Thankful - Day 30

Alas, 30 days of thanks has come to an end. I actually can't believe it's over! (And that ALL of NOVEMBER is over too!) When I decided to do the 30 days of thanks, I thought it was going to be a huge under taking. How am I going to come up with things to be thankful for for 30 days? But then I thought about it and really? I have MORE than 30 things to be thankful for. It might be hard to think of things spur of the moment daily (or let's be honest... every couple of days by the time I got around to blogging) but there is always something to be thankful for. No matter how big. No matter how small.

First off, thankful for my health. Thankful for my family's health. Recently my wrist and now my arm has been hurting. I went to the doctor yesterday and she thinks I might have tendinitis (which means I probably shouldn't be typing and I should be resting my wrist, but you know...). She prescribed me some medicine to take and a wrist brace. This seems like a lot to me but only because I am otherwise a very healthy person. I complain, but really? If this is my only problem, I'm doing pretty good.

Thankful for friends near and far and thankful for email, facebook, blogging and text messaging that helps us keep in contact.

Thankful for family. Thankful for my family and thankful for Seth's family, who treat me as if I was one of their own.

Thankful for the 18 years I got to spend with my amazing, brave, inspirational mom who helped make me the woman and mother I am today.

Me and my mom

Thankful that my dad was able to find someone who makes him happy again after my mom passed away and for the new family we have become.

My brother, my step-mom Hallie, my dad, me, my husband Seth

Thanksgiving 2011

Thankful for the changing seasons (or for summer and winter because that's all we really get in Southern California). Thankful for the holidays and getting to spend extra time with family.

Thankful to have had the opportunity to go to and graduate college.

Thankful to have a job. Thankful for great co-workers.

Thankful to have a roof over my head and food in my stomach.

Thankful for Barnes and Noble... and for introducing me to my future husband 6+ years ago.

Thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in the breast cancer 3day walk again this year and to be able to experience it with these wonderful people.

at the finish!

Thankful for my husband who watched our son for 3 days by himself, without any question or hesitation when I said I wanted to do the walk.

Seth, Mason and I

Thankful for the opportunity to watch this little guy learn and grown and explore more of his world everyday. My little man. My chunk-a-monk. My chunkity chunk chunk. My monk-a-monk. My chunky monkey. My Mason.

Thankful for so much more. Thankful for everything.

And most of all, thankful to be able to spend everyday with these two :

I know I posted this picture the other day and you more than likely want to see new pictures rather than repeats, but this picture sums up my life.

Fun. Love. Laughter.

I truly love spending every waking moment with them (that I'm not at work of course, though if I could bring one or both of them to work, I would!). Thankful to be married to such an amazing guy. And thankful that we have such an amazing little man to light up our lives!

So thankful for all my blessings.

(And SO THANKFUL for the save button and for that fact that I hit save almost every paragraph because my computer randomly decided to shut down as I was typing this post!)

Thankful - Day 26 - 29

Wowee. Boy has life taken over this week! I've wanted to catch up on my blogging every night but there's either not enough time or I'm too tired. This has been my week...

Monday - work 7am-3:30pm...actually leave at 4:30pm. Go to the grocery store. Get home at 5:30ish. Wait for Seth and Mason to get home. Feed Mason. Put Mason to sleep. Eat dinner. Fall asleep on the couch at 8pm (maybe? maybe it was earlier?!)

Tuesday - work 7am-3:30pm... actually leave at 3:40pm (getting better!). Get home around 4:15pm. Clean up a little. Wait for Seth and Mason to get home. Play with Mason a little. Put him to sleep. Eat dinner. Watch Dancing with the Stars from the night before. Fall asleep on the couch at... 8:30pm.

Wednesday - work 11-7:30. Seth dropped Mason off early so I could sleep in a little since I think I am getting the cold that everyone has and I cannot afford to get sick this week. Found out that Melissa and Tony won DWTS (yay!), watch a little tv. Went to Target to get Mason and my prescriptions. Go to work. Get home around 8pm. Eat dinner. And... make it to 10pm!

And today... Thursday - work 7am-7:30pm. Get home at 8pm. Mason is awake! YAY! Eat dinner. Watch a little tv and blog :)


Day 26 - November 26

Thankful that today is OVER!!! Wow. What a day! My boss is on vacation this week and of course everything that can go wrong, did go wrong. Today started off with me walking into my office to a huge pile of papers all over the floor.

What the heck happened??

So I turn on my computer to find an email from my boss that is... 2 1/2 pages long with 40 to do items!

What?!

This is shortly followed by one of my employees throwing out his back trying to move a box. I have to say though, he was moving the box correctly, but he has a history of back problems and one bad move and... he can't move. This is 7:50am. They call my into the warehouse and tell me he threw out his back and I immediately think they are playing a joke on me (I know, I know... I feel bad now, but they always like to play jokes on me!) Long story short... my employee is taken to the hospital on a stretcher in an ambulance! Well that's not how I expected my day to start.

This is followed up by our school internet not working. We call over the IT guy and what does he find? Our extension cord for the internet server thing ELECTRICAL TAPED into the plug!!! And it making "zap zap zap" noises. Not good. He pulls out the plug so it doesn't start a fire (I can't believe it hasn't started a fire yet seeing as how the plug as probably been like that for ages) and finds out that our internet server thing is fried. So after a couple hours, someone comes to replace the server and... the internet still doesn't work. The IT guy comes back and works his magic and it works again :) By now it is almost time to go home and I'm sure someone somewhere did this on purpose so I couldn't cyber Monday shop!

The day is finally over... I feel like I haven't actually done any work that I am supposed to do, but I am just so thankful I made it through this day that I don't care :) until tomorrow!


Day 27 - November 27

Thankful for my boys! These two know how to make me forget about all the problems I had all day and how horrible my day and week has been. To hear that little giggle and see Mason smile, just turns my frown upside down and makes me so happy! Mason loved being on daddy's shoulders... not sure if daddy did though because Mason grabbed his hair so he didn't fall! (even though Seth was holding him)

love, Love, LOVE

Day 28 - November 28

Today I am thankful for colder weather. I love wearing sweaters. I love cuddling up on the couch in my pjs and drinking hot cocoa or coffee and watching a movie. And most of all, I love my baby wearing jackets and hats! How is he so dang cute with that little hood on?! And with that beanie?!?! Just melts my heart :)

Top left : a couple weeks ago before going to Costco. Top right : tonight

Bottom left : Disneyland on Sunday. Bottom right : a couple week ago before Costco

Day 29 - November 29

Today I am thankful that this week is almost OVER! SO THANKFUL! I am also so thankful that I got to see my baby awake tonight! I don't know how he does it, but Seth always seems to know just what I need. I was driving home tonight and Seth texted me and asked how long until I would be home. I said 10 minutes. I thought he was just wanting to plan dinner so it was hot when I got home, but then I got this text :

Happy boy!

along with a "see you soon!" I was SO happy that Mason was awake and I would get to see him. I was so sad that I missed him all day yesterday. They left the house at 6:30am and Mason was sleeping when I got home at 8pm. He slept all the way until 4am today and Seth being the amazing husband that he is, got up to feed him so I could sleep for an extra hour. He gets up slightly after me so if I got up at 4am, we would be done feeding Mason at 4:30am and by that time I should just stay up. Seth gets up at 5:30am so he fed Mason and was able to sleep for another hour too. I got to see that sweet face for like 10 minutes this morning before heading off to work for12 hours. So I got home and played with Mason and kissed him a million times and then put him to bed before we had dinner. Those 15 extra stolen minutes today with my sweet chunk-a-monk was just what I needed today :)

And today... today Seth is thankful that I am so far behind on my blog posts because he didn't know I was doing 30 days of thanks and he just realized it and is on day 2 :)

Thankful - Day 25 and Mason's 1st trip to DISNEYLAND!

Today I am thankful for amazing co-workers and family! Technically ex-co-worker, but still. My ex-co-worker and friend Caitie works at Disneyland now (which is why she is my ex-co-worker). She is able to sign people in to go to Disneyland for free and she said she would sign Seth, Mason and I in for Mason's first trip to Disneyland which we took advantage of today. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to Caitie that she did this for us and I've been dying to take Mason to Disneyland since he was born and I've been dying to go to Disneyland during Christmas time since my pass expired a couple years ago.

Disneyland Christmas tree

Family photo :)

With the Minnie Mouse statue

The castle

1st visit pin

In front of the castle

What are you doing daddy??

It's a Small World - Mason's on the good list!

Meeting Mickey! He LOVED him. And drooled on his nose!

Crazy cousins!

soooooooo tired after a fun day!

We had an AMAZING day! A HUGE THANK YOU again to Caitie for getting us in!!! And a huge thank you to Stephen and Cindy for watching Mason while we went on the Carsland ride (and for encouraging us to go on it too!) Thankful for family, friends, and the opportunity to take Mason to Disneyland today!

Thankful - Day 24

Today I am thankful for new toys, friend lunch dates, impromptu cousin visits, and Christmas lights! Kinda random, I know, but still the things I am thankful for nonetheless :)

This morning started out slowly with breakfast and coffee for mommy and daddy and some playing for Mason. Cindy and Stephen (our pseudo brother and sister-in-law) gave us some of their daughter, Kayla's, toys that she had outgrown. This toy happened to be a hand-me-down from our niece Addison to Kayla and now to Mason. It's an exersaucer. I've been excited for Mason to be old enough to play in it because I thought he would really like it. It's at it's lowest setting and he can barrrrrrrely touch the ground if he stands on his tip toes. He seems to really like the birdy and the music that the toy has.

Where's the music mommy??

Hi birdy!

This afternoon we had plans to meet my friend Katie and her husband Ryan for lunch. I used to work with Katie at the bookstore but she quit when she graduated and moved on to go to school at UCLA. I miss seeing her everyday at work and don't get to see her as much as I would like now that we are both doing our own thing. Luckily, holiday weekends are perfect times for lunch dates :) We met a Lamppost Pizza and had a yummy lunch and got to chat. Mason had a minor meltdown but then ate and was a happy camper again.

We left Katie and Ryan around 2pm and headed back home with a quick pitstop to Lazy Dog Cafe to meet Seth's Dad's cousin Lauren, her husband Michael, their daughter Tiffany and Seth's Grandma. They were in town and took Seth's Grandma (Bubbie) to lunch and wanted to see Mason so we stopped by.

Mason, Tiffany, Lauren, Bubbie

Kisses from Tiffany

After our little visit, we headed home and Mason took a nap. I got out our Christmas stuff (like I said yesterday, at least it's after Thanksgiving now!) and started decorating. I've been wanting to take a picture of Mason with Christmas lights since before I knew Mason was Mason. I saw a picture on pinterest and wanted to recreate it. Now, I'm not so good at being fancy with the camera but I did my best :) I think they came out pretty good!

Happy boy playing with Christmas lights

Now little chunky is sleeping peacefully and snoring away. I just love to look and listen to him on the monitor. Now... back to decorating!

Thankful - Day 23

Today I am thankful for something simple and kinda silly but important...online shopping! I am super thankful to not have had to say up super late or wake up super early and brave the crowds to get good deals. Instead, I am thankful I got to sit on my couch drinking my coffee and getting good deals of my own :)

Thankful - Day 20-22

Today I am thankful for staying awake past 9pm and for having time to update the blog!

November 20 - Thankful Day 20

Today I am thankful that I made it home from work safely. Traffic was horrendous on the way home, which it almost never is when I close and leave work at 7:30pm. I turned down the street to head to the freeway when... flares in the road and tons of police cars and police directing traffic.

What could it be?
A BAD accident.

At first I thought it was one car and a bike. Oh no. Then I saw another car and thought it was a motorcycle. Then... I drove past and it turned out to be 3 cars... 2 badly, badly damaged (looks like someone ran a red light either turning or going straight and the other person t-boned them, and then took out another car. Wow. I don't know when the accident happened but I'm thankful that it took me as long as it did at work so I wasn't involved in the crash.

I finally get on the freeway and I'm driving my normal 70mph speed and then we come to a stop. A full stop. Oh no again. Things start moving a little when I drive past 2 cars stopped in the middle of the freeway now trying to move over to the side of the road. To me, the cars looked fine, but I'm sure there was some sort of accident.

I finally get past them and then things come to a halt again. This time for no reason. Which I hate the most. When people just randomly stop. I finally, finally get on the next freeway and make it home safely. I kiss my boys and have dinner and am thankful that I made it home safely.

November 21 - Thankful Day 21

Simple, short and straight-forward... today I am thankful for my four day weekend and getting to spend extra time with my boys :)

November 22 - Thankful Day 22 - Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for having such amazing family and friends. Today started off with me, Seth, Mason, and Kenneth heading down to Dana Point for the Turkey Trot that my friend Vickie is in charge of. She works for the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce and they put on the Turkey Trot and we wanted to support her. We signed up for the 5k open which is really meant for running, but we stayed at the back of the pack and walked the 3.2 miles.

Top : turkey trot starting line

Bottom left : me, Mason, Seth, Kenneth. Bottom right : Vickie and I

We got home and Seth started to cook (we were in charge of mashed potatoes and a deviled egg appetizer) and I had a mini photo shoot with Mason to take pictures of him in his "my first Thanksgiving" outfit.

My First Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was at Bubbie's house (Seth's Grandma). There were quite a few of us there including Seth's mom, his dad, his grandma, his uncle, his sister, our brother-in-law, our nieces, and our brother-in-law's parents. Our brother-in-law's parents, George and Judy, are like Mason's third set of grandparents. We are all super close and act as family even though we technically aren't. I couldn't imagine things being any other way though.

I am thankful for having such amazing family to celebrate holidays with. Seth's family has adopted me as one of their own, which I have been thankful for for some time now. But today I am thankful that I get to celebrate with them.

We got home from Bubbie's house and I went to change Mason before we fed him and put him to bed. I've been dying to put Mason in his Christmas pj's for some time now (since like 2 months ago when I bought them lol) and I thought tonight would be the perfect night. I thought Seth would be mad I was already putting Mason in Christmas stuff (he likes to celebrate one holiday at a time), but I did it anyway. Turns out he thought Mason looked super cute and wasn't mad at all! Plus technically Thanksgiving is over (well in 2 hours... over for Mason since he's sleeping!) so it's time for Christmas now, right?! :)

Love, love, LOVE Santa tushy :)

So after we fed Mason and admired his super cute outfit, we had a mini photo shoot...

Love that sweet face.

Love that little tongue sticking out.

Love my little family.

So much to be thankful for today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

[Mason] 4 Months + [Thankful] Day 19

HAPPY 4 MONTH BIRTHDAY MASON!!!

Today I am thankful for my wonderful baby. He has brought so much joy to our lives. Yesterday was his 4 month birthday. I had wanted to get my picture in yesterday but by the time I got home from my walk, gave him a bath, fed him, and got everything settled, it was his bed time. Luckily this morning we had a little extra time together (and with daddy!) since we had Mason's 4 month doctor visit. We got to have a little fun and take a few pictures and get to see something exciting (!!!) before poor Mason had to go for his check up and shots :( Poor boy actually did really good but cried a bit more than his 2 month shots.

Thankful for his health. Thankful he is almost over his cold. Thankful we have had the joy of his presence in our lives for the past 4 months!! We love you so much sweet boy!!

4 months!

my little man is growing up so fast!

4 month stats :

- weighs 14 1/2 lbs
- is 24.7 inches long
- still wears size 1 diapers
- wears 3-6 month clothes
- is starting to get on a schedule, including eating 5 oz (sometimes 6 oz!) every 4 hours
- sleeps for 8 hours at night! (sometimes)
- is a super drooler
- has discovered his hands and LOVES to put them (and his bib... and his burp cloth... and anything else he can get his hands on) in his mouth!
- is great at tummy time (and is actually starting to like it too)
- likes to watch football with daddy on sunday
- is good at and kinda likes sitting in his bumbo seat
- loves to "stand" (with help of course)
- doesn't hate taking a bath as much as he used to
- LOVES to kick his feet
- LOVES to play on his back on his play mat watching the star toy play music and light up
- is super smiley
- giggles
- ROLLED OVER FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY!!! (and was a little shocked about it too lol)

I was so so SO excited that I saw Mason roll over for the first time. I told him that he couldn't do anything exciting while I was gone this weekend and thankfully he listened! Now to try to get it on video for everyone else...