Call of the Wild

I'm very excited that Matthew loves to go places and see people.  He is in high heaven whenever we leave the house.  Seriously, the guy gets super excited anytime I put him in his car seat.  Unfortunately for me Walmart seems to be a favorite stop.  WALMART!!!  AHHHHHH.

The other day we were running all over town searching for a reasonably priced filing cabinet.  Have you priced filing cabinets lately?  Ridiculous.  Just sayin'.  I finally gave up and pulled into the Walmart parking lot.  Then I did the unthinkable.  I plopped my 8.5 month old son down into that nasty shopping cart WITHOUT his seat protector.  Even he looked mortified.  He placed one little hand on the wire bar in front of him, and he reached all the way behind himself to place one little hand on the wire bars behind his back (white knuckle type of death grip), and he just looked at me as though I'd lost my mind. 

Oh golly the fear did not last.  As we began rolling into the store he began to realize the freedom:  The wind whipping through the bars, the ability to swing those legs unimpeded, the cool and flavorful metal to put that mouth on (don't worry, I stopped that one in a nanosecond).  By the time we reach the office supply department in the very back of the store he was so estatic that he simply couldn't contain his joy a moment longer and he let out the loudest, most high pitched, most gleeful, scream that I've ever heard emanate from his tiny body.  What followed was like slow motion.  The scream was so outrageous that I stopped frozen from sheer shock and surprise.  And then I giggled at the ridiculously happy look and smile on his adorable little face.  And then somewhere waaaay far away in another department (like toys or gardening) came an answer call.  Another baby screeched away in equally loud delight.  My jaw dropped as my dear son ANSWERED this call with another loud screek (and was rewarded with another far off screaming answer).  I quickly recovered my wits and began explaining the concept of inside voices.  Luckily for me he "got it" and his screeching stopped.  Unluckily for some other random mommy the other child did not.  I continued to hear those calls attempting to reach out to my son for quite some time as I loaded up our filing cabinet and made a bee line to the check out.

I'm sure that random person pushing that really loud baby just loves us (or maybe they just don't care since it was Walmart and all)!  Good thing Matthew plays innocent like a pro and we were able to escape without any fingers being pointed in our direction.

(Not a Walmart picture.  Just a random picture from a walk.)

Busy Bee

GUILTY!  I'm guilty of baby proofing on the fly!  In all fairness to me, he's not an expert crawler.  Actually, he has no desire to get onto his hands and knees.  I think he thinks it is beneath him.  He just wants to stand up so darn badly!  He's bear crawling his way around... well, to be honest he's getting into bear crawl position, moving about 1 inch, sitting back onto his bottom by way of a neat little spin move, and then repeating as many times as it takes to get where ever it is he wants to go.  Anyway, my point is that I look up and he's somewhere that makes me go, "hmm, ok time to move that."  Sigh.

What's in here?

What's this?

Oh and I can balance on two arms and one leg!

Seriously, what IS this?  I noticed him bear hugging the entertainment console because he was making loud slurping noises as he made out with the glass door. 

8 Months

8 months old sounds so... old!  I thought it was going to be a rather uneventful month, but it has shown all kinds of new achievements.  Early in the official 8 month birthday week I was on the phone with my mom and I was telling her how Matthew gets up on all 4's like a bear but refuses to go anywhere.  I was also telling her how surprised I was that he hasn't figured out how to sit up yet.  Well, I guess he was listening because within 30 seconds of me hanging up the phone he looked at me and sat himself up.  By the end of the week he was crawling. 

Look at me brushing my teeth!  I have 4 of them!

In other developmental news, I love seeing him waving his toys with his wrist and not the entire arm.  The pincer grasp is pretty darn cute and fun to watch, too.  There is no more hiding the TV from him since he's got the whole object permanence thing.  He'll just shove your hand out of the way or turn himself back around so that he can see it.  

Speaking of TV...  He really enjoys the music channels.  50's music to be exact (barf).  I play good mom and tune into the Malt Shop Oldies station for him, but I don't like it.  I do like seeing him dance around so I guess it's worth it!  He LOVES to stand up and bop around, but if nothing is near by to assist in the standing then he's perfectly content to bop around on his butt.  That might be even more fun to watch.  He's also realized that he is capable of pulling himself up (and pulling me down).  Sometimes I can't tell if he's grabbing the collar of my shirt in order to pull himself up OR to pull me down.  He does both.  He can't quite pull himself up in the crib, but he can get up to his knees.

We bumped Matthew up to size 4 diapers due to pee volume - size 3 fit, but if you have kiddos that pee a lot then you understand why we put up with a little extra bulk in the booty.

We're still feeding him the same food schedule as we were at 7 months and he's still having mystery allergic reactions.  We can't seem to pinpoint anything except that we know for sure mango, maybe carrots, and definitely perfumes, and scented laundry detergent/fabric softener.  Poor kid can't go out in public (or the public come to our house) without having some sort of reaction.  We're keeping a daily diary of food and events, but I think we're probably heading to a daily dose of something medicinal since we can't single out the worst offenders.  Honestly, I think it's bothering me more than him!

Here is my happy boy!

Father's Day Weekend

Happy Father's Day (from last weekend)!  Yes, this is a forced-by-mom pose to commemorate the day.

PIRATE POOL!!!  Ryan went for the gold when he came home with the most AWESOME pool ever made.  Matty Bear was not too sure what to make of the cold (well, cooler) water, but he came around.  His current favorite bath toy is the floating rubber ducky, so I graciously allowed him to borrow my personal pirate rubber ducky for the pool (oops, not pictured - imagine it stage right).

CRAWLING!  What a fun gift to give Daddy!  His first crawls were taken right in front of our very eyes.  I'm so glad Ryan was home to see it. 

Wait, how did I get over here? 

Did mom baby proof this yet (uh, nope)? Is that DOG FOOD by that Wii Balance Board (gross... yes)?

I can crawl in my bed now, too!  So much bouncy fun!

Yeah, this isn't a pic of actual crawling, but it makes me laugh.  We have a fascination with hair pulling.

COOKING OUT WITH BUZZ! We wrapped up the weekend with a Dad's Day cookout with Grandpa Buzz. 

That first pic isn't Buzz, it's Aunt Keely.

Fun in the STL

Have I mentioned that we LOVE St. Louis?  A few weeks ago we made the trip to see grow-up friends and take advantage of some free babysitting.  YAY for adult time!  We also managed to squeeze in Matthew's first trip to the zoo where he was entertained by the elephants, his first trip to Seamus McDaniel's where he charmed the entire wait staff on the patio, and a play date at the park with a few of his favorite buddies.  All in all it was the perfect weekend.

The boys...

Posing with Daddy.

Uncle Steve doing what Uncle Steve does!

Posing with Mommy.

Noticing the elephants!

Worn out!

This is my adventure hat.  I wear it when I'm adventuring.

Careful, Uncle Steve!  I'm getting really good at nabbing glasses!

Much more appropriate beverage option.

Patios are FUN!!!

Hanging with my buddies.

Gavin escapes while we're distracted.

Playing hard to get!

Lovin' all the love!

The gang all tuckered out :)

Let Them Eat Cake!

Whilst at Walmart (Yes, I know - Walmart.) this week I was struck with a sudden urge to hop on the cake pop bandwagon.  It sounded easy enough.  I decided to go with the box mix and pre-made frosting.  I can seriously mess up even these ready mix things so I figured there was no point in wasting time on anything "from scratch".

Cake baked and messed up.  Frosting added.  Most recipes online said to use 3/4 of a container.  I think next time I'll try more like 1/2 a container.  Also, I need to do a better job of breaking down the bigger chunks.

Balls made and ready to rest in the freezer for a few minutes.

Baby not cooperating with my nap idea.  Please baby!  Mommy would like some uninterrupted cake dipping time.  Sigh.  He makes me smile.  He loves playing with blankets!

Chocolate melted.  I used the idea of dipping the sticks into the melted chocolate before inserting them into the balls to help them stay stuck.  I think it worked.

I quickly decided that my talent does not extend to creating the lollipop look.  My sticks were too short for my holder and it was making quite a mess (you can see the casualty in the background).  The upside down pop was much easier and much quicker.  I'm not sure we even need sticks.  My next round might just be cake balls.

TA-DA - butter pecan cake pops with cream cheese frosting, vanilla chocolate coating and gold sprinkles!

Baptism

A few weeks ago (OK, over a month ago) we made the trip to the STL for Matthew's Baptism.  Fr. Johnson agreed to do the job at our favorite church.  It was extra special because we were able to do it with the amazing man who married us at the church in which we were married, surrounded by our family, all while getting a little Holy Spirit into our kiddo!

 The most awesome Godparents!

 My favorite ladies!

The big moment!

Afterwards everyone made it over to Helen Fitzgerald's Grill & Pub for some celebratory lunch.  Of course my camera died in the middle of the Baptism ceremony, so you'll mostly have to use your imagination.  I did manage to get a few snaps from some other folks...

Cousins!

 More cousins!

 Watch out, Grandpa, I'm really good at grabbing noses!

Whale of a Good Time

This was Matthew's first bath in his whale tub.  Little man was just a few days old.

Wednesday was Matthew's last bath in his whale tub.  I know, I waited waaaaay too long to convert him over, but it was just so easy and Matthew liked the whale so much that I didn't want to mess with it.  Plus the new tub looks like it might be much more difficult to keep clean.

Last night was Matthew's first bath in his NEW tub!  I thought that there might be a chance that he would be apprehensive, but boy was I wrong!  I should've done this a month ago.  Thank you Grammie and Grandpa T!  Travel will be so much easier this summer in a tub that can deflate.