When Matthew wakes up from his nap, he likes to play around for a little bit before I get him. I love walking in and seeing what he is doing. This is how I found him after his afternoon nap-- as happy as can be! He can't pull up to standing yet, but he can pull to his knees.

I know this isn't the most flattering picture of Matthew-- but it shows off his signature move. He just stays in this position as if he is a model posing for a big photo shoot. It cracks me up!

This was too cute not to put on here.....

Happy Boys! It is hard to get a picture of Andrew these days, so I was happy to get this one.

This video is not the best, but it shows Matthew with his latest trick...clapping his hands. If you say "Yeah" really loud and clap your hands, he gets the biggest smile on his face and claps right along with you. Now we are working on "so big!"

I love this video of the boys! Matthew loves to watch Andrew and this is one example of how Drew can make him laugh. The video gets a little old, but at the end, Matthew does his latest trick. He can now sit up from his belly. Matthew is a very busy 7 month old! He crawls everywhere and gets into everything. It won't be long before he can pull up on things. Right now, he puts his hands up and holds on but he is not yet able to pull up. He is so strong and active for his age. I guess he has to be that way to keep up with his brother! The other day I put him in the living room while I went upstairs to get something. Well, he didn't like that....so he crawled to the stairs and put his hands on the first step to wait for me! Andrew is also doing well. He is such a happy and active boy! I can't believe he will be 3 in only 3 months. My, how time flies!!!

Update on the Kiddos

Well, I thought I would give a quick update on the boys. Not that much has changed-- but it is nice to keep things updated! Andrew continues to thrive-- he is at that age where he loves to learn and loves to play. We look forward to the days when we can get outside for him to ride his bike around the neighborhood-- we actually had two of those days this week!!!! He is spelling more words and now we are practicing reading letters and words that we write on the board. Today, Rick wrote M-O-M on his easel, and he read the letters and then said, "Mom!" His vocabulary has improved greatly in the last 4 months. I made a list of all the words he knows and we are at about 60-65 words. He is putting 3 and 4 words together which is exciting. He talks a lot using the words he knows and most importantly he is attemping to say more words. His strong will and stubborness definitely get the better of him at times! He has the sassy talk down--his favorite is "No way, mom!" or "No Dad..Mom!" when he wants me to do something instead of Rick. He is able to imitate any sound you tell him to and now we play a lot of imitation in putting sounds together. I am sure that one day soon I will be wishing he didn't talk. Overall, he is just a happy and fun kid that loves to play and wants constant attention!!!! I look forward to sending him to preschool in the fall-- he will love the structure and activity that school brings!Matthew is crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into everything. He is such a busy boy!!!! If he is sitting, and he sees something he wants, he will just dive forward to go get it. He is not crawling on all 4's, but he is army crawling like a champ....he is very fast!!!!! The eating is improving. Although right now his top two teeth are coming in and that always puts a damper on the eating! His gums are red and swollen, so he doesn't like much of anything in his mouth right now! He still wears most of his food, but it isn't near the fight that it has been. I have complete confidence that it will be greatly improved in the near future, especially when I can try more finger foods. He is still happy and growing like a weed. The sleeping...not so good! He is starting to abuse the system when it comes to nursing! He wants his mama everytime he wakes up so that he can nurse back to sleep! He is now waking up twice through the night, which could also be related to the teeth...let's hope so anyways!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a great time this Christmas! We were able to spend time with both families, but most importantly.... we spent a lot of time with our own family of 4. The boys got a great deal of toys, and our house is now completely full with all kinds of cool things. Andrew's favorite gift was a 24 piece floor puzzle of a fire engine, which he now has completely memorized and can put together in less than 5 minutes. I would like to say that Matthew has a favorite present, but he still prefers the phone and remote, paper, and any cord that he can get his hands on. Christmas is definitely a lot more fun with little kids! We are looking forward to a new year and a fresh start! This is one of my favorite times of year, because you have spring and warm weather to look forward to!

This is Matthew at Newport Aquarium. Santa made a special visit and Matthew was lucky enough to get his picture with him. Andrew, like most 2 year olds, would not go near him!
This is Andrew and Matthew opening presents together on Christmas morning! Andrew had to "help" Matthew-- obviously, opening presents was half the fun!

This is Matthew was his present from Santa. You can tell he was excited!