Mommy's little helper

While the merry go round of off to work, pick up Matthew, clean, clean, clean, cook, sleep, and start all over seems a bit overwhelming at times I love my afternoons and evenings with Matthew.  We usually pull out one of his quilts and set him up in the living room.  If I need to get dishes done and dinner started, I set him right in the doorway to the kitchen so he can help me!  He isn't mobile yet, so this makes it really easy.  I am not sure what I am going to do the day he can actually move!!!

One of our weekly projects is making his food.  I have been steaming and pureeing fruits and veggies for him and am about to start more complex "meals" with more intense flavors.  Aunt Melinda gave us a great baby cookbook that has lots of yummies in it! My wonderful bamboo steamer has gotten lots of use and we just made roasted apples with cinnamon. I will never buy store bought apple sauce again!

Chattanooga!

At the beginning of August the Baird family got together in Chattanooga for a nice family weekend.

Cousins hanging out at the house on Friday night

Isn't she the prettiest little girl you have ever seen???

On Saturday, we headed to downtown Chattanooga to visit the aquarium and we all had a wonderful time.  Paul LOVED showing Mateo all of the "tasty" fishes :-)  You see, Paul's mom comes from a small island in the Phillipines and she has passed along her love for fish to Paul who hopefully will pass it along to Matthew. I like fish, but can't say I LOVE fish.  Every time I prepare fish for dinner, Paul literally goes gaga commenting that I just don't make enough fish :-)  I love watching these two bond

Look at all the big fishies!!!!

The Aquarium wiped out our little boy!

Hanging out on Saturday night getting ready for bedtime so the adults could have a nice dinner together!

On the incline...it was STEEP!

  

 On top of Lookout Mountain...we still haven't been able to get that family picture!

Whit and the Mateo

A Day in the Life...

Each day seems to blur into the next with little time to reflect.

I wake up around 5 or 5:30, mostly depending on Matthew.  If he has started to stir, I go ahead and bring him into our bedroom and feed him.  Sometimes, he falls right back asleep and I leave him snoozing with Daddy.  Paul LOVES to wake up with Mateo.

I have finally managed to break my Starbuck's Venti Mocha habit by making my own homemade version.  I pour my cup, get the breast pump together and am off and usually at work between 6:30-7:00 am.  My boss has generously allowed me to shift my work day so I can be done at 3pm.

In the meantime, Paul sends me pics of their mornings.  I LOVE these.

I set out their breakfast for them.  I hate that I can't be there to enjoy it with them, but I am determined they will BOTH get a good breakfast!

Playing with daddy in the living room

In the car on the way to Ms. Marcia's

Loves the exersaucer!

And he LOVES the big kid room!

At 3pm I leave to go and pick up Matthew from Ms. Marcia's.  We usually head home.  Once a week, I might go run an errand with him, but the few times I have done this, he has a total meltdown.  He usually naps at 4pm for about 30 minutes.

After his 4pm nap, he gets up and its time for dinner.  We are still trying to figure out his feeding schedule.  We are in the process of adjusting as I got a little ambitious with the solid food and he clearly LOVES to eat so he has been consuming more solids than milk, which is not good.  So, I am cutting back on the solids.  For now we have a bottle around 5pm.  Then it's BATH TIME!  Paul usually makes it home by 6pm to give him his bath.  And he LOVES it.  So much, that when it's over he pretty much goes into a temper tantrum fighting sleep.  As a result we are toning bath time down a bit to try and ward off this fit of rage resulting from being tired and over stimulated.

In the meantime I have my list of chores that have to happen each night.  Clean bottles from daycare, make lunch box for the next day, clean breast pump parts and bottles, set up coffee maker, make dinner, do laundry, and on and on and on.  If I am lucky, we eat dinner around 8:30.  Then it's time for a shower and hit the sack.  I usually manage to get in bed by 10, but no later than 11pm.

The alarm goes off way too early. And we start all over again.

In the middle of all these chores and obligations are the moments I get with Matthew.  He lights up my world and I cherish each and every moment.  He is pure joy!

So Little Time...

I am trying not to give up hope and scratch the blog all together.  There is so much I want to write about and yet so few opportunities to actually do so. I feel like I am on a mouse wheel of work, take care of Matthew, essential housework, sleep... then get up and do it all over again!

While we just don't have time to take as many pictures as I'd like, the camera is usually handy and we are taking some pictures.

Most mornings, I let the dogs out while I get ready for work.  This is my view out the back door.  Reggie, surveying his kingdom :-)

Matthew with his great Grammy

Sweet baby Felicity

These two had so much fun together!  They are going to be best pals!  I wish I had video taped their interaction.  They were having quite the little chit chat!

While the new house has not been properly named, I have been referring to it as "LaRosa" thanks to the many shades of pink adorning the interior.  And interesting enough, this beautiful desert Rose that our dear friends Joey and Courtney gave us when we completed the addition on Beirne, it never bloomed at Spotswood, but here at LaRosa, it is doing quite well!  Another sign we are in the right place, exactly where God wants us!

6 Months Old!

Life on the Ranch

Thanks to my dear friend Courtney, I have finally started the process of making this new old house a home.  She called on the 4th of July and offered to help paint Matthew's room.  Within the hour, we were painting away. She cut in while I rolled.  By 5pm his room was painted!  Amazing what a fresh coat of paint will do for you! I had leftover paint from his old room so all I am doing is recreating the nursery on Beirne.  I haven't painted the tree yet, but that will come soon.  His new bedroom is a bit larger so I am hoping it becomes a great playroom for him!  Once the tree is finished, I'll post pictures.  

So, with renewed energy I started organizing the guest (pink) bathroom.  Then this past weekend I finally decorated the mantle.  You see, we basically just dumped things more or less close to where they belong, but with no thought to how they were organized or placed. I should have taken a before picture of the mantle and everything that was just dumped on it.

Before (the previous owners)

After.  From Mateo's point of view.

Clearly I haven't tackled the pink walls or the pink valances above the windows but I did finally organize the mantle.  Natalie Cook painted the tea pot and now that it is finally in its place, I feel a little more like I am at home.  I am super excited about the fireplace and we look forward to cozy fires this coming winter.

The house came with a few fun things...one of them being a riding lawnmower.  Paul's first ride was absolutely hysterical.  I was sitting in the den when I see Paul streaking across the back lawn (yes, out the windows above) in a green riding lawnmower.  He was a bit out of control as he got the hang of it!  By the time he moved to the front yard he had things a little more under control.

Upcoming projects:
- painting the tree in Matthew's room and organizing his closets
- decorating the front entry
- repotting the house plants and creating some nice container gardens.  Many of my plants have not done well with the move while others are thriving.  All by accident.  So I need to take what is working and tidy things up a bit and get rid of what has failed (ie, dead plants)
- removing the gas insert from the fireplace and getting it ready for the winter
- shelves in the laundry room
- new shower head and shower curtain in the master bath (the guest bath has a better shower than the master so we have been using that one)

Update

We have settled into a nice little routine.  Matthew is fast approaching 6 months old and I wonder where the time has gone!

He just started rolling over a week or so ago.
We started solids after we moved in to the new house.  I make pureed vegetables and fruits from our weekly veg box courtesy of Grow Alabama.  So far we have enjoyed peaches, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and avocado.
He is super social and LOVES a good party.
He learned that when he cries, mom and dad come running.  Mom and dad have learned that its ok to let him cry for a bit.  As a result, he is now sleeping through the night. Yay!