It's the Holiday Season

Christmas pictures at 8 months old

The four grand kids (soon to be 5) with Bobo and KitKat.

The whole Hope clan

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's been a while since my last post. We've been so busy getting ready for Christmas, I haven't taken the time to update. In addition to keeping friends and family up-to-date on our sweet baby girl, I also use the blog to help me keep track of milestones and other fun things I'll want to look back on so I decided I had to update before I forgot last month's events.

Thanksgiving was such a special time. Our family has so much to be thankful for. We've been so blessed. I'm continually amazed and reminded of how good the Lord is to us. We spent the night before Thanksgiving with my parents so that they could spend some extra time with Mattilee. We live an hour away and although it isn't that far, I'd love to live closer so that they could see her more often. We went to my Granny Hicks' house for lunch on Thanksgiving. I can't remember if I've already mentioned this in an earlier post but Mattilee is her 20th great-grandchild! So needless to say our gatherings are always full of energy, laughter, and fun. It's always great to catch up with my sweet Granny, cousins, aunts, and uncles that I don't get to see as often as I'd like.

We left the Hicks' Thanksgiving lunch and headed to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with the Hopes. We met at a park to take pictures for Bobo and KitKat's Christmas card before retiring to their house for dinner. Robert, Matt's oldest brother, took the pictures and got some great shots. A couple of weekends before, he had also taken pictures for our Christmas card. He does a really great job. He got the best shots of Mattilee that I know I'll always cherish. It's so great to have someone in the family who can take really good pictures.

My twin brother Pat and his new wife Ashley got married on November 20 so they were honeymooning in Costa Rica during Thanksgiving. I missed getting to spend the holiday with them but I'm so extremely happy for them. I wish I had some pictures to post from their wedding but I didn't take any. :( I can't believe I went the entire day without taking any pics of the beautiful bride.

On November 21, Matti woke up with a really high fever. We had to take her to the doctor for the first time aside from her checkups. The doc originally thought she had a urinary tract infection, but the culture came back negative. Because it was negative but she seemed to have other symptoms that fit a UTI, our doctor had us schedule and ultrasound of her kidneys to make sure she didn't have any cysts. The ultrasound was perfectly normal so we were very relieved. We still aren't certain what caused her high fever but the doctor said they are seeing a lot of fever viruses so that could've been it. We are just very relieved that she's all better.

On December 7 Matti had her 9 month checkup. She weighed 17lb 11.5oz and was 28 1/2 inches. Doc said she is now in about the 25 percentile for weight and the 90% for height. He always says she's going to be tall and skinny. I've been amazed the past few times we've gone to the doctor to find that shes in the lower % for weight. She's got the sweetest chubby legs and tummy but I guess compared to a lot 9 month olds isn't so chubby after all. I don't even offer her baby food anymore because since she tasted table food she really wouldn't have anything else to do with the baby food and I can't say I blame her. She LOVES looking at the Christmas tree and she'd really love to get a hold of it. She can "army crawl" but she still can't quite figure out how to crawl on her knees. Her legs slide out from under her or she ends up going backwards. It's so cute to watch. I have to admit, I'm not really pushing her to crawl. I love my stationary baby and I know once she starts moving she's going be mobile for the rest of her life. Plus, it'd be great to have the Christmas tree put away before she really takes off. She is so much fun right now, I know that I probably say that in every post but she really is. She does something new and fun everyday! I went to get her up from a nap last week and she was standing up in her crib! That afternoon when Matt got home from work he lowered her crib to it's lowest position. She's also figured out how to get into a sitting position from a laying position. This is her new favorite thing; she's so proud of herself. She'll use her little arms and sometimes her head to help maneuver herself up and then she looks at us with a big grin to make sure we saw her. She's also recently started mimicking sounds of animals that we make with her. She likes to moo like a cow the best. :)

Butterfly Kisses

Mattilee was a butterfly for Halloween! We went to my parent's house for lunch on Halloween and we got to spend sweet time with my family. My brother's little girl Addie Brown was Tinkerbell. We had a lot of fun dressing our baby girls up and taking pictures. That night Matt and I helped with our church's fall festival. Well, Matt helped, Matti and I played and socialized.

My sweet butterfly

Sweet Addie Brown smiling for the camera and Matti playing with a leaf. Matti wasn't really interested in taking pictures, only playing with and trying to eat the leaves.

My mom told Matti that it looked like she had had a little too much nectar.:)

I don't blame you, Addie Brown! They're hard to resist.:)

Sweetest butterfly and the best daddy at the fall festival.

At the end of the night our butterfly was so tired but still so sweet.

Virgin Islands

I just couldn't have a post without a couple of pics of my sweet baby girl! I took these two the day before we left for St. Thomas and probably looked at them a thousand times during our trip.

The amazing girls I got to spend the week with!

A friend took this pic while we were there and shared it with me. This was taken from our hotel. It looks like a postcard!

We toured St. John and it was the clearest water I've ever seen!

Nikki and I at the farwell dinner. So glad I got to spend time with this girl! She's so much fun!!


The guys snorkling at St. John.

The whole gang!

Out to dinner at Fishtails.

The infinity pool overlooking the beach at the Ritz. So beautiful!

Overlooking St. John

Matt and I had the opportunity to go to the Virgin Islands mid October. Matt works so hard and because of his efforts he earned this trip through his company! His company paid for our flight and stay at the Ritz Carlton so as hard as it was to think about leaving our sweet girl for five days, we couldn't pass it up. We went to St. Thomas and it was the most beautiful place I'd ever been. We went with some other couples from his company that also qualified for the trip and we had so much fun hanging out with them! It was such a fun group of people and I'm so glad I got to spend time with them. It was weird not having to think about feeding and nap times and I really missed Mattilee but it was great for Matt and I to get to spend some time together. Mattilee spent the first part of the week with my parents and the second half with Matt's parents. She did great! Both grandparents said she was perfect, so hearing that helped when I would call to check on her. I also got them to text me pics periodically so I could see what she was up to. I'm really glad that both sets of grandparents got to spend lots of quality time with her and I know they are too!

Fall Fun

We went to the pumpkin patch with our small group and had so much fun!

Here's Matti with her pumpkins:)

Petting Zoo!

I made this dress for her and my sweet friend Courtney monogrammed it. I'm hoping that at Christmas time I can put a red shirt underneath and maybe in the spring a pink shirt. As long as she doesn't grow too quickly we should be able to get a few good wears out of it.

She's getting to be such a big girl!

The picture below is of the kiddos from our small group at the pumpkin patch, minus a few.

Matti and Willa are a little outnumbered by our boys:)

This is a picture of my twin brother Pat and his sweet fiance Ashley at a wedding shower for them. They are getting married Nov. 20th; just another reason this fall is so much fun!

Mattilee is now 7 months old. Everyday is so much fun with this little angel. Her fun little personality is showing more and more each day. Her latest thing is to get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. She usually ends up scooting backwards. I feel like she's going to crawl any day now. Matt and I are going on a trip soon and leaving her with my mom for half of the time and Matt's mom for the other half. I told them not to let her practice crawling too much or if she crawls to just not tell me about it so I'll think she did it at home with us for the first time:)

Fall is such a great time of year! I love the sounds and colors of fall and since Mattilee loves to be outside the nice weather makes it so much more enjoyable. We've already had so much fall fun and it's only the first of October!

One Last Beach Trip

At dinner hosted by Matt's company

Having fun with Nikki and Lyndsey in the pool!

With her new buddy Clay. I've been told that all babies and kids love Clay, and Matti is no exception.:)

Baby got back:)

Having fun with Daddy in the pool

Matt's company had it's annual agency retreat in Destin and Mattilee and I got to go along! It was so much fun getting to spend time with other families and enjoying the pool and the beautiful beach atmosphere all the while. Mattilee had so much fun in the pool. This baby girl LOVES the water! When we would get close to the water her legs would start kicking and she'd wiggle all over with excitement. The pools where we live are pretty cold so I'm glad we got to squeeze in one more beach trip so that she could enjoy the water. Mattilee was PERFECT the entire drive there and back. She isn't the biggest fan of being strapped in her car seat so we were so excited that she enjoyed the long ride. A sweet friend, whose husband works with Matt, is a professional photographer and took some pictures of Mattilee on the beach. I can't wait to see them! I'll post them for everyone to see when I get them back.

6 Months

Erica, the baby girls, and I surprised Gigi at work on her birthday! She was so excited to see her grand girls. In the picture above they are playing in Gigi's floor at work.

We also brought Gigi a famous peanut butter cake made by Erica's aunt. When we sat the girls behind the cake to get a picture, Mattilee immediately reached for it and got it on her hand. I don't think we'll have to worry about this one diving into her birthday cake when the time comes.


The weather has been so nice! Mattilee and I have enjoyed time outside. She loves to go outside and she really loves playing with our dog Molly.

We just moved up from our infant carrier to our new car seat. Let's hope she's always this happy in it:)



On Labor Day we went to the pool with friends Matt and Heidi and their two precious girls. The water was cold but Matti loved it and played with her daddy in the pool for a long time. All the fun wore her out so she napped while we enjoyed spending time with the Cockrells.

It doesn't seem like we have had Matti with us for 1/2 a year! I can't believe she is already 6 months. We went to the doctor for her checkup on her 6 month birthday. Our doctor told us we were boring, by boring he meant healthy since he has only had to see us at checkups.:) We are very thankful to have been so healthy so far. Matti weighed 15 pounds and 7 ounces and was in the 50% for weight. She was 26 1/2 inches and this put her in the 90% for height. Doc said she was tall and skinny and Matt and I just laughed...no one had ever referred to her as skinny before. With her chubby little legs and round tummy it makes me wonder what a 6 month old in the 100% looks like!

Mattilee started babbling something that sounds a lot like dada. It's actually dadadadada. Although we're not sure if she knows she's saying dada, it sure makes Matt happy that the first word we can make out is dada:)

A couple of weeks ago Mattilee and I were waiting in the custom framing section at Hobby Lobby when Mattilee spotted an elderly man standing near us who was also waiting for assistance. She kept laughing and smiling at him. She'd look away and then look back at him and laugh out loud. I guess she was playing peek-a-boo with him or she thought he was just really funny. This went on for about 10 minutes. The man would smile and laugh back at her and he finally said, "I believe that's the happiest baby I've ever seen."

While I was pregnant, I prayed that she would be happy and bring joy to others. Her middle name came from my great-grandmother's name Eliza. We spelled it with an A because Aliza means joyful; cheerful. Thinking about this caused me to look back in my prayer journal to see what I had prayed for while I was pregnant. It was amazing to me to check all of my requests off as I thought about how healthy she is, her sleep habits, her sweet personality, etc. It's just so sweet to know that the Lord not only gave us this precious gift, he also created her with our desires in mind.