myhunkymonkey

December/January

2009-05-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it has been brought to my attention that I CLEARLY have been slacking on updating this so I'm going to try and do a quick recap and post some of the highlights from the last oh, how long has it been 5, 6 months! Sheesh, I really have been slacking haven't I?!?!

but...I'm not ready to get out yet!

I'm ready to eat! Where's my food?

He loves checking himself out in the mirror!

One of his favorite toys because he's now figured out how to pull himself up to stand

This is what happens when you leave them plugged in too long! :)

Not quite sure what to do with the book yet...

...still trying to figure it out...

...yay! And he finally gets it! :)

My brother came to visit and we took a trip to Seattle.

Watching the game....

....the next day out to breakfast and wondering what the heck was up with that play?? Darn Seahawks!

Mommy's little snowbunny!

Teaching him how to make snow angels

new toys that he got for Christmas

practicing his new crawling skills on Christmas morning

Happy boy! Sooo CUTE!!!

So in December Matthew started crawling pretty well and pulling himself up on the furniture, it was the beginning of the end for me! :) My life has never been the same since! As you can see he really started to enjoy bathtime and still does. He also was able to start exploring new foods to eat, and let me tell you, this kid can eat. I'm still trying to figure out where he puts it all. We had a great Christmas and had fun ringing in the New Year!

Snow Days!

2008-12-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

If I remember correctly, the snow started last Saturday and it's still sticking around. Today we finally decided to go out and play in it. Matthew seemed to enjoy it for the most part, although we didn't stay out in it too long as it was a bit cold out and I didn't want him catching anything. We had to get some cute pictures for the scrapbook though. It's Matthew's first time seeing snow afterall! :)

Santa Pictures

2008-12-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

Matthew got to meet Santa for the first time. Santa loved him! I almost had trouble getting him back from Santa. :)

Matthew seemed to take a liking to Santa as well. He was in awe of his beard. Don't worry, he was a good boy though and didn't pull on it. :)

6 month pictures

2008-11-29T22:42:00.001-08:00

So I wanted to take Matthew to have his 6 month pictures taken professionaly but it's been difficult finding time in our busy schedule, between feedings and naps, that we just haven't made it. So this is what we ended up with. We had an impromptu photo session ThanksgEVEing and Thanksgiving. I had him all dressed up ready to go visit family for the holiday and just had to take his picture. And this was the result. I thought we ended up getting some really good ones too! He has such a great smile, and he sure does love his monkey! :) Can't believe he's been blessing my life for over 6 months now. I think I'm the luckiest Mamma in the world! :)

Mmmmm.....carrots!

2008-11-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

Last week on Matthew's 6month birthday we tried rice cereal. This week we decided to try some carrots. I think he enjoyed the carrots a whole lot more than the rice cereal. He ate them all up and probably would have eaten more if I had them ready. We also tried a drinking from a cup today too! He didn't do too bad. I'm not sure he drank a whole lot, but he was holding the cup really well and had a good time exploring it. :)

Also, this last week we also had Matthew's 6 month checkup and the doctor said he's growing perfectly! I was pleased when I heard that. It confirmed my assessment. I too think he's perfect. :) He's still in the 25-35% range. He's now 26 inches and just over 15lbs. Many people still think he's little, but he's nearly tripled his weight in 6 months. I'd say that's not too shabby! I apologize for the gazillion pictures, but I like to show him off. I'm a just a little proud to be his Mommy!

Matthew is 6 months already!!!!

2008-11-20T23:17:00.000-08:00

Grampa playing hide and seek

Hanging out with my Uncle Jake

On top of the world with Auntie Heidi

Let's get this show on the road!

I'm ready to eat some real food, got my bib and my spoon!

Opening presents!

Mamma reading me the monkey card

I'm a basket case!

Mmmmm....cookies! Monkey cookies!!!

November 15th, 2008 Matthew Paul turned 6 months old. It was a big day for him. We had a monkey themed birthday breakfast which included delicious monkey bread. Matthew didn't get to enjoy it though. But he did get to eat some rice cereal for the very first time. I can't believe my baby is 6 months old already. He is growing SO fast. He's already cutting teeth and scooting around. He's getting quite the personality too. I've been SO incredibly lucky! He's a very good boy with a delightful temperament. The only thing that I think he could improve upon is sleeping longer during the night. :)

My Monkey

2008-11-12T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ok so for "Halloween" Matthew was a monkey, of course! Technically though we didn't do anything on Halloween because I was exhausted from work and it wasn't the most ideal weather outside. Not to mention the fact that he can't quite walk yet or even eat the candy nor would he remember if we went or not!

But, it was his first Halloween so we HAD to have a costume and to make use of it and get some super cute pictures my friend Patricia and I took him to the pumpkin patch and tortured him with the camera. We grabbed a wheelbarrow and a plump pumpkin and plopped him and the pumpkin in it and started snapping photos. For the most part he cooperated but by the end of it he was a little cranky and ended up falling asleep while Patricia and I indulged our taste buds with some delicious roasted corn! :)

All in all I'd say it was a success! I was pretty pleased with the pictures and think they'll make a great scrapbook page if I ever get around to making that happen. :)

So....

2008-10-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

....apparently I'm not as good as I'd like to be at keeping up on this! Matthew Paul will be 5 months old tomorrow! My oh my how the time has flown by! He's growing so much so fast! He laughs outloud now and talks up a storm! He's about 14lbs and 24 1/4 inches (well at least he was a month ago) He's growing like a weed! And I love him more and more with each passing day! Everytime I see his adorable little smiling face my heart melts!

2 week check-up

2008-06-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so technically he's 2 and a half weeks, but who's counting?! Oh wait, Mommy is! We took Matthew to the doctors today to make sure that everything is going well. And sure enough it is. I think they are going to let us keep him for a while longer. He weighed in today at 6lbs 12oz and measured 19 and 3/4' inches. He is a growing boy! The doctor couldn't believe that he had gained so much weight, he thought that maybe the scale was wrong or something. But I assured him, he is a very good eater! He may have started out little but I don't think he'll stay that way for long.

June 1st, 2008

2008-06-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 1st, was a big day of firsts for Matthew. At only 2 and a half weeks Matthew attended his first sporting events. First we went to the Mariners game, our friend Mr. Foote was gracious enough to share his extra ticket with us since his wife Patricia was down in Oregon taking care of her Mom. We had a blast! The Mariners didn't end up winning but we had a great time nonetheless. Then after a great afternoon at Safeco Field we went and met Heidi and Yvonne at Seattle Center and had some dinner then headed off to Key Arena to watch the Seattle Storm play. What a day!

My adorable boy...

2008-06-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

So far in Matthew's 2 1/2 weeks of life these are my all time favorite pictures of him! The first one, I do believe he was only a day or two old. He had fallen asleep on my lap after eating and just looked so precious! And the second one I took the other day. I laid him down on the couch, again after feeding him, it seems that's all he does is eat, sleep, oh and mess his diapers, but he just looked so precious laying there I kept taking picture after picture because I wanted to capture every moment of just how precious he was. And to my delight, I was able to capture this adorable picture. He had been dreaming, and often when he dreams he makes funny faces and smiles. Oh how I wish I knew what he dreams about. Must be something pretty good though! The last picture was daddy and Matthew just relaxing on the couch. So precious! And he looks so tiny on daddy's tummy!

Photo therapy

2008-06-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

On Monday May 19th we had to be admitted to the hospital and stay overnight because Matthew had jaundice. It was a tough night for me as Matthew did not like laying under that light. I was only able to hold him every 3 hours when I fed him and he was only allowed to be out from under the light for 20 minutes at a time. He was pretty fussy most of the night which kept me awake. I couldn't stand to see him upset so every time he fussed I would get up out of bed and try and comfort him. Eric had to tell me a couple of times that it was ok if he fussed. Thank goodness though the photo therapy did it's job and brought down his bilirubin levels dramatically and we were able to go home the next afternoon.

Welcome to the world....

2008-05-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

Matthew Paul Gepner

arrived

on May 15, 2008

at 4:51 in the afternoon.

He weighed in at 5lbs 14oz

and measured 18 inches long.

The story:

The evening of the 14th I wasn't feeling well. I had a couple contractions but nothing too bad. I let Eric know that I wasn't feeling great and after what I described to him he thought it might be the real thing. But I didn't think so because the doctor had told me that if you think your in labor you probably aren't, she said you will know! Even though I wasn't feeling well, I still proceeded to cook myself dinner because I was hungry and I had already taken the chicken out to thaw and by golly I wasn't going to let it go to waste. After I finished cooking dinner and I sat down and just rested for awhile the pain went away so I thought maybe I had just over done it a bit. I had a crazy feeling Matthew would be here sooner rather than later, but for some reason I thought he would arrive on Monday. The next morning Eric and I went in for a routine doctors visit. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was quite a bit higher than it had been. The nurse then set me up on the machine to do the Non Stress Test to monitor me and baby. This was something we had become accustomed to as we were having to do it every time we visited the doctors due to my blood pressure. When the doctor came in to check on us she had decided that we were going to have the baby that day. Apparently my blood pressure was too high and I was showing signs of Preeclampsia. When she said that to me my first reaction was "She's kidding right? She can't be serious. I'm not ready for this!" My heart was beating so fast in my chest, I really don't think it helped my blood pressure any. She told us that we may not get in right away depending on how much room there was over at the Birth Center. We thought we'd probably have the afternoon and would be admitted later that evening. Well, the doctor called over to the Birth Center and sure enough there was room. We didn't get any time to process it all. They brought a wheel chair and a nurse took us over to the Birth Center. They gave me a gown to change into and told me to hop in bed. Then the nurses came in and stuck me 3 times trying to get the stint in my arm for the IV (I think that was the most painful part of the whole process). Not long after they got the IV in I started having contractions, after about an hour or so of that I decided I'd go ahead and get the epidural. The contractions weren't unbearable but I I didn't want to know what unbearable felt like. Once I got the epidural they checked me and I was dilated to 10cm, Matthew was ready to go! The nurse called the doctor in and two pushes later I was holding my baby in my arms! The nurses and doctors were amazed at how quickly it all went and how good of a pusher I was. Normally I guess it takes longer when they have to induce you and often times it can be harder to push when you have an epidural because you can't feel anything. I certainly couldn't feel anything, I just did what the nurse told me to do! Apparently she said I'm made to have babies! I know that Eric was thrilled that it was so quick. He was having nightmares of having to spend 24-48 hours in the hospital before I even gave birth! I told him it wouldn't take that long, but I had no idea that it would be as quick as it was!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be a mommy! I never knew how amazing it could really be and that you could love something SO much! Pretty much I think he is the most adorable thing on earth now and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!

Ultra Sound Pictures

2008-04-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so I was finally able to scan Matthew's ultrasound pictures and share them with you! Hope you enjoy!

October 31, 2007

Matthew's very first picture and the first time I laid eyes on him!

January 8, 2008

Our 20 week appointment and when we found out what he was!

It's a BOY!!!

January 17, 2008

He was stubborn at the Jan 8 appointment and wouldn't let them get a very good look at his heart so we had to go back again on the 17th.

March 28, 2008

Matthew's Profile...finally a good head shot!

Because my belly didn't appear to be very big the doctor wanted to make sure he was growing. And he was! He weighed 3lbs 5oz and was in the 45th percentile.

Now only about 6 weeks to go until we get to see some pictures that aren't black and white! ;)

I can't wait to meet my little monkey!

The Baby Shower

2008-04-08T19:08:00.001-07:00

On Saturday March 29, 2008 my wonderful friends threw me a baby shower. There was a great turnout of wonderful people who all wanted to help celebrate the life of little Matthew Paul. As you can see, Matthew is already spoiled rotten! We recieved a ton of wonderful gifts and are extremely blessed to have so many people that love and care for us!

It's true....

2008-04-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

.....I am expecting a beautiful baby boy on May 30, 2008. I can't believe how quickly the time is approaching. The last several months have been very scary and exciting all at the same time! Planning for this little bundle of joy can be quite exhausting, not to mention growing him inside of me at the same time!

Before he get's here though I thought I'd be a good mommy and try and get a page started to keep everyone updated on little Matthew Paul when he arrives or as I like to call him My Little Hunky Monkey! :)