Mason's SECOND First Birthday Party

Mason's "official" birthday party was Monday of Memorial Day.  We knew we didn't want to make his birthday a big deal - just a reason to get the family together.  So we decided to meet Addison & Grace over at the pool for an hour, and then have family over to our house for late lunch, cake, beer & wine. 

As usual, the pool was a big hit!  It was a gorgeous day.

They're kind of hard to see, but there are little gators all over his shorts!

We then moved the party back to our house for food/drinks.  It was a really nice, relaxing time just hanging out with family!

This is Mason's nanny, Kelly and her adorable little sister Karlie, who loves to come play with Mason!

Sorry Gigi, I cut your head off - too busy trying to get the cute shirt

After a while of hanging out with everyone it was time for more presents!

And then, last but certainly not least, cake time!  This time we got a little fancy, with an adorable gator cupcake cake for the guests, and a matching mini-cake for Mason!

He was a little confused at first, but once I showed him that the cake was edible, he figured it all out.  The video was too long so I cut it in half to post:

Addie helping me "blow out" the candle

Mason, share with mama!

I'm cracking up that this is the only family shot I have on my camera.  Hi Tristan!  Oh well, maybe mom has a better one on her camera.

Mason went straight into the tub and down for a nap after all the excitement.  Such a great day, we were so happy to have everyone there with us!

Ok, no more birthday posts till next year! 

Masons FIRST First Birthday Party

Ok so we kind of had 2 birthday parties for Mason.  We barely wanted to have ONE for him, and we ended up having two.  But I can explain!  See, my mom flew out the week before Mason's birthday and stayed with us for 2 weeks.  However, my dad couldn't make it until a few days before Memorial Day weekend, so we decided to have the "official" party then.  It would have upset him so much to miss it.  But...we couldn't exactly let Mason's real birthday come & go and not even have a cake!

So on Mason's real birthday (May 23) we had Gigi, Opa, BG, Grace, Addison & Uncle Todd over for dinner & ice cream cake...but first up, presents!

Sorry for some of the photo quality...no one knows how to use my camera!

After about 15 minutes of attention Mason was over it!!

So, we moved on to dinner, Mason's favorite time of day!

After dinner it was finally time for cake!  This is the only video we have of the "happy birthday" song - apparently Opa left the video camera on for 45 minutes sitting on the couch, and by the time he grabbed it again we'd already finished singing, and I had a lot of editing to do :)



So like I said, since the "real" party wasn't for another week, this was just a little gathering. So instead of getting a special cake, I just had BG pick up a Carvel ice cream cake. Mason was loving it!

In one of the videos you hear me say "I'm going to come over here and take a picture from this angle" and everyone laugh.  This is why:

 Anyways, Mason was having a field day with his ice cream cake...

Until suddenly after about 5 minutes, he grabbed his head and started screaming.  At first we thought he was just over it, but then we realized he was actually in pain.  It took us about 30 seconds to realize what the problem was - ice cream headache!!  That's right...he was shoveling ice cream in his mouth so fast, he got brain freeze.  It never even crossed our minds that would happen...parents of the year, right there!

He recovered quickly, and headed straight for the bath to clean up.  All in all, it was a great evening spent with family. 

Next up, birthday party #2!

First Steps

I have 2 weeks worth of pictures/videos/stories to fill you in on since GiGi & Pop have been in town.  We've been so busy playing (plus a work trip to LA for mommy) that I haven't had a chance to upload anything.  I finally got the videos/pix onto the computer but am way too exhausted to start posting right now. 

So for now, I'll just share the most exciting part...MASON'S FIRST STEPS! 

Sorry about the quality, we left our Flip at home so Aunt Laura grabbed her iPhone.  He's been walking holding onto only 1 hand for a few days now but has been too chicken to let go.  What finally motivated him, you ask?  Why...food of course!  We are after all talking about the same kid that learned how to crawl with a bowl full of cherries.  This time his motivator was marshmallows :)

And now I'm off to bed, Mason & I are taking Gigi & Pop to the airport tomorrow.  Then life will be back to normal and I can catch you up on the past few weeks with some great pix & vids!

One!

One year ago today, mine & Tristan's lives changed forever.  At 3:33am on May 23, 2010, after over 32 hours of labor, a dropping heart rate (Mason's), rising blood pressure (mine), 45 minutes of pushing, and one umbilical cord wrapped completely around his body (including 3x around his neck), Mason Harrison McCoy joined our little family.

At 5 lbs, 15 oz and 19.25 inches Mason was our little peanut.  Born only a week early, we have no clue why he was so tiny, but he was!  And he stayed tiny for many months to follow.  I remember leaving the hospital with him and Tristan saying, "I kept looking in the rear view mirror as we pulled away from the hospital, because we had no clue what to do with a little baby, and I couldn't believe they were letting us take him home with us!"

Over the last year we have fallen more and more in love with this little guy.  He has the sweetest personality, and is so laid back just like his daddy.  We were so lucky to have such an easy first baby - no colic, no allergies, barely fussed.

It has been so fun to watch his personality develop over the past year.  In typical first-child fashion, he is happiest when the attention is on him and someone is playing with him.  

He loves to be outside, whether it's a walk in the stroller, a trip to the park, a ride in his car, or simply walking around the yard exploring.



Much to his daddy's slight annoyance, he is 100% a mama's boy.  These days he is known to crawl across the entire house to get to his mama...and I'm not going to lie, I love it.

In case you don't know me or Tristan well or haven't seen us in a while, he has brown eyes and mine are hazel.  We're not sure where these gorgeous baby blues came from, but boy do I love them so!

We're not sure why Mason took so long to gain weight, but the little peanut didn't hit 10 lbs till he was about 5 months old.  This all changed when Mason discovered "real" food.  He has turned into an eating machine - as of about a month ago he eats everything we eat.  So far he hasn't met a meal he didn't like!

We recently moved a few houses away from Tristan's sister, brother in law and our two nieces. Mason LOVES his cousins...we can't wait for #3!

As for milestones, Mason is almost walking, although we think he's got a few more weeks till it actually happens.  His first word was "HI!", which he says all the time to everyone and anyone passing by. 

He does "how big is Mason", "arms up", "arms down", is starting to do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and recognizes/points to/demonstrates/signs tons of other words - Mason, mama, dada, milk, eat, more, bath, fan, ball, nose, ears, dance, kick, splash, bounce, clap, mouth, belly, monkey, alligator and dog to name a few.

Long story short, we are so in love with our little man.  We can't believe he's already been with us for a whole year, yet we can barely remember our lives before he was in it.  He's forever changed our lives for the better, and we can't wait for what the many years to come have in store for us all. 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET BABY BOY!

Birthday pictures to come soon :)