Labor Day Weekend in the Hills

I know it's been a while again since posting - sorry :( Even though we only doubled the number of children we have, it seems the time consumption has quadrupled or more! I promise I'll TRY to get better at blogging; but no guarantees!

I have to go nurse Mason, but want to get these pics posted - I will do more writing tomorrow or this weekend!

These are of Labor Day weekend and Justin's actual birthday on Monday the 7th!

Justin and Mason - first trip together to the zoo!
I thought this guy was pretty cool looking - very colorful!












Mason's first trip to the zoo! Here is him with Alex the Lion as his older brother calls him :)

This picture makes me laugh so hard whenever I see it. Rob and I were walking behind Justin and he started copying the guy in front of us...and he walked like this for a while!

Rob and Justin & Thad and Kaiser....we ran into Thad and his family by the giraffes :) Thad is the guy Rob works with and his wife had a baby the same day as Mason was born; his name is Kason!!!

Daddy and Justin by the giraffes

Mommy and Justin with the zebras; Marty as Justin calls them - all of the animals are named after Madagascar :)

Our "picnic" before going into the zoo - if you can call McD's drive through picnic food!

Josh and Mason - I think this is one of the first times Josh has held a baby :)
Justin blowing out his candles on his "real" birthday!
Showing off his new Mickey Mouse football PJ's.
Katie and Mason - they brought pulled pork over for dinner...yummy! Thanks guys :)
Justin opening his McDonalds cash register - he loves it!
Showing off his new Rivermen jersey; it's still WAY too big, but getting close to fitting :)
Mommy's little sweetheart...love :)

Brotherly love....

2 weeks old!

Yes; I realize he turned 2 weeks old yesterday - but like everything in my life right now I am behind! I am still working on getting our Justin's birthday thank you's, working on birth announcements, etc. It will get done eventually; please be patient! :)

Our first two weeks have flown by! It really doesn't feel like it's been two weeks since we had so much help the first week. Justin has done very, very well through this transition! Of course he still has a little attitude problem once and a while, but I think that might be more from getting older/smarter than the fact that he has a new brother. He loves his "Baby Mase" - he holds him about once a day and likes to talk to him...but when he's playing sports our outside he could care less that he has a brother!

Mason is doing well too - we're not in any routine whatsoever yet, but it's getting better! He has been nursing at night before bed around 10pm and then getting up at 1 or 2 am and then again at 5 or 6am...not too bad for a two week old :) The hardest part is keeping his awake long enough to get his belly full. I usually nurse on one side and then change him because that makes him mad; so then he's awake to eat on the other side!

We are off to our two week doctors appointment now and to have lunch with Daddy! I'll post later tonight what he weighs :)

Here are a few pics from the last day or two - enjoy!

Justin holding his baby brother...
I think he's telling him something?
Drinking from a bottle
Daddy feeding him for the first time! I am nursing, but once and a while he gets a bottle with breastmilk - especially when I want to make sure he gets enough so he'll sleep for more than two hours :)
Sleepy baby :) I know they are supposed to go on their backs to sleep, but he LOVES his belly - so sometimes if I'm cleaning and he's in his pack and play I let him sleep on his belly.
His first bath in the tub - he didn't mind it as much as I thought he would!
Love him :)

Catching up on pictures!

Uncle Mikey and Mason having a chat :)

Papa meeting Justin for the first time on Friday afternoon

Big Brother and Little Brother - I love this one :)

Our first picture as a family of four - we are so blessed!

Aunt Connie and Mason - she came to visit Thursday until Saturday morning. Thank you so much for your help cooking and the beautiful mums!!!


Aunt Connie (aka Aunt Crazy - insert crazy sign and eye roll) and Justin on the "jumpoline".

Uncle Ry and his godson Mason

Uncle Kurt and Mason

Mason with his Great Grandpa & Grandma Metzler

Rob and Melissa before we started opening baby gifts - we don't get many pictures of just the two of us anymore!

Papa, Gramma Airplane and the boys

Grandpa and Grandma Brooks with Mason - they came over on Saturday for Justin's birthday party and to meet their new grandson!

Uncle Kurt & Ashley at the party - they asked Rob, Justin and I to be in their wedding next summer! Motivation to lose this baby weight :)

Justin pretending to blow out his candles since it was too windy to keep them lit!

Justin playing with his party favors - Love him :)

Rob, Gramma Airplane and I handing out the cake and ice cream...I'm glad I got the big cake - there was none left!



Justin opening his new airplane bank from Gramma Airplane :)
Justin seeing his present from Papa, Gramma Airplane, Uncle Mikey, Uncle Ry & Aunt Manda.....he ran right over!
He got on it and took off :)


Then he stopped to let Lauren on for a ride

......and away they went!

Justin hitting his pinata!

Ms. Stephy & Ms. Ericka - our sitters who are more than that - they are like family :)

One of my favorite pictures. Ever. Our little angels!


What is a good birthday party without Euchre??

The Metzler Family picture - would have been perfect if Justin would have smiled! It's still cute :)

All of my favorite boys in the world in one picture! This one is definetly going in my office!

Justin feeding his baby brother

Melts my heart :)

The Hills 9-2-09 (Part 1)

(I'm not sure if blogger put a new limit on the number of pictures, but it keep telling me I've exceeded my quota when I try to add more, so I'll break up this post into many! I have lots of pictures!)

Life is good :) We have two healthy, happy sons - we are really blessed! I have a ton of pictures from the last week so I'll just post them with some captions. We are still getting used to being a family of four without any family in town to help, but I think we are doing pretty well!



Morgan and Mason (I can't find one of Megan and Mason - do you have one Aunt Manda?)














Grandma's Angel :) This one looks a lot like the one of Justin back from September 2006!












Sleepy baby












One of my favorite pictures we have - he's such an angel :)












Gramma Airplane and Mason before his first doctors appointment












Getting warmed up after his first bath