Happy Father's Day (A Week and One Day Late)

I know this is a bit late, but Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!! On Father's Day 2009, I was reminded of something: though there is always a bit of sadness for me on Father's Day as I long for and remember my own dad (this year was the 5th Father's Day since he passed away), I am blessed beyond measure — my Heavenly Father has been with me every step of the way, and he brought a great father-in-law into my life along with allowing me the privilege of watching my brother and my husband become daddies.

Celebrating Jason's very first Father's Day this year brought me great joy. What a blessing it is to see my husband as a father — he is the most wonderful daddy to Matthias! He is so proud of our son and loves him so much. He is very hands-on — from changing diapers to suctioning his nose (yuck!) to taking him on walks when he is fussy, he does it all! He even likes to take Matthias to Menards. :) I am so thankful that he is such an involved daddy and loves to be with our son.

Jason had to work from 8-12 on Father's Day, but afterward, he met up with Matthias and I and our good friends Josh and Trish and their 3 kids. We went to HuHot for lunch, because we had a "Dads eat free" coupon. It was a delicious (and relatively inexpensive) meal! At home, Jason opened his card and gifts: the movie Fireproof (from Matthias, haha!) and a couples' devotional book (from me). For supper, we drove up to Jason's parents house for spaghetti and ice cream with strawberries and fudge (we ate pretty well that day!). We had a good time hanging out with the family and honoring both Jason and Bob for being the great fathers that they are.

Hiccups: Part II

I have never been able to view videos from our digital camera on my computer until recently, when I finally figured out what I was missing and needed to download. Now, I don't have to upload them to my blog in order to view them! That was time-consuming and annoying, especially when I selected the wrong video. We will probably be posting videos more often now.

I ran across a couple of videos featuring Matthias going through bouts of hiccuping, which we find very funny. We already posted one of him with hiccups when he was only a few days old, but these were taken when he was around 3 to 3-1/2 months old.

This one features Daddy and son trying to have a conversation while Matthias battles the hiccups.




Here is another one, featuring Matthias in a diaper and socks, exercising his limbs and his diaphragm at the same time. (*Note: Although our son does have big feet, they are not actually as large as they appear in this video. I think it must be the socks...)

Rollin' With the Homies

After lots of almost-but-not-quite-all-the-way-there attempts, Matthias rolled over for the first time on Thursday, June 4th! We were at Jason's parents house that night, and Jason and Darlene (his mom) were on the floor helping Matthias roll over and encouraging him to do it by himself, but it wasn't happening. They finally got up, leaving Matthias on his back. I watched him as he babbled to himself and saw him arch his back and roll onto his side. I yelled out, "I think he's going to roll over!" so Jason and his mom ran back in just in time to see him roll over onto his tummy. It was really cool, and I'm glad that so many people were able to witness this big "first" — me, Jason, Bob & Darlene, and Audrey (Jason's sister) and her boyfriend. Tonight, Adam (Jason's brother) was playing with Matthias and got him to roll over again, which was great, because he hadn't rolled over again since the first time!

Matthias had his 4-month appointment on June 3rd. He weighed in at 18 lbs. 7 oz. When we asked what percentile that was, the nurse kind of chuckled and said, "Well, that's actually off the charts, so I guess you could say 100th?" She showed us the chart and where Matthias rated, and sure enough, he was slightly above the highest percentile for his age! What a big boy!! (To give you some perspective on how big he is, a couple we know at church have a 9-month-old girl who weighs 19 lbs.) Thankfully, his height is still keeping up with his weight. He is 26 inches (90th percentile). And he did so good with his shots — he only cried for about 10 seconds afterward and was already smiling again by the time we reached the front desk. He is our little ray of sunshine!

Other news: Matthias is pretty much out of 3-6 month clothes and wearing mainly 6-9 month stuff. There are even a few 12-month things he can wear that are only slightly big on him. Also, he is scooting around a lot on his back! Sometimes, we find him in his crib in a totally different position than we put him in.

Now, I will finally post some pictures, as promised almost a month ago...

This is from about a month and a half ago, when Matthias first started scooting around. I went in to get him up one morning and this is how I found him! Now, he likes to turn a full 180 degrees. :)

So smiley!

Doing great with tummy time.


Our little fireman.

First time in his Bumbo chair. (His neck is in there somewhere under the chins, haha!)

Daddy and son.

This is what he wore on Mother's Day, the day he was dedicated at church. We think he looks like a little linebacker!

Doesn't he have the sweetest smile?

First time in his high chair. (He isn't eating solid food yet, but we put him there if he is awake when we eat supper, so he can be with us.)