The LoBsTeR

Whenever over at my parent's house, Mason would instantly say "Lobster, ya!" and go running down the hall to Steven's room to see the blue lobster he had in his fish tank. He would then come running back and take turns grabbing everyone by their finger and drag them down there so they could see the lobster with him. Before Steven left on his mission, he was going to give the lobster to his friend. He wanted it gone asap, but I begged him to keep it one more day so I could get pictures of Mason with it since he loved it so much. Steven was nice enough to "inconveniently" keep it for one more day, and bring it over before dropping it off at its new home. Mason loved watching the lobster crawl around on our kitchen floor. He got nervous when it was too close to him, but he finally started to get brave and touched it a few times. I was so glad Steven agreed to do this. Mason misses the lobster, but he's finally to the point where he doesn't even mention it anymore when over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. (As you can tell by the pictures, Steven loved to tease him with it, and try to scare him.)

Grandpa's Little Helper

While over at my parent's house, Mason just LOVES to play outside. He just sits and begs and pleads for anyone to take him outside. Usually he gets his way and my family does whatever he wants because he is so spoiled! Well, this particular afternoon, we all decided to go outside with him and get some fresh air while Mason played in the dirt and looked for bugs and spiders (his absolute favorite thing to do). It eventually turned into weeding the flower bed while we were sitting there. My dad then went and got the big garbage can and all the tools, and we went to work...including Mason! After hauling all the rocks away from under the rain gutter that were there on purpose, he grabbed tools and helped us dig out weeds, rake the dirt, and haul all the weeds to the garbage can (which for us was an easy toss, but for him was a chore to carry them, but he loved it!). He loved finding lady bugs and letting them crawl all over his hand. I was taking the cutest pictures of him just smiling and laughing with the lady bug on him; and then I looked at the pictures and about died. The camera was on the wrong setting, so none of the pictures turned out. By the time I got the camera set right, he was not too interested in the lady bug anymore. I had to pretty much force him to play with it again so I could get a few pics of it. So that was almost devastating for me. I know, I know...I'm way too crazy about pictures. :) When we were all done, he even helped Grandpa haul the big garbage can around to the back of the house. It was a fun afternoon for all of us, but especially for Mason.

Great Grandpa T

We went over to visit my grandparents on my Grandpa Thompson's birthday. It was Isaac's first time meeting him, and Mason hadn't seen him for a couple months. As a result, Mason was very unsure of the situation when we put the two kids on his lap for some photos. Again, as a result, none of the pics turned out the way I wanted, but that's highly expected given the situation I guess. My grandma hasn't been in too good of health lately, so out of respect for her, we did not get pics of the kids with her even though I wanted to sooooo badly (she HATES her picture being taken). Sad to say it, but I'll probably never get a picture of Isaac with her.

Isaac's Blessing Day

Isaac Vance Sandgren was blessed on March 1st by his daddy. It was such a beautiful blessing. After sacrament was over, we had family and some friends over to our place for some food. Since our place is quite small, it was pretty crowded, but it worked out okay. Thank you to everyone who brought food and helped us in any other way.

Mason's Dream

This is a video I took about a month ago. I thought it was pretty cute. Mason had just woken up from his nap and was telling me about his dream. He kicked a ball and it gave him a big owie on his toe. I ran and got the recorder and helped him tell the story again. I was afraid he wouldn't cooperate and tell it again, but this time, we got lucky! He even sang for me!!

A Stairwell Full of Leaves...Annoying, but FUN!

After constantly having leaves tracked into our house everyday almost all year long (with the exception of the wonderful summer months), you think I would go crazy every time there is a single leaf in our stairwell leading to our front door. But somehow, we can find joy in the pessimistic parts of our lives...and this is how!

The Spider Hunt

Lately, Mason is obsessed with spiders. He's also always had a thing for flashlights. Put the two together, and what do you get? A spider hunt! This one particular night, we were all hanging out in our room for various reasons. Vance was doing homework, I was folding laundry, and Mason was, of course, looking for spiders. He had this particular corner where he would sit and shine his flashlight in and point to a black speck on the carpet, and just talk about that speck being a spider. He was entertained for hours! At one point, Vance put Mason's toy ant in the corner while Mason was distracted. However, with the reality Mason was trying to create, he was not too impressed with the ant!

The next day, I decided to clean our front window. As I was doing so, I noticed a small banana spider up in the corner. I had Mason stand on a box so he could see it, and boy did he go nuts! He went even more crazy when I reluctantly persuaded the spider into a glass jar so Mason could see it up close and personal! Needless to say, the spider hunt was a success!!

However, unfortunately the spiders fate was inevitable. While carrying the jar around like it was attached to him 24/7, he dropped it in the kitchen where it shattered all over. Vance removed the spider while Mase was not looking! It was fun while it lasted, but lucky for us the spider hunts continue on everyday. He even talks about spiders while trying to fall asleep, and first thing when he wakes up. I just hope he finds a different obsession soon because I HATE SPIDERS!!!

What To Do??

So about a week ago, I took Mason in to the doctor for a check up and while I was there, I told the doc about Isaac. He spits up a lot (which I figured meant he has reflux), but he is also always acting uncomfortable. He's always grunting and groaning all the time and I wanted to know what was wrong. He then told me that because of his reflux, he is having pretty bad heartburn. He gave me a prescription for Prevacid and said it would help take the heartburn away. He also said I could try giving him Mylanta/Maalox before each feeding and see if that works before trying the Prevacid if I wanted. I am so torn between what to do. I definitely do not want my poor baby to be in pain and uncomfortable, but I have heard my mom in the past say how crazy she thinks it is for baby's to be on medication like that. She is so anti-medication, and pro-anything natural, that she strongly believes that probiotics will solve almost any problem. I want to agree completely with her because anything natural is always better than medications IF it does the job. But I can't stand the idea of my helpless little baby being in pain. I have started giving him probiotics everyday and it does seem to be helping. He's definitely a happier baby, but I wonder if the Prevacid would do even better. I need to do my own research on the medication, but if there is anyone out there that has any experience with this same situation, or has any opinion on the matter, I would love to hear from you!

Date with Dad

Vance rarely gets an opportunity, or an excuse to take Mason out and spend time with just him. So when Isaac and I had a baby shower to go to on a Saturday afternoon, Vance took the opportunity gratefully and with much excitement. He ended up taking Mason to the park, and then to McDonalds for lunch. They both had a very enjoyable time. I am so grateful for what an amazing dad Vance is. He really treasures these moments of spending quality time with Mason. Soon enough, there will be two boys running around at times like this!

Yellow's!!

If candy was all Mason could eat, he would be so happy. He loves any candy he can get his hands on. M & M's (which is what he calls "yellow's" at my parent's house because we tried teaching him the color yellow with them), mike and ike's, licorice, lemon heads, etc... In these particular pictures, he had licorice in his mouth and was so excited about it, he wanted to share it with the camera! Enjoy!!

Happy Third Birthday Carter!!

ER

Vance did not want me to blog this for some reason, but this blog is like my journal, so I am blogging it anyways. Wednesday, Feb 18th was a day I wish I could forget forever. It started out just great, but ended with a haunting experience I'm afraid I will never forget (It seems like it's one thing after another with us). It started with Vance dropping me and the kids off at my parents so they could watch the kids while I went to a doctor appointment. After the appointment I had to run a few errands which I completely enjoyed. I feel like it had been months since I had been out driving around by myself during the day, and it felt great! I stopped at Bountiful Nutrition to get Gripe Water to try it with Isaac. He seems so uncomfortable all the time and I have heard people swear by it up and down, so I was quite excited to try it. When I arrived back at my parents house, the first thing I did was open the Gripe Water and get the dosage ready to give him. It comes with a syringe to use instead of a dropper, but I didn't really think anything of it. I measured out 1/2 tsp, and put it in his mouth. I barely pushed on it cause I know it can come out fast if you're not careful. Well, it did just that. It just shot right out and Isaac started choking and gasping for air. My mom was holding him, and she quickly started patting his back trying to help him get his breath. He got a small breath of air, and was right back to choking again. This happened over and over again until he was purple... and then gray. I was just yelling his name over and over again not knowing if he was going to take another breath again. I just kept thinking that he was just fine, and that there was no way this was happening to my baby. But my mom kept reminding me that he was still choking and turning purple. She called my dad in and we all started to panic. Julie walked in the house, and at that point, we were pretty much on our way out the door to take him to the ER. She took one look at him, and confirmed the idea of getting him there asap. His car seat was in our car at Vance's work, but that didn't matter. Car seat or not, we were taking him. I called Vance on the way and told him to meet us at the hospital. Luckily on the way there, Isaac burped a little and got some of it out and from that point on, he was able to breathe better, and started to slowly get his color back. When we got to the hospital, I was so shaken up that I could barely tell them what had happened. While filling out the paper work, they took his vitals and got us to a room for the Dr. to look at him. The main thing we were all concerned about is if he had aspirated or not. They said his lungs sounded real good but they did an x-ray just to make sure. The verdict was that everything looked good except there was a "marking" on the lower part of one of his lungs that they weren't sure what it was from. He said if he had aspirated, he would have expected something on the upper part of his lungs. So...they sent us home with the understanding that we would come back if he had any trouble breathing of any kind, or if he developed a fever. I was relieved that there was nothing serious enough for them to keep him there at the hospital, but what was the "marking" on his lung all about? I just pray that it's nothing serious and nothing more happens. This boy is already keeping us on our toes and has been from week 13 of the pregnancy. I'm so grateful he's okay!

Isaac's First "Real" Bath

After exactly one week, Isaac's umbilical cord fell off, and boy was I excited! This meant that we wouldn't have to keep folding down his diapers, rubbing alcohol on it 3 times a day, and that he could finally have a real bath! It's always interesting to see a baby's reaction to their first bath. Mason HATED sponge baths, but LOVED real baths right from the start. Isaac hated sponge baths, but he also doesn't care much at all for his real baths either. He loves to lie in the warm water, but as soon as we start lathering him up, he goes crazy! I even make sure I let the soap sit in the warm water for a while so it's not shockingly cold. Anyway, here are a few pics of Vance giving him his first bath.