Baby Chores

It's never too early to assign chores right??

Hopefully he's still this happy about doing dishes when he's a teenager!

Next up on the chore list?....learn to take out the trash!

Stay tune for that one.

Monkey Business

I am stressing out about Matthew's first birthday party next month (3 weeks left to get everything done)!  I've been pinning ideas and trying to get some things done in anticipation for the big day.  Aside from consuming your life, Pinterest is dangerous when you can't make up your mind and every new idea you find, you want to do!

One of my blogging friends, Erika, knitted this cute sock monkey hat for Matthew!  I LOVE it!!  I think we will use it for his cake smashing pictures (if he'll keep it on). 

I wanted to use the hat for the invitation pictures, but it came a day late and I was pinched for time.  Below is one of the pictures from our (very quick) photo shoot for his invitation pics. I wanted to use this picture for his invitaitons, but the one we went with, he had a cuter expression. 

Happy Friday! 

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

11 Questions

The lovely Heather tagged me in her post.  I'm not following all the rules because rules are meant to be broken right?  I am super busy with work right now.  Here are my answers to her questions.   

1. Who was your first crush?
 2nd grade and his name was Bobby Ham.  He got in trouble for skipping the line so he could stand next to me. Ha! Funny the things we remember.

2. Where do you see yourself in five years? Be honest.
Hopefully expanding our family with baby #2 (or 3 or 4 or whatever I am blessed with). And being a full time stay at home mom versus a work at home mom.

3. If you could travel to one country for a week, where would you go, and where would you want to stay?
I would love to go back to Vietnam and do the whole tourist-y thing.

4. When are you happiest?
I am happiest when I am cuddling with my baby and the hubs.

5. When was the last time you cried?
hmmmm.....I think it was a few months ago when I was just SO exhausted and tired and just had a mommy melt down. 

6. Mountains or Beach?
Beach! What's there to do in the mountains??!!

7. If you had unlimited money, which store would you visit first?
Ethan Allen for some nice furniture.  (Am I old for wanting to buy furniture first instead of clothes??!)

8. What is your favorite quote or verse?
"Be Still And Know that I am God..."

9. If you could wake up tomorrow with a new talent, which would you choose?
Amazing photographer!

10. If you could have any zoo animal as a pet, which would you choose?
Baby Panda's or baby elephants.  Probably not the safest animals to have as pets, but they sure are the cutest!

11. At your current stage of life, what is your ideal date?
A nice homemade dinner and Red Box movie at home. (Husband, please take note!)


If you want to play along, I would love to read your responses. Just let me know in the comments and I'll swing by and visit your blog.  And if you are a rule follower, visit Heather for all the rules.

Yay, it's almost the weekend!!

Enter The Dragon

Happy Chinese/Vietnamese New Year!

Also known as Tet (Vietnamese version of the Lunar New Year).

This is the year of the dragon. 

Matthew wore his cute little chinese outfit to church on Sunday and got lots of compliments.

After church, we went to celebrate the new year with family.  It is customary to hand out little red envelopes with money inside to all the little children.  The value inside the evelopes range from $2 (for the babies) to about $10 (for the older kids).  But on average, it's about $5.  Matthew had no interest in his little red envelopes, but momma made sure she put it in a safe place for him.  He ended up with a total of $25.  Not too shabby. (Do babies pay tithing on their 'earnings'??)

The house was filled with lots of noise and laughter as the children played and 'gambled' away their newfound fortune. My wonderful husband was such a trooper because he can only handle the noise level for so long, but he endured (as usual).

There was lots of yummy food and treats!  Another custom is to pay respects to the ancestors by lighting incense and leaving food out on the alter.  The picture below, in the bottom right, is the alter my aunt set up for my maternal grandmother (who passed away a few years ago).  My mom has a similiar alter set up for my dad, who passed 15 years ago.

I also called Vietnam and talked to my aunt and uncle to wish them a happy new year.  Oh how I wish I can go back and visit again.  Maybe when Matthew gets older I can take him back to his motherland! (haha).

We had a great weekend celebrating the new year with family.  I hope and pray this year of the dragon will bring many more blessings to our family. 

Growth Spurt

I think somebody is going through a growth spurt!

Either that or he's reverted back to his earlier days when getting up 2 -3 times a night to eat was the big 'in' thing to do.

 

For the last week, Matthew has been waking up multiple times in the night to eat. Once he's up, we just put him in the bed with us (because we're too tired to sit in the rocker in his room to feed him!).  He'll take his bottle, fall back asleep for a few more hours, then back up again for more milk (rinse & repeat).  We don't give him his bottle right away, we try to 'pat' him back to sleep and then if he is still very fussy or screaming, then we give him the bottle. 

I'm hoping it's just a phase (aka growth spurt) and it too shall pass. 

We were all sick earlier this week (mostly Steve and I, Matthew only had a slight fever) with the stomach bug. Matthew and I are better, but Steve is still not well.  It's the worst when both parents are sick at the same time.  Hats off to all the single parents out there!!

We will be spending part of the weekend celebrating Chinese new year (Vietnamese celebrate lunar new year with the Chinese).  Matthew will be collecting his little red envelopes!

(That was always my favorite part of the new year celebrations!)

Have a great weekend!

Blogger Flogger!

Blogger is once again being all weird on me!  I can't seem to comment on a lot of blogs.  I can read them, but when I go to comment, the site freezes up!  So frustrating! 

So, just know that I am reading ya'lls blog, just can't add my two cents. 
Hoping Blogger will get it together soon!!!

Speaking of comments....

Are you a 'noreply-comment @ blogger.com' ??  Do you even know if you are?!

Have you ever had someone leave you a question in the comment section and you want to respond to them, but when you go to hit 'reply' in your email, you get the dreaded 'noreply-comment{at}blogger.com'!!

I always try to respond, even comment on the comments I get, but there are times when I can't because of the 'noreply'.  Yes, I know you can respond to comments WITHIN the comments section, but who really goes back there to check after they've commented?

To check and see if you are a "NOREPLY", or if you know you are but don't know how to fix it, here is the simple way to go about getting this remedied. I came across this great step by step instructions, with pictures!, to show you how to fix your settings. 

Matthew is 11 Months!

Matthew, you are 11 months!  Has it really been 11 months since you came into this world?!

You are growing into such a big boy.

And you are so over these monthly pictures because you refuse to sit still for them!

You are crawling everywhere and getting into everything possible.  You can 'walk' if we hold your hands.  I think it's just a matter of time before you will be walking on your own!

I think you weigh about 20 pounds, wearing size 3 diapers and wearing clothes 9-12 months.

You are still sleeping through the night, however lately, you've been getting up around midnight for another feeding. Growth spurt maybe??

You finally have a tooth on the bottom! You are eating more now!  We started feeding you stage 3 baby food, but you are not a fan of it (because it has small chunks in it).  Daddy was so excited to buy you Italian baby food, but unfortunately, you were not interested!  So far the foods you do not like are mixed berries and broccoli!  You also ate pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) for the first time and you LOVED it! 

You enjoy playing with your toys and you play pretty well on your own too.

You enjoy it when mommy and daddy read to you. 

You love bath time!

You just learned how to wave 'bye'!

And you smile when you hear grandma or cousin Abbey on the phone.

You still get SO excited when daddy comes home.

Then if he walks out of the room, you get so upset because you can't see him.

You love to nap with daddy (and he loves it too because that's his favorite thing to do).

It's hard to believe that you are going to be one next month!

(Mommy is already planning your first birthday in full force).

Mommy and daddy still find it hard to believe that we are SO blessed to have you as our son. 

You are such a GOOD baby!

You've been just pure joy and we love you so much!!

Mexican and An Indian

I haven't had Mexican food since my girl's weekend in AZ.   On Saturday, we went to visit my family and took Abbey to dinner with us. We went to Don Pablo's and it was yummy.  We ate chips and salsa like there was no tomorrow.  Then we devoured our food because we were so hungry! Matthew got to play with the tortilla dough and even ate little pieces of tortilla. And the fried ice cream was delish!

Oh so yummy!

Matthew is currently in 6th place in the Cutest Baby Contest (after being stuck in 7th all week).  The contest ends tomorrow and we need to make the top 5!  Please help us!!

There's two ways to vote. You can do one or BOTH (once a day)!

1. You can vote on FB here.

*AND/OR

2. Go directly to My Baby Clothes 

On the right hand side, click on the buton that says 'Baby Photo Contest'
Hit the 'Vote Now' button
Look for Matthew's picture 'Cutest Little Indian'
Hit 'Vote Now'
Enter in the two verifications words
Hit 'Vote Now' and that's it!
Please vote!! Contest ends tomorrow!  

*If you vote on BOTH, make sure you are logged out of FB before you get on the My Baby Clothes site. 

You can also vote from a smartphone (again, make sure you are logged off FB first).

Every Nook and Cranny

Matthew loves to explore every thing around the house.  He finds every nook and cranny and tries to squeeze himself in it.  Some of his favorite spots include, the space behind the computer (he tries to go for the computer plugs), underneath the coffee table, behind the couch, under the desk, and he also attempts to head for the stairs. We can't let him out of our sight!



Lately, he's been ALL about  daddy.  Here he is 'looking' and waiting for daddy in front of the bathroom door .  So stinkin' cute!

(I wonder if he ever looks for mommy when she's gone?!) 



Ducky Matthew

I love looking at pictures of Matthew when he was a tiny little baby (look at those cute little lips).

I'm amazed to see how much he has grown and is still growing.

And the smell of baby after a bath....ahhh....pure sweetness.

Two on the Bottom

Matthew has not been very happy lately.  His bottom two teeth are coming through.  There were a few days last week where he was just absolutely misreable!  It's so hard to see your baby in pain and there's nothing you can do about it (I'm sure there will be many more of those days in the future).  We were able to put a little baby orajel on it and I think that helped a little.  I can't imagine what it will be like when his molars come in?!

Thank you to those who voted for Matthew on FB.  He keeps getting bumped from 5th, then 6th and now back down to 7th!  Please keep voting for him daily and post on your FB wall after you vote. 

Every vote counts!! Please click HERE to vote for Matthew! In the upper right side of the picture, there will be a button that says 'VOTE'. After you vote it will change to 'I VOTED'. You can vote once a day (24 hrs from the last time you voted). You don't have to be friends with me on FB to vote.

THANK YOU!!

What's Pink and White and Full of Sugar and Keeps You Up All Night?

No, not Matthew.

Do you know what kept me up until 3:00 AM on Friday??

It was 8 dozen of these sweet onesies I made for my cousin's babyshower!

Making the cookies wasn't the hard part.  It was frosting the cookies that took forever!

Steve was such the trooper.  He didn't want me staying up too late (ha!) so he helped me.  He lasted until 1:00 AM. I love when we cook/bake together!  He really was a big help!

I made ones with the baby's name and initial on it.  And a few extra one's that said Diva, Daddys Girl, and Team Mom.   

My sister in law made the cake for the shower! Isn't it adorable?! (She is so talented!)

 It tasted just as good as it looks! 

Isn't this the cutest diaper cake?!

I so need to learn how to put one of these together! 

 Of course, Matthew loves a good party!

 I love these pictures of Matthew and Justin playing together.  They are only a few weeks apart, but Justin is so much bigger! Such cuties!

Every Vote Counts!

Remember this cute little indian?? 

Well, I entered this picture in a photo contest on Facebook (sponsored by mybabyclothes.com)

The winner gets a $150 gift certificate to their baby store online.

The top five will be judge and selected by a panel of judges.

Matthew is currently in 7th place.  We need your help!

Please vote!

Every vote counts!!  Please click  here to vote for Matthew! In the upper right side of the picture, there will be a button that says 'VOTE'.  After you vote it will change to 'I VOTED'.  You can vote once a day (24 hrs from the last time you voted).

You don't have to be friends with me on FB to vote (although I would love to connect with my blogging buddies via FB).

Thank you to all who have voted so far!!

Lunching

Matthew and I took a trip into daddy's work place to have lunch with him (translation - to show him off meet his coworkers).  Actually, Steve and I had to get our eye exams before the end of the year so I took the whole day off and we stuck around town for a bit. 

I love how he looks like such a BIG boy in these pictures. 

He was quite the flirt with all the ladies.  That's my little charmer!

And lately, he's been ALL about daddy!

The Other Whitcombs

 

 

 

We spent last week hosting Steve's older brother and his family at our home.  It was certainly a full house, but it was SO much fun to have them here with us. We all had a great time hanging out and visiting with everyone (at his parents house in West VA).  I enjoyed taking pictures with my new lens! What better models than family?

I think Matthew was happy when everyone was gone so he could have his peace and quiet and get back to his normal schedule.  Steve and I would love to take a roadtrip to St. Louis and visit his brother, but I don't think Matthew's ready for a 15 hour car ride! 

Spending time with family was a fabulous way to end the year!

 

Slowly Walking into The New Year

  

 

Matthew got a walker for Christmas.  He is slowly getting the hang of it. 

Pretty soon he will be running! Where does the time go?!

I've enjoyed reading everyone's year end reviews and recaps.  It's fun to see all the blessings everyone's received the past year.  I hope there will be even more blessings in store this year for ya'll.

The biggest blessing for us this past year has been our sweet baby boy!  He is the best thing that has happened to us, yet.  He was THE highlight of our year.  I couldn't ask for anything else in life.

I'm not one for setting new year's resolutions (I always feel like a failure at the end of the year!).  I'm just going to strive to be a better wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter, aunt and most importantly, a better servant in the Lord's hands.

(And if I lose weight along the way, that will be an added bonus!)