The Hills 8-27-09

We are excited to see everyone for Justin's birthday party! Aunt Manda, Megan and Morgan & Aunt Connie come tonight, Papa & Great Grandma and Grandpa Metzler come tomorrow and then the whole clan for the party on Saturday! We are so excited to have so many family and friends over to celebrate with us :)

Things here are going well. Mason and I have had LOTS of bonding time since I'm nursing. He eats at least every two hours - sometimes more. We took him to his doctors appointment on Monday and he was down to 7 lb 10 oz (he was 8 lb 9 oz at birth and 8 lb 1 oz when we left the hospital). They wanted to see him back on Tuesday to check his weight again and do another bilirubin (sp?) test. He was borderline on Monday for jaundice. We took him back and luckily his levels were down and he gained 4 oz! Yeah :) So now he doesn't have to go back until next Friday! Mason is a really good baby...we can't complain - and he's SO cute :)

Here are some pictures from the last few days!





Justin and Mason - with their SpongeBob stickers














Cereal tower....that mommy would probably not let happen.....












....because of this :) That's okay - Gramma cleaned it up!

Making Mason beautiful for his first doctors appointment

On Monday night we had just finished watching Mr. Brooks at 10:30pm and there was a loud knock on the door - dogs went crazy and we were a little freaked out....then in walks Uncle Ry to surprise us! He had Tuesday off so he came and spent the day with us :) It was so nice for him to come meet his godson - we appreciate you driving all the way here! Love you brother!

Uncle Mikey and Justin making a hockey rink out of play-doh :)

What an angel....

He has been staying awake for longer periods of time - but still sleeps quite a bit!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Rob had to work this week and Uncle Mikey helped us with the lawn work. HUGE help! It's supposed to

Gramma and Mason

Uncle Ry and Justin playing in the sand - Justin is in HEAVEN with people to play with and get spoiled by all day!

Mason's first bath

Gramma getting him calmed down - he didn't like his bath too much :)

Mason's First Weekend

Hi there! Sorry it's taken so long to post - I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting pictures :)

As Rob posted Thursday night, Mason was born on Thursday night at 7:57 pm. I was in labor for almost 14 hours, so it was a very long day....but totally worth it!! We got to Methodist and checked in at 6am and then I was just really slow to dilate. I got the epidural around 1:30pm and it was wonderful - until it started wearing off. They came back and gave me more and said it would take about 20 minutes to kick in, but it never really did. The doctor checked me and I was still 9cm and said he'd be back in a bit. By this time the contractions were REALLY strong and the nurse told me to call if I felt like I had to push. I wasn't sure if it was that bad or not and didn't call...just cried through them. Then Dr. Fleming came back in to check me and put the glove on and as soon as he looked at me he said "let's get the tray ready" - he didn't even have to check because Mason's head was coming out; I guess I should have called sooner :) So the doctor got his sterile stuff on and he was out in 3 pushes. I thought Justin was quick at 6 pushes! He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces (the same as his mommy!) and is 20" long. He got a perfect 10 on his APGAR and has a full head of hair.

Here are a lot of pictures! Sorry - too lazy to caption all of them, but everyone who follows our blog should know everyone in them....me, Rob, Justin, Mason, Gramma Airplane, Uncle Mikey, Ericka and Steph. Oh, and thank you so much to those who sent beautiful flowers and balloons; Uncle Ry/Aunt Manda/Uncle Mikey, Katie/Josh, Stephanie, Thermosystems and Justin. When Justin walked in with the flowers I started crying immediately....I don't think that was the reaction he was expecting :) He's been SUCH a great big brother so far! I will post more about that this week sometime. They made my hospital room much brighter!!!

Rob and I really appreciate all of the well wishes! And HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to Gramma Airplane and Uncle Mikey for all of the help with Justin and around the house/yard!!!!!

Welcome to the world, Mason Charles!!!

We've got lots of videos and pictures to post, but they all need to be screened first and cropped if neccessary :) After a long day for all involved we're just too tired to do it tonight, but we thought we'd at least post a few and let everyone know that mom and baby are doing excellent!

Justin is VERY excited to meet his new brother. Mason was born 3 minutes before visiting hours ended, so he'll have to wait until morning!

The Hills 8-17-09

I can't believe this week is here!!!!!!!!!

Working today and tomorrow (plus a little shopping and probably a pedicure), pick up Gramma Airplane on Wednesday and be at the hospital at 6am on Thursday :) I'm so excited - except for the whole L&D part! I can't wait to meet this little man....and I can't wait to see Justin and his brother together for the first time!

Here are a few pictures from Aunt Connie's camera the weekend we were in Michigan.




I don't think I wore make-up the whole weekend, but other than that this is a good picture :)














I love this one!!!!

Weekend with Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda :)

We had such a fun weekend with Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda here! Justin got S-P-O-I-L-E-D!!!

They got here late, late Thursday night and then got woken up bright and early (like 6:30) Friday morning because we told Justin they would be here when he woke up. Then it was off to the zoo, Chuck E. Cheese, home for nap and dinner and then to Build a Bear and Emo's for ice cream! Saturday we got up and went to a charity breakfast for one of my customers and then home to play outside and take naps, then off to Lauren's pool party (late birthday party due to bad weather on the original day) and Kobe Japenese Steakhouse for dinner! They planned on leaving after dinner, but we were all so stuffed and sleepy that we just watched the Bears game on TV and they went to bed and got up at 4am and left so Ry could be to work on time! We told Justin before he went to bed that he could sleep with them in the toyroom but they would be gone in the morning. He woke up sad and crying, but I told him that he'd see them again in a couple weeks for his birthday and he was okay with that.

Thank you so much for visiting us and playing with Justin!!!!



Uncle Ry and Justin at Chuck E Cheese







With his newest "friend" J.B. - the St. Louis Blues panda bear :)









He also made a blue bear for Mason - and named him Austin. Not sure why, but it was his bear to make for his brother :)

Family picture before dinner on Saturday! Yes; I realize my belly/boobs are covering Justin, but it was the best one with all of us smiling :)

Justin eating at Kobe. He liked it and ate lots! He liked the "show" thing that they do while cooking your food except for the initial poof of fire when he comes to the table....it was pretty hot and shot up high!

Justin, Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda

Stealing some of Daddy's steak with chop sticks!

Rob and Melissa - we don't get too many pics of just the two of us anymore!

Rob catching some flying veggies from the grill

Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda :) I thought this picture turned out really good!!!

Justin helping Aunt Manda open the gift to them from Mason.....

....a Willow Tree statue called "New Life" - asking them to be Mason's Godparents! Of course they accepted :)

The Hills 8-12-09

One more week.....until Gramma Airplane flies in :) Yeah!!!!! It will be so nice to have her here for a while. Justin is very excited for Gramma to watch Sponge Bob in his bed with him at bedtime - good luck with that one Gramma! I am excited to be able to talk to you in person instead of phone tag all day long and Rob is excited to get a laundry break for a week :) (yes, you read that correctly...I don't do laundry. ever. love him!)

In other news:

*Went to the doctor on Monday for an appt and sono. Everything looks good - Mason is measuring about 38 weeks on everything except his head - that was 41 weeks. Ouch. Rob keeps teasing me that he's going to look like Stewie from Family Guy! The doctor said no need to come back in and he would see me in the hospital on the 20th, so I scheduled my 6 week check-up and was out of there!

*I took the dogs to the vet today...$406 later we were out of there and I was a dog hair covered sweaty mess :( Found out Quincy has a double ear infection (again). Seriously this dog has had ear infections his whole life, but I can't tell the vet "no I'd rather not pay for meds for him". That would make me look cruel. Oh, and Tucker is now 95 pounds! I don't get it. We measure out both of their food and Tucker is the more active one. So we have to put him on diet food and keep Quincy on the Lamb & Rice. She said there is a prescription diet food for $97 for a 20 pound bag. I politely told her thanks but no thanks. I mean if it takes a year or two off of his life span he'll still be fine. He's not so fat he can't walk. Oh, and I got them microchipped. We had not done this earlier, but now that Justin can open doors/gates/etc. we thought it was probably a good idea! Plus when I found that dog earlier this summer if he would not have been microchipped I would have had no idea what to do with him....

*I am so ready to have this baby! I want my horomones and emotions back!

You might know you are pregnant when:

• You spill your McD french fries all over the floor of the van on the highway....then start crying because you are too fat to bend over and pick them up (they were really good fries though!)
• You are sitting in church and see the date on the bulletin as Aug 9th and start crying because you realize in 3 weeks your parents will be on a plane back to LV. They are not even here yet and I was crying because they had to leave.
• You are trying to get the lawn mowed and run out of gas after 3 minutes....and of course you start crying.
• You are paying bills online and accidentally pay AT&T $460 instead of $160...but don't realize it until 3 days later when it's already processed. But at least no tears ensued!
• You start crying because you realize it's the last week that your first baby gets to be an only child and he has no idea that his world is about to be turned upside down....and then he looks at you and says "be happy mom...don't cry". To which I bawl harder.

I am sure there are more, but I can't think of them right now.

We are super excited to see Uncle Ry and Aunt Manda in two days :) Yeah!

I think that is all the news we have here - I got my new camera in the mail yesterday so I'll try to take some pictures tonight and post them tomorrow.

Huggies Deal!

Rob and I went to CVS yesterday and got a great deal on diapers! They are on sale this week at CVS for 2/$18 plus $4 extra care bucks back.

PLUS - if you email me (melissamet@hotmail.com) I can forward you a .pdf of a $2 off Huggies coupon (I made copies and they took them all!) I am not sure how to post the link here since I just have it as a .pdf in my email.

PLUS - if you go to cvs.com there is a thing on their home page to complete a health quiz and then you can print off a $5 off of $25 coupon!! http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/images/promotions/landingpages/rx/rx09030_readyfill/index.html?WT.mc_id=FH_080809_CVSHome_Ready%20Fill

We got (4) mega packs of diapers, (2) tubs of wipes, (4) diaper bag wipes - the ones in the plastic bag things and (3) 20 oz sodas for $43.00. AND we got a total of $11 back in extra care bucks to use later at CVS! This was in (2) transactions, but still....all of that for a total of $32.00 can't be beat!!! I am going to go back and get a new extra care card or two so I can do it again :) It's limit one tranaction per card for this deal.

Justin and Quincy

Just a cute picture for a Friday :) And yes...Justin did put it right back in his mouth after sharing! A couple years ago I would have freaked out about this, but I have relaxed a little and realized it won't kill him!

2 WEEKS TO GO!!!!!

Sorry; not a very exciting post - not much going on. Just hoping the next two weeks fly by so we can meet Mason! It's hard to believe that in 13 days we pick my mom up from the airport and in 14 days we'll be at the hospital and maybe even have a baby!!!!!

I finally went and got a nursing bra, hospital bag, etc. I also got the last few things we needed for Mason...we are set and ready! The stroller/car seat came in and I LOVE it!!!!! Love, love, love it! Can't wait to have a baby to put in the seat!

I am going to buy Justin a doll today. Lauren got one for her birthday that she keeps at our house and they fight over it constantly. This morning though before Lauren got there Justin asked me to wrap it in one of Mason's blankets and he put it in the baby swing. I told him that when Mason is born, he can't pick up baby Mason, but if he wants to hold him he can sit on the couch and ask to hold him. About 5 minutes later he sat on the couch (I was in the kitchen) and asked me to bring the baby over from the swing so he could hold it. It melted my heart :) He's going to be such a good big brother!

I am also really excited for Justin's 3rd birthday party - but not really.....because that means that my mom and dad have to leave the next day! I can't believe all of the excitement we have in the next few weeks!

This weekend: Powerwashing!!!!! and some yard work
Monday: Ultrasound/Doc appt
Tuesday: Nothing
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Ry and Manda coming in late!
Friday/weekend: Hang out with Ry and Manda!
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Nothing
Wednesday: Mom flies in
Thursday: Meet Mason :)

Storms in Central Illinois

I took these pictures this morning from my office. I am standing outside taking them at 9am!!! We had a storm whip through, but it didn't last very long. I could not believe how dark out it was for that time of the morning!