Five Month Firsts

She loves her exersaucer!

I take her pic next to this animal every month to see how much she has grown.


Matti and I spent a few days at my mom and dad's while Matt was out of town. My mom taught her to stick her tongue out during our visit. Thanks Gigi. :)


Pretty Girl:)

So much fun!


Look Mom, no hands:)

We are only a week into month 5 and it has already been my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I've LOVED every stage but this age is so fun! Mattilee smiles all the time and she giggles and laughs out loud at everything! She loves to be tickled, she thinks Molly our dog is the funniest thing ever, and sometimes just looking at her or talking to her makes her laugh out loud. When we go in her room to get her up in the morning or from a nap, as soon as she sees us she just giggles so loud and smiles and her whole body wiggles with excitement. I told Matt, that it's sad to think that she won't always be this excited to see us, but we've got it on video so we can always remember it.:)

Matti's been rolling over from her tummy to back since 6 weeks but she just started rolling from her back to her belly. She also realized that she can grab her feet and that she can put her little toes in her mouth. This is her favorite thing to do during diaper changes.

Right at 5 months and 1 week, I felt her first tooth coming in. I'd felt like she had been teething for a while because anything she could put in her mouth she just really gnawed on. Now it has broken through her gums and it's a sharp little thing. Since she is a thumb sucker I'm curious to see if she'll stop sucking her thumb after she bites down on it a few times or if she'll find a way to work around it.

Matti officially started sitting up on her own this week! I couldn't believe it...she just doesn't seem old enough to be sitting up. She's still a little wobbly and topples over from time to time so I make sure I have the area padded with pillows. Yesterday I went to answer the phone and left her sitting up surrounded by pillows. When I came back a few minutes later I totally expected her to have toppled over but she was still sitting there and played for a good 10 minutes before falling over.

She's just growing and changing so fast! Sometimes I wish I could slow it down but I'm just trying to enjoy every minute with her. School started back this week and that means I would have been starting back to work. I can't describe how grateful I am for the opportunity to stay home with her. My husband works so hard to make this happen. I know we will have to make sacrifices but they are completely worth it to us. Staying home isn't for everyone, I've got friends that say they are better mommys when they work, but for me it is the greatest blessing.

The Fun Continues

Happy Girl

Lying down for a nap at Granny Hicks' house:)

Happy 4th of July!

My friend Courtney monogrammed this cute little dress for her and I just had to get some pictures with her in it.

First time eating baby food. We had pears.

This may be my favorite pic of her so far. After our first encounter with sweet potatoes, I went to run her bath water for obvious reasons. When I came back she was laid over with her thumb in her mouth. All that work was exhausting:)

At Mattilee's 4 month check up she weighed 13lb 7oz and was 25 inches long. She was now in the 75% for weight and the 70% for height. She had to get another round of shots but again, she did great. She barely cried at all and seemed to forget all about them within a few minutes.

This month the doctor said we could start trying baby food if we wanted to...and of course we wanted to! At first she could take it or leave it but within a week or two she really started to like it and would get excited when she saw me getting her food ready. So far we have tried all of the 1st foods except green beans and she likes them all! Or let me rephrase that, she eats them all. Sometimes she eats so quickly, I'm not sure she had a chance to taste.

She really started being purposeful with her little hands this month. She began to grab anything she wanted and swap toys from hand to hand. Everything, I mean everything goes straight to her mouth.

Up to this point, Matt and I had given her a paci at night. One night she took the paci out of her mouth and replaced it with her thumb. Now she wants nothing more to do the the paci and she loves sucking her thumb. I know that we will probably have trouble one day getting her to quit sucking her thumb and that we can never take it away from her -it is attached to her body! But she looks so stinking cute and she soothes herself. No more going into her room to put her paci back in her mouth or worrying if we remembered a paci when we go out. And did I mention how adorable she looks? I can deal with it for now:)

Summer Fun

Fun with Daddy in the pool!

Family pic



Sweet Baby Girls

Beach Babes

Gigi feeding Addie Brown at the pool.

Worn out from all of the fun in the sun.

Ready to go!

Matti's 3rd month was so much fun. For starters, Mattilee started sleeping through the night! Up to this point she would wake up one time during the night for a feeding and go right back down to sleep. She's always been a GREAT sleeper and every once in a while she'd sleep through that middle of the night feeding. But at 9 weeks she slept all the way through the night and has done it ever since. Most of the time I have to wake her up to feed her. I prayed for a sleeper and the Lord definitely gave me one!

We started out the month of June by attending VBS at church. I was teaching a preschool class, so that meant Matti had to stay in the nursery. I was a little apprehensive about this, since I had never left her with anyone besides her grandparents. Even on Sunday mornings she stayed with us in worship and slept. But she did fine and the ladies loved her. She was the youngest VBS attender so they all raced to get her when I brought her in. She didn't care for the initial hand off but it didn't take her long to warm up. I was right down the hall so I'd sneak a peak every once in a while to make sure she was okay.

Toward the end of the month, we went to the beach with my family: Gigi, Pop, Uncle Grady, Aunt Erica, Cousin Addie Brown, Pat, and Ashley. We had a wonderful vacation. We stayed at Carillon Beach in a beautiful house. The weather was beautiful and so was the water. We saw no sign of oil.

It was so nice to spend an entire week with my family. We spent most of our time during the day at the pool, which we quickly discovered is more baby friendly than the beach with all of the sand. Matti and Addie Brown both loved the pool. They were too young to enjoy the sand and the waves, but next year I'm sure we'll be spending a lot more time on the beach.

We visited the outlet mall and lots of great places to eat. We rode bikes, played cards and games, etc. Grady built a washer game which is kind of like corn hole and brought it to the beach. This and golf kept the men completely entertained. They all needed time off from work; I think this relaxing vacation was great for them.

I loved getting to spend lots of time with Addie Brown and watching Matti and Addie together. They were so funny. Addie Brown is about 4 months older than Mattilee and wanted anything that Matti had in her hand and since she was so much better at reaching and grabbing for stuff than Matti, before we knew it Addie had commandeered all of Matti's toys. Matti didn't mind at all, she just loved watching her older, more resourceful cousin. We are going to have so much fun with these two being so close in age. I can't wait for the many more family beach trip and vacations.

Mother's Day

Matti in her dedication dress

At church before the dedication service


Gigi with her grand girls on Mother's Day.

My first Mother's Day was so special because it was also the day of Mattilee's baby dedication at church. Matt and I have always realized that Mattilee is His, He is just entrusting us with her. But on this special day, we publicly dedicated her to the Lord. We had both of our families as well as our church family there to pray with and for us and over Mattilee's life. The gift of a child is the greatest blessing but it is also a HUGE responsibility. Please pray for us in this journey as Matt and I commit to loving, guiding, and instructing Mattilee by our words and example.


We were asked to choose a verse that would accompany Mattilee's picture in the church bulletin that day. Matt and I have always prayed for our children but once we found out we were expecting, it was so sweet to be able to pray specifically for this child. This verse describes what we pray and desire for Mattilee's life.


For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:9-10

2nd Month

At Matti's 2 month check up she weighed 11 lb 10 oz and had grown to 23 1/2 inches. She was now in the 90% for both weight and height. She also received her first round of shots. I wasn't looking forward to this at all, so Matt went with us for moral support:) She did great. As soon as the nurse was finished Matt scooped her up and she very quickly calmed down in her daddy's arms. I think they upset me more than they upset her.

She grew and changed so much during her second month. You can tell by her pictures from this month how much weight she put on. Her little cheeks and body were really starting to fill out. Matti rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time at 6 weeks! She also found her hands this month and she loved to put them in her mouth. Although she had been smiling from the beginning, I could tell this month that she was really smiling at us. She had always made sweet baby sounds but she started giggling some and really cooing this month. It seemed that every day brought on a new development!

Easter

Happy Easter!

With cousin Addie Brown in their pretty Easter dresses.

Family pic before church

Sleeping through lunch.

Every girl in the Burchfield family has had her picture made in my grandmother's crib.

Matti's first time at church was Easter Sunday. It's so sweet to worship our risen Saviour and the blessings His death and resurrection mean for us. Just realizing what the Lord sacrificed for us by giving up His Son to be crushed for our iniquities is so humbling and all the more real with our own little one.