Happy Halloween

Someone is thrilled to be a monkey for Halloween!

October and 14 Months Old

October is almost over and Mason has changed so much since he turned 1. He finally took that leap of faith with that first few unassisted steps on October 1st and now has us on our feet (toes) more than we would like! We were just like everyone else as they anxiously/nervously ("is he ever gonna walk?!")/excitingly waiting for that moment and now just want him to sit down for a breather! :) Such an amazing sight to see your child become more and more independent with every step (pun intended).

This is what Mason looks like these days!

playing the drums and posing for a pic before the gig.

rockin' out

he worked up an appetite...

As mentioned in previous posts, we got a Zoo Pass and LOVE it! It has already paid for itself over and over. So nice to not feel guilty about being there for an hour or so...$100 well spent since we already went 5 times since the beginning of Sept! A few weeks ago Auntie Kris came over and we headed to the Zoo. We had great weather and Mason enjoyed himself so much we needed an outfit change. Good thing it was unseasonably warm because we had a diaper only clad boy in the middle of the action and all he wanted was to get at his snack.

gotta stay hydrated! Gatorade with added salt "yum!"

The Zombie walk demonstrated

always go for a train ride before we leave!

Mason is eating all table food now. He continues to love to eat yogurt (it is our go to food if he refuses all else) and applesauce. He likes peas, turkey, and cheese. To be honest there is not much he won't at least take a few bites of...with the exception of pancakes... immediately spits them back out! It has become such a normal thing that we add oil/butter/salt to all his food. In the store we are often putting back food that is "low fat" and make a game of who can find the most fattening food. We get excited when we see a lot of calories/fat/sodium in one small item. I will be honest and say that part still feels weird and I struggle with it some on several levels. Just another way CF keeps poking it's head into our day. He is not a big drinker and he is not too excited about leaving the bottle in the dust. Still working on that and trying to get him to hold the bottle/sippy cup.

like father, like son... :)

Mason let us know he wanted this bag a chips by pulling it into the cart himself! Probably should be glad it wasn't a bottle of wine on the right!

I do love my undefeated Super Bowl Champ Packers!

Mason will love me in 15 years when he sees this! Finally captured his poppy face. ha! He stops what he's doing, makes a few grunts, and his nose gets red!

he plays by a different set of rules...I foresee many a trip to the E.R....just scroll away from this picture Grandma. :)

We hung out in the Mommy and Mason fort this week. Mason opted for exiting via under the chair instead of the opening...10 times over.

Love my daddy!

Hello Ladies!!!!

What does he like to do: open the game cabinet and take out all the playing cards and play 52 card pick up, climb on top of his play table and play with toys, pull all his books out of the shelf and page through them but won't sit still enough to actually read to him, makes a beeline to the linen/storage cabinet in the bathroom if the door is left open and pull out all the bottles of shampoo/body wash then proceed to put them back in the cabinet then repeat, turn on/off light switches especially the one at the top of the stairs because he can reach it himself, run after Mia, gives lots of hugs and Eskimo kisses, take any object out of a container and place it back in then repeat, and climb up on to the red chair next to his Vest/nebulizer machine and sit (even if it is for 20 secs), laughs a ton(can't get enough of that), enjoys sneaking up and startling you and vice versa, he is babbling non stop with some distinct words he says "mama", "daddy/dada", "kitty", and "yea".....is this a record for the longest run on sentence? Ha!

Gotta get my blog post up!

Sometime I like to play in my closet...

Remember how I said he likes to put objects into other objects? This was 8:00pm....and

...this was 8:10pm. Pretty fancy clothes hamper!

Hey everybody!

It was only a matter of time when he discovered what fun TP can be! So, what did I do but grab the camera and let him continue to play while I laughed this one time.

He as been to see the doctor twice this month already. He ended up with a cold that turned into a double ear infection. That was not fun. It meant antibiotics, increased treatment to 3x day, nasal spray, nebulizer meds 2x day, and a whole lot of praying it didn't get into his lungs. The cold was the worst part only because he would cough and wheeze in his sleep. There were a few times that I bolted into the room because I didn't like what I heard. We put a pillow under one side of the crib mattress to help with drainage. He even got a chest x-ray because he sounded so gunky...I think his x-ray count since birth is literally in the 40's! He is going to glow in the dark soon! We went back 11 days later for his flu shot and recheck those ears...looks good now! He weighed in at 23 pounds 2 ounces with minimal clothing on and was measured at 31 1/4 inches. We will see where he is on Nov. 14th in the CF clinic.

The post below this has all our excitement at the Pumpkin Farm. Getting excited for Halloween as this will be Mason's first year to participate since he can walk all over and even eat some of the candy! It won't be too hard to figure out what he is going to be!

Pumpkin Farm 2011

This past weekend we took a little trip to a pumpkin farm down by Union Grove. We could not have asked for better weather! It was a fantastic day for pickin' a punkin'. This place is going to be great when Mason is a little older...trailer rides, corn maze, hay tunnels, and bouncy house. It was awesome to see him explore and watch him take it all in. Last year he was so young and this year he can get into so much more trouble! I think Mason loved it also since he refused to go down for a nap all day until he gave in at 8pm! So, in no particular order are the memories from the day...

Those pumpkins were soooo much bigger than him

hmmm... awkward family photo anyone?!?

King Mason of the House of Hay

"I choose this one, Daddy!"

again with the awkward family photo...but that is a real pumpkin if your wondering!

Beware of the Green and Blue ghost...but I hear the White ghost is friendly

There are no words for this picture... :)

walking, walking, walking everywhere

Love this little guy!

Mason loves his grandpa Dave

31 1/4 inches to be exact

Mason was not loving picture time at this point

not a John Deere but it will do

we had the hardest time taking this picture because all he wanted to do was look at all the kids running around

Grandma posted bail for him if you were wondering.

This was Mason telling us it was time to go home now

Oops I lost my pants

awww

Again, Mason telling us he was done for the day

On to the Next Step

I have about 3 other blog posts to put up that are saved and need to finish them...but...this warrants top priority in the world of Mason at this moment!

Mason has finally gotten that one burst of confidence to take his first unassisted step and we are in trouble. Last night he was taking 2-3 steps and would fall/sit down. However, today the Umnus household has now another two footed traveler. Check out our little stud..perhaps he just wants to join in on the awesomeness of this weekends events! Way to go sweet boy!

Here is a look down memory lane that got his to this point...gonna make you work to see the walking video!

1.6.11 : First Roll Over's

4.27.11 : First Crawl's

6.16.11 : First Cruisin'

10.2.11 : First Steps

see below for another post from yesterday that I posted today!

One Year CF appointment

Written on 9.26.11

Mason had his "One Year" appointment at the CF clinic today. We spend a pretty good chuck of our day at Children's...9:15am to 1:30pm! The appointment was Great! Mason is up to 22lbs 2oz putting him into the 30% and is almost 31 in tall! That is a 2 oz shy of one pound in a month! Mason has had a "small" cold that we caught right away. We had started to up his Vest treatments to three times a day but because he is better so quickly we are backing down to the twice a day! We will finish out the antibiotic on Friday and then back down the Pulmozyme to once a day starting in one week. Our days will feel so much more free! But it was such great visit we don't have to come back for 3 months!

Our current pulmonlogist is also a lead researcher in CF at Children's. Today we signed up for another research project. We are happy to help by participating, you never know what will come of it! This project is looking at the DNA of CF person and their parent's to see not only what CF gene mutations they have but are there other DNA markers that affect a CF person's progression of lung disease. You see, people may have the same two mutations but their CF presents and progresses differently. So we, as a a family, went up to 4th floor research lab to have our blood drawn together! Was a funny sight! I guess a family who draws blood together stays together...

We were also able to get a loot before we left. We ended up taking home a new nebulizer kit, inhaler, mask, and 6 cases of pediasure for free! That's $288 worth of pediasure people! Such is the life of CF... excitement over new medical crap! HA!

Now just to stay healthy as the cold/flu season is starting. So we go back to being more cautious with our outings and hand hygiene. Hand washing is the number one way to help prevent the spread of infections! So be forewarned that we will be asking you to wash your hands more around Mason. We already had one hospital stay (look for a post coming up on that) and would like to keep it that way for a LONG LONG time.

We also picked up a new Avent iQ24 baby bottle sterilizer. This the is one that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation recommends for sterilizing things primarily nebulizer stuff. Anyone know if we can write this $90 machine off on taxes? We ill be buying them yearly from now on.