Matthew Update and a Daddy Weekend

It's been a while since I've updated you all on Matthew. He's 8 months old already and just as cute as ever. But not always as sweet. He's still good-natured and all, but now that he's more aware of his surroundings and himself, he lets us know if he doesn't like something. He whines if I leave him alone for too long. He fusses if he's been playing with the remote and I take it away. And he does not like getting his diaper changed first thing in the morning.



Alongside the emotional backbone that's been developing, Matthew has been sitting up so much lately. It seemed to happen overnight. At first we would sit him up and he would arch his back or throw his head back to lay down, even if we were behind him and supporting him. But now he sits up to play with his toys, and he doesn't even need to support himself on his arms anymore. I'll see him lose balance and watch him teeter a little to stay upright, but of course it doesn't always work out that way :). For now he doesn't cry when he falls over.



Let's see, what else... oh yeah! Before our thanksgiving trip, I never told you guys that he turns the pages when we read him a story (I might have mentioned that in a thanksgiving post, though), and he also became a champion napper before we headed north. I'm not saying that it's a perfect nap day every day, but he has come a long way from crying for an hour and not napping and all that not-so-fun stuff. Now he practically begs me for a nap sometimes. We'll be playing, and he'll start to whine over nothing. He scratches his head or rubs his eyes when he gets tired, and I'll be right with him, yet he reaches for me to pick him up. But when I hold him he just squirms around and can't get comfortable. That's usually my cue and I'll lay him down. He'll cry at most 15 minutes, but most of the time it's just a few minutes before he's asleep, and he'll nap for an hour and a half. It's fabulous!!

At night he's been consistently sleeping for 9 hours, sometimes 10, but lately he's been sleeping for more like 10 or 11 hours, and that's wonderful too. He doesn't get up as early, so it gives me a chance to shower and eat breakfast before I have to feed him. And he's very talkative sometimes. He'll almost yell da-da-da-da, but then he's taken to whispering it too. He also says la-la, na-na, and I think I've heard an occasional ma in there. One of these days he'll say ma-ma, and I'm just gonna melt, I know it :)

Look at the predicament he got himself into in this picture! He was crying for this, but I had to get it on film before I rescued him. I know, I'm a bad mommy, but it was his own roly-poly fault :).


He is such a goofball. When we tell him to smile or say cheese, this is what we get sometimes. He scrunches up his nose and breathes deep and fast, as if he's trying to snort! Check out his top gums too. He was teething for a few days last week, and the right tooth is almost through. It might even break before the end of the week.


Look at him, all grown up and drinking the bottle by himself. Josh set him up with a Baby Einstein DVD, and he was chillin'. Speaking of Josh, he was a fabulous father this weekend. My boys did some father/son bonding because our church had a Christmas concert. And since I am in the choir, that meant a Saturday and Sunday afternoon rehearsal. They had a great time hanging out, and I don't think Matthew missed me very much, if at all. Which is fine by me! He also set up Matthew's new toy, called a sports champ center, or something like that. We registered for it way back when I was pregnant and had received it at one of my showers, but he wasn't old enough for it until now.

Here's a suit he got for Christmas. He looks so handsome all dressed up for church :)

And now prepare yourselves for a very funny picture....

Isn't that great?! He was sitting up in the pack 'n' play, but he fell over and didn't seem to mind that Josh grabbed the camera before he grabbed him.

And I'll close with a video. We were posing Matthew for our Christmas card picture, but this look didn't make the cut :).