13 months

Matthew Jay you are 13 months old!

What have you been up to these days?

As of 12.5 months old, here are your stats:

Weight: 20.5 pounds (30th percentile).

Head: big and in the 95th percentile!

Height: 30 inches (60th percentile)

Just like your Daddy when he was a baby!

You got 4 shots at your check-up. You screamed when the nurse gave them to you, but after some snuggles and a sticker to distract you, things were all better!

Baseball season officially started for Daddy. He has had alot of late nights, and is very busy these days. You miss your Daddy, but I know that he misses his bubbers even more! Grammy is loving all the time she is getting to see you :) You love going to Daddy's baseball games! You absolutely wear me out though. You are one busy boy, and I feel like I spend the whole game chasing you down. We pack lots of snacks and fun toys to keep you distracted! Your Daddy loves having us come to his baseball games though.

You sleep at night from 7:30 or 8 until 7:30 in the morning. Lately, you've stayed up a little later so that Daddy can see you and give you a bottle before bedtime. You still nap for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. You NEVER fight your naps or going to bed (knock on wood!). You absolutely love your crib. When you are tired, we can tell you that it's time to go night-night, and you will literally drop whatever toy you are playing with, walk over to the stairs, climb upstairs, and go into your bedroom ready to sleep! SO aborable, and we are very thankful for such a good sleeper!

You are one busy boy from the moment you wake up until you go to bed. You go from one toy or activity to the next...always ready to explore and play!

Grammy and Grandpa got you a mini basketball hoop for your birthday. You love to shoot hoops. You go pick up your ball, walk it over to the hoop and dunk it! When you put the ball in the hoop, you look at whoever is watching you and get so excited and giggle when we say "2 points!"

You had a cold the end of February. Thankfully you go over it very quickly.

You love swinging in a blanket!

We put music on, and you dance with Mommy and Daddy!

Your new favorite food is blueberry pancakes...yummy! You are a picky eater these days.

You can now go down the stairs as well as climb up them! You scoot your self down them backwards.

You absolutely love playing on the couch, and climbing around on the cushions and pillows. You love it even more when someone will wrestle you and toss you into a pile of pillows. All boy!

You say about 10 words. Mama, dada, baba (bottle), nigh-nigh, down, uh-oh, grammy/grandpa, dog, ball, nana (banana).

Grammy still watches you in the mornings before I get home from work. She warms up her coffee in the microwave and you like to open and close the door for her. Everytime that she takes her coffee out of the microwave, she will tell you that it's H-H-Hot. Now, whenever you see a coffe cup, you say HHHH (making the H sound)! Grammy and Grandpa also have a stove at their house that gets hot. One night we found you in front of it saying HHHH!

You love to play outside and go on walks. We havn't been able to get out very much because the weather has been so cold and wet, but I know you will be outside all the time this spring and summer!

You love cars and trucks! Whenever you see a car out the window, walk by a car, or play with a car or truck, you get your little motor mouth running and make the cutest car noise! You love to watch for cars or the garbage man out the window too.

We have quickly learned that we have to keep our pantry doors closed. If we forget, you will go into the pantry, pull out the spices, open the lids, and suck on the top of whatever spice you can get your hands on...garlic powder, seasoning salt, cream of tartar...yuck! These days, you also love to get into anything you really aren't supposed to get into...like the recycling!

We taught you how to throw your diaper away. I know that you'll be such a big helper when your baby sister arrives!

We love you more and more each day Matthew Jay!

Aquarium

Last month (I know I'm really late posting this!), Matt had a week off of school for mid-Winter break. I also had the week off of work, so we had an AMAZING week spending time together as a family!

We actually had a very low key, and much needed week spent playing with Daddy, going to the mall, snuggling, family dinners in and out, trips to the YMCA, Starbucks dates and a fun day at the Seattle Aquarium.

Here are a few pictures of our time at the Aquarium...

Looking at all the fish with Daddy!

Matthew loved all of the tides pools that he could touch and explore!

Look at those curls!



Matthew is at SUCH a busy age. He wants to run around and explore the world....he wasn't too thrilled when Daddy tried to carry him!

I don't think I can say enough how much I.LOVE.MY.FAMILY!

30 weeks pregnant in the picture...trying to soak up every moment I have with my boys before our baby girl arrives!

All tuckered out after a big day of exploring and adventure with Daddy and Mommy!

Matthew has a light up fish aquarium at home. Since we've gone to the Aquarium, we can ask him where his fish are, and he will walk over and point to the fish! He can also point out a fish in his books at home. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up, and I'm amazed daily at how much he is learning!

We had such a fun day as a family, and an even better week having Daddy at home with us!

Happy First Birthday!

I know I'm late (again...) in posting this, but I wanted to share with you all the details of Matthew's first birthday party! 

We had such a fun day celebrating our sweet baby boy!

We woke Matthew up in the morning singing "Happy Birthday." He obviously had no idea why we were singing, but loved it anyways.

We had a yummy breakfast, and then got ready for church (his birthday was on a Sunday). After church, we came home and Matthew was able to take a good nap, so he could be ready for his first birthday party!

We decided to have a fairly low key party with family and some of our friends. In the end, I think we ended up having about 25 adults, and 8 kids, so I don't know how "low key" you would really call that. 

I'm not someone who is big into themes, so since Matthew's nursery was (another post on that coming soon!) blue and grey, I decided to keep with that theme and do his first birthday the same. 

Here are all the highlights from his party......

I made his banner from card stock, and printed the letters off the computer, and then covered the art that was hanging there with grey and white fabric to match our theme.

I made the tissue paper balls too...gotta love pintrest!

We did a menu consisting of all of Matthew's favorite foods....PB&J, quesadillas, pizza (I made pizza rolls instead...kinda like hot pockets), pigs in a blanket, fruit, carrots & ranch, edemane with butter and garlic, & animal crackers with a yummy cookie dip!

Here is the table before all the food was set out. 

 Matthew's high chair...with none other then a paint sample trim, once again thanks to pintrest!

I think the people at Lowe's probably thought I was crazy with all the blue and grey paint samples I was taking!

One of my best friends, Alyssa, came over to help me make Matthew's "smash" cake, as well as all the cupcakes for the party. Alyssa is an amazing baker...I'm not to say the least (I put baking soda in the first round of cupcakes instead of baking powder...whoops!), so I was incredibly appreciate of the help!

Alyssa decorated Matthew's cake...isn't it cute??

We did a cupcake bar with all sorts of yummy treats for the top of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes!

It seems surreal to me that my baby boy is actually ONE!

I love my mom. She will kill me for putting this picture on here :) She is the BEST Grammy!

These might not look too appetizing, but let me tell you, they were delicious. Alyssa helped me make them the night before...of course we had to try them out beforehand. We made 8 of these (2 of them were full size hot dogs too!), so we thought we would share some with our hubby's who were watching basketball in the other room. Needless to say, 2 hungry, preggo mammas mowed down every last bite of those "Pigs in a blanket".

Lessons learned:...they were delicious....our husbands never knew we cooked anything...we were the real pigs in this story...we weren't all that hungry for our small group dinner later that evening (go figure)...our husbands were starving...it was all worth it :)

Alyssa and Kyle are expecting their first baby at the end of May. I so excited to raise our baby girls together! I'm only 4 weeks ahead of Alyssa, but I feel huge in the picture compared to her!

 I guess that's what being pregnant twice in one year will do to your body!

Joshua is getting so big!

Lunch time!

More and more in love with this guy every day. So blessed.

Opening presents with a one year old is madness. He liked his presents once they were opened and ready to play with, but had no interest in unwrapping them, or the toys that came in boxes. Plus, he was wiggly and all over the place. Luckily, I had a few of my nephews around to help in the mayhem!

Caleb got baby Matthew a bubble mower. I let Caleb open it for him...needless to say, Caleb was grinning ear to ear, and was SO excited to give Matthew his gift. It was precious to watch!

Time to sing "Happy Birthday" to our little man!

This kid had NO qualms about the cake. He dove right in, and LOVED. EVERY. BITE!

Yummy!

Double fisting the cake!

He wouldn't even stop for a photo op!

I've never seen a kid eat so much cake and frosting in my life. We finally had to make him stop...I think he might had eaten the entire cake if we let him! So much fun to watch!

All clean again, and ready to play and enjoy the last few minutes of his birthday party.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Matthew's FIRST birthday!

We love you so much Matthew Jay!