Step By Step

Look who's walking!!

Well, it's more like taking a few steps, but you know what I mean.

Another milestone.

My little baby toddler.

Next thing I know, he'll be running! 

And I just want to scream, No! Slow Down! Don't grow up too fast.

Last Friday night we went over to Steve's parents to celebrate his dad's birthday.  My MIL makes the best Mound's Cake.  Oh so yummy! (I love anything with coconut in it).  I have been so blessed with such awesome in-laws.  Matthew loves his bà nội and ông nội (that's paternal grandma and grandpa in Vietnamese. We're trying to teach him to say those words.)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Three Whitcomb generations: Steve (33), Matthew (1), Matt (63)

One Year Check Up

Matthew had his one year check up a few weeks ago.  I was dreading it more than he was!

Look at that brave face.

After he was weighed (20 lbs), he played with daddy while we waited for the dr.

Then came the part that I was dreading the most.  Poor baby had no idea what he was in for.  He had to get three shots and was not a happy baby.

 



Afterwards, we took him to the little park next to the dr's office. He got to swing, ride the little horse, and climb thru a tunnel (all with no shoes on).  I think that all made up for those terrible shots! 

My baby is now toddler!  I'm still in denial. 

Sunday Drive

After our Sunday nap, we went to cousin's Abbey house. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon!

Abbey took her Barbie jeep out for a spin around the neighborhood.

Matthew LOVED it! He was all smiles (although you can't tell from the picture).

Cousin Ling Ling is always SO happy to see Matthew.

We can't wait to move closer to them (hopefully).

(yes, I know Abbey's a little too big for the jeep, but the two little one's were too small for it, so Abbey had to be their chauffeur). 

Looking forward to enjoying this Spring weather all week!

Spring Cleaning

FRIDAY!

Nothing motivates you more to get an early start on Spring cleaning like getting your house ready for sale! (Uh, s-t-r-e-s-s-f-u-l!!)

We are in the process of listing our house.  (Huge shout out to the hubby AND the in-laws for all their hard work).  We I have TONS of decluttering to do (apparently, the bigger the house you have, the more junk  stuff you accumulate!)

Our weekends (and week nights) will be spent decluttering and packing up non-essential things.  It's hard to accomplish a lot when we're both working full-time and taking care of a baby at night. So, the weekend is our only time to do things around the house.  And technically, we really only have Saturday to get as much done as possible (Sunday is the sabbath day - a day to worship and to nap REST).

Happy Friday ya'll!  Enjoy your weekend. (I'm sure it's way more fun than mine!)

P.S., We're looking to move back over the mountain (No.VA). All contingent on selling our house. Pray for us!

Cheap Family Dinner

I told Steve he was in charge of dinner.  Guess where we ended up?

Costc.co!

It's a great bargain for dinner. The Cost.co where we live is hardly ever busy (compared to the one where we use to live which was chaotic every day of the week!).

Notice he's not looking at the camera in the picture above??  He was smiling at the ladies next to us.  And every time I tried to get a picture, he would do everything but look into the camera!

Finally, he's looking at me (the camera phone). Look at those big eyes!

mmm....lemonade!

So that was our fun family night at Cost.co!  It's our go to place for quick, cheap dinner.

Weekend Fun and Free Sock Monkey Stuff

Matthew went to celebrate his friend Justin's 1st birthday party over the weekend.  Justin and Matthew are only a few weeks apart, but Justin is a big boy (compared to my little pumpkin), he wears size 2T!  It was a Dr. Seuss theme and there were lots of yummy food.  It was very similiar to Matthew's party in that it was a Vietnamese 1st birthday so it was kind of a big deal.  Just look at that yummy cake!

Then on Sunday we went to grandma's house and Matthew played with his cousins and ate Vietnamese Pancake (a.k.a banh xeo).  Doesn't look very appetizing in the picture below, because I like mine plain with just cucumbers and fish sauce.  

Matthew also got his second hair cut by daddy.  (So much cheaper than taking him to the barber shop.) Everytime he gets a hair cut, it makes my baby look like such a big boy!  I think I'm in denial that he is growing up, right before my eyes.

Now that Matthew's awesome party is over and I'm finally getting around to putting stuff away, I am giving away everything in the picture below.  If you are local to VA or even W.VA and D.C., and you want it, I can meet you somewhere and give it to you.  If you are not local, I am willing to ship it to you, but YOU will have to pay for shipping.

Balloon wreath (w/out the 'M'), 8-brown party favor bags, 2-red basket/containers, 1-big sock monkey, 3-mini sock monkeys, 6-monkey buckets,1-party hat, and a few yards of sock monkey material/red polka dot material (I used as table cloths and they have been washed.  You just need to iron them.)

And, if anyone wants Matthew's monkey vest and shirt below, let me know and it's yours. (It's a Paul Frank brand, purchased at Target).

Leave me comment if you want it (all of it or some of it).  Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you back.  GONE!

 

Have a great week!

Matthew's 1st Birthday {Part 3}

I did a smash cake photo shoot with Matthew a week before his birthday party.

Here is the smash cake someone at church made for Matthew.

Cute little monkey on top!

Matthew showing you how old he is...

The whole photoshoot lasted about 5 minutes! 

(That's how long it took for him to get over the whole cake smashing thing).

This is my favorite shot....daddy going in for a piece of cake. 

He wasn't about to let it go to waste!

Okay, back to pictures from the party.  I think we had about 80-90 people (maybe more/less) who came to celebrate Matthew's big day.  But based on the lack of pictures that were taken of guests, you would think no one came to his party! 

Here he is with my mom, Steve parents and some friends.

We love our baby boy! I just love his little face in this picture.

As you can imagine, all that partying wiped us Matthew out! 

He was too tired to open presents so we did it the next day.  Matthew loved all his toys (can't you tell in that first picture below??)  He also got some cute clothes for church and Spring/Summer.


This concludes the final installment of the best 1st birthday party ever for the cutest baby ever!
The first year of raising Matthew has been such a blessing.  Thank you all for joining us on this journey.
(Matthew's next BIG party will be when he turns 16!  I've got some time to plan).

Click here for {Part 1} and {Part 2}