Going Old School with NKOTB!!!! WHOOO HOOO!!!!

Warning: if you only read this blog for Matney just skip this post. Sometimes a mama gets to do something for herself!

What a great night!!! My friend Allison called on Tuesday afternoon and said she had a weird and random question...if she had free tickets would I be interested in going to the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK concert Wednesday night? Whooo HOOOOOO!!!! I wanted to go to the NKOTB concert at age 10 so if you give me the chance a couple days before 29 I AM THERE!!! Allison had gotten 3 tickets from someone at work who couldn't go so I called Jen and she was on board too. I can only imagine what our husbands each thought when we called and said "the kids are YOURS tomorrow night. I am going to see New Kids on the Block!".

Jen went into the attic looking for her old shirts and buttons. Allison got the puffy paint out and made a shirt. And me? I was just glad to have a pair of pants that fit! We called each other a million times Wednesday and by 7pm we were off. We got to our seats just as it was about to start and Natasha Bedingfield was one of the opening acts. AWESOME! Then there was some weirdo girl named Lady Gaga. We'd never heard of her nor do we want to ever hear of her again. Then...it was NKOTB!!! Fabulous after all these years. We sang and we danced and had a GREAT time. Several times we joked that we felt like teenagers again. However, this morning after 4 hours of sleep I feel like I got hit by a truck and am reminded that I am pushing old lady-ness.

So, here are pictures for those of you that care. Susan, I have some Donnie ones just for you, Sister! On the ride home (at about 12:30am) we talked about why this was so much fun. There isn't much that I can look back on and say that I wanted to do as a kid that I didn't get to do. Other than the Strawberry Shortcake doll that blew strawberry kisses (that is for you, Erin!) the NKOTB concert is the one thing I could really think of...and I got to go! And I remembered the words to the songs 19 years later. Incredible! We had the greatest time. It has been a long month for so many reasons and this was just the fun time we all needed!!! I tried to put more pictures but they are now smaller so enlarge them to see better.

Thank you to the man with the tickets even though I don't know you. We had a much needed, WONDERFUL night and appreciate your generosity so so much!!!

Our Little Monkey!

Aunt Vickie sent Matney the CUTEST monkey pj's last week and she wore them for the pumpkin festivities. Here she is playing while Jared carved pumpkins and I made dinner (ok, heated a frozen pizza!!!). She is a monkey alright!!!

Pumpkin!

Jared came home early last week and we carved a Matney pumpkin! Here are pictures of our 2 toothed, hairbowed pumkin...the pale one and the cute one!

Bundle Me Up, Mama!

What a cutie pie! We had our first really cold day here in GA last week. I bundled Matney up before we left and at first she was alright. She didn't like the shoes but she was still in a good mood. By the last couple pictures (only 2 minutes later) she was not liking all the layers. She is still cute even when she wants to pull the hood off!

More banana-nanas

Matney's favorite food is oatmeal with bananas. She will eat lots of other things (no vegetables though) but the banana cereal is her favorite. Here are pictures from a couple days ago. What a cute mess!

Uncle Josh

My dad and brother, Josh, were in ATL last week for some computer something (they tried to explain and I didn't understand). Anyway, they drove up here for a couple hours in the afternoon, waiting out traffic, and played with Matney. She had a great time playing with her Uncle Josh. At one point she was sitting near him with toys inbetween them. She individually took each toy and moved it to her other side, away from what he could reach. Josh thought she was pretty funny!

Here they are playing on the couch. She would open her mouth and expect Josh to hold a toy up for her to chew. FUNYY!

Matney's first trip to the babysitter!

Jared and I went to see Wicked this weekend at the Fox (it was wonderful!). While we were gone Matney went to the babysitter for the first time. We've had family members watch her before but this was the first time a non-family member kept her. Charlie and his mommy Lindsay kept Matney for about 5 hours and it looks like they had a great time. She posted pictures from their day on her blog. Click HERE if you want to check it out!
They said she was WONDERFUL in case anyone doubted!

SHE DID IT!!!

7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days later...MATNEY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! WHOO HOOO!!!! If I knew how to make that sentence BOLD and RED and covered in sparkles I would do it!!!

About 2 weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I got totally fed up with Matney being up and down at least 5+ times in the middle of the night. We started "cry it out" at that moment because I shut her door and walked away (no comments or opinions please!). I had hoped it would only take a couple days but our cute baby is a stubborn one and we've heard scream after scream at all hours of the night for more than 14 days. Last week I decided that she and I were not going to leave the house until she "got it". I wanted all naps on time, in the crib, and bedtime on time in the crib. So, we spent a lot of time in the house, got really bored and pretty tired of each other. BUT IT WORKED!!!! Matney went down last night at 8:30pm and slept until 6:15am. Can you believe it??? She woke up once around 10:30 and cried for less than a minute and not a peep for the rest of the night. She has never done that before.

This is a picture from a nap today. I am amazed how bright our flash is because her room was dark. Through much trial and error I have learned that to fall asleep she has to have a blanket and Dog. Yep, that Dog. Some of you close to us will really understand the significance of that and yes, it has been hard! She eventually kicks the blanket off and I take it out of the crib at night. Dog she keeps a death grip on (see her hand) and kicks her leg on top of him. He is hard to extract when I want him back! Anything for sleep though. I am so optimistic!

Pumpkin Patch

Finally! I have been trying to post these for a week and it finally let me do it one by one. Anyway, we got up last weekend and took the girls to the pumpkin patch. I was so excited. I loved her dress and her bow, her cute shoes...AND MATNEY HATED ALL OF IT. Agh! I was so disappointed. Here are the best shots from a crazy day. The bow is out of her hair, the cute matching shoes are off and she is in Mylee's borrowed pink sock...but she is still cute!



The Harveys and boiled peanuts!





Enlarge this and look at her mouth. HA!

Swinging!

Last weekend we got together with the Harvey's and took the girls to a pumpkin patch. I can't get the pumpkin pictures to post so I'll keep trying. The girls were not really a fan of the pumpkins so Allison suggested we got to a park with swings. Our girls hadn't been in a swing before but we put them back to back and THEY LOVED IT! Our camera didn't have memory left so we only had a couple shots but can you tell how excited Matney is? She was squealing! Time to look into a swing set for the backyard!

Baby's first BLING!

I don't know how I overlooked these pictures so I am posting out of order. Look what Matney talked Grandma into while we were at the mall. I went to try something on and came back to Matney and her SPARKLE SHOES. These aren't the best pictures but aren't they awesome? She wore them to church Sunday and got so many compliments! I have a feeling that I will have to watch Matney and Grandma (my mom) closely during the upcoming years because they are going to be trouble together!





I put this picture up more for the big belly than the shoes. Yep, no worries about eating enough at this house!