Ba Ram U

We took Matthew to the Oil Ranch in Hockley Texas, northwest of Houston, on Saturday. We had a raincheck from a previous visit in early October. This time it seemed that Matthew was developmentally ready to enjoy himself thoroughly. He had his first pony ride:

He got to herd some sheep:





...and head butt a ram:

The ram head butted Matthew back and knocked him on his butt and this resulted in laughter (instead of a trampling).

And then he played for about 30 minutes in this moonwalk geared for younger toddlers. He went up and down the slide about 20 times and had a blast riding or falling off of the blow up animals.

Little Drummer Boy

Matthew still loves his percussion set that his Unkie Jude gave him for a present earlier this year. It has become an afternoon ritual that every afternoon after I pick him up from daycare we play on his drums to his favorite music. Recently, Matthew has misplaced the drumstick which is only one part of his 8 part percussion kit. He knows that I keep his drum set high on a desk in his play area and recently he points to it every time he enters the room. When I pull down all of the pieces, except the drumstick which we still haven't found, he will play the percussion set for a couple of minutes and then point up as if to say, "I want my drumstick too". Tony and I have ransacked the house looking for this drumstick... no luck yet. See the Little Drummer Boy in action from an earlier blog: http://theadventuresofmatthew-maria.blogspot.com/2008/08/jam-session-with-unkie-jude.html

Matthew's Many December Outings and Visits

Whare has Matthew been? To Dewberry Farms in Brookshire, west of Houston.

Matthew had the opportunity to pet this friendly horse, but all Matthew wanted to do was poke the poor horse in the eye, so I pulled him away. We need to work on his equine etiquette.

He also had fun in this hay hole. I do not know the significance of the "B".

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by on their way to the office Christmas party to say Hi.... to Elmo?

We went to Chick Fil A to enjoy a visit with Santa and.....

SANTA COW. We will have to send this photo to Kerry the "Bovine Savant" to find out what kind of cow Santa Cow is.

15 Month Exam Matt Stats

I have been quite busy lately chasing Matthew or managing proposals which left me little time to update the blog. However, I feel a need to update the blog with the latest Matt Stats from his 15 month appointment. Except for the actual numbers the appointment went very similarly to his 1 year appointment.

Head Circumferance: 19"

Height: 32.5" (75-90%)

Weight: 24 lbs 9 oz (50-75%)

Once again he is a "tall slender healthy toddler". He got three shots again but the nurse was lightning fast this time and barely gave Matthew enough time to let his bottom lip quiver, let alone cry. Of course like always he played with the "butcher" paper and enjoyed the view of the Houston Medical Center from the 9th floor window.

Keeping Up with Matthew or Training for the Marathon?

Lately, Matthew has been running... not walking. He loves for me to chase him no matter where we are. I took Matthew to Discovery Green park last Saturday for a Gymboree event that involved a parachute, bubbles, finger puppets, his friends Collin and Gavin and the edge of a dock that he kept running toward. When I ran to pick him up he squirmed until I let him down and then ran to the edge of the dock again. Later we went into the water fountains and he had a blast with his friend Collin. Last Sunday we went to a friend's birthday party. Matthew spent the whole two hours running laps around the house with me chasing him. Fortunately since then I got a break, Monday through Friday while I worked. However, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday he started again, running, exploring and seeing how fast he could run away fom me giggling the whole time. Friday and Saturday nights we went to restaurants with sandboxes, which Matthew LOVED. Of course he tried to sit on other kids' sandcastles. I succeeded in averting his efforts all except for one time. There was lots of crying and apologizing. This past Sunday Matthew enjoyed a visit from his grandparents, Unkie Jude and Kerry and his Cousin Stephen. He decided that we should all get our exercise chasing him or walking him in his buggie.

Don't Make Him Mad--Halloween Night

I took Matthew trick-or-treating on Halloween night. I dressed him up and I took him around the block and close by in his push buggy that has a trunk that opens (for the candy). Matthew appeared to have fun going to different houses and being told how cute he was. I think I enjoyed it more though. I became nostalgic about Hallweens past. Many people have asked me for a photo of Matthew's costume. Can you tell who he is? I'll give you a hint.. Don't make him mad. The only one who got mad Halloween night was his Uncle Jude when a neighbor mistook Matthew for a "frog"??? Jude restrained himself and didn't insult the person who happened to be wearing a University of Texas shirt. What do you expect from a Longhorn?

Matthew's Big New England Adventure

I have been wanting to blog about Matthew's first flight and visit with relatives, but the 300+ photos that Tony took of the trip was a little more daunting to look through than I anticipated. So here is the Executive Summary (Can you tell that Matthew's Mom is a Proposal Manager?)

• New States Visited: 5, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island (a brief stop to get Tony some Dunkin Donuts coffee), and New York. We drove about 750 miles. The longest drive was a 7 hour trip from Cape Cod to Maplewood, New Jersey (it should have been 5 1/2 hours but we made frequent stops).
• Relatives Visited: Matthew met 40 relatives for the first time. They were all family on my father's side. We enjoyed wonderful hospitality from all and had some delicious meals.
• Cannolis eaten by Varesics: 11 in all... My Uncle Michael and Cousin Doreen were kind enough to get some from the Italian bakeries, knowing that we cannot get good Cannolis in Houston? What is a cannoli you may ask?
• Number of photos of leaves that Tony took: 304
• Matthew's new nickname: Smiley. His cousin Stephen gave him that nickname because he enjoyed every new experience so much he had a huge smile on his face.
• How did Matthew do on his flight to and from Newark (3 hours each way): Matthew did fantastic. His fussing was kept to a minimum, even when we were on the tarmac waiting to take off for over an hour for the flight home. Matthew's Daddy did most of the fussing.

Matthew's idea for a Halloween costume

Dad here. While Maria and I were out to dinner last night celebrating our 2nd anniversary, Unkie Jude was babysitting. While Matthew was doing his usual walking around the house looking for stuff to play with, he found mommy's bicycle helmet and made up his mind what he wants to be for Halloween. Lucky for us, Unkie Jude was wise enough to grab the camera and take a picture. Our guess that Matthew wants to be either a hockey goalie or (heavens forbid) Jason from the "Friday the 13th" movie series. :-)



We're hoping that its something less sinister, like taking the game of peek-a-boo to a whole new level. Only time will tell...

Fall is Here!

A few days ago I passed by a church with hundreds of pumpkins displayed on the grounds. The next morning I stopped by with Matthew to take photos. I never got any photos of Matthew in the spring wildflowers, despite my desperate attempt to find some during our very dry season. It is more appropriate for me to take Matthew's photos in a field of pumpkins anyway... because I love the fall. Whether you love Autumn or not, you gotta love these photos.

My weekend with Matthew

Dad here. Maria was invited to spend a “spa-getaway” weekend with her best friend (and matron of honor) Barb that Carl (Barb's husband) organized for Barb's birthday – When Maria mentioned that she would like to spend her first night away from Matthew I was quick to offer to watch Matthew by myself...it had nothing to do with her threatening to make me sleep with the cat for the next year!

That left Matthew's feeding, diaper changing, entertainment, i.e. all responsibilities to me, and any family member that I thought I needed help from, though I did not ask help from any of them. I know that I was up for the challenge! Matthew is a lot more stable on his feet then a month ago and his "monkey walk" is almost gone. By monkey walk, I mean that he looked like a chimpanzee, walking with his hands lifted above his head for balance. He definitely knows where he wants to go and loves to charge my legs when I play “goalie” to block him from going somewhere.

His latest thing is to dunk everything he can get his hands on into the dog's water bowl. He also likes this game: getting a hold of the TV, cable box and/or DVD player remotes and walking away from me at top speed, laughing with every step. At this rate, I will not be able to keep up with him in a few years. Keeping the remotes from getting drool-soaked (or dunked in the aforementioned water bowl) and ruined, not to mention wrestling them from his vice grip hands, is a full time job.

We had a great time without mommy. The only downside was that Matthew did not want to drink any of the milk that mommy pumped for him and left in the fridge. I offered him apple juice or bottled baby water more than once but he did not want any of them, so I had to switch tactics. I started feeding him food that had a higher content of liquids: apple sauce. He absolutely loves apple sauce! I made sure that he had at least one apple sauce serving per meal and received no complaints. He got enough hydration; the proof was all the wet diapers. That made daddy happy too.

Saturday night, we had a long session of drumming with the drum kit that his godfather gave him as a Baptism present. He must have been inspired by the Taiko Japanese Drummers we saw the night before at the Miller Outdoor Theater. I called our hour-long jam session the "Caucasian Drummers", which Maria later re-christened "Crustacean Drummers". Hee hee. Unfortunately, the fun times had to end when Matthew walked off with the drumstick and managed to squirrel it away somewhere -- it has yet to found.

I convinced him to take two naps on Saturday, but managed to get only one nap on Sunday. On Sunday, we ended up going to Katy Mills Mall before joining mom, Barb, Carl, Johnathan and Daniel for dinner. He was getting sick of the house as much as I was since we did not get out of the house on Saturday – not even a stroll. We lost the opportunity to go for a stroll while I was waiting for him to nap Saturday morning. I thought that he would take a nap before 9:30 am so I let him keep playing, and walking, and playing and walking until he fell asleep at 11:30 am. By the time he woke up, it was 1:00 pm and 85 humid degrees outside; it was below 70 degrees at 9:30 am when I was thinking about taking him on the stroll.

I made sure that I did not make the same mistake on Sunday. I took him and the doggies for a stroll at 7:30 am, shortly after feeding him breakfast -- daddy had two cups of coffee. It was a crisp morning with a temp of 65 degrees. To prove that he was in a good mood, he sang. Mommy said that he's sang once or twice last week but I heave not heard him sing until Sunday morning. He also sang a few times on the drive to dinner on Sunday night. I wish that I had the video camera (or even a tape recorder) to record it. It must have been something that he made up since I could not recognize the tune he was singing from any of the lullabies and baby songs he's been listening to.

We'll have to record him singing on video. Who knows, maybe he'll be the next American Idol. GASP! I CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST SAID THAT!!! :-)

1 Year Exam Stats 2 Weeks Later

A couple of weeks ago on Wednesday September 10th, Matthew had his 1 year exam. Here are his stats: Height 30 3/4 inches (75-90%) and Weight: 23.4 lbs (50-75%). The doc said Matthew is a "tall slender baby". A little different from his 3 month appointment where he was referred to as "ginormous". The doc also gave me suggestions to get him to sleep through the night without feedings. She recommended that Matthew's Dad attend to him at night when he wakes up by reassuring him every 10 minutes until he falls back to sleep. We started this plan on that same night and so far it has been working very well (at least I am getting a lot more sleep). Matthew got three shots during this appointment. The nurse whipped out the syringes so quickly that before Matthew registered that he got his first shot he had already received two more. He cried for a few seconds but then was back to normal.

Screen Window-1, Matthew-0

On Monday both Tony and I had the day off of work because Houston was largely without power at that time. We made due. A miraculous cold front came in that made our days much more mild than they normally are at this time of the year. We usually don't get weather in the 70's and 80's until late October. We had all of the windows open enjoying the fresh air. Matthew decided to pound on the screen and fell through the screen window. Don't worry, Matthew is fine, but he scraped his nose on the screen on his way down. His scrape looks like a rug burn. The first day it was red, but the second and third day he had a noticeable scab.

Matthew and Ike Aftermath

I will provide a more thorough update in a future blog. I am currently in a coffee shop that has Internet connection. The Houston Vivonas and Varesics made it through the storm okay. Matthew, Tony, and I evacuated to The Woodlands (40 miles north from our home). Ironically, my parents house sustained more damage: A huge 100+ foot pine tree snapped from the middle and landed on their garage and a neighbor's tree fell across the street and landed on my father's truck.

My parents in The Woodlands are without power as of Sunday afternoon. We returned to a house with no damage but no power and no cell phone coverage. My brother (Matthew's Unkie Jude) seems to be doing well in the Southwest side of town, but we haven't talked to him directly. Who made out the best through the storm: Matthew-he got full attention from his mom and dad and grandparentsfor the last five days. Who was the most disturbed throughout the storm? Tony's hell cat Angel. She meow/howeled (meowlled)both trips to and from The Woodlands and left us an SUV that smells like cat urine. FYI, the dogs treated this like a happy ride.

Matthew's First Baseball Game Stats Sept. 9, 2008

• Who hit the first home run at Matthew's first baseball game?: Mark Saccomanno and it was his first at bat in a major league game.


• What was the score?: Astros 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 2


• Who pitched the final strike to win the game: ?? (I bet I will get a response from Unkie Jude)


• How many beers did Matthew's Unkie Jude have?: 2 (His mom ate 1.75 pretzels, Matthew gnawed on .25 pretzels)


• How many verses of "Deep in the Heart of Texas" did we sing during the Seventh Inning Stretch: 6


• How many laps did we walk around the Minute Maid Field concourse when Matthew started to fuss?: 2.5


• How many times did his grandpa call us on the cell phone to see if Matthew was having a good time: 3
  

Matthew's Birthday Brunch

Matthew's First Birthday Brunch (Told through Photos)

The special homemade birthday cake made by our friend Robin.


She also made a mini cake for Matthew to manhandle.


Which he did.


His daddy secretly took him to take a quick bath before he opened his presents.



I ended up with Matthew's cute friend Audrey on my lap. There is something about being in the center of a room full of presents that is appealing to kiddos. Notice Matthew's friend Collin also joining in.


Tony also put together a slide show and video montage of our favorite photos and high definition videos of Matthew on his big screen TV. I was proud of Tony. He was able to keep the presentation down to 10 minutes. This was very difficult because he has taken over 2000 photos of the little guy over the last year. Fortunately, I was able to convince him that the 38th photo of Matthew sleeping was probably unnecessary. We relived our honeymoon argument that he could capture a Maui sunset in 20 seconds as opposed to 20 minutes.

Matthew's party was from 11AM-1:30PM. The party ended just in time for him to take his afternoon nap with his balloon of course.