Goodbye Toddler 1

So today was not only Mason's birthday but it was also his last day in the Toddler 1 room at daycare. Not only was I upset about my little guy turning two, I was also upset that he would be leaving his friends & teachers in the Toddler 1 room. 

I personally have become attached to seeing his little "friends" in his class & I am going to miss seeing them everyday also. I know they are going to be right next door to him but it just won't be the same because I won't be dropping him off in this room or picking him up in this room like I do every single day.

I dropped him off this morning like I have done every morning for the past year & Ms. Tiffany & I both looked at each other & immediately got tears in our eyes :( Mason's last day was really hard on her also! She had blown up blue balloons & had them scattered all over the floor for his birthday as well as given us a gift bag with his birthday present in it. 

Sticking out of the bag was a huge card Ms. Tiffany had made for Mason & I noticed on the back of it she had written a long message. I knew it was going to be sweet & touching & would probably make me cry so I chose to ignore it. His other teacher Ms. Valerie has only been there for a few months & she also gave us a birthday gift bag which I thought was so very sweet of her. 

I had brought cupcakes that I had made the night before for all the "littles" to enjoy after lunch & Mason helped me "carry" them in. He was SO excited about having "cay-cay" at daycare!

I gave hugs & kisses to Mase like I always do, said goodbye to his teachers & walked out the door with tears welling up in my eyes. When I got to my car I lost it. Ugh - I don't know why this was affecting me so strongly or why I was so upset!? 

I managed to dry my tears & make my way into work thinking about my little man the whole day & hoping he was having a wonderful birthday at daycare. Later in the day Ms. Tiffany sent me this photo:

It just warms my heart how much Tiffany loves & cares for our little man & how much he loves her too! 

I left work a bit early, went to pick up Mase & we headed to his favorite place to eat for his birthday - Chick-Fil-A. 

 Cheeeeeese

Shane was unfortunately out of town for work so he wasn't able to join us but no worries - there is a birthday celebration planned for Saturday with Daddy after he gets back :)

After we were done eating, Mason played in the play-area for awhile & then we enjoyed a birthday chocolate chip cookie & some ice cream. If you have never had a cookie or ice cream from CF then you are seriously missing out!! They are A.Mah.Zing! Mase didn't even want to share his cookie with Mama they are THAT good but no worries - I managed to sneak a couple of bites when he wasn't looking ;)

Mama & Mase had so much fun together & we made sure to send Daddy lots of pics!

It was starting to get late so we headed home & I let him stay up a little bit longer to open a few presents.

He got a new book from Mama, some new race cars & a stuffed puppy from Ms. Tiffany as well as some Matchbox cars & a stuffed Mickey Mouse from Ms. Valerie. 

Then I remembered the birthday card Ms. Tiffany made. I opened it up & there inside were hand-prints from every little friend & his teachers in Toddler 1 with there name written next to each hand. I immediately burst into tears. 

Mason saw the hand-prints & got SO excited seeing them. He must have watched them do the prints because he was pointing to each hand & trying to say the name that went with the hand-print - so stinkin' cute! 

Then I struck up enough nerve to read the message Ms. Tiffany had written. Just as I suspected it was so very sweet & thoughtful & touching & I started tearing up all over again. Ugh - I just love her! I absolutely LOVE this card she made for Mason & will treasure it forever! Mason is SO very lucky to have been blessed with so many amazing people in his life & so many of them have come from his daycare!

We ended the evening by doing our usual routine - bath-time, story-time, prayers & singing. It wasn't 2 minutes into singing/rocking & he was asleep. Just as I have done hundred's of times before, before I laid him into the crib I thanked God for giving us this amazing little boy & how very appreciative I was for giving us the opportunity to be his parents. 

TWO

Last night after I had put Mason to bed I sat down on the top step to pet Bubba & shortly after I burst into tears.

Why??

Because my baby was turning two tomorrow. 

I know - it sounds ridiculous....or does it? Please tell me that this is normal behavior?

Anyone??? 

Today is a bittersweet day. My sweet little boy is turning two years old & it is also his last day in Toddler 1 at daycare :( The last part of that sentence deserves a post all by itself so I will have to write about that sad milestone another day. 

TWO years - 24 months - 104 weeks....that is the amount of time that has gone by since Mason was born & I remember that amazing day like it was yesterday:

(Mase minutes after he was born & today on his birthday)

At two years of age, Mase is becoming his own unique little individual & he is pretty awesome! His never-ending energy, sweet demeanor & creative little spirit makes him a truly remarkable little human being & I feel SO privileged to be his Mama.

Weight: Mason had his 2 year appointment this week & weighed in at 29 lbs (80th percentile) & is 36 inches tall (90th percentile). Since his last appointment at 18 months old he only gained 1 lb but grew a crazy 5 inches! The pediatrician told us he will probably be at least 6' tall once he is done growing which makes us both happy since we are secretly hoping for a future as a KU basketball player :) He is wearing 24 mos/2T clothing, size 5 diapers & has a 7.5 shoe size. He also went from wearing a wide shoe to now a regular so he is definitely slimming down & getting tall. Ugh - I just wish he would stop growing so darn fast!!

Eating: Whenever Mase is hungry, he will sign & say "eat" & is really good at letting us know. Some of his favorite foods are chicken, fish, pasta, sausage, apples, bananas, strawberries, yogurt, eggs, cheese, ice cream, peanut butter, cereal & Chick-Fil-A. He is still not a fan of hamburger & green veggies. We recently got rid of the nightly bottles, he drinks with a sippy cup or through a straw & is eager to drink from a regular cup...supervised of course :) He signs/says "more" & "all done" as he pushes his plate & cup out of the way when finished.

Sleeping: This has been my greatest challenge by far as a parent & only because I have totally enabled my child....I will admit it. For the last 6 months, Mase would wake up in the middle of the night, I would immediately get up, go in & change his diaper, put him in bed with us, give him a bottle & he would sleep like an angel until 6am. 

After many nights of interrupted sleep (while my husband slept like a baby) & with his upcoming 2 year appointment looming in the back of my mind, I decided it had to stop....the co-sleeping AND the bottle of milk. SO that is what we did. "Operation CIO" began on a Monday night & after 3 very LONG, tiring & upsetting nights I am happy to say by Friday I had a little guy who slept from 8pm-6am without waking up, we have gotten rid of the bottle & Mama is finally getting some sleep!! Let me tell you, it was bittersweet for me to get rid of that bottle. It made me realize that my baby is no longer a "baby" & I will probably never make another bottle again :(

He has his special blanket, pillow & stuffed puppy that he always has to sleep with & he still has the paci at nap-time & bed-time. Will be working on getting rid of the paci in the near future!

Milestones:
- Mase is talking all the time & has recently started putting together 2-3 word sentences. He says "where's Daddy/Mama/Bubba/Millie?" "want another one" "what's that?". He probably says about 40+ words - some are harder to understand than others but I can usually figure out what he is saying. I have to "interpret" his speech for Daddy quite often :)
- Can understand & comprehend what we say to him.
- Uses a fork & spoon really well when eating.
- Can throw a ball, runs (which is sooo cute), kicks the ball forward.
- Can name all his body parts, points to our body parts & the dogs body parts when asked.
- Hide & Seek has become his favorite game & we all "play" at least once a day.
- Loves to help Mama vacuum & clean around the house.

- Tries to brush his teeth, wash his hands & dry them by himself.
- Loves to listen to music, sing & dance & will "sing" along with some of the songs. No idea what the words are but you can tell he is trying to sing along :)
- He has started to have an opinion about what he wants to wear, what he wants to eat & want he wants to do....already at 2 years of age!!

This precious boy continues to be a blessing to our lives & I can't imagine not having him in it! He is such a cool little dude & amazes me everyday to all the new things he is learning, doing & saying! We are looking SO very forward to what this next year has in store for us!!

We love you so very much little Bubba :)

Playdate

Today Mase & I met our "besties" Jen & Miss Ava Jean for a play-date! It had been awhile since we had our "littles" together to play so it was SO very good to see the both of them!

We met at our "usual" place - Monkey Bizness & the littles had much fun running around & jumping in all the inflatables:

When Jen & I take the littles to places like this we always end up getting strange looks from the other parents because we are one of  "those" moms. The moms who are actually involved with their kids, interact with them & actually play with them in the inflatables. We bounce around with our kids & slide down the slides with them & keep a close eye on them as they are running around. I have been there numerous times with Shane & Jen & each time we are the only ones that I have ever seen in the bouncies with our kids.

The day we were there was CRAZY busy. There must have been 50 kids & twice as many parents there. One little guy was running around who looked younger than Mason & Ava & he seemed to be everywhere Mase went.  He was constantly needing help up the ladder & into the bouncy & his parents were nowhere to be found. I seriously could have walked out with that little boy & pretty sure his parents would have had no clue. I asked him where his mommy or daddy was & he pointed to where his mommy was & there she was - face down in her phone not paying any attention to where her kid was or who he was talking with. I continued to watch her to see if she would look up & acknowledge her child & about 10 minutes went by before she looked up & spotted her kid. Ugh....

It amazes us both how many parents are face down on their cell phones there not having a clue where there kid is or what they are doing. I suppose when they get a bit older we won't feel the need to go in the bouncies with them but I sure as heck am not going to be nose buried into my phone not knowing where my kid is or who he is interacting with.

Right now it is hard for them to crawl up the ladder to the slide & the bigger kids can be brutal & scare them jumping around in there so we are always in there with them & you know what - I like it that way.

After the littles exhausted themselves in Monkey Bizness we stopped in to the fish store on our way out the door. They were both fascinated by the lizards, fish & bunnies in the store:

We SO love our play-dates with Miss Ava Jean & her Mama! I just love the thought of these two growing up together & sharing so many memories with them both!!

Game-Night

It has been quite some time since the ladies gathered for our monthly "game-night" & with the holidays behind us we all agreed a get-together was way past due.

Jilly had recently moved from her house into a luxury "villa" so we ended up gathering at her new place & everyone got a tour of her beautiful, new pad! 

(HT, Michelle, Jilly)

Everyone had brought an appetizer & as usual there was a huge spread of yummy food, a huge selection of beverages & much catching up was done as we all hadn't been together for awhile - or at least HT hadn't been with this group for awhile!

Later in the evening we all got our phones out, checked available dates & got some upcoming game-nights & events on the calendar - which is pretty amazing seeing how very busy everyone is!

(HT, Michelle, Melissa, Emily)

Looking so very forward to our upcoming adventures with these fun ladies in 2015!

Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Taylor family :)

Mason woke up at his usual time - 6:30am & proceeded to head downstairs where Daddy was watching TV anxiously waiting for us to wake up. Mason & I headed downstairs & he didn't even notice all the presents under the tree until we told him to go & see what "Santa" brought him.

The first thing he noticed was the Schwinn Trike & hopped up & down squealing as he pulled it away from the tree to sit on it:

Then he saw his HUGE Mickey Mouse sitting in his chair & gave him a big hug :)

Between Santa, Mama & Daddy, relatives & friends he was one spoiled little boy! One of his favorite gifts that he opened was the fleece Mickey Mouse blanket that I had made him. The look on his face explains it all:

He screamed with excitement, then threw the blanket down on the ground, laid on top of it & didn't want to move or get up! He LOVED it!

After all the presents were opened, it was time to gather our stockings & see what "Santa" had filled them with:

There was coloring books, crayons, suckers, little toys, books, Goldfish crackers....he LOVED pulling everything out of his stocking & kept signing "more" when he was done.

Of course we couldn't forget about the Bulldogs....they too received goodies in their stockings from Santa & patiently waited as I pulled them out:

After all the gift opening was finished, we sat down for breakfast & enjoyed the Egg Bake & Caramel Cinnamon Rolls & had made the night before. YUM :) The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys, being lazy & hanging out together as a family. 

I was on call for the Christmas holiday & lucky for me it ended up being a quiet 24 hours! We are getting up early in the morning & heading to South Dakota to spend the rest of the weekend with my family & do our family Christmas!

Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday as well!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

So it is the night before Christmas & I can hardly believe this night is here! Seems like we were just sitting down to give thanks on Thanksgiving!?

I unfortunately had to work on Christmas Eve so I didn't get home until supper time. Mason had spent the day with Daddy & it sounds like they had a fun day together. We ate supper & then afterwards we gathered by the Christmas tree to let Mason open one gift. 

This is going to be a yearly tradition that I am starting. Every Christmas Eve I am going to let Mason open one gift which will contain new jammies, a book or movie to read/watch that evening & some snacky items to eat while watching the movie.

Since he is too young to watch holiday movies or eat late-night snacks I decided to get him the Twas the Night Before Christmas book instead to read to him at bed-time. As you can see, he was super happy about a) opening a gift b) getting new jammies & c) getting a new book!

After his gift was opened, it was bath-time & then he got his new jammies on & came downstairs to show them off to Daddy:

He is such a little ham :)

Mase & I headed upstairs to his room for bed & I read him his new book as well as the Christmas story from his little bible. We talked about the birth of baby Jesus & how tomorrow we would be celebrating his birthday & how Santa would be stopping by & that we would have gifts to open in the morning. Not sure if he understood anything other than "opening presents" but I told him none the less.

After Mase went to bed, then "Santa" came & delivered all the presents & neatly arranged them under the Christmas tree. From the looks of it, someone had been a VERY good boy this year!

Bubba made sure to keep a watchful eye so that nobody harmed the gifts :) 

I spent the rest of the evening making the egg bake & getting the caramel rolls put together for the morning & then around midnight I finally made it to bed. 

I am so excited for Mase to wake up in the morning & see all his gifts!!

Manners

I have been working with Mason to say & sign his "please" & "thank you's" & I know the girls at daycare are as well. It is important to me to raise a child with manners - especially a boy - so that he will grow up to be a gentleman - just like his daddy :)

So far he is nailing it:

He pretty much says both without being prompted now & just this last week he started saying "ess you" (bless you) after Shane or I sneeze. Not sure where he learned that one (probably from hearing us saying it to each other) but it is the cutest thing ever!!

Lunch with Blondies

This photo was taken Jan 27th, 2013:

It hangs in my locker at work & is one of my favorites of us three! I remember that day very clearly. I was 9+ months pregnant & had met Susan (L) & Stephanie (R) for lunch. We joked about making sure I eat a big meal because later that evening I was being admitted to the hospital for my induction with Mason & probably wouldn't get to eat much the next 24 hours.

Shortly after Mason was born Stephanie moved to Dallas with her husband. I was very sad about her leaving but knew it was for the best & we promised to keep in touch always. Susan is a nurse at St. Lukes so lucky for me I get to see her all the time!

Well that was almost 2 years ago since that picture was taken & we have continued to keep in touch since that day. Steph had texted me earlier in the week to let me know her & her husband would be in town for the holidays & wanted to know if Susan & I could meet up for lunch with her. I of course jumped at the chance to see her & Suz so we all decided to meet for lunch at Spin! Pizza. 

We had a great time catching up, eating good food & having a bit of gelato for dessert - YUM! Steph also surprised us both by letting us know she was going to be having a baby - a little boy :) So very happy for her & her husband & can't wait to meet her little guy in April!

We of course had to pose for the same photo taken two years ago - this time with Mason. Gosh he looks SO big - ugh!!

So very thankful to have these blondies in my life - all three of them :)

Adios Viviana

This lovely lady pictured with me is Miss Viviana. I have worked with Viviana since I started at St. Lukes Hospital in 1999. This week she is retiring after 40 years at the hospital & I am going to miss her oh so very much :(

After working at the same place for 40 years you tend to know ALOT of people so when I was asked to be on the planning committee for her retirement party I knew it was going to be a difficult task coming up with a place to house so many people...especially in the middle of December with office Christmas parties going on. 

We finally settled on Casa Agave at the Legends & they were kind enough to close 1/2 the restaurant just for our party giving us access to the bar. We had over 125+ people RSVP & that many & then some ended up showing up to the event.

It was a "surprise" party for Miss Viviana & it wasn't easy keeping her from finding out but we pulled it off & she got the surprise of her life when she walked in & saw all those people there for just her!

Everyone had fun mingling, eating, drinking & saying their "goodbye's" to Miss Viviana all evening long. Our boss spoke to the crowd on her behalf as well as one of our long-time physician's thanking Viviana for all her years of dedication & service to St. Lukes Hospital & how she was going to be missed by everyone. 

He then presented her with a beautiful ruby & diamond necklace that everyone contributed to & she was shocked by everybody's generosity!

Afterwards there was cake (YUM) & the mariachi band started playing & the entire crowd was serenaded!

There were lots & lots of photos taken that night & we made sure to send them all to Viviana so that she would have them for the memories! 

Adios Miss Viviana - you will be greatly missed :(

Santa Express

Today we ventured down to Baldwin City to the Midland Railway & hopped aboard the Santa Claus Express. A co-worker of mine told me about this awesome little adventure & with Mason's love for trains I thought it would be a super fun thing to do. 

Grandma Mountain ended up coming with us & we all made the 30 minute road-trip down to Baldwin City to see Santa & take a train ride to Norwood, KS & back.

There were a total of 3 passenger cars which were all authentic & dated back to 1928. Unfortunately the windows were drafty & there was no heat other than a few propane heaters set up so it was pretty cold on the train. The cars were all decorated for Christmas & Santa had his very own special passenger car which was made in 1898! While we were waiting to see Santa there was a storyteller reading Christmas stories & singing carols.

Everyone took turns going back to see Santa & unfortunately we were one of the the very last to see him. We were 1.5 hours into the trip & by this time Mason was tired & hungry - not a good combination! So unfortunately his picture with Santa & Mrs. Claus ended up looking like this:

 

Priceless!

After we saw Santa, we sat back down, got our hot cocoa & sugar cookie & by this time Mason was in better spirits. We were almost back to the train depot after our snack & realized we hadn't taken any pictures yet! So here are a few pics with a couple of selfies thrown in:

Other than being a bit cold, we had so much fun & I am so glad we checked this awesome excursion out! We got into the car, warmed up & weren't 10 minutes down the road when I look over & see this:

Poor Mase was wore out! He got a good snooze in on the drive back home & then we all went out for lunch at our local BBQ joint in town. Such a fun day & good quality time spent with Grandma Mountain!

Choo Choo

One of the big presents "Santa" was giving Mason this year was a train set. He is crazy about "choo choos" right now so I had done a little bit of research on what kind of train to get him & came across the Polar Express Train on Amazon. It wasn't a huge train, was reasonably priced & would fit perfectly under the Christmas tree so I went ahead & ordered it.

It arrived on the front steps yesterday & I had assumed that Shane put it away so Mase wouldn't see it. I had visions of putting it together on Christmas Eve, displaying it under the tree with a big red bow on it & Mase would see it Christmas morning......silly me.

We get home from work/daycare & there is the box laying on the kitchen table & of course Mason sees it immediately & yells "CHOO CHOO". If looks could kill Shane would be a dead man. I asked him why he didn't hide the train & he thought it would be nice to put it together that night so he we could enjoy it longer. I was not a happy camper but there was no way we were going to be able to hide the train after Mason had already seen it so I caved. 

The boys ended up putting the train together & I don't know who was more excited - Mase or Daddy?!

 

 

Finally it was all set up & the boys gave it a test drive around the tree:

Once it was successfully running, Mason & Bubba sat there forever watching it go round & round - SO cute!

It is a perfect little first train set for Mason. It has a light on the front of the first car & the remote control moves it forward & backwards, has a bell, whistle & a button that has the voice of Tom Hanks & says "All aboard - the Polar Express".

 

Ok - so I am secretly glad we ended up giving it to him a few weeks before Christmas because he has thoroughly enjoyed playing with the train every single day.

After the tree is taken down, I am going to move it up to his room so he can play with it throughout the year & will continue to display it under the tree at Christmas time. So glad "Santa" got this for him & that he loves it!!