Miscellaneous Fun

Matthew has trouble falling asleep unless he is being cuddled in some way. Joshua put him to bed the other night and I thought he was back to his studies. When I went back to check on Matt, I found them both snuggled up fast asleep.

We were packing for our trip and I needed Matt to play by himself for a while. He is into everything these days and can't be left alone for a second, so I packed him up and got on with my work. :)

Restaurants have become more of a challenge as our little one likes to exercise his vocal cords. Generally not in a mad/sad way, but definitely loud. Plastic cups keep him entertained for quite a while, and they entertain us as well!

Who needs toys when there are kitchen things to play with? Matt loves banging things together and on the floor and enjoying the sounds they make. Notice his fancy trucks being ignored while he plays with a plastic lid and container.

A Much Needed Vacation

The three of us have been working hard, so a spring break vacation was a top priority. With a limited time frame (and budget) we decided to head north to the San Juan Islands. After a 2 hour drive and an hour and a half ferry ride, we made it to Friday Harbor. Our accommodations were at the lovely Lakedale resort where we "roughed it" in style with a 900 square foot cabin. It was just like Little House on the Prairie, but with running water and electricity. :)
Here is our "backyard". We were right on the lake and saw deer and ducks galore.

We ventured out to do some whale watching at Lime Kiln State Park. See the Orcas in the background? Ya, me neither despite four days of searching. But we did get a lovely view of Canada across the water and the Olympic Mountains.
Are these alpacas cute or what?! We got to visit their farm (my favorite spot on the island!)

Much of our time was spent enjoying doing nothing in the cabin. I did do at least one thing productive ... see the hat my cutie is wearing? I was inspired after meeting alpacas to make a hat from their wool. Plus, it was crazy windy and I needed to cover that baby's ears. Not bad for an afternoon of crocheting in the car without a pattern, eh?

Joshua and I had the luxury of a date night on Saturday when his parents came up for a short stay. we ate at this beautiful restaurant in Roche Harbor and enjoyed fresh seafood while watching the amazing sunset. The three of us took a nice walk on the docks the next day so Matt could enjoy the sights too.

It was such a lovely weekend, I wish it could have lasted longer. I still have a couple days off of work to enjoy, but Joshua is back at it - a new quarter at school and all the craziness of work. Wouldn't it be nice to retire at 32?

Crawling in Reverse

My little boy is into everything these days! The funny part is, he hasn't quite figured out how to crawl. That doesn't stop him though. He pushes himself backwards and pivots, then repeats until he gets whatever it is he is after (most often something he shouldn't have... like the mouse cord he just picked up) or he backs himself into a corner. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!" Dirty Dancing, remember? Anyway, enjoy.

Wii like it!

Since I will likely be working full time next year, we splurged and bought a Wii. Matthew likes it just as much as wii ... I mean we do! Please ignore the fact that I cannot for the like of me remember that videos should only be taken horizontally and that my husband says "striked". Just enjoy those sweet giggles from my favorite little man.
Oh yeah, he has learned to shake his head no in a very timely manner. He loves to say no while pulling my hair too ...

Swimming

Today we had a family night out at the YMCA.  We had to cut our passes this year, but we can visit once per quarter free of charge.  We thought Matt would enjoy a dip in the swimming pool and we were right!  He looked so stinking adorable in his baby speedo.  His first few splashes confused him, but after a while he was smiling ear to ear.  As I took a look around the pool, I noticed that there were tons of dads with their kiddos, but no moms.  So I followed suit and left the boys and enjoyed my first soak in a hot tub in a long time.  :)  Ahhhh, what a lovely Saturday evening.

Bouncing Boy

Yesterday we received the much anticipated Johnny Jump Up. It took Matt a while to figure out that he has to make it bounce, but I think he's starting to get the hang of it. Check out those cankles atop his club feet! What a cute kid.
Any day now the swing I ordered will be here, and since it is officially spring we should have a sunny day or two coming up to try it out. Yippee!

So grown up

Matt is looking so grown up these days. His little man outfits melt my heart. Here he is enjoying some play time with Daddy - his favorite! Cuddle time he saves for Mommy. :)

Aunt Jackie spent a week with us babysitting and hanging out. Here is her outfit of choice. So stylish!

One of Matty's cute new tricks - clapping!

That's all for now ... just wanted to get some pictures up since I have been spending all my internet time on Facebook instead of Blogger. Sorry mom!

Ides of March

When the stranger told Caesar to beware the ides of March, he should've told it to the birds. You can tell when spring is here because the birds are out every morning chirping away. This morning, Erin and I slept in because Matthew let us. At 9am we finally got out of bed and migrated over to the living room. I opened the shades to find... SNOW! Isn't it March? We don't usually have snow like this in December during a normal year. "No wonder we didn't hear the birds chirping this morning." I thought to myself. The snow was like a blizzard coming down with fat, fluffy flakes creating a winter wonderland all over again.

We scrambled to get our snow gear on and get in our last chance snow playing fun before it turned into rain. It was really funny watching the birds hop on the snow and look a little confused. I think they were telling each other, "I knew we should've stopped in Oregon this year."

We couldn't resist resting Matthew in the snow and taking this picture. He acted just like Randy from A Christmas Story: all fluff and no movement. We gave him a taste of the snow. I think he just didn't like that it was so cold.

Shortly afterward the snow did turn to rain, wind, hail, and now sunshine. Weatherwise, we're done for today.

My Valentines

Valentine's Day is kind of hit or miss around here ... one year it was a surprise hotel room decorated with roses and chocolates and the next year went without even a card. This year fell somewhere in between as far as the actual day. Last night Joshua and I went out for our favorite bite - BBQ and sweet tea. Today we all three spent the day together hanging around the house and then out running errands. We got a movie to watch both last tonight and today, but they both ended up being flops. I couldn't even sit through the first 10 minutes. Anyhow, the best part of this "holiday" is yet to come. My sweet hubby scheduled a 4-5 hour deep cleaning of our house! Whoopee! I never really understood why my mom always asked for a clean house as a gift, but now I get it. True love at its finest. I got him Chinese food and chocolate ice cream, he got me a maid. What can I say? We know each other pretty well!

Too cute

Getting Creative

Sometimes you have to be really creative living in a tiny house with a busy little boy. For example, if I want to get any laundry folded, this has been the way to do it. I strap this fun toy to the back of the hamper so we can face each other while we work.

Here we have Daddy using his creativity. We had one constipated little boy (thank you solid foods ...), so Joshua thought putting him on the potty might help. No such luck, but he had fun acting grown up!

Matt is a big fan of knocking over whatever block creation we make, so the other morning while I slept in (thank you Hubby!!!) Joshua decided to build the blocks on top of his boy. Matty didn't mind at all and took the opportunity to chew on the top block without having to bend or reach! Have I mentioned we have a lazy little peanut?

In other news, I have started taking a class to get my WA professional certification and have been suffering from migraines and sinus congestion. That should explain the lack of posts. Sorry Mom! I will try to be more on top of things!

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.