14 Months

This is way past due, and I can't believe that we are almost to 15 months!

I can honestly say there is never a dull moment in our house.  Matthew loves his older brother and is constantly running, following William and wanting to be in on the action.  The love is mutual and William seems to always be right by his brother's side as well.  Our house is always filled with the two of them yelling, shrieking in delight and laughing.

Matthew is quite the chatterbox these days.  Loves "talking" on the phone.  Loves buttons, light, pictures, zipper, juice, num-nums, Bailee (who he frequently is chasing and trying to tackle to the ground), balls, and sitting on the heat register.  His words so far, are Momma, Dadda, Nana, Button, Light, Juice, Bo-Bo (I think means William), poo-poo, and Dinosaur.

Speaking of dinosaurs, Matthew LOVES dinosaurs and is constantly "Roaring."  He also loves farm animals.

We are finally sleeping through the night!  All it took was one night of doing cry it out, and the crying lasted only 3 minutes.  I couldn't believe it and was bracing myself for the worst.  Thank goodness.  And, his naps are pretty consistent...one-two hours in the morning and one-two hours in the afternoon.

Matthew is a great eater.  But, for whatever reason, it's hard to get him to drink.  He's getting enough fluids, but just doesn't seem to be into his sippy cups.

He loves wrestling, especially with Daddy and brother.  And bath-time is one of our favorite times in this house.  The two boys love splashing around.  Like I said, never a dull moment.

Fireman Party

Okay, seriously, what were we thinking?  Having a 3 year old's birthday in a toy store?!  Lesson learned, won't be doing that again.  But, I have to admit, it was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  

We had the party at The Toy Place at Bellevue Art and Frame, and it they prepared a fireman theme art project...fire truck collage.  All the kids were so focused, it was amazing!  After the art project, we enjoyed happy meals and cupcakes. 

Happy Halloween

Halloween is such a hectic time around our household now!  We have William's birthday, Boomie's birthday, and of course, trick-or-treating!  It's a lot to fit into one day, but we somehow managed.

William got to wear his fireman costume to school where they had a huge parade.  He was so excited!

After school he got a happy meal to eat at Nana's...what a treat!

Then it was a trip to Daddy's work to show off costumes.

Next was a stop at Grandpa's work to say hi and of course show off the costumes some more.

Boomie and Papa stopped by to celebrate with some gift opening.

Then Daddy got home and it was time for pizza, happy birthday cupcakes, and getting ready for trick-or-treating.

William had so much fun going door to door, and sometimes, instead of saying "trick or treat" he would say "happy birthday!"  All the neighbors loved it!

It was an exhausting day, but so much fun!

3!!!

Yep, that's how old our little firefighter William is...3!  We couldn't be more proud of the little man this boy is becoming.  He's such a great helper with chores, Matthew, and Bailee.  He loves school!  Is a huge eater these days.  So loving!  Will give a kiss, hug, pat and say "Awe, I love you."  Seriously, melts your heart when it's out of nowhere!  Is in love with garbage trucks, fire trucks, and street sweepers.  Fun loving.  Has a laugh/giggle that lights up a room.  I just wish that he would slow down growing, just a little!

Happy Be-Lated Birthday...

To our Boomie!  (Who shares her birthday with William!)

OJAI!

How lucky are we that Boomie and Papa have a house in Ojai that we can escape to and enjoy?!  And we did just that for a week before William's birthday.  Ojai was beautiful blue skies and a comfortable 80 degrees.  Much nicer than the rain and gray we left behind in Seattle.

Both boys did incredibly well flying.  Matthew slept most of the flight and William was entertained by Daddy's iPad.

We loved the new addition to the Ojai house, hanging out with our Ojai family (Aunt Betsy, Jenny, Taylor, Warren, and Ava), walking into town with our Radio Flyer wagon courtesy of Aunt Paula, the delicious food, walks on Shelf Road, the Santa Barbara zoo, La Super Rica, visiting with Wendy in Calabasas, the ocean, and hanging out together.

We can't wait for our next visit!

13 Months!

Happy 13 Months (belated of course!) to our little man!  He is growing and developing by leaps and bounds.  These days he's completely mobile, running after his brother and not afraid to tackle William down or voice (ie scream) his frustration.  He's become quite the Momma's boy and is barely by my side.  Heaven forbid I leave the room for 5 seconds without him freaking out.  It's nice to feel the love, but come on.  As long as I'm within eyesight, Matthew is a very good at keeping himself occupied.

The kid loves to eat and wants to have a taste of whatever you may be eating.  The minute he sees William's sippy cup, he wants one too.  This kid is sure in a hurry to grow up!

He's talking up a storm and I'm sure "real" words will be coming very soon.  He already identifies Momma, Dada, and Nana.  And can say peekaboo.

We are enjoying every minute of this guy!  He's so smiley and lights up a room instantly.  Is initially shy around new people, but warms up quickly.  And loves to get into mischief already with his brother!

Pumpkin Patch Fun with the Cousins!

We had so much fun going to the Pumpkin Patch this year with Jacob and Owen, even if it did pour down rain the entire time!

A Boys Love for the Fire Department Begins!

William and Daddy visited one of the Bellevue Fire Stations during their open house and William was in love!  He got to see all their trucks, gear, and crawl through a smoke house.

Jump, Jump, Jump

Driving Bo-Bos

Comparison of the two boys at age O-N-E!

We all know that Matthew is a big boy, but I think we forget what a big boy William was.  William, who was our little premie, born 5.5 weeks early, did a lot of catching up in his first year of life.

At age one, William's stats were:

Weight: 25 lbs

Length: 31"

At age one, Matthew's stats are:

Weight: 25 lbs 15 oz

Length: 30"

Family of Bo-Bos

I'm not sure how, but Bo-Bo has become a term of endearment in our house, courtesy of William.  We love our Bo-Bos!

The Big O-N-E!!!

STATS:

Weight: 25 lbs 15 oz (75%-90%)

Length: 30" (50%-75%)

I have put off updating on Matthew's birthday, in part because I don't want to acknowledge that my not-so-little baby is no longer a baby.  There's no doubt that this kid has been passing his developmental milestones ahead of when other babies typically do.

This kid, decided he wanted to walk before he turned 1.  So, exactly one week before his birthday, on September 14th, he took his first steps.  And since then, well, let's just say he's really getting around now.

This kid still has 8 teeth, but according to Dr. Shifrin, there are molars that are making their way out.  Apparently 8 teeth before you're one is a big deal.  Well, we've had 8 teeth for months now.

This kid loves food.  Especially gold fish!  He goes nuts for gold fish!

We are finally only getting up 1 to 2 times in the middle of the night.  Huge improvement from the 3 to 4 times we were doing!

This kid naps like a rockstar in the mornings.  His afternoon nap is hit or miss, depending largely on whether or not William will take his nap.

This kid LOVES his brother and LOVES to play with his brother's toys.  He particularly LOVES balls.  He LOVES snuggling.  He LOVES smiling.  He LOVES to clap and wave "hi" and "bye." And just recently, he LOVES to feed Bailee.  And Bailee is finally taking advantage of whatever food is tossed her way.

On September 22nd we had a huge (40+ people) first birthday for Matthew.  This kid is definitely well loved!  Circus was the theme and all the kids and adults too had a blast.  Owen could be heard running through the hall saying "This is the best birthday ever!" which just warms my heart!  All the kids were busy digging in the dirt, playing baseball, swinging and sliding down the slide, riding Thomas the Train, driving the John Deere, driving the Little Tikes cars, playing in the tent, and running around.  Thank goodness for the good weather.  I'm not sure how we would have all fit inside otherwise.

On the menu were hotdogs, roasted chickpeas, pizza bites, bite size apple pies, popcorn, goldfish, fruit skewers, and of course cake!

After everyone had left, and Matthew was playing with some of his new toys, he managed to fall and hit the inside of his mouth just right.  There was so much blood!  Luckily, we avoided a trip to the emergency room.  But, what a way to end your first year buddy!  As William would say, "we love our Bo-Bo."

Are you ready for some Football!?

My boys were suited up and ready to cheer on the Hawks last Sunday!

My Little Griffey!

Watching the M's.  It's hard to believe William was just wearing this shirt!

And of course, big brother was watching the baseball game too!

Fun Day at the Zoo!

It's that time of year where we don't really know how many more "summer-like" days we have remaining.  So, Jon and I both took Friday off and joined the Adams Family for a day at the zoo.  Both boys were in heaven, well William was in heaven.  I'm not sure Matthew really knew what was going on other than he was awoken from his morning nap after just 30 minutes.  But, both boys were rockstars and we spent nearly 4 hours roaming the zoo.  Pretty sure that is the longest we've ever been there  Plus, it was so fun to see Bri and Chris' newest addition, Liam!

1st Day of Preschool!

How can it be that our little boy just had his first day of preschool?!  We've been building this day up for quite a while now, driving him by Bellevue Montessori, talking about his teacher, and all the fun that he'd have working, playing, and making friends.  Well, I guess it paid off.  The kid loves school!  When he arrived in the morning, he got out of the car with no hesitation, said goodbye and was on his way.  When I picked him up, he looked exhausted and the teacher said he did great.  He traced shapes, played outside, and most importantly, didn't cry!

Well, today was his second day.  He was so excited, when we pulled up to the school, he demanded "I want to go in there, I want to go in there now."  Well, if there was any doubt as to whether or not he loved school, that pretty much did away with it.  I love that my son loves school so much.  I don't know what I would do if he cried and didn't want to go.

Garbage Trucks!

William is obsessed with garbage trucks.  Whenever we are out driving, he wants to see one.  Once he sees one, he wants to see another.  At home he wants to draw garbage trucks.  Well, it turns out watching Mommy and Daddy draw thousands of garbage trucks has rubbed off on him.  This is the garbage truck he drew all on his own!