Houston

When we were in Houston for Kara's wedding, we were staying about 30 minutes from my friend Andrea's house. So, Friday morning, we got up and headed out to see her and Mason at their new house near Katy. I hadn't seen Mason since he was 6 months old except in pictures and now he is almost 2 1/2, so you could say he had changed quite a bit. Andrea is expecting a baby girl any day now and we were hoping to maybe get to see baby Madelyn while we were in town, but that didn't happen. She is still pregnant as of today anyway. Oh well, we got to tour their gorgeous new house and play with Mason. Kagen and Mason are about 15 months apart and wow, what a difference 15 months makes. Mason didn't quite understand why Kagen (or Craig as he called him most of the time) wouldn't play with him or come sit in his big boy bed with him. Kagen was his usual stubborn self and got hooked on a specific toy (a vacuum cleaner) and wouldn't think of doing anything else. Needless to say, this led to crying from both parties on many different occasions. They did manage to have a few moments of happy play times together, but mostly, we just had to play with them separately. Poor Andrea was just worn out by the time we left.

When we left, we headed back to the hotel to watch the Cotton Bowl and put Kagen down for a nap. Well, Kagen wouldn't take a nap, so at halftime, we went over to my aunt's house to watch the 2nd half. The game pretty much stunk, so I went over to my cousin's new house to take a quick tour of where she and her new husband will be living. Then, we went back to the hotel to get ready for rehearsal dinner and the rest of the weekened was spent on the wedding and traveling back home.

Kagen vacuuming and Mason mowing

Kagen still vacuuming and Mason taking the pliers to Kagen's hair

Sitting in Mason's big boy bed (notice the vacuum cleaner had to come, too)

Playing on the slide together

Kagen liked Mason's baseball chair

Kagen found a cabinet beside the minifridge in our hotel room that he fit in perfectly. He spent a lot of time climbing in and out of it.



Helping Daddy push the luggage cart to the car


Kagen also turned 13 months old on Kara's wedding day. He had 2 top teeth come in over the Christmas holidays and is a little closer to talking. He started communicating by pointing at things and saying "that?" I was amazed at how much he changed in the 2 weeks he was at home with us. He is completely off of the bottle as well now, too. We finished up the formula we had just before the holidays began and started him on whole milk and started taking away the bottle. We got to where he just got one at bedtime and occasionally first thing in the morning. When we got back from Stamford after Christmas, we took away the bedtime bottle. He still gets milk at bedtime, but in a sippee cup. The first two nights he didn't drink any, but now he drinks about 6-8 ounces out of cup before going to bed and about 8-12 ounces during the day from a cup as well. He drinks tons of juice and water as well. We are just glad to have been able to get rid of the bottle before he turned 13 months.

Anyway, I think this makes 5 blog entries for today and catches up on everything from the holidays. Andrea, thanks for letting us coming visit. We love your house and Mason! We can't wait to meet Madelyn! Hang in there.