Family...

For weeks now, I have been trying to put into words just how wonderful it was to be with family over the holidays, but I can't.  We were blessed enough to get to spend several days with both Josh's family and my own.  Matt got to meet two sets of great grandparents on Josh's side.  How cool is that?   It made me smile to see four generations together, but at the same time it was bittersweet.  I wish with all of my heart that my grandparents could hold Matt and kiss his little cheeks.  I just know that my Mema would love to spoil him.    Since I cannot put it into words, I will let the pictures tell the story.  It was great to see everyone!  We hope to see you all soon, and we miss you all more than you know!

Again!

I thought that Matt falling asleep in his jumper was a once shot deal.  Nope.  At 6pm the other night, Josh was talking on the phone sitting in front of Matt, and the head bobbing started!  I was laughing so hard.  And what was the first thing I did?  Grabbed Matt?  No!  Grabbed the camera?  You bet!  Who needs a crib when you have a jumper, right?  Just kidding, Doc!  We really are working on sleeping in the crib!  Enjoy the pics!   

I feel like a jerk...

Here I am complaining in my blog about Matt and his lack of sleep/sleep issues.  In reality, we have zero problems.  So what if Matt is not sleeping in his crib?  He is healthy and I have God to thank for that.  My dear friend Gina is back at the hospital with little Lilah.  They need your prayers.  When Lilah swallows, she is getting food in her lungs.  To fix this problem, Lilah will be having surgery next week to have a permanent gastric tube inserted into her stomach.  This was something that Paul and Gina wanted to avoid, but the good news is that Lilah has been sparred any major illness from the food getting into her lungs thus far.  Thank God.  Please pray for God's protection over Lilah, the wisdom for her nurses and doctors, and strength for Paul and Gina as they have yet another mountain to climb with their precious little girl.  Thank you.

Tears, Tears, and more Tears...

So there has been a lot of crying in our household lately.  Poor Matt has been working on his first tooth for weeks now.  Saturday night it made it's appearance.  Josh and I made it through Matt's first tooth.  What a long and rough ride that was!  How many more teeth to go?!   Yikes.  He was so much better on Sunday, but the poor little man has no idea how much more crying he will be doing this week.  I am going to get him to sleep in his crib starting today!  I am sure there will be tears from both Matt and I.  BUT Josh and I are beyond ready to get him back to sleeping where he should be!  So say a little prayer for us!  I think it will be a long, rough week!  

Jump! Jump! Jump!

We finally got Matt an activity center with a seat that he can jump in.  We thought that he would just love it since he is perpetual motion!  Josh put it together as Matt watched and watched this colorful thing take shape.  Once it was all put together, we put Matt in it, and he LOVED it!  It made us so happy.  He has a ball every time he is in it.  Fast forward ten days to last night.  Matt woke up and would not go back to sleep, so I brought him downstairs so Josh could sleep.  No sense in all three of us not sleeping!  After two hours of trying everything to get Matt to fall back asleep, I gave up and put him in his new favorite toy to play.  The kid jumped and jumped and jumped.  This went on for an hour!  By now it is 3am.  I decided to catch up on some emails while I listened to him jump.  I looked up a while later to find him alseep in the thing!  His sweet little face was resting on the plastic in front of him!   And back to bed the two of us went!  :)

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger

I know!  It has been forever.  I will not bore you with all of the details, but all I can say is that I never knew the holidays would be this crazy with a little one.  Short recap...

1.  Shopped for and made Thanksgiving dinner!  (Well, all but the pies because I could never make ones as good as Josh's mom!)

2.  Bought and wrapped all of the family Christmas gifts, traveled to Ohio (Cincinnati and Warren), and visited with family for two weeks.  

Now I am in the middle of mounds of laundry and lots of stuff to put away.  Who dropped the bomb on my house?  Yikes!  I'll be cleaning for weeks...

In the mean time, I know some of you would like to see some new pics.  My very talented sister-in-law (who happens to be a professional photographer) took some great shots while we were home.  Thanks again, Nic!  And if any of you want to use her services, just let me know.  She will travel to you!    Here are some of them...