SAN ANTONIO - DAY 1

It was time for the family to get away, and away we went!  Choosing San Antonio was not put through rigorous analysis by any means.  We knew we would be gone in early April, so we wanted to go somewhere warmer.  Florida was an option, but I feel like when we go to Florida I want to do it all (mainly Disney), and we just weren't ready for that.  We thought about Arizona, but for some reason, just settled on San Antonio. And I'm really glad we did, because we had an amazing time.
Our flight left first thing in the morning, which meant that we got up during what still felt like the middle of the night to get there in time. The flights were everything I could ask for.  I was armed with food, drink, movies, and toys to help Mason be as agreeable as possible.  And overall he handled the flights as well as I could have hoped.  We ended up getting to our hotel by lunchtime, so we grabbed something to eat and set off exploring.
This is the view from our hotel room.  Yes, the river is brown, but look at all that green!  Seeing the greenery was a needed change for me, and (you will see this from the rest of the trip) that it has become a new little obsession of mine.  I may have just this morning bought a new houseplant and planted something San Antonio-inspired in our front garden.

We walked around the neighborhood and the riverwalk.  Just look at how my little baby is turning into a little man!

One of the first things we found to do was explore a children's museum. Mason  enjoyed it very much.  And it wasn't very busy, either, so Mason pretty much had his way with any of the exhibits he wanted. Unfortunately one of us (me) had a little trouble figuring out the camera's white balance at first, so forgive a couple yellowish photos.

Lest you think Mason was tired of airplanes after his morning adventure, think again.  We seriously spent like 30 minutes playing in that plane. Toddler eternity.  I am very thankful that Mason got the opportunity to explore without too much hand-holding or stroller confinement.
After the children's museum, we continued exploring and found the Alamo.  Now, I have a few admissions about the Alamo.  First, I didn't know it was in San Antonio, and I surely didn't know it was in the middle of the city.  Yes, the whole city is build around this little treasure.  And little isn't a joke.  It was tiny! No, we didn't go in, but I totally imagined it to be bigger.  Really, my only knowledge of the Alamo comes from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.  Please don't think less of me.

Those pictures aren't the best, but it is nice to have pictures that include Byron and me every once in awhile.  Mason is totally at the age where we end up with a lot of pictures of the side of his face or the back of his head.  After this, we walked the Riverwalk some more and then found a place to eat and went to bed.  I definitely think day two of our trip was my favorite, or at least one of the more memorable parts, so I'm excited to recount it up next!

ON EATING

Eating.  It is something that we all do, and although I like to think of myself as a mostly healthy eater (with a major sweet tooth), I will admit that I have never really watched what I eat very carefully.  There are times in my life I've plumped up a size and times I've slimmed down a size, but most of the time it came with relative ease.  I am lucky in that I have a small frame (I'm 5' 2").  But recently, I've had a few what I will call "health hiccups".  Nothing major is wrong, and no doctors have informed me that I need any type of lifestyle change, but these hiccups really did something to me and my mental state more than anything.  You see, it had been a little over a year and a half, and I was still carrying pregnancy weight.  How I wish I could be one of those people who slimmed down almost instantly, but I am not.  And I was having a hard time fitting in proper exercise in my life. 
So this motivated me to take a look at my options.  Are there dietary changes I needed to make?  I felt like for the sake of my health, both physical and emotional, the time for change was now.  I quickly found that the best option for me would be to cut out, or at least cut way back on, meat and dairy.  Meat wasn't that big of an issue, but dairy would be a bigger sacrifice for me.  Surprisingly, my husband said he would attempt to stick to my new eating plan (though he still adds cheese to his meals and eats meat).  So with his support, I made the change. 
Now, I didn't want to be stupid about this, because if I am going to be cutting out two food groups that I have been used to my whole life, I wanted to ensure that I wasn't losing out on nutrients.  So added to our diet became plenty of beans, larger hepings of greens and broccoli, more nuts, etc.  I turned to Pinterest to find recipes that would work for our family.  Some of them turned out great, and some of them, well, not so much (I'm looking at you chick pea brownies).  I've been going at this for about 8 weeks, and although I have been eating slightly more dairy and meat since I started, it is amazing what the change has done for me. 
Starting off, I have lost about 6 pounds.  And although I wouldn't quite say I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight, I have seen those numbers on the scale once.  So I'm *this close*.  Even better than that, though, I have way more energy.  I had begun crawling into bed shortly after Mason would go down, which completely eliminated any time that Byron and I had together without him.  Now, I can stay awake for a full hour - sometimes more - after he goes down. That sounds pathetic, I know, but keep in mind I wake up at 5 every day, so early bedtimes are still a must.  Now I can go to bed at 9:30 instead of 8:00.  And the increased energy that I feel really helps my family.  I can play with Mason more.  Our house is cleaner.  Our things are more organized.  And the more I read, the more I think this can all be blamed on the sugar I was eating. 
I seem to be hitting the phase of any new initiative where the initial excitement is wearing off, and now meal planning is getting just a smidge harder, but I am committed to continue.  I don't want this to be so much of a diet change, but rather a way of life.  I hope to shortly lose those last few pounds, feel better about myself as summer is coming around, and have more energy to be participating in life with my family! 

HAPPY EASTER

I am a bit behind the times in wishing people a happy Easter, but I actually have a good reason.  A little something called vacation happened to us.  And let me tell you, it was AH-mazing.  Pictures will be coming soon.  But for now, I want to share a couple of photos from our Easter. First, my little dapper Dan.  Isn't he a cutie?  The bowtie might be a bit much, but he just looked so darn handsome in it (and a little mischievous).

My dad is a minister and planning to retire in October, so it was really important to us to attend his last Easter service, and he did such a great job.  And the weather was great, too, which meant we could get a few pictures outside.  We are notoriously bad at capturing holiday pictures of our family, but we managed to get a couple this time!  Of course, attempting to capture a toddler on camera is another battle in itself.

I hope you and your families had a very happy Easter.  He is risen!

ORGANIZING FROM WITHIN

I spent today organizing.  Organizing a lot.  But if you look around at my house, you might not be able to tell.  And that's because I tackled something that I haven't really focused on before - our paper storage. AKA the filing cabinet.  AKA where papers go to die.  Okay, that was a little dramatic.
At one time, all of my files were very organized.  That was when I was fresh out of college and had very few things to file.  Fast forward about eight years, and the originally organized system had been reduced to a mess.  I had a few files that were in great shape, mainly our medical bills and our taxes (kind of need that one to be in order), but everything else was a hot mess.  What also happened is that what 23 year old Katie thought was an important paper worth filing, 31 year old Katie realized didn't need to be kept after all.  So today was the day to tackle that.
There really wasn't a method to my madness.  I would just go down to our filing cabinet (which is in the storage part of our unfinished basement, which may be part of the reason I didn't like to spend much time in front of it), retrieve a chunk of stuff that I wanted to sort through, keep what was necessary, and shred the rest. Then repeat the process.  When I was done, this was my damage.

There is one bag hiding in this picture, but in reality, that's seven bags of shredded paperwork.  And a 2+ inch thick stack of file folders that were to be recycled.

Although there is not a lot of visual benefit to this task, it was really rewarding.  I think for me, when things get disorganized, whether it would be drawers, countertops, closets, etc., I get stressed.  Which is interesting, because I am definitely the main clutter causer in our house. But I have been working on cutting clutter for a long time (hello purge process), but this one task has been hanging over my head for quite some time.  And now it's done, and I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I feel like my whole house has been freshly cleaned and organized...even though it's definitely not.  But the weight is off my shoulders, and the next time my house is clean and organized, I'll be able to enjoy it that much more.
To make a productive day seem even more productive, I do have to report that I washed, dried, and/or folded five loads of laundry, ran to the supermarket, unloaded the dishwasher, and did a few other random things around the house.  It probably isn't much to some people, but seriously, I'm thrilled with myself.

TODDLER ACTIVITIES

We are at the age with Mason where the attention span is generally short.  I have found a few things that can consistently keep his attention for about 15-20 minutes (ahem, Toy Story), but I don't like to rely on TV for that too much.  So I have been trying to come up with activities to try with Mason that will be new and fun.  At least for a few minutes.
So I'm sure I saw this on the Internet somewhere, and I'm sure many people have done this before, but for my first activity with Mason, we tried a version of no mess finger painting.
Step 1:  Scoop some paint into a large Ziploc.  In my case, I had some sort of Crayola washable paint, but I'm sure almost anything would work.
Step 2:  Tape to window.
Step 3:  Go to town.

This activity probably lasted us about 15 minutes, which is a win in my book.  We have done it twice so far, and I have to admit the second time wasn't quite as exciting.  But I'm hoping that it was just Mason's mood and that we will be able to do this activity more often.  This is a pretty big change from the kind of craft projects I did before Mason, but that's okay, I'll take this any day.  I am looking forward to finding and trying new activities and projects with my little toddler in mind.  (Note:  water color painting didn't fair so well with us!)

ONE AND A HALF

Today is the day.  Mason is 18 months old.  One and a half.  And for some reason, that is striking me as a real milestone.  You would think I would have had these feelings when he turned one, but at one, I think babies are still babies.  He was walking, but still wobbly.  He was eating on his own, but not very well.  And now, in these past six months, the boy has changed before our very eyes from a baby to a genuine toddler.  Here are some of my general thoughts and reflections on who we like to affectionately call "the boy"... 

You have so much energy.  Just watching you run (not walk, full on run) from room to room or toy to toy wears me out.
You love trains, especially Thomas.  You play with trains every day at your sitter's house and then all night and weekend long with us.
You are getting more and more words every day.  For awhile I thought you would never speak, but rather only communicate in animal noises the rest of your life.  You have proven me wrong, and now you regularly say Mama, Dada, Gramma (arguably the funniest one!), Grampa, Papa, Bebe (my sister Betsy), Minnie, shoes, cheese, choo choo, uh oh, football, and basketball.  You didn't learn those sports words from us, kid. 
Speaking of animal noises, you have those down, too.  You know lion, tiger, bear, dog, cat, owl, birdie, goose, sheep, cow, horse, fish (the best), elephant, giraffe (the other best), crab, seahorse, and snake. You know what each of these animals are and can identify them in books as well as a frog, duck, and raccoon. 
When you eat, you take a bite and then throw your fork or spoon on the floor immediately.  We are working on that.  Because of this, we haven't pushed their use, but recently you fed yourself a couple of bowls of cereal as well as applesauce, and you kept your spoon in hand! 
You are very romantic.  When I ask if I can have a kiss you turn around and lean back with these romantic eyes and give the best open mouth kisses.  We are going to have to talk to you and address your technique before high school, though. 
You still don't sleep through the night.  And you know how to be naughty.  Yes, you really know how to be naughty.  For example, sometimes you hit the dog.  When you have done it time and time again and haven't listened to me, I will tell you, "Mason if you hit her again you are going to get a spanking."  So what do you do?  You hit her, incredibly softly. I am constantly finding myself having to decide if you did something wrong or if you are just tricking me.  Sometimes I just look at you and tell you that we had you to make all of our parenting mistakes on so that if we have additional children, they will be perfect. 

I received what I think is a complement from a coworker (which was later told to me by my boss).  He was commenting to her that I must just really love my son, because not a conversation goes by where I don't bring him up in one way or another.  It's true.  I am obsessed with that kid.  Even the naughty and challenging parts.  Mason, you have made us laugh, cry, and everything in between since the day you were born.  You are just incredible.  And you are getting so big.  Could you stop that, please?  Just stay little. 

TWAS A GREAT CHRISTMAS

It is now the new year, and I am overdue on my Christmas recap.  Quite honestly, I'm overdue on a lot of recaps, or just posts in general, but this one will have to do.  Christmas this year was both fun and trying at times with a toddler who is into everything.  I don't have many pictures, but you may notice in them that my tree was only decorated where little hands can't reach.  Although there were several tears shed about not being able to touch the pretty ornaments at free will, I still wouldn't change his curiosity for anything.

The little munchkin received the cutest Christmas jams you ever did see. You can barely see it in the picture, but under his elbow is a santa. Mason knows what Santa says, too, and can usually identify him. Listening to him say "ho...ho...ho" with the big pause in between each syllable is super cute (O is his favorite letter, which is may be why this was easy to teach him).
Christmas morning, we opened our presents in the dark.  Mason's big Christmas gift was his train set, which we knew would be a hit since he loves the set at his sitter's.  We set it up after he went to bed the night before, so that it would be right there for him in the morning.  Groggy Mason lasted for about a minute, and when his mind registered what was in front of him, he went right to work.

I have to share this next picture, too, because there is a funny story to go with it (at least to me).  Our laptop battery is dying, and a while before Christmas, Byron had said just to make the new battery his gift. Right.  I had already been stashing away extra money for an entire year because I knew I was going to get him an iPad.  But I didn't let on. However, the first time they tried to deliver it, I wasn't there and hadn't left the proper forms to receive it, so a note was left at our door that they had tried to deliver packages...from Apple.  And of course Byron read it.  So I still didn't let on.  And even when Mason had taken the wrapped present and essentially launched it off his high chair and Byron freaked out because it could be breakable, I still didn't let on.  Freaked out on the inside but maintained an "ain't no thang" composure on the outside. So when Christmas morning arrived, Byron totally thought he was getting a battery for a gift. When he opened this up, he said in a tone like he already knew what it was, "Oh yay, it's a - what?  Is this what it really is?"  Yes.  I totally surprised him.

And those were my highlights.  Yes, we had more family around, more presents to open, and more good times to celebrate, but those two people (and of course Minnie) are my world.  I really enjoy just being with them, and this past week and a half without work has been such a special time.
The last snapshot of our Christmas is the view of the tree that ended all of my recent nights.  I am no photographer, and I can't achieve the beautiful bokeh you will see other places, but this is still special to me.

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas and is looking forward with hope to the new year.  I hope to share some of my own thoughts and resolutions for the new year soon!