It's Up!!

Hey everyone! I wanted to direct you all to our new, improved blog! Please go to:

http://www.thelamfam.wordpress.com/

and you will see what we've been up to over the past few months.  I'm so sorry it took me so long to get it up and running.  I hit a few snarls and snares along the way and, while they're not all ironed out, I'm at least comfortable enough to post and get everyone back up to speed with what the Lam Fam has been up to. 

NOTE: please be aware that the website address has changed.  The key difference is that there is no "life" in the first part of the web address like there is with this blogger address.  So you may need to update your links if you have them.  And then obviously it's now hosted by wordpress as opposed to blogger. 

Thanks for being so patient and hanging around with us while we got our act together! I hope you all enjoy the new look of the blog, but rest assured, it's the same Lam Fam and blog it's always been. 

Now go on over! We're waiting for ya'!

YO!

Hey everyone! Long time no post! We've been here, just super crazy busy (as usual). Just so you know - we're alive, well, crazy, happy, and refreshed (more on that later).  Also, I'm going to be doing some changes to the blog, so please bear with me. 

Changes, as in, starting a whole new blog.  I know - what?

I figured it's time for a change.  Why not.

So, I've wanted to post an update, but decided to hold off until I have the new site up and running.  Once that gets going, I'll post what we've actually been doing the past 2 months and all will be well.

It's nice to see you all again! We've missed you! I hope you've missed us as well.

Stay tuned...

Our Tucker

I really, honestly, with all my heart, meant to post this yesterday on the actual day (you'll know what I'm talking about in a minute).  However, I passed out and didn't even hear Woei come to bed after he stayed up past our bedtime of 9 o'clock to work on a presentation he has today.  Unfortunately, it's my turn to get Mason's cold and my head was a little fuzzy and so I zonked.  Anyway, here's my post that I meant to post yesterday.  Let's just pretend I did that, okay? Thanks so much.

Today is our beloved Tucker-boy's 3rd Birthday! Where has the time gone? Now our baby can drink! Haha...

No really, technically in dog-years he's 21.  We may let him have a little sip of some beer.  It's the only proper right-of-passage tradition to do on one's 21st birthday, right? I wonder what he'd do? He may vomit - he's got quite the sensitive stomach.  He vomits after he eats too many green beans (a.k.a., Mason's leftovers)...and plastic (a.k.a., Mason's plastic balls from his Toy Story ball blower-upper thingy - I'm soooo up on the names of toys these days, can't you tell?).  It never fails - green beans? He yaks.  Plastic balls? Give it a day, sometimes hours.  Rawhide bone? Eventually something will come up.  Does this stop him, though? Nooo-ho-ho!  He'll gobble up green beans in a flash.  Swipe a plastic ball quicker than Mason can say, "no, no dog-dog!"  And do you really, honestly expect a dog to turn down a rawhide bone? I mean, I think it's programmed into their genetic code to love to gnaw on rawhide, as much as it is to lick their....well, you get my point.  He's sensitive.

So maybe the whole beer thing won't be such a good idea after all... 

We may just drink one for him and tell him how it is.

Anyhoo, it's his birthday and we love him to pieces! Mason got in the spirit as well and decided to write him a birthday poem, too.  (FYI, if you don't know the scoop on the whole birthday poem thing, check out Tucker's website and read the post from September 23rd, 2010 - it's how it all began...)  Here it is:

Happy Birthday, dog-dog!
You are so soft and fluffy.
I like to steal your food from you
And watch you get all huffy.
I like it when you nip my butt
When I try to make you dance.
What are little brothers here for,
But to annoy you at every chance?
I like to drop you left-over food
When you beg for it at my feet.
All in all, you are the best dog-dog
Because you are so sweet.
Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Tucker!! We love you bunches!!! You're the best dog ever!

The 411

I tried posting this over the weekend, but our internet was getting fixed and it wouldn't let me save it and then I lost it.  Dang computers.  But we're good now!

So here's the latest stats on Mason at 15 months (now almost 16 months):

32 inches tall (72%)
22.2 lbs (15%)
46 cm head circumference (16%)

So he's tall and skinny! Who would've guessed? The skinny part is because he was just getting over a cold and ear infection and 2 molars coming in.  He is definitely getting back on track with the eating, which Woei and I are so thrilled with.  He eats between 2 and 4 bananas a day! He certainly is a monkey!

Here are some more Mason tidbits:

• Can say "ball," "mama," "dada," "dog-dog," "uh-oh" (a lot), "hi" and has just started "no no," which Woei and I are sooo thrilled about.  He actually started saying it to Tucker when Tucker gets one of his toys.  He says "no no" and holds up his little finger and shakes it.  Hilarious! But now he says it to us, too, when he doesn't want to do something.  Not so funny.  And forget it if I ever see that little finger shaking at me! He won't have a finger to shake!! I'm just kidding.  I wouldn't do that.  But I won't like it, that's for sure.  But he definitely understands more than he can say...which kind of weirds us out. 

• He can say some animal sounds and we're still working on some more.  He can say the sound for snake, dog, sometimes cat, monkey (but he says uh-oh instead of ooh-ohh, ahh-ahh), owl, and he did cow the other day.

• He can wave bye-bye and when we say are going to sleep, he'll wave bye-bye to daddy and Tucker to say good-night.  And now he likes to give Tucker his treat when we leave in the morning.  He's becoming obsessed a little bit and just wants to give Tucker a treat whenever.  Tucker sure doesn't mind, but we have to keep an eye on it or else Tucker will become a little porky!

• He's quite the walker these days and doesn't run yet, but, like I told the doctor, he's got a little get-up to his step.

• He has 8 teeth in front (4 on top and bottom) and just got 2 molars on top in the back (of course).  He worked really hard for those and they're still coming in.  So we're glad that's over with for now. 

• He's quite the little dancer and he's got some good moves, too.  Sometimes he'll even start dancing when there's no music or if we're in a store and he hears music, he'll just stop walking and start dancing.  It's quite funny.

• He's starting to use a spork (a fork and spoon combined - just in case you weren't sure) when he eats and he actually likes to have one now at every meal.  He's still getting used to using them and he's not the greatest, but practice makes perfect, right? If he's really hungry, he might try to use it, but then he just gives up and starts shoving the food in his mouth.  But if Woei and I help him, he really likes to eat with one.  It makes him feel special.

• He can blow kisses and has just started to give kisses.  He'll purse his little lips together and start leaning his head forward and hums (as if he's going "mwaw," without the "waw" part).  He doesn't quite have his aim down yet - usually I end up just giving him a kiss on the forehead.  But it's the thought that counts and it's what melts my heart.  He'll give hugs every once in a while, too. 

All in all, he's quite a funny little guy and such a sweetie.  We have so much fun with him and I've heard people talk about how right now is the best time with them and they have so much fun.  And I have to say I agree.  As he gets older and older and develops more, it just amazes us and we are having a blast!

Thanks for listening! We'll be back soon!

Christmas Vacation

I figured for this post I'd let the pictures do the talking.  Enjoy!

At the Christmas party at daycare.

Did NOT like Santa and Mrs. Clause this year.  I like Mrs. Clause's face.

At the Big-Family Christmas on Christmas Eve.  He's wondering what Eric's doing singing into his mic. 

Playing with Aunt Kris and cousins Eric and Carson.

Opening gifts that Santa brought early.  He really liked the laptop (thanks Aunt Jane!)

The Cousins Family photo - Eric, Amelia (holding Mason), Quinn and Carson.  We were missing some this year, but hey, you work with what ya' got.

Christmas morning! Always has a ball in hand...

He liked sitting on the presents more than tearing into them.  Maybe next year he'll be more enthused.

Tucker boy gets his Christmas present...

...he even opens it himself.  "Oh boy, a toy I can rip to shreds in 5 minutes!"

Mason on his presents...

Playing with his new car ramp racer thingamajig.

So I guess we should've just gotten him an empty box and wrapped it.  This actually kept him entertained for a good 10 minutes, which in Mason time is like an hour.  Here he's reading his book he got from Remy - thanks Remy!!

Pushing his new shopping cart.

Snow time! We were lucky enough this year to have a white Christmas, so that meant getting decked out to go play for the first time.  Here he is with mommy getting all bundled up.  He kept taking off his gloves the second I'd get them on.  It was maddening.  All I kept thinking about was that if he didn't keep his gloves on outside, in like 5 seconds he'd get hypothermia.  I'm a little paranoid, I know.

But he managed to keep them on once we were outside.  He looks happy here, but he really was a little distraught.  Once we set him down in the snow, he just kind of stood there and didn't move.  And heaven forbid if he got snow on his gloves! That's thanks to daddy's OCD! Thanks dad!

Daddy and Mason in the snow! See? What'd I tell ya'? Distraught.

Daddy made him a mini snowman.  Here he is checking it out.  I think he liked it because it looked like three balls stacked up (which is exactly what a snowman is, I know, but Mason's obsessed with balls.  He wasn't seeing the bigger picture is what I'm sayin'.).

Christmas Day evening at Grandma and Papa's! Oh my gosh, another stuffed animal!!! He's also obsessed with stuffed animals and Uncle Shane and Aunt Brittany get him the best ones, like this giant stuffed bear. 

Surrounded by his toys! He was extra good this year!

Here with Grandma Linda, Grandma B and Papa. 

Here with Uncle Shane and Aunt Brittany.  He was a little squirmy...

Here with Mommy and Daddy.

Helping Aunt Brittany, Uncle Shane and Papa sort coins before they play a game.

The Lam Fam Christmas 2010 photo.

Happy New Year!!

All in all, it was a great Christmas and New Years.  We spent a lot of quality family time together and couldn't have asked for a better holiday.  We hope you all had a great one, too, and look forward to what this New Year brings.  We'll be back soon with updates as we have a certain 15-month checkup coming up this week.  Yippee!

MIA

Okay, okay, so we've been MIA for a little while.  It's been a little busy lately and then the holidays hit and all efforts to keep the blog updated just got blown to smithereens.  But, alas, we've returned!

I'll kind of pick up the slack from November to fill you in so far.  We had a BIG milestone in November that I didn't get a chance to post about at the time.   But Mason went and got his first.....HAIRCUT! Yay! And let me tell ya' - it (his hair) was quite the monstrosity.  I look back now at his baby hairstyle and, while I was sentimental about cutting off those first strands of hair, I realize it was for the best.  Homeboy was sportin' a mullet and it was gettin' a little out of control!

He was fine until they put the drape around his neck and then the tears and the biggest pouty face he could muster came.  (I have a picture to prove it - see below).  The chair in the shape a car with a working steering wheel and a kids movie playing right in front of him did nothing to abate the inevitable.  Even cheerios didn't do too much.  They might've stopped the tears for a few seconds, but he knew what was happening and he didn't like it.  Luckily, we went to a place that sort of specializes in little kids haircuts, so the lady was fast and didn't get too daunted by the crying and wailing.  Then it was over and he looked like quite the handsome guy.  And now, it's starting to grow out again and we may need to return in the next coming weeks!

Then came Thanksgiving and that was a great time.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with our whole family and my green bean casserole rocked! I love Campbell's.  And then we headed off for another first adventure - Bennett Springs! Woei and I had started our own holiday tradition a few years ago.  From the Friday after Thanksgiving to Sunday, we head down to a cabin at Bennett Springs, Lebanon, MO to just relax and be peaceful for a few days.  It's usually too cold to fish, so we just hang out, watch movies (because this is one of the only few places down there that has a working tv with cable and a dvd player) and then head up to the Lake for some holiday shopping.  We didn't go last year, of course, because Mason was too little and I had to go back to work, but this year we decided to start going again and include Mason in this little Lam Fam tradition.  Everything was going great - Mason did fine travelling and the cabin was fine for just the three of us (well, four, if you count Tucker).  Then Saturday was shopping day and everything was on schedule.  Then, literally, as we were packing up and getting socks and shoes on, Mason tripped and fell and whacked his eye on the edge of the cooler that was on the floor.  Then came the crying.  Then came the blood.  Then came the "oh, crap, that might need stitches."  Then came, "aaaand we're going home now to go the hospital and Bennett Springs is done until next year!" Yep, Mason got a small cut on his eye that was opened up just enough to possibly need stitches.  He zonked out for his nap time soon after and we called the doctor's exchange and they said it was possible, but they'd need to see him.  Given that it was right near his eye and that we were in the middle of timbuktoo, we decided to call it quits and head straight to Children's to get it looked at.  He slept on the way, I fretted, Woei drove with Tucker glued to his lap and after only an hour in the hospital (seriously, start to finish), he only needed "the glue" to protect it and we went home and collapsed in a heap.

So, Mason now has a battle wound near his left eye, but it's not that big and it's kind of near the crease of his eye, so it kind of blends in.  When he smiles you really can't tell.  And in a way, it was kind of good that we got back a day early to kind of get settled in and relax before we started work again. 

Well, I think I'll stop there for now.  Christmas will be it's own long post with pictures.  Stay tuned!

Here's a pic from the haircut incident:

Check out that FACE! I love it!