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!

First Christmas and One month old (lots of pictures)

On the 23rd we headed west to my parents house for a couple nights before heading to Matt's parents. We enjoyed spending time with both families.

Grandma took care of Mason all night on the 23rd and I was able to get 7 hours of sleep. I woke up feeling like a human again. Thanks mom, that was the best Christmas present I could have asked for. For people who don't know my mom well she is a bundle of energy and the definition of multi-tasker. She had Keegan and Mason, made brownies, sugar cookies and Christmas eve dinner. Of course my dad is her handy assistant and we all pitch in but she really is the lead. She is amazing.

Hunter cut his foot on some ice so he had to wear one of grandpa's socks.

The beautiful tree.

Grandpa napping with Mason and Fisher (my dad loves my yellow lab, they have a weird bond and when our dogs are at G and G's they are allowed on the couch)

Grandma with her two grand babies

Aunt Emily, we are so excited for the next family member to join us in July. We are praying for Emily and Cade daily that they have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

Uncle Cade getting in on some loving from Mason Charles.

Mason umbilical cord took a while to fall off because of the stitches he had to get in the NICU but it finally did on Tuesday so we gave him his first real bath in Grandma's sink. He loved it.

My cutie pie nephew Keegan, he loves his chocolate milk.

Mason taking an afternoon nap!

We dressed Mason in his monkey suit and took a spin on my dad's Quad. I yelled at Matt the entire time that he was going to fast.

When we got back we made sugar cookies. Keegan was a great helper.

Grandma can't get enough of this guys cold cheekies and ears. Mason is not so sure about the mustache kisses but they started to grow on him.

I am looking a little rough but this was really cute. Keegan brought Mason all of his gifts. He is such a good cousin and I can't wait for them to be able to play.

Keegan in his "builder bob" attire

Smashed face

We headed north to Matt's family on Christmas morning. This is Matt's younger brother Nick and his girlfriend Angie. Nick and Angie live in Arizona and Nevada and they had not met Mason yet. Uncle Nick and Aunt Angie spoiled us by buying us a jogging stroller, we are so excited to use that gift. We miss them and love spending time with them when they are home.

GG just can't get enough of her great grand baby

Mason's oldest cousin, Luke and his aunt Theresa.

Matt's mom Nancy decorates their tree with different themes every year. This year it was blue for Mason. To cute! I am sorry I did not get more pictures at the Gilbreaths, I guess we were having to much fun that I forgot to catch all of the moments of film. If any of you want to share some of your pictures I would love that!

Thanks families for wonderful memories and all the wonderful gifts. Mason definitely scored and is going to be one of the best dressed kids on his block.

On the Mason front he is doing wonderful. The last two nights he has slept 5 hour stretches and skipped his 2 am feeding:) He does have a yeast infection on his bottom. Boys can get those too, who knew. It is caused from breast milk. We are treating it and it is getting better but made him uncomfortable, poor dude. I can not believe a month has gone by already. Love to all of our family and friends.

Per the request of "aunt" Kathryn

I have dubbed my college girlfriends Mason's "aunts." Kai, Kathryn, Trisha, and Traci. So per the request of one of his "Aunts" here our some recent pictures.

3 weeks old. We went to Dad's office to meet his crazy coworkers. We put on one of his casual friday outfits! He was very well behaved and all of the girls fought over holding him.

We were goofing around last night with hopes we could take a decent picture for his announcements, we realized we need to pay for a professional to do these.

Mr. Muscles.

We are heading up to my parents house tomorrow for the next few days and we are really excited. It will be nice to have Grandma and Grandpa's help so we can get a little sleep.

Happy Holidays to everyone we will post soon.....

Family and almost week 3

We are so blessed with the most wonderful families. I have been having kind of a hard week (baby blues) I guess and when Matt's older brother Chris's family came over it was just what I needed. Of course the wonderful dinner was awesome but having their support and love and proof that it does get better made me feel blessed. I laid down that night and thanked god for always placing people in our lives at the times we need them most.

Cousins Lauren, Lucas, and Elle. Uncle Chris and Aunt Theresa.

Uncle Chris

My mom and dad's office has also been wonderful to us. They sent us this great gift basket of baby goodness. Matt and I had fun taking it apart and admiring how they constructed such a bundle of goodies. The core of the design is a lot of diapers! Thanks Landmark Environmental for the tower and gracious gift card.

Mason is doing wonderful. He is getting bigger everyday and has quite the appetite. I am tired but have an amazing husband who is my right and left hand. Mason is a lot more alert everyday and though I am looking forward to a night he sleeps more than 2 hours I am trying to take this day to day (Theresa's advice and so true)!

I am trying to get out of the house with him everyday, for my own sanity. I went to the mall yesterday and had a Starbucks, it was wonderful. Today my mom and I are going to spend the afternoon together and hopefully meet up with Aunt Emily and cousin Keegan. Tomorrow is Matt's holiday party at his office so we are going to make our big debut:) I will post more pictures soon.

Unconditional love.....

2 weeks old

This past Sunday our friends Chris and Kathryn came over to meet Mason, she was a natural at holding him. It was really nice to visit with them.

Our first outing around the neighborhood, I got cleared to begin walking and swimming. Yipee!!!

Hanging out!!!

Kind of a blurry picture but so cute. Mama loves her little guy!!!

I think he is going to be a brown eyed boy, but they are dark blue for now.

This is a kid that goes to town at the "all you can eat boob buffet"

Mom broke away on Thursday evening for a few hours to hang out with her girlfriends and exchange cookies. They were making fun of me because I packaged mine in jars and they brought theirs in Tupperware. Kai are you proud of me?

I thought I was suppose to sleep when the baby sleeps?

Two weeks old.

Our first week with out Dad went well. I realized people weren't kidding when they said you have no time. I am glad to get a shower everyday. I am not sure how people do this with more than one, Kai??

We had his two week well baby this week. He is 10 lbs and doing wonderful.

1 week old and great grandparents

Dad says it is never to early to start thinking about baseball.

I think I am heading towards another nap.

Maybe not, checking things out, my eyes are blue for the time being

This is my great grandma Bert, she thinks I am pretty special.

This is my great grandpa Larry, he agrees with GG (that is what grandma wants to be called for great grandma)

Matt's grandparents came to visit us today. It was a nice treat to have some one-on-one time with them. They are very special to Matt and I and how cool that Mason has great grandparents who are healthy and active.

Last night our friends Ryan and Trisha brought us dinner and met Mason, I was a little tired and forgot to take a picture, darn it! Sorry Trisha next time we see you and thanks again for bringing dinner, we love you guys.

We aren't sure where the first week went, actually we aren't even sure what day it is:) Things are going really well but as all parents know these early weeks = little sleep. Matt has been a terrific assistant and I am not sure what I am going to do when he goes back to work Monday but I know everyday it gets easier. We have gotten out of the house quite a bit and I am physically feeling really good from the C-section. I feel refreshed to have some of my old body back (still a long way to go) but not running to the bathroom every 15 minutes is awesome but really the most awesome part is Mason. I can not get over how much we love this lil' guy.....I can't even imagine how I lived my life without him!