~My World~

All about my world lately. Matthew is now over 9 months old. Every single day is a new adventure. He's now crawling fairly well. He still sleeps in my room or in daddy's arms. I cleaned his room over the weekend and it looks SO good. Amazingly enough, his room STILL isn't finished. I'm only one person and I'm not that great w/ a hammer and nail so unfortunately it seems to be up to me to complete it. I recently ordered the quote,  "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be" and put it above his closet. While hanging the quote, Matthew played in his crib and had the best time. He would pull himself up, hold onto the railing and jump on his mattress. Funny, he had a mom that did the same thing when she was little until she popped the thing. HA! He was all giggles. It's so cute to see him in his crib, I'm just wondering if he'll ever sleep in the thing. I'm such a paranoid person so I've been unable to bring myself to putting him in his room at night. He's had several naps in his room but is yet to sleep all night in there. 


Other things Matthew's been up to lately. He's been blowing raspberries for while and now takes his fingers to his mouth and makes some new noises. Oh, something else he does that's hilarious is roll his eyes at me. I had a coffee one morning and he's was fighting me over that thing. Since I wouldn't let him have any, he rolled his eyes at me 3 times. Now he does it just to get me to laugh. It's the FUNNIEST thing EVER! He's also eating baby food now. He has stage 3 occasionally and even has the yogurt melts broken up. He still doesn't seem interested in a sippy cup so he either nurses or takes a bottle. He isn't interested in any other liquid except for breast milk. His day pretty much goes like this: Wakes up, nurses, take Tommy to school, get mom a coffee, come back eats some fruit, nurses, takes a nap, plays, nurses, go pick Tommy up, eats veggies/or stage 2/3 meals, nurses, plays, may take a nap but not usually, eats again (maybe or just nurses) plays then it's bedtime. We'll be lucky to get in a bath 4 times a week which is still a lot for their sensitive skin. This isn't exactly how his day goes but pretty close. 


He's had a cough for several days and had immunizations scheduled today so I held out on taking him to the Dr. until today. Sadly, he's got a respiratory virus which could be RSV. He didn't get his immunizations today because he needs to be well in order to get those. He had a nebulizer treatment in the office today and will be doing treatments for the next 4 weeks. Tommy came home w/ a cough a few weeks ago but only had it for 2 days, then I got it and was miserable w/ the cough and sore throat, and now Matthew has it. All 3 or us were so different. Tommy got better really fast, I'm still coughing but it was more like a common cold and Matthew is wheezing. I had no clue that he had that bad of a virus and then I found out today that it's highly contagious. I thought he had a cold at worst. Just breaks my heart and I'm trying my best not to worry about him. His pediatrician didn't seem worried and she's an excellent Dr. so I am trusting her. He came home w/a cute frog nebulizer that's his to keep. Matches his frog humidifier. 


What's been up w/ Tommy lately. He's still rowdy and like a live wire after school but that boy holds such a special place in my heart. I got upset w/ him tonight over the messes he makes and then felt so bad about it. He's so strong and deals w/ so much. He has to deal w/ Gabe and I not getting along as much as we should and I know that takes a toll on him. I honestly believe it's why he acts out the way he does. He said the other day that he acts out because his daddy and I don't get along and I don't like his daddy. Yes, some of this is true but I try my best to be that perfect wife but there's a history that many don't understand or should I say, they haven't walked in my shoes. So it does break my heart that I can't hug on his daddy the way I would like w/ my husband. I really wish I could take my children and move to a less hectic environment. Gabe and Tommy still argue every single night over homework and Gabe says some pretty nasty things to Tommy. Makes my heart break but no matter what I say, Gabe is going to do whatever he wants and treat Tommy however he feels. Like I said, Tommy is such a strong little boy and has been through so much. One of the sweetest memories I have w/ him was a day I picked him up from school when he was in 2nd grade, I began crying on the way home and he automatically knew I had had a miscarriage. When we pulled into the driveway, he hurried up, got out of the car and came up to me in the driver's seat and gave me a HUGE hug! He has not only dealt with my depression for years, he's had to deal w/ his dads as well. This little boy loves like no other and has a HUGE heart even if he is rowdy. He still doesn't like to see me upset and will cry if I cry. :'( There are days where I just want to go somewhere just me and him to show him how important he is to me. It's been so hard w/ Matthew and I miss just me and Tommy time and I can tell he does too. I know it's hard for him to understand that Matthew depends 100% on me so I can't just drop what I'm doing and do what he wants me to. Over time, it really gets to me. I love both of my boys but have found it so difficult to spread out my time equally. Things are so different now and I'm pretty sure Tommy is adjusting but it's been challenging. 


As for school, he loves his teacher. Mr. "A" and his teacher is very fond of him. He's making good grades except for a C in math. He's really struggling w/ math this year but I don't blame him fully. He began a new school last year, his teacher left before Christmas and after Christmas he comes back to a new teacher whom couldn't control her class. I didn't feel as though he was learning much last year and I've seen it across the board w/ the 4th graders. I have thought about putting him into Kumon to help w/his math. I am willing to try anything at this point. 


Oh oh oh.....Boy do I have a surprise coming for Tommy's birthday. His dad and I got 2 nights at the Great Wolfe Lodge and we are taking his best friend, Nik. It's all arranged and I'm so excited. He's also having a birthday party at a sports center w/ all of his friends. Oh, and we rented the rock at his school so we could paint it for his birthday. He has NO clue!!! I love surprising him and really wanted to go big this year planning his very special day. 


As for Matthew, we're planning him a "crab" themed birthday. It's going to be at the house and another birthday I'm so excited about. The rock at Tommy's school is also rented for this so that Tommy can paint it. It's going to be a busy next couple of months but anything for my babies. 


Will write later :)

~WELCOME 2012! A new year, a new beginning!

Sheeesh, got 2011 out of the way. What an amazing year it was. We were so blessed to have our 2nd wonderful baby boy.

So now, here it is Jan. 7, 2012. In 7 more days, Matthew will be 9 months old. That's right, 9 months old! Where does the time go? I know it's a silly question, but it really seems like yesterday that I was delivering him. Even though the time is flying, every stage is such a new and wonderful adventure.

Today, Matthew began saying "Ba...ba...ba...", you get the point..LOL...This was the first time he's used the "B" so I thought it was cute! I was trying to tell him "ball" and he would just watch me as I would speak w/ that precious little grin of his.

Every single day I run my finger around his mouth to see if he's cutting teeth. We went to Buy Buy Baby last weekend and got all kinds of things we still needed. I spend way too much money there! I got him these teethers that help w/ cutting teeth. He's chewed on those about all week and loves them. As I ran my finger across his gums today, I felt 2 tiny teeth cutting through on the bottom. I was so happy! I went downstairs and told Gabe to wash his hands really well. He kept asking why but I wouldn't tell him. I said it's a surprise. So Gabe ran his finger over his gums and was just as excited as me.

It was a milestone I wanted to make sure and record since I've been so slack jotting down everything. I documented every single thing w/ Tommy but it just seems as though the time is passing me right by and I never have a moment to keep track of all of Matthew's milestones. :(

I can't believe I'll be having his 1 year party in a little over 3 months. Doesn't seem right. Not sure why I get the baby blues when they grow so quickly. I really really enjoy the toddler stages. They are probably my favorite!

So eating....Well he's finally beginning to eat more than just milk. I gave him chicken and veggies this week along w/ mac and cheese. Both he ate some of, however, still not a huge fan of baby food. He would much rather eat good food than the nasty baby food any day. He did have a tiny bit of a cookie which he was so excited to have.

This week I also cooked a meal without being stressed. I know it may sound small but this was HUGE to me. I love to cook and have missed being in the kitchen preparing a meal for my family. Going out to eat gets old. I fed Matthew really well, put him in his highchair w/ a couple of toys and he sat there contently and watched me cook. He wasn't in the kitchen but right outside of it so I could see him and he could see me. He would have a melt down if I'm out of sight. Sometimes when Gabe is holding him and I walk by, he will immediately start crying. I believe that's because I'm a bottle walking past him. haha!

Anyways, I made taco soup. It's one of my favorite meals on a chilly day, it makes a lot, it's easy, and my family really likes it. It was a nice change from fast food or going out to eat.

So other happenings this week. Tommy began coughing on Sunday, ended up staying out of school Wednesday and Thursday. I don't believe his teacher was too happy but what do you do, children get sick. Tommy did feel well enough to do his math homework and did very well. Right now he's working on fractions. I've always enjoyed fractions and I see that Tommy is grasping the concepts so he's enjoying it for right now.

He's been really good this week and has been really sweet to Matthew. We had a long discussion one day about how Matthew can't defend for himself and Tommy has a huge responsibility as the older brother to help in protecting him. I can tell the talk has helped and I didn't excuse any jealousy. That is no reason to act out towards Matthew so instead I asked that Tommy comes to us and discusses his feelings vs. taking it out on his baby brother.

Other things this week....Tonight we met my niece and her boyfriend, Sheldon, for dinner. This was the first night meeting him and they seem to make the cutest couple. He's very sweet and attentive to Courtney. Tommy also has his friend Nik over for the night. I know Nik's mom from volunteering at the school last year. She does a lot of volunteer work at the school and I was blessed to get to know such a wonderful group of ladies. Tommy also had a basketball game this morning and Nik is on his team and they are in class together. Nik is kinda like my other son. He's done a lot w/ us. I've taken him to Carowinds a couple of times, he's stayed over multiple times and he's went to the mountains w/ us for the weekend. I'm so happy that he was able to stay over tonight since Tommy has been asking me for months but since our house has been under so much construction, it was just too messy. They get along so well and I adore Nik's parents.


This week, Gabe and I discussed moving. My sister called begging me to consider moving to OR. I told her she wouldn't like me if I moved out there. LOL. Gabe has been busy looking for jobs on the West Coast, however, I still don't know if that's where I want to be. I'm too much of a beach bum (NC,SC shores). I do want to move, but it's all in where the money is. I don't really enjoy it here anymore. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut and can't seem to get out. I don't have that much of a social life and it would be nice to meet some new faces and get to know some new people. It's not the only reason I'd like to move, there are many.

Well, it's past my bedtime but I will try my best to do better at blogging. I can't let all of my children's memories slip away.