Snow!! Snow!! Snow!!

About a week ago I was watching the weather and the mention of snow was made. I don't know about anyone else but this excites me. I love the first and last snow of the year. That doesn't mean that I only want one snowfall a year, it means that all the snow in-between the first and last I could do without. All I want is one in November and one in March. I know this sounds crazy. I do have perfectly good reasons for both. November because it means we are going to stay cold and March because it isn't going to stay around. Who cares about "white Christmas" it just makes travel hard.

When I was in school I liked it because there was always a chance we would get out of school early, or better yet not have to go at all. Now days I like it because mainly I don't have to get out and drive in it. That and there is always the chance that I can convince my husband that it is too bad to go out and he stays home from work. We all know what that means. Maybe not this year with the baby, but we always have naptime. Naptime is my absolute favorite time of day.

So a week ago the weather people started murmuring about snow and now finally the day before they have committed to it. It is about time. They are wrong most of the time I know. Hopefully they are right about the ice/snow line though. Right now we are in the snow. My luck they are wrong and we will end up with 2 inches of ice again. My trees can't handle that again. Last years ice storm really took a toll on my two trees by the driveway. If I had had my way they would have gotten cut down over the summer. They are both way to close to the house and they are too weak for my comfort. Maybe I can talk him into it this next summer. I can dream.

Nap Time

This is where I choose for Mason to take his nap. There usually aren't any toys in there. The block was in there thanks to the dog. (It jingles and the dog has claimed it as his toy.) On the right side of the pack-n-play is a changing table and beside that is an arm chair. Hyde gets on the chair and then on the changing table. Most afternoons Hyde can be found laying on the changing table looking out the window into the side yard. That day, thankfully, Hyde didn't get all the way into the p-n-p. He usually does if Mason is in there. Every little baby needs a needy little dog to steal their body heat... No... No, that came out wrong. I, really, meant share their body heat.








This is where Mason chooses to take his nap. I was in the kitchen washing dishes and noticed that it was really quite. Mason is not quite. He is very vocal. Most of the time he is humming, lately he has been yelling. Not from pain or anything, really, but just because he can. So when I notice it is quite I go and check on him. Most of the time I find him fascinated by his hand or something of that sort. Not this time I go in there and walking in I see the back of the walker. I immediately panic, thinking he has choked on something. Not even thinking, duh, there was nothing on his tray he could choke on. I run around to the front of the walker and find him slumped over sleeping. So what do I do, I grab the camera and take photos. He was sleeping pretty heavy, he didn't even stir when I took him out and put him in the p-n-p.





This is Hyde, he is 5. Mason was 4 months in this photo. So he is a little bigger now. Hyde is always trying to lay next to Mason. Not a very safe place since Mason likes to grab everything within reach. We have had to take Hyde's chain off. Mason kept choking him. We had a horrible time trying to get Mason to let go. The dog would be whimpering and Mason would be crying. Who do you console first. I realize Mason is my child but Hyde is my puppy and he didn't do anything wrong. I, kinda, just swoop them both up at the same time and sit in Austin's chair. Usually, a couple of rocks and they are both out and I am free to get back to whatever I was doing. Usually that is cleaning the kitchen or laundry.

Photo Day

This last weekend my family all got together to get photos taken for my mother as a surprise christmas present. This presented a little problem in that she knew I was coming down to do a PartyLite show but that I wasn't coming down to see her. Not good. She also knew that Mason and Austin were going to be with me. Then she found out that Cameron and Darin were coming up to Council Bluffs and that Donnie Guy and his family were coming in from Fremont. Not a huge deal because it is close to the holidays and we could all be shopping at the same time. Then she found out that Marianne and her family were going to be meeting us at the mall and that Cameron would be taking Morgan home. She knew something was up so she decided that her and Dad would just go to Grandma Shirley's for the evening. Since they were "kid free".



So there we are taking our huge 19 person family photo and mom peeks her head around the corner. I was honestly surprised that we could keep it secret that long. No one slipping. Her figuring it out on her own. We all did really good. She usually ends up cornering one of us. Then again the only one close enough for her to corner is Cameron and she isn't always the nicest person so mom probably couldn't tell if she would be lying or not.





Me - Marianne - Cameron
Darin - Donnie Guy

We are all starting to look older. It is about time. Maybe one of these days they will stop ID'ing me when I buy minor prohibited stuff. I don't think I will list all the ages. Way too depressing.




Jesse - Donnie - Racheale - Jesse (younger)
Darin - Courtney - me holding Mason - Austin holding Daniel - Morgan - Ricky
Marianne holding Hunter - Major - Cameron holding Breanna and Isaac - Faith

I know all the kids just look thrilled. To get that many to smile at the same time we settled on all the adults smiling and the baby not crying. Darin is hiding the bottle and burp rag. You can barely see the bottle in his one hand.

We have really exploded in the last 10 years. For those of you who don't know I will give the break down.

Morgan 10
*Emily 8
Major 7
Daniel 6
Isaac 4
Breanna 3
Hunter 2
*Qwentyn 1
Mason 6 months

*Darin's two aren't pictured. Stupid ex-wives. He wouldn't have this problem if he could just stay married.


I know those of you that counted the number of people actually in the photo know that there were more kids than what is listed. Donnie Guy's girlfriend, Rachaele, had her three kids there. Jesse, Courtney and Faith. I have no idea how old they all are. I do know that Courtney is the same age as Morgan. I believe they share the same birthday.

After photos we went to Grandma Shirley's for pizza. We only ended up going through 5 larges. Not bad for that many people. All in all the day only ended up costing us I think about 40 dollars. Photos and pizza. I won't count the gas to go down and back because I can take that off my taxes as a business expense. Remember originally I went down for a PartyLite party.

We ended up getting home really late and Austin had to work the next day. It was good. I don't get to see them that often anymore. We talk all the time but that isn't the same. Sometimes it is nice to see their face when they realize you have just insulted them. Most of the time the translation is lost over the phone. The only bad thing about getting together is that one of usually ends up with a sick kid the next day. I won the lottery this time. Mason got pink-eye. So we have had a fun week. But that is a whole nother post.
Until next time.

The Start of My Little Family

This was one of the happiest days of my life. My son, Mason, was born June, 1st 2007 at 2:15 a.m. He was 7lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches. He was perfect with a whole head of long, white, blond hair. My husband was so happy. He got his little boy. The look on his face is something that I will never forget. We hadn't found out what we were having. When the doctor said boy, it was wonderful to see his face. I don't think he would have been as excited if she had said little girl. We didn't even have a little boy name picked out. My husband decided that the name couldn't be any longer than 2 syllables. So my favorite of Alexander was out. We went back and forth for the whole day. Finally about 4 in the afternoon, after some really bad suggestions, Austin suggested Mason. Me, being me, all tired and a little cranky, just said "Okay, fine". Knowing the whole time that I have 2 distant cousins named Mason. It isn't like I see them that much. Family reunions and that is about it.

My water broke at home at 3 p.m. We made it to the hospital at about 6 or so. Epideral at about 9. We started pushing at about 11 and he FINALLY came out at 2:15 a.m. My older sister, Marianne, got to the hospital at about 9. She came in right before they put in the epideral. My mom and grandma got there at about 11:30. My younger sister, Cameron, was in Canada on vacation. I had had an ob appt. the day before and the doctor said he would for sure see me the next week. So that is what I had told Cameron. She was really upset that she didn't get to be there. She kept telling me that I had to wait until the 3rd so that she could be there. Well we almost made it. When it did happen we couldn't even get a hold of her on her cell phone. She didn't even get to find out until the next day. I just left her a message that said we had had a boy and had named him Mason. She called me back and yelled, you named him My Son. It was really funny.

Now I know your thinking where the hell were the in-laws during all this. You would think they would be excited with him being the first grandchild and everything. Well evidently not. They didn't show up until the next EVENING. Can we say that I am still upset about it. My family managed to drive the 3 + hours to be there. There they were 10 f'n minutes away sleeping in their f'n beds. Austin's parents and sister live just 10-20 minutes away from the hospital and they don't show up until 6 p.m. My family saw Mason when he was just minutes old. Not Austin's family, Mason was hours old. I informed Austin that they had better be there for the whole birth of our next child or we won't tell them until we come home from the hospital. Their excuse was that they didn't want to invade my privacy. Crap, what else is family for.

Mason now is rolling over and has 2 teeth. We all love his walker. We got it after we wore out the bouncy chair. Hopefully anyday he will start to crawl, he is so, so close. He can get his arms to support him but then he can't get his legs under him and other times he can get his legs under himself but then he can't get up on his arms. One of these days I know he will get the hang of it and I will be in for it. We need to invest in some baby gates so that I will be able to corral him into only one room at a time.

June 24th, Austin and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. Not all 7 years have been a cake walk. We have had our ups and downs. I think everyone has. I am so glad that we waited until he was done with college to have kids. Not only were we not able to afford one before then but we got to spend all those years by ourself. Not having to worry about a little one. Mason was a total surprise. We hadn't started trying yet. I wouldn't change a thing though. Austin has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Iowa State and now works as a TST at Sauer - Danfoss in Ames. Basically he is an expert that answers questions all day. At least that is how I understand it. I am sure that he does more than that it is just when he starts to talk about work I kinda tone out. I am a SAHM mom that is a part-time independant consultant for PartyLite. I love what I do. I get to meet new people all the time. The only bad thing is that it takes my weekends sometimes. It gives Austin and Mason some much needed bonding time though. I think that is all everyone needs to know right now. We will see how tomorrow goes.