May

How time flies so quickly by. April 26 was a friend's birthday and that night at her party someone mentioned to Lori - "Did you know Matt can pick up his knees?" He had been sliding around on his tummy, effective but not fast. In the span of just about a week he had mastered crawling and starting to pull up to his knees. Not far behind is the full-on pull up to standing. Quite dangerous as he's still pretty shaky and does not always land the handhold he aims for. Matthew has bumped his noggin on nearly everything 18 inches from the ground.

Johnny Jumper to practice standing


Pulling up


Swimming with Gpa and our cousins - Kyle and Cooper


Matthew LOVES looking in the mirror, and not just at himself


Sweet baby

Pulling up on the crib which has since been lowered!


Fave picture of Matt with Lori's parents. Look how they're holding hands.
Mom and Dad Culver get the biggest props for taking such good care of us. We have been blessed to have them in town to play with us and teach us new things (Lori and Dave included!) Lori's mom has also served as babysitter to Matthew regularly while Lori works - a huge help to us! Thank you for everything!


Be praying for the rescue efforts for those in Myanmar and China. All those people affected. And Lori's Uncle Tom made an interesting comment - Chinese families are only allowed one child per family and then they usually tie tubes to prevent future pregnancies. For so many of them their only chance at parenting and continuing to the next generation has died in the earthquake.
If you are looking to make a contribution to the rescue efforts, we know of no better charity than Catholic Relief Services. It is a wonderful organization that serves as first responder for disasters like this. More than just passing out water or food, they stay longer term to help people get back on their feet. Also has one of the lowest percentages for administrative costs of comparable charities. Check it out at www.crs.org.

Blessings to your family,
Lori & Dave +matt

MTV

If you have not guessed, MTV in this house means "Matthew TV".

Roll screen!

Spring break

Dave was on spring break the last week and we enjoyed having him home. Baby Matthew continues to shed his baby-ness, getting cuter by the day. He's fully mobile now, doing the army crawl. He can get himself to any part of the room he wants to now, which means we have to watch what's on the ground!

With Dad - pre haircut...


And with mom just after she wielded the scissors. He was due for a trim!


He also had his first bites of solid food, which meant getting out the high chair. He seems to enjoy sitting up at grown-up height, so we strap him in every now and then when we're in the kitchen. Amazing what kinds of toys can come from your cabinets. Matthew's quite the wooden spoon drummer.

First time in the high chair


Right before the first meal (rice cereal - ick!)


One more for good measure - this is Lori's favorite onesie on Matthew and it's the last time we got him to squeeze into it.


love to you and yours, lori & dave

Out like a lion (on all fours...)

It has taken long enough for me to get you new pictures, and you're not imagining things if you see the baby boy we had just 5 months ago is now a little boy!!

Major accomplishments in the last month:

Turning over and rocking on all fours


Drinking from a sippy cup (still getting used to this one)


Riding on dad's shoulders


Finding baby toes


Sucking on baby toes


Putting weight on little boy legs




And a few more to enjoy

In Like a Lamb

We enjoyed a nice long visit with Mema (Lori's Mom's Mom and Matty's Mom's Mom's Mom)
Here we are on a lunch out with her


Lori's Mom Bonnie, Matthew, and Mema


Four generations


And other good ones:

First pair of blue jeans (and first time trying them on!)


First ball cap after a walk (ride) in the neighborhood


Sunglasses for one cool boy