Thursday, January 27, 2011

Bumbo Fun

I can't believe my BABY boy is big enough for the bumbo chair (he's 11 weeks old today!) I wasn't sure if he was ready for it yet, but we tried it tonight, and he did great. He loved it and had no problem holding his head up in it. If you're wondering why Matthew is sporting his studly naked legs it's because he's ready for bed and wearing one of those sleeper gowns...makes for easy diaper changes, ya know?!?
A little half smile thinking "Um, I don't know about this..."
Then a bigger smile thinking "I definitely am liking this new view"
Then Matthew discovered his foot! Oh my!
We seriously could NOT get him to stop staring at his foot. We think this might be the first time he ever realized he had a foot. Matt, Caroline and I were just cracking up.

"Wow, whatever that is down there is SO cool"

Of course, big sis had to sit in the bumbo chair too. I can't believe she fit in it...she thought she was so funny :-)
And here is another comparison of Caroline and Matthew at the same age both sitting in the bumbo for the first time. Click on the collage to make it bigger. I just LOVE these comparison pics.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Happy Birthday, Matt!!

Happy 31st birthday to Matt!! Matt turned 31 last weekend (Sunday) and we spent the weekend celebrating. Well, he spent the weekend celebrating. I was sick with laryngitis and an awful cold so I celebrated the best I could. Saturday night, Matt went out to eat with our families to Pappadeaux...there is a dish there that is his FAV. I was too sick to go and had to miss out on the fun. Matthew and I stayed home while our friends, the Matthews (thanks Jason and Laura!), kept Caroline so Matt could enjoy a kid-free dinner. After dinner, everyone came over to our house for cake and presents. I was happy to not be completely left out of Saturday night's celebration.
Caroline was SO into Matt's birthday this year. She wanted to help him open every single present. There is also a cute story about the balloons. I already had a couple of gifts in mind for Matthew and Caroline to "give" Matt, but I wanted Caroline to be included too. So I asked her what she wanted to give Matt for his birthday and she immediately said, "I want to give him lots of balloons. Five purple ones because that is my favorite color and five blue ones because that is daddy's favorite color". So that's what we did. Caroline was beside herself with excitement when she gave the balloons to Matt, and he loved that she came up with the idea all on her own.

Matthew, hanging out on the couch with Aunt Jean, Mimi, and Yaya
Getting some cuddles from my bro
"Look, MORE presents Daddy!!"


Cuddles from Mimi
I just love this picture...my precious Nannie holding Matthew
Our usual Casa Linda cake in Duke blue of course ;-) I couldn't find my candles so notice we used a votive, ha!
Making a wish...
Daddy and his kids...I would have jumped in the pic but I looked too sickly ;-)
Sunday was Matt's actual birthday. We had plans to go to dinner just the two of us, but I spoiled the plans again because I was still sick. So we decided to postpone Matt's birthday dinner and celebrate at home, just the four of us. Sunday night, we all got into our jammies and spent the evening eating pizza and birthday cake, opening more presents and watching football.
Caroline, after her bath, enjoying some cake (we still use the high chair for messy foods and art projects)
I gave Caroline a choice between making Matt a birthday card or picking one out for him at the store. She wanted to pick one out and immediately picked one with a dog on the front.
Reading his card from Caroline and Matthew
Caroline wanted to "write" Matt a message and this is what it looked like (pic below). She told us it said "Happy birthday Daddy, I love you"...so sweet. She also "signed" her name. See the "C" and "O" in the middle? Those are the only two letters she can write in her name right now so that's how she signed her name. Funny girl.
Caroline also helped me wrap Matt's gifts. She picked out the paper and ribbon and helped me wrap them up. Like I said, she was VERY into Matt's birthday and had lots of opinions about the way things should be done.
Holding up his gifts from Matt and Caroline (I got Matt an Ipad for Christmas which also served as his birthday gift from me...that's what happens when your birthday is so close to Christmas :-)
Happy birthday sweet hubby!! I'm sorry I was so sick during your special weekend...I still hope it was a wonderful birthday for you. We love you so much!!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Look Alikes

People make comments to me all the time about how much Matthew looks like Caroline. I tend to agree and think Matthew looks a lot like how Caroline looked as a baby. Although, when comparing them side-by-side, it's easy to see how different their face shapes and noses are. But I still think they are quite the look alikes...what do you think??
(Matthew is on the top and Caroline is on the bottom...also, Caroline is a couple of weeks older than Matthew in these pictures)
Funny that Caroline really looks nothing like her baby pictures. I wonder if Matthew will end up looking completely different too??

So Happy Together

Monday, January 10, 2011

2 Months Old

Matthew is 2 months old!! 2 big changes happened this month...one for the better, one not so much. I'll start with the fun stuff.
This month, Matthew started doing a TON of this:
We just love his big grin. We had to work hard for Caroline's smiles but Matthew gives them up easily which is great. He has also started to coo in the back of his throat which is my fav! Matthew and I like to have cooing conversations (bet you're glad you don't have to hear that :-) So it has been really fun watching Matthew become so much more social and interactive this month!
This month also brought about another change. My baby boy became a VERY fussy little man. The pediatrician diagnosed Matthew with colic at his 2 month appointment (this is in addition to his reflux). Starting right after he turned one month old, Matthew started having loooooooong periods of crying/screaming everyday from about 5-9 p.m. Long gone was our happy and content baby. It has been so hard when he is inconsolable, and I hate not being able to do anything to soothe him. Unfortunately, this is also the same time Matt gets home from work, we're all hungry, and Caroline needs some extra attention. It has been TOUGH!! Daytime sleep has been very difficult for Matthew as it is hard to soothe him to sleep and he has the lovely 45 minute nap intruder (I hate that thing!) Thank goodness for the swing which is where Matthew takes all of his naps for the most part.
Thankfully, Matthew is doing well at night (probably because he's so tired from crying so much during the day). He goes down for the night around 8:30/9:00 after his 7:30 bottle. Then has a "dream feed" around 10 and sleeps until 3:30 a.m. He's eats at 3:30 then goes back to sleep until 7:30. It's a manageable schedule although it's hard because Caroline was sleeping through the night at his age. I know he'll get there though. The pediatrician told us he doesn't need that 3:30 feeding, but I'm not sure how to cut it out (he drinks a full 5 ounces at this feeding).
Here are some more things Matthew is up to at 2 months:
***he likes his playmat and bouncy chair
***he loves watching our faces and will just grin and coo away...especially on the changing table
***he now really enjoys bathtime (as long as the water is very warm)
***he bats at toys hanging over him
***he adores his sister and watches her/listens to her very attentively
***still wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes
***still likes his carseat but will NOT stay asleep in it when the car stops (ugh)
***wants to be held nonstop, all day long, especially in the evening
***has blue eyes that we think might not change...they are more blue than Caroline's ever were
***he has the most adorable dimple on his right cheek (and a VERY tiny one on his left)
***likes to eat about 4-5 ounces every 3 hours
We love our little guy so much even though his colic has been very hard to deal with...we are praying we see an end to it this next month. Everyone says 3 months is the magic month. Oh how I hope that is true although I don't want to get my hopes up!!
2 Months Stats:
Weight: 11 pounds, 10 ounces (50th%)
Length: 22 3/4 inches (50th%)
Head circumference: 15 1/4 inches (50th%)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Scoot Along

Caroline's newest obsession:

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Cradle C(r)ap...on his face. What?!?

A few days before Christmas, we noticed Matthew developing a mean case of (what we thought was) baby acne. I didn't think anything of it. Until about a week later...Matthew's face was so red, swollen, dry and irritated. I started to wonder if something more than just baby acne might be going on. I took him to see the pediatrician who walked in the room and exclaimed "Oooo, ouch!" when he saw Matthew's face. The doctor said Matthew had cradle cap (which I accidentally call cradle crap EVERY time...anyone else do this?) on his face. Who knew that could happen? And when it does, it causes major irritation and needs to be treated with a special prescription cream. So we promptly started treatment and, within a short week, Matthew's face was back to normal. I learn something new everyday on this Mommyhood adventure.
Here is a picture of Matthew's face taken on Christmas day. The pic doesn't do his face justice...it looked MUCH worse in person!
Ahhhhh, back to normal!
I ALMOST caught Matthew's big, gorgeous grin in this pic but didn't quite catch it. Still working on capturing his smile on camera!
So serious
And isn't this big sister lucky to have such a sweet brother who will let her cover him in stickers EVERY day?!?