Kissing Cousins

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law were up this way for the weekend, which meant Matthew got to spend time with his cousin Chesney. We were at her birthday party in August. They are five months apart, and though neither of them walk yet, it was impossible to get them to pose for pictures. They were constantly on the move.

Ok, so this one looks like he stopped to pose with me, but not so in the next one.

I love this picture--they look so cute!

Chesney had fun playing with her cousin's toys, like this walker, and Matthew was good about sharing. They both were, but they're not at the "that's mine!" stage yet.

It looks like Chesney put the basket over Matthew's head, but Matthew did it on his own. I think she was just checking on him.

When it was time to say goodbye, they actually gave hugs and kisses. So sweet :)


That was Thursday night. Then we went up to Grammy and Grandpa's house on Saturday to have more family time.

It was game day, can you tell?

Again, always on the move.

This was a cute one I snapped of Sarah and Chesney. Ches didn't want to hold still, but Sarah cooperated quite nicely.

Grammy found some toys in the basement for the kids to play with, and they had a blast.

It was a busy weekend. We even had some friends over Friday night. Matthew didn't nap on Saturday, so needless to say he was exhausted by Sunday. His nap was extra short today, which is what normally happens when he's overtired. He also hasn't been feeling well, battling constipation and a very sore bottom. But it's getting better.

Dinner time is coming soon, so I better get busy in the kitchen. Ciao!

7 Month Belly **EDIT**

If 7 is the number of perfection, then how come we women have to carry our unborn for 2 more months? Just thought I'd ask :)

At my mom's suggestion, I looked up my 7-month belly pic when I was pregnant with Matthew...

I think I look about the same size. But maybe not. What do you think?

Is it not weird that I am wearing the exact same shirt in both pictures, though? Totally didn't plan that.

Weekend Fun

Josh worked so hard this weekend. He painted our front room, which we've dubbed the office. We were calling it the froffice (front room/office), but simplification is better. Anyways, I forgot to get pictures of the before and after. Well, I can always take an after picture, but I don't have a before. Then again, I'm sure I've got pics of Matthew in that room, so you'd see the walls behind him. I'll have to hunt that down. When we first moved in, we liked the wall color. It was a light brown color, kind of like the color of a Wendy's frosty. But it also made the room feel dark and kind of drab. So we opted for a brighter, happier color for the walls. We chose a blue-green, and it turned out really nice. The idea is to furnish the room with black and silver accents. The comptuer desk and bookshelves and lamps are already black, and as we get pics on the walls, we'll go with either black or silver frames. Someday we'll have a couch in here for some seating, but that's lower on our list of things to buy. I do want to get some storage ottomans to hide some toys. I like the ones that you can flip the top over and it's a tray. They would work well as a coffee table only when necessary. Like for instance, when we have a couch in here. But that's all future purchases. Moving on...

Later in the afternoon, Josh was up for taking Matthew out, so we found a nearby pumpkin place. It was really small, their selection wasn't good, and the prices were too high, so we didn't spend too long there. There was no admission price, so that was a blessing. We ended up buying some big pumpkins and a cornstalk at Kroger, cause they were cheaper there. Go figure.

Having fun on the wooden tractor play thingy.

More fun. I guess. He doesn't look overly thrilled.

Checking out some animals, but not wanting to get too close.

The cornstalk tied to the beam on our porch, and our 3 pumpkins.

Wiped out after a long day.

I saved this video for last, cause it's so incredibly cute. Matthew had recently picked up on the song "It's Magic," and I have no idea why. It's not like I sing it to him more than any other song, but he likes to sing along with me. Check out his eyes at the end of the video. He rolls them up and he looks so funny. Enjoy!

Rough Night

Last night Josh and I stayed up past our bedtime to watch a movie. And seriously we like never do this, or at least we'll only do it on a Friday, since we've got Saturday to sleep in and take naps and all. So yeah, we picked the wrong night to do that, cause for one, Josh had trouble sleeping, and was up for a while. But then the "fun" started at 1:30am. We hear Matthew, and we groan. We gave him time to fall back asleep, which we thought he did, but for an hour we'd hear him cry out and then be silent for a while. But it got more consistent with being awake and not being asleep, so we went in there. We checked his diaper, checked his temperature, we even turned on the heat in case his room felt cold. We rocked him and put him back down, but he would only end up crying again, and then we'd repeat the whole process. Josh was the last one to rock him, and he came back in our room around 4:15am. Matthew was crying, but we couldn't keep doing this. It was at a point where he just had to cry himself to sleep, cause we knew he had to be tired by now. We certainly were. And he did go to sleep, but Josh and I are definitely dragging our feet today. I don't know what Matthew's issue was. It's like his internal clock got reset to an overseas time or something. We're praying this doesn't happen again tonight.

In another Matthew report, he saw his pediatrician yesterday for his 18-month check up. He's 27 lbs. 5 oz. and 35 inches tall. This boy is growing for sure. He said by this point that most kids can say 6 words, and I'm like, yeah, he's got way more words than that, so we're good. He did voice concern about Matthew not walking, so he's gonna have a PT (physical trainer) call us to set up an appointment. Josh and I don't really think it's necessary, since he's been improving and walking between us and everything, but at the same time, I guess one meeting wouldn't hurt anything. Maybe he/she'll have and idea we haven't thought of?

Cute story alert: Last weekend I had been working hard with the dishes and laundry and making cookies for our Sunday School get together, and I was wiped out by late afternoon. My feet were also a little puffy from being on them for a while. So I asked Josh to rub my feet, and he did, but then Matthew was so curious about it, that he got in on the action too. Josh showed him how to do it, and there I was, relaxing, while both my boys rubbed my feet. Yeah, it felt as nice as it sounds :)

We bought a new kitchen table several weeks back.



Why? Cause the one we had is an apartment size table, and we needed something to accommodate guests and our growing family. It looks pretty much like our other one (both are from Ikea).

So where's our original table?



Right here.

But where's here? Ok, I'll show you.



It's in our laundry room! It was Josh's idea to put it there, and I'm so glad he thought of it. Now I have a laundry table where I can separate and fold clothes. This is especially helpful being pregnant, cause it's at waist-level and I can stand by it. Sitting on the couch and bending over is much harder. So yes, it's a small blessing, but I love it nonetheless. I think eventually I need to put a laundry sign on the wall over the table. I told Josh that down the road we need to tile the floor and make it look homier. It would be fun, but first we've got more imoportant rooms to set up.

10 More Weeks!

Yeah, for real, can you believe it? Only 10 more weeks until my due date. I feel like we haven't done much to prepare for Jellybean's arrival, but then again, we've got the major bigger things bought because we already have Matthew. We actually have to focus on getting some items for Matthew, like a new bed and dresser and other things for his new room. Personally, I'd like him moved out of the nursery before the baby comes, so he'll be comfortable with it before the baby comes into the house. I know we can always move him afterwards because the baby will be in our room for the first 2 months or so. But the whole dynamic of the house will change, and Matthew will have to share his mommy for the first time. I just don't want too many new things to freak him out, you know? Especially if we "kick" him out of his room for his new little sister.

Last night we were watching TV and I was laying on the couch (my usual spot). Jellybean was going crazy and kicking all over the place, so I had Josh grab the camera so I could film it. Of course once I started filming, she didn't kick as much, but I managed to get a video or two. I just put up one for you guys, the shortest one. I didn't think you really wanted to see 2 videos of my belly :) Anyways, you'll see the remote go up and down because I'm breathing, but then you'll see it wobble from side to side. And that is Jellybean doing aerobics.

Last week we had a Sunday School class fellowship, and my two pregnant friends were there, so we just had to stand in order and get a picture of our different sized bellies. I'm due December 5, Christi is due February 5, and Janelle is due March 5.

And then I can't post without a picture of Matthew, so here's my cute little boy.