12 months

Matthew Jay you are ONE YEAR old!

(pretend I was a really on the ball mom, and actually published this on 2/19...Matthew's real birthday!)

I will NEVER forget the feeling, one year ago today, of holding you, my firstborn baby boy, for the very first time....I remember it like it was yesterday. I had always dreamed of becoming a mom, and I now I was finally YOUR Mommy.

Matthew, this past year has been one of the best and most blessed years of my life. Your Daddy and I thank Jesus every day and night for choosing us to be your parents. We can't wait to spend the rest of our lives loving you! Your smile is the best thing and your laughter is the best music. You will never understand, as long as you live, just how much your Daddy and I love you.

What have you been up to these days?

I can say that you are one BUSY little pre-toddler! You are into everything and anything. I think you have about a 30 second attention span before you are off and onto your next adventure!

You still wear size 4 diapers.
You are a skinny little boy!
You can wear anywhere from size 12-24 month shirts, and 12 month pants.

You still take 2 naps during the day and sleep at night from 7:30pm-7:30am. You nap for 1.5-2 hours each nap. You are doing SO well if we are out and about, or having a busy day, and aren't able to get you down for a full nap...you can stretch your awake time if you need to and are still a happy boy.
We try not to do this very often though!

You love to sleep in your crib. I wish that you were more of a cuddler, and sometimes I dream of being able to snuggle and rock you to sleep, but you just won't have it. On the flip side, I am so thankful that you put yourself to sleep and don't need any "help" from mommy or daddy! Daddy gives you your bottle every night, Mommy kisses you goodnight, and then Daddy sings and cuddles you while he takes you to bed.

You know where your tummy, head, and mouth is. You especially like pointing to your head.

You are doing SO much better in your highchair. I seriously don't remember the last time that you threw food, and you have not had to be put in timeout for a few weeks...loving it!

You love taking baths at night, but these days you absolutely love taking showers! We can tell you that it's bathtime and you will walk into the bathroom, eager to take a bath. You love to be naked too.

You still like to look at and read books

Sometimes I wonder why we even bother buying you new toys! I think you would rather play with the Swiffer duster, tupperware, anything and everything in the bathroom cabinets, kitchen utensils...the list goes on and on. I always laugh at what you find to play with, that's not an actual toy! Lately, you have been fascinated with sitting in the hall closet with the vaccum, touching it and making vaccum noises, and occassionally strumming Daddy's guitar.

You LOVE the stairs. If we ever leave the baby gate down, you always seem to find your way to the stairs. You climb up a few steps, and wait until we come to find you, and then you start to crawl as fast as your little legs can go, giving the best belly laugh along the way...and other times we find you all the way upstairs already! You can climb up the stairs, but you don't know how to crawl down yet. Thankfully, you don't try to come down by yourself, and are very steady climbing them.

Your new favorite food is frozen blueberries....thanks Grammy!

You love to play with balls. Your favorite is Daddy's basketball, but recently you found one of his baseballs and like that too! You carry the basketball all around the house. It looks so big for such a small little boy...you are strong though!

You like to look and point at pictures. You can point out Mommy and Daddy in them.

These days, you are pointing at everything you see that interests you, especially lights and balloons!

A couple of weeks ago, we started introducing Vitamin D milk. You took it great, and could honestly care less if you have formula or real milk. For now, you usually have formula morning and night, and milk during the day. I think it's going to be very easy to switch you completely to milk. You still love to take your milk in your bottle, especially in the morning. You will take milk out of a sippy great at mealtimes. Getting rid of the bottle completely will happen shortly, but I'm honestly not in a big hurry to make it happen right now.

You walk everywhere. You can stand up from sitting or crawling without holding onto anything. If you fall, you get right back up and keep on walking....no more crawling for this busy boy!

Daddy has mid-winter break this next week. We all get to be home together for a whole week! We have alot of fun things planned and are looking forward to lots of family time.

No new teeth. You still just have 7...4 on top, 3 on the bottom.

We bought you a big boy carseat! You are officially facing forward, out of your infant seat, and loving it!

You can say mama, dada, nigh nigh (we ask you if you're ready to go night-night, and you say nigh nigh), baba (bottle), nana (banana), you are trying to say something with a "G" sound for grammy/grandpa/grandma, and you say something with a "D" sound for doggie.

You are very into sharing and showing us your toys and your food. I know this stage won't last for long, so I try to encourage it as much as possible!

We got a membership to the YMCA. We have put you in the child watch three times now, and they have had to come get me each time because you won't calm down. Thankfully, they have let me get in a quick 25 minute workout before coming to get me.
Daddy and I took you swimming and you love playing and splashing in the pool!

You are such a content little guy, with an infectious smile...an absolute joy!

Happy first birthday Matthew Jay!!
(seriously cannot belive I am saying that...Time flies!)

Let it snow...

Mid-January we got our first and probably only big snowstorm of a year! We ended up getting over a foot of snow, which is a lot for us. Matt's school was cancelled the whole week and I only had to work 1 night that week, so we had a lot of quiet time to spend at home as a family. I love the snow because it totally forces you to slow down, and just enjoy those moments you usually don't take advantage of.

Don't get me wrong though...I do love that we have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive and snow tires, allowing us to venture out, run to the store, visit family, oh and maybe a lunch out to Red Robin!

Matt also took me down to Seattle the night I had to work, and picked me up first thing in the morning, so I didn't have to drive in the snow and ice by myself. Thankfully my parents and baby Matthew had a sleepover, so we didn't have to haul him around with us!

Sledding down the driveway with Daddy!

Matthew tolerated the snow for about 5 minutes, and made it very clear that he was done and ready to go inside and warm up! Better luck next year with actually playing in the snow, I guess!

Grammy and Grandpa!!

Getting the mail with Daddy

Eating snow for the very first time. One bite was all he needed to know it was too cold, or not tasty enough for him!

"Okay mom, enough with the pictures....can we go inside yet??"

11 months

Matthew Jay you are ELEVEN months old!

What have you been up to these days???

It has been a busy month for you full of lots of memories, excitement, and milestones!

Just after you turned 10 months, you started to stand on your own for extended periods of time. About a week later you started to take one step at a time, and then fall down. Next thing we know, a week or so later you were taking a couple of steps at a time. And now, you are officially WALKING! You are SO proud of yourself, and think that walking is just about the coolest thing! You haven't learned how to stand up on your own without holding onto something though. So if you fall, you just crawl the rest of the way to wherever you are going, or you crawl over to something or someone you can pull up on to regain your balance, and then you are off again! We love the idea of you being an early walker. Sure, it makes life a lot busier for us, but with another baby on the way, I really want you to be good at walking by the time baby girl gets here, so I'm not having to tote around 2 of you all the time!

You celebrated your very first Christmas. You LOVE playing with all of your new toys!

Words you are saying: Dada (ALL.THE.TIME!), Mama, baba (bottle), Nana (banana).

You can tell us what sound a dog, cow and monkey make.

(This is you making a monkey sound)

You love to look at pictures and photo albums.

When you are tired, you use the back of your hand and run it over your lips, making a bbbbb sound, or your pull your ears.

You give the BEST kisses, and wave "Bye bye!"

You can sign "All Done" when you are finished eating, to let us know you are full!

Matthew, you are still the best sleeper! Your schedule hasn't changed, and you nap from 9-11am, and

2-4pm. At night you sleep from 7:30pm-7:30am

You cut another tooth this month, and now have a total of 7....4 on the top and 3 on the bottom.

You are becoming a pickier eater. You still LOVE fruits, breads, and cheeses. You like beef, but aren't crazy about chicken. You like certain veggies, but spit others out. This month we tried edamame (soy beans) and loved it! You are so funny when you eat because if you have something in your mouth, and you see something you would rather eat or we put something new on your tray, you will spit out whatever is in your mouth to eat something new. Seriously kid, just swallow what is in your mouth before moving on!

Speaking of something not so funny at the dinner table is your new habit of dropping your food onto the ground. Earlier in the month you would do it from time to time, more because you seemed curious about it. However, that quickly changed, and you started to look directly at us, hold your hand over the side of your high chair, and drop your food with a look of defiance. We couldn't believe it!

Daddy and I have spent alot of time talking and praying together about discipline and how we desire to be consistent and on the same page of how we handle situations. We used a sleep/schedule method called Babywise when you were an infant, and now that you are older, it also includes a method for discipline. You are very easy going, and we've had no other "discipline" issues, other then dropping your food at the breaskfast/lunch/dinner table. The first time you drop your food, you get a stern reminder that we don't drop our food on the floor and a "No". You sometimes still smile when we do this...Second time you get a firm squeeze to the hand. You don't like this, but it doesn't bother you that much...Third time you decide to drop your food you get isolated to your crib for a few minutes...we decided to set up the pack and play for this. Needless to say you hate this....after you are put in your crib, Daddy and I sit and wait at the dinner table for you to take your first breath after you start to cry, give a little smile and continue our dinner...it's one of those cries. You are so happy to see Daddy or Mommy after your time is up....we give you loves, tell you we love you, and remind you why you spent time in your crib. It's hard to tell how much you really get at this age, but we have noticed that we've had to put you in your crib MUCH less lately! Crossing our fingers it's working!

(Trust me, I'm the last one who wants to have to discipline my child, but knowing that we have a system and a way to handle any unacceptable behavior is so nice. It takes away the nagging, and the constant "No...no....no". It takes away the frustration of not knowing how to handle a situation, and having to think on your toes of what to do. We don't have to discipline out of frustration or anger, but out of a desire to teach our son what is right and wrong.)

You love to have your Daddy sing to you and play the guitar...you join in on the action sometimes too.

You love to show us all of your toys, by picking them up and holding them in the air for us to see...with a big grin on your face, of course.

You LOVE balls! Daddy lets you play with his basketball and you think it is about the neatest thing to play with and pick up. You are learning how to bounce a ball to us. You also like to roll balls back and forth.

You are doing great in the church nursery. I can't even remember the last time I got called because you were having a hard time. Sometimes you cry when we leave you, but otherwise you are a happy, busy boy!

One of your favorite things to do is swing!

You love to sit on our laps and have us read you a book. You are quite fascinated with turning the pages as well. We will also find you sitting on the ground, surrounded by books, flipping through them and exploring them on your own!

...or in the nude after bath works too

You now take all of your baths in Mommy and Daddy's big bathtub downstairs. It was just more convenient for us. You love it! Your favorite bath time toy, believe it or not, is one of those bulb syringe snot suckers from the hospital!

You still have the most beautiful blue eyes!

You experienced your first snow!

You love playing "super baby" with your Grandpa!

We used to have corner protectors on our coffee table...we decided to remove them when they spent more time in your mouth then on the table.

Matthew Jay, I can hardly believe that we are starting to plan your first birthday party! I wish I could just slow down time...however, it reminds me to cherish every moment we get with you! We love you so much!