6 months down, 3 to go!

The first buckeye game of the season was Saturday, so of course we had to put Matthew in his jersey. His Aunt Laura gave it to him before she went back to school. And she was smart too--it's size 3T, so he can wear it for a few years.

And my 6-month belly...

I'm looking pretty big, right? Yeah, well, I feel it too. Jellybean is pretty active. I couldn't sleep last night because of her movements, so I got up to read for a little while. But she's a little stinker. As soon as Josh tries to feel my belly for her kicks, she stops. And once he pulls away, she starts up again. I think they are going to have an interesting relationship :) I am feeling well, except for the typical pregnancy complaints. Swelling once in a while, fatigue, soreness.

I've got a prayer request for you all to consider. When you think of it, could you pray that Matthew would walk on his own soon? 17 months old, and still not walking yet. He uses his walker all over the house, and he's down to holding one of our hands instead of both, but it is discouraging at times. And for a more physical reason, it's getting harder for me to lift him up and carry him places. I think that's part of the reason why I've been so sore. There's really nothing you can do to make your child walk. They have to decide to try it on his own, but he doesn't want to try. As soon as he figures out our tactics, he sinks to the floor and crawls. He doesn't even want to try balancing. I swear, I've never seen a kid so set in his ways. It's not that he's a stubborn brat about it. He's just content to be doing what he's doing, and I don't think he sees a need to try anything new.

And speaking of his development, he seems to be saying more words now, or at least trying to say the things we say. It's not all understandable, but a lot of times he can get the first syllable out. And like I've said before, he understands so much of what we say to him. He's become quite the ham, too. He knows when he's being funny and how to make Mommy and Daddy laugh, and he'll turn on the charm when he needs to. He's been much better about playing on his own (he went through a very needy stage after our vacation), and he "talks" so much. He comes up with new consonant/vowel combinations and has fun repeating it over and over in the car. He's been sleeping longer stretches at night--averaging 11 or 11 1/2 hrs, and sometimes 12 hours. Nap lengths are not consistent. Some days it's two hours; some days it's half an hour, and he always wakes up grumpy from his nap. But after 10 or 15 minutes, he's usually in a better mood.

He's a crazy, energetic toddler that likes to have fun and climb on everything. He climbs up and down stairs really well, though we are working on teaching him that he can't do it unless we are with him. And as you'll see in these videos, not walking doesn't seem to be holding him back. He's still a goofball and a nutcase, and any other crazy words you can think of.