He's an eater

Matthew got his first taste of food today. He had a yummy, runny mixture of oatmeal and breast milk. We knew he was ready aside from the fact that will be 6 months this week. He has been very curious in our food and has been trying to cram everything in his mouth just to see if it is edible. I think he has either been going through a growth spurt or is just hungrier these days because he has been up in the middle of the night to feed every night this week.

Here he is, a Moran with a good appetite. Ignore my goofy mommy voice.

Holiday photo shoot

We had a photographer come to the house today to take family pictures for the holidays, which also coincides with Matthew's upcoming Half Birthday. She was great, aside from being a little late. I had Matthew's nap and feed all timed out for maximum smiley time but since she was a little late getting started he was not super smiley after about half way through, which is ok because we got some cute and serious looks that way. There are so many awesome pictures. I don't know how we are going to narrow down our selection for this years Christmas card.

I was worried about the house being too small or the lighting being bad but she brought all her own stuff and built a little photo studio right in the living room and lit it all perfectly. She even edited all the pictures right here in the house when she was done shooting and we had our viewing and all the pictures on disc by the time she left.

Here are some of the best shots. Lesson learned for the rookie mama: don't try too many costume changes. Lesson hopefully learned for the rookie daddy: It's ok to be a silly, laughing goof in front of the photographer to get good smiles (He was a little shy).

I feel so blessed that we have the means to do this. Matthew grows so quickly and has such precious expressions that I know I will treasure these in the years to come. We are so happy these days and I think these pictures captured that beautifully.

Not just a mommy, a wife too

I will admit it. My cooking has been horrible lately. Well, that's not entirely true. My cooking skills are fine, but I have not been cooking dinners in a very long time. It started back when Alex was in Paramedic school and was gone nearly every night, and now that he is gone a lot of nights working at the fire station I have found myself in a rut, just so out of the habit of making dinners. So what have we been eating for the last 2 years? Well we have prepared food but it certainly has not been interesting food or well rounded meals. Sandwiches, cereal, eating out, or our go-to meal; pasta of all sorts. Stuffed peppers and fajitas are about as exotic as it's been lately.

Now that we are well into the swing of things with Matthew and we are both home more in the evenings I have decided to do my part a make good dinners for us, only I need new recipes because I am so bored of all my same stuff. My cousin sent me an email for a recipe exchange which I was excited about, but I have not had one reply from any of my friends.

About as month ago our friend Jaime, who knows how much we love her kids, sent us a fundraiser from her daughter's school for magazine subscriptions. Since we are suckers and always give for the kids' fundraisers I decided to get a subscription to a cooking magazine (got Alex a fitness magazine subscription- hey, he can be a hunky husband too). It came last week and we sat down together and went through the whole thing and pulled out about 6-7 new recipes that look easy, good, and healthy. We made a shopping list and I got all the ingredients needed, and a lot of it is different stuff from what I normally make. And veggies- we are back to eating lots of veggies!

I'm really excited to do this for us, and I think it will be good for Alex and I to sit down to a nice meal and talk and have some nice time together as a family. After all, we do finally have a table to eat at after 4 years of marriage.

Here is what I made tonight, my first meal from my Cooking Light magazine. Shrimp, avocado, and grapefruit salad (but I used oranges). I even made my own dressing! I think it looks a lot like the picture! It was really good, nice and light, healthy and different!

Matthew was busy being a squirmy wormy while we ate. If he isn't careful I might just eat him up for dinner!

Peaceful cuddles

After Matthew's bath tonight I was just holding him and talking to Alex and all of a sudden I felt Matthew go limp into a pile of sleeping baby. He hasn't fallen asleep on my chest in months and I loved holding him this way until Alex told me I had to put him to bed.

I've read and been told that many times as your child grows things will happen for the last time before you know they are the last time. I so loved when Matthew was a newborn and he found such comfort cuddled into my chest, his head buried close to my heart. With every day that passes he becomes a big boy and wants to climb on me or paw at my face and hair, and even if he is being calm his height has mostly outgrown my chest if I am holding him. We still have plenty of quiet moments together but those are mostly when we are nursing or saying our prayers at night. He will rest his head on my shoulder, but no feeling in the world can compare to having your baby rest peacefully on your chest, perhaps because that is how we first met. I don't remember when the last time he did this was, but I thought it was past for me. I enjoyed these moments tonight and if this was the last time at least I got this sweet picture to capture the moment.

Matthew the musical baby

Here is Matthew's first piano recital. He is quite impressive!

New Camera

Here are some of our first pictures taken with our Canon Rebel T3. I'm sure once we learn how to really use it we will capture some sweet expressions. The color is so crisp!

Matthew has started biting his bottom lip this week and making an "mmmm" sound. I think he is trying to say mama, but I'm not sure many people agree with me.

First Thanksgiving with our little Butterball

I have found that nothing makes me feel more blessed than when I am sitting quietly with Matthew at the end of the day. I just look at every inch of his sweet body when he is curled up with me for his last feed of the day. As I stroke his hair and take in his sweet smell I am in disbelief that I have everything in life I ever wanted. Holding your baby makes you feel like you are the most blessed person on the planet and you wonder how you ever got to be so lucky. These are the blessing we continue to count every day, but especially on this holiday:

• Thankful for a happy, growing baby, who enjoys his days and sleeps well at night
• Thankful for my time off from work, which allows me to see how much Matthew grows and changes from week to week, in addition to loving on him all day
• Thankful for Matthew's good health and growth and all that he is learning to do each day
• Thankful for good health for all of our family, including us and our parents and brothers and sisters.
• Thankful for a great daddy for my son, a man who is creative and loving in his play with Matthew and a daddy who will help Matthew grow into a man of great integrity and character
• Thankful for a husband who works hard for us, provides for our family, and will someday show our son the value of hard work, dedication, and responsibility.
• Thankful for good jobs for both of us, jobs that allow us to provide for our family but also jobs that give us a lot of time off to be together and spend time with Matthew
• Thankful for a wonderful extended family who loves us so much. Thankful for giving and selfless grandparents and aunts and uncles who are so good to Matthew and to us.
• Thankful for my mom being so close and having her here when I need her as my mom and when I need her as Matthew's grandmother. Thankful for her big heart and how wonderfully enthusiastic she is to help take care of Matthew.
• Thankful for a safe and comfortable home, when so many people have struggled to stay in their homes.
• Thankful for good friends who treat us like family. Friends who are considerate and selfless and remind us how to enjoy life with laughter.
• Thankful for our freedoms that so many have fought and paid for both in the past and in the present.
• Thankful for our church and the comfort and peace I feel when my husband and I listen to sermons together, and for a church that takes good care of Matthew for us while we are there.

We went to Boca Raton to celebrate all the blessings for which we are so thankful this year. All of Matthew's Moran aunts and uncles (or tios and tias as they are called on this side of the family) and his Grandparents were happy to welcome him home for a nice family get-together. Matthew's MamaAdina had prepared a wonderful little home away from home for Matthew and for us. She had the master bedroom set up for us to use, complete with a full-sized crib for Matthew and a chair for me to nurse him in, and the adjoining bathroom had a changing pad and bath tub to use so we had all the comforts of home. Everyone was happy to hold and play with Matthew, play with his toys with him and read to him, take him outside and on walks, and pretty much love on him all they wanted!

We had a nice meal with not only a turkey, but pork and fish too. Rachel and I worked on some side dishes and desserts and Adina added a few of her Peruvian-spin Thanksgiving dishes too. We played games at night after Matthew went to bed and even made it out to go bowling one night while MamaAdina and Tia Suzy babysat with Matthew.

On Thursday late at night daddy went out to Best Buy to fight the Black Friday crazies in search of a nice DSLR camera so we can get some great pictures of our fast-moving little cutie. He found a great deal and was lucky to get a camera with just what we were looking for. We recently bought a camera but decided we wanted to upgrade so we can get some really quality shots of Matthew, especially since he often moves too quickly for us to get him with the camera we have now. It takes great pictures if he is sitting still. In addition to our new camera, Grandpa Neno bought us a video camera, which has a lot of cool features, including being waterproof and a "Share" button for quick uploads to Facebook or YouTube.

On Friday we went to have Moran Family portraits taken. We got some really nice shots of the whole family, and a couple of Matthew by himself too.