Love this!

I always loved Blossom! I think she's even more cool now!

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/goddess/spotlight-to-nightlight-mayim-bialik-from-teen-icon-to-unconventional-mom/270?nc

This morning I was rocking Mason and singing "You Are My Sunshine", as I did will the other two when they were babies. Natalie was quietly playing nearby and then asked me if I sang that to her when she was a baby?

Me: Yes, I did.

N: Well, did I make it up myself?

Me: Nope.

N: Then who did?

Me: I'm not sure

N: Prob'ly Jesus did. :)

**********************************************

On the same topic, once when I was singing this to Natalie, Wyatt came along and told me that I couldn't sing that to her. I thought maybe b/c he thought it was 'his' song, but nope...he tells me that for Natalie I have to sing "you are my daughter, my only daughter" :)

So Mason went in for his 6 month checkup last Friday and he was 16lbs and 28 1/4 inches. He was 15lb 4oz at 5 months, so he did gain. But fell into the 25th percentile for weight and stayed in the 90th for length! He is so very active with sitting up and rolling all over the place, so i'm not concerned about his weight. He is like Natalie..she was long and thin!

He has been sleeping from around 8pm to 4 or 4:30 am (depending on what time Ben gets up). This has been happening for almost 2 weeks now, with a night or two that he woke up once.

But last night I got up probably SIX times to check on him! I am so tired today!

I'm not sure what my deal was, other than i'm quite the worrier. It could have been that he slipped in the bathtub last night and hit his head (he didn't cry but I still felt so horrible!) or the fact that I found one of the cats asleep in the crib with him the night before ( and I can pretty much guarantee that will be the last time she does it, so not sure why I was worried). But anyway, he's sleeping a lot better than me!

And this is probably too much info for most of you, so if you don't want to read about breastfeeding then you can stop here :)

Mason only wants to nurse when he is tired! I don't really know what to do. Other times when he is hungry and I try to nurse him, he flips out. Arches his back, screams, and then bites me!! I know that he's hungry, so I go get a jar of baby food and he gets so excited then eats the entire jar. This has happened for 2 days now. I'm not sure if it's a phase or what. He's nursing about 3 really good times during the day, then before bed and early in the morning.

Anyone who knows us well will know that I did NOT have this problem with the older two! So i'm hoping that this passes soon. Or I suppose I need to just make sure he's getting good food through the day?

Those of you back home will know why I had a smile on my face when I found this label being sold at our local grocery store :)

Happy 6 Months Mason!

Our sweet Mason is 6 months today!!! A whole half of a year! I remember being in the hospital with him the afternoon he was born, just like it was yesterday. Time flies when you're having fun!

He is sitting totally on his own...I leave him to play like this without worry now!

As I type this he has rolled across the living room and is messing with things on the entertainment shelf. We tend to not baby proof like most do, but we will need to move some things out of reach soon!

His favorite "toy" right now is his baby einstein book. The big kids keep taking it to look at and he doesn't like that!

We go for his 6 month appt Friday so i'll update with stats then!

I should add that he has his bottom two teeth, still loves to eat, and has been sleeping All Night Long! In his bed! And on Sunday he said DaDa! We get "Da" a lot, but only DaDa twice!

can you see it??? No?

How about now?

Yep, Mason's tooth finally came through a few days ago!

Another year of school at home!

One of my favorite sites for homeschooling is The Homeschool Lounge. It's been a great resource for support and ideas over the last year, and they are having a Homeschool Open House!

I'm anxious to see all of the ideas and tips that others share, and I thought i'd add a little bit about what we'll be doing this year.

Wyatt is starting 2nd grade and Natalie is starting Kindergarten! So exciting for all of us! We love to school at home, even though we do have days that it's a fight to get much done. For the past 2 years I focused mainly on getting Wyatt's work done, but including Natalie wherever we could. We have a school room and they each have a desk, and we have a craft table to work at as well.

This year i'm going to have to work out a routine to get both kids' individual lessons done, as well as some 'group' time. We'll be learning history and science together, and then they will each get individual time on Math and Phonics/Reading/English. Oh, and throw in some playtime with Mason and we'll have a pretty busy morning!

Our goal is to have school done by lunchtime so that we can enjoy the rest of the day doing fun things. Not that school isn't fun, right???

We use Bob Jones for the majority of our curriculum, and we supplement with lots of other books and crafts, etc. I try to keep things as fun as possible so that both kids will be really motivated to learn.

Wyatt and Natalie both want to be taught at home. Natalie did have a short time that she said she wanted to go to school, but when it came down to it she changed her mind quickly! Wyatt has never wanted to try public school, and i'm thankful to have avoided the battle so far!

We plan to officially start the last week of August, but every day Natalie has been asking to start so maybe we'll jump in a little sooner! When we do i'll be sure to post pictures from our first day!

Swim Lessons!

This summer we signed the kids up for private swim lessons at the country club, and i'm SO glad we did! They both learned so much in the short time we went! And we had a great teacher who the kids just loved!

Wyatt was a decent swimmer but needed a good bit of 'fine tuning'. He has no fear of the water but can't seem to get the coordination down of keeping his feet and arms going at the same time! He loves to swim underwater and does quite well!

Natalie would be a GREAT swimmer if she would get over the fear of getting her nose wet! Miss Rachel worked really, really hard to get Natalie to trust her and actually do what she asked. Hopefully next summer she'll have no fear!

Blowing Bubbles!

Mason LOVEd watching the kids during their lesson, and he loved Rachel, too! So she got him in the water at one of the last lessons! Maybe next year he can have lessons--he loves the water!