Stop Punching Yourself, Stop Punching Yourself

For some reason Matthew hits his forehead repeatedly with his hand while I breastfeed him lately. He has been doing this for about a week now. He doesn't hit himself hard enough for me to worry but I do hold his hand to keep him from doing it too often. His Daddy likes to imitate Matthew by doing a "toothless gopher" while hitting himself on the forehead. I didn't realize how goofy it looked until I saw a grown man do it. Tony emphasizes his goofiness by saying, "Look! I'm an Aggie". Uh oh, more fodder for Laura, my UT friend.

Cousins

Before Lauren's party, Matthew got a grand welcome from his cousins Lauren, Cooper, and Bodie.

Matthew's Exciting Swim at Party

Matthew was a social butterfly this weekend. On Saturday he attended my co-worker's daughter's party. We met a lot of new people and had a good time watching one year olds playing with "Stalking Elmo". I don't know what the real name of the toy was, but it walked and talked and followed the kids around.

On Sunday we went to Matthew's cousin Lauren's 7th Birthday party in Lake Jackson. Family and Lauren's friends went to the Swim and Recreational Center where they had a huge indoor pool with lots of slides. We didn't intend to take Matthew swimming, but after he had a pleasurable dunking of his toes in the pool (no crying like in the gulf) we decided to get a swim diaper and let him enjoy the pool with his daddy.

Shopping, Reading, and Eating

Lately I have noticed that Matthew seems to enjoy running errands with me. Before a couple of weeks ago, it seemed like he barely put up with any outings. I thought of it like shopping with a ticking time bomb that could go off any minute and cut our trip short. Having a wailing infant tends to make me want to leave any public place. Now, however, Matthew seems to enjoy looking at the surroundings and taking in all of the new sights and sounds. I especially noticed this at the bookstore last Friday. It is a good thing that Matthew now gives me more time to browse at the bookstore, because since he was born I have been reading an average of 3 books a week. I have read all of the books in my bookshelf that have been unread for 10 years or more. Where do I find time to read you may ask? ..When I am breast feeding Matthew. When I am especially engrossed in a book, I have noticed that Matthew eats longer. Maybe because I am less restless and willing to sit still. Perhaps I am projecting though. Maybe I try to get Matthew to eat longer so that I can finish a chapter. I have been reading a combination of child development books, business books, and novels.

Toothless Gopher

Lately, Matthew has been sucking on his bottom lip. It seems to keep him from sucking on his fingers so we aren't complaining. However, I think that he looks like a gopher without teeth. Actually, he looks like a "dork" according to my husband. I did not intentionally put on his Aggie onesie for this photo, but I thought I would provide fodder for my friend Laura, the Longhorn.

Simon Cowell at Four Months Old

Guest Blogger: Matthew's Uncle Jude Vivona
Simon Cowell at four months old. I have played guitar and sang in front of over 1000 people on the side stage at The Woodlands Pavilion, opening for Bon Jovi. I have entertained drunk friends at parties. I have even played pop songs (Beatles, R.E.M., Green Day...) in front of ravenous Heavy Metal fans sceaming, "You Suck! Play Megadeath! Metallica!" But...

Nothing, could prepare for my one man gig in front of my 4 month old nephew. As Matthew's eyes and face perked with curiosity about the strange instrument infront of him, no doubt trying to figure out how he could grab this gigantic thing and stuff it in his mouth, I started playing some melodic songs to keep his interest. As his interest was waning small cries of displeaure came out as I methodically worked through the intricasies of "Blackbird" by the Beatles on guitar.

Finally, my harshest critic gave me the boot by going into a tantrum after hearing an unDESIREable version of the song "Desire" by U2. As Matthew "Simon Cowell" Varesic uncermoniously made sure that I was not going to Hollwood and made it clear that I better put the guitar away before he goes into a full fledged "shawshank" temper tantrum with arms flailing, and his head back screaming to the sky, luckily his momma came in and saved the day. Next time - I think I'll will stick to the basics: "This Old Man" or "If you're happy and you know it". I'm not sure Matthew's ready for songs about Bono's satirical take on politics.

By Unkie Jude

Lets have a look at this "Gianormous" baby

Dad is posting today. Today was Matthew's 4 month checkup and the phrase in the title was spoken by his pediatrician. Matthew is 27" long (or is that tall?) and weighs 17 lbs 8.5 oz. That puts him at 95 percentile in both height AND weight. That is a big baby, eh? He also got 3 syringes with 4 immunizations. Poor little guy was in pain.

The doctor had a resident with her today and the resident got a laugh from his new nickname. I explained to the resident that I am 6' 7", my wife is 6', my brother-in-law is 6' 7", I have uncles that are 6' 5" or taller. Her response was "Wow! I wish I had his genes"; the resident is no taller that 5' 4".

The appointment was supposed to be at 11:30 am. The doctor's office was running late so Matthew was seen almost an hour late. By the time we made it home, it was 2:15 and it was too late for Dad to make the hour-long trip into the office for only 2 to 3 hours of work. I got a vacation day.

Matthew is also getting ever closer to crawling. He has been arching his back, keeping his head up, reaching forward for a while now. He started pulling back with his arms this week. Oh, boy are we in trouble!!! :-)

Matthew's Life as a Simpsons Character

Earlier this week Matthew had another feeding marathon and Tony quoted an episode of The Simpsons when Homer mistakenly bought a subliminal vocabulary building tape instead of a weight loss tape. Tony said of Matthew, “His gastronomic rapacity knows no satieties”. I was proud of Tony for remembering the quote. He knew when he married me that I am one of the biggest Simpson’s nerds and I quote the show constantly with Matthew’s Unkie Jude (Simpsons Reference). I am sure this will not be the last posting with Simpsons quotes but here are a few ways that The Simpsons has invaded our life:

Baby clothes made from Crown Royale bags was an idea Matthew's Unkie Jude got from an episode of The Simpsons when Homer lost his job and the family had to scrimp and save.

Here is a onesie I bought with a quote from Bart when he was a baby and Homer made a "clown crib" to comfort him. Unfortunately for Bart, the clown was scary.


Here was the cake topper from our wedding.

Mileage on the Stroller

Matthew really enjoys his strolls. He seems to enjoy the routine of going for a walk morning and evening. This is good timing seeing that I need to work off of the Christmas Cookies and other treats. I finished the first step of my New Years diet: I ate all of the sweets and fattening foods in the refridgerator as not to tempt me next week :) Tony and I have been putting a lot of mileage on Matthew's stroller. I sing to Matthew while walking. He especially likes "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the Dr. Seuss Alphabet song. I get strange looks from passerbies when singing Christmas carols two weeks after Chrsitmas, but the giggles and smiles from Matthew make it worth it.