Better Than Betty

Determined to make Mason's first birthday cake myself, I dove headfirst into the world of layer cakes and fondant. I can't remember ever baking anything that didn't come from a box, so of course, there were a few obstacles. One of my cakes (from scratch!) collapsed in the oven and was basically raw. By that time I was out of flour, so the bottom layer ended up being two boxes of Betty Crocker funfetti.

I think the whole process took about eight hours. Maybe more. Aimee and I worked on the cake part for about five hours on Thursday night. I made the fondant animals myself, mostly the night before Mason's party. Finally, on Friday night at one o'clock in the morning - with my eyes glazed over and powered sugar in my hair and blue and yellow and green fondant under my fingernails - it was done. Almost.

I had to put it together at the party, to avoid the disaster that would surely happen if I were to try to transport it in one piece. Obviously, this brought about more obstacles. It was hot in the car, and some of my giraffe spots started to slide down the cake's sides. The leaves on my palm trees cracked and broke off. I didn't bring enough green icing to go the whole way around the layers.

But still.. it was the best (never mind the only) cake I've ever made:

Party Preview

For now, I'll just say that we survived. First birthday parties are exhausting. More tomorrow.

Dirty Mouth?

No wonder my flowers aren't growing.

Sniffles

I'm getting over a cold, so I've been using a lot of tissues. Apparently not as many as Mase, though.


I guess I'm not getting any sympathy from this one. He really does think it's hilarious to mock me.

Stack Master

Mason loves his new blocks. And hey, I can't blame him - those blocks are awesome. As soon as he opened them yesterday, he did this:

For some reason, him stacking two blocks is a huge deal to me. Granted, one block has a hole in it and the other block was round so it kind of just fit in there, but he did it. On purpose. Multiple times. Then he did this:

Okay, okay, I'm kidding about that last part. Soon though.

Birthday

Today was surprisingly normal; I guess I'd been expecting something dramatic. I mean, Mason turned ONE and I pretty much woke up in tears over the whole ordeal. Nothing life changing happened - it turns out one-year-old Mason is almost exactly the same as eleven-months-and-thirty-days-old Mason - but he's growing up, time flies, and before I know it I'll be sending him off to Yale. I (silently) moped around for the majority of the day, but I tried really hard to make sure Mason had a great first birthday. And he did.

It's 9:06PM. One year and two minutes ago, Mason came into the world. What a year it's been. Happy birthday, baby. ♥

Last Day as a Less-Than-One-Year-Old

♥

True Mom Confession

Sometimes, when the only thing I want is to shower in peace, I let Mason play in the toilet.

Happy... For a Minute

This morning I took Mason's temperature and got 103.5, so after floating listlessly through swimming class and dumping a pitcher of creamer on himself at The Waffle Shop, we made a little trip to the doctor's. She checked his ears, throat, nose, and lungs. And everything was fine. I guess sometimes babies just get fevers. She said it should only last four days, which means he ought to be feeling better by tomorrow. I hope so. He's just not himself and it's sad. The poor guy's been in slow motion for the past three days. He can't even crawl without falling on his face. He's a mess.

After the doctor's he napped for two hours before we headed out to enjoy the sunshine. We walked down to the park, I stuck him in the swing, and I was pretty sure I had finally found the cure for Mason's grumpiness.

He was smiling, and I would have pushed him on that swing all night long if he would have stayed that way. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

Sick and Cuddly

Mason made it one week short of a year without getting sick, but he hasn't felt well since Monday. I'm not sure what's wrong, it could just be teething for all I know, but he's had a little fever and has just not been himself. Yesterday, after clinging to me in swimming class, throwing all his food on the floor of the Waffle Shop, and suffering through a quick trip to Target, Mase took a three hour nap. He woke up half way through and was restless, so I went in and layed with him. He fell asleep on my chest like he did when he was tiny. My neck was cramping and I couldn't feel my arms, but I didn't move.

When he was new, he'd always fall asleep mid-eating and I'd hold him through his whole nap for fear of waking him. When he'd wake up, I'd have an imprint of his little face in my skin.

Yesterday, for the first time in months and months, I had an ear print:

Wednesday, April 8th: Goodbye San Deigo

It's our last day here, and there were still a few things I wanted to see, so we walked up to the cliffs overlooking the ocean where we were able to get a glimpse of one of the prettiest views we've seen all week.

The walk home was full of interesting sights, too. Flowers:

Hippie housing:


A yard full of Easter bunnies (real!):

And a cute baby under a palm tree:

Whether I like it or not, tonight at ten o'clock we'll be boarding our airplane back to reality. Hopefully, it won't be long before we're seeing San Diego again...

xoxo