Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch


This year we took Mason to Joan's Farm in Livermore again. Only this time he was walking. It was so much fun watching him explore and feed the farm animals. Not so much fun were the meltdowns he displayed when he couldn't go the way he wanted to go. That boy is a stubborn one. Now I know how my mom felt when I threw my tantrums. It's getting incredibly difficult to get a good picture of him because he rarely stops and when he does he doesn't look at me because he's too busy with whatever captured his interest to make him stop in the first place. I did manage to capture a few cute shots of the back of his head....








The Father's Love

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." ~ Lamentations 3:22-23

So often, I beat myself up because I feel like a failure as a Christian or I remind myself of all the things I do wrong or of all t he times I get wrapped up in myself.  The truth is many days I get caught up in living my life my way and don't stop to consult God on how He would want me to live that day or in that moment. I forget that I'm only here to live my life for him and my only purpose is to worship Him and bring Him glory. Now that doesn't mean God doesn't continue to bless me with things I enjoy or with meaningful relationships. Quite the contrary. You can't out give God. It does mean that I need to remember all of this belongs to the One who created it. On many occasions, I fail to do this and I feel like I'm a big disappointment to God. I tend to want to lump all my shortcomings and faults into one huge pile and think about how terrible I am and how much I don't deserve to know God. The reality though is that none of us do, but He wants to know me....and you. How amazing it is to know that the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of the whole universe, knit me together in my mother's womb. He knows my weaknesses and my strengths and loves me all the same. 

I have learned so much as a mom about God's immeasurable love for us. And even what I've learned doesn't even come close to understanding it fully. But when I think of Mason even at this young age and the times he disobeys me, I don't love him any less. I have to remember that even though I mess up everyday, God too doesn't love me any less. I am His child. His forgiveness, mercy, and grace cannot be measured. Thank you Lord Jesus for taking my place at the cross so that I could become a new creation and a child of God. For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Puzzle Pieces

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. ~ Jeremiah 1:5

When I was younger I used to love putting puzzles together. To accomplish this you must first look at the whole picture. Next you put down the corners. After that come the outer edge pieces of the puzzle. And finally you fill it in by grouping certain colors and patterns together until you have the final, completed picture.

This, to me, is like our Christian walk. God knew me before I was born. He knew who I would become and He has a plan for me, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11  He sees the whole picture and He is putting the pieces of MY puzzle together. "...being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 1:6   To complete my puzzle, God knows what pieces need to be placed first. Things may happen in my life that I don't understand the reason for. But God knows. He knows that ultimately, in the end, it is a part of the puzzle. A part of the whole picture that He ultimately ordained. And this piece must be placed in a particular order to make me complete. My puzzle won't be completed until I see Him face to face on that day, but oh what a glorious day it will be to see the whole picture and to finally see the One who completed it.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Time to put our house in order, literally

Today I was finally putting all of our laundry away (almost done), and I decided to rearrange some of my clothes in my closet because I noticed the rack, or whatever it's called, was sagging in the middle. Had no idea it would lead to such problems. After I had moved 1/3 of my clothes over to a different rack I saw that the rack had ripped away from the wall in all the spots except for the ends. So we're talking about 4 screws here. So I've decided it's time to simplify and organize my home which I think that will actually lead to less stress. I hate clutter. It makes me crazy, but somehow I can't get away from it. I need like a month vacation just to work on this to get finished. I had already put a bunch of clothes in bags headed for Goodwill and it doesn't look like I even made a dent in my closet. I think what happens is there's a certain fullness I've come to expect in my closet and when it gets a little empty I go and fill it up again with new clothes! Not very bright.

So since I don't have a month to take off from being a mommy, I'll just have to work at it a little at a time and work on one room to the next. I need to hang some things and paint too. I really don't like the paint I have downstairs and have contemplated changing it, but I'm not sure I can stomach the cost. It's not just the cost of the paint, but two new rugs. Rugs that I purchased from Pottery Barn (my favorite store by the way). I wish I could live there and fill my house with all their merchandise. The rugs were on sale, but even so. I don't think I could even do it through e-bay, especially since I want a new camera really really really bad. We'll just have to see. The colors make me feel even more cluttered. It's very warm looking which is nice, but I've learned that I really love cool tones. I think I'm more afraid of changing it and hating it. 

Maybe I should start the organizing process first....

Monday, August 31, 2009

New way to paint your nails

Mason has been doing lots of funny things lately.

A couple of weeks ago I was reading my Baby Center e-mail. In the e-mail it said that a toddler Mason's age may begin to take off their shoes, socks, clothes, diaper, etc. I read it and thought to myself, Mason's not really showing any signs of that. Later that day I went upstairs to get him after unsuccessfully trying to get him to nap. As I opened the door I saw him standing in his crib naked! He had taken his diaper off instead of falling to sleep. As I walked in to get him he peed all over his mattress! I thought it was hilarious. I guess I have to make sure he doesn't go down for his nap with only his diaper on.

Then Saturday, I was getting ready in my bathroom where Mason was playing underneath my feet. He was taking everything out of my bottom drawer. I started to smell something strange and looked down to see nail polish all over the floor! He had dropped a nail polish bottle and it broke. He was smearing his hands all over the nail polish while holding a piece of broken glass! I grabbed him and tried to wash off as much as possible, but just ended up getting it all over my hands as well and all over my sink. In the end I had to use all of my polish remover to get it off. I'll have to move the rest of the bottles somewhere he won't be able to reach or put a lock on the drawer.

In other news, Mason has started clapping. Hooray!

Monday, July 20, 2009

To my sweet baby boy

I love that you come and sit on my lap when we read or throw the ball for Cayda.

I love that you get excited to eat fruit.

I love that you have a sparkle in your eye when you smile.

I love when you're tired and you come rest your head on me.

I love hearing you laugh when you play with Cayda.

I love that you come to me for comfort.

I love watching you sleep.

I love that you are curious about everything, yet still cautious.

I love when you look at me when you know you're about to do something you're not supposed to.

I love watching you splash in the bathtub.

I love being your mom.

I love you for who you are and I always will.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A boy and his watermelon

Mason loves fruit. I wanted to try to get some pictures of him and since he has this passion for fruit, I thought I would bribe him with it in order to get him to sit still. The problem is he gets so focused on eating it he won't look at me. I never realized "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" started this early! Here are some of the shots I did manage to get. I think the one where it looks like he's playing a flute is so funny.






























Thursday, July 9, 2009

Check it out!

Some of you know that I have been taking an online photography workshop. I am having a great time learning all there is and I still have sooo far to go. Last week my teacher really liked my homework that I turned in and decided to post it on her blog saying how much she loves teaching her students and what her workshop can do for their art.  If you want to check it out here is the link. There's also a comment at the end from someone else. Totally makes me blush, but she was very encouraging to me.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Bad Doggie

Last year, after Mason was born, our dog Cayda got into a bit of trouble and ate some potpourri while we were gone, costing us a hefty vet bill. Because of that she lost her privilege to "roam" the house and we were forced to crate her any time we left her alone. We just couldn't afford for her to get into trouble again. Recently we decided to try it out again. For awhile she was doing fine. Nothing had been disturbed while she was out. This past week or two though she hasn't been able to resist the temptation. First it was a little plastic ball that belonged to one of Mason's toys.  Then we found two little puncture wounds in a little plastic basketball. This was yesterday. Today when we came back she had finished the basketball and ate some of Mason's sandals.  Poor thing. I know she can't help herself. She's just so bored and doesn't understand why she couldn't come with us. But back into the crate she goes.







Tuesday, March 24, 2009

New pic of Mason

Here is a new picture of Mason.  I tried going out this evening to get some pictures for his birthday, but he was pretty uncooperative.  There are only a handful that I like.  This is one of them. Maybe later this week I can redo them.




Thursday, March 19, 2009

Happy Birthday Mason!

Today was Mason's first birthday.  We didn't do much, just hung around the house.  His naps have been off all week so I wanted to make sure he was able to sleep when he wanted.  We played outside for a little bit with his new splash toy.  Picture is below.  I discovered that he needs to be in swim wear to play with it because his shirt was soaked! I'm not sure if he splashed more water out or if Cayda drank more water out. Aside from that his birthday was pretty uneventful.  This past year has flown by.  I love each new stage, but miss the ones before as well. It was nice to be able to snuggle with him as a baby. But it brings much joy to be able to make him smile and laugh. His smile could light up a room. I will miss this past year, but look forward to seeing how he changes this year.






Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I have not been able to get any real good shots of Mason lately. Maybe on Thursday for his birthday.  I can't believe he turns one in two days!  Oh where did my baby go?  

Monday, February 16, 2009

Eureka!

I know I have been a bad blogger, but nothing new has really been going on and there's probably only four people who actually look at it:-) David and Mason are both sick right now.  I think they have the flu possibly.  On a good note, Mason is finally starting to wave bye bye! Woo hoo!  It takes him a while to copy us, but eventually he does.  He has a little drum that makes noises and after a certain amount of time it goes off by itself and says Bye Bye.  David said this morning that Mason waved to it. I'm not sure if that's totally true or not, since he often exaggerates his stories, but I'll take it none the less. He also walked along the couch to get to his bottle. So walking may be getting closer than we thought.

I have been practicing on my photoshop elements software and am still hoping to take a class this summer.  Here are the before and afters.  That's all for now.  

Before




Sunday, February 1, 2009

Some cuddle time

Mason is not really a cuddler. He doesn't really like to be confined. Changing his diaper and clothes are difficult because he is being forced to stay in one position. Often I have to pin him down while he's screaming his head off just to get him dressed. He'd rather be crawling around getting into trouble. I now have to put the dog's water dish on a table. Otherwise, he'll crawl straight for every time and splash in the water (he loves baths). He recently climbed all the way up our 16 stairs with no help. Next month we will have to invest in some baby gates.  Right now he is standing on our Wii platform holding on to the back of his bouncy seat. Every once in awhile though, I get a rare moment where he will snuggle with me, making my day.  Usually he will cuddle right after he wakes from his nap when he hasn't quite woken up.  But that only lasts a few minutes. This time he fell asleep in his car seat and I was able to hold him after we took him out. I would have stayed there all night if I thought he would have stayed like that. Here is a picture.





 

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Photography practice



So I've been reading this book on how to photograph children and the chapter I just finished was about light.  I've read the book already, but since I'm a skim reader I didn't really retain a whole lot.  I'm sure I'll be reading it over and over since there is so much valuable information in it that I need to learn.  Anyways, since we've had such great weather I decided to go out and take a few pictures. Here is one of my favorites.  There are more on facebook.  For some reason it takes 5 minutes to load them up to this blog so I'm giving up.

In addition to reading the book, I've decided to take a class this summer on photography. Hopefully it will be about Photoshop.  Then I can buy the real program with a student discount. I did try to edit the puffy dark circles under his eyes, but in some ways it almost makes him not look like himself.  Oh well. Hopefully a class will help me figure all that out. 

Gone are the days when I could sit Mason down and take endless pictures without worrying he'll move on me!  As you can see in the picture we first bribed him with a book and when that stopped working we bribed him with a musical toy.  The other problem is that when he does move he crawls straight for me and fast!  I can't back up fast enough to take his picture.  

Hope you enjoy!


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Explosion in the Morgan home


So Mason has been constipated since pretty early on.  We first tried giving him juice, then prunes, then cut out all foods associated with the BRAT diet.  We've pretty much tried every kind of formula out there and are finally on a specialty formula that costs $25 for half the size of a regular can.  Pretty expensive, but hey if it helps I'm all for it.  At the end of the month we are going to take him to a pediatric gastroenterologist to see if there is something wrong.  

Well, because he has had this problem his diapers have been pretty manageable.  Nice and tidy, easy cleanup.  Today though, he pretty much had an explosion in his diaper.  Running down his leg and then all over his foot.  I didn't really know what to do with him since I hadn't had to experience this normal part of motherhood. Eventually I put his feet back in his sleeper, carried him upstairs to the bathroom and basically hosed him down. Just kidding about the hosing down thing.  I did give him a very thorough bath. Now he's as happy as a clam like he always is.  

I've got to say we've had it pretty easy.  He has got to be the easiest baby.  We did have that MSRA scare though. That was pretty stressful. It is scary being a mom, knowing you don't have full control over what happens to your children. I guess that's where we have to totally give them over to God knowing we can always trust Him to make something good come out of whatever happens.

Well, that's my little story for today.  


Friday, January 9, 2009

Blog Newbie


Okay, so I finally gave in.  We have a blog.  I'm not sure really what I'm supposed to do on here.  I mainly created it so our family who doesn't live nearby can read what's going on in our lives.  Friends are always welcome to read what's going on too of course!  So here goes my first blog.  I can't guarantee that I will post often.  I will try to do what I can. So keep checking back if there's nothing new.  

2008 was a great year!  We have our precious little boy with us now.  He sure is a smiler! I can't imagine life without him.  I seriously couldn't have asked for a better baby or a better husband.  I truly have been blessed beyond words.  

We recently went to the snow and he didn't care for it too much. Maybe next year. Our dog, Cayda, seemed to like it though.  When we went sledding, she would run down the hill and chase us.  Oh, we also couldn't have asked for a better dog either. Expensive considering all the vet bills so far, but great none the less. 

We can't wait to see what God does in 2009.