Better out than in

It's time to talk about Matthew! We're about at the point where he's been out of me longer than he was in, and goodness how the time has flown! (Except the nights. Still. We've had quite the combination of his gaslighting approach to teething for the past 4+ months [0 teeth so far], his colds, two bouts of stomach bug, and his increased appetite, all of which makes him less inclined to sleep well.)

But still. Such a delight. We sure love our bright-eyed, curious boy. And since it looks like it's been a little while since I've posted much about him, I guess I'll start where I left off!

Food: While Kevin was in China, Matthew figured out that he does not have to accept what we offer him with a spoon. Ever since, he's been much happier to just feed himself. For about a week, he wouldn't even do that and would just throw everything on the ground for later consumption (we call those Floorios), but he's been better about not doing that so much lately. Since he doesn't have teeth, we feel a little limited in what we can give him, but he's still tried lots of foods and liked them.

Even limes. (This was at Rubio's in Utah.)

We do put bibs on him sometimes, but not usually for the last meal of the day.

He loves to suck on asparagus

On the hunt for Floorios.

Head shaking: Kevin usually takes care of mornings, so while he was in China I had to get creative with finding ways to sleep in. It would usually consist of nursing Matthew on one side of me until he fell asleep and then convincing Joseph to snuggle on the other side while I scratched his back until we both fell back asleep. That usually worked, but one day Joseph and Matthew didn't sleep but just spent the whole time laughing at each other. I managed to sleep through a lot of it until Joseph woke me up by saying, "Matthew's shaking his head!" I finally decided to open my eyes and watch these cute boys shaking their heads at each other, laughing hysterically. It never gets old.

Clapping: Also the best thing ever.

Crawling: He spent a long time rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, so it was pretty exciting when he finally propelled himself forward. I guess all it took was the proper motivation.

His favorite things to crawl toward are

-Us (especially when we are headed toward the stairs or in the kitchen)

-The spring door stop (not so much now, but he definitely knows where they all are now and is sure to play with them each time he passes by)

-Anywhere he can bonk his head

-Toward most anything that can go into his mouth.

He had just stuck a whole pretzel twist into his mouth and was pretty pleased with himself.

-And really, most anywhere we'd rather he wouldn't go. But that's how it goes. :)

Music: We love our music baby! Sometimes he can get really, really sad and I don't know how to help him. Then I remember to turn on an upbeat song and the world is right again.

When there's any sort of beat he starts bobbing along. When there's music in the car I can hear him singing right along with Joseph. And of course, he doesn't need music to sing.

Standing: He likes to pull himself up to standing now. Let me tell you, it's made bath time a lot more exciting.

He really is standing in this one.

Smiling: Sometimes our nights can be a little rough. But every morning we know we have this bright smiley boy to look forward to, and everything is okay again. It's just his default expression, especially when Joseph is around.

Rain does awesome things to his hair

We count on this fun every day

that's not a carrot

He is such a delight! It is always an adventure, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

ps -- there are a dozen or so movies that I didn't upload. If you want to be inundated, just let me know!