Mathias' First Tooth!

Hooray! My son the soon-to-be one year old (I love saying that) has finally blessed us with the presence of his very first little tooth...it's just poking out almost jagged like at the bottom left of his mouth. The neighbor tooth right next to it will surely protrude any day now also. I can just see it trying to break through (ouch). All I can say is...hooray! Alright, so I said that twice...and dang it, I'll say it again. HOORAY! It's so nice to finally see the reward after all the hoopla, crying and fussing that teething brings. I thought my son would never have teeth! I almost began to imagine that my son would be the only kid in school without any teeth yet. Dramatic? Yes...but anyone who knows me knows that I've been waiting for an eternity for those little white chompers to come out. All his cousins & fellow baby friends have sprouted teeth - some more than four or five already! I've been told not to rush things and let his growing come naturally, but I'm prone to being quite impatient. "Where are my son's teeth? Why is my son - as big as he is - the only one who has a toothless gummy grin?" Alas, the presence of what almost looks like a tiny piece of rice stuck in his mouth, (yes, we eat a lot of rice and nooooo, it's not a piece of rice) was welcomed to the delight of his mommy, daddy, grandma and niece. Everyone thinks this itty-bitty tooth is the most amazing thing right now. The long-awaited arrival just makes it that much more endearing. I love mommyhood!!!

Long Hair vs.Short

***First and foremost, I want to apologize for the lapse in updating our blog. Life has been pretty busy for us all since the last post...that and I (Lisa) broke our digital camera right around Mother's Day. Oopsy! Now that I think about it...this is the second camera I've broken that was still fairly new. What can I say...I'm a klutz. Coincidentally, both times the camera broke, alcohol was involved. Double-oopsy! Fortunately, I just purchased a nice new Kodak EasyShare camera today so all is well again in the world of blogging. Here's to going on camera #3!***

Now, on to my current dilemma I face this week - should I proceed with getting Mathias his first professional haircut or do I let him grow it out until he's older? Mathias is going to be one this Saturday and has already received three haircuts at home when he was younger (I know what you all are thinking...how much friggin hair can a baby have?).

The first "haircut" was done by me when Mathias was only one month old. Yes, one month. I had to...the poor little guy had such long hair that it kept tickling his ears so he would constantly pull at it and then make himself cry. It was awful to watch everytime he did it. Mind you - I was a new mommy. Plus we all know how newborns at that age clench their little fingers so tightly around anything they can grasp. In this case, for my son, it was his own hair. Not only that, but the long hair around his neck and ears created a slight rash from the heat and irritation. I figured I was doing my kid a favor by keeping him cool in the hot summer weather that we had to endure (we didn't have air conditioning yet at that time). I finally decided at that point that I would take Daddy's hair trimmer & scissors and start a wackin'. It wasn't pretty...the hairstyle that is. Mathias was fine - he slept the whole time I was trimming away. The final look? Pretty darn cute from the front and pretty darn BAD from the side view. What can I say, it's hard trying to cut a newborn's hair. They're so fragile to begin with and I didn't want to hurt or disturb the little guy while he slept. My gentleness and lack of haircutting skills really gave my kid the buzzed/high & tight/jarhead/crewcut look I was sooooo not going for, but hey...he was still pretty darn CUTE! My sister referred to him as "The Monk". hahaha

At the green age of just 9 months, the second haircut was done by my lovely mother. Urgh - I was so upset! LOL She had the audacity to take it upon herself to go ahead and "trim" the front part of my son's hair. I came home from work one day and saw what appeared to be very short bangs on my kid's head. Not cool. My mother's reason for cutting his hair, "Iz touching his eyes!" I know, Mommmmm, but really, did you have to trim it yourself? From the front, my son had the bowl haircut that was only popular in the 60's. From the side, it looked like my kid had a mullet! I was devasted (and a wee-bit dramatic, can you tell?). Aah, well, my mom's intentions were good so I tried not to show that I was upset. Instead, I was optimistic and just decided he needed a proper haircut. Two women already jacked up since birth so now it was time to fix it!

 

Now here we are, two months later. Mathias is going to be one in just a few days and now his hair is longer than ever. I know my mom and I love the long haired look on little boys. There's something carefree about boys with longer hair. I just don't want anyone to mistake my son for a girl. There's something cute about a boy with getting his hair cut too. The shorter hair gives them the clean-cut look which is also endearing...but it also makes them look older. So currently my dilemma is this: should I let my son grow out his hair or do we need to take a trip to the barber? Any suggestions are welcome!

Mother's Day

Just a few pics from today as it was my first Mother's Day. Delicious food, delightful conversation and the exchanging of flowers and cards made this sunny afternoon perfect. Mathias had a great time too...he ate so much! :)

11 Month Old Milestones

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and will be the first time I will be celebrating it as a mother myself. Mathias is such a blessing and I am thrilled to be able to finally share this holiday with my very own mother.

Since my father is still overseas, the kids decided that we would celebrate Mother's Day at one of our houses instead of going out to my parents' home. We'll be heading over to my sister and her hubby's house to have a good ol' fashioned BBQ (per Mom's request). I can honestly say that Mathias has reached almost every milestone I had hoped for in his age so that alone is satisfying in itself. Here are a few of the "new" things our baby boy has already accomplished as an 11 month old (yikes! time flies!):

• says Dada



• says Mama



• can say Hi or Heyyyyy



• can say Doggie (we have a black lab)



• crawls



• stands on his own



• uses a spoon to try and feed himself

• emptying dresser drawers or kitchen drawers (what a pain to have to put every dish towel or t-shirt back)
  
  
• teething finally (I hate it and love it all at the same time)



• CLIMBING UP STAIRS (Aaah! He followed me upstairs to my bedroom and I didn't even know! I was doing dishes and Mathias was sitting next to my feet playing with his toy when I decided I wanted to put my hair up. Knowing that Mathias wouldn't go anywhere and couldn't climb stairs yet, I told him him that mommy would be right back and I just needed to get something upstairs. I ran upstairs into my room and brushed & tied my hair. Just as I was done, I heard little "Dada's" outside my room. Thinking Mathias was at the bottom of the steps waiting for me; I quickly walk out my room. Guess who was crawling through the doorway? Mathias! The little booger crawled up the entire flight of stairs into my bedroom! I freaked out! Just a few days ago, I recall Mathias not being able to lift his legs high enough over the first step let alone climb all the way to the top. I was shocked...still am! Baby gates are a must now. *Sigh*)