A thankful Thanksgiving

The Murray family had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the afternoon at my parents' house putting up the tree (one of my favorite things to do) and  after we all took a nap we headed back over to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. Throughout the day there was one thing I couldn't stop thinking about; what a incredible difference a year makes. Last Thanksgiving, we just had Mason, I was still in pain from childbirth and could barely keep my eyes open, we were about to close on our house, I was nursing Mason what seemed to be like every hour and Matt was days away from starting a new job. It was SO very nice to just enjoy the holiday with our family... stress and worry free. As I chased Mason around the house watching him interact with his Aunts/Uncles, Great Aunts/Uncles, Nana & Papa it was clear what I was thankful for. Watching my louder then life son bringing joy and warmth to everyone around him was priceless. Matt and I are so thankful for him, each other and our very loving friends and family.

Here are a few pictures of our Thanksgiving! We can only hope your Thanksgiving was as joyful as ours.

Not liking his hat!

Got Milk?!?!?

Mason has a new favorite; his milk carton. Today marks day 3 of carrying it around, pretending to drink out of it and chewing on it (he is teething right now). I would prefer he carry around something a bit smaller only because he is still wobbly when he walks. Nonetheless, we find Mason's new found love for his milk carton funny and endearing. Plus, it is super cute watching him walk around the house saying milk and carrying the carton around. 

Yes, he took a nap with it it. I figured it was better than fighting him for it. He took a nice long nap this afternoon so whatever works, right? 

{1st Haircut}

On November 13, 2013 my mom and I took Mason to get his first haircut. I had been putting this off for some time now; but not for reasons you may think. Although, Mason's hair was cute shaggy he didn't have the ability to push his hair out if his face. When he attempted to it always resulted with lots of food in his hair. I knew the time had come but how were we going to make this happen? Remember Mason doesn't stop moving and new on the scene are his tantrums. I found a place called KidSnips close by and I knew this would be a good venue for the task at hand. Little did I know how good!!!!

KidSnips is every kids dream! Wall to wall toys surround cutting stations equipt with cars (instead of chairs), TVs in the mirror along with a very friendly welcome. We were instructed to pick a movie (we went with Elmo) and load up with some snacks!  Success success success. Not only did Mason have the best time driving his car, watching Elmo and eating snacks; his hair turned out better then I would have expected. Of course, Mason's head never stopped moving during the process but that's would made Kid Snips the right choice for us. These hair stylists specialize in working with kids and 1st haircuts. We left with a happy baby, mom and nana as well as a certificate document the occasion (picture and hair included).

Needless to say I would recommend KidSnips! We truly were impressed (plus $5 off on Tuesday/Wednesdays if your child is 3 and under).

End Result

  

Cups cups....and more cups!

We hit the one year mark which means it was time to  switch to whole milk. The transition went smoothly, along with the first few days of whole milk.... Then we hit a wall. Mason started drinking way below the suggested 16-24oz and I didn't know what to do. I bought a special sippy cup, I tried his favorite sippy cup and tried the old sippy cups (which we didn't have luck with in the past). None of the above worked and while the nurse I spoke with recommended we begin again; I just couldn't see how buying his very expensive liquid formula and adding one ounce in the bottle would be the right move. So, we turned to Dora (perhaps we have created another issue) but for now when all else fails we watch Dora and drink a bottle. The last few days we have even drank some bottles sans Dora. While I never anticipated any issues with the milk transition sometimes things don't go as planned.  As of today we are in the right track....drinking 16 plus ounces of whole milk. If we keep that up we will slowly remove the bottle from the equation (which the doctor said needs to be gone by 15 months).

A cup for me and a cup for you; has become my new motto! My Starbucks addiction is rubbing off on my son. Even as he starts to walk (yep, we have a walker) he has his cup in hand.  I have rinsed out some of my used bux cups to give to the babe to play with.  Who needs toys when you have a Starbucks cup!?!?!?  His need for my cups doesn't extend to a glass of water but water bottles, coffee|tea to go mugs must come in twos.





Mason is walking! He uses walking and crawling to get around.  He only walks in the house right now, for some reason he isn't a fan of trying out his new shoes on the pavement or grass.  He LOVES saying the word shoes but it is touch and go when it comes to actually wearing them.  Either we are totally enjoying this new stage Mason is entering.  Here is a video of him taking some of his first few steps. Enjoy!

{The Big ONE}

It is official, we are parents of a one year old! This is huge; Mason is a toddler and Matt and I have survived our first year of parenthood.  The day was special for me; and although Mason won't remember I did want to make the day special for him too. For Mason that means a day filled with pancakes, meatballs and playing!

We started the day off by going out for pancakes with Nana!  We hit up the Honey Bee Cafe; a local diner.  They hands down made the breakfast a special one; check out those birthday pancakes!

 

The day was bittersweet but mostly filled with lots of love, joy and fun!  Mason is getting so big and he is such a sweet boy.  We are enjoying interacting with him; he is smart, silly, active, determined and loving.  We are so LUCKY!

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby boy!!!!

 
 

This month Mason has really started cruising; he uses pretty much anything to get from point A to B.  He has taken a couple spills but nothing serious (yet).  He is a little chatter box when he doesn't have his Monkey Monkey in his mouth.  He loves saying dada, babies, apples, trees etc.  

 Mason's Likes:

- Monkey Monkey (his wubbanub)
-Dora the Explorer
-Playing in the fridge
-clapping
-books

Dislikes:
- being told no
- getting his diaper changed
-mashed potatoes

Just thinking about this past year brings SO much to my mind! I could write down all my thoughts but I will spare you all.  Just know that when our angel went to bed we popped up the prosecco and toasted to the most fabulous year of all our lives.  We celebrated the BIG ONE!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mason has enjoyed his week full of presents!  It is amazing how exciting Elmo wrapping paper can be (pretty sure Mason said Elmo for a good 20 minutes).  He really enjoys interactive toys so a big thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Murray and Aunt Megan for a week of birthday fun! Clearly, Mason enjoyed all of his fun gifts and of course the Elmo wrapping paper.









* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Here is the birthday sign Mason was playing with.  I ordered it from Etsy; I figured it was something we can use every year (even for Matt's birthday).  You can choose your own colors; if you want to create one for you family click here.

Say Cheese!

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  ~John Hughes 

We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful little family; I wanted to somehow capture the love we have for each other. So, it became important to me that we capture the three of us together and have some family pictures taken. The photo session was on my mind weeks beforehand; outfits, props, location...there were so many decisions to be made. And most importantly, I wanted the pictures to be "us." 

If you would like to view our pictures click here. 

The pictures are everything I hoped they would be and more! If you are looking for a photog to take pictures of your family I would highly recommend Acorn Portraits (Amanda Hein was also our wedding photographer).  A HUGE thanks to Amanda for doing an incredible job! Needless to see Mason was ALL over the place but you wouldn't know that by looking at the pictures. 

The Good Bad & Ugly

Most of my posts are of all the wonderful things going on in our lives. But blogging is about being honest so I'm going to share some of the ugly. Parenthood isn't all sunshine and roses (if you are a parent I don't have to tell you this). Mason has been off all week but when we went to the doctor to get a rash checked out we found out he has hand foot mouth disease. There is NOTHING you can do for this contagious virus. Mason has a bad case (the sores are all over his body, in and around his mouth) and is in a lot of pain.  Besides Tylenol there is little we can do for him which makes waiting for this to go through his system that much more diffcult. My happy very active boy has been crying a LOT and just wants to be held. My heart breaks for him. It is so hard to see him in pain or even worse cry out in pain. It has been days and it has been rough; nothing pretty about the situation. 

Being a parent is about being selfless and as my best friend and her son (in town from Kansas) stay at a hotel; We both are doing the best for our respective children. And as my parents have gone beyond the call of duty they too are being selfless and sacrificing for their children. Thank you mom for spending the day in the car with me driving Mason around and for much much more. Thanks dad for still making it appoint to celebrate Matt's birthday and making sure we are fed and ok. I hope we are making you both proud as we teach our son the same values you are constantly instiling in us. 

Being a parent is the most amazing and satisfying job I have ever had and while I love being a mom it is not always easy. So while I have been thrown up on, cried with and worried about Mason over the last few days all I want is to take his pain away. Nothing else matters...

I will spare you pictures of my sweet, sick baby boy. And just hope that next week we are back to sunshine and roses.