A Mickey Celebration

Oh 'two'dles!

 

 

 

Matthew's birthday party this year was SIMPLE and lowkey. 

(Last year's party was way too stressful!)

 

We went with a Mickey Mouse theme because he loves Mickey Mouse clubhouse.  We invited family and a few friends.  And once again, I didn't get to take any pictures of the guests!

 

I made mickey mouse cupcakes and ordered a Vietnamese cake for the adults (it comes standard with pink flowers on it).  We served pho (vietnamese noodle soup) and appetizers. 

 

It took Matthew a while to warm up to everyone and he wasn't so sure what to think when we were all singing happy birthday to him! 

 

He certainly enjoyed his cupcake (mostly the frosting)!

 

It's amazing how much has has grown in a year! 

I love every minute of every day with this boy.

24 Months - Officially a Toddler!

There's no more denying it...my baby is a Toddler!

He is now my little man. 

I am SO glad we are done with these darn monthly pictures!  It was a great idea when he was 13 months, but by time he hit 20 - 24 months, it just became impossible to get him to stand still!

So what has this little toddler been up to?......

^^He loves to carry this family picture around and point out grandma and grandpa ^^ 

He is healthy little fella weighing in at 25 lbs. (70% percentile).

His length is 35.5" (80% percentile) and head circumference is 19" (45 % percentile).

His eating has slowed down a bit, but the pediatrician has reassured us that he is growing just fine.

Matthew's favorite is still chocket (chocolate).  He eats pasta, rice, mac and cheese, crackers (he's a carb boy!), fruit and occasional veggies (we need to work on that!).  

We just started (like two days ago) to not give him milk anymore when he wakes up in the middle of the night.  It's been a rough couple of nights, but we're all adjusting.

Any ideas on how to retrain a toddler to sleep thru the night??

Matthew started preschool earlier this month.  He is having a blast and is learning SO much!

His vocabulary is growing and he is starting to recognize different colors.  He is making friends and learning to share.

I love when he says 'peas' (please) and 'tank q' (thank you).

I'm trying to teach him to say 'love you mommy' but it comes out 'ubb u mommy'.

The sweetest sound!

 Matthew still loves his books!  And he enjoys making all the animal sounds.  It's fun to hear him roar like a lion and mooooo like a cow. 

The best part of the day for me is when we all kneel together in family prayer and Matthew folds his arms. It's important for us to have family prayer together and while he may not fully understand (or sit still), I know that he gets the concept.

Seeing him fold his little arms and bow his head in prayer makes me so proud. I want him to grow up to know the power of prayer and to have a testimony of Jesus!

This little boy of mine is pure bliss. He is a bundle of joy and happiness all wrapped into one.

His little smile melts my heart.

I wish I could stop the clock so he doesn't grow up too fast.

The time passes way too quickly and I know one day I will blink and he will be all grown up.

I look forward to  many more milestones ahead. 

I love him more than anything in this world!

22 1/2 Months - What Matthew's Been Up To

 

Matthew said his first sentence today!!

Steve had just walked out of the bedroom and closed the door, then Matthew all of a sudden said, 'Where daddy going?'

 

I was so excited!

 

Yesterday he said 'Come on Abbey'. 

 

I can't wait to hear him say more full sentences.  But my favorite is when he says 'peas, peas' (please) when he wants something. 

 

He celebrated his second Christmas this month.  Of course, he didn't have much interest in opening presents, but I'm sure next year is when he will show his excitement!

 

He's a lover of chocolate and icecream.  And tonight, to ring in the new year, we went to dinner at Outback and he LOVED dipping his cheese fries into the ranch dressing (yes, he is his father's son)!

 

Two more months and my baby will be two! 

 

Happy New Year!



21 1/2 Months - What Matthew's Been Up To

 No drastic changes.
Matthew is getting smarter and is understanding more and more each day.
He's not as talkative, but I know that every kid is different and develops at different rates.
He acts like an (almost) two year old, complete with tantrums too.

Matthew recently  had to adjust to a new babysitter.  He's still trying to adjust.  He's fine with the sitter if we're not around, but once he see's us, he wants nothing to do with her.  It's only been two weeks so I'm hopeful that he will start to warm up (eventually!).

He's SO over these monthly pictures, but thankfully we only have three  more months to go!  I think he's over taken pictures period! 

He continues to crack us up everyday.  I look forward to seeing him do and say funnier things. 

Love him to pieces!

Who's Looking Dapper?

My little guy.

(21 months old)

I think I'm slowly realizing that he's growing up.

Especially when I see him in pictures.

A toddler now.

No longer a baby,

but will always be MY baby.

We Have A Climber!

Matthew was super tired but refused to take his morning nap.  I tried everything and he was fighting me on it, as he's rubbing his tired little eyes.  So, I decided to put him in his crib and let him 'cry it out', hoping he would tire himself out and lay down.

 

I sat outside his door as he cried for a good 10 minutes straight.  (That's an eternity when you're a tired little toddler!).  He would get quiet and then start whimpering again.  Finally I looked thru the crack in the door and found him on the changing station side of his crib!!

 

 

 He was sitting down and only stood up when I cam into the room.  I think he realized he was 'stuck' on the changing station since he couldn't figure out where to go from there or get down.

 

We may be making the transition to toddler bed soon!!

 

Once he mastered the stairs (that's old news), he's discovered there's a world of things to climb on around the house.  The couch armrest, window sills, tables, desks, chairs.  

 

The stools are his favorite.  

 

And then there's the oven! 

 

He's really keeping us on our toes now!

19 Months - What Matthew's Been Up To

With each passing month my baby toddler is growing right before my eyes.

He is wearing size 18 months (and still some size 12 month pants).

He has discovered sidewalk chalk and loves to draw on the driveway.

He loves to eat and there's not much he won't eat (besides peanuts since he may be allergic). We have to be careful not to over feed him because he'll throw up.

He's starting to only take one nap a day, which makes him a little grouchy/tired earlier.  Now that it's getting darker earlier, we can put him down around 8 or 8:30 pm. 

When he wakes up in the morning, he  plays in his crib for a little bit, then I hear him on the monitor saying, 'Mommy, Mom, Mommy, Mom-meeee'.  Yep, he's my alarm clock. 

He is starting to recognize animals and tries to mimmick the sounds they make.  (We're still working on it).

Last month when I took him in for his 18 month check up, the dr was a little concerned because he was really only saying two words (mommy and Abbey).  She suggested we take him to a speech specialist, but I think I will wait until he's 2 yrs old.  I'm not too concerned because we've actually started noticing him trying to say more words. 

He is starting to say words like 'pe' (please), amen, daddy, 'ca' (cow), 'micme' (mickey mouse), bye bye, and a few more words. 

Matthew's having a hard time sitting through church (understandably for a 19 month old).  We need to get him some books/activities he can play with quietly.

He's enjoying nursery (because I'm in there with him).  If it was up to him, we would just blow bubbles the entire time in nursery.

He still very attached to mommy and daddy.  It takes him a long time to warm up to others (even the grandparents!).  I really wish I didn't have to work so I could take him on playdates so he can interact with other kids his age.  It makes me feel like a bad  mom (in my crazy mind).

He is my world!  I would do anything for my son.

I never get tired of hearing him laugh or say 'mommy'. 

It makes my heart happy. 

18 Months - What Matthew's Up To

(Matthew still rolling his eyes!)

Matthew is giving us a glimpse into what's to come in the terrible two's! 

He is screaming A LOT!

And is hitting.  Oh boy.

He likes to take our hand and lead us to the refridgerator or the pantry.

He gets a bottle in the morning if he gets up before 7:00 am.  If it's after 7 am, then I just skip the bottle and feed him breakfast right away.  And the only other time he gets the bottle is when he goes down.  We've been very lucky with weaning off the bottle, so far.

He loves to drink juice boxes. 

He's been eating pretty well.  We discovered he may have a peanut allergy.  The babysitter gave him peanut butter cherrios and he swelled up a bit around his mouth and his eyes.  So, looks like he won't be having any peanuts (or any kind of nuts) anytime soon.

He says 'Abbey' now!  It's so cute to hear him call her name.

Matthew has never really been attached to a toy or a blankie, but lately, when he gets up in the morning  or from a nap, he has to take his blankie out of the crib with him. 

He loves his little sock monkey that plays music. 

Matthew is now officially in nursery at church!  I am in there with him too and I love watching him interact with other kids, although sometimes he has a hard time sharing, but we're working on that.

He is just so full of love!  He is going in on Friday for his 18 month check up so I'll have to update this post with his stats. 

I'm grateful he is a healthy and happy little toddler.

Hard to believe he will be 2 years old in six months.  Crazy how fast time flies by.



Even Superheroes Need to Stay Connected

Isn't he just the cutest little superhero baby??!

Big Boy Carseat

(This post is a few weeks old.  I had it in my 'drafts' and never published it).

Look who's in a big boy carseat!

Another sign my baby is growing up?!!

I scored it on clearance at babies R us and the best part was I paid for it with gift cards I received from my baby showers.

Matthew is still sitting rear facing in the middle for now, but I hear it's harder to do as your toddler gets taller.

At what age is it appropriate to turn them around to front facing and put them on the side (behind the driver or passenger seat versus in the middle??!!

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Part, Clean Up, Clean Up

That's my boy!

Matthew certainly does his part in MAKING the mess, why  not get him started on cleaning the mess?! Ha!

He love his little dirt devil vacuum.  It even suctions a little bit (very little)!

It's  never to early to train them, right? 

Now only if they made working minature washers/dryers!

Almost Bottle Free

It's been a week since we've started weaning Matthew off the bottle. 

He's been doing so well! (knock on wood)

He use to get 4-5 bottles a day.  Now we're down to 2!  He gets one when he first gets up in the morning (around 6-7 AM) and one at night when he goes down (around 9:00 PM).

At first it was hard (probably harder for me than for him!).  When it was time to go down for his morning nap, we would give him a sippy cup with milk in it.  He would take a sip and push it away.  But we kept at it and he would take a few sips and push it away.  He would just cry for a little, then would stop or fall asleep.  We would repeat the cycle for his afternoon nap too.

We've come to realize that he likes to drink his milk through a straw!  So, when we were in Chicago, I bought Matthew the little cup in the picture above.  It has a little swirly straw inside of it.  I started filling that up with milk and he loves drinking his milk out of that.  He'll drink juice/water out of his sippy cups, but not his milk.  Silly boy.

We're still working on him drinking his milk out of a sippy cup, but I think we've made great progress for the first week!  Slowly we will eliminate the morning bottle and hopefully the night time bottle too.  (That may be harder for me because then it'll mean my baby's not a baby anymore!)

Chicago!

Matthew's first plane ride was to Chicago (July 15th - 18th), and it may be his last one for a very long time!

It was about a two hour flight and I thought he would nap since it was during his morning nap time.  Yeah, that didn't happen at all! He was everywhere and was SO fussy.  I felt so bad for the people around us.  Thankfully it was a quick plane ride.

Once we landed and I put him in his stroller, he was out before I even got to baggage claim!!

We met up with my best friend and her daughter.  Matthew loved playing with Macey (I think because she probably reminded him of his cousin Abbey).  Matthew had SO much fun 'swimming' at the hotel.  And of course, he loved pushing the elevator buttons!

It was hot, but we didn't let that stop us.  We had fun exploring and eating lots of good food.  Matthew was a trooper. 
Here we are at the Navy Pier.  Then having dinner at Bubba Gump. 

The Willis Tower was definitely on our list.  The line's weren't too bad because it was a weekday.  It was quite the view.  The Skydeck was a little scary for me at first.  I had my hand up against the wall and backed out onto the glass and couldn't look down at first.  Once I was realized that it really was safe, I was able to let go of the wall and walk out further onto it.  

Matthew was way braver than his momma! 

At first he looked down and rocked back and forth a little bit, then he just stood there.  I didn't let him stand there very long though! ha!

Here's our overpriced souvenir picture.



What's a trip to Chicago without deep dish pizza?!!

We heard the best in town was Gino's. It was good (a bit too cheesy for me) and the best part was there was no wait during lunch for a table!  The wait came nce you ordered your pizza, it takes 45 mins.  Luckily, Matthew fell asleep before we got there and slept through most of it!

 

 

Another big tourist attraction in Chicago....Cloud Gate, a.k.a. the Bean. 

Matthew under the bean.

Our last stop on our last day was Molly's Cupcakes. They were on the show cupcake wars.

My favorite was the Peach cobler cupcake. Devine!

Oh Em Gee! So delish!!!

I'm so grateful that Matthew and I were able to spend a few days together in Chicago with my wonderful BFF and her daughter.  It truly was relaxing and fun.  I can't wait for our next trip together, although it may be just the girls so Matthew will have to stay home with daddy.

Matthew did SO much better on the plane ride coming home.  I won't be flying solo with him anymore until he's at least 6 (maybe 8)!