Thanksgiving

We are so thankful and so blessed!

We have so much to be thankful for and so many people in our lives to be thankful for.

We are so thankful that we are the parents of this wonderful little boy who has changed our lives. 

We are most thankful to both of his birthparents (Adie and Sebastian) for choosing us to be his parents and love him to pieces.  Which of course we do and we have even been told that we hold him and spoil him to much (NOT TRUE).

We are thankful for our parents!

We are thankful for our families and Matthew's birth families.

There is so much to be thankful for this year!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Working in the Basement

Matthew loves to be wherever Daddy is.

Daddy has been working on sheetrocking in our lower level so Matthew is right down there "helping" him. 

He is one busy little boy when he is "helping".

When Daddy said that is was time to clean up and go take a bath, Matthew went and got the lid and tried putting it on the bucket of screws.  He was one dirty but happy little boy.

Helping Daddy and Papa

Last night Papa and Gram came over for a visit.  Papa was helping Scott fix a chainsaw so when Matthew woke up, he also went out with the guys.  Papa left him wear his hat.

Garage Time

Matthew got to "help" daddy out in the garage.  Actually I think daddy just let Matthew play with whatever he wanted.  He was trying to "fix" the motorcycle, playing and hiding wood and just getting plain old dirty but wow was he a happy boy.  He wasn't so happy when he had to come in!

His hands were just as dirty if not more!

He even got a little cut from something and he was not crazy when I put a band-aid on it.

He loves his daddy and getting dirty.

Licking the Beater

After the potatoes cooked, we made mashed potatoes.  I always add sour cream to the to make them more creamy.  When I was done Matthe got the beaters. 

I think he likes them.

Trying a potato

Tonight while I was making dinner Matthew was being a tad grumpy (it's due to the conversion from 2 naps to 1 nap a day).  He really wanted his daddy since he hasn't seen him all week but daddy was working down in the basement.  I finally got him to stop crying by sitting him on the island top by me while I finished cutting potatoes for supper.  He started saying "peas" (aka: Please) so I gave him a raw potato.  He crunched on it for a bit.

He sure knows how to use those teeth.

Pictures

A tractor ride from his Papa.  He sure loves his Papa.

I can't get over just how cute our little man is!  We are truly blessed!

We went to the park yesterday because we needed something to do.  Plus Matthew loves to swing.

Don't you just love that smile.

Today we ventured out as well.  We got to see Papa and Gram as well as Grandma G while we were shopping today.

Updates

To everyone who follows our blog:
My computer is on the fritz so pictures will be seldom but I will continue to update.

Matthew and I went to the park today for a short time. He loves to swing.

The front tooth is peeking out of his gums.

How does one break the habit of a nuk? From all the drooling his top lip is very red and dry. He usually only has his nuk for nap time and bedtime and sometimes when he sneeks them out of his crib. I keep Aquaphor (a lotion recommended by the doctor) on it all day but it doesn't seem to heal it. Some days are just worse than others. Any ideas?

Learning

I can't believe how much this little man of ours learns in just a short time.  Today he learned that he has a LOUD screaming voice.  He was being a ham in the car.  He would scream really LOUD and then blow (more like spit) bubbles.  It was a repeated action over and over again.  By the time we arrived at the store his coat was pretty wet. 

Okay so this is a unique picture.  It was taken in my rearview mirror in the car with my cell phone when he was in the process of getting ready to start spitting again.  No I was not driving.  We were stopped at a stoplight but I didn't think that I would have time to turn around and get a good picture.

Miscellanous

First a quick story: The other day I went into Matthew's room after he woke up from his nap.  I leaned on the crib rail and was talking to him and all he did was point and make his "uh" noise.  I think he was telling me to open the shade.  Usually as I go into his room I talk to him about his sleep and say bright light as I open the shade and I didn't open the shade right away when I went in this time.  I was trying to shake things up a bit but as you can see he didn't like the routine mixed up.

I read an interesting article today in the Her Voice magazine published by our local newspaper (The Brainerd Daily Dispatch).  It is a magazine that is by women, for women and about women.  The article was called Perfection Pressure and Holiday Stress.  It was about a woman's gift giving tradition she started when her youngest of four children was a baby.  "They buy just three gifts for their children representing the gifts that the three wise men took to the Christ child-gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The gold gift is something special that the child really wants.  The frankincense gift is something practical that the child really needs (like jacket, socks, shoes, etc) and the myrrh gift is something to share with the rest of the family (like movies, games or coupons for a family outing)."  I just think that this is a splendid idea and something that I might just start.  I know that we only have one child but what an awesome way to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Drinking from a cup

We started helping Matthew drink from a cup after he gets done brushing his teeth.  Now he has to do it himself.  Of course, he usually dribbles some like the 2nd picture.

He is growing up way to fast!

Giggling

Matthew loves playing peek a boo!

We even got a few giggles!

Enjoy!

Tired and Busy Day

Very early Tuesday morning (about 2 am), Matthew decided that he was going to cry.  Scott rocked him until he fell back asleep but when he went to put him back in the crib he would start screaming.  I took over rocking him since Scott had to get up in the morning.  Same thing everything I tried to lay him down he woke up screaming.  Finally I decided to try and sleep myself so we went and slept on the couch.  Well actually Matthew fell asleep and I just sat there wide awake.  Finally about 4 I was successful in putting Matthew in his crib without him waking up.  I then was finally able to get about an hour and a half more sleep.  He just take really good naps yesterday and he slept pretty good last night.

Yesterday we also had an adventure.  We went to Pillager School to visit Adie's sisters for their birthday.  We also got to be Adie and Sebastian for just a couple of minutes.  Matthew didn't want to get to far from me but he sure was hamming it up and flirting with all the girls.  Of course he never says or doesn't do any of the cute things like giving 5 or saying his favorite word (Hi) when you want him to.  We had lots of fun!

Afterwards we went to lunch at McDonalds and he ate almost a whole cheeseburger.  I always bring a sippy cup with milk in it anywhere we go but he didn't want that.  He wanted to drink out the the milk jug from McDonalds.  I only left a very tiny amount in there for him to try.  He did a really good job with it.

Flu Shot

Matthew got his H1N1 vaccine.  He did great-only cried for like a second.

Then Matthew and I went to Target and I bought him some cute little trains/cars.

Halloween

We sure had a fun Halloween!

Here is our little Tin Man!

He wasn't so happy that Grandma was holding him.

That we stopped to see "Old" (great) Grandma.  He cried when we left because he was having so much fun playing with all the toys.

We stopped to see Auntie Susie and Uncle Wayne. 

First trick or treater that they have ever had at their apartment.

Then we stopped to see Sebastian (Matthew's birthfather) and Grandma G.  We are so blessed with the wonderful relationship we have with both of Matthew's birthparents and their families.

Sebastian, Loa and Matthew

Then we stopped to see Adie (Matthew's birthmother).  We enjoyed visiting with both of them last night!

Tin Man Matthew with Uncle Kyle the "Tin Man"

There is  little story about the Tin Man: Scott and Kyle's Uncle Bob was a wonderful man but he always loved picking on the kids.  Whenever the kids seen Uncle Bob they would call him Roy and he would always call them Homer.  When Kyle started working for Thelen's Heating and Roofing in sheetmetal, Uncle Bob started calling him "The Tin Man".  When I seen the costume of the Tin Man I just had to get it for Matthew.  Kyle is Matthew's godfather.

Matthew standing by Uncle Kyle's Tin Man.

Matthew with Great Aunt Karyl.

(Bob was Karyl's husband who passed away in 2006.  He is sadly missed by all).

  We stopped at several other places but didn't get pictures at all the places we stopped.

We finished at Papa and Gram's house where Matthew was hamming it up (or maybe he was on a sugar high from the treat that Papa gave him).

Hope everyone else had a wonderful and safe Halloween!

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?

Today is a special day! 

Why you ask?

It is Scott's birthday!

Here are a few things that I want everyone to know:

1. He is a wonderful husband!

2. He is an amazing dad!

3. He loves to teach Matthew new things.

4. He works hard so that I can be a stay at home mom.

5. He makes breakfast every morning for us.

6. He loves to be outdoors.

7. He loves to take Matthew on tractor rides.

8. He spent hours working on (and fixing and painting) his John Deere tractor.

9. His (our) yard is immaculate.

10. He has LOTS of junk (oops I mean stuff).

11. He has brown eyes.

12. He likes to hunt.

13.  He likes to trap gophers.

14. He likes to sing along with the radio.

15. He always watches the news in the morning.

16. He always helps people out.

17. As a hobby, he works on clocks.

18. He is almost 6 months younger than me.

19. Whenever we go somewhere together, he always drives.

20. He likes fried chicken.

21. He looks like his dad.

22. He shows off pictures of Matthew to everyone he meets.

23. He can fix anything.

24.  He made me (us) this gorgeous bed for our anniversary one year.

25. He gets up for work at 4:45 am

26. He always gives me a kiss before he leaves.

27. He loves to sit on the floor with Matthew and play.

28. He makes great omelettes and hashbrowns.

29. He always laughs at me when I cry over a movie but he always gets me a kleenex.

30. He watches Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice with me.

31. He is color blind (some browns and greens look the same to him and red looks like brown to him)

32. He is 32 years old today!

To share your Fingerprint Friday or to see other Fingerprint Friday posts, go to Pampering Beki's blog.

Once Again

Guess What? 

Tooth #4 is working really hard to make an appearance!

Tractor Rides

Matthew loves his tractor and Daddy loves giving Matthew rides on the tractor.  They went for a nice long tractor ride today since it was gorgeous weather.  Matthew jabbered the whole time.  Then he helped Daddy outside for a bit before dinner.  He played outside lots today but he loved every minute of it.

Final Carvings

Here is the final carving of our pumpkin family!

Giveway

Pampering Beki who hosts Fingerprint Friday every week is having a giveaway.  She makes the most beautiful jewerly.  Click here to go to her site and view the beautiful necklace.  Be sure to hurry on over to Pampering Beki's site-She is doing a random drawing on Saturday.