Like Father, Like Son?

Devin had a Notre Dame shirt as a baby that his mom kept. We brought it home to do a "Daddy/Mason side by side." Devin is on the left at about 7 months old and Mason is on the right at about 9 months old.

Nine Months

At nine months Mason is doing more and more "big boy" things. He now has four teeth and refuses to eat anything but table food. He seems to be done with his pacifier (fingers crossed) and is drinking everything (even his milk) out of sippy cups now. He has started making more sounds, some even resemble words. He's constantly on the move and loves clapping and high fives! He did have a doctor's appointment this month and the doctor was pleased with his development. His growth remains around the 75th percentile and he continues to reach milestones ahead of schedule. Overall, he's doing well.

He now weighs about 21 pounds 5 ounces, is 29 inches long, and has a head circumference of 18 inches.

Mason at nine months

St. Louis

We headed down to St. Louis for vacation last weekend. They have a lot of free children's attractions and we didn't think the ride would be too long for Mason. The day that we got there we pretty much walked around the city and tried to find out how to get everywhere we wanted to go. They were having a festival right across the street from our hotel so things were a bit congested. The bonus was that we could see and hear the fireworks and concerts from our hotel window. This was nice since the day that we arrived it was 99 degrees outside!

The view from our room

On Sunday we went to the St. Louis Zoo. It was another hot day, but there were many cooling stations and air conditioned buildings for relief! Mason seemed to have a good time. He really liked the penguin building and the snakes. You could get very close to the penguins. I even got splashed by one!

The three of us at the zoo (Mason was clearly not interested in the photo. He just wanted to get in the fountain)

Checking out the penguins with Mommy

The St. Louis "Sophies"

Looking around in the herpetarium

On Monday we had tickets to go up the Gateway Arch. We walked through the museum there, while Mason slept, and then boarded our tram. The cars you ride in are very small. If you're over 5 feet tall you have to bend down to fit in. Once we reached the top Mason had a blast looking out the windows. He actually cried if we tried to move him to a different window.

Mason & Mommy outside the arch

Our ride to the top

Looking out the window with Daddy

Checking out Busch Stadium

Mason at the highest point

Looking at the Mississippi with Mommy

The three of us at the top

After the arch we headed to Hooters for lunch before we went to a Cardinal's game. Mason loved all the attention from the ladies.

Busch Stadium

The field (notice the arch mowed into the grass)

Waiting for someone to score

Ready for a foul ball??

Rainbow during the game

After the game we headed back to the hotel for some dinner and fireworks.

Grabbing a post game burger

Fireworks!!

Tuesday we went to the Magic House Children's Museum. It was a really neat place. It even had a special section for little ones 24 months and younger. It was less crowded than the rest of the museum so Mason pretty much had the whole area to himself. He seemed to enjoy some of the areas for the older kids too, as did Mommy & Daddy.

Mason in a bubble

Daddy

Mommy

Mason

Enjoying the music section

"M" is for Mason

In the auto shop

Taking full advantage of the baby area

The "hair raising experience"

Shadow wall

This kid loves water!!

We also stopped by the City Museum which turned out to be a rather odd place. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. It was basically a mish mash of strange memorabilia. There were a couple of highlights though.

Mason liked watching the turtles

and picking Big Boy's nose!

Before heading out of town, we stopped by the Anheuser-Busch Brewery for their tour. It was very interesting to see the ins and outs of the brewery and learn some of the history behind it. They were bottling Bud Light Lime that day. At the end of the tour they have a hospitality room where each guest got to sample two beers. There was also a neat collection of memorabilia and a store featuring their products.

These pipes carry the beer from building to building

The dalmatians and Clydesdales

The packaging area

Mason & Daddy at the end of the tour