Matthew's first ride

I made the last cake for a 1 year old's birthday party which they had at the splash pad. It was so funny because this little boy showed up with his mustang. Matthew's friend, Elaina first got a ride which was funny because it was like this little boy was cruising for chicks. This kid stopped and Elaina got out and Matthew immediately got in. This little boy was actually quite shy because he was getting so much attention and people wanted a ride but he was a good sport. It was just so funny watching him drive away but a little nerve racking since I didn't know this kid and hoped that he wouldn't go too far with my son in his car. I didn't really want to run after this mustang to get my son so I am glad he came back with Matthew. When they finally came back, the kid was just sitting there but Matthew was dancing. I didn't understand why he was dancing. When I got closer, the kid nonchalantly said pointing over to Matthew with his thumb, "He likes my music." This car had its own music in it. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was so funny. I didn't take my camera so I am glad my friend had hers so I could get these cute pictures. So I guess this was Matthew's first ride.

Matthew Reading

The other night I found out that Matthew can read one of his books, most of the pages. When I showed Chris he was very surprised and had Matthew read that book to him the next night to make sure he believed it. Ok, ok so he doesn't actually read but he has the pictures memorized and can say what we say when we get to that page. You probably can't understand him but I will give you what he is saying. Some words he totally destroys but others he can say. So the story goes:
Chris starts it by saying: Lisa asks, " Will you give me a kiss? "Of course," Daddy says. "Do you want...
Matthew takes it away from there with each page saying a different kind of kiss: "...a witch's kiss? ...a butterfly kiss? ...a grandma kiss? ...a mommy kiss? ...a vacation kiss? ...a monster kiss? ...a circus kiss? ...a birthday kiss? ...an eskimo kiss?
Chris takes over from there: Lisa laughs. "No, Daddy, I want a goodnight kiss!"

Another Cake

Back in March we had a service auction so my service was to make a cake for someone, sometime before the baby comes. I finally was able to get that off of the things to get done list before the baby comes. The lady that won the cake wanted it for her daughter for her first birthday. I didn't have much to go on except that she wanted butterflies and for it to be girly. She actually celebrated her daughter's birthday with another girl who turns one a day before so it was a fun little party. I hope they she was pleased with her daughter's birthday cake.

Matthew

So some of the things that Matthew has said recently have been kind of funny. For example, the other day my Visiting Teachers came over and brought their children with them. Matthew had 4 children from the ages of 1-11 years old here. He got to play with them in his room and had a great time. Later that night Matthew did something and said "Check it out" at first we were like, did he really just say that? Then he said it again and we just started cracking up laughing. Since he was getting such a reaction from us he kept saying it over and over. It was funny listening to this little boy say something like that.

Also, the other day we were driving to playgroup and Matthew pipes up and says, "Mommy, drive faster." I am still trying to figure out where he heard that one.

We were late for church so we ended up sitting in the front row which Chris thought I had a death wish or something. Anyways, when the sacrament came around, we gave Matthew a piece of bread and then he said, "Thank you" out loud to the deacon and then as the deacon was leaving Matthew said, "Bye, bye". We quickly told him we had to whisper but the bishopric was chuckling along with us. I guess he is learning some of his manners, we just have to help him to whisper during the Sacrament meeting.

Here are just a few pictures that I have taken recently of our little boy.

He needed a life so he found one apparently.
(Life cereal)
His new pose at the table.

Another Success Story

So this week I was able to cross the last "To Do" off of my list. I finished my growing up scrapbook album. I got all the pictures I could from my mom last year when I was in Montana and have been working on my album ever since. It is a little hard to remember things when you are small but I was finally able to journal all the pages so it is now completely FINISHED!!!! My mom was a big help with a couple stories she told me that I was able to journal. She told me that when I was about 4 months old, a guy came to their house who apparently had been married before but his wife died and wasn't able to have any children and always wanted them. As he was visiting my parents he noticed me in my carseat and thought I was pretty cute. Since I was the youngest of 7 children he figured my parents could spare a child (and could use a little extra money). He actually wanted to buy me from my mom. My mom was so angry that he would offer to buy a child from its mother. I am glad my mom didn't sell me to him but it is a fun story she told me to put in my album.

Comparison

I wore a maternity dress I had from my last pregnancy and decided since I had a picture in it last time I would take another picture in it this time and see the difference. In the pictures with the white wall I was 31 weeks pregnant with Matthew and the pictures with the green walls I was 33 weeks pregnant. How much can a baby really grow in two weeks so you can see the difference between the two. I think I stick out more with this one. Maybe it is because of the difference they say between having a boy and girl. Who knows?

I am now 34.5 weeks but only have 4 weeks and 2 days until my c-section. I am quite miserable. Not only am I hot but it hurts to walk most of the time now. I would rather stay seated, but too bad Matthew won't listen to me and I have to get up. This pregnancy has been so much harder then Matthew's it is amazing. It doesn't seem like Matthew put this much pressure on my pelvic bone as this one does. I will be glad/relieved when this pregnancy is over though I am not looking forward to the first 3-4 months after having a child. Hopefully, this one will be easier then Matthew but we are not holding our breath. I think having two is going to be hard but I will adjust eventually I am sure.
Chris has been absolutely amazing. I am the kind of person that thinks the housework is my responsibility and most of the time I don't want help from Chris doing it because he has SO much on his plate already and I feel like I am slacking if I have him help me. However, this last week I have had to put my pride aside and let him help me. He has watched Matthew so much and helped out with everything else. He is quite amazing. He says he is just practicing for when the baby arrives and me not being able to move much at all.

Created a list and marking it off

I LOVE having lists!! I feel so productive when I have them. When I get to cross something off of that list it is so wonderful and a huge accomplishment for me. One of the things that I have on my list to do before the baby arrives is to make curtains for Matthew's room. The sun shines in his room very early and it gets so light and hot in his room. We have blinds on the windows but it only keeps some of the light out. We did just have a blanket hanging over one window to make it darker. I finally took the plunge and last Saturday we went to Walmart and I had all the intentions in the world to just get the $1 fabric for the curtains and then some denim to keep more light out. Chris thought that Matthew would really like and enjoy having McQueen on his curtains so I gave in and we bought two different "Cars" themed fabrics since then didn't have enough of just one fabric to do both windows. I thought making your own stuff was suppose to be cheaper. I don't think this project was cheaper then just buying curtains but it was a good sewing project for me. With all the sewing and unstitching that I did I learned a lot about my sewing machine, and sewing in general. I can tell the difference between the stitches I first started doing the ones I ended on, but just don't ever look closely at them if you are ever at my house. However, I got both window curtains done and now we don't have to have a blanket hanging over his window. I love that it keeps it dark even in mid day for his naps and that when it is time to play I can just pull back the curtains, tie them and he has plenty of light in his room we don't have to turn on the light. It was such a huge accomplishment that I got to cross off my list!! The green room and "Cars" theme doesn't go together but we aren't at that stage in our lives yet of having things match.

My other huge accomplishment that I got to cross off my list this week was that I finished Chris' Travel Album. I put all the pictures in and then he has to journal. Chris went to Europe for a month after his High School graduation and then he went to Germany last summer for 2 months. He had many pictures so for the last 3 or so years I have been working on his album. I have to say I hate doing albums for other people unless I am the one that is going to be journaling in them because I never knew if Chris had a lot to say or a little, nor did I know what pictures went together. He actually did a lot of work on the album as well, he sorted his pictures, and then cropped them the way he wanted them cropped. I just had to find the way to put them on the page and add the enhansments. It took forever (3+ years) to actually sit down with him and have him tell me what went together. His Germany pictures from last year were a little easier since I heard about everything that he did so I had more of an idea but it is still hard for me to do it for someone else. HOWEVER, last night I finished his album and I won't start bugging him to journal in it until after his Comprehensive Exams are over. Although I am crossing it off my list because my part is done!!!!! Another HUGE accomplishment.
Isn't it amazing what you can finally get done when you have a deadline, mine is to have these and some other things done before this baby arrives. I only have 5 weeks and 2 days before all my projects need to be done. Though I think many of these projects would have been much easier without a big belly in the way, they are getting done none the less.

History Lessons

As Chris was going over his lecture Matthew went into the office wanted to sit on his lap and see what he was doing. Chris was going through some of the pictures on his power point and when the picture of Widrow Wilson came up Matthew pointed and said "Grandpa" since they are both clean shaven and wear glasses. Then Chris had to explain to him that it wasn't Grandpa and told him who it was, with a history lesson on Widrow Wilson. Chris continued to go through his pictures and Rutherford B. Hayes came up and again Matthew said "Grandpa", this time refering to his other grandpa because he didn't have glasses but had a big beard, again Chris gave him a history lesson. Matthew should be an expert in history by the time he starts school:)

IT'S HAPPENING!!!

So the biggest thing that I hated in my last pregnancy was that my feet got swollen and I lost my ankles. It was probably the biggest because I didn't have any "normal" pregnancy signs/symptoms with Matthew. However, I still hated it and it drove me crazy. I felt like an elephant every time I looked at my feet. I couldn't ever believe that my feet could get so big and so at work I always had my shoes (flip-flops) off, even though most of the time they didn't even fit. There was one time I remember, I was talking to the warehouse manager at work and I was standing in the doorway of my office and I said "Terence, look at my feet!" and his reply was "Why because you can't?" I thought it was the funniest thing and I still laugh about it today. I was a quick response especially because I get so big.
I was really hoping since this pregnancy has been completely different I wouldn't have to go through the elephant kankles as I refer to my fat feet but they are arriving. I am seeing my ankles going away/getting swallowed up:( It probably won't be the biggest thing that I have hated this pregnancy since I have been so much sicker but I still absolutely hate having swollen feet but that won't change for another 6 weeks or so.
I am getting told that I am not big in my picture and it is probably because I am just too embarrassed to actually have a full profile of my expanding belly so it doesn't look as big as it is but trust me, I am large. When I still had 3 months to go, people at work were asking me if I was 9 months pregnant and then whenever I walk into her classroom she says pop, pop. On Sunday I told someone when my c-section was scheduled and she asked me if I was actually going to make it that long. Thanks to my friend, Erin, who said, of course, she is a trooper. Many people are surprised that I still have 6 weeks to go (until the c-section) but if I were to go to my due date I would still have 7 weeks left. It is quite amazing what your body can go through having a child.

Just for you Bren!!

So my friend has been bugging me about putting a picture of my belly up. I am so big, who really wants to see that but since she has bugged me again about seeing a picture of me, all ya'll get to suffer.

This one is a closer picture but I am at least smiling more in the next one.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July. In all four years that we have lived in Texas we have never been here for July 4th. Usually we go to Arizona but last year while Chris was in Germany I was in Montana for the 4th. Our ward has a 4th of July breakfast every year so we got to attend that this year. Chris doesn't have time to take full holidays off so during the day he had to study but then that night some friends had us over for a BBQ and they had a few fireworks that they lit and Matthew really enjoyed most of them. Since he enjoyed them so much I wanted to take him to the local firework show at the George Bush Library but since it was already 9:30pm and 2 hours past his bedtime we figured we would just go home. He/we are still suffering from his missed sleep that night, but we had fun.
I put Matthew in his most patriotic outfit or red, white, and blue and it says USA on it as you can tell. He has started playing with some of his stuffed animals and making sure he carries them nicely most of the time. This day he put Pooh to sleep and then he pretended to go to sleep with him. It is fun watching him play and seeing what he comes up with.

Saying "Cheese"

Family Home Evening

Last week for family home evening, our lesson was being thankful for water. On Tuesday morning it was really nice outside and so I decided to expand on our lesson from the night before. My friend had told me about this lake that had lots of turtles in it. I decided to take Matthew but didn't think Chris would be able to take the time out of his studying to come with us but decided to ask him if he wanted to come with us. Surprisingly he said he needed a break and wanted to come. This lake that we went to has Arsenic in it which I am not sure what that really means but you are not suppose to touch it at all. They have a boardwalk to walk out and feed the turtles. There is a sign that says that it contains Arsenic and it says not to swim, wade or drink the water. As we were walking out on the boardwalk I was actually pretty scared because the fear of falling in and it having bad stuff in it but also it looks awful. There is a lot of trash in it and it is covered with algae. I was so glad that Chris came with us because if it would have just been Matthew and I, I would have been too scared something would happen and goes turn back. Once I got over the initial shock of what the lake looked like I started to have fun seeing all the turtles come from across the lake to get some food. At one point we probably had about 30 turtles all around. It was pretty fun for Matthew to throw the bread to them. After we fed them most of our bread we walked back down the boardwalk and found a duck we had seen coming in. He was fat and just sitting there. We started giving him the last couple pieces of bread that we had when his family came out as well. There were about 5 of them all together. I have never seen a black duck with a turkey looking bill before so it was a little odd. We figured that the first duck was the look-out for the family. He was fat and couldn't move very much. We think he sits out there so that people will see him and start throwing food and then the rest of the family comes out. It was really fun to do as a family and we were telling Matthew how thankful we are for water again so that we could go feed the turtles. I was so glad Chris was able to come and we could do that as a family on the one nice day that we have had recently. The other days are hot before you even wake up. It was a nice outing.
Do you see the algae on their backs? Gross!

Notice the difference in size of turtles. It was fun to see the bigger ones.

Cool Dude