Just in the nick of time, Harrison's skyline nursery is ready for his arrival! As I mentioned in a previous post, we kept the room, furniture and layout the same as Mason's nursery, but changed the bedding, colors and accessories. My absolute favorite part is the skyline backdrop Sean built for behind the crib. It floats away from the wall and is backlit, so acts like a nightlight when it's dark. It is such a unique gift from Sean to Harrison and I can't walk by the room without stopping to look at it. Mason thinks it's pretty cool and I hope Harrison comes to appreciate it as well! These boys sure are lucky to have a father with such a cool hobby. Mason loved helping Sean in the garage over the past couple of weekends and both of them added a little freestyle message to the back when the project was done. All my boys make me so happy!
Cute prints from an Etsy shop
Personalized details
Bookshelf corner (Mason has three shelves full of books - he'll have to share some to get Harrison's tiny little collection growing!)
Mobile and changing area
Sean's handiwork. I can't seem to get a good picture of how the backlight looks when it's otherwise completely dark. Still learning our camera after four years!
Can't wait to meet this little guy!
Harrison's nursery on top, Mason's on bottom. They look so similar but there have been so many changes! The paint colors don't photograph well but we did change the walls from a blue to a gray. In an ideal world, I'd have a new rug for Harrison's nursery, but we love this rug and don't have another room for it so it's staying! Maybe curtains in the future, too.
I have three posts I've been wanting to do about Mason: one about his summer adventures, one about all his new skills, and one about his first day back to school. With my free time about to be stolen by a new love, I decided to wrap them all into one post, so it's a little long!
We had such a busy and exciting summer around here! Mason really seemed to grow up since May and amazes us daily with the things he knows, remembers, and learns. Over the past few months he's learned the ABC's (that may have actually been in the spring), identifies most of his letters and can spell his name, counts backwards from 10 (and up to 20), sings nursery rhymes in entirety (sometimes teaching me the words!), rides his trike around the block, reads his books to himself (if he doesn't have the words memorized or it's a new book, he makes the words up based off the pictures), has become so imaginative and creative in his play, focuses for longer periods of time, and understands reasoning and logic more than ever! visit the blog online to see the video below, therobisonroundup.blogspot.com
He loves to play with legos and create little worlds with them (his favorite is building rocket ships for blast off and a blue whale with a waterfall and swimming pool), still loves garbage trucks, dump trucks, and basically any truck he can load things into and then dump out, thoroughly enjoys painting and coloring both inside and out (crayons are a staple in my purse for restaurants, etc.), checks his 'train schedule' and let's me know when he needs to pick passengers up, then proceeds to create the whole scenario on the train track, LOVES working with tools and helping Daddy in the garage, and just says the funniest things. One thing Sean and I find adorable is how formal he speaks. If we ask him if he'd like to do something he'll respond with "Yes, I would like to ". Or he'll say "Mommy, can I please have some milk?". It's so sweet and I'm glad he's picking up some good verbal habits! I overheard him go up to a friend at school and say "Hi Hud, it's so good to see you!". Don't be fooled, he still has his moments, but we really enjoy hearing him speak like this. A personal favorite that he said at lunch after spending time with the young-ish female childcare workers at the Y: "Hey girlfriend, these chips are spicy!". He doesn't meet a stranger, and says hello to just about everyone. If we introduce him to someone, he walks right up and shakes their hand. Little politician. :)
His thoughts are much more complete and he speaks in paragraphs to us. Sean had a work dinner last night and when I was putting Mason to bed he asked where Daddy was. I told him he had to work late and that he'd be here in the morning and Mason said "Daddy goes to work, parks down low in the parking garage, takes an elevator up really, really high, then goes back down. I see him in morning, yay!". He's spot on with Sean's path to work, and must think he has a blast at the office all day riding elevators up and down. :)
At the beginning of the summer I made a long list of things I wanted to do with Mason and as of last week, I had crossed everything off! We went swimming more times than I can count at various pools and friends houses, checked out several splash pads, ventured to new parks and playgrounds, frequented the library and book stores, took advantage of a 'cool' day (high of 92) to explore the Arboretum, learned about fish and fed stingrays at the Children's Aquarium, had a blast finally visiting Dallas' new Perot Museum (we will be back A LOT), went to a Children's Summer Series movie for the first time (let's just say I'm glad this was only $1 as he lasted about half the time), visited a nearby Farm Market Store called Ham Orchards, got some energy out at open gym at the neighborhood rec center, and had many playdates with his friends!
Swim playdate at his friend Jeff's house with Hadley, Jeff, Kennedy and Emily. The mommies enjoyed ourselves too! Four of the five ladies pictured are pregnant - we were sipping on some yummy summer mocktails!
Playing in the backyard with Daddy
Checking out Farm Market store Ham Orchards
Ham Orchards with BeBe and Madison
Hanging out at the park and at open gym at the rec center
Clockwise from Top L: Playing at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital playground (side-note: I was a patient here as a child for scoliosis), exploring the creek with Sean, a refreshing summer snack for me while Mason plays at his water table, and enjoying a popsicle.
Clockwise from Top L: Snow cone at the pool, first dentist appt (he did great!), playing at an awesome waterpark with the kiddos of some of my sorority friends, and story time and movement at the library.
Left: He loves waterfalls! Top R: Finger painting outside. Bottom R: Finishing off some ice cream after a family date night.
At the Arboretum with Kennedy
Looking at lobsters and fish at the Children's Aquarium
Checking out the sharks and stingrays, then walking around Fair Park
Visiting the Perot Museum last week. We went with his friends Jeff and Emily but snapping a picture of three busy toddlers together is near impossible!
Kicking a beach ball in the backyard. I love the follow through in the bottom right pic!
He started back up at preschool last week and jumped right back in without missing a beat. He's in the Older 2's class this year and will tell you that he goes on Tuesday and Thursday to see Ms. Laura and play with the big tweezers (his favorite toy there, random!). It's amazing to see how far he's come since he started a year ago, and I know I'll be blown away again this year. He goes from 9-12 two days a week and his daily agenda is similar to last year: library, music & movement, playground, art, snack and free play. When he's fully potty trained we'll send him to lunch bunch which extends his stay until 2:00 and includes lunch and more free play. We don't want to send him now, because when they're not potty trained, they're sent to the younger lunch bunch class that is required to take a nap. I'd rather him take a full nap at home after school than a 20 minute up there, so we'll wait until he can go to the big room!
First day of preschool 2013, Older 2's class
Handsome boy on his first day
We planted this tree last October and like to take pictures of him in front of it to see how they both grow. And I love his sweet laugh in the picture with Sean!
Playing with those darn tweezers and coloring an M on his first day in Ms. Laura's Corral class!
Comparison to last year. Boy has he grown!
Left side is this year, Right side is last year
In baby news, we have between one and two weeks to go! Ahhhh!
This boy is getting BIG!
Mason is at such a fun age and I loved every moment of our adventurous summer. He still takes plenty of time to cuddle with me. Every morning he climbs in bed with us and snuggles in to watch a cartoon before we start our day. I hope this continues for a long time to come!
