Matthew 43 weeks

Hi All,

Matthew is now very much the cheeky monkey and active.. here are some pics to prove my point.
Matthew climbing the metal screen door to the front of the house!! AND while uploading some pics on the computer today, I turned around and found that he'd climbed in to the laundry basket and was trying to scale the chest of drawers.  You can see from the pic that his two front teeth are nice a big (just like mum's) We also think that's he's got another 4 teeth coming. Two on either side of the front teeth and two on the bottom ones. The top two are about to erupt. We've had night wakings again in the last 3 night due to teething pains. Seeing as we've been getting so used to Matthew sleeping through from 7pm - 630am, the sleep deprivation has been hard on both Duncan and I. I can see why it's such an effective form of torture! We also think the little guy is experiencing some growing pains as well. Matthew has lengthened, growing another 3-4 cms to 77cm since the 19th of Feb (when I last visited the early childhood centre) We also think that his head circumference has also increased by a cm, I've been keeping an eye on this since being told that Matthew's fontanelle appears to have closed early. I've have it checked by his nurse on Monday to be sure.

Oh, and one last thing... lots of 'ba ba ba' and 'ma ma ma's in the last week, much to my delight :) He's been saying 'ma ma ma' for some weeks now, but 'ba ba ba' is new. Sadly for Duncan, no 'Da da da's yet.

Look at what I've done to my cot!!

Matthew 42 weeks

Matthew had such a good time stalking some other kid's balloon at the plaza the other day I thought he might enjoy having a few of his own to play with... We made tunnels down the hallway and had Matthew in fits of giggles as he played with all his balloons! He simply loves chewing on them and making them pop!

Cheeky boy was also snapped opening and slamming the kitchen cabinets this morning. Matty DOES understand the word 'NO'... however, he's also realised that 'NO' has absolutely no consequence so he's taken to turning and smiling at me every time I say the word :(

I'm off to get Matthew's passport sorted out today too. FINALLY!
It's been incredibly difficult to take a photo of the little guy looking directly at the camera, shoulders square, with a neutral expression and background and with out any shadows. Matthew will have a 'frequent traveller' passport issued sometime around Easter.

NEWS FLASH

WHOO HOO!!!

Little Matthew has a cousin!

We are very pleased for Ben and Kat who've just had a beautiful baby boy
Ethan Sebastian Bradey.

Matthew 9 mths

The cheeky monkey is back with a vengeance and more mischievous than EVER! He's bounced back from his illness and we've been getting loads of sleep. He's appetite has also doubled all of a sudden and I've finally gotten around to weighing him again. He's JUST shy of 9.5kg but has grown very very long. I'll be back at the Early Childhood centre next Monday to have his head circumference measured again as his fontanelle appears to have closed a little early.

Matthew 39 - 40 weeks

Poor little Matthew has been sick with a fever and has not been his usual happy smiley self. You can just tell that he's unhappy. He's been difficult to settle for his day and night time sleeps which is not normal for him at all. We've had 3 nights straight of unsettled sleep, with a very upset and crying little boy and on the last night when his temperature spiked at 38.7 degrees, we decided that a trip to the hospital was in order. Fortunately the emergency department at the hospital was completely empty at 4am and we were attended to pretty much right away. The doctors ruled out the possibility of a urinary tract infection with a simple test. Matthew happily played in his hospital bed wooing the pretty doctor and nurses while his Mum and Dad were busily trying to catch his wee in a specimen jar! We were eventually sent home at 8am when his temperature went back down again.

Thankfully, kind grandparents were able to lend a hand and watch over Matthew while his tired old Mum finally got some rest.

2 days later ...

a rash broke out ALL over Matthew back chest and tummy and it was another scary trip back to see the doctors. Fortunately this time we were told that Matthew had a 'good rash' and his mystery illness was identified to be 'Roseola Infantum'. I'm very pleased to say that little Matthew is all better now.

Some info on Roseola Infantum for those who are interested: CLICK HERE

Matthew 36-37 weeks

HI all,
I've uploaded a whole bunch of photos to picasa as well as 3 new videos to YouTube.
Matthew had a wonderful time away at MacMasters Beach with his grandparents. I hope everyone enjoyed their stay and has recovered from their mozzie bites.

As Duncan is on leave until next Monday, he had the rare opportunity to take Matthew to playgroup today. I've also included these photos and videos in this week's update.

Matthew's Mum.

Matthew 8 mths

Matthew turned 8 months old today and it's becoming harder to remember what life was like before Matthew came along. He's the center of our lives and everything we do revolves around him. He's so mischievous, I can only imagine what he'll be like as his personality develops even more over the coming months. I find myself needing to shadow Matthew almost all of his waking hours. He cant be left alone (unless strapped to his pram or high chair) or he'll be up to something cheeky - like climbing the change table, trying to eat the door stop, climbing the bookshelf and throwing books off the shelf. He really enjoys standing in his cot and rattling the bars. Over the weekend, we enjoyed the company of Socrates (Labrador). Matthew simply adores Soc, but alas, Soc does his utmost to ignore him. Although we think Socrates secretly does like little Matthew, as one evening we found Socrates sitting next to Matthew's cot while Matthew was supposed to be asleep. Normally, Soc likes to maintain a good distance from Matthew at all times. (see Youtube videos) I think he's very slowly warming to the idea of having Matthew as a little brother.

Hope you enjoy his new videos and pictures.

Love, Matthew's Mum.

I've been spending more time with Matthew at the park, he's still not quite sure what to make of it, but he does like the colours and picking up little bits of twig and gravel from the ground and examining it.

Happiness is being allowed to  crawl around the lounge room!

Matthew 7 mths

He's a big boy now and has had his first Christmas. He seems to be heavier so at a guess I'd say he's over 9kgs now. He learning to pull himself to stand and can do so in the bathtub and learning to crawl around on hands and knees. Sleeps overnight have been really really good, but we are not expecting this to last. I've decided to slowly phase out the mushed up pureed food and introduce 'finger foods'. So far, he's had nectarine, orange, asparagus, rocket, blueberries, strawberry, baby corn, cheese(mozzarella and Swiss) whole. He enjoys playing with his food and feeding himself. It's good fun to watch but incredibly messy :) This is tonight's dinner along with a tablespoon of chicken and vegetable purée. ...

Well that was the idea but he saw the plate, picked up the squash and shoved the whole thing in his mouth followed by the baby corn and choked. So we took away the baby corn and let him chew on the squash before letting him have a go at the carrot sticks. He didn't eat the asparagus nor the chicken. Instead he grizzled until I gave in and offered him some blueberries, a strawberry and half a tub of yoghurt. All in all, we did ok in the end