Mattie: eighteen months

Eighteen things about eighteen-month-old Mattie Claire

1. She loves her paci and blankie and gets super excited to go in her bed with them

2. She takes one afternoon nap that is somewhere between 1.5 hours and 4 hours (I much prefer the latter)

3. She loves Dannon yogurt smoothies and would eat 5 a day if I let her 

4. She's way into Frozen and says "Let Go!" every time she sees anything Frozen-related

5. She talks way more than Jilly did at this age (which I'm sure is because she has an older sister that she listens to all day long.)  Our favorite things she says are Gi-ee (Jilly), Careee! (scary), Dan-doo (thank you) Lookit! (look at this, always said while pulling us over to see something), Mee Mou (Minnie Mouse), and I tinky (whenever she needs her diaper changed)

6. She loves shoes- especially Jilly's shoes and any dress-up shoe

7. She's an iphone whizz- can flip through my phone and find exactly what she wants.  I'm not proud of this.

8. She's very shy and doesn't like when strangers talk to her at all

9. She loves to brush her teeth- perhaps a future dentist?

10. Her favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and at the end of the show can always be found right in front of the tv singing "hot da" while doing a little shimmy

11. We have some Minnie Mouse pajamas she loves that are way too big so I let her wear them over her pajamas every night

12. She's teeny tiny and after going through a multitude of tests we've finally decided she's just petite

13. She loves dogs and has to stop every time we see one, but usually isn't brave enough to actually touch

14. She hates her carseat

15. But, she loves little seats or little spots where she can hide

16. She insists on giving each member of our family a big, wet, full-mouth kiss before she goes to bed

17. We taught her to throw things away in the trash but she'll often get confused and put her dishes in the trash when she's done

18. Her favorite toy is Potato Head and she thinks it's hilarious to put the Potato Head pieces on her own face

And, just for fun- Eighteen things about eighteen-month-old Jilly

friday five: Mattie edition

1. A very sweet friend had a goodbye party for us this week.  Mattie thoroughly enjoyed cake at the party then enjoyed the leftovers even more when her dad gave her a spoonful of frosting.  

 

2. There was a cheerio on the floor and instead of picking it up Mattie leaned down to grab it with her mouth.  Naturally, I took a picture instead of stopping her from eating off the dirty floor.

3.  Jilly wanted to paint so of course Mattie did too.  I was pretty impressed and thrilled that this setup worked (Jilly with paint, Mattie with a bowl of water) then not surprised at all when it only lasted 90 seconds.  A for Effort.

4.  When Jilly was younger I half-heartedly taught her a few signs.  The only one she caught on to was more, which she thought meant please.  Not sure how that happened, but we went with it.  Recently I decided to teach Mattie to sign please and we kept with our history of incorrect signing.  After a few days of practicing Mattie's now a pro and signs "please" (more) all day long knowing she'll get exactly what she wants.

5.  Girlfriend is already into the accessory stage. Oh help me Rhonda.  

Happy Weekend!

Happy Birthday Mattie Claire!

And, just like that, she's one.  

Twelve things about our twelve month old:

1. In one month she went from tentative steps to speed walking.  She has great balance and walks everywhere.

2. Unfortunately this means she tried to walk down the stairs and tumbled so is celebrating her birthday with a scraped nose and bruised forehead.

3. She has finally chosen a special blankie, and it is nearly identical to Jilly's (we have dozens of beautiful hand-made blankets and they both chose fuzzy store-bought ones.)

4. She loves peaches, applesauce (but only in a pouch), smoothies, yogurt, cheese, goldfish, and all desserts.

5. This week her first molar showed up and it's been awesome... not.

6.  She sleeps through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (except for when Mr. Molar causes trouble)

7. She is super chatty.  We have incomprehensible conversations all day long.

8.  I love her dark hair.  People tell me all the time that she looks like me which is funny because my hair was light like Jilly's when I was little.

9. She loves to dance and will often dance on command whether there is music playing or not.

10. She's a mama's girl through and through and even though it's occasionally inconvenient I secretly love it.

11. She looooves dogs.  She'll say "dada," wave, and run over whenever she sees a smelly furball (I don't share her sentiment.)

12. That smile?  Takes up her whole face and it's the best thing in the world.

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Thanks to Lisa for taking these pictures when we visited last week!

Stroll down Memory Lane-

Mattie: eleven months

Oh Miss Mattie.
It seems like she's growing before our very eyes.  Her biggest accomplishment this month was walking of course.  She takes more wobbly steps every day and is starting to choose walking over crawling.  She loves to wave and has even started waving at dogs when we're out on walks.  She gives everyone big big smiles, but is a Mama's girl and doesn't like to be very far away from me.  She can out-eat Jilly at mealtimes, still loves babies, and knows exactly what she wants and gets very upset when she doesn't get it.  She's our favorite baby in the whole wide world.

Mattie: ten months

This month Mattie became a dancer; she does the cutest little wiggle.  Music-making toys are her favorites (besides babies.)

In addition to being sick for almost the entire month Mattie got two more teeth on top.

She's this close to walking on her own; she loves to push strollers and chairs around.

Mattie loves to give high fives.  She'll often hold her hand out in a nazi salute until someone claps it.

I can't imagine our life without this sweet girl.

Mattie: nine months

She's a baby lover (the play kind and the real kind)

She claps, waves, says "mamama" and "dadada," and can stand for 16 seconds all by herself

She gets an A for naps and a B- for nighttime sleep

She loves veggie straws, applesauce, and ice cream (bad, bad mom)

She got her third tooth this week and #4 is working its way down

She's sweet as ever and we love her to pieces

Mattie: eight months

At Eight Months Mattie:

- loves to eat, she definitely has preferences but she'll eat just about anything and has been known to dive bomb at you if you have something she wants

- is happy and smiley, one of her favorite parts of the week is church when she can play with all the people sitting in the pews behind us

- crawls all over, but thankfully hasn't noticed the stairs yet

- loves taking baths with her sister

- gets a little feisty when you try to take away something she wants

- loves baby dolls, her eyes light up when she sees one (naturally I think this is the absolute cutest thing ever)

five on friday

1. I loved this article that's been going around facebook.  I am not the best housekeeper (there are many many many things I'd rather do than scrub my kitchen floor) but this made me want to be better.

2. TOTW (Tricks of the Week) - Mattie has mastered clapping and Jilly is finally successful at dressing herself (though clothes are frequently on backwards.)  This has increased Jilly's daily outfit changes by tenfold.  She was so, so proud to surprise me with her full Cinderella ensemble- dress, purse, and glass slippers.

3. Late on Tuesday afternoon I sat down to start our 2013 Family Photo Book.  On Shutterfly I saw that there was a 50% off books deal that ended that day.  So, I spent the entire evening putting our book together and ordered it at 11:58pm.  Phew.

4. Mattie learning to stand up has thrown quite the wrench into our sleeping routine.  Nearly every time I put her in bed she immediately pulls herself up and cries and cries to be let out.  Once when I went to get her she looked right at me and said "ma ma ma" and I melted and swore never to put her back in that cell (. . .until it was time for her next nap.)

"saaaaave me!"

5. Our Chick-fil-A was doing free breakfast this whole week and we went twice.  We probably would have gone more if I had found out about it before Wednesday afternoon.  Ridiculous? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely.

Wanted to leave you with a happier picture of Mattie.  Happy Weekend!!

five on friday

1.  Jilly outed me this week while Bryan had the day off.  I was getting in the shower and she said, "Can I go to the store with you?"  I was confused and told her I wasn't going to the store and she said, "So then why are you taking a shower?"  Bryan thought it was hilarious.  So maybe I only shower when we're going out...

2.  Way back before Jillian was born I made a holder for all my necklaces.  Then sometime later I made a smaller one for Jilly to hold headbands, but it's now in Mattie's room.  Jilly has been begging me to make one for her room, and she desperately needed some jewelry organization so I finally got to it this week.  She loves it, and we think it's so fun for all the girls to be matching.

3.  I know this makes me sound a little grinchy but I could hardly wait to take down our Christmas tree and other decorations.  I now have an itch to clean and de-clutter every corner of our house.  I rarely feel this motivated to clean so I'm trying to get a lot done before I lose steam.

4.  Mattie's latest trick (besides crawling) is pulling herself up on evvvvverything.  She's delighted by her cleverness.

5.  My 28th birthday was on Sunday.  It was a very happy day full of messages from family and friends, presents, and chocolate pie.  I've never been a huge fan of having my birthday so close to Christmas, but this year I learned a reason to be grateful- the girls were still so excited about their new toys, they played happily all day.

Mattie: seven months

7 things to know about my favorite 7-month old:

1. She's obsessed with food.  Whenever we're eating anything she goes craaaaazy to get some.  I have a feeling baby food won't last very long around here; she's already had some table food and loved every bite.
2.  She's got the scoot down.  Perhaps will be crawling by Christmas?
3.  She's not cuddly when she's tired- I just lay her in bed, let her cry for a few minutes then she falls right to sleep.  This is awesome (when we're at home) and not awesome (when we're anywhere but home.)
4.  She wakes up 3-4 times a night.  She's usually very quick to get back to sleep (needs a pacifier, or to be held for a minute, or to nurse) but 4 times?  I could do without that.
5.  Her eyes light up when she sees Jilly and she always wants to be exactly where Jilly is and do exactly what Jilly is doing.
6.  She loves to click her tongue, make popping noises and growl.
7.  She's got the best smile and most delicious chubby cheeks.

Mattie: six months

Oh this girl.
She's an expert army crawler
And an amateur sitter
Her favorite food is paper
But she also likes oatmeal, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and squash
She's smiley and giggly
And loves toys toys toys
Her one little tooth is sharp as can be
And she's the best thing to happen to the three of us.

Happy Half Birthday Mattie Claire, we love you!

five on friday

one

Mattie's had a big week.  She can now sit up for a few seconds, but pillows are needed to cushion her inevitable fall.  She also can say "da da da"which is not an unexpected first word.  I'm sure she'll learn "mama" about six months from now just like her sister (stinkers.)  She also has decided she loves rice cereal; I cannot get the spoon to her mouth fast enough.

two

Sunday mornings are not my fave.  Bryan is in meetings most of the morning, and Jilly begs every 1.2 seconds to go to church (which starts at 1pm.)  Also, she insists on putting her dress on very first thing just because she enjoys watching me stress all morning about her staying clean.  This Sunday I finally convinced her to paint in the bath which provided a lovely distraction for our looong morning.

three

After our fun weekend we all came down with colds.  Jilly and I were lucky and got better quickly, but poor Bryan and Mattie have been suffering.  We're ready to say adios to the coughs, runny noses, and lack of sleep.

four

We had an unexpectedly awesome Halloween.  I hadn't really planned anything since we were recovering from colds and we'd already had a great weekend celebrating Halloween.  But first my friend invited us to go to the park, which was so fun.  After the park I had to run in the library to get a book that was on hold.  While there we found out they were about to start Afternoon Story Time (who knew??)  Jilly begged to stay and I couldn't say no.  It was Halloween themed and there were only three other little girls there so it was perfect.  We went to Jamba for free kids smoothies and came away with two- one for Jilly and one for Mattie/me.  Then we decided to go trick-or-treating with some friends who knew the ultimate place to go.  This neighborhood was filled with trick-or-treaters and there were lots of houses that were all decked out.  We had a blast.

five

And now it's November, which is quite possibly my very favorite month.  We get to celebrate birthdays of three of my very favorite people- my mom, Bryan, and Jilly.  We'll get a new nephew, take a road trip, celebrate half a year with sweet Mattie, and enjoy Thanksgiving with family.  Doesn't get much better than that.

five things

1- It's been a busybusy week filled with friends, family activities, church assignments, projects, and housework.  I can't believe it's already Friday, but I'm not complaining.  We are very excited to celebrate Halloweekend.

2- A certain almost-three-year-old I know has been struggling with obedience.  But as soon as Bryan made this chart and threatened the Aurora dress she shaped up quickly. 

 3- We gave Mattie solids for the first time this week and if the end goal is a mess, she's doing excellently.  

4- I know you like to stay apprised of our tv situation- Prime has redeemed itself this week as we've been busy watching Season One of Under the Dome.  It kind of reminds us of Lost and we like it quite a lot.  

 

5- Mattie has really started to love toys and don't you dare take something she wants to play with away from her.  That sweet smile is replaced with kicking legs, flailing arms, and a mean grunt.

friday five

Mission Accomplished-  We took away (she gave up?) Jilly's pacifier this week.  It hasn't been as terrible awful as it could be, but at night she especially misses it.  Sleep has felt like a long lost besty-best friend.  And, her saddest quote of the week- "Being a big girl is hard."  But, she did get her Aurora dress and boy oh boy she loves it.

Baby Miles-  The girls and I headed down to San Jose for the day to meet Sweet Baby Miles.  We all love him so much, and had a great day hanging out with his mom and big brother too.

Swinger- We put Mattie in the swing for the first time this week and she seemed to be a big fan.

Divergent- I've finally gotten out of my reading slump!  I had heard lots of good things about Divergent by Veronica Roth but was hesitant to start another dystopian trilogy.  But I got it to listen to on my drive and loved it so, so much.  It's kind of a mix between Hunger Games and Matched, and it definitely has the best love story of the three.  I miss listening to it (the narrator is excellent) and am dying that I have to wait on the hold list for the next book. 

Fall- I realize I'm the first person ever to say this, but I am totally in love with fall.  The weather is perfect, the leaves are beautiful, and there are so many fun things to do.  I kind of don't want this month to ever end.

Mattie: five months

Mattie is now quite the mover.  I'll put her in one spot and between rolling and scooting she'll be in a totally new spot in just a few minutes.

She grabs everything.  The other morning I was holding her while eating breakfast and I very nearly had my whole bowl of cereal fall into my lap when she grabbed and pulled my place mat.  

I was ready to revoke her super sleeper status last week when we had some rough nights, but she seems to be back on her regular schedule of waking up once or twice during the night and going right back to sleep after eating.  I wouldn't be sad at all if she decreased that though.

She's a big time momma's girl, which I love most of the time but it can also be extremely inconvenient.

Above all, her most impressive trick is her toe touch.

Blessing Day

Our dear, sweet Mattie Claire was blessed yesterday.  It was a great day and Bryan gave her a lovely blessing.  Because of our crazy summer we couldn't find a good Sunday to bless her until now.  I was  worried that she would be fussy since she's older and more particular now, but she was sweet as ever.

Papa and Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Ronna, and Grandma and Grandpa Martinez were there

 Love these three people of mine so so much