My Maternity Leave Comes to an End

Today Matthew is 12 weeks old. He is such a sweet baby. He likes to be held and talked to, but he also likes to lay in his bed and watch his mobile or chill out in his bouncy seat. I have enjoyed spending the past 12 weeks at home with him. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him, starting when he was born.


One of his newborn pictures at 2 weeks -


At 3 weeks and 5 weeks -


At 11 weeks -


This week at 12 weeks -

Only 3 weeks of work and then I have the entire summer to spend with my two boys. I'm looking forward to all of the milestones Matthew will achieve this summer...rolling over, sitting up, eating solid foods, and much more. Stay tuned!

We've Created A Monster!

For those of you who are around Tyler for any length of time, you will be very familiar with what I am about to write. When Jason and I began taking Tyler to Tuscaloosa for Alabama sporting events when he was less than a year old, we had no idea the effect it would have on him. He plays "Alabama" all the time. Most often he is an Alabama basketball player, but he also plays Alabama football, Alabama soccer, Alabama baseball, and Million Dollar Band (thanks Uncle T for introducing him to the drums!). As I was going through pictures on my computer, you would not believe all of the Alabama pictures I have found from the past few years. Here are a few, beginning with his first A-Day game!

Here he is during football season, beginning with 2005...

and then 2006 & 2007!

Here are some from basketball season (2005/2006 and 2006/2007)...

And when he made the Jumbotron in 2006!

Those are just a sampling of the pictures we have taken at Alabama sporting events. And we wonder why he rushes home every day and changes into his Alabama clothes to play...

We've created a monster but I enjoy going back and looking at the pictures we've taken of our little monster and seeing how much he's changed as he's grown. Maybe Matthew won't be so obsessed with Alabama but if he takes after his big brother then I'm afraid he'll have no choice. I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. It's amazing how fast they grow up!

Matthew's 1st Holiday...Easter!

Since we didn't have the blog around Easter, I decided to post some pictures of Matthew's first holiday. The week before Easter we went to see the Easter bunny at Nana's work then we took some pictures all dressed up outside. It was kind of bright outside that day and Tyler had a hard time opening his eyes for pictures!

A few days before Easter we dyed Easter eggs! Tyler loved it and wanted to do everything by himself until he realized the dye wouldn't come off his hands very easily. Matthew sat in his bouncy and "watched" although watching us dye Easter eggs turned into sleeping for a 6 week old.

Tyler was proud of his finished product. He chose one color for each member of the family and then I had to write our names on them. Take a look...

It was finally Easter. Tyler learned all about the meaning of Easter again at church. He told us about Jesus being killed by some mean guys and then coming alive again! He liked to tell the part about Jesus having blood on his hands. After church, we went to MawMaw's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt and to visit Grandad and Nana. We didn't get to see Mimi and Perry because Mimi was sick. Thank goodness she is feeling much better these days!

As with all holidays, we were exhausted by the end of the day, but we enjoyed spending time with our family on Easter Sunday.

Tot Ball and Smiles!

I LOVE reading other people's blogs and keeping up with what's going on in their lives, so I've decided to begin a blog to keep our friends and family up to date on what's going on with our two precious boys. My plan is to make at least one post each week. We'll see what happens there, especially when I go back to work in just two weeks! As you can see from the title above, our weeks are filled with tot ball and smiles...

Tyler is playing Tot Ball, a coed t-ball league for 3 and 4 year olds. He likes playing but I think he enjoys putting on a show for his audience even more! Last week, he received the game ball because he hit a homerun and made an out at first base. He was so excited to be given the ball and hasn't stopped talking about it. He's still rooting for his buddy Jeb to get the next game ball!

Matthew is 10 weeks old today and is growing bigger each day. When we went for his 8 week check-up, he already weighed 13 pounds. He is such a good baby and loves to smile and "talk". The first picture above is after his baby dedication on Sunday, April 6. Matthew enjoyed sharing his church with our family that day even though it took many of you a long time to get out of the parking lot! Next time we'll share an easier place to park with you! The second picture is of Matthew's first real bath. His cord stump finally fell off last week. He has had 9 weeks of sponge baths but is finally enjoying his bathtub!

I hope you enjoy Blogging with the Blakes. Let's see if I can actually keep up with it amid our busy schedules!