Matthew's First Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families this year! Matthew received a lot of good stuff to play with. Thank you to everyone for all the gifts! Matthew enjoyed ripping the paper off of the gifts and then putting the paper in his mouth. You will see that in a bunch of the photos. Once all the gifts were opened, Ryan and I had to put everything together and then the play could begin. Matthew has a lot of fun playing with his new toys. He did surprisingly well the past few days as well. He was up later than normal on Christmas Eve and woke up Christmas morning with a huge smile and some giggles. After his breakfast we headed over to Ryan's mom's house for Christmas breakfast and presents. Then it was over to Ryan's dad's house for dinner and more presents. Matthew took his first nap around 2:30 that day. We got back home about 4:30 and fed Matthew his Christmas dinner of cinnamon apples and pears. Yummy! Then he opened his gifts from our house, played some and was in bed and asleep by 8:30. He woke up today about 8:30 and was all smiles again. He and I plan on playing most of the day. I am going to relish each moment of my two weeks with him.

Last night at dinner Ryan and I were talking about this past year. Last year at Christmas we didn't know what we were having (we found out in late January) and now we have this beautiful baby boy full of so much joy and love. Last year at Christmas we were also eagerly awaiting the birth of Maia, who at the time was just a few days overdue. This past year has brought us a son, a new niece, a new house, a new dog and many other happy memories. We look forward to the year to come and all the new things Matthew will accomplish in his little life. Thank you to everyone that has made our lives a little happier!

Enjoy the photos of Matthew's first Christmas!

The Best Gift of All

We will spend Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Genisio. Then we will spend Christmas Day with Grandma and Grandpa Reslock and Grandma and Grandpa Chenery. We want to wish everyone a very merry and safe Christmas.

Of all the gifts we may receive, this one under the tree is the best of all! Merry Christmas!

Check back soon for Matthew' first Christmas photos!

Matthew's new sister!

Here is our newest edition to the Chenery family, Ojala. Here is a photo of Matthew sitting big and tall playing with his activity center! More photos will come soon!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We took Matthew to see Santa a few nights ago! As you can see from the photo, he wasn't scared one bit, unlike his mom as a child! We are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas as a family!

Sittin' Pretty

Matthew is doing a wonderful job of sitting unassisted! He has been practicing for the past few weeks and now he can sit by himself for five minutes! He is able to rock his weight back and forth, lean forward to pick up a toy and then sit tall again. When we read to him, he sits there reaching out for the book with both arms up in the air. It is just another step towards moving!

He had pears for the first time tonight and LOVED them too! He gobbled them up pretty quickly. We tried giving him a sippy cup and he would rather play with it and such on the spout then actually take water from it. Oh well, we will try again soon.

Matthew will have a sister soon! Our new dog will be arriving just in time for Christmas! We are adopting a canine companion dog (golden retriever...only about 40 pounds though!) that did not make it at puppy college. She passed her initial tests, but proved to be too much puppy for a service dog. She got fixed this weekend, so she will be all healed by the time she arrives here. She knows about 25-30 commands, including going to the bathroom on cue! We were supposed to make the ten hour round trip journey this weekend, but another puppy raiser from the area is traveling down there on the 19th to turn in her dog and get her next puppy. They will return on the 20th with our lady! We were relieved when we found out we didn't have to make the ten hour trek to Delaware, Ohio. Her name is Ojala. All the dogs in the program are named based on their litter. Ojala was in the "O" litter last year. All of her brothers and sisters have "O" names as well. We have decided to keep the name Ojala instead of changing it. We will post photos as soon as we get her! What a wonderful Christmas present for all of us!

P.S. Norm and Ojala get along wonderfully! She came over to play in October before she went to puppy college. She will definitely keep him on his toes!

Carrots are yummy!

Matthew had carrots tonight for the first time! He loved them! I thawed out a carrot cube from the freezer stash of homemade food. He was all smiles while I was feeding him and giggling at Ryan taking the pictures too. He ate the whole meal relatively quick. He has recently discovered his tongue since having real foods as well. He constantly has it sticking out at us while he is feeling around his lips and chin. Everything recently is funny to Matthew. From taking off his socks to sneezing, it seems to get a thrill out of the boy. I am looking forward to my two weeks off of work to spend with him over Christmas break. Only 12 more work days! I added some new photos of our eating adventures to the photo site. Enjoy!

Six month check-up

Ryan and I just got back from Matthew's six month check-up. He is a happy and healthy little boy. He weighs 15 pounds and 12.5 ounces (25th percentile). He is 25 inches long (10th percentile) and his head is 17 and 3/8 inches (50-75th percentile). His ear infection is back, so he is on another antibiotic for that. This time a little stronger one to knock it out completely. The only sign we had that his ear infection was back was his stuffy nose and yucky eyes. He has been very happy and Hopefully this round will end it for good.

Matthew's First Food

We started Matthew on his first foods tonight! We decided to start with rice cereal as his first food. I am not quite sure he knew what to think. He liked it at first, but got cranky quick and ended the meal by drinking the "cereal" in his bottle. We will make it a little thicker tomorrow night. We will feed his rice cereal for four nights before switching to another food to make sure of any allergies. Plus, once we know he is not allergic to it, we can mix it with any purees I have made.

I made a few homemade purees for Matthew today. I made carrots, pears, apples, and sweet potatoes. It is super easy to make and I like knowing what goes into his food. I have an awesome cookbook with great recipes for the different stages of his food adventures. We will take more pictures in the coming nights, but here are some to get you by.

We also put up many of the Christmas decorations today. We will hopefully get our first real tree next weekend! I am very excited. I hated our old fake tree. The stockings are up above the fireplace and the outside is decorated very tastefully with some wreaths and a lighted garland for our front porch. It is nice to be able to decorate and actually care about your house.

As for other news in Matthew's life. He continues to sleep about 12 hours at night and takes two naps during the day (normally, but not always). Lately he has been getting up about once a night, but quickly falls back asleep without us having to take him out of his crib. We have been adjusting the thermostat and it has been a bit chilly at night (we are used to the house being 55 degrees overnight...we can't do that anymore). We think that is what was bugging him, because once we got it figured out, he hasn't woken up. Those bottom two teeth have just about poked through too. He goes to the pediatrician on Monday for his six month shots and overall check-up. That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures of Matthew's first foods!