Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Bruce family!

Baby's first Christmas
Andy & I celebrated our Christmas with Grammy Mary K and Grandpa Tom Durkin. They drove all the way from Michigan to spend time with baby Matthew. Shortly after they arrived, Grammy got the stomach flu. Andy, Matthew, and I had it a week earlier. Then, Matthew had a fever on-and-off for 4 days in a row. We took him to the doctor and it was just a terrible cold. On top of that, he was teething. He was in a fussy mood, especially on Christmas Eve. I went to work and Andy stayed home with the grandparents to watch Matthew and it was an exhausting day for them because Matthew was so challenging.
Thankfully, Matthew started feeling better on Christmas day. We went to the 9:30am mass and then he took a nap so we didn't open gifts until almost noon. He enjoyed playing with the new toys, especially the snow globe. Grammy and Grandpa Durkin gave him books and lots of clothes. Matthew liked playing with the socks because of the packaging. Grandma and Grandpa Bruce sent a big package and Matthew loved the drums. Pat and Mary Helen gave him a dump truck that he enjoyed. Andy & I waited to give our gifts until later because he had so many others to play with.

Of all the toys, he still enjoyed the simple things - the ornaments on the tree. Check out this video.

Andy & I feel blessed to have such a healthy baby boy. We named him Matthew because it means "gift from God". Matthew is truly a gift from above. He just turned 9 months old and it is so much fun to watch him grow and develop. He is becoming a faster crawler after some practice. He likes to eat apple sauce and rock back and forth to music in his high chair. He wakes up around 7am and goes to bed around 8pm and takes a couple of naps a day. He wears 12 - 18 month clothes right now. The funniest moment this week was when he was trying to immitate Buffy's barking. Buffy is the Durkin's cockapoo.

Our house at Christmas time - Notice Rusty on the porch and our Christmas tree in the front window

Matthew with Grammy and Grandpa just before everyone fell ill

He's Crawling

Matthew is officially mobile! We are excited but a little nervous because the house is not baby-proof yet. On Thursday, Matthew started crawling at the daycare. He was playing with a ball and then it moved so he had to go get it. It was so funny to watch. Here's a video of him crawling at home - this is his 3rd day of crawling.

8 months old

Matthew is 8 months old. He likes to scoot around on the floor and he grabs everything in sight. He can sit up on his own now.

Mama and Matthew

Like father, like son.

Matthew likes to ride around in the cart at daycare. Amelia is sitting next to him.

And he loves the exersaucer on the weekends!

Matthew volunteers at the senior citizen home once a month. He is smiling at James - Kimberly's baby.

He loves his high chair. We just put it together last week. He likes sweet potatoes much better than peas.