We're Baaaaaaaack...

I am truly sorry for the long blogging hiatus. Once we got back from Texas I was busy gearing up for my best friends wedding clear across the country in Atlanta! It was a blast...but unfortunately I contracted the flu and brought it back to my family in CA. (And probably to every person sitting within 5 feet of me on the plane. My apologies.) We were down for an ENTIRE week - and I am still battling a cough, but feeling much better! Once we recovered we had 2 weeks of work and laundry to catch up on...and Halloween parties to get ready for!

Finally things have slowed down and I have a few minutes to update. Halloween was a blast for us! Mason went as a dragon, so Mike went as a Knight and I went as the Princess in distress. I may be biased, but I think we were super cute! Especially the dragon!

We also took Mason trick-or-treating and he was a huge hit! Downside: he fell asleep after the 4th or 5th house. It was hysterical. Mom and dad kept collecting candy for "him" though. (yes, we ate his candy. ha ha. He sure got a lot!) Side note, the first house we went to had a Brett Favre look alike. This guy could have been his twin!

After the costume party on Friday and trick-treating on Saturday evening, we were tired! But we mustered up enough energy to head over to a haunted house set up by some of our friends from church. I made Mike go through first by himself so he could "protect me" when I went through it with him. It was really fun (except when I got chased by a chainsaw wielding killer. That part was a little freaky.)

We had so much fun with Mason this Halloween. We look forward to more holidays with this precious kiddo! Here are some pics from the weekend!

These are the Jack-o-lanterns we carved. I did the witch and Mike did the skull!

I made some "Mummy Faced Pizzas" for the costume potluck on Friday night

Let the costume parade begin! Here I am as the Princess...

Here is Mike as the Knight...

And the star of the show - Mason as the Dragon!!! Sooooo cute :)

Here we are about to set out for some Trick-or-treating! People went crazy over our little dragon. Memorable quotes of the night include "I'm going to give you extra candy because I love him so much" "Cutest costume we have seen all night!" and, after talking to another couple with their cute daughters, the wife said "Oh, look at him! We should have another baby." haha. Way to go Mason!

Here is Mason sleeping. This is mostly what he did during trick-or-treating!

Sacked out on the couch.

And last but not least, a family pic from the costume potluck! Mike was in partial costume! haha. The hosts actually had a backdrop set up and took professional pics of each family at the party. I'm not sure when we will get them, but I will post them when we do!!!

Hello Again!

Sorry for the blogging delay! We have been out of town for the last three weeks on a wonderful trip to Texas! Mason asked if he could blog about our trip - since it was his first time to Texas. I told him yes, so be expecting a blog from him later this week.

So much has happened over the last month. Our little guy turned 5 months, started baby food, LOVES tummy time now (he previously hated it!), and has even started trying to crawl. He can get his arms going or his legs going...he just can't get them going at the same time yet. I have a feeling it will only be a matter of weeks before he takes off.

Rolling over is his new favorite thing. Everytime we are changing him or laying him down he immediately starts to roll over. He is full of energy!

Since we have been back we have just been trying to get back into our routine and resume "normal" life. The weather has been perfect...upper 60's and low 70's. We decided to plant some fall flowers this weekend. Here is a pic!

Here are a couple of pics of Mason doing tummy time:

And here is a little video of Mason creeping!! It won't be long now! Watch out world.

A High Chair!

We had Mason's 4 Month Checkup on Sept. 1. He weighed in at 15 pounds 9 ounces and measured a little over 25 inches long. He is getting so big! He did really well getting his shots and hasn't been too fussy. He did run a slight fever and was acting a bit cranky but he seems to be doing better now!

The Doc gave us the go-ahead to start on some rice cereal and then stage one baby foods. We are so excited! Tonight we finally opened up the high chair box and assembled the high chair. It seems instinctual that dogs know that high chair = free food. The minute we put Mason in the chair, Jake appeared and seemed to be thinking, "Any minute now he will drop some food...wait for it...wait for it..."

Hopefully we will get a cute video of Mason chowing down and post it. Until then, here is Mason in his new high chair!

Oh, and his bib says "Jock" not "Jack" - I can hear it now..."Why do they have a bib that says 'Jack' on a baby named 'Mason'?" Not to worry.

Deep in thought about this new phase of life. Mmmmm. Food.

Just Some Pics of Sweet Mason

Precious!

Laughing

Bashful

Jabbering

Adorable

Tummy Time!

Don't forget to check out Mason's 4 Month post down below!!

I'm Four Months!

Hey Peeps! It's me, Mason. I just wanted to let everyone know I hit four months on Saturday. We didn't really do anything special - we kind of already celebrated with a trip to Sea World last Monday. We went to catch the "Sea World Nights" celebration they have in the Summer time out here. Mom and Dad bought me this awesome sting ray stuffed animal right outside of the sting ray aquarium. He is so soft! I am busy growing these days. I weigh 15 pounds and 10 oz right now. I haven't had my 4 month check up yet so I don't know how tall I am...but I can tell you I am wearing size 9 months in my pajamas because my legs are so long! I love to smile, and drool. The drooling thing is because I am working on cutting some teeth! I like to chew on things a lot and sometimes cry because it hurts. But other than that life is great. I thought I would update you on a few of my favorite things...I've really matured since my last post. All that stuff I used to like is for babies.

Here are some of my NEW favorite things:

1. Being held. Don't put me down. Seriously. Don't put me down. You're not gonna put me down are you?

2. Playing motorcycle with Dad. His fingers are the handle bars and we drive over bumpy roads really fast! It makes me laugh so hard.

3. My Bumbo. I love being able to sit all by myself! I feel like such a big boy.

4. Books. The Berenstein Bears are my favorite. I love the pictures in the books. I would love to live in a treehouse down a sunny dirt road deep in bear country. Maybe someday my dad and I can build a treehouse together!

5. Grabbing Mom's hair. This is so much fun. She is going bald on the right side of her head because I like to rip it out when I get a hold of it. I like doing this to the ladies at church too. (Incidentally mom has stopped wearing earrings. It's probably a good thing because those look even more fun to grab!)

6. Huggies diapers. We gave them a try because I kept blowing through my Pampers. I've got some serious talent people. To my chagrin, the Huggies hold up much better. But I have yet to meet I diaper I can't blow through. Yeah!

Here are a few pics from Sea World!! I was kind of chilly when we went...that's why we are in long sleeves and jeans! Brrr.

Here I am sleeping. I actually did this most of the time we were at Sea World. Hey, I'm a pretty relaxed kid...except when I am in my own bed at home. Then I like to stay awake and play.

Here is me and mom out in front of the manatee exhibit. I think I was watching a little girl who was playing with a stick. That seemed more interesting than dad taking the picture. I call em how I see em.

Here is me and dad at the Shamu Show. The crowd was HUGE! I wasn't sure what to make of all the glow sticks everyone was holding. It was pretty noisy too.

Here is Shamu! The whales did some pretty awesome tricks!

Here I am with my Sting Ray. He is about the same size as I am, but I will pass him up soon.

This last one is especially for my cousin Avery. Mom said this silly face I was making reminded her of the silly face cousin Avery used to make too. What do think? Is silliness hereditary?

Missing Mike

Last week Mike went on an 7 day trip to Washington DC for a work conference. It was just me and Mason for the week. I was a little nervous about going that long without getting any kind of baby-break, but we did ok. The first part of the week was really rough though, as I think my little one is starting to teethe. He screamed ALL day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. By Tuesday, I was screaming too. He was drooling like crazy and constantly chewing on his hands. Thankfully, Wednesday he seemed to be more back to normal. It sure is tough when you don't have family around to help out! Needless to say we were both thrilled when Daddy came home.

Mike had an awesome time and got to do quite a bit of site-seeing. He even got to see the Commandant's house! Ooh Rah!

I co-hosted a baby shower for a friend from church and so my Saturday and Sunday were taken up by that. I had fun making the diaper cake and other little table-topper decorations for the shower. I was also in charge of punch - and it was a huge hit! People were going crazy over it. I pretty much stood at the punch bowl and gave refills for most of the shower. 55 people came - it was such a blessing!

Here are some pics from the shower:

This is sweet Adrienne standing in front of the food table. She is going to be such a great mommy!

This is the diaper cake I made. There are over 100 diapers in that thing! Those should last her a while! I put 4 pacifiers on there too. Next to the cake I wrapped up packages of baby wipes. Hopefully she won't have to buy those for a while either. Her nursery colors are green and brown...so cute!

Flowers and a little gift basket I put together. The basket had some size one diapers (leftover from Mr. Mason) and some bath items. Everyone loved the flowers. I must also say that Leah and I did an awesome job slicing that cake to feed 55 people. It took some mad math skills to say the least! We even had enough left over to send home for the dad-to-be! Mike was disappointed when I didn't bring cake home from my baby shower (but we ran out!).

And last but not least - the two cutest boys in the world. This was Sunday once Mike was finally home. We were hanging out early at church on Sunday evening. My blonde haired, blue eyed son and his Mexican father. Ha ha! I think Mason has a little more of the "Czech" than the "Hispanic" in his "Hispani-czech" heritage!

Extra! Extra! Mike made the Paper!

Yes, that's my husband...and my pink camera in the hand on the far left of the picture...but no, it's not my hand...I was not privileged enough to be present for this shenanigan.

The caption reads: Sebastian "Bas" Rutten (top right), retired Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight, posed for photo with Mike Cabrero yesterday at the Marine Corps Air Station exchange. Brian Dardar took the picture of the kickboxer and Marine; Tom McKenney (left) watched the move. Rutten was promoting a clothing line.