It's only been two weeks and now we have a toddler!!

The title says it all. In the past two weeks, Matthew has mastered crawling. He can go from one end of the house to the other in under 5 minutes. He also has a radar for all things off limits. I actually got down on my hands and knees to crawl through the house to see what dangers lie ahead. He seems to be most interested in the germiest of things, like the door stop, remote control, keys, shoes, area rugs...did I mention that everything goes in his mouth??? Speaking of mouth, we now have 4 teeth!! It's been a busy two weeks.

At the same time he's figured out how to crawl, he decided to master walking too. He wants someone to hold his hands so he can walk all through the house. He can actually go pretty fast too. We get tired out long before he does. We bought him a walker a few days ago to satisfy his walking desire while hopefully saving our backs from walking hunched over all day, but he can only go backwards in it so far, so it only takes about 2 minutes before he asks to get out and walk with me again :-)As this new freedom is emerging, so is his ability to express his likes and dislikes. We have actually witnessed our first temper tantrum, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Matthew's new favorite time of the day is bath time, now that he's graduated to the big boy bath tub. It is hilarious to watch him splash around like a fish in water. Matthew is also talking all day long now, though we still can not understand a word of it. I think he is saying Rah for Sierra and everything else he calls ma ma. I won't complain about that :-)

Finally, he has also caught on to the camera, and he smiles a big cheesy grin every time you aim one his way...well, maybe not EVERY time.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Sorry for the Wait...

It's hard to believe it's really been two weeks since we posted anything!! So much changes in two weeks, it's incredible. Matthew is now crawling (not far yet, but forward :-) He also has two teeth, one on top and one on bottom, with 4 more coming right behind those!! He says ma ma and blows lots of raspberries. He is such a joy!! Everyone that meets him comments on how good natured and happy he is! Here are some new photos...

Officially Ours Forever :-)

Matthew's adoption became final on November 5th!! We should have his new birth certificate in a few weeks. To celebrate we covered him in kisses & thanked Jesus for the goodness he has brought to our lives.

On another note...Matthew actually let me look into his mouth today (you know how hard that can be if you have ever had an 8 month old :-) I was shocked to see that all 4 of his upper teeth are bulging and ready to come through any moment and the neighbor to the bottom tooth that appeared this weekend is ready to make a showing as well. I guess Matthew figured,if it's going to hurt that bad, might as well get it all over at one time. We can't wait to see that cute toothy grin!!

Thanks for your prayers for Dylan (pictured left) He never caught Matthew's tonsillitis, and for Matthew (who is feeling much better) and for Greg and I (we caught up a bit on our sleep). Please continue to pray for Courtney, Bill and Rhyer. The are still fighting an uphill battle. Rhyer was given the green light to try food again at very small increments. He needs to be able to eat before he can go home. Please pray for complete healing and for endurance for Courtney as Bill had to go back to work this week and she is alone at the hospital 24/7. Pray too that his brain damage is reversed and that Rhyer can be fully cognitively, physically and emotionally healthy. Thanks!!

Gimme Five!!

I don't like avocado!!!

Thanks for Praying!

We finally had (almost) a full night of sleep last night!! Matthew made it all day yesterday with no Tylenol the Doctor confirmed that he is healing, and should be fine in 3-4 days.

Also...This morning, upon waking at 6am, I noticed that Matthew's first tooth finally decided to push through. So, after 2 weeks of night waking and fussiness, we will never know if it was the tooth or the tonsillitis that caused all his distress. My guess is both. At any rate, we are grateful that he is back to our happy smiley boy (with a new pearly white as part of his smile.)

Matthew is also talking up a storm all of a sudden. We don't understand a word of it yet though. Uncle Steve thinks Matthew may be speaking in Romanian :-) It's funny though how he seems to learn new things in his sleep. He started "giving me five" two days ago. He also figured out how to get food into his mouth with his own hands. I will post the video of this as well as the "I don't like avocado" video today too. This is the best job in the world!!