Party Time

Matthew's 1st Birthday Party

August 17, 2013

 

 Playing at the water table with his friends

 Playing in the ball pit

 Playing with Zach

Family Picture - before the birthday cake :)



 Birthday Boy!

 Trying it out

 He clearly enjoyed the icing...

 and the cake!

All done :)

The cake was a big hit!

Bounce house with Ben and Zach

 Having fun with lots of family...

 

 

 

 

Our party favors were sailor hats...they were a hit!

Checking out all of his presents!

 

 A few shots of him opening presents

 And a few pictures of some of the decorations :)

We had a great time celebrating our little man! 

1 year old!

August 19, 2013

Matthew is ONE!!

We cannot believe Matthew is 1 year old!  This year has been amazing :)  In some ways it has flown by and and in some ways it has felt like the longest year ever!  We are so lucky to have a healthy and happy little guy.  He has so much energy and a really fun personality.  We are so thankful for all of the help and support from our friends and family that we have gotten this year - we couldn't have done it by ourselves!   

 

 

Matthew's Stats:

 

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz (40th %)...finally gaining some weight!

 

Height: 29.5 inches (37%)

 

New tricks: Matthew is officially a WALKER!!  He took his first uncoaxed and unaided steps on July 26 and has not stopped since!  He is walking everywhere and already prefers walking over crawling.  He is getting fast and practically runs when he notices something he wants...like when he sees the bathroom door is open and wants to get in there and empty our cabinets and drawers as quickly as possible!  He is good at clapping, pointing, hugging, and waving now.  He puts the phone to his ear (more like behind his head) and "talks" - it is so cute!  He still calls Bailey and all other dogs "gung-u" and we occasionally get mama and dada.  He learned sign language for more and all done and does them all the time now!  He always does them when he is eating but he will give the more sign if he wants you to keep doing something like tickling him, chasing him, or bouncing him on your knee.  It is so cute and I love that he is really starting to communicate with us.  

 

Matthew loves: Walking, being chased and tickled, and climbing.  He loves being in the kitchen and has learned how to climb on the dishwasher door when it is open and pull out dishes and silverware.  This is not a very fun game for us but he loves it!  He really loves to be outside now.  He walks around on the deck and in the grass, plays with his new water table, splashes in the pool, and we have even let him run around in the rain.  :)  He got so many new toys that he likes for his birthday...too many to even mention! 

 

New foods: He is gaining weight fast because he eats so much!  He still loves almost all fruits, anything with pasta sauce, fruit/veggie squeeze pouches, apple sauce, yogurt, and peanut butter and jelly.  A few new things we tried that he likes: hot dogs, hamburgers, and birthday cake (more to come on the cake later!). 

 

Teeth: He now has his 4 front teeth and 1 more about halfway in on top. We have had a few hard days/night with teething but other than that the teething doesn't seem to bother him too much.

 

Sleep: He is still usually taking two naps a day but sometimes won't go down for an afternoon nap so we may be moving to 1 nap sooner rather than later.  He is usually a good sleeper at night now...still goes down between 7:30 and 8:00 and wakes up any time between 5 and 7am.  We are still hoping he will start to sleep in a little later in the mornings! We think the walking is wearing him out a little more so maybe that will make him sleep :)

 

He still does great at school and with his babysitters.  He has lots of friends and seems to recognize his little friends that we see all the time now.  :)  He is a busy guy and loves to be out and about. 

 

It has been quite a year and Matthew has taught us so much!  We love watching him grow, change, and learn new things.  We are so thankful for him :)

 

Here are few pictures from this month:



11 months old

Matthew is 11 months old!  It is hard to belive 1 year has passed so quickly and it is time to plan his 1st birthday party! 

Weight: 19 lbs 12 oz

New tricks: He is still calling Bailey "gung-u" or something similar to that and that is still his only real "word".  We get mama and dad sometimes but that comes and goes.  He learned to clap and is getting good at waving.  He will usually clap when you tell him to or if he sees someone clapping and he waves if you say "bye-bye".  He can stand by himself now and is starting to take some steps if we coax him.  We have been trying to teach him the signs for more and all done when he is eating and he can do the signs but we aren't really sure he knows what they mean :)  

Matthew loves: lots of the same things he did last month!  Crawling, opening and closing doors and drawers, swimming, splashing, and pushing things around are all still high on the list!  He still loves his house toy and presses all of the buttons over and over and over again...we have all of the songs memorized now! :) He is a climber and now climbs on his house and his other big toys (whether or not they are ride toys!).  He especially loves to climb on this little school bus toy and likes to scoot around in it or have us pull him.  This is not technically a ride on toy but he has definitely made it one!

New foods:  He eats A LOT!  He is somewhat picky and will definitely let you know if he doesn't want something.  Bailey has gained a few pounds because he throws his food to her when he doesn't want it...she has gotten to try lots of new foods these past few months too :)  He still loves almost all fruits and fruit and veggie squeeze pouches.  A few of his favorites at the moment are chicken fajita meat, sausage kolaches, pasta or gnocchi with marinara sauce, cucumbers, grapes, watermelon, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

Teeth: His top 2 front teeth are finally through his gums but you can't see them yet when he smiles.  The 2 next to those are almost through as well...he is finally getting some teeth!

Sleep: About the same...he naps a little better now and usually takes one long nap and one short one.  He will somtimes let us sleep past 6am which is nice...but it still varies quite a bit.  He usually wakes up any time between 5 and 7am. 

He is loving school now and usually doesn't cry anymore when we drop him off.  He plays hard and seems to like all the little guys in his class.  He is in a class of all boys! 

I have been working from home quite a bit this summer so Matthew has had a few new babysitters and does well with them.  He also had a fun visit with his Grandmother...she came down to help for a few days when Brandon was out of town and I was working. 

Here are a few fun pictures from this month:

 

4th of July!

We had fun on the 4th!  We decorated our little push car and went to our neighborhood parade...Matthew wasn't very happy about standing around waiting for the parade to start!  Dad and Norma joined us and after a shaky start we made it through the whole parade (which was only a few blocks)!  After that we went to the pool with friends but I didn't manage to get many good pictures there.  Here are some pictures from our parade:

Falling asleep!

Happy 4th of July!