No more sleeps!

How could I forget to mention that Papa finally came home?! Mason had been counting down how many sleeps until Papa would be home, and ever since has been telling us "No more sleeps left!!!"

Mason missed his Papa so much, this was really the first year that he realized what it meant to have him gone for so long. One night, as he was looking at his "where is Papa" map, he got tears in his eyes and told me that "Papa went too far on his motorcycle and he got lost. Now he is lost and all alone." It was so sad and a little pathetic, too.

Here is Mason showing off his muscles in his outfit Papa got him in Sturgis

Where in the world is Papa?

My dad (aka Papa) is on a month long motorcycle trip. He and my Uncle Ken (who lives in Maine) have been doing some version of this for  years now...this time they're meeting in Sturgis, South Dakota (before the actual Sturgis event) and riding together from there. I don't know exactly where they will be because they don't know exactly where they will be, but I know for sure they're going down to Arizona to check out a retirement home for my aunt and uncle.

This is the first year that Mason has really been aware that Papa is gone, so I printed out a little North America map for us to mark on each night where Papa is sleeping. Since we don't always hear from Papa each night, I have a feeling I'll have to do some guessing along the way, but Mason won't really know any difference.

While my dad is gone my mom and my aunt are helping to cover "Papa daycare", mainly the mornings that I have to go to work at 7am and Todd isn't off until 9am. This morning was one of those mornings, and Mason had to show Nana his "Where is Papa?" map.

This is the star. That is our house.

This is the road where Papa is driving. 

But wait, there's more!

I know I just posted Mason's farting story...well, there's more...ALREADY!

First of all, Mason was taking a bath a couple nights ago at my parent's house. He and Nana were having a good old time, and I was in the living room. I could hear Mason laughing, and not just laughing, but that deep belly laugh that kids get when they're really excited. Next I hear, "Papa, come look at this!" and my dad goes into the bathroom, which is followed by more hysterical laughing. Apparently, Mason was a little gassy that night and had farted in the tub a few times...then he was making himself fart more to make more bubbles. It was so exciting to him, he just had to share it with Papa.

This next interaction was today as I was getting Mason up from his nap and I needed to get a new diaper on him. We are still using his changing table to save our backs, even though he really is too big for it now.

Mason: (laying down on the changing table) I getting bigger.
Me: Yes, you are growing.
Mason: I get long.
Me: Yes, your legs are getting too long for this table. You're getting bigger.
Mason: Ya, my pee pee get bigger, too.

What in the hell are you supposed to say to that?!? Um, why, yes, I suppose it is.

Happy Grandparent's Day

Sunday is Grandparent's Day...so to surprise Nana and Papa, Mason and Landon went to have some pictures taken together. It was also time for Mason to have his 9 month pictures, so we did that at the same time. Since Papa is leaving to go hunting, we already gave them their gifts...and not a minute too soon because it was getting really hard keeping a secret from Nana!

As you can see, it was hard to get both boys looking/smiling at the same time. And Landon especially was not into getting his picture taken that day. We did get a few cute ones, though.

Wine and Sleep

Last night Todd and I went to the ASO Wine Tasting. It was crowded and hot as usual, but a lot of fun. We tried some really great wines, and I even remembered to mark the ones I really liked so I'll actually remember the names next time I'm out to get wine.

Mason stayed the night (yes, the whole night) with my parents. It was my first night away from him, but of course he did great with Nana and Papa. It was wonderful to sleep all night, and even sleep in until 9am today, but I was excited to go pick him up and spend the rest of my day with his smiling face.

She works hard for the money

Today is my first full day back at work. And Mason's first day with Papa. Actually, yesterday was my first day back, but it was only a half day and Todd was home with Mason. I have mixed feelings for sure. I'm glad to be back at work, getting a little break away from home and getting to use my brain for things other than mommy things but it's also really hard to be without Mason! It's only 10:30am and I'm already wondering how he's doing, if he's taking a nap, how Papa is handling it all...but I promised myself I wouldn't call to check on them until lunch. Just two more hours to go until then!!!

And in this corner.....

Mason went in for his 2 month appointment (and shots) today. He is a healthy boy, weighing 12 lbs 12 oz! He did pretty good with his shots (and so did I) and now he's a sleepy boy. I can't believe it's already been two months since he was born! Time has flown by so fast. I'm going back to work in just a few weeks, and I'm really not ready. I'm lucky though, I'm only going back part-time and between my dad and Todd, Mason won't have to go to daycare!

We also went for our first walk in the Chariot today. Todd, Mason, Sierra and I all walked up to City Market (we left Duncan at home). Mason stayed nice and warm in his Chariot and enjoyed looking around. I'll post pictures soon!

Home Again

This week Todd had to go to Seattle for work, so on Tuesday after Mason and I took him to the airport we packed some bags and headed for my parents house. We had a good week, although with this crazy weather we didn't get out like we had planned on. As great as it was to have my parents help out, Mason and I were both so happy to pick Todd up last night! Now we're all home for a few days before Todd goes back to work.

P.S. For those of you watching the news...our house didn't flood. We did get a few drips of water in the unfinished part of our basement, but luckily nothing more. Who knew living one block further south would make that big of a difference!