Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Mattilyn's Two Year Check-up

We had Mattie's two year check-up on Monday. She weighed in at a whopping 22 pounds and measured 33.5 inches tall! The doctor was happy with her growth although she wishes she would put on some more weight. She said she will be on whole milk until she is 30 and to feed her all the ice cream she wants! We were sure to inform her that Mattie has no problem putting away the food and I am thankful she has her dad's metabolism! We informed the doctor of Mattie's latest stunt of climbing INTO her crib. She said if she can climb in then she can climb out so it is time to switch over to a toddler bed. I am not looking forward to that but I think we might give it a go this weekend if I don't chicken out! The issue about Mattie's tonsils came up again and how they need to come out. Mattie has very enlarged tonsils which cause her to snore. We have a choking issue at least once a day which we are pretty sure is caused by this and the doctor thinks that taking them out will solve a lot of her congestion issues. The issue we are running into is her weight. Anestesiologists like a child to be at least 25 pounds for surgeries like this since there is a higher risk when they are smaller. My friend Jennie asked if I was torn between fattening her up and getting the tonsils out or keeping her skinny to avoid the surgery. I have to say I am leaning towards keeping her skinny! I know they need to come out and they say the younger the better but I don't want my baby to have surgery even if it is minor. I meet up with friends for lunch at work right where parents say good bye when their kids are having surgery and I have to admit I get teary eyed at times watching the parents say good bye and I have told my friends I can't imagine doing that. I am lucky to have a few friends that have been through that before and can give their words of wisdom. Good thing is she still has to gain 3 pounds before this can happen so we still have probably a year! The doctor wants us to come back in 3 months for a weight check to see if we are any closer but I really don't see her gaining 3 pounds in 3 months. That is unless she was serious about the ice cream! Overall it was a great appointment and I can't believe my baby is 2!!!

Here is a family picture from her birthday. It's awful because we took it ourselves!


Saturday, April 9, 2011

Hannah's Track Meet

Last Tuesday we ventured out to my niece's track meet. Mattie was so excited to see Hannah run and of course see her Aunt Kiki (Aunt Ricci) too! Mattie also got in some play time with her cousin Andrew. It was so windy out but we still had a good time! Hannah running! Mattie playing My mom and dad Hannah excited to see us! Hannah and Mattie Andy and Ricci (Hannah's parents, my brother and sister in law)

Friday, April 8, 2011

Birthday Party at the Gym!

Mattie takes gymnastics at this gym and this is where my niece's usually have their birthday party since my sister works there. Mattie loves to go for the birthday parties because she doesn't have to follow anyone's directions and she can do as she pleases.

Dressed and ready to play!



Her face she loves to make when the flash is bright.



The birthday girl (Mattie wasn't really up for a picture with Issy)



Mattie's cousin Bethy!



Bethy is always a big help!





Issy the birthday girl in the bubble gum pit!



Mattie in the treehouse



Mattie jumping into the bubble gum pit!







The trampoline




The slide

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Basement=Headache

Okay I know I haven't kept with my New Year's Resolution but it is only April so if I get started now I might be able to save the rest of the year.

I want to share with you my current headache also known as my basement!

This is what it started out like.




Our neighbors finished their basement and loved having the extra room and were even able to entertain better with the finished space. Their house is the same style/set up as ours and we share the same struggles with space. I knew Mattie would be getting some bigger toys for Christmas that we had no room for so I got the bright idea that we should finish our basement also! Our neighbors have a friend that did theirs at a reasonable price and after some convincing he finally came over and looked at our basement. He quoted a price out of our budget so we tried to come up with a plan. We decided we would try to do what we could and he could help with the rest to keep the cost down. Well after some miscommunication the help he was going to give fell through. My brother decided to help us along with my dad. Their help was very much appreciated but trying to work around three peoples schedules, two of them working different shifts the work was slow at getting done. If you know me, you know I want stuff done yesterday! I am a very impatient person! My original goal was Christmas so we would have somewhere to put Mattie's toys other than our living room. Well that didn't happen!! My brother got busy with work and his family and work pretty much stalled. My dad was still coming over and helping (which we are so thankful for!!!) but he couldn't and shouldn't be doing all of the heavy lifting. We finally decided we would get some quotes to see what it would cost us to have someone finish hanging the sheetrock and doing the mud and tape. After several out of our price range quotes we found someone just over our budget and decided to go with him. The first week he was supposed to start he bailed. The next week he came out and worked for a couple of hours and decided it was too much work and would cost more than what he originally quoted. Come to find out he obviously didn't know what he was doing. My dad and Matt had to fix some of the work he had done. So after that we had a few more people come out but nothing in our price range. We were tempted to go with one guy that came down on his price but since he seemed to possibly be high on drugs we used our better judgement and decided not to be desperate!!! In the midst of all this my brother found some time to come help and they have all the sheetrock hung except for four pieces in the bathroom! My mom has a friend that has done work at her house before that she ran into at work last week who was willing to come do the mudding and taping and would do it in our price range!! Well he was supposed to start today but guess what!!! He got called into work. Ugggh I swear. Nothing will ever go right with this basement! He is supposed to start tomorrow so hopefully it will all work out! Well this turned into quite the long post but I will share some pictures of our work in progress basement. We have decided to not furnish it the way we had originally planned. We were originally going to put furniture and a tv down there along with her toys but have decided to save the money on furniture and put it towards building a deck out back. We will move our desk down there along with some of her bigger toys and we are going to turn our spare room into her playroom. With the playroom being upstairs we figure she will use it more and can go play while cooking dinner (Thanks Jennie for helping with that decision!) or whatever and not have to worry about her being in the basement alone.

Work in Progress (Mattie is upset because its not done yet!)



Excuse the mess!



Here is the finished ceiling (You can see some of Mattie's artwork on it)



Sheetrock hung and some mud and tape done.



The bathroom with no walls



The bathroom partially finished





Once this whole project is done we are going to start a deck out back! Matt thinks we should hire out but my dad says it is a weekend project. Any volunteers for help building a deck!! I will also take volunteers to help paint the basement too! I know it sounds like fun!