' and 'all done'.  His vocabulary is pretty limited, but he understands so many more things than he can verbalize.  He says mama, dada, Jackson, ba (ball), hi (his first word), uh oh, cracker (his newest), car, buppa (grandpa).  He just tried saying wagon yesterday, but only got the first syllable. He also will attempt to say I love you back to us. Even though it sounds more like Ah-la-la, we know what he's trying to say. :)  It really is crazy, though, how much he understands.  We tell him something and he goes and does it.  He's such a smart little guy. :)

3. Mason is such an affectionate little guy.  He loves doling out the kisses and is starting to learn what a hug is.

4. Right now he has 7 teeth.  He got his first tooth at 8 months and the first 6 all came within a month.  His 7th tooth came just within the last few weeks.  #8 has been trying to cut through for at least a week now.

5. Mason looooves bathtime.  Just last week, we transitioned him from his infant bath to our regular bathtime.  He seems to like the extra freedom. We are also currently in week 5 of our 8 week swim class.  Mason loves the pool, but gets VERY distracted by the bag of balls hanging on the wall.  

6. Speaking of balls, Mason's absolute favorite toys are his balls.  He loves all colors, sizes, and textures.  Ball was one of his first words.  Once he sees one, you can't get him to focus on anything else.  He's actually got quite a good arm on him for such a little guy.  He's had baseballs since he was just a few months old.

7. Mason had his first haircut on April 2.  He has had 2 haircuts so far.

8. Mason is a very social little dude.  When we are out and about, he tries to say hi to every person we pass.  

9. Mason's favorite place to be is outside.  He loves his wagon and cozy coupe car.  We just got a swingset for him on Sunday that someone was giving away.  It needs a little work, but it will be enough for him to use this year and maybe next until we get him a bigger and nicer one.

 10. Mason is sleeping very well these days.  He goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps until somewhere from 6:30-8 usually.  He is still taking 2 naps during the day between 45 min to 2 hours.  

11. We have had a walker on our hands since he was 11 1/2 months old.  He is getting faster and is attempting to run at times.

12. Mason also loves his Baby Einstein videos.  They are the only "movies" he will watch.  He just lights up when we ask him if he wants to watch a movie.  He will go climb in his chair or sit on his couch and wait for it to start.  He is then mesmerized for a half hour until it's over.  Sometimes it's the only way I can get ready for work in the morning.  His favorite one is Neighborhood Animals, which coincidentally has his favorite song in.  Mason's favorite song is Old MacDonald.  He sings E-I-E-I-O, or at least the Mason version of it. Sounds more like "ya, ya, ya". :)

13.  Mason is doing so much better eating than he was a month ago.  He still has some texture sensitivities, but for the most part, he tries almost everything we give him.  His favorites are animal crackers, bananas, goldfish, and any type of bread product (buns, breads, english muffins, breadsticks, etc.). 

14. He is wearing size 12 & 18 month clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 4 shoes.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog.  Hope I can be more consistent with it!!