14 Months!

Every day is even better than the one before! I love spending my days with Matthew and I'm so grateful that I can! We appreciate everything Robert does for us. I feel very spoiled. For Mother's Day, they gave me a beautiful bracelet that has Matthew's birthstone on it. I love it!
Matthew is starting to try and walk more. I try to have him walk everywhere instead of carrying him...into the stores, from the car and even just around the house. It is definitely slower but hopefully he will learn that he has to walk. He has taken 7 steps in a row. Sometimes he falls forward but catches himself with his hands and stands up and just keeps going. Other times he falls backward on his butt and just crawls the rest of the way. He still won't really say any words. He can say 'dada', 'coocoo' (cookie), and he can quack, moo, baa and make a fish face. He is working on crowing like a rooster, meowing and neighing.
Matthew loves to sneeze. It's fake but if you say "God bless you" he will keep doing it several times in a row. I'm sure it is just because it gets a reaction, but it is still really funny. He is getting better at taking naps. He needs them and I was wasting so much time during the day walking around until he fell asleep. This is so much better! The first day he cried, but after that it was like he knew that it was nap time and he rarely cries. If he does, it is for a very short time. He is such a happy little boy and I'm very fortunate to have such an amazing family!

Matthew's First Year!

13 Months!

I was thinking of only updating the blog every once in a while but I like looking back and seeing what Matthew was doing each month. I'm hoping I can keep this up.
He isn't walking yet, but everyone says he is close. He likes to walk holding onto his McQueen car (a gift from Uncle Bob and Aunt Pattie) and our hands. He will stand there and wait until he has both of your hands and then takes off running. He is going to be so fast.
He hasn't said any definite words yet but he likes to babble. He likes to make different sounds rather than talk. I'm pretty sure he can quack too. It sounds like the sound you make when you are trying to get something out of your throat or trying to sound German. It's too funny.
Grandma and Grandpa Nelson bought him a new car seat for his birthday. We installed it facing the back but when I took it to the fire department, they told me it would be safer to have him face forward. I was uncomfortable with this at first but he loves it. He laughs when I sing and dance.
He is such a happy boy. I am done breastfeeding him. At first, he really didn't like whole milk. I researched what some other mothers did to make the transition easier. Since it needed to be a little sweeter, I read about mothers mixing brown sugar, yogurt, or soy milk with the whole milk. I discussed it with his doctor and we agreed that soy milk would be better. He loves it and drinks whole milk by itself now. He is the most adaptable child! I thought it would be a long process but it was pretty easy.
This summer is going to be so much fun! I can't wait until it warms up!
I don't think I have ever been this happy! Every day is a joy and I love him so much.

Just watching TV

One Year Pictures!

One Year Old!

I can't believe that a year has gone by. It has been the best year. Matthew has grown and become such a fun, smart little boy. He has learned so much. I love watching him do everything...play, eat, and ,I know it sounds creepy, but I love watching him sleep too.
He loves playing. He has so many toys and loves them all. I watch his big cousin Ryan two days a week and it is amazing. Not only do I get to spend time with Ryan, but Matthew is learning so fast from watching him too. They don't really play together but they fight over the same toys. They will eventually and hopefully become best buddies!
He still loves to eat everything! He is such a good eater. I love making him meals and seeing how much he likes them. He still lets me know if there is something he doesn't like, but that doesn't happen too often.
All in all, he is a good sleeper. He gets very cuddly when he is ready for bed. We have the same bedtime routine and he loves it. He has an elephant lovey that stays in his crib. He cuddles with it and goes right to sleep.
We are working on weaning him and starting whole milk. It is a lot harder than people think. I give him milk once during the day, nurse him in the morning and night, and every drink in between is water with a little bit of apple juice. When he drinks the milk, if he does, he lets it drip out of his mouth and onto his shirt. I hope that he starts to like it soon. Otherwise, I will be wasting a lot of milk.
We had one of his birthday parties last weekend and it was a blast! He had so much fun. We have two more! I put some pictures up after all three. We had pictures taken and they turned out so well! He loves the camera. He's our little ham!
I really don't know what I would do without him. He is teaching me so much about myself, from little things like fruit isn't so bad to bigger things like having more patience. I can't imagine life without him.

11 Months!

Holy smokes! In one short month, our baby will be 1! He is the sweetest boy ever! The only time he gets fussy is if he is tired or he is teething. He has a tooth coming in now (which will make 7!) and he wakes up a bit earlier and is a little more of a Momma's boy. We give him some Baby Advil and some cuddles and he is all better! They come in fast too which helps.

He loves to walk while holding our hands. He will walk holding onto furniture too but he is limited so he would rather crawl. He loves to play with the dogs' cages. He holds onto the sides and does a little dance. Everything he does is so cute.

He is a terrific sleeper at night. We have a bedtime routine. He eats dinner and gets a bath. We put his pjs on and he gets to play for a while. When he is sleepy, around 8pm, I take him upstairs. I read him his bedtime story while I nurse him. I give him a kiss and say "night, night, i love you". He rolls and wiggles for a bit until he is comfortable and goes to sleep. He is not good at taking naps. I try to put him in the crib and he just screams until his face is red and he is sweaty. The only way he will sleep during the day is if he is riding in the car or in my arms. I don't get to do very much during his naps.

He loves to eat. He would probably eat all day if we let him. He will eat almost anything. He is starting to get a little picky. If he doesn't want something, he will just throw it off the highchair tray. I(the dogs love this!) His favorites are still pancakes, blueberry waffles, chicken nuggets, bananas, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. He loves cookies too. It's sad but he knows what the Nilla Wafers box looks like and crawls as fast as he can to you if you have it.

I can't believe we are planning his birthday parties (yes, parties...he's having 3!).

We love this little boy so much! I can't wait to see what he is doing next month!!



10 Months!

I am so in love with this little boy! Robert and I tell him ALL the time! I could kiss him all day long!
He is such a busy boy now. He crawls and pulls himself up on everything...doors, walls, couches, legs...everything. Sometimes he successfully sits down and other times, he does a flying leap backward. Maybe he thinks someone is always behind him, but it's not always the case. He can scoot himself around the coffee table and along the couch. There have been a couple of times where he has been standing and has let go and stayed standing for a couple of seconds all by himself. He loves books. He will sit and let you read and he turns the pages. He needs a little help still but he thinks he such a big shot.
This boy is an eating maniac! Almost anything you put in front of him, he will eat. He loves almost everything. He has two more teeth now, total of 6. I think there are more coming but he really does not want me in his mouth so it's hard to tell.
He is getting so big. We had to start thinking about what to do for his birthday already! Time is just going by so fast. He smiles all the time, he is such a good boy. He is starting to "talk" more now. We will say
"Matthew, say 'dada'"  and he says
"dadalalablahda"
It's so cute and I can't wait to hear his little voice say other things!
It's been so great living closer to family. He is getting used to having other people around and I am loving it! Robert has been working really long hours but the weekends are so much fun! Hopefully we will sell our house and be able to start looking for our own.
I can't wait to see what Matthew will be doing these next couple of months. He does something new every day, it's hard to remember what he wasn't doing before!