Paw Paw's Visit

Back Home.

Matthew and I are back home now staying with my mother for three weeks while Jeff flies off into the sunset. It's wonderful to be home, though I'm not looking forward to another three (!) flights back to Hawaii. Matthew was as close to an angel as possible on the two flights here, but a large part of that success is due to my father accompanying us. I'm going to be by myself on the return trip and I'm dreading the look on the face of the person next to us when Matthew kicks his feet into their lap and makes himself comfortable!

Here are a couple of shot from the winter photo shoot I did with Matthew the other day. My camera continues to frustrate me since it takes better pictures of the grass than of my child. I'm sure it's my fault, but who has time to read the camera manual? So, for the time being, you will continue to get blurry pictures of my baby and I would appreciate it if everyone would continue to tell me that he's cute - even though it's difficult to tell exactly what he looks like. Take it from me, he's a doll.

Roll Over.

Matthew is a very active boy. Very. He's kind of like a perpetual motion machine. Or like a wind-up toy that just keeps on going. Think Energizer Bunny. In fact, that's what I should have dressed him as for Halloween. As it was, I dressed him as a sleeping baby and prayed to the trick-or-treat gods that no one would knock on the door. If I were going to scare Matthew on Halloween, I could have dressed up as SLEEP because that's the thing he's most afraid of. It's all I can do to get him to take a nap - and I have to start working on getting him back to sleep about half an hour after he wakes up. I'm still trying to figure him out - and I WILL figure him out - but for the moment I'm just thankful that he is sleeping at all, even though that requires way more parental involvement than it should.

Back on the subject of Matthew's activity level, when he's not sleeping Matthew loves to have his tummy time. When I say "loves" I mean he doesn't spit, cough, and screech like he does when I try to get him to sleep. (See above.) Lately, he's been enjoying his surfboard tummy time mat, which I'm supposed to have filled with water, but I just filled with air instead. (The little fish don't "dance" quite like they're supposed to, but I'm just going to tell him that the fish died, if he ever asks.) While I like to put him on his proper "tummy time mat" (Matt's mat, if you will), Jeff likes to just plop him right on the bed. In one of their afternoon tummy time bonding sessions, Matthew gave Jeff the best gift: he rolled over!

No joke, our two month old rolled over. I didn't believe it either, but I reproduced the experiment scientifically, and I know concur with Jeff's assessment. (It doesn't take a genius to determine that a child placed on his stomach who is now lying on his back has, in fact, rolled over, but I just couldn't believe it.) So, in all the fretting that Matthew isn't breastfeeding well, sleeping through the night, or doing our taxes yet, there is a ray of beautiful, healthy hope. Roll on, little one, roll on!

Father Knows Best.

During the two weeks that I was back at work, I had the best daycare provider possible: my husband. Because Matthew was not old enough to start the community daycare we found for him, Jeff took two weeks off of work to take care of our little boy. He said that he wanted to see what it was like for me during those last few weeks of maternity leave. Bless his little ol' heart. During that time, here's what I saw when I woke up each morning...



Jeff is magic with Matthew. From the beginning, he could calm him better than I could. If I'm the feeder, he's definitely the soother. When Matthew is crying in the car, Jeff will start singing a silly, made-up song and Matthew will immediately pipe down to listen. It works so well that sometimes I try to sing like Jeff when Matthew's crying in the car with me, but it doesn't work as well and I end up feeling silly. By the time I was ready to leave for work each day, it was usually storytime. Matthew loves to listen to his dad...



Every morning and afternoon, Jeff and Matthew would go on a walk. Over the two weeks, Matthew became much more aware of his surroundings, spending time looking around, not just sleeping. In the time I have spent home with Matthew, I am embarrassed by the number of walks I have taken him on. In fact, Jeff did such a great job during his two weeks at home that I was a little jealous of his natural parenting ability. If I had my choice, I would continue working and Jeff could stay home with Matthew. Alas, we're stuck with the next best thing. Here's a picture of Jeff and Matthew ready for their walk...



Even now, Jeff gives Matthew a bath every night that he's not on duty. It's boy bonding time. I love to hear Jeff singing and talking to Matthew - and to hear Matthew cooing back at his loving and wonderful father. I'm usually running around like a crazy person trying to put the house back in order from a chaotic day, doing my best to act like I'm balancing the baby needs and housework without difficulty. Here the are all snuggly from the bath...



Two days ago, Jeff and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. We left Matthew for an hour or so with friends and had a nice dinner together. I'm not sure how I got so lucky - to have found the best husband AND best father on the planet - but I'm sure I'll never be able to thank my lucky stars enough. I love you, babe.

Mom & Baby