An Ode to the Single Mom.

This past weekend, Seth, his dad, our brother in law, and our brother in law's dad all went to Arizona to watch some Angels spring training games. I was left home alone with Mason from Friday - Sunday. The only other time this has happened before was last year when the boys did the same thing. Don't get me wrong. Mason and I had a blast. And I LOVED having one on one time with my boy. But I'm also not gonna lie. It was hard. I mean, I've taken care of Mason by myself all day when either he was sick and I stayed home with him or when Seth works on the weekends at the swap meet. BUT he's always home at night. Which is always comforting. I mean, I totally live in a safe neighborhood, but there's just something about a man being home with you, you know, just in case. Hell, I woke Seth up the other morning because there was a giant spider in the shower and I am terrified of spiders. #nojoke

I've always admired the single moms (and the moms whose husbands work outside of the house more often than they are home) and wondered how they did it day in and day out and so this post is dedicated to them.

Dear Single Moms,

I'd like to start this letter off by saying that you are AMAZING! No joke, I don't know how you raise tiny human(s!) by yourself day in and day out. Seth was gone last weekend from Friday - Sunday and I just about kissed that man's feet and hugged him for 10 minutes straight when he walked in the door. And I only have one kid. Holy moly.

Single parents, I give you mad props for doing this day in and day out. MAD. PROPS.

My weekend of solo parenting started off on Friday when Seth left at 5am and I was left to fend for myself to get Mason to school and me to work... all by 7am. I thought I had it all figured out. My boss was in Florida for the store manager's conference. One of my supervisors requested off - I approved it - months ago. I figured I could have my other supervisor open and I could come at 8am. No big deal. Crisis averted. And then... she got a second job and had to work on Fridays. PROBLEM. I don't even know what time Mason's school opens in the morning (I think 6:30am?) but I knew there was no way in hell I could get myself up and ready, Mason up and ready, him dropped off and me to work all by 7am. Nuh uh. No way. But I wanted to try to do it all myself. I racked my brain for an idea. And then I asked for help. SO insanely thankful for Nanny who came to the rescue. I got myself up at 5am, only hit snooze once (compared to twice on a normal day lol), and was up and in the shower a whole 9 minutes earlier than normal. I got out, got ready, got my lunch ready, and Mason... snoozed away. Go figure. On the day we needed to leave early. I opened his door, rubbed his back to try to wake him up, grabbed his clothes, forgot half his stuff like 5 times, checked and double checked his bag, rubbed his back again, and then gave up and just picked him up while he fell back asleep on my shoulder. I got to her house about 6:20/6:25am, dropped him off, he waved bye to me (clearly sad I was leaving lol), and headed to work. I got there slightly before 7am so all was fine, but I couldn't stop slightly freaking out in my head the night before wondering what would happen if Mason got sick and I couldn't go in? Who would open? Could they even open the store? Thankfully that didn't happen, but I couldn't stop wondering... how do single working moms do it day in and out? Single working moms with big responsibilities at work where tons of people rely on them. What do they do when their child is sick? I mean, I guess they would call out, but then what?

All was good at work, but I checked my phone like a million times to make sure the school didn't call to tell me Mason was sick and I needed to get him or something. (Clearly have a paranoia problem). I made it through the day and then it was time to go get Mason. Traffic was horrendous as I expected but I finally made it. Traffic getting in the parking lot was horrendous which I did not expect. But that's a post for a different day. I picked Mason up and he was so excited to see me. He waved bye to his classmates (unprompted from me - SO cute!), we paid for his speech class from that day, and we left.

We got home and all of a sudden, I was in charge of dinner. OH NO. I don't cook. Nuh uh. No way. So what's any good mom to do? In n out to the rescue! We hopped in the car, drove thru in n out, and were back home in time to have a picnic of in n out and Planes : Fire and Rescue. And then as soon as the movie ended, we were up to the bathroom to take a bath since I realized after taking off Mason's socks that he must have been painting with his feet since his socks and toe nail crevices were totally green. Splish, splash, all of the water out side of the bath, a little snuggle time, and it was time for Mason to head to bed.

selfies for daddy

stealing fries before we left the car // in n out picnic while watching Planes : Fire and Rescue

I felt like I was winning after day 1, but in reality, I was only really alone for 3 hours. I was slightly scared that I would be afraid to sleep alone while Seth was gone, but by some miracle, once I fell asleep, I was out. Day 1 was in the books.

On Saturday, I set my alarm for 6am so I could wake up and get ready before Mason woke up. I still haven't mastered the showering while Mason is awake thing since I so infrequently have to do it without some sort of back up. I always think 'maybe, just maybe' and then I know that if I gave Mason the iPad to play with and brought him in the bathroom while I took a shower, the iPad would either end up in the toilet or the shower and neither option ends well for the iPad. Side note : how does anyone do this? I'm afraid all hell would break loose if I left him unattended downstairs and obviously I don't think the iPad in the bathroom option is any better.... 

So setting my alarm was the better choice. And thankfully, I was able to get up and get myself ready before he woke up. #winningonday2

We took some selfies for daddy again and then got ready and headed to Target. I don't usually buy him his own drink (in fact this is only the second or third time ever and I've been to Starbucks WAY more times than that for myself) but I thought I would splurge since we were on mommy/Mason weekend.

We came back home, I talked to my good college friend who lives in another country on the phone while Mason watched a show, and then we went to the park. It was a beautiful day and not too hot yet so we stayed out for about an hour just playing and exploring.

Oh, and we took another selfie for daddy.

We came home, had lunch, played a little and then Mason took a nap. We were supposed to go see a movie with Nanny and Mason's cousins but he snoozed through the beginning of it and we just met them for dinner. I'm always a little worried about taking Mason to a restaurant on my own just because you never know how he will be. He could be content sitting in the high chair or he could try to climb out every two seconds. Thankfully this time he behaved and ate pretty well. Emma was a HUGE help since Mason only wanted to sit next to her and she helped him eat and cleaned him off after his double and triple dipping his fries in ranch caused a bit of a mess down the front of his shirt.

After dinner, we played a little and then headed home and I put Mason to sleep. I was exhausted and thought I could stay up to watch a show about Disney cruises that was making me SO excited for our cruise coming up but alas I fell asleep on the couch like usual. Which brings me to my next question, how do single moms not go to bed RIGHT after their kids do? I mean, I love the 'me time' but I was so tired, I literally could have gone to bed at 8:02pm.

Sunday morning we took more selfies for daddy and ran some errands. I meal planned our dinners for the week and then we opened our #BoyMom Box Swap goodies and then went to mail a couple letters and then went to the grocery store.

We came home, I unpacked all the groceries, and we walked over to the park again. It was another beautiful day and we played and explored until it got too hot. We came home, had lunch, and Mason took a nap.

And around 3pm... daddy came home!

Overall, we both survived the weekend and I'm pretty sure I taught Mason how to "cheese" for pictures so I consider the weekend a win, but I am still so, SO thankful for Seth and to be able to do this parenting thing with him. We've talked about it often, that we are so thankful for each other, and that we are so much in awe of the single parents who do it day in and day out with no help. I constantly felt like I was a mess and barely getting by. How you feed your kids, how you discipline your kids, how you plan activities for your kids, how you help your kids with homework or take care of them when they are sick, and the list goes on and on and on by yourselves all day, EVERYDAY is beyond my comprehension. I'm not sure this letter even gives you as many props as you deserve, but you are truly amazing people and you deserve the world.

PS this letter could just as easily be dedicated to single dads.... because I think you all kick butt as well! But being a mom myself, I dedicated it to the moms.

#BoyMom Box Swap // The goodies!

You guys, I'm not gonna lie. I've been pretty excited about this day since we announced the #BoyMom Box Swap earlier this month - the day we reveal what we got!

I hope you all are as excited to share as I am because I am SO excited to share what we got!

Our package arrived early last week and I knew it being a weekday and all, that we wouldn't have much time to open and take pictures before bed time. So I put the box off to the side and saved it for this weekend. And boy am I glad I did because Mason LOVED it!

Mason and I were paired with Jaclyn and Owen from Beauty and the Binky! When we got our initial emails telling us that we were paired together, I immediately knew what I wanted to get them. Owen's likes were very similar to Mason's so I already had an idea in my head.

{To see what we got Jaclyn and Owen, head over to Jaclyn's blog to find out!}

I opened the box and took a sneak peak inside to see what goodies Mason got. I immediately was so excited and knew he was going to love it. I put the box on the floor for him and called him over and he went to town.

We went straight for the Planes Hydro Wheels : Dipper. There was so surprise there since we just finished taking a bath and playing with Dusty and Blade Hydro Wheels (both of which he L.O.V.E.S). I knew he immediately recognized her and was so excited for me to open the package so he could get a closer look. He literally carried her around all morning and even brought her to the grocery store with us later.

I don't know where Jaclyn found this one (the one I have linked is Amazon) but I've been trying to find this one at an affordable price (the others are $6.99 and this one is significantly more on Amazon) so this was literally the PERFECT present.

Next up was the Melissa and Doug Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Chunky Wooden Puzzle. Another PERFECT gift! I literally have this on Mason's wish list and have been in love with it ever since I found out that Mickey and Melissa and Doug had a collaboration.

And as you can see, Mason was pretty excited about it as well. The only thing that put a small damper on his fun was the fact that it was wrapped. He couldn't hand it over to me fast enough and I couldn't open it fast enough. He was so eager to play!

I took off all the pieces and literally in less than one minute, Mason had put them all back. I was pretty impressed but to be honest, I probably shouldn't have underestimated his love for Mickey Mouse.
#truelove

Jaclyn got me some super fun nail polish, some cards and pens, and some of my favorite chap stick.

#nailedit

Jaclyn and Owen gave us the PERFECT presents! While we've obviously never met, it was like she knew us to a T and got us the perfect things. Thank you Jaclyn and Owen!!! We loved our gifts and hope you loved yours too!

Now, link up with Stephanie and I are show us what goodies you got! I can't wait to see what you all got from your partners!

PS don't forget today is the last day to enter our Mother's Day Mom Exchange. Click the link to find out more!

Mother's Day Mom Exchange

Calling all moms! This post is for you!

I've participated in a good amount of blogger gift exchanges for the mini's in the past couple years since I started blogging. And while I LOVE an exchange where I get to buy something for someone's child and Mason gets a fun surprise in the mail, I got to thinking, why aren't the moms ever included?

Enter : Mother's Day Mom's Exchange.

Mother's Day is a day dedicated to the moms. The working moms. The stay at home moms. The moms of one child. The moms of eight children. The moms of fur babies. All moms are celebrated each year on Mother's Day. So, Jenny, Courtney, and I got to thinking and thought it would be fun to celebrate mom with a little gift exchange.

Some important dates and details :

March 26th - Mother's Day Mom Exchange announced and introduced

March 30th at 11:59pm Pacific Time - last day to sign up 

Between March 31-April 1/2/3 - partner matches made and emailed 

April 8th - please make sure you have contacted your partner by April 8th 

April 20th - last day to mail packages 

May 7th - link up and share your goodies!

The value of your box should be $20 BEFORE SHIPPING.

If you are interested in participating, please email me at chasinmasonblog@gmail.com and put 'Mother's Day Mom Exchange' in the subject line. Please make sure to include your first and last name and your blog url (if you have one, you don't need a blog to participate!). And please remember to sign up by March 30th at 11:59pm Pacific Time.

I will be collecting all the names of the moms that want to participate and then will be matching partners through Elfster. (Please be aware that partners might not be a 'couple'. For example, Jenny might be sending Courtney a gift, Courtney might be sending me a gift, and I might be sending Jenny a gift.)

Once partners are matched, I will be emailing you to let you know who your partner is. I will also be sending you some questions to ask/answer with your partner to get to know them a little and what their likes and dislikes are. At this point you will also exchange addresses so no need to send it to me in your original sign up email.

Jenny, Courtney, and I are really excited about this and hope you are too! 

It's time to celebrate MOM!

[Thoughts] Baby # 2

Today I'm linking up with Stephanie to talk a little bit about baby # 2. But before you get all excited and think this is an announcement of something, I have to pop your bubble and tell you that no, there is no announcement here today. [whomp whomp]. Sorry to be Debbie Downer.

I always pictured myself as being a family of four - two parents and two kids. But of course, this picture of my perfect life was from when I was 16 years old and I thought 25 was so old {so naive}. I thought for sure I would be married by 23 and have at least one kid by the time I was 25 {because again, 25 was "so old"}. But the older I got, and the more life experiences I gained, my perspective changed. All of a sudden 25 wasn't so old (heck, I was barely out of college!). All of a sudden I wasn't sure what my "perfect family" looked like.

Honestly, I don't know really where to start on the topic of another child, my thoughts are so scattered, it's hard to form a coherent thought. But let me try.

Honestly, right now, I feel like our life as a family of 3 is perfect. I don't want to change it at all. But that doesn't mean that I don't reserve the right to change my mind should the right time come.

image via

The more Seth and I think about it, the more I think we are leaning towards only having one kid. I want to focus all my time, attention, money, etc on Mason and be the best mom to him that I can be. There are so many things I want to do for and with him, and to be honest, if we had another kid, we wouldn't be able to do that. At least right now, in this season of our lives, we can't afford that. We ultimately want to buy a house (eventually - hopefully sooner rather than later) and if we had another child, I don't think we could do that. They say that you are never really financially ready to have a child. That was my excuse for why we didn't have one sooner than we did. I always felt like we weren't financially ready - we needed to save more, we needed better jobs, etc etc etc. I always had some excuse. Not that I didn't want to have a child, I just didn't want to put us in debt by having one. But I did a little number crunching and if we cut back on some things we were spending money on that we didn't really need to be spending money on (trips, going out to eat often, manicures/pedicures, etc), then we could afford it. So we did. And Mason was born on July 18, 2012.

In a way, I'd love to provide Mason with a sibling. Someone he can play with. Someone he can teach things to. Someone he can bond with when we go on family vacations. I have a brother (he is 3 years younger than me) and I loved having someone to "gang up on mom and dad with" when I was growing up. I have fond memories of us playing G.I Joe's and Micro Machines together as well as Barbies and dress up. I feel like society seems to tell us that a 2-3 year age gap between kids is the best. So I started to feel the pressure. Mason will be 3 in July after all. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, we're not ready, and that's ok. And I don't know if we will ever be ready. And that's ok too. Though I feel like society tells you that you should have 2 kids, that's not right for everyone. Some are one and done, and that's ok! My son will not be lonely. He will not be at a loss for a playmate. And he will not feel "cheated" that we didn't give him a sibling. And if we decide that we want to expand our family in a year or two and they are 4-5 years apart, that will be perfect for us, for our family, and as Mason gets older, he will be the best helper. But I don't want to have another child just because I think that is what Mason would want. I want to have another child because that is what we want. (Plus who knows what Mason wants! I'm sure he is perfectly happy being an only child and getting whatever he wants {within reason} all the time!)

There have also been some health issues going on that I've mentioned before that are part of the reason that I feel this way, but before we found out all of that, I was kind of feeling the same way. 

I loved being pregnant. 

I didn't (overly) mind the 1 am (and 3 am and 5am) wake up calls.

I didn't find it overly hard to adjust to going back to work.

I just don't... have baby fever.

And that's ok. Sure I'd love to be planning a Pinterest worthy "Mason's going to be a big brother" announcement and I'd love to have a girl to be able to buy some of those ADORABLE bows and headbands that my favorite shops sell. And in a way, I feel kind of left out that everyone just had, just announced they're having, or just found out they are having another child. 

But that's what's so beautiful about the world. There's something out there for everyone. And while a mama can dream, the dream might not have to become reality to still be beautiful.

My family, just the three of us, is perfect just the way we are.

Marital Bliss!

Hi friends! Happy Monday!

Today you can find me over on Cocktails and Carseats guest posting for Jamie on her 'Marital Bliss' series. 

A little sneak peak for you...

If you could go back in time before you had kids, what would be the one thing you would want to tell your past self, regarding your relationship?

I think Seth and I had a pretty great relationship before we had Mason, but if I were to give my post-marriage/pre-child self a little bit of advice, it would be this : do not take advantage of anything.

 Enjoy the date nights. 

Enjoy the spontaneity. 

Enjoy the carefreeness. 

Enjoy the quiet. 

Enjoy the sleeping in. 

Go to Target and spend a little extra to get yourself some new nail polish and try a new bottle of wine. 

Order an appetizer, a drink, and dessert when you go out to dinner. 

Stay out too late.

Go on a weekend a venture just because.

Enjoy every moment and don't take advantage of being carefree because one day there will be a little man or little lady running around that needs you and you have to officially become an adult and be responsible (not that we were irresponsible before, but you know what I mean) :) It will be the best thing that has ever happened to you, but it will be different. Enjoy and cherish your time as a couple.

Head on over to her blog to check out the rest!

Friday Faves.

Hello Friday! I've been waiting for you since 8am on Monday :)


ONE.

Truth and Lie Answers.

Here we go! Here are the answers :)

What are my go-to coffee drinks at Starbucks? Vanilla Latte and Caramel Macchiato

Which vegetables do I like out of this list? Brussels sprouts and broccoli

What are my favorite Girl Scout cookies? Thin Mints (absolute fave!) and Caramel Delites

What 2 states have I lived in? California and New Mexico

What 2 foods did I hate as a kid and now I love? Avocado and peanut butter (I'm probably the only kid in the world who hated peanut butter!)

Which of these popular TV shows have I never seen an episode of? Walking Dead and Game of Thrones

Which of these places have I been to? Jelly Belly Factory and Teddy Bear Factory (both as field trips in elementary school)(And to answer your question, yes, I am DYING to go to Seattle and to the first Starbucks!)

Did I surprise you?

TWO.
Matchy Matchy.



I don't know about you, but one of the reasons I love St. Patrick's Day is because it allows us, as adults, to dress up and act like kids again. I feel like it is one big "dress up" day and I feel like I am back in high school dressing up for spirit days. It's so funny to see all these adults conforming to the holiday "rule" of dressing in green.

Oh and any reason to match my little man is a good day in my book!


THREE.

Replay Recycled.

I posted a picture on Instagram this weekend of the festive breakfast Seth and I made for Mason as an early St. Patrick's Day celebration. (I say Seth and I because Seth made the green eggs and green pancakes and I... put some Lucky Charms on his plate! lol). I tagged @replayrecycled since the plates we use (and LOVE!) are Replay Recycled and they shared my picture on their page and apparently also entered me into a contest and... I won! I was SO excited to see I won. And what did I win? A free kelly green divided plate. They haven't been released to the public yet so I'm super excited to have one!

FOUR.

All About the Base.

Katie shared a picture of her ADORABLE little man wearing this shirt and I thought it was amazing. She was able to remember the shop that she got it from (@tinybeeshirts - and how adorable is her little girl??) and tagged me to tell me and I am obsessed. Mason SO needs one of these for baseball season, right??

 FIVE.
Sidewalk Chalk.

Last Saturday Seth was out all day with some friends and I was left alone to entertain the toddler. I was running out of ideas when I remembered that I had bought some sidewalk chalk a couple months ago and we never used it. So I pulled it out, we went outside, and we played... and Mason LOVED it! He might have loved the red a little too much and got it everywhere, so we came inside and quickly had a bath, but now that I know he loves it so much, we will be spending lots of time outside coloring from now on!

Happy Friday!

Half Truths and Half Lies on my Half Birthday

So I just realized (yesterday) that today is my half birthday. I don't usually celebrate my half birthday (though I did see someone post about having a half cake on their half birthday and I think that is GENIUS *hint hint Seth hint hint*) but I thought doing a little quiz might be fun. I shared 30 things about me on my 30th birthday back in September but I wanted to do something a little different for my half birthday.

So, here we have it.

Half truth, half lie. On my half birthday.

Each question has 2 correct answers {the truths} and 2 incorrect answers {the lies}. In the comments below, tell me which 2 you think are TRUE and I will tell you tomorrow what the real answers are.

What are my go-to coffee drinks at Starbucks?
1. Vanilla Latte
2. Mocha
3. Caramel Macchiato
4. Caramel Frappuchino

Which vegetables do I like out of this list?
1. Lima beans
2. Brussels sprouts
3. Fennel
4. Broccoli

What are my favorite Girl Scout cookies?
1. Tagalongs
2. Thin Mints
3. Caramel Delites (aka Samoas)
4. Lemonades

What 2 states have I lived in?
1. Arizona
2. Kansas
3. California
4. New Mexico

What 2 foods did I hate as a kid and now I love?
1. Avocado
2. Peanut Butter
3. Chocolate
4. Apples

Which of these popular TV shows have I never seen an episode of?
1. Big Bang Theory
2. Walking Dead
3. Modern Family
4. Game of Thrones

Which of these places have I been to?
1. Hershey's Chocolate Factory
2. Jelly Belly Factory
3. Teddy Bear Factory
4. The Original Starbucks in Pike's Place

Happy Guessing!

[A Year of Dates] March.

Thank you all SO much for all your kind words and support for our family after I posted this on Monday! Seriously, it means so much to us. Thank you!

***

For our March date, I didn't really have anything specific planned besides celebrating Seth's birthday. I figured we would go out to some sort of dinner/do some sort of activity with friends when I made our date cards, but I didn't really have a specific date or thing planned.

Lucky for the birthday boy, who's birthday happened to fall on a Tuesday this year, he got to celebrate multiple times!

Saturday the 7th, we celebrated with our friends with a joint birthday celebration with our friend Matt (who's birthday happens to be 9 days before Seth's, on March 1st). The boys have been celebrating together for the past couple years when we all became adults and realized that going out to dinner was expensive. (Sucks being an adult, doesn't it?)

We started off the birthday celebrating with a trip to a new, local brewery, Barley Forge.

both images via

We had all decided to meet there and drink and have dinner there. I was under the impression that this place was a restaurant/brewery and while they did have food... it was more like bar food. Needless to say, I wasn't really interested in eating a dinner of bar food. Everyone else agreed too so people drank and had some tasters for a little while and then we went to find real food... around 8pm.

This was a bad idea for so many reasons.

1. Most of the people in our group had had... a few beverages by then.

2. 8pm is not the ideal time to go find a table at a restaurant on a Saturday night with no reservation.

So, we walked over to a hamburger place... who had a 20-30 minute wait for a party of 10. Not horrible, so we put our name on the list. They said they would text us when our table was ready so we walked over to another restaurant (a taco place) while we waited. They had no wait to be seated so we got some drinks and ordered some tacos while we waited. A sort of, appetizer round if you will. However, the tacos took FOREVER (we each only got one each). The hamburger place called to tell us our table was ready and we hadn't even gotten the tacos yet so we asked to put our names at the bottom of the list again. They said it was no problem but it would be another 30 minutes. We finally get our tacos around 9pm, eat, pay, and head back over to the hamburger place. By now it is 9:30pm and I am wondering if we should really be eating burgers this late, but alas Seth and I decide to share something. And boy was it tasty. We finished dinner around 10:15pm and (since we are old), we headed home. Seth said he had fun (which is all that matters) but moral of the story - a woman should always be in charge ;)

#truth

Sunday the 8th, we had a family birthday celebration. We had the dinner catered by a taco place and the food was DELICIOUS. I made Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes and we all just hung out, talked, and ate. It was perfection.

Tuesday the 10th, his actual birthday, Bubbie wanted to take us out to dinner, but Seth had softball so we suggested the next night. So, Wednesday the 11th, Seth had his last birthday celebration and we went out to dinner with Bubbie. We went to a Chinese restaurant and Mason was SO well behaved.

That in itself was a birthday present and miracle :) 

We got seated at a booth and while we waited for the highchair to come, I slid Mason into the booth to sit. The booth was actually tall enough for him and he sat at the table perfectly. He snacked on the crunchy noodles they brought and enjoyed dipping them into the sweet and sour sauce. He ate some of our appetizers and entrees and sat at the table perfectly the whole time (until the very end when we were paying). He even shared his meal with Bubbie and fed her on more than one occasion. Overall, it was a really nice evening.

Happy (belated) birthday Seth!

I hope you enjoyed your celebrations!

You can find our February date here

You can find our January date here

Introduction to "A Year of Dates" here

[Mason] An Update.

I've been getting lots of separate questions about how things are going with things with Mason and I completely forgot that I said I would do an update and it's been a few weeks and I haven't. I apologize!

First of all, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for all your love and support on my original post sharing about Mason's diagnosis.

And second of all, THANK YOU ALL for reaching out to me and seeing how he is doing and what update I might have from our doctor's appointments. It really means SO much to me that my in-real-life (so weird to say that) friends and people who I have met on the internet truly care so much about our family and took the time to ask me how he is doing. The kindness of strangers (turned friends!) is incredible.
THANK YOU.

As for an update... I don't have much information, but I will tell you this.

[DOCTORS]

We had the neurologist appointment three weeks ago and to be honest, I was a little disappointed with the results. I had these high hopes as to how the appointment would go and it didn't go that way. She kind of said that there must be something wrong with the hearing test we had done since you can't have a spike at brain wave 5 without going through 3 (which we didn't know until she explained it). She also said the test should't have been done if he had fluid behind his ear drums and I had to explain that we didn't know that he had fluid and that the test told us that he had fluid behind his ear drum and we didn't know before. She wasn't opposed to running more tests to make sure everything was ok but she wanted to follow up with the audiologist who did the hearing test (she had some questions) and then she wanted us to go to the ENT and then come back for a follow up in 3 months. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad we went to see her, but I basically felt like that appointment was a wash. BUT I guess it was good to meet her and to tell her about Mason and to get the ball rolling...slowly. {update : since we have a follow up with the ENT in June, I called to let her know this and we have postponed our follow up with her from May until after we see the ENT again}.

We saw the ENT two weeks ago and we loved him! He was very attentive and fully listened to everything we had to say. He took tons of notes and asked us lots of questions. He also said that since Mason had a ear infection a couple weeks before the hearing test, he probably should have waited to have the hearing test done because ear infections can cause the fluid and it can take up to 3 months to clear up. (Thankfully he explained more about it than the neurologist.) Since we were there, he checked Mason's ears anyway and said there is still fluid so he wants to see us again in 3 months. More waiting. But at least he explained why. He said he is open to tubes but doesn't want to jump into it if its not necessary - which makes sense. He also wants us to get an X-ray of Mason's adenoids since we mentioned that he snores at night sometimes (mostly when he has a cold or when his nose is stuffy) so just in case he needs to take those out too, he can do both procedures at once. So we left there feeling better about things but still having to wait, which is always frustrating. 

But good news is, neither doctor thinks anything is urgent so that's always good!
Thank goodness.

[SPEECH]

Still no major improvements on the speech front. Though to do feel like he is being more verbal every day. The other day when Seth picked Mason up at school, they were playing with dinosaurs and they taught him what a dinosaur says. So now we say to Mason, "what does a dinosaur say?" and he puts up his hands like a little t-rex and goes "ahh!". It's too cute. We "roar" back to him to be the scary dinosaur but I just love his cute little happy dinosaur sound.

I think I've mentioned this before but he's also become very "showing" with us. If he can't do something on his own or if he wants something that is out of reach, he will walk over to us, grab our hand, and bring us to what he needs. He points to a puzzle if he needs help with that or takes us to the fridge to get a snack.

We've also enrolled him in a new speech class so now he will have some sort of class four times a week. The class is technically for kids who have hearing aids, but since we found out that he has minor hearing loss due to the fluid behind his ear drums, his speech therapist recommended him for the class. She said this speech therapist is fluent in sign language and while Mason does great with her, she is not fluent, and she knows he will do well in this class.

[SCHOOL]

Mason continues to thrive at school. Seriously, the other day, Seth went to pick him up at the end of the day and a different speech therapist from the center was walking by and said bye to Mason. Keep in mind, I'm sure this lady knows Mason and I'm sure Mason knows her, but Seth didn't recognize her. It makes me beam with happiness when we pick Mason up at school and every single worker there (no joke) says hi to him when they see him and waves good bye when he leaves. One even said "Mason is the sweetest little boy. He's like a celebrity around here! Everyone loves him!" Hearing that makes my heart burst with happiness. I don't know what I did to deserve such a sweet, caring boy, but I must be doing something right.

And with that, a blog post is never completely with at least once picture, so I leave you with this. My new favorite picture of my favorite little man.

Thank you all for your constant thoughts and prayers for us!! It means the world to me, Seth, and Mason.

xoxoxo

Five on Friday.

Happy Friday! For some reason this week I have been super confused on what day it was. I'm blaming it on the fact that I seem to have come down with a cold on Tuesday and my head has been kinda fuzzy ever since. But either way, I'm glad to finally see on the calendar that today is Friday!
Hello weekend!

And without further ado, here are my favorite finds from this week.

ONE.
Favorite Girl Scout Cookie Recipes.

image via

I came across Picky Palate's favorite girl scout cookie recipes and was instantly intrigued and in love. I LOVE Girl Scouts Thin Mints so these thin mint gooey bars are right up my alley.


TWO.
IKEA ice cream.

We went to IKEA this past weekend to pick up some picture ledges and a chair for Bubbie and I make it a habit to get ice cream whenever we go. Seriously, $1 ice cream is the best deal in town (and quite delicious if I do say so myself). I love Mason to the moon and back but... mama doesn't like to share her ice cream. So, we got Mason his own ice cream this time and to say he was excited and liked it would be the understatement of the year. Just look at that smile!

I might also mention that the bottom right picture is my new screen saver on my phone :)

THREE.
Daylight Saving Time.

I saw someone post this on Facebook on Sunday and I thought "YES!". Amen. Can we spring forward at 2pm on a Friday instead of 2am on a Sunday? That would make me SO much happier!

FOUR.
#XOVoxBox

I got my very first VoxBox in the mail last week and let me tell you, boy was it exciting to get a package in the mail for FREE! I'm already excited for my next one!

Disclaimer : I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

FIVE.

"Daddy, this is where all of mommy's friends live"

Bloggers, I know you will appreciate this!

And with that, Happy Friday!

[Recipe Share] Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

I posted a picture of these cupcakes on Instagram on Sunday that I made for Seth's (early) birthday celebration and I got a lot of requests for the recipe so I thought I would re-share.

For as long as I can remember, Seth has always loved Boston Cream Pie. I used to order him an actual cake of it for his birthday but then a couple years ago, I found a recipe for a cupcakes version and thought I would surprise him with a different version of his favorite. Since he LOVED them, this year was no different.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Recipe from Six Sisters

Ingredients :

24 cake-mix yellow cupcakes, cooled and unwrapped (I used a butter golden mix)

1 (3.4 oz) box French Vanilla instant pudding

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

Directions :

Make cupcakes according to directions on box.

Mix together pudding, cream, powdered sugar, milk, and sour cream. 

Beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form.

Cut each cupcake in half.

And add a dollop of filling.

Put top back on cupcake.

And frost with ganache.

Ganache:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat cream in sauce pan until it comes to a boil. 
Remove from heat, pour over chocolate in a mixing bowl. 
Stir to mix together. Let cool slightly.

Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!