Party Time

We caught up with Mason's buddy Matthias last weekend for his third birthday party. Mattias and his family are friends of ours from Nursery North. It was great to see him and his parents, meet his new baby sister, Olympe, and catch up with all of our old friends.

Mason sported a cream cheese moustache:



Thanks in part to his multi-tasking -- Thomas toys in one hand, breakfast in the other:



The birthday boy:



Making like a clown, while playing with the spit balls ... seriously:



Cute little Peony poses for the camera:

The Proud Graduate

Saturday was a big day for the Mason man. As you can see, he graduated the latest round of swimming lessons.



This round, we took them at Riverbank State Park, where we've been schlepping every Saturday morning since early January. There were some days where it was particularly frigid, but it was worth the effort.

Here's Mommy and Mason on our last day of class.



The little guy in action:






And, of course, videos. Maybe I'll get creative with them later and make one highlight film, but for now enjoy this trifecta!

It's a...

Boy? A girl? We don't know -- and don't plan to find out, so for now, we're referring to the little one affectionately as Baby Bean. Here are our favorite pics of the little one in action from our 18-week ultrasound yesterday.

Dad-O's Favorite



Mommy's Favorite



I'm feeling pretty good, though very tired! Like I said, I'm 18 weeks along, now. The baby is growing right on schedule and due to arrive in mid-August (August 15 is the official date, for those keeping score at home.)

Mason's pretty excited to be a big brother. He's sure it's a little sister (Papa agrees based on the second pic, where you can faintly see Bean's hand draped across his/her forehead in dramatic fashion.) Though, when we told the Doctor this yesterday, and she immediately asked Mason what Mommy had in her tummy, he said a baby brother -- go figure.

Daycare Kiddos

Melissa and her brave staff took eight of the kiddos to the Children's Museum last Friday night. All us mommies and daddies picked them up from there and spent a little time playing. Here are some shots from the action:



Mason, as you can see, refused to take part in the group shot. It might have had something to do with this group lining up by the door, awaiting their parents' arrival and eventual dismissal. As I was already there, he wanted to keep playing. To wit, here he is running all over the museum, wearing the fire fighter's hat he picked up sometime before I got there. Also, note the stickers on his cheeks? Well, when I took those off later that night, they left little sticker-shaped rashes that lasted all weekend. Oops!



Zachary and Lilly...



Kellyn and Zion



One more shot, though not from CMOM. This one is from our usual Tuesday night trek to karate class. They're getting pretty good! I thought they looked pretty cute all bundled up and waiting on the stairs while the stroller was parked.

Snowball Fight!

So, yesterday, the tri-state area was blanketed in snow, forcing NYC public schools to close for the first time in five years. Mason spent the day at daycare, but when Mommy came home we headed out of a little frigid fun. It wasn't great snowball weather, but as you can see, Mason managed to find a few hunks of white stuff to hurl at his Mommy!



Here's the extra-blurry Mom-scrambling-out-of-the-way-in-feigned-fear shot:



I exacted revenge by hurling him into a snowbank. He attempted to make a snow angel.



And here are the rosy cheeks (and runny nose) that proved it was time to head back inside for a cup of hot chocolate, a little cuddling time and a story. Not a bad gig to come home to!