Swingin' Single

Same day, different apparatus. This time he's just hangin' around (hardy, har, har). Or said that he fancies the swings the most. Photo 2 says it all : )

Mateo Meets Monkey Gym

SEPTEMBER 27 - Nanny Or takes Mateo to the playground around the corner from our house and she's nice enough to document the fun in pictures. She said that today he was trying really hard to pull himself up the ladder, but to no avail. He got a little tired so he decided to just sit on the bottom rung then try again later. He's a pretty strong 7-month old, so I'm a little surprised that he'd didn't make more progress in his endeavor. Better luck next time, I guess.

Ric's Popcorn... Take 2

OK, so do you all remember about a month ago, when I posted a photo of Mateo with Ric's new mini popcorn cart? Well, it gets even better... Ric brought it to Sturgis for a show & pop, but left it there. Instead of getting it back he... you guessed it! He bought another one!!! Are you laughing yet? Not only that, he's now preparing for a Popcorn Pop-Off with a few co-workers. Are you doubled over in laughter yet because there's more. The winner actually gets a special belt buckle designed by none other than, yup - Ricardo Lung! Are tears streaming down your face yet because this is all true. Now if this doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will ; )

Raspberry Champ

Mateo is constantly blowing "raspberries" or what Ric calls "blowing strawberries." It goes on for so long that it's REALLY hard to keep from laughing. So it goes like this, Mateo is constantly blowing raspberries, which means both Ric and I are constantly laughing and Mr.Quincy just ignores it all. OMG! I'm even laughing just typing about it : )

Family Fun Time

SEPTEMBER 25 - After a long day of work, Ric and I couldn't wait to change into our comfy clothes and have some Family Fun Time with Mateo.

DJ MaLu

SEPTEMBER 22 - Mateo was digging this setup and when he starts playing the music and bouncing up and down, he's in full DJ mode. So I gave him the moniker DJ MaLu (Mateo Lung)
I think his skull cap in 80+ degree weather gives him more of the thug look, don't you think?

Weenie Beanie

SEPTEMBER 12 - I digress because I forgot to post this picture of my kid's HUGE cranium. It's an incredibly cute cranium but huge nonetheless. I put his weenie beanie on him and it just accentuated the size of his head (hee, hee, hee.) If you didn't catch it, there's a weenie dog stitched into the cap. Hence, the weenie beanie.

Rainbow Ruari

I couldn't resist any longer and had to post this current picture of Ruari. She's actually wearing a super cute "roller girl" jumper and rainbow leg warmers. She was in serious need of a pair of Strawberry Shortcake roller skates to complete the outfit though. If you look close enough you can also see the bloody lip she got from getting in a fight with a squirrel. Just kidding. She had just face-planted on our floor - OUCH! She was such a trooper though; nothing that a baggie of ice couldn't fix. Teagan was always sleeping, so sorry no pictures from this past weekend. BTW Ruari is not yet 18 months old and is wearing 3T size clothes! Whoa!!!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Another great example as to how much easier it is now that Mateo can sit up on his own. Bathtime has even improved. Although, since he likes to stand so much, it took quite a bit of effort to get him to sit down. He had a kung-fu grip on the faucet and had refused to sit.

Lechuga Head

SEPTEMBER 16 - To celebrate U of M's annihilation of Notre Dame on the football field yesterday we all met up with Lolo & Lola Orca for some bulgogi in Ann Arbor. Ric thought it would be funny to put a piece of lettuce (lechuga) on Mateo's head. He also handed him a piece to play with. Not only did Mateo not mind the lettuce on his head, but he also enjoyed playing with the lettuce. He only got upset when he dropped his lettuce on the floor and that's when I snapped this pic.

Sittin' Pretty

SEPTEMBER 13 - Mateo is so good at sitting up on his own now. I must say, it's made things so much easier for us. We can sit him down with toys and he's just a happy little camper. When we're playing though, he prefers to be standing. He doesn't yet crawl, but it feels as if walking is coming soon too. Watch out!!!

Leap Froggin'

SEPTEMBER 11 - Mateo received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. A Leap Frog Bilingual Learning Center from his Abuelita (Ric's mom). You can select "English" or "Spanish" and words or music. The Spanish alphabet song is a favorite of mine and Ric's. Yes, we actually sing and dance to the ABC's. This is what has come of our lives, but we love it! Mateo seems to enjoy it too, but maybe not quite as much as Ric and I do (hee, hee, hee.) Good things do happen on 9-11.

Meet the Nanny

SEPTEMBER 7 - We were fortunate to find a Nanny for Mateo. Her nickname is Or and hails from Thailand where she was an elementary school teacher and Kumon math instructor. She and Mateo hit it off right away, which made Ric and I feel better about our decision. She's great. She keeps a Nanny Diary of the day's events, so when I get home I can read about everything they did that day, including his meals. I don't feel as if I'm missing out too much on his day. I still miss him when I'm out on the road though.

What up, Cuz?

SEPTEMBER 1-2: Mateo finally got to meet his new cousin Teagan.
Photo 1 - Monsterous Mateo and Tiny Teagan.
Photo 2 - Mateo and Ruari
Photo 3 - Ruari sitting in Mateo's chair, Teagan wearing Mateo's socks and Mateo neither sitting in HIS chair nor wearing any socks! What is wrong with this picture?
We hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend!

OMG!

AUGUST 31 - Mateo is going to REALLY hate me for posting this one, but it was just too funny not to share. It was another hot day, so after changing his diaper I just decided to nix the onesie. He was playing on his playmat while I was catching up on e-mail just on the other side of the French doors, which were open. I had heard him playing but when it stopped, I decided to check out why. This is how I found him! He actually TOOK OFF HIS OWN DIAPER!!! When I went to pick him up I got another surprise. I couple wet spots next to him. You guessed it! It was too cute and funny to get upset over.

Auntie Tuesday

AUGUST 28 - Both Mateo and I look forward to Tuesdays because that usually means that Nina is coming to play. For that reason we have renamed her Auntie Tuesday or Tia Martes (for those of you who speak Spanish.) You can see by the expression on their faces how fun Tuesdays are for us all. Mateo loves his Auntie Tuesday!!!

6 Months Old!

AUGUST 26 - It's so hard to believe that 6 months have past since Mateo was born. At his check-up, he came in at the 75th percentile for height and weight. He's fat and happy and healthy : ) With mixed emotions, this milestone also marks my return to the workforce.

Cabo San Lucas (Ivy's Picks)

Ric picked my favorite family photos, but here are few of my other photo faves:
Photo 1 - Mateo squealing with excitement over our one night at the Hilton Golf Resort & Spa (we spent the rest of the week at The Westin)
Photo 2 - Mateo sitting up on his own!!! This was after lots of swimming. He was the hit of the pool. The days I went down without him, people asked where he was. (He was upstairs napping with Ric.)
Photo 3 - "Puffy face" We don't know why he does it but it's incredibly cute!
Photo 4 - All of our tootsies in the sand...ahhh

Cabo San Lucas (Ric's Picks)

AUGUST 26 - We're finally back from our first family vacation. We spent a week down in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with my friend Beth and her son Zach. Mateo again did great on the plane. We gladly received compliments on how well-behaved he was on each of our flights. When we arrived, the weather seemed a bit gloomy and the resort was wet. Luckily, we were on the Baja Peninsula and not the Yucatan, which got slammed by Hurricane Dean. We still watched the weather reports religiously, even though we had sunny days pretty much the entire week. We took tons of pictures, but these are the few of Ric's favorites:

Photo 1 - Family Photo at the downtown Marina

Photo 2 - Mateo's impression of Tito Pat (don't you just love that belly?!)

Photo 3- Ric & Mateo watching the early morning surf

Photo 4 - Family Photo at the Brasilian Steakhouse (the filet mignon was to die for!)

Big Boy

AUGUST 11 - I couldn't believe that Mateo was able to sit up in a generic restaurant high chair. (We were having lunch at Siam Noodle & Rice, our favorite restaurant in Chicago) He saw Ruari sitting in one and might have gotten the idea from that. You can see how pleased he is with himself. And I was SO proud : )