Enjoying Summer

I am enjoying my time with Matthew while I am off of work. He and I have played a lot and are working on his walking skills. He is getting more daring with his walking abilities while walking along furniture. He will let go of the couch and take a step or two before he holds on again, but the minute I hold his hand to help him along he drops to the floor and starts to crawl! I know that he will do it when he is ready and able and when that day comes our world will change once again! He went to Deah's for his first summer visit this past Tuesday while I went to school and worked at the summer reading program. It was a nice time for me to see my former and future students as well as their parents and interact with them. This week I worked in the math room and played an assortment of math games with the students. I played with the pattern blocks with the future first graders all the way up to multiplication math with future fourth graders. Matthew in the meantime had a great time at Deah's with many of his normal friends. He didn't skip a beat when I dropped him off, which was a relief for me. I was worried that with spending so much time with me he would have separation issues at Deah's. That is not the case and has not been an issue to this date. He can't wait to get his shoes off and get to his friends. It is a struggle for me to catch him to give him a good-bye kiss! That is very reassuring to me!

While I have been home, Matthew has really adapted well to his routine (he started with it at daycare and I carried it over to home). He wakes up at 9:00 and eats breakfast, which usually consists of whole milk yogurt, fruit and a starch (whole grain waffle, toast, etc.) and milk or water. Then we play or go for a walk until his lunch at noon. For lunch he eats a serving or fruit, vegetable and some sort of protein along with milk or water. After lunch he goes down for his daily nap of three hours! During the three hour nap, I get in my one hour run and weight routine, shower, cleaning and laundry done. He wakes up around 3:00 and has a light snack and water or milk and then we play again or go for a walk until dinner at 5:30. He eats what ever we eat which is a nice new addition to our daily lives, no more making him special meals and eating at a different time. After dinner we both chase and play with him until his bed routine. He gets a bath (not all nights) and a bottle and then a story before going to his crib at 8:00. Most of the time he will play a bit in his crib before falling asleep, other times he will just go right to sleep. He is very content as long as we leave his bedroom door open so he can see and hear us. Once he is asleep we shut his door. This routine works very well for us and it is the same routine he uses at daycare, so that works out beautifully for us.

Matthew also cut two new teeth. He now has seven teeth (five of which you can see very well and two brand new ones). He loves getting his teeth brushed too! I used to use the finger brush, but after having Matthew bite my fingers too much, we switched to a toddler toothbrush. That pretty much sums up the past few weeks of my summer vacation with Matthew!

Happy Anniversary

Ryan and I just returned from our "date"! We went to a nice dinner at Fieldstone and then to a movie. We are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary today! We have not seen a movie in the theater since a week before Matthew was born, so we were a little overdue. Thanks to a few gift certificates we had saved up, our whole evening was free! Grandma and Grandpa Genisio stayed at our house and watched Matthew while we went out. They gave us the gift certificates many, many months ago with the clause that they had to watch the little man while we went out, so we took them up on the offer tonight. It was really nice to go out to dinner just the two of us, just like the olden days! So, can I believe we have been married for five years...Yes, but the time has flown by! We have been together for 13 years now, though it seems like yesterday I was meeting him in Biology freshman year of high school. Who would have known on that day that we would get married and have a beautiful son! Here is to many more happy and fun years together!

Matthew had a Haircut!

Matthew had his first haircut this afternoon. Grandma Reslock came over after work and cut it for us! We baited Matthew with some food to keep him somewhat still for the cut. He did a great job and now looks so grown up! We decided to give him a cut because it was getting very long in the front and the back and he has been mistaken for a girl on more than one occasion! Ryan got a cut too.

Last night we picked up our piano from Grandma and Grandpa Genisio's house. It was Grandpa's piano as a child and then I played on it for many years as a child too. We wanted to keep it in the family, so it is in our new house now! I played some tunes for Matthew today while he pushed on the foot pedals to give the song the added touch! He also likes to bang on the keys while sitting in my lap.

In doggie news, Norm and Ojala went to the vet on Tuesday and we are happy to announce that Norm now weighs 96 pounds! He lost 15 pounds since getting Ojala in December! That is all for now, enjoy the photos of Matthew's first haircut!

One Year Check-Up

I took Matthew to the doctor this morning for his one year check-up. He is doing great! He now weighs 20 pounds exactly, which puts him in the 10th percentile for his age and gender. His height is 28.75 inches which puts him around the 25th percentile. His head is 18.25 inches which puts him in the 50th percentile. It was nice to see him growing more and getting out of the 5th percentile mark! He received four shots today and did very well with them. Of course we had the screaming and crying on the initial pokes, but once I was able to pick him back up he calmed down and was fine. After that we went to the lab for his blood draw to check his hemoglobin and lead counts in his blood. They needed one vile full of blood, so they had to draw it from his little arm instead of doing a finger or toe prick. He surprisingly did very well with that too. Once they found a vein they wanted to use they tied off his arm and that was when he fussed and tried to squirm out. Once they poked him and took off the arm tie, he was fine. I was very proud of him! After the doctor, we met Grandma Genisio for some lunch and now Matthew is back home and sound asleep for his nap. Tomorrow I take Norm and Ojala to the vet for their yearly check-ups so Grandpa and Grandma Chenery are coming over during the day to watch Matthew while I take the dogs. We are very curious to see how much Norm weighs and how much he has lost since getting Ojala. We will keep you posted!

Happy Father's Day!

We plan on relaxing with daddy today on his only day off for the week. Ryan has been working ten hour days, six days a week for a while now and will move to twelve hour days, seven days a week in the near future, so we are trying to get in as much "daddy time" as we can. We just got done cleaning up a nice breakfast that we made together and after the morning paper we will play. We were going to try to get the boat out for a little stroll, but the storms are coming in soon and we didn't want to get caught on the lake in them. Matthew started a new tradition (we forgot last year) for father's Day. Every year he buys daddy a new picture book for his Father's Day collection. This year's book was I Love my Daddy by Sebastian Braun. Ryan will read it to Matthew tonight before bed. Every year we plan on picking out a new book for daddy to add to the collection. So, in closing, I would like to wish a very happy Father's Day to Ryan. Thank you for being such a wonderful and doting dad to Matthew. We appreciate everything you do for us on a daily basis!

Another special Father's Day wish for Grandpa Genisio, Grandpa Chenery, Grandpa Reslock, Great-Grandpa LaMantia, Great-Grandpa Chenery and Uncle Brian as they celebrate their own Father's Day! Happy Father's Day, we love you all!

School's Out!

Sorry for the delay in the postings, we have been really busy here. I am officially done with another year of school! My kids were done at noon yesterday and I checked out at 9:45 this morning. My room is all packed up for the summer and I picked Matthew up at noon and I am ready to enjoy my summer with him. We don't have any specific plans for the summer aside from his Tuesday daycare day. I plan on going on lots of walks and we are going to play a lot with friends. Ryan and I are looking into different attachments for my bike so I can take Matthew on rides. We are leaning towards a bike seat that attaches on the front of the bike, over the handlebars. I think they are called kangaroo seats. Wither that or a bike trailer. We haven't decided yet.

In Matthew news, he is starting to test his balance more when standing. Last night he was standing while holding onto my knees when he just let go. He just stood there balancing with his arms for a good ten seconds before he fell to his butt. Then he was right back up and trying it again. He is getting braver by the day. He is also eating so much more than before. He loves whole milk and drinks it from a sippy cup at every meal (with the exception of his before bed bottle, he won't give that one up so easy). I take him to the doctor on Monday for his one year checkup and shots, so I will get a better measure of his weight and height. He has been mistaken for a girl on two separate occasions, so he will have a minor haircut in the near future. That is about all for now. Enjoy the rest of the week!

It's official

At 3:51 today Matthew officially turned one! I can't believe it! We turned around his car seat last night and Matthew enjoyed his first ride the right way. He was smiling and kicking his feet the whole way to Deah's. He is saying momma and dada more often and in the correct context which is a nice feeling! I was talking to him the other day and pointed to Ryan and said "who is that?" and he said "dada". Then I pointed to myself and said "who am I?" and he said "momma" after some thought. He started with the 'b' sound as well as working on the 'd' sound. It sounds a lot like he's trying to say Deah!

He is also working very hard on his walking. Today when I picked him up, Deah was holding his hands to walk to me and gently let go of one of Matthew's hands, but he kept on walking to me until I held my hands out for him to reach for me. We don't think it will be much longer, probably a month or so, but then again we aren't rushing it either.

Ryan is off for his first fishing tournament for the year tonight, so after a quick bath (he got pretty messy at his daycare party) we will head to Grandma and Grandpa Genisio's house for dinner, just the two of us (plus the dogs).

So here is to many more happy and fun filled years for Matthew and our whole family! Happy birthday little man, I am so lucky to be your momma!