Always trying to grab the things he's not supposed to play with.



Matthew and his rather rotund belly after a particularly large dinner.





We may be Texans now, but we still root for the Dodgers... (now if only we could decide between the Aggies and the Longhorns...)



Fussy baby? Give him Mommy's cell phone.





He's so perfect



Admiring Daddy's Wall-O-Star Wars

We had a good weekend with friends. The Swains came over on Friday for a movie night. They brought over a great dinner and we provided dessert and snacks. Saturday was spent cleaning up the house and yard followed by a whole lot of sitting on the couch and floor trying to keep Matthew out of trouble. Sunday, as always, was a busy day. Church in the morning. We had a great lunch and then we went to the Monaghans' to spend some time with Kelly and the kids while Marianne ran errands.

We do have a prayer request for all of you. Our friend Rosann is in the hospital right now undergoing some tests for some chest pain she's been having. She's Marianne's mom and she's like the Godmother of the OneLife group. We all call her Maudie (Italian for "godmother"). We're hoping she's released from the hospital soon with good news.

Bed head =)



First time trying a real banana. He didn't want to pick it up with his hands but he enjoyed eating it.



Biter biscuit face





I wish he could wear the clothes he has now forever



Waiting patiently in the playpen for Mommy to finish vacuuming.







Matthew has become stingy with his smiles. He no longer smiles at people when he sees them and he usually won't hold a smile long enough for me to get a good picture so no one has been able to see his teeth. I finally got pictures of 2 of his teeth. The 3rd one really isn't that visible yet.







It's a good Sunday morning if I can get Matthew to take a nap in his stroller during the service.



Up from his nap and people watching

This week has been both eventful and completely uneventful... Is that even possible? We haven't been leaving the house at all, but there are a lot of decisions are being made. Matthew continues to be blissfully unaware of it all =). There's been rain for the last 24 hours. Hurricane Dolly is south of us but we're still getting thunderstorms and thundershowers. Right now the sky is a lighter shade of gray. The black cloud seems to have passed for now but it is still raining. I think for the most part we're enjoying the weather. That's probably because we're not leaving the house much.

In addition to cruising Matthew is now pushing his lion around the living room. He's going to be walking before I know it and my boy will be a toddler.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

He's getting good at pulling up to standing on it, too, considering it has almost no resistance.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

We got some great news yesterday that one of our favorite families is going to come visit. We got more good news that one of our other favorite families might come visit soon, too. We love our friends.

It's raining here right now. It seems like every other day we have thunderstorms in the forecast but we end up having a sunny day. At least the lawn will get watered. =)

I can't believe my boy is 10 months old. He's going to be a toddler soon. He's cruising along anything and everything now and has even started letting go completely and standing on his own for a couple of seconds before holding on again or plopping down onto his bottom.

Here are a couple of new videos of him cruising. It may not be the most exciting thing for everyone but it's a big deal to Mommy =)


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Matthew has been talking up a storm lately, too. He's not doing a whole lot of mimicking yet but he does babble to himself, his toys, or us all day long. Please excuse the Two Towers playing very loudly in the background.


Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Now on to the pictures...

He looks so much like his daddy





He has discovered the joy of Tupperware





Still teething and drooling







Playing with Mommy in the morning

Matthew has joined a motorcycle club...





Ok, not really, but he was given this shirt by his Grammy's friend who is president of the Soldiers for Jesus motorcycle club.

This week has been an emotional one. Decisions to be made. Hopefully we'll have some things figured out soon. I can't believe how big and independent my boy is getting. I know I say it all the time, but it really is amazing. I have to start thinking about his birthday party soon We're working on table foods, but he's not big on some of them. Bread, cheerios, and biter biscuits are his favorites. Today we're trying cheese again. Hopefully it'll go well again =).

Matthew got to fully enjoy summer yesterday. My grandpa gave me some money to buy Matthew something fun when we were in California. I decided to buy him a little pool for the backyard. Unfortunately, he seemed a little less interested than I was hoping. I think because there was a lack of things to play with and he was wearing way more clothes than he's used to wearing in water. I'm thinking I'll return it for a splash mat or something more entertaining.

He seemed to enjoy the pool more when it was indoors and he could crawl in and out of it.







After I inflated it I was looking at the box and found this:



So we put on board shorts, a rash guard, and some sunscreen and went outside for some water fun. The only bummer was that the spray nozzle on the pool sprayed away from the pool instead of into the pool. Oh well.













This onesie was a big hit





Cruising along the couch



Relaxing after drinking some milk. Playing with Mommy's phone and watching Friends while laying in Mommy's lap =)