Mommy's Little Helper

Mason is such a good little helper already!  He loves to help me with laundry.  Here are a few pictures of him working really hard on the laundry!

He makes laundry more fun! (And a little more difficult...)  =)

Bath time!

Mason loooooves his bath time!  Lately, we've been starting our bedtime routine early, just so he'll have extra time to play!

He loves to feel the water coming out of the faucet.

His favorite thing to do is dunk his washcloth in the water, and then suck the water out of it.  As soon as he's sucked most of the water out of it, he'll dunk it again and start over!  That's probably gross, but it's so funny I don't care!

I'm so glad my little man loves to splash and play in the tub!  He's so much fun, and he makes me smile! =)

Hmmm...

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Or maybe you can see this better...

What??  Teethmarks you say???  But I'm pretty sure Mason can't reach that at all, let alone with his mouth!

Wait a second.  Mason!  What are you doing??

Oh.  I am so not ready for this!

GNO!

So last night, we had a GNO!!  Okay, so it wasn't exactly a GNO, it was more like a GNI - girls night in.  My awesome friend Mistie had some girls over to enjoy each other's company and some yummy food.

And okay, it wasn't exactly a GNI, because Mason was there...but who could stand to be away from this face?

Wait, am I talking about Mason or Mistie?  Or both?  =)

Mason had a great time playing with his reflection in Mistie's dishwasher.

He doesn't get to do that at home, because, you know, we don't have a dishwasher.  Well, I guess we do, but you can't see your reflection in mommy or daddy's pant leg.

I'm pretty sure he thought there was another baby there, it was SO cute!

Thanks for having us over Aunt Mistie!

In keeping with today's theme...

Here's a lovely poem I read today that totally fits my goal to savor the moment...(Thanks Nicole!)

I hope that my child, looking back on today
Will remember a mother who had time to play;
Because children grow up while you're not looking,
There are years ahead for all the cleaning and cooking.
So, quiet down laundry, dishes go to sleep.
I'm playing with my baby, and babies don't keep.


So true, and something that needs to be remembered every day.  


We had such a lovely evening tonight.  Mason was well rested after an afternoon with Grammy and a long nap, and he was so much fun to be with.  He is crawling ALL over the place, including many places he shouldn't be.  I am definitely exhausted trying to keep up with him, but he's so precious and rambunctious!  During bathtime, I started playing peekaboo with him.  If I did it really loud he laughed hysterically every time.  That laughter is the sweetest sound, I hope it never goes away...


He has also started saying "Mama" and it melts my heart every time I hear it.  I'm so thankful for my little boy!

Savor the Moment

When Mason was first born, and up until he was about 4 months old, I feel like I was really good at savoring every moment.  I didn't stress out about dishes or laundry being done.  I didn't care if the floor had been vacuumed, or if the living room had been dusted.  What I cared about was enjoying every single moment that I had with my precious little boy.  Those things still typically got done, at some point, but that wasn't my focus, it wasn't a cause of stress in my life.  I am very proud that I can look back and know that for those four months, my son was my focus. 

So what happened after 4 months?  I went back to work.  In some ways, I feel like that changed SO much.  I began to get stressed out when he wouldn't sleep at night instead of enjoying the extra cuddles, because I was worried that I wouldn't be awake or alert for work.  I worried when the dishes weren't done because I only had thismuch time to get them done.  Instead of getting on the floor to play with him, I have often watched him from the couch because I'm grading papers, or doing lesson plans, or responding to emails - because I was worried that it won't get done.  Notice a pattern here? 

It finally took a long conversation from my thoughtful husband to snap me back to reality.  (Poor guy, I'm not always easy to live with, believe it or not!)  The dishes will wait until tomorrow.  Papers will eventually get graded, and somehow lesson plans will get done.  But, my baby is only a baby for a little while and it is my privilege and responsibility to enjoy every moment.  Even if it means he is up for the third time that night, and my alarm is going off in 10 minutes.  In 10 years, I don't want to look back and regret the things that I made priorities.  While my job is important and my students are important, my son is so much more important.  So my goal is to stop worrying and start living.  I know that sounds cheesy, but it's really how I feel.  I think this says it best:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  Matthew 6:27

So tonight, when he is up for the second or third time, and seems to be wide awake, I will remind myself how blessed I am, and I will squeeze him extra tight!

A few (more) of my favorite things...

**Baby Kisses!  There's nothing better than a big, slobbery baby kiss!

**The way you love your new sippy cup!

**Your closed-eye smiles.

**How you look TOTALLY adorable in hats!

**And, I know I mentioned the tongue on my previous post, but it still makes me laugh!

I'm such a lucky lady!!!  Thank you for making me smile, little man!