We were living in Beaverton when I got pregnant with Mason. I was still commuting to Corvallis for school 4 days a week, and the first month of pregnancy was really, really draining. It was such a relief to finally be finished! The time between Elise and Mason when I was finished with school was another unique time for me. Stephen had a good job, and my only job was to take care of Elise. We made friends with another couple in our apartment complex, Ben & Heidi Boyer, who had a little girl 2 months younger than Elise. Heidi was also pregnant, and due 2 months before me. It was such an easy time of life!
Months before I became pregnant with Mason both Stephen and I had an experience in the temple--we were sitting in the chapel with our ward when we both had the impression that there was a little boy waiting to come to our family. Stephen had a vision in his mind of Elise playing with a little brother. We both remember wondering if Heavenly Father was warning us that this child was going to something special.
I had a great pregnancy. I was so much more relaxed this time around than I was with Elise. Heidi and I went walking together with our babies most nice days. We spent lots of time together. I watched her little girl, Rachel, when she went to the hospital to have Elena. She and Ben watched Elise when I went to the hospital to have Mason.
Here's me a week before having Mason:
We had decided on his name, Stephen Mason, after Stephen and his mission president, President Kenneth Mason. We decided to call him Mason--but Mason Stephen just didn't have the same ring to it as Stephen Mason. President Mason was very touched when Stephen called him to tell him the name of our little baby.
I was induced with Mason 2 days after his guess date. It was my midwifes on-call day, and I really wanted her to be the one to deliver Mason. It was also a Monday. We went in at 6am and hooked me up to the machines. Mason was born that afternoon, around 2pm. My epidural wasn't so strong this time, so I was able to move sooner after his birth. Again, I was absolutely famished! He was 8 lb 10 oz, and had the funniest silvery widows peak.
Since we don't like to have a baby birth without some excitement to go along with it, we moved into our first house exactly one week after Mason was born! And not only that, Stephen, his dad and my dad immediately started ripping down walls. Literally. Again, Ann made sure that I had a quiet space before I ever got to the house.
I hung up sheets to make "walls"--and so I wouldn't have to deal with all the dust and wires. Until we moved 4 years later we were always working on the house. It was perfect when we left! Mason grew up wiring, sheetrocking and doing carpentry work. I'll always remember the day after we moved in. Dad Jones was doing yard work (my birthday present was a weed whacker!). Elise was playing on the swing set in the back yard and Mason was in his car seat right next to her. Gene was edging the lawn not 2 feet from where Mason was sleeping--and Mason kept right on sleeping!
When we put him in his own room at about 3 months he figured out the going-to-sleep-on-his-own thing in 2 nights. It was wonderful. It was also wonderful that he was such a good sleeper--I remember Stephen taking out the kids room door frame late one night...with a sawzall.
Mason was very predictable the first two months of his life. EVERY two hours he would eat and poop. It was like clock work. Absolutely amazing. He ballooned up, too!
At 3 weeks:
At 8 weeks:
At 3 months:
By 4 months he was sitting--well, it was more like he had such a wide base that he couldn't tip over. Here's him at 6 months:
He didn't crawl until 11 months or so--he was just too high centered. :o)
And there is the first year of Mason's life! Finally documented.
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