Life with Matthew...

is absolute WONDERFUL!!

I can't believe it has been 12 weeks since we brought our sweet baby home! He is such a delight.. we love him so much already!

He is HUGE! He is already wearing some 6 months clothes and growing out of the carseat quickly! He is tall, just like his sister. At his 2 month appointment he weighed 13lbs. Evelyn didn't way 13 pounds until she was almost 5 months old, so I think height is the only thing they will have in common in terms of their size! :) I forget sometimes that he is still so young.. he looks so much bigger!! I am curious to see how much he weighs at his 4 month doctor appointment.

He EATS! I am thankful to be able to nurse him.. it never worked out with Evelyn due to a lot of factors. I have discovered that it is certainly a labor of love, tho. It takes time and effort, way more than bottle feeding, and you have to plan around feedings very carefully! I am still, as I call it, "Rated R" when it comes to nursing. I don't like to nurse him in public AT ALL.. I probably will need to get over that if I want to reclaim time or get Evelyn into any activities this year... but I will deal with that when I have to. I prayed for this.. to be able to nurse... so I am going to be thankful for this opportunity and enjoy it this year!

He SLEEPS!! Oh my... it is heavenly! After having Evelyn, who still isn't the best sleeper, it woudn't have taken much to get better sleep. But God has blessed us with a kid who already sleeps 8 hours at night sometimes! 8 hours!! Do you know how awesome that is?? He is still doing the "eat-awake-sleep" thing during the day, but has established one long nap in the middle of the day... the same time Evelyn naps! AMAZING!! I am working on getting his bedtime earlier than 10:30pm, but I do enjoy one on one time with him after Evelyn goes to bed. He is a night owl like his daddy and is usually happy and chatty in the evening. Of course, not much else gets done in the evening but that's okay.. I love that time with him!

He is HAPPY! He is so content... pretty much all the time. He fusses when he is hungry, tired, or bored. That's pretty much it. He is SO smily and loves to coo and "growl" as we call it. Especailly with his daddy. He talks more with him than me. I love watching him with Doug.. they already have a special bond. He likes to held, but doesn't mind being put down in his bouncy or his floor gym. He is very observant like his sister was (and still is) and looks around at everything with a curious look on his face, taking it all in. He is a snuggler, too.. I LOVE THAT!! Evelyn wasn't a snuggly kid as a baby (she is now, tho), but Matthew loves to be held close and loved on. Its so precious.. I will miss that when he outgrows it!

He LOVES his sister! Oh, my... if you need him to get happy just have Evelyn come talk to him. He lights up when he sees her and she starts talking or singing to him. He thinks she is the coolest thing ever and she thinks he is pretty cool, too. Doug and I are going to enjoy their blissful relationship while it lasts! :)

Evelyn is really such a good big sister. She has had a lot of adjusting to do and has done well for the most part. There are the "I don't want you to feed/hold/change/bathe Matthew, I want you to play with me!" moments but they are few. She loves her brother SO much and thinks it's neat that he likes her so much, too.

OK... this is getting long and wordy. I need to start doing shorter blogs. I know you just want to see pictures, so here ya go...

New Years Day.. GO DUCKS!!

Mommy and her kids... a silly shot!

What you don't see in this photo is when Evelyn pretty much chucked the poor baby off her lap when she was "done"! Thankfully Jody caught time before his head hit the floor... well, it touched the floor... okay... he hit the floor, but Jody did catch him right as he did! Yikes! I am sure this won't be the last "head injury"!

He started smiling the 2nd week of January!!

Chubba Bubba!

The ones I love!

No head injury this time! ;)

My big boy.. look at that belly!

Evelyn introducing Matthew to Tinkerbell

Out enjoying the sunshine!

Evelyn reading to her brother. So sweet! Yes... that is a pink swing!

Tummy Time!


WE LOVE HIM!

I am laughing SO hard...

I was looking at old pictures today. I found these... taken exactly 3 years ago today. HILARIOUS! Check out her crazy hair.. I sometimes forget just how crazy it was!

... and she is DONE with this photo shoot!

And here are the other years pictures from March 1st

2008

2009... this is the best I have of her from that day. At least her outfit is cute!

My beautiful princess... today, March 1st, 2010

Speaking of princess... she watched Cinderella for the first time on Saturday night. She was entranced to say the least and was up late trying to process the whole thing. She was so excited about it. We also ordered Evelyn the "Princess Collection" CD. Since a lot of the Disney/princess movies are a bit too scary for her still, we have been focusing on the songs instead, which she LOVES. The CD came in the mail today. She hasn't come out of her room except to eat since I put it in her CD player!!

I love her!!

Matthew update coming soon.. I promise. Time to blog is hard to find.. but I will get to it as soon as I can!!

I know I am behind...

I have SO many posts to catch up on, but I just HAD to post some pics from today. It was such a pretty day, sun shining and cool crisp air outside. We have not been outside much since Matthew was born, mostly due to weather, but some because I go into hibernation mode a bit after having a baby. Winter baby = me being even more of a germaphobe.

ANYHOOO.... today it was time to break out the stroller and head to the park with my babies. We had a blast. Evelyn ran almost the entire way. Matthew lasted about 45 minutes before letting me know he was ready to head home (ie.. screaming! I had to carry him home so he'd stay calm!).

Enjoy the pics.. I am now ready for spring!!





Let me explain the last picture. The "Green Circle Park" (as Evelyn calls it due to the green circle on the play structure) is going to be revamped this spring. I cannot begin to tell you how excited Evelyn is. We looked online and they had a rendering of what its going to look like. It is going to be SO cool.. and with a curly slide to boot! (My daughter LOVES curly slides!!). She is very excited about the sign and we have to read it every time we drive by. We look forward to it being done in June.

More posts to come... I promise!!

The Whirlwind Christmas

This is a catch up post from January.. I just posted it today, 3/3!!

I love Christmas.. I love family time. This year I knew it was going to be a bit hectic with Matthew being here and with the schedule of things planned. We celebrated Christmas with BOTH families the weekend before Christmas, then my sister and her kids stayed with us for a couple of days. Normally that wouldn't phase me.. but I have to admit, although it was a GREAT time, I was quite tired after all the festivities and caring for a two week old!!

Because of the busy weekend, Christmas day itself we had to ourselves and we LOVED it. It was a nice quiet but super fun day together. I think we were in our jammies most of the day... just splendid!!

I also usually get more pictures at all the events. But since I was usually feeding the baby or holding the baby (he likes to eat, sometimes every 90 minutes.. and he prefers me to hold him right now), I didn't get as many as usual. Doug took some when I asked him to, which was nice.

So, here, in pictures, is a brief glimpse of our Christmas!!

MORRIS CHRISTMAS

TIERNEY CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS WITH JODY

CHRISTMAS DAY... JUST WITH THE 4 OF US!

Happy Birthday, Jesus... may we celebrate your birth EVERYDAY!!

Things Pondered, part III

(For the first two "Things Pondered" posts, click here and here )

At 3:29pm today, my sweet Evelyn Joy turned 3 years old. With Matthew's arrival last week, I have been even more aware of how big she is getting. Seems like just yesterday she was a little bundle like her brother. Now she is a fairly independent little girl who loves life and brings us so much joy. I really can't imagine life without her. I have cried quite a bit today. Happy tears that she is healthy and growing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And yes, a few sad tears at the fact that she is growing up too darn fast!

Here is a recap of my big 3 year old's day!

This was Thursday night. She feel asleep a 2 year old....

...and "I woke up THREE!!!"

We started with her favorite.. cinnamon rolls! With a candle and singing of course!!

The rest of the day was spent playing with her presents, playing multiple games of Candyland with her daddy, and plenty of birthday fun. She had many phone calls today, too.. which she thought was the coolest!

For dinner, we met my mom and her husband for dinner at Evelyn's favorite restaurant, Red Robin. Seriously.. she loves the place. We don't go out much.. but when we do, its her number one choice! She had fun opening up all of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Doug.. and of course getting sang to by the wait staff and eating ice cream were the tops, too!

Looking thru her new Tinkerbell sticker book! (while Grandma loves on Matthew!)

Lovin' every bit of that sundae!!

One last picture. So.. many of you know that my sweet pea loves, and I mean LOVES Fisher Price Little People. Well, my mom got her a small set as one of her birthday presents. We told Evelyn she had to wait til tomorrow morning to open it as was late when we got home from dinner. After we got her to bed, I came out and found this:

The box is the new stuff... she put those 3 other people just like that.. as if they were either window shopping or keeping and eye on her new loot! She cracks us up!

Evelyn Joy... we are so thankful for you. You make mommy and daddy smile, both on our faces and in our hearts. We pray that God blesses you this year in many ways, and that all your dreams come true. We love you!!


"... and Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" Luke 2:19

Oh, BABY!!.

A week ago today I gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy I have ever seen!! It has been quite the week of adjustment for all of us, but we are SO thankful for Matthew's arrival! Many of you have asked "So... how was it?". Well, it was full of many blessings from the beginning. God's hand was truly on us the entire time. So, without being too graphic.. hee hee... here's the basics of what happened December 2, 2009.

Let's go back to Tuesday, the 1st. I was SO ready to be done being pregnant I was becoming cranky about it. It was a nice afternoon so Evelyn, Jody and I go for a walk.. hoping that maybe some good exercise will bring on labor. And wouldn'tcha know.. it worked!!

Wednesday, December 2nd:

1AM: Got up to got the bathroom and my water broke. Contractions started getting pretty intense right away, but manageable. It took a little bit getting things into the car, getting Jody settled (she came over to watch Evelyn), and saying goodbye to my sweet pea (she woke up briefly.. I only cried a little bit! heehee). I knew I had some time so we weren't in a huge rush.
2:15AM: Arrived at the hospital. Realized I should have had something to eat before I left the house.. only liquids from here on out. I wasn't hungry at home... of course, I was starving when I got checked in! UGH!
5:30AM: Epidural in... WOOOHOO!!
6AM-10:30ish: Spent time sleeping, making phone calls, getting sick (my own fault.. I secretly chugged some water cuz I was thirsty. Bad idea...), chatting with my AWESOME nurse Sue, etc.
10:30AM: I was fully dilated.. but was too numb so they turned my epidural off and we had to wait until I had a bit more ability to push.
11:30AM: Time to push...
11:53AM: After a few pushes, the AWESOME Dr. Dalke pulled Matthew Donald out and onto my chest. What an amazing moment!!


Stats:
Matthew Donald Morris
12/2/09 11:53AM
8 pounds, 3 ounces
20 1/2 inches long

He looks A LOT like his sister did!

Evelyn 12/06

Doug and I have prayed, first and foremost, that Matthew would be healthy, which he appears to be. Then, we prayed that he would eat and sleep! :) Many of you know that Evelyn did NOT eat and we had many struggles with her gaining weight and growing. And most of you know that my sweet pea didn't sleep thru the night until September of this year!! God has been SO good to us in that Matthew both eats AND sleeps well. We couldn't be more thrilled!


Evelyn LOVES her brother and is slowly adjusting to sharing her mommy and daddy. She is a big helper and loves to pick out diapers for us and get the pacifier for her brother (which, ironically, he doesn't care for most of the time!). She loves to talk to him and calls him "handsome" quite a bit. We are thankful for this and hope their relationship only blossoms.

Time is scarse these days... we live life in segments between feeds... but life is good. I am starting to feel good and am not nearly as sore as I was with Evelyn. We are SO SO thankful for this amazing gift of our son. I hope to blog more soon... thanks so much for you who have been praying for us!

Oh my... I have TWO kids! :)