Thankfulness

Thanksgiving...my favorite day of the year!  It is the one day that is focused on all of my favorite things.

 

Family...

 

Decorating...

 

Feasting...

 

And Thankfulness.  No gifts.  Nothing to do, but be with family and give thanks for all the blessings God has given us.  This year we were reminiscing about 4 years ago.  It was at our Thanksgiving dinner table where we, with heavy hearts, told our families that we had been diagnosed with infertility problems and would probably never conceive a child.  It just doesn't seem possible that 4 years later we would have conceived 4 children...completely by the grace of God.  Yes, we have so much to be thankful for. 

 

What We've Been Up To Lately

The big news is that Dominic is walking!  It was a week before he turned 14 months, we were all in the kitchen just finishing up breakfast.  Dominic was "helping" me load the dishwasher, then he turned around and walked to Jarod across the room.  We just looked at each other, stunned for a second and then I grabbed my camera!  He is still unstable at times but so cute!

We've been playing outside a lot since the weather has been fairly nice.  Andrew always asks to go on a walk.  He rides his trike, I push Dominic in the wagon and we go around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes.  Andrew would keep going for an hour if I'd let him.  The only way I can get him to head for home is to say "Let's see if dad is home yet". 

Andrew is growing like crazy.  He is a 2 1/2 year old in size 4T.  This morning he tried crawling on my lap to give me a hug and I realized he doesn't fit there anymore.  May also have something to do with my growing belly.

Andrew is obsessed with the "Hukers" and Packers.  He is always asking to wear his jerseys, play with the red and green tractors ("this Hukers, this Packers"), and every football game that comes on TV, in his mind is the Huskers or the Packers.  Saturdays and Sundays are exciting days around our house!  Especially with the help of Little Red.

Dominic is becoming more independent.  He is getting a little less picky with eating, but he can still throw a good fit.  He just came down with an ear infection and we couldn't get him to take the medicine for anything.  Jarod and I were wearing more of it than what he ingested the first time.  After that, we got smart and hid it in his applesauce. 

His favorite things to do are play with the ball popper and mess up Andrew's train tracks.  Andrew is a fairly good sport so far, but I can picture the screaming and fighting that is bound to happen in the not so distant future. 

Andrew is talking more and more all the time.  He suprises us everyday with new words.  He can now say almost everyone's names in our family.  He likes to pray for "Grrrandpa Bave" and "Grrrandpa Way" every night.   The cutest is how he says Dominic's name.  Dominic is now "pancake".  Everytime he says it I get a huge smile on my face and try not to laugh.  I am contantly asking him "Who is that?" just so I can hear him say it with his sweet little voice. 

 

He is also becoming so independent.  He is constantly saying "my turn" which means he wants to do it all by himself.  He has started getting himself dressed and undressed which requires a little bit of help from us.  He has also developed this incredibly cheesy smile that he flashes now everytime take his picture.  

San Antonio Getaway

I am so blest.  I have two wonderful children whom I adore and another on the way.  Staying home with them is the best gift I could ask for...however...there are days...when my patience is short and I am counting down the hours until bedtime.  It seems I have been having more of these days lately.  Maybe it has to do with being pregnant or having a two-year-old or a teething one-year-old.  Or all of the above.  So this little get-away that Jarod and I had planned came at the perfect time!

 

 

We packed our bags, dropped the kids off at Aunt Kristi's and Uncle TJ's and hopped on a plane headed for San Antonio.  Of course it wasn't as easy as it sounds.  This was the first time I have been away from either boys overnight and for any extended period of time.  I knew it would be hard on them, but I was mostly worried about Kristi.  I know how much energy and work it takes to keep the two of them out of trouble.  Add that to the busyness of her five children.  It just makes me exhausted thinking about it!  Overall, they did great, aside from not sleeping well.  It was fun to hear Andrew's little voice on phone calls and see pictures, but mostly I tried to not worry, and focus on Jarod. 

 

We stayed right on the Riverwalk and spent 2 1/2 days strolling up and down the river, taking in the sights and eating at some fantastic restaurants.  We also went to see the Alamo which was a very interesting bit of history that I learned about.  We had plans to go check out the other missions in the area, but all that walking at 26 weeks pregnant was starting to wear on me.  We opted instead to stay at the hotel and get massages!  Oh did we pamper ourselves!

 

This purpose of this trip was so Jarod and I could spend time together before the baby makes her arrival, but also to celebrate our 7th anniversary which was at the end of the month.  So one night we got dressed up and went to dinner at the Palm Steakhouse.  Last year for our anniversary we went to Sullivan's Steakhouse in Omaha for a very fancy dinner and thoroughly enjoyed every last bite of food and hours of conversation.  So we decided to do it again.  And the Palm didn't disappoint!  We both ordered the lobster bisque, fillet mignon (Jarod's with lobster, mine with crab) and pumpkin spiced creme brule for desert.  HEAVEN!

 

 

It was so nice to be able to spend this time together, just us.  I hope that we will continue to plan these little getaways throughout our marriage.  It definitely helped me be a better wife and mom. 

 

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween from Clay Matthews and our little monkey!

 

I didn't put too much thought into Halloween costumes this year; I just went with the obvious choices.  Andrew is always talking about the Packers.  He gets so excited to watch the games with his dad that he walks around the house saying "Packers on" for days.  (Last week's by week was hard on him, but at least he still got to watch the Huskers!)  An added bonus was he already had the whole uniform, helmet and all, in his toy box.  And a monkey just seemed to be a good fit for Dominic, seeing as how his favorite thing to eat are bananas.  He can down a banana faster than it takes me to walk to the fridge and pour him a glass of milk.  Sine he is a very picky eater and doesn't eat much else, I am constantly going to the store to stay stocked up on bananas. 

 



 

 

They had a great time trick-or-treating.  Andrew was really getting the hang of it this year.  He would walk up to the house, ring the doorbell, and say "treat".  With our reminder, he would sign "thank you" and then take off for the next house.  No standing around to chat for him!  He was all business!

Dominic did well too.  He would politely take one piece of candy from the bowl and put it in his pumpkin bag.  He didn't seem to mind that he never got to eat any of it (except for the few skittles I saw Jarod give him before I freaked out!)

 

They had fun playing in their glow-in-the-dark skeleton jammies before bed.  Andrew instructed me to turn the light on and off about 50 times while they ran around and giggled.