Where to begin

I apologize that it has been so long since my last post. The Dyer household has been pretty chaotic the past couple of weeks. Drew has been traveling and I've been busy working from home. So I haven't had the time to blog for a while, but I'll try to bring you up to speed.

Pretty much since Mason was born I have had this reoccuring pain in my right side. I initially thought it was from the labor and delivery; then I realized it had been seven months and I probably needed to have it checked out. So I finally went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. The doc thought it might be my gallbladder so they referred me for an ultrasound, and the ultrasound revealed "sludge" in my gallbladder. I then had a HIDA scan done, and it revealed that my gallbladder isn't ejecting normally. So I have a consult with a surgeon scheduled for week after next to see if he feels like it needs to be removed .

When I initially went to the doctor about the pain, I also reported a pain in my foot that I've been having as well. After a few x-rays, the prognosis was a POSSIBLE stress fracture (nothing showed conclusively on the x-ray), so I left the doc's office with an AWESOME orthopedic shoe. It was hideous, but it felt good. I wore the shoe for two weeks, went back for another x-ray, which didn't reveal anything either. The foot diagnosis is a probable inflamed tendon. So I have to keep icing it and taking ibuprophen as necessary.

Enough about me - Mason is doing great! He's growing like a weed. He still isn't crawling yet, but continues to roll all over the place. I've caught him scooting backwards a few times, and he'll try to creep forward (especially to get something he wants - Dixie, his bottle, a toy, etc.). He'll push off of whatever furniture is around to propel himself forward too. He is saying, "Dada" now, and he's trying to say "Dixie" - it comes out "Di." He never ceases to amaze me. He's getting fussy right now, so I need to put him down for his nap.

This past weekend . . .

Drew, Mason, Dixie, and I went home to celebrate the twins' 3rd birthday. It was another whirlwind trip - we got there late Friday night and opted to leave early Monday morning so that we could spend Sunday with the family. We got in some good quality time with both sides of the family! These are few pics taken over the weekend:

Mason enjoying his new boat toy at Gran C's house.

Ainsley (L) & Ashlynn (R) celebrated their 3rd birthday with a Backyardigan party.


Mason enjoyed playing with the ribbon from the gifts.

Mason and Bella spend time together - they share the same birthday.

Mason & Bella sit unsupported like big kids!

Bella actually cut a tooth this weekend! Mason is still teething!

After a bath

Mason relaxing in his puppy robe after a bath

A dog and her bed . . .

( we call this the Snarls Barkley look)

(watching her tree from the comfort of the AC)

So I know I don't tell nearly as many Dixie stories as I used to since Mason came along, but that doesn't mean that she has slowed down any. She is always into something or rather eating something - socks, diapers, underwear, napkins, burp rags, bibs, shoes, etc., etc., etc. She definitely keeps me on my toes. Anyway, as you may or may not know she sleeps in our bedroom every night - not in the bed with us though. She has her own bed tucked into the corner along with a blanket and a couple of floor pillows that she likes to snuggle into. She also has a pretty set daily routine and around 9:30pm she is ready for bed, and if the bedroom door is closed she'll sit in the hallway and whine until someone opens it. It's not uncommon for her to go to bed before Drew and I on most nights.

Well, the other night I went to check on Mason and when I looked down the hall Dixie was lying on her bed, but her bed was pulled into the middle of the bedroom at the foot of our bed (at least 5 feet from where it should have been). I asked Drew if he moved her bed and he looked at me as I were crazy. He said he hadn't moved it so I told him to come look. She had apparently gotten tired of sleeping in the corner, and she moved her bed by herself. It was evident once we turned the light on - one corner was still folded under and the throw pillow were out of place, but she was curled up in a ball as content as could be glaring at us because we turned the light on. That dog - she never ceases to amaze me!

Videos

Well, I finally managed to download some of the videos of Mason from the camcorder to the computer. Here are a few that I've gotten uploaded to You Tube.

This one is from yesterday - Mason was enjoying his teething ring.




This video was taken April 27th on the fishing trip in Beckville, Texas. Mason is having fun laughing at his Pop pop.




This one is from June 6th - Mason is "singing" to his Daddy!

Ready! OK!

Just FYI this post is a rambling of the weekend's events and Mason's development over the last week - so bear with me.

• INDEPENDENCE DAY - Drew's parents came into town on the 4th and stayed through Sunday morning. We had a really good visit but it was pretty much uneventful. We didn't pop fireworks at our home on the 4th, but we were able to observe several different firework displays from the comfort of our backyard (until the mosquitos drove us inside). Drew had to work Thursday and Friday so we just hung out at the house, and they went with me to get Mason's 6 month portraits taken (see albums on the right) on Friday. Then Saturday we decided to drive to Lake Fort Gibson to check out the flood waters. Then we strolled over to Tahlequah to see the Illinois River. There has been a lot of flood damage in Northeast Oklahoma - we still managed to come out of unscathed.


• Mason has always been a very vocal baby - he's always cooing and laughing and generally making noise. Drew and I routinely say "Hey" to him every morning whenever we get him out of his bed, and we've been debating about whether or not he has said it to us - we just can't be sure if he's just making noise or actually saying, "Hey!" I've also noticed that he has been making "MMMM" sounds a lot lately, and have even thought he might have said "Mama" a few times. I'm pretty sure Drew thought I was just blowing smoke, but while the in laws were in town they confirmed my suspicions! After trying to get him to repeat it all weekend long, he is now saying, "Mama," quite frequently. If we could just get him to say "Dada!"


• In more Mason development news, he is rolling all over the place these days. A couple of months ago you couldn't get the boy to do tummy time - he absolutely hated it. Now he loves it! We can set him on the floor and he's gone in a flash. He even bumped his head on the bottom of the coffee table a few days ago. He rarely gets up on his knees, but I've witnessed it a few times. At the rate he's going he'll be crawling before long. It's crazy to think that not that long ago he was completely immobile. He's also getting much better at sitting unsupported, he's just not quite there yet!

Rockets over Rhema

So last night Drew and I decided to try to take in the Rockets over Rhema show at Rhema Bible Church for the first time. Having never experienced the spectacle, we didn't even leave the house until 9:30pm for the 10:00 show - we had plans to just find a spot close to the church and watch from the comfort of the car. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea. We drove around forever trying to find a spot behind Rhema, then we went to the park, then we inadvertently ended up on 71st street (right in front of Rhema). Little did we know, but we had found the perfect spot. The show began while we were stuck in traffic, and traffic basically came to a stand still. (We were in the far right hand lane and the left hand lane was still open for anyone that wanted to keep moving). We watched the entire show, and it lasted about 20 minutes or so, from the street. Rockets were booming and bright starbursts lit up the sky, and Mason slept through the entire thing! Once it was over, traffic started moving again and we were able to move right along while everyone else was scrambling to get out of the parking lots. I forgot my camera but I found these pictures on the KXOJ website.