It's official: Mason Michael MARENGO

It has been 9 months and 16 days since we were approached with the honor of being a mommy and daddy.

It has been 9 months and 16 days since we've been anxiously waiting for this entire process to be finalized.

The day arrived and it was everything we dreamed it would be.

On April 4, 2014 our adotion was finalized. Mason became an official Marengo in every legal way.

After turning in our paper work to the Long Beach Courthouse on February 6th, and having a horrible experience with the women who worked at the drop off windows, I was convinced our court hearing would be the same; a tired Judge who hated life and just wanted to go home. I prayed and prayed about the approaching court date, hoping we'd have the exact opposite experience.

Judge Michael Vicencia was the perfect fit for our family, and the most lovable man we could have prayed for. Not only did he crack several jokes during our hearing, make us all cry buckets and buckets, and allow our dear friend McKenzie to take pictures from the jury box, but he was a Dodger fan! I will never forget what he said as he made his way around his big, intimidating desk, "I hope you'll excuse my tennis shoes, I'm going to the Dodger game after this!" Judge Vicencia also invited our family (and my best friend Katie) to stand with us during the proceeding; it was such a special moment to share with each of them as we held hands throughout the experience. Judge Vicencia was so proud to hold Mason, allowing him to grab at his nose, cheeks, and eyes. We wiped away our tears long enough to take some very precious pictures with him. Once we were done, Judge Vicencia asked for our big family picture to be emailed to him; we happily complied. After he uttered the word, "Congratulations" the entire court room erupted in applause (even the woman who was waiting for her case to be discussed next, was sobbing - this is an image we will never forget, just how much our adoption affected everyone in the room). Ricky and I stayed behind for a few minuets with baby Mason grabbing the email for Judge Vicencia, and getting our offcial paperwork. As we exited the court room our friends and family were there taking pictures and celebrating with us once again.

 

 

The rest of the weekend was spent with such a spiritual high. We all felt so close to each other, and particularly with our baby Mason. My parents (Mason's "Lolly and Poppy") stayed till Monday and got to accompany us to the beach, where Mason had never been before! Mason was mesmorized by the waves and all the water. He just stared and stared. It was so cute to see his piggies covered in sand. Mason felt the water (boy it was cold) for the first time, and didn't even flinch. We're convinved he's gonna be the perfect (and incredibly handsome) so cal surfer! Ricky can't wait to get him in the water and teach him! We concluded the weekend with Mason's baby blessing at our home on Sunday. We were surrounded by our closest family and friends; the perfect day. Ricky gave an incredibly touching blessing, one that goes down in the books as one of the best we've heard (I'm not biased or anything ;) ).

 

Mason with his pals

 

Saying Hi to Papa Marengo (Ricky's daddy)

Saying Hi to Grandpa Jim (Ricky's Grandpa)

 

 

 Mason saying the "B" sound

 

Mason updates!

• Our baby boy is now 8 months (35 weeks)!
• Mason loves to stand up. He can't pull himself up yet, but once we've helped him up he won't sit back down! He loves standing.
• Mason is not "crawling" yet. He can roll around on the floor to get to things, but for the most part he wants to be standing and walking with our help. We have a strong feeling he will bypass the crawling and start walking first.
• He gets very frustrated when he can't reach something, or when we try to sit him down; again, he just wants to stand!
• Thank goodness for the high chair, he loves being up high and swinging his legs back and forth. He also loves to eat. Mason is eating like crazy now. Whenever we are eating, he has to eat something too. He also wants everything we have (unfortunately we have to deny him most of the time, so he settles for his puffs).
• Mason has discovered that he loves ice chips!
• He can drink from a straw!
• Has three teeth now (all on the bottom)!
• Is incredibly distracted when we change his diaper. Diaper changing has become very difficult and twice as long.
• He's almost out grown his little Vans shoes :(
• Comfortably fitting in 9 month clothes.
• Has the coolest hair.
• Loves the bath and splashes like crazy. Truthfully when he sees ANY water he gets really excited!!!
• Now says the B sound constantly! We are almost convinced he can say agua (water in Spanish). Very clearly sounds like he's also saying the word "up". Eh, who knows. Either way, he's making new sounds and it's really fun to hear.
• His naps are much longer now (yay!). He will sleep anywhere from an hour to an hour and 45 min! This is awesome.
• Hates homemade baby food.
• Loves to be outside. He would prefer we take him outside more than anything else.
• He can't get enough of our cat, Mina. We really think his first word might be "Mina". He is obsessed with her. Thankfully, Mina is so good with him and has never hissed or snapped at him.
• He's lazy and won't hold the bottle. I swear he knows we'll do it for him, so he just lays there and plays with his hair. Little stinker.
• He has to wear a bib at all times; his drool is out of control!
• Wears his Dodger hat effortlessly :)
• Will put his arms up in the air for us to hold him or pick him up. I absolutely love this, makes me feel so good.
• Gives open mouth kisses. This is my most favorite thing. I KNOW he's kissing me, and I know he knows what that means. It's the most adorable, loving thing a mother could ever wish for.