Friday, January 30, 2009

The Newest Little Outlaw

Welcome to the world little Ava Grace! Your Auntie Christina is so, so, so happy you are finally here! Congratulations to Daddy Brian and Mommy Ellen. You are just about one of the most precious little girls in the whole, wide world!

Ava Grace Outlaw
born: January 30th, 2009; 10:17am
weighed: 7 lbs, 8ozs.
length: 19 inches




Lots of pictures below :)

Such a strong grip for such a little girl!

She's already fallen in love with her Auntie Christina (well, at least her Auntie Christina is totally in love with her!).



Proud Mimi and Papa Outlaw





Happy Grammas!

The first bath - not liking it all that much....



Followed by a quick trip to the salon for a first hair wash, which she liked much better...

Proud Daddy Brian


Ahhh, the end of a long day, all snuggled and happy in Daddy's arms...

Life is good!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bubbles, Bubbles EVERYWHERE!!


As I was talking to my mom on the phone the other night, I walked into the bathroom to see how bath time was going and I was greeted with the following site...
Mason had evidently turned on the tub jets after having "only 6 drops of bubble bath" added to the bath water according to Pat.
This was the result!

Needless to say, Mason was having a ball. Bubbles were being flung everywhere! All I could do was laugh (and let Pat know under no uncertain terms, this was his mess to clean up - Don't forget the ceiling baby...)




Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Newest Little Settler






Please join us in welcoming our newest little niece into the family. Pat's brother Chris and his wife Jamie had a baby girl. Mackenzie Irene made her way into the world on January 14th. We are so excited that she's here!






Welcome to the world little Mackenzie Irene Settler (and Congratulations to Daddy Chris, Mommy Jamie and big sisters Ashley, Tapanga and Ashley)! We can't wait to meet you.





Sleep Positioner Issues (A Blast From the Past)

With all the babies coming into my life lately (With the birth of my new little niece Ava Grace scheduled for next Friday, she will make #8 in the the last year), we have been spending a lot of time in places such as Babies R Us and and a lot of time thinking about, talking about, giving advice about and in general being quite excited about babies lately (no I'm not pregnant, or planning to be pregnant in the next 6 months at least!)... It has brought back lots of absolutely wonderful memories of when my baby was truly a baby... I recently had a conversation with a friend at work about which sleep positioner worked well and which ones were a complete waste of money and ended up in the trash after about 3 weeks (if you're interested, we are big fans of the plain jane kind (as pictured below). The fancy foam, wedge kinds not so much.) Anyway, when I ran across these pictures, I just couldn't resist posting them.

This was Mimi's idea of what the sleep positioner was for. She and Papa and Mason were napping together, and she thought for sure the positioner was to keep them from rolling over on Mason and squishing his poor little head. (Don't worry Brian and Ellen, we have since given her an education on what a sleep positioner is actually for, so little Ava will be safe and sound when left with Mimi.)

And as with many things in the Settler household, Simon thinks they are made just special for him and isn't afraid to just make himself comfortable...

Who knew a sleep positioner could be so much fun or the source of so many laughs?





Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Masonisms...

My child talks non-stop, I kid you not.... Sometimes it drives me insane, but very often Pat and I find ourselves in stitches at the things he says... Yes I know we are his parents and we are supposed to think everything he does is precious (sometimes, but definitely not always...), but you gotta admit, some of these are pretty funny.

"Mom, my mouth hurts (sniff, sniff). I need some candy (sniff, sniff) to make it feel better."

"Daddy the birdie pooped on mom's duck!" (translation, there was bird poop on the deck - to Mason it's always been the duck though) This was in response to a pouting Mason who got told that he'd better suck in his bottom lip or a birdie was going to poop on it. Guess it jogged his memory from when we were outside this weekend and noticed the bird poop on the deck. It took me a minute to get what he was trying to tell Pat. I guess I don't make connections quite as quickly as my two-year-old.

"Daddy, this is the Pat's Car" (referring to his pace car diecast from the movie CARS)

"Santa, the Clause", not Santa Clause. Occasionally "Christmas, the Clause" slips out too.

The character Luigi from CARS is lovingly referred to at our house as "Wuh-Ledgie" If you pronounce it Luigi, you get corrected.

And my all time favorite: Mason and I were swinging in the back yard when he asked for a drink. Not wanting to leave Mason unattended in the swing or unhook the straps and lift him down just to run inside for a minute, I called out to Pat who I thought was in the kitchen. When I got no response, I assumed he either a. didn't hear me or b. was ignoring me, so I yelled loudly, "Patrick Lynn" to get his attention. A second later when Pat still didn't appear, Mason followed suit and hollered "Patrick Gwen!!!!" Now anytime his Daddy doesn't respond quickly enough, Mason belts out in his loudest voice "Patrick Gwen Settler!" Yeah, Pat loves me for that one...

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The New Big Boy Bed



We finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and get Mason a new "big boy" bed. We had put it off thinking that by the end of this year we just might be in our new house out on our land with a bigger bedroom for Mason that was more conducive to a full size bed, but given the current state of the economy, we've decided to hold off on trying to sell and build a house for now. Mason was getting pretty cramped on his hard as a rock foam infant mattress even when it was converted to a toddler bed, so we decided to try and take advantage of the New Year's sales and make the switch. After some significant head-scratching to figure out just how to put a full size bed in a small room with a huge window on one wall, a closet door taking up most of another wall and an already large dresser and hutch combo taking up a significant amount of space, not to mention a door that opens inward (I know, that's what doors are supposed to do, but in this situation, I find it very inconvenient, however both my husband and father-in-law assured me that switching the door around so it would open the other way was easier said than done.), we finally figured it out, much to Mason's delight.


Oh yes, there was much jumping to be done that first evening... and really, I couldn't blame him one bit.






Papa Jerry was even invited to jump on the new bed. Papa Jerry wisely decided to just test out the new bed by playing cars on it with Mason instead...


And this is what the worn out little boy looked like at the end of the night after all the jumping and pillow fighting. Thanks to flash photography, we were able to capture him sleeping, although notice he's awfully close to the end of the bed for his mommy's taste.



Since this picture was snapped, Mason has taken one tumble off the end (of course he picked the day Papa Jerry and Daddy were out of town hunting at the ranch!). He was definitely more scared than hurt, but I decided a body pillow across the end at night would let all of us sleep a little easier. So far, it's worked like a charm...

Wii, bringing generations together...


Papa Jerry made his third annual trek to warmer parts south of Michigan and this year brought his Wii with him for all to enjoy. Bowling seemed to be the favorite, followed closely by golf. I'm told that there was a boxing challenge thrown down but one party was to chicken too accept (you can guess who said "bok-bok").

As I was reading one night in the bedroom, I heard the sound of a kitchen chair scraping across the floor. Pretty soon Pat called me the the living room to "come see".


Here is what I saw when I peeked around the corner....



Papa Jerry, Pat and Mason were bowling away, complete with a grunt from each boy with every fling of the arm. Eventually Mason realized that he was the only one without a white controller, so after some quick thinking by his dad, Mason was awarded a soft, white pocket kleenex "controller" (Anybody else see that Southwest Airlines "Wanna Get Away?" commercial in their mind's eye where the guy actually pitches the controller into the nice, expensive plasma screen TV??). He was happy as a lark, bowling with the big boys.
Don't stay away so long this year Papa Jerry... We all (kitties included) miss you very much!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Eyeball Cars, Trains and Four-Wheelers....











Yes it was definitely a Christmas filled with vehicles of all sorts around the Settler Household. The favorites were the new train table (Thank you very much Mimi and Papa, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Kathylee, Cousins Robert, Charles and Tyler, Auntie Ellen and Uncle Brian and Grandpa and Mildred for the tracks and trains and to Papa Jerry and Daddy for building the entire thing! It truly was a group effort with a spectacular result!) and the new four-wheeler (Thank you very much to Papa Jerry and Santa!) .

Mason is definitely following in his father's footsteps when it comes to his love of anything with wheels that goes FAST... The first spin on the four-wheeler was a little touch and go and involved some help from Dad and a crash into, well lots of things: truck, flower bed, side of the house, just to name a few. By the end of the day though he had figured out how to make it turn (almost) on a dime and was loving it.
And here he is with the all important helmet!

The train table continues to be the inside favorite, although Thomas and Friends do have to share it with all of Mason's "eyeball cars" (diecast replicas from CARS, The Movie) and sometimes even a kitty or two.
Papa and Mason "playing trains" (Unfortunately for those of us over 36 inches tall, playing trains turns out to be pretty rough on the old back...)

Notice the train of "eyeball cars"....

Daphne (aka Godzilla Kitty) likes to play trains too....