Kiddie Pool

Chris and I decided it would be fun for Matthew to have a kiddie pool. It has actually been really nice to just go in for a little while and cool off. Chris or I usually end up getting in the pool with Matthew and it is amazing how big of a difference in temperature it makes just sitting outside in water. Matthew enjoys pouring water on us and getting us all wet.

Our good friends have an internship in Houston this summer but they had to come back for the weekend so they got to stay with us. It was so much fun watching Matthew and Joseph play again together. Matthew was so excited when he saw Jami but didn't make the connection that maybe Joseph was going to be at his house. When he finally saw Joseph, he couldn't handle his excitement. They are very cute together. On Saturday while they were here we let Matthew and Joseph play in the pool. They had such a great time until their diapers started coming apart in the pool. We decided to just throw them in clothes and all without putting a swimming diaper on them and we paid for it later. It was weird because I have put Matthew in there before with a regular diaper on it has never fallen apart. I am planning on dumping the water out anyways so we did it right after they got out. They had a blast together this weekend and Matthew keeps asking for Joseph. Luckily, the Hansens are coming back in the fall and didn't move away for good. It will be a sad day when Matthew and Joseph have to saw goodbye to each other. Chris and I also had so much fun having David and Jami here. It was so fun to put the kids to sleep and then do whatever we wanted. It reminded me of the days before the children when we stayed at each other's house until late just talking and playing games. Thanks for staying with us, JamiJosephDavid.

No More Dogs!!

We were so relieved to see the dogs owner return. She missed her "kids" so much and we were quite happy to see her take them. They were pretty good dogs, but I felt like I was babysitting Matthew the whole time trying to make it so he wasn't hurting them or that they wouldn't bite him. One barked at him a couple times because he was doing stuff to the dog but I don't think it would have actually bitten him but I didn't want to find out. I am glad to not have the slobber in my house and I have been sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and steam cleaning my house today so I can feel like it is clean. Bottom line is... we are not ready to have a dog yet, especially having little children around, however it did make for some cute pictures. Here are some of Matthew taking the really good/lazy dog for a walk.

Swimming

A friend of mine invited Matthew and I over to swim in the pool at her apartment complex. I really like their pool because it has a 1 foot deep area so the kids have a great place to swim. I was a very overprotective mother at the beginning, but letting Matthew fall down and watching him get up with no problem made me relax a little. I also found out the water wings really will keep him afloat. He did very well keeping his mouth above the water but I always made sure I was right next to him when he wasn't able to touch. It was fun to just let him swim.

Splash!Splash!

Helping with the squirt gun

(Grand)Father's Day Pictures

Since our fathers live so far away we thought it would be nice to send pictures of their favorite red-headed grandson in their cards. However, I needed to get a new church outfit for him so I could take pictures. It is hard to find church outfits in this town that aren't super duper expensive so it took me a long time to find something. We finally went to the mall and found this outfit for $48.00 but I got it on sale for $12!!!! I was so excited. I am really starting to like the mall. Anyways, I took Matthew out and got a couple pictures so I could send something to our fathers.

The Official Day

I went to my dr.'s appointment and set a date to have my c-section (since they won't allow me to do a vback). I wanted to have the c-section on Monday, August 18th so that by the time I came home from the hospital I would at least have a few days with Chris around before he goes to work and I get left by myself. Unfortunately non of my family or Chris' family will be able to come help us so as many days that Chris can be home with me before going back to work and school on the following Monday, August 25th, the better. However, my doctor already has a surgery scheduled for that day but Tuesday, August 19th he didn't have anything yet. He went and called labor and delivery at St. Joseph Hospital and said that we could do it around noontime. He said he would get into more specifics with me the closer it got. The funny thing is, is that my next two dr.'s appointment are with two different doctors in the same clinic. The third and last appointment I am scheduled for will be about 4 days before my scheduled c-section and luckily that appointment is with my doctor.
The day excites and scares me all at the same time. I look forward to having my body back (unless I can nurse this time) at least I shouldn't have the aches and pains in my back after she arrives but it is a whole lot easier to take care of this little baby when it is inside. I am scared to death to have two and not have my mom here to take care of everything. Having had a c-section once already I know the lack of movement I have at the beginning and I am worried about taking care of a 2 year old along with a newborn and myself. I am also so sad for Matthew that he won't get all of my attention any more. I love my little boy and have really enjoyed just being with him. I am trying to soak it all up right now while I can. I think that I am about 30 weeks right now but I am not really counting down the weeks because I know that life is super easy right now compared to what it will turn into the next couple months. So on August 19, 2008 Chris, Steph, and Matthew's world is going to get rocked. I just hope I can get through it all.

Father's Day Tradition

Let me start out by saying:
Chris loves peanut butter and chocolate together!

When I was growing up I got invited to my friend Michelle's house for her birthday parties and her mom would always make this yummy chocolate cake and this incredible peanut butter frosting. She used to make more then what she needed on the cake and the next morning when we got up she made pancakes and let us use the rest of this amazing frosting to put on our pancakes. It was so good but I couldn't ever get the recipe from them. Finally about 4 or 5 years ago when we were living in AZ I talked to my friend Michelle and she gave me the recipe.
Chris absolutely loves it so for the last couple Father's Days I have made chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It really is yummy however, even with as many times as I have made it I haven't gotten the recipe down quite right. Still sometimes the frosting comes out too runny or stiff and it may have something to do with elevation since the recipe was made in Montana without all the humidity. Anyways, I still make it runny or not and the taste is yummy.
We have introduced Matthew to this wonderful world of chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting and it seems as though he is a really big fan just like his daddy.
Though the dinner I made for Father's Day was an experiment and didn't really turn out all that great, Chris said that he had the "divorce papers" ready and it all depended on the chocolate cake as to if he was going to send them in or not:-[ LUCKILY for me the cake turned out delicious and there was no need for the "divorce papers"!!!!:)

Making sure he gets every crumb:)

Mm, Mm, GOOD!!!

Dog Sitting

We have been dog sitting for the last week and we thought it would be more fun then it has been. We are realizing how Matthew acts when he is not the center of attention. We are going to be in for a rude awakening in a couple months. I thought is was going to be a lot more of the dogs keeping Matthew entertained but it is more of me watching Matthew so that he doesn't hit the dogs, or picking up toys so one of the dogs doesn't eat them. However, they are the laziest dogs I have ever seen. One literally lays around all day long and you almost have to force her to go outside. The other is a little more active but not by much. Occasionally he will get the urge to play fetch so we will go outside and throw his stuffed hedge hog which he will bring back to us a few times. Within 5 minutes he is completely done and wants to go back outside. We do take them on walks every day so they get some exercise. We only have a week left with them and I will not be sad when they leave. I will be able to clean my house which I am actually looking forward to.
Matthew has been enjoyed invading their space, especially when they are sleeping or just laying down. He likes to lay next to them and pretend like he is sleeping also. It is kind of cute but I don't always think the dogs like it. It is a good thing these dogs are very calm and patient with him.

Matthew giving treats

Funny

A friend told me about a sale at JC Penny on Dockers so I picked Chris up from work and we headed to the mall. As we were pushing Matthew through with the stroller, we were walking past the women's undergarments section and Matthew pointed to a poster that had a lady displaying some underwear and I bra and Matthew pointed and said "naked". He kept saying "naked, naked" over and over again. Chris and I couldn't stop laughing. Matthew is pretty cute sometimes.

Dinner Fun

One night for dinner I made Macaroni and Cheese and added little smoked sausages in it. Matthew loves picking out the sausages and playing with them as you can see.
For the most part it is pretty fun eating dinner with Matthew to see what new thing he is going to do or say while we are sitting there. There have been many times we have to turn our heads away from Matthew to laugh so he doesn't see us.

The sharing of families:)

Well, Matthew was sick last week and since we are a family, what better to do then to share right? Well, Chris got the next batch of sickness. He started teaching his Summer 1 class on Monday and Tuesday morning be was very sick. He tried to find someone to cover his class that afternoon but wasn't able to so like a trooper I drove him to class and he used all his energy to get to his class. He made the students promised that if he passed out they could leave as long as they called the paramedics first. He sat on a stool and just gave the lecture luckily he didn't have to speak the whole two hours since he had a documentary to show them. I was waiting for him as soon as he was done to bring him back home. I couldn't believe he actually went and taught his class that day. He started getting better and my stomach started hurting. I was just waiting to get hit with it but I was luckily spared. I say I just got the fumes of being sick. I am very happy to not be sick. I don't feel good physically anyways so I am glad I didn't have to deal with that, just nursing Matthew and Chris back to health.
While I took care of Chris, Matthew got to watch lots of movies. Though I am sure he enjoyed it I don't like to do that but Chris needed me the most at the time.
Here is Matthew just relaxing as he watches his favorite movie "Cars". What a life.

Fun Week...and then not so fun

This week was pretty fun because Matthew and I got to see our good friends Jami and Joseph every day besides Monday-Memorial Day. They were without a car this week so I wanted to make sure they got out of the house. We planned to do something every morning and the boys loved being together. We went to The Bounce with 2 other friends, went to the splash pad which they loved, went to playgroup and then Joseph came over to play while Jami packed some boxes. Jami/Joseph/David moved to Houston for the summer for an internship. Matthew is going to miss Joseph immensely but they do have to come back at least two times in the three months they will be there so we will all be happy about that.
Friday night we went to our ward's Young Women Fundraiser which was an auction. It was so fun and so many people showed up. Though I wished my dad were here to be the auctioneer I was very impressed with Paul doing the auctioneering. He did a wonderful job. I felt like I was at a real auction and he was very entertaining. I could not believe everything that was auctioned off but the most shocking thing was the amount of money some things sold for. There were some things that were sold for over $100 and even one item that sold for $200. It was so awesome to see the support of ward for the Young Women Camp and High Adventure. Though I wasn't able to spend hundreds of money, we did get 4 wood puzzles that Matthew has had a lot of funny putting together. One puzzle is of a smurfette with blond hair and every time he says it he calls it mommy. I think I am flattered but not completely sure. He is better at putting them together then I thought, although he does still need some help. I think the Young Women were able to raise quite a bit of money. It was a very successful auction and hopefully it will become an annual ward event.
The bad part of the week, other then our really good friends moving temporarily, was that Matthew woke up about 11pm Friday night and started throwing up. He threw up for 3 hours and then finally out of exhaustion finally was able to fall asleep. I figured in the morning he was over it and gave him a saltine cracker and water and shortly after he through that up also so he wasn't able to eat hardly anything all day. He got to watch a lot of movies and curl up with Mommy and Daddy. I was so glad it was the weekend and Chris was able to be home and help care for our sick little boy. He has been eating more and keeping it down and it doing really well. I think he is over it and we just have to try to get the nutrients back into him now.