Helloooo!

To our surprise Mason is beginning to pick up words very quick! We were eating lunch at Braums the other day and Laura decided to pull out her phone and start recording Mason. He was making a lot of sounds that we thought were too cute.

This was the first time he actually mocked something Laura said and it was "Hellooooo" The past few weeks Laura has been greeting Mason and shaking his hand. He normally looks at her confused because he has no idea why she is grabbing his hand. She'll say "Hello Mason, it's nice to meet you!" and then precede to shake his hand. She does this a few times and then he will start reaching out for her hand. Laura and I want to make sure Mason has good manners.

Mason meets new faces

During this week Mason has met two new people.  The first person is Ezra who stopped by our home with his mother, Gabby.  Mason seemed to have a good time since someone close to his age was able to enjoy his playroom.  They also watched Toy Story and had dinner together.

Mason and Ezra

Mason sharing his toys 

Wathcing Toy Story with Woody!

Today, Mason met my cousin Chau who I haven't seen in 6 years since I have moved to Texas from South Carolina.  Mason and I met her at the Buttons Restaurant in Fort Worth.  It was a really good Soul Food restaurant and Mason was well behaved as always.  I was able to snap a few photos of Mason and Chau before we parted ways.  Mason wasn't very cooperative with the camera this evening, but I still wanted to share these photos.

Mason not cooperating

Natural photo

Mason's Speaks!

Well, it's official. Mason's first word was Dada! I tried so hard to get him to say mama to no avail. It's okay though. I'm sure he will tell me he loves me first.

Mason's Bookshelf!

We've been working on Mason's playroom for the past month and we're just about done! I've been getting a lot of compliments on Mason's book shelf so I thought I would share where I got the supplies. My inspiration for the book shelf actually came from Pinterest! I'm totally addicted! I saw similar pictures using gutter drains but when we went to Ikea I found the perfect shelf. It is actually used to hang pictures on. We got the picture shelf which is called Ribba on the first floor of Ikea where the picture frames where located at. It comes in white, black and birch.

The decal we purchased from Amazon. I love quotes by Dr. Seuss and I thought it fit perfect over his book shelf! The books we purchased from the first top two rows are all by Dr. Seuss. A lot of the books we got on sale when Borders was going out of business so we got a pretty good deal! As of now we have a toy chest underneath the bookshelf but we are on the look out for a cute little chair or couch for Mason. I saw a couch from Pottery Barn but I don't love the price for it!

Mason's first visit to the Zoo!

So yesterday our family took a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.  Laura and I have always visited this zoo every year since we have met.  Sometimes twice a year.  The first time was when we took my little cousins, Faith and Alan, back in 2006.  The zoo is definitely different when you take a child along.  One major difference is instead of being able to take the short routes with the stairs/steps, we had to take all the routes with ramps in order for our stroller get through.  

Mason and Me at the Crocodile Cafe which is attached to the MOLA (Museum of Living Art)

Mason with his first glimpse of a crocodile, and vice versa.  

After taking this photo we tried to find the Hispanic Elephants, but apparently they don't exist?

Mommy and Mason looking at the Asian Elephants

If you look closely, there is a sleeping Lion in the background

Mason is definitely a good luck charm.  Out of all the 6 times Laura and I have gone to the Zoo, we were only able to hear the Lion roar once.  However, on this date we heard him 4 times!  At one point Mason was whiney and crying however once he heard the Lion's roar he came to himself really quick!  

Showing off his Lion shirt!

He seemed to really like this Gorilla, his name was Elmo (no joke).

Mommy and Mason before we left.

Mason holding onto Mommy, making sure he doesn't fall into the exhibit.

This family trip was quite a success!  We plan on going to the Dallas Zoo and an aquarium sometime in the near future.  Mason is definitely and outdoors baby and we love it.  Later that night we watched "We Bought a Zoo" too bad Mason fell asleep.  It was an adventurous day for all of us.

Some memorable and funny photos

Here are a few photos we have taken of Mason in the past month.  They seem to be really popular on our facebook posts since we receive so many comments and "likes".  I figured we needed to place them on our blog before we forget.  I always crack a big smile when I see these photos.  I am sure there will be a lot more to follow.  

We were at Kroger one day and Mason kept trying to grab for this Maxim magazine.  Once he got his hands on it, his lips were soon to follow.  

One day Laura and I wanted to take Mason to the local pool.  Unfortunately it was windy and the water was really cold, so instead of swimming he played with the water spout.  This is how one of our photos turned out.