Growing Boy!

Everyone says how much and how fast babies change. Well they aren't kidding. Just this week Matty hit two big milestones.

When I picked him up from school yesterday, his "bonding teacher" Mrs. Webb said during tummy time he rolled over from belly to back for the first time! She put him right back on his tummy and he rolled himself right back over! Ben and I were so excited and proud of him! We expected some real sadness that we were not there to experience that moment with him. But that emotion was much smaller than we anticipated. We were just so proud and excited that he learned this great new trick! We tried to get him to do it for us when we got home, but I guess it was old news to him by that point. He really wasn't too interested in reliving the moment. Hopefully tonight.

For the last few weeks, Matty's been drooling like a champ. I keep telling him, if the world ever has to endure a drool shortage, they can always come to him for relief. I have been wondering if maybe he was teething by all the drool and hand chomping. But kept thinking he is awfully young for that. But I do believe Matty is starting to cut his first teeth. While this is not confirmed by his doctor or anything, he has been rather fussy at night, not like him at all, and this morning when offered my knuckle while crying his little head off, he bit down hard. I think his little gums are hurting him pretty bad. I hated to see how uncomfortable he was, but at the same time it's pretty neat to see him growing and changing so much. He's becoming a big boy!

But not too big, as is obvious when we hang out with Davis MacIsaac (7 months) and Jake McNeely (almost 5 months)! The 3 babies, and 3 sets of parents, had a nice evening in at Brian and Caroline's last Friday night. It was so adorable seeing the 3 boys together! When we got there, Davis and Jake were hamming it up, getting acquainted, and Matty fit right into the equation. They were very sweet to each other and extremely curious about one another. They kept reaching out to each other. It was very cute! I said I was so happy they all liked each other! To which Hilary replied, "good, they don't really have a choice!"

Then Saturday evening I had dinner with two other Mommy friends of mine, Lisa and Jeannie, friends from my TGM days. I must admit I was a bit hesitant, I hated to leave my little guy, even though I liked that he and Ben got some quality time. But we had a great time! It was very nice to have a nice dinner and wine with girlfriends. The husbands surely wouldn't have enjoyed the dinner conversation anyway: all babies, labor and delivery chat!
This weekend, Matty is looking forward to a visit with Miss Lauren and her daughter Ellie, who will be 1 next month! We are also having his (late) 3 month pictures taken Saturday morning. I am so excited! Of course he has a mosquito bite on his forehead from 1 minute outside the other day. Hopefully it will be gone by then, or the magic of photoshop can always wipe it away!

4th of July

Happy Belated 4th of July everyone! I hope yours was as wonderful and restful as ours!

Jennifer, Kevin and Hudson came into town on Wednesday, though Hudson left us on Thursday to spend 10 days with his Gigi (Kevin's Mom) in South Georgia. Apparently swimming and jet skiing with his cousin is more fun than Marietta, go figure. But Jen and Kevin were with us through Sunday. My office was closed Thursday and Friday, so I got spoiled with 4 straight days with my little family! Just 4 days of nice relaxing quality time together. No rushing, no plans, just hanging out, eating well and drinking wine...not to shabby if you ask me. Kevin, a relatively new but enthusiastic runner, ran the Peachtree Road Race for the first time on Friday morning. Coming in 2485 out of 55,000...I am sorry I think that is pretty damn impressive! And he got the super-coveted T-shirt as a reward for all the sweating!

After that we had a very relaxing July 4th, watching TV and napping. We didn't even watch any fireworks, except the ones on TV, and celebrated our nation's independance with a mexican dinner at Nuevo Laredo. American, no, but if you've ever eaten there, you can't blame us for doing that.

On Saturday the women in my family, sans my Mom, had a mini-Strawberry Jamboree! That is what we started calling it last year when we get together to make homemade strawberry jam. My mom and Aunt Mimi's parents often made homemade strawberry jam in the summertime from the strawberries that grew near their home, a long-standing family tradition. One that Aunt Mimi and Amanda have diligently kept up. But the Murphey girls never did learn how, so last year when Mom got sick and we realized how much we had never done that we had always wanted to, we committed to making this an annual event. It was a fun afternoon, messy as hell but it sure smelled good in there!

3 Months Old!

I can hardly believe Matty is already 3 months old! Then again, it feels like we have always had him in our lives and home, that I can't believe sometimes it's ONLY been 3 months! He is changing so much, it's amazing to watch.
There is no newborn left anymore. The "Cuddly-Infant Fairy" has been to our house and given us some wonderful things: Tons of smiles, out-loud giggly laughter, and sleeping through the night! I can't even describe what a thrilling experience that was that first night, but for you parents out there, I know I don't have to. And yes, I tried to squelch it, but I did get up once to check on him :) He slept 12 hours straight the other night! (He gets that from his Daddy). He is holding his head up really well now, and loves his new baby Bumbo chair. He looks like such a big boy sitting up in it, and I know sitting up for real is just around the corner.

He is cooing all the time and our conversations are just fascinating to Ben and I! He really gets going, and I know he knows exactly what he is talking about, even if we have yet to learn the language. Yesterday, he got to laughing so hard when I was singing "Old McDonald," tears of pure joy came to my eyes, it was such an amazing feeling to hear that burst of laughter from our little boy. It is a funny song though if you think about it, I certainly felt silly singing it.

Matty's First Trip to Apple Mountain

We have been so looking forward to taking Matty to Apple Mountain since even before he was born. Momma and Daddy have owned their second home in Highlands, NC for just 5 years now, but that is hard to believe, for as special as this place as become to our family. It's so beautiful, quiet, and a much cooler place to unwind and relax than Macon or Atlanta. As stressful as life gets with work and obligations and everything we all juggle everyday, being in Highlands even for a few days does wonders for the soul.

Ben needed to go last weekend, for a meeting with a solar client. It went very well, he even managed to pick up another potential client while we were in town. And it was very lucky for us to be there on the 27th of June...it was Momma and Daddy's 40th wedding anniversary. Such an incredible thing to me! How many couple's make it to that milestone? And they are still in love and best friends after all that time...congratulations, Mom and Dad!

On Saturday, we took a hike up Whiteside Mountain which stands adjacent to our house there. I had imagined such an easy stroll, which really it was, but Mom and I still struggled! We blamed it on my just having given birth and her having just gone through cancer that we couldn't keep up with the men! But the view when we arrived at the top was well worth the sweat and huffing and puffing. While taking pictures, however some serious thunder started threatening so we only enjoyed the view for a second before high-tailing it back to the car!

It was a great weekend and it got us very excited about all the wonderful memories Matty will have spending time there growing up...fishing with his Daddy and Bop at Andy's trout farm, more hikes up Whiteside and exploring the woods around the house, canoeing in the lake, Bop is talking about building a great tree house just for the grand kids, and most of all as Mimi and Bop always tell Hudson, "there are no rules" here!