They beat me to it!

Check out the present Matthew made for us in "school" today. So cute!!

I've been meaning to do this with him, and haven't gotten off my hiney to get the plaster kit. I'll have to get one and do his foot - gotta capture for posterity how big his feet are already!

Thanks for your support!

We'd like to officially thank everyone who sponsored us in our March for Babies today. We raised $400, and Team Squeaks collectively raised $1,200 for this great cause. We couldn't help but be reminded of just how lucky we are to have had a full-term, healthy baby. It was amazing to see all the family teams wearing t-shirts proudly displaying their successes in facing tough challenges (one baby girl born at 29 weeks, another born weighing just 2 lbs 2 oz., etc.). Sounds cliché, but we are so incredibly blessed.

We had a great walk. It was in the mid-50s and cloudy, and the showers that had been forecast stayed away. I must say - downtown Hartford is quite nice on a Sunday morning. Then again, maybe that's the effect of the honey dipped donut from Dunker that I had before we set out on the walk....

Matthew did great. He was awake for half of the walk, enjoying the sights and the fresh air, and then took a nice snooze. We stopped off for a quick ride for Abby on the Carousel in Bushnell Park - so cute! Next year we'll have to get Matthew on there. We capped off the walk with a quick stop for beverages at the Starbucks we passed toward the end - a perfect ending in my book.

Here are a few pictures - thanks again for your support!!

2 and 2.....or maybe more like 2.2

For those of you around my age, when I say 2 and 2 you may think of this guy....

Didn't you just love Chuck Woolery on Love Connection? Especially how he'd cut to a commercial saying he'd be back in 2 and 2? You know, with that sly little wink and his oh-so-clever hand gesture? No? OK, maybe that was just me....

Anyway....

2 and 2, or rather 2.2, has a whole new meaning lately. Namely, it's the number of seconds it takes for Matthew to go from this....

or this....

or even this...

to this...

Now, when I say meltdown, I mean meltdown, complete with blood-curdling screams, stiffened back and flailing arms. It happens when he decides he's hungry, and it literally takes 2.2 seconds for him to go from his usual happy self to one unhappy little boy. The instant he begins eating, he calms down as if nothing ever happened. We're chalking this up to a growth spurt, or the fact that he was battling a cold earlier this week (awwww......poor boy!) and just wasn't feeling well. Whatever the reason, it is quite a sight to see him get so cranked up so quickly. I can't imagine where he got that temper from....

Getting some exercise

Here's a little video of Matthew playing with his activity center. He loves it, and gets his whole body into it! At least one of us is getting some exercise....

Just sharing....

Not much happening around here lately, so I thought I'd just share some cute pictures of Matthew hanging out with Daddy. Enjoy!

We survived!

So, today was my first day back at work, and therefore, Matthew's first day at daycare. I'm happy to report that we all survived. Matthew probably fared best out of all of us.

It seemed like he sensed something was different today. Lately, we've taken to snuggling a bit in Mommy & Daddy's bed once Daddy goes to work. Today, he got some extra snuggle time with Daddy instead, which I know he loved. He loves his Daddy.

Here are a couple of pictures of him while we were getting ready this morning. Don't you think he looks like he's wondering what's up?




Fortunately, Matthew was sleeping when Daddy dropped him off this morning, which made it a bit easier - no tearful goodbyes, you know. They had a big sign on the door welcoming him, which was very sweet. I only called once to check on him, and his "teacher", Amanda, said he was doing great, and I was sure he was. I couldn't wait to leave work to go pick him up - the pictures of him that I plastered my office with just weren't cutting it. I walked in to find him sleeping in a bouncy seat. Amanda got him up for me, and as I was taking him from her, he started to cry. I had to fight the feeling that he wasn't happy to see me. He then proceeded to spit up all over me, but I didn't mind in the least. Fortunately, once he got over being woken up, he gave me a bunch of his big, beautiful smiles. You know, the kind that seem to take up their whole face. Ahhhh....heaven! All's right with the world again.

He got a great progress report for today. They printed out a bunch of pictures they took of him, and he was all smiles. I swear, they are some of the best pictures of him yet. I know we signed a piece of paper that says any pictures they take remain their property, yadda, yadda, yadda....but man, I've got to see if I can get my hands on them.

Here's a picture of him now...all tuckered out from his big day.


I'm so lucky that I'll be working from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully Daddy will be able to come home and have lunch with us. I think I'll get Matthew up extra early tomorrow so I don't miss a minute.

What a day....oh, what a day-ay-ay....

In the words of our favorite band, The Saw Doctors, What a Day! Despite a gloomy forecast, today turned out to be a beautiful spring day. Instead of 62 and rainy, we got 74 and sunny with some spots of threatening clouds and a 5 minute sprinkle. We decided it was a great day for a drive, so we set out to see if one of our favorite spots - 911 Burgers & Dogs - was open for the season. How psyched were we to pull up and see cars in the parking lot? It's a tiny little place, in the middle of just about nothing - just perfect. One table inside, four picnic tables outside. You order inside, then head outside to wait for your number to be called out the pass-through window.

As the name suggests, they sell burgers and dogs (among other things). Check out these beauties...

Best of all, though, are the "grill fries" - slices of potato seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked on the grill top. Simple, but to die for....

Matthew enjoyed having some time out in the fresh air and sun, although it did make him a bit tired after a while...he tried to fight it, but to no avail.

After lunch, we headed to Nanna & Poppy's house. We hung out with Nanna for a couple of hours, and then decided to head to the fire station to surprise Poppy. Matthew got to play on Engine 2....

on the outside.....

and on in the inside....

Love this shot - three generations of Egans....

From his vantage point, Matthew had a great view of the traffic going by. He loved it!

Thanks, Poppy, for letting us play on the truck! Can't wait to come visit you at Station 3!

I love this boy....

It's been a while since I posted. Yeah, no kidding, Captain Obvious. Well, reason being, I'm heading back to work next week, so I've been spending every minute I can with Matthew. It's been an amazing (but very fast) 12 weeks, and I'm very sad to see it coming to an end. We went in for a little visit to daycare on Monday, and Matthew was a charm. He was smiling at all the ladies, and checking out the other babies. We got a bunch of paperwork to fill out before his first day, and got the scoop on what we need to have on hand. I have to say that I still really like the place. I'm not so much concerned about him being with them - it's just that he won't be with me. We'll be going back on Friday for a short time. They're running a seminar on choking from 12-1 (next door at Mass Mutual), and they offered to watch Matthew so I can attend - a dry run of sorts. The director told me if I feel the need to bolt out of the class and run back to Matthew, I can do that. =) Monday should be interesting......

Anyhow, since my boy is napping right now, I thought I'd take a little time to post some recent pictures and a cute video. So, here goes...

Here he is all soaped up in the tub - he's really come to love it!

Here he is attempting to get his entire hand in his mouth - must feel good!

Here are a couple of shots of him in his jammies - I can't believe he looks like such a big boy!

This one says "Seriously, Mom - enough with the pictures already!"

And here he is playing Cash Cab with Daddy, at least until Mommy interrupted. Can't wait 'til we can play Jeopardy with him! (Sorry for the poor quality.)

Hope you've enjoyed!

Spring has sprung....for now, anyway....

What a beautiful day. It's finally looking and feeling like spring. I've been waiting for the weather to warm up so Matthew and I could get out and put some miles on the stroller. That is, other than the miles we've put on it at the mall. =) I wanted to get him out to enjoy the fresh air and give him some new things to look at. Plus, we need the practice for the Walk for Babies in a few weeks.

So, for the last couple of weeks, we've been taking walks whenever it's warm enough outside. It's funny - we've always heard people rave about the network of sidewalks in this town, and now that I'm actually out and about and using them, I see what they mean. You can take some pretty long walks and not leave the sidewalk. We typically walk for 40 mins to an hour each time, varying the route to check out all the different neighborhoods. There's a house one street over that looks so pretty - tons of crocuses popping up all over their front yard. I decided to bring my camera today to capture a couple of shots...before they're covered up with snow tomorrow. Yup, that's right - they're forecasting snow - although just a coating, then changing to rain. Gotta love New England....

Here are a couple cute shots of Matthew, too....one as we just set out (taken with my cell phone so not great quality), and another of him asleep in the sun.

On the way back today, we stopped off at the library. Matthew was fascinated (and so was I) with these gigantic kids' books. They're easily 2 feet by 3 feet, so the pictures were practically lifesize for him. I can't wait to bring him back there and sit with him on the floor going through them all - there were probably 30 of them. He particularly loved this one....everyone was huge!

On a side note, Matthew's officially begun teething - yikes! He's drooling lots, and shoves anything he can in his mouth, especially his whole hand. I shot some video of it yesterday, so I'll upload a clip soon. Also, he rolled from back to front yesterday - Daddy saw it, but I missed it. Can't wait to catch him in action.