The Mattesons

More Climbing!

I have so much catching up to do on the blog, but in the meantime I wanted to post these videos. The first shows the twins playing on the climber seen in the previous posting--it's amazing how things have changed in a couple months! They're really monkeys now. And the second shows Hayden in his typical happy state while the Lamppa kids make him laugh. (SO great to visit with Brian, Rachel, Eli, Bryn and Drew while they flew through town from Washington!)

(Yard video from 7/25/11, Hayden giggling from 8/2/11)

Backyard Playing

I found this great climber on craigslist, and the boys have really taken a liking to it! It's so amazing to see them figure out how to use their bodies. And thank goodness we have a safe place for them to run off all this energy!

Rest of May

Hayden's been doing great. He loves to watch his brothers, and spends his days traveling from place to place in the house: the boppy, the bouncy, the swing, and carseat, with naps in between. He's been sucking his hand and really doesn't want the pacifier outside of sleep time. He's definitely discovered his feet and hands, and is quite happy just playing with his feet.

The twins are a keeping us on our toes. Some cute moments I don't want to forget:

When one boy is in the crib for timeout, the other stands at the door crying and waiting for the other one to come out. What's so crazy is how the one is probably in timeout for hitting the other!
On a similar note, the first day I had to use timeout in the backyard, it was to discipline Everett for repeatedly drinking the water from their wading pool (which is from a well). I put him against the garage and he voluntarily put his hands up like he was being arrested. Levi couldn't stand knowing Everett "got" to be in timeout, so he promptly committed the same offense, and then walked himself to the garage and, smiling the whole way, put is hands up, too.

They don't have a lot of words, but they certainly try hard to communicate. Although it all sounds pretty similar, Everett says ball, bat, dog, truck and car. They both make a lot of animal noises, although the only ones that actually match the animal are owl and monkey, and sometimes cat (Levi). Go figure. Oh, and Dora. They both say Dora quite clearly. Levi makes a lot of sounds but really no words yet, aside from the standard mama and dad. They'll both point out just about any object I name while we read, which makes reading a lot of fun.

Both twins are loving Hayden. They give him love and try to console him when he cries. I have to keep a close eye of course because the consoling could be a pacifier, or if could be a sippy cup shoved in his mouth or a plastic truck zooming on his head.

This is a full-circle moment. They used to love this baby gym, and as they played underneath it as babies, I distinctly recall thinking, will they ever understand that they can grab at it? Or kick at the moving toys? I didn't even dream of them standing up at it some day!

Last year, the week before Memorial Day, Everett rolled for the first time (6 months exactly), and on the holiday Levi rolled. This Memorial Day they played on their climber outside and ate popsicles for the first time, and a few days later their baby brother rolled for his first time. I'm so sentimental about these milestones! (Yes, that's an empty sandbox.)

Very thankful Hayden likes the bumbo!

Hayden and Grandma Hobin. She ate him up, reading him books and cuddling with him. We're big kissers around here so he got plenty of that too. Seriously, look at those cheeks. Here's a closeup:

First Week of May

When I logged in today I could see I'd uploaded these images more than a month ago, but I didn't add any commentary. So who knows what we were up to, but here's what early May looked like!

P.S. The last image looks like Hayden's dedication day. He looks like such a little man!

Twins Finally Use Spoons

The boys have been using utensils forever, but I've never let them have anything wet or sloppy. If I want them to have cottage cheese or yogurt, I feed it to them. I can't stand the thought of food in every nook and cranny (the high chairs or the bodies) but I know they need to learn, to this month I started introducing the spoon. They love it! And since I did wait awhile, they really aren't too messy about it. At least I don't think so...

(Yeah, Levi's a lefty.)

Late April

All of the boys are growing and changing so quickly, I really can't even remember what they were doing a week ago! All of a sudden the twins seem to understand EVERYTHING we say (time to really start editing), and I notice they can point out objects in their books that I don't ever remember teaching them. They still don't have many words, but many more sounds. Up until now it was a lot of "ka" and "cha" in addition to the standard sounds, but now I hear what I could swear is "she said so" (I wish). They will say book and dog, mama, dada, go (where'd it go?), da (all done), and a few others, but they really don't have a lot of words in their vocabulary yet. I'm loving sign language, though--if nothing else, I can ask them to stop whining and say please!

Sometimes Levi gets a little overheated while he naps. Yikes. Look at that little dimple in his chin! He has one on both sides :)

Everett is a very focused, intense child. Love his determination.

The newest squishy baby!

Hayden's a rock star. Some days are harder than others, but I'm really thankful that he is fairly entertained by the chaos and gives me periods of time in his bouncy or carseat. Nonetheless, at any given point in the day someone's probably crying at our house. Thankfully it's mixed with lots of laughter, too.

The boys got their second haircuts this month. We decided to take them to Kiddo Clips, where the train table was a big hit.

Hayden's First Laugh!

This clip is really poor, but I picked up the camera to capture a smile and got his first laugh while I was at it! Every day he smiles more easily and giggles, too.

Early April

How cute is this baby?!

Hayden it really waking up now and we're seeing some smiles and expressions. (You can see little Levi in the same onesie at the right. Definitely brothers!)

He had his 2-month appointment on Friday (9 week mark) and he measured 14 pounds and 25 inches long. Just like the twins, his height is the most remarkable. We make big boys!

The twins are LOVING our yard and being outside. It's still new enough that they're happy throwing and chasing balls, playing with the dogs, and climbing on their picnic table.

Levi took the boys for a little ride on the mower the other day.

The boys are still signing "please" ferociously, and Everett has started signing "more." Oh, and the other day after we played a game where I hide a timer (they search by listening to the tick-tock) Everett started imitating my "where'd it go?" question by lifting up his hands and saying "Go?" It's so great.

They are growing by leaps and bounds and every single day I think how I need to write down what they're doing or the new thing they've picked up but of course it doesn't usually happen. They still love to read and bring me books all day. Levi really loves anything with a face--a stuffed animal, a toy person or animal, even a character on the TV--and makes the cutest animal sounds. He sort of combines them all and lets out sort of a growl/squeal sound. Everett loves to carry around a bowl and spoon at all times, pretending to mix up concoctions. Our daily toothbrushing escapade is very popular, in fact I need to buy a bigger step stool because they are so insistent on brushing at the same time and our current stool is way too narrow and dangerous. On a similar note, they've discovered the toilet. When they come out of the bathroom with wet hands I know it's time for a bath.

March!

Well, turns out I'm a once-a-month poster. I think about doing it more often but just don't take the time to transfer and sort through the pictures I've taken. Actually this time I've gone against every fabric of my being and picked some favorites to post, even BEFORE I cleaned up all 300.

Three weeks of Hayden (oldest to newest):

Adorable shirts for adorable boys, from the Speyers:

Banana + Nutella=

It's safe to say it was a hit.

Like February, March was a whirlwind. I keep saying our house is a zoo, but I'm realizing it's really just because of the two monkeys, not the newest addition. They are so busy and really fun right now. I see new developments every single day and I wish I could catalog them in my memory forever. For instance, two days ago, as I was snuggling Levi after his bath I asked him, "Should we go put on a diaper?" and he nodded and said "yah!" He knew exactly what I meant. And last week Sandra taught them how to sign "please" at church and Everett's been signing ever since. The other night before bed he didn't like the first book in the pile, so he signed "please" so I'd grab his new favorite (thanks, Evangelistas!). Man, if he keeps signing I'll never be able to say no. I love that they're communicating!

Our latest endeavor is keeping them off furniture. They just want to climb and be boys, so I'm really anxious for better weather to arrive so we can get outside and play with our new sandbox (thanks, Grammie & Papa!) and just throw balls and be wild. I'm envisioning the summer going well just knowing that they'll have the chance to run freely.

I really hate to say this publicly, but Hayden's a pretty easy baby. I tell Levi all the time how I can't believe what a world of difference it is having one baby instead of two.

This is our first adventure outdoors this year--we played on the deck.

We have picnics in the living room sometimes, which is just my way of having a snack in a semi-clean manner. They stay on the blanket and watch Dora, our new part-time babysitter.

Time Flies!

Wow, February flew by us so quickly. I can't recall much, except we had lots of houseguests (thanks to the Hobins and Mattesons and also my brother, who all came for a week or more to help) and lots of transitioning. The twins are really sweet with their brother and want to give him hugs (headbutts) all the time and often hand (throw) him their lovies when he's upset. It's really sweet. But it's also difficult for them to see me holding Hayden so often, especially when I'm nursing. We're all adjusting, though, and enjoying our sweet boys.

Welcome, Hayden!

On February 4, 2011 we welcomed Hayden Kendrick to the bunch. He weighed in at 10 lbs., 2 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. At his 2-week checkup he was 4 ounces heavier than at birth and 1/2 inch longer, so all is going well.

The boys are adjusting to the changes just as you'd expect--one minute their laying their heads on the baby to hug him, and the next they're trying to smack him in the head. Because of my restrictions (c-section) I can't lift the twins, so we've had family here to help and of course that's an adjustment for them, too. But I definitely have that loud house I was hoping for. Now I'm hoping to tone it down a bit. (Yeah, right.)

On Thursday, February 17 the boys got their first haircuts! Before and after pics are below.

Ending January

The boys love it when Levi pulls out pieces of the maze. They run around like mad men.

They're definitely perfecting their climbing skills, and I have a new task of keeping them off the couches. And their small motor skills are getting better every day, which is so much fun to watch. They still love their books, and Levi in particular will spend half his day bringing me book after book to read to him. He'll make a "kuh" sound, which I think it supposed to be "book."

Also, they've recovered from their first sinus infections...by ushering in nasty colds. Seriously. I can't believe all of their little ailments!

Here are a couple videos--one of Levi playing peekaboo with a sheet on the chair, and one with the boys learning how to use new sippy cups (they're used to the straw cups but I wanted to see if they could figure out the tilt factor to these).

For the sake of our next child, I feel compelled to add this pregnancy pic of me. I don't want him to feel neglected already. I have an entire book of pics and notes from my first pregnancy, a few notes and pics from the twins' pregnancy (and the book is nowhere to be found actually), and literally three pics from this pregnancy. Hope he's a tough one.