Funny toy

This week I took some items to the second hand baby store and traded them in for some new clothes (sizes 12-18 months!!!) and a couple of toys. Now I am not big on toys and have actually only bought Matty three before (and one was a book), and we try to discourage toys that need batteries, but he liked this hammer so much I couldn't resist.

Yummy yummy!

Matthew is enjoying his adventures in solid foods with his all time fave being avocado. Unfortunately, it seems that he is allergic to the lovely green fruit. We'll try again later o be sure. Until then, he is quite happy with his second favorite, sweet potato- baked, not boiled. He also likes rice cereal and peas (yick!) and in this video you can see that he is not too excited about banana.

First Foods

While we were in California Matty has his first solid food. He has tried sweet potatoes, bananas, rice cereal, and avocado. And he doesn't like any of them! It doesn't help that he has a nasty cold (another first!) and vomits from coughing so hard. He has dropped to the 50 percentile in weight while jumping to the 97th in height, so we need to start getting some calories in that boy! Next on the menu are carrots, peas, and squash.

San Diego

For the last leg of our trip we went down to San Diego to visit Matthew's cousins. He thought he was one of the big kids and loved that William and Mackenzie shared their toys with him!

Cutie pie cousins!

The night we stayed with the Muellers was actually their very first night in their new house! It was fun seeing the sights of their new town and sharing the joys of parenthood.

This is just so cute since the car is as big as Matt. Notice the towel under him? Yea, that's after he peed on their freshly cleaned carpet. Oops!

More CA fun

We were able to do lots of catching up on our trip. We went to a service at our old church, Rock Harbor, and visited with some friends there. Then, we went to a baby shower for my friend Tara and got to chat with my gal pals.

My cousin Mary and her husband Matias were in town after being gone for a three year honeymoon around the globe. They aren't done traveling yet, but it was nice to visit with them a bit.

Of course we had to do some lounging around Grandma's. Matty sure enjoyed it.

Did I mention that my mom has a ceiling fan? Caleb and Matthew both thought it was amazing!

This year Joshua did not want to spend an entire week vegging at my mom's house like I like to do when in CA, so we packed our schedule chalk full. The morning after Christmas we met up with some old friends that were also in town visiting (or still living). We had so much fun catching up and getting to know the new additions. We miss you guys!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous while we were there. It rained on Christmas, which cleared up the air, so the mountains were crystal clear. It was a lovely high 60's week. Matthew enjoyed getting his fill of vitamin D.

Matty shared smiles with his great great Aunt Lucy (my mom's aunt).

And what fun is a trip to Grandma's house without some kind of weird costume? I think that's a sleeve cut off from a shirt on his head.

Matthew's First Christmas

We began the excitement a bit early when I had three snow days and got to stay home with the little guy! We had a blast hanging out in our pj's and taking a few naps each day. Christmas Eve was spent at Joshua's sister's house with all the fam. We opted out of the gift exchange this year, but Grandma couldn't resist getting her newest cutie a little something. See how eagerly he tore at the paper to gt to the good stuff? He got a boat full (literally!) of bath toys which he adores in the tub and on dry land.

My sweet family on Christmas Eve. Yes, Matthew is wearing a tie. I love hand-me-down dress up clothes!
We headed to the airport just after dinner in the hopes that our flight wouldn't be delayed due to snow like many before us. We managed to get to CA, although we didn't get to my dad's house until almost 3 in the morning! We will not fly into LA so late again, even if it is a better deal!
Christmas morning we had breakfast at my dad's, then went to the big family festivities with my mom.

Matthew wore his dress up outfit for a second day (who knew?), but lost the tie and undid the top button as the day went on. Here is an attempt at a picture of the whole fam. I think we forgot to tell everyone where our camera was! Oh well.