New Year's Eve

Enough hair to make a mohawk!!!
Just looking too cute!

Playing with his bubbles, as always!

Well, for us, ringing in the new year has parenthood written all over it...we spent the evening giving the kids baths, watching Toy Story, and going to bed before the ball dropped. Looking forward to 2011!

Brandon & Mason

Zoning out after lunch, watching Toy Story.
Look at those cheeks, reminds me of Brandon.
I had to take a picture of this, Mason was so intently watching Brandon get his Mickey Mouse books out of the box. I can tell Mason was thinking, "just wait until I can crawl and play with all your toys!"

Playing with Mommy

Here we are, just chatting away!

My little multi-tasker!

Talking for Mommy

Mason is getting so talkative and interactive, he loves to smile and giggle. He is just too cute. I am starting to see more similarity between the boys however I really think Mason looks more like my Dad and I.

Vonderheide Christmas

Yep, for those who are counting, this is our fifth "day" of opening gifts and spending time with family! We had tons of fun with the Vonderheide clan. It was cute to see all the kids together, ranging from age 8 to 2.5 months. A big thank you to everybody for the gifts and a big thank you to Gram and Ray for providing the food. This year we (as a group) opted out of a group picture, maybe next year.

Christmas Morning

We spent the day at home with the kids, as we didn't have any place to be this year. It was great to sleep in, open presents, relax, and play with all of our "toys"! I'm pretty sure Brandon was a bit overwhelmed with all of his toys. We wrapped up the day by spending it with Cathy and Kurt for Christmas dinner (which was made in my new "set 'n' go" crock pot) and dessert.

Merry Christmas Eve

Brandon had a blast opening gifts, he absolutely loves the Handy Manny and Lego toys!!! He even insisted Handy Manny go "night-night" with him.

Christmas Eve

We had another great Christmas Eve with Nama and Grandpa Thomas. Thanks for all the great gifts!!!

Dancing Moves

Brandon no longer likes to have me take his picture, as you can tell. I'm pretty sure Brandon has inherited Kevin's dancing skills....I can't decide what I like better, the arm flapping or the head bobbing!

MD appointments for Mason

Mason is quite the big kiddo....he is 13 lbs 5oz and 23.5 inches which makes him in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height!!! That is a huge jump from the 50th percentile at birth (for weight). We are still in size 2 diapers....for now.
His pediatrician thinks he has torticollis (neck stiffness limiting his range of motion which may be causing a flat spot on his head), so we are starting stretching exercising and physical therapy to help correct that. He also has a plugged tear duct, which should also resolve on it's own.
He has developed a hydrocele (fluid in the scrotum) after his hernia repair, which the surgeon said is common. We will follow up in 4 months, if it has not resolved then we may need to have another repair! I'm not stressing about it right now as it should resolve on it's own, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

I kills me how many little "medical" issues we are having with Mason, since Brandon was so healthy for the first 19 months of his life!

Why Momma?

How do I know if we have entered the terrible two's...because we are now dealing with tantrums (over nothing or when we don't get our way) and the "why?" questions have started. For example, today I asked Brandon to give Mason back the pacifier, which was promptly followed by "Why Momma?". Ah, welcome to the terrible two's. Bring it on!

More pics

All bundled up for another cold weekend.
Mason snuggling with Jake.
We had a great time this weekend in Pinetop!

Christmas with Grandpa

Insisting on being outside despite the cold weather, he even helped chop and stack wood for Grandpa.
He really likes his new Go Diego Go trike from Grandpa (which we are keeping at Grandpa's for later use!). It almost seemed as though he was more interested in the box, so much so that I had to cut the picture of Diego off the box.
Helping assemble his trike.
What's in this box?
This is my version of trying to capture the fog in Mammoth while driving to Pinetop (literally while cruising at 55 mm/hr). I'm sure you can tell that I wasn't really able to capture it, but believe me, it was beautiful!

Stroller for two

Here is our new double stroller, Brandon likes to sit up front and Mason's infant seat fits perfectly in the back. It even matches our infant seat! Now we'll just have to sell our other stroller with the car seat (and bases), once Mason outgrows the car seat.

Happy Birthday

Happy 28th Birthday Kevin! We spent the evening at home with the kiddos...enjoying chicken pot pie and peanut butter pie (again, thanks Anne). Next up, Brandon's party planning.

More Payne family pics

Grandma Payne & Ashley
Taylor, Brian & Easton
Melanie
Great-Grandma Dudley & Brandon

The family picture was a bit of a challenge, go figure with 6 kiddos who don't want to all look (and smile) at the camera (especially at the end of the night) at the same time!

Payne Christmas/Birthday Celebration

Thank you to Grandma Payne and Great-Grandma Dudley for Brandon's new bike and Mason's new outfit and diapers!!!
It didn't take long for Brandon to open his gifts this year.
Poor Mason, it only took Brandon a few minutes to "claim" his toy as his. Brandon does love to watch Mickey Mouse in the morning.
Happy Birthday to all Easton, Kevin, Anne, and Brian! We will miss Aunt Gail, Grandma Payne, and Great-Grandma Dudley while they are cruising around the Hawaiian Islands.

Mason is 2 months

So sleepy!
2 months old today!!!

Look at those cheeks, are you storing milk for the winter???

Inspired to cook, scrapbook, and decorate

What is it about maternity leave that inspires me to become a mix of Martha Stewart and Giada de Laurentiis? We have been watching too many cooking and renovation shows lately. Kevin feels inspired to tear down walls (how about just finishing the projects already on the list???) and all I want to do is find the time to make fabulous meals and be arts-in-crafty!!!!
To cure me of the need to be a scrap-booker, which I have no time or space to do anyway, I have decided this blog will be my children's scrapbook. After all, I found that it can be sent to print and made into a photo book. How great is that???
I am not kidding myself about cooking, after all, it took an act of Divine intervention to attend one MD appointment for myself this week. So,I will put my ambitions to be chef-like on the back burner (no pun intended) and settle for meals made easy in my new crockpot (Thanks for the early Christmas present Kevin.) I am sure the inventor of the crockpot was a women who tended to her family and managed to have a life/career outside of the home.

Childhood Christmas memories

We all have specific items, foods, places that bring back childhood memories, especially this time of year. For me, Polvorones (otherwise known as Mexican wedding cookies), bring back memories of being a kid during the holidays. This seemed to be the only time my Gram made these melt in your mouth cookies. More recently my mother's homemade fudge is providing it's own memories of the holidays, that and Kevin's Grandma's peanut butter balls!
When I think back on those memories, especially of holidays spent with my cousins Ruth and Kim, I can't help but think of the holiday traditions that my children will carry with them. Will they have a favorite cookie that I will make for them? Will they too love the movie, The Christmas Story? (Funny side note: Kevin hates this movie, probably because I watch it over and over the days preceding and during the holidays (it runs continually on Christmas day on the TNT channel).)

Holiday Season

Despite being on maternity leave, the holiday season seems to be getting away from me. I find it amusing that I thought I would have more time to get things done...how fast I forgot how busy I would be with two kiddos! I have barely decorated the house, although this may be a benefit given Brandon's ever curious hands. We have already lost three ornaments from the tree! There seems to be too little time to make cookies (let alone decorate them), go see Christmas lights, get holiday pictures taken, and wrap gifts (which luckily are mostly all bought).

I am so happy that this season we will be able to participate in the Angel Tree program, at Rick Engineering, to help give to those who are less fortunate! We will be giving gifts to a 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. I am too excited to go to Target and purchase their presents!!!

Mason is doing well, his bandage fell off last night, revealing a healed incision line! I can't believe how fast an infants skin heals. Hopefully the surgeon will sign off of us at our follow up appointment next week.

I have started the count down to my return to work with mixed feelings. It will be nice to interact with adults again and use my clinical skills. I feel more confident leaving Mason (and Brandon) with Ms. Catherine since Brandon has done so well there, he really loves her! I am not fooling myself, those first couple weeks will likely include tear-filled mornings (both for me and the kiddos). Nothing is harder than starting your day with tears in your eyes and the feeling of guilt as I drive to work. As Diane tells me, motherhood is riddled with guilt.

Day with Grandma Payne

I couldn't resist these little slippers for Mason....too bad he will soon out-grow them.
Brandon loves his new super comfy camo PJ's. Thanks Grandma Payne!



Grandma Payne and her boys!