Uncle Matt meets the Triple Threat

My little brother Matt (not to be confused with Michelle's little brother Matt!), came from the balmy Big Island to visit for a week just in time for the polar vortex.  The polar vortex did get me a "snow day" which was pretty nice & since we don't leave the house much anyway, it didn't really have a big impact on us! The babies got all dressed up in their Hawaiian honu outfits for Uncle Matt.

Ellie is particularly happy about tiedye =)

"Hold the phone!! I have TWO Uncle Matts!?!"

"Tell me another one Uncle Matt!"

"Can I come visit you in Hawaii some day?!"

Matt hasn't spent much time with little babies so at Christmas dinner in Hawaii our family friend Nina, a midwife, was giving Matt a mini lesson on holding small babies. :)  The first time Matt held one of the babies you could tell he was really nervous and very careful and it was fun to see him grow so much more comfortable holding them through I the week. He's a baby holding pro now!

Uncle Matt & his namesake

When our niece was a little baby Matt didn't get to hold her much because there was lots of competition for baby holding. At our house that is rarely (okay, never) the case! You walk in and we hand you a baby! So Matt got LOTS of baby holding practice and did a great job getting thrown into all sorts of baby care experiences. Matt got to feed a couple of bottles, soothe and shush fussy and sleepy babies, wear babies in carriers while he cooked, get babies dressed, and even change a few cloth diapers, including one pooplosion! On his last night Matt was reflecting on the experience and said he now feels a little more confident with his "dad skills" and that one baby now seems a lot more manageable.  (Not that he's planning to have one any time soon!!)

serious man to man talk

Playing with the babies

While he was here, Matt also got to experience the difference between having three adults to three babies versus being outnumbered and the difference between a good day and a bad day.  I had to work last Monday afternoon and evening leaving Michelle & Matt home with the babies. It was a rough afternoon for naps and then a rougher evening as a result. By the time I walked out of my 6pm meeting I had a series of texts about babies not sleeping and a final one saying "all the girls in the house are crying their eyes out!"  Uh oh!! Oh yeah, and it was snowy and a little icy on the roads do there was no speeding home to the rescue. I walked in and Matt had Isaiah in a carrier and was bouncing up and down while trying to cook dinner. When he saw me, Matt just looked at me with wide eyes and let out a big breath saying "woah!"  I said a quick hello and went straight back to my three crying girls. I gave the big girl a big hug and then went into the baby room to get my crying little girls so we could start the bedtime routine. Everyone settled down after a bit, but that experience really reminded me to minimize late afternoon/evening work visits as much as possible because those times are just plain harder for everyone right now.

It was great also to have Matt here because he made us a lot of meals for us.  When we all lived together in Seattle, Matt worked for his friend Pai in his food truck that served some amazing Hawaiian-Asian fusion food so we asked Matt to make the bulgogi from the truck one night. It was just as good as we remembered! He said he hasn't been cooking much lately but he did a great job and hopefully this will get him back in the kitchen more.  It was great to see Matt and have his help. Hopefully the next time we see him it will be on the Big Island!  

Our next visitor is January 25th so we have to navigate having less help (Hope is still here...more about that next post) along with Michelle starting school again and me adding in more work hours. Wish us luck!