A Year in Photos

2009 was such an eventful year I can't believe it's over! We experienced some big things starting with (surprise!) Mason's birth in February. In the spring we travelled to the Bay Area to watch my brother graduate college, followed by a visit to my homeland – Germany – where we spent 10 days visiting family there. We rounded out summer with visits to Fresno and Truckee, and then spent the holidays at home with family. It was a wonderful year and I am looking forward to the adventures 2010 holds.

Here is just a glimpse of the wonderful times we had in 2009.

Now that I can finally breathe...

Wow, the Holidays are at an end and what a whirlwind it has been. Our out-of-town guests (my parents) left Monday morning, we attended about five gazillion holiday events over the past week, Mason even got to meet Santa! Although busy and quite the contrary of what one might label a 'holiday', a wonderful time was had by all. All the photos I took haven't made their way to the internet yet, but I leave you now with one that will sit with me forever...

I'm inspired: Julia Rothman

I've been a fan of Julia Rothman for a while now, and whenever I see any of her work, I can't help but stare. I haven't had the chance to install any of her beautiful wallpaper designs in my home yet, but they're pretty to look at no matter where they appear.

Fa La La La La

Inspired by Veer.

Festive

I love the holiday sparkle in Kate Spade's current line. So festive!

Uh-oh

We never thought Mason's first word would be "uh-oh", but it's so funny and cute that we'll take it! He can also say "Mama" and "Dada" but not on command like this.

Holiday Cheer!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I'm not a monkey at the zoo.

So the other night, after a nice dinner, we're all playing in the living room, when Mason makes "the face".  We know what this face means. This face means "leave me alone so I can do my business". This face means "I'm trying really hard right now". But on this particular night, "the face" seemed to go on for a bit longer than normal, but nothing crazy - or at least so we thought. Little did we know this would become the most memorable diaper change in history.

It was the hubs' turn to do the change, so he and Mason headed up to Mason's room.  After a minute or so, I hear him yell "a little HELP please" down the stairs. In my head, I'm like, "Really? You really need help changing Mason's diaper?". It wasn't until half way up that I started to smell the foul odor. Nothing could prepare me for what happened next. I entered Mason's room and saw him laying happily on the changing table (I guess you'd be happy too if you had just pooped the world's largest poop), the hubs' face was covered with his own shirt (to stop him from gagging) and there was poop everywhere. On the hubs' shirt, all the way down Mason's leg, on his socks, on the changing table, everywhere. It was a massive blow-out. So as the hubs was holding Mason still to prevent the spreading of poop, I tried to get his pants and onesie off without smearing poop onto his face and hair. In my careful haste, one pant-leg got caught on something, and like a rubberband being stretched and released, sprang back into the opposite direction flinging poop ALL OVER THE WALL. It would have made Jackson Pollock proud. The hubs and I just looked at one another and started laughing hysterically. Actually, I was the one in hysterics. He just kind of chuckled and was all, GET A GRIP WOMAN AND HELP ME GET THIS CHILD INTO THE BATH!

Oh man, it was awesome. Especially because I wasn't the one stuck cleaning the wall.

A few of my favorite things.

This is - by far - my favorite time of year. Cooler weather, specialty drinks at Starbucks and the smell of pine needles. This year is extra special since it will be Mason's first Christmas and he's at the perfect age to enjoy the ribbons, wrapping paper and the twinkly lights on the tree.

Here are a few of my favorite things, some of which I've already purchased:

I am thankful.

I have so much to be thankful for this year.