Christmas 2009

This is one Christmas I will definitely never forget. Mason slept in until almost 7, and then Chris and I let him play in our bed for a little while before we took him downstairs to see what Santa had left him. Although I'm sure next year will be a lot more interactive, Mason was surprisingly adept at pulling off wrapping paper...even though it was hard to keep his attention on unwrapping once he caught sight of a ribbon.

Santa brought Mason some new clothes and a bunch of books, a Busy Ball Popper, a Learn & Discover Driver, and a Learn-n-Crawl ball. He loved the ball immediately, and the ball popper and driver have proven to be big hits too. Mason's stocking had a Veggie Tales movie (it will be a while before he can enjoy that, but he's going to LOVE the Veggie Tales...hopefully as much as I do!), a play cell phone (which he still overlooks in favor of the TV remote), and two Sesame Street finger puppets. They're adorable! Mason also got a silly songs CD, more videos, and more clothes. I really ended up buying more for him than I had planned on, but I'll do better next year (sure!).

Chris got a new digital photo frame so he can show off his boy at work (people think he has a newborn because he hasn't updated the pictures on his desk since we had Mason's first pictures made), two pairs of handheld radios, and some new clothes. Chris bought me a diamond key necklace, and I love it. It's the first piece of jewelry he has bought me (besides my engagement and wedding rings), so it was a really great Christmas.

Together we made a big Christmas brunch of country ham (Chris insisted), cheese grits, biscuits, and eggs. I think we set up a pretty nice set of traditions that we can add to each year.

New Traditions

Chris and I began our Christmas Eve traditions with Mason last night. We had planned on taking him down to Riverside Park to see all the lights, but the wind and the storm blowing in put an end to that plan. So we stayed in and started a fire (okay, so we just ignited the gas logs, which is less Christmas-y but the best we could do) and settled in on the couch for the first annual reading of "The Night Before Christmas." Mom and Dad used to gather us all up (quite a feat in itself) and read that and the Christmas story from St. John, so I wanted to carry on that tradition with Mason. Unfortunately, Mason's attention span is less than 1/8 that of the common house fly, so we skipped the Bible story this year.

With our poem read and our cookies laid out for Santa (a gingerbread replica of the Bakers), off we went to bed.

Uncovering My True Calling

Yesterday Miriam came over for for Photography Day, Part Deux, which was such a rousing success (as you can see from the adorable pictures of the Cutest Baby in the World) that we have finally given in to the inevitable: we may be paid (albeit not well) to teach, but we were born to photograph. Chris had been expressing much disgust over the cost of professional photography, which was compounded by his disgust over the cost of the professional camera he had purchased for me for Christmas last year so I could take pictures of our baby. Thus in his mind, a professional photographer should play no part in our lives...ever, at all, period. And so I caved in and agreed to take Mason's 6-months photos on my own, as much to help save money as to challenge my artistic side, and (as always) Miriam was my willing co-conspirator.

Miriam insists that I note that anyone who wants to pay us gobs of money to photograph their offspring should just call our people (i.e. Nick).

The Freezer Gremlin

This is how we protect the surplus breastmilk in our extra freezer: a freezer gremlin. Actually, it's just a disembodied turkey claw that I uncovered this afternoon while retrieving some more milk for Mason. You can imagine my surprise and delight.

Santa Baby

Here's Mason doing his best Santa Claus impersonation. Thanks, Aunt Megan and Gramma, for the outfit and hat!

Mason's New Friend

Mom gave Mason a little stuffed horse when we were home for Thanksgiving, and he fell in love. Chris tried to take it away while Mason was in the swing because he kept chewing on the mane and getting hairballs in his mouth. You can see Mason's reaction in the picture; he was NOT giving it up! Later Chris made me trim the mane and tail so that the hair issue wasn't such a big deal. He also renamed the horse Rocket because it wasn't manly enough to call it Spirit (it was the horse from that movie, Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron). Anyway...how sweet is this picture?

Avocados...Yum-Yum!

Mason's getting the hang of eating baby food now. We started him on rice cereal after his surgery, but things got sidetracked by his reflux. He was throwing up (yes, throwing up...not spitting up) at least once a day and sometimes up to five times, so Dr. Kaushik put him on Zantac. That didn't do the trick, so they upped his dosage, and it finally improved, although he still does it every now and then. We had to just concentrate on getting ANYTHING to stay down for a while, so moving from cereal to fruits and vegetables took a backseat. All in all, Mason lost more than five weeks because it took that long for him to gain back up to his pre-surgery weight. Every time he threw up, I tried not to cry. I was so worried because he wasn't gaining weight (and sick of washing regurgitated milk out of my hair, the carpet, his clothes, etc.), and it didn't seem like anything we tried made it better.

When I finally felt like it was safe to move on, I started him with avocados. Chris gagged watching me make it; he hates avocados. I told him that avocado is a perfect food because it has everything a person needs to survive and has the most fat of any fruit or vegetable, so he better smile and pretend like it was delicious when he fed it to Mason. Chris solved that moral dilemma by refusing to feed him. The avocados went over well, and Mason likes to help me get the spoon into his mouth. Messy, but effective.

So now Mason has tried avocados, pears, sweet peas, apples, butternut squash, and yellow squash (he's not a fan). We weighed him yesterday, and it looks like he's about 14 pounds and 5 ounces. Chris and I set a goal of 15 pounds by the time he goes back for his 6-month check-up on the 18th; I don't think we'll make it, but he's gaining, so we're happy with that. Oh, and Chris did feed Mason a few bites of squash the other day out of necessity (we were trying to hurry out of the house to see the Rockettes in Nashville for our anniversary), so he's making progress as well.