I really loved how they turned out! (I would love to take full credit for the cuteness but will not...you can see my inspiration for these here and here.)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Teacher Appreciation Week
I really loved how they turned out! (I would love to take full credit for the cuteness but will not...you can see my inspiration for these here and here.)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Back to Blogging...Hopefully!
This whole "I have 2 kids now" thing has really thrown me off of my game. I never imagined that adding another tiny person to our family would change it up that much. But now that we finally seem to have the hang of it (or so it seems for now), I really want to try to get back into blogging. There are so many things that we have done over the past almost year that I have not chronicled...That makes me sad.
So...here goes. I will be back this week with at least one post (hopefully more) but let's not get too ambitious to start!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sibling Love

The dialogue consists of Mason saying "Hey baby...whatchu doin?" in a very high pitched voice. Sometimes he throws in the occasional deep sigh before he speaks so he can sound like every other person that talks to her. Elizabeth responds by crossing her eyes - since Mason likes to get 1 inch from her face - and occasionally smiling or cooing back at him.
He really does love her so much and lets her know that frequently - I especially love when he squeezes her and tells her "I love you so much, baby!"
I sure do hope that this sibling love continues, but I won't get my hopes up. :)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
My New Obsession...
This is my new desktop background…
Just warning you that most of my blog posts will now contain collages... :)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I'm Back...
Elizabeth at 2 months
Now that I am back to work, Mason is attending daycare full time at The Peanut Gallery in LaPorte. He loves it, although we did have a very rough beginning. We tried out another daycare first and that just didn't work out. He would cry even before we left the house and even told me that it was "dangerous" so I couldn't make him go back there! After switching to the Peanut Gallery, he cried for the first week but now gets so excited every morning when I tell him that he is going to school. That definitely makes it easier to come to work when I know he is having a good time and enjoying the play where he stays.
Mason and Ms. Michelle on Crazy Hat Day (Michelle was my partner teacher when I worked at that daycare after high school...She's been there 25 years!)
I also want to share that he is LOVING being a big brother. He loves his "baby sister" so much - maybe a little too much sometimes. There is nothing on this Earth that is more heartwarming than seeing your kids be so sweet to each other!
Kacey and I are doing well - adjusting to life with 2 kids. We are headed to College Station this weekend to visit with family and watch some 10U baseball. I'm excited because it is our first trip and hotel stay with our family of 4 so it will be fun. Plus we are taking Mason and Elizabeth to the TAMU campus to take some pictures so that will be fun too! And of course we will be buying them some Aggie attire so that we can begin the process...(insert evil laugh)!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Name Game
Monday, March 21, 2011
Baby Update and More...
On the baby front: We have 7 weeks until D-Day (6 weeks and 4 days, but who's counting). I am actually due on May 12, but if this little girl doesn't make her appearance on her own before then, I have a scheduled C-section at 7:30am on Friday, May 6. Believe me when I say that day couldn't come any sooner. Well, actually we are not ready for her, per say. But Momma is ready to get her out. She has a room and a bed but not much of anything else. But hey, I could totally make due if she decided to come early. Not too early - I want her to be cooked and all but 7 weeks still seems like a long time to my body these days. I am getting pretty uncomfortable and sleeping is almost non-existent at this point.
I had an ultrasound this past Friday and all looked well. I am getting one every 4 weeks due to my high blood pressure (which was normal at my last visit) because that can impact the baby's growth and make her a little on the small side. I am happy to report that this is not the case with our little girl. As of Friday, she was weighing in a 4 lbs, 13 ozs already and will probably be 8.5 lbs but delivery. The ultrasound tech also said that she is quite the hairy little thing as well. You can see on the ultrasound where she has a little white fuzzy halo on her head which indicates that she has a lot of hair for her gestational age. This is surprising since our families tend to not make very hairy babies. But if heartburn really is an indication of how much hair she will have, we might have a little Chewbacca on our hands! I am actually on prescription heartburn medicine and have been for the last 1.5 months.
And then there comes the name...For those of you that I talk to frequently, you know this is a sore subject in our house. I joke that Kacey and I might actually fight to the death on this one. Then I realize that it's not a joke and I should probably stop telling people that so I don't implicate myself on anything. :) In all truth, we really are no closer to naming this little girl than we were before we even knew she was growing in my tummy. We have gone from one side to the next and each of us have our favorites and no one is budging at this point. In fact, she did have a name for about 3 weeks until Daddy decided that he didn't like that name anymore so we are back to square one!!! We do have 2 names narrowed down right now and her middle name is for sure Leigh so I guess we are finally making some headway. I just really need her to have a name because I feel like that will cinch it all up for me and make this feel more real at last. Hopefully we can decide on something soon. Kacey wants to wait until we see her but you know that jacks with my OCD...really badly.
As for what else is going on with us...We have been really busy lately with visiting with friends and family and doing things around the house. We spent the last weekend in Columbus with family and friends and had a really good time.
Mason got to see his cousins and spend a day as a country boy (which he LOVES) so that was really good for him. He got to play outside, swim, fish, trim bushes, stack firewood, chase frogs, catch lizards, etc...all the stuff city kids don't get to enjoy that much. Here is a picture of him with his first ever catch.

I was talking to a co-worker of mine today and decided that this is a combination of a whole lot of things. He is about to turn 3 (which I heard is worse than the Terrible Twos) and I am sure that he is sensing that the baby is coming soon. Although we are not purposely treating him any different, I am sure that he is sending change in the house. Baby Sister has her own room, people are buying her things, etc. I am hoping that this is all stemming from what is going on in his environment and that things will get better soon. This seems to be the general consensus amongst friends of mine who have kids and were adding another to the family.
Ok, so this was way longer than I intended it to be. I promise to at least TRY to update more often, but no promises. :)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!



I am not real sure when he became a big kid but I am fine with time slowing down a bit.
We were cleaning out the garage this weekend and I was going thru some of Mason's old clothes to put into a garage sale. I ended up sitting on a bench in the garage - bawling my eyes out - and then packing up all of the clothes to put in the attic. I don't think it is ever a good time for a mother to look at old baby clothes, but especially not when you are 6 months pregnant! It seemed like every outfit that I pulled out had a story, a picture in my mind of my sweet little baby wearing those clothes. The fact that he is not so little anymore really hit me hard and I couldn't help but cry about it. A lot.
He is super funny though so that makes up for the fact that he is not so little anymore.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Christmas? When was Christmas?
Most of you probably know by now but I will explain in detail why I responded like that...
Mason began to get sick Thursday - the day before Christmas Eve. He was not acting his normal self...laying around on the couch, coughing, labored breathing, high fever. Kacey and I took him to the doctor (who was my saving grace thru all of this) and she began treating him for pneumonia. She didn't do a chest x-ray but heard a rattle in his lungs and with his high fever, this must be the case. She prescribed 2 strong antibiotics and sent us on our way with her cell number so that we could check in with her over the holiday weekend. Little did we know what we were in for over the next few days...
Thursday evening, Mason's temperature spiked to 104.7. He had never had a fever that high and it really sort of scared me. I called the doctor and she said to treat him with Tylenol and Motrin thru the night because he had just started the antibiotics. She said that the fever would most likely subside sometime on Friday after the meds had a chance to do their job. I agreed and did as she said. However, his little body had something else in mind.
By Friday, the fever was not going down. In fact, by 2pm on Christmas Eve, the fever was up to 105.9. He was lethargic and complaining that his head and eyes hurt and he was crying when he coughed. Insert panicked mother here... Again, I called the doctor and we treated him with a higher dosage of Tylenol and Motrin (simultaneously) and put him in a tepid bath. This helped and his fever came down and he even opened a few presents and played a bit. But as soon as the meds wore off, the evil fever rared its ugly head. Christmas Eve night was filled with medicine and temperature checks and not one wink of sleep for Mommy.
Christmas day started off with the fever lingering around 103.5ish. Mason got up and did the Santa thing (sort of) and then it was time to pile up on the couch with Mommy for movie time. (This is how we spent the majority of the 6 days that he was sick.) He continued to cough but it began to get much worse. The fever was still spiking every 4 hours and he was coughing until he gagged. At this point, his breathing is labored even when the fever is down. Around noon his doctor called to check in with us and decided it was time to head to the hospital. I packed a bag with clothes and stuff to occupy Mason while we waited and then headed to Texas Children's Hospital. Kacey was working so he headed in that direction as soon as he could. Mason's doctor called the hospital to let them know that we were coming.
Once we arrived, we were immediately sent to triage (which was not fun for Mason) and then were put into an ER room. Our nurse, Kenya, was truly an angel, as are the majority of the employees at TCH. She was so good with Mason and really made him (and me) feel comfortable. We saw the doctor after only waiting for about 15 minutes and she sent us for a chest xray. This was by far the saddest part of our visit. Being that I am 21 weeks pregnant, I could not be in the room with Mason for the xray. That and the fact that he had to take off his necklace and shirt and be strapped down to the xray table were the breaking points for him. I stood in the hallway and listened as my baby cried out for me...it was truly heartbreaking. I knew that he would be ok but I couldn't help but want to break down the door and hold him.
It took about 3o minutes for the x-ray to be read by the doctor. We headed back to our ER room, where Kacey was waiting for us. This put both Mason and I at ease. Dr. Cruz came back in and told us that there was definitely pneumonia present in Mason's right lung and that she was changing his meds. It was not a very major pneumonia, but any pneumonia is enough to make you feel horrible and run a high fever. She had also spoken to Mason's pediatrician who wanted us to follow up at the office with her on Monday. So after being at TCH for 4 hours on Christmas day, we were released with new meds and a follow up visit.
Side note: When Mason and I arrived at the ER, there were 2 trucks literally full to the brim that were there to drop of toys to donate to the patients. Mason fared well from the donations: a 6 pack of hot wheels, 1 large die cast Ferrari and a giant stuffed teddy bear. If that doesn't make your heart happy, I don't know what will. I am truthful when I say that the people at that hospital are angels.
Once we arrived home from the hospital, Mason napped for about an hour in his bed while Kacey and I sort of picked up for dinner. My family came over for our usual Christmas tradition of gumbo. Mason woke up with more fever (104.9) and snuggled up on the couch for Toy Story 3. Our evening was passed with family, stories, laughter, temperature checks and medicine. Not too much playing, although he did enjoy some time with his new work bench when his medicine kicked in.
Sunday was more of the same: coughing, high temperature (104ish), and lots of medicine. I was in contact with the pediatrician throughout the day and she was beginning to think that there was something else going on in that little body. If he only had the pneumonia, the medicines that he was on should have caught up in his body by now and he would not have the fever that high anymore. It was for this reason that she wanted me to call and get a follow up appointment at the office first thing in the morning. Our best friends came over for dinner and Mason enjoyed that but he was asleep by 8:30pm.
I got up on Monday around 9am and called the doctor's office and got a 2pm appointment. Kacey got up shortly after I did and we enjoyed some quiet time in the house with a movie. Around NOON (yes, noon) my poor sick little boy finally decided to roll out of bed. I had been checking on him throughout the morning and it seemed promising that that would be the day for a turn around. He was sleeping peacefully and had not had a fever since 6am. That was a big deal for us seeing as how the last few days had gone. We bathed him and got him dressed and optimistically loaded him in the car and headed to our appointment. He fell asleep in the way to the doctor after only being awake for 2 hours and then his little body decided that it was not done fighting the good fight...Fever was back when I got him to the office. We were a work in so we sat in the waiting room for about an hour while Mason passed the time by sleeping in my lap. We were called back to the room and told this entire story to the nurse and then waited to be seen by the doctor.
Dr. Gray came in and we talked and then she ordered a blood test and a flu test, neither of which were fun for anyone. Those took about 15 minutes to run. Mason continued to sleep on my chest the entire time, except for the toe stick and nose swab. Dr. Gray returned with the news: Mason's blood work looked superb. However, his flu test was positive. Really?! What else do you want to throw on us?! She prescribed Tamiflu and said that he should start to feel better after being on this medicine for 12 hours. She also gave me her cell number and said to call her in the night if he got any worse and to check in with her at the office every day this week. We picked up the meds and headed home. Mason's temperature was up and down thru the night but he slept well and long again.
Tuesday morning, Mason got up around 10am and his temperature was around 102 - at this point, any other parent might think that is high but not for us...that was a very good sign. I didn't give him the Tylenol or Motrin but instead let his little body do what it was made to do. He was fever free by noon.
Today is Thursday and I am happy to report that Mason has been fever free for 48 hours. It seems that the Tamiflu is just what he needed to get over the hurdle. He spent the day with my best friend yesterday and probably out did himself because I just talked to Mom and he had just gotten out of bed. That was another long night for him...14.5 hours of sleep. I think it was just his body letting him know that he played too hard yesterday and that it was just not quite back to normal.
Thank you all for your prayers for us over the last few days. We really needed them to get thru this and I know that God was listening and looking out for us along the way.
I have included a few pictures of Mr. Sick that I took on my phone over the last few days too.
Waiting for Toy Story 3 to start while at TCH on Christmas Day.
Little fever head sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed on Sunday.
Playing Tinker Toys with Mommy on Monday evening.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Baby News

We broke the news to Mason on Monday afternoon and he is very excited too. He now tells everyone that Mommy has a "baby thisthur" in her tummy. He has begun to notice that Mommy's tummy is growing and even felt on my belly last night. I showed him the ultrasound pictures and pointed out the head and nose and back, but he told me that was not a baby - it is water. Oh well...at least he is excited to be a big brother!
Now it is on to picking out bedding, room decor, and lots of cute little clothes! Oh, and the most important of things - a name!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a busy day for us as Kacey and I had just returned from Vermont that afternoon (that will be shared in a later post). Nana brought Mason home from Columbus on Sunday and we got to play and visit for a bit before it was time to get ready for Trick or Treating.
Mason said for a long while before Halloween that he wanted to dress up like Woody from Toy Story. Of course, I could not find a Woody costume to save my life so we improvised. He has boots that he got from Uncle Bubba and Aunt Kim earlier this year. They don't exactly fit the best but Mason never said that they hurt so I was ok with him wearing them. I purchased some spurs, a vest, bandana, sheriff's badge and belt with gun holster. His hat came from a friend whose Mom bought it from him to wear on his birthday - He's 27. We had the shirt and pants at home.
We got ready around 5:30pm and headed out to the streets. Mason had a great time trick or treating and did pretty well for walking so far in boots that are on the margin of being too small. Some of my favorite quotes from the night are as follows:
"Hey, you got candy?" - This was to some people sitting in their front yard, watching the kids and handing out candy. He had pretty much given up on the whole "Trick or Treat!" thing.
"What you got in there?" - One family had a lit up skeleton head on their entry table and yes, my did waltzed right in the front door and touched it.
"You boy watching Cars in there?" - He saw the TV on inside the house and assumed they must be watching Cars. What else do adults have to do but watch Cars?
There were also a couple of times when Mason tried to go inside the strangers houses to pet their dogs. Needless to say, he had a great time and so did we.
About to head out in the neighborhood.
Sacked out on the way home...with candy remnants on his face.Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Pumpkin Patch
2008


Now that I have posted these all together, it makes me realize two things:
- It has apparently always been hard to get a good picture.
- My baby is growing up too fast!!!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Happy Fall everyone!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
We Have an Announcement...

Mason came running out of the bedroom and everyone quickly caught on to what his shirt said. As suspected, all were very excited about the news and there were even a few tears. Oh, and despite the look on Mason's face, he does seem to be pretty excited about the baby. This is just his "my mom had that camera out again" face.We had our first doctor’s appointment today and had an ultrasound to see the heartbeat. The baby is strong and healthy with a very good heartbeat.
It was so comforting to see that little heartbeat today since there has just been too much “bad” going on in our lives. I feel like we can now relax and enjoy what is to come. We are all very excited and can’t wait for this little one to join our family!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Jail?
However, this leads to a conversation that I just had with my Mom. She and Mason were playing in the backyard and she was pushing him on the swing. When she pushed him particularly high, he looked up towards the sky and said, "I'm swinging high, Papa!". This in turn lead to a discussion of how Papa and Uncle Big Bubba and Grandpa are all in Heaven and how they will always take care of and watch over Mason. And how does my kid respond?
"Yeah, Nannie...They watch over me and take care of me so I don't go to jail..."
Oh, great...What seed have I planted in that tiny little brain?!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Understanding Loss
With my Daddy, Elden Bruce, we watched him suffer for the past few years with an ever changing mind and physical awareness due to Alzheimer's Disease. That is not something that I would wish on even my worst enemy. Seeing someone become a person that they themselves do not recognize is very hard. His passing was and is very hard to deal with but knowing that he is with God and is now of sound mind and body makes coping with the loss a little easier. You can read his obituary here.
Elden Lee Bruce10/13/1935 – 6/11/2010
My Uncle Big Bubba, Michael Witkovski, passed away very suddenly on 9/11/2010. He was my Mom’s only sibling and we were all very close. Anyone who ever met Uncle Big Bubba will never forget him, as he was so caring and full of life. He suffered a massive heart attack on the morning of 9/11 and passed away after doctors could no longer help him. This came to a shock to all of us. I had spoken to him not even 10 hours prior and he was his normal, joking self. He made reference to a shirt of Mason’s and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever said and then proceeded to explain the joke he made – this in a nutshell was my uncle. You can read his obituary and sign his guest book here.
2/5/1946 – 9/11/2010
The purpose of this post is to reaffirm that fact that life happens and no one can ever be prepared for what God is going to put in front of you. If we all had our way, we would live eternally here on Earth and no one would ever be sick and everyone would live together in peace. However, we know that is not the case.
After my uncle passed away on Saturday, I was crying and telling Kacey how I just don’t understand why these things have to happen. I was angry at God and just wanted so badly to yell and scream and to find out why He had to take away someone that just wasn’t ready to go. Kacey said to me “This is not for us to understand”.
Those words will ring true in my heart for as long as I live. It made me realize that in times like these, more than ever, we must turn to our faith and hear the word of God.
On the way to New Orleans on Saturday to be with my family after my Uncle’s passing, one of my friends posted the Bible verse below on Facebook. There has never been a passage that has spoken to me more clearly than this one.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
I miss you dearly Daddy and Uncle Big Bubba, but I know in my heart that the two of you are having the time of your lives in Heaven will be watching over all of us until we can meet again.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Mason's New Chair

It is obvious that he loves it!

Really loves it...

Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Mommy's Side
So last night, Mason and I went to bed in our respective beds. Sometime around 2am, I had a visitor come crawl in bed with me. This is almost a nightly occurrence. He comes to my side of the bed and crawls over me and gets either on Kacey's side if he is not home, or smack dab in the middle of us if he is there. Since Kacey was working last night, Mason was laying horizontally on his side of the bed when I got up at 5am to shower.
After my shower, Kacey had just gotten home and was crawling in the bed - on my side. Mason, who was dead to the world asleep, immediately woke up and told his Daddy, "Hey - that's MOMMY'S side! Get up...that's MOMMY's side!" Needless to say, he has figured out who sleeps where and has a hard time deviating from the norm.
He never went back to bed after that.
Blogging...
Plus, our kid is hilarious and this is easier than texting out every funny thing he might say at a given time.
So, please bookmark this page and keep checking in on us because you never know what may be coming soon...
Oh, and here is a picture of Mason since I know that is the only reason anyone will ever visit this site...
