Mason Thomas is Growing Up!

Today my sweet baby boy turned 11 weeks old! Wow, we cannot believe how the weeks have flown!! He has already reached so many milestones! Here is a list of how Mason has changed:

May 11th (his birthday!): 7 lbs., 20 inches
June 11th (one-month check-up): 8 lbs, 12 oz., 21 inches
July 11th (two-month check-up): 10 lbs, 2.5 oz., 22 inches


July 9th: first night to sleep through the night!! 8 hours at 8 weeks old!!

Mason had been sleeping "officially" through the night since he was about 2 weeks, which means 5 hours. However, lately his stretches have been averaging 8 to 12 hours!! On July 9th we just put him in his crib at 11 pm, and didn't hear a peep out of him until 7 the next morning! Since then he has slept every single night like that, sometimes up to 12 hours! Is this normal!??! We're sooo blessed!!


July 11th: first day to really start smiling and cooing!! (8 weeks old)

It's sooo sweet! It usually takes place when I first get him out of his crib in the mornings. I lay him on the soft, cuddly teddy bear rug on the queen-sized bed in the nursery, and he just smiles up at me and "talks" to me in his Mason way! He's just so content at that time and I fall in love with him all over again each time this special moment takes place! His little face and eyes just light up!! He is already the biggest flirt. :)


July 22nd: first time to roll over!! (10 weeks 0ld)

Marc and I always put him down in his crib flat on his back. He usually turns to one side or the other and sleeps like that the entire night... just like a little adult! He sleeps on his side with his sweet little hands resting under the cheek and his legs all crossed! Well, this particular morning Marc and I went into the nursery to tell Mason good morning, and found him flat on his BELLY just a kickin' his little arms and legs and playing! It was so sweet. We were kinda worried, though, about him being on his belly since we know babies aren't supposed to sleep like that now. We were the most shocked though... Is this considered officially "rolling over"? To those of you who are mommies, at what age did your babies roll over for the first time?


Besides all of these milestones, Mason has pretty much been holding his head up since he was 2 weeks old!! He does a lot of "tummy time" on daddy's chest from the day we brought him home from the hospital, and around the second week little Mason shot that head right up practically looking Marc straight in his face. He is so strong! He also pushes those little legs up against Marc's chest and neck to where it hurts sometimes!

Mason has pretty much looked like a mature little boy since the minute he was born; he never really had that chubby "newborn baby" look to him, like most babies we see. So, now at 2 1/2 months old, he really is starting to look like a little boy! He's just so long and slender and looks just like his daddy. His thighs are starting to chunk up, and his cheeks and chin are getting some meat on them, but he's still not one of those fat little babies. I've always wanted a fat baby to lug around on my hip, but now I know I'm glad Mason isn't at that stage cuz it would break my back to carry him! His car seat with him in it is already killing my entire body since I haven't worked out since he has been born! So, this will be interesting! At least I'm getting a good workout just from carrying him. :)

Okie dokies, that's the update for now!! I'll write more later on Marc's and my experience of parenthood so far! :) Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

Marc's & my prayer every single night:

Thank you, Jesus, for Baby Mason!!

Mommy's New Hairdo!!

Okay, so after 5 months of completely neglecting my hair... many pulled-back-ponytail days... I finally got a new haircut and color!!! The overly paranoid pregnant person that I was, I did not get my hair highlighted once during the entire pregnancy. And, I just got my hair cut twice!! So, I really hadn't had anything special done to my hair since last August!!! I was ready for something new, a step to kinda getting back to my pre-pregnancy self. New hairdo first, work out tomorrow!! I haven't started working out again since Mason has arrived, and I have been telling myself that I will do it very soon! Well, I've finally decided to ask Marc to help me pull out our "Total Gym" excercise machine thang so that we can both start using it again after years of it collecting dust! Besdies cute-ifying my hair and body (hee hee!!) I've decided to not even try to worry about getting a tan this summer. Thank you. I've completely given up on that idea!! Plus, I really don't care about being tan so much anymore cuz I just keep thinking about how it's not very healthy. Now that I'm breastfeeding, there's another little person to think about, so I'm trying to be extra careful with everything I do. Anyway, back to the haircut... My dad was extra excited to come over and watch Mason for a few hours while I was at the salon. I came back home to find the following taking place...
My dad had Mason all perched up on pillows just a talkin' to him!! It was the sweetest thang ever!! Mason was cooing and laughing and making the cutest little noises!! Then.... he looked up at his momma and was the most confused as to who this reddish-brownish-goldish-blondish woman was!!!
Bye, bye Poppa Jack! Thank you for baby-sitting me! I'll miss you!!

Mason Celebrates July 4th!!

We had a wonderful, unique 4th of July weekend!! We took another road trip with the Akins, and this time the Brostos joined us! We went up to Madisonville, KY (where Marc's parents & lots of family live) to go to a cookout at a family friend's home and to spend a day at Marc's cousin's house swimming and hanging out. Friday night we went to the cookout where we saw the most food we have ever seen in our lives and watched fireworks. We pretty much didn't know anyone at this cookout, so the 6 of us just hung out while everyone at the party passed around Mason. We also did a lot of people watching and enjoyed laughing at all the random comments of Marc's second cousins, Hanna & Baylee, and their friends during the fireworks. They were yelling out the randomest things and we would bust out laughing! And all these random dogs were walking around! It was the most fun. We also got to spend time with Marc's family who was there and they got to love on Mason. When we got to Marc's parents' house before the cookout, there were all these 4th of July outfits laid out on the bed for Mason to choose from! Connie had gone shopping! We picked out the cutest little outfit that had little shorts with it and put it right on Mason. Mason had never worn shorts before, so we just could not stop staring at him and thinking he was the cutest little thing alive! On Saturday we went over to Heather & Byron's (Marc's cousin and her hubby) to have some fun in the sun and to... play the Wii!!! Marc and Johnathan were in heaven!! They stayed inside most of the time and played Rock Band and American Idol. Thank you. They were the most into it!! Mason was the most confused, though, as to why his daddy was banging on some drums and singing into some microphone. Mason could not stop staring at the whole situation... Anyway, it was such a fun, laid-back weekend. To top it off, Brooke, Johnathan, Marc, and me played "pool" games in the car all the way home! Little Hanna had taught Brooke and me some games to play in the pool, so we modified them into "car" games and they took up the entire time it took us to get back to Nashville! We were 10 years old again. :) We're so blessed for friends and family like these who we can be so silly and enjoy the simple things in life with!

Marc's dad stealing Mason away from Marc's mom for just a second!!

Hanna loves her Marc! I love this picture! Everyone looks so happy!

The boys looking like they're having a blast! Hee hee!

Mommy & Mason time!

Two of Mason's favorite Aunties!!

Hanna & Heather lovin' on Mason!

Uncle Johnathan & Mason bonding... they were having the biggest conversation for like 20 minutes!!

We love these people!!

While I stole Mason away to change his stinky diaper, I couldn't help but to do a little photoshoot of him!! He was also wearing shoes for the very first time and his little legs and feet were so cute all kicking up in the air!

Mason is looking over at his daddy!! This was sooo sweet to see!!

What the rest of us girls were doing outside...

This one is so sweet of Mason asleep in Hanna's arms!! She's so sweet and nurturing!! I love watching them together.

Mason was exhausted from all the festivities!!
Brooke and I had enough sun & pool games for one day, so we came in to see what in the world all that racket was... Look at the pic above... Find a passed-out Brooke! It's one of the funniest thangs I've ever seen! I don't even know how she was sleeping though with all of the loud singing going on in her ear!

Check out Mason's "Going to Grandma's" outfit!! I've had this for our little miracle ever since our first pregnancy in March 2007... I went and bought it to give to one of our sets of parents to tell them we were pregnant, but ended up keeping it because it made me so happy to look at! And finally, almost a year and a half later I get to put it on my precious little boy!

Saturday night after we got back to Nashville, the Brostos and us went over to Brooke & Johnathan's for one last 4th of July hoop-la (wait, is that the word I'm looking for?) We went and got some yummy Little Ceasar's pizza and played the "Newlyweds" game. We hadn't played that game in a while, so we wanted to see how some of our answers had changed over the years! Mason was sporting his "cool dude" little collared-polo outfit that night. :)



Thanks for reading my blog!!! I have lots more posts to do from our summer adventures, so please keep checking back! I try my best to keep this thang updated between nursing Mason and cleaning out our closets, so please bear with me! :) Love y'all!