Long weekend!

Oh how I love a long weekend with my boys! It is absolute bliss to get to spend 3 whole days together as a family. Saturday we went to Portland to attend the wedding reception of some of Mike's work friends. We got into the hotel thinking we had time for dinner before the reception (despite starting at 6 PM...dinner time in our world...it was cake only). Oops- before leaving for dinner I realize I forgot my entire toiletry bag! We make a pit stop at Target and I pick up a few things, grab some dinner to eat in the room. As we try to get ready while feeding Matthew and eating, Matthew is grouchy and tired. We contemplate me staying behind and letting him sleep, but he didn't want to anyway. Oops- Mike is missing a button on his shirt. He gets a sewing kit from the front desk and I sew it back on. Oops- now we're an hour late. All in all, we had fun, but we were tired. I think we both enjoyed having Matthew as an excuse to head back up to the room early for bed.

Here are Mike and Matthew looking out the window at the end of our hall:

Saturday night was miserable- Matthew didn't sleep so well and Mike was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. I, therefore, barely slept at all. Sunday was a new day and we woke up and headed out to the coast. We were able to stay in a gorgeous hotel room overlooking the ocean in Seaside, OR, thanks to a free night from hotels.com. Matthew loved, loved, loved the balcony! He just couldn't get enough of it, and thankfully, it was safe for him to play out there.

Here he is when we first arrived, playing on the balcony:

Here he is wishing he were still out there:

After we got settled in, we walked down to the beach. Matthew's first trip to the beach!! He loved it. He loved playing with the sand, he loved standing in the water. He was not scared of anything. It was too cold to go in the water, but we had fun just hanging out and playing. Matthew may or may not have taken a taste (or two) of the sand- yuck!

Here's Mommy and Matthew on the beach:

Daddy and Matthew playing in the waves:

Back inside and right to the balcony he goes:

After the beach we took a little walk down to the streets to find a late lunch/early dinner. Mike put Matthew in the carrier, backpack style (Have I told you how in love with my new Ergo baby carrier I am??? LOVE it!) and he was asleep fairly quickly. Sleepy boy slept the whole time we were out.

Another first for Matthew- we took him swimming in the pool! He had a blast. He immediately started laughing, squealing and kicking the water. I think we have a little fish on our hands! Now I really can't wait to start he baby swim class this summer.

Matthew slept like a dream Sunday night and we all woke feeling refreshed. We walked out to the beach to see what all the commotion was- people everywhere at 7 AM. Apparently the way the tide was, it was perfect conditions for razor clam digging, so that's what was going on. We watched a few of them dig out some clams and then enjoyed a walk.

Mommy and Matthew showing off how beautiful the beach and mountains are:

Matthew enjoyed a swing on the beach:

I mean really, does it get any better than that??

All in all, a GREAT weekend!

May 26, 2007

Happy Anniversary to us!

Two years ago I married the man of my dreams.

He is my friend, my love, my sweet, sweet husband.

He is an amazing father to my son.

I cherish every day we have together.

Love you babe!

Kiddie pool craziness

Hooray for summer days! In efforts to stay cool and have fun, we have a new pool for Matthew to enjoy. Apparently his extreme love of bath time translates well to pool time. Matthew was initially skeptical of this new toy, but took about 30 seconds to decide "yup. It's fun." We took a "few" pictures and have posted a "few" here for you to enjoy.

And by the way, cream, spray, whatever...putting sunblock on a baby is neither easy nor fun.

Today's facts

Fact: The living room is not "ours" anymore; it's Matthew's. There are toys, books, baby socks and other misc. odds and ends everywhere. We did finally pack up the baby swing and play mat (*wiping tears of nostagia off my cheeks at the thought of him not needing the swing anymore*) At night we "clean up" by shoving it all into baskets, in no particular order. He likes to play, especially if something makes music.

Fact: Despite the above fact, he would still rather play with remote controls, telephones, our shoes, plugs, dog toys (and dog bowls, doggy doors...), cardboard tube from wrapping paper, coke box, and the bottom drawers on his dresser.

Fact: Either way it's entertaining.

Food diaries

Keeping in mind that my child will pretty much eat anything, I've found a few new things that he is in love with and I thought I'd share. Why you ask? Well, to be honest, when the whole "feeding of finger foods" began I was at a loss as to what I should feed my child. Something so basic, yet I wanted to "do it right." Odd, I know. Anyway, I relied on websites and message boards, and yes, even blogs, to help me out. Now if any of the foods seem odd, please remember that Matthew loves things like veggie burgers, hummus on rice cake, and Annie's mac and cheese bunnies.

So, number 1- and the simplest- Lentils. I wanted something with protein. He eats meats of course, and cheese galore, but decided to give lentils a go. These puppies are also packed with fiber, so beware of that (Matthew had no negative effects; if your babe has regularity issues, the lentils actually may help with that). I did read an article on waiting until 8-10 months to introduce to be sure their little tummies can handle all that protein, so we just tried them this week. All I did was rinse and then cook on the stovetop with some low-sodium organic vegetable broth. The added flavor that the broth gave made these some delicious lentils (also a low-point food if you know the weight watcher world-mommy can eat them too!). Matthew absolutely loved these. Ok, at first he was skeptical because I had to spoon feed them to him, and he prefers being able to feed himself, but in the end he gobbled these up. (Next time I will dice up some veggies and cook together; I've even heard of mixing the lentils with rice).

He loves pancakes! I found a new recipe that I made for him this weekend and he is in love. I made a double batch, cooked them all up on the griddle and now have a freezer bag full of pancakes to heat up one at a time during the week for breakfast! It's perfect. I took a regular recipe and doctored it up to fit his needs- this is what it looks like (this is the doubled version; it made probably about 16-20 pancakes):

Whole Wheat banana pancakes

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks (or use 2 whole eggs- Matthew isn't eating whites yet)
2 cups milk (or formula)
4-6 T unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp (or so, I didn't measure) vanilla extract
some cinnimon (once again, I didn't measure)
1 mashed up ripened banana

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, scramble the egg and then add the milk and the applesauce. Mix in mashed banana. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, well enough to eliminate dry spots, but no more. Cook as you would any old pancake.
(Use a pizza cutter to easily cut it into bite size pieces.)

Lest you think Matthew is deprived, he did manage to eat a whole chicken leg (grilled, minus the skin), some biscuit, and mac and cheese at KFC this weekend. You gotta make do with what you have!

Tonight I'm making him some chicken nuggets- I'll let you know how that recipe goes! And once again (because this worked so well the last time), if YOU have any great ideas on feeding little ones, comment away! I love to try new foods and I love to give him variety.

Sleepy monkey

How I found him when I checked on him last night:

More mommy musings

-Why is it that 10 months later, I am still grossed out by my child's snot? I thought there was a magical moment, after giving birth, that you just became immune to it. I see moms walking around literally wiping their kids noses on their shirts, yet my boy buries his face into my shoulder, gets his nose drippings all over me, and I not only want a clean shirt, I want to shower.

-On that note, this week I realized that breastfeeding + a baby with a snotty nose= snot on my boob= yuck.

- Why is it that the times when we as parents "aren't supposed to laugh" (you know, because then it will encourage a repeat of an undesireable behavior), are always the moments that are the funniest. i.e. Matthew looking me dead in the eye, picking up his food piece by piece, dropping it on the floor, piece by piece. Funny because of the look on his face while doing so. As if to say "oh yes I can".

-Also, no need for a vaccum cleaner when you have a dog willing to eat just about anything.

-Which is amusing because I have a baby willing to eat just about anything also. Evidence: the piece of dog food I fished out of his mouth today and the Walmart receipt I fished out of his mouth yesterday.

-My child has 4 teeth (and one of the four is barely there), yet he is able to grind his teeth with a nails-on-chalkboard, goosebump inducing ease, that I never thought possible of someone with so few chompers.

-Mommy moment #1, 345- I get all the way through my grocery shopping the other day (no small feat when you have a 10-month-old in tow). I load the groceries up on the belt. I go to get my wallet out. In my purse I find: 2 diapers, a pack of wipes, a teething bumble bee, a plastic book, 2 burp clothes, some other odds and ends, but no wallet. That's right- the wallet is in the DIAPER bag at home in my dining room. Oy.

-Speaking of shopping with a 10-month-old in tow- I go to the mall this week and Matthew decides it would be fun to leave a trail of socks. First time, a lady approaches me with his sock "your baby dropped this". Thanks. I put it back on. (why??) I look down 10 minutes later- no socks on his feet. I re-trace my steps. One sock......two sock (red sock, blue sock...). I leave them off. 10 minutes later, I decide he's distracted enough, and I feel bad about my kid being barefoot, so I put them back on. You've got it- another sock hunt. This time I decided to outsmart said 10-month-old and did not put them back on his feet. (Are you smarter than a fifth grader suddenly becomes Are you smarter than a 10-month-old?)

-I guess the fact that my boy is so close to turning one has made me nostalgic. I scrolled back in time to see what was happening last year at this time. This week last year we were living in a hotel waiting to close on our house, I was dealing with high blood pressure, a new diagnosis of gestational diabetes, and ultimately, bedrest (amongst threats of possibly being hospitalized and possibly delivering early). Remembering how scary that time was makes me realize once again, how fortunate I am to have this amazing child!

-My child gets highly offended (and by highly offended I mean screams bloody murder) when I am out of sight for more than .05 seconds. I mean, I know I'm awesome, but come ON. Give a mommy a break! This, however, changes drastically if daddy is around, in which case he could care less. I mean, Mommy could go to the bathroom with the door shut (the HORROR!) and he wouldn't even notice. WHY can't mommy's and daddy's both be home all day together??


-I love to listen to Matthew in his crib in the morning or after a nap. He turns on his 2 crib toys and talks/sings to them. So cute. The only thing cuter is the smile and excitement he gives me when I open the door to greet him. He had me at "mum mum mum mum mum". (Or sometimes it's "bababababa", and that's ok too).

Wow.

Not only did I get this for Mother's Day:

(yes, that's my husband cleaning the kitchen!)

I also got this for Mother's Day:

Well, ok. That's just a picture of Matthew standing. We already knew he could do that. What I mean is...Matthew took THREE steps all by himself!!! Both Mike and I were there to witness it. He didn't even realize what he had done, and we had labled it the "happy accident", until today that is. Today Matthew was a show off. First, I lured him with his favorite froggy lovey, waving it in the air for him, and he took FIVE steps all by himself. Then I'm sitting here at the computer typing an email to daddy to tell him, I turn my head and he's walking across the room! Literally walking to the other side of the room. Ok, it's a small room and it was probably only about 5 or 6 steps until he fell, but I was in shock and awe. Wow baby!

In other news, Matthew's been out of the ducky tub and taking baths in the big tub for a while now. We recently let him play in the tub in the living room, and although the ducky now has a poor little leak somewhere, he loves it. Yesterday this is how I found him, watching Sesame Street, while I was cleaning up the kitchen:

And, my boy LOVES spaghetti:

I wish he wouldn't decide to use it as an all over body mask. Straight to the big boy tub we went after this meal!

And finally, also on Mother's Day, Matthew learned the art of playing ball. We have a tennis ball that we use to play fetch with Boss. Sunday Matthew started picking up the ball and throwing it. We got this cute little video of him playing ball. In this movie short, Matthew plays both the ball thrower and the dog bringing it back. He loves to play fetch with himself apparently! He now tries to throw it for Boss, but Boss doesn't like how he doesn't throw it very far. Doesn't stop Matthew from crawling right to her to literally pry the ball from her mouth! Oh boy...the fun is never ending in this place!

Happy Mother's Day!

I suppose people did tell me before I had kids that being a mom is the most rewarding, difficult, emotional job any woman could have. I agree. I love my son with all my whole heart and soul. I love my husband for being the great Dad that he is. I am so, so blessed.

Happy Mother's Day to all the lucky, beautiful, loving, caring, hardworking mom's out there!!

P.S. I would be remiss not to point out that I am the mom I am today, because I was also blessed to be raised by the most wonderful, beautiful, loving mom there is out there. At some point, and I'm not quite sure when, she went from being my mom, to also being my best friend. Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Boys will be boys.

They eat rocks.

More than one rock.
They sit on the driveway and watch daddy work on cars.

They play in the grass and aren't afraid to get dirty.

They are sweet as sweet can be.

Why is this funny exactly?

If you've been following my blog for any significant amount of time, you are fully aware of the fact that I am insanely entertained by my child. I realize often, how the little things that make me laugh, just might not have the same entertaining value to all of you. It doesn't, however, keep me from sharing.

So, on that note, here are a few more "entertaining" videos of my child. Hopefully they will be slightly more exciting than watching paint dry for most of you.

The first is just a cute video of Matthew and Daddy playing with Boss. Aside from his oh so cute giggle that could melt my heart to soup, I happen to LOVE the way he keeps looking at his Daddy in the first part of it, as if to make sure he's laughing too.

The next set of videos need some explanation. The kitchen area is, for the most part, off limits to Matthew at this time. Reason 1, the dog dish, Reason 2, the doggy door. Just don't want to deal with those at this point in time, so the kitchen is gated. However, since Matthew seems to be going through the insane developmental stage called SEPARATION ANXIETY (my worst nightmare by the way), I let him into the kitchen today while I was getting the salmon ready for dinner tonight.

So, should I have enforced the "NO" rule when he decided to play in the dogs water bowl? Yes. What did I do instead? Grab the video camera. I assure you, although it may LOOK as though he drank out of the bowl, he did not. He is entertained by the simplest things.

And then there's the doggy door. We took it out a while ago, but our overnight to Portland last week meant putting it back in, where it has since remained. Why is the doggy door so funny? Not one single clue. But there was that darn heart melting giggle again, so I had to record. Oh yeah, I recorded twice. (The second one actually IS funny because you can hear Boss on the other side of it).

That's enough entertaining for one night. I'm tired.

Inspired by Erika...

3 months and 10 months.

Same chair, same bear.

Same boy of course!

10 months old!!

Double-digits. My boy is 10 months old today! Wow.

Hey bear. Fancy meeting you here. Again.

I tried to set him and bear in the crib for pictures, but he got distracted when he saw lovey.

Showing off his back side.

Blood, sweat and tears trying to get a picture today. He wants no part of sitting still- none whatsoever. A few of them turned out ok though.

We've had a great week. We all went to Portland for an overnight trip. Mike had to be at work there, so Rose, Matthew and I went along to spend some time there. It was gray and rainy, as usual. I hate the weather there. We hit up some baby consignment shops, hung out at a mall much nicer than the one here, and had dinner out at a real restaurant. The next day we brought Rose to the airport (boo hoo!!!!) and then came home. All in all, a great little trip.

Yesterday we finally had some weather nice enough for the park again. Matthew enjoyed playing on his favorite swings!

I can't believe he's going to be ONE YEAR old in just 2 months! Crazy how fast this year has flown by!

A few videos

Getting video and pictures is just hard these days. This kid is fast- and he knows what the camera is. And instead of being one of those babies who grin and cheese it up when they see the camera, he is one of those babies who stops whatever it was he was doing when he sees the camera. Or he won't look at the camera. Or he tries to grab the camera. In any case, the videos are not great, but I'm posting them anyway.

The first one is WAY too dark, and I'm not even sure you can see it too well. He is starting to use his walking toy a bit more.

The second one is another attempt at using the walking toy. (With assistance from Rose of course.) He is really really good at turning instead of going straight and walking right into a wall. We're working on that. (And in case you're wondering, we would absolutely NOT buy this toy again. It is flimsy and not easy for him to use. I would buy something a bit more solid if I could rewind time and buy a different one.)

The last one is Matthew realizing it's much, much easier to get from point A to point B (in this case point B is a candle holder that he loves to chew on), if he uses his speed crawling technique.