17 Months!

Well, at least I'm remembering to do some Matthew updates every now and then ;)

Mostly I just want to record all his words.  The last month, his vocabulary has really taken off.

At 17 months he:

• can say: mama (but still doesn't call me mama), mommy, daddy, bubba, shoes, cat (followed by "meow"), kitty, dog, Sadie (shee dee), baby, duck, truck, car, up, uh oh, no, hot, ow, ouch, milk (guck), binkie (ginkie), wow, whoa, Jake (oh my...), ahoy (OH my...), go, wheee, please (pea), he asks "what's that?" and "where is it?"... and probably a few more I'm forgetting.  He's parroting a lot now and will often repeat what you've said.  
• He used to shove his finger up his nose and said "ni" but he doesn't seem to want to do that anymore. He can point to head, ear, eye & mouth and knows where his belly button is (and enjoys poking it)
• he LOVES to play.  he makes the "bbbbbbbbppp" noise when pushing around cars.  He loves to swing, slide & run.  He takes particular joy in annoying his older brother every opportunity he can.
• he's wearing 18-24 month clothes and a size 6 shoe.  he detests his hat but likes his scarf and no longer head butts me when I put his coat on.
• bath time remains a favorite as does teeth brushing.  I scheduled his first dentist appointment for the spring, so we'll see how that goes.  ;)
• he loves to read and enjoys exploring the library as quick as he can.  
• he signs more, all done, milk, water & please & waves when you say "night night!" and blows kisses when it's time to leave
• is very anti veggie.  if you offer him veggies, he will refuse.  he will inspect every bite on his fork before putting it in his mouth and if you manage to sneak a bite of veggies in with his regular bite, he'll spit it all out, pick through it and throw the veggies on the floor.  He does like smoothies, though, so I make him one loaded with veggies at least once a week.

This little boy is no push over and has a sassy temper.  We went out to eat the other night and he'd brought along two cars (one of each hand, you know) and was happily pushing them around the table and through the tunnel made by our order number sign while Nick & Ben got drinks, straws & napkins.  Ben came to the table and asked if he could play with a car, so I said sure and handed him one.  I think any one within a 5 mile radius heard the angry scream from Matthew (very long too and turned his whole face red).  

These boys fight like demons and don't have very many heart warming tender moments.  They play but it often feels a bit mean spirited on Ben's part (sure, Matthew laughs at first when Ben whacks him in the face with a pillow, but I know Ben and I know he isn't doing it to make Matthew laugh - he's doing it to see how long he can get away with it before I make him stop).  Matthew gives as good as he gets and will not sit back and take it when Ben's mean.  Hopefully these two grow to more friendly play and less competition for attention cuz this mama is exhausted with that game.

He's a sweet little cuddler and loves to be picked up and lay his head on your shoulder.  His favorite songs are the ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and is usually calmed very quickly by either singing the ABCs to him or counting softly to 5.  He sleeps a solid 12 hours at night and generally does about 2 hours for nap during the nap.  It's so lovely.  I can usually get at least 1.5 hours of time to myself during the day as Ben's quiet time (not always napping) occurs at the same time as Matthew's nap.  Heaven.

Matthew's 14 Months!

Wow so I'm not even going to bother apologizing for my SERIOUS lack of blogging.

But I do feel terribly that I'm letting life zip by in super duper fast forward and I'm not nearly documenting Matthew's life in a way that I'll remember.  Other than random Facebook posts.  Sadly, he is completely a victim of 2nd child syndrome and over scheduled mama.

I love our crazy busy life.

Matthew's 14.5 months old at the time of this post.  At this point in his life he is:

• WALKING!!
• He has 6.5 teeth (one of his molars is half way through, the rest of them are slowing making their way up through the gums)
• says a few words: cracker (which means anything food or milk), cat, dog, duck, daddy (which means Nick and various other things that he points to and says "daddy"), and uh oh.  he refuses to say mama. 
• he only signs his version of "all done" - he won't seem to pick up more, please, milk or thank you.  
• he's wearing 12-18 month clothes and a size 5 shoe

He's a delightful baby.  Truly.  He loves to cuddle and is super sweet.  And sassy.  :)  He screams a bloody murder scream when he wants something (typically food) or isn't getting his way.  He slaps his legs when angry (a trick he learned from Ben) and he thinks when mommy says no to putting bark dust in his mouth, that means scoop it up faster and shove it in in large handfuls.

He loves to climb and slide at the park.  He loves swinging and jumping.  He loves annoying his brother.  :)  He does not love eating meals.  He must inspect every bite before it goes in his mouth and if you attempt to hide a bite of veggies behind his bite of dinner, he'll spit the whole mouthful out, pick out the veggies and only eat the dinner.  He likes to drink milk and have snacks (mainly: crackers, grapes, oranges, bananas, applesauce (or any smoothie style drink), yogurt, bread, etc). He thinks bath time is really great and wiggles a happy dance when you show him his toothbrush.  He's not a fan of "no." 

We're working on doing just one nap a day.  For the past 2 days, I've put him down around noon and he's slept til after 2:00.  It's really nice.  He sleeps a solid 12 hours at night - ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT.  No waking.  It's HEAVEN.  Ben still wakes up once or so a night several nights a week.  Having a kiddo that gets that night time sleep is for SLEEPING is amazing.  :)

He's still nursing, but at most 3 times a day.  He nurses for around 3 minutes each time (some times much less and some times not at all - he'll either slap me away or sign all done) generally before each nap (but now we're down to one nap, so I guess he just nurses twice a day) and then again before bed.  Very rarely will he express an interest in nursing any other time.  This is all baby led and I'm happy with the pace he's setting.  So pleased nursing was smoother waters this time around.

So that's it for Matthew at 14 months.  I'm so very excited for Christmas this year!  A 17 month old and a 4 year old - what a magical time it'll be at our home!!

Durango: Part 2

So, picking up where I left off on part 1 of our adventure, we got up on Sunday and checked out of our hotel.  We stayed right in Moab, so the drive to Arches National Park was pretty quick.  I'd been before, but I was 15 and obnoxious and I really don't remember any of it. 

Arches National Park

Nick & Ben, on the way up to one of the window arches

they made it! :)

so amazing

puuuuuuuuuuush!!

me and ma' boys 

this little guy was so very excited to be allowed to climb on all the really cool rocks

hot footing it back to the car with a now hysterical Matthew - he was clearly due for a nap.

As much fun as he had climbing on the rocks, this is pretty much how he enjoyed the rest of the park

sleep, baby, sleep

What a cool park.  If you're ever in the area, I really suggest you go in.  Nick & I would love to go back, either by ourselves or when the boys are a little older and nap times no longer need to be scheduled in.  :)

Part 3 will come eventually.  ;)

9 Months.

Wow, so when things fall through the cracks - they really fall through the cracks.

My little old blog is so neglected.  I really want to keep up on it more, it's one of the only ways I keep track of my kids lives and there's stuff I just don't want to forget.  I've hardly blogged about Matthew has he's growing and that bums me out.  At some point, I'm going to get my crap together and start scrapbooking again and when I get to Matthew's - I'm not going to remember anything that happened.

So.

Matthew.

He's 9 months old now.

Last time I blogged specifically about Matthew, he was 4 months.  So yeah... oops??

So, we haven't had his 9 month check up yet (that's at the end of the month when he'll be practically 10 months but there ya go), so I'll update with these blank stats later:


Stats:

• Weight: 
• Height: 
• Head: 

He is:

• just starting to work on a creeper/army crawl
• really mobile, even though he doesn't necessarily crawl much - he rolls, lunges, stretches & creep/army crawls to get what he wants.  when seated, he scooches by kicking his legs
• not yet pulling up to stand on his own
• finally said "mama" - his words (sounds ha ha) are: mama, dada & bubba (which is what we call Ben at home)
• a VORACIOUS eater - this kid does not mess around with food.  he has no tolerance for purees and basically eats what we do.  the only thing I'm restricting for now are meat, peanut butter & honey.
• has his bottom two middle teeth and is working on cutting his top two
• adores his big brother

He does not care for:

• getting his nose wiped - he knows what's happening when you come at him with a tissue or wipe and will turn his head away (and freak out if you actually attempt to wipe his nose)
• vegetables (he basically only eats yogurt, fruit & bread) or cottage cheese
• hats of any kind

People remark on:

• his big blue eyes
• how happy he is (though don't try to get a smile out of him at the grocery store - that boy knows how to throw a stare down)
• his great laugh

{just for fun - here's Ben's 9 month post}

find me! 
: : facebook 
: : pinterest 
: : instagram 

Crap.

Uhh... so...

hi.

Long time, no update.... I even know it.  I know it as time is zipping past me that there's crap I need to document and get on my blog so that in 3 months when I've forgotten all this amazing stuff my little guys do, I can read back and go "oh yeah..." and then you know... I don't even KNOW what happens and it's freaking January and there's SO.MUCH. I'm behind on.

The blog falls to the bottom of the list.

Which sucks.  I've looked back on it several times these last few months, to see what sorts of shenanigans Ben was up to at Matthew's age to remind myself.

Ugh.

There's simply too much.

I had plans to write individual posts for some big things that have happened since like... freaking September but I didn't make very much progress.

It ain't happening.

So instead, I'll sum up and then maybe get back to doing this more regularly.

Anyway, let's see... I so wanted to take monthly pictures of Matthew in the same set up each month to compare and I did actually do it for 2 months.  Then I just didn't have the time to cut out the numbers, glue them on the calendar and try to find a time that he was in the mood to be laid out mostly naked on cold paper for photos.  I should have picked something WAY easier.  Oh well.

We waited til 5 months to start him on solids.  I decided to skip the store bought rice cereal and started him on home made sweet potato puree.  He really likes it.  He had that pretty much exclusively til a few days ago, when I introduced a few more foods.  He's had banana, applesauce, avocado and my home made brown rice cereal.  He's not a fan of the rice cereal by itself (but I can get him to eat it mixed with banana) or the avocado by itself (but again, with banana).

December was mad busy.  So crazy.  I actually feel like I went full out non stop from about November 1st til yesterday.  Plus, we were all sick (still are) pretty much all of December.  We went to the doctor 4 times in December.  That's pretty much a trip a week, folks.  I've had this cold crud twice, Matthew had a sinus infection and now has this cold thing, Ben had bronchitis and an ear infection and a 12 hour tummy bug that he shared with me the next day.  Even Nick (who rarely gets sick) caught this last cold crap.

I made Ben an advent calendar.  Well, I'm almost done.  It was usable, but I need to finish decorating the pockets.  I copied this idea and wrote out each note with an activity to do (like make salt dough ornaments, take a drive to see Christmas lights, make a gingerbread house, decorate cookies for Santa, have a Christmas movie night, etc) or prizes to get (like a couple matchbox cars, some new Christmas books or coloring books and a few pieces of candy).  Ben really looked forward to it each day.  I saved all the tags and plan to reuse most of them next year.

Ben also turned 3.  I feel like I totally dropped the ball on his party this year.  The past two years, I've done so much more in terms of decorating and making the day festive and fun.  This year, I combined our play group's monthly mommy & me book club with a party for Ben and had a bunch of little friends over to play the day of his birthday.  That evening family came over for dinner, presents & cake and ice cream.

I need to write a post just about turning three and the things that happened over the last year.

Part of his birthday present was riding the North Pole Express train.  We'd been talking to him about this pretty much all year and he was really looking forward to it.

I think he might have been slightly... bored.  It's a long ride if you're 3 and it's not that exciting.  We did get to see Santa & Mrs. Claus, drink cocoa (Ben took one sip, make a horrific face and spit it back out), have cookies and all that fun stuff.

We also visited Santa at the mall.  You might recall previous years, looking well... devastated:

So I really had absolutely NO idea what to expect this year.  A repeat of the last two years?  Both boys crying hysterically?  I actually felt BAD taking them to see Santa, I was afraid they'd both be terrified.

It was, in fact, the opposite.  Ben didn't cry at all and both smiled awesomely for the pictures.  I just wish they had better equipment and that our photo wasn't blurry.

Then, of course, was Christmas.  This year we stayed home for Christmas Eve and started a family tradition of a lasagna dinner followed by opening presents from each other.  Then we left out cookies, milk & the reindeer food Ben made at school and went to bed.  Ben woke up to a stuffed stocking and a few prizes under the tree from Santa.

Then we headed over to my dad's for Christmas brunch with the family, more present opening and good times.

And that, I think is pretty much it.

But I'm probably forgetting a whole bunch.

Oy.

4 Months!

So let's pretend this picture is of him looking very cute on the next calendar image for November, sintead of my dirty carpet.

Okay?

Because guess who completely let this slip by?  It's not like I forgot about it.  I kept remembering and then getting way too involved with other things and pushing this off to the back burner and the next thing I knew, he'd turned 5 months and it was too late to do it (and no, I haven't yet done it for 5 months... ugh).

Anyway, at Matthew's 4 month check up he weighed 14 lbs, 12 oz (which put him in the 48th percentile), he was 25" long (55th percentile) and his head was 42 cm (43rd percentile).

I kept thinking (and still do think) that he's SO BIG.

And then I went back on the old blog here and looked up Ben's 4 month stats.

Nearly identical.

Ben was 14 lbs, 6.3 oz (which was, oddly, the 53rd percentile) and 25.5" long (which was the 72nd percentile).  So funny how a few ounces or a half an inch can make such a huge difference on the growth chart...

Doctor gave the okay to start rice cereal but we decided to wait for now (I've actually started him on solids but I'll save that for the 5 month update I'll get around to posting some time next February, ha ha).

At 4 months, Matthew's favorite things:

• Eating
• watching Ben
• Eating
• smiling at everything
• being cuddled

He dislikes:

• the car seat, still
• being swaddled
• tummy time

He can roll from back to tummy and back again but he doesn't do it often.  

And that's it!  

Updates.

So I was doing really good at posting several times a week and then I stopped.

It happens.

Last time I really did an update, I posted about Ben's 1st day of preschool.  He is LOVING it.  He is not pleased to see me when I come to pick him up after lunch.  I'm so glad we made the choice to send him, I think it's working very well for him.

They did an assessment on him and he did very well.  According to their worksheet, by the end of 36 months (3 years) he should be able to recognize:

• shapes: circle, oval, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, star & heart.  According to them, he's mastered all but circle, triangle, rectangle & diamond (which, I don't agree with - Ben knows circle, triangle and diamond.  I'm not sure how the assessment is performed, so I don't know why he didn't get it correct when they asked him)
• colors: brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black.  He is still working on purple (he often calls it pink) and black (which he often calls brown)

They also say by the end of 36 months he should be able to:

• count out loud to 10
• sing the ABC's
• walk up stairs with alternating feet
• put on shoes
• open door by twisting knob
• turn pages in a book one page at a time
• play with other children for a few minutes
• repeat common rhymes
• use 3-5 word sentences
• use the toilet
• express affection openly
• express a wide range of emotions
• jump up
• name 6 body parts
• build a tower of 4 blocks
• wash & dry hands
• sit for a story
• sing songs and participate in finger play
• put together simple puzzles
• hold a crayon and make marks

The only one of those that he can't do is put on his shoes... and to be fair - what shoes? ;) He can put on his boots just fine.  His sneakers he can't.  So those are things we'll work on, help him nail down those shapes, figure out what colors purple & black are and start practicing with shoes.

Hannah & Emma stayed the night - they had fun covering themselves in every available burp rag they could find...

Other than that, things are mostly the same around here.  Nick hasn't been asked to travel again, so my fingers are crossed that he doesn't.  I really dislike it when he's gone (and I know he does, too).  It's hard on Ben - before he was clueless but now he knows and he doesn't like it.  I got an opportunity to make some money from home that I'm really excited by.  A mom in my mommy group has an Etsy business and since the birth of her 2nd baby, she hasn't been able to keep up with her shop.  She hired me and another mama to help her with some sewing prep work.  I'm really excited and kind of nervous - excited for the extra cash but nervous that she'll think I suck and not want to use me any more.  Hopefully that doesn't happen!  I'm going over tomorrow to talk about the work and get started.  Wahoo!

I finished Ben's little 1st year scrapbook and I heart it a bunch.  :)  Now I'm working on a regular sized (12x12) book for his 2nd year but I'm slightly stumped.  Before I started the mini book, I had already scrapped his first birthday on to 12x12 layouts.... obviously I didn't include those in his 8.5x8.5 book but I'm not sure what to do with those pages.  Stick them at the beginning of his 2011 book?

why, yes, those are bat jammie pants... Ben's new thing is insisting on jammie pants at nap time

I'm still struggling to find that balance between the "job" and then "fun" - if I make time to do the "fun" (like scrap or read or whatever) it seems the "job" (or... house work ha ha) suffers.  If I spend my time doing the job, the fun stuff doesn't happen.  With Ben in school, I'm starting to find a routine a little bit but mostly my mornings go by in a blur.  Especially Monday's - Monday is grocery shopping day, so I take Ben to school, go shopping, come home, feed Matthew, put away the groceries and it's about time to go pick up Ben from school again.

So there you go.  An  update.  Of sorts.

3 Months!

Hey Matthew!

You're 3 months old!  Holy cow!  I feel like we're in the movie Click and life is stuck on fast forward.  With Ben, things seemed to go by quickly because we were so anxious to hit every milestone and get him to that next phase.  With you, it just feels like we blinked and it's 3 months later.  I can hardly believe that in about a month it'll have been one year since we found out you were coming into our lives....

There's no 3 month doctor appointment stats here, but I know you're huge.  You wear anything from 3 months to 6-9 month clothes.  Insanity!  You're in a size 3 diaper and long out grew the newborn inserts for your car seat.

Speaking of your car seat, you hate it.  Like the plague.  Like we're killing you the entire time you're in it.  You, my sweet, sweet little boy, make for very stressful car rides.  You get so worked up, you get all sweaty and just miserable.  I sure hope you outgrow that soon!

You're awake more and more.  You still give us great sleeps at night, which I love!  You still eat about every 2 hours during the day, but your nursing times are starting to dip.  Instead of 15-20 minutes, you might go 8-10 minutes... but not every time.  You keep it fresh.  ;)  At night you go anywhere for 7 to 9 hours (last night you went 9 hours.  Glory!), so I'll take the every 2 hours if that means mama gets to sleep all night.

You laugh now and it's so very fun.  There's a few things that we can count on to tickle your funny bone: shirts going over your head crack you up every. single. time.  and if I put my hand on your ribs and lightly shake you back and forth, you think that's pretty funny.  Tiny tosses in the air delight you as well.

You're so very chatty and boy, do you let us know if you're dirty.  You do not like to be poopy (and I can't blame you).  Another one of those things that make you smile is a fresh diaper.  ;)

You've grown since last month!  Here's a September vs October for ya to prove it:

We're starting to think about the holidays and I can't wait to watch you with Ben this Christmas!

Random Friday.

Ben starts preschool on Monday and I'm so excited for him to go!  It's a little on the spendy side for an optional thing, so I hope we can keep affording to send him.  They bill weekly but I went ahead and paid for the rest of September.  I chose the preschool he's attending simply for these reasons:

• I know where it was & I know the owner (sort of)
• When I called, they were friendly, spoke good English (I tried a daycare with in walking distance of our house to see about just a few days a week, a few hours a day and the lady who answered didn't understand what I was asking and gave me an answer that made absolutely no sense) and had the flexibility in the hours I wanted
• They're reasonably priced

He'll go 3 days a week for a few hours a day - his schedule is Monday, Wednesday & Friday.  I can drop him off any time after 7 am (but class curriculum starts at 9, so he needs to be there no later than 9) and have to pick him up no later than 12:15.  They'll serve him a snack and lunch - he'll get to play, to learn and to grow.  I'm so excited even if I feel a little silly sending him.  It's not a "needs" to go thing - I'm a stay at home mom and am completely able of helping him with all the things he'll learn at preschool - it's the experience I think he needs, rather than the actual learning, if you get what I'm saying.

This means no more Tumble Time, which bums me out.  He really loved going to Tumble Time and I liked taking him.  He's been in some sort of gymnastics program (either at the Little Gym or TT) since he was 5 months old.  It feels odd not to go each week and I'll miss our friends there.  I considered moving him from his Wednesday class to either Tuesday or Thursday but my pocketbook just doesn't stretch that far.

Toddler Fashion: flap cap & rain boots

In other Ben news, I fear he is giving up his naps.  He didn't nap at all yesterday (even though he was in his crib for a good 3 & 1/2 hours) and hasn't yet fallen asleep today.  I told him today he didn't have to nap if he didn't want to (read that as: I wish you would nap, but I cannot force you to sleep) but he did have to stay in his crib until I said it was time to get out and at least rest.  I guess if he gives up the nap, there's no reason to keep the crib.  If he can just have quiet time in his room for a few hours, we can convert him to a toddler bed sooner rather than later (and talk about making the move from diapers at sleep time to completely diaper free).

***

I've never shared pictures of Matthew's room because it's still not done (picture me shooting darts at Nick with my eyes right now), but here's a small sneak peek with a project I did last night.  I followed (sort of) a tutorial I found at one of my most favorite blogs ever, A Pretty Cool Life, and made some corresponding buntings for his room.  It looks a little plain/silly now because I still need to get some more pictures & art work up to fill up the space (and maybe make another bunting - I cut way more flags but ran out of binding).

Please ignore the trim that still needs painted...

Here's how my process differed than the one Cheryl provided: my flags aren't double sided, since mine was just going to be hung on the wall & I used store bought bias tape rather than twine.

***
I've been giving a lot of thought to opening up an Etsy store but I'm not sure.  I have some ideas for some hand crafted Cricut goodies I could sell but I'm not sure how successful I'd be and I'm terrified of failure (plus, this would be failure I'd have to PAY for...) so I don't know.  There's a completely random thought for you.  Ha!

***
That's all.  Happy Friday!

2 Months!

Matthew,

You turned 2 months old this weekend - holy cow, little boy!  Time is flying by!

I cannot be more thankful of how easy and wonderful you are.  You're really helping me have more time to spend with your big brother.  He's not having a super great time adjusting to you - he loves you a lot but sharing his mommy & daddy's attention with you is hard for him.  He's having quite a few tantrums and yucky moments, so I'm always so grateful how easy you are that gives me the time to help Ben through his bad moments.

You eat about every 2 hours during the day.  A normal feeding session for you is anything longer than 15 minutes.  Some times you're done right at 15 minutes, some times you go a half hour, but usually it's some where in the 15 to 20 minute time frame.  Then you're good to go til the next time.  You have two big sleeps each day, I'm so blessed that you & Ben nap at the same time.  I get Ben down for his nap at about 12:30, then I nurse you and get you down for your nap at about 1:00.  The both of you usually sleep til 3:00 or 4:00.  Your next big sleep comes some time in the 9:00 hour.  I nurse you, you are wide awake to play & play and play and then daddy puts you to bed where you sleep at least 4 hours.  Some times you go longer (one night you did 8 & 1/2 hours and on Monday night you slept 9 & 1/2 hours!), but we can usually count on 4-5 hours at night.

Tuesday morning we had your 2 month check up.  You didn't enjoy your appointment - you were hungry when we got there, then we made you get on the scale and you didn't like that... poor guy!  You aren't as big as I thought, but I think you've grown more than we can prove.  I'm almost 100% positive they measured you wrong at the hospital - you've only grown an inch since you were born and I know that's wrong.  You've grown at least 2, if not 3 inches but no way to know for sure.  Your height and weight are pretty average but your head is some what big.  Did you get the Beesley Bean from your cousin Shea?  ;)  I think you & Ben did...

You love to smile and you're starting to coo more.  I'm so excited to see what the next month brings!