Up and down a step

Lately, Matthew's favorite thing to do is go up and down a step. Of all the toys, this activity keeps him the busiest. When we were at the Bruce's house in MI, he went up and down their step 20+ times. Here is a video when he was doing the same thing in Scottsdale a few weekends ago.

Happy Easter

This is Matthew's first easter. We traveled to Michigan to see the Bruce's and the Durkin's. The flights were easy to standby so no lengthy story about hanging out in the airport this time. We went to Petersburg to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bruce. We saw uncle Adam, aunt Amanda, cousin Ben, cousin Zac, and Aunt Anne. Matthew loved playing on their step in the living room - up and down on his belly. Then we went to the farm and he saw alpacas (shorter versions of llamas), horses, and a black cat. He loved the animals. He stayed in his great grandma and grandpa's house on the family golf course. He got to ride in the golf cart, too!

On Sunday, Matthew went to an easter egg hunt with this 2nd cousins and visited with grammy and grandpa Durkin. He had a little cough that made him wake up several times in the night but overall he was a good traveler. He just smiles and waves to people on the airplane.

While Andy was giving Matthew his bottle, he told him about the meaning of this weekend. We don't think Matthew understands too much just yet but it was sweet to hear Daddy tell the resurrection story. We are so grateful for God's love to send his only son to die for us on the cross and forgive our sins. The fact that he came back after 3 days and confronted people just makes me get goose bumps. What an amazing story! We get so busy sometimes that we forget to acknowledge some of the more important things in life. It is great to visit family and remember all these things this time of year. It gives us a good outlook on life as we head into the spring season.

Cracker

Matthew said his first word yesterday besides mama and dada. I was thinking it would be Rusty or bottle. Nope, it was cracker. He loves them! He is starting to decline the baby food and trying real food. I say try because most of the food falls out of his mouth. The doctor said that he would feel peer pressure to drink from the sippy cup and eat real food. We still give him bottles at this point but we are officially done with breast-feeding. Wahoo!

A weekend in Scottsdale

Aunt Lori is moving to Scottsdale and we decided to travel this weekend to help her look for a place to live. We flew over Saturday morning and arrived at the hotel by 10am (Pheonix time). Andy went with Lori to look at properties since this was his forte, and Matthew and I stayed at the hotel and lounged around at the pool. The weather got up to 80 degrees, a nice change from the 60 degree weather in Dallas.

We saw Uncle Bob and Mary K Kickels while we were there. Matthew would not go down for bed at his usual bedtime because he was too wired from all the attention. He's such a social butterfly. He would wave to people on the plane and smile at them.

On Sunday, Andy headed to Tucson to play golf with his co-worker, Bob Chapman. Matthew and I decided to catch an early flight out on Sunday so we went to the airport at 8am. Unfortunately, the flights were full so we didn't get on one until 4:30pm. Mama was exhausted! Matthew had a fun time. There was a play area so we hung out there mostly. At one point, I ran out of diapers so I had to exit security and then purchase the diapers at a newstand and then go back through security- What a beating! They made me open all of his baby food so they could test it. I was not happy. But little Matthew was a trouper. He didn't care where we were, as long as we were hanging out together. He would watch the planes take off and point to them. It was quite an eventful day. I got home at 9:30pm last night, put Matthew to bed (he was already sleeping), and then I was out....until he woke up at 5:45am.

1 year doctor visit

Matthew had his 1-year doctor visit on April 1st.  His stats are the following:

weight:  21 lbs 7 oz , 30%

height: 28 1/4 inches, 15%

head circumference:  18 5/8 85%

He had 3 shots:  chicken pox, mmr, and a few others.  He didn't have any reactions to the vaccines. 

In other news, Matthew loves to climb.  We still need to baby-proof our home and sometimes he crawls over to the stairs to climb them.  There are about 14 steps and he can climb to the top.  He takes pride in climbing and yells with excitement as he is going up the steps.  We are amazed that he has the strength to make it up.  

He also likes to climb on the sofa or on you.  He just doesn't sit still like he used to.  He likes to walk (almost run) and hold on to the push toys.  He will be walking soon.

Happy 1st Birthday

Today was Matthew's day. We had a small celebration with mostly family and neighbors at our house. It was good to do this in a way because we needed to fix a few things around the house and this party gave us the motivation to clean up the house and finish decorating rooms, etc. Grammy Mary K came down from Michigan to help us prepare and celebrate. She helped hang picture frames and put together goody bags for the kids. We put her to work!

We had a baseball theme and we served hamburgers, hotdogs, pretzels, cracker jacks, and cupcakes. We sang Happy Birthday to Matthew and he dug into the cupcake. He liked it. Most of the kids at the party were around his same age. He was having fun playing with everyone. He particularly enjoyed opening the new toys.

The birth story

It is hard to believe that it is only 1 year because it seems like much longer. But today marks the day when Matthew was born and entered our lives. He brings us so much joy.

I remember the story - he was 2 weeks late and I was so ready for him to be born. I went to the doctor on Thursday, March 27th 2008 and I was dilating but the baby was still too high. My parents, Andy, and I went out to eat at Pappadeaux's and then we went to bed somewhat early. The next morning I started feeling contractions and since I was dilated to a 5 we calmly took our time getting ready to go to the hospital. The contractions were getting more painful as we approached the hospital. When I showed up at 8:45am, I was dilated to a 7. This was unheard of for first time moms. They checked me into a room and I was in a lot of pain with the contractions until the anesthiologist showed up - Sweet Jesus, Thank the Lord for drugs. Matthew's head was transitional so it was turned and there was no way it could fit in the birth canal. All we needed was for him was to turn his head either face down (like normal) or sunny side up. We waited and waited and I twisted and turned in all different positions trying to get him to move around. One nurse came in while the other was on her lunch hour and said that I was probably going to have a C-section because Matthew was not turning his head and moving down. There were several times where his heart beat would stop from the embilical cord getting wrapped around his neck during a contraction. And they would give me oxygen and it would come back - it was very scary to hear the heart beat stop and the staff would rush in and try to revive it as quickly as possible. Finally, after several hours, his head turned and immediately I felt him drop. I started pushing and only pushed for 30 minutes (also unheard of for first time moms). At 2:55pm, Matthew arrived in this world. Compared to a few of my friends, I had a very short labor - Praise God! Matthew had the embilical cord wrapped around his body twice. It is amazing how he managed to make it through the delivery process.

He was 7 lbs and 13 ounces with very little hair. He was so precious and I was so happy to hold him after carrying him all that time. He had a temper and cried A LOT after he was born. I went through 6 weeks of serious sleep deprivation because he was so fussy in the early days. But it was all worth it because now he is a healthy baby/toddler and he is learning new things everyday. And I am especially thankful that he sleeps all night long now.