Memorial Weekend

It seems as Mason gets older our weekends get busier...which i love - but it seems like my time with him, with my baby, just watching him be who he is, is getting shorter. I don't know what the answer is, because i love doing things with him - but i love the quiet of just watching him. It really hit me this weekend that he has a personality, he is growing up and has likes and dislikes, he is not my tiny infant anymore. I suspect that part of it is living with the in laws, and needing some time as a family of 3 - that we look for many opportunities to be out and about. We will find the way to balance better. Learning to be parents and to be a family has such a huge learning curve!

Saturday started with swimming lessons, and then some friends of ours organized a family picnic as Howarth Park in Santa Rosa http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/departments/recreationandparks/programs/howarthpark/Pages/default.aspx. For those of you in northern California who have not checked it out...you need to. It is a kids wonderland. it has picnic areas with BBQs that you can reserve, a lake with boats to rent, a train, a carousel, pony rides, a killer park with a water play area. Tickets for the train and carousel were like $2/ adult. it was so much fun. Much of it mason just watched. the carousel he thought was fun for about 30 seconds of moving- but then wanted to be held instead of ride on the horse going up and down. the train ride he slept through. But it was well worth the drive to santa rosa!

Sunday we ended up skipping church - we just needed some downtime. then it was off to a friend's son's baptism and party...and family portraits at the palace of fine arts. We had wanted to get married there - but it was under construction. we wanted to take our engagement photos there - but see previous problem. so with an almost 10 month old we took the photos of our dreams thanks to our friend kelly. http://www.mattandkellysummers.com/ . It was so cold and windy out there. Mason was trooper. He didn't get to bed until 9pm - poor kiddo.

Monday we went to the zoo!!! and we became members of the zoo too. if we go just 2 more times this year it will pay for itself. surely in the next year we will go twice. I can't believe that we are such parents and adults and are members now. I didn't know how much Mason was going to be aware of what we were doing and what he was seeing. He was completely aware. he pointed at and watched the animals. In the petting zoo he touched and petted everything that would stand still for a 9 1/2 month old to do so.

9 months old

May 5th Mason was 9 months old, weighing a big 20.3 pounds. I was pregnant for 42 weeks - which according to my math is more than 10 months old, but the medical community says that is 9 months. It felt like i was pregnant FOREVER! Mason has been in my life for 9 months now, and it has gone so fast. He is eating pretty much what we eat - thai, burritos, everything except for honey and peanuts! He is crawling up on his hands and knees, he can pull himself to stand and cruise on furniture for a few steps. He "swims" underwater. He has slept through the night for 7 nights in a row at most. He has 4 teeth, with more on their way in. And with about 90% accuracy he will say NANA for bannana. yes his first word, the most exciting thing in his life is a food item....sigh.

I wish i could stay home with him. I wish that i could work less than i do. But desire #1 isn't an option, and try as i might i can't get option #2 to work out for me. But that is a work in progress, and in this currenty economy i just can't say no to an awesome job that is flexible for my own needs. I just know that before i realize it he will be in school and all grown up.

I want to have more babies - but then Mason wouldn't be THE baby anymore - he would have to grow up. But the longer i wait, the more difference in age the two of them will have!?!?!?!?!