Too Cute

Matthew wore a tie and vest on Sunday and I thought he was too cute not to get a picture of. It just so happened that all three of us w0re black corduroy to church that day, and it wasn't even planned.

Start'em Young

Chris got Mario Kart for the Wii and has introduced Matthew to this game. Matthew loves driving or "turn, turn" as he refers to it. It is a fun time when they play but one of the times when we turned it off, Matthew was the biggest two year old he had ever been. I could not believe how big of a tantrum he threw. It was actually kind of funny watching him through such a fit. It is better I laugh then get mad I guess. Matthew got banned from playing for a while and when he did finally get to play again we had a big talk before we turned it on and though he may throw a little fit after turning it off it is nothing like the first one. It is cute listening to him say "Mario, turn, turn".

A Big Accomplishment

I really like to scrapbook and feel that it is my way of doing our family history. My roommate got me into scrap booking and so luckily I was able to start pretty early in my life. The first scrapbook that I did starts when I moved to Arizona from Montana a week after a graduated High School so it is my college/single life fun and moves on to meeting Chris, the engagements and then it turns into our family album. Luckily I have been able to keep up with our family album but the bad thing about doing a current album is that just as soon as you are "caught up" you get behind again because life just keeps going. As far as our family albums go they end at the end of the year whereas I believe at least for the first part of our children's lives the scrapbook will end after a birthday. Well, Matthew turns 25 months in three days and today I was able to put the finishing touches on his album and now it is completely done from birth to his 2nd birthday. I feel like that is a huge accomplishment especially since I have taken so many pictures of him which means there is more I have to put in his scrapbook. I need to get a new album for him so I don't get too behind because I know when this little girl comes I won't have a whole lot of time to do anything, let alone scrapbooking. My goal is to have a scrapbook for each child for the first 18 years of their life or so at which they can take over doing it themselves but to also have a family album so that when the kids do take their albums we will still have pictures of our family adventures. It is such a big sigh of relief to get one album completely done but I still have 2 others that I am working on besides our current family album so I haven't gotten everything up to date yet. However, on the positive side, one down!

More Box Fun

We got to watch our friends, The Sullivan's boys on Friday night and Matthew had such a wonderful time playing with them. Their sons are 5 and 2. Matthew really liked having a older person around to copy. Matthew also shared his toys without being prompted or forced and he even took turns. I was so surprised. Even though friends were over I don't remember Matthew crying at all which is a huge deal when you have a 2 year old. The older boy Spencer convinced me to cut a window in the box which I was going to but just hadn't gotten around to it yet and then he suggested making a doggy dog. The doggy door was a huge hit and they played with this box for quite a while. Besides Matthew having friends over to play with and keep him company it was really good to see Emily and Jaron. We got to visit with them for a little bit and catch up. However, Jaron isn't just Jaron anymore he is officially Dr. Sullivan. It is weird to think that we know people that have gone through med school and graduated and are now referred to as Doctor. All in all, Matthew had a blast with his friends Spencer and Mikey. He called Spencer Mikey all the time because I think though he could say Spencer, Mikey was easier to say so he was constantly saying Mikey.

Making Cookies

For Family Home Evening Treats on Monday I decided to make Peanut Butter Cookies. I figured it was something Matthew could help me a lot with. His help turned into helping me learn and practice patience more then helping me make cookies. I just had to keep telling myself that having him help is what a good mom should do and I should really practice being a good mom. One cute thing that he would do was that we had two separate bowls, one with wet ingredients and one with dry. I was trying to mix individually before putting them together and Matthew would store a couple times and then say "trade". We would then switch bowls and I would start on the other one. More flour ended up places I didn't want but I had to just bite my tongue and enjoy the time I was spending with him. He loves to stir stuff. Every time we do anything with stirring Matthew freaks out if we don't let him stir or we have to make sure he isn't around before we start stirring something we don't want his help with.

Eating the dough

I gave him the task of scooping up the dry ingredients and putting it in the wet ingredients and I would mix it. He had a hard time actually scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. He didn't actually scoop he would push the flour around the bowl with the edge of the cup and occasionally a little bit of flour would get in the cup and then he would pour that little bit in so I could mix it. I thought we were going to be there all day long. He finally decided to pour the whole bowl in which I was very excited about.

That night at family home evening I don't think he got anything out of the couple minute lesson that we had. After the opening song he would say "cookies", then after the opening prayer I think instead of saying Amen he said "cookies". He had a one track mind the whole time. Finally after the closing prayer he was free to go eat cookies. Even with the amount of flour that ended up everywhere but the bowl the cookies still came out pretty good, thanks to Matthew:)

Joy of Pregnancy

Just a little update: I am now 25 weeks along in this pregnancy and still have too many to go. I am getting quite LARGE and everyone is asking when I am due. I am sure they are thinking, she has got to be due in the next week or two. In fact, one guy at church asked me a couple days ago how many weeks I have left. I just laughed and said I still have four months left. I don't think I am as huge as I was with Matthew at the end but I definitely feel like I will unfortunately surpass how big I was last time. I am definitely feeling pregnant. Thankfully I haven't felt nauseous (or thrown up) for a few weeks now so I think that part is over. I almost think I am getting Braxton Hicks already because today my stomach would feel like it was just going to explode and it would get pretty tight and then eventually go away. Also my siatic nerve has started killing me lately and doesn't let up. This pregnancy has already been a long one and I am barely half way. Well, we are almost to the middle of May, so then I just have all of June, July, and Aug. Three and a half months left. Hopefully my body keeps up with me.

Rockets

This morning during one of Matthew's meltdowns (yes, he is a two year old but I just love him right now!) the Hansens called us and informed us that they were shooting rockets close by and invited us to go watch with them. I thought it was a good distraction for Matthew and he always loves seeing his friends JamiJosephDavid, (they are one entity in his book). Matthew loved seeing his friend(s) and thought it was pretty cool the rockets went up in the sky. I didn't realize how high those things can go. David even let Matthew push the button. I am not sure he knew what was going to happen at first. We got to watch 3 rockets get launched. The first time we did the bigger rocket of the two and when it went up high, the parachute didn't come out so it came down pretty hard. As soon as it took off I lost track of it, but David saw it the whole time and went running to get it as soon as it landed, I actually think he was hoping to catch it since the parachute didn't work that time but it just got a little dent in it from the landing (or lack thereof). We then shot off a little rocket but with a big engine. We all lost track of it and never saw it come down. We looked for awhile in the field but never did find it. David said he thinks it went so far up in the sky it could be anywhere. Hopefully they find it on one of the future walks. Then we did one more big one but Jami, Joseph, Matthew and I stayed farther away and I was able to watch it go all the way up and come down. It was pretty fun watching the rockets and Matthew spent the rest of the day talking about pushing the button and rocket high in the sky. Thanks for inviting us JamiJosephDavid!

Jami and David said Joseph liked the first time they launched a rocket but after that he wasn't such a big fan of it. Sorry it is sideways. I thought I would be able to turn it but I wasn't able to edit it at all.

The Bounce

I had wanted to take Matthew to this place called "The Bounce" that has a bunch of inflatable things inside for kids to just jump and have fun. Matthew was a little weary at first because he couldn't ever just stand up in once place, he was always loosing his balance but he started getting it and had fun. He was definitely tuckered out. We will have to go back again soon.

Big Box

We have a big box in our house that Matthew has been having fun playing in. Normally it was on its side and he could just go in and out as he pleased. Chris and I were in the kitchen and he heard Matthew saying help daddy, help daddy. When we went in the living room we saw that he had tipped the box up and couldn't get out. He thought it was pretty funny actually. Then we tipped it back down and he would just put his weight on the side of the box and make it stand up again. He thought this was such a fun game.

Imitations

It is so funny to watch Matthew imitate the things that we do. You don't realize you do things until you see him do it. This first picture isn't very good but he learned to put his elbows on the table. While we were in AZ, he learned this little trick from Grandpa. After dinner we would just be sitting around the table talking and all of the sudden we saw Matthew with his elbows on the table and realized he was copying Grandpa. Unfortunately, I never got a picture of them together doing this but Matthew still does this at the table occasionally to get a laugh out of us.
This next one is an imitation of me because I am always putting me hands on my hips and since Matthew was drinking he only had one hand to put on his hip. Even at the table sometimes when he is drinking he will put his hand on his hip. It is funny to watch him.

A Happy Report

I don't know what has gotten into me this week but I have just absolutely adored my little boy. I just love him so much and it really pulls at my heart strings when he cries. I have rarely gotten irritated with him and I have been wrapped around his little finger. In fact I have told Matthew he is cute so much that when I say Matthew your, and before I can finish he says cute. I love it. Maybe it this week has been because it is Mother's Day tomorrow and to help me realize how much I do enjoy being a mom to little Matthew. I do love the feeling of just adoring my precious little boy but it is sort of a good thing it hasn't happened like this earlier because I think he would be a spoiled little boy if it did. I would not have been able to do the cry it out method. I have a hard time hearing my little boy cry now a days. I am grateful to experience this feeling of love for him. Matthew has made me laugh so much this week with just the little things that he has said and done I love it. Here is just a picture of my precious little boy and my amazing husband.

2 Year Measurements

I went in for Matthew's two year well check-up and got his measurements.

Weight: 26.5 lbs.
Height: 35.5 in.
Head: 19.5 in.

In six months he has gained just over 1 lb. and he has grown 1.5 in taller. Thankfully his head has stayed the same. He has a pretty large head and some of his shirts already are hard to get on and off even though they are big on him. Matthew is in the 30% for weight and 80% for height.

Matthew Playing Piano

This video was actually taken March 6, 2008 so Matthew was 22 months old but I had forgotten about it and just retrieved it from my video camera.
Matthew was playing the piano so I decided to start video taping without him knowing. Once he found out I was recording him....well, you'll see what happens.