Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:

I can see the fingerprints of God

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of God

And I know its true

You're a masterpiece

That all creation quietly applauds

And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them?

It's offical! Matthew's adoption was finalized today. This is our first offical family picture!

Thank you to Pampering Beki for hosting this each week! Everyone is welcome to join. To see how to join, as well as find links to other Fingerprint Friday posts, visit Pampering Beki's blog.

IT'S OFFICAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's offical! Matthew is offically our son! We finalized his adoption today at 2:30!

The Judge was great!

Left to Right: Sebastian (Matthew's birthfather, Joanna, Scott, Matthew, Adie (Matthew's birthmother)

Our Support Team!

Time Away

I was told that Matthew had a great day yesterday. You're probably wondering you were told. Yesterday, Matthew got to spend the day with Papa and Grammie (Scott's parents). Scott's mom was often asking if I need to get out for a few hours and plus I think they wanted to spoil their grandson a little. What did I do? I had a fun day of shopping with my mom, my sister, my nephew and my grandma. We went to St Cloud and had lots of fun! I MISSED Matthew terribly and I even had to call a few times to make sure he was doing good.

Matthew is not much of a snuggler but I think he knew that I was going to be gone for a few hours. When I went to drop him off at Papa and Grammie's house, he was snuggling into me and he never does that. What a little turkey!

Scott picked Matthew up after work since it is only about 7 minutes from Papa and Grammie's house. They had lots of fun with Matthew and they loved him up.

Matthew was good last night during the Ash Wednesday service even though it was right at his bedtime. He loves all the attention that he gets at church.

Every day issues

No matter how we try to give Matthew peas, he just doesn't like them. In cereal, he will gag on them. Just plain, he spits them all back out. Mixed with sweet potatoes and cereal, still doesn't like them. That is the only food so far that we have found that Matthew doesn't like. He loves bananas, pears and applesauce.

The crib is still not going so well. He sleeps really good in the crib until about 12:30 but then we put him in the bassinet otherwise we are up and down all night giving him his nuk so we don't get to sleep. For some reason when I get up in the middle of the night, I have a hard time going back to sleep.

We have Matthew on a pretty good schedule and if we deviate from the schedule, he gets to be a GRUMPY baby!

Crib

On Friday night, we tried putting Matthew in his crib to sleep instead of the bassinet. Well he woke up about 1 am and Scott tried giving him his nuk 2 times and then I tried 2 times. Scott then wanted to see if he would cry it out. That didn't last long because I couldn't let him cry it out and I ended up crying myself. We decided to put him in the bassinet to finish out the night. Matthew decided he didn't want to sleep so Scott got up and feed him and put him back in the bassinet. I think that we were finally able to go back to sleep about 3 am. So we agreed that on Saturday night we would start him out in the crib and when he woke up, he would come into the bassinet. So when he woke up about 12:30, Scott put him in the bassinet and he didn't want to sleep so about an hour later Scott got up with him and fed him. Matthew slept in the bassinet the rest of the night. Sunday night Matthew woke up about 12:30 am and I put him in the bassinet and he slept until 6 am this morning.

So our plan is to put Matthew to sleep in the crib and when he wakes up in the night we bring him to the bassinet. Hopefully he will start sleeping a little more and maybe before long he will be sleeping all night in the crib.

1st Tractor Ride

Matthew's first time on the tractor. What a cute John Deere Family. When it is warm out, we will take another family picture with the tractor and also our John Deere shirts. Scott's mom for Christmas made us each a shirt with a picture of Scott's tractor. Matthew is Little Johnny Popper, Scott is Johnny Popper and I am Mrs. Johnny Popper.Mommy and Matthew on the tractor. Look at our cute matching hats. My sister made them for us.
Daddy and Matthew on the tractor
Matthew didn't know what to think when we went outside. It was the first time we had him outside in the bear suit. It was hard to get him to look at the camera because he was to busy looking at the tractor.

Fingerprint Friday

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:

I can see the fingerprints of God

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of God

And I know its true

You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds

And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thank you to Pampering Beki for hosting this each week! Everyone is welcome to join. To see how to join, as well as find links to other Fingerprint Friday posts, visit Pampering Beki's blog.

Matthew is covered with the fingerprints of God! He is surrounded by love from us his forever family, his biological family and his church family. What a true blessing Matthew has been to us! This song by Steven Curtis Chapman helps me remember that God's fingerprints helped bring Matthew to us through adoption. Matthew's birthparents created a wonderful masterpiece just for us. Words can't express to them just how blessed we have been with their decision.

Another Bath Time

Matthew learned how to splash tonight! He had water flying everywhere.
Above: See the water droplets on his forehead.

Then we gave him a duckie to see what he would do! Fun times in the tub!

One last big splash!

Scott & His Dear Friend, Matthew

This picture was taken back in October of 1985. On the left is Scott and on the right is Scott's very dear friend, Matthew John Gaffney. Today would have been Matthew's 31st birthday. Scott lost his dear friend back on July 14, 1989. It was a very hard loss on Scott because Matthew was Scott's best friend. Scott remembers during their 5th grade year(1988-1989), they would always meet in the library before school and draw. The drawings were of spaceships that had guns and cannons. The ship designs were often copied from Matthew's design and then each ship had its own personal touches added.

After hearing Scott tell the heartbreaking story of his dear friend, I wanted to honor him in a special way. We decided that the best way to honor him was to name our son, Matthew.

Mommy & Matthew

Mommy & Matthew

Daddy & Matthew

Daddy & Matthew

Family Picture

Our Family Picture! This was the good one!

Dinner with Matthew's Birthfather

After church today, we took Matthew's birthfather out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. We forgot to ask his permission to use his name so until we get his permission, we can only say birthfather. In Scott's family it is tradition that the birthday person decides where we eat. Today we went to Applebee's (YUM!). Everyone knows what happens at Applebee's if they know it is your birthday. OH Ya they sing to the birthday person quite loudly so the whole restaurant hears. On our way there, we promised not to tell. Scott the jokester that he is had Matthew's birthfather quite worried. Shortly after we arrived Scott said he had to go to the bathroom. Of course it worked out great because he happened to follow our waitress and he "ran" to catch up with her. Then he looked around the corner at Matthew's birthfather and just smiled. So Matthew's birthfather was on the edge of his seat while we were there especially when he heard clapping from the waitress's on their way to another table. He had nothing to worry about and no one sang to him.

Matthew's birthfather is so good with him. He loves to hold Matthew and is always giving him kisses. Sorry I didn't take any pictures, we were to busy talking.

At lunch today, Scott was working with Matthew to try and put him to sleep so when birthfather was done eating he starting working with Matthew so Scott could eat. Birthfather put his hands into the car carrier to stop Matthew from taking his nuk out of his mouth and Matthew grabbed his fingers and birthfather rocked him and had success putting him to sleep. Birthfather was so patient with Matthew even though Matthew was crying and making a scene. Thanks Birthfather!

PS We also had a nice visit with birthfather's mom, sister and one of his brothers. His brother is only 17 months old and he is so adorable. When we first got there, he wanted nothing to do with us. After he warmed up a little bit, I was tickling him and he was trying to tickling me. I had a great time. I could take that little one home with me. I LOVE KIDS!

Family Valentine Pictures

These pictures were taken this morning before church. Matthew had eaten about an hour before taking the pictures. We were able to take a few pictures of Matthew and Daddy and a few of Matthew and Mommy and just before the timer on the camera was to take our family pictures, Matthew puked. Matthew had no idea what was going on!
As you can see, Scott had it running down his hand and I had caught most of it in my hand!

Then I remember that the camera was taking pictures.

Okay, so we had a great laugh. I tried to make good use of the last family picture that the camera was taking.

Matthew's First Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our families and friends! We Love You!

Hope everyone have a wonderful love filled Day!

Almost Naked Baby

Matthew loves to be naked. On Thursday night he was being a little grumpy so I took off his socks and pants and he loved every minute. He likes to have bare feet because then it is easier for him to chew on his toes. I wish I could be that flexible. As you can see with the first three pictures-Lots of drool! No teeth yet-Just LOTS of drool!!!!!

5 months old!

Matthew is 5 months old today! He rolled from his back to his tummy twice today for the first time! I'm sure now that he has this rolling thing down, he will be all over the floor.

Tired Baby

The little man gets really grumpy when he is tired and then he fights sleep. This morning he was so very tired and cried for about 45 minutes-nothing I could do to make him happy. He finally fell asleep but as soon as I tried putting him in the crib he woke up crying again. He cried for about another 1/2 hour before I decided to see if a car ride would put him to sleep. When we got into the car, he started talking and singing to himself and after about a 20 minute car ride he finally fell asleep. So when we got back home I left him in his car seat to sleep. It's crazy what we do to make him happy!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Mirror Fun!

Matthew loves looking at himself in the mirror.