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!!