Merry Christmas

Matthew loves hiding behind curtains these days!

We woke up to it snowing outside Christmas morning! How fun!

Matthew and Ava Greear enjoying a morning snack.

Opening Presents with the Tubb's and McDaniel's.

Opening presents with the Williston's and Butler's.

Matthew loves his new chair. Thanks Nana!

Matthew also got a Football tent that he loves! Thanks Gigi!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did. We were in West Point this year for Christmas. We came back Christmas night and had Christmas with Paul's Family on Sunday. Matthew loved playing with his cousins, Ava Greear and Whitt! Here are some pictures from this past week.

Christmas Pictures

We went to the Sugar Plum Parade downtown, and Matthew loved all the floats. He had his first parade experience, and I think he enjoyed it. I also got to take many cute pictures hoping to have a good one for our Christmas card. I got a few, but the camera was out of focus. Paul got me a new camera for my birthday that I was using. It is the kind that you have to adjust the focus for each picture that you take. I guess I needed a little more practice :)
We are doing good, just ready for Christmas break! We don't get out of school until the 22nd this year, so we will have a short break:( Hope everyone is doing well!

The camera ended up focusing on the building rather than us :(


Same problem :(


"This is not fun! I want to run around so you can chase me. Please stop taking my picture."


"What is that over there?"


The winner!! (at our house in front of the tree :)He did so good. He would get out of the chair, and we would say "Matthew sit back down for a minute" and he would go back and sit down with a smile on his face. You would never know that he is starting to throw tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants these days ;)

He just makes me laugh

Matthew's new favorite things are bibs and hats. If he sees one, he wants to put them on. Not to mention his new squeaker shoes too!



"Come on Roscoe, time to go for a walk!"

Happy Halloween!

Matthew was "Baby Brees" for Halloween. We went to downtown Ocean Springs to see all the trick or treaters Saturday night. Sunday night Matthew helped me pass out candy. We are all doing great! Hope everyone has a great week!




Fumble!! At least it isn't another interception!!


"Should I run it or just pass it?"


I can't get over how big he is getting. I feel like he just woke up one day and became a big boy! He is so sweet, but is definitely getting a personality. He is a little pistol if he doesn't get his way and is extremely independent. He loves just running around and seeing what he can get into.

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew celebrated his 1st birthday this weekend. We had a great time. My
brother, James, was able to make it along with some friends and Paul's parents. Matthew loved playing with the other kids. He had his 1 year check up and everything went great. He weighed 20 lbs and 4 oz (still in 10%) and was 29 1/2 in. tall (50%). We did have to put Matthew in the hospital last weekend :( He got the stomach bug and almost got dehydrated! I am so glad that he is feeling better and getting back to himself. It was a hard weekend. Other than that, we are all doing much better! Hope you all have a great week. Here are some pictures from his party.We had a dumptruck theme.


Matthew enjoying his cake. He mostly just played with it.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLGDwNTXlDKkV7t36CDYizarqeNtZ3yaqaiX9n-W7TCQwD8RcVMWYihvTG_qMZ4CJDx_9tWP_xlIpgJ_xeINOFjdWfeonscktsEETrqxqi3IRNWDp8fKoOi3VLSSZ8AbSjA_BzDfwIcSM/s1600/Matthew+287.jpg">
Matthew's cute dumptruck cake that his Nana made.


Does anyone else's den/house look like this?


Matthew having a good time at the party.


Wes was such a good helper! He loved the presents.

Double stroller

Does anyone have any recommendations on double strollers?

Ultrasound

We had our 18 week ultrasound today, and we didn't find out what we are having. Sorry! We are going to wait and let it be a surprise again. (Matthew was a surprise too.) So far everything has been going well. The baby weighed 8 oz., and the heart rate was 123. He/she was snoozing during the ultrasound. It was sweet to see him/her again. Our first ultrasound was at 6 weeks so it really only looked like a dot. I have been feeling pretty good. No complaints other than being tired, but I think that is expected being that I have an almost 1 year old and am working too.
Matthew is doing pretty good. He is walking everywhere now. We had a cold last week so we are still trying to get him well. It seems like as soon as he gets better, he gets something else. Poor baby, but it doesn't really slow him down much! He is taking his sippie cups well as we are trying to transition from bottles right now so we are excited about that. (Oh the things that make you excited these days! LOL) We are planning his first birthday party, and I can't believe it! It has gone by so fast, and they change so much in the first year! It makes me sad! (at least there is another on the way! haha) Hope everyone has a good week!

What a fun weekend!

We went to West Point this weekend and got to visit with my family. We also went to the Mississippi State game. Go Bulldogs! Matthew had a great time playing with his cousin, Ava Greear, going to the Prairie Arts Festival in West Point, going to tailgate, and visiting with the family.


At the tailgate with Christi!


Matthew and his cousin Ava Greear


Matthew cruising around in the car.



Matthew walking. Yes, he is just about walking now. He still crawls around a lot too, but he is getting really good at walking these days. I will be chasing him around before I know it!


TEN LITTLE MONKEYS by Garnett McDaniel
I am so impressed with my sister and her business that she started! She is making customized children's clothes. Her stuff is adorable. I always place me a big order when we go to West Point. She had a booth at the Prairie Arts Festival this weekend. I did bring some of her stuff back to sell in Gulfport. If you are interested in any of her stuff, please let me know and I will give you her contact information. She is on facebook and has a lot of her stuff on that.

Alleluia!!

After 3 and 1/2 years with the butterflies, they are finally gone!! Our master bathroom had these lovely butterflies on the tiles along with all original everything from the 60's so we are super excited about our bathroom redo. I am so proud of Paul because he did most of the work himself and with his dad. It looks great!! Thanks guys!

Before, please notice the butterflies :)


After :)



Since Paul had been working so hard on the bathroom, I decided to surprise him and take he and Matthew to the aquarium in New Orleans. I thought it was a great idea until the next day, Matthew started throwing up. I think he picked up a virus while we were there...Must have been those turtles and fish I let him play on even though I cleaned off his hands when he finished!! Paul and I started not feeling well a few days later, but we are better now. I think Matthew is still trying to recover some :(


Matthew at the aquarium.



Paul and I are also having another baby!! That's right, another one. I am due Feb 22nd, and we are excited! We will have our hands full because they will be 16 months apart, but we can't wait. I am excited about the idea of Matthew having a brother or sister so close. Hopefully they will be best friends!

I love this boy!

I got brave the other day and decided to let Matthew play with his food. I was feeding him and he kept reaching for it, so I gave in and just let him go to town! He was loving it and laughing as he slid the bowl from side to side across the food on his tray. It was all over his hands, face, clothes and everything! Needless to say, he did not enjoy the cleaning up part. He is so much fun the days and is getting braver and braver. He has taken a few steps without holding on to anything, so I think he will be walking fairly soon!






Roscoe just turned 3! Every year I make him a "dog cake" with the best wet dog food I can find (he always get the boring, dry dog food and maybe a few scraps from me every now and then) I also put a milk bone in the middle. He LOVES it and wishes every day was his birthday! He has been a pretty good dog with Matthew. He doesn't bother his toys and he mostly leaves him alone. He does try to play with him and Matthew LOVES it. We do have to watch them because Matthew will sneak up on him and scare him and he does not like it at all!!!

Update

I haven't really been doing a good job lately of taking pictures of Matthew and updating our blog. We have been pretty busy. Paul's sister and her family came to visit last week, and my parents came down this weekend. It was great to see everyone!I wish I had taken more pictures :( We are also in the process of a much needed remodeling of our bathroom, so our house is a complete mess! We should hopefully finish up this weekend or be close to it. Matthew had his 9 month appointment a week or so ago. He is still going great. He weighed 18 lbs and was 27 inches long and yes, he is still in the 10th percentile for both :) He is cruising everywhere and loving it. He will be walking before we know it. I start back to school in about a week and a half, so Matthew will be back to daycare soon. I think he will enjoy having babies to play with all day though.


Matthew and his cousin Whitt playing with the train. Whitt LOVES trains and Matthew kept stealing the bridge from the track. Whitt kept getting on to him :)


Matthew with his dump truck. He loves pushing it around everywhere.

4th of July

We went to Gulf Shores with the Massey family for the fourth and had a great time. We just hung out, went to the pool a little, and ate a lot :)They had a nice firework show for the fourth right outside our balcony and yes, the babies slept right through it :) The weather was nice the whole time we were there and there wasn't as much oil as I thought there would be. We didn't really go to the beach any.
They also had a petting zoo one day and all sorts of activities for kids that were a little older. It was nice to get away and relax. Paul was great about helping out and letting me enjoy our vacation. Thanks Paul and love you!