Desiree enjoyed her first year as College Counselor at San Juan Diego Catholic High School. She taught a Senior Seminar course assisting seniors through the college application process. She was active with the senior class fundraisers to cover the cost of their class ring.

I am working at Austin Children’s Museum as the Development and Membership Coordinator. I love my job and the flexibility it affords me. I often have the opportunity to work from home in order to stay with Matthew if he is sick. I am continuing to pursue my Master’s degree at St. Edward’s. Hopefully I will be done soon; needless to say I am ready.

Matthew is growing so fast. Since Desiree has the month of July off, we pulled him out of day care so he could be home with her. He starts his new day care in August. I think he is so excited to go back to school. He has started to count and has really blossomed in the past few weeks. We can barely keep up with him and his new phrases and words.

Our summer has been incredibly busy. So far, we’ve had two Figer family weddings (Congratulations Christine & Tyler and Shannon & Clint) and went on a trip to Houston to visit Matthew’s godparents Michael & Sara. This weekend, we are going to Schwertner, TX, for the third annual Figer Family Reunion. Matthew has enjoyed all the time with his first-cousins-once-removed Ryleigh, Caleb and the newest addition Carter.

Which brings me to our good news (if you haven’t already heard): Jack Alexander will arrive in this world circa November 14! This will make 5 great-grandchildren for my grandparents Granny & Granddad and 9 great-grandchildren for Desiree’s grandparents Papi & Mamanita. It’s amazing that Matthew gets to spend so much time with so many of his extended family; he has 6 living great-grandparents and all 4 living grandparents. We love spending time with all our family!

You can click here to see Matthew’s album on my Facebook profile.

It’s interesting to be thinking about snow right now as I sit on our patio experiencing the amazing weather in beautiful Austin. It’s sunny and about 70 degrees. This morning we went to Zilker Park for the third time this week to play on the playscape and build sand castles.

I can’t believe it is almost Spring. Spring also means that it’s Matthew’s birthday. He was born on the first day of Spring (or the vernal equinox which is officially the middle of spring). We can’t believe that our little guy is almost two years old. It doesn’t seem like he should be that old yet.

Matthew constantly requests to watch this video. Every time the Matthew on the video stands up and screams, he does the same thing. He loves his Aunt Mimi!

Nana has a Sesame Street DVD that came with this book. It has sections about how Sesame Street was founded and how it has evolved. It’s not a children’s book at all. However, Matthew loves to read it to himself and have us sing the theme song to him from the book. He was just lounging on the couch on his own one day jabbering away.

Back in November, he started running a really high fever (around 102). One afternoon, it went up to 105 and we ended up taking him into Dell Children’s Hospital. They tested him for H1N1 (which came out negative) and took a chest x-ray and urine sample. Pretty much, they tortured him and us for a few hours and sent us home with nothing. We scheduled an appointment with his doctor and when she looked in his ears, she said that he had a horrible ear infection in both ears and that it was a wonder he could hear. He went through two rounds of different antibiotics and it seemed to clear up his infection. However, on a follow up visit to the doctor, she noticed that his ears weren’t draining. However, they weren’t infected at that point. We scheduled an appointment for three weeks later for another follow-up. That was his appointment yesterday. She looked back in his ears and said that they weren’t any better. She put him on another round of a different antibiotic and had us make an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist. He will go in in about two weeks to see if his ears have finally cleared up and, if not, to discuss the next steps. Hopefully this round of antibiotics clears everything up and we don’t have to do anything too involved.

Even with these problems, Matthew has been doing great. He recently learned how to unlock and open our front door. That lead to a new baby lock on the front door that he has yet to figure out. Also, he has been talking a lot more. His new favorite words are “puppy” (because of a book he got for Christmas that Desiree sings to him), “daddy,” “mommy,” “bye bye,” and “Big Bird.” He absolutely loves Sesame Street especially Elmo and Big Bird and Curious George. I sense a theme for the second-birthday party.

This week will be pretty busy for us. Tonight is the Figer Family Monthly Game Night at our apartment. Nana, Gigi, Aunt Mimi and Uncle Lala are coming over for Caesar salad and strawberry ice cream sandwiches. Tomorrow, we are planning on going to a going-away party/long overdue get-together with my old co-workers from St. Michael’s. Hopefully we will fill up to it. This weekend is a three-day weekend for both Desiree and me so we will be spending lots of time hanging out with Matthew at home and hopefully going for lots of walks and trips to the park.

Matthew went out to see the cows with Daddy. This outfit really makes him look like he belongs in the country. Thanks to Grandma Lupe for the coat and Aunt Nicky for the hat.

He received this really cute sleeping bag from Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy. It’s a big hit!

Matthew loves playing this game, especially with Aunt Mimi. He insisted on watching the video over and over again when I posted it online, and he kept saying Mimi, Mimi, Mimi…until I played it again.

Nana and Gigi received a Wii from Santa, which was a huge hit with everyone. Matthew enjoyed bowling so much that he was inspired to play with his bowling set. He’s very creative with his games.

Matthew recovered from his double ear infections just in time for Christmas. It was a resistant infection, so he was on two rounds of antibiotics for 10 days each. When he’s sick for a long time, it’s easy to forget how fun and happy he is normally. It always comes as a pleasant surprise when he gets better and is so full of energy and so fun to be around.

We took a trip to the Galleria and as we were walking back to the car, Matthew randomly started bending down, pretending to pick up things from the sidewalk and to eat them. The best part is when he sees Ben recording him and says “cheese” for the camera.

Matthew’s been doing a great job eating and drawing at his new table. Here he is testing out some potsticker sauce with his vegetables.