It Was A Beautiful Day For A Birthday Party

Sunny and in the 70's was the weather that was delivered on Sunday for Mason's birthday and birthday party! Tim and I had been wishing for good weather and we got it. We had a great time with our family and friends who helped us celebrate our 2nd year with Mason! We missed Bear & Belle, Moots & Big Top, and Aunt Diehneee and crew but know that they were with us in spirit!

Here's a few shots of our afternoon........

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mason!

It's hard to believe that my BABY is TWO! Where has the time gone? He's supposed to still be little and instead he's turned into a little boy. A VERY BUSY AND ACTIVE little boy! Sometimes I want to beat my head up against the wall because he's so strong willed and wants to do EVERYTHING himself and gets into EVERYTHING that he can - but then isn't that what little boys do? I have to remind myself that frequently.

It was two years ago today at 11:08pm, Tim and I brought Mason into this world and completed our family. I remember a post that I made on an Online Mom's board shortly after Mason was born about my experience with his birth and the emotions that came over me - I thought I'd share just the last bit of it with you today but it is in full in Mason's scrapbook so that he can have it when he's older. (I have something similar for Jack too.)

10:45 pm, Dr. Houck made it back to the hospital and walked back into my room looking somewhat surprised and said “Well, I was wrong! Looks like he wants out now.” And the pushing began. I can’t explain the feelings that I was experiencing but everyone is correct in saying that pushing through the pain helps. That was the only thing that made it go away and helped me focus so much on “where” to push. First push………they can see hair! Second push……..Mary is standing down at my feet cheering me on saying “come on Libby, push….push….that’s right!” as Tim is next to me counting 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. Third push………Mason starts to crown. Fourth push………..his head is out and Dr. Houck starts to suction his mouth and nose and Mary tells us that “he’s a big baby!”. Then they tell me to give them one little push and the next thing I know……….Mason is born………11:08pm! They lay him on my chest and I just can’t believe it. Our long, 23 hours of induction is over. The little 9 month miracle that has been growing and living inside of me is here! Our family is complete. Tim and I are both crying and Mary, my nurse, is asking for the camera to start taking pictures – she said she couldn’t help it. Mason looks at me with his dark eyes and my heart just melts. “Hi, I’m your Mommy!” I say to him and start crying more. “We’ve been waiting to meet you!”

All I can say is that Yes, every labor and delivery is different just as every pregnancy is different. What I experienced in delivering Mason was so different and than delivering Jack. But both of them are experiences that I will NEVER EVER forget. Having children is a miracle and something that none of us should ever take for granted. Babies are angels sent from heaven to enrich our lives. Tim and I have been fortunate to have been blessed twice with two beautiful, healthy boys. The baby we lost will always be watching over us from above. But we look at what we have and cant’ help but smile. Once we thought about not having children but now…………..we can’t imagine our life without them. Not to sound corny or anything but……….Jack and Mason complete us.

To my little boy,
You are very special
and you deserve the best.
I wish you a wonderful life
filled with love and happiness.
I hope others bring you joy,
just as you've brought joy to me,
then you can weather any storm
and be all you want to be.

~ Reatha Crow

Happy Birthday, Mason, we love you very much!
- Mommy, Daddy & Jack
4/20/08

The Price Of Children

In honor of all of you who have your taxes in by the 4/15 deadline (ours are never done until 10/15), this is just too good not to pass on. Something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle-income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into: $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.24 a day! Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich". Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140? Naming rights. First, middle, and last! Glimpses of God every day. Giggles under the covers every night. More love than your heart can hold. Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs. Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate. A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites. Someone to laugh yourself silly with; no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140 you never have to grow up. You get to: finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to: keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars. You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for: retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off a bike, removing a splinter, filling a wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the: first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Feet To The Street - March For Babies!

"Open Wide Like An Alligator!"

Today was Jack's first visit to the Dentist. Dr. Kevin Postol, is the most wonderful Dentist. He's got a great personality and is very genuine about what he says and does. The entire staff at his office is wonderful so Tim and I were looking forward to today for a number of reasons. #1, this is another one of those "milestone" moments that BOTH of us wanted to be there for - the FIRST visit to the Dentist. And #2, Dr. Postol and his staff have known Jack since before he was even born so we were anxious to have them meet him in person.

I met Tim and Jack at the office and when I got there, they were looking at the "Wall Of Fame" that Dr. Postol has of all of his young NEW patients. They take their picture with a Polaroid camera and post it on a wall with their name on it as well as sending the child home with a picture too. I told Jack that I bet he'd get his picture on the wall today as well.

We looked at the big fish tank that Dr. Postol has and then we headed back to the exam room. Daddy needed to have some impressions done for some tooth whitening that he's going to have done, so Jack and I watched them do that before it was his turn to sit in the chair.

We had to overcome a bit of apprehension when it was Jack's turn, but as soon as he saw that Dr. Postol has TVs in the ceilings of the rooms, Jack was in the chair and ready to go. Misti, the Dental Hygienist put the seat back and headphones on Jack and he was set.

He very willingly opened his mouth, let her check his teeth and then it was time for the cleaning. Jack nixed the "bubble gum" flavored toothpaste immediately because we had just gotten finished with a round of medicine that was bubblegum flavored that he DID NOT LIKE so he opted for "grape" toothpaste instead - ICK!

Top row of teeth, NO PROBLEM! Tim and I were amazed and how well he was doing. Being the Mom that I am, I was sitting on a stool next to Jack snapping away with my camera (after I got a new set of batteries from Dr. Postol because my freakin batteries in my camera died RIGHT as I started to take my first picture!!!), Misti rinsed Jack's mouth and was ready to start the bottom row of teeth when all of a sudden, he just decided he was done and shut his mouth so tight and refused to open it again. Then the arms came reaching for me like he was saying "Mommy save me from this..... it's horrible". When in fact, he had been doing wonderfully.

Misti, Tim, and I all tried to coax Jack into letting Misti do the bottom row of teeth to no avail. Not even a sweet, pleading "Open wide like an alligator, Jack!" would work. Eventually we gave up. But......Jack did let Dr. Postol take a look at his teeth to count them. Turns out that his bite is off due to his high pitched palate, which later could be a problem, but for now, it's just something that will be watched and corrected if needed.

All in all.....not a TERRIBLE trip to the Dentist. We didn't have major meltdown, left with a smile and a bag of goodies from Dr. Postol. Here's hoping that next time we can get ALL of those pearly whites polished without any issues.

A Day For The Ducks

Ducks Unlimited is a national, not-for-profit organization focusing on waterfowl and wetlands conservation. Every year, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Conservation, they hold Wetlands For Kids Day at the August A Busch Wildlife Center in St. Charles, MO. It's my Dad's "baby" per say as he's responsible for the coordination of efforts to pull it all together.

Since it's always held the first weekend of April, we hope and pray for nice, warm weather and we're never sure what we're going to get. This past week we had rain and cold weather up until Friday - we were holding our breath that the meteorologists on all of the local TV stations were going to be right with their forecasts of SUNNY and 60s for Saturday. Thankfully, they were right! We had a fantastic day on Saturday! From what we could tell…..the BIGGEST crowd that they’ve EVER had – but that’s what happens when every parent in St. Louis and St. Charles County decides that they are going to conquer the cabin fever and get their kids out of the house for the day and enjoy the weather.




They boys, despite having started our day at the Pediatrician’s office for a tumble out of bed by Jack and Mason being under the weather from a stomach bug, still had a great time. Temporary tattoos, geese in the lake, seeing snakes, turtles, big giant catfish and birds of prey were just a few of the activities that we enjoyed while we were there.



Thanks, Bear for another great Wetlands For Kids Day! We had fun at your party!

~ Jack & Mason

1,2,3,4.....25 Times!!! Ah ha ha ha ha!

Okay, so as many of you know, we have been in the process of potty training Jack since the end of January. Well....I think that we've tamed the beast and can call ourselves successful at this challenge of parenthood. But now....it's kind of become funny.

Jack is now keeping track of how many times that he's pooped in the potty. Last night.....25 times!!! I could hear Tim from the bathroom last night with Jack saying "25 Times! Way to go buddy!" and was just picturing The Count from Sesame Street saying "25 Times! Ah ha ha ha ha!" and the thunder rolling! He's shooting for 100 times - we'll see how long it takes him to get there but since he's really only been counting for about 2 1/2 weeks and is already up to 25, it may not take him too long to get there! Oh well....what ever works for Jack....works for Tim and I too!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Tricia!

Aunt Tricia turns (gasp!) 30 years old today!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Tricia!

We all love you!!!

Lib, Tim, Jack & Mason

And The Walls Come Tumblin' Down!

We are really into the throes of the remodel. The walls have come down inside between the family room and living room and Tim and David made use of the nice weather last week and took down the brick on the exterior of the house where the new patio slider and windows will be installed. This week we should have more progress inside as the 1/2 wall should take shape and the fireplace will be framed in and then it's time for DRYWALL!!

The more we talk about this, the more excited I am getting. Now if I could only have it finished NOW!

Oh well.....it will be beautiful and worth every ounce of dust and dirt that we are living with in the process.

I have created an online collection that I keep uploading our pictures to - bookmark it and check back now and then to see how we're doing!

http://www.jackandmasonsmom.shutterfly.com/

Marching For Babies

The boys and I will be participating in the March Of Dimes March for Babies on April 26th in honor of Julia Grace who became an angel of God on 3/25/08.

The Mom's group that I am a part of has formed a team called Julia's Grace and we will all be wearing tshirts and raising money to go to March Of Dimes. We will all be walking in our respective cities.

Heaven Gained An Angel Yesterday

Since Jack’s birth, I have been a part of a wonderful group of Moms on the Internet. Some people may not understand how a group of complete strangers could be so close, but we are. We are 200 women with young children who all experience the same trials & tribulations of parenthood and when one of us falls, we all fall together.

Yesterday, a good friends daughter, who was born at 23 ½ wks and weighed less than a pound at birth became another one of Gods angels. We were all shocked and full of disbelief when her Mom posted yesterday on our board that Julia Grace had passed away.

She had been doing so well! Julia Grace had proven all the Doctors and nurses wrong and had grown to a whopping 6 lbs 14 oz and had passed the 40 wk mark last week! She was transferred to a Children’s Hospital in preparation of moving her forward in her progression of going home to be with her family. All of us on our board were anxiously awaiting news of a successful surgical procedure yesterday to place a tracheotomy and remove her breathing tube and instead received the devastating news that the night before, something happened and baby Julia gave up her fight.

I may have never met Julia Grace or her Mother in person but feel as though I have lost a part of my heart and my family. The death of a child is a loss for everyone who’s life they have touched and for those who they were never able to meet.

Julia Grace, you will be missed.

"Perhaps they are not stars, but the souls of our lost loved ones shining down upon us to let us know they are alright" - Anon.

I'm A Big Boy Now!

Okay, so we've tackled the potty training and succeeded. We've ditched the highchair for a booster seat at the table with Mommy & Daddy so now it was time for the BIG step. A Big Boy Bed! I think it was partially Tim's and my wanting to hold on to that one thing that kept us thinking that Jack was a baby still - the crib. But when my father so nicely said "Elizabeth, you can't send him to college in a crib you know?" that I just bit the bullet and did it.

In one weekend, I dropped $450 on all of the STUFF that we needed, sheets, matress pad, blanket, bed rails and mattress set. Daddy picked up the mattress on Friday and yesterday was the big day!

The crib came down and the big boy bed went up! Bedtime went off without a hitch and he slept all night long without any issue.

My baby's not a baby anymore!

He Ate The WHOLE Thing!

Last night as we were leaving Kindercare, the boys stopped at the cracker basket to get their nightly crackers for the long 3 minute ride to our house. Well, instead of crackers there were apples in the basket (they were out of crackers) so Jack took one and started eating it. Well, I wasn't sure about Mason eating a whole apple but to avoid a major breakdown before we even walked out the door, I just gave him the smallest apple out of the basket.

I kept an eye on him from my mirror in the car on the way home and he seemed okay with it so I let him be. Well after about 30 minutes of working at it once we got home....the boy at the WHOLE apple - and I mean the WHOLE freakin apple, skin, flesh, core, seeds and all! Tim and I were laughing so hard. When he finished he handed Tim this little tiny speck of an apple and said "Done" and walked away.

It totally blew our dinner last night as neither of them really ate a whole lot but they had just both eaten an entire apple - Jack worked around the core, unlike his little brother.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On It's Way!

Sunday was the Annual Claymont Easter Egg Hunt. Yes, it was in the upper 40’s and sunny here and the boys were in their winter coats but that didn’t stop us, or anyone else with children in the neighborhood for that matter. The signs all week said the Easter Egg Hunt started 3pm SHARP so that’s what time we headed up to the “spot” for the festivities. Only to find out that it was at 4pm that the Egg Hunts started, so we had to kill a whole hour with the boys. They had the customary petting zoo and snacks so that, along with a walk down the street was enough for us to make it to 4:00.

Mason was in the first grouping, “Birth to 2 ½”. Tim and I laughed because that’s not really a good age grouping but who cares. Mason was one of about 5 kids doing the hunting. Okay, so it’s not a hunt, it’s more of an Easter Egg PICKUP as they just lay the eggs in the grass. It took a few eggs for Mason to get the concept of walk, pick up the egg and put it in my basket and move on to the next colorful orb laying on the ground and repeat. But…once he realized that the eggs had CANDY in them he was hot on the trail. We scored about 10 eggs in his round.

Jack was next. VERY ANXIOUSLY awaiting his age group “2 ½ to Kindergarten”, he stood on the sidelines with Daddy waiting for the “on your mark, get set, go!” and he was OFF! It looked like a stampede as all these children scrambled to pick up eggs that were scattered all over the grass. Jack was a pro at it! He scooped up eggs as Tim, Mason & I cheered him on from the sidelines. When all was said and done he had picked up about 15 eggs filled with candy (oh joy!).

The boys emptied their eggs and handed them back in to survey their winnings and gloat in their accomplishment. We hopped back into the stroller and on “Thunder”, Jack’s bike and headed home. Another Claymont Easter Egg Hunt was in the history books.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's A SUPER SLEEPER!

A good night’s sleep is something that neither Tim or I have had since, um…….let’s see…….October 19, 2004? Well……okay, well we may have gotten a few nights when Jack was an infant and he was sleeping through the night but then I got pregnant again, and that insomnia kicked in and I never got my full sleep filled nights back, until recently.

Mason is (or will be) 23 months on 3/23 and I am pleased to say that he has become a “Super Sleeper” as Tim and I so proudly refer to him every morning! He’s down for the count at 8:30pm every night and is sleeping, most of the time without so much as a peep 6:30am!!!!! We almost don’t know what to do with ourselves now! Having a full night of uninterrupted sleep is such a blessing to have back. I’ve forgotten what it was like. In some ways I miss my middle of the night rendezvous’ with him because those were such wonderful times to snuggle up with him when I was getting him to go back to sleep and because I know that it means that he’s getting bigger and is not a “baby” anymore but then I think about the lack of sleep induced fog that we would function under on those days following rough night and don’t miss that for anything in the world.

Just one more step towards being an independent little boy…….it’s hard to believe that he’s almost TWO!

UPDATE - As I posted this yesterday, I thought that I might jinx myself by saying what a good sleeper Mason's become and I think I did just that. Last night was a HORRIBLE night for all of us - the boys were both up multiple times and Tim and I got very little sleep - waking up this morning was HARD TO DO. Hopefully it was just a fluke and we'll be back to SUPER SLEEPERS tonight.

Pass The Kleenex... Please!

We are currently running at about 25% in our house - which is not good. Tim's just getting through ANOTHER round of antibiotics for a dreaded sinus infection that he's continually gotten this winter, Jack has had an ear infection and some sort of upper respiratory bug and now I've got some sort of respiratory bug too! Mason is the only "healthy" one in our house (Knocking on wood).

I'm so ready for Spring time it's not even funny. We have literally circulated the germs in our house all Winter long. I don't think we've had a week were at least ONE of us has not been sick! It's so frustrating and we TRY our hardest not to spread it to each other but we obviously are not doing a very good job at it.

ACHOO! Please pass the kleenex......................

Spring Sprang (well for at least 48 hours!)

We had THE MOST beautiful weather this past weekend!!! 60's on Saturday and upper 70's on Sunday. We had the boys out as much as physically possible to shake off some of the cabin feaver that had been building up for the past few weeks. They were able to ride their bikes, shoot their air rockets off, go for a few walks, and we even took a trip to the "orange park" down the street and to the Museum of Transportation on Sunday.






Today..........30's, rain and 4-8" of fresh snow is in the forcast for tomorrow! UGH! I'm so ready for Spring!