All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!

Category Archives: Matthew


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Another List!

Life has been great lately – I feel like things are really going smoothly for me.  My reasons for feeling this way are extremely ridiculous – but I can’t help but feel energized by them:

  1. After months, and MONTHS, of trying to find replacement hair products for my secret weapon product that the manufacturer discontinued (without asking my permission) – I have found them!  I have spent a fortune on multiple products that are sworn to do the same thing as my discontinued product, but none of them do.  All they do is dry out my very fine, flat hair.  I went to Ave.da yesterday to pick up some moisturizer and asked the gal if she had ideas for me (I asked a different gal a month or so ago and she told me I was out of luck).  This gal sold me two things (ugh) and told me precisely what to do with them.  I followed her instructions today and my hair has never looked better – and with half the work I was doing before (no more flat iron!).  HUGE win!
  2. I got new slippers.  I have had the same pair of Ac.orn slippers for a couple of years and although they’re still comfy, they were missing that “walking on clouds” feeling that comes with a new pair of faux fur-lined Ac.orn slipers.  I was at the mall yesterday, on my way out through my favorite outdoor gear store, and thought, “oh – my slippers!”  They had my size, they were on sale – and they were mine!  They’re the wrong color (black = yuck) but I do.not.care.  My feet are warm and comfy (I’m wearing them in bed right now – even though they have soles on them.  HA!).
  3. Maternity clothes.  No – not because of the fit and comfort (but yeah, that too), but because I get to wear my wonderful be.maternity stretchy shirts (from Targ.et) under everything, which means in these winter months, I am sealed up from head to toe now and I’m not cold everywhere I go.  So happy!
  4. Maternity jeans at Ga.p Maternity were $35 a pair at their retail locations.  I needed new ones and stocked up.  I’m so happy!  I couldn’t have gotten them cheaper at cheap maternity stores.  To put the cherry on my sundae, they are the same size as the jeans I bought at Ga.p this past summer when I was smaller than I am now (pre-IVF meds) – so that was nice!
  5. Matthew is sleeping longer these days.  YAY!  We planned our work and worked our plan and we have success!  He slept 11 hours last night and 10.5 the night before.  He is waking up  happy versus crying.  I am sleeping more too which is nice!
  6. We are going to bed WAY earlier than normal.  At 10:00 tonight, I asked B, “ready for bed?”  A week ago, I would not have asked that so early but we’ve been going to bed before 11 each night for a week now and I’m just a lot happier.  Yes, I can function on very little sleep, but more sleep is always better!
  7. My diabetic cat is in a diabetic remission.  Don’t tell the others, but she’s my fave and when she’s sick, I get very sad.  Her behavior was off for a couple of weeks so I decided to get out the glucometer and test her.  Turns out we were giving her too much insulin because she’s in remission.  Since chatting with the vet and dropping the shots for over a week, she’s back to normal and happy.  I’m happy too!  This won’t last forever, and I have to watch her closely – but that’s never been a problem for me.  She and I are almost inseparable (but she was not hanging out with me while being OD’d with insulin which tipped me off).
  8. Matthew is back to eating almost everything we put in front of him.  There isn’t much he won’t eat.  He even loves scallops.  This has made life way easier because he eats what we eat every  night for dinner.  It’s awesome!
  9. I have an old doll from my childhood that we keep in Matthew’s closet.  She looks like a real baby (she’s a hospital mannequin – don’t ask!) and we got her out a couple of years ago to teach B how to diaper a baby.  We just kept her in the closet for whatever reason.  Matthew has found her and now asks, at least once a day, for the baby to come out.  He treats her like a real baby and is very gentle and loving, and tries to hold her like a baby (she weighs 5 pounds so that makes it hard for him).   He was hesitant at first, even though he wanted her out of the closet, and just wanted to look at her.  He now pats her head, touches her nose, kisses her, and strokes her while I hold her.  This makes me think to our future with a big brother and it melts my heart!
  10. I have less than a week’s worth of shots left.  I have 6 left starting tomorrow.  Ahhh… this is so exciting!

 

So there it is – the list that convinces me that things are pretty good right now!  I’m sure things will change tomorrow, now  😉


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The Monday Snapshot – Naughtiness!

We had a hectic morning yesterday – B went out for a run and I had to get Matthew and myself ready while he was gone.  Matthew usually quietly plays with his trucks and watches CG.  Yesterday, he got his hands on a box of wipes and I figured it was fine because they were mostly dried out anyway – he could have at it!  I then quickly forgot about his new little past time until I came out and saw this… I came to check on him because it was just TOO quiet!

A box of wipes, CG, old baby gym support rods, a bunch of books, and one cute little boy!

A box of wipes, CG, old baby gym support rods, a bunch of books, and one cute little boy!

This is my contribution to PAIL’s Monday Snapshot.  Click on over and check out the other fun kiddos! 

 

 

 

 


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Who Knew?

We all learn things about ourselves when we move into a new phase in our lives – and parenting is no different.  I, of course, have learned a lot of “deep” things about myself – like the type of parent I actually am versus what I thought I would be, but I want to document the top 10 things that have REALLY surprised me about myself.

10.  I really enjoy being a SAHM.  I never planned to stay home – that decision caught me completely off-guard and made me uncomfortable at first.  But I really, really love it!  I love spending every day with Matthew and watching him learn new things.  I love hanging out with him and talking to him all day long.  I don’t miss much about work because we still get lots of adult interaction with daily activities – and he and I are constantly interacting.  We’re best buds!

9.  I am an incredibly patient mother.  For those who know me IRL, I am not a patient person – at all.  I am not patient with myself, with others, with gadgets, or with certain situations.  But I am so patient with my child.  Very little gets me riled up and even when that happens, I shake it off almost instantly and can laugh out loud about it.

8.  I have no control over so many things.  Being a control freak, this has surprised me a lot.  However, I think our IF experience prepared me for the lack of control I have in motherhood.  Sure, I can control our schedule (for the most part), what Matthew eats, etc., but I can’t control when/how he gets hurt, when he’s fussy, when he can’t sleep, etc.  I accept this and welcome it.  I wasn’t always this way – Matthew’s sleep caused me much distress before he was sleep trained (and B and I had many conversations about how Matthew was not a robot and couldn’t sleep on demand – and I needed to accept that) but once we got past that, the lack of control I have as his mother is a non-issue.

7.  I handle stressful situations much better than I ever thought I would.  Matthew has been hurt a few times (fell down the stairs, fell out of the car, almost broke his ankle, tried knocking out his teeth two days in a row) and each time, I have not freaked out and I have kept it together.  When he started choking twice, I knew exactly what to do and did it, without hesitation.  When he had his ear infection, I knew right away what the problem was and how to help him.  The only time I really felt helpless was when he was having what we think was a night terror and there was nothing to do but wait it out (but it was so sad to watch).

6.  I am not a yeller.  I was raised by yellers – we were yelled at all the time.  I worried this would become a trait of mine because it “runs in the family,” right?  My sisters are both yellers and there were clues early on in my childhood that I wasn’t going to be, but I wasn’t a parent yet so I really had no idea if I would become one or not.  I have not.  Whew!  The only times I have yelled are when Matthew is in danger (about to put a power cord in his mouth that’s plugged in).

5.  I can function on very little sleep.  I am a night owl – if I could stay up until midnight every night, I would.  In fact, most nights, I do.  I’m changing this now because it’s just not healthy – but I like being up at night and sure there are moments that I’m tired after only 6 hours of sleep, but I’m never flat-out exhausted.  Even pregnant, I’m not exhausted at the end of the day.

4.  I still love my cats as much as I always have.  I expected this to change – because everyone told me it would.  But it hasn’t.  I still worry about my old girl, Lily (who is diabetic), every single day.  I still obsess over her behavior and have actually become more regular at giving her her insulin twice a day.  I am just as in-tune to her now as I’ve always been.  I still snuggle with Jackson every night when I climb into bed (sorry, B!).  He and I still snuggle periodically throughout the day while Matthew naps.  I still make sure to seek out Janie who tends to enjoy time alone and not on our laps.  When I seek her out for one-on-one time, we both enjoy it so much (she’s in my lap right now as I write this).  My kitties are still my 3 little besties – I just now have a fourth bestie as well.

3.  I hate putting Matthew to bed.  This is not because he makes bedtime difficult (he does not), but because I just hate the idea of putting him to bed and not being able to play with him anymore.  I struggle with this for every nap and every bedtime – and it’s caused me to be the primary problem in getting him to bed on time.  We are fixing that this week – he needs more sleep and I need to stop standing in his way of it.  But it makes me sad.

2.  I am a softie.  Sure, I have my rules and Matthew is good at following them – but when he wants another Cutie orange, I can’t say no.  When he wants more milk, I always say yes.  When he wants to drive around to look for school busses or holiday lights, I oblige.  I like him to be happy, and I tend to go over the top sometimes.

1.  I love, and I mean LOVE, whole milk!  I always thought whole milk was gross (because I was told it was – HA!).  I always thought it would be like drinking cream.  It’s not.  It’s divine.  It’s wonderful.  It’s the best stuff in the world!  I love to finish Matthew’s cups of milk that the straw can’t reach anymore.  I love pouring myself a little bit when he gets his cup of milk in the afternoon.  I love sipping it from his cup, in an attempt to get him drink more.  I just love it – and I love yogurt that is made from whole milk.

Who knew?


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Finally!!!!

Matthew only falls asleep in his crib, in my arms, or in his car seat. He’s never fallen asleep on the floor playing, in a jumper, etc. Heck, he won’t even fall asleep in his stroller anymore and hasn’t since he was 10 months old.

But this happened today… And it was as precious as I always imagined it would be! Like Matthew himself, this moment was worth the wait!


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Our Tradition

On a whim today, we had photos taken with Santa.  Last year, this went really, REALLY well.  At this time last year, Santa advised us that the next year could be difficult and involve some fear.

There were tears.

And then B and I got in the shot and things got better.

All this tradition talk lately, and I realize that this is our tradition.  We planned last year to always get a family photo with Santa, and I was hoping to be a little more prepared with proper hair and makeup but meh… life happens.

We will have breakfast with Santa next Saturday for our official Santa photo, but I’m pretty pleased with this one!  This will be our holiday card photo… because I have got to get those out!


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The Monday Snapshot(s) – CG Cures All

It’s no secret – we’ve had a rough week.  That rough week led into an even rougher weekend and today was the worst so far for our sick little guy.  This cold, whatever the hell it is, is a bad one!  Matthew’s been stuffy for a couple weeks at a time, but not like this – not with a fever too.

As everyone knows, we watch a little “Curi.ous Geo.rge” every morning together as a family.  Matthew usually dances to the opening credits, drinks his milk, and then gets off the bed to cruise around and play with his toys in our bedroom.  Today – he snuggled.  Today – he watched an entire episode (consists of two short stories) like this:

Heaven!

This is part of PAIL’s Monday Snapshot… go on over and check out all the others!

** Quick update – we went to the doctor today.  Matthew has a double ear infection with his right ear drum near rupturing.  He smiled and played with the doctor the entire time – he is showing no signs of pain aside from last night when he couldn’t sleep.  The doctor said that he’s in heaps of pain and that he’s had this for days.  I feel terrible.  He is such a good “sick baby” that he gave us no signs until last night that things were (really) bad.  😦