There's Only One Matthew!

Whenever we run out of anything (goldfish, milk, race cars), Matthew will ask, "go to the store and find more ______?"

Yesterday, on our way to the store asked, "Go to the store and find more Matthews?"

And then answered his own question, holding up his pointer finger.  "Noooooo. There's only onnnneee Matthew."

We continued this question/answer game for all of the important people in his life, starting with Thea, and my heart fluttered. 

GMC

Not talkin' about a car here folks.  Talkin' 'bout our niece that was born on February 16.  Her name is Genevieve Marie.  Fortunately for my brother and sister-in-law, the drive to the hospital and Rachel's labor and delivery were without obstacles (read: don't be foolish, pushing a baby out is never easy, but the birth went without complications).  Post-birth (and by post-birth I mean within 24 hours), however, was not as simple and straightforward.  Paul had to leave the hospital because he got a massive headache and was vomiting and Titus got a double ear infection and double pink eye.  That's right people, both eyes and both ears.  And then both parents and Rachel's mom got a cold.  Welcome to being a family of four!  Rough start, but thankfully, Genevieve remained healthy through it all.  She is already 2 months and is smiling, cooing, and looks just like Titus (who no longer has pink eye).  This entry is late, but it is no indication of how excited we are that she has arrived and is part of our family.

Despite being a baby herself, Thea was so curious about her baby cousin - touching her eyes, nose, elbow.

Vacay

I took a week of vacation a few weeks ago.  Let’s recap, shall we?  We shall.

I realized that we have taught Matthew that farting is an achievement worth recognizing.  He said “great fart, Daddy!” after a fart that was, in fact, great.  Let it be known that less great farts go ignored by Matthew.  He has developed Daddy’s keen scouting eye.

Oh...and then this morning, I farted again and Matthew tried to push one out and said, "I don't have one, Daddy."

The first fun adventure of the week was taking Matthew on his first choo choo ride.  I was a bit worried he would be scared by the enormity and volume of the train, or quickly bored by the mundane nature of a suburban train ride.  Those worries proved needless.  He freaking LOVED it.  Everything about it.  The station, buying a ticket, watching & hearing the train approach the station, sitting in his seat, watching the scenery pass by... All of it was amazing for Thomas' biggest fan.  And his dad.  The picture & video below pretty much sums up our trip (which involved a 15 minute, 3 stop commute).

Given he was that happy on the train, you can only imagine the joy derived from the post-ride McDonald's breakfast.

We later took M & T to their first water park.  The six hours of total round trip drive time went stunningly well, with just one potty stop each way.  A formal tip of the hat to the inventor of the portable DVD player.  The park, which is in Wisconsin Dells, was probably more fun for Daddy than anyone else, but that’s because I love water slides and two-year olds apparently are a bit apprehensive of buckets that dump over 1,000 gallons of water on the people below every 3 minutes.  The best part was actually the condo.  Two bedrooms, big family room and kitchen, really nice accommodations for just $150.  E & I had a great time eating Domino’s Cheesy Bread and watching the NCAA Tournament while Matthew slept in his first queen size bed and Thea slept in her Pack N’ Play.  Matthew’s room had a separate bathroom that was nice and spacious, with plenty of room for the Pack N’ Play and sleeping daughter we put in there.  Yup.

Sorry.

Here is some graphic documentation of the claims I just made:

Chillin' in a hotel is always better than chillin' at home

She's probably peeing

The life jacket looked more appropriate in areas where the water was deeper than "Puddle"

If you're developing a brochure for a water park targeting sociopaths who derive enjoyment from making children watch videos of Donald Duck dying, I have a photograph for you

All in all, vacation was wonderful.  Lots of time with my three favorite people.  Buckets full of hugs from Matthew, which is never a bad thing.  But not all activities went as hoped.  Like when we decided to bring the kids bowling.  With Paul, Rachel, Titus and Genevieve.  It went... poorly.  Matthew rolled the ball once before losing all interest.  Titus wasn't much better.  They then both committed themselves to doing everything possible to run behind strangers in the middle of their backswing.  Thea cried constantly.  Genevieve was one month old.  I am totally cool with not seeing the inside of a bowling alley in a non-all-adult setting for at least half a decade.  But at least we had fun at dinner :)

This picture makes it seem like this outing wasn't awful