Matty is on the move

I am sorry it's been so long since I've posted any new pictures, things have been busy! Since our last post, Matty has learned many new things:

• How to feed himself
• How to crawl with his belly OFF the ground (and fast!!!)
• How to clap his hands
• How to find, within seconds, any uncovered outlet in any room
• How to high five (sort of...sometimes he just grabs my hand)
• How to climb stairs (with CLOSE parental supervision of course)
• How to inflict great injury by kicking his legs when we take him away from something he shouldn't be playing with

In addition to all of that, we also took a nice trip to Minnesota recently. Our friends Sean and Meghan decided to host a Rice reunion at their home in Minneapolis, so in addition to catching up with many of our good friends from Rice, we also got to spend a couple days with my parents, and meet up with some of my cousins. Sadly, our camera ran out of batteries on day 1 and we were too lazy to go buy more, so we have very few pictures from the trip. But, here are some from around the house...

Grandma and Grandpa with Matty



Not only can I feed myself, but I can style my own hair! Oatmeal is a great hair gel.


Kissy face


The blinds provide hours of fun




Who needs toys when you have a cardboard box?


And, a video of him grooving to some music...but someone needs to tell the camera woman not to dance along with him.

Puppies!!!

Our friend Steve's labrador retriever just had 8 puppies, so we took Matty over to check them out. What could be cuter than a little boy and some puppies? Not much! See below for the pictures...

In other news, he is now pulling himself up on the furniture and in his crib. Bedtime is a bit more challenging now since he stands himself up as soon as we put him in the crib. I keep trying to tell him that its hard to fall asleep when you are standing, but he doesn't seem to listen. He's just so excited that he can stand up. And, he's starting to eat table food. I think about 90% of the food ends up in his lap, but he's learning!

Standing up!

9 months old!

Matty had his 9 month check up a couple of weeks ago. He's now over 20lbs and continues to be tall for his age. We took him to the pool for the first time over Memorial Day weekend, and again last weekend, he liked it quite a bit! Here's a picture of him in his swim gear -



Other than that, we've been just enjoying hanging out and watching him explore. Here's a video of him army crawling his way around the house -

And, another one of him giggling his head off. Who knew that Juan clearing his throat was so funny?

Riverdance

Matty is turning into a very active and squirmy little boy. Changing his diaper is nearly impossible now since he tries to flip onto his stomach to crawl as soon as we lay him down. Argh! His army crawling is getting faster and faster and every now and then he manages to get his tummy off the ground. We also got him a walker which has been fun for him, and fun for us to watch him exploring. He can really get moving in that thing! And, the tooth count is up to 8 now - 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. We hope that will be the end of 2am teething pain for awhile...

And, here is a little video we call "Matty's Riverdance". I think you'll see why.

And, of course, some pictures - you can see his new teeth in the 2nd one.

ALWAYS keep your keys in your pocket!!!

It's been an exciting week in the Thurman household. It all started Sunday morning when Matty woke up with goopy eyes. In our favorite baby reference book - Baby 411 - there actually was an index entry for "eyes, goopy". After flipping to that page, we made the lovely discovery that he most likey had pink eye. So, we were off to the doctor first thing Monday morning. Which is when I managed to cross another item off of the "dumb things I never thought I would do" list - locking the keys in the car WITH THE BABY. Yep - keys, phone, and baby in the locked car, me outside. Aaaaaack!!! Fortunately, it was only a few minutes before a good samaritan came along and let me use his cell phone to call Juan. So, after the longest 15 minutes of my life, Juan showed up with spare keys in hand to rescue us. I was sweating bullets, Matty was sound asleep in his car seat. Good thing he was overdue for a nap when I put him in the car!

In other news...
Matty is mobile! He's got the army crawl down pretty well now. Luckily for us, army crawling is not a very fast method of locomotion. But, it won't be long before he figures out how to get his belly off the ground. Then we're really in trouble.

And...
The tooth count has increased dramatically over the last month. He is now up to 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on the bottom), with two others that are close to popping through. And boy, can he use them. Trying to feel for new teeth with my finger is a dangerous proposition.

And of course, here are some pictures:

Great smile - bad camera work! Turns out it's hard to tickle and take pictures at the same time.


Checking out his toys in his tube o' fun


Help! I'm stuck in my tube o' fun!


Cereal face


Going for a walk in my fishin' hat



I rolled myself into a blanket burrito!


burrito close-up



Riding on daddy's shoulders

Feel Good Movie of the Year

It has taken a bit of technical wrangling, but the video that my Dad got of Matty giggling like crazy while being tickled by his uncle Chris back at Christmas has finally made it to the blog. This is 2 and a half minutes straight of giggling baby. Just try to watch it without giggling yourself, it's impossible.

I saved the video at a lower quality setting to get the size of the file down, so it is not crystal-clear, but it's really the audio that matters.

6 month check-up

Matty had his six month check-up about a week ago and we are happy to say he is a happy and healthy little boy. He is now 17lbs 9oz (55%), 27.5" long (89%) and 17.5" in head circumference (73%). His head has made quite a leap - from average size to 73% now. I for one am very happy he waited until well after birth to grow a big head! He is still fighting off his cough, and the doctor found he also has a slight ear infection in both ears. So, we're still doing the nebulizer and now a round of antibiotics too. Ugh! We are very tired of the nebulizer. It usually takes us both to do it - one to hold the mask on him and one to entertain him. On the plus side - Juan is getting really good at puppet shows.

Matty is turning into quite a little charmer. He really turned it on during his doctor's appt - the doctor's comment was "If he's this happy when he's sick, I can't imagine what he's like when he's feeling good!". Of course Juan and I are very smitten with him. The conversation around our house goes something like this these days "Can you believe how cute he is???", "Wow, he is really, really, cute.", "Look, he's doing something cute again!", "That is SOOOO cute!!". He is going to think his name is "cute" before too long.

Here are some pictures to prove the cuteness...

Having my diaper changed is fun!


In front of our neighbor's azalea bush


At his first Rice baseball game - go Owls!


Hmmm...that camera looks like a good toy!


What? You won't let me play with the camera?


Fine, I'll play with my feet then.


It's all good...