general hi...

hi! well, we had a great weekend at the ranch in giddings, as expected! i was a great napper, even in my new environment, and i slept the whole night at the hotel too - yahoo! mom was so happy with me, she kissed me 97 million times instead of 96 million (okay, so i can't really count that high, but it seems like that many). :) i really enjoyed meeting more relatives, and i especially liked my little cousins. there are so many of us (4 under 8 months, plus an adorable 2.5 year old) and we are all so cute - yeah! i'm so sad to report that my mom failed miserably to capture any good photos of us all together. :( she was so busy holding the other babies that she forgot about the camera altogether, which is so unlike her! i apologize on her behalf, and you'll have to just take my word for it.

other things going on include that i am really excited about our next trip, which will be to indiana next weekend! we are becoming quite the traveling crew, and i'm excited about going on an airplane. my uncle scott is a pilot and flies all the time, so i'm pretty sure i'll like it too. otherwise... it's so hot here that we haven't been able to spend as much time outside, which is a bummer. i like being outside a lot normally, but i practically evaporate in this 90+ degree weather, so we are only outside on our way in and out of target lately. :) we need a pool...

okay, that's about all for now. i will close with a picture of my huge biceps. i've been working out...

four months old...

wow - i'm four months old already - i can't believe it! and mommy and daddy especially can't believe it. sometimes mommy says it feels like four years... i'm not sure what she means by that... in any case, i had a doctors appointment a few days ago and i weigh 17 lbs 4 oz! whoa. i'm 25 1/2 inches long, which is pretty tall for my age, but still, that apparently is a lot to weigh at four months old. check me out!

mommy is threatening to replace one to two of my meals each day with a slim fast shake, but that doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

we're going to try some rice cereal instead, and as long as i keep impressing them with my development and smarts, i think i'll be okay. mommy says the only real bummer about it is that it's hard to find clothes that fit me. my torso is really long, and my tummy is a little chunky, but my legs are really short. so it's hard to find things that really fit well all over. luckily since it's 400 degrees here in texas already, i can just wear a diaper most of the time when we're at home anyway.

this weekend we are going to visit the Little Matthys Ranch in Giddings, TX. i'm really looking forward to that! lots of people from my daddy's family will be there and i'm especially excited about meeting all my new little cousins. we'll have great fun, and i'm sure there will be some stories to tell after, so stay tuned next week! and in the meantime, happy memorial day to all of you! i'm not sure what that even means, except that daddy will get to stay home on monday instead of go to work, so i'm in favor of it. bye!

my first trip to the park...

hi! mommy and i made our first official trip to the park yesterday - - and i had so much fun! our neighborhood has a really nice park just down the street from our house, and even though i'm still pretty small for most things there, we thought we would try out the baby swings. at first i wasn't so sure...

but then once i got swinging a little bit, i really liked it a lot!

the weather was nice and not too hot, and we had a great time there. i can see myself wanting to go back to the park a lot. then last night we went to a Round Rock Express baseball game! (they are the AAA team for the Houston Astros.) daddy's work was having a party there, and so we went and had a lot of fun. normally i am asleep each night by 8:00pm, but I got to stay up late past my bedtime, and i was a really good boy. :)

okay, that's all. bye!

jumperoo, hiccups, drooling, and scooting

hello! well, we had another great weekend. it was mommy's first mother's day! she had a wonderful day and loved the card i picked out for her. i also bought her a trip to indiana for her special day (with daddy's help), and so we'll get to visit all the hoosiers in june - yeah! :) grandpa and grammy pam came to visit us this weekend, so we had a great time with them and even got to see aunt mandy, aunt laine and cousin lauren too. we even went to the olive garden on friday night, and i was a pretty good boy in the restaurant. my cousin jacy held me the whole time, and i like her a lot.

i got a new toy recently - mommy calls it a jumperoo, and it's so much fun! i get to sit up in a big boy "chair" and play with toys and jump around. i'm really getting good exercise in there, too! see!

other things going on include hiccups, drooling, and scooting: hiccups, because i've been getting them about 7 times a day lately, for some unknown reason; drooling, which continues to be one of my favorite hobbies (see picture below of me and mommy - check out my drool shirt); and scooting, because i really like to practice my new trick of pre-crawling.

okay, sorry, but that has to be all for now. bye!

what i did today...

well... it may not be accurate to call it "crawling" quite yet, but it's movement in the forward direction accomplished using the legs, that's for sure! i finally had enough of being on my tummy and not going anywhere, and so this afternoon i just kept at it until i moved about 6 inches or so... no kidding! here's proof! this is a play-by-play of me in action. i obviously don't have the technique down quite yet, but i'm working on it! i haven't figured out to use my arms at the same time as my legs (either that, or i'm too heavy to lift myself up) and so i decided it was easier to just do a face-plant and go...

pretty funny, huh? here's two more that show where i was at the beginning and at the end. please note the position of my arms in relation to my parents drab bedspread in each...

and finally, my slobber marks to show how far i really went! i especially like to eat my hands when i'm frustrated and/or tired. i was both of those while trying to crawl today, and so i definitely left my mark.

okay, whew! i really am tired! better go take a nap... wait - one more thing! happy birthday to my aunt aimee in north carolina! miss you!!! :)

a quick hello...

i don't have much time to write today (i'm off to run errands with mommy!) but i wanted to say a quick hi since it's been a while... what's new with me? well, i'm talking like crazy! i just love talking to mommy and daddy, and even to myself! i love to make new noises and try out my vocal chords, and i love listening to what i sound like. this includes shrieking a little bit, which mommy is not all that thrilled about. i've also started picking up toys with my hands (as opposed to just batting at them or touching them, which is what i was doing before now) - and promptly sticking them into my mouth. i like to try everything out and see how it tastes, but i still prefer my hands to everything else i've found so far. but i'll keep trying... i also am getting a little bit more hair on the top of my head - yea! it's still very fine and light, though, so you can't really tell in pictures. um... i'm still getting better at napping in my crib, which is turning out to be a pretty nice place to sleep after all! i still love walks and being in my car seat, but now i stay awake longer and check out the scenery, rather than just snoozing in there. okay, i think that's about all for now. i hope to write more and post better pictures on here tomorrow... bye!