First Father's Day

June 21st, Father's Day weekend . . . Irv's parents came into town. We went out to our local breakfast joint in downtown Wylie. Again, some of us fell asleep.

Oooo....Bubbles!

June 18, 2009

Mateo is having such fun in the pool. We really weren't sure how he'd do, but he's turning into a fish. We had him in the hot tub for a while and it started to get a bit warm so we took Mateo out. Wow, he was having none of that and wanted back in. So, we put him back in. We've not put him back in the hot tub since. We'd never get him out!

Fun At The Fields

June 3, 2009

Well, it wasn't long before we started playing ball again. Irv more than me, but Mateo tagged along as much as possible. Loving the early games! He really focused on the runners closest to the dugouts, either to first or to home, which kind of surprised me.

"Can we go now?"

Happy Grammy

Mateo and Grandma Suzi

These two have a lot of fun together and what a great blessing it is for her to live so close to see him everyday! And, help us with some housework!

Thanks, mom!!

Fourth Month

May 2009

Dear Mateo Benjamin,

What a month this has been for all of us. You are four months old now and your Grandma Suzi has started watching you during the days as I have gone back to work. I started back on April 22nd and it took Grandma a couple of weeks to follow your schedule. She just wanted to play with you a lot!!

You are still on a 3-hr schedule with 3 naps a day and the biggest news here is that you are no longer being swaddled. You graduated to the sleep sack and are very happy with it. You don’t squirm too much when we zip it up to close you in, but we suspect that will change in the near future.

While your daddy and I are getting ready for work each morning, you sit in your swing/rocker and look around at the fish hanging above your head. This month you are finally able to grab the fish and pull hard enough to turn on the music. You still haven’t noticed the blinking lights to the music yet.

During other wake/play times you have figured out how to kick the bumble bee hanging overhead in your floor gym and make music there too. You so love that bumble bee!! I wonder for how much longer this will entertain you. By the way, you are great at entertaining yourself and it is a joy to watch you do your little baby thing!

This month you also said your second ‘word’. It was “yeah”. Okay, again you just made the right kind of sounds to make us think you said an actual word. We’re still wondering what your first word will be. On that note, you “talk” all the time and we have the most wonderful conversations. I’m convinced you are spilling all your secrets and describing your naptime dreams. Your babbling is so adorable and just makes our hearts swell. You squeal with delight but aren’t quite giggling/laughing yet. We think you’re getting close though.

Other tidbits about you ~

You’re getting closer to rolling over from all the movement you do. You did a whole lap around the floor gym while on your back. Your legs rarely stop moving…that’s got to be some kind of sign of things to come!
You’re gumming your fingers a lot and drooling bunches. The drooling gets worse before it gets better. You also like to stick out the tip of your tongue a lot. It’s so cute and we finally got a picture of it too!

Story time before bed is a nice time for all of us. You are so relaxed and quiet. Sometimes I let you have the pacifier and you just hang out – we read and you chew on the pacifier. I think you’re looking at the pictures. You might just be enjoying our voices and tones.

We celebrated Mother’s Day this month with Grandma Suzi. Your Abuelo Guillermo and Abuela Rosalba were here too. We went to breakfast and you fell asleep while we ate. You had many of the other patrons checking you out.

It is so fun to watch you sleep. Daddy and I come in to check on you before we go to bed each night. I love to look at you and your Daddy is fascinated with your breathing while you sleep. What a sweetheart you are!!

We love you tons,
Mommy and Daddy

“About Benjamin he said, "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders." – Deuteronomy 33:12

Third Month

Fourth Month Stats

June 5, 2009

Weight
Length

Post Bath Talk

May 17, 2009

Our Little Reader

Mateo is somewhat fascinated with pages....magazines, books, you name it. Sure, he doesn't know what the stories are about yet, but in time I hope he learns to love to read. We recently got the book "Honey for a Child's Heart" (any Christian bookstore) that has lots of good info on authors and books for kids through age 12. We read a couple of books to him most nights before bedtime. He's much better at settling down to listen (and play with the pages) now where before he'd just squirm around.

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." - Proverbs 16:24

We got this jumper as a gift and it doesn't fit our doors. They are a bit too tall so we tried it in the pantry door, but the doorway was too narrow just as we suspected. We'll have to take this back and get one that sits on the floor with a stand. I'm not sure he's actually big enough for it just yet, but he seemed to have had fun while it lasted. Mateo tiptoed all around in this thing.

Portraits

Portraits were my gift on Mother's Day. Irv took us the Sunday after Mother's day. We had a great time and Mateo had such beautiful smiles for the camera. We were very uncertain if he would smile or not, but hopeful he'd pull through for us. He had a small moment of crying when the photographer wanted to get pictures of him on his own though that didn't last long. What a trooper!

Spring is here

May 15th ~ Just a couple of shots in the grass. We weren't sure if he would go for this or not, but he seemed to enjoy the coolness of the grass.

Hey, what's this...I've got toes?!?

May 13th . . . Mateo finally found his toes. What fun it was to watch him continuously grab his toes once he finally discovered them. Now he is constantly sticking his legs out and then getting those feet up in the air. He's only stuck his toes in his mouth one time, but I suspect it will become more frequent and I'll be able to snap a picture.

First Mother's Day

May 10th, Mother's Day weekend . . . Irv's parents came into town. Irv took us all out to a yummy Sunday breakfast. I love breakfast out on a weekend!!! It's a good thing we don't do that all the time; it's just more special that way. We went to a small local restaurant we had never been to and have talked about trying. It was worth it. The restaurant wasn't nearly as packed as we thought it would be. Of course, we were there pretty darn early too. The menu was a newspaper with crossword puzzles, word searches, and other fun games. The time passed pretty quickly between ordering and eating. As you can see, some of us slept.

Who dropped the pacifier??

I'm Free . . . Kind of

Now that I'm a big boy, almost 3 mos old here, I don't need to be swaddled anymore. I prefer the sleep sack even though it looks like I'm sleeping in a dress. I still need the sleep positioner to feel snug as a bug in a rug.

Easter Outfit

A special outfit for a special boy. Thanks Granny Lou!!

Third Month Stats

I forgot to get a picture at the doctor's office, but this is a cute one!

Date: May 5, 2009 (April 21st, 3 mos)
Height: 25"
Weight: 12 lbs 3.5oz

Third set of shots: Polio and Prevnar

Third Month

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Mateo!

Another month has flown by and now you are three months old. You are just starting to develop your personality. You’re making such delightful cooing noises!! You do not like to be held for very long anymore; you’d rather be down on the floor playing in your overhead activity gym or pushing off our hands and sliding across the floor. You really enjoy that sliding thing, by the way. You are not quite ready to roll over, but boy are you starting to squirm at diaper time!!

Tummy time is not so bad either. We’re amazed at how long you can hold your head up, looking around at everything. It’s funny to see how quickly you move your head from side to side checking things out.

We are starting to get more intentional smiles from you and it is so beautiful to see. You also started sticking your tongue out for who knows why. When you’re older that will be rude, but for now it is cute. You’re sticking everything in your mouth and gumming all objects. You prefer cloth items to gum instead of hard or even soft plastic. You are not using the pacifier so much anymore, but you have kind of found your fingers to suck on.

We took you to Missouri over the Easter holiday. You are a great traveler! This trip was to introduce you to more family and on your Granny Lou’s side. You also got to meet a few of my friends and their little ones. We’ve got great pics! You were quite the little trooper and totally showed off your “sleeping through the night” skills which everyone was thankful for. ;o)

I have been on maternity leave with you this whole time and your dad was able to take two weeks off when you were born. You and I have been taking many trips out to lunch with him and several of our friends. Nap time has usually been during these lunches and now, finally, you are awake and checking things out. You have also been attending several of dad’s softball games; most of the time you’re asleep though.

It’s so sweet to see your dad snatch you up when he gets home from work for some playtime. You two have been doing some serious bonding at dinner time since he’s feeding you at night. OH! You moved to a 4-hr feeding schedule from a 3-hr schedule just a few days ago. I couldn’t believe how easy it was for you and you STILL slept through the night!!

This is the last day I have at home with you and it is a bit sad because I think you’re figuring out who I am now, or at least now I can see it. You’ve probably known who I am from the beginning.

Much love to you!!
Mommy and Daddy

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14

Second Month

Fun With Raspberries

Irv is convinced this is a mean thing for me to do to Mateo, but I giggle every time I see this. Poor Mateo! What has he gotten himself into with parents like us?

This was taken on April 19, 2009.

My Buddy

Mateo and Mia are going to be good buddies. He's been eyeing her quite a bit these days. She'll come over and sniff him for a while and then suddenly she's gone, leaving Mateo to turn his head in every direction to find her. He's not into petting her yet, but that will soon change.

Sometimes she's really into whatever she smells on him and, if we don't stop her, she will lick and lick on him! Especially his hands....and you all know what a germ-a-phobe I am!!

Family Pics (1)

Mateo with his dad and Uncle Carlos.

Dad and Mateo

Mom and Mateo

Bath Time

Irv and I aren't likely to forget Mateo's first bath anytime soon, but the subsequent baths have gotten much more fun for Mateo (and us). He's so happy at bath time!! Of course, he doesn't like being cold after he gets out (who does?!).

When his hair is wet, it is so curly; however, it dries straight and I'm hopeful he'll have his dad's thick, wavy hair. He had more hair as a newborn, but we're confident it will grow back.

Second Month Stats

Growing like a weed! What will next month bring?

Date: April 2, 2009

Height: 23 3/4"

Weight: 11lbs 3.5 oz

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Second set of shots: DTaP and HIB

Second Month

Precious Mateo,

Now that we’ve had another month to get to know you and learn more about you, we are quickly able to discern what your cries mean. You are such a happy baby! You only cry, or fuss, when you are sleepy or hungry. Let me tell you . . . it is pretty easy to figure out the problem and get you fixed up right away.

When we put you down to sleep, you’ll cry for only a few minutes before falling asleep. Yes, we let you cry. It never lasts for very long and most of the time, you’ll go without your pacifier (aka “the pacification device”).

This has certainly been a month of “Firsts” for you and we’re positive there will be more of those to come. Let’s tell you all about it:

First Night in the Nursery (6wks) – We moved you out of our room (you were in a Pack-n-Play) and into your own room. You did very well and really enjoyed looking at the animals on the bumper pad in the crib. You just moved your head from side to side looking at the animals and vibrant colors. Your bedding is courtesy of Papa and Granny Lou.

First Noticeable Tears (6wks) – It was early morning and you were waking up, ready to eat. The monitor in our room had accidentally been turned down a bit too far and it took just a tad longer to get to you than usual. You were not a happy camper and neither was I. However, you settled right down once you started eating and all was well again. Lesson learned.

First Word (6 wks) – Dad and I were sitting on the couch. You were in Daddy’s lap and you were both chatting with one another. The next thing we heard was you saying, “okay”. We both looked at each other and said, “okay.” You had coincidentally put two sounds together pretty fast and it came out sounding just like “okay”.

First Road Trip (7wks) – We took you to Houston (3/13/2009 – 3/15/2009) to visit your Abuelo y Abuela Avila. It was a surprise visit for them and they were SO excited to see you! You slept for the whole drive down there and back w/o too much disruption to your normal routine. We were very impressed and plan to take you up to Missouri in April.

First Bottle (7wks) – Dad gave you your first bottle. You have been taking a pacifier really well (when necessary) and when the bottle came along you were pretty shocked that food came out of it. We did not record this look of yours, but got some video shortly afterwards. Of course, we have several pictures. Way to go, Mateo!! You’re on your way to establishing independence!

First Evening Alone w/ Dad (7wks) – A few girlfriends and I went to see a movie one evening and Daddy got to have some one-on-one time with you that night. You both did very well, as expected! On my way home I called to let your Dad know I was on my way home and he answered the phone with, “The baby’s fine.” (Btw, I have always called to let him know when I am on my way home if it is a late night. You’ll be learning to do this as well.)

First “Slept Through the Night” (6-8 wks) – You’ve been sleeping anywhere from 5-6 hrs a night, but last night (3/23/2009) you slept for 7.5 hrs. You’ve always been a good sleeper though!!

What a joy you are to us and the family! We are filled with anticipation of what the next month will bring. Stay tuned . . .

We love you, baby!!
Mommy and Daddy

First Month

Ready For My Close-Ups