Mason's First Birthday and Easter

This past year has flown by so fast!  Life with Mason has been such a smooth transition. He is so peaceful, patient and content.  It almost seems unreal.

With Bub, his first year was full of crying and reflux and sleepless nights.  With Anna, we were fearful, and on edge about her hydrocephalus and what kind of life she would live. She was not a good sleeper.  With Trin, she was demanding, unpredictable, hated the car and cried A LOT!  They each brought joy to our lives, but had their own challenges.  Mason, well...he's just fit in.  No big adjustments, few sleepless nights, and minimal crying.  He has truly been a dream, and we are so grateful for him! We have loved getting to know him, and sharing our lives with him this past year.

Mason got to celebrate his first birthday on Easter!  My mom came in town, and we just had a small celebration at home.

Every morning when Mason wakes up, he comes to my room to drink his bottle.  The girls got up early this day and came to my room, so they could share this time with him, and be the first ones to wish him a happy birthday!

After looking in his Easter basket, he decided he would rather have the candy from the girl's baskets.

After Easter baskets, Nana made us dairy free (he is still allergic) cocoa and biscuits.  This was Mason's first time to have this breakfast and he LOVED it!  After breakfast, Mason was pretty grumpy the rest of the day.  I joked with Casey that Mason gave us a great first year, and that it was his party and he could cry if he wanted too. ;)

We had a pretty relaxed morning, and  let Mason open his gifts after our Easter lunch.

For Mason's birthday, we gave him a water table for outside.  Nana gave him books, a fire truck, a slide, a picnic table, and bath toys.  I told Amanda that Mason needed some bath toys, so she picked out a lot of Miles favorite bath toys, and bought them for Mason. They also gave him an awesome Vtech helicopter.

After presents, we went outside for some pictures before our Easter egg hunt.

I could tell that Mason was not feeling well. He was just not himself most of the day. He was very attached, and cried a lot.  I felt so bad for him, and wanted him to enjoy his day.

I really love this picture. It's us.  It is our family. Four kids, with four very different personalities. I had no clue that when my mom took the pictures that the kids looked like this.  I knew Mason was crying, and I told my mom to just take the picture.  It was the moment, and what Mason was doing that day. He was crying.

 The rest of the kids...that is "the moment" for them too.  Anna is always trying to look older, drawing attention to herself.  Neen is very sensory sensitive, and Bub is looking at the ink stains on his hand. Casey and I are living it...just in that moment, loving our family.

 

Mason entertained all of us while eating his birthday cake.

He dug his hands in right away.

He didn't eat much, but he flung the cake everywhere.  He would dig in with his hands, grab it, and fling it around trying to get it off his hands.  It was so funny, and such a mess.

I love the icing on his head in this picture.

When he was all done, and we took the cake away, I asked Anna to take a picture of us.  When I got close to him he decided to share the cake with me, and wiped it on my face!

He was very proud of himself, and gave himself around of applause.

Happy First Birthday sweet boy! Mama and Daddy love you!

Mason loves Nana's necklace. I think this is such a sweet picture of him and my mom.

I wanted to get one more picture of my Mister boy before bed.

I thank God each day for choosing me to be Mason's mom.  He means the world to me, and I feel privileged to have him!

Sleeping pictures are some of my favorites. I try to soak in these tiny moments, because I know that with each day these moments change. I never want to forget them.

About a week later we realized that Mason had been crying the whole day because he is allergic to wheat.  We fed him biscuits with wheat, and his cake also had wheat in it.  Unknowingly, I caused him to be miserable on his special day! Sorry Mister boy, we didn't know!