Date Night

Papa John and Grandma Jeanne offered to watch Matthew, so Mike and I had a date night!!  Ahhh...and thank you!!!

Oh, and a family tidbit, instead of rocking Matthew to sleep at night, Mike marches back and forth.  Really wish I could videotape it and then post it.  But our house is on lock down and by that I mean that it's completely dark.  So, I strongly encourage you to imagine it: a grown man marching desperately hoping his son will fall asleep.

Matthew Schwartz, Child of the Corn

You may have noticed in the video from the previous post that Matthew's eyes were aglow with a fire that could end a rainforest.  Turns out, this is a good thing.  Apparently, photo-ruining eyes are also cancer-free eyes.  The doctor told us that there is a rare eye cancer among infants that is revealed by non-reflective eyeballs.  Makes my son's possessed eyes a little less scary.

Top 10 of the Last 2 Months in Pictures

10. Matthew has received LOTS of love from family and friends:

 9. Matthew loves bath time with Daddy.

8. Matthew was really sad when Indiana lost to Michigan State in football by 52 points.

7. Matthew has a wonderful smile.  He woke up an hour after being put to bed the other night, and when we both got up to put him back to sleep he looked at both of us with the biggest smile.  All was forgiven.  Mom has also heard him laugh a couple of times in his sleep.  Cannot wait for his dad to hear it for real.

Quickest way to make Matthew smile: play with his feet:

6. Matthew's first night home, our heat was not working so it was 56 degrees in the house.  We were grateful (for this one night) that one of our rooms does not have central air, rather it has a furnace.  Matthew did not fall asleep until 5am and it was in Mama's arms on the couch.

5. Matthew has a cousin named Titus Victor Couleur, born on November 25th!

4. Matthew can lift his head!

3. Matthew does NOT like to sleep alone when napping!

2. Matthew has struggled with acid reflux and to help (significantly) Daddy would bounce Matthew.  He no longer does because Matthew is too big.

1. At his 2 month check-up, he was 25 inches long and weighed 13 pounds, 11 ounces.  He is a healthy, growing boy at the 95th percentile in all areas.

And the update on Mike and I:

Disclaimer: do NOT read if you just want to hear about how wonderful our lives are and how we couldn't imagine life without him.  I mean, come on, we spent nearly 13 years without him and just had him 10 weeks ago.  An inability to imagine life without him would be indicative of a serious and alarming memory disorder.

We feel so incredibly blessed and are completely in love with Matthew.  He is a wonderful little boy.  A wonderful, loving little boy.  A wonderful, loving, INCREDIBLY EXHAUSTING little boy.  We are freaking drained.  And have no idea when we won't be freaking drained.  This only slightly has to do with the fact that Matthew probably inherited ADHD and probably will have three siblings with ADHD.  Thanks, Mike.  Also, we REALLY miss time where it is just the two of us.  Sigh...

Going back to work is also hard, from both a seperation and workload standpoint.  I have gone back to work 1 or 2 days a week and have NO idea how mothers of newborns work full-time and parent.  But on the bright side, Mike and I have had 2 weeks in a row where he has only had to work 3 days--yey!  Also, Matthew is getting better and better at sleeping every night--he slept for almost 8 straight hours last night!  If only we could teach him how to nap alone...or on some days, nap period.  And how to stop crying for no reason.  That would be delightful.