Life with a Toddler

This look is all too common these days. Each week gets a little more challenging as my sweet baby boy becomes a full-fledged toddler. A few weeks ago, I pulled out the old 'What to expect the Toddler years' book since we could use a few tips these days... The very first section I read started "as the world begins to open up, the toddler begins displaying a wide range of emotions, including affection, independence, frustration, fear, anger, protest, stubbornness, sadness and puzzlement". That pretty much sums it up!! Any given hour we can see ALL of those!

I do love that he is showing more affection and he loves to give 'hugs' and 'kisses' to us and Shadow. It is so sweet! And we're in a bit of a 'mommy' phase where he wants to be with me all the time and gets upset when I leave the room. He's learning new things so quickly and is becoming very independent. He's into anything and everything and doesn't like being told 'no' AT ALL. He's started throwing little tantrums when he doesn't get his way, which is my least favorite thing. We're working on it and have made a little progress. His favorite words are 'uh-oh' (which is says to everything), 'bye', and 'ball'. The latter 2 are easily confused, but you can tell the difference because he usually waves when saying 'bye'.

Although I do love that he is interacting and learning so much, we are definitely getting our first test as parents! Let the fun begin!

Mommy and Mason's day out

Last Friday Mason's school was closed for teacher training, so I took off work to spend the day with my little boy. Unfortunately, we started the day at his pediatrician getting a flu shot, but it was quick (only a few tears) and then we spent the morning at the Georgia Aquarium! It was both mine and Mason's first trip to the world's largest aquarium and I must say, it was pretty impressive! Mason enjoyed watching the fish and seeing all of the sea creatures. We had a few little tantrums... Mason is in a phase where he does NOT want to ride in his stroller or be confined in any way. He wants to walk everywhere, but that is not always a good idea - especially in a VERY crowded public place like the aquarium!

My camera took HORRIBLE pictures inside the viewing tanks. I guess the lighting made it hard to focus - every picture was blurry.
We loved the penguins! They were so cute and playful! This one kept swimming right in front of Mason and looked like he was waving at us.
And I gotta say, Mason's favorite part of the trip was meeting 'Deepo', the aquarium's mascot. Of course, he was out front when we left, so we didn't even have to go to the aquarium to meet him. Mason thought he was hilarious.
I thought the trip would wear him out, but he absolutely refused to take a nap when we got home. Later, we took a trip to the park (it was a beautiful day!) where he decided to sleep the whole time. Oh well...

Adult weekend

Last weekend, Chris and I were lucky to have a weekend getaway. We went to Asheville, NC for my good friend Terri's wedding. It was our first full weekend away from Mason and of course we missed the little guy, but we had a wonderful, relaxing weekend to ourselves. Chris' parents are at their condo in Mountain City, TN, so we dropped off Mason and spent a few hours with them before heading back to Asheville. It was a beautiful wedding and unfortunately I didn't get many pictures there, but as you can see, Mason had a blast with Nana and Grandpa.

Here's a picture of the happy couple. Congrats to Terri and Chad and thanks for letting us celebrate your special day with you!
Here is the one picture I 'borrowed' from the wedding. Me and my girls (and Mo of course)! I think Chris had found a TV with the Georgia game at this point.
Nana had lots of toys for Mason to play with. It was like an early Christmas!
Of course he immediately finds the balls to play with.
And he discovered the doggie door - I'm pretty sure he would have been crawling through it if he had another day to figure it out.
Nana dressed him appropriately for the big game. Which was a little risky considering they were in Tennessee...
Chillin' on the car ride home. He is actually NOT the good little traveler that he used to be. He does not like to sit still anymore, so it was not a very pleasant ride home, but we all survived!

First haircut

I (finally) took Mason to get a haircut this past weekend. Daddy was not too happy about it as he likes the baby curls, but it was time. I made sure that they kept it a little long, but it is so much easier to keep clean-looking! He was great and sat still the whole time, but I've been told it's usually the second haircut where they flip out, so we'll see.

The finished product (or the best picture I could get of him being still):

Beach or Bust?

I'm afraid I have to say our first family beach trip was kind of a bust. We had a few good days, but ended up coming home early with a sick little boy. Boo!! Mason wasn't quite sure what to think about the beach and was NOT a fan of the sand at first. He was finally starting to come around when fever struck on day 2. He was OK most of the day, but did not sleep well that night and got progressively worse each day. We finally took him to a walk in clinic where they diagnosed with with strep throat. We hoped the antibiotics would kick in quickly, but after a third REALLY bad night and puny baby, we decided it was best to head home and see his doctor. He's been sleeping most of the day today, which has been nice for mommy.

We loved the gulf coast and the 30A area. We stayed in Seagrove Beach, which was beautiful and not over-grown at all. And this is the perfect time of year to go, as long as you don't have school-age kids. No crowds and the weather was perfect! Still warm, but we barely broke a sweat on the beach. We still got some good shots of our limited beach time.

First time in the ocean with daddy. He liked it, but didn't like having his feet in the sand.
I'm not sure if it was because he was sick or because we use the 'ocean sounds' at night in his room, but he usually zonked out the second we hit the beach!
He loved hanging on the beach in his stroller.
He looks adorable in his sunglasses, but refuses to keep them on.
We set him in the sand and he would hold up his feet and try to not touch it at all.
Sweet Kieran tried to show Mason how much fun the beach could be.
And he started to enjoy it a little bit.
They had fun playing together!
OK, I think I like the beach after all!
Lots more pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chenretty/BeachTrip2011

My favorite bulldawgs

So our beloved bulldawgs are not off to a very good start this season, but we stand behind them through the good and the bad. I thought these pictures of my favorite 2 bulldawgs were pretty darn cute. And by the way, we have a full-fledged walker now. Actually, he may have skipped walking and gone straight to running. Let the fun begin!

Next up - Mason's first beach trip!!! We're leaving for Seagrove Beach, Florida on Saturday for a whole week with our good friends the Whitesides!

Little Tough Guy

If you think this looks bad, you should see the other kid... Mason had his first 'incident' at school. He's fine - just a little bite on the cheek and a scratched eye. It didn't seem to bother him much at the park.