Matthew's Rebuttal in the "No Munching" Debate

Matthew LOVES to suck his fingers. However, we want to avoid future astronomical orthodontic bills so we are trying to switch him over to a pacifier before finger/thumb sucking becomes a more permanent habit. Matthew's Deda has used the phrase, "No Munching" and now we say that to him when Matthew sucks on his fingers. This is what Matthew has to say about this. I have titled this video, "The Ten Main Reasons I Like to Munch" unfortunately there are no subtitles.

Christmas or Shark Week on the Discovery Channel?

Matthew got to experience Christmas twice this year.. once on Christmas Eve with his maternal Grandparents/Unkie Jude and Kerry and then on Christmas Day with his Deda and father's side of the family. He got so many presents.. he made out like a bandit. I was observing the opening of presents and it reminded me of the "feeding frenzies" of the sharks on the Discovery Channel. It was quite fun being a part of the mass unwrappings and rippings. Having a child makes you remember the fun and excitement of Christmas. We had a lot of fun visiting with all of the family and overdosing on great food and desserts. I should go back to Bicycle World and Fitness for indoor cycling classes to work off the chocolate.

He Ain't No Bad Santa!

Matthew had his first visit with Santa on December 24th. We went to the most appropriate place--Bicycle Word and Fitness. The parents of Matthew's friend Collin own the store and we had a great visit with Santa and Mrs. Santa. Matthew was in a very good mood and didn't even soil his diaper while sitting on Santa's lap. This Santa was very fit, I think it was from all of his bicycle riding. What a very positive message about nutrition and exercise, unlike my Cookie Monster cycling jersey.

Beach Footage Back by Popular Demand

Okay, here is footage of the toe dipping at the beach. I took it off of a previous post, but here it is again..

Christmas Photo Outtakes

We sent out our Christmas cards last week. I hope we didn't miss anyone. Some friends asked how we got the dogs to sit still and keep Matthew from crying. Paxil and Domino are very "food-motivated" so I dangled some chicken jerky over Tony's head while he took the photo. We had to count on Matthew to motivate himself since I was not willing to dangle his milk factories over Tony's head. With that being said, we took LOTS of photos. Too many to post here, some had Domino coming up too close to the camera trying to get the chicken jerky. Some had Paxil distracted by a squirrel. We found two good photos out of about twenty. Here they are:

10 Things I Learned to Appreciate after Becoming a Mom

Since becoming a mother there are many things that I have learned to appreciate. Either because they make my life easier/enjoyable or because I so rarely get these treats that I relish every moment of them.
1) Non-alcoholic beer- I learned to love O'Doules when I was pregnant. Nothing beats a beer with pizza or many of the other pregnancy cravings that I had. Of course I could not drink alcohol during pregnancy and now that I am nursing, alcohol is very limited. So now it is O'Doules for me... As Homer Simpson would say, "No Beer makes Maria go crazy".
2) A "Hollywood" shower-When I get to take a shower without hearing a baby screaming for me to hurry up and I actually get to lather, rinse, and repeat--this is a very rare treat.
3) A husband who cooks for me-If the cooking was left to me I would have sandwiches or cereal every night. It is just too difficult to juggle work, baby, and then making a meal at Matthew's "fuss hour". I always appreciate when Tony or my father in law cooks dinner for us. If I get to eat the meal while it is hot, instead of after feeding Matthew, even better.
4) Working out at the gym-This is an hour and a half of time completely dedicated to myself. Before the baby, I complained about having to work out to get in shape, but now I enjoy these rare moments to myself.
5) Caffeine-What a cruel joke nature plays on new mothers. We are exhausted from multiple nightly feedings, nursing releases a hormone that makes us sleepy, and we have to cut down on our caffeine to boot. The lactation specialist told me I can have the equivalent of 2 diet cokes or coffee a day. I have decided to make these shots of caffeine count and I have them around 2 in the afternoon when I am most exhausted. It also prepares me for Matthew's fuss hour (5-6PM).

6) Starting and finishing a task in one sitting-I oftentimes blame my forgetfulness on lack of sleep or lack of caffeine, but in most cases I am forgetful because I start a task and get interupted before getting to finish it. Whether it be organizing the baby clothes and diapers, sending out Christmas cards, or writing blogs, it never fails.... before I am through it is time to attend to the little one. Uh oh.. the prince awakens.. he is saying that is time to eat. Maybe I will get to the last four things tomorrow, unless I forget.

Daddy's first full week with Matthew

I have not had a chance to spend more that a weekend with Matthew since he was about a week old and I went back to work. Besides, even if I did spend more time than that at the beginning; he would not have been as “interactive and reactive” back then as he is now. I decided to take my 2nd full week away from work when Matthew was a bit older, which happened to fall into first week in December, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Just kidding!

Without knowing that Matthew would start 'talking' around 12 weeks old, I picked the right time to take my 2nd week of vacation to spend at home. I would consider this perfect timing on my part because I can talk to him and he would 'talk' back to me in his own language. I would say, “Hi Matthew!” or “Are you daddy's good boy?” and he would shriek in delight. Just take a look at this short video as an example of him reacting to my voice and 'talking' back to me.



The week off started with Matthew's first major road trip. The Vivona family rented a beach house at Bolivar Peninsula for a post-Thanksgiving / early birthday party for Maria. Matthew enjoyed the strolls on the beach while the doggies were busy chasing every sea gull in sight. I even dipped Matthew's feet in the water, as Maria posted in an earlier blog entry. Boy, I did not expect the reaction I received from the "little guy". Even though it was unseasonably warm, the water was cooler than I would have guessed -- low 60's. Maria and I went for swim later in that day and I have to say that it was quite chilly. We came back home early on a chilly, drizzly Monday morning. A cold front came through the night before, ending the 70 degree weather. At least the shorts-on-the-beach December weather was great while it lasted.

Even though daddy had the week off, mommy didn’t so it was daddy's turn to experience what mommy goes through day in and day out. The rest of the week can be summarized in the following activities I performed with him daily: (disclaimer: this is what I did with Matthew on my week off from work and does in no way infer that Maria does this while she is working!)

- wake up and hand Matthew to Maria for a feeding

- going out for about a long morning stroll with the doggies, hoping that Matthew falls asleep in the stroller while mommy works

- when sleeping Matthew wakes up, it is feeding time again

- after the mid-morning feeding, it is play time: hand-eye coordination exercises with daddy's hands, tummy time and rolling over practice, followed by some "office work" (see a preview blog entry)

- once again, handing him to Maria for a feeding then a nap

- after his mid-day nap, we would go for our second stroll of the day, hoping that this would lead into another nap

- after the post-stroll nap, if Matthew is hungry, he would go to Maria for another feeding

- after the feeding, spending time in the vibrating chair playing with cube, zebra and rattles on the toy bar, or simply lying down on the boppie feeding pillow, and admiring how hard mommy works.



Most days, we ended up going for two long strolls. Both Matthew and doggies loved that. Last Thursday, we must have walked 5 miles since we were out of the house for a total of 2 1/2 hours.

Dinnertime poses a bit of a challenge; not necessarily the cooking but Matthew’s mood determines if the parents eat together or take turns inhaling their dinner while the other one occupies Matthew. But I am sure that every parent knows and experiences this... :-)

Matthew is also enjoying quick trips (and sometimes not so quick) around town, grocery store, Babies ‘R Us, Petco, etc. I also indoctrinated him into being a “techie” by making an hour-long trip to the cable company service center to swap out the cable box so he can watch National Geographic channel in high definition. Okay, I have to admit that I am projecting here; the cable box upgrade was for the parents. They just have to watch the Food Network, Discovery Theater and “The Dog Whisperer” in HD. :-)

I should have known that he’s a “techie” by this photo:



In summary, I knew that motherhood was hard but I had no idea how hard. I have a new respect for all mothers once I’ve experienced first hand how much it takes to raise a child while daddy off at work, solving software problems inside the developer tools for the Space Shuttle flight software.

Matthew in his "Office" and his "Chain Mail"

This is Matthew's "Office". We call it his office because he seems to concentrate on all of the different stimuli like he is working hard. He looks like his Mommy when she is working on a difficult proposal.


This is a poncho that Matthew's grandmother made for him. Tony and I think it looks like chain mail. He really likes it now that the weather is getting colder.

Matthew's Commentary about his 1st Beach Trip

I don't quite understand what he is saying. Perhaps he is speaking Croatian.

Matthew's Party and Beach Weekend Excitement

Matthew had an eventful weekend. On Saturday morning he went to his cousin Bodie's birthday party. He got a chance to see his cousins, aunts, uncles and his Deda and watch them jump around on the huge blow-up space walks. He also watched his daddy scarf down lotsa pizza. After the party we went straight to the beach on Boliver Peninsula (an hour away plus a ferry ride from Clear Lake). We spent the weekend in a rented beach house. This was Matthew's first time to travel over night. He did exceptionally well in his portable crib and charmed his grandparents, Uncle Jude, and Kerry with his smiles and chatterings. He also seemed to like the strolls along the beach. The weather was unseasonably warm for December (in the 80's). Matthew's daddy even dunked his toes in the gulf for his first pre-swim experience. He cried a little. It is still yet to be determined whether he will be a swimmer like his Daddy.