Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter! Mason had his 6 month appointment last Thursday. He weighed a wopping 19 pounds, 2 ounces! He is our little BEEF CAKE!! He still has a large head that falls somewhere in the 90th percentile range. He is in the 60 percentile range for both weight and height. Mason received another round of shots and although he was pissed when the shots were received, he was back to normal the next day. Both Tim and I were able to attend the appointment together ... I am glad Tim was there to hold Mason down while he received his shots ... I had the "cushie" job of scooping him up and comforting him afterwards! We are going to work with him a little more in helping him sit up and roll over. He is not doing those activities on his own just yet. All-in-all, our boy is doing great and is within normal ranges of where he should be!!

Our Easter was nice. We went up to Chico and had brunch with the family at the Country Club. Once again, Mason was the hit of the party ... that is, after he woke up. He fell asleep on our way up to Chico and stayed asleep through most of our brunch!! I eventually had to wake him up! It was a really nice visit and the day couldn't have been more perfect!

I finished off the day by introducing something other than rice cereal into Mason's diet. I cooked up some potato, mashed it through a strainer and mixed it with some water and formula ... soungs appealing, right ?! Yeah, Mason didn't think so ... he looked like he was going to gag it back up! I wish I had the camera ready for that one. I think I will keep it close as I begin to introduce new foods. I think I am going to abandon the potato for tomorro night and switch to something more palatable like banannas .... lets hope for the best!

Anyhow, I have included a link below for a few pictures taken recently:
http://adobe.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.ax4oss0g&x=0&y=-nctcri&localeid=en_US

I hope you are all doing well!
Love,
Jenn

Solid!

Hello from the Brown household!! Things have been going well in our little realm. Tim is done with wrestling season (yeah!) and life is pretty much getting back to normal for us. I have another five weeks at the bank and am now dedicated to finding a new job. The reality of unemployment has hit home!!

Mason is doing great! He has started eating solid foods (and by solid, I mean soupy rice-cereal) and is doing very well. I knew it was time to begin solids when he downed a 10 oz bottle and was still hungry! ... that, and the fact that he would lick his high chair tray and stare at us while we ate dinner!

At first, Mason didn't really know what to make of the texture of the "solid food" cereal. He would work his little tongue and spit out the cereal all over his chin ... eventually he got the hang of it and now opens his mouth like a little bird when he sees the spoon approaching. ... he still makes a huge mess even though most of the food ends up in his belly.

Mason has still been sleeping through the night. He is usually exhausted by the end of the day as he spends a lot of his time bouncing in his excersaucer, playing on the floor gym, and people watching. My daycare provider (on Wednesdays) says that he will only nap when the "big kids" nap ... otherwise, there is simply too much for him to see!

Tim and I are VERY excited as we are approaching new Auntie and Uncle status with the pending birth of Connor Joseph, Scott and Liz's baby (Scott is Tim's twin). I have been helping Scott and Liz paint a mural in their nursery of an underwater sea-scape and a beach scene with palm trees and a sand castle. The room is really turning out well and I wish it was Mason's room! I am having so much fun doing the painting that I wish I could some how capitalize and make my painting efforts into a side business! I will definitely post pictures of the end result as I am rather proud of how it is coming along!

My good friend Kelly is also nearing her due date for the arrival of her son, Luke Thomas! I have been playing soccer with Kelly since we were 5 years old and it is a blessing to have a longtime friendship where we can see our lives come full circle ... in a couple of years our little ones will hopefully be playing soccer together!

Well, Mason is napping and I am still in my PJ's at 11am ... I guess it would be an opportune time for me to quit typing and get myself ready for the day (even though it is half over)!

Mason has his 6 MONTH appointment next week so I am sure I will post after I receive his new stats!

I hope this finds you all doing GREAT! Enjoy the Spring!
Love,
Jenn

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

blessed with my baby

I often recognize and give thanks for how blessed I am. Tonight, I happened to watch Mason sleep for a prolonged period of time. There is a miracle in each breath he takes and I feel overwhelmed with love just watching him. I can't begin to express the feelings I embody now that I am a parent! 

I went back and read through some of my older posts tonight. It is truly amazing how fast Mason has grown. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting my pregnancy experiences - now I use this little page to showcase my little pork chop!  

Thank you all for being a part of this experience with me!

(I was just feeling quite sentimental and too tired to be logical and refrain from posting my sentiments! )

Time to go to bed now ......

Ouch!! part II

Mason went to the doctor the other day for his 4 month well-baby check-up. He did very well despite recieving his second round of innoculations. He is a wopping 16.8 pounds and is in the the 74th percentile for weight, the 72nd percentile for height, and the 93rd percentile for head circumphrance! Tim thinks his head is large because he is going to be so smart!! Honestly, his head looks just fine - you can't really tell it is an orange on a toothpick! Mason was pretty fussy for two days after his shots, but he is back to normal now!

On a WONDERFUL note, Mason has consistently slept through the night for the past 12 days or so. Tim and I are both hopeful this trend will last. It is very nice that he is sleeping longer now that I am working!

Mason is still working on the rolling over business. He is ALMOST there! He has started grabbing his feet while he lays on his back ... its pretty cute. The other day while on the changing table, he hauled off and let out a big ol' fart while grabbing his feet. His daddy would have been SOOOO proud of his boy had he been there to witness his little musical toot. Mason definitely fits into the family when it comes to passing gas ... he is so very stinky that it practically burns the hair out of my nose when he farts!

Anyhow, all is well in our little household! Mason continues to amaze us on a daily basis and we feel incredibly blessed to have him!

We hope this finds you well!

Love,

Jenn, Tim, Mason, Nahla, Fez and Bells

teeth!

I can't believe how fast our little pork chop is growing! He has started teething!! He is a little drool-monkey and soaks through at least two bibs each day. He has been fussy and restless a couple of nights (waking every three hours much to my disdain), but has overall been happy. In my last post, I indicated that Mason was suffering from a cold when it was actually the beginning of his teething .... he doesn't really have a tooth, but rather a "bud" in his gums ... nevertheless, he still drools all over the place ... its a good thing he is cute!

I started back at work last week (temporarily). I have enjoyed my immersion back into the work place and have been glad to see and talk to my co-workers and customers. Adult conversation is always appreciated after spending prolonged periods of time with a little one....I believe working part time will be a good arrangement for me as it will help keep my brain sharp! I will miss my work as I have grown fond of my friends in my work environment.

The one good thing about going back to work is that it makes me more grateful for the time I have at home with Mason. Either way I slice the cheese, I am able to spend at least every other day with my little man .... so if I am having a trying time, I can revel in the fact that I will spend all of the following day with him! I have been fortunate in that I have had no mental melt downs and have had no problem pumping at work ...

Tim and I are incredibly lucky for our child care arrangements while I am back at work. Marge (Tim's mom) watches Mason on Monday, we have an in-home day care that takes him on Wednesday, and my mother watches him on Friday. We also have Liz (my sister-in-law) on babysitter standby in case one of the current sitters has a conflict. I am hopeful that once my stint at County Bank is over, that I will be able to find work that compliments my ogh-so-fabulous care arrangements!

Ogh yeah! I almost forgot to mention that Mason is ALMOST able to roll over!!! He rolls on to his side, but his arm is getting in the way of his completely rolling over. Honestly, I am grateful for the inhibiting arm - I don't think I am ready for him to already be at that stage! The little fart will be crawling before we know it! His neck is getting quite strong and he was able to spend some time in his Bumbo chair (rubber chair that helps infants learn to sit upright) the other day.

Anyhow, I have a few pictures and some video .... you can view pictures at the following link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=60cie9o.aasex2ug&x=0&y=-te0jfu

I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Jenn, Tim, Mason, Nahla, Fez, and Hells-Bells ......

videos