Matson Family Memories: Matson Update

Time for another update!
Things are going great in the Matson household. Braelyn is learning something new everyday. Tyler is working hard to provide for our family. I am "baking" my little bun in the oven-nothing new. We have had 2 of our 3 sets of neighbors over the last week and it has been so great getting to know them. I hope that we can make some lifetime friends with them and be there for each other whenever any of us is having a bad day. I have already gotten to the point that I am excited to see or hear from them and I love sharing goodies with all of them.

Braelyn:
We were finally able to take Braelyn for her 2 year check up-a couple months late... She is 29 pounds and 35 inches tall. We have been trying to do school at home since she is too young to go to preschool. She can already count from 1 to 11 so we have been starting on the alphabet. We work on one letter a week, as well as sing the ABC's, and I am already seeing her learn. Two weeks ago we started with the letter A. I printed off coloring and tracing pages for her to work on. She knows what sound the letter A makes and when I ask her "What starts with the letter A" or "What food do we eat that starts with the letter A" she can answer apple or animal. I am so proud of her and how smart she is growing to be. This week we worked on the letter B. She knows that her name starts with the letter B as well as banana and book. I love seeing her improve each and every day. Her new saying is "Oh my goodness heavens!" It makes us smile every time I hear it. Grandma Mickelsen took us to Wendy's and when we were walking inside she said, "Oh my goodness heavens! It needs to stop windying!" We both got a kick out of her wishing the wind would quit blowing. She talks so much and surprisingly speaks really clear for her age. Her favorite things are bikes, her baby, and her princesses. She is so good with her baby so it is very promising for when baby brother comes, as long as she doesn't try to be the mommy... Braelyn keeps telling me that her baby brother is awesome and she loves him so much. I hope this continues when he is finally here! Fingers crossed.

Tyler:
Tyler is working his "brains" out in his words. He has a great job with a great boss, but they are trying to wrap up summer and fall pesticide so they can do Christmas lights so it has been really busy. He tried to donate plasma to get money to buy a cyclocross bike, but his veins were too small I guess. They said they couldn't get a good vein and that he would have to come back in 2 to 3 months to try again.

Koloni:
I haven't been doing much other than staying home cleaning and taking care of Braelyn. I work at Larry's Spring Chicken Inn in Morgan once a week to help out while they are short-staffed. It's hard work while pregnant because it has been fairly busy most days I've worked, but it is worth the extra savings and pocket change that I get. I loved listening to General Conference last weekend! It was great to hear the inspired words of the Prophet, apostles, and general authorities. I especially loved Elder Bednar's talk on tithing and Elder Holland's talk on hanging on and not giving up. We have struggled with tithing in the past, but have been working really hard on being full tithe payers and Elder Bednar's talk really emphasized that what we are doing is right and we will be blessed for our contributions and efforts. What Elder Holland's talk gave me confidence and hope. We all go through trials and struggles, but there will ALWAYS be a light at the end of the tunnel. It also encouraged me in the fact that if a great apostle of God can struggle with depression and made it through to become one of the greatest speakers and examples in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then I can struggle and stumble with little things and still make it through. Never give up. Never ever let Satan convince you that maybe you are better off digging a deep hole and jumping into it. Like I said in the beginning, I enjoyed taking goodies to our neighbors and just baking in general. In the last week, I have made Banana Crumb Muffins, Snickerdoodles, Lion House Rolls, Breadsticks, Cinnamon Rolls, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. I think it is mostly a pregnancy thing, because I have CRAVED baked goods.

Baby Matson:
Boy Matson is getting big. A few of my other friends are doing these cute little Q&As about their pregnancies, so I am going to steal a few of their questions. I hope you guys don't mind!
How far along? 26 weeks today
Maternity clothes? Definitely yes to maternity pants. Sometimes I can still wear regular pants as long as I do the hair elastic trick with the button hole. Shirts it depends on the shirt. I can still wear my stretchy and lose shirts.
Stretch Marks? Not that I have seen yet. I hope not!
Sleep? I struggle. I will sleep well at first then I wake up in the middle of the night to pee-baby boy likes to lay on my bladder already-and then my brain won't shut off to go back to sleep. So needless to say I am feeling pretty exhausted
Food Cravings? Baked goods and soup-lots of soup (tonight was cheesy chicken chowder). And ROOT BEER! And these yummy Cascade Ice Sparking Juices. MMM making myself hungry!
Belly Button in or out? It's kind of half and half... the top part is starting to poke out a little, but usually only after meals or at the end of the night, but the bottom is still very inny.

I will get around to posting all my recipes this week sometime and hopefully I can get some pictures to go along with them :) Thanks for reading! Here are a few pictures from the week: