Matthew Sucks

Don't be shocked, cause I don't mean it the way you all are taking it. Just watch the video and you'll see what I mean...



See, wasn't that cute? He's so loud when he's sucking on his hand. And he always startles himself like that. I swear I didn't do anything to him off camera to make him cry. This was shot in the evening before bedtime, so you can hear how tired he sounds in his cry. Anyway, so, you want some more pics? Sure, I can oblige...

Daddy, clean my armpit real good. It's stinky just like yours!

Hey, you didn't have to splash water in my face! Mommy made me say it!

Ah, much better. All clean and ready for bed.

Wait, who said anything about betime? I wanna stay up and be silly!

Play with me! I'm so much fun!!

Ok fine, I'll go to sleep, but only cause I'm in the mood to cuddle. Night-night everyone!

More About Matthew

He's just as cute as ever these days. Like there was any doubt about that ;). He's so "talkative" lately. He's become real noisy as he practices different pitches on his vocal chords. He sighs really loud, and he vocalizes after he yawns. Even after he's done a crying spell he'll talk loudly like he's complaining to us and letting us know that he didn't like something. He moves his mouth like he's trying to mimic what we are saying. I love how he watches our mouths so intently. And he's even screeched a couple times, which is so adorable. Of course once he really learns how to scream for fun, I'm sure it won't be so cute to me. You know the kid in the back of the church that's screaming cause he loves the sound of his own voice? Yeah, that'll be my kid eventually. Well, I suppose that's any kid at some point. They all love hearing their own voices. Hey, free amusement, right? In the morning after I've fed him, he's usually content to stay in his crib and talk to himself.



He still doesn't love being on his belly, but if I hit it just right, like when he's in a good mood, I'll roll him onto his belly, and he'll stay like that for several minutes just talking or smiling at a toy nearby. Then once he decides he's had enough of that, he rolls over. I've been trying to encourage him to roll onto his belly by himself, but he's not there yet. I'll put a toy just out of reach or I'll be near him and tell him to come closer to mommy and stuff like that. Sometimes he'll put one leg back like he's going to push himself over, so the concept is slowly developing. I think his head is just too darn heavy for him. You know how most babies will lift their head and look up when they are tummy down? Well, he only lifts his long enough to turn it to the other side, not to see what's in front of him. We've been carrying him upright over our shoulder when we are moving him to the changing table or carseat so that he's forced to strengthen his neck. We're also hoping that by being up on our shoulders he'll catch on that he can see things from a different way and that he'll try it on the floor.



I saw him reaching for a toy hanging above him today. He hasn't done much in the reaching department, but as his arms get more coordinated with his hands, I'll be seeing more of that. He's almost three months old, folks! Can you believe it? It doesn't seem possible.



Naps and bedtime are still a struggle. We've gotta let him cry for a little bit, and sometimes I feel bad about that, but then I remind myself that some babies need to cry to settle down. Then we jump in and pat his butt and shush him. We used to get frustrated that we have to do this and that he doesn't always respond to it, but I read in a book that babies are so young and they need help settling down and falling asleep. Which completely makes sense, if you ask me. In the womb they never had a bedtime or naptime, they just slept when they were tired. And now that they are out there are four limbs and a heavy head thrashing about and not knowing what to do with themselves. Trust me, I can still get frustrated at times, but looking at it this way helps put it in perspective. He's not going to need me patting his butt forever come nighttime, but for now it's ok. There's a lady at my church that talks about raising and taking care of her kids as her reasonable service. And that's so true. God gave us this child to take care of, but He never promised it would be easy. We have to work at it, just like we have to work hard at anything in life. If it came easy, then it wouldn't be so rewarding later on down the road.



Matthew has also taken to sucking or chewing anything that comes near his mouth. He's got this stuffed ducky that's partially a little soft blanket and partially a ducky head with wings, and when you lay it on his chest he'll bring his arms together and up to his mouth so he can chew on the beak or a wing. But most of the time he prefers his hands. He sucks on his fist mostly, but sometimes we'll see just a couple fingers in there, but not a thumb. He also sucks on his wrist with a loud smacking noise.



Oh yeah, when we place him on his boppy, he likes to stretch his body out and lean his head way back so he can look upside down at whatever's over there, such as his daddy in the above picture.



This is Matthew on the changing table looking out the window in the morning. I guess it might look kinda weird with the sun making stripes on his face, but I love his expression in this shot. Oh, one more update I don't think I've mentioned yet. He does not poop for every diaper anymore! At about two months old we started to see the number go down, and now he'll have two or three poopy diapers a day, sometimes four, but sometimes only one! I love those days. Ok, that's all I have to say about my son's bowel movements :). On that note, have a great day!

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday marked three years of happily ever after for us. Boy, has it been three years already? It's gone by so fast, yet it also sounds so short. Only three years? It feels like much longer, and I mean that in a good way. I love being married to my husband, as you can tell from this picture. It's from our honeymoon at Estes Park, Colorado. I'd never been out west, and Josh used to live out there and wanted to go back, so voila! That's where our first vacation together was. And it was a surprise for me too. He didn't tell me where we were going until we sat down to eat at our reception. The only clue he had given me prior to that was to buy hiking boots. We went horseback riding and walked around the small town at the bottom of the mountain, and we even drove along Trail Ridge Road, the highest road in the USA I believe. Two of my favorite memories there involved food. They had this old-fashioned ice cream parlor, and I got my all-time fav. Do you remember what it is? Ok, I'll tell you--black raspberry! And Josh got an apple pie shake, and they put an actual piece of apple pie in it. I had a sip, and it was very tasty. The other food memory was unexpected. When we checked into our room (which was gorgeous by the way), I found a breakfast basket in the fridge. Josh had ordered it extra, so we had orange juice, oranges, bananas, bacon, eggs, and bagels for a couple mornings. Josh is the perfect egg-maker I must say.

I was gonna put up a wedding picture, but they are on a separate CD, and I don't want to go digging for it. So back to the present, Josh and I got each other sweet cards, and then he bought me flowers after church. They were very beautiful, and the card he got me was so perfect! I was smiling so big that I could barely read it. Oh, and he also called me from work just to tell me he loved me. And I know that doesn't sound like much, but he's usually so busy at work that he doesn't have time for small things like that. It was so special to me that he took time out of his day just for me. It really is the little things that leave the lasting memories. I love you, hunny! Kisses!!

Mommy's New Man

I have better pictures of him in this onesie, but when I put them on Blogger, they keep showing up sideways, so this was the best I could do. In the other ones he's smiling and punching his fist at the camera. But this one you can see how big he looks on the changing table. Um, ok, that's all I have to say. Bye!

Caught on Camera

This was Matthew this morning...

...and this was him a couple minutes later.

Have a nice day!

Just Stuff

Random Information: Did you know that you can cut yourself with a fork? Word to the wise--beware when washing the dishes!

Matthew's shots are all ok, no raised bumps or redness or anything. He didn't even get a fever from them, but that could be because the doc had him on Tylenol the rest of the day. Preventive measures perhaps. But yesterday my little baby was not feeling so well. He had diarrhea and puked right after his morning feeding. He wasn't as active as he usually is, just cuddly and sad, and he was really hungry too, wanting to eat every hour and a half. Which I fed him of course, cause I didn't want him to get dehydrated. After his second dirty diaper, which was around lunch time, he started to perk up and act like his old self. In the evening I put him in his swing, and it's got this plastic bar that hangs toys over his head. I was watching TV and I heard the bar fall and I heard him instantly cry. It hit the poor little guy! :(. I don't even know why it would come off, unless we didn't attach it properly. Needless to say, I'm paranoid about putting him back in it. He settled down eventually, but it took a while, cause it was nighttime and he was tired as well. He had a small swollen red bump under his eye, but that was it. And today it looks better, just a spot and not swollen. Matthew has survived sickness and injury all in one day--what a trooper :) Josh hasn't been feeling well either for a couple days, but I think he's doing better as well. I hope I don't catch whatever they had.

Tonight is a Ladies' Fellowship at church, so the boys are staying home while I go out. And I've got a bottle all ready, so they should be totally fine without me. Oh, I'm bringing smore brownies with me to the fellowship--yum :)

Ok so I'm here typing right now and Matthew is hanging out in his crib. And he just started crying full force for no apparent reason. Then, he stopped, just like that. And now he's looking up at his mobile and smiling at it. Babies are weird, that's what I've decided. Sometimes there is just no obvious reason for what they do.

I thought I would answer a common question I get asked: is Matthew on a schedule? Yeah, sorta. Some days he falls into it perfectly, some days I try to get him back on track by the afternoon, and some days, like today, he totally does his own thing. He has started sleeping through the night more regularly, but he doesn't always wake up at the same time, which is why a schedule can easily get thrown off. He'll sleep about 8 hours maybe? Yeah, that's probably average. He wakes up around 6 most mornings. Do we have a routine? Yeah, a routine is probably a better word for it. He usually eats, stays awake for a while, then goes down for a nap. Of course if he doesn't nap as long as I want him to, then he's hungry early for his next meal. He can go normally 3 hours between feedings, though the time is shortened in the evening hours. It's more like 2 1/2. At night we'll give him a bath (not every night, and Josh does it more than I do), and I try to put him to bed at the same time each night, but church days kinda mess that up. Anywhere between 9 and 10 is good, cause we like to go to bed at 10 or 10:30.

Oh now I remember! When I started writing this post I knew there was something else I wanted to tell you about Matthew, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. So I started rambling about fellowships and schedules in hopes that it would come to me. Alas, nothing! But I then I just went for a bathroom break, and being in there made me remember :) You'll understand why in the next sentence. We were giving Matthew a bath last night (see, that's why the bathroom jogged my memory) and he discovered splashing for the first time. It was so cute! He kicked his leg and heard the splash and his eyes shone with enlightenment. He loved the sound and the feel of the water. Then he did it again, but this time he moved his leg slower, like he was testing his theory. We'll have to give him more time in the bath to splash around. I remember when my niece lived nearby that she loved splashing around in the water before she could sit up. She would just kick her legs and pump her arms and get water everywhere. It was so cute :) And now my baby's gonna be doing that soon. I love watching him discover new things.

Well, that's all the stuff I have for now. Enjoy the day wherever you may be, whether you have a cool breeze or a heat wave, or something in between.

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This just in...Ok so I laid Matthew down for a nap as I was finishing up this post, so now it's a couple hours later. He sleeps on his belly in case you didn't know. I know I know, I'm an awful parent who doesn't put her child "back" to sleep. Sorry, but that's how he settles down best. Anyway, he was waking up from his nap and was fussing, of course. I wanted him to sleep longer, so I went in to pat his butt and shush him a little, in hopes that he'd relax and sleep a little more. He was pretty worked up and guess what he did? He rolled over onto his back! All by himself--I didn't help him at all, I swear! I was so excited for him that I didn't bother trying to get him to sleep again. I had to call his daddy and tell him the good news. Then as I thought about it, this might not be such a good thing after all. Once he catches on better that he can do this, he may not go to sleep for naps and nighttime very well. Say we lay him on his belly, but he doesn't want to sleep right away. Well, hey, he can just flip himself over, which means he won't relax as easily and he'll get more worked up and such. Ugh, this might end up being quite rough, for us and for him. He'll have to relearn how to fall asleep, and we'll have to be patient. It might not be as bad as I'm foreseeing, so we'll see. Nonetheless, I am truly excited about his new feat, and I'm very proud of him too.

This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you

Good morning, Matthew. You're going to the doctor today, and you're gonna get some shots.

I wake up happy, and so does the baby. We've both slept through the night, for the third night in a row. Could this be habit-forming? I hope so. I feed him before we go and change his outfit and diaper. No poopy diaper, only wet. That's strange. Usually he poops in the morning. Oh well, it will come later, I'm sure of it.

We have a 9 o'clock appointment and miraculously get there on time. The nurse measures and weighs the baby. By the way, he's 25.5 inches long and weighs 16 lbs. Looking good, Matty, the pediatrician says after checking him over and answering my silly little questions. As he leaves I redress the baby and patiently wait for the nurse to come in. Matthew is content hanging out on the table, and I enjoy pumping his legs and playing with him. Minutes go by, but it feels longer. Two rooms down we hear a young boy screaming in pain. I guess he's 7 or 8, but I never see him. AHHH! YOU'RE KILLING ME!!! is what we hear over and over. Matthew holds still for a moment to listen to the shrieks and then continues to play. The bright pink design on the wall fascinates him. His eyes are riveted to the left and he won't stop moving. I hear only the ticking of my watch and the crinkle of the paper as Matthew kicks his legs back and forth. The screaming boy serenade has died down, and the nurse enters. It's our turn.

The first vaccination is given orally, and my baby rewards the young nurse with smiles. That was easy. Now comes the hard part. I put my fingers in Matty's hands and he grips tightly. Does he hold on because he knows what's coming? No, it's only a reflex, but how appropriate. I wrap the rest of my hands around his little ones, and I bend down so I am face to face with him. The nurse swabs on the disinfectant, and from the look on Matty's face I know it's a little cold. Brace yourself, Baby. I should too. The first shot is given. Matthew is startled and still. The second one pokes his fleshy thigh as he gives out a cry like no other. The red face and tears say it all, but so does the high-pitched scream. I know he hurts, but I keep telling him it's ok. The third shot is done, and band-aids now adorn his legs. I hold back my own tears while he continues to cry. I hold him close, and he relaxes a little. But then he remembers that he had three shots, and he cries some more. It's ok, he's supposed to let me know when he's in pain. I'm here for you, baby. Once I get him back in the car, I hear a few whimpers from the back seat before he falls asleep. I have several errands I'd like to run, but I decide to get my baby home and comfortable.

Once home, I change another wet diaper and feed him, being careful not to press his thighs too much. With a clean diaper and full tummy, I am rewarded with this face by lunchtime.

Whew, we made it.

A Game and a Giggle

I've got two videos for your enjoyment. The first one features Matthew's new game. He's discovered that he can get our attention by sticking his tongue out at us. Then when we do it back, he does it again, and we'll go back and forth like this for a couple minutes. We have so much fun with him! It's awesome to see that flicker of light in his eye that means he really knows what he's doing. It's amazing how smart babies are. In fact, just this morning I caught him playing this game by himself. I put him in his swing while I took a shower, and when I checked on him, he was smiling at the toys hanging above his head and sticking his tongue out at them. I was really happy to see that, because he hasn't really liked his swing too much. Maybe now that he knows the toys are there, it will be fun for him. Anyway, enough jabbering. Here's the video.

And this one has a cute giggle in it. Josh got him to laugh a couple weeks ago, but we haven't had a repeat performance until last night. He would smile really big and look like he was about to laugh, but it just wouldn't come. I'm glad we were able to catch it on video. Hopefully he'll start laughing more--it's gonna be so cool!