"No Go" holdiay card photos

Soooo...it's our first go at the modern "traditional" (that's an oxymoron I'm pretty sure) holiday card with the beautiful photo of our precious child that we welcomed this year. However...after make-shift home studios, the photo proved harder to accomplish than originally anticipated. Here is a peek at the photos that were dumped and the dialogue that accompanied the shoot.

"Umm...hello! Yuuu hooo.....over here! Mason! No? Ok."
"How about a smile? No? Ok."

"I know that you're hungry but we have a picture to take. Could you please stop sucking on your arm (and making Mommy feel bad) so that I could take your picture. No? Ok."
"Ahh, yes, I know you are hungry and I'm glad that you've recently found your toes and started sucking them. However! We still need to take a nice picture for family and friends and I would really...No? Ok."

"Now you're just being pathetic. Let's go eat (and drink)."HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ANDY, JENNI AND MASON

Party Tricks!!

Oh yes...we have some new tricks :)

We have just started rice cereal and it is proving to be somewhat of a challenge.


Not only is Mason eating "big boy" food but he is also rolling over like a pro!

Hangin' out around the house

"Just getting my diaper changed while waiting for Santa. I hope he likes my red socks!"

Dad and Mason...

are very busy entertaining mom...

Changing table conversation

Well, my little boy has officially gotten loud. If you'd like to hear some of his new vocabulary check out the video.

What a big boy!

Our little guy and his belly :)

Mason has recently started to enjoy hanging out in his...hmm...I have no idea what this thing is called. Kim? Malissa? Dana? Sara? Nicole? A little help...what is it?

Last week he would just sit in "it" with his hands in his lap looking like a sad puppy dog. However, he now seems to enjoy some of the "features" to include jumping and hitting himself in the head with the spinny rattle thing. I like this video because Mason is making some of his new sounds.

Trick or Treat!

Mason celebrated his first Halloween by wearing his dinosaur costume for the better part of the day (it's tough to take a nap while lying on a stuffed tail.) Mom and Mason enjoyed singing "I've Been Working on the Railroad," with a slight lyrical change. "Someone's in the kitchen with dino....Dino won't you blow, dino won't you blow, dino won't you blow your horn." Get it? Dino? Yeah, I know...

Mason getting geared up...

Tummy time, dinosaur style. Rar!

Singing our new song, "If I were a dinosaur, what kind would I be?" The answer you ask? "A green one with a purple belly!" 

All tuckered out after a big day of being Mr. Dinosaur.

Can you come over and play?

It looks like a really pretty day outside and we could play soccer...

I'll try really hard not to spit up on you...

You can even choose what game we play and I won't bully you. Really, I won't.

Ok then. I'll just get my Halloween costume on and wait for you here at the window...

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Andy had a big, decade birthday this weekend. We celebrated Andy's thirty years at Nancy's with family, friends, good food and plenty of beverages. Andy woke up on Saturday, his official birthday, and said, "Nobody told me thirty feels like a headache and mild nausea." Hmmm....pretty sure that had more to do with the scotch than the birthday :)

We woke up today and enjoyed Andy's present from his dad and sister, a super awesome hiking baby carrier. We went on a strenuous hike through the backyard and Mason LOVED IT!

Mason Appleseed

Have you ever been apple picking? If not, you should definitely go! It's the coolest thing...you get to walk through the orchard with your awesome apple-picking-stick-thingie and fill your bag till you have a peck. Then you can hang out by an apple wood fire, sip on cider and just take in the beautiful scenery and autumn smells. The three of us had a grand time this weekend picking apples which we turned into Apple Crisp at home. Yum Yum Yum. While we were picking apples Andy asked if this time next year Mason will be climbing the apple trees. Uhhh....he'll just be over a year old and probably barely walking., but we'll see! 

Notice the apple-picking-stick-thingie? I thought it was incredibly genius.

What a multi-tasker! Baby carrying, bag holding and apple picking. Wow, what a guy.
I wish you could see Mason's outfit-blue jeans and a green flannel. He looked like a lumber jack :) (not that I'm an outfitty type of Mom, but boy, was it cute!)

Watch the expert at work (yeah, right).

Orchards would lose big time money on me because I just stare and stare at the trees dripping with apples looking for the perfect one. It's very sad when the perfect apple is just beyond the stick-thingie's reach or the one you are going for plummets to the ground. Sad, very sad. 

Silly Shadows

Too funny...I get a kick out of this each time I watch it. Check out Mason's experience with shadows on the way back from the Outer Banks.

Mason at the beach

Here's my little guy seeing the ocean for the very first time. 

Two Months!

Wow...our little guy is now two months old...crazy! I was saying to Andy the other day that Mason is 100 percent part of the family now. I know some of you are thinking, "Well, yeah Jenni." But really, when he was first born, I felt like we were just getting through the days trying to avoid any meltdowns and disasters. I don't really know the exact moment it happened, but we are no longer, Andy and Jenni plus Mason, it's simply the three of us and it feels great. We've recently enjoyed getting bundled up and going for walks around the yard in the morning. We also like having a clean diaper, and we LOVE eating. 

I told you, we LOVE eating.



Here's Mason appreciating the kitchen fan down at the Harbor House.



"Smile! Please smile...pretty please....no? Merph."

Bundled up in 6-12 month jammies. He's so snuggly!

"Cause they're cousins"

Boy, in a blink of an eye these two will be visiting Dax at college. Yikes! Not quite ready for that. Last night was Mason's first night in his crib and I think I'm the one who suffered from separation anxiety. It took me forever to fall asleep...I kept looking at the monitor! But, guess what? All parties involved made it through the night just fine...including Andy who I'm pretty sure slept quite soundly :)

Hangin' with the 'rents

Grandparents that is!

MaMa and Gram loving on Mason. 

Grandpa being a sport when handed a fussy baby. Do you see how calm Mason looks? Way to go, Grandpa!
Three generations of McIntyre men...they apparently got the "wear blue" memo.
Mason was lucky enough to have a sleep over at Gram's on Monday. 
Fresh from the Outer Banks, Pappy and MaMa were able to swing by the house to visit grandbaby number five. 

It's not just gas...

The big news this week in Masonland is Mason's beautiful smile.  Oh it's not that he hasn't shown us his pearly um... gums before, but now it's in response to our (now constant) encouragement.  

Several cold mornings this week remind us that very soon on the horizon we'll have to fire up the wood burning stove.  Mason LOVED swinging on the front porch all wrapped up and cozy.

Of course all the porch time and all the smiling tires you out.  What a life!