Nine Months Old Already!

On Sunday, Mason turned 9 months! He is growing and changing so fast! He can stand for quite awhile now...and can take about 2 steps before falling down. He's very strong and stable on his feet, he just doesn't really trust himself yet! I know before long I'll be reporting that he's walking all over the place!

Mason's 9 month picture with Big Bird

This week the boys had a night all to themselves when I had Parent Orientation at school. I'm staying very busy at school with two new teachers in my grade level. Hard to believe I'm the veteran now and have been at this for ten years! I think I'm more tired this week than I was last week...it's all catching up with me!

Thursday Mason had his 9 month pictures taken. As always, he did really well! It was just Mason and I, and the photographers could not believe how good and calm he was! After they were done taking pictures, they all wanted to hold/play with him, so I didn't have to worry about him at all! Here are some of his pictures:

This weekend we were at Papa/Grandma Farmer's. The boys have so much fun on the farm! Zane helped Papa mow hay for four hours and didn't want to quit! He could live on the farm!

Zane-isms

• After Matt picked Zane up from Jo's house, they drove through Sonic for a drink. Matt said, "Zane, do you want a root beer?" Zane said, "Si!" He's getting very multicultural!
• Zane does NOT like it when he has to ride in Matt's car...there isn't a DVD player in it! (How did we ever grow up and survive without them???) Matt told him that he would have to watch movies in the van later when I picked him up and the car didn't have one. Zane's solution...we need two vans!

Back to School!

We're back to the old grind! This week marked the beginning of school for Zane and I! We both started back again on Monday. Zane has the same teacher and is in the same classroom, so it was a very smooth start this year! Two of the teachers in his room ar the same as last year and one is new. He's going to have a great year! I have 18 darlings in my class this year. So far they seem really on top of it! I am also going to have a great year! Matt took Zane to school all week and I picked him up. They said he did wonderful this week! We are so proud of him!

Zane on his first morning of preschool (he wanted to make silly faces)!

Mason was back again at Jo's house and did great! Now all of the older kids are in preschool, so there are only 2-3 preschool kids at her house per day. All the kids have colds and the babies have ear infections! Mason was coughing and had a runny nose, so to be on the safe side we took him to the doctor Friday, but it's just a cold! Jo gave him pickles to try this week...apparently he wasn't too fond of them! Check out her site (click the link to her site on the right) to see his reaction!

Mason, Zane, and Sam at Jo's house

Mason now has 4 teeth! He has his top and bottom two teeth! Zane didn't get teeth until he was almost one so we were a little surprised to see them so soon! I wanted to get a picture of his teeth, so I sat in front of him with the camera and said, "say CHEESE Mason" and he did! The second picture reminds me so much of Zane! He used to do that "cheese" face for the camera all the time!

Bottom 2 teeth

All 4 teeth!

We went to my parents' house this weekend. When we got there Friday, Mason heard some music on t.v. and he started "dancing" (bouncing up and down) to it! It was really cute! So Saturday I got him on tape "dancing." He was multi-tasking as he ate, danced, and stood up by himself!

Mason "dancing"

Chris didn't race this weekend, he took the week off. Matt had to work on the motor to get it ready for next weekend, so we did go home for that. We were going to go on a "date night" Saturday, but ended up taking Zane to the races since we could both sit with him. He was SO GOOD! I should have recorded him...he just sat on the chair with his hands in his lap and watched the heat races! He kept picking cars he wanted to cheer for (usually blue ones) but then would say, "I'm cheering for all the cars!" He eventually fell asleep and then when he was awoken it was NOT a pretty sight! It was actually a great date night because we got to spend some alone time with Zane...that doesn't happen as often as we'd like anymore!

Zane-isms

• Mason was standing up one day and I was telling Zane to watch him. He said, "Yea! I'm proud he can stand up!"
• I was taking a shower last night to get ready to go to the races. Zane came in, opened the door, and said, "How's it going in there, Mom?"
• When I picked Zane up from school on Monday, he had drawn a map. It was a map from Preschool to Sonic. He sat in his seat, held the map, and directed me to Sonic! It was too cute! He would say, "Turn right. Okay. Go straight. More...more...keep going."

Back to Jo's, Iowa State Fair, and TEETHING!

Well, we are back to the daily grind of actually having to get up and ready for school/daycare! Our transition was really smooth, thanks in a big part to our wonderful daycare provider, Jo! The boys both did great and Mom didn't cry! I'm posting a few pictures from Jo's website. Don't forget, as always, that there are more pictures on our Flickr site, as well as Jo's daycare site. Just click on either of the links to see more.

Smile bug Mason!

My shoe...no mine...Mason & Nora
Erika cooking with the big kids

This weekend Chris decided he was going to take a week off of racing (and they ended up raining out anyway), so we headed to the Iowa State Fair. Zane was so excited to go camping with Grandma and Papa! He couldn't wait to get there! We went Friday night. Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, and headed down to the fair. We ate traditional fair food (yum, fresh corn dogs), rode some rides, bought some goodies, saw some big and small animals, and did a lot of "people-watching." Here are a few pictures/videos from the weekend:

Zane on his way to the fair...

Zane going down the big slide with Uncle Brent

And going down with Papa and Grandma

The boys were "faired-out" pretty quickly...

Okay, I know, it looks like huge underwear,but I thought it was very creative...turns any chair into a highchair! For those times you don't have a highchair...

Zane & Keaton playing at the camper...


Like the homemade suspenders?

Keaton and Zane racing each other

Later that evening we returned to the fair. We took McKinna along. She and Zane had so much fun riding the rides, and we were glad someone was there to ride everything with him so he wasn't alone!

Zane & McKinna ready to ride!

Grandma, Zane, & Papa on the Sky Glider

Mason is getting so strong! He has been standing for quite a few seconds on his own and has even tried to take a step. He just needs to trust himself more! We finally got him on camera standing up!

Zane-isms

• "My tummy hurts Mommy. It's saying (in a deep voice), 'I want to go to Papa's house.'"
• Matt and Zane were watching the races yesterday and he said, "Dad, I wish you had a racecar and had two seats. One for me and one for you."
  
  

Mason's Marvels

• Mason has decided to cut some teeth this week! In 2 days he got 3 teeth! So far he has the bottom two and one on the top. He's working on another!

Our Last Week of Summer! :(

We tried to make the most of the last full week of summer vacation! We spent a lot of time playing outside, in the driveway, in the garage, and on the swingset. Zane worked up a sweat each time, but he had a ball! He is getting very creative in his play. I just can't believe how fast he is growing up! We also spent a couple of days at the pool, one evening at the park, and Zane got to spend the night at Jo's house! It was a full week at the Baker house!

Zane jacked up his 4-wheeler and is "fixing" it

Tuesday Ryan and Braeden came over because their mom had a meeting in the afternoon. The two older boys had a great time playing while the two younger boys slept! It was pretty hot outside, so I kept them in as long as I could, but when it came to snacktime, they wanted ice cream sandwiches, so we went in the garage for that. Here they are enjoying their snack!



Mason goes full-force all the time! He is so strong and is cruising along everything he can stand up to. He has stood alone for a few seconds at a time and can even balance himself in the squatting position. He's stronger than I am! I caught him unrolling the toilet paper in our bathroom this week. I have a picture of me doing the same thing as a little girl and also Zane doing it! We must love toilet paper or something...

Look what I did!

Now who's going to clean this up?
Mason enjoying his swing

Both boys swinging

Mason had more firsts this week...we fed him table food and he LOVES it! He eats it like it's the last meal he's ever going to get! This week he ate a chicken nugget, a breadstick, pizza, pork roast, potatoes, cheetos, cheerios, and crackers. He's extremely quiet when he's eating...I don't think Mason is going to be our picky eater!

This weekend we stayed with my parents. This week was not a lucky one for the Hogan race team. Matt went down to the race shop Friday night to check some things out on the car (since it got bent up pretty bad last week). Luckily he did because he discovered something wrong with the motor. So, once again, he and the crew changed motors Saturday morning. They put in the 2nd motor that they got from the 2nd claim. When the race started it looked really good, then a few laps later it blew up! Seriously, this year it either goes super well or super bad! That ended the night and so on to next week...

Mason "driving" the tractor

Mason & Zane enjoying the outdoors

Zane-isms

• We needed to head out to get some items and I told Zane to remind me to get big batteries for the exercise bike. He said, "Yeah, and also for the naked game." I said "What???" He said, "You know, that game with the naked guy on it." Before you laugh too hard...it's the game Operation!
• I was going to read a book to Mason before bed and Zane heard me so he wanted me to use one of his books. He said, "Read one of my books Mom, they're awesome!"

Mason's Marvels

• Mason got his first pair of shoes this week! He is all over the place outside and had stubbed one of his toes so we thought it was time.
• I noticed tonight that Mason is starting to cut his first tooth! It is on the top. Watch out fingers!
• The other morning Matt was leaving for work and Mason was in his high-chair eating breakfast. I said, "Mason, tell Daddy bye-bye." All of a sudden he started waving! I thought maybe it was a fluke so I said it a second time and he did it again!
• Mason has really been trying to imitate sounds lately. In the last week I could swear he said "water" and "Adam." I know it was probably just babbling, but if you would have been there you would have thought so too!

Lots of New Tricks!

We had a great week just hanging out at home together! We did get the chance to go eat lunch with Matt once and went to the pool a couple of times. We're trying to soak it all in before heading back in another week!

Mason wearing Papa's glasses!

I can hardly believe Mason is 8 months old! Last week he learned quite a few new "tricks!" He can now flush the toilet, turn on the faucets in our jacuzzi tub, go up the steps (not on his knees either, he steps up on his feet!), push himself (backwards) in his buggy, and clap! He will clap when you say "pat-a-cake" or when you cheer and say "yea." He's really proud of himself! I caught him on video doing a couple of those things. See below!

Mason at 8 months

Pushing himself in his buggy


Clapping

The other night after bathtime, I went into the bathroom and found Zane up on the counter cleaning his hair. Mind you, he had just taken a bath and was all clean. I found it funny at first, then not so funny when I had a mess to clean up! Here's his version of washing his hair:

The World According to Zane

• A conversation between Zane and I in the van on the way to Iowa Friday evening:

A: "Zane, look at the moon, it's a weird shape."

Z: "Yeah, it's broken. It needs fixed. They should fix it. God will fix it."

A: "Oh yeah? How will he fix it?"

Z: "He will smash it, then squeeze it, then it will be all fixed!"

A: "That's good, then it will be all better."

Z: "Yeah, God fixes stuff. He fixes suns and moons and us! Mom, how does make

babies?"

A: Thinking...what? You're only 4! "God makes babies and gives them to us."

Z: "Oh, okay."