Friendship, baby and wine!

My good friend Rose flew in last week from Philly for a visit. Mommy is so happy to have a friend in town--I've been needing some good quality bonding time with an old friend! Matthew became instant friends with Rose and I'm quite sure he's going to miss her when she leaves on Wednesday!

Matthew giving Rose some quality snuggle time.

Happy to have a new friend! (if you clicky on this one you can see his newest tooth on the top! He's up to 3 now!)
Mommy and Rose enjoying some quality time at the nearby wineries. Daddy and Matthew were the DD's and played outside while we did some wine tasting. This is outside our first stop, K Vintners winery. We stopped to try the Kung Fu Girl riesling. It was yum, but I much preferred their Rose wine. This winery had 7 wines for tasting, so we weren't even sure we needed to go any further!

But.....we did go further. We met a nice limo driver who gave us the scoop on where to go. This was a cute little collection of 5 wineries right next to each other. We went to 4 of them for tastings. Our fav of the day by far was Trio Vintners. The wine maker (or whatever the "professional" term for this is) was so helpful. Bonus that they had a delicious riesling and rose. Yum.

Rose showing off the goods. We bought 4 bottles from Trio Vintners!

The guy at the last stop told us there are over 100 wineries in the area (we were in Walla Walla, WA). Rose and I visited 5 of them, so I figure I have my work cut out for me. I think next time we'll need to find a sitter and rent the limo driver!

Multi-tasking

Late breaking news....Matthew can now (as of last Thursday actually) stand and clap. He does so with a HUGE grin on his face and it's the cutest thing I ever did see. It would be fabulous if I caught this gem on video, but alas, it has alluded me thus far.

Sunday Funday!

Our day in pictures

There were good moments today

Here's my cutie.

I'm not sure what this is about, but his new thing is sticking his tongue out all the time. I took a bunch of pictures today and most of them had his little tongue hanging out. Here are FOUR pictures to illustrate my point.

Friendship is good for the soul

Ah...I had the best time tonight. Mike is out of town for work, so it's been a long week of just me and Matthew. Today was a miserable day with my child- lots of crying, fussing, needing, wanting- you get the picture. Matthew is in that stage where I can't possibly leave his sight for a millisecond, because, well, the world might fall apart in that millisecond.

My saving grace- my two friends here came over for dinner with their little boys. Good food, good playmates for Matthew, and more importantly, it was like an energizing battery re-charge for me. We laughed a LOT and shared mommy war stories. It's great to have people who just "get it". You don't have to explain why your ready to pull your hair out or why you're in tears, they've been there. They know what it's like.

I am thankful for all my friends in my life, and just so happy to have met some (finally!) here who I really click with. And, Mike gets home tomorrow!!! :-)

Random thought

If I licked my finger to wipe something off of my child's face today, does that mean I've turned into my mother??

9 months on, 9 months off?

Nope.

Trying to get a good shot

P.S. I dare you to try and find even a hint of me in that kids face. He's all daddy.

It is what it is.

Here's the thing. I can't change it. My kid is so funny, I spend at least 75% of my day laughing and smiling at him. He's funny. He's cute. He amuses me to no end. The fact that he has picked up the form of imitation and will cluck his tongue, make kiss noises, and copy a sigh only magnifies this fact. The fact that he and I could sit staring at each other for (no joke here) 10 minutes and sigh back and forth well, once again, there are no words.

It is what it is.

Edit: Let's change that to 65%. 75 seems to high. And although he's funny, I spend the other 35% (although today it felt much higher!), wondering why I have such a fussy, high maintenance crier on my hands.

No words.

Sunshine

Monday and Tuesday were beautiful days! Today, not so much. I mean, the sun is shining now, but the wind is horrible. These pictures were taken on Monday when Matthew and I enjoyed some time in the backyard. (my pictures posted out of order! That phone one should be down at the bottom but I'm too tired to fix it. Blogger does weird things with the order of my pictures sometimes.)

I love being outside!

CHOMP!

Tasty little chew toy.

Mmmm. That was pretty good.

I wish I knew who he was talking to. Probably Babci.

The best

This. Right now. I've decided thus far, THIS age that Matthew is right now, is my favorite. He is so much fun right now, and really starting to figure things out. His little personality is coming out more, and I love watching him play. Yesterday he was playing in the living room, and I sat on the couch just watching. He crawled around the room finding each musical toy and pushing the buttons. One toy after another, until there was a chorus of songs filling the house. He has this little snail toy that sings the ABC's (one of his absolute favorite songs!). It's so cute because he knows exactly which button to push to get the song and just goes right to it and pushes it. His dancing is so funny. He has a "sitting" dance and a "standing" dance, and both involve him shaky his little booty. The standing up has gotten out of control. He can do it from as low down as simply using my shoe to stand himself up. He loves, loves, loves letting go and seeing how excited we get to see him standing by himself. The waving thing is adorable, only I'm not quite sure he understands that he's waving. I think now he just does it because I get all proud and excited. Crawl, crawl, crawl...he follows me all around the house and watches everything. I love how when I say "give kisses", he leans in with his mouth open wide to give a sloppy wet one.

I don't know, there's really a thousand things but all that's running through my head right now as I sit here are his beaming smile and infectious laugh. It kills me everytime. I feel like I cannot put into words (or perhaps I'm not eloquent enough) just how I love and adore him. I can't squeeze him or kiss him enough. I wish everyone could spend just 5 minutes with him and feel the joy he brings. But give him back, he's mine.

The proof is in the puddin'

Eh. Not sure what that phrase actually means, but I love it when a plan comes together.

Try and tell me I didn't see my son wave hi today.

Still trying to get proof of the other wonderment he showcased for me yesterday. I'm letting him nap now and rest up for more showing off later.

True story.

Matthew has this book.

He loves this book. When he feels like actually sitting still for a few minutes (rare), he sits and flips through the pages staring at pictures of mommy, daddy, babci, pepere, grandmom, and grandpa. He squeals and points to people. It is cute.

Last night we're sitting together looking at the book. I hold it open to these pages:

I say "Mommy. Where's Mommy? Find Mommy."

Matthew picks up his precious little pointer finger, points to mommy and says "mama".

I swear on all that is good and holy this happened. I almost burst into tears, but instead swept him up and gave him a gigantic hug.

Then daddy walks into the room. I tell him. It is written ALL over his face that he does not at all believe this happened.

So, I show the pages again. "Daddy. Where's Daddy? Matthew, show me Daddy."

He picks up his precious little finger and points to daddy.

Hooray! Maybe now he'll believe.

Except. Once more to really show off.

"Mommy. Where's Mommy?"

He picks up his precious little finger and points to Daddy.

Two out of three is not bad.

I REFUSE to believe this was a coincidence. He's just learning.

I also swear that just 10 minutes ago I finally got him to wave hi.

Really. True story.

9 month check-up

Today's stats:

Weight: 17 lbs., 6 oz.

Height: 27.25"

No more Zantac!! No urologist referral! (she will re-check at 12 months, but it looks like it's starting to fix itself.)

All in all, he's a healthy, happy kid. She says she'll be surprised if he's not walking at his 12 month appointment. What?!?

NINE MONTHS OLD?!?!

NO WAY! Our little guy is 9 months old today! I just cannot believe how the time is flying by. He is getting so big, and is just a bundle of fun. He is so fast with his crawling. Even today at baby group, everyone kept commenting on how fast he is. And he pretty much doesn't sit still. We have not been very good at reading books to him because we try and fail. One page into the book and he is out of there. Except for one: "Mr. Brown can Moo! Can You?" LOVES that book.

What else does he love? Standing! His new game is letting go of whatever he's holding onto and standing by himself. He is so happy when he does it. He was not happy today when he fell and busted up his upper lip on his bottom teeth. There was blood. There was purple. It was not pretty. But he got over it quickly.

Matthew is finally starting to grow out of his 6 month clothes! Well, he still wears a lot of them, but there are some 9 month ones that are starting to fit him too! He really is growing!

He loves to eat. Pretty much anything. I don't even know that I could give a favorite. He just loves food.

He loves his daddy so much!! I love to watch him zoom over to Mike when he gets home from work. He is all smiles and wants Mike to pick him up. Then anytime Mike leaves the room, Matthew follows him. He'll wait outside the door while Mike changes out of his work clothes or goes to the bathroom. Cute, cute stuff seeing how much he loves his daddy!

He likes to play, but mostly likes for you to play with him. Or at least be in the vacinity. It's hard to get anything done, because he usually lets me know very loudly where I'm supposed to be (ahem...right next to him singing and playing).

He's currently on some sort of napping strike. I think he's just too busy trying to figure out the standing on his own to take the time to nap. It gets old though. It's only been a few days...let's hope tomorrow we get back to napping.

All in all, Matthew is one perfect little wonder boy! A perfect little NINE month old wonder boy!

My God, I love this kid.

Today's deals...

Couponing has become a new hobby. I did pretty well today. I would have done better, but there were a few things I needed that I bought without a coupon (gasp!). No really, this is all new to me, so every bargain is like a milestone in my book.
7 bars of Johnsons baby soap= all free
1 bottle Johnsons baby shampoo= $1.27
ziplock bags= $1.38 (full price generic)
2 liter diet dr. pepper= free
3 bottles of Kraft salad dressing= $0.08 each
Rimmel mascara= free (normally $6.47!)
Kotex= free
Franks Red Hot sauce= $0.46
Plain yogurt (for Matthew)= $2.34 (full price--it's hard to find full fat plain yogurt here)
Rice Cakes= $0.86
Coffeemate creamer= $2.14

Grand total = $8.53
(before coupons $32.35! Not too bad for a beginner :-) )