All about Matthew

I felt that Matthew deserved his own post! I haven't posted very many pictures of him or told much about his accomplishments! This might be a little long so if you would like to tune out now, feel free!

Matthew has a special personality. He has a way of making us laugh and is going to be the clown in our family! He loves the camera and loves to make people laugh! He is such a ham!! This was taken on his first Easter morning! He was just as excited as the "boys" to see what what he had gotten and had a lot of fun looking for eggs! He is about 10 months in this picture!

This was Matthew's first trip to the park! He had a blast walking around and playing with the bark, or eating it! He got to go down the slide a couple of times and had a blast. He loves being treated like the big boys. He gets really offended if he is not allowed to do something that they are doing!

This is his first taste of watermelon and he was in love! He loves any type of fruit and will bang on his tray and beg for more whenever he sees it on the table or on the counter!

This boy loves to eat! But we always know when he is doing eating because he starts to rub his eyes and put the food in his hair! This was taken at about 9 months. He was eating everything that we were, even carrots! He just gnaws at them till they are gone. He has about 10 teeth now and is working on cutting his last two molars. Crazy!!!

Much like all toddlers, Matthew has the ability to get several "boo-boos" within a small amount of time. In this picture you can see his eye where he hit on the window sill. For the past couple of months, he always has a bump or a bruise somewhere! Is this just a boy thing? He also is always getting into stuff that he shouldn't.  I know that that is normal behavior but Matthew has added sense of it. He is always squeezing into places he shouldn't or playing with things that are off limits. He is constantly on the move! Moving  from one thing to the other. He hates to be held!!

Another Ham shot!! 

 This Matthew before he got his first hair cut! He had a huge cowlick on the front and then about 3 inches on top that we would just comb over. It was time! But he was scared of the clippers! 

After! He looked bald for about a week! It took us a while to get use to his new look! 

Matthew turned one about a week ago! He didn't really understand what was happening but he sure loved all the attention and the fact that he got to have cake! (No ice cream because he is lactose- intolerant.) He loved the ice cream cupcakes that Grandma brought! He ate the whole thing when they came up the day before because Grandpa had to work on his actual birthday. 

The cake that I made for his birthday. Banana with Hot Fudge icing! He knew what it was  and couldn't wait to put his hands in it! He never did get the concept of blowing out the candle! 

Got to get those last few crumbs! It think that it was the icing that he was after! Much to my frustration, he like Grandma's cake way better then mine! 

All done!  It took about five minutes to get him all clean! What a mess!

We couldn't imagine our family without him! We love you, Matthew! Hurray for surviving your first year!! 

Our 1st Campout!!!

So we decided that we would have our first family campout! We had it about three or four weeks ago! The weather was natsy but it didn't really bother us! We had fun making tinfoil dinners and then spending time together as a family. The boys thought it was an awesome adventure to sleep in a tent! 

Picture of our campsite! Hey! I never said that it was our first outdoors campout! This pregnant lady doesn't sleep on the ground! She prefers her mattress and nice warm house! The boys were super excited when Anth pulled out the tent and let them help set it up. They had their bags in and were running around in their like crazy! They got out the camp chairs and placed them in front of the fire!

You guessed it! Our fire! It kept us nice and toasty! It did get a little too warm but we just opened the windows and listen to the beautiful outdoors....rodeo finals, complete with twangy western music!

Our wonderful and delicious dinners! I completely cheated and cooked them in the oven before hand! We kept them warm on top of the stove. Anth and I had the traditional tinfoil dinner with hamburger, potatoes, and carrots. I added soy sauce to mine and thought it tasted awesome! The boys got a hot dog tinfoil pocket! They enjoyed eating hot dogs and french fries that been wrapped in tinfoil! We spread a blanket on the floor and ate on it so that it seemed more like camping. We were dog sitting so we even had some wild animals to keep away from our food!

After finishing dinner we decided to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks, Hot-Air Balloon Adventure. The boys then snuggled into their sleeping bags. Overall it was a lot of fun and something that we might do often to help break up the monotony of winter/spring/summer weather that we often inflicts our town!

Is it too late to post Easter photos?

So I know that Easter was well over a month ago and that I am really slow about posting. I really do want to do better. Ne ways... lets not get off our subject. This year for Easter we celebrated by traveling to my family's to watch Conference and to enjoy the holiday. We painted eggs and then in the morning had an easter egg hunt with the colored eggs and then our annual "Bunny Money" hunt. Our parents hide a few dollars in the eggs and let us search for them. It was first established when Anth and I got married to help pay for our gas. It was so expensive then .... $1.80!!! How did we ever afford it? We swore that if it ever got over two dollars that we would only bike everywhere! Lets just say that didn't happen! Ne ways...back on topic! It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the time with family. It was freezing... as it has been for the last couple of years but it was still a great adventure!

 

Andrew with his Easter basket! He was so excited to go out and find the eggs! He hardly needed any help and was my helper when it was the adults turn to search! (He was my bender-over!)

Peter was our expert! He knew what he was doing and enjoyed explaining to Andrew how it worked! He was Anthony's partner for the adult hunt and they finished way before Andrew and I! Peter came to help me after Anth got all his! I am always the last one it seems!

This was Matthew's first Easter and he had a blast! He loved all the good things that he could put in his mouth. He didn't get the concept of picking up the eggs and putting them in a basket but he still liked going outside. My brother, Shaun, helped carry him around to find his eggs! Matthew enjoyed shaking them and hearing all the candy rattle inside!

Since Matthew couldn't eat the malted eggs that came in his eggs (okay, so I helped him suck on one! He's the third! What can I say! I'm way more relaxed about what goes in his mouth!), Anth decided that the next best thing would be painting his face with one! Matthew is 1/64 Indian and we like to let his heritage show! (If you look really close in that picture, you can see my gray hair starting to show through! The last couple of years have not been kind to my hair!)

Sigh of Relief

Again my life has been blessed by the tender hand of the Lord! These last 7 months, I feel like I have been put to the faith test. It seemed like every time we would get over one crisis, another one would spring up. But through all these tests, we have learned something and have seen miracles and tender mercies administrated. Case in point....

I went in for my 28 week appointment ( I only have 12 weeks to go! I can't believe it!) and found that I had failed my glucose test. You all know the one I'm talking about! That yucky sugar drink that makes you nauseous and gives ya a headache. Ne ways... I was told that I had to do the three hour test. This involves not eating anything after midnight and then not till they tell you that you can. Almost 12 hours (or longer if you are like me and don't stay up till midnight)! Then they precede to poke you every hour for three hours after you drink something twice as sweet as the first one. Horrible!! Ne ways... I was really nervous about it because I just felt like having to count carbs and calories would just make me completely crazy! Lately I have had a hard enough time talking and walking. (that's another story.) Ne ways.... after the third time of being poked and with one more hour in sight, they set me home because my levels were fine! I was so relieved!

I know that the Lord heard my prayers and that He was aware of me! I feel as though I grown closer to the Lord through this pregnancy and feel that though it has been hard, He has never left me! I definitely have learned to trust in my Father and let him carry me.

5 and Counting!!!

Peter turned the big 5 last week! He was so excited! He counted the days down until St. Patricks Day because he knew four days after was his birthday! Peter is pumped about going to school in the fall! I personally can't remember where the time has gone! I know that I have two other kids but it seems like last week that we brought him home. What a special kid he is to be sent to very unprepared parents, who have to learn many lessons about patience and faith.



I had decided that I was only going to do big birthday parties with friends when my kids turned 5, 8, and 12. This was how my mom did it and it seemed to work! So this was our first party and I think that it went pretty well. We had it last Saturday (his birthday was actually Sunday) and every time the phone rang, I cringed because it was usually someone asking me or telling me that there was something else to do that day. Ne ways... we invited five cousins (some of Peter's favorite and their close friends as well) and two friends. It was crazy for about an hour but the kids all seemed to have fun. We played Green light, Red light (Peter's favorite) and Duck, Duck, Goose, and then Pin the tail on the Donkey. I made balloon hats for all the kids when they got to the house and then swords and one animal after we had cake. The swords were a good/bad idea! The kids loved them but went kind of wild "fighting" each other.





On Peter's actually birthday we got up and made banana muffins for breakfast and later had Honey Soy Sauce Chicken. He could hardly wait to open his presents; a box of sidewalk chalk, two cans of playdough, new clothes, a doodle pad (he loves to draw and color, favorite activity!!), and a soccer ball. He was kind of disappointed when it was done because he really wanted a baseball set but being the paranoid parents we are we were pretty sure that it would become a weapon, hence the ball!


Peter's look of joy when he opened his ball! He loves it now and plays with all the time! He ordered Applesauce Bars for his birthday cake and I was happy to obligaged because there is more applesauce then sugar in it. It makes a great breakfast bar! Ne ways...he had a great birthday and can't wait till next year!




Peter is such a special kid! He loves to draw and anything that is artistic! He is such a big help around the house and helps take care of everyone (sometimes to much...I have to remind him who the mom is...just like my mom did! ) He has such a huge testimony and is not afraid to share it. He can quote scripture stories and remembers things that have happened better then we can. We love him so much!

The First of Many

My awesome neighbor and friend bought this for me after she found out that we were having a girl! Everyone has been so excited for us and it is finally becoming real to me that we are going to have a girl. After receiving this , I bought my first pink dress! I haven't taken pictures of it yet but I hope to post pictures of her in it. It has a cute little pink sweater over a dress of pink flowers. Last weekend I went to a garage sale and had so much fun going through all the girl clothes looking for things. I put a pink jacket and some hair bows. My sister-in-law and I are talking about making some of our own and I am way excited! Anth's family is planning a shower as well as mine and so I want to be careful about my purchases but I can't help myself! I am excited!!

Moment of Truth

At the end of January, Peter started bobbing his head and blinking his eyes. When we asked him to stop, told us that he couldn't! We became worried after the three day and decided to see our doctor, who recommend that we see a neurologist. The neurologist wanted us to get a series of tests, including an EEG, MRI, and a blood test. The EEG was about a week later and involved us waking up Peter about 3:00 am and keeping him awake until after the test was over. We got pretty creative with a methods. I got up first and we started making an ABC book. (You know, the kind where you cut out things that start with the letters of the alphabet.) Then we watch TV until we got drowsy and then we finger painted until we couldn't anymore and then more TV. When I couldn't stay awake anymore, I woke up Anth and made him give Peter a bath. His hair had to be clean for the test anyways. On the way to the hospital we sang songs and tried to keep him awake. After the EEG, he was suppose to get a MRI but couldn't when the anesthesiologist found out he had strep throat. To make it short, we finally got the MRI on Friday and found out all the results today. (Sorry to everyone that already knew all this!)


Both the EGG and MRI came back normal! ( I will admit that a part of me, a small part, was unhappy to hear that because of all the money they cost us!) His blood test came back with a high strep count. So the doctor has concluded that Peter has a type of strep that doesn't affect his throat but other parts of his body. It can mess with the brain and cause it to have ticks. He prescribed an antibiotic for 6 weeks!!!! Twice a day for TWO WEEKS! I can hardly remember to give it to him for ten days! This could be a little hard! But the good news is that he is okay! Before we found out what the results were our options were either a tick, seizures, or pressure on his brain. I'll take what we were given and count my blessings!! The Lord has blessed so much and I feel so indebted to Him for everything that he has done for us and Peter!

The other moment of truth....

I had my ultrasound today and its a .....

I feel so blessed today! I am so excited but I feel like I'm in shock. I was totally (okay, not totally but pretty darn) convinced that the baby was a boy. I kept telling myself that. I had accepted it and now . . . wow! And now, I only have one thing to say...

BRING ON THE SHOPPING!!! PINK HERE I COME!!!!