Texas tour - Summer 2013 edition

In late June Shane had two weeks of block leave that we opted to take and tour Texas (seems like a reoccurring theme right?!).  My parents kindly offered to keep Matthew for a few days while Shane and I headed to the beach (pictured above).  Family friends let us stay at their condo for free and we jumped at the opportunity.  It was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time relaxing without a baby.  We joked that our hardest decisions were if we were going to the pool or beach first each day.  After a few days alone at the beach we headed back to College Station to spend some time with my family.  Although Matthew seemed to have a great time on the farm with his grandparents and cousins while we were gone.  When we got back we celebrated my sister's birthday, went to the movies with family, ate way too much, and played tons of games together.

 

 After some time in Galveston and College Station we headed to San Antonio for two days.  Sea World was on the agenda and so much fun for all three of us!  Pushing a stroller around added a lot more complexity to the day, but we wouldn't trade it.  Matthew's favorite show was the indoor pet show, which was very up close and action packed.  The pigs, birds, dogs, cats, and mice did tricks and had his full attention!  Most of the other shows were further away and hard for him to figure out, but mom and dad enjoyed seeing tons of great shows and animals together!  It was a great family day together with lots of fun memories.

 After the Shamu show!  The action even kept Matthew's attention for a little while.  He was very interested!

SHAMU!

Matthew got tired of the stroller after a long day.  He and dad were looking at the flamingos together.

 Matthew met his great-grandma in Boerne for the first time.  He loved playing with toys and crawling around at her house, and she loved watching him and talking about his sweet blonde hair.  We had a wonderful visit and all went out to Whataburger for lunch before hitting the road again!

In Odessa we spent a lot of time at Poppa's pool.  After much coaxing, Matthew got used to the water and actually started enjoying it! 

Shane, Matthew, Nanny, and Poppa poolside for 4th of July. 

 

 Nonna, Matthew and Shane before leaving Odessa. 

We went to Papa's new residence and visited him one morning.  We were very impressed with his new room and place.  Everyone sat outside in rocking chairs and watched Matthew crawl around and play.  

One final picture of our little family.  We had a wonderful two week tour of Texas, and such a relaxing time everywhere we went.  Though we spent many hours in the car, we had some great family time together and memories to hold us through these next few busy months ahead.

Ten Months!

 

{at 10 months Matthew...}

...wears size 2 diapers (finally!)

...can pick up his food and feed himself very well
...loves waving at everyone
...stayed 4 days alone with grandparents while mom and dad got away
...still takes 3 naps most days
...disobedience (and obedience!) is a daily occurrence now
...eats mostly regular food with small amounts of baby food
...loves to climb the stairs on his own when it's time for bed or a nap (or when he's disobeying!)
...started dancing when he hears music
...drinks water from a sippy cup
...babbles much more lately - we hear ba, da, ga, and goo
...(finally!) enjoys swimming/playing/splashing at the pool

 

 

 

 

Nine Months!

{at 9 months Matthew...}

...weighs 16bs 8oz (5%!!!!!) 

...loves to clap his own hands at everything
...can climb stairs very easily
...is a speedy crawler when he deems necessary
...got 3 new teeth (total of 5) in less than a week
...pulls up on everything he gets his hands on
...loves to be held or carried by mom and dad
...is incredibly happy and smiles all the time
...changed to his "big boy" car seat, no more infant carrier
...has stranger anxiety
...is currently not a fan of bath time or swimming for that matter

 

 

Ross & Laura Darville

Last weekend was a much anticipated wedding weekend for our family.  Not only were we excited to go to Texas and see both our families, but beyond excited to be apart of Ross and Laura's wedding (Shane's brother and one of my lifelong friends!).  Matthew was definitely the star of many of the events (besides the bride and groom of course), everyone loved him and couldn't believe how handsome he was!  He was such a trooper between driving to and from Kansas, missing several much needed naps, being passed between tons of family members, and staying up after 10pm two nights in a row, we could not believe how well he did!  These are just a few pictures of everything that happened that weekend, it was quite a whirlwind, but so wonderful!

 

Our little family at the rehearsal dinner.

 The beautiful bride and her favorite nephew!

 Officially sister in-laws!

 Pawpaw and Grammy helped feed and entertain Matthew before and during the wedding. They were a lifesaver!

 My sweet boy and I all dressed up for the wedding!

He loved crawling up and down the aisle after the wedding while we were waiting on pictures.

Dad and Matthew looking handsome!

 Matthew rested with Poppa during the reception, he was so tired!

 This was one of the funniest moments at the wedding. Shane's grandfather (Dat, who is 82 years old) got out on the dance floor and went to town, he was the most hilarious/best dancer around!

 My sweet parents enjoying a dance together.

 I had a pretty handsome date!

Shane and I at the reception (this was actually the only picture we got together).

 Bride and groom during their first dance.

 Shane gave a wonderful and heartfelt best man toast at the reception.

The groom's cake! Whoop!

Two Year Anniversary and a little something extra!

 

Today we are celebrating our second wedding anniversary.  I cannot believe we have only been married two years, I'm pretty sure we have experienced more in our two years of marriage than most couples do in five years.  It has been a busy, but wonderful year, with many new experiences and adventures.  Here is a little summary: We've lived in one house for an entire year (no moving!), survived having our first baby with ease and love him more than we ever imagined possible, settled into Kansas and call it home now, made several cross country trips (with a baby!) to see family, met many new amazing friends in Kansas, survived our first "real" winter - snowstorms and all, I have learned to balance taking care of a baby while keeping our home running smoothly, Shane completed his time as a platoon leader and spent many nights away from home training, I kept my sanity for an entire month while taking care of Matthew alone, Shane has become a grill master and expert chicken-fried-steak-maker, together we have enjoyed many date nights, hikes, walks, talks and the biggest news of all - we fell in love with our newest addition to the Darville family, baby number two, who is due in December!  Writing all of that out makes it even more apparent to me that the Lord has blessed us abundantly, kept us both safe, given us more strength than ever imaginable, and taught us a tremendous amount during this past year. I know this is over on the side of the blog but I just couldn't help but realize how true it still is: Though we live a crazy life, its our life; we wouldn't trade our struggles, blessings, growth, flexibility, adventure, or love for the Lord for anything else in the world.  Our God is so good!

Trouble

As you probably noticed on the eight month post Matthew started crawling not long ago.  It didn't happen slowly either, it was all of the sudden one night he decided he could and took off.  He has perfect crawling form also, I guess we skipped the army crawling phase, or scooting phase.  Here are a few pictures of the trouble he's gotten into the past two weeks since he's been mobile.

 While clearing the shelves I found this cool box that has an endless supply of these white fluffy things!

 First time climbing the stairs.

 I also found this heavy medicine ball on the shelves mom, I enjoy rolling it around the floor now!

 Just helping with the ironing.  Thank goodness it was off and unplugged as he "ironed" the floor for a while.

I am screaming because I climbed on top of the ironing board and got my fingers stuck in the fire alarm.  Mom told me it was my own fault, but it still hurt!