The End of an Era

Adam and I have been talking about weening Mason off his pacifier for some time. It had become like a bad habit for him. He'd be fine without it all day at the sitter and in daycare (even for naps!), but at home he'd always cry for it. It's been a struggle trying to coordinate this, mostly because of our crazy schedules, but we finally took the plunge a week and a half ago and put it out of its misery.

We'd heard all kinds of theories on how best to do it and still did the exact opposite. We forced him to give it up cold turkey. There was a moment when I tried to explain to Mason that this would be the last time he had it, but I'm sure he didn't understand. All he cared about was that he didn't have it and he wanted it back now. Lots of tears ensued, not all from Mason.

A week and a half in and we're surviving. It's been tough - he's been sick during this and I know it would make him feel so much better. We had people suggest we give it back to him but only when he's in his crib. We almost caved a couple times during some of the rougher nights, but somehow have held on. This too shall pass right? :)

Below are some of my favorite pictures of Mason with his pacifier from the past two years. When he sees pictures like these in his photo albums, he points at the pacifier and asks "whas thees?" It's the end of an era Little Boo.

Playing Catch Up

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks around these parts. Adam and I have been stressed to the max with work (okay, it's mostly been me stressed) plus we've had so much going on at home. To start of the month, Adam's brother and his family were visiting from Washington. Mason has so much fun with his cousins, especially Abby who is just his size.


The next week, Mason began going to day care. I think this was harder for me than it was for him, but I'm feeling better about it these days. Thankfully Adam drops him off and picks him up both days Mason is there. I know it's hard for him too, but I really don't think I could do it.

A week after daycare began, Adam and I went on a trip to Chicago to celebrate our 30th birthdays. Mason stayed with Nana and Papa while we were gone for two whole nights. I feel like all we did was eat on this trip (Quartino's, Harry Carey's, David Burke's Primehouse, Giordano's), but we did do some non-food related things. We went shopping, toured the aquarium and went to Navy Pier (picture below on a very windy day).


Of course we know it's good to get away just the two of us, but we missed Mason so much. I spent much of our final day holding back tears, and when I saw his little face at the train station and he saw us we both started crying.

When we returned it was time to finish off the birthday plans. The theme this year was Elmo, whom Mason adores. (Seriously, when we watch Sesame Street, he cries when Elmo's World is over.)


I can't believe my little baby is 2 already. He looks like a toddler now. I'm hoping for some calmer days ahead where I can enjoy these moments before they rush by.

I ♥ Nana

Mason sure does love his Nana. We have been so fortunate to have her watch him one day a week, and it has built such a bond between them. Nana is the 4th most common word out of Mason's mouth - behind only mama, dada and no.

Not only does he have fun with Nana, but Mason learns a lot from her too. Every once in a while Adam and I will stumble upon something he's learned that we didn't teach him. It always surprises us (and usually makes me cry with pride) even though we wouldn't expect anything less with her teaching background. I hope Mason will appreciate all this time he has with his Nana - it's priceless.

Anderson Water Park

Back in the day, my family used to go to the Anderson Water Park in Saginaw a couple times each summer. It was a great place with a wave pool and double water slides. I don't really know how it came to it's demise, but sadly it was shut down and the slides sold off, etc. What more would you expect in Saginaw really? Somehow the city found some funds to rehabilitate the site and it's being turned into a skate-splash-play park (skateboard park is under construction, kiddie fountain area, and a larger playscape area). The old waterpark buildings are still there, and almost in between them is this splash zone. It's got all kinds of different sprayers and geysers and best of all - the park is FREE!!!

After a trip to the Children's Zoo, my parents and I took Mason over to the splash area. In typical boy fashion, he had to run like crazy from one thing to the next, but I think he liked these geysers best. I noticed another little girl his age playing timidly at the different stations and wished for a moment that I could be the mom in clothes, not worried about having to run through a fountain to chase after my kid. But on later thought I realized I wouldn't have nearly as much fun if I wasn't chasing after Mason. He's an active little guy for sure, but the joy he gets from all his doings brings me joy too.

The 4-H Children's Gardens @ MSU

What a day. Mason and I met Grandma, Grandpa, Meme, and Dan in Holt for a wedding open house a few weeks ago. After we said our goodbyes to the bride and groom, we headed over to MSU for ice cream and a walk through the 4-H Children's Garden. It was a smoldering hot day, so the ice cream really hit the spot. Mason had mint chocolate chip and I had my usual, Buckeye Blitz. (The MSU Dairy Store has a flavor for every Big Ten team that they mix up for football season, but Buckeye Blitz is so yummy they stock it all year round. They also make a really mean Blue Moon.)

As we wandered through the main gardens, we stumbled upon several weddings and I was really worried about Mason making a scene. He behaved like a little gentleman (or at least went unnoticed) so we rewarded him by letting him splash around in one of the fountains. At the actual Children's Garden, Mason and Grandpa climbed into the treehouse for a birds-eye view of a passing train. Much to the delite of Grandpa, it wasn't the only train that passed by while we were in the area.

Auntie Meme got to test out her parental skills by snagging Mason right before he was headed for this pond. There are ceramic frogs out of the picture that shoot water back to the cement surround when you spin a turnstile. Mason rode around on the turnstile while Grandpa got the frogs to shoot the water. All was fun until Mason stopped spinning and tried to walk. He took a little tumble from being so dizzy, but got right back up again and headed for the next interesting thing.

As you can see, Mason had a really good time! And I had a peaceful drive home, which isn't always the case when I'm on my own. I had to pull over so I could get this picture, but it was worth it. He's holding on to his three favorite friends, "Doggie" the Pound Puppy, "Spunky" the monkey and "Gary" the Gorilla.

Independence Day

Independence has become the theme around our house lately, and I'm not talking about the 4th of July. Mason is truly developing a mind of his own, has his opinions on what he wants to do and when he wants to do them. The 'terrible twos' has taken hold, and frantic days like the 4th get him worked up more so than usual. That combined with the heat made for some trying moments for mommy and daddy this weekend, but we made it through and even got a few cute pictures out of it.

Mason playing with bubbles is always an adventure. He absolutely loves them, but doesn't get the concept of blowing quite yet. What you see here, is me catching him right after dumping out his entire bottle of bubbles on the deck steps. I'm sure Papa was none too pleased about this. "What? I'm just helping to clean the stairs Papa."

One of the more interesting moments of our weekend was when hot air balloons floated over our house from the Battle Creek Air Show. Mason and I were sitting in the living room and I kept hearing this strange noise, at first I thought it was an accelerating motorcycle off in the distance. But then it hit me - it's the balloons! Mason and I ran outside to the baseball field and watched as balloon after balloon flew over our house and across the park. He absolutely loves balloons and seems to find them everywhere we go. As we watched these go over, he kept exclaiming "BAWOON, BAWOON!!!"

We hope everyone else had a safe and wonderful 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day!

I've officially hit the blog wall as it took me almost a month to post about Father's Day. We had a lovely day, swinging over to visit with Adam's parent's at the lake. Three generations of Mattens men sure make a nice picture.

To me it's amazing to look at Mason and see a mini version of Adam. I asked Adam if he feels any differently when he looks at Mason, as if he's looking a younger version of himself. But he said no, he just sees our son. I can't even imagine how I'd feel to have someone walking around that looks just like me.

Did I mention before that we've noticed Mason is double-jointed? I came home one day from work and Mason was sitting in his high chair popping his pointer fingers in and out like Adam can do. Just another reminder of how very much the same they are.