Thankful Thurdays-

I am so thankful for having such a wonderful little girl. She is the light of my life. One thing that makes me so grateful...when Joe and I lay Jenna down to sleep, we go through a routine. It's always the same to create good habits. We start with bathtime, getting dressed for bed, and then a story. Joe and I take turns reading the bedtime story. Then we sit quietly to unwind and appreciate how great our family is. We say our goodnights and see you in the mornings and lay Jenna down to sleep. We give her her blankie and lay a blanket over her to keep her warm. We turn on her light show/music player and walk out. We close the door and just stand there for a second, while Joe and I just hug each other because we are just so thankful! I love this time of my day. It is one of the best and worst times: I love putting Jenna to bed because it's so sweet and a great family moment, but hate that I won't get to see her for the next 10 hours. Sometimes Jenna falls right to sleep, but sometimes I check our video monitor and see that she's still awake, just laying there quietly trying to fall asleep. She is so sweet, not even a peep. Just relaxing and probably unwinding from her busy day of toys! She might even lay there for 30-45 minutes wide awake-eyes open- until she drifts off to dreamland. Hopefully sweet dreams...

Teething Baby!!

So, I'm really hoping that Jenna is teething now! She doesn't have any teeth yet and has been so grouchy...there must be some kind of reward after all this fussiness! I feel so bad for her and can't even imagine what it feels like...so hopefully we'll see some pearly whites in the next couple of days!

My first Mother's Day!

I am so excited to share with you-my wonderful weekend. Joe turned my Mother's Day into a Mother's Weekend! On Friday, Jenna had a Kay's Jewelry bag for me! Inside I found a beautifully wrapped gold box. I waited unpatiently and let Jenna play with the box while I took some pictures of her. I had to fight her grip on that box so I could finally open it! She didn't want to let go, and I couldn't wait any longer! So I unwrapped a beautiful gift. A necklace with diamonds and a pearl. I absolutly love it! Jenna loves it too and always wants to grab it! So then on Saturday we drove to Amelia Island and took Jenna to Fernandina Beach for the first time! We put her little feet into the ocean and she cried. It was so funny...the water was pretty warm so I thought she'd enjoy it, but she just got scared. She sat on a mat in the sand and just played. Then on Sunday, I woke up to Joe making me breakfast. Jenna slept in until 9:30!!! I couldn't believe it...we must've really worn her out at the beach! Either that, or she knew it was Mother's Day and wanted me to get lots of sleep! When I went to get her out of her crib, she had a card for me. She's so thoughtful! :) We had a fun weekend-too bad Mother's Day only comes once a year! Joe set the bar pretty high for Father's Day (email me ideas!)!!

Crawling Video

Drive to Pensacola

I drove 6 hours from Jacksonville to Pensacola with an 8 month old baby! Am I crazy or what?! Well, believe it or not...she didn't make one peep. She slept and played with her toy on her carseat and was soo quiet. We finally made it to Pensacola and Jenna got to see her Grandpa and Grandma! They haven't seen each other since Thanksgiving...so 4 months ago! My, has she changed since then. Grandma was so impressed on how well behaved she was. How she's such a *good baby*. We reunited the whole Mason Clan, all 5 of us! The last time all 5 of us were together was back in 2001! Holy cow-we haven't all been together for THAT long?! Well, it was a treat to see everyone at the same time, however, it was under sad circumstances. Grandma's funeral is scheduled for April 24, 2009. :(

Okay, so we had a great time visiting with the family. We're home now, safe & sound. Now, we can get back into our normal routine. It's nice knowing that my Grandma is at peace and is playing golf and eating orangle slices in Heaven! :)

Baby on the MOVE!!

We finished work early today, so I picked up Jenna so my co-workers could play with her. They made her work for what she wanted and she began crawling! They tempted her with her favorite snack and she started scooting towards them! And once she finally came in arms reach, they would move them just a little bit further away. Jenna was getting frustrated, but she never gave up. So now, she wants to crawl all over the place. We call it her "Wounded Warrior Crawl". It is absolutly hilarious! Check out the video and see for yourself!

First Flight to Nashville!

Jenna and I flew to Nashville to visit with Jeannie & Angie. She did awesome on the plane! When we got dressed this morning, Jenna wanted to wear her shirt that read "I love my Aunt" and when Aunt Jeannie & Aunt Angie saw her, they noticed it right away! Jenna loves her Aunties! So we did some shopping and pushed Jenna around the mall while we oohed and aahed over baby clothes for Angie & Devlin's new addition! We stayed at Aunt Angie's house and played with Myka and Zoe. The dogs loved her toys and really wanted a taste of her puffs and baby food. Jenna doesn't like to share! On Friday, we visited Angie's workplace then went over to Jeannie's house. Jenna finally met her Uncle Ney! She played with her cousins, Daniel and Branden. On Saturday, we had a baby shower for Angie! It was a great success and we had a blast! Angie's friends came over and we laughed and played games. She got wonderful gifts! Jeannie made us a special treat: Key Lime Napoleons! And they have become my new favorite dessert! Yummy!! I can't wait to make them for Joe! Then Sunday, we said our goodbyes :(
and we flew home.
Sadly, when we got home...we got some sad news from my Dad...my Grandma passed away :(
so...another trip on Thurday- to Pensacola.

Easter with Grandma & Sarah!!

What a nice surprise for Jenna's first Easter! Grandma and Sarah came to visit and came bearing gifts! Jenna got a wonderful Easter basket with rubber ducky toys, a peeping chick, and a singing frog! However, the best present...her first stuffed bunny! It's twice the size of her and she loved it! We laughed and played all day! We went for a nice walk and went to the park. Jenna loves the swing! We got her a Hello Kitty Easter basket filled with books, toys, and candy! However, since Jenna can't eat candy and chocolate just yet...I was able to help her out. So, we still have 4 days left to spend with the family before our mini vacation!

Ear Infection?!

I had NO idea!! I dropped Jenna off at daycare like normal and went on my merry way to work. After 4 hours of being at work, the daycare calls me to tell me that Jenna needs to be picked up because she has a fever. I was shocked! Really? She seemed fine when I left her there. So I leave work and get to the daycare to see Jenna laying in her crib looking sad :( I felt her head and she was burning up! Even her arms were warm! Her fever was still mild at 101 degrees so I thought I'd just call the doctor to see if she needed to be seen. Because of the holiday weekend with Easter on Sunday, they said better be safe than sorry. So we head over to the pediatrics office and they re-check her temperature. In the 35 minute drive over, her fever climbed to 103.4 degrees! Crazy! So, she has a left ear infection! She's on Amoxicillin now and seems to be doing better. Hope this clears up soon!

Growing up...

I swear, this child changes so drastically! Just 2 weeks ago, she was barely sitting up on her own. Now, with practice, she's able to sit unassisted for a good amount of time. She only topples over when trying to reach something behind her or out of her reach. She is pretty stable and keeps her balance well! She is also "wanting" to crawl. At least, that's the way it looks. She might just be tricking us! She can lay on her belly and hold herself up on her arms, but not her knees. She can spin around on her belly a whole 360 degrees! A little bit of scooting backwards, but not a whole lot of actually moving forward. I swear, I'll shut my eyes and then she'll be crawling. I just can't believe how fast she learns new things. She is even watching my mouth when I say words like MaMa, DaDa, doggie. She is saying m's, d's, b's, and g's. I'm just amazed...

Yucky stomach bug!

Today I stayed home from work to keep Jenna at home. She has gotten this yucky stomach bug (yes, from daycare). I know that this is just one of those things that you have to deal with when having your child in daycare, but I'm willing to accept that germs and viruses are spread everywhere so I can't hate daycare too much! Jenna got sick on Saturday 3.7.09 with vomiting and diarrhea. I changed her normal diet to just formula in small amounts more frequently so she can get the fluids she needs without upsetting her tummy too much. She is doing much better today. She is able to keep all of her milk down, but still having runny poopies. As soon as her stomach gets a little stronger, the nurse said that it would be good to give her a little bit of rice cereal to help thicken up her diet and hopefully her bowels. TMI (too much information)?? :) Well, I just hope she's feeling better soon!

Better late than never...

So we are nearing Jenna's 7 month old mark and I know that this comes a little late, but I just wanted to be able to have a place where you can come and find out all about Jenna! As you follow along, you will ready any and all of what is going on and see many new pictures and hopefully some videos as well (assuming that I can figure out how to post them!). So, all I can say is: Enjoy!!

Back in Time

So I'm just going to go back in time a little bit to tell you a little more about how our story began. Jenna was born August 11, 2008 at 2:00pm. She weighed 6Lbs 4Oz and was 18.5 inches long. It was definatly love at first sight. Since bringing her home from the hospital, we have seen all of her cries, smiles, emotions, and faces! We are learning her personality! She has grown so much and is developing normally. As of now, she is all about tummy time! Her favorite position is laying on her belly. She reaches and grabs for everything within her reach and tries to grab at things that are just a little too far. If she can't reach it, she'll pout until she gets what she wants. She has no desire to crawl!! We try not to give her what she wants so maybe she'll be motivated to crawl, but no...it doesn't work that way! She rolls all over the place and can turn in any direction that interests her. So we'll see what happens next!