Kinsie Kay is FIVE!

Posted in Family, Kinsie by klmatthews16

I cannot believe my daughter has been with us for half a decade. She is no longer a toddler, but a little girl. She is stubborn and passionate, but she can also be very shy and nurturing. She has developed her own opinion and attitude that she loves to test out in all situations. She takes her role of big sister very seriously, and fiercely protects her brother. Ironically, she is also the one to push his buttons and beat him up more often than necessary! She has more energy than she knows what to do with (thanks a lot, Grandma Bev!), and wears us all out. If any of you have ever read the children’s book Olivia, THAT is Kinsie. We always joke with her with the famous quote from that book…”You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway!” She has gotten much taller this year, and has legs for days! I’m sure she’ll be passing me up in no time!

This year has been harder on her than we expected with living away from the home and family she’s ever known, but from that she has learned a lot of life lessons that I think have helped her mature. She definitely struggles with residency and everything that goes with it. She doesn’t like her daddy being away as much as he is, and she hates that she isn’t with all our family in Indiana. This breaks my heart when she gets sad about it, so we are working with her on finding ways to focus on the positive aspects of our situation. Keeping busy is crucial for her busy little mind, so lots of activities help keep her from getting sad. She does have lots of friends here between church, school, and the other residents’ kids, which helps her as well. She still loves Facetime sessions, and seeing pictures and videos of our family, and she enjoys counting down how many sleeps until the next time she gets to see them. She really has handled the changes very well for a little girl, and we have all bonded over the changes. Overall she is such a happy, bouncy, energetic, smart little girl who just loves life!

Here are some current stats about our Kinsie Kay:

Favorite color: still pink!
Favorite TV shows: Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Fancy Nancy and Vampirina
Favorite movie: The Greatest Showman
She is very well-rounded. She loves unicorns, princesses, mermaids, and dressing up in tutus, but she also loves dinosaurs, bugs, wrestling and getting dirty.
She LOVES drawing, arts, and crafts. She enjoys art on all kinds of media- paper, sidewalk chalk, the iPad, you name it. Every day she comes home from school with about 8 more pictures that she drew for us. This does not surprise me at all considering Ryan and I have always both loved art. Give her some paper and crayons, she’ll stay busy for hours. Throw in some scissors and tape, she’ll come up with all kinds of crazy creations!
She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She used to also want to be a doctor, but now that she sees how often her daddy works, she doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore. Funny, but a little sad! Maybe once residency is over and Ryan’s hours decrease, she’ll want to be a doctor again!
She loves the outdoors. She loves fishing, hiking, running, climbing, swimming, finding critters, and more.
She absolutely loves animals. Visiting different zoos is one of her favorite hobbies. Her favorite animals are still hippos and dolphins. She recently got to meet Fiona the baby hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo and they became instant best friends!
Lately we’ve been teaching her a few sight words every day, and she loves helping me read her books before bed. She has actually done better with this beginning stage of reading than I expected, and she is surprising her teacher with her new skills. She’s become a pro at writing her letters, and knows how to spell certain words on her own. Her newest obsession is taking the words she knows and creating sentences.
She still loves reading books, and works hard at memorizing some of them so she can recite them to Brax. Soon she’ll be actually reading some on her own!
She has always loved water, but lately she has become quite the little fish. She has become much more comfortable in the water and has been practicing swimming underwater. I think she’ll be a pro by the end of next summer!
She has a great imagination. She has always been so great at playing independently and coming up with very unique ways of playing.
She is currently playing T-ball and taking ballet classes. She still loves soccer, but agreed to take a break in order to try T-ball. So far she loves it!
She has never stayed too much of a mama’s girl, or a daddy’s girl…she’s both! She loves helping me around the house with chores and cooking, and she loves when I teach her new things. She loves using her daddy as her own personal jungle gym, and doing science experiments and sports with him.

She and I are very different in many ways, but can also be very similar. She thrives on social interaction, which is very different than me. She can be very hard on herself, which is just like me. Every day I learn something new about her and raising her stretches my limits and tests my patience every day, but I am working very hard to raise her into a God-fearing, respectful young lady. Even though she is stubborn (just like her dad), we are trying to teach her to use her drive and passion in positive ways. Pray for us!

Here is a video I made to capture our little girl’s silly and spunky personality. Enjoy!

Happy 5th birthday, my beautiful firstborn. You will always be so special to me!

31May2018

The Merry Month of May

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

We had so much fun this month! We spent about 90% of our time outside, which the kids loved. We celebrated my sweet boy turning 2, explored new parks, camped out with family, and much more.

Brax’s Birthday

Brax had a great 2nd birthday! We started the day with birthday donuts, then once we took Kinsie to school, we had a Mommy and Brax day. We played in our backyard for a while, then I took him to the park (his favorite) and he had the best time! Once Ryan was home from work, we opened presents and made Brax’s favorite meal – pancakes and scrambled eggs. After dinner, we made birthday ice cream sundaes. We had one happy little birthday boy…and one happy big sister too!

Family Fishing

Whenever Ryan has a day off, we always try to take advantage and plan something fun as a family. Fishing is one of our favorite things to do, and we just have to walk the 5 minutes to the park to do it! Brax hasn’t mustered up the courage to hold a fish yet, but he still gets real excited to see Kinsie do it!

Mother’s Day

It was hard being away from family on Mother’s Day. Especially because Ryan was working a lot of mid-shifts (3pm-1am) which are my least favorite. We got to spend some family time at a park and had a Mother’s Day dinner a few days before, but on the actual day, he had to work that evening. We at least got to go to church together, and I still got to spend the day with my babies. Kinsie was really into Mother’s Day this year…she made me something special at school, and drew pictures for me all week long. She even taught Brax how to say “Happy Mama Day!” Heart melted!

Downtown Fun

The Farmer’s Market is officially back open for the season! I LOVE the Little Rock Farmer’s Market. There are so many vendors selling fruits, veggies, jams, granola, wine (my personal favorite), and much more. One of the vendors had painting for kids, so they loved painting pictures and little figurines. After exploring the Farmer’s Market, we let the kids play at the Rock Park for a little while. This is one of our new favorite Saturday morning traditions!

Family Park Days

Whenever Ryan had a day off this month, we tried out some different parks. Right when we finished with his MICU rotation, we spent the morning at the park by our house. We took roller skates, bubbles, soccer balls, frisbees, scooters…you name it. The kids had a blast just running around in the open fields. This day was a breath of fresh air after Ryan’s long month.

Another day, we went to another park that the kids and I had played before with some friends. The kids love the playground, but they loved the creek even more. They sat down by the creek for probably an hour just throwing rocks and looking for critters. Family park days are our favorite!

GreekFest

Little Rock had a Greek food festival one weekend. Ryan loves Greek food, and we heard good things about the festival, so we went with some friends. We had a great time! They had bouncy houses, tons of food, crafts, shopping, and more. The food was awesome and the kids had a great time playing with the other kids.

Kinsie’s Last Day of School

Kinsie had her last day of Pre-K3, and she was excited, but also sad. She loved her class and her teacher this year. This school was such a blessing for us, and we are so grateful that they loved on our girl and helped her feel at home here. She is excited to start in the Pre-K4 class in the fall…and Brax will start in the two year old class!

Ok…can we talk about how much my children have grown this year? I couldn’t believe the difference in both of them from September to May. Kinsie is turning into such a beautiful young lady, and I feel like she grew a foot taller this year. Brax was a BABY at the beginning of the year, and now he is a little boy. I can’t even handle it!

Other Outside Fun

Like I said, we have spent a lot of time outside. For a while, we were even eating our dinners outside every night before it started getting too hot. We had a routine…the kids would play in the backyard while Ryan and I prepared dinner. Then we would eat outside, then the kids would sit in the swinging chair with Ryan for a little while, then they would play a little longer until we couldn’t handle the mosquitos any longer. We also broke out the sprinkler and water table, and the kids have been in heaven! Their favorite part is spraying each other with the hose.

Kinsie drew this picture of our entire family. Notice that she even drew our dogs, and labeled everyone in the picture!

Residency Crawfish Boil

One of my favorite things about the UAMS Residency program is how many family events we have. We recently had a crawfish boil, and we had a blast. The kids loved playing with the crawfish (before they were cooked), playing in the bounce house, playing with balls, chalk, and bubbles, and enjoying their friends. Kinsie wasn’t as crazy about eating the crawfish, but Brax loved it!

Memorial Weekend

Ryan’s family came to visit us over Memorial Weekend. Megan and Tim camped out at Petit Jean State Park, and Ryan’s mom and brother Nate stayed with us. The state park is about an hour away, so we took turns spending time at our house, and at the park. On Ryan’s day off, we spent the morning hiking. Every trail we’ve been on at that park has been amazing. The kids loved throwing rocks in the water, looking at the small waterfalls and splashing in puddles.

The next night, we had a cookout at Meg and Tim’s camper. We roasted hot dogs and s’mores, and the kids had a blast running around playing hide and seek and drinking from the water tank. It was a busy, fun and much-needed weekend with family!

Road Trip to Indiana

Since Ryan’s family visited for Memorial Weekend, and Ryan was in a wedding the next weekend, we thought that would be a great opportunity for the kids to spend the week in Indiana. They rode back with Ryan’s mom and then we brought them back home the next weekend. The kids had such a great time at the lake, playing with cousins, swimming, and more. I sure missed my babies, but goodness it was nice to have a break.

Exciting News!

We recently found out some very exciting news…Ryan’s sweet sister Megan, and her husband Tim are expecting a baby in November! This is a HUGE blessing and such an answered prayer. They technically told us in April, but we were sworn to secrecy until just a couple of weeks ago. I was honored to take their announcement pictures when they came to visit us last month. The kids are SO excited to get a new baby cousin soon!

And as always, I end my post with our 1 Second Everyday video for the month of May. Enjoy!

2May2018

Brax is TWO!

Posted in Brax by klmatthews16

I am still in denial that my little boy is TWO! This creeped up on me quicker than I expected, and I’m not ready for it! Turning two is such a big year and they grow so much physically and developmentally during this year. He is looking and acting more and more like a little boy rather than a baby, but he is SO much fun! We love watching his little personality blossom more and more every day. He does many things so much like Kinsie (because he is her little shadow and does everything she does), but he also has his own little idiosyncrasies that make him unique. He is definitely a “second child” and knows how to stick up for himself when big sis is doing something he doesn’t like. He is all boy who loves to wrestle, be loud, crash into and destroy things. He makes us laugh every day, and we just adore squeezing him, hugging him, tickling him and snuggling with him.

Here are some fun facts about our precious little two year old…

He gives the world’s best hugs…and we are not just biased. We’ve had several other people tell us this!
Kinsie is his best friend. His favorite thing to do with her is tackle her and wrestle.

He is obsessed with our dogs and spends a significant amount of time chasing Addie around the house.
Some of his favorite activities include reading books, hiking, playing outside, playing ball, taking baths, and playing with trains and cars.

He is pretty fearless. More so than what makes me comfortable!
He is a major mama’s boy but also adores his Daddy… he screams out of excitement when he gets home from work.

His vocabulary has exploded. He can say a lot of words and phrases…we just can’t always understand him! Kinsie is the best at translating for him. We always call him Joey because if you’ve seen the episode of “Friends” where Phoebe is try to teach Joey how to speak French, he gets it all wrong but is completely confident that he’s saying it right. This is so Brax when he talks!
Favorite animals: gorillas, elephants, lions and alligators
Favorite movie: Coco
Favorite TV shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Bubble Guppies
Favorite food: mini corn dogs and scrambled eggs
Favorite books: “It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse” and “Big Smelly Bear”
Favorite song: The clean up song from Barney, and Poco Loco from the movie Coco
He has improved tremendously with his separation anxiety (thank goodness!) He now loves going to his church class and does great with babysitters.
He will start preschool (Mother’s Day Out) in September.
He is a complete ball of sunshine. He is SO happy, giggly, and adorable. We literally cannot get enough of him! Kinsie will even attack him with kisses and say “I can’t help it…he’s just so cute!” Agreed!

Here is a video I made for Brax’s birthday so you can get a glimpse of the preciousness and chaos that I live with every day! Enjoy!

Happy 2nd birthday my sweet, precious boy. You will have our hearts forever!

28Feb2018

One Fine February

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

I can’t believe it is already March tomorrow. Usually January and February DRAG on, but this year it hasn’t seemed near as bad. Our winter months here in Arkansas haven’t exactly been sunshine and super warm temps, but they were definitely more mild than what I am used to in Indiana, which was very helpful to help us adjust. Overall, it hasn’t really been play outside weather, but we’ve had a handful of really nice days. The last few weeks we’ve had a TON of rain…our backyard was a giant mud pool. But now the warmer weather is starting to peek out, and we are loving it! February wasn’t super eventful, but we did have some visitors, a fun Valentine’s Day, and some fun outdoor adventures.

Costumes, coloring, and play-dough…oh my!

Like I said, we did have to spend a significant amount of time inside. Luckily we love our house and have lots of things to do in it, so we definitely stayed busy! We watched lots of Disney movies, (especially Moana…both the kids’ obsession…or as Brax calls it, “Na-Na”) we read hundreds of books, did lots of art and coloring activities, played dress up, had lots of dance parties, and more. Even though sometimes I would rather be outside or find things outside of the house to do, I love seeing the kids be creative and use their imagination while they play. Kinsie loves teaching Brax different things, and he loves learning from her. They both love to read, and often bring us book after book after book to read, which can be exhausting, but I love that we’re instilling these habits into them while they are still so little.

Valentine’s Day Fun

I have never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day…Ryan and I always thought it was overrated and didn’t want to spend money on flowers or gifts when we’d rather just get to spend time together. Most holidays change once you have kids, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. Kinsie loved everything about this holiday! We loved making Valentine cookies together. They may not have looked perfect, but they tasted good and we had a blast making them. Kinsie also loved hand-making all her Valentines for her family and friends at school. We bought the kits to make her Valentines a few weeks before she actually needed them, and she wanted to start working on them right away! She did all of them by herself, including writing the names of each person she made a valentine for…I just had to help her spell the names. She was so proud of herself and couldn’t wait to pass them out to everyone. Brax enjoyed all the extra love and kisses on Valentine’s Day as well. The kids loved getting valentines from family and friends, and we hung them all up on our pantry door.

Making cookies with my girl

Making and passing out her valentines for school

A Visit from my Parents

My parents have had this trip planned for over a month, and we couldn’t wait! They visited for about 4 days, and they were constantly loving on, hugging and kissing the kids. We had some great meals, had several dance parties, and took walks around the park when the weather cooperated. The kids loved having Papa and Yaya here to visit!

Outside Day

The last few days have been really nice, and since we were cooped up inside the house while it rained for several days straight, we were aching to be outside. Ryan had the day off on a Monday (and Kinsie doesn’t have school yet on Mondays), so we spent the entire morning at the zoo. After Brax’s nap, we spent the evening outside riding bikes, taking a walk around the park, and visiting with our neighbors. We spent almost the whole day outside on a random day in February, and we loved every minute of it. We are hopeful for more and more of these kinds of days in the near future.

We didn’t have a very busy month, but even so, I feel like a lot happened. I feel like I’m finally starting to grow some roots here. We found a church home that we love, and I even feel comfortable going by myself with the kids when Ryan’s not able to come. I started attending a Bible study for moms with young children, which has introduced me to many women who are in a similar season of life. Finally, I started a new job! I began working at a tutoring center, where I work with kids one-on-one who are academically behind to help get them back up to grade level. I’m really enjoying it so far, and it works out perfectly for our schedule. It’s nice doing something just for me, and getting some of my teacher fix that I’ve desperately missed. I’m so grateful that God has put all these opportunities in my lap, and that he gave me the courage to step out of my comfort zone a bit more to explore and find ways to help me feel more fulfilled. We still really miss being around family, but I have been working hard at meeting new people and finding new activities to help fill that void.

To finish my post, here is our “One Second Everyday” February video. Enjoy the laughing, dancing, yelling and wrestling that goes on in my household every day!

2Jan2018

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

We had a very busy and exciting December! Our month was filled with Christmas fun, family, cold weather, watching movies, and new toys. We were lucky to get to spend about 10 days in our hometown in Indiana with our family, and we came home packed like sardines with all of the kids’ new toys! Here were the highlights of our December.

Kinsie’s Christmas Program

Kinsie was so excited about her music program at school. Whenever I would ask her what songs they were going to sing, she would say, “It’s a surprise! You’ll have to wait and see!” The funny thing is, they sang Rudolph, Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells…nothing super unique, but she was so proud! She was a rockstar and was one of the few kids in the group who followed directions the whole time and did all the motions. Ryan was on night shifts during this time, so he came home from work around 8am, went to sleep for a few hours, woke up to come to the program at 11, then went back to sleep when it was over. Kinsie was so happy that we were all able to come see her program. Brax was the proudest little brother ever and showed her with lots of hugs afterwards!

Meeting Santa

Kinsie always loves meeting Santa, and Brax was a champ meeting him last year…mainly because he was too young to really understand that a strange man with a white beard was holding him instead of his mom, but this year he was very aware! I knew he probably wouldn’t be feeling it…even though the whole way there he acted excited and continued to shout “Ho Ho Ho!” whenever we talked about Santa. Once we were near him, nope! He wouldn’t leave my side. Kinsie did great and told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. Since Brax wouldn’t sit with Santa, we had to get the whole family in the picture because I was not going to be that mom that pays $25 for a picture of my child screaming with Santa!

We couldn’t go see Santa without Kinsie’s princess crown!

EM Christmas Party

One of the things that attracted Ryan to the UAMS Emergency Department was how family oriented they are. They include families in all of their get-togethers, and obviously family is Ryan’s priority. Every year at the Emergency Department Christmas party, the department head’s wife buys all of the residents’ kids Christmas presents…and not the cheap junky toys, but really good toys. Santa even came to the party to deliver the presents. Again, Kinsie loved meeting Santa, even though she said that he looked different than the Santa she met at the mall, so he must just be one of Santa’s helpers. And again, Brax wanted nothing to do with Santa! (as seen in the picture below). Kinsie got an Elsa doll (her fave) and a really nice play kitchen appliance set. Brax got a set of cars and balls, and a construction truck that came with a hard hat and mega blocks. The kids were PUMPED about their gifts…and Brax wanted it all opened right away and was not happy that he couldn’t open it himself (again, as seen in the picture below). We had a great night with friends, food, Santa and gifts!

Home for the Holidays and Cousin Fun

We were so lucky that we were all able to go home to Indiana to spend Christmas with our families. Even though it was VERY cold, we were so grateful to be surrounded by the people we love most.

Like most visits home, the kids’ favorite part was definitely all the special cousin time! They played at an indoor playground together, had a few sleepovers, decorated cookies, and spent countless hours drawing, doing puzzles, playing with princesses and dressing up together. The bond between these five kids is something so special, and even living 500+miles away from each other doesn’t change that!

Multiple Christmases

The few days surrounding Christmas are always super busy, but we love it. We always have several places to be and families to see. The kids function best when they are staying busy and are surrounded by a lot of people, especially now that we live away from all of these people. We started with Ryan’s immediate family gift exchange, then went to Aunt Renata’s after church on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts with Ryan’s dad side, then spent Christmas morning with my family, then finally went to another one of Ryan’s aunt’s house to spend time with Ryan’s mom side. Lots of places to be, but we loved every minute of it. The kids got SO many gifts and saw lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins, so they were happy!

Christmas Morning

Santa was informed ahead of time that we wouldn’t be in our home in Little Rock for Christmas, but would be at my parents’ house, so we brought along our stockings and Santa made all his deliveries there. Kinsie was in princess heaven, and even though Brax didn’t feel great, he loved all of his cars, Batman, Mickey and fish toys. My parents loved having little kids for Christmas morning again too. After a while, my sister’s family came over so we could all exchange gifts. At every family Christmas we went to, Kinsie especially loved sorting and passing out all the gifts to everyone (she’s in the beginning stages of reading, I can barely believe it!) The kids spent hours opening and playing with all their new toys together.

New Year’s Eve

We had to head back to Little Rock before New Year’s for Ryan to get back to work, but luckily he is on day shifts so he was able to be with us for New Year’s fun in the evening. We had a little party with karaoke, dancing, balloons, noise makers, Apples to Apples, Guess Who, and sparkling cider. We even had a countdown before the kids’ bedtime. Last year, Kinsie stayed up until midnight at my sister’s house with her cousins, but I knew since she didn’t have anyone other than us to entertain her for an extra 4 hours, we just did an early countdown and then both kids went to bed. We had a great family night together.

In my last post, I mentioned how Ryan’s grandma was sick and in hospice care. At the time, she was given 2 weeks to live. We visited with her several time while home for Thanksgiving, but we were blessed to get to visit with her again while home for Christmas. We spent the morning with her the day after Christmas, and she loved talking with us and watching the kids play. A few days later, she took a turn for the worse, and just the other day, seven weeks after she was given only two weeks to live, she finally went home to heaven. While this is so hard for her 8 children, 20 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, and the many other people who had the pleasure of knowing and loving her, she was ready for a long time to be with the Lord. She was such an amazing woman, and I still give her credit for helping Ryan and I find our way back to each other 8 years ago. I feel honored to call her family.

We had a wonderful December, and we are so blessed that Ryan was able to get off work for a week to join us for Christmas. I know how much it meant to him to be home with us for Christmas, and especially to get to see his grandma one more time. Christmas is extra magical when you have children, so we all look forward to it every year. I love teaching the kids about Jesus and how he is the reason we give and receive gifts for Christmas. Every year, Kinsie understands this concept a little more, and this year in school she learned even more about the Christmas story. She loved reading stories about Baby Jesus’s birth in the manger, and playing the story out with her Fisher Price manger set. Brax is obviously just learning to talk and understand things, so we taught him to recognize Baby Jesus. It sounded more like “Baby Cheese,” but we knew what he meant!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my friends and family!

1May2017

Our April

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

April seemed to fly by! We stayed pretty busy between soccer, gymnastics, planning for Brax’s party, work, and just the everyday grind. We are enjoying our last few months in Indiana and spending as much time with family as we can. Here are the highlights of our April…

Soccer

We are loving Kinsie’s soccer season. It has been very odd weather on game days…either freezing or pouring down rain, and ONE nice Saturday so far! Kinsie loves playing with her cousins and she continues to get better every week!

The boys cousins watching the girls

Easter

Easter weekend is one of my all-time favorite weekends of the year. I love spending time with family and doing Easter egg hunts with the kids, but I mostly love what Easter represents. As Kinsie gets older each year, I try to teach her a little more of the details about why we celebrate Easter (and Christmas). Last year, she knew that we celebrated Easter because “Jesus Loves us.” This year I took it a step further and taught her that we celebrate Easter because “Jesus died and came back to life.” She understood this, and seemed amazed by it…so I accomplished my goal! We had an amazing weekend including time at Ryan’s aunt’s house with all his aunts, uncles and cousins, Sunday Easter service, an Easter bunny visit, multiple Easter egg hunts, and time with all the people we love.

Showing off their gifts from the Easter bunny

A visit from the Bunny…Brax loved it! Kinsie was a little unsure…

Crazy kids getting ready for their egg hunt

Bradford Woods

One of the highlights of my school year is our annual trip to Bradford Woods with the entire 5th grade. This field trip takes planning all year, but it is so worth it. While I hated being away from Ryan and my babies for 3 days, I love getting to spend time with my students in an awesome environment. I love seeing the students in a different light. The students who have the hardest time at school sitting at a desk all day thrive at Bradford Woods. This trip was especially important to me because it was my last one. I will truly miss this tradition, and I will truly miss my fellow teachers with whom I’ve gotten to share the experience.

Brax’s Birthday Party

We had our sweet boy’s FIRST birthday party on Saturday! We had a “Wild One” lumberjack theme, and he had the BEST time. I will have a separate post with more details and pictures about the party soon!

And just like that…it’s May! The coming months are going to be an absolute whirlwind for us, so hopefully I can keep up and remember to breathe and enjoy the ride!

1Mar2017

Ten Months with our Wild Man

Posted in Baby by klmatthews16

Holy cow…my little boy is going to be a year old in only 2 months!! My goodness though…he is such an awesome kid. He never stops moving, he is constantly getting into things that he’s not supposed to, he exhausts me beyond explanation, but he is absolutely the BEST thing that has ever happened to us.

Here is the breakdown of our Braxy boy at 10 months old…

His eyes are starting to turn brown(ish).
He can walk by himself with his walking toy.
He has 4 new teeth!
He is an eating machine. He LOVES table food…scrambled eggs, pears, crackers, waffles…you name it, he loves it.
He is starting to enjoy being read to, rather than just trying to escape or eat the book.
He HATES being contained. While in his high chair or car seat, he tries to bust out like the Hulk.
He is starting to use a sippy cup.
His spitting up is continuing to improve, and he is officially off of his acid reflux medication…yay!
He just switched to a convertible car seat.
He loves standing at the front door and greeting everyone as they come in.
His favorite things to play with right now are coasters and the magnet letters on the fridge.

Kinsie continues to be tested as Brax becomes bigger and more mobile. He always tries to grab whatever she is playing with, and he loves to get a handful of her hair! She is still learning how to treat (and not treat) her brother…and some days are better than others (being stuck in the house all day certainly doesn’t help!). Regardless, Kinsie is still one of Brax’s favorite people! He still thinks she is hilarious, and she still loves entertaining him and loving on him every chance she gets!

Ok my baby…you can slow down on growing any day now!

1Mar2017

March is here!!

Posted in Family by klmatthews16

You guys…it’s finally March! This is such a big deal for me in many ways…I always LOVE when February is over and March begins. It means that the majority of winter is over, and spring is almost here! I also love March Madness, and 2 weeks off for spring break…and this March is especially important for our family. We find out in about 2 weeks where Ryan will get matched for residency! If you were to ask me a year ago how I felt about the possibility of moving to another state, I would have had a panic attack right there on the spot. I’ve prayed every single day about this to help me adjust to this idea and be excited for whatever adventure God brings us. I have come a LONG way, and now I truly am excited to find out what our future will look like…even if it means uprooting from my home in Indiana.

Now on to how our February was…it was busy! From ear infections to random beautiful weather, to a weekend trip to Arkansas…here is the breakdown of our past month.

Sick kiddos

Early in the month, Kinsie had a double ear infection. Poor girl missed a whole week of school, and eventually went to the doctor and was put on antibiotics. It was like having a newborn at night again…she would be up every few hours crying from ear pain. As soon as she started feeling better, Brax caught the bug too. Finally we got everyone healthy again for about two weeks, and then it came back around to Kinsie again! She is currently on a second round of antibiotics and we are praying that Brax doesn’t get it again too!

Valentines Day

Kinsie and I made homemade valentines this year for her class. She loved sitting down with me and putting together her ladybug valentines! On Valentines Day, Kinsie made heart cookies with Aunt Renata while Brax just enjoyed being a studly “eligible bachelor!”

Wagon Rides and Kisses

We had a few days of random beautiful weather in February…so we jumped at the opportunity to take the kids outside for some fresh air. Brax got to experience his first wagon ride. He loved the ride and Kinsie loved having a buddy.

Visiting Abuelita

My sweet grandma has been in an assisted living for a couple months now, and I finally got the chance to go visit her with my dad. I decided to keep the kids at home with Ryan so I could just have some quality relaxing time with my dad and grandma. We took her out for ice cream and she loved it! It was a great day seeing one of my favorite people in the world!

Arkansas

Out of all of Ryan’s interviews that he went on, Arkansas was one of his favorite places. He loved the program, and the area. Since he knew he wanted to rank it pretty high on his list, he wanted me to get a chance to see it too. We took a weekend trip just the two of us. We loved exploring the beautiful city and imagining it being our future home. Grandma Bev watched the kids for us, and they had a blast too!

Other Random Indoor Fun

Like I’ve mentioned before, when it’s winter and you have a small house with limited playing space…you have to be creative with your kids to keep them entertained. We made a clubhouse out of a cardboard box, had laundry basket rides, played “Troll Trouble,” took trips to the store to ride the horse, and lots more. Kinsie has been obsessed lately with learning how to write her letters, as well as drawing things like dinosaurs. Tic-tac-toe is one of her new faves too. And as always, the kids love it anytime they get to have cousin playdates!

I am SO excited that it is finally March! We have a lot happening this month that I can’t wait to find out more about and share it with you! Happy (almost) Spring!

6Feb2017

9 Months with Braxy Boy

Posted in General by klmatthews16

The older my son gets, the more obsessed with him I become. He is becoming such an awesome little boy. He is already so much fun to hang out with. He completely exhausts me because he is CONSTANTLY moving, but I chase him around with a smile on my face and a heart full of love. His sweet little smile not only melts the hearts of those who know and love him, but even strangers that see him when we are out and about. Everyone he comes in contact with can’t help but smile back at him. He has made some major developmental strides this month and he is reaching milestones much quicker than his big sister did. He is already a little dare devil…trying to crawl, climb, and stand anywhere he can…and if he falls, he rarely cries, but instead gets right back up and is at it again!

Our Braxy Boy’s 9 month updates:

He is 18 lbs, 6 oz (25th percentile) and 28.5 inches long (75th percentile).
He is a pro at pulling up. He wants to do it ALL THE TIME.
He loves eating table food…especially mixed veggies.
He loves to make raspberry noises while eating baby food…resulting in a baby food shower for me at every meal.
He waves bye-bye (and it’s the most precious thing ever).
He can shake his head no.
He is obsessed with bath time with big sis.
He is talking more and more.
He is still a mama’s boy.
His favorite things to play with are all the fake kitchen food and dishes (particularly the chicken leg and the carrot).
He loves the “Hot Dog Song” on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
He loves to stand and climb on everything…everywhere…all the time.

A common view of my little mama’s boy…

The progression of sibling story time

Kinsie and Brax are still the best of buddies. She (usually) plays very well with him, but is still learning that if her toys on are the floor, they are free game for him. I love the way she talks to him and she LOVES making him laugh (as you’ll see in the following video)

Seriously though…I’m obsessed! Happy 9 months Braxy boy!

2Jan2017

Our 8 Month Crazy Man

Posted in Baby by klmatthews16

Another month has gone by and our little boy is 8 months old now! When I was pregnant with him, he was a crazy little guy, constantly kicking and flipping around. I knew then that I was not going to have a mellow baby, and this has stood to be quite true! Our crazy little guy’s personality is shining so brightly every day, and he brings so much sunshine to our lives!

Kinsie and Brax’s relationship is continuing to grow every day. She loves making him laugh and cheering him on with everything he does. He interacts so much with her and she loves it. I still have to tell her from time to time to give him some space because she always wants to be right by him touching and hugging him. Now that he is moving around and crawling more, Kinsie is really being challenged on the concept on sharing her toys with him. They will both be playing on the floor and he always wants to play with whatever she has…and she is not always ok with that. She liked it better when she had control over what to share with him by handing him toys and him not being able to move around to get something different. She is learning quickly though that unless it is something not safe for him, they have to share toys!

Kinsie “helping” take Brax’s pictures. She always puts on a headband and makes funny faces to make him smile. Then she climbs up in the chair to get her picture with him!

Here are some updates on our boy at 8 months…

He can hold his own bottle.
He is still as spitty as ever…and still doesn’t seem to mind it.
He is not only army crawling now…but real crawling.
He is starting to pull up on things.
He always wants to play with what he shouldn’t have. For example, he will be surrounded by toys, but all he wants is the remote control.
He is a major Mama’s boy right now. Don’t get me wrong…I’m flattered. But it is EXHAUSTING. And it is not enough to just have me in the room, he wants me holding him. When I sit next to him to play on the ground, he crawls up into my lap. Again, I love it, but it exhausts me!
He is very ticklish.
He has had his first trip on an airplane and did great.
He met Mickey Mouse and loved him.
He still has just 2 teeth.