This Week

For us Lassiters, this week seemed to be a busy one.  I picked up an extra 10 hour day at the store, Ben went in to work extra early on most days, and Mason had his one year check up with Dr. Trumbull (which included 2 shots.)  We did, however, manage to squeeze in some time at the park watching the ducks, a visit to see the twins, and a dinner with friends at Xtapa.  

After stumbling upon this amazing blog, I have been trying to savor every moment of my day.  I don't think it was a coincidence that my mother-in-law introduced me to a book (The Resolution for Women) about finding contentment in the place of life you are in and the fact that I stumbled upon Sara's beautiful blog within a week or so of each other.  If you get a chance, please read Sara's entry entitled "Direct My Paths."

As mentioned in the previous post, my baby is one.  It is bittersweet to see him becoming less of a baby and more of a little boy.  I am constantly amazed at the new things he is learning to do.  Yesterday, Ben brought out the box of dog grooming supplies and sat it down on the porch.  Mason picked up Berkley's brush then went over and started "brushing" Berkley.  What?  How did he become a person that did things on his own so quickly?  Shouldn't I still be carrying him everywhere and bringing toys to his blanket for him to play with?  All the time I think about how much I love him and I am just so proud of every little thing he does.

Well, almost everything...  We are starting to have to "discipline" him and it is hilarious.  We HAVE to teach him what "No" means for his safety and it is our job to train him to be a respectful and moral individual, to teach him right from wrong.  This is no easy task.  It is hard to be consistent when he is just so cute.  It is hard to make "no" really mean "no" instead of just saying, oh ok go ahead and feed all your food to the dog.... go ahead and play in the dog food if it makes you happy....  Then there are more important issues, "Don't touch that chord" "Don't touch that plant with thorns on it" etc. etc. etc.
I just can't help but laugh when I say, "Mason Stop" and he looks at me and laughs and takes off as fast as he can go....  However, "Stop" is an important instruction that he must learn to follow for his safety.  I know it is only going to get harder from here.  This is just the beginning.

Yesterday our friends Josh and Shelley came to visit us for the afternoon.  We had lunch at the Cantina and then walked down to the riverfront so Mason could play on the splash pad.  This being our first time on the river front, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was!  Josh and Shelley just ordered their first SLR and Josh was testing out one of my lenses as they are trying to decide what lens they want to start out with.  Josh took all of the pictures I posted today and I am so thankful to have a few photos of us playing as a family.  It is nice to have someone who knows how to work my camera to take pictures for us.  That is one of the only downsides to having a dSLR; you hand your camera to people to take a picture for you and they are like, huh?  They aren't hard to use but they look intimidating at first if you have never played with one.

If you look closely at Mason in a few of these pictures, you may notice him carrying one Croc and his Aveeno Baby sunscreen.  For some reason he wanted to carry objects around with him.  He does this at home as well... he is always carrying something like a lovey, a ball, and most recently his Crocs, puzzle pieces, remotes, and accessories from his water table such as pirates.  He takes these objects and puts them in his truck.  Yesterday, in his truck, I found a piece of zucchini (I apparently dropped a slice on the floor while cooking), a pirate, and a croc.

Mason loved the splash pad and we will absolutely be going back there again soon!!  As in this week.  I can't wait. Between the splash pad, the zoo, the neighborhood pool, and the toys in our backyard, I think we will have PLENTY to keep us entertained this summer.  (Lord willing we don't get burned up with the southern heat and humidity.)

This is Shelley.  She and I went to pharmacy school together and lived together for our last 2 years of school.  Shelley is very neat and tidy and keeps a spotless refrigerator and perfectly placed throw pillows with stripes going horizontally.  She is also extremely smart and a really good friend.  I am thankful that she only lives an hour and a half away.  I keep telling her that the house next to me is for sale....

Here is Jr. with his Croc, closely followed by his Aveeno Baby sunscreen.  He got so excited when he saw the water starting to come up out of the pipes.

He got his first real booboo this week.  It was a simple fall that caused it, but he didn't brace himself well and his head hit the floor pretty hard.  It was terrible hearing the smack and then holding my breath waiting for the cry.  Thankfully it was just a little bump and a bruise.  He also got his first bleeding injury from a fall while at the splash pad.  He fell and scraped the side of his hand but it didn't bother him for more than a minute.  This little guy is resilient.  I guess babies have to be for as many times as they fall down in an hour!

I have yet to purchase a swimsuit for him which is why he is just in a swim diaper.  I want to kick myself for not ordering the adorable Castles and Crowns swimsuit with the whale appliqué back in March as I had meant to.  I went to order it today and saw that it takes 10 weeks to come in!!!!! I looked on line for other cute ones only to discover that the ones I like are, um, 50 dollars.... right.
So, the swimsuit search continues. On a side note, I am not ready for him to have a swimsuit like big boys wear.  I want him to have a cutesie one. This is why I am having a hard time finding one.  If he was a girl, there would be five hundred million cutesie ones to choose from.  Dear people in the children's fashion industry, please start making cute boy clothes that don't have WORDS ALL OVER THEM!!!! Thank you Old Navy for providing some acceptable clothing and thank you super expensive places for carrying cute boy things, but could you please make the prices a bit more reasonable? Please? Thanks.

And on a brief side note about fashion, I saw this necklace on Etsy.  The info says that it is antique bronze.  Guess how much it is?  $2.99.  That's right.  My question is, is this a scam?  How is this $2.99?  I thought it was an error so I kept searching the shop and a lot of the things in the shop are $2.99.  That is less than the shipping.  The seller got really good feedback so I guess it is legit, but $2.99?  Can anyone explain this to me?

Ok, back to the splash pad...

Well, it is time to get ready for church.  Ben and I are keeping the nursery.  We have had it the month of April and it has been a fun experience.  Little Man gets kind of jealous when he sees us holding other babies, but he manages.  Last week we had the 2 year old class and that was a hoot! 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!