8 weeks, Barack Baby, and Kai visits

I would like to congratulate my cousin Kelsie and her husband Ricky just welcomed their baby girl Karly into the world. We are so happy she is here safe and sound and have been praying for them daily. We love you guys and can't wait to meet her. This is going to be such a fun ride....

2 months old and getting cuter everyday. He is starting to giggle a lot and smile, he is really a happy baby! He loves for me to sing to him, not sure Matt enjoys it but I sure do.

Matt and I are so in love with this kid.

We watched the inauguration! I dislike talking politics and I truly love all my republican friends but this mama loves Barack! I wanted Mason to have something for his baby book about this very historical election.

My best friend Kai came down from Alaska to meet Mason. It was so wonderful to see her. She left her two kids (which I know was hard and that she missed them a lot) and headed south for three days. We spent time with some of our sorority sisters and laughed a lot. I left Mason with Matt one evening to go to dinner with the ladies. He did wonderful! It was very refreshing for me to hang with the girls and was just what my soul needed.

Mason is doing awesome every week gets more fun.

7 weeks, 85th birthday and the zoo

We started using the bumbo this week, he likes to sit on the counter and watch mommy cook or do the dishes while we sing Old McDonald or Isty bitsy spider (I sing and he laughs at me).

Ride em' Cowboy

Play time with Hunter, his chocolate furry brother

These are my favorite pants, so warm and cute. I call them his Alaska pants.

Great Granpa Larry turned 85 this week and we went over to celebrate. He is in such great health and he even passed his driving test. Since they don't read this I will say Matt and I are not sure we have much confidence in the DMV. He should probably stop driving but otherwise he is sharp as a tack and very special to all of us.



Angela, Travis (her boyfriend) and grandma Nancy came to see Mason. We love having the company.

Grandma Nancy getting her weekly Mason fix!

The weather has been gorgeous here so we decided to head to the zoo. Keegan is at such a fun age and he makes me smile all the time. I love that kiddo so much.

He loves the monkey's, it is hard to tell here but he put his hand on the glass and the bamboon put his hand where Keegan's was.

My brother Cade is a big kid as well and he definitely marches to a different drum:) It is so fun being grown up and having kids to share with your sibling. I really love my brother Cade.


The girls, Emily is just barely showing (she is 15 weeks).

6 weeks and Aunt Kai's quilt

This is the beautiful quilt that my best friend Kai made Mason for Christmas. She is my friend that could put Martha Stewart to shame. I am not sure where she finds the time to do these things, she has two children, Fischer is 2.5 and Eme is 17 months. Kai is coming to visit in a couple weeks (without the kiddos) I am so excited to see her. For those of you who do not know Kai she lives in Alaska.

Mason is growing like a weed. This is a 6 month outfit.

Cuddled up. January in Colorado is cold and windy.

He likes to hang out in his bouncy chair on vibrate. This week he has started to interact a lot more. His smiles make our hearts melt and in that one moment I feel like all the sleepless nights are worth it (not that I am not ready for them to change:)

This is after bath time. Sometimes I take a bath with him. I have been in one bath where he got a little to relaxed and pooped. Matt and I couldn't stop laughing. This is where you know you are a parent because it doesn't make you throw up but you find it funny.

Of course this week we had a lot of hang time with our buddy Leo the Lion.

And of course you are never to young to pray.

Mason is doing great and we have noticed a big change in his personality. Each week gets a little easier.

Happy new year!, 5 weeks old, and reflux

Mason has made a new friend, Leo the lion! This week he has started to open up more and just showing us the beginning of "cooing" and grabbing for things. On Monday I stopped by my office to introduce him to my work family. I am not very good at this picture thing and forgot to take some.

This week has also been very challenging for Matt and I. We have been to the pediatrician a few times. Sunday he woke very congested and fussy, we felt the same so we figured over Christmas we all got a cold. He started to cough a little so I called the on-call doctor (my books said a cough in an infant should never be overlooked) the doctor told us to make an appointment first thing Monday. They confirmed it was a cold and nothing seemed unusual just to let it play its course. That night he was extremely fussy for 3 hours. I mean blood curdling screams, it broke our hearts that we could not comfort him. The next day went well but than like clock work it started again that evening.

The next morning I decided to call the doctor because my instinct told me something was not right. The doctor described his symptoms exactly! Even the congestion. Poor Mason has a very common disease in infants, GERD or Gastroesophageal reflux disease. This is basically really bad heartburn. Their immature digestive systems are unable to close the sphincter between the esophagus and stomach and acid comes back into the throat and sometimes all over your shirt:) It peaks in the evenings, just as it does in adults. So she wrote us a prescription for "baby anti acids." The medicine combined with how we hold him after a feeding (more vertical for 20-30 minutes)and burp him has made significant difference. It is really hard to see your child in pain and not be able to do anything about it!

New Years was not exciting this year for our gang. We were so glad to be sleeping at midnight and when I woke at 2 am for his feeding I thought "Happy 2009" to myself, burped baby and fell soundly back to sleep. We hope everyone had a wonderful New Year. We are looking forward to all the blessings and challenges the coming year will bring. We pray our friends and family are blessed with love, health and happiness.

One last thing, Mason is now 12 lbs and not going to fit into his 0-3 month clothes much longer, YIKES!