Super Baby!

Unfortunately there are no pictures to go with this post, but once our computer gets back or our pictures get accessible then there will be tons to upload!

Exciting new things that Matthew has decided to master on his own somehow and in the last 24 hours include:

1) Going from being on the floor on his back or stomach to sitting up again. He learned this while our backs were turned. Neither Ben or I saw him trying to figure it out, yesterday he just fell over from a sitting position and then all of a sudden, he was sitting up again! Very cool.
2) Peas are now an acceptable flavor.
3) He has learned the value of self propelled motion. He is almost crawling and yesterday he took two or three lunge crawls towards the dog and freaked out our poor canine. I don't think Hobbes (the aforementioned mutt) ever thought the little person would be able to move on his own but now that he can, Matt heads straight for the dog every time!! It's really funny to watch. I'm betting he'll be crawling well before the month is out!!
4) While Ben and I were on our technology hiatus Matt grew two bottom teeth and is discovering that he can bite things. This is not as great for us as it is for him.
5) This is even less great for us but a communication marker nonetheless. He has discovered the power of the whine for more than just to tell us that he's tired or hungry or messy as was his previous tendency. Now, he will whine when there's something else he wants that he doesn't have. This afternoon is was Ben's sister's two bunnies. However, they wouldn't have appreciated being chew toys so he got to whine about it for a while longer....Ben and I are hoping to rub out this whining thing because we aren't that fond of it.
6) Matt can now find anything to grab with two hands that is taller than him and will use it to pull himself up to a standing position. Fun to watch, a little scary when he does it during bath time.
7) He is a dare devil and during the last few days has decided that sticking his face in the water during baths for an instant is a thrill. He comes up wet and grinning and it's cute.

Pictures will be back soon!

We're still alive

Don't worry...our lengthy absence is only temporary. It's been a busy busy last few weeks and the main source of the lack of communications is because Ben's computer (more "fondly" known as Toby) has decided to die, and then not die, and then die again...and all in the screen. Then at other times between dead and not dead he has screen seizures that shake the screen making it impossible to read or do anything with. Did I kill Toby the PC? Heavens no! Although Ben thinks, probably correctly, that my love of Macs didn't help with Toby's unforseen illness...So...until we get a new computer our internet access will be random and unfortunately far between (at least for me...Ben can use his computer at work of course).

Thankful for Life

An aquaintance of mine died this morning of Cancer. Most of you didn't know this person and I barely did either. He was in one semester of a creative writing class with me at SVU. I think you get to know someone on a different level when you get to read each others poems and do creative thinking and story writing together. That was the only semester I knew him but he had an infectious goodness and wrote the best poems and the best stories that were uplifting and expressed happiness for life. He was like Dr. Seuss in his poetry and really really creative. He wrote an adorable short story and it was about a guy who wrote a sad short story and it won a contest for funny short story or something ironic like that and throughout this day in the story he met a girl and had hot chocolate with her. I'm trying to see if I can find a copy to share.

Not only was he a great writer but he was a really good good good person. Didn't say bad things about anyone and seemed to always have an eternal perspective about every challenge and trial of small and large proportions and it made a big impact on me. Even when he had to stop going to school because of his health he would send updates to everyone from Facebook and still worked on his websites which promoted a courageous happy way of living. I encourage you to check them out. He was a really amazing kid and the world needs more people like him, especially now, that believe in doing the right thing and that do it with a smile every time. It is sad that he's not here anymore but he made an impact on lots of people and knew what came after this life.

If I can find his poems I will try to post a couple of them that will make you smile. I am so glad that I know what comes after this life. To have that perspective and that surety makes death not scary or that tragic at all.