Week 23: July 14-20th

Mason

- One morning I had to wake him up for school (that's the worst... I'd love to encourage him to sleep in!!).  I didn't know if he would wake up groggy, in a good mood, etc.  He took a few seconds to compose himself, and then his mind was on full throttle: "Mommy, how was your nap? How was Jackson's nap? Mommy, the stuff fell out of my eye while I was sleeping! (he said he had something in his eye the night before, I told him it would probably go away if he kept his eyes closed for a bit).  Mommy, did you remember to close the door?" (The door to the backyard was open when I put him to bed). Man, he was on it!!

- One day he was complaining about a stomach ache, and I asked him if maybe he just had to go potty.  Later that night:  "I had a poo. My tummy ache is all gone, the poop took it"

Jackson
- This week Jackson was sick with a fever :(.  He had to stay home from school on Wednesday, and then I made a doctors appointment for him on Thursday, the 3rd day of his fever.  Of course, by the time we got to the doctor, he was happy and fever-free, but it was still good to go in for a check.  He did have a red sore in the back of his throat, so the doctor confirmed that he was at the end of a viral infection.
We also got a new weight: 15 lb 12 oz (3 oz increase in the past 3 wks).  He sure looks chunky to me, but I guess he's slowing down!

Monday morning drive to Bellingham. 

Taking in the sights!

Picking up Mason from school... who needs a double stroller?

(This face is "Mason... look at the camera!... with your eyes!!)

Rosy fever cheeks

Doesn't he look angelic?  And well rested??

Mmmhmm... he slept in my bed from 3:30 am on, so that "we" could get some sleep

Not looking very sick at the Doctor's office

Woah, woah, woah!!

Ma-Lo and Mae-Lo kissing goodbye at the Farmer's market

This was the second week Jim was out of town.  This is often what my days looked like... trying to work from home, juggling baby and getting bits of work done here and there.

Meanwhile... Jim was "working" in Key West ;)

We got to go to the squadron to watch Jim's plane fly in

"Hi Daddy!!!"

Waiting for them to unload the plane

The next day we went to ride Thomas the Train near Seattle!

Getting a tattoo

Plenty of stations to play with trains

Ready for our train ride!

We had great seats right at the window, on the side of the train with all the views

Mason enjoyed taking in those views (or maybe just feeling like a Danger Ranger!)

Jackson's views were a little obstructed

Mason the Junior Engineer!

Jim was telling me about his Finance class, and how Krispy Kreme is the company that his group was evaluating... I pretty much told him he had to stop talking, because he was just making me really, really, REALLY want a Krispy Kreme donut!  

We were near Seattle at the time... but I didn't know that Krispy Kreme was out here in the PNW. 

"Market Research" as Jim says

Even though this little buddy had a rough weekend, it ended with a smiley little guy! 

Week 22: July 7-13

Jim's out of town for the next two weeks, on a Det (detachment) in DC.  It's definitely a different kind of missing him when he is gone, compared to before we had kids... or when we only had one!  ;)

Mason:

- He keeps asking when Daddy will be home, if he'll be home for bath or to do bedtime, etc. At dinner, he started to ask again, "will Daddy be here to help..." Then he stopped himself and exclaimed, "MOMMY!!"

"Yes Mason?"

"You're bootiful" <big proud smile on his face>

<and on mine too!!! I happened to hear Jim tell him, before he left, that he should tell me I'm beautiful every day>

- He has given me some good mole antics to whack at bedtime.  Here's a text I sent to Jim: 

"He's crying because he took 2 bite size pieces out of one of his firefighter books. Now he "has snot". Conveniently I left a tissue in his room, but he is specifically requesting a boogie wipe." 

- One day we were playing at his school park.  He was playing pretty well with a 4 year old and holding his "own", except at one point he squeezed the other kid's cheeks and said, "cheeky cheeks!" in a deep silly voice we like do in our family.  ha ha

- One night I went up to say goodnight to Mas again, and I said "see you in the morning!"

And he said, "actually, about that (then repeated - actually, about that)... The sun is already out!"
Ha!  Yeah Mason... about that.  We go to bed before the sun goes down in the summer time ;)

- On Sunday we had a playdate at our house with the freezer meal exchange, and we had an inflatable pool to play in.  Since kids were in and out of it, there was a lot of playing outside without shoes on.  At one point  Mason ran over to me with level 10 excitement and said, "Mommy, we get to run around without shoes on!"  He thought it was pretty cool.

- However, he was also very concerned concerned about his friends not wearing a helmet while using his scooter, driving his car, etc. 

Jackson

- The only note I had written for him this week was that he put himself to sleep (no tears, no rocking, no nursing) on a few occasions.  You can tell what excites me these days, lol!  Easy, stress free SLEEP!!  

 Mason ate all the blueberries out of this glass bowl, and then carried it to the bathroom (where he has a stool to reach the sink) to clean out the bowl for me.  I heard some glass clanging so I had to go investigate!

Earlier in the evening, after a potty accident, he insisted on rinsing out his shoes by himself.  I hope his desire to clean stays around!

 Medicinal Prunes... this boy hasn't pooped much in the past few weeks, but he sure has some stinky toots!

 Enjoying a free mini slurpee on 7/11 at 7/11!

Mason keeps asking to go back, "you know that store with the one-one??"

 Has anyone seen Jackson??

I often set my phone/purse on Jackson's lap to carry everything to the car.  Apparently Mason wanted me to take his fire fighting stuff to the car as well.

 Practicing sitting up tall

 Recruiting Monkey to put out a fire

 FaceTime with Daddy, sitting on Bro's shoulders

 Relaxing Saturday morning, playing with a tracing book and some "SmartyPants" flash cards.

 In Daddy's honor, having a cinnamon roll at the Farmer's Market... after eating our healthy foods of course!

 When we headed home for nap, I decided to swing by the park, where I heard there was a Kid's fest.  We couldn't pass this up... there was a line of 5 [FREE] bounce houses among other fun things... and OH YEAH... A FIRE TRUCK!! We were probably there about an hour, and checked out the fire truck three times!

 We went to Mae's house that evening for a little pool time and a delicious dinner.  They are so much fun to watch together... and they have both grown up so much in the past year!

 Sunday we ran errands in Mt. Vernon, which segued nicely into a lunch at ChuckECheese.  He played hard and ate hard!

And this little Cracker Jack was so sweet and happy the whole time!

His 22 week pic was actually taken a few days later, when he was sick... so you can tell he's a little more reserved here.  But still just as sweet as can be!

Hidden gems

Here's a few pix that never made it to the blog, that I have discovered in the past week or two.  Just wanted to insert them somewhere!  ;)

 A photo company took pictures during graduation, and keeps harassing me to buy the pictures.  The different backdrops options they put behind me [not pictured here] are pretty hilarious (American flag, bald eagle, different buildings on campus, a library setting, etc).  Anyway, I've opted to NOT spend over a hundred dollars buying a picture from them, and just take a few screen shots instead <gasp!>

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A sweet sweet picture of Jackson and Paige in NC in mid-May

 And a gorgeous day out at the Waterfront Festival in Anacortes in June.

 These boys are some COOL DUDES!!