Have a nice trip...see ya next fall.

If you look close - on the upper left side of her forehead - you can see her first real "boo-boo." She feel climbing up and down the cement stairs on the front porch - poor little thing. Thanks to Gma and Gpa we confirmed there was no concussion and now Kendall loves her new little toy - a flashlight just her size.

Kendall and Daddy watching her "Spot" video that they rented from the library. Her attention span only lasts about 5 minutes, so it may takes us a year to get through them all.

Kendall's new hiding place.

Fresh vegies from the garden for all you nay-sayers out there.

Aaron reading the post about special feelings while covering up his own.

Masons 4.0

Lots of thoughts streaming through my head last night at 1:30 a.m. when I got up to go to the bathroom - which for at least the last 3 months has sadly become a nightly - well morning - ritual. Decided to write some of this thoughts down and also to formally announce that we are having another baby...only took me 4 months!
It seems this pregnancy is flying by! Probably too fast. I remember how slow it felt with Kendall. I also remember how dedicated to it all I was. I kept a journal, I routinely took pictures of my growing belly, and I worried and thought a lot. I suppose the biggest difference now is that I don't have time for that. No journaling, no pictures (till now), still some worrying, but nothing like before.

Biggest worry now is can we handle two! We saw a women in the park last weekend with her two kids - the girl Kendall's age, and the boy a bit older. We started to talk and finally I asked - "How far apart are the?" to which she replies "Too close, 20 months!" I than politely explained that ours will be 22 months apart. She then tries to qualify her earlier response..."oh, you'll be fine - especially when the second is mobile." The ultrasound tech had the opposite reaction. Her son and daughter are close as well and she said she spend her entire second pregnancy freaking out and thinking she'd ruined her son's life. But, her experience has been the opposite. I really think it will be fine...at least I hope. I hope that they will grow up being best buds.

So, for those of you who already know, or realized it by way of the new ticker widget - I guess this is old news...for you others, here is the proof. We will welcome the newest member of the Mason family on December 7, 2010. We find out the end of July what we are having...stay tuned!

P.S. Just also found out today that my sister is expecting another boy! Yay!

Special Feelings

"Quick, Kendall what's that?"

"I don't know, Daddy, what?"


And, now for a story...


For as long as I have know them both Erin Redmond and Aaron Mason have been the only two people in the entire world to have what I have lovingly referred to over the years as a "special feeling smile" - this weird little smirk that they both get when they, well...feel special about something. Since discovering this about them both, I have (sometimes) relentlessly embarrassed them with this fact around family and friends. Because, without fail, as soon as you mention it to either one of them, they immediately smile in this quirky way. What can top this...why, when you have them together and they both do it at the same time. They both have tried to adapt over the years to develop their own unique ways to mask this smile or cover it up - either with their hands, objects, by taking a quick drink of something, or some other such silly, completely useless attempt to mask their "true feelings."

Well, the other day, we pulled out Kendall's old carseat to see if the new base we bought would work with it. Kendall of course climbed in and made herself at home. Aaron later started to rock her and sing "Rock-a-bye-Baby." And, lo-and-behold...

Kendall breaks out in her own little version of the world famous special feeling smile. It was the cutest thing in the whole world. Of all the weird traits - or body parts - to have received from her Dad, I have to admit, I LOVE that she got this one. So darn cute! I can hardly wait to harass them both when she gets older. Imagine the fun to be had at birthday parties and all the momentous occasions that will occur. This is going to be endless fun for the rest of my life!

Water Park

Daddy should have been an engineer. I successfully created a water park in my backyard today. And look, all I needed was a kiddie pool, a slide, and a hose. Hours of fun sliding down "Death Mountain" in the yard.

Doesn't the steep drop look scary? Here's Kendall making sure the slide is wet enough.

Here's Kendall making sure there's enough water in the pool.

Maybe tomorrow I'll build a roller coaster!

Play Date

Well Aaron seems to be taking to this daddy daycare thing pretty well. In just his first three days at home with Kendall they have been to the beach, two local parks, the zoo, to visit mommy for lunch, and to take in lunch with Ms. Cindy. Here are some cute shots at the zoo with DeSean.

Apparently she loved feeding the giraffes.

Aren't they cute!

It has been super hot here lately - in the 90's and humid. In fact today we wanted to go to our first Blowfish game of the season, but we decided to stay home and play in the pool instead - pics to come soon.

Swinging

It has been awhile since the last post...so hopefully this will be one of many over the next few days. Kendall seems to have overcome her fear of the swing!