Gracie turned 10 months old in September and continued to get more and more mobile. She could crawl everywhere around the house, got better at cruising along furniture and could stand on her own for a few seconds. She continued to love eating and I was amazed at what a good eater she was - far better than either Spencer or Mason. I think baby-led weaning played a part in that and I wish I had known about it with the boys. It was so much easier than making purees. Gracie developed the cutest rolls from all of that good eating and was a very solid chunk for awhile. 😍
Mason turned 10 years old on September 11th! He chose to continue his tradition of having a pool party with friends at the Williamson's pool. We had the party the week before his birthday to catch the last of the warm weather and because that weekend worked better for Alan. Mason came up with the design for his Star Wars cake and helped frost it this year. He invited buddies from church and school and we are so grateful that Mason has good friends! They swam for awhile, played some tag, at Dominos pizza and cake, and then swam some more. I think everyone had a great time and we were very grateful to Ranell for letting us use her pool for free even though I don't work for her anymore!
Hunter, Gannon, James, Lincoln, Mason, Krew, and Colt
Cool Lego set from one of his friends:
Standing on her own for the first time! Those chunky legs helped!
Mason became pretty particular about hair cuts around this time and was happy with how this one turned out.
We visited the temple grounds one Sunday afternoon. Definitely one of our happy places.
Gracie loved snuggling stuffed animals and soft blankets at this age. She is definitely the snuggliest of our three babies and I love it!
We let Mason take a friend to Langer's for part of his birthday celebration. He chose to invite Krew and they had a great time playing arcades and laser tag. Krew and Mason have been friends since nursery.
Finally, Mason's actual birthday! Mason was super excited to be double digits. He was really into Star Wars at this time. We hadn't watched any of the movies, but he loved to get Star Wars books from the library and was collecting Star Wars Lego sets. Most of the rest of Mason's interests were pretty much the same as last year. He still loved reading fantasy books, playing outside with friends, swimming, video games, and just about any bread. Mason has an endless imagination and always has something creative or funny to talk about. He loves learning interesting facts about nature and was especially interested in tornados, space, and legends about the Loch Ness Monster for awhile. He gives great hugs and is a super cute brother to Grace. Mason adds a whole new dimension to our family and we are so incredibly grateful he is ours!
Waffles with whipped cream for breakfast.
Biscuits with sausage gravy and scrambled eggs for dinner:
A couple of months after Grace came, Mason started to process his own adoption in a much deeper way. We had lots of contact with Lily and hardly any with Heidi at the time and that contrast was very painful for Mason. It was impossible for his young brain to comprehend the complicated situations and emotions that led to his placement with us, but he knew he felt a very deep loss and was grieving. It was heart wrenching to watch and to know that even though Mason loves Alan and I, we simply cannot take away the pain of his loss. We got him into therapy in June and had been going weekly since then at this point. Most nights ended in tears as he expressed his hurt and deep desire to have more contact with Heidi.
To Mason, it was especially important that Heidi recognize his birthday so we had been praying for that for several weeks beforehand. So it felt like a true miracle when Heidi texted me early in the morning on Mason's birthday! We texted back and forth for awhile so she could get caught up on Mason's life and arranged a facetime call for that afternoon. While Mason was at school, Heidi had Crumbl cookies delivered for him. Mason was thrilled! He was nervous and excited about the call, but it turned out really good. Heidi is a great listener and Mason loved sharing the things he was interested in with her. Heidi's attention truly made Mason's day and we were all so grateful for it especially since we knew it brought up difficult feelings for her.
Baby shenanigans:
Sadly, Mason tripped on the concrete floor at school while walking to the bus one day and chipped his two front teeth. He was in a lot of pain and pretty traumatized. I called his dentist as soon as we got home and then took him straight in. They were able to glue the chipped piece of one back on and filled in the other. The repair job isn't perfect and Mason will likely need crowns one day but they are fine for now.
Mason also had a wiggly tooth that had been bothering him and wound up pulling it out himself a few days later. It was a rough month for mouth pain!
I saw this Amazing Grace sign for sale when I drove by a neighbor's garage sale on morning. I immediately wanted it but told myself that I didn't need it and delayed going over for several hours. When the sign was still there after lunch, I walked over and bought it. Our sweet neighbor knows a little of Grace's story and told me there was a reason the sign hadn't sold yet and then gave it to me for free. People can be so good!
Traditional Adoption Day pizza on September 13th. We've celebrated the day Mason was placed in Alan's and my care this way since Mason was born. The day has started to carry some very complicated and painful emotions for Mason however and after we celebrated this year I told him that he could be in charge of whether we celebrated that day in the future or not.
I knew Grace was super tired when she stayed asleep after transferring her out of the car and flat onto the living room rug.
She really loved jumping in her bouncer at this age. I wish we had one of these when Spencer and Mason were this age!
Soaking up as much sunshine as possible before the rains came.
One of Spencer's cross country meets was in Tillamook. Since the weather was nice and we had no other plans, I took Mason and Grace. It was a long drive but Grace did surprisingly well. We got there just in time to see Spencer race and then went to the cheese factory for ice cream before driving home. It was a fun day!
Pretty sunset at The Refuge on a Sunday family walk:
A home cross country meet. We didn't make it to very many meets this year but I tried to be there if it was close to home and the weather was decent.
Back to School Night at the Ridges. 4th graders get to use lockers since the school was originally a middle school and the halls are filled with locker. The kids keep their backpacks and coats in them but don't lock them.
