Christmas Tree Hunting

Today Matix picked out his first Christmas tree. We got the one he stared at the most. :) We are getting excited about ALL of our Christmas days.

First is ours (Paul, Jessie and Matix) the day before Christmas eve..

Second is Christmas at Paul's parents house in Buckeye, Arizona on Christmas day with Lee, Stacy and Colleen.

Third is "Kent Christmas" at Jessie's dads house in Wisconsin with Chuck, all Jessie's sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews.

Fourth is Christmas at Jessie's moms house in Wisconsin with Kim, Louie, Evie, Jolie and her kiddos....

Wow! We are excited and anxious about our busy winter break, but it will be great to see all our family. :) Updates to come on the plane ride with a 3 month old...yikes!

The Nativity

On Saturday, our church put on a play of the Nativity... We were asked to play the parts of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. Although Jessie's acting skills were not very good :) and Paul's beard looked hilarious, it was so much fun.

Matix did very well and stayed quiet the whole time, right up until just after this picture was taken. The choir (dressed as angels behind us) finished their last song and Matix let out a loud cry. :) Everyone in the audience thought it was cute.

ASU Football Game

So we went to the ASU/UCLA game (ASU won by the way, although we had to leave at half time) and it was so much fun. Paul's friend Logan got him tickets. Logan's fiance went too and Grandma Stacy came over to watch Matix.

We sat behind this little boy

who was the number 1 UCLA fan, and we of course were cheering for ASU. This is a picture of him fighting with us. He was a good sport though. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day morning, Paul was in a triathlon sprint. It has all the elements of a regular triathlon (run, bike, swim), but it is for shorter distances. Jessie, Matix, Stacy and Daniel all went to cheer for him. It was lots of fun. Paul only trained for a month and he got 7th place! There were over 700 people entered in the race too!

We had Thanksgiving with Paul's family. Lots of his cousins (from his Mom's side) and aunts and uncles were there. We filled up on the usuals and Paul had 5 pieces of pie (kudos Leah). Paul and Jessie tried to ride on Tay's ripstick... it was a lot harder than it looked for Jessie, but of course Paul caught on right away. It feels a lot like snowboarding, but it looks like a skateboard with only two wheels... It's crazy. It was Matix's first Thanksgiving and he was held the whole time by various family members (mostly Grandma Stacy). I think he had fun too.

Paul's birthday was last Sunday, and we went out to his parents house for dinner and presents and brownies. He is 26 now and Jessie teases him for being an old man now that he is closer to 30 than 20. :)

2 Month Dr. Appointment

So... Paul took Matix to his 2 month appointment and the results are in!

Drumroll please...

He weighs 13 pounds and 6 ounces and is now 24 and 1/2 inches tall! Yikes! He is in the 90% for weight and 93% for height. I knew he was heavier, but I didn't think he had grown 4 inches since he was born. He had to get a couple shots and so to get some comfort he "needed" to be held all day by Grandma Stacy. :) She and Matix have a great time together during the day, although I don't think she gets as much of her own stuff done as she thought she would. She is a sucker for a snuggle :)

Happy Matix

Matix has been such a happy boy lately... He smiles and coos all the time and does this funny running thing when we say "ready, set, go!"

Jessie has to go back to work tomorrow and is NOT excited about leaving this little guy. Grandma Stacy is coming over to watch Matix while we are gone, so we know he will have fun... We will just be missing him like crazy!

Date Nights

We went out a couple of times this week. First we went miniature golfing at Castles and Coasters... Jessie got 3 hole-in-one's and Paul got one :( It was lots of fun. Jessie won the game, although she had a slight advantage (see Paul with Matix).

Then Monday we went bowling with Elder Bruce... He is from Wisconsin. He and Paul met each other when Paul was on his mission there, and now Bruce is on his mission here... small world, huh? Jessie won the game... :)

Quilts

Great Grandma Evie (Jessie's Grandma) made this quilt for Matix. He had fun wiggling around while I tried to get a picture.

...and this other quilt (below) was made by Grandma Kim (Jessie's Mom) for Matix. He kept on "talking" while I was taking his picture, so I decided to take a video too. I love this stage. He wakes up and will coo right up until he falls asleep... :)

Daddy Time

Almost every night when Paul comes home, Matix needs some Daddy time.  I love to see my two favorite guys all snuggled up together.  They usually end up falling asleep on the couch... :)

Happy Halloween!

We went to the Buckeye Halloween carnival and had a fun time. Paul was being his usual silly self... see the pictures :) Jamie and Maida (Matix's cousins) got to hold Matix before they went trick-or-treating. They looked too cute!

The picture of Matix on a pumpkin was taken earlier, but isn't it cute? He was so sleepy that even after we set him up on the pumpkin he slept...

Arizona State Fair

We went to the Arizona State Fair on Tuesday. Jessie got an ENORMOUS plate of chili fries. Paul pet an elephant, giraffe, and lots of other animals in the most bizarre petting zoo ever. Then we took Matix on the ferris wheel. Matix slept through all of it. It was a nice after baby date for us. :)

Baby Bear

We went to carve pumpkins today at a park with Shanda, Tyson, and others... Matix got to wear his new bear sweatshirt. He looks so sweet. Matix also went down his first slide (see the video below) with Paul. It was lots of fun. I think Paul liked the slide better than Matix...

I swear I want to be awake!!

Matix tries to fight to be awake sometimes, but he can barely keep his eyes open. :) So cute.

Grandpa Chuck and Auntie Jolie Visit

Grandpa Chuck, Jolie, Alexandra and Bradley came to visit this week. We went to the pumpkin farm on Saturday. Bradley got a big scratch on his back, so we got our pumpkins for free. Good for us, sad for Bradley... But he is okay now :) Matix was very happy to meet some of his cousins and auntie and grandpa. We think they should come again soon :)

Alexandra helping Matix with his paci

Alexandra (Matix's cousin) is trying to help him with his paci. She was very serious about it, but her eye/hand coordination along with Matix's patience makes it really funny to watch.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Berg

Great Grandma and Grandpa Berg came for the baby blessing and Matix LOVED all the attention he was getting from them. :)

Great Grandma Berg couldn't keep her hands off of him. She even came over when we

were working on the yard, just in case we needed someone to hold the baby. :)

Great Grandpa Berg got

a few big smiles out of Matix by making silly noises.

It was so nice to have them come visit and meet Matix.

Baby Blessing

Yesterday (Sunday the 19th), Matix was blessed in our church. Paul gave the blessing and it was so beautiful. Everyone who heard it thought so. Matix is such a wonderful little boy with a very precious spirit. We are so fortunate to have him in our lives...

Grandpa Chuck (Jessie's Dad), Jolie (Jessie's sister), Bradley and Alexandra (Jolie's kids) came out from Wisconsin for the blessing. It was so nice to have them here to share in this special day for Matix. Great Grandma and Grandpa Berg (Paul's Grandparents) came from Utah to meet this little guy. Matix, Paul, Lee (Paul's Dad) and Dale (Paul's Grandpa) took a 4 generation picture. Check out the video below... Enjoy. :)

Matix and Sakina

Sakina (our dog) wasn't sure about Matix at first, but now she really likes him. She is very patient and even let us put Matix on her back a bunch of times until we got a cute picture :)

Matix loves a foot massage

Matix was sitting like this, just blinking, for a few minutes... he has a lot in common with his Mom! He was so content.

baby face

I know this is a picture of a picture, but I love it. I LOVE this sweet baby… Can you believe he's mine?!

Paul and Matix

Matix loves to snuggle up with his Daddy... :)  What a sweet little boy we have.  We feel so blessed.

Grandma Kim Visits

Grandma Kim came to visit for about a week after Matix was born. There aren't that many pictures because with Grandma here, we actually had time to sleep! :) Matix loves his Grandma and misses her since she left.

First bath

Grandma Kim came to visit and gave Matix his first real bath... Our upstairs bathroom sink is perfect shape and size for baby baths, if only he liked them :)

Matix dreaming

Matix finally fell asleep... He won't sleep in his crib or bassinet, only with me, then I have to sneak away before he wakes up.  While he sleeps, he dreams and makes the best faces!

Finally Home

After 4 days at the hospital we finally got to go home... This video shows mostly sleeping, but there was lots of crying in between too. :)

Matix's Earth Debut

Presenting... Matix Brackenbury Berg!!! We are so happy he is finally here! He is 8 pounds and 4 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. We knew he was going to be a big guy. He is perfectly healthy. We didn't name him right away, but now we know he is definitely a Matix Brackenbury. Matix is a skateboard company (for those of you who know Paul, this shouldn't be a surprise) and Brackenbury is the maiden name of Paul's Grandma Berg.

We have had lots of visitors in the hospital... Grandma Stacy (Paul's Mom), Grandma Kim (Jessie's mom), Mike, Leslie, Ethan, and Josh (family friends), Karin, Nina, Brandy (Jessie's work friends)... Lots of people called too to say congrats and see how we all were doing. Matix is already so loved. We are anxious to get him home.