Feeding the ducks...One last family outing as a trio

On Friday the 25th we found out that our second child Samantha's arrival was going to be moved up to Tuesday Sept. 29th. So with this HUGE change in our plans we decided to take Mason out for one last family outing as a trio on Sunday the 27th. We drove to Tom Bass park here in Pearland to feed the ducks. Mason had a great time! After each bread toss he would look at me and say " I did it mom!!" It was quite a bittersweet hour that we had with him. Knowing that it was the last outing we would go on as just the three of us made me want to cry. I know that being a family of four will be INCREDIBLE but I just cant help but look at him and be sad for him a little. In the end I know that he will be an amazing big brother and soon he will be able to teach his little sister how to feed the ducks too. :)

There was only a handful or them when we first got there and before we started feeding them

Mason winding up to give the bread a good throw

As you can see we started to get very popular

Derrek explaining all the different types of ducks to Mason

Popsicles should NOT be blue

Yesterday I totally forgot to pull out something for dinner so we decided to go out to dinner (which we never do). So anyways we went to Las Rosas for a yummy mexican food dinner. As we were leaving they had a freezer with popsicles in it that were free to their guests as they are leaving. So Derrek grabbed one and I grabbed one to share with Mason. The big plan was that I would sit in the back seat with Mason and that was how we would share it. Well as we get to the car we completely forgot that we had just put the infant car seat back into the car to prepare for the little miss so mommy in her giant pregnant state was NOT going to fit in the back seat with him. So we decided to give him a chance and let him have the popsicle on his own in the back seat. We grabbed a towel that I had in the car and covered his lap for a just in a case situation and took off. HE DID GREAT!!! not a single drip anywhere on the car and he got through half of it and decided he was done. The only mess that we were left with was on Mason himself. :) Needless to say popsicles should NOT be blue b/c we ended up with a little bit of blue face stain for the rest of the night. But he sure did love it!!

Big Brother class

Today we took Mason to a sibling class at The Women's Hospital of Texas (the hospital where I will be delivering). The class was basically to let the older sibling know that their role is very important to the new baby. When we arrived Mason got to pick out a baby that he thought his little sister would look like. Then we watched a video about becoming an older sibling and then the kids got to "play" with the baby. First they held the baby (which Mason did NOT want to do). Derrek and I asked him repeatedly if he wanted to hold the baby and all we got back from him was "no mommy, no daddy, no no no". The next task was to take the diaper off the baby and throw the diaper in the trash. With a little help he did get the diaper off and he did throw it in the trash. Then we put a new diaper on the baby. This task he did as well. This was great because at least I know I will have a helper in the house when it comes to the dirty job of throwing the diaper away :) Lastly, they had to wrap the baby back up in the blanket. Again, he did not want to do this either but did manage to help with the final fold (better late then never I suppose). We did finally get him to hold the baby but he did not like it at all. I guess this could be a good thing because at least I know he wont want to smother her and always have his hands on her. At the end of the class the kids were called up to the front of the room to tell everyone if they were getting a brother or a sister and what their siblings name would be. He did a fantastic job!!! He answered a "tister" and "amantha". :) Then he got an official big brother certificate and an I'm the big brother t-shirt. We were so proud of him and he is now officially ready to become a big brother.

Mason helping wrap up the baby in the blanket

Mason finally holding the baby. Doesn't he look so excited about it?

Mason answering his questions with the instructor.

His official "Big Brother" certificate :)

And the adventure begins

Well on Monday September 14th I went in for a Dr's appt. On that day I was 35 weeks 2 days. I had my cervix checked and I am dilated 1 cm. Wahoo!! We officially have action in the baby department and my body is getting ready for labor. Of course all of this sounds wonderful and great but the down side is that little miss is sitting breech at the moment (mommy doesn't think that she will flip either). SO we have a c-section scheduled for October 8th. This is exciting too though b/c that means we are only about 3 weeks away from meeting our little princess. Since I am starting to dilate though there is a chance that I could go into labor on my own before our planned date. Would I be shocked if this happened? NO!! She has already proven that she will be difficult and do things her way  :) I am so excited to meet her though and cant wait for her to get here.  

I was 34 weeks in the above picture. Its amazing how clothes can hide your actual size  :)

Back to school again

Well today was the first day back at MDO (mother's day out). I was a little worried about how this was going to go considering a week ago when I took Mason to his open house to meet his teachers he burst into tears the second that my hand touched the door knob. BUT, to my very delightful surprise it went very smoothly. I had been talking it up to him for the past two days that he was going to start school and all he could say back to me about it was "No mommy no". Not the best start but as I kept reminding him that he was going to see his friends and get to play he started to warm up to the idea. When we got to the school we walked to his classroom and waited for a little bit until they opened the door. He very calmly grabbed for my hand and walked in with NO tears. He went and sat for a bit while I put all his stuff away where it belonged and just sort of looked around. Then as I am finishing up with all the stuff I had to do I look over and there is my perfect angel sitting on the carpet reading a book all by himself. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.  :) Before I left I went to tell him bye and that I loved him. I told him I would be back for him in a few hours and to be a good boy and have a blast. he said " uh okay mommy".  After I walked out I peeked back through the window and he looked so worried. Some of the other kids had started to cry and he just stood there holding his little car and looking around. It broke my heart! When I got back at two to pick him up he was happy and cheerful and had had a GREAT first day. What a little trooper and what a successful day!

All dressed and ready for his first day.

All packed up with his back pack and matching lunch box.

My sweet boy sitting by himself reading a book.

Oh, mommy also had a great first day back at school. I got to go to brunch with a wonderful group of my mommy friends. It was good food, great laughs and AMAZING company.  :)

Zoo trip and Train ride

On Friday the 4th I took Mason to the Houston Zoo. We have a membership there and the weather wasn't suppose to be to to terrible so I thought why not? The best part was we didnt have to go by ourselves, our good friends the Smiths went with us AND Derrek met us there after work. We figured since the boys are going to start school soon this was the last friday outing we could take with them for a while. So we packed up the cars, kids and some picnic lunches and headed on out. Mason had a blast! He has really gotten into animals and the sounds they make so it was really neat to watch him name all the animals and do the sounds that he knew. His favorite by far is "lion" "roooooaaaaaaaarrrrr". After going through as much of the zoo as we could handle (mommy just cant hang like she use to) and waiting for daddy to get there we headed off to ride the train there in Hermann Park. Mason thought it was really cool to ride a choo choo. After our ride we ate our picnic lunch and the boys ran around like crazy. All in all it was an exhausting but awesome morning!!

His favorite 

I took a picture of the Red Panda b/c he is actually up. Three trips to the zoo and every single time this little guy is lying around being lazy and doing NOTHING! This was the first time we had actually seen him with his head up.  :)

Mason climbing into the train getting ready for his choo choo ride.

Mason and Mommy (and technically Samantha too) on the train.

"But I like Kissies"

So here I am just having an evening with my little family watching Can't Hardly Wait (cheesy I know) and its about to end. The main characters of Amanda and Preston start kissing in the train station and Mason says " oh kissies". I look over at him and I jokingly tell him " NO kissing for you until you are married" and he quickly  replies " but I like kissies". Needless to say Derrek and I couldn't help ourselves and just started laughing hilariously. He said it so innocently. I think we may be in big trouble as he gets older if "he likes kissies".

A new do for a new school year

Well, its that time of the year again and Mason will be starting his second year at MDO (mothers day out) next week so we needed to spruce up the hair do. I took him to Great Clips (b/c I am cheap and had a $6.99 coupon) this morning at 10 am. We also met up with our friends Robyn, Barrett and Hunter Smith. Thats right we totally turned haircut time into a playdate  :).  J/K Actually, our friend Barrett is not a huge fan of haircut day so we thought that maybe if he saw Mason go first he would not think it was so bad :) Mason did a fantastic job! He sat in the chair all by himself like a big boy and did not make a single peep. He amazingly just sat there and let the barber cut his hair and shave it when needed. He was a CHAMP!! Barrett did pretty well himself and made it through the haircut which was a success. Of course on the plus side they were told that they could pick a candy when they were finished so that might have helped a bit too  :) In the end both boys got their haircut and are now ready to start their 2yr old class next week.

The beginning of his hair cut

Even the barber played along with our picture session




Shaving the back



My Handsome boy!!


Barrett getting ready for his haircut


Unfortunately, we never actually managed to get a picture of both boys together after their hair cuts b/c we did have an impromptu playdate at The Smith house and we could never get them both to sit still :)