Julia's Baptism

This past weekend we headed up to Bridgeport to visit my parents, and on Sunday went up to Midland for baby Julia's christening. Megan and Dan asked Adam and I to be Julia's Godparents, and of course we were thrilled. Julia is such a sweet little baby - I don't think I heard her cry once while we were there. She thinks about it from time to time and sticks our her lower lip to express her displeasure. But overall she seems like such a happy and easygoing baby.

The dress Megan found for her was just adorable, and of course her pink tights had a ruffle butt. Before the kids changed, we snapped a quick picture to remember the day. Mason was so gentle with Julia, I really think he's going to such a good big brother.

Mother's Day Love

Adam had to work/sleep on Mother's Day, so it was just Mason and I for most of the day. Since mom's get in free at the Binder Park Zoo on Mother's Day, we (I) decided we should head over for an animal filled-afternoon. Little did I know that almost every other mom in Battle Creek decided to do the same thing. We waited in line for half an hour just to get in, and fortunately Mason behaved the whole time. It might have had something to do with the lunch I packed for him. He still doesn't take much interest in the animals, especially the ones that are just lying around. He did like the snow leopard (he claims he heard it meow), the wallabies, and the monkeys. But his favorite was the giraffe, who we fed "salad" (a romaine lettuce leaf). Trumping even the giraffe, his happiest moments were riding the train and the tram out to Wild Africa. I doubt we'll do the zoo on our own again, so it was fun to just spend time with my special little man.

After we got home, we got to wake up Adam and the boys got to work on my Mother's Day feast. Not that this was much different than every other day of the week, but it was fun to be there to watch them interact in the kitchen. One of the cutest moments was when Adam shut his tongs in the grill (to sanitize them while he went back in the house). Mason did the same thing with his tongs and told me "just like Daddy."

I can't say enough how much I love being a mom. It definitely has its trying moments, but the smiles and giggles and hugs and kisses make it all worth while.

The Last Horrah!

A while back Adam I decided we should take Mason on a mini-vacation before Mya arrives. I had wanted to go to Michigan's Adventure (for the water park) but we were running out of time so an indoor water park would just have to do. We decided to go to Zender's Splash Village in Frankenmuth and ended up having a blast. Adam and Mason drove up to MSU and picked me up on a Tuesday afternoon. Of course we had to feed the ducks outside my office and then make a pit stop at the Dairy Store. (Blue Moon for Mason, Buckeye Blitz for Erin, Hoosier Strawberry for Adam)

After that we headed up to Frankenmuth, checked in and met my parents and brother for dinner at Zenders. Just thinking about it now I'm craving their noodles.... mmmm. We'd had what seemed like weeks of cool, rainy weather, but fortunately the skies cleared after dinner so we could walk around the main strip. Mason was pointing out things left and right - there's just so much for a little guy to take in around there.

And now for the recap of the best part - Mason in the water park. He was so excited that I could barely get a picture of him. That is until the bell started ringing and warned that the giant bucket was about to dump all over us. The first time we heard it, we didn't know what was going on and unknowingly ended up getting splashed. From then on, Mason was petrified of the bell. Eventually he was able to get past it and enjoyed the little tyke slide and operating the water cannons and whatnot. But he still talks about the bell when we mention swimming at the water park! We can't wait for the summer to be here so we can enjoy some more water time at the lake.

Growing Up

It's already beginning - Mason is growing up and his world is extending beyond Adam and I. On two occasions we've been out in Battle Creek and have run into Mason's friends from "school." About a month ago we were eating at Chili's when another family was seated near us. Mason started pointing at them and jabbering on about "Chris", and we just assumed he was talking about Adam's friend Chris who we'd been talking about. So we told him no, that wasn't Chris and continued to eat our dinner. A little bit later the mom at the other table asked us what day care our son went to, and from talking to her found out that her son, Christian, was in Mason's class. Yes, he had just recognized one of his friends from school. The remainder of the dinner was a wash as the boys stared and giggled at each other. I'm sure Mason was thinking, silly mommy and daddy, I knew who that was.

Then this weekend I took Mason to the mall with me, which means we had to stop at the book store to play with the Thomas train set in the kid's section. Just as we were arriving an older woman and a little girl showed up to play too. After a few minutes of the kids playing quietly together, the woman asked me if Mason went to CDC, because her grand-daughter never plays with other kids at the bookstore. Sure enough, they were in the same class too. Mary and Mason ran all over the kid's section together, we probably let them play for over an hour. When Mary and her grandma left, the kids gave each other a hug.

Neither Christian nor Mary had ever come up in conversations with him about his day. Christian was younger than Mason but Mary also turned 2 1/2 in March, and goes to school two of the three days Mason is there. It made me wonder why he's never talked about her. I would guess there are between 16 and 20 kids in his class, including the part-timers like Mason. Of those kids, he usually only talks about a handful: Chlo-Chlo (Chloe), Parker, Anna and Beckett. It's as if they already have a little clique (although Beckett is now "naughty" and "not my friend"). It reminded me of times during middle and high school when you'd run into someone in your grade outside of school, and you'd actually hang out together because you were the only other person the other one knew. You'd end up having a better time than you thought, but when you get back to school you never talk to that other kid again. I hope that doesn't start already. I hope now that Mason has played with Mary at the bookstore, he'll play with her at school too.

Smarty Pants

I just love the spring. Especially now with Mason, it feels so good to get him out of the house and let him play to his heart's content. This weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather and got the front yard taken care of - raking, pruning, etc. Mason was quite the little helper (and sometimes un-helper). We have a couple smaller rakes that he can use, and he spent a lot of time with a little garden rake. When Adam started picking up the piles of dead grass and leaves, Mason went over to help him. But a few seconds into it, he realized his little rake just wouldn't pick up as much as daddy's big rake. So he ran up to the garage, grabbed a dust pan, and used that to scoop up the leaves and dump them in the yard waste bin.

At first I thought, awe, how cute. Then I realized what had really happened - he problem-solved! His little brain actually figured out a solution to make the process more efficient for him. The more I think about it, the prouder I am. I think we've got a little smarty pants on our hands!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things - Part 1

I keep thinking that I'll always remember all the adorable things Mason says, but as his vocabulary is growing exponentially I realize I've already started to forget some of the earlier phrases. I'm hoping this series of posts will help me remember these seemingly unforgettable moments.

It turns out Mason is the class comedian at daycare. Who knew my child would be funny. The term that gets the teachers going these days is "doozie." As in that poop "is a doozie." I think Adam must have mumbled something to this effect after cleaning up a particularly messy diaper, and it's stuck with Mason ever since. He proclaims his own poops to be doozies as well as the other kids' and each time I think the teachers laugh a little more.

For Valentine's Day his class had a little party, and Adam made Rice Krispy Treats for him to share. Mason was so proud to bring them in and told his teacher to "share treats." She took the treats and put them with all the others for their afternoon snack, but Mason wanted to share his treats now. It took some explaining, but the teacher and Adam finally convinced him that he could share his treats after his nap when they would have the party. Apparently when he woke up he exclaimed "come on guys, time to party!"

The most recent comment he made I know I'll never forget, but it's worth documenting a hundred times. On Sunday mornings I'll have the Food Network on to get ideas for grocery shopping later in the day. We usually watch Rachel Ray's Week in a Day followed by At Home with Giada. When Giada comes on he always mentions that she's the "otha lady." Known for being the most attractive TV chef on the network, I asked him "is she pretty?" He looked right at me and straight as can be he said, "No, mommy pretty." My heart melted, and he was instantly forgiven for all the naughty things he'd done that weekend.

More quotes to come later - and hopefully with pictures the next time around.

Leap Month

When Adam tells me I need to update the blog, you know it's been too long. I can't believe I "leaped" right past the month of February. (Sorry, I am my father's daughter, it can't be helped.) We've actually had quite a lot happen since last I wrote.

We were finally blessed with our new neice, Julia Lynn Burr, on January 10th. Due to a round of family sickness, it took us almost two weeks to actually meet her. Mason seemed to really like her and hammed it up in all the pictures he took with her. He also didn't seem to mind when either Adam or I were holding her. It made me pretty hopeful that he'll behave the same way when number two arrives in June.

Speaking of number two, we got our first picture taken of the little one. And we found out it'll be a girl, who we will name Mya Carolyn. Everything is going well so far, though our due date did get pushed back to June 27th after reading the ultrasound. That's fine by us - Adam says the closer to the Fourth of July the better (so he can still be on leave) and I'm personally shooting for June 24th. Mason was born on my brother's birthday, and if Mya is born on June 24th she'll be born on my sister's birthday. It's too crazy for it not to happen right?

In between all this frenzy, we had our main bathroom remodeled. The before was pink, pink and more pink. I love pink and this was always too much for me. After our toilet finally gave out and the mold under the grout in the shower over me, we decided enough was enough. It was definintely a long and stressful process, but in the end it really was worth it. For someone who watches too much HGTV, it was hard to see the builder leave when there was still so much clean up and decoration that needed to be done. I thought for sure that this process would lead Adam to drop the idea of us building our own house, but he's actually still interested in us doing this at some point. It only took us six years to remodel the bathroom so who knows if building our own house will ever really happen. A girl that always enjoyed sketching house plans can only wish. Before and after pictures are below, though neither quite capture the extent of how awful it looked (before) and how nice it looks now.