Matthew's 6 month check up

Matthew got a clean bill of health along with 5 vaccines (yikes!) at his last appointment. Here are his stats:

Height: 26 inches (25%)
Weight: 17.2 pounds (25%)
Head: 44 cm (50%)

He seems like a peanut compared to the others. I don't think I ever have had another boy in the 25th percentile. So I just had to look up the others' weights at this age:

Alivia at 6 months - 15 pounds (25-50%)
Will at 6 months - 22.1 pounds (95%)
John at 6 months - 18.3 pounds (50%)

Sea World - San Antonio

To say that Mimi and Grandpa are fun grandparents would be an understatement. They are seriously up for anything with my kids. My mom decided it would be fun to take Alivia and Will to Sea World in San Antonio in AUGUST! Despite the 100-degree temperature, they had a great time and the kids are still talking about it. THANK YOU Mimi and Grandpa for being so adventurous and fun.

They loved the Sesame Street characters

The funniest stories were about this ride that literally SOAKED them. They were all still damp when they arrived home at 9 pm.

Alivia came home with a stuffed Shamu and Will with a snow globe

Happy 13th Anniversary!

This photo makes me laugh for so many reasons but it is one of the few that I have scanned into my computer.

Boy we look young.

It is hard to believe it has only been 13 years because I really can't remember much of my life without Matt in it. He truly is the love of my life and I am incredibly blessed to be his wife. He pushes me to love the Lord and love others and I am a better wife, mother, friend and daughter because of him.

I love you so much Matt. Thank you for marrying me 13 years ago.

10th Annual TCU Lake Weekend

We had an absolute blast as always. The one sadness was that Red, Brian and Baker decided they could not come at the last minute. We really missed them!

We decided to do a Thursday-Sunday stint this year. And many of the Grandparents decided it was easier to just do the handoff on Friday on the road instead of coming all the way to the lake for a meal. Mimi and Grandpa met Matt at a BBQ joint and took Alivia, Will and John. So that left Elle (2) and Matthew (6 m) for the remainder of the weekend. Matthew was an absolute dream baby so it was no problem having him stick around.

I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking. :-)

The Girls - me, Alison, Mandy and Anna

Birdie, Will, Mollie Jane and Smith

We set up the water slide which was a huge hit

Mandy and Elle - they had to be on their toes with a 2 year old running around!

The kids loved the boat rides and we took as many as we could

Alison and Anna

These 4 were BFF's the whole weekend. So fun. It made me long for Anna to live in Austin.

John and Mollie Jane

The look like drowned rats! We would park the boat and go swimming in the lake. Will has come SO FAR with his swimming. He gladly puts his head under water now!

Meals were always a bit chaotic but the kids did really well. Check out John hanging out with all the ladies!

The 2 oldest boys liked to sit off to the side - too funny

Alison bought these adorable owl tanks for the girls to celebrate our Chi Omega connection. I wonder if any of our girls will pledge Chi O in college?

Alison, Mollie Jane and Alivia

The precious girls

These two had such a fun time together

TCU Rho Epsilon Chi Omega Sisters - Pledge Class of 1992

Anna and Sam live in Denton

Jason, Alison and Mandy

Miss Elle enjoying an ice cream cone

Shane and Elle

These sunglasses are going to be ridiculed in about 10 years

Matthew (6 months) liked the boat rides as long as he did not have to wear his life jacket

Alison and Jason drove all the way from Purdy, MO where J serves as CEO of Camp Barnabas

We enjoyed watching the Summer Olympics in the evening

My first thumb sucker?

I think I may have my first thumb sucker! Right at 6 months, Matthew discovered his thumb. I have to say it is adorable and so much easier than rooting around in the diaper bag for a paci when he is in distress. I think it has helped his sleep better too. He is now predictably sleeping through the night (YAY!). I usually put him to bed between 6:30-7:30 pm and he awakens around 7:30-8:00 am. He just rolls around in his crib in the morning for the longest time so I usually just have to look on the video monitor to even see that he is awake. 

He still continues to be an easy going, laid back little guy. We go for our 6-month well child check next week so it will be fun to see what his stats are these days. 

I am sad to say that I think my milk production has slowed quite a bit so I am supplementing pretty heavily these days but will press on as long as I am able. I had hoped to get him through the winter with breast milk. . . .

 

Colorado Trip - Summer 2012

We invited ourselves up to Colorado while Mimi and Grandpa had their timeshare condo in Dillon. Our condo was a few doors down and Mimi and Grandpa let Alivia and Will sleep with them, while Matt and I had the littles with us. Overall, the trip was so fun. It was wonderful to just spend time as a family away from all of life's distractions. The mountains are so beautiful this time of year - I just wanted to be outside all day long. Thank you, Mimi and Grandpa for helping make our summer vacation so fun and memorable. I appreciate you so much.

I'll try to give a recap through the pictures that I took.

We spent the first morning at a nearby park

Next we headed to Breckenridge

So beautiful!

We picnicked by the water

Of course John wanted to get in the water!

Will eating his lunch

Lunch by the river

Poor baby Matthew had to lie on a rock for awhile! He didn't seem to mind

The next day we rode a gondola in Breckenridge - John was unsure about the whole thing

Alivia thought it was awesome!

Such a cute shot in the gondola

In the gondola

The following day we headed to the nearby Country Boy Mine for a tour

They had old mining equipment that the kids loved to climb on

Overview of the mining area

They had burrows that roamed the grounds - hilarious!

John absolutely refused to go into the mine, so Daddy had to entertain him while I took A and W inside

We learned how to pan for gold afterwards - it was really fun! We found quite a bit of fools gold.

Begging burrows - I had fed it a few goldfish crackers and it was begging for more!

View from our condo

Another view from our condo

Another day we headed for the Georgetown Steam Train ride

On the train - it lasted about an hour - perfect amount of time

View of the train rounding the bend

John and Daddy

There were beautiful views from the train of the valley

Afterwards we had a picnic lunch in Georgetown and then got some incredible homemade ice cream in town

The next day we returned to the awesome nearby park  - I wish this was in Austin!

Check out the cool stuff in this park!

Taking a break from the sun

Picnic snack in the shade

Baby Matthew being his sweet self

After naps we headed to the nearby stream that runs through Dillon

We had a picnic lunch with Mimi and Grandpa

The kids loved exploring the river and skipping rocks

There were beautiful rainbow trout in the river! Can you see it?

We walked to a nearby shop for ice cream - John had just about had it at this point.

We managed to fit in a hike around Sapphire Lake

John made my heart race as he climbed the rocks along the cliff

Sweet Will, beautiful mountains

Sweet Sister loved to feed the numerous chipmunks around the area

Our awesome guides - Mimi and Grandpa!

John had an absolute fit when we placed him in this carrier - but later on the hike said "I want my chair!" and climbed back in again!

We had a great snack along the way

The clouds started rolling in and we made it back to the car just as the rain started - whew!

Stuck in the airport after we MISSED OUR FLIGH HOME! AHHHH! 

I just had to capture the amount of stuff that we had with us - it made people stop and stare

Out of order shot from my iPhone - we ate a the best Cajun restaurant one night called "The Lost Cajun"

Probably the only pic I will ever have of Matthew in a hat - he looks adorable

Leaving the restaurant - can you believe I was wearing a FLEECE jacket in July?! I love the mountains!