These days.........

Just a couple of pics of Matthew.......

The first one is basically how he's dressed every day now unless we're going out - a diaper - it's just too muggy for much else.

The second pic is the reason why Mark prefers bottle feeding over the real deal - Matthew always seems to turn out looking like this. Mark is amazed at how "clean" Matthew is after I feed him his "real" food. :o)

AAAAAAAAAACK!

Vacations are coming, vacations are coming!! Why does it seem like they are so far away - forever - and then all of the sudden - it's here?! Mind you, I'm not complaining - it's just all of the "prep work" before you leave..........

We leave for Dallas on Wednesday and come back on Friday. Yes - we are very smart to go somewhere even hotter than here - but, this is our only opportunity to see Mark's friend - oh, yeah - and go to IKEA, and go to The Cheesecake Factory!

We'll head up to my parents' Monday, then Laf. on Tuesday. I'll give out "our address" later in the week so you know where the "playdate" is :o)

seven months old

I'm seven months old today! This month has gone quickly! I've eaten avocado, sweet potato, carrot, banana and just started apples today. I probably like banana and avocado the most - especially when I can feed myself with that mesh bag.
Not much progress in the tooth department. This month, my right canine is coming in - that surprised Mommy and Daddy - my upper incisors haven't even started coming in yet. Oh, well, at least this one hasn't seemed quite as bad as my lower incisors were.
I am jabbering more. I love to get Mommy and Daddy's attention with the noises I make. I'm very ticklish and I like to laugh. I'm not screaching all the time like I was last month - it's better on Mommy and Daddy's ears :o)
I'm not too interested in crawling. Sitting up isn't that important to me, either. I am doing better in the high chair, though. And I like my exersaucer. In the nursery at church, they have a jumparoo type of thing - that was lots of fun to jump in!! I extend my arms to Mommy whenever she comes near me and I'm tired of what I'm doing. If she let me, I'd probably let Mommy hold me all day, hmph - I don't know why she doesn't :o)
I sleep well most of the time at night. I go to bed around 9or9:30pm and get up around 6:30am. I like to bang things and slap Mommy and Daddy's hand. Mommy helped me to clap last night - that was fun!
Oh, and I also figured out that I really don't have to crawl or work too hard to reach something. As long as it's on my blanket, all I have to do is pull the blanket toward me to get what I want!

Splash

We had a Sunday School class get together today after church at our friends' house - actually, one of Mark's colleagues. It was HOT - it is in the mid-upper 90's every day now - and has been for weeks.
We thought Matthew might enjoy a little dip in their pool. The girl is their daughter, Sydney, she enjoyed having Matthew around! The couple are our friends, Steven and Summer.
***And, yes, I slathered sun screen all over Matthew before we went over to their house - even his little head :o)

Smiles

Blueberry picking

I have been mourning the loss of ability to go to the Prelock Blueberry Farm since moving down here. You can imagine how excited I was when I heard that one of my coworkers has blueberry bushes!
She was also offering anyone free blueberries to whomever wanted to come out to her house to pick them!! Tomorrow morning I am planning, Lord willing, to go out to her house and pick blueberries!! I'm so excited - what a blessing to get free blueberries!

Bananas are yummy!!

a no brainer

I don't know if you saw this on the news last week..... but here is an easy way to help our little furry friends - for free....

Each day, you play a trivia game on freekibble - for dogs and freekibblekat - for cats. It takes less than one minute and you have a bit of free food donated to cats and dogs in shelters just for playing - even if you get the wrong answer.

Craiglist find

Not too bad for $40. Matthew loves it!

I must admit...

...that, while I do not enjoy having a cold, I do enjoy the effects of Dayquil!

A big bag o' blessings

A gal in MOPS e-mailed everyone, asking if anyone wanted any 0-3T clothes. She had lots to give away - otherwise she was donating them to our local "Goodwill" type of place.

Can you believe it - I was the only one who responded!!! I pretty much cleaned her out! I kept asking if I could at least give her something for them and she kept saying that she was donating them to charity if no one wanted them. Who knew that the charity would be me! :o)

For those of you who know how big IKEA bags are - this thing is loaded and overflowing!!!

Tentative get togethers

Mark and I are talking about our time in Lafayette. Here's what we've talked about..........

I was thinking play date and whomever is available and wants to come to our "house" on Wednesday(6th) - mid-morning and afternoon. BYOL (bring your own lunch)

On Thursday night(7th) - girls night!! :o) I'm ready for a girls night!! :o) Either at someone else's place or out to eat.

Let me know if there are major conflicts. We are not hyper-scheduling our time - but we do have a lot on our plate.

They're coming!

I can actually see his upper teeth - they haven't broken the surface, yet. That explains the extra fussiness and neediness the past couple of days. Go, teeth, go.

Dinner

Another reason why I love Mark..........he smiles when I bring home sushi!

Farmers' Market

My friend, Guyla and I went to the farmers' market - among other places - in Little Rock. It was wonderful. I've really missed FM's!!
We didn't get there til around 11 - so there were a lot of people. Yet, it was wonderful to see all of the produce and smell the basil and tomatoes in the air!!
I bought some basil - two types, mint, tomatoes and honey :o)

God's timetable

You know, I've been waxing philosophical today - maybe it's the 3 1/2hour nap after working all night.

So much that I could ramble on about - but I will spare you everything :o)

I write this to say that God has been so good as to allow me to have a job that I like. I know that He isn't required to allow this - the past two jobs that I've had served their purposes. I can't say that I enjoyed either of them 75% of the time - but I am truly thankful for them. God taught me a lot through those experiences and I met some wonderful people/friends!

It's been seven years since I've been able to say that I really liked my job. I guess that makes this realization all the more sweet - and turns my worship and joy to Him! To GOD be the glory!

All worn out

It's a little dark - but I just thought this was too cute to pass up. He just fell asleep on the bed. :o)

This is such a fun age - he's not really mobile enough to get into a lot of trouble; he loves to get our attention and he laughs a lot.

I'm really just trying to enjoy this stage..........all too soon he'll have a rude awakening and find out that he's not the center of the universe.

The curse of the double crown

Poor Matthew's hair always seems to be out of sorts with this Alfalfa look. Any advice? Between this and his cowlick up front - he's pretty much out of luck in the hair area....I guess he won't have to deal with it forever - there's also a great chance that he'll most of his hair, too. :o)

I'm so hungry......

....I could eat an elephant!!

"Let my people go!"