My Thoughtful Husband..

So yesterday (Christmas eve-eve), Ryan decided to be sweet and do the dishes after breakfast (bacon and eggs), and after making ground beef for Chili (73% lean) for lunch... Unfortunately, he forgot/spaced it when he emptied the pans of grease fat (although he says he didn't think there was a lot of grease in the pans), so he just dumped them down our kitchen sink drain...

Yeah, he plugged it good, so we didn't have a kitchen sink since 12pm yesterday, until this morning when it got fixed.   Luckily our landlord's dad is a plumber, otherwise it would have an interesting Christmas eve trying to cook and clean without a kitchen sink! 

My silly husband.  I love how sweet he is, but it seems everytime he uses the sink by himself he breaks it.  (Last time he broke the kitchen faucet over 4th of July, and before that it was the kitchen faucet at our other apartment over Memorial Day weekend..) 

Anyways, here are a few pictures.

Our plumber said he'd never seen anything like it... it must have hit some cold water and solidified.  My husband is talented, that's for sure!

He laid and looked at the presents for a good 5-10 minutes after he was done playing with his toys.  I think he's ready for Christmas, considering all he does is stare at the presents then attack any paper we give him.

Matthew's New Trick and Laughing and Paper Attacking

Tonight Matthew decided that he knows how to stand up holding on to 'stationary' objects, instead of just our hands.  He did this over and over with me, and then continued doing it with Ryan when he got home from Scouts. 

When he was learning to sit up on his own, he got very frustrated when he would fall over until I would sit him up to try again (for 3-4 days until he could sit up long enough on his own he wasn't bored by falling down). 

Now I just have the joy of standing him up all the time when he falls down and dealing with his bumped head/face-plants to look forward too during the next week or so...

Silly boy, he always looks scared of the camera now when I take it out..

Around 0:30 is where I get a couple of chuckles out of him.. not many, but some!  Other than that I feel like I'm torturing him.

He was doing this for like 5 minutes as I wrapped a gift on the floor next to him before I took the camera out.

I will eat this paper!  Originally this was one long strip (left over from me wrapping a gift on the floor next to him) that he crumpled and tore in half.  I think he's ready for Christmas this Sunday!

Matthew at 4 Months

[I wrote this right before his appointment in December, but then his appointment got changed, so I never posted it before I left for NJ]

Weight: 16lb 9 oz
Height: 25.5 inches
Head Circumference: 16.5 inches

First off, I can't believe how much Matthew's changed in the last couple months!  It's hard to believe he was this tiny baby who had trouble nursing just 3 months ago, whereas now he's a pro at nursing and never wants to nap because he wants to see everything that's going on!

At 4 months,...

...still doesn't do well at church.  He won't! fall asleep there, which makes 3+ hours of no sleeping Matthew pretty much impossible.  I think it's mostly because there is so much to see/hear that he can't relax.  He has been doing better in sacrament meeting when we sit either on the last row, or the front row.  I think he likes it better because then all the sound is either behind, or in front of him, not surrounding him.

...naps better during the day, usually.  He normally wakes up around 7:15am, then takes a nap at 8:30ish for either 45 minutes or 1 hour 30 minutes.  When he sleeps longer it's much nicer because then he is happier too!  Then he takes another 45/1:30 nap at 11ish, and another 45/1:30 nap at 3ish.  It is always really nice when he takes all three 1:30 naps because he is sooo much happier in the evening.  He also takes a quick 30-45 minutes nap in the evening somewhere between 6-7pm (normally he'll sleep while we're running errands in the car or at the store). 

...goes to sleep between 9-10pm and sleeps until 3:30am, then wakes up for the day at 7:15am.  (Lately he cries/fusses at 5:15am, but I haven't had to get him for a few days now.)  I think he's waking up at 5:15am because when he first started getting a cold he would sleep 8 hours until 5:15am to eat, or only sleep for 2 hours all night long once his cold got so bad he couldn't sleep any more.

...is a sitting-up pro. (yes, sitting!)

...still acts like he wants to crawl, and gets very frustrated at not being able to explore things just out of his reach.

...chomps on everything, especially his fingers/fists.

...attacks paper for the noise. (He's been eyeing the Christmas presents for weeks now..)

...is interested in anything we eat/put in our mouth, and always wants our food/utensils.

...giggles sporatically.  We still can't figure out a way to get him to laugh consistently.  However, he was laughing hysterically when I was helping Ryan to saw a board for Joseph and Samuel's present.  I was sitting on the board to hold it steady, with Matthew in one of my arms because he wouldn't be happy by himself on the floor, and it was vibrating from the saw.  I'm pretty sure he thought the vibrations funny for some reason.. although Ryan couldn't hear him with the saw going I could!

...won't smile for the camera anymore!  Once he sees the camera, he'll just give it this blank stare(see Christmas photo on Facebook) and stop responding to everything around him.  It's kinda frustrating because he's a smiley baby and I want cute pictures of him, but he won't cooperate!

...loves things that make noise.

...still loves watching cars and trucks go by out our front window.

...recently founnd his toes, and are fascinated by them.

Mothering and Updates

f,,jh54tfg76tb vrfycf       w2ewwdc nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnzzw   cfm ,mnttrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyt5tgf4eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee5555555re62wwwwwdgfwwwHGJU8h bminhfgY - Matthew's contribution

I think the hardest part about being a Mom so far is when Matthew has colds..  He started getting one last week, so we put the humidifier back in his room and it seemed to really help.  I was hopeful he'd never get super stuffy or too miserable.  Oh boy, I was wrong; he is now super stuffy and miserable.  The hardest part is he can't sleep well because of nasal drip (up every 2 hours), so no one sleeps well.  He wakes up from naps and nighttime still grumpy/clingy, so nothing gets done around the house either.

It's just so hard to give up the good sleep schedule that he's been doing mostly too because you can't just leave a little baby to cry when you know the only reason they woke up was because they were so stuffy they can't breathe anymore.  He also wants to eat more because with a stuffy nose he gives up sooner and doesn't eat as well.  We've raised one end of his bed again to try and help him sleep, but it hasn't been working too well recently.  I hate babies being miserable and there isn't anything you can do about it!

One thing I love about being a Mom, however (besides all the smiles and giggles! - They are so cute, I wish I could get a good video, but he still doesn't do them 'regularly' for anything in particular), is when he doesn't fight going down for naps, and instead just cuddles into me as we rock to sleep.  It's just so cuddly and loving having a little baby completely relaxed in your arms peeking up at you once in a while until he slowly starts drifting off to sleep. 


In other news,

We put in another offer on a house today (our other offers on houses fell through).  This pretty much the perfect dream house for us, but it's a little out of our price range. :\  However, we're trying our best to get it without overstretching ourselves because it has everything we want (besides A/C).

Including..
a library! (with built in shelving!!)
Ryan's garages [yes, multiple!!, 2 extra large 2 car garages (I'd say about 6-8 car parking spaces in the garages!) as well as 2 garden sheds for a lawn mower, etc]
3 bedrooms
master bath
2 other bathrooms
downstairs playrooms
formal and eat-in kitchen dining
large kitchen
big garden space and backyard
and a bonus hot tub! 

Of course this house was built in 1976, so it has some awesome carpeting (actually almost like Mom and Dad's house with the pink and blues, but with a couple of funky-er types thrown in - like plaids, look-a-like wood carpet, etc.), but it has been taken care of very well and has only had the 1 owner, who actually built the house.

We got new cell phones, but Ryan's number stayed the same.

Our Christmas shopping is done and our Christmas letter is written.  Now we just have to get the picture taken and printed! yikes.

Coconut M&M's are good and taste like Mounds/Almond Joys. :)

Videos for Your Entertainment

This was taken a couple of weeks ago when he just learned to sit up on his own (just after 3months!), now he's a pro when he wants to sit up, although he can't get to a sitting position yet without help.

He was laughing a ton, but I still can't get there soon enough with the camera to get a good video... sigh.  Sorry about the lighting, it was darkened because we were getting ready for bed.

At least in this one you can see how cute and happy he is while he's talking.  Recently he's been talking a ton when you change his diaper or waking up from a nap.

Try and Eat the Birdy!

More Matthew Pictures and After Wind Storm Pictures

More pictures to enjoy of Matthew, as well as a few of the aftermath of the wind storm we had yesterday. 

We had 80-100mph winds from Wednesday night to Thursday evening and were without power for 12hours~all day long (as well as the power going out multiple times during the night).  In fact, every time Matthew woke up (about every 2hours according to my phone), my clock had reset to midnight, or shortly thereafter. 

My alarm clock is now completely broken from so many power outages, so that when I plugged it back in after the power came back, it just flashed strange "numbers" at me and wouldn't stop playing white noise from the radio no matter what I did.  Anyways, Matthew didn't sleep well because of the noise and trees blowing, but we survived, even though our house got down to 58degrees at about 1pm, then stayed there until the power came back on at 6:30pm.  Luckily, we still had hot water, so we could have hot baths to keep us warm in the afternoon.

Nothing got significantly damaged to our house or car luckily, although many people in our ward had trees fall on their houses and cars, totaling some of them.  We did have 1/2 a tree fall down on top of our carport, our neighbors fence blew over, and our other neighbors fullsize trampoline blew over their 4 foot fence into our yard!  As well as traffic lights being blown off of the poles, and multiple signs "disappearing".  Anyways, I took some pictures today as I was going to pick up Ryan from work to go take his second certification test (He passed with a 92%!! w00t!), the go to Provo.

He kept trying to eat the blue bird, but couldn't get it because he had grabbed the rings with his other hand.

Tummy time, and playing in a 58degree house.

He was fine the whole time, until it started to get dark and he was still in the tub.  Then he was confused why it was dim (only a flashlight on) like he was going to bed, but taking a bath instead.

Our downstairs neighbors dragged the trampoline in front of our overturned trashcans to keep them from blowing away.  That tree broke in half during the night to land on the carport.  The other tree in the back had a 6-8inch 'branch' break off.  Our other trees just had good-sized branches broken off.

Our neighbors trash cans.  We also got trash cans from other neighbors down the street, and we still have one that is unclaimed..

A downed street light and huge pine tree across the street.  The pine tree was 2 feet in diameter.

Guess what bank this is... We had multiple signs like this, all the traffic lights weren't working, and everything on this side of the street was without power longer than we were.

Cute sleepimg Matthew.  He normally is like this, or with his face more burried in the frog.  He likes to selfsoothe by sucking his fists, or rubbing/holding his hands together like this.  I think it's really cute.

Lots of Videos..

Random videos from the past couple of weeks.  Some of them are boring.. sorry.  It's what we do all day, although I must say that he's much cuter and more smiley in person, than when I get the camera out.  He's VERY camera shy.  The most recent videos are the first few from earlier today, the oldest ones are at the bottom.

This video was taken towards the beginning of the month when I decided to introduce a lovey to him.  Now he really likes this frog (we just bought a 2nd one), especially when we're somewhere 'overwhelming' because he'll snuggle into it and fall asleep leaning on it while we're out.

Matthew's 3 Months Old

This month..

Weight:  ~16-17 lbs

Height: ~24 inches (although I'm not a good measurer)

Matthew learned to roll from his back to his tummy. 

Has had sleeping issues.  For about 2 weeks he started waking up every hour multiple days during the week, but now he is sleeping at night again (Thank goodness!), but he still has trouble with naps during the day.  We're working on a schedule and to have him only nap in his crib.

Smiles a ton! and has started laughing and giggling when Mommy eats his toes or tummy during a diaper change.

Loves to have a clean diaper, but farts in it right away, then smiles at you.   If he doesn't fart in the diaper right away, it's rare.

Has decided that one of my toy frogs is his lovey.  He likes to grab it to suck on its eyes, and to snuggle next to it to fall asleep (especially in his carseat).

Is fascinated by neon/bright colors, especially neon green for some reason. My clock has neon green numbers, and he loves staring at it in the morning if he's in our room.

Is fitting into clothes ranging from size 3 months to 9 month clothes. Mostly 6 month clothing now though, especially pjs which I don't like snug on him, like some of his 3 month outfits.

Has started grabbing toys more and more, and seem to be getting bored of the ones we have.  (I'm going to start rotating them so he doesn't have them all everyday).

Will play on his own for 20 minutes if he sleeps and eats well.

Needs at least 9+ hours of sleep at night to be happy in the morning, and 1.5+ hours of sleep at nap time to be happy afterwards. 

Slept 8.5 hours straight one night, and 7 hours straight another night because he was so exhausted from not taking naps during the day!

Loves his swing and will fall asleep in it really easily if it's close to nap time, and sometimes just because it's so relaxing.

Likes primary church music, lullabies, and simple melodies.

Does not like church at all!  I feel like he's been getting worse, and the only room he really likes in the building is the mother's lounge, but only if it's quiet, which usually only happens if no other babies are in there.  I think he mostly doesn't like church because of all the noise and people.

Can almost sit up on his own and seems to want to move around a lot.  If he can't get to something he'll start wiggling hard for about 2 minutes, then cry because he's not getting any closer.

November Picture Overload

Just a bunch of pictures of Matthew, in his new 6-9month outfits!

"I think I like this frog, Mom."

Smiles..

..then frowns.

Finally asleep.

"This frog is cool too.  It makes noise."

Christmas tree.

Rockin' the 80s outfit.

Enjoying his "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" time.

Apple pie for Thanksgiving.

"I'm totally innocent, they were just sitting right here."

3 Months old in 9 Month PJs

"What're you lookin' at? I'm just learning to crawl."

"Oh yeah, I flipped over, and turned 180degrees!"

If it's not buttoned down.. I'm pulling it up.