Catch Up Time

Here are pictures from November when Deven was 9 months old. This was a month with lots of firsts. He got his first tooth around Thanksgiving and then got two more shortly after that. He still has only three teeth. He also took his first plane ride and did excellent. It was interesting to watch people sigh or roll their eyes when they realized they were sitting near a baby. Deven did really great though and we got some compliments. He also had his first Thanksgiving!

Lee and Deven in front of Little Niagra in Sulphur Springs, OK.

One of Deven's favorite toys is a paper coffee cup.

This is one of Deven's new hats. He loves to wear it!

Deven and Daddy in the airport.

Deven and Daddy on the plane. No Deven did not sit the whole flight in his own seat. He sat in one of our laps. He looks way older than 9 months in this picture.

Lee, Deven, and me in front of the church where Lee and I met in 1999 (yes, we've known each other for 11 years).

Valerie and Deven on the mall in D.C. It was a fun but cooooold day!

Deven playing with his ranger hat.

First Halloween

I'm having so much fun with Deven, he is such a sweet boy. He really loves for us to read to him and sits very still and touches the pages. His favorite book is about Tractors and there are lots of different textures throughout the book. A friend of his was over the other day and was touching the book and Deven was very upset about it. He also enjoys playing with balls, knocking over towers, playing with electronics, climbing on his baby swing, opening cabinet doors and seeing what's inside, listening to singing/music. Speaking of electronics, Deven broke the PS3. He actually didn't break it, he reset it but we thought it was broken. Lee fixed it and all is good now. Deven really likes to mess with the PS3, the receiver and outlets (which are covered). This week I've started swatting his little hand and telling him "no" but it seems the more I do it, the faster he touches them. It ends up being a game so I've decided just to redirect his attention. He still loves bathtime, going outside, and going to Sunday morning class. He does not like being hungry or sleepy or having his nose wiped.

Charlie Brown!

Happy Boy!

He likes to chew on wood. He doesn't put anything in his mouth but he will chew on furniture.

Almost Eight Months!

Deven is crawling all over the place. His Aunt Meagan has been visiting this last week and he's been showing off his new skills. Besides crawling, he is also very proficient at pulling up on the furniture. He is the most smiley baby I know. Here are some pictures of him over the last month.

Why buy toys if you have coasters and newspapers around? Not to mention remotes and cell phones.

All ready for church. He is very sleepy in this picture.

Playing the piano with Nonna.

Helping mommy with the laundry. He looks rather mischievous in this picture.

Deven went through a phase where his legs always ended up through the crib. I finally put the crib bumper on.

Playing the piano with grandma-great!

Seven Months!

This last week has been a big week of firsts. Deven had his first ear infection. He is not a very fussy baby but a few days ago he was very clingy and slightly unhappy so I took him to Celeste's clinic and they diagnosed him with an ear infection. He loves his antibiotic medicine and is so calm while I give it to him. After we came home from the doctor's office on Monday, Deven started crawling. By Tuesday he could make it across the room pretty easily. Life has been very different since he's learned to crawl.

This last week Lee went on a business trip to Kansas City and Deven and I tagged along. It was nice to play with Deven without worrying about how to get chores done. We went to the pool, walked around the hotel, and played in the room. This video was taken in the hotel room.

Deven's favorite toys this month are paper, anything having to do with technology, coasters, balls, and an empty tissue box. He loves to play outside and go for walks. He does not like to be left alone in a room. He seems to be a very social baby and likes to have someone close by. He always has a smile for others unless he's sleepy.

Six Months

Deven is growing so fast. I put his 3-6 month clothing away, which was sad, and pulled out the 6-9 month clothing. Just as I'm getting used to the new set of clothes, it's time to move up a size. This past month, Deven and I went to the Dallas area by ourselves to visit some very dear friends. It was a lot of fun spending time with them and Deven did great on the trip. The first video was taken just after we returned from that trip. Deven always greets me with a smile when I open his car door unless he's asleep (which is most of the time). When watching the videos, disregard my mommy voice. I would turn it down if I knew how.

Deven pulled up for the first time in his crib. He hasn't pulled up on other furniture yet. He did it while I was at work and Lee caught it on video. It's on our big camera and I'm not sure how to transfer that to the blog yet. Deven is also transitioning from sitting to hands and knees. He's trying really hard to crawl. We'll put a toy just out of his reach and he tries so hard to get it. Soon he will and I'll wish I had not encouraged crawling. He is eating rice cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, apples, bananas, and pears. He also loves to chew on frozen bluberries through the feeding net.

He loves playing in his tub, going for walks, playing outside, playing with other babies, listening to Lee play the guitar and to singing. He always calms down when music is being played. He does not like loud noises like the garbage disposal, the food blender, and my sewing maching. He is sleeping well again at night. There were a few weeks where he was waking up every four hours. But now he'll sleep a lot longer. I'm not going to type how long he sleeps because I don't want to jinx it!

At his last well-baby check-up, he weighed 16.8lbs! He's getting too big to carry around all the time.

Early-childhood fathers?

"We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception." - President Obama

It's no "Ask not what you can do for your country...", but that's a pretty awesome Presidential quote. Today I had the responsibility of watching Deven all day. By myself. No grandparents, no google; just me and him.

I am a little embarassed that it's taken over 5 months for me to do that. I'm sure I have had other opportunities but did not seize them. I think that sends several messages that I never would have intentionally sent.
1. It tells Cami and I am either A. incapable or B. unwilling.
2. I think kids can pick up on that, when Dad is gone all day and all they see is Mom.

The truth is that Deven needs me every bit as much as he needs Cami no matter what his age is. And it's important that I climb into Cami's shoes to better understand how my family operates.

Part of me feels like I climbed a mountain today. Another part realizes how much further I have to go. May God melt away the selfishness from every father's heart and teach us to love our kids like he loves us.

5 Months!

We recently took Deven to his Granny and Grandpa's house for the first time. We went to celebrate the Fourth of July with them. While we were there we went to the Riverwalk, zoo, and watched Toy Story 3. Deven got to spend a lot of quality time with the Brunts'.

Here is Deven showing Granny how big he is!

Grandpa and Deven, two peas in a pod.

4th of July Family picture

Deven is so happy to be standing with his Aunt Meagan!

After spending time in SA, we drove to Fayetville, AR to spend time with the Matthews family. This is Deven sleeping at the bowling alley. How nice it is to sleep anywhere.

Four generations of Matthews men. Lee, Ira holding Deven, and Dennis.

Deven is greeting his cousin Mason. I meant to post the picture of Deven holding Mason's hand but I posted the wrong one. It was so cute to see them holding hands. Deven was just talking away to Mason. I've never seen Deven so interested in another baby. It was the sweetest thing.

Here is Deven in his highchair for the first time. He likes to sit in it as long as he's eating and he wants out the minute he's finished.

Deven started sticking his tongue out yesterday. I tried all evening to get a good picture and this is the best I got. He's pretty funny. I'm still trying to figure out who taught it to him. Deven's been surrounded by a lot of family lately so it had to be one of them.

I enjoy being a mom more and more every day. Deven is such a joy to take care of and play with. I love to watch him sleep and feed him his cereal and change his poopy diapers. I love being his Mom!

He's growing!

The day after the "milestones" post, Deven sat up by himself for 8 seconds! He's sitting up on his own really well now. He loves playing with toys but he still requires my help with them because he can't manipulate them very well yet. He's still sleeping great and growing healthy. We went to the pediatrician on Monday for his 4 mos. well baby check up. He weighed 15.4 lbs (56%) and is 25.5" long (67%).

Here is Deven sitting up all by himself!

We went to Arkansas a couple of weekends ago so Deven could meet some more extended family and so we could meet Mason. Here is a picture of Lee and Deven with cousins Zac and Mason. Aww, they're going to be buds, I can tell already. On this trip to AR, Deven met another set of great-grandparents and has now met all the greats!

I was packing for our AR trip and didn't hear Deven making any noise in his Johnny Jump up. I looked up to see him in this position just watching me. I laughed out loud and he did not seem bothered to have his arm stuck. He was very content.

I hope this video comes out okay for you. I noticed on my computer it is a little choppy. Lee might have to meddle with it some. Lee has done an amazing job of setting up our home networking system, by the way. He has created a server where we store all of our pictures and important documents and the server is backed up every night to an off-sight location, which we pay for yearly. This means that if our house burns down or any of our computers crash, everything that is important will not be lost. He is awesome. I highly recommend doing the same thing in your home. The reason why I have difficulty loading pictures is because we choose to pay for the slower internet connection. But Lee gave me some tips on how to load pictures faster so maybe I'll load pictures more often!

Pictures of our House

Finally! I have posted pictures of our home. There is plenty of work to be done but it will be fun to do it together. This house has a lot of potential and character. Our three favorite things about the house are the loft, the windows, and the fireplace.

These are the built in bookshelves in the loft. We use this mostly for Lee's office, where he works on Mondays.

Here is Lee's work area in the loft.

The stairs that lead to the loft. The room with the diagonal wall is the dining room.

Guest bedroom.

Kitchen and dining room, obviously.

Deven's bathroom.

Living room. The ceiling is vaulted and is probably 25 feet high. The fireplace goes all the way to the ceiling.

Deven's room!

Here's one end of the master bedroom. The wall is wall-papered and we will eventually remove that wallpaper and paint it the same color as the rest of the room.

The other end of the master bedroom.

Lee's car