Saturday, July 31, 2010

It's Never to Early to Celebrate!

Chris leaves for San Diego on the 3rd, where he'll stay until he leaves on the USS Carl Vinson for just about a month. As a result, that means he'll be missing Matthew's first birthday on the 15th. Not wanting to miss the actual celebration, he asked me to decide if we were going to celebrate it early or when he gets back in September. I was bummed that it looked like our best option was to celebrate it with Jonathan's birthday, thinking that as Matthew's first birthday, it should be extra special. However, I wasn't at all excited about the prospect of waiting until September to celebrate, meaning I couldn't do anything special for him on his actual birthday. So we asked Jonathan if he minded sharing his birthday this year...
My mother has bought one of these fancy hats for each of my kids' 1st birthdays. I was impressed that Matthew left it on just long enough for me to snap this picture!

I made Matthew's 'smash cake' - a giant cupcake! I forgot to put the sprinkles on though.

How fast this year has flown by!

Happy Birthday, Dear Matthew. Happy Birthday to You!

I helped him blow out the candle

What's this?

First taste

Apparently he likes it!

...A LOT!

Mmmmm!

Blue Raspberries!

'Yeah, It's my birthday!'

Sharing with Daddy

You can see all 3 of his teeth in this picture.

Big Belly Laughs



Coming back for more

Can't get enough
Baby Smurf!


On his way to the bathtub!

Present time!

Slug Bug...Yellow one!

That one's as big as he is!

A Little People Dump Truck!

No need to take it out of the box.


Grandpa John was put to work, freeing toys from their boxes!

Courtney got him this cool toy. You put the balls in the top, then use the hammers to knock them down and watch through the window as the balls fall through the maze.

It was a huge hit with all the kids. Here's Matthew with our new friend Brooke.

Happy Early Birthday to my Sweet Matthew!
Matthew is our miracle. We came so close to not such a good outcome when he was born and every time I look at him I can't help but remember how truly lucky I am to have him in my life. He is a happy baby. Our most adventurous child. The first child we've had to 'baby proof' for. He will get into and climb on everything and anything. He is determined to hang with the big kids and is very strong willed. He is not fussy about anything, he doesn't demand much, doesn't like to sit still or snuggle, but rather be crawling around seeing what kind of trouble he can get into. He stays busy. He has 3 teeth with the fourth just starting to cut through the gums. His hair is starting to grow. Light brown hair and big blue eyes that melt your heart. He likes to clap your hands or his own, blow raspberries and sing into the older kids' microphones. He's very curious and will go to just about anyone. He loves doors, drawers and anything else that opens and closes. His first word was 'no, no, no'. Occassionally, he also says 'Dada' and 'Mama', but no real indication still as to whether or not he's saying those with purpose yet. However, he will make the 'D' sound when he sees the dog, so I suppose that counts as his second word. He's cruising along the furniture and crawling up on all fours now, but I think we still have a while before he's walking. He is our last baby, and from the looks of it, will keep us on our toes so that we never have the chance to wonder what if we'd been able to have one more. He loves his family and his dog and we love him more than we ever thought imaginable! He completes our family!
Happy 1st Birthday, Matthew!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jonathan!!!!!!!!

This morning Chris and I were awakened by Jonathan running into our bedroom yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, Wake up! I'm 4 now! It's my birthday!" When did this happen? When did my Little Guy get so big?! Who allowed this?


Proof...He's 4!


We had all our neighbors/friends over to help us celebrate in the evening, but first we wanted to let Jonathan open his gifts from us.


From Clara...


A Cars sleeping bag!


He had to try it out right away!


I've never seen anyone get so excited over new underwear!


New t-shirts too!


A Toy Story one...


And a Lightning McQueen one!


A book of puzzles from Grandma Ginia and Grandpa Vic


And a new RC car!


Chris insisted that every little boy needs rockets and then spent the last few days trying to convince me they are in fact safe for a boy Jonathan's age...I'm beginning to think this is what Chris' wants for his birthday!


Jonathan's final decision on the cake was to 'pick one from the book', and this Thomas one is the one that caught his eye (even though I had already bought Cars supplies to go with the cake he was telling me all about wanting me to make for the last few weeks!)


Singing to the birthday boy!


Blowing out the candles


Gotta make sure you get them all!

Sportin' his new train rings from the cake!


The birthday boy gets the first piece!


YUM!



More Presents from friends...



Cars Legos


A Lightning McQueen towel


More Cars


Puzzles


Motorcycles


The look of a birthday boy who was too excited to take his nap today!


I can't believe he's 4! He has really come into himself over this last year. He is the most protective, caring big brother...and really good at playing the annoying little brother too! He is the most affectionate of my kids, and our 'class clown', never stopping until he gets a laugh. The perfect cure for a bad day for him, is a snuggle session with his mommy. The biggest belly laughs come from his play sessions with his daddy and Matthew. He is all boy, and marches to the beat of his own drum. He constantly professes his undying love with a "Mommy/Daddy, I wuv you." or "Can I keep you forever and ever and ever?" He'll start preschool in a little over a month, which is bittersweet for me. I'm excited about watching him grow (and maybe having some help in getting him to stop whining!), but I am scared of how much faster he'll seem to grow up with all the new influences of friends and teachers. If only I could keep him little a little longer!

Happy Birthday Jonathan! Mommy and Daddy wuv you four!