Merry Christmas!

Hope your holiday was as great as ours was. And we hope you got a 1/4 of what our spoiled little man did! Ho Ho Ho!

Babies' Christmas Party

What a success! No major meltdowns, no fighting over toys (everyone was even really good about the car!), tonnes of food and fun presents. Isn't this what Christmas is all about? Oh yeah. Jesus. Well, let's just say the babies were angels and call it a day.

Just Pictures

For those of you that don't read it anyway, here are just some pictures. Our little man loves the camera!And just to prove he's not always all smiles:

Winter Wonderland

Friday brought us record-breaking snowfall and as a result, we got a "Snow Day." Work was cancelled and I was not going to brave the roads for daycare, so it was just like my maternity leave...only much more exhausting! I can't believe how much this kid can move! And climb! And yell! That being said, I had such a good day. Dare I say it? I'm really looking forward to Christmas! Pull yourselves off the floor, people; I just mean so I can spend more time with my little family!

We took Matthew and the dog for a walk with Matthew in Rob's sled from when he was little. We made it about 4 houses down the street before we decided it was too hard to pull our chubby guy...Indy was not at all cooperative when we hooked her up like a reindeer! Just to prove that we love her too, here's a picture of our girl enjoying the snow (without the antlers and reins):

And now, we're back to 7 degrees and slushy. Nothing prettier than black snowbanks and salt-covered cars. Tell me again why we don't live in Hawaii?

More Comparisons

Pepsi Christmas Party 2006

Pepsi Christmas Party 2005 The picture is not the best this year. We're hoping for a better one from the organizers, but you get the idea. Matthew had a better time this year than he did last: we didn't have to wake him up to see Santa, but we did have to pull him away from the playsets. Poor Santa had a hard time holding the little wiggle-worm!

This week's been hard for us...another ear infection, stomach flu (for all of us!) and his first and second major "incidents." One involved shattered glass and a paranoid trip to the doctor (I thought we'd have Christmas pictures of Matthew as a pirate, complete with eye patch). Luckily, she told me I was being a "first time mom" and he was perfectly fine. The other involved a call at work from the "babysitters" of the day (Ron and Dee):

"Hello?"

"Hi. Where's the Polysporin?"

Again, a minor nick, no big deal, and Matthew probably uses it to score chicks at daycare. Anyway, have a great a week everyone!

Whas' Ahhhhp?

Nothing New or Exciting

Here are some pictures of Matthew playing in the basement with his million toys. He loves his "Drop and Roar Dinosaur." His newest trick is dropping (or pushing) a ball (or Lego, or his fingers, or his foot, etc) through the holes and when the dinosaur makes its "roar" sound, he immitates it. As you can see, today he tried to stuff a truck, a little cow, the "driver of the bus" a book, and Indy's feet through the holes. Finally, he settled on just pressing the button to make the lights and sound effects. His IKEA rocking horse is also a favourite, but we do get a little concerned when he tries to stand on it, or rock himself hard enough to face-plant!

He loves this one. And I figured my dentist didn't need it anymore.

For those of you keeping track, this is what Matthew looked like this time last year:

Just to put it into perspective, look at the tennis ball in comparison to his head. Time flies when you're having fun!

This One's For Myah

Myah's blog posted the cutest picture of one of her babies sleeping with her bum in the air. Never one to be outdone (you know my competitive spirit...haha), I had to post pictures of Matthew doing the same thing. They're pretty old, but Myah, rest assured he still sleeps the best when his bum's way up! I just figured I can't take anymore pictures of it, since he's already going to have a deep-seated fear of flashbulbs!

Matthew's First Haircut

Well, Rob finally got tired of Matthew's hockey hair, so we took him to get it cut on Friday. We went in with an '80's rockin' mullet and came out with a certificate of bravery, a million pictures and a cute little boy -- my "baby" no longer :(


We went to a special kids place with TVs at every station (Backyardigans was a good choice for us; Daniel Cook weirds me out) and a different "mode of transportation" as the seats. Matthew didn't blink an eye, except when they wanted to put the cape on him. He ripped that thing off like it was burning his neck. It took less than half and hour for the transfomation, but it will take a lifetime for Rob's mom to forgive us for not waiting to see if he got ringlets. Sorry Dee, we just didn't want to take the risk of rat tail formation instead!

They even spiked it with gel. Yep, that's right. Our kid's a stud.

Maybe when he makes it to the NHL he'll grow it out for playoffs and we'll see about those ringlets! (God forbid he should end up looking like Jaromir Jagr of '96!!)

Happy Halloween!

Here are the pictures of Matthew's first walking Halloween. Despite not feeling very well, he really took to going to neighbours houses and showing off how cute he looked. Well, we did anyway!

In this one, we're just leaving to go to the daycare party. It's early and Matthew's not feeling all that good, so that's why there's no smiling. Sorry.

This one's a little better. His little tongue is at the ready to get candy. Or just to drool on his costume ("Maybe then they'll take it off!")And this next one shows the family resemblance (for those of you who say Matthew looks more like Rob's side than mine!)So there you have it; Halloween was a success.

And for those of you hounding me on my deathbed (Anonymous, I know who you are!) are you happy now?

Babies' Halloween Party

Sorry it's taken this long to post...Matthew and I both have a touch of the flu. I wanted to e-mail those who posted and tell you to keep your pants on, but that may have been rude. So I posted it here for all to see.


The Halloween party for the babies that I wrote about earlier was a huge success. The hit of the party was our little car that Matthew loves so much. If you're wondering what to get a 1-year old for Christmas, this toy is it. As soon as one baby had her turn, she was all about protecting it...there was growling, screaming and crying over it. A true sign of a good toy. Near the end, we got them all dressed up in their Halloween costumes to take this picture:

As you can see, the zoo is well represented with 2 monkeys, a bunny, a lamb, a chicken, a ladybug and a pumpkin. Unfortunately, Mike Wazowski (Monster's Inc.) would not sit for the photo opportunity. Shortly after this shot was taken, all babies had meltdowns. I wonder why?

As well, a couple of weeks ago, the other "Monkey Mom" and I got together for this shot. "Hey Matthew. That's a nice banana."

Halloween is a lot of fun when your kids are too little to complain about their costumes or how silly they look in them!

Here are some pictures...finally!

So, here are some pictures, like I promised. We all know I don't ever buy clothes for myself, especially with changing seasons. But now, we have a kid and I can acutally say I LOVE shopping! For him. I still think a mall is like hell on earth.

This picture is one of his sporty winter hat:

This one, his vest (that we took a couple of pictures in and promptly returned for a better one):

And this one, everything together (in black and white for effect, a la Abercrombe & Fitch; note the action shot):

So, there are some pictures to tide you over. Just to keep you checking, we had a baby group reunion yesterday and all the babies (8 of them!) dressed up in their Halloween costumes. I can't post the pictures until Halloween, but they're worth waiting for! Let's just say the zoo was well represented!

Have a good week...thanks for stopping by, Matthew friends.

No, I haven't forgotten about this Blog!

As you can imagine, life has been pretty busy these days getting back into work mode. As a result, I don't have any pictures or updates for you...yet. Hopefully this week I'll post some pictures along with some witty reparte (does that work when you're not really talking to anyone?). Anyway, keep checking. Be sure you'll get a bunch of pictures for Halloween. Matthew has the cutest costume. Of course he does! He's the cutest kid. Too bad his bad mom doesn't have any pictures!

First Day of "School" :(

Well, it's official: my maternity leave is actually over. I keep saying it, but no one is answering: where did the last 13 months go?? As expected, Matthew did better than I did today. As I was a blubbering idiot at the daycare, he just looked at me as if to say "Okay mom, go. And fix your mascara; you look like a rodeo clown."

Indy, on the other hand, looked quite upset when we were getting ready to leave:

Hopefully she'll get through this without tearing the tail off one of the cats...or God forbid eating a turtle.

Well, wish us luck with the rest of the week...tomorrow I'll wear waterproof mascara!

Our Weekend

I finally got some pictures of my brother and sister-in-law with Matthew...all it took was to leave them with the camera and let them go crazy! Like us, their version of "going crazy" involves watching television for a couple of hours and still getting to bed before midnight!In the above picture, Jason is learning it is easier to hold a goldfish than it is to hold a toddler! In the picture below, Julie has clearly proven her babysitting skills...Matthew looks like he's actually going to sleep!On Saturday, we went to visit our friends Heather and Tom. Matthew was quite impressed by their dog -- who knew dogs came in cat-size?!

The trip was a success except for a deck incident that resulted in a bruised forehead. Unfortunately, the new bruise matched an older one, so by the end of the night it looked like Matthew was about to sprout horns! I guess that's why holy water bubbles when I'm in church.
And this is how we ended the weekend. Just sitting at home relaxing with a bottle. Thanks Heather and Tom for allowing us to relax this way at your house too.

And the milestone you've (I've) all been waiting for: He says MAMA! At last. And no, I'm not bothered that he calls everyone except Rob Mama. Indy likes it. And Sherwood likes it. And the car likes it. And his dinner likes it...

P.S. For those of you leaving comments, I have added a feature so that when you write them, they come to my e-mail first and I can decide if they're blog-worthy (he he). You know, so I can translate the Portugese before it goes in.

Just Chillin'

So here's where we get into "nothing new or exciting, but here's a picture."

Our weekend was a quiet one for the most part, leading up to the chaos that is (cue horror flick music) Back to Work. We took full advantage of the late summer weather and took Matthew to the park on Sunday. He loves the swings; his giggle is heard all over the park. He also liked to see the geese, but was not impressed to see the mess they made of his stroller. (See, I told you, not that exciting, but the picture's cute, right?).

The other picture I had to share is this one:

We've discovered that one of Matthew's favourite past times is reading. He'll find a book, open it, and "read" it. "Blah, Blah, Blah" page flip "Blah, Blah, BLAH" page flip. He does that until the end of the book and then he gets another one. This morning I caught him following along with his finger! Please disregard the fact that the book is upside down...maybe he's trying to tell me he wants to learn in Arabic.

Reading: check. Saying Mama: no f'n way.

The Actual Update

Yesterday's doctor's appointment confirmed what we all know: Matthew is a really big baby! At 32.5" long, he's in the 98th percentile; at 25lbs 12oz, he weighs in the 90th percentile. No wonder he's outgrowing clothes like crazy! You'd think there'd been flooding in the house every time he wears pants!

At this doctor's appointment we were told he can now eat pretty much anything (no nuts though, so the PB&J will have to wait a few more years). I decided to give spagetti a try...hence the ENORMOUS bib. He liked the meat balls, just not the slippery spagetti. As you can tell by his measurements, he doesn't like anything to escape his mouth!

So, for you inquiring minds that wanted to know, now you do. And in case you're wondering, once again, he shed fewer tears than I did when the needles were administered. Those nurses are getting really tired of giving me lolly-pops at the end of Matthew's doctor's appointments!

This One's For Luke

Yes, Matthew's shirt does say "Jedi in Training." Another one for the first girlfriend! Please note, the light sabre is BLUE and not red. Wouldn't want anyone to think he's training to be a Sith. God Forbid. As you can see from the picture, he obviously has Indy under the power of the Force...doesn't she kind of look like Chewbacca?

Anyway, we just wanted everyone to see that while Matthew is still little, we can dress him up any way we want and he won't complain. Obviously.

Stay tuned to see the "Junk in the Trunk" and "Party Pooper" shirts lovingly created by Allison, Luke's very tolerant wife (along with knowing the name of Chewbacca's cousin, he also wishes he was a Transformer). We love you Luke!

Wiffle Ball Champs 2006

Well, Labour Day weekend took us to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to visit our friends and their family, but more importantly (sorry Josh, Myah, Sophie and Halle!) for Rob to play on the returning champions team in a Wiffle Ball tournament. I've been told we will be returning in September '07 to further defend the title! While the tournament was at its peak, we got to take Matthew to Myah's mom's for a visit, where he played for no less than 3 hours with a Little Tykes kitchen. This picture may be a glimpse into the future of Matthew helping his beautiful wife Sophia with dinner. As well, Myah's mom took Matthew, Sophie and Halle (and Myah and myself, of course) to the zoo. Matthew loved it! He got to take his first ride on a carousel, take a train around the zoo and see tonnes of animals. His favourite was of course the monkeys! He's looking at Orangutans in the second picture below.

Of course, we can't forget how much fun Matthew had with Halle. They'll make great troublemakers one day!

Thank you so much Myah, Josh, Sophie and Halle for a great weekend!

www.wiffleball.com

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

So today's the big day. Our little baby is all of a sudden 1. Where did the year go? Apparently Matthew ate it!

We had a birthday party for Matthew on Saturday and it went really well...for the adults. Poor little Matthew woke up from a nap with a fever (39.5C or 104F) so he wasn't himself for the festivities. He fell asleep at about 5:30, so we couldn't even get that picture every parent of a 1 year old has, the picture of their child smearing cake and icing all over themselves. We did wake him up to administer more Tylenol and decided that was as good an opportunity as any to sing Happy Birthday to him. As you can tell by the pictures, he was less than impressed.

Today we got a better one; more like the Matthew we know and love. I tried all day to get a better 1year photo, but he would have nothing of it. As a result, if you're looking for anything other than the chocolate cake goatee you'll have to wait for the next post.

So that brings me to the end of this post and, I guess, to the end of year one. I can't wait to post on absolutely everything he does so you'll have lots to read. Please leave me comments so that I feel like you're still watching his every move!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Matthew's Turning 1!!

I've decided that I can no longer send 8 page e-mails to everyone hoping they are as intrigued by my son as I am. Not because I won't write them but because I'm not sure you all realized what you signed up for when you asked me to send you updates! As a result, you can visit here as often as you want and I won't feel guilty about clogging your inbox with a million pictures, but you won't be able to blame me for not updating you on his progress either!

Matthew's official birthday is August 30th, so expect a new post somewhere around that time complete with pictures from his birthday party and his 1-year picture. Oh, and if I write his age in months for anytime longer than 18, don't be afraid to send me hate mail.

You stay classy Matthew fans.