Baby Matthew

Matthew Joseph Gustafson joined our family on May 1st, 2014.  Our second bundle of joy has been the sweetest addition to the family and I am so thankful for our family.

I found out I was pregnant in September.  We were so excited and a little stunned- as we got pregnant more quickly than planned.  I had wanted two summer babies- I love planning birthday parties and activities to celebrate my children.  But May was just as wonderful as it meant our family was going to grow.

My pregnancy was fairly easy- if you can call growing a human being easy!  Baby Matthew (who was not named Matthew until after he was born) liked to hang out upside down in utero for the majority of my pregnancy.  We even were prepared for a c-section as Matthew hadn't decided which way he wanted to come out days before his birth!

Dr. Finnegan was my wonderful OB who gave way to my suggestions of a "May Day" baby.  Boys can like flowers too, right?!  Because Matthew was considered an unstable lie on Monday before he was born, we entered the hospital on May 1st without knowing whether we would be induced or prepping for surgery.

Luckily, Matthew was head down and ready to go! After an ultrasound that confirmed our hopes, the nurses started pitocen at 9:30am.  Things moved quickly and I received my epidural at 11am.  I had a wonderful anesthesiologist who worked hard to make me comfortable.

At 11:30 my water broke.  Dr. Finnegan was scheduled to assist in a surgery at noon, which then got pushed to two.  Thankfully the surgery was cancelled all together because I dialated quickly and Matthew was raring to go!  At sometime after two, Finnegan came by quickly to check on me in his street clothes and asked me to push just to see how things were looking.  I gave one push and Finnegan ran out the door as the nurse shouted at me to stop!  Matthew's head was on it's way!

Once the nursing staff convened and Finnegan had changed, it took three short pushes and out came my second baby boy!  Casey was able to pull Matthew out which was very special.  He claims he delivered Matthew! (We'll give him that!)

Matthew Joseph (who still did not have a name) was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches long with beautiful white-blonde hair.  He was perfectly healthy and wonderful in every way.

It took a few hours to decide on a name, but we agreed to name the baby after important men in Casey's family.  Matthew is Casey's brother, Jeremy's, middle name.  Joseph is the middle name of Casey's brother Josh, and Casey's father, Mark, who died in a mudslide in Washington state in March of the same year.

Mason was so excited to be a big brother and has been the most loving child we could hope for.  Matthew is the sweetest, most easy going baby.

God blessed me with boys.  I hope that I can teach them to love bravely and unconditionally.

Four. Years. Old.

Another year has passed and I am thankful that for at least one day, I can look back at the most memorable moments of our family.

Today Mason turned four years old.  I love him more and more every day.  How is that possible?  And in this last year, we have had big changes in the Gustafson household.  We welcomed Matthew Joseph to our family on Thursday, May 1st at 3:36pm.  We are so happy that Mason has a little brother to grow up with and he is already the best big brother!

I will post separately with Matthew's birth story, as today is a day to celebrate Mason.

Mason had a "minion" birthday from Despicable Me last weekend.  It's been a minion kind of year as Mason chose that as his Halloween costume last fall.  Grandma Carol made the cutest minion cake accompanied by cupcakes and I even tried my hand at minion cookies!

For Mason's actual birthday, today we went to The Bay in Broomfield.  It was a great day in the water, despite the rain!  Mason has taken swimming lessons since last November and he is quite the fish!  Mason has learned to swim the length of the pool, dive from the side of the pool, enjoys any slide he is tall enough to get down, and even has jumped from the large diving board with enthusiasm!

My picture collage posted today to celebrate Mason's birthday:

Some of my favorite pictures of this boy!

 


The last year was joyous and exhausting, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it (thank you pregnancy!).  Mason loved preschool (almost as much as I loved him going to preschool two days a week with me!).  September brought historic flooding to Longmont and the northern Colorado area which left us stranded at home for three days before the roads were safe to travel on.  The holidays were wonderful and spent as a family.  We travelled to Montana in April as Casey's father passed away.

Mason still cracks me up without fail.  I've been jotting down what I call "Masonisms".  Here are my favorites from the last year:

• 8/5/13 (As we pass Coors Field) "I want to work at the baseball stadium.  I want to hit with my bat at the stadium".
• On repeated occasions: "Silly Mason".
• "I live in Firestone in Colorado".  My teacher friends were very impressed by my three year old's knowledge of geography.  What can I say?
• 10/25/13 "I'm going to pancake PopPop"!  This has been a recurring theme and shows his love for his Grandpa!
• 11/8/13 On a day running errands... "Mommy, where are we going?"  "Crazy".  "Are we at crazy yet?"
• 11/22/13 "I caught a catfish and now I'm going to catch a dogfish!"  (Probably followed by a "Silly Mason").  

I am blessed every day to be surrounded by two amazing boys and a wonderful husband.  I couldn't be more proud of my family and I pray each day that we continue to love each other more.  

Here's to another year!

Sigh... Three...

I am determined not to start this post lamenting about how long it has been since I've blogged.  I won't do it, I won't do it, I won't do it....

But I think I made it under the year mark, right?!

My precious boy turned three last week.  I can hardly believe it.  Mason brings so much joy to our lives.  He can make me laugh louder and harder than most anyone else and tries my patience more than most.  Regardless, I wouldn't change that cute little freckle-face redhead for anything!!

Some of my favorite memories from the last year:

• "Don't sing, Mommy!"
• "Purple pizza, that's funny!" (from a silly song on Pandora)
• Our "swimming" vacation to Glenwood Springs in June 2013- we didn't do much else other than swim!
• "I'm so happy that everyone will be at my birthday!" (in response to our discussion about who would be coming to Water World on Mason's actual birthday)

For Mason's third birthday, we had a pirate themed party the weekend before his actual birthday.  Mason chose pirates over Super Why and I'm glad he did!  We had such a fun time!!

On Tuesday the 16th, the Coleman family joined Mason on his actual birthday at Water World.  What a perfect place for a little boy who loves the water and swimming.  We could hardly pull him off the slides at Wally World to do anything else! But we rode raft rides and played all over the part.  The boy has the bumps and bruises to prove all the fun he had!

Mason will be starting preschool this fall at my school- I couldn't be happier.  He is very excited to go to preschool with his teacher, Miss Patty.  She remarked that he didn't look like an almost 3 year old when we met her in June- he looked almost 4!  We get that a lot- Mason is a tall, smart boy who makes my life worthwhile.  I can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

As soon as I can figure out my iCloud photos, I will post them here!

Until next time!
Katie

Two!

I am ashamed and inspired about being away from blogging so long!  I know I am not the type to be able to blog often, but I sure hope another year does not pass before I blog again.

The last year was full of changes for the Gustafson's!

First and foremost, we have a new address!  After selling our house in Lakewood and six months of waiting, we were able to move into my "dream house" in Firestone, Colorado.  We were so lucky to find such a beautiful house in a quiet neighborhood close to our family and friends.  It is so nice to live in a town with little traffic and the necessities so close.

I started a new job this past year in Longmont, Colorado.  I am still teaching middle school history.  It was hard to leave my previous school of four years, but with the changes occurring, it was the best thing.  The new school is wonderful and I am constantly inspired by the caliber of her colleagues.

Casey also has taken on a new adventure.  He started electrical school last August and completed his first year in the apprentice program with top honors.  He has been working very hard!!

And finally... Mason. Words cannot express the complete joy he brings to our lives. He made huge changes over the last year and we love him more and more every day. Mason talks up a storm, is very coordinated (running, jumping, climbing) for a two year old, knows all of his colors, uses the potty (infrequently but we will take it!) and constantly asks about his family and friends by name.


A few of my favorite memories from the last year:

• "I lobe you"- I love you
• Calling his diaper his "Elmo"- Where did that come from? 
• "Yeager says "- Imitating his dog
• Cheering for the music at PopPop"s (Grandpa Hooper) funeral

We have enjoyed this summer- at the pool, in our backyard, and playing hard.  This past weekend was Mason's 2nd birthday party.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Mason's 1st Birthday

Mason turned one last Saturday.  It is crazy how fast the last year has gone.  We are so, so blessed to have such a health, intellegent, and happy baby.  Because our house is for sale, we had Mason's party at a neighborhood park.  It was so much fun and had a wonderful turn out!  Special thanks to Grandma who made Mason's birthday cake!

Good morning birthday boy!

Summertime!

I can hardly believe summer is nearly over!  Even more unbelievable is that my baby boy is now one! 

We've had some really fun adventures this summer and have spent some great quality time with our family as well!  We've spent time at the pool, at different parks with swings and another with a splash pad, at the Pink House in the mountains, and we've had a fun time catching up with friends!  Mommy had her knee surgery and the whole family got to spend some good time recovering at Grandma & Grandpa's in Westminster!  Here are a few of my favorites from summer!

The times are a-changing!

Oh my!  I cannot believe it has been so long since I have been here to update about my precious little one and our family!  Our little one is not so little anymore... he is 10 months old now! 

Mason is growing and changing all the time.  He's had quite the run of illness from being in daycare!  RSV, stomach flu, and pink eye of note.  I'm amazed at how resilient he is- even on the worst days, his happy personality shines through!

We've had a lot of fun too in the last few months!  We celebrated the birth of Mason's newest cousin, Tegan, with a Babymoon in Estes Park a week before she was born with the Coleman's.  Daddy remodeled the upstairs bathroom and it's gorgeous! Grandma Rose came and spent the night with Mason so Mommy and Daddy could celebrate Mommy's 30th birthday in Central City.  We also visited the Denver Zoo and recently found out Mason will have another BOY cousin in October!  Mason also started swimming lessons! The biggest excitement is we are getting ready to put our house on the market to make the move up north to be closer to our growing extended family!  Mommy is so excited to be off for the summer with Mason to have all kinds of new adventures!

A few of the biggest milestones Mason has reached:

Sitting up unassisted
Rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back
First haircut
Waving goodbye
Saying "dadadada" and "mamamama"
Crawling
Eating "people" food- fruits, veggies, some meats, breads, cheese, etc
Pulling himself to standing
Holding his own bottle
"Walking" in an activity walker
Standing unassisted for very short periods of time
Giving high-fives
A first tooth!

We are so excited for what the near future holds for us! 

A few of my recent favorites: