Oh BOY!!

It's about to get a LOT more interesting at our house! We had our 16 week ultrasound yesterday and confirmed that we will be welcoming another baby BOY!!! We suspected as much after our 12 week ultrasound, but now there is no doubt! Most importantly, the baby is growing and all vital organs look very healthy. I feel great - just a little tired, but that is probably more from chasing around a very active toddler. Given my history, the perinatologist will continue to monitor me every 4 weeks for a while. I'm also getting weekly progesterone shots, which have been proven to reduce the risk of preterm labor. We don't plan to see this baby before May 30th! Someone please remind me of this when I am huge and uncomfortable...

I'm thrilled that Mason will have a little brother, especially since they will be pretty close in age. Mason 2.0 (as Chris has nicknamed him) is due exactly 1 week before Mason's second birthday. I know it will be a lot of fun, but I'm also getting tired just thinking about it! Mason has gotten SO active the past few months - he is full of energy and never slows down. And soon I'll be chasing 2!!

Here is our little peanut at our 12 week ultrasound.
And a face shot from yesterday at almost 16 weeks.

So Thankful

I'm a little late on the Thanksgiving blog, but we have so much to be thankful for this year. Especially because we are expecting Baby Henretty #2 around May 30th, 2012! Chris and I are so excited and hope we can adjust to life with 2 little ones (kinda scary!). Mason doesn't quite understand yet, but I know he's going to be a very sweet big brother. I am 14 weeks along and everything is looking good so far. We are praying for a smooth and uneventful pregnancy this time around. Isn't his shirt adorable? We used it to announce it to the grandparents and they were quite surprised!!

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with my family in Cochran, but it was my turn to have the cold virus we've all passed around, so I spent most of the long weekend on the couch. Let's hope we can all stay healthy through the holiday season!

It's a tough job

This is a common sight at our house at mealtime. This particular evening was especially bad because I left the room for a few minutes and returned to find most of his dinner on the floor (and carpet and furniture and part of the wall...). But have no fear - Shadow to the rescue! She takes her job as clean-up crew VERY seriously and does not leave a morsel behind! It always makes me sad when families get rid of pets when baby arrives because they 'don't have time' for them anymore. I think a dog is required for the toddler feeding stage!

Great job girl! Keep up the good work!

Trick or Treat!

Each year my company holds an annual Halloween event, which includes a chili cook-off, dessert bake-off, costume contest and trick or treating for the kids. It is such a fun day in the office and the best part is seeing the kids in their costumes. This year my team dressed as Firefighters since we are constantly rushing to the latest client crisis and Mason was our dalmatian mascot. That was actually a coincidence - I bought his costume at a consignment sale last summer, but it was perfect!

He got the hang of trick or treating pretty quickly. He went from desk to desk and took a piece (or 3) of candy and put it in his pumpkin. A few times he gave his candy away instead. And of course, tried to eat it with the wrapper on.
Here is Fire station #7! What a great team of ladies that I work with!
And back at home in his Halloween romper. He had a BIG day!
He had his Halloween party at school on Friday and we decided he's not ready for 'real' trick or treating yet. Maybe next year. Happy Halloween everyone! I can't wait to see pictures of all the little ones in their costumes!

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!