Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope you have a joyous holiday with lots of fun with family and friends!

Three Months!

I'm three months old today!

My dad went through his photo album and found a picture his parents took of him at 3 months. As luck would have it, mom and dad have the chair dad's picture was taken in!

Here I am olding the picture of my dad when he was three months old.

Here I am solo!

Here we are together!

Can you guess how old I am?! :-)

12 Weeks!

I'm tweleve weeks old as of Saturday!

I had mom and dad take some photos to celebrate! :-)








I love my new blocks!










I'll be spelling in no time! ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a great turkey day!

Gobble gobble!

Halloween!

Had my first Halloween the year. As you can see, I was dressed up as a monkey and I was really exicted about it.

I even had "Boo!!" socks on! :-)

Mom and dad took me to meet our neighbors Angela and Sean. They were very nice to me and thought I was cute in my outfit.

Did you know the origins of Halloween started with the Celts in what is now Ireland, about 2,000 years ago? They celebrated their new year on November 1st and used the night of October 31 to celebrate the end of summer and the start of winter. Large fires were lit and the Celts wore costumes (mostly animal skins and heads) and tried to tell each other's fortune. You never know what you'll learn from a two month old blogger! ;-)

Now I have to learn about Thanksgiving.

In My Room

I thought I'd share some pictures of my bachelor pad with everyone.

Living with mom and dad is okay but they are sort of cramping my style. It's been nice of them to let me live with them in their room but, eventually, I'm going to have to live in my own place.

Fortunately, I found this great place just around the corner from mom and dad's. Check it out:

I had Stewie come over and check the place out with me. He seemed to like it.

Here I am checking out the bed. It has a long history in my family - it was my grandfather's crib and my dad used it too!!

Someday, when mom and dad say, this will be all mine! :-)

Just Hangin'

I have puppies!

Did I mention I have puppies?! We have two plus I have four cousins.

This is London. He hasn't paid too much attention to me so far.

As long as I don't take away from his chair time with mom, I think he will treat me just fine.

Stewie, on the other hand, is very much into me.

He's been very protective - he checks on everyone who visits and makes sure they treat me well.

He also gets very concerened when I cry. He likes to make sure I'm comfortable and happy as much as possible.

My four cousins like me too. Toffee, like Stewie, is also protective of me. Here he is wanting to jump up and lick me while I cried.

Rhubarb likes me too - but I think she wants just wants to play. I can't until I'm bigger and can play with all of the dogs!

Baptism

Yet another big day in my young life. I turned three weeks old and I was baptized into the Catholic church on Saturday! It was a great excuse to get the family and some friends together. I had a nice time being passed around and meeting new people.

The ceremony was quick and to the point but I decided to cry most of the time anyway. That was until the priest poured the water on my forehead. That helped cool me down for a little while (I thought the fall was suppose to be cold!) but then I started up again. Can't wait to hear myself on the video!

Afterwards there was a very nice party that my mom and grandmother, Mar, put together. I'm told there was a lot of yummy food and drink. I, of course, timed my nap perfectly to start just as the baptism ceremony ended and the party began. As I mentioned before, I met a lot of nice people including family members who I had not seen since I was born.

Finally, after a long day of ceremony and party, I took a little nap. Here I am on the couch in my baptismal gown. FYI - I'm now the 5th generation to wear this gown. It was first used by my great-great-grandfather 104 years ago! Pretty neat, don't you think?

First Dentist Visit

Had my first visit to the dentist yesterday!
Turns out, I was born a little tongue-tied which means I could not fully extend my tongue. This has made it a little more difficult for me to breast feed and could have lead to problems when I got older - including speech issues and troubles licking ice cream.

Well, when mom and dad heard about the potential probem with ice cream, they jumped into action! Just kidding about the ice cream, but they did want to take care of the problem now in order to eliminate it as a potential problem.

We visited a pediatric dentist yesterday and the nice man snipped a very small (1mm) piece from under my tongue and it seems to have helped. It hurt for just a little bit but mom took good care of me and made it feel better.

The good news is I'm still gaining weight and this procedure will only help. I'm right at 7 lbs so I should be back to my birth weight by the middle of the week.

Happy Birthday wishes to my Uncle John!

Busy week two

We've had a great week so far. Mom, dad and I have gotten to know each other better and they are taking great care of me.

I've started getting the hang of sleeping at night. I have slept from 3 to 5 hours at a time on different nights this week. Mom and dad certainly seem happy and relaxed when they pick me up.

I have to give a shout out to Mar. She has been feeding us so well this week with lots of yummy foods. I'm not eating the food directly, mind you, but I get the benefits through mom and I'm lovin' it!

My cord fell off this week so, as a result, I was able to have my first real bath. While I may not have enjoyed it while it was happening, I did enjoy the result of being clean and wrapped in a warm blanket.

Mom and dad got a new game for the Xbox - The Beatles Rockband. I watched them play while Nana held me. I like the songs a lot. I know I have heard some of them before because dad always tuned into Breakfast With The Beatles on Sunday mornings while I was inside mom. That Paul McCartney plays a mean bass!

Received my first piece of mail this week. Thank you to Kelly and Tony for the prayer book. Mom and dad are already putting it to good use.

Today WAS my original due date. Mom's iPhone app tells her to do a test drive to the hospital to get ready for my birth. HA! I took that option away from them two weeks ago. ;-)

First Weekend At Home

I had a great first weekend at home. Technically, it was my second weekend alive since I was born on Saturday the 5th.

Just as I did during the week, I did a lot of eating, sleeping and pooping. Standard stuff for someone my age. In between all of that, I watched my first Grand Prix race with mom and dad - this one from Italy. Nice to see a fellow Brazilian win the race. Go Barrichello!!

Of course, I timed my birth to coincide with the start of football season. Dad and I suffered through a tough loss for Notre Dame on Saturday, heard about the Bears loss on Sunday but got a nice win for the Chargers on Monday. At least ONE of my teams won this weekend! (I say 'my team' only in that I inherited them from mom and dad. :-)

Now on to the second week at home. Can't wait!

Week One

Hard to believe it has been a week since I came into the world. I have to admit, it has been great!

Mom and dad are taking really good care of me. All of my needs are met - I have a bunch of new clothes, a great bed to sleep in, a fun swing to well, swing in and more.


Certainly not a quiet week for the family. I've been back to the hospital where I was born to get my birth certificate paperwork. Mom and dad will have to get the official certificate in a couple of months.


I also went to the doctor a couple of times. He's very good and seems to really care about my well-being.

My latest trick on mom and dad seems to have been foiled before it even started. I was really hoping to keep them guessing in regards what I was trying to say when I cried. Turns out, a lady at dad's work (thanks Stephanie) told him about the Dunstan Baby Language (http://www.dunstanbaby.com/) theory just before I was born. He and mom learned the words I am using in my early days and what they mean.


As a result, they know when I'm hungary, when I need burping, when I'm tired or need changing. While it seems to have kept them calm most of the time, I was hoping to have fun with that one for a long time. Oh, well. I'll just have to plan something else. ;-)


It appears I've been born into a family of shutterbugs. Both mom and dad like to take photos of me at almost anytime. I thought I had made it clear while in utero that I didn't want any papparazi pictures:













I know they mean well, me being their first child and all. I guess I can put up with it if I have to. Here's a nice picture of me at one week old:





So, now it's on to week two. Have to gain some weight and stay healthy. If I'm good, I'll even let mom and dad sleep a little. :-)

BDay

Mom had some more medicine at 3am to help with the pain. I didn't mean to hurt her, but I also didn't want to wait another two weeks to make my big enterance

Some new people came to visit mom later in the morning and, when I confirmed they were the ones from different parts of the county, I got busy.

Mom did a great job in preparing the space needed for me to come out. At about 11:10am the nurse gave the okay to start pushing. Dad was there and I heard him counting (guess he can only count to ten because he kept stopping there!) and mom starting pushing.

At 11:39am I was finally out of the womb and into the world. The photo above was one of the first of many my dad took that day. This is one of my favorites:

Dad went down the hall to announce to everyone that I had arrived. I could hear their cheers loud and clear!

I spent some quiet time with mom and dad after the nice nurse correctly guessed my weight - 7lb 2oz, and measured me - 20.5 inches. We enjoyed getting to know each other and I looked around for something to eat. It was at this time that mom and dad decided to name me Matthew Lane Wholihan.

After quiet time was over, all of the other family members came into the room and the party started. Everyone was so pleased for mom and dad and happy the whole delivery process went okay.

The party lasted a short time because mom had to be moved to another room in the hospital where we would stay the next couple of nights. Once we were there, I started plotting my next trick...but not before mom and dad pulled a fast one on me! We got to the room and settled in when, all of a sudden, the next thing I know, I'm rolling back down the hallway and end up in a sink full of water. They kept calling it a 'bath' but, whatever it's called, I didn't like it as evidenced by this photo:

Afterwards, they did wrap me up in a nice, warm blanket and I felt much better. Throughout the day, I was checked and rechecked by doctors and nurses to make sure I was handling my new world okay.

I was and, eventually, it was time to bring an end to my birthday and go to sleep.

Well, that's what mom and dad thought. I had other plans because this is where my next trick came in. I let dad put me in the basinette and tuck me in while mom got comfortable in her bed. Dad turned out the lights and got himself comfortable. I counted to 30 then let 'er rip - letting out a loud cry the probably woke the neighbors. Ain't I a stinker? ;-)

We were all up for most of the night - not only because of my cries but also by the nurses coming to check my temperature and my weight. We finally got a couple of hours sleep as I looked forward to day two of my life.

BDay -1

The first thing you need to know about me, is that I like to play tricks on people.

It's September 4th, 2009 and I'm about to play my first trick on my soon to be parents.

See, they don't realize that, in just a little while, my mom's water will break and then I'll be born. So, I let them get up on this beautiful Friday morning and make plans for the day - even allowing dad to make a list of things he wanted to get done over the long Labor Day weekend. When I sensed him doing that, I knew it was the perfect time to strike. Seconds later, I was able to get mom up to the bathroom where she announced her water had indeed broken and early labor had started. So much for that 'To Do' list dad. :-)

They got all excited and started moving frantically around the house in preparations for my coming into the world. Here's where the second trick starts. Mom sat down and started timing her contractions. I let them happen pretty regularly for a number of hours until I thought it was time to slow things down. In the middle of the afternoon, dad finally asked mom if she had had a contraction recently and she said, "No!" She checked her contraction timer on her iPhone and realized she hadn't had a contraction in an hour and a half! Got ya mom! :-)

I was able to hold up the contractions while mom and dad went to the hospital at 5pm on the night of September 4th. For a while, it looked like they were going to have to cut mom open to get me out but I wasn't having any of that. I may like to play tricks, but this is serious stuff - me being born and all. Because I did such a good job with my second trick, the doctor gave mom some medicine to help bring the contractions back and there was nothing I could do about that from in here.

Phone calls were made and plans created for family to arrive in time for my birth. Now, while I may like playing tricks, I also love an audience. As soon-to-be family members came to visit mom, I heard them say how there were more family members from as far away as San Diego, Santa Barbara and New York City who wanted to see my big enterance. Well, if I was going to get the best bang for my buck, I knew I had to wait until Saturday the 5th. And wait I did....