Fall & Winter Update

Well, hello there! I guess you could say I took a little maternity leave from the blog. We've had a busy and exciting four months around here so let's just get right to it!

Harrison's Newborn Photo Shoot
Here are some of my favorites - he was just one week old!

Harrison's Sip N See
My mom and sister threw a beautiful Sip N See for Harrison at our home. He charmed all the women as he was passed around from one admirer to the next.

Halloween
Mason asked to be an astronaut this year and we made Harrison his little rocket ship. We attended two fun neighborhood parties, a party at the Y, a class party, and of course Halloween night.

Class Party

Halloween night and Y event. Sean carved the cool rocket ship pumpkin and multi-tasked while handing out candy and wearing Harrison!

Soccer
Mason guest played for the soccer team that a lot of his friends are on. How cute is he in that little uniform?  You could barely see his knees!

OSU 
My parents took Mason to an OSU football game in October. My brother is the marching band director there and hooked them up with a suite and access to all the band events. When OSU reached the Cotton Bowl, Doug was able to get his hands on some extra tickets and Sean and Mason were able to go, along with my parents, grandma, Brian and Matthew.

Mason had a blast this weekend with my parents and brother at an OSU homegame while Sean and I enjoyed time alone with our two week old.

Top picture is Brian, Doug and Sean at the Cotton Bowl. Bottom pictures are from the October game and the Cotton Bowl. Mason took identical pictures with these twirlers!

Harrison's Check-Ups 

Harrison is now 4 1/2 months. He's still a tiny guy, but is charting perfectly from his size at birth. We haven't seen any blisters on his hands or feet in several months now, so we're hoping that was just a weird newborn thing that is gone forever! He's such a happy little fella and has the cutest chuckle. He finds Mason more entertaining than any toy and Mason has a blast trying to get a laugh out of him. He rolls from front to back and almost can make it from the back to front, but a darn arm keeps getting in the way. He chats all day long to whoever will listen! He can sleep an 8 hour stretch (last night we got 11!), but isn't consistent about it. We're definitely missing our sleep, but he's otherwise a great baby so we can't complain too much. I've got a pretty good schedule down with him during the day which helps everyone in the house know what to expect next. Thankfully Sean is home most nights in time for bath which is so helpful. He takes over Harrison's bath while I bathe Mason, then we switch and I nurse Harrison while he reads books to Mason. Here's a sampling of Harrison's schedule on a perfect day (which rarely happens!):

7:00/7:30 - wake up and nurse

7:30-8:45 - play (bouncy seat during breakfast and then playmat with Mason and Mommy)

8:45 - nap

10:15 - wake and eat

11-1:30 - venture out and about with Mason and me. He takes a nap in his carseat most days during this time

1:30 - wake and eat

2:00-3:00 - play with Mommy while Mason naps

3:00 - nap

4:30 - wake and eat

5:00-6:45 - play around the house with Mason and me (sometimes he catches a 15 minute snooze in his swing while I prepare Mason's dinner)

6:45 - bath

7:00 - nurse and bed

we quit doing the 10:00pm dream feed and noticed that he wakes less when we let him wake on his own (as opposed to waking him for that feed). He wakes once in the middle of the night to eat, and anywhere from zero to three more times and will cry for a bit before going back to sleep.

His stats at his 2 and 4 month check-ups:

2 months

Weight: 9 lbs., 5.2 oz. (10%)

Length: 22 1/2" (25%)

4 months

Weight: 11 lbs., 11 oz. (5%)

Length: 25"(50%)

He's healthy, happy, and makes us feel complete. We love you so much, sweet Harrison!

Family Pictures

We had a little photo session back in November to capture our family of four for our Christmas cards. It was a 20 minute mini-session with my friend Ashli at Artsy Magnet. We're very pleased with how they turned out!

Thanksgiving

My parents hosted Thanksgiving at their house, and once again, impressed with a fabulous spread. We had a wonderful time being with family during a year that we are oh so thankful for. We were busy enjoying each other and didn't snap many pics of the whole day but managed to get a couple at the end.

Mason Turns Three

My next post will be dedicated to Mason's third birthday, so I won't go into a whole lot of detail here. I can't believe the boy that made me a momma is already three! He has filled our lives with so much love and excitement and continues to make us laugh every day. We had family over to celebrate the weekend before his birthday, and lucked out with some beautiful weather before our ice storm for a weekday construction party with his friends at the park. Happy third (plus two months) birthday, Mason!

Ranch Weekend

Caroline and Mark hosted us for another awesome weekend at their ranch in South Texas. There were four families there with their kiddos and we all had a blast. The kids got along great and the adults enjoyed relaxing by the campfire, indulging in good food and drinks, exploring the property, and watching the kids play.

Christmas 2013
Oh boy was the Christmas season fun this year. We were as busy as ever celebrating and it was twice as nice with two sweet boys to share memories with. Mom & Dad R came in town from Seattle the week of Christmas and it was so nice having them here, as always. We hosted our annual Christmas Eve dinner and spent Christmas morning at home opening gifts from Santa before getting together with everyone at my parents house for more gifts and Christmas dinner. I have way too many pictures of all the things we did this season so I tried to narrow it down to just some of my favorites (somehow I didn't get any from the celebration at my parents house but there are plenty more!). I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Visiting Santa! Mason walked up to Santa, shook his hand, and told him he had heard him ringing the doorbell earlier that week to tell Mommy he was watching. Santa confirmed that yes, it was him (and not the UPS man). Then Mason told him he wanted a trolley, which Santa had a very hard time finding!

Christmas Eve at our house

Santa came! He brought Mason an easel and the much anticipated Trolley. Not pictured: Harrison's musical globe from Santa.

I adore the picture on the left of Harrison and Dad R. Mason is trying out his new doctor kit on Mom R, who is a nurse, and Harrison is cooing and flirting with my grandma on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning in front of the tree! Harrison got a tiny trolley too, as you can see in the top R pic.

My cuties being cute in their Christmas morning stripes. The serious top L pic cracks me up.

More Christmas Day

OK that just about brings us up to speed! Like I mentioned, I'm going to put a post together all about Mason being three. I also have a ton of pictures from my phone that I want to put on here from the past four months. Whew!