First flight

Survived his first flight with nary a whimper.

Meeting a Goat and Coral

Last weekend we had dinner at a strange restaurant called White Fence Farm.  We came up with several ways to describe it.  "Cracker Barrel on Crack."  "The American Casa Bonita." "A cross between Las Vegas and a Wyoming gas station."  The best part was the cute goats they had in the petting pen.  I ventured as close as I dared with Jack to get these pictures.  Don't bite my baby!

 (not goats)

The next day we took the whole family (minus cat) to Fort Collins for a BBQ dinner with Kristin's family.  I finally met her darling girl, Coral. 

(I love how she has Yoda-proportions in the second photo because her legs are tucked up)

When Jack woke up I delayed eating to get some side by side photos.  Jack was not pleased with the delay.

Out for a stroll

I'll go outside, but I don't want to sense it.

Visiting the Grands

I needed a change of scenery.  I packed up Jack and forty times his weight in burp rags and onesies, and took off over the mountains to mooch off my folks for a couple days. 

Stopping to nurse on Vail Summit.  How beautiful!

Caught Grandpa Will at work.  Got to help with dictation, mostly by staring at the power cord in the corner.

His first time swimming with Grandma Susan.  We swam three times during the trip.  Each time he was fairly sleepy and this was the most reaction we got.  Maybe when we come back in August if we catch him after a nap he'll give it some smiles. 

I had hands-free time to relax.

We took Jack shopping downtown and found some fabulous legwarmers, sunglasses, and of course the infamous mobile.

Grandpa Rick even came by to get some Jack time.  The lure of Jack is powerful.

Not pictured: the giant box of apricots that we turned into jam.

Mobiles are cool

I'm in Grand Junction visiting the grands for a few days.  Jack is having a great time.  We went swimming and shopping and there has been much adoration.  Last weekend I noticed that Jack finally discovered the mobile on his swing at home.  We got him one that attaches to the crib and has crisp, simple pictures.  He is FASCINATED.  He is happy to spend over an hour cooing and kicking at the pictures.  Here's some video.  Again, sorry, but this is fairly boring for non-baby lovers.  But I wanted his dad back home in Lakewood to see a how cool mobiles are. 


Mobiles are Cool from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Jack and Riddick

Monotony

Hot. Blech.  I really hate summer.  Tomorrow I hope to run away to my parents' house for a few days.  I'm getting burned out by being home alone with Jack day in and day out.  Sure, I had fun shopping with my sister this weekend.  Tonight I might escape for a few hours to play trivia.  But I'm building a serious case of the doldrums.  For every cute video or picture I post, there's at least an hour of fussing or crying which I didn't think was particularly photo worthy.  

Third nap of the day.  Finally.  He's having a hard day.  Aw crap, looks like he's woken himself up again.  I better go pacify.

Tolerating Tummy Time

Jack can handle tummy time for a couple minutes now before having a melt down. Exercise is so HARD!  (Right after I cut the shot he completed the hiccup-cough-sneeze combo with a long fart.  He is an artist.)


Tolerating Tummy Time from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Fast knitting

What do you do when you are in the middle of an epic fair isle sweater?  And your purple yarn gets tangled?  And you are tired of argyle?

 Unfurl your fat yarn ball and make a baby hat!  Finished in 45 minutes. 

 This is called the meathead hat (Ravelry link).  Jack won't fit it until fall but that will be perfect.  Actually, it's quite stretchy.  So if we had a chilly day (Ha!) he might fit in it.  Let's try it on without waking him.
 

 Hmm.  Guess I'll try it on later.  

Amanda is home!

Saturday Amanda returned from her long, exotic journey to Thailand.  I'm so happy she's back in Colorado!  Our parents came to welcome her home and return her cat.  Here are a few of the fun things she brought back.

Shhhh!  You'll have to ask Amanda in person for this story.  I don't want to get her in trouble.  

Awesomely bad English on notebooks.  "IM YOUR PRINCESS CAT. IM YOUR LOVER."

Exotic foods such as durian chips

Hats for working in the fields (or dangling ribbons over 6 week old babies)

An awesome wrap that can be a blanket, spread or cover-up.  I'm wearing it as a skirt today!

Of course the grands got to hold Jack all weekend.  I love it when they visit and I can give my arms a break!  We took out a tape measure and discovered he is 25 inches long.  That puts him in the 99th percentile for length.  Egads, that's a big boy!

Any minute now Amanda will be here to keep me company.  We had dinner and watched TV last night to help keep her awake through the jet lag.  We have some cooking and show-watching planned for today.  Tonight I'm leaving the baby with Ben to go to trivia at the British Bulldog, just like old times!

IM YOUR LOVER

Red Hummingbirds

What became of that fabric I didn't use for curtains?  The fabulous Miranda used her resources ("Aunt Kathy") and personal skills to turn it into a quilt!  Let's see what he thinks:

Good for stretching.

Ah yes, quite good. 

Too good, you fell asleep!  Hey dude, test the quilt some more.

Ok, spit bubble approved.  Note the furrowed brow, showing how serious Jack takes his testing.

Good for cooing. That's good, because cooing is the hottest fad here.

Ah, very kickable.

Whew, the kicking wore him out!  Enough testing.  Quilt is approved.  Commence nap!

(Miranda, I love it!  You are an awesome, craft-tastic friend.)

Ella's Girlie Party

The cupcakes I alluded to were for my friend April's baby shower.  She has three boys and just welcomed a girl, Ella, the same week Jack was born!  Sarah hosted the party and as expected, it was spectacular.  Everyone should have a friend with Sarah's capabilities.  Her husband Steve posted some pictures on the blog.  The cupcakes I made were mini versions of the cupcakes I had at my graduation.  I also put my Cricut to use to make a name banner.  Ella got some super cute clothes!  Jack is great, but I wish I could put him in something with ruffles on the bum.  If they are black ruffles with flames up the legs, does that work for a guy?

Now YOU pat the bunny.

I caught Ben reading the classic Pat the Bunny to Jack.  But his interpretation is more authoritarian than most. 


Now YOU pat the bunny. from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Hi-YA!

Going through old photos of Ben to find a baby picture, and I found THIS.

mainboxtwo0056, originally uploaded by Ben Mason.

Behold: this is my husband. I am a lucky woman to have married a man with such skills.

Stick out your tongue!

Yes, I already posted two Jack things today.  Do I do anything else?  (Yes, today I made carnitas and cupcakes and did laundry).  But look!  Look at the cuteness!  (This is mostly a video for Grandmas.  Others may tire after the first 30 seconds.)

Pardon my dorkiness. I find my voice super obnoxious here, but Jack seems to respond when I talk this way. Whenever you hear "mmmmm" I'm sticking my tongue out at him.

Stick out your tongue! from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I call this second video: The Master Class

Stick out your tongue take 2 from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

A quiet Fourth

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate the 4th this year.  We met some friends in the park for a picnic.  Delicious!  The rain chased us away after an hour.  We retreated to Brian's house for Rock Band.

Long Dude

IMG_1346, originally uploaded by rachelsmason.

I thought it would be months before Jack was long enough to fit this outfit! I'm taking him to be weighed again this morning. Do we think he'll crack 12 pounds? Nah, I think he'll be 11 and change.

The weather is glorious today - a high of 67 and light rain all day. I love my rainy mornings. I love the chance to bundle Jack up head to toe in cute clothes. I put that green knit hat on him and he DID NOT WANT! I took it off after a minute and he immediately settled down to sleep. Weird.

Yesterday I started playing games with him. He likes to track this black and white rattle with his eyes. He laughs when I shake it. I started teaching him to stick out his tongue and he's trying so hard to do it! It's incredible to see that there's a little brain in there, ready to learn!

UPDATE - Jack weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces!

A nice Saturday

Today has been a really good day so far. 

1. Jack slept for 5.5 hours in a row last night!  Then I got 1 more, then Ben took him downstairs giving me an extra 1.5.  The total is almost a normal night's sleep.
2. I wore my pre-pregnancy pants today!  Only took 5 weeks to get back into them - hurrah for nursing-weight loss.  They are slightly snug, but no worse than my "fat" days used to be.  
3. We bought a stroller for Jack - but paid less than the link and got it in green and gray.  Ben was resistant but finally agreed to let me get one.  Jack is a little young for the style.  He can't quite hold his head up for the ride.  But it's not much worse than how he sits in his car seat and he'll quickly grow into it.  I didn't like any stroller options with a bigger recline and don't want to buy TWO nice strollers to accommodate different growth stages. 
4. We met friends at Fatburger for lunch.  Mmmmm.
5. Jack slept the whole time we shopped.  Then he was happy and quiet (not crying) for a good chunk of time this afternoon.  
6. Ben picked up groceries for the fourth and pizza for dinner.  Yeah, we're super healthy these days ;-)
7. The forecast for tomorrow is in the 70s!  Even if we get rained out of our picnic plans, I look forward to the break from heat. 

Now if only Jack can repeat his sleep stretch tonight I'll be the happiest mom on the block.

Baths are exhausting

DSC_3408, originally uploaded by rachelsmason.

Bath time

Bath time, originally uploaded by rachelsmason.

Look at my baby's chubbiness! I can't stand it!