yawn!

Everyone who is a parent is faced with reality that children and sleep deprivation go hand in hand! Tim and I have been blessed in that Mason has been sleeping through the night (consistently) for a little while. When I mention "sleeping through the night," I of course mean somewhere in the ballpark of 10:30pm to 5:30am. The childless would not consider that amount of time a "full night's sleep" - Lord knows I didn't consider anything less than 8 hours a full night's sleep before Mason!! However, when an infant/youngin' is involved, most parents would cut off their right arm for those precious hours!

Just as Tim and I were settling into Mason's new sleep schedule, he hauls off and refuses to sleep well for the past two nights! I felt like the walking dead yesterday as Mason was up and cried until 1:30am on Tuesday night! Oy-vey! It was the hardest thing I ever had to do - for the first time, we let him "cry it out." I thought I was going to start crying with him! It was the hardest thing to look at him in his crib and to tell him "you're OK" while he was looking at me and the tears were rolling off his cheeks! It was so unlike him to cry like that, that I couldn't help but wonder if he was in pain or was scared! I hate not being able to communicate with him! I feel a renewed inspiration to begin signing with Mason.

The weekend before last, Mason, Grandma Kalbach and myself went up to Chico to visit with Mason's great grandparents (my Grandpa Jim and Grandma Rita). It was the first occasion on which my Grandpa Jim held Mason. It was truly fantastic to see the generations represented at our gathering. I feel very grateful to have such a wonderful family and I am happy that my Grandpa was able to hold our little pork chop!

This past weekend we went to Lake Tahoe. Yes, we braved the winter storm and enjoyed a cabin weekend consisting of fuzzy socks, sweat pants, a warm fire, games, wine and good company. The weekend presented Mason's first exposure to the snow and featured a couple of crude (anatomically correct) snow people in the front yard. We had a blast!

Tim is nearing the end of wrestling season. He has State finals this weekend in Bakersfield (one of the State's most beautiful cities - yeah right!!). After this weekend, I will have my husband back! I am pretty excited for Tim to be able to spend more time with Mason.

I have attached pictures of our most recent intrigues .... you can view them at the following link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.3wdewgeo&x=0&y=-hpzvad

I hope this finds you all doing well!!

Love,

Jenn