Pool Party

We got together with the teachers and their "not quite so much babies anymore" babies. We went to the Lucas' neighborhood pool, which looks more like a Disney resort pool. We had a quiet pool in the back, with great shaded cabanas for relaxing and eating lunch in. The kids played on the steps and Matthew brought his gazillion pool/beach toys. He missed his nap for this but once the action got going he completely forgot about being tired. There was also a splash pad, which Matthew was slow to warm up to. I put him by the smallest fountain and before long he was enjoying figuring out how the fountains worked.

After lunch, cake, and popsicles, we swam a little more and then headed home by mid afternoon. Matthew was asleep in the car before I even pulled out of the parking spot to head home. This was one of our most fun days so far this summer. The pool was perfect, and so was the company of our favorite friends Jack, Cohen, Jane, Kate, Ella, Piper, Madison, and Ben.

New Toys

The timing is perfect. Summer is here, we have more time to play together and we got a bunch of awesome toys for Matthew's birthday. Here he is enjoying some of his new things!

Picnic in the park birthday party!

Matthew's birthday party has FINALLY arrived. I say that because it also falls on the first day of my summer vacation, and we all survived my being back at work for 5 months. Everyone just adores Matthew, and so most of our family made the trip to celebrate his party. The Moran Grandparents, Tia Suzy, Tio Mike and Aunt Rachel, and Tio George and Kelly came for a long weekend and stayed near the beach in Clearwater. Aunt Lori and Matthew's best bud, Noah, made the trip and stayed with Granna for 6 days. We even had all of our Gainesville family come too- Jen and Milo, Jaime and Ron, and Zac, Josh, Brooklyn, and Ben! They stayed at the beach for a night too, so we all got to hang out some more.

Since summer was upon us we had to go with some sort of a summery theme. Since our house is hardly big enough for our family of 3 plus Maggie we knew we couldn't have it here. So we decided on Lake Park for a summertime picnic theme. We bought picnic table cloths, and some red, white, and blue picnic decor, with little Alligator and Ant accents. The park installed a brand new playground that opened just one week before the party. We rented a pavilion and set up table to eat at and had a buffet of pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, my version of Milo's baked beans, chips, watermelon, sweet tea and lemonade, and of course.... cake! We had a great time just talking to all our friends and family. Most of the kids spent their time on the playground. We even had a clown couple come and make balloon animals and do face painting for the older kids. Matthew did not want any part of face, or bicep painting as we tried, but everyone else thought the clowns were a great touch.









Here is Matthew with his balloon sword. He loved it!




Matthew ate pulled pork for the first time which he loved. He also devoured watermelon right off the rind. When Mama Adina and I tried to slice the watermelon it feel apart in the middle, which isn't so great for slicing watermelon, but it means it is super juicy and very sweet. When the watermelon fell apart we were able to salvage it, and it made little baby-sized pieces. The kids loved it!


When it was time for Matthew to eat cake he was so excited. Everyone stood around singing and taking pictures, and laughing at Matthew, who in turn laughed at everyone laughing at him. There is no doubt he is Alex's son. The boy likes cake!!!, just like his daddy. Poor thing cried when we took it away and cleaned him off.



















We had so many wonderful people come to the party, and they generously brought so many nice gifts. There were so many that we took them home with us for Matthew to unwrap later. We will be swapping out some toys because we have so much. Daddy is out pricing storage units as we speak. I am not kidding! Some of the neat things Matthew got for his birthday are: Large construction/dump trucks which Matthew loves to put things in the back of, fire trucks, puzzles, sports balls, beach toys, clothes, books and crayons, bath toys, remote control cars, a helicopter, plates and forks for my big boy eater, musical toys/stuffed animals, a basketball hoop, play fruit, a play tunnel, bathing suit with sunglasses and sandals, annual passes for our family to the zoo, and swim lessons for this summer! We sent our guests in their way with little beach pails, complete with bubbles and a rake and shovel.



All these great people came to the party: Granna and Papa Jack, Aunt Lori and Noah, Mama Adina and Grandpa Neno, Tio Mike and Rachel, Tia Suzy, Tio George and Kelly, The Bobcat babies: Jack Campo and his parents Christine and Mike, Cohen, Jane, and Kate Lucas and their mommy Sabrina, Piper Nickerson and her mommy Stephanie, Ella Peters and her parents Heidi and Dustin; The Davis family- Milo, Jen, Zac, and Josh, and The Thomas family- Ron and Jaime, Brooklyn, and Ben; Shepherd Duff and his parents Jenn and Sean and Stella Shaw and her mommy Laura; Savannah Rollo and her parents Sean and Michelle; Jason and Mya Smith; Bonnie and Gary Garrison; Jocilyn Martinez; Baby Anthony Caramanica and his mommy Vanessa; Janice, Darryl, and Jacob Heiden; and Annalise and Rene Tyus who visited us at home after the party.

Here we are at the park with our birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, Big Boy

One year ago they handed me Matthew for the first time. I have had the most extraordinary love affair with him since that moment. He was the most precious and beautiful creature I had ever seen, and he has done nothing but stolen a little more of my heart every day. Matthew seems like such a big boy now, hardly a baby at all. He moves like a big boy; crawling, climbing, and cruising, and has taken a couple steps. He has a great appetite and is good at feeding himself and has even started using a spoon in his own hands. He is funny and inquisitive, and understands much of what we say. He likes to play games that he initiates like peek-a-boo, hide and go seek, or imitating others. He talks up a storm, and babbles, "mam-ma, dada, banana". He understands entertaining others and can fake laugh just to get people going. He is kind and sensitive, and likes to observe before he jumps into things.

As I sit here writing this on my last day of school I can hardly believe I made it to this point. I thought it would be impossible to leave him while I worked, but Matthew is very adaptable and has done very well with others to entertain his days. I am so looking forward to this summer. It will be very different from last summer. Last year at this time I was trying to survive on minimal sleep, soothe a cranky baby, tend to a dog who needed walking, and get a handle on balancing a baby, a husband, and my own needs. I feel like I have a whole new kid to get to know and enjoy this summer. Matthew does so much more now than he even did a few months ago that I feel like I get to meet a whole new person now- not just a sweet baby who eats, sleeps, and poops. I can see his personality emerging, and even though some things about him are things we have tried to mold in him, so much of him is just exactly who God intended him to be. I little bit of me and a little bit of his daddy, but uniquely Matthew.

When he was born everyone said Matthew looked like his daddy, with tan skin and dark eyes and hair. Then his hair fell out, his skin lightened, and his blond hair came in and they said he looked like me. Now after a year it is plain to see that he has his daddy's head, eye and face shapes, my profile, smile, and light eyes. It is funny how much he is like me and at the same time like Alex, when we look nothing alike. He looks like Alex as a baby and me now, so Aunt Lori joked that I now look like Alex as a baby! Alex's mom brought some of his toddler pictures this weekend and I will do a scan of them and a post to compare some pictures soon, because some of them are identical.

I never made a big deal about birthdays, and couldn't quite figure out why so many people made such a big deal out of them. Then I realized with Matthew it is a big deal. The birthday is really about remembering his "birth day" and what a once in a lifetime moment it was, how at 2:36 pm on June 8, a spectacular new life was started and the celebration of all that has happened in our lives in the past year. So tomorrow we will celebrate you Matthew, BIG TIME! So many people love Matthew, and you can't even believe what a impact of love and joy one little soul can make in the lives of so many people. It makes you realize that at one time in your own life you did that for others as well and you hope the path your life has taken lives up to all the hype. You are in for an incredible journey Matthew. You have already super-surpassed my expectations. I can't wait to see where this next year takes us, but I'm excited to see you smile at some many steps along the way.

Here's how big Matthew is:
22lb 7oz (50th percentile)
30in tall (50th percentile)
18cm head (75th percentile)





Here you are, all handsome after your first haircut. You were such a good boy too, no tears.



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