Video Fun

Where's Your Head?

Play Ball!

"All Done"

We got internet today!

Yay! Finally, a connection to the outside world! We got phone and cable hook-up too, complete with our first DVR box. It'll be fun trying to figure it out. Actually, the guy explained it to me briefly, and it seems pretty easy. It's just another remote for Matthew to be curious about. And I'm sure he will be, cause it's very big with colorful buttons. I'm sure sometime when I'm not looking he'll record a show by accident or something.

So we're still surrounded by boxes, but not as many as a few days ago. We're slowly finding places for things. Some things, like picture frames and wall hangings, don't have a home yet. We are planning to paint some of the rooms, so we don't want to put things up just to take them down again, you know?


Fuller view of the house.


Matthew loves that he has more room to move around, and he's adjusting to his new room. The first night we slept here I was up in the middle of the night with him for about an hour. But since then he's slept all night. He has been waking up earlier than normal, so hopefully that will go away. I don't want to push his bedtime to later, cause if he still wakes up early, he'll be getting less sleep. Yeah, we think it's best to keep the bedtime consistent for now. It's nice that he goes to bed at 8pm. It gives us a chance to get things done around the house or just to have couple time.


Matthew waiting for Daddy to get home from work.


Oh yeah, before I forget, if you haven't heard yet, a new family member will be joining us in December. No, we're not getting a dog--I'm expecting! I'm 8 weeks along and feel pretty good most of the day. Mornings aren't my favorite times, but after a couple hours I'm usually ok, and as long as I keep my stomach from being empty during the day, I feel fine. I am more picky about food though. For instance, I'll prepare something for dinner, but once it's made, it suddenly doesn't look appetizing anymore. Sometimes I'd rather have saltines for dinner.


I like the new house, Mommy!


Oh, we've got nice neighbors, folks. The day we moved in one lady brought over chocolate chip cookies for us to eat after dinner. And a couple days later we got a card in our mailbox from another family welcoming us to the neighborhood. There's tons of kids here. Everyone has a playset in their backyard, and almost everyone has a dog. I'm pretty shy when it comes to meeting new people, but hopefully I'll warm up soon and get to know some people.

Here are some pics from moving day. Josh's family was an immense help.

Mommy, the apartment looks so empty!

Making sure all his belongings made it into the truck.

Yeah, we let him drive part of the way too ;)

I'll tell you what, moving is not my idea of fun. There's too many boxes and packaging tape and making sure fragile things don't get crushed. Then you gotta unpack it all at the new destination and search frantically for a much needed item that wasn't in a well-labeled box. Did I mention the man power it takes? Josh and his dad moved all the big furniture, and they were wiped out by lunchtime. My father-in-law kept giving me a hard time cause I had labeled many boxes "heavy" and added a smiley face. Yeah, as if that would make the box lighter somehow :).

Anyway, we are here in our new house, and it feels good. We'll keep you updated as we unpack and paint rooms. I've even got some videos for you that I'll share another day. Ta-ta!

Home Owners

Well, we did it! We are officially home owners for the first time as of last night's closing. Everything went smoothly. Our signatures have never been written so many times in a year probably, but the whole ordeal took just over 30 minutes. A lot faster than we expected. Our realtor sent me home with a nice flower arrangement. I only wish I had brought something for her, because she has been so wonderful during this whole process.

Tonight we will drive over there and clean up a little bit, and Friday is the day we move in! We're really excited to begin this next chapter in our lives, and we'll keep you updated with pictures and stuff.

Look! Our very own mailbox!

Easter Eggs

We had a nice Easter weekend. Josh had Good Friday off, so we spent time together as a family. Then on Saturday we drove up to his parent's house to have Easter dinner. I brought the camera, but yeah, I didn't take any pictures. Then on Sunday we went to church of course, and Matthew was dressed in blue pants, a white polo, and a light blue sweater vest. He looked really cute, but again, I forgot to take a picture. I think I have this bad habit of not remembering to perserve memories :)

For Easter dinner, Josh's mom wanted me to make deviled eggs, but she'd read that you could dye the eggs, just like you would if it had a shell on it. So I looked it up, and sure enough, it can be done. And no, I didn't look it up because I didn't believe her. I just wanted to see if there were specific instructions I needed to follow. You basically do what you would for coloring Easter eggs the "old-fashioned" way-- hot water, vinegar, food coloring. And then the longer you leave the egg in the color, the brighter it gets. They turned out really pretty. Josh and I worked on it together Saturday afternoon, and Matthew watched from his highchair. I think this will become a new family tradition for us.

Food Coloring: Blue, Red, Green, Yellow

Red Eggs

Green Eggs (and ham... ha ha!)

Final Product: Colored Angeled Eggs (well I can't call them "deviled" eggs if they were for Easter, can I?)

Hope you all had a nice Easter. I'm so glad Jesus is alive, aren't you? :)

Static, Stats, and "More"

I mentioned that Matthew had a dr.'s appt. Monday, and here are the stats:
Height: 32 in. (95th%)
Weight: 23 lbs. 4oz. (60th%)

I wondered if I should be concerned that his weight dropped significantly, but Dr. said that's normal for a baby his age, since they start to get more active. He said as long as he doesn't keep losing but instead keeps climbing in the charts, he should be fine. Matthew also got 4 shots at the office, so he was miserable for the rest of the day. But he was fine by Tuesday.

Matthew's first signed word, "more."

He uses it the right way too. He's in his highchair, and I'll ask him if he wants more of whatever I'm feeding him. And he'll sign for me. But then, when it's around lunchtime and we're playing on the floor and I ask him if he's hungry, he'll sign "more" and point to the highchair. And the other night Josh had him in his pj's ready for bed. They were waiting for me to finish washing the dishes. All on his own Matthew started signing "more" and pointing to me. So apparently he thinks it means food or eating in general. But that's ok I guess.


Here's a fun video I haven't shown you yet. Josh and Matthew have a great time together.

And here's Matthew walking with some help. Sometimes his steps are so big and exaggerated I can't help but laugh. Well, he doesn't do it in this video, but this is still cute, so watch anyway :).

That's all I have folks. Have a great weekend!

Matthew's First Birthday

Sorry it's taken me a whole week to get to this. The weekend was busy, obviously, since we had his party and all. And then he had a dr.'s appt. Monday, and then there are just days where the time gets away from me and I haven't been on the computer once. But now I finally have a chance, so here I go!

Matthew's actual b-day was Friday, so we had him open some gifts that night. Which ended up being a good idea, since he had lots of things to open. He got clothes, toys, books, you know, typical baby/toddler stuff. We tried to encourage him to rip the paper, but he didn't catch on too well to that. So Josh pretty much opened all his gifts for him. But he loved watching it happen! I've got some video below of how much he enjoyed his presents being opened.

Saturday was party day. I tried not to make it a big affair. Josh's family came over our apartment, and that was plenty of people to fit into our small space. I think if I'd invited others, there wouldn't have been standing room :) We had tacos, and of course cake. I was so mad later because I bought ice cream for the occasion and completely forgot to get it out of the freezer!

Here's the froggie cake I made. Came out better than I expected.

I had some leftover cupcakes, and Josh brilliantly suggested we spell out his name. We had just enough :)

Sarah and Donald were able to come for the party, and of course they brought my cute little niece. Matthew was thrilled to have his cousin there.

Present time! This is a box of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse board books. Very cute.

Though he doesn't seem interested in the picture, that book, I Love You Through and Through, is one of his favorites now. I think he's requested it every day since the party.

Of course the birthday boy needed a party hat, but he wasn't too thrilled with it.

Cake time! Dad, is this really all for me?

Mmm, sugar!

We took a family picture before he got too messy.

Oh yeah, he had fun making a mess. He got frosting everywhere, but he managed to eat most of the cupcake. Guess he likes sweets just like I do ;)

We had to give him a bath. No amount of wet paper towels or baby wipes was gonna get him really clean.

Picture with Grammy and Grandpa. He was in a great mood for the whole party, but at this point he wanted real food. Plus, his afternoon nap wasn't very long, so he was getting tired.

Well, that's all there is. I am officially the mother of a one-year-old. Though I can't say I'm the mother of a toddler until he starts walking on his own. Thank you to everyone who sent cards and gifts and well wishes!