Date Night

Mason had a date night with the absolutely precious Anabelle last Friday.  It's been a few months since we've gotten them together and wow what a difference a few months makes.  They're at such a fun age, and although side-by-side play is still common, they also played really well together.  At one point Mason held her hand as they walked up the stairs in our backyard - SO cute!

They both love "ring around the rosie" but Mason wanted to do it by himself, so we took turns.

Anabelle is going to be a big sister sometime in the next month to another girl, so it looks like our #2 little boy will also have an Allain "girlfriend" :)

The Boy's Got Moves

Tristan taught Mason a new game that he LOVES - the classic dance, then freeze!  The funniest part, which I wasn't able to capture here, is the face he makes when he freezes.  Whenever Tristan freezes, he makes a face and looks upwards.  Mason has caught on, so whenever he freezes he rolls his eyes.

We were Skyping with my parents here, so they got in on the fun, too!  Of course, they'd been dancing for 5 minutes and the minute I brought out the camera, Mason was done.  Oy!

Oh, Did I Forget to Mention...

That I'm pregnant?  Well I guess it's a good thing everyone already knows then...because if you relied on my blog as your primary McCoy news source you'd be pretty behind.  15 weeks behind, to be exact :)

We were incredibly lucky again, as we were able to get pregnant in no time - even faster than with Mason, which was pretty fast.  We know so many couples that have gone through hell and back to conceive, so have not taken that blessing for granted in the least.  

Once we found out I was pregnant, I ran to Target to find a "big brother" shirt as a cute way to spread the news.  Here's the video we sent out to our family and friends.

I'm already noticing some similarities as well as some differences from my pregnancy with Mason.

Similarities:

- I didn't feel/notice/have a single symptom until almost 6 weeks to the day both times.  And both times, a test was taken more on a "weird feeling" hunch, more than actual signs.

- I breezed through my first trimester with only a little fatigue.

- That first trimester fear of "what if something happens before I get to the 2nd trimester" doesn't go away at all the 2nd time.  I was actually more nervous telling people before 12 weeks this time than I was last time. 

- I still count down the days to my next ultrasound.

- I. Can't. Stop. Eating.

Differences:

- This first trimester was actually EASIER than Mason's.  I was less exhausted than I was with Mason, despite having a toddler & working a full-time job out of the house (last time I worked from home).  I was also able to continue running - still am a little.

- My clothes got tighter way sooner than with Mason.

- I'm much more relaxed on the "rules" - pass on the un-microwaved sandwich meat, feta cheese and coffee.  Mama's hungry and needs her morning caffeine fix :)  But don't worry, I'm only a 1-cup-a-day coffee drinker...and Mason came out just fine!

- I haven't opened a single book, or read a single thing about "what's happening this week".  I don't remember, but don't really (have time to) think about it either.

- I started feeling tiny kicks around 14 weeks, didn't feel Mason till about 20.

- I could care less what this baby's nursery looks like, as long as it has a crib and a glider in it.

- The weeks are FLYING by and I actually would like them to slow down some, rather than get me to the end faster.  I'm not sure I'm really ready for the end result!

The weeks are flying so fast, in fact, that at my 14-week ultrasound last week, the tech told me she could already tell the gender!  I'm going to reveal a small secret - I actually saw exactly what she saw on the screen to make her say that, but JUST in case I was wrong, I played dumb and asked her to please put an ultrasound pic in an envelope for Tristan & I to open.

Since Tristan wasn't with me for the ultrasound, I decided to hold onto the envelope and give it to him that weekend for a Father's Day surprise.  Well, Father's Day was a little hectic for us, so I ended up having to hastily give it to him before we met up with family.  So we decided to set a time to open it when we were in the right mindset to find out...which happened on Wednesday!

Well...my sneak peek guess was right!

That's right, Mason's getting a little brother!  And we couldn't be more excited about it.  Both of us had a few-minute mourning period knowing that this means we'll never have a girl, but we have 3 amazing nieces a few houses away who can give us our girl fix any day we need it.  We both LOVE having a boy, and I really think we're just meant to be the parents of boys.  And no, we will never try for a girl - we're a 4 person family, as long as there are no "accidents" in the upcoming years :)

So there it is - we're pregnant with a little boy!  And here's me at 15 weeks right now:

Looks like I'll just need to step up my shoe- and clothes-buying in the upcoming years to help average out the estrogen/testosterone levels in my household, right???

Mason's 2nd Birthday

Finally having a chance to catch up after a few weeks of visitors, followed by a busy work week.  

As we all know by now, Mason's 2n'd birthday was a few weeks ago on May 23rd.  As with his first, we didn't want a big birthday bash, as that seems so unnecessary at his age still.  But my parents flew out for the week (more on that later), and we wanted to at least have a small celebration with our family & close friends...who also happen to have children who have become Mason's close friends.  You've met them all here before - brothers Tyler, Brody & Cal, Winslow, and sisters Charlotte & Iris. 

All the girls showed up before the boys did, and I was joking that it looked like Mason only had a lot of girlfriends.  I tried to get a cute picture of Mason with all his ladies, but apparently he wasn't so interested in doing that.

Finally the boys showed up so Mason wasn't quite so outnumbered.  They spent all evening playing in our backyard.

My mom captured a really cute photo session with all the kids around some posts.

The menu consisted of hamburgers & hot dogs on the grill, yum!

Mason & Cal enjoyed dinner with Gigi, BG and Charlie.

Gigi keeping Cal company, love this pic.

And then of course it was time for cake!  I found an awesome truck cake at Vons, and Mason LOVED it -he even got to keep the trucks.  And the cake was so cheap, and SO good - vanilla with fresh strawberries as filling and cool whip frosting.  This prego mama had a few slices :)

He did great - waited patiently as everyone sang "Happy Birthday", and knew exactly when to blow out the candles!

Here's the whole event.  After they blew out the cameras the kids went CRAZY, wanting the trucks, a slice, yelling, screaming.  Eek!

You saw my reaction to the noise above, and apparently it was also captured here.

We finally got everyone settled down with their yummy slices!

And then for the highlight of the evening - a Cars pinata!  You'll remember Mason had his first pinata experience at Talia's birthday party, so I thought he'd enjoy it again.  Well he did...at first...

After Mason got his turn we gave all the rest of the kids a turn, from youngest to oldest.

By the time Tyler got his hands on the pinata, the car was toast.  All of the kids were excited to find the candy inside, except for the birthday boy.  Apparently, he caught onto the fact that by hitting the car, his friends were actually DESTROYING it...and he was devastated that his car was broken!  The poor guy was so upset!

We finally got him settled down with a lollipop...well, kinda.  And we also realized, that we're such good parents, we've now succeeded in making our child cry on both of his birthday.  Remember the ice cream cake?  Birthday fail #2!

Last but not least, we opened presents.  We weren't planning on doing so with everyone there, but all his friends were SO excited for him to open what they got him, we decided to do it.  By this point, it was almost bed time and Mason was pretty much over the attention, so Addison & the little boys had a blast helping him open his presents (AKA just opening them all for him)!

Mason had a great time!  He spent the rest of his birthday weekend with Gigi & Pop while Tristan & I were at Alana & Matt's wedding.  They had a blast, and got some awesome pictures, which I'll post soon.

Two!

So I just realized Mason’s 2^nd birthday was exactly two weeks ago and I still have yet to find time to put together all of the pictures for a post.  I should have more time to do that soon, but in the meantime I thought this would be fun to share.

I pinned a cute idea on Pinterest a few months ago and have decided to make it a birthday tradition.  It involves making a simple scrapbook in which you ask your child the same 20 questions every year on their birthday, and include a picture.  I thought this would be a fun, and more importantly to me, easy, way to capture how Mason grows through the years. 

Here is his 2^nd birthday questionnaire.  As he’s not quite speaking enough to tell me his answers yet, I’m pretty sure these are accurate :)

1. What is your favorite color? No favorite yet, but I can recognize most colors – red, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, white, brown, black
2. What is your favorite toy?  Matchbox cars – I have close to 100 and play with them for hours every day.  Oh, and mommy & daddy’s iPad.
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Strawberries
4. What is your favorite TV show?  Mickey Mouse Funhouse.  Mommy & daddy have never let me watch it but they recently figured out Gigi & BG do, because I ask to watch it every morning!

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Peanut butter & jelly “samich”
6. What is your favorite outfit? Any shirt with a truck on it
7. What is your favorite game?  Puzzles – give me a new one and I can figure it out on my first try!
8. What is your favorite snack?  With mommy & daddy?  Peanut butter filled pretzels.  With Gigi?  Cakepops from Starbucks
9. What is your favorite animal?  I LOVE dogs!!
10. What is your favorite song? I have a few – ABC’s, Ring Around the Rosie, and 5 Little Monkeys
11. What is your favorite book?  A truck matching book with sliding flaps
12. Who is your best friend?  My cousin Grace, I ask to see her daily
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Cheerios, of course!
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Throw balls of any size, and play basketball with the big boys out front
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk, it does a body good!
16. What is your favorite holiday?  I’m not quite old enough to remember many holidays, but I loved this past Christmas!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? “Ah-ah”, my monkey security blanket who sleeps with me every night and naptime
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Scrambled eggs with feta cheese
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hot dogs and ice cream
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Based off how much time I spend moving matchbox cars around, I think I’d like to be a truck driver

Alana & Matt Get Hitched!

I'm going to post a little out of order - Mason's birthday came first last week, but I'm still weeding through those pictures, so I'm going to start with the weekend first :) 

One of my best friends from college, Alana, got married this past Memorial Day weekend.  She & Matt have been together about 5 years now, and after a year & a half engagement, we were ready to see them walk down the aisle!  They live in LA and got married in a small town an hour north called Camarillo.  Gigi & Pop were in town for Mason's birthday party, so we left him in their care and headed up for 2 days kid-free to celebrate with some of my best friends.

The wedding was on Sunday but we got there Saturday evening to spend some extra time with friends and attend the post-rehearsal-dinner party.  I didn't take my camera but here's the crew!  Please notice there's a black thing in the top left corner behind Dustin...that would be baby Cameron's stroller, where he is fast asleep.  Yes, we (er, Jenna & Michael) took a baby to a bar :)

We spent most of the day of the wedding shopping around at the conveniently close outlet malls (Tristan & I won in number of purchases haha), then hit the pool for a bit.  Cameron continued to be a good boy and kept up with the day's events!

Then we cleaned up and headed to the ceremony.  
Me & my extremely handsome date!

With soon-to-be parents Tricia & Jordan

With my beautiful sorority sister, Amber, who was also the floral genius for the wedding.

Alana's beautiful bridesmaids, all sisters and cousins.

The giddy couple pre-vows

Couldn't resist another shot with my handsome hubby.  Don't ask why we chose this ugly tree when there were beautiful grounds on either side of us :)

Creative details - the table assignments and some old-school cameras for guests to use.

They had over an hour of lawn games set up during cocktail hour, for the guests to enjoy while they took more pictures.  Ski pole, badmitton, cornhole and croquet were amongst the selections.  They hand-made all of the signs.

Cam in his very handsome wedding outfit and Gator binky.

Tristan with baby Bijoux.  Getting some refresher practice in :)

Cute balcony shots

Alana & Matt spent so much time taking pictures they didn't get to enjoy any of the lawn games so Tristan set Alana up for a few quick throws before we headed into the reception :)

Of course my one Chi O shot Alana's eyes are closed, but there were 5,000 cameras pointing at us so I'm sure someone else got a better shot...right Kelly & Lisa?? :)

Our crew in front of the awesome home-made sign Alana & Matt made (minus the Tully's, Jenna was feeding baby Cam, oops!)

The reception was in a big red barn and it was so festive and fun inside.

Capturing a funny moment w/the bride & groom.  Not sure what Matt was saying but it was obviously profound!

We were there the day these two met, and have been there to watch their relationship grow over the years.  So happy to be a part of their big day!

Not sure where we got the genius idea, but Amber decided that Alana needed to "Ice" Matt.  So she left the reception in search of some Smirnoff Ice.  I'm having formatting issues, but above is Matt being presented the Ice.

Go, Matt!

Also, in true McCoy fashion, Tristan & I decided the party needed some double dutch, since it's a wedding tradition for us.  So me, Tristan and Dustin waited for the perfect song to get it started.  Above is Jenna, Tristan and Dustin helping clear the room so we could get set up. 

And then, off everyone went!  Thanks to Amber for getting these next awesome jumping shots!

Jumping pregos!

Possibly my favorite...sorry Shelly!!!

It was an awesome party, and as always it was so great to spend a few days with some of my very best friends who live way too far away (ok, let's be honest it's me who lives far away!).  And sadly, Alana was the last of our "crew" to get married for a while...so we spent a lot of time discussing what our next reunion trip would be.  With 4 more babies on the way and I'm sure another wave soon after that, we're not sure how or when it'll happen, but we're going to work hard to make sure it does!