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.

The Tug-Of-War Battle With Time

I apologize for the delay in my blog posts. I had this whole plan; I would create this super amazing post about Mason turning 6 months old, share with you our experience in court to finalize our adoption, make you cry with beautiful pictures of Mason's baby blessing, etc. However, none of these things have happened yet (except Mason turning 6 months old of course). We are STILL waiting for these incredible moments to happen; moments we've dreamt about. So...rather than waiting another month and a half to write a post, I figured I would update you on what's been happening in the Marengo household since January (the super amazing post with all the extra good stuff will eventually happen...later...who knows when).

Side note/Adoption Finalization update: Before Mason even turned 6 months I was ahead of the game with our paperwork to finalize. The delay has been with everyone else. It's a long story, but nothing to worry about. At the moment we are waiting for the letter to arrive in the mail informing us of our court date. We believe our court date will be some time in April. We are extremely frustrated that this process has taken so long, especially since I was so diligent getting all the paperwork completed and prepared before it was asked of us.

Mason is now 6 months and 4 weeks old! He is such a happy baby. I totally get it now when mom's say they love their babies at 6 months; Mason is so much fun right now.

• Mason is keeping us on our toes with this rolling over thing. Wow, he's fast. It's so cute when he does it too; I can tell he's thinking "Yeeeah that's right. I got to that toy."
• He's trying so hard to crawl. He's got the back arching down, stretching to reach something, pumping his legs...it's gonna happen in the next month, I'm sure of it.
• He is a pro at putting his binky into his mouth! If it falls out, and he wants it, he picks it right up and puts it back in. He's a self-soother :)
• Mason loves his sippy cup! Most moms I've talked to don't give their kids a sippy cup till closer to 9-12 months. Well Mason, was ready, no doubt about it! He grabs at everything, including our cups. Every time Ricky and I have a cup, he wants it. He even puts the straw in his mouth (of course he can't sip yet, but I think he thinks he can). It is also a battle of the spoon when it's dinner time for Mason. He wants to feed himself so bad. The few times I let him do it, he gets the spoon to his mouth ok, but then puts his hands in with his spoon, therefore getting the food everywhere! I try to avoid as many messes as possible because I know as he gets older it will be impossible to control. We/I have a very nice routine at home, including napkins, wipes, and bibs...so far it's been fairly successful. We also Skype with my parents for almost every feeding; kinda cute :) My parents LOVE it, and so does Mason.
• Mason is on Stage 2 foods. He loves everything we give him. The worst facial expressions have been green beans.
• Mason snacks on the Mum Mum rice crackers, and has so much fun with them. Again, this gives him the opportunity to hold on to the cracker and eat like a big boy! Plus it keeps him occupied so Ricky and I can eat - Hallelujah! Speaking of snacks, we've also started giving Mason the little cereal puffs! This is another favorite of his!! He grabs at the high chair tray scooping up whatever he can, and occasionally is successful get one or two in his mouth. Hey, it's improving his hand-eye coordination!
• Mason still only has 2 teeth, on the bottom. We're hoping more will appear, cause gosh darn it, sometimes his attitude sure screams "Hey, there's something going on with my gums and it HURTS"!
• I swear Mason and I have conversations. His goo goo goos (not exactly a "goo" sound, but you know what I mean) are so expressive! So I mimic his goo goos and then he gives me a new, different set of goos. It's so much fun. Then he'll scream in excitement! I then scream back! (This goes on for a while) :)
• His neck is his favorite ticklish spot. Ricky gives him lots of fast kisses there, and he cracks up! A full bodied belly laugh! I must not be as good at it, cause Ricky gets the REALLY good laugh.
• Thankfully Mason's eyes are still so blue and beautiful - he looks so much like Ricky! It's so fun how many comments we've gotten where people say they look alike; people that have no idea he was adopted. His hair also keeps getting lighter and lighter - we have a total surfer on our hands :)
• Ricky and I have found ourselves in tears laughing so hard at Mason pushing out his poop! He is HILARIOUS. He focuses on something, usually us, and then pushes. Pushes like no other. His face gets red, and he's entirely serious. Then all of a sudden he smiles, and is back to normal! It's so funny!
• Mason loves to go on walks! He looks at everything, and loves to see dogs or cats.
• Sure enough, right at 6 months Mason stopped sleeping through the night. We were so bummed! I immediately looked it up online @ baby center and I was assured to read that this happens with many babies once they're 6 months. So frustrating. He was doing so well! Now we are up twice a night for feedings. Ricky and I alternate. One night I do the first feeding, Ricky does the second. The following night it's reversed. Either way, every night we are both doing the feedings; that's what we call team work!
• This may be obvious, and doesn't even need to be stated, but Mason puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. Have any of you moms out there bought teething necklaces? The ones YOU wear!? I need to get some of these, Mason chews on anything I wear. Side note: He also pulls my hair so hard, all the time. It's incredibly painful!
• Anytime we need to calm Mason down we sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and he quiets down immediately; it's so funny. He loves to be sang to, but that song especially.
• Ok, my last brag about Mason, he is such a pro at sitting up now. He plays with his toys effortlessly, and is so cute about it. It brings so much joy to my heart to watch him sit on the floor or on the couch and play. I can tell he's having so much fun.

Being a mom is the best gift ever. Ricky and I are so blessed. Every day with Mason is exciting, new, tiring (lol), challenging, and rewarding. We still can't believe we are lucky enough to be his parents, that WE are responsible to teach him about life. It's wild. But we've got this! We wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING in the world.

Aside from all my Mason updates, here's a few plain ol' Marengo Family updates:

• We've been working so hard updating Paulette's house! Our excitement to move there gets bigger and bigger every day. We are hoping to move-in during the month of May! It really couldn't come sooner. We can't wait to be in that neighborhood, close to the Andersen's, and in a new ward! :) Being able to eat dinner as a family with Paulette each day will be so special too!
• My brother Kyle, will be relocating to Chicago for Grad School. We are so happy and excited for him, but there's going to be a major void with him gone. I'm so used to seeing him each week, and watching him be an Uncle to Mason has been so touching. Kyle's my one and only sibling, and we are so close. Life will not be the same without him a short drive away. I'm in denial that he will actual leave me. It's such a bittersweet feeling; I'm happy for him, but don't want it to happen. Anyway...
• At my schools Science Fair, one of MY students won first place!!! I may have been more excited than they were!
• All my shows came back: Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Parenthood, and Glee. I almost couldn't sleep I was so excited :)

Ricky and Mason came to visit at school when we had our Science Fair! The students were SO excited to meet both of them!