More Peas, Peas!

Ok, Matt is not wanting to go to sleep! No wonder, he has had a wonder-filled day. First, we got this:

(closer)

from Jean (my mother-in-law),
and Matt had lots of fun watching me struggle to put it together.
Then he was hungry.
So, after feeding him most of a bottle, and when he was in a reasonably good mood, I decided it was time for his first food. Sweet potatoes? Nah. Squash? Nah. Banannas? No...hmm...pears? Nope. Oh, duh, EVERY kid's favorite food! PEAS!!!!!

So I fed it to him, and instead of getting a nasty look on his face and spitting it out, he gobbled it down as best as he could (which wasn't that well), and decided,

eventually,

That I wasn't doing it right,

and he would just do it himself!





Then after clean-up, it was sleepy time.

So, goodnight everyone!

cat in lap--posting pictures

Nostromo likes to butt my hand as I am typing.
Anyway, been pretty busy and the times I haven't been busy working, cleaning, doing household stuff and taking care of Matt, I really haven't felt like updating my blog.
But here are some pics from the last few days.

Some evil person likes to take pictures of me sleeping!!!! Must have been after the morning feeding, sometimes I like to cuddle with him and go back to sleep for his morning nap.

tummy time?

happy happy tummy time!!!

looking confused is my specialty.

what?

huh??

My dog is so nice. This picture was taken right before Matt decided to grab a fistful of her beard next to her nose and twist and pull. She just laid her head down and gave me a very sad look.

This picture is forshadowing the devious toddler Matt is soon to become.

He fell asleep like this yesterday. He did have both feet in his hands, but let one slip before we could find the camera.
Anyway, there ya go. Some pictures to keep you going until I can post again! Well, Matt is asleep and I can almost hear the timer in his head! I have about 20 minutes to make/eat breakfast, then it's Matt Central Time until about 3 or 4 pm.
Blog to ya later!!!!
Ok FINE.
HERE.

You guys are never satisfied until you see the real star of the show. Sheesh!

yikes

Lol, I know, no point in keeping a blog if I don't update it! Busy busy!!! Grooming full time and being a mom full time is time consuming. I will be transferring to the Hemet store. (Petsmart). The reason I didn't transfer before was because I didn't think they had the business, but they do! And they need groomers! So, looks like I'll be working 2 minutes from home! And since I need to lose the baby weight, I will be biking to work. And be saving on gas! Yay! So, as usual, I'm busy! So I will post later! Lol...probably in a month :-P

Sean's Dad Visits Matt!

For the first time since his birth. Unfortunately, I haven't got any pictures of him/Sean/the baby yet, but I'm sure I will since today was only his first day here. Sean is really happy--he's been in a good mood all day. Not much to report really--I get to work all weekend. Yay...
Well at least I'll be making buku bucks! Anyway, here are some pictures. I tried to get some of Sean changing Matt, but the stupid camera decided it wasn't dark enough to flash...>:-(

Matt getting ready to throw a right hook at daddy

One day, mom, I WILL get back at you for photo-blogging MY DIAPER CHANGING!!!

Seriously.

Well, it WAS a cute picture when I took it...

Nostromo

Okay, after the extensive angry fan mail demanding to see a picture of this legendary "Nostromo", I decided to oblige for the sake of posterity.
The things I do...

Nostromo, in Sean's chair.

Nostromo, in another chair that looks identical to Sean's chair but is, in fact, it's evil twin.

Visit #3

Just got home from driving my Mom to the airport, feeding Matt and watching the latest episode of Heroes. Interesting...now when Sean gets home from school, we'll watch 24 together. If Matt allows us, that is.
Matt has been very social lately, talking and smiling at everyone. Mom enjoyed her visit, and Brenda enjoyed the last visit before her trip to Connecticut. Hm. That is spelled weird. I guess I'll have to learn how to spell that now instead of relying on spellchecker.
Brenda is entrusting Nostromo to me for a month while she gets settled back east. He and my other male tabby, Nino, are rivals now, but I see the beginnings of a friendship. Mai is eating Nostromo's poop from the cat box...sigh. It seems like my blog address is becoming truer and truer. Ebony, as usual, could really care less about Nostromo and his menacing growls. I do think he senses Ebony doesn't care, so he doesn't really go after her if she comes too close. He hates Mai with a passion. This is probably because she has absolutely no sense of personal space and barks loudly in his face (looking at me), if he growls or hisses at her. Yes, like I didn't hear it. She really thinks I am dumb.
Matt is having tummy time now, spitting up on my bed. He already spit up a big puddle, so I am just letting him drool on a separate area. Hey, I have to change the sheets anyway!
I still love being a mom! Even when Sean was at drill and he was super, super fussy, I didn't mind. Ok, Matt is getting mad. So I will take a picture of him now, post it, and sign off. He is really getting time-restrictive these days! But it's ok, it means he is more interesting. :-)

fun, fun, fun

Matt+drool puddle=wet arm

Nino felt insecure last night after Nostromo's arrival. So did Sean. Luckily, they have each other. And I have a camera with flash and the ability to disturb a precious moment all for the sake of a good blog pic.

Nino wasn't happy.

Sorry!

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted. I went back to work, and every spare moment I have I want to spend it with Sean and Matt or doing essential errands.
So, quick updates before Matt wakes up. He is smiling a lot now, and smiling in response to things I say and my tone of voice. He likes silly faces and will try to imitate them. If you talk and he is in the right mood, he'll imitate what you say with coos. He is wonderful. He had a doctor appointment last week and the doctor was extremely impressed with his "gross motor skills". He said that Matt was extremely advanced, and in his entire career as a pediatrician he had only seen 2 or 3 other babies who can do what he can do at that age. He has the motor skills of a 4 month old, and he was only 2 months. His social skills (smiling, cooing, looking at you when you speak, imitation) are totally normal and not abnormally advanced. He is in the 50th percentile with weight and height (12.5 pounds, 24 inches). He obviously is already excelling physically. The doctor was so impressed and wondered what Matt would be doing at 4 months. He said that he thinks Matt will be walking by 9 months old. I wouldn't doubt it--heck I walked at 9 months old and I don't believe I was super physically advanced. The things Matt does are totally possible for someone his age, just very rare. When the doctor held him in a standing position, Matt held all his weight on his legs for about 5 seconds. I can't wait until he can walk!
I know, everyone says that it's terrible because they get into everything, but I already have 4 animals and nothing is safe. It's not like I'm not used to it. I know everything and everywhere in my house that a baby would find interesting because my animals have kindly shown me.
He is also sleeping in his crib now. He has outgrown the bassinet. The baby monitors are coming in handy. Speaking of that, I hear Matt fussing! Maybe he'll go back to sleep....
Work has been fun. Lots of dogs, lots of work, lots of money. Not too bad.
I am thinking about starting another blog about my work as a groomer. So many interesting and weird things happen every day that it's worth writing about. We'll see. I hardly keep up with THIS blog, so it'd be stupid to start another one.
Here's some pictures I just took of him in his crib. (Yes, he was waking up, but now he's sleeping in my arms)


Anyway, going to go take a shower and put Mr. Matt back in his crib. He's doing well with that, by the way. He doesn't mind sleeping by himself. What a good kid. :-)

WOOO HOOOO!!!!

MATT ROLLED OVER!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! YAY!!!!!!! I put him down for tummy time on my bed behind me (I was on the computer), and I was looking back to make sure he was ok and doing well. He was trying hard to lift his head and he pretty much kept it 90 degrees and chest off the ground the entire time. I was very proud and I looked back to my computer to finish reading something. I heard him fussing and turned around AND HE WAS ON HIS BACK!!! I am SO HAPPY! I was JUST telling him (because I talk to him all the time :-P) that he could roll over if he wanted to and I wished I knew what would motivate him to do it. HOLY CRAP! I mean, I had just said that like a minute before. I am so, so, proud of him!!!
Hey, when you have no leg/arm muscles and your head is 1/4 of the size of your body, rolling onto your back from your tummy is no easy feat! Wow. Okay. Well I just HAD to post about that. I am just so, so happy. It makes up for last night.
So, last night I was at my friend Jana's house, watching a movie and holding Matt. He was hungry so I was feeding him and watching the tv. I looked down and the bottle was pretty much gone. Cool, I thought, he finished that fast. I took it out and that very instant a white flood came out of his mouth and nose, all over his face, all over my shirt, all over the couch cushion and the pillow. EVERYWHERE!!! It was in his eyes, his nose...oh my god! Anyway I freaked out but Jana said not to worry that babies do that, and it was just an air bubble. Wow.
Oh, I took a video of him rolling over! Very cute.
Okay, I have to go to MY 6 week check up, I'll talk at you later!

Nothing, As Usual

Nothing to post about...just posting to post. I was reading American Baby today and it said that by 4-6 weeks a baby should be mimicking your facial expressions. It said to stick your tongue out at him and to watch him stick his out too. I was like, "no way!", turned to him, and stuck my tongue out. And guess what? He stuck his out back!!! Ahh!!! I did it again, and he did it again! Yay! He is also cooing on a regular basis and smiling. I was watching tv and I looked down and he was staring intently at me with a really wide closed-mouth smile. It was a little...creepy to be honest. But cute!
Anyway, just a little update. Sean leaves for drill tomorrow night/Monday morning (3 am) and I'm all alone for 5 days! It'll be tiring doing ALL the work but I will enjoy it because it's my last week with him before I go back to work. Then I'll be gone for 10 hours a day 5 days a week :-(.
Okay, I'm going to go attend to Matt. He is making the most adorable coo noises and I have to go see him because he is sooo cute!
Yeah, no post-partum here! :-P

Matt's New Hatt

Today I got a package in the mail, and when I opened it up, out came this cute hat just the right size for Matt! I have to roll up the sides a little, but that's good because he can wear it for a few months until his head gets too big.



Besides from getting a cute hat, Matt is doing well. He has started to coo and really interact more, and today he lifted his head up 90 degrees AND pushed his chest off the ground! He did it a few times so I know it wasn't a fluke. He really wants to be up and running around. He is a lot like Sean, because Sean will try and try until he gets something right, whereas I'll just give up after a while and move onto something else.

Here's Sean and Matt after a feeding. (Matt's)


And here's Matt doing what he does best: sleep and look cute.

Well, besides the cooing and head-lifting, it's still mostly feeding and sleeping. I can see him already develop into an interesting little boy, and I can't wait to see what he is like in the future! He IS extraordinarily strong and physically advanced for someone his age, but very normal on the other stuff (smiling, cooing, focusing, etc). So, already I can tell his strong point is being physical because he was active in the womb and he is really progressing along that path. Good! All the more fun we can have when he gets older! Anyway, I'll post again with more pics.

same old, same old

Nothing unusual going on...just taking care of Matt and hoping he'll sleep through the night! Mom's coming up again on Friday, Febuary 16th, and we're all stoked! Yay!
Really, nothing is going on. But, I felt guilty for not posting! I go back to work on the 12th, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I am so sick of having no money!
Well, that's all for now. Sean is going to work soon so I was going to spend some quality time with him (playing WoW) :-P.
Okay, I'll post when something interesting happens!

BTW, here's that pic of Matt in the penguin suit:

Don't play with Mattches!

Yeah yeah, long time no post, I know! My mom came down and stayed from January 17th through the 21st and it was awesome! It's the first time in 2 years since I saw her and a lot has changed. I haven't seen her since I was a teenager! It's fascinating to see the little things I do that she does and I didn't know she did, like always leaving the last edge bite of a sandwich or burger. Or our intense dislike for sour cream/mayo (except in deviled eggs and tuna). Or that we both steal covers and sleep with one foot out.
Anyway, she was happy to see me but ecstatic to see Matt! She held him almost constantly, which was fine with me! I think of it this way--she was trying to cram in a month's worth of cuddle time in 5 days. We didn't do anything extraordinary, mostly hung around home or in Walmart. She was able to spoil me this time and she got me more bottles for Matt (he'll only drink out of one kind and we only had 3), more outfits and bibs and hats. She had brought a cute Winnie-the-Pooh diaper bag filled to the brim with cute things she had picked up here and there ever since I got pregnant. One item was a penguin suit that one of her friends gave her (for the life of me I cannot remember who she said it was--but thank you!!!). It was SO CUTE!!! He liked it a lot because it was plushy and warm and he fell asleep for a long time in it.

LAME!!!! Blogger won't let me upload pictures!!!! Well...let it just suffice to say that Matt looks about 80 pounds in the picture and it's very comical. Ha ha.

Stupid Blogger.

Anyway! It was sad seeing her go, but it's not too bad because she is coming down in less than a month for a long weekend. She was able to find cheap enough fare that she could come down almost every month if she wanted. That's really cool because I miss seeing her, and in-laws just don't cut it sometimes when all you want is your mom.
Speaking of moms, I LOVE being one! I honestly didn't think I'd like it this much. Really, having a kid now is pretty much sealing the deal that any sort of "fun" life is over--no partying, no more being irresponsible, no more staying out until the wee hours of night. If getting married didn't stop all fun stuff, having a kid certainly does! If you want to be a responsible parent, that is. But you know what? I freaking LOVE being a mom! I have so much fun with Matt already and I can't wait until he can crawl/walk/talk. He is such a fun kid! I can't wait until I can hang out with him and run around with him and chase him and hike to cool places and bike and roller blade and go to the beach and build sand castles and bury him in the sand! I can't wait to teach him how to read and be confident in his abilities. He has two parents who really love each other and love him more than anything and he is going to have such a happy life! I don't care if I can't stay out late or go to stupid parties. I just want to hang out with Matt and have fun. No post-partum depression here!
Secretly, (not anymore I guess), Sean and I have been talking and we've come to the conclusion that we'd be really happy just having Matt and not any other kids. If something happens and I get pregnant, no problem. However, we're not going to actively try for any more. We feel like we lucked out so much with Matt and we don't want to push our luck. Plus, with two kids, you have to buy two of everything, work alone time with both kids, worry doubly about everything, spend twice as much money, etc. I realize in the end it's also double the happiness, but I think I can find all my gratification in one child. Sean and I are pretty relaxed parents, and having two kids to discipline and worry about will make us into two pretty stressed individuals. Kids spend most of their time and energy plotting how to manipulate their parents to get what they want, and with two kids, they use their time and energy plotting how to work together or against each other to get what they want. Children are devious! I'd rather just worry about one. Plus, I'm quick enough to catch onto one kid's tricks, but I'm not quite sure I'd be able to as quickly catch onto two or more kid's tricks.
I know opinions change, and probably in about a year or two my biological clock will start ringing and encouraging me that I really do want more kids. Who knows? But I'd be 100% happy with just Matt. He's great.
One more thing before I end this posting. I changed my Sprint plan. I looked online at my account and I didn't know I was getting charged $40 extra for stuff I didn't know I had and wasn't using! Lame! They were charging for Vision Pack (where you can send and receive pictures and videos and watch tv on your phone and stuff), voice command, and free minutes after 7. So I called and revamped my plan and got free minutes after 7 (for free instead of paying for it), kept my unlimited texting, and free roaming/long distance, etc, and now my plan went from $142 for two phones after taxes to $105. Plus, they give a 15% discount if you go into a store and show them your military ID and that brings my monthly bill to 89.25 after taxes. We get 700 anytime min, unlimited night and weekend, free mobile to mobile, unlimited texting, no roaming charges and free long distance, free caller ID/call waiting/three way calling. Very, very cool. To revamp my plan I had to do it with their current plan options, which meant I had to take a cut of 100 anytime minutes down from 800 and give up my 5 dollars for every extra 100 minutes I go over. I don't care about the minute cut, but it sucks about losing the $5 for every 100 min deal. However, I was looking at my usage and Sean and I use together an average of 300-400 minutes per billing period because most people we talk to are either on Sprint or we call after 7. So it's okay because we are saving an extraordinary amount of money. Especially since Sean is quitting his job, we'll have all those extra minutes he would normally use to call people he is delivering to. Yay! I'll still have to pay the super high cell phone bill this month, but starting February 12th I can finally start paying what I should have been paying to begin with. Maybe later if finances are looking good I'll pay for free minutes after 6. It's only $5 extra and may be worth it. We'll see.
Okay, I'm going to go watch 24 now which I missed last night thanks to a killer headache. I will post again soon, I PROMISE! Especially since I need to post some pictures.

baths are fun!

So today Matt pooped all over me and himself (including his socks--don't know how!). I went to clean him up and--of course--he pees all over himself. That was the last straw so I decided it was bath time-for both of us! This was the first time I had tried to bring him in the tub with me, and it was wonderful! He fell asleep floating in the water! But don't take my word for it:

Now is that cute or what? Next time, now that I know I can bathe him easily without drowning him, I will wear a bathing suit so there can be a lot more cuter pictures of bath time. Everything is going well besides bath time: I am going tomorrow to get WIC re-activated (I let my membership or whatever it is lapse) so we can get free formula for Matt. Sean's car has something wrong with its front axle that is going to cost over $300 and will keep it in the shop until monday. This month is hard and we're going to have to really damage our savings. But it's okay, because even though it is a hard month financially, it is a great month because Matt is growing by leaps and bounds and I FINALLY GET TO SEE MY MOM!!! YAY!!! Just 3 more days!!! To celebrate, here are some really cute pictures of Matt:

busy busy!

It seems like I'm always out doing something, so sorry for the lack of posting. Everything is great with Matt, Sean and I. We really are turning into a nice family. It's really strange...3 years ago I graduated HIGH SCHOOL! And now I have a career (2 if you count the marines) and a family and my own place. It's kind of scary to think about. Well hopefully since my life milestones seem to be coming early so will retirement. Yeah right! Anyway...
Matt is so cool and interesting now! He is really interactive and spends hours at a time awake and looking to interact. He is getting to where he'll do his version of a smile when I come to pay attention to him or pick him up. He puts his mouth in a happy cute O and squirms around. He effortlessly makes eye contact, and now not just with the person holding him but other people close by. He coos a lot and is ALWAYS kicking and moving his arms when he's awake. When I pull him into a sitting position from lying down (holding his hands) he can pull his head up. He is so strong and healthy and cute! And he does wake me up every 2 hours on the dot at night to eat but I don't care--he still only cries when he needs something. If his needs are met he will just look around and move, he doesn't cry. He likes to be tickled. He can't laugh yet but he likes the nerve stimulation and he'll do his smile equivalent and squirm around happily. He is a really happy baby. I wouldn't say calm because he is always moving, but very happy. Once he knows how he is going to be smiling all the time. Sean and I really lucked out. And you know what? I consumed super amounts of caffeine regularly while pregnant and my diet sucked. And I have a big healthy good baby boy. So there!
Okay, well, I have to go. I have a bunch of stuff to do today! Always busy, see? Then when I am done I still need to clean for my mom's arrival on Wednesday. I am SO excited!!! I can't wait to see her!!! And I can't wait for her to see Matt. I can, however, wait to have her see my carpets. They are so gross!

Aw

Matt is now officially not a new newborn anymore--his umbilical cord fell off last night! It was kind of creepy because while I was changing him around 12:30 I noticed, and I couldn't find it anywhere! Odd...
Also funny because babies are supposed to lose it around two weeks and he lost it pretty much on midnight on his 2nd week birthday!
So yes, looks like he will be getting a real bath soon which is awesome because he loves the water. Maybe Sean and I will do it tonight (and there will be lots of pictures).
Yesterday was a pretty busy day. Matt and I got off to a late start because I slept in (very tired from getting up every two hours on the dot). I drove to my base, Miramar, which is a good 2 hours away to return a piece of issued gear that just HAD to be in yesterday. I had originally volunteered to bring it so while I was down there I could visit Brenda and my aunt-in-law Karen, but I totally forgot it was my mother in law's birthday so I was in a rush and not able to visit anyone. Then I got lunch at In and Out (2 grilled cheese with tomatoes--yum) which took forever because it was super crowded, then stopped by work and showed Matt off to everyone. Then I had to pick up a cake, stop by my friend's house to pick something up, drive home, barely had enough time to feed/change him, then went to Target for the gift and met her for dinner. Then I went over to her place for cake and didn't get home until 9:30! Argh! I was pretty exhausted. Anyway, I'm going to go now--Matt is hungry and I must answer the call (cry?) of duty!

More images of Matt's life

Sean with Matt the night before he left for drill.

My dog Mai plotting to steal Matt's pacifier.

What pacifier? I don't care about pacifiers. I don't even know what a pacifier is!

Pink is the new blue.

Sean is gone

Sean is gone-off to drill. So it's Matt and I for the next three days and two nights. Joey is here and willing to help take care of Matt (and he does a good job), but it's not his kid and I don't count on him for help like I count on Sean. Matt woke up sooo many times last night! It's okay though, because each time he wakes up he is hungry or wet; it's not like he's crying randomly. Strange thing--I wake up now way before he starts crying. I'll wake up if he moves a certain way or makes a certain soft noise that I know means he is waking up and needs something. I still sleep through everything else like people talking and loud noises-it's just him that wakes me up! AHH! He is kicking off his blankets AGAIN! You know, I thought newborns LIKED to be swaddled! Hah! Not this one! He made it very clear in the womb that he wanted to get out and stretch his legs and arms and he is making it clear now! He does not like being swaddled! He'll tolerate it, sure, but if he's fussy you'd better not swaddle him! He won't calm down until he is 100% uncovered, then he looks around satisfied at a job well done and falls asleep, hands thrown over his head and his legs in strange skewed directions. Then of course, he wakes up crying because he's cold. And I put a blanket over him. And we repeat.
Anyway, he has a clogged tear duct and his left eye is all gross and gunky and crusted shut. He looks like a pirate! He can open it when I clean it, poor guy, or if he really tries he can open it and there's a bunch of stringy gunk reaching from the top to the bottom of his eye. Poor guy! I'm taking care of it.
I think I am going to give him a sponge bath today. His umbilical cord hasn't fallen off (and it grosses me out to think of it falling off ew), so I can't get him wet, but his skin needs to be washed. It's getting flaky from not having any old skin scrubbed (gently) away, and his hair is super greasy! I have wiped him with baby wipes and it makes it better but he needs real soap/shampoo. I have really nice Aveeno oatmeal hypoallergenic stuff. The only problem is I don't have a spray nozzle for any of the faucets in my apartment so I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way and pour cups of water over him to rinse. I hope I don't get any up his nose! Even if I do, he won't remember :-P
Okay, going to go get dressed now. Not much to do today but I need to get out of the house and do something! But I can't go in my bathrobe (unless my name is Arthur Dent of course).

Squishy Pumpkin Pie

Happy New Year! I hope this year is good--it certainly started off well. I held Matt in my arms and kissed Sean, and tried to think of some good resolutions. I thought first, a good resolution would be to successfully balance working full time, being a good mom and being a wife (and a person too somewhere in there). Then I realized that I really don't have a choice, I don't have an option to fail. So last night I weighed myself and I lost 20 lbs! Wow! Nothing like that pregnancy diet. So, losing weight (supposedly the most common resolution) isn't on my list. Getting back into shape will be! I didn't think that would be a problem, but since they sliced through my ab muscles, I'll actually have to make a good effort to get back into shape. Again, no choice there, I go back to Marine Corps drill in March or April. By then I have to be able to run 3 miles in less than 30 min (which isn't that bad unless you haven't run for over a year and you sucked at it to begin with anyway), do a flexed arm hang for 70 seconds and 100 crunches in under 2 minutes. The running and crunches are going to suck! Right now it hurts just to get off the couch.
So...I guess my resolution is to try my hardest and not slack off in life and try to be the best I can be! Going to go now, just fed and changed Matt and am going now to pick up the photos I ordered online :-) I have to have SOMETHING concrete for the album!