Baby's First Christmas!

We have had a wonderful first Christmas with Mason! I know I will always treasure this special holiday. Mason has had a little cold for the past few weeks, so he was fussier than normal, but I think several days at home are exactly what he needs to recover. On Christmas Eve, Mason's Mimi, Dee and Uncle Lamar drove up for a delicious lunch at our house. It was great to see them and Mason always enjoys his grandma snuggle time. Then we had a very relaxing Christmas day at home. Santa was very good to us and even brought us a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! I think it is a record in Georgia! I'm watching the beautiful white snow fall as I type and I hope we'll have a little accumulation by morning so I can get a few pictures. Finally, Mason's Nana and Grandpa are driving up from Florida tomorrow, so I'm sure we will have more pictures from their visit.

Mason with his Mimi on Christmas Eve. Who needs Santa when you have a grandma?
My attempted Christmas eve photo session in his cute Christmas outfit. He wasn't in the mood to smile as you can see.
OK, mom, I've had enough...
Mason decided to nap while we opened our gifts on Christmas morning.
Our beautiful tree and all of the gifts!
More pictures in front of the tree.
There's a smile!

The Christmas Card

Every year, I look forward to Christmas cards from our dear family and friends. I especially love the picture cards so I can see the little ones grow throughout the years. I stressed over our first Christmas card with Mason and thought I would blog about the oh so fun experience since they have (finally) been mailed.

I really wanted to get that perfect family picture. Unfortunately, finding a photo-op when all 3 of us are nicely dressed, Mason is in a good mood AND we have someone to take a picture doesn't happen very often. We did get these great pictures 2 days after my deadline for ordering the card. Oh well...


So then I decided to try to get a good shot of Mason with the pets. You can see how well that turned out (Beau cat wanted nothing to do with it).

About 5,000 pictures later (what did people do before digital cameras?), I finally got a few cute Christmas-y shots of Mason. And he really liked Santa, so we used one from our visit with him. The finished product:

And it didn't help that Walgreen's messed up round 1... now I know better and will stick with Shutterfly for all of my photo needs. And, no, I missed their free card blogging promo, but I will still mention them since I was impressed with their quality and service! I can't imagine how difficult it is with multiple children!

First trip to see Santa

A few weeks ago, my friend Misty and I took our little boys to the Marietta Square to meet Santa. Unfortunately, it was a drizzly, cold winter day, but we strolled around the square for a little while and met the jolly old guy. I was very impressed with the 'quality' of Santa. Especially since it was free and you took your own pictures. It was very funny to see the different reactions between Mason (6 mos) and Kieran (1 year). Here's a few pics from our fun day!

Waiting for Santa to return from lunch. It was COLD!
Mason did great with Santa and we even got a few smiles!
His buddy Kieran was not as impressed. I completely expect to have this kind of picture next year. It was hilarious!
After seeing Santa, we went to check out the big Christmas tree in the square.
Mason and mommy hanging out in the square.
Kieran just 5 minutes after seeing Santa. As you can see, it doesn't look like he was permanently traumatized.
Then we went to visit the Rueckel's and got a few cute pictures with Laura's Coca-Cola Christmas bear. Mason was in a very good mood that day!

Happy Holidays!

Look what I found under the tree? He's the best present ever! We are having a very FUN and BUSY holiday season so far! Hope you are enjoying yours as well!

Happy Half Birthday!

I'm 6 months old today!!

We are so thankful that Mason is a growing and healthy boy! People don't even believe that he was a preemie. His pediatrician had no concerns at his 6 month check-up and wants us to start him on solid foods. Developmentally, he's pretty much on track with his adjusted age. He's not quite sitting up on his own or rolling over, but he's very close! Daddy and I really want him to learn how to hold his bottle, so we're practicing that as well.

6 month stats:

• Weight - 15lb, 5oz (10-25th percentile)
• Height - 25 inches (10th percentile)
• Eating 6oz of formula, 6 times per day (no more breast milk as of today). I met my goal of breastfeeding him until 6 months, but we had to supplement with some formula for the past month. I'm anxious to start real food!
• We started rice cereal a few weeks ago. Some days he eats it and some days he doesn't.
• Sleeping - sleeps about 9 hours at night. We stopped the overnight feeding a few weeks ago, so if he wakes, he usually goes back to sleep on his own.

Current likes:

• Peek-a-boo! It always cracks him up - it is truly precious!
• Reading books with mom and dad. It is part of our bedtime routine and he loves looking at the pictures.
• He's a little ticklish - especially on his tummy.
• Loves diaper changes now (this was a former dislike). He smiles and talks the whole time.
• Likes baths, but hates getting his face and head washed.
• Watching football! I know, I know, babies shouldn't watch TV, but we make an exception when there is a big game on. He really does like watching the action and bright colors.

Current dislikes:

• Napping - his teachers are working to get him to nap in his crib, but he still sleeps better in his swing (or in some one's arms).
• Tummy time - He is getting better and will now tolerate it for a few minutes.
• Bumbo Seat - He'll sit in it for a few minutes, but prefers his bouncy seat (or better yet, being held).
• Just being bored... he is definitely at the stage where he needs entertainment.
• Shots :-(

Happy Half Birthday sweet boy! Mommy and Daddy love you more each and every day!

Christmas Program

On Friday, Mason's school had their annual Christmas Program and I'm so glad I was able to attend! The teachers and children spend several months preparing for the big production. Each class (the infants to the after school program) does some sort of performance, whether it be singing, dancing or a little play. You may ask, what could the infants possibly 'perform' in the Christmas program? Well, the teachers carried the babies across the stage dressed as little Christmas trees and 'danced' them around to 'Oh, Christmas Tree'. Yes, basically, they just looked cute :-)

Mason is the third baby from the left
And here are the older children performing the play, 'The misunderstood Christmas'. We love Mason's school and I am looking forward to many more DCA Christmas programs in the years to come!

Belly Laughs

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with Chris' parents and grandma. Mason had a blast and was all smiles and giggles the whole weekend. He adored his 'Gigi' (great-grandma) and they had fun playing peek-a-boo. I posted a cute video below. In the past few weeks, he has really started interacting with us and laughing all the time. That sound just melts my heart every time I hear it! He's at a fun age and I just wish he would slow down.

Mason also tried sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving and HATED them. I didn't get any pictures, but after one taste, he shook his head and refused to eat anymore. It was pretty funny. Guess we'll try again later.

So Thankful!

Thanksgiving is a great time to look back at the past year and reflect on how blessed we really are. And obviously, Chris and I have a lot to be thankful for this year! It's hard to believe that it was just a few days before Thanksgiving last year that I found out I was pregnant with little Mason. What a crazy year it has been! We are so thankful to have our beautiful, healthy baby boy at home with us this holiday season

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Count your blessings and enjoy every moment with your family and friends! And eat lots of turkey!

Weekend of 'firsts'

We had a pretty busy weekend, so I just wanted to share a few of Mason's 'firsts' and some updated pictures. Mason attended his first birthday party this weekend. Actually, 2 of them! Sweet Landon Jones turned 2 and had a very fun 'Elmo' themed party. And his buddy Kieran Whitesides celebrated his big first birthday - smash cake and all! We're getting ready for Thanksgiving and very excited that Chris' parents and grandmother (Mason's only living great-grandparent) will be visiting us!

Mason tried out his high chair for the first time today!
We decided it was time to try some rice cereal (I can't seem to feed him enough these days).
He was starting to get the hang of it by the end, but I'm pretty sure most of it ended up on his face and bib.
And we also tried out his exer-saucer for the first time this weekend. He was somewhat interested in the toys, but only tolerated it for a few minutes.
Have a great week everyone!

Working mom

Look at our happy boy! I can't believe he's 5 months old already!

I survived my first week back at work! It went pretty smoothly, despite Chris and I both catching a stomach bug (daycare germs already?). Of course, it was difficult to leave my sweet boy, but I was kind of ready to get back after 6 months out of the office. I'm thankful that my company gave me a lot of flexibility during mine and Mason's hospital stays so I could have these last 3 months at home with him. I love every second of being a mom, but I also love my job and the people I work with. I hope I can find a good work/life balance for me and our family.

Mason is doing great in daycare! He LOVES his teachers, Ms. Lola, Ms. Phyllis, Ms. Andrea and Ms. Ariel (and so do we). They are really getting to know him and he is enjoying his 'school'. They do lots of activities throughout the day and he is always playing and happy when I pick him up. We are very happy with Dunwoody Christian and it has made all the difference in a smooth transition back to the working world!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween weekend here in Atlanta! Mimi and Dee came up for the night so that Chris and I could go to a friend's annual Halloween costume party. We ended up with a family themed costume, but it wasn't really on purpose. Mason has always been my little monkey, so I had his costume picked out a while ago :-)

My little monkey!
Kieran Whitesides the adorable dragon. They look like Godzilla and King Kong.
Mommy, Daddy and Mason in our costumes. Silly family!
Just the adults heading to the party. Check out Cleopatra and Mark Antony!
And with Shadow in her costume. She is so embarrassed by the Dawgs this season that she asked to switch teams and become a yellow jacket.
Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We love seeing the kiddos in their costumes!

My little pumpkin!

We're having a little too much Halloween fun around here. A friend of mine gave me this idea and I couldn't resist. Chris thought it was borderline child abuse, but it was cute and Mason actually enjoyed it after he got used to the idea. He sat in his pumpkin a lot longer than he tolerates his bumbo seat!

Daddy putting me in my pumpkin. I'm not sure what to think yet...
I don't like this at all!
Then he calmed down and decided it was kinda fun
Shadow had to make sure her brother was OK
How cute am I?

Pumpkin Patch

I have always loved seeing the fall pumpkin patch pictures from all of my friends. So this year we decided it was time for the first annual Henretty family trip to the Pumpkin Patch! We went with our very good friends Misty and Ken and their adorable little boy, Kieran (11 months). It was a gorgeous fall day and I wanted to get a few cute pictures of our little redheads.

Any parent knows that the key to a good outing is to make sure that the baby doesn't get hungry. I planned accordingly to give Mason his scheduled feeding (scheduled - yea right!) right before we headed out on our pumpkin adventure. One thing we have learned about Mason is that he will NOT eat until he is good and ready. And he can go from completely uninterested to 'FEED ME NOW!!' in about 2 seconds flat. So, of course, he wanted nothing to do with his bottle before we left, but then decided in the middle of the pumpkin patch that it was time to eat NOW!

We still had a great time and got some good pictures. It's funny to see the progression of Mason's mood during the outing. Stay tuned for Halloween costume pictures later this week!