Monday, May 28, 2012

Best. Mother's. Day. Gift. Ever.

Matthew had such a great idea for a Mother's Day gift I just had to share it with you all!!!  He bought blue finger paint and a picture frame and created a tradition he plans to do for all future Mother's Days.  He plans to allow his siblings to join in and said that each of them will have their own color paint for their hand prints.  How sweet is Matthew!  I placed the frame right outside our bedroom door so I see if every time I leave the room.


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Music and Swimming Lessons

There are some classes that are good for children.  There are others that are atrocious.  We have subjected Matthew to both.

Let's start with the stupid one.  We enrolled Matthew in swimming lessons in order to help him get used to the water, for socialization, and for some good old fashioned family fun.  We quickly learned there are more fun ways to spend time in water than this class.  The class was from 8:00-8:45 on Saturday mornings at the park district center.  We thought it would be good time talking with other parents and learning some techniques or fun things to do with our babies.  Nothing serious, but some guidance on what to do would have been nice.  Instead, we had an 18 year old teacher who wanted nothing to do with the class except the $7.15/hr paycheck.  With all the excitement of a soccer game, we went through the motions of droning "If You're Happy and You Know It" and other similar ditties.  After exactly 15 minutes--apparently, teacher was at risk of developing a personality were she to assert effort for 16 minutes--we were told we had "free time."  No fun games.  No teaching.  No socializing, other than E and I following parents and their kids around in the pool asking for their addresses.  Nothing.  And did I mention that one time it was 7:59 and a parent was ready to enter the pool room, when another instructor sternly pointed out that there were 30 more seconds before we could enter?  We chose to skip the final three lessons.  There were only five total.

Nonetheless, here are a couple pics:



And now, on to Matthew's third love: music class.  His first two loves are his mother and claymation.  The video explain it all but I will give you some background info.  The teacher has two young kids and has been playing the violin since she was three years old.  Ergo, she does things like "engage the children," "exude passion," and "gives a damn."  Almost as much as Matthew:





The class is 45 minutes and is complete with singing and socializing that the instructor helps facilitate so it's not awkward.  Last week, I exchanged numbers with another couple.  The woman works at Northwestern, the man works in sports and they were both polite enough not to call me creepy.  Yey.

The Bottomless Pit

After going to the doctor this week Tuesday and finding out that Matthew has gained half an ounce in the last 5 weeks (he is now weighing in at 16 pounds and .6oz and at the 10th percentile), we were told to double his grains at breakfast.  I had already started adding yogurt and a protein each day.  Thus, his breakfast on Wednesday:

1/2 cup of oatmeal with half a banana
1 egg yolk
An apple with 1/3 cup of yogurt

Seriously, there are trolls that don't eat that much.

Other news from the doctor's appointment: he had a catheter for a urine culture and blood work done to test his liver functioning, for celiac's disease, a UTI, and anemia.  We have not heard back on the results for celiac's disease (a wheat allergy), but everything else, thank the Lord, has come back normal.

So...back to the doctor in a month to check his weight again.  We've already seen weight gain in his cute little cheeks so we're hopeful that he will continue on this path so that his weight will stabilize.

In conclusion, here is a video (from that Tuesday) of Titus getting his first solid food and saying nite nite to Matthew.


Friday, May 25, 2012

First Family Vacation

A few weeks ago we followed through on a very poor decision and took Matthew on a three-hour flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  Fortunately for us, the statistically improbable result occurred and all went well.  As you can see below, our small human did things like "smile" and "explore the friendly skies," as opposed to "have his ears pop, scream until his larynx bled and cost the airline its only remaining loyal non-business travelers."

"Mehnmnemmhemaeg."
"Hi God, I'm Matthew. Say hi to Milklady."
We stayed at my parents' condo in Weston, which is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, which if we are being honest is a suburb of Miami, which if we are really being real is a suburb of Cuba.

Obviously, it poured rain the first three days to the point that there was significant flooding.  Fortunately, I bought an umbrella on day three.  Beginning with day four, it did not rain again.  Fortunately, all was not lost because my parents didn't have a umbrella, so we were able to just leave it at the condo.  Something else we were able to do was realize on the plane ride home that we left the umbrella in the trunk of the rental car.  Apparently, they still accept the car when you return it with a umbrella in the trunk.

Truth be told, it was actually awesome to have a few days to be forced to do nothing.  The relaxation was fantastic.

Daddy reading Matthew his new book
Sidebar: I would like to thank E for the real value-add caption to that last picture.  Other options included "Matthew's eyes are open" and "Daddy has a pox of some kind."


We don't have a bathtub at home, so this was a real treat for Matthew and I.  Or at least me.  Matthew barely bothered to make eye contact.  The bubbles, on the other hand, were fascinating.



Matthew's first bubble bath

She's officially been removed from caption duty.

Speaking of E, her great friends from grad school, Dionne and Karim, drove three hours each way to come visit us the first full day we were there.  We had a great time hanging out.  And eating at a diner.  I got the homemade mac and cheese.  God bless heavy cream.

Eventually that week we did go out and enjoy the weather:

Imagine the whiteness after we added sunblock
 Matthew wearing a ridiculous hat
I should eat more vegetables
This picture makes Matthew's first trip to the zoo look really special.  It was not.  For an hour, we pretty much just saw birds and then had to quickly walk back to the car because it was 90 degrees and ridiculously stupid for us to go out in the first place.  Oh, and some zookeeper thought it was a good idea to put all the animals people come to the zoo to actually see, such as creatures that aren't cardinals, in the back of the zoo, requiring a two hour walk.  Not kidding.

And then we went home, via another three hour flight that was seamless.  The end.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Matthew's Baptism

When asked big questions like, what was the happiest day of your life, it can be hard to answer.  You think you should say your wedding day or the day your children were born, but that's often not the truth because there is a high amount of emotion that goes in with those big events and you're not able to really be present.  My happiest of days are when Mike and I have just been hanging out at home doing a whole lot of nothing but laughing and really, really enjoying being together.

Well, I can now tell you that the most special day of my life was the day that Matthew was baptized which was on Sunday, April, 22 at Winnetka Covenant Church.  

A week prior to the baptism we met with our pastor, Peter, and discussed the significance of baptism.  He encouraged us to think and pray about the sacrament in the coming week so that when it occurred, we would be fully prepared.  This really helped to make the baptism something that we were prepared to take in fully.

One of the things that made the baptism special was that pastoral staff:

Peter has known us for many years.  He was a Youth Pastor at the church when I was growing up and has been Senior Pastor for most of the time that Mike and I have been together.  He has spent time getting to know both of us personally and spiritually.

Art is a Parish Associate who used to work full-time at Winnetka.  Back in 1979, he baptized Paul when he was a baby.  After Matthew as baptized, he carried Matthew around the church for the congregation to see while we sang I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry

My brother Paul was the one that actually did the baptizing.  And he preached that day.


Dustin and Brittany came in town for the baptism which was amazing of them.  They are Matthew's godparents.

And here is a full family picture:


You will notice that here again, Matthew and Titus are touching.

And when all was complete at the church:


The day was so special because it was a significant day in Matthew's spiritual life and I was able to stay fully present in the moment.  It was really nice for so many close friends and family members to be there and for the church to make the commitment to Matthew's spiritual life that they did.  And to solidify what was already true: to have the commitment from Dustin and Brittany to Matthew's spiritual life and to Mike and I in being Matthew's guides; their prayer, support, and accountability are invaluable to us.  And most importantly, I felt close to God and my family in ways that we had been growing into over the last several months.