Matthew Celebrates Another 4th Birthday

It' been 5 days since the boys left for California and it looks like they are having a great time. These are pictures my Baby Bro emailed me from Matty's 2nd 4th birthday party at my Mom's house. I'm very happy that Matthew got to celebrate his birthday again with our extended family and friends.

The homemade cake

Singing "Happy Birthday!"

Blowing out the candle

Cutting the cake!

Enjoying the cake!

Michael with a tropical beverage

Making S'mores with Kow-Fu

Yummy!

The "Crash"

Gotta sneak in a picture of baby Connor G. at 2 months! What a cutie.

Off They Go

I saw M and the boys off to the airport today. They were very happy to be going on an airplane. Matty had the seating arrangement all worked out. Michael will sit by the window so he can see outside and he will sit in the middle because he does not want to see outside.

Last night, we had this conversation:

Matthew: Mommy, are you going to Caleeefornia with us?

Me: No, you, Michael and Daddy are going. Mommy is staying home.

Matthew: But, who will keep you safe?

And this morning’s conversation:

Matthew: Mommy, I know something.

Me: What do you know?

Matthew: The fish and my plant will protect you when you are home by yourself.

Who needs a big dog and security system when you have a goldfish and a seedling to protect you?

Wednesday Ramblings...

Today is turning out to be a bit of a worrisome day. M had to go to a retina specialist this morning because when he went to get his Lasik consultation, they spotted something in his eyeball (for lack of a better word). It turned out to be a condition called CSR. Basically, the blood vessel in his retina is leaking. According to Wikipedia (because that’s where I get all my medical knowledge from), this condition is self-limiting, meaning that it usually heals on its own or progressively gets worse, but there’s no known effective treatment for it so you just have to manage your life to it. I’m hoping the next visit to see the specialist will bring better news. He’s going to see the retina specialist again in a month to see how the CSR is progressing. After that, we will see what treatment options (if any) we will pursue. It’s a wait and see period, which is the worst.

On another note, the 3 Ms will be in beautiful CA by this time tomorrow. They are very excited to see Poh-poh, Gong-gong, Yi-yi, and Kaw-foo. I will be home by myself enjoying the quietness of it all, but missing them terribly. This will be the longest that I’ve been apart from my boys, and I have to admit that I am doubting my decision for them to be away for so long. I just hope that they are too busy having lots of fun to be homesick.

Happy 4th to My Angel Boy!

So this post is a little late, but I just couldn’t decide what to write for the special birthday post. What can I say, I don’t work all that well under pressure. I’ve composed several posts, but did not like any of them and so here we are. It’s been a week and 1 day since my Matty turned 4 and 10 days since his birthday party.

I’m not really inspired to tout all of his accomplishments is the 4 years that he’s lived, but I will say there are many. Like most parents, I think my child is the cutest, smartest and best little boy ever with the exception of his brother who is equally cute, smart and the best big boy ever. To expand upon this seems to me a little trite, so I will not bore you.

To my Matthew, I apologize for not being a better writer and wax poetic about your 4th birthday, but you’ll have many more to come so I’m sure you’ll understand. Just know that I love you more than you can ever imagine and that you have made my life better.

Because your mama likes to make lists, here are a few lists that I came up for you to remind you how much grief you put me through at only the tender age of 4.

Your Personality at 4:
Inquisitive
Persistent
Loving
Controlling – will do things on your own term.
Stubborn
Orderly (anal retentive is actually more like it)

Your likes (not a complete list):
Cars, trucks, car and cars
Backyardigans (Backgan is what you call them not matter how many times I’ve tried to teach you how to say it correctly. This is where the stubbornness comes in)
Playing with your brother
Pretending to play Smash Brothers with you big Bro. You will literally sit there for an hour and hold on to the Wii controller without actually playing.
Your mama (when I do what you say)
Your daddy
Your Big Bro
Cheese pizza
Watermelon & Strawberries
Green racecar you got from Connor
Having your pictures taken (You are always ready to say “cheese.”)
Daddy’s racecar

Your dislikes:
Brushing your teeth
Going to bed
Going potty in the toilet (unless we bribe you)
Putting on tennis shoes
Getting yelled at
being told you’re wrong

I'll leave y'all with some pictures from the birthday party in case you were underwhelmed by my little tribute.

Aloha, Kindergarten!

Today is a pretty big day. It’s the last day of school for Michael. Not just the last day of school, but the last day of Kindergarten. Yep, that’s right. After today, I am officially the mother of a 1st grader. I’m not old enough to have a son in 1st grade, am I? Shut your mouths. Rhetorical question, people.

Moving on, I was able to take off work early to take part in the festivities. I had a lot of fun watching Michael interact with his classmates. When it comes to competition, he takes after M. more than me. He puts his heart and soul into winning and into cheering his teammates on.

His class was divided into 2 teams and had a couple of relay races; the beachball race where they had to put a beach ball between their legs and hop the length of the race, and the sponge race. It was a lot of fun watching the children get so into the races. In the end, the 2 teams tied both races (wink, wink) and everybody got a popsicle so all was good. What a way to end the school year!

Chillin' with friends A and A

Beach ball race

Sponge race

A nice cold treat

My little 1st grader

Field Day 2009

Last Thursday, Michael's school had a "Field Day." From what I gather, it's a day of races and outdoor activities. He had a blast and was very proud to tell me that he won the 3-legged race with his buddie Calvin. I didn't make it to Field Day and didn't get to see it, but other parents were kind enough to take and post the pictures from that day.

My "Roaring Reader"

Happy June! We had a great weekend. Michael had his first official sleepover at the neighbor’s. He’s had to sleepover before, but that was under emergency situation. This sleepover was for fun instead of because Mommy had to take Daddy the emergency room. M was quite sad walking Michael over to his first sleepover. No joking, he was a little bit teary-eyed when he got back from dropping Michael off. I’m glad I’m not the only one getting choked up every time he meets another “big boy’ milestone.

This morning, M and I attended another milestone event for Michael. He had his 1st award ceremony at school. Every child received an award based on what the teacher felt was their best subject. There were awards for Science, Art, Reading, Writing and Leadership. Michael got the “Roaring Reader” award. Then after the awards they played a slideshow that the Kindergarten teachers put together. It was a very nice ceremony.

I guess this is where I should say that I’m sad for him to grow up. And I am. But at the same time, I am excited for him to grow and experience new things. There are so many more things for him to learn and discover so it would be selfish of me to wish for time to stop.

I see him playing with his buddies and realize that his world is no longer just mommy and daddy. I see him getting high fives from his buddies as he’s going up to receive his award and it warms my heart to know that he has a circle of friends who will hopefully look out for each other as they grow up together. It warms my heart to see him having an animated conversation with classmates because it tells me that he’s got stories to share that are his stories. Mostly, it warms my heart to see him becoming his own person.

Michael & the rest of "Roaring Readers"

Michael and friend A.

Michael & Mrs. Newman

Michael & Mommy