Happy Halloween!

Matty is enjoying his first Halloween today and will be going trick or treating for the second time later on this evening. The city of Manchester traditionally has their trick or treating the Sunday before Halloween. I had to work but Andrew had fun going around with Matty in his monkey costume (what else?). Tonight we are going to our friends in a nearby town and trick or treating on the real holiday. We are looking forward to the tradition and more good picture ops!

One Big Update

It's been a while so this might be long, but guaranteed to be full of Matty, Matty, Matty! We've been settling into our new home and enjoying the extra space and luxuries we never had before such as a bath tub, king sized bed and backyard with a grill. I've been back to work for over a month now and Andrew has been in school for almost 3 weeks. Matty has been in daycare for almost 4 weeks and so far so good! He did get his first cold/cough/virus the second week which left all 3 off us pretty miserable for a while as Matty didn't really sleep well during that time at all, and in turn neither did we. Even now that he is better, sleep is still hit or miss as he is teething too. Some nights he sleeps 7 or even 8 hours straight and some he wakes up every 2 hours, and there is no rhyme or reasons as to why (or at least what we can figure out!). He is also amazingly growing in front of our eyes! He went for his fourth month appointment a few weeks ago (even though he turned 5 months 3 days later!) and did fine again with his shots...only cried a minute or two. He was up to 15.14 lbs (46th percentile) and 25 inches (50th percentile). Dr. Eric said he was doing great and said we could start him on solids if we wanted. I was thinking we would wait until 6 months but he has been showing signs of being interested in eating as he watches us eat and shoves his hands into anything we are eating so we decided to start a little at this time. His first was a little rice cereal we gave him the past few days which he took fine and seemed to enjoy the whole process. Tonight we tried some bananas and he really seemed to like it! Lots of smiles and opening his mouth up for more. It's pretty fun to see his face experience something new but yes...very messy! We are looking forward to making some applesauce from the awesome apples we picked today and trying that at the end of the week and then probably some sweet potatoes, avocado and butternut squash. I have a feeling the kitchen floor will be very colorful! Here's some pictures of him trying the cereal the first time. We were just sitting him up in the bumbo but got a chance to go out and buy a new high chair yesterday, which he looks like such a big boy when he's in it!





We've also been doing a whole nighttime routine with him every night before he goes to sleep which includes a bath and stories read by his daddy (Goodnight Moon every night!). We never really had a good bathing system as our old place only had a shower so we put the baby tub on the bottom of the shower and bathed him that way. We both usually ended up soaking wet! When we moved, we were so excited about having a bathtub. The tub is great for us, however it is very deep and has high sides and glass doors, so very difficult to put the tub in and use. So I decided to get a Tummy Tub. The place where I go to moms group, Nini Bambini, sells these and I thought they sounded great, and we can just put it right on the floor of the bathroom. They are designed to make babies feel like they are in the womb because they kind of sit in a fetal position and the water comes up to their chin. It took him a few times to get comfortable with it but now he loves it. He sits and splashes and plays. I know they say you can use it until 2 years old but I can't imagine that! I'm sure we will transition to the regular tub by then! Here are some pictures of him enjoying his tummy tub!




And lastly, we are enjoying the change of seasons. It was a great summer and some say not long enough but I guess since I was off, it felt long enough for me. I am loving the cool mornings and evenings and crisp fall air. The leaves are just starting to change in NH and it's starting to look beautiful. Today we went apple picking for the first time and enjoyed the beautiful day. It's also fun to start dressing Matty for the new season. Instead of just one piece rompers, he's been wearing jeans, overalls, sweaters, fleeces, etc...he just looks so cute! Here's a picture of him all bundled up in his bear sweatshirt when it was 50 degrees yesterday morning! And a picture of him sitting up in a baby sled our friends gave us...he doesn't know what it's for yet but yes, snow will be just around the corner!

RIP Johnny Castle...

Nobody puts Baby in the corner....

Back to School

Although I've had inservice days yesterday and today (Mon and Tues), tomorrow marks my first day of the 2009-2010 school year at Nashua High School North...



I am looking forward to meeting the 93 sophomores who I will have the pleasure of spending 90 minutes a day with, for the next 90 days...

This year I am lucky enough to have my own classroom and won't have to be one of those traveling teachers....

Go Titans!!!!!

The New Digs!!!

Well it's been almost a month since we moved into our new house...We are about 95% done unpacking and decorating (still a few more boxes etc.)...I guess it's time now that we put up some pictures.....

Here's the front...


And the living room


And the kitchen..



The kitchen from the other side...


The backyard....


Matty's Bedroom...


Another of Matty's Room..



Our Bedroom....


Our new king size bed!!!


(YEAH I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE MADE THE BED FOR THE PICTURE!!!!)

Upstairs bathroom....


And a few of the basement (used as a guestroom, playroom and office/den)

Yikes..A month!!!!

Wow...We are really blogging slackers aren't we??? I guess it's more me than Denise as its been a really long time since I blogged....Anyway it's been a busy busy month.... Since the last blog we became homeowners and have moved to our new digs..Pictures to follow soon, I promise.....Packing, moving and unpacking was a royal pain, it always is, but even more so with a 3 month old....We had a big yard sale a couple of weekends before we moved and made over 300 dollars, not bad, and we got rid of a lot of crap...

We are now all moved in and settled in to the new place. We are very happy and comfortable here (Central AC is the best!!!!)... Matty seems to be enjoying it to...
As for the rest of our summer since our last post...We took another trip to see the families in New York..We spent a night in Great Neck with my parents..Then we headed out to the Hamptons for a couple of days and shacked up in the pool house....Then we headed up to Denise's parents for a couple of days and took Matty to his first horserace at the Saratoga racetrack...

Now we are back in town, and today marks Denise's first day back at work since Matty was born....This week it's Matty and me hanging out until he starts Day care next week. School starts for me in two weeks, hopefully we'll all be in a routine by then..

Things that we promise:
Pictures of our new home
Pictures of our trip
Pictures of Matty

Soon come...

Photoshop...

Courtesy of our friend Curtis...