Playing outside

enjoying a popsicle - Matthew says "hot, bicycle" when he wants a popsicle

Matthew had a good week at school. He is talking in more phrases. We are impressed all the time with his progress. Over the weekend, we enjoyed the nice weather and played outside most of the time. It has been rainy and cool here so it was a treat to have a weekend with sunshine at 75 degrees. Matthew played with his toys outside. One day during the week, he rode his bicycle on our neighbor's driveway. He can't peddle just yet so mama had to push him the entire time. He gets frustrated when he can't move on the tricycle, especially on the grass.

Matthew was helping daddy with some gardening last weekend and then at school they planted some things for earth day. Matthew was a pro. His teachers were impressed and said he was a big help. He likes to play with legos at school and put things together. As far as indoor activities at home, we have some construction paper and glue sticks and he enjoys making pretty pictures. And he has a sticker book of Elmo that he enjoys putting the stickers on pages and on his face and hands. Of course, he loves to play with playdoh and make snakes with his fun factory by squeezing the playdoh through templates.

Despite the nice weather, Matthew developed a runny nose and cough. It never ends! So far it doesn't seem bad enough to take him to the doctor. Everyone's allergies are flared right now so that could be it. Matthew says "shoes, outside" when he wants to go outside. He really wants to get into the pool but it is too cold right now. He is in a good mood most times now that his teeth are all cut through the gums. He is a character.

When Matthew wants a basketball, he says "soccer ball". He's a little confused on a couple of words.

Block Party Weekend

"Cheese"

Who knew water could be so much fun? Matthew would scoop it out into his bucket and watch his boats float.

Our neighbors - Matthew says "baby" when he sees Nicholas

Taylor's front porch - he was the cook

Just hanging out

Howard and Gay

Arden and Matthew riding in the wagon

Mowing the lawn with Daddy

Matthew's tooth finally cut through the gums so it is not causing him to wake up through the night - Yeah! Matthew does not like his bath routine and cries the entire time. One time our hot water heater unit shut off and I ended up giving him a cold bath and I wonder if that has anything to do with it because he has hated his baths ever since that point.

Andy traveled for work this week so it was a little challenging trying to get ready in the mornings and drop off Matthew to school. Matthew is pretty good about keeping busy in the bathroom while I shower and get ready. He will try on my shoes and he plays with a duster and tries to clean the walls. I will give him the wipe for the shower and he likes to wipe the shower door. He stays busy. I will put him up on the counter and we will brush our teeth together. He likes that although he will keep asking for more tooth paste.

Besides the 18-month phase, we really don't see the terrible two's. Matthew likes to be busy so we have to make sure he has plenty of arts and crafts time. He enjoys playing with playdoh, especially the fun factory where he can make spaghetti or snakes by squeezing playdoh through the templates. He also enjoys riding his bicycle and playing with balls. He really likes to play outside so we are happy the weather is getting nicer to do just that. Although, it was a rainy weekend. He was able to play outside Saturday but he was stuck inside most of Sunday except the break to church and trip to Lowes with Daddy.

We had a fun block party on Saturday. The rain threatened us all day with 70% chance but luckily it held out for us to party for a couple of hours. There are several kids within Matthew's age group on the street with a wonderful mix of neighbors so we enjoy living in this neighborhood. Matthew enjoyed a juice box, chips, hot dog, and cupcake. He had a great time since we normally don't let him eat such foods. He was a little shy around the group of kids. Our babysitter, Ana Paula, was there so we wonder if he was scared Mama was going to leave. Andy was a little surprised at how Matthew was clinging to Mama while all the other kids were playing with the balls. Once we came home, he was jumping around and acting completely different than in the group environment.

One last tooth

Matthew has one last molar coming in on the top right side of his mouth. He is early to have nearly all his teeth by 2 years old. This past week he was up nearly every night in pain. He would wake up around 1:30am and cry until we consoled him back to sleep. Andy and I took turns getting up in the night. We would give him some tylenol and then take him onto the balcony and sing to him until he was relaxed enough to go back to bed. A few times we tried to skip steps and he would not go back to sleep until we did all of the steps above.

He may have experienced a stomach ache one night because I made some hashbrowns and put too much olive oil so Andy and I were both feeling ill afterwards. He is pretty good about telling us what he wants but sometimes he just cries and you have to play the guessing game. He will say "change diaper" when he has pooped so that is nice for us to know. We haven't made much progress with the potty lately but we are not in a rush so that's fine with us.

Ana Paula watched Matthew Friday night while we went out to dinner for Andy's work function. Matthew put up a big fit when we left but a couple of minutes later he was showing Ana Paula all of his toys. She was impressed with him talking so much and he is developing such a little personality. She has been a wonderful asset for us just living right across the street and available whenever we need her.

On Saturday, we went out for breakfast at Angelas and then played around the house with playdoh, colors, and his new tricycle. After the after noon nap, I took him on a bike ride in the neighborhood and Matthew loved it. The weather was in the mid-70s and the sunshine felt great. Then I took him to the indoor pool at the YMCA where Matthew had so much fun splashing in the water. He kicks his feet with so much energy when he gets in the water. Now if I can only get him to move his arms at the same time.

Sunday was another beautiful day. At 7am, we watched the Cowboys stadium implosion while eating breakfast. Matthew had his cowboys pajamas on coincidentally. We could feel the rumbling at our house. We went to church and Matthew played in the nursery and then we went to Kels for breakfast afterwards. Matthew sits in the booster seat next to me in the booth and he likes to be sitting at the same table as opposed to sitting in a high chair. Besides the sleepless nights lately, he has become much easier to handle. He knows the routine and he doesn't cry too often. We make sure he takes his naps within his normal routine and that always keeps him in a good mood.

As we approach another work week, we hope that Matthew will be able to sleep through the night this week. He did fine over the weekend so hopefully the worst is behind us.

Easter weekend

Having fun

Just hanging out on a park bench

How Sweet!

Playing in the covered wagon

tip-toeing in the tulips

Mama, Lori, and Nana

Nanna and Mama posed for a picture while Matthew played with the rocks

Enjoying lunch at the cafe - Matthew wanted his own chair

This is my favorite picture

Riding the deer statue

Mama was using the umbrella to shield the sun

The arboretum gang

Matthew kissing Aunt Lori

Happy Birthday Papa and Matthew!

Giggling with Mama

Papa is playing peek-a-boo

Easter egg hunting in the backyard

Papa is helping Matthew open the eggs for the fruit chews

Papa said "Look up, Matthew" to find this egg

Matthew's new "bicycle" (as he calls it)

Having fun in the chair

It was an action-packed weekend with my side of the family. Matthew's great grandma Nana flew in from Arkansas to see everyone. She has been suffering with stomach ulcers so this was her first trip in a while. At 83 years old, she was going strong. Lori and Bryan flew in from Arizona on Thursday night as well. Nanna (my mom), Papa, and Mike arrived around 4pm on Friday. It was a full house! Matthew loved all the attention.

I was off from work on Good Friday so I kept Matthew home from school to spend time with him and the family. Matthew has an early schedule so he woke up much earlier than our guests most of the weekend. He woke up at 6:30am so we played, went to the grocery store, met the air conditioning repair man, and cooked lunch before any guests woke up. Matthew was shocked to see Nana walking in the house and he warmed up to her right away. He knew her name from pictures but I don't think he remembered her because it had been so long since her last visit. And Matthew was excited to see Lori and play with her. He almost hid behind me when she came down the stairs. He wasn't expecting everyone to be in the house.

Andy came home from work early so he played with Matthew some while Nana and I went to run a few errands. Nanna, Papa, and Mike showed up and realized Matthew was at the park near our house with daddy and Rusty. Matthew saw Papa from a distance and got excited. We all went out to dinner at Celebration Cafe later that evening and Matthew was patient through dinner because of all the family to entertain him.

The girls went to the Arboretum on Saturday while the guys played golf. Matthew joined the girls and had a great time. He saw a petting zoo and walked around quite a bit. He is happy as long as he is with Mama. The weather was perfect in the mid-70's. We enjoyed lunch at the cafe with live music and views of the lake. It was very relaxing. Matthew was starting to get fussy at nap time but Lori bought him some popcorn and that kept him in the stroller a little while longer.

Andy smoked pork meat for 10 hours and we ate it for dinner on Saturday night. We celebrated Papa and Matthew's birthdays with a cupcake cake in the shape of a basketball. We lit 2 candles and sang Happy Birthday. Matthew was in heaven eating the cupcake. The next morning he saw the leftovers and said "soccer ball, fire, candle, birthday" because he wanted to do it all over again. We thought that was so funny! He was serious. We celebrated it the weekend prior so I guess he thought this was going to be a weekly routine.

We stayed up watching basketball and Nana walked through her cookbook and told us the history behind a lot of her recipes. I was so glad to have the video camera rolling for that!

Matthew woke up at 5:30am on Sunday so we decided to go to the early church service at 7:30am. We ate a big brunch at the house with egg casserole, honey baked ham, and Mary K's homemade cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were frozen from her recent visit and they were delicious! Matthew hunted easter eggs with Papa and Nanna. They put Matthew's favorite - fruit chews- inside the eggs so he was loving that game!

Everyone left around 3pm on Sunday to travel back home. It was a fun weekend with a big family and Matthew enjoyed every minute of it. Easter is such a wonderful time of year with the nice weather and colorful flowers. And most of all we celebrate Christ's resurection from the cross. He has risen!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Banging pans together to make music

Walking on the pie pans

Playing the game Mimi and Papa Durkin gave him

Eating his cupcake - he was so happy

Enjoying a snack and opening gifts

Opening gifts from Papa and Grandma Bruce on Sunday morning. His first words after opening the ball "No Daddy, Mine"

Tulips in the neighborhood

Matthew was still feeling sick on Monday from his ear infection and cold so I stayed home with him. He was up every hour or so and I was exhausted so I was glad to stay home and get a nap. That morning just after eating breakfast, Matthew took off for the stairs in his fleece pajamas with the feet in them. I was in the kitchen looking for his clippers and I think he thought they were upstairs so he was going to go fetch them. In that couple of seconds, he climbed a couple of stairs and fell. He had a big bump and bruise near his eye.

I felt bad for Matthew with the cold and constant runny nose and then the bruise on his eye on top of it all! We went for a walk with Rusty in the morning and noticed the beautiful tulips around the neighborhood. After we met Daddy for lunch, Matthew and I took a bike ride to get frozen yogurt. He enjoyed the ride but the helmet was hitting his bruise so he cried on the way back. On Tuesday, he was feeling better so he went to school. The teachers were calling us to find out how he ended up with a bruise on his eye. On Friday, we ate at Fernandos - our ritual on most Friday nights.

Saturday was busy for us. We woke up at 7am and went to breakfast at Angelas. Andy took the car into the dealer because of the floor mat recall. I took Matthew to get his haircut at 10am by walking there with his stroller since it is so close to our house. We had a full day before noon! Andy played golf in the afternoon. Matthew took a good nap and then we headed to Allen for the indoor swimming pool. We missed the easter egg hunt in our neighborhood because Matthew was napping during that time. But he had fun swimming and I hope to take him every weekend. Ana Paula came over to babysit while Andy and I got out for a Junior League potluck dinner. Matthew cried when she first arrived but then he was giggling with her by the time we left 10 minutes later!

On Sunday, we sang happy birthday to Matthew and let him open a couple of presents from Papa and Grandma Bruce right there at the breakfast table. He loved the presents, especially the ball. We went to church and he stayed in the nursery. We went to the pancake house for breakfast afterwards but Matthew was getting tired so it was a rushed breakfast where I was holding him in my lap and shoveling food in my mouth as fast as possible before he "blew up". We were supposed to go to a church easter egg hunt but Matthew napped during that time so we missed it. Oh well. Naps are critical at this stage.

Matthew woke up from his nap and we let him open the rest of our presents and gave him a cupcake after dinner. We will celebrate it again next weekend when the Snider family will come into town. Matthew had been eyeing those cupcakes for the past couple of days and he was so happy to finally eat it. He was running around the house with lots of energy afterwards.

Matthew is talking so much now and he impresses us every day with his new words. He was singing the alphabet song and he could get most of the letters. I was amazed. He saw an ocean on tv and said "ocean". We also think that Matthew is too smart for his own good sometimes. He is very aware of Mama and the second that I am out of the room, he starts looking for me. We look forward to short work week (since I am off Good Friday) and a fun weekend ahead with visits from the Snider family and Matthew's great grandma - Nana.

Update - April 1, 2010

Andy took Matthew to his 24-month checkup at the doctor. He was a big boy and didn't even cry when he got his shot. He just commented on the bandaid "sticker".

His stats are the following:

Height 32 1/2 inches 15%

Weight 26 lbs 30%

HC 19 7/8 96%

The doctor mentioned that Matthew was small given the height of Andy and myself but we know he eats well and he will grow in due time.

Sick again and Snow again

Matthew had fun at his St Patrick's day party at school on Wednesday. I brought green cupcakes and he was eyeing those when I dropped him off in the morning. Daddy was able to stop in for the party at 3pm. Matthew didn't want him to leave and cried when he left.

On Wednesday evening, I could tell Matthew wasn't feeling that great. He didn't eat much for dinner and had a slight fever. On Thursday, I was debating on taking him to the doctor because he was coughing in the middle of the night but he was in such a good mood so I took him on to school. We received a call at 5pm from his teacher telling us to pick him up because he was playing outside and then put his head on her leg because he was tired. So I took the day off Friday and took Matthew to the doctor. As I suspected, the sinus cold has caused an ear ache. I kept Matthew medicated with antibiotics and tylenol but there were a few times where he would just cry and say "mama" as I was holding him. When he felt better, we played with playdoh, stickers, and colors. He loves his arts and crafts time. The weather was beautiful on Friday in the 70's so I took Matthew for a bike ride. It took me some time to get the air in the tire and he kept saying "bicycle" so he was excited to go. We also went to the yogurt place by our house later that evening and Matthew ate a good portion of it.

The weather was so cold on Saturday (40's) and rainy. Matthew seemed to be feeling worse and he didn't want to eat much and he was fussy. We drove around the neighborhood in the morning just to get him outside. We later saw Taylor and Kristy doing the same with Arden and we chuckled. In an effort to boost his mood, I took Matthew to the Galleria. Matthew had a smoothie and he watched the ice skaters on the ice skating rink. He really enjoyed getting into the stroller and getting out of the house. He asked for a walk several times during the day but the weather was so bad that we couldn't go - and that made him cry. I took him to a play area in the galleria where lots of kids play and Matthew enjoyed that for a little while. I ordered a happy meal from mcdonalds (something I never give him) and he ate 5 or 6 fries dipped into ketchup. He was smiling while we were sitting there in the eating area. I started to rush him to go and told myself that we are here for him to have a good time and if it means sitting there in the eating area for a while and playing with his toy, then that's what we will do.

I figured he would wake up in the middle of the night given how rotten he was feeling. He woke up at 4am on Sunday. He was hungry and I was glad to hear him say "eat" and motion the hungry sign language. So I fed him cereal and we watched one of his cartoons before going back to bed. He was up again around 6am and Andy took that shift then he was officially up at 7:30am. Matthew seemed to have his appetite back. He still wasn't feeling well and tugging on his ear but he acted better than the previous days.

We woke up to snow on the ground Sunday morning. I heard there was a chance but I really didn't think we would get snow this late in March! The wind was fierce so we didn't get out and play in it. We went to the grocery store and Matthew enjoyed riding around in the grocery cart and just getting out of the house. He took a good nap and in the afternoon he grabbed his jacket because he wanted to go somewhere. I usually take him to the senior citizen home but I didn't want to bring his sickness to the seniors. I decided to take him to the Northpark mall instead. We got another balloon at Nordstroms and he enjoyed the change of scenery. We shared a small cup of mango sorbet. He was so cute sitting at the table in the big chair. I said "Mama and Matthew" and he repeated it and it just melted my heart because I know he enjoys spending time together.

Later on Sunday, the Bowen's came over for dinner and a playdate. Arden was full of energy and Matthew seemed to perk up when she came around. He was a little better about sharing his toys this time. Well, on to a new work week- hopefully the weather will warm up to our normal temperatures so we can enjoy more outdoor activities. It was the first day of spring and I have to say that it sure didn't feel like it!

Sunny weekend

Sweeping the front porch in our Sunday clothes

Relaxing on the side of the pool in Mama's arms - his tooth was probably bothering him

Just hanging out

Climbing this green pole is his favorite new thing to do

Swinging with his sunglasses on

Cool Dude with his shades on

After much rain and cold weather we finally experienced a sunny, warm weekend. The temperature was in the 70's with a cool breeze and it reminds me of California weather. Matthew had a good week and we tried to make the most of the weekend with Matthew since we ran off and left him last weekend. We took him to the park near our house - his favorite past-time. He demands "Walk" and "stroller" or something that sounds similar so that we understand. And we usually drop what we are doing to accommodate Matthew since it's usually about time to get out of the house. His new thing lately is to sweep with the broom and help clean by wiping with a rag. He likes to help out and carry grocery bags inside for daddy or clean the counter for mama.

I took Matthew to an indoor aquatic center in Allen after his nap. This place was perfect for Matthew with a lazy river, hot tub, pool, and kids area with squirt guns. It was $5 for the both of us - what a deal! I was so excited to be able to swim with him. He was uneasy at first and he said "done" after we first went under water. So we sat on the bench for a little while and after he absorbed his surroundings, he was ready to swim again. He would jump into the pool into my arms and squeal with excitement. I remembered some of the swim lessons and told him to kick his feet and I was so impressed when he was doing it because last Summer he just didn't get it. He did pretty good for his first time back in the water and I hope to take him up to this indoor pool every weekend until the weather is warm enough to swim in our own pool. He really enjoyed it and it was great because he was exhausted at the end of it. Of course, Mama was too.

On Sunday, we went to church. The nursery was closed so Matthew sat with us during the service. He enjoyed the music and just sitting between Mama and Daddy. He was pretty good. I got out the snacks during the prayer right before he started to fuss. We went to Kel's diner and enjoyed a big breakfast afterwards - our family tradition lately. Matthew went to the nursing home again with me and the old ladies just sat around after Bingo and just watched his every move. It brings back positive memories of their children and they just adore him. He likes the attention, too. He blows kisses and says "bye bye" when he's ready to go.