You Are My Sunshine

Beautiful Matney had her 1 year appointment on April 12, 2011 (after spending an exciting afternoon with her Aunti Ab in celebration of her auntie's 3? birthday!) Dr. Mai said she couldn't find a think wrong with this pretty little girl and was happy to see how many tricks she had.

Matney is in the lower percentiles, but she doesn't let it get her down! She is growing fast and learning something new every day. The latest tricks up her sleeve include using the sign for "more", "eat" and "done". She knows where the snacks are kept and many times a day wonders to the cabinet, looks up and says "eat, eat, eat". She has learned to say "up" when she wants to be held. I am happy to report she is completely weened from formula, however, this little lady still likes her "ba" at bed time and if she sees it on the counter during the day. She is turning in to quit the little monkey and finds something new to climb on daily. She loves the outdoors, watching the "moos", and riding the Rang*r with her daddy.

1 year stats:

Weight: 19 3/4 lb (30th percentile)

Height: 27 3/4 inches (10th percentile)

Head: 46.2 cm (75th percentile)

We are so happy with the journey God has blessed with us so far with this little lady and we are going to rock all the years to come!

Happy Birthday Little Bug

It is hard to believe a year has come and gone with us sharing our lives with the most wonderful gift in the world - our daughter. She has been such a blessing in our lives in just this one short year and we couldn't wait to celebrate her special day! For several months we have been working with Matney on holding up her fingers to tell us how old she is. She is a pro at showing you her fingers and saying a word that she thinks is one, it sounds more like "unh".

We celebrated her special day with a ladybug theme on April 2nd (I had to leave to go on a business trip on her actual birthday). I came up with the theme based on the fact that we have always called her our little bug. We had a house full of family and friends who helped make Miss Matney's 1st birthday very special!

(Quite the mess, but very worth it!)

(Is it a hug and a kiss, or a take down?)

Ahhhh...vacation!!

(Our first family vacation photo! - Indian Rocks Beach, FL)

(Matney loved the playground)

We finally made it to our long awaited vacation to Florida and boy, oh, boy was it what we ever needed. We had been looking forward to beautiful, warm Florida weather and it did not disappoint. Every day dawned bright and sunny and was the perfect weather for walking on the beach or lounging on the patio with a cold drink in my hand. The nights were cool and peaceful as we took our caravan of kids on a walk almost nightly for dinner. God knew what he was doing when he told people to "rest"; as five days of no agenda or deadline to meet, met this strung out employee and Momma with a smile and a thank you!

Vacation apparently agreed with Matney as she was in great spirits the entire time and enjoyed soaking up the sun as well as some extra attention from her cousins and her Auntie Ab (they came to an understanding on this trip that Auntie Ab is the best auntie ever and Matney's feelings for her really started to grow).

We had a great time on our first family vacation and came home feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Big Red Tractor!

Matney took her first tractor ride with Papa G a few weeks ago while daddy was on his "man trip" to Kentucky. We decided since Daddy was gone we would move in to Nannie B and Papa's house for a few days and have them take care of us.

Several of the days we were there it was fairly nice out so we were able to play outside. Matney loves to be outdoors and was a pro on the tractor, the tire swing, and checking out the cows. She got so excited when she saw the cows following us in the field and kept yelling out for them and pointing. I think Papa G (and Nannie B) was pretty proud that his only granddaughter is turning out to be quite the tomboy!

This is not saving us money!

Toilet paper is pretty expensive as most people know and we usually spend several minutes in the toilet paper aisle contemplating which kind to buy that is either on sale or maybe a little cheaper but won't kill you. Lately, we have been going through more of it due to a little lady named Matney who is extremely busy ALL THE TIME! This is how we found her one day when it got very very quiet in the house...

Matney's First Snowman

Several weeks ago when we had so much snow for so long, it finally warmed up enough one day to take Matney out to play. It took forever to bundle her up, but she was a good sport the entire time and was so excited to be outside. The snow was just right so we went out to the field by the pond and built her first snowman. She wasn't really sure what to think about it and spent most of her time just laying in the snow trying to figure out how to move around!

Such a good helper

(Resting after perusing trough all the tupperware)

(Attacking Bella)

(Helping Mommy organize her files)



Matney is very busy lately helping with everything or trying to get in to everything! You never know what you will find when you walk in to a room. The other day we thought it sounded very quiet in the kitchen where we left her for a few seconds; when we came back to the kitchen there was a fistful of cat food in her hand and headed to her mouth! Yucky!!



Even when she doesn't feel well she is still going almost full speed. She had another ear infection this week, her third one, but didn't let it faze her. She would go off and play for a few minutes and then come lay her head down on you to rest for a bit and fuss. With her ear infection came 3 nights of sleeping through the night. Momma and Daddy looooooved this, except for the nights I knew she had a fever, Momma didn't really sleep all night. She does seem to be a growin' girl these days as we are finally wearing 9-12 month clothes. At the doctor on Friday, she weighed 19 pounds 9 ounces fully clothed!