Blast from the Past

I can't remember if I've shared this or not, but I was born in England and lived there until the age of seven when my parents moved to Canada, and I decided I'd go with them :)

While living in England, one of my favorite tv shows was called "Postman Pat". I even rocked a fabulous Postman Pat lunch box, which I have not been able to bring myself to part with yet. Yes, I was a pretty cool kid!

I had not seen Postman Pat since my time in England, so imagine my absolute joy and pure excitement to find that one of our local channels broadcasts Postman Pat every single day! I couldn't believe it! They did change the theme song, which I was pretty devastated about, but every once in a while, Pat (the Postman) will hum or whistle the old theme song while driving along in his car...so that helps ease the pain a little :)

Matthew absolutely loves Postman Pat! Maybe it's because I put it on every day so that I can watch it and relive my childhood. Either way, when that Postman starts delivering mail, we have one happy baby (and momma) on our hands!

Hibernation

I'm starting to feel a bit like a bear, hibernating for winter. Except that I can only wish I was sleeping all the time!

Matthew and I have been a couple of sickies again for the last few days. The doctor said that he would probably catch a lot of colds and things this winter, and she was right - it seems like it has just been sickness after another. I think I've left the house 3 times in the last week. I haven't had the energy or ambition to do much of anything, and yesterday I spent practically the whole day rocking my baby in the chair (Brad took over when he got home - so thankful for that man!). Poor Matthew has had his first American fever, has a nasty cough, and some other things I won't gross you out with :) I just felt so sorry for him yesterday when he was so sick...and I felt pretty sorry for myself as well since I was up from 5:45am until 12:30am, by which point I was feeling like a miserable zombie. It is hard to take care of someone else when you don't feel well, but I'm learning that as a mom, you just do it anyway. I'm gaining so much more appreciation for my mom these days, for all she did to take care of me. It is more than I ever realized!

Thankfully, today was much better and we even saw some smiles. Lunchtime was pretty exciting (well, for me anyway, and I think for Matthew!) as fed himself a bowl of oatmeal all by himself for the very first time!

Some of it even went in his mouth!

I am starting to really long for Spring to arrive, and for this season of sickness to be over at long last. Sunshine, birds, blue skies...yep, if I get to sleep tonight I am for sure going to dream about those things!

Our Journey to Matthew: Video :)

It is finally complete - I wanted to have something that would remind us of the incredible journey the Lord took us on these last couple of years, and here it is!

(There is music with it so make sure your speakers are on - it's just not the same without it!)

PS - What a weird freeze frame of Brad at the computer...and my floating miniature head! Not sure how to change that... :)

So Apparently We Don't Like Snow...

When Brad got home from work today, we decided it was finally time that we took Matthew out to play in the snow. I'm not sure if he got to be out in snow in Korea or not, but we thought it would be so much fun to take him out in the yard and pull him around in the sled, see him look around in wonder at the snow...you know, all those cute pictures you have in your head.

So we suited up the little man until he looked like a giant marshmallow, unable to move his arms or legs...

...headed out to the yard with Daisie, sat him in his little sled...

...and the tears began!

Let me give you a close-up of his sad little face just so you can understand how unhappy he was about the whole thing:

We thought maybe it was the sled thing, although we had pulled him around in it in our living room and he'd enjoyed that just fine. But Brad suggested we just let him sit in the snow, and maybe he'd like that better.

Nope.

Only Daddy's arms finally brought relief from the cries.

I think we spent a total of 2 minutes outside after spending 10 minutes getting ready!

Ah yes, the joys of winter :)

Hey Matthew...Wanna Talk To Daddy?

Every day when Brad calls to say hi, I hold the cell phone up to Matthew's ear so that Brad can say hi to him. Matthew listens intently, sometimes smiles when he hears his daddy's voice, and sits very still while Brad talks.

Recently Matthew has been doing something that we find pretty adorable. He has a toy cell phone that his foster family sent with him, and the other day we saw him holding it up to his ear and shouting "Dada!" into it. Over the next few days...he started using everything as a phone! It is so funny!

Here he is first thing this morning with his "cell phone" (also known as the silo that goes with his toy farm). And yes, he is shouting "Dada!" while listening to it :)

Later on his sippy cup became the phone...

And of course a toy hammer is always a good phone...

I'm pretty sure at lunch that he used his bread as a phone, too!

This kid cracks me up. Sometimes he hands it to me and I have to pretend to

talk to Brad before handing it back to him. So cute!

We had a great day and everyone here was in a good mood!

Even though he was pretty busy talking on the phone,

Matthew and I did manage to fit in a game or two of peek-a-boo :)

Overall, we had a great Monday!

Hello 2010...It's About Time I Welcome You!

You may be wondering if my New Year's Resolution is to never blog again...

But no, we have just been busy, and I've been lazy and enjoying these last few days Brad has had off. Tomorrow he goes back to work, and life will get back to its normal routine. I tried to convince him to use his 2010 vacation days and take the rest of January off, but he just wouldn't go for it :) I am so thankful for the time we have had as a family, and Matthew has just loved having Daddy home all the time! Every time Brad leaves the room, Matthew yells "DADA!" - it is so funny!

I have been thinking back on last year's resolutions - things I wanted to try to accomplish this year. I set only 3 goals last year, and in my own way I think I accomplished them (sort of!). They were:

1. Run a 1/2 marathon. Now, technically, I did not do this. I completed all the training for the 1/2 marathon, but then a totally wonderful awesome thing happened and Matthew arrived 4 days before the race! So I didn't get to run it, but I still feel pretty proud of myself for all the training I did. As for next year...we'll have to see how running fits in with this new "mommy" thing! I'm sure once it is warmer I will feel much more motivated, right?!

2. Take a picture a day and complete Project 365 (keeping an album with journaling about each picture). I did not technically take a picture a day, but I did take a picture most days and have just about finished my album! It is amazing to look back over my life for the last year and see so many memories. I am so glad I did this!

3. My last "resolution" was to grow closer to the Lord. It's not really a measurable resolution, but I know that I can say that without doubt, I am closer to Him than I was a year ago, and I have been changed by knowing Him this year.

For this year I'm thinking I want to focus on being a better friend, and being more hospitable (having people over for meals more, or just to hang out, without getting so stressed about it). I also want to enjoy every single moment with this little one, because they pass by so quickly.

I'll leave you today with this picture. It is Matthew trying to push his cousin, Ben, who is just a little younger than him, in this toy walker thing. He tried so hard to get it to move, then got frustrated and went to smack poor Ben on the head! I cannot WAIT to see these two playing together more this year :) Oh the fun that they are going to have!

Welcome, 2010...I think you're going to be a good one!