Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Lainey 21 Months



Lainey girl is 21 months! She never wants to be still. She loves walking all over the place and getting into things. And just last week we finally weened her off formula and bottle!! WHOA. This feels like an enormous accomplishment. No more buying Nutramigen, hallelujah! She doesn't drink a ton of almond milk but now she is eating much more real food. We still aren't sure if she has outgrown her dairy allergy. We try giving her small amounts of cheese or other dairy products occasionally to see if she tolerates it and sometimes she is fussy and sometimes not. There are just so many other factors so it's hard to know if it is upsetting her or not. I am trying to get an appointment with an allergist scheduled. She likes almost all fruit (especially watermelon and banana), avocado, usually lunch meat, crackers, eggs, some veggies, and noodles. She is not crazy about most meats yet (except chicken nuggets) or bread.


She also started pointing this month. This also feels like a big milestone because although small, it is a way for her to communicate what she wants. She loves pointing at everything now.



 She loves the pool and we now know she loves the beach. She loves baths too.


She still does PT and OT and we are starting at a new place for ST. I am hoping it will be a good change for her.


I love this girl's wild and curly hair. When she wakes up it is pretty straight but so crazy. I can never even see her face. I have to get it a little wet to revive the curls.



She is a sweetheart and we love her so much! She has come so far in the past months making new progress. I can't believe she is going to be a big sister! Love you Lainey Bear.

Monday, July 27, 2015

26 Weeks Pregnant with Baby #3


Lainey {left}, Cambry {right}



How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Baby's Size:  Scallion

Maternity Clothes: Yes, mostly all. Even some maternity shirts are getting too short, which really irritates me. Why would they make a shirt so short?? I am feeling big.

Movement: The movement keeps getting stronger. I can see it from the outside and there are starting to be some body rolls and ninja kicks.

Sleep: Great.

Symptoms: Always tired. The belly feels big and heavy. My feet swell a little at times. I usually have a couple Braxton Hicks each day.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Milk. Mmm give me more milk.

Best Moment this Week / Baby Prep Progress: Being in South Padre all week for family vacation! And since we were there all week we didn't do any baby to-do list items.

What I miss: Feeling normal and having energy.

What I am Looking Forward to: Decorating the walls in the girls' room.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

25 Weeks Pregnant with Baby #3


Well I forgot to take my 24 week picture last weekend and then continued to forget each night after that. We had a busy week. Since I am 25 weeks now we will just skip last week's update.

Lainey (left), Cambry (right)


How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Baby's Size:  Rutabaga?

Maternity Clothes: Yes, mostly all. Although the top I am wearing in the picture is non-maternity but super flowy (thanks Target).

Movement: The movement is getting stronger. I love to feel him wiggling around.

Sleep: Great. I have had a couple dreams lately that I was in labor about to have the baby. I was so excited to meet him. Then when I woke up I was so sad that I still had 15 weeks left before meeting him.

Symptoms: Still a little lingering nausea but not bad. Always tired. I can barely make it through the day without a nap.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Milk. Mmm give me more milk.

Best Moment this Week / Baby Prep Progress: It is late right now so I can't really remember what we have done the past couple weeks...my mind is mush. But we did set up Cambry's big girl bed and she loves it. I love it too. It is the cutest, girly-est bedding. I bought some things for the wall for the girls' room and for baby boy's room that I need to hang.



What I miss: Feeling normal and having energy.

What I am Looking Forward to: Going to the beach!


Monday, July 13, 2015

Cambry 3 1/2


I am a little late on this but...our big girl is 3 1/2! She is absolutely the sweetest little girl. When she was a tiny baby it made me so sad to think of her getting older but I just love to watch her grow and see her personality and hear her say the funniest things. Here are some things about her these days...

She loves princesses. She is constantly talking about Elsa, Anna, Sofia, Cinderella, etc. She plays with her princess figurines most of the day. In fact, it doesn't even need to be a princess figurine. She will turn anything into a princess. Fork and knife, hand sanitizer, play baby bottle - all of those things become princesses with names. She narrates what the characters are doing constantly. She loves to talk all day long.


She is very particular about clothes. She only likes to wear dresses and only certain ones. She even likes to wear her Easter dress around the house. But her most favorite thing to wear is pajamas (a gown, obviously). As soon as we walk in the door after being out somewhere she has to immediately change into pajamas. Often times if we aren't going anywhere I don't even bother to make her get dressed. It does save on laundry though, ha! We basically only wash her pajamas. When she only wears a real dress for an hour while at Target, I just hang it back up and call it clean.

Speaking of clean, this girl likes to be clean. If any speck of food gets on her hands while eating then WHOA you better get her a napkin immediately. She cannot stand dirty hands. This is definitely inherited from Greg.


Cambry is super observant. She notices the smallest detail and remembers everything. She will even spot mistakes or differences in how things are drawn in books from different pages. She can tell you what the kids in her Sunday school class were wearing. If you read the wrong word in a book she will correct you.

She is a pretty picky eater. She rarely likes the dinner I make. I guess this is pretty common at this age though. We have had a few dinner stand-offs but lately things have gotten slightly better. She still doesn't eat a great dinner many nights, but is more willing to try 1 bite of something. Currently her favorite foods are peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs, waffle with jelly, cinnamon rolls, blackberries and raspberries, and sour candies. 


She doesn't take naps anymore. I can't remember when they stopped but it feels like a while ago. She actually would take a nap without a fight if I had her take one, but then she can't fall asleep at night. Her usual bedtime is around 8pm (and wake up time around 7am), but she will be up until after 9:30 unable to fall asleep if she has a nap. I let her watch some tv while Lainey naps, and since I am pregnant I usually lay next to her on the couch and fall asleep myself. Her favorite shows are Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, the Tinkerbell Movies, Cinderella, and Frozen.

She is really starting to like swimming. She has been doing swim lessons for almost 2 months and she hasn't really enjoyed them, but the past couple times we have gone to the pool for fun she has absolutely loved the water. She will want to go under water or glide or do things she learned in swim lessons. I am looking forward to our upcoming vacation because the house we are staying in has a pool. And hopefully the swim lessons will continue to boost her confidence and teach her how to be safe in the water.

She is very creative and imaginative. I love to see the set ups she creates for her figurines. 

They are having a picnic

This is a birthday cake she created
She is pretty much a girly girl to the max. She likes having her toenails painted, likes for me to braid her hair, only wants to wear dresses, prefers playing inside with princesses than going outside, and is sweet and gentle as can be. We love her so! Happy half birthday Cambry Paige!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Mattern Family Vaca: Red River


At the end of June we went to Red River, New Mexico with Greg's family. We enjoyed the beautiful mountains, the cooler (than Houston) weather, and lots of good family time. The cousins always have a blast playing together.




We went on short hikes, went fishing, went line dancing one night at the community center, rode the chair lifts, and explored the little town. One day we rented these jeep type vehicles and drove up a mountain and had a picnic. I felt very pregnant on the trip and the altitude seemed to drain my energy but at least I wasn't nauseous hardly at all and I had a great time.







They usually have bingo a couple nights a week but the week we were there was unusually light on tourists so they didn't have enough to play. It was nice that the town wasn't crowded though.





Early into the trip poor little Lainey tripped into the fireplace and busted her chin. We tried taking her to the clinic in town but the doctor was out so we had to drive 45 minutest to the urgent care in Taos. Luckily she did not have to get stitches. They were able to close it with strips and glue. It was a little traumatic though. Poor thing wasn't herself for the next several days.


We are so thankful to Nana and Pops for planning a very fun vacation!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

A Simple Pool Outing

Pool Bag Packing Time: 45 min
Challenges - Cram everything into one bag but don't forget anything crucial

Sunscreen application Time: 20 min
Challenges - uncooperative and wiggly recipients

Lunch Preparation and Packing Time: 30 min
Challenges - cutting up everything to an approved non-chokable size while simultaneously having all your final products eaten by hungry children

Cleaning up Collateral Damage Time (aka the trail of destruction throughout the house created by 20 month old while you were busy focusing on above tasks): 15 minutes
Challenges - everything that gets picked up gets taken right back out. Also toddlers cannot resist unraveling toilet paper. 

By the time we arrived at Noah's Ark pool at 10:10am Lainey was asleep. She falls asleep so easy in the car. I wonder who she gets that from?

We ended up having a blast. We met other moms from Divine Design there so it was nice to see friends. Cambry was very independent and brave running around and going down the slides by herself. She wanted to go in the big pool too (with her puddle jumper on). Lainey liked the water but I had to stay 3cm away from her at all times because she is not the safest.




When we finally left, both girls were asleep in the car within minutes. I do love a peaceful drive. Cambry and I hung out then I had to wake Lainey up a couple hours later for Cambry's swim lessons (more swimming!). And there were no tears!! Then we came home and did baths and I prepped dinner and we waited for daddy to get home. I was completely exhausted but it was a super fun day.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Progressive Dinner

Course #1 : Eat what is on your tray




Course #2 : Eat what has fallen in your bib


Course #3 : Eat the treasures that remain in your high chair


(Not Pictured) Course #4 : Eat any remaining pieces that have fallen on the floor and under the table


Bon Appetit!