Mason's First Christmas

Ho Ho Ho! Well Mason's first Christmas has come and gone and it was a blast!! We enjoyed the company of family and friends and reveled in the music, card playing, and food consumption associated with the season. Mason made out like a bandit and is going to be the most stylin' little stud ever with the cute little clothes he scored! We went up to Chico the weekend before Christmas and spent some time with Mason's great grandparents, aunts and uncles. He was quite the little center of attention as he is the youngest little one on that side of the family. He was such a good little baby and did quite well although in a foreign house with game trophy heads mounted on all the walls! (The party was at Mason's great Uncle Jim's house - Great Uncle Jim is an avid hunter and recently mounted the head of a Cape Buffalo in his living room.)

The newest issue in our little family is my return to work. I attempted to obtain a temporary part-time schedule with my bank (with the intention of returning to full time work in March) but they were unable to make the accommodation I was looking for. They offered me a somewhat reduced schedule (per my request). However, the management position I hold with them is really a full time position and will never be able to accommodate part time hours. Tim and I sat down and had a heart-to-heart to talk about what type of work situation I wanted ... and we decided that it was dooable for me to work part time and I , therefore, gave my notice to the bank. We figured this would be a perfect time for me to transition into the paralegal field. I will, however, be working for them three days a week until they find my replacement or until I find other employment. I didn't want to leave them in a lurch so I offered to help them out ... I believe it is a good arrangement for both parties ... they have help until they find someone else, and I have income until I find something else! Its a win win situation!

Anyhow, I have included a link to some pictures (you may need to copy and paste into your browser) : http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.cdnjqt88&x=0&y=-w4zcd4 and
http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/viewshare.asp?c=602005074NUA7YW4R

Mason is starting to giggle more frequently and is smiling all the time. Our favorite is when he smiles while he has his pacifier in his mouth ... you can see the smile in his eyes. He is over 15 lbs and has a doctor's appointment in the coming weeks to receive his next round of shots. He currently has a little cold that is making him a little fussy and is preventing him from sleeping as well at night. Other than that, he is peachy keen!!

Anyhow, I hope this finds you all doing well!

Jenn

muffin top ....

Today was a major milestone ... I fit into my pre-pregnancy fat pants! Yes, I have a muffin top that would make any baker proud, but I fit into the pants darn-it!! Although I would never normally condone wearing pants where my belly pours over the waistband, I am going to wear these jeans for the rest of the day .... even if they make my eyeballs pop out a little!

Yesterday I chopped my hair off! It is short short short and it is taking a little getting used to! For those of you who have known me for a long time, I used to have this cut in my early college years. I am happy to be rid of the constant ponytail! It is very quick and easy to style!

Mason is doing great! He is already in size 3 diapers! He loves to splash in the bath and he is beginning to giggle and laugh more ....he is just getting so BIG! Har har, I just heard him fart from the other room ... Tim would be so proud!

Anyhow, I hope this finds each of you having a wonderful Holiday season!

Hugs,

Jenn

8 hours!

Life is back to normal and we are back home. Mason was an absolute prince for the rest of our Virginia trip and was a COMPLETE trooper on the flight home! We had a wonderful time on our trip but are very happy to return to home base (Nahla is happy we are back, too!).

Mason is growing like a weed .... he outgrew clothes that I packed for his trip while we were in Virginia! Mason is almost 11 weeks and is already in 3-6 month clothing! We recently have tried a new schedule with him that is working quite well! Instead of him "snacking" all day long - and then falling asleep after his snack, we have been feeding him every 3 hours or so and then keeping him awake after feeding. The wonderful result of this schedule is that Mason is sleeping longer periods through the night! The new schedule allowed him to go 5 hours or so at first, and then last night he slept 8 hours! HALLELUJAH! - HOLY S%#$ (to quote Clark Griswold in the wonderful Christmas movie classic, Christmas Vacation)!!

I am very much enjoying my time at home with my little man and am saddened the (dreaded) return to work is fast approaching. Mason and I have so much fun together during the day! He is so interactive now - - he coos and smiles, kicks, farts and has even laughed a couple of times! He's a HOOT to be around and it is only going to get better! If only I had a secret money tree in the back yard from which I could harvest cash ..... then I could stay home with Mason! Hummmm ........

The other weekend we packed up our little family and went to cut a Christmas tree. Grandma Marge bought Mason a cute little hat that kept his cranium warm during our tree hunt adventure. This year was probably the only year that we would get away with dressing him like that because he physically couldn't yank the hat off his head! His ensemble was too cute!

Anyhow, you can check out pictures from Virginia and the following days at the following link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.ak2creps&x=0&y=swlvgi

I have also uploaded some video taken recently. Enjoy!

With Love,

Jenn, Tim and Mason

DC Honeymoon

Tim and I just returned back to my brother's house from a wonderful "lightning trip" to Washington DC. Since we were in Virginia, we thought it would be foolish to not take advantage of the proximity of our Nation's capitol! Washington DC is 3.5hours (as the crow flies) from Norfolk.

I was very excited as I booked a hotel online that was right across the street from the White House. When we arrived at our hotel, Tim and I were impressed by the fancy lobby. However, when we got to our room, we came to the realization that we were staying in "the chateaux de la dump" ..... the plumbing in the shower was exposed out of the wall and we had a wonderful view of an industrial vent and a bird shit-covered roof! Although disclosed on the website, we did not have a refrigerator or an expansive view! We were disappointed in the room, however, we did not let that hinder our spirits as we knew we wouldn't be spending the majority of our time there anyway!

We arrived around 1pm on Sunday and began our stay with a walk of the memorials. The Capitol p

ark was about 1.5 miles from the hotel - we crossed in front of the White House on our way to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Washington Monument, and then we finished our day tour with the World War II Memorial. Each memorial had an ambiance during the day that is difficult to describe. Tim and I were fortunate enough to ride to the top of the Washington Monument (500 feet). The views were breathtaking .... however, we had to cut our sightseeing short as someone dropped a stink bomb fart that started to burn the hair out of our noses ...that experience was breathtaking as well, but not in the same respect!

After our day walk, Tim and I returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We started to drink and ready our selves for our honeymoon night on the town! We ate at a wonderful (reasonably priced) restaurant and had an opportunity to enjoy each other's company, uninterrupted, once again. After we finished dinner, we decided to walk the memorials once more at night. Each memorial has impressive light set-ups that create a unique

ambiance. Since we were "warm" from the alcohol, the chilly temperatures of nocturnal DC did not hinder our adventure. We returned back to the hotel around 11pm. We were surprised that each of the memorials touted small crowds late in to the evening.

The next day Tim and I cruised the Smithsonian Natural History

museum, strolled in front of the Capitol and enjoyed the Capitol's botanical gardens. We also (quite unexpectedly) saw Ford Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) and the house in which Lincoln died. We went on a hunt for a waffle restaurant - when we found one, we looked out the window and saw the theatre! It was a pleasant surprise! We figured that we walked on average of 10 miles each day for a total of 20 miles for the whole trip. By three o'clock on Monday, I (and my boobs) were ready to return back to my brother's house as it had been too long since we had been parted from our wee baby! It took us 4 1/2 hours to drive back to Norfolk from DC.

We recovered from our DC trip today by watching C2's and hornet jets land at the FCPL field again. I thought C2's were a blast to watch ... the hornet jets were LITERALLY a blast to watch - I could feel the pass in my chest as the jet touched down and powered back up to take off again.

We then jetted (get it? har har ... I know, bad pun) over to the base and took a tour of the George Washington aircraft carrier. It was amazing to see how many people and resources go into operating the floating city. It was fascinating to see the aspects of my brother's job. The whole process of organizing and coordinating operations on a deployed carrier is quite complicated and involved (and we only saw the flight operations part)! It was mind-boggling to see what goes into the operation of that military machine!

Anyhow, tomorrow we will be taking a trip to historical Jamestown and will be readying our bellies for the massive feast on Thursday!

We hope this finds each of you doing well!

Love,

Jenn, Tim and Mason

P.S. In the coming days, I will have a plethora of video and pictures to share from our Virginia trip. I had to save everything to my brother's computer and I just can't quite figure out how to get my pictures off his computer and to a CD to take home!!

ouch!

This past week has been a big week for Mason! On Monday, he went to the doctor for his two month check-up and received shots! OUCH! I have never seen a human face turn purple before! Poor little guy, he was not happy AT ALL! It felt good to scoop him up and comfort him after he was stuck with three needles ....

This was also a big week for Mason as he had his first plane ride! On Wednesday, Mason and I headed out to Virginia (where I currently am). We flew Southwest and Mason was an absolute prince the whole time! He even waited to poop his pants until we arrived at our destination (my brother's house)! What a good boy .....

The last couple of days have entailed happy chaos! Between Mason and my brother's two children, Rudy (6 weeks old) and Ella (21 months) we have had screaming banjos in the car, toddler meltdown in the portrait studio, and "mommy, mommy, MOMMY" yelled at the top of the decipal chart! Having a house full of young children has been trying, but truly a joy at the same time. My brother's little 

girl, Ella, is the cutest thing since Christmas ... she is truly a delight and has the ability to put a smile on the sourest of faces. She referrs to Santa Clause as "Ho" ... we have to be careful where and to whom she exclaims that expression!

Mason and I have had the opportunity to partake in some pretty cool activities since we have been out in Virginia. My brother (as many people know) flys C2's for the Navy. The day before yesterday, Mason and I headed out to an air field in the middle of nowhere to watch "Field Carrier Practice Landings" or more commonly referred to as FCPL's ... basically, I was able to stand right next to the runway while a 500,000 lb turbo prop plane did touch-n-go's ... it was pretty damn cool! I have more pictures and video of the experience, but have had trouble uploading it since I am using my brother's Mac.  For some reason, the Kodak gallery is operating really slow on his computer as well!

Anyhow, our babysitters have woken up and Tim and I are on our way to Washington DC (without Mason) for an over night escape ... we are staying in a hotel right next to the White House! I am sure we will have some great pictures to share in my next post.

Until then, I hope this finds you all doing well!

Love,

Jenn, Tim and Mason

Pumpkin

Mason celebrated his first Halloween last night. He was a ridiculiously cute pumpkin! Tim and I ate his share of candy, pie and carmel apples. In the coming years, he will enjoy his own goodies so we thought we would get our fill while we could!

Anyhow, not much is new since my last post. I did include some recent videos taken. Each of them are relatively short ..... You can also see more pictures at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.azvx3ohk&x=0&y=66d0nc

Anhow, we hope this finds all of ou doing well!

Love,

Jenn, Tim, Mason, Nahla, Fez, and Bella ....

Our little weed ....

Mason is almost 6 weeks old and I can't believe how fast he is growing! He has started to smile and definitely has taken on a personality of his own (is the middle finger attitude?). Each day, Mason continues to amaze me. It is really awesome how much his presence has changed our life. Yes, I can say that having a child has been one of the biggest challenges I have faced. Competitive and collegiate soccer is a cake-walk compared to the physical demands of raising an infant. Although Mason has been my greatest challenge, he is also my greatest accomplishment. I look at him every day and think, "geeze, he belongs to me (and Tim, of course)!"

Just tonight, Tim was holding Mason on the couch and Mason was studying Tim's face intently. I peeked over Tim's shoulder and said, "Hi Mason!" and he gave us both a HUGE smile! I honestly think it was the first time he recognized both Tim and I as being ourselves. I think he primarily smiles at me because he thinks, "ogh, good ... here comes my snack!"

Both Tim and I are doing well. Although Mason is not sleeping more than 2 1/2 - 3 hours at a time during the night, we have adjusted a little better to our reduced hours of sleep. During the week, I get up with Mason at night to feed and change his diaper. I have to be up to feed him anyway and it just doesn't make sense for us both to have our sleep interrupted! However, on the weekend, interrupted sleep is fair game and Tim tag-teams by changing his diaper so I don't have to get out of bed. Gooo team, yeah!

Many of you know that Tim is the head wrestling coach at Union Mine High School. We are fast approaching wrestling season which means that I will soon be a "wrestling widow" and a single parent! Our transition to wrestling season will be manageable for me but will become increasingly difficult when I go back to work in January. Luckily, Tim and I have a tremendous amount of support in family and friends who will help us get through the difficult months ahead ....

I am slowly getting back into shape. I have begun playing soccer regularly on Wednesday nights. Although I still "jog and dog" during the game, I have noticed a significant improvement since my first game. I try and get my kiester to the gym as much as I can, but am unable to attend regularly as the gym daycare will not take Mason until he is 3 months old. I went shopping today in my mom's closet and was able to score some new clothes. My mom has been on Weight Watchers and prides herself in being a smaller size than I ... however, this works great for me as I was able to reap the benefit of her now-too-large clothes as I transition from maternity back to my (hopefully) pre-pregnancy size!

Tim and I continue to take Mason on outings, but we are careful to not expose him to too much as he will not receive his inoculations until next Month. Mason had his first visit to the pumpkin patch last weekend with Trish and Tegan (Jarv's fiance' and daughter). Both Trish and Tegan were visiting all the way from Australia! We will also be taking him to two Halloween parties this Wednesday ... we have to show-off his little pumpkin costume. I have to dress him up as a pumpkin because he IS my pumpkin!!

Anyhow, I have included a link to some more pictures. Now that Mason is awake for longer periods of the day, it will be more likely that I capture pictures of him doing more than sleeping! There are also a few videos at the end of this post.

I hope this finds each of you doing GREAT!

Hugs,

Jenn, Tim and Mason

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.4qrvu8x4&x=0&y=rm2vjs