Labor Day Weekend

We went to Michigan over Labor Day weekend. It was a quick trip but Matthew did well on the flights. He is starting to realize that every time we go on the airplane, we go some place fun. We talked about flying on the airplane on Thursday and Friday. So when we headed to the airport on Saturday, he was rearing to go. He would say "go to airport". He knows the drill at the security line and starts taking off his shoes in preparation.

The last time we were on a plane a lady gave Matthew a lollipop. So when we were up in the air he asked for a lollipop. He has a good memory! He watched his DVD's on the plane and then napped after we stopped at McDonald's in Detroit. Matthew calls it "old Macdonald's" from the song. Once we arrived at the Durkin's, Matthew woke up from his nap and headed straight for the toys. The weather was cool in the 60's and he enjoyed running outside and playing on the slide. Andy and I took a nap while they played because we were exhausted from the travel.

We went to Andy's 20-year high school reunion on Saturday night while Mimi watched Matthew. We could tell that Matthew was feeling more comfortable there because he didn't cry when we left - which he normally does when mama leaves him with a sitter. Andy enjoyed seeing all of his high school friends. A lot of them have access to Facebook so they already saw pictures of Matthew on that.

Matthew's nose is stopped up so he has been breathing out of his mouth at night. We think it's related to allergies because this is the ragweed season when Andy has the most trouble. Matthew actually slept pretty good at night and we were surprised in the morning when he didn't wake up Mama and Daddy but instead went into the kitchen and said "hi Papa Durkin". He was eating breakfast at the table like a big boy when we woke up.

We took Mimi out to breakfast for her birthday on Sunday and then headed to visit "Pa Bru". Matthew napped in the car and then when we pulled up to the house, he ran over and gave Pa Bru a big hug. He was all smiles. He went inside and headed straight for the toys (remembering where they were located). We ate some sloppy joes and then Matthew was ready to see the horses. Pa Bru took him on a four-wheeler ride to see the farm. Matthew was also happy to see Adam and Grandma Bruce. He said "hi Adam" when he arrived and gave Grandma Bruce a hug. We went to the club house and Matthew enjoyed playing with the golf balls and putters. Grandma Bruce took Matthew on a ride in the golf cart and he waved "bye mama". I was impressed with his independence.

We flew out Sunday evening and Matthew fell asleep on the plane. He was exhausted from such a short nap earlier that day. When we landed in Dallas, he kept sleeping. I carried him from the plane to the car and into the house without him waking up. We woke up Monday morning and he had lots of energy. I took him to the park to swing and play on the slide. Then we headed to toys r us to buy a sandbox. Matthew loves the toy store! He saw a fire truck that he would really like to have for Christmas. He's into any kind of construction trucks, tractors, fire trucks, police cars, etc.... We put the sandbox together and Matthew played in that for a little while. He swam in the pool and enjoyed seeing Rusty. He said "mama, miss Rusty?" and I said "yes, Matthew, I missed Rusty, Did you miss Rusty?" and he said "Matthew missed Rusty, throw ball".

Grand Cayman Vacation

Lounging at the beach

Say "Cheese"

After a dip in the pool

Fruit loops - Yummy

Building sand castles with Daddy

The coolest kid on the beach

Dinner at the Wharf

The Bruce Family

Matthew's daycare was closed on Friday so we decided to take our summer vacation and take Monday off as well. We went to the Grand Cayman Island and lounged around the ocean and pool. Matthew truly enjoyed this vacation since he just started using his goggles to explore under water in our home pool. The sand was white and the ocean was clear with lots of fish and a coral reef just off the beach. Matthew called the sand area his "sandbox". He enjoyed digging in the sand and filling up his bucket. He would get hot after a couple of hours in the sun so we would go to the hotel room and relax in the room and take our 2-hour nap before going back for more in the afternoon.

Matthew is quite the swimmer. He enjoyed swimming in the pool with Daddy. Daddy would act like a bull with Matthew on his shoulders and Matthew would love trying to not get bucked off. He would giggle and everyone in the pool would watch them. It was hilarious. Matthew would fetch his toy at the bottom of the pool. He also liked to swim back and forth to mama and daddy.

He was a little hesitant to walk on the sand with his barefeet at first and he was a little scared of the waves of the ocean. But during the second day, he quickly warmed up to the idea of the ocean. He would say "ocean" and point at the ocean and then say "pool" and point to the pool and do this 5 or 6 times. I think he called the ocean a pool at first and we corrected him so now he was aware of the difference.

He would watch the fish in the ocean. There were small schools of fish that would swim by and then there were medium sized fish around. Some people would touch the fish b/c they were so close. Matthew wasn't scared of the fish but he also didn't try to touch them. His eyes would burn in the ocean if water got into his goggles so he would talk about that a lot "eyes burn".

In the evening we would go to dinner. Matthew was a trooper and fully cooperated at dinner every night. One night we went to the Wharf for a nice dinner and we sat near the deck and Matthew fed some very, big tarp fish with bread from the table. That kept him entertained for the duration of dinner! We would get ice cream some nights after dinner and Matthew was in heaven hanging out with Mama and Daddy. He threw a few temper tantrums when we would try to get him to leave the pool but for the most part he was so pleasant to be around.

After we ate lunch one day, I took him back to the room. He was sleepy from swimming in the morning. He kind of gave me a loving look and I said "I love you, Matthew" and he said "I love you, Mama". My heart just melted. It was the first time he said that. After his nap, he was in the ocean with Daddy and Andy said "I love you, Matthew" and Matthew said "I love you, daddy". Andy really enjoyed hearing that as well.

Goggle Buddies

Matthew & Daddy are goggle buddies

Rusty likes to swim, too

Matthew is quite the swimmer. He is able to see so much better with his goggles on. He hardly comes up for air because he is so fascinated with looking at everything underwater. We dropped a toy in the pool (this ball) and Matthew went down to the bottom to get it. We had to push him down to get to the bottom but once he was down there he grabbed it and brought it up to the top. He was so excited.

When I got into the pool with him, my bathing suit was waving in the water. Matthew noticed while he was swimming to me that he could see my belly button. He comes up out of the water and says "mommy, belly button" and then quickly goes back under to check it out again. It was funny to see him so fascinated with things under the water.

Hot Hot Hot

This summer has been one of the hotest seasons. We try to stay cool by getting into the pool in the evenings after work and on the weekends. Andy had a busy week at work so we celebrated the closing of one of his deals by going out to dinner on Friday night. Matthew did OK during dinner. He woke up from 12 -2am on Thursday night so he was exhausted Friday. He cried the entire ride to the daycare in the morning because he was so sleepy. His teacher told me that he took a 3 hour nap! Unfortunately, Andy and I can't take 3-hour naps at work so we were really tired.

Matthew is still adjusting to his new bed and room. Almost every night he wakes up at midnight just like clock-work. Most of the time he just stays in his room and cries. We are not sure why he wakes up at these odd hours but we are hoping to nip it in the bud soon. Andy and I wake up tired but I think we are getting used to it.

We went out to dinner Saturday so Ana Paula came over to babysit. Matthew cried when she showed up but shortly after we left, he was in the best mood and laughing at everything she said. AP said Matthew was the most fun this time.

We made sure Matthew took naps around his scheduled nap time to keep him on schedule. He woke up at 3am on Saturday night and his nose was stopped up so I sat with him until he was able to get back to sleep (about 30 minutes). The next morning, Andy let me sleep in when Matthew woke up at 6am ready to eat and play. Andy just kept the coffee going to be able to keep up with Matthew. And last night (Sunday night), Matthew woke up around 3am crying for a while. He seems to be healthy and maybe this is just a pattern he is getting into.

Aside from all the sleepless nights, Matthew is a lot of fun to be around these days. He likes to shout the words to the nursery ryme "Pease porridge hot". And he likes to sing "skidamarinky-dink" by adding "I love mama" when I sing "I love Matthew". It will melt your heart. He will kiss your "bobos" if you have any. And he loves to giggle and say "I'm going to get you" while playing on the couch. Andy loves to put him on his shoulders and rough-house with him. The second Matthew gets into the pool, he gets a burst of energy. He LOVES the pool. He goes under water and swims for nearly 6 seconds at a time.

At night, we tell him that Mama and Daddy are so proud of him. He repeats it "daddy so proud of you", "swim to the steps", "big brother". I tell him that baby is in Mama's belly and Matthew says "No, baby in Matthew's belly". We drove to the bank on Saturday and when we took a turn we don't normally do, Matthew cries "no, this way". I'm not sure if he really knows directions but he seems to know where he is going. He does this in the stroller all the time when we don't turn down the street to go to the park.

Matthew is talking in more complete sentences. His teacher calls him "Mattakins" so sometimes Matthew will call himself Mattakins. It's cute.

Summer time at the pool

Riding the train at the mall

Having fun in the pool

Swim to daddy

MAB 2008 5-4-3-2-1 Blast-off

The weather is unbearably hot and the only way to enjoy the outdoors is to spend time in the pool. After work on Friday, we jumped in the pool and ordered a pizza. Matthew loved it! He was so exhausted when he went to bed that he feel asleep fairly easily in his toddler bed. The same thing happened on Saturday and Sunday. He is getting more familiar with his new room and he is able to fall asleep without any crying.

On Saturday, I took him to the Irving Mall while I got an oil change. We hung out at the Barnes and Noble and then played on the train and other coin operated rides. He didn't understand that it took quarters to operate so he wasn't begging me for money just yet. But I am sure he will quickly figure that out in years to come.

Arden came over on Sunday and he enjoyed swimming with her in the pool. Arden wanted to hold hands and jump in the pool. Matthew wasn't quite ready the first time but ended up jumping into the pool anyways. The second time he was ready and having fun. He was swimming in the pool for nearly 3 hours on Sunday!

Transition to Toddler bed

the new bed

On Friday night, we decided to move Matthew into his new room. I went to target and bought a toddler bed and put it together from the box before his bedtime. The first night and subsequent nights were painful. I guess Andy and I were naive to think it was going to be a smooth transition. We knew Matthew slept on a toddler bed in Michigan for nearly a week without any crying at all so we assumed this would be the same.

Boy, we were wrong. Matthew cried the first night but Andy calmed him down to sleep and then Matthew woke up multiple times in the night and turned the door knob on his own. We were shocked to find out that he was capable of getting out of the room on his own. At one point, Andy put him in our bed to get him to finally go to sleep. But after getting kicked, Andy decided to put Matthew back in his bed. Matthew had a runny nose and he was struggling to breathe out of his nose so we were a little sympathetic to that.

Saturday night was worse with Matthew waking every couple of hours and then we would have to tend to him by taking turns. We woke up exhausted on Sunday and both of us were suffering with another sinus cold so we really needed our sleep. One night I decided to sleep in the same room with Matthew but he woke up 4 or 5 times in the night asking for "mommy, water" and once he drank a sip, he went back to sleep.

To even get Matthew to go to sleep in the new bed, we resorted to closing the door and letting him cry it out for a while. This really made Matthew upset and he threw the biggest temper tantrum we have ever seen. He would be in a good mood after his bath and reading books but as soon as it was time for bed, he would scream at the top of his lungs once we shut the door. He would bang on the door, run into the door, and scream until he wore himself out - typically 30 minutes.

The new room doesn't have a lock on the outside so we would have to hold the door for the duration of the crying fit until he finally gave in. I think we are making progress.

The good news is that Matthew's runny nose is cleared up and he seems to be over his cold. For the past couple of nights, Matthew eventually stops crying and simply talks "mommy, daddy, water" and at that point we go in there and make sure he has his sippy cup and then ask him to get into bed. He has water all along it's just the one thing that he could yell during the middle of the night that would prompt us to go in there. But Matthew only woke up once last night and he stayed in his room without us tending to him so I believe we are slowly making progress.

For the record, Matthew was waking up nearly every night when he was in the crib. He would wake up crying from a dream or some unknown reason and usually Andy would tend to him to get him back to sleep. Matthew would require water to get back to sleep. And we don't blame him for wanting water at night because the air conditioning tends to make the air dry.

Each morning, Matthew has been waking up in a better mood where he runs around the house in his diaper and squeals. So we know he is getting good sleep each and every night. He says "nap good?" and I say "yes, I slept good, did you sleep good?" and Matthew replies "yeah".

Matthew is expecting a baby sister in December

I went to the doctor on Thursday and during the sonogram appointment the technician wrote down the sex of the baby and placed it in an envelope so Andy and I wouldn't find out. We had a friend call the bakery and tell them the sex and then we cut the cake on Saturday evening at a small get-together with friends to unveil the surprise. And what a surprise! I was thinking it was a boy since I feel exactly the same as the last pregnancy. I was shocked when Andy cut the cake and it was pink in the middle.

Matthew called the cake "birthday cake" since it was my birthday on Friday and that's the only kind of cake he knows. He doesn't quite get the idea of having a baby or even a baby sister for that matter. But he has 4 months to warm up to the idea.

The party on Saturday included lots of other little friends for Matthew. They swam in the pool and jumped in the bounce house. Matthew showed everyone his train set and he was quite the social butterfly. Nanna and Papa came into town for the big surprise and he enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with Papa.