Yo Gabba Gabba

A child obsessed

"Vac! Vac!" These are the words I hear every day. To say that Mason loves to vacuum is an understatement. The kid is obsessed with vacuuming.

It started in Oklahoma when we began deep cleaning the house to get it ready to put on the market. He was fascinated by the carpet cleaning machine.

His fascination continued when we stayed with relatives in East Texas, and it was there that we discovered he doesn't really have brand or style preference.

In an attempt to keep him away from the "big vacuum" and the vacuum attachments my mother bought him his own vacuum while she was here. It lights up, makes noise, and actually sucks up stuff. He initially loved it, and he'll still play with it when I won't let him use the big "vac." We have to keep our vacuum put up so that he can't get to it otherwise he'll uncoil the power cord and try to plug it in to turn it on. We've also had to put child safety lock on the cabinet containing the vacuum cleaner attachments - he was treating it as though it were his toy box, and he would pull all of them out and "vac" everything in sight.

It's just not the same, Mom!

Ian is a month old - already

It's hard to believe that Ian is a month old now - time is really flying by. He is doing great - he continues to nurse well and is gaining weight. Mason is still fascinated by him. He's constantly wanting to hold him and give him kisses. He gets really upset when Ian is upset too. Overall, they're both doing great. We're trying to get into a good routine, but it takes time.

Outdoor Explorer

Ian's First Week Home

On the way home from the hospital

Mason showing off his Big Brother t-shirt

The Woman's Hospital of Texas has a great program where you can order a sibling cake for older children to help celebrate the birth of their new siblings.

Mason thoroughly enjoyed his cake!

He loves his brother very much too. He has done very well in adjusting to the new baby. He occasionally exhibits some jealous traits, but overall, he has done much better than I expected. The real test will be when Gran C leaves and he's got to share Mom's attention.

This past Friday morning Mason woke up with a runny nose and a fever. Fortunately, we were already heading to the pediatrician for Ian's newborn checkup so we got the doc to check Mason out as well. He was diagnosed with a cold, and we were advised to keep him away from the baby - a pretty difficult task.

Ian's check up went very well, he's almost back up to his birth weight but not quite. He goes back for a followup this week. He's doing great!

He's Here! Welcome to the World, Ian Andrew

Ian Andrew Dyer

7 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 inches long

Born 3:23am on July 5, 2008

Well, if you haven't heard already, our littlest guy decided to come into the world two weeks early and he was coming quickly!

Tuesday, I went to the doctor for my routine checkup, and I was dilated 2+, was 70% effaced, and the baby had dropped and was at station +2. She stated that it could happen any day, and we went ahead and stripped my membranes at that time. Wednesday, I lost my plug (I'll leave it at that). Thursday, I began having contractions around 4:00 pm and they began coming every 20 minutes, by the time I decided to go to bed they were coming close to 10 minutes apart. They were very mild so I decided to go ahead and try to get some sleep (in the event that I had to endure another marathon session of labor soon - remember I was in labor for over 24 hours with Mason). In the night I had a few contractions strong enough to wake me up, but they weren't consistent. When I woke up Friday morning I felt fine. Fortunately, Drew's parents had come in for the holiday, and we got out and ran a few errands on Friday.

Friday evening I watched the fireworks display on t.v., and then walked outside to watch them going off in the neighborbood. I started having mild contractions again around 10:30pm. Again they were coming every 20 minutes so I didn't think much of it. They were much like the ones the evening before. I went ahead and went to bed, the contractions became strong enough to wake me up. I began watching the clock and recording contractions. I woke Drew up around 2:00am - the contractions began coming every 5 minutes and were growing increasingly stronger and longer lasting at least 3 minutes. I called the answering service, and the doc on call was Dr. Ivonne Smith - she told me to go ahead and come in. It was about 2:40am at that time. Drew began loading the car and moving vehicles around so that we could get the car out of the driveway. In the meantime, I was still having VERY strong contractions and EXTREME pressure. He ran upstairs and told his parents that we were headed to the hospital, and literally had to drag me out to the car. I really didn't think we were going to make it. It was probably about 2:50am at this point.

My water broke in the car on the way to the hospital, I was screaming, crying, and praying - in complete agony, and Drew was trying his best to calm me down. He was breathing and trying to get me to focus on my breathing, and it would help for a few seconds. Of course, because I hadn't left the house in days in my vehicle, I hadn't filled up the car like I kept saying I was going to. Our gas light came on about halfway there! Drew was, of course, driving like a bat out of hell and we also passed a cop that tried to pull us over. Drew never slowed up, and tried waving him up beside us all the while trying to unlock his phone so that he could call 911 to tell them that unless the officer wanted to deliver a baby he could follow us to the hospital! However, when we exited into the medical district the officer pulled off. We're not sure quite how long it took us to get to the hospital from Spring - 10-15 minutes at the most. Thank God it was the middle of the night we would have never made it traffic. (Just as comparison the trip home from the hospital at 2:30pm on Monday took us almost 45 minutes.) Nor would we have made it if we had had to strap Mason into a car seat.

We pulled up at the front doors to valet park, and they got me a wheelchair and we went straight to the 3rd floor. I was breathing heavily, and Drew was still coaching, and the hospital staff was directing us through the halls to our room. As soon I got into the room, they got me up out of the chair and changed into a gown. They hooked up the monitor and began checking my cervix. I was already complete! So they called for the doc. on call. Only 8 minutes passed from the time they hooked me up to the monitor and the baby was born at 3:23am. There was no time for anything - no time to call my doctor and no time for any pain medication and no time to videotape. I delivered completely natural! Me - the same person who had to get an epidural just so that they could break my water when I delivered Mason. It all happened so fast and seemed so surreal! There were about 7 other nurses in the room with us and they were wonderful in getting me to focus on the task at hand. After the fact, they had me signing consents and got Drew to check me in. My labor and delivery nurse came to my room the next evening to tell me that I set a new hospital record for fastest monitored delivery. She said, "Of course, we have those that give birth on the first floor but you're the fastest time hooked to a monitor." Crazy!

What's even more amazing is that I felt remarkably well after the delivery. I was on a complete adrenaline rush! And best of all, I had a new beautiful little boy!

18 Months Old!

Mason turns 18 months old today! He went to his new doctor, Dr. Don Schaffer, today for the first time for his well child check up and he did great. He weighs 26 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile) and he is 34.75 inches tall (> 95th percentile). Doc said that he looks great - "tall and slender." He also got two shots today, and he was such a trooper - didn't even cry when he got the first one but was rather upset when the nurse stuck him a second time. Anyway, he got a healthy diagnosis today - not too skinny, not overweight!

The attached slide show is just a few random shots of Mason from the past 6 months.