Matthew's First Century

I have been taking a daily walk with Matthew and our two dogs Paxil and Domino. About a month ago I decided to use the odometer on the jogging stroller to see how far we go by the end of April. By April 25th, Matthew and I had walked 97.6 miles. Unfortunately, after that the odometer batteries ran out and I didn't get the endorphin high of watching the numbers roll over to 100. However, I do know that by the end of the month we had walked 100 miles--Matthew's first Century. I have a feeling we won't be walking as much as we enter the hot and unbearably humid months, unless we walk in the morning... but until Matthew sleeps through the night (he still wakes up 2-5 times a night) I don't think I will be feeling much like waking up early in the morning to go for a walk... we'll see.

a fable about Matthew and the mouse

Dad here... Matthew has been crawling more and more efficiently, sometimes surprising us with his speed. The other day, I was using the laptop on the floor and before I knew it, Matthew crawled over and started using the mouse.

Also, nanna Josie (from daycare) has said that he is showing some early signs of walking. We have seen this for ourselves a few nights ago: when we are lying down, he is using our legs to prop himself up and keeping his balance in the process. Unfortunately, this is still a very spontaneous act so we have not been able to take a picture or capture it on video. Once we do, we'll post it here.

This means some serious baby-proofing of the house starts this weekend!!!

International Balloon Chewing Matthew

Matthew had an exciting weekend. Tony and I took him to the International Festival in Downtown Houston on Saturday evening. We had to walk several blocks from the parking place and Matthew was looking up at the skyscrapers..or at least I think he was... I was too busy looking up at the skyscrapers. Matthew seemed unphased by the crowds and the variety of music that he experienced... Zydeco, African dancers, Mariachi, and some French music. Despite all of Matthew's stimuli he seemed focused on a balloon a greeter gave to him while I was food shopping at HEB. I attached it to his stroller for the whole day and it kept him entertained. Unfortunately, the rubber balloons only float for about a day so on Sunday we bought him a Mylar Elmo balloon. Photo to be included soon.

A Small Price to Pay for a Good Nap

Matthew's sleeping patterns have been off lately. Maybe it is because of the new routine with daycare or maybe he is still feeling the effects of teething. The rationalizing does not make things easier on me though. For the last couple of weeks Matthew will wake up in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep for 2-3 hours. For instance, he woke up last night at 11:30PM and would not go back to sleep until 2AM. I have discovered the best way to get some sleep is to go to bed at 8PM, while Tony takes Matthew on some errands. For Tony these errands are most likely a trip to his heaven on earth...the computer superstore Fry's. So he takes his son out "geeking" with him for about an hour and a half while I get my only good 1-2 hours of sleep. Of course there are many unexplained techno-paraphernalia when I wake up. But this is a small price to pay for some much needed shut eye.

Crawl to Mommy...

Matthew started daycare last week with Josie. She is wonderful with Matthew. She is feeding him some solids and pumped breast milk. She reported to me that Matthew LOVES peas. So he appears to like his vegetables more than his Unkie Jude does.

Yesterday when I picked up Matthew he was sitting up and playing on the other side of the room. I knelt down and said, "Matthew, crawl to Mommy." Then he did. He still crawls slowly and clumsily but he has definitely added crawling to his memory bank. I am glad I didn't say, "Crawl to who you love best." (a Simpsons quote), because he would have crawled to a plastic lid that appears to be his new favorite toy at daycare. Josie has plenty of toys for infants but Matthew likes to play with this lid for some reason.

And the Crawling Begins....

Tonight Matthew crawled to me. His daddy said that he took a couple of steps (or crawls) last week but he fell almost immediately. Tonight he crawled across the living room to me four times. He is still a little shaky and unsure of himself, but he is definitely crawling.

Car Seat Honey Do

Matthew outgrew his infant car seat a couple of months ago--yes he is a tall boy. When we realized this I rushed to Babies R Us immediately to get the next size up. "Install Matthew's New Car Seat" has been on Tony's To Do list since early February. Instead the boxed car seat sat inside the master bedroom with dirty clothes on top of it. This past weekend I decided it was time to take action myself. Matthew reclined in his seat in the living room while I read the instructions. The new car seat is installed now. On my list of To Do's: "Learn how to nag Tony effectively."

Teething Bites!!

Arghh, I am functioning on very little sleep.. I am sure that many who have kids can remember the "teething phase". Matthew has two "little toofers" sprouting from his bottom gums so he can no longer be referred to as a "toothless gopher". He doesn't fuss most of the day, but at night he does not want to go to sleep. We have tried the wet frozen washcloth trick, teething rings, a little bit of Orajel... They seem to soothe him, but they don't help him sleep. In the meantime I am bumping into walls during the day, trying to recover from the lack of sleep. I thought I had the no sleep thing mastered, but Matthew stays a few steps ahead of me.