Southern Living Junky

It is officially summer weather if it isn't officially summer.  I cannot believe that it is already May and that it already feels like June.  Being the Southern Living junky that I am, I have been trying to get my garden and other flowers and plants in order around here.  I don't think my yard will ever be what I want it to be, mainly because it is impossible to grow grass with two dogs tromping all over it, but we have definitely made progress (thanks to my strong husband who is good at digging holes).  We started small with the garden this year, but half of it is completely full of mint.  If anyone out there wants some mint, you know who to call.  If you remember the rest of my produce from last year, you understand why I am not offering up any of my other plants.

Well, we went back to the splash pad and we brought some friends with us!  I am sure that the splash pad has not seen the last of us.  If we can handle this 90 degree weather, that is.  I can't believe it is already so hot!  I am very thankful that the evenings are still cool and it does feel nice in the shade.

I still haven't gotten a swimsuit (for me or him) and that is on the to do list.  I am less than excited about finding one for myself.

For you camera people out there, I used my wide angle lens for these photos.  I have been using it more often since my 50 mm broke and I am starting to get used to it.  I keep putting off getting the other one fixed, but it was my favorite.

I am going to have to find some more sensitive sunscreen because the Aveeno seems to be irritating Mason's eyes.  When he got wet (on Saturday and Monday), his eyes got red and puffy as you can see in the picture.  I remember sunscreen doing that to me when I was little.

Mason and Tucker are only 23 days apart.  I am sure they have a lot of good times ahead of them!

The following photo is one picture of about 20.  We could not get Mason to smile because he was too busy looking at everything but the camera.  He has also been busy learning how to spit.  That's right. Lean over his chair and watch his food hit the ground as he spits it out of his mouth.  On purpose. He first attempted this with his carrots at a restaurant.  Then, later in the day he was playing in the playroom while drinking his milk.  I saw him look down and watch the milk dribble out of his mouth and down his shirt.  I told him "no" and he looked up and had milk bubbles all over his chin.  It is pretty hilarious.

We are changing his clothes at least three times a day these days... part of it is due to the above mentioned factors, our yard has a lot of dirt which is his favorite, he spits, he dumps his "no spill sippy cups" out on himself on purpose because he likes watching it spill, he loves to eat 8 to 10 goldfish at one time until they overflow out of his mouth and he gets chewed up soggy goldfish all over his clothes, and he likes to play in the dogs' water and food bowls every chance he gets.  He is normally filthy.  It is not possible to keep him clean, so why worry about it?

After the splash pad he spent part of the afternoon trying to pick up 2 of his balls at the same time.  He tried over and over and over.

He started out trying to scoop both of them up at the same time, stretching his arms as wide as he could...

Then, he brought one ball over for me to hold, picked up the other ball, and then came back to get the first ball from me.  I thought that was pretty smart, but it still didn't work.

Then he discovered the tag on the soccer ball and it was victory!

He is napping now and I am going to try to book a condo at the beach for a quick little trip.  It will be our first vacation as a family of three!

Also, please keep Mason in your prayers as he is going to see a pediatric ENT at Children's in Birmingham in a couple of weeks.  We are getting a consultation on his tongue since he was born "tongue tied." (I just made the appointment, family, which is why you may read this before I have a chance to tell you about it.) The doctor will let us know if surgery is required or if he thinks that it will fix itself in time. I pray that he won't have to have surgery but I fear that his tongue is connected too close to the tip.  I will keep you posted.  Thanks in advance for your prayers!

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!