Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

We went to Avila Barn last weekend with my mom, grandma, sister and the five million other families that were there. Seriously, between the pumpkins and people, it was insane. Matea was in complete awe and spent a lot of time trying to pick up really big pumpkins. I was finally able to get some cute pics of Bella and I don't even care that she's not looking at the camera. Check out her huge dimple in the first pic. So cute.

A public service announcement....

I realize that not everyone considers couponing and bargain hunting a hobby like I do so I'm making it easy for you by sharing some of my vast knowledge of deals. Did you know that Walmart Optical will match competitor's coupons? JCPenney's currently has a coupon out for a complete pair of glasses for $99 (any frame up to $130, includes scratch resistant lenses and bifocals). I just got new glasses using a 50% off coupon that has since expired and went back in last night and got a second pair for $99. You can print the coupon here or watch your Sunday paper.

Even faux dogs need a bath

Back in July, for Steve's 30th birthday, I took the girls shopping at Dollar Tree (my favorite place after Kohl's). Bella picked out this little black dog for him and Matea fell in love with it too. I have no idea where she came up with it, but Bella decided to name the dog Little Addie. So, for my birthday last week, Bella insisted that Little Addie get a brother/sister. Now we own two of these wonderful dollar dogs, Little Addie and New Little Addie The girls play with them all the time and have spent the last half hour bathing them. Of course, Papa didn't think to get me the exact same dog we got him and now half our day is spent fighting over who gets to play with New Little Addie who has a lovely soft texture that regular Little Addie doesn't have and apparently the softer texture makes her more popular. This is what my life has been reduced to.

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

Whenever I get the camera out, Matea starts screaming, "Chee, chee!" and making this terrible version of her smiling face. It doesn't even matter if I'm in a different room, she hears the sound of the lens zooming and goes into posing mode. It's kind of painful to look at.

Damn, she's cute

Grandma was here this weekend and bought Bella a new fall wardrobe. She's gone through a bit of a growth spurt and all of her pants are too short now so she was in need of some new fall clothes. The temperature drops a serious 5-10 degrees here in fall/winter, so we need to make sure we have plenty of warm stuff to bundle up in:) Thanks grandma!
She wore her first new outfit to school today and I wanted to take a picture of her since it's the beginning of a new school year, she's in a new class, and we've been at Tiny Tots for a year now. Here's how it went down....
"Bella, lets sneak outside and take some pictures of you while Matea's playing."
We go outside.
"I can't stand there! There might be bugs! I think I see a spider web."
Lots of pulling and dragging to the position I want her in. Her scooting the other way.
"Fine, forget it. I wanted to take a picture of you to show Grandma how cute you look in your new clothes and do a scrapbook a page about your new preschool class but whatever!"
"Mommy, come back. Look, I'm standing by the tree where you wanted me."

After all the fighting, she totally posed for me and took some really cute pictures. A rare occurrence for Bella since she always wants to call the shots (a trait she must have inherited from Steve).

Um, what's going on here?

I woke up this morning, stumbled into the living room and this is what I found. Matea all dressed up and Steve kneeling down in front of her with the camera shouting, "Matea! Matea! Cheese! Cheese! Smile Baby!". I suspect he's secretly turning her into a child model. Oooooo, that reminds me, did you know that at least once a month a stranger stops me to tell me Matea looks like Suri Cruise (Tom Cruise and Katie Holme's baby for the celebrity-challenged readers). For some reason, Steve is really bothered by this but I think it's an opportunity. So, I'm going to take some scandalous photos of Matea, aka Suri Cruise, and then sell them to People magazine. Steve won't be bothered anymore when he can quit his job and live off of all the money I'm making marketing Matea as Suri.

Matea's One Year Pics

I know it's not socially acceptable to say this about your own child, but aren't these pictures gorgeous?! I took them at home and then sent them to a friend in Canada to work her photo editing magic. I couldn't be happier with the results. I think they really capture Matea's personality and disposition and the editing makes them look really professional. Grandparents who are reading this, email me if there's a specific one you want as an 8x10.

Santa Barbara Zoo

In a very rare moment of spontaneity, I took the girls to the SB Zoo on Monday. This was the furthest/biggest outing I've taken them on by myself. Yes, I realize it's not that "far" or "big". Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Bella asked lots of questions about the animals and Matea did lots of pointing and shouting, "Dat!". We stopped in the grassy area for a snack and Bella was in a posing mood so I got some really cute pics of her. And I know the one of the three of us is really bad, but I took it myself while wrangling two small children and we all made it in the frame so in my book, it's a success.

One Year Check Up

Steve has started calling Matea, "Little PITA" (pain in the ass). It's just normal baby/toddler stuff, but it seems like she's constantly into something or whining. She's suddenly addicted to climbing on things. In under ten seconds, she figured out how to climb up on the chair and onto their little table in the play area. I got tired of trying to keep her off of the chairs so I hid them in the laundry room. I made a quick trip to the bathroom the other day and in about 30 seconds, she opened the door to the laundry room, found the chairs, and immediately climbed up. The picture shows how remorseful she was when I caught her.


























She got the stamp of approval at her one year check up yesterday. Anemia is gone and she's right on track with milestones. She's still on the petite side, just under the 50th percentile on weight. Since I didn't have any concerns and neither did the doctor, we spent most of the visit talking about Dr. Teaford's personal life (she's now Dr. Hoffman). We're lucky to have a really great pediatrician who I get along really well with so I'm comfortable talking to her about anything and everything concerning the girls. Bella was at the appointment with us and anytime Dr. Teaford asked her a question about Matea, Bella changed the discussion topic to herself. "Did your sister have a party for her birthday?". "Yes. Oh, I had a party a long, long time ago. Actually, I've had three parties and a cupcake with a flower on it."

On a side note, Matea nursed for the last time about a week ago. I know a lot of people reading this will think I'm relieved and happy to move on after nursing for a year, but really the whole thing is very emotional for me. She pretty much weaned herself, so I think she was ready to move on but I'll really miss it. I really enjoyed the bonding that came with breastfeeding both of the girls for a year and it's hard knowing that I won't get to experience that with another baby. On the up side though, I can wear a regular bra (and hike the girls back up above belly button level) and take good prescription medicines (I didn't waste any time getting into my doctor to discuss my allergies and get a daily acid blocker). And, Matea's decided to be picky. Milk must be in a bottle, not a cup, and must be heated to a warm temperature. Damn PITA.

Party Girl

Pics from Matea's first birthday party...

Camping with a Crawler

Consider this a public service announcement. "Do not attempt to camp with a crawler." We met the Olson's in San Simeon for two nights of camping and it's safe to say, Matea kept us on our toes. She wants to keep up with the big girls and explore everything but still needs a lot of help from Mommy and Papa so there was definitely no relaxing on our part. And of course, there was very little napping so she was fairly whiney, not the happy, playful baby she is at home.
Bella and Avery had lots of fun and since we were on neutral territory, there were far less meltdowns this visit. They spent a lot of time "losting", hunting squirrels, and feeding dirt to birds.

Happy Birthday Matea!

I can't believe our baby is already a year old. Time seems to be passing quicker than ever now that we have two kids, and I really can't believe she's been here for a year already. She really has completed our family and I can't remember what life was like without her. I'm constantly hearing from people, "she's such a happy baby" and she really is. She has her moments where she just wants to be held by Mommy but for the most part, she just loves to play. Oh, in case you're thinking of asking, "Is she walking yet?", which seems to be a constant question from 9 months on...no, she's not. And I'm fine with that. She will walk when she's ready and until then, I'm happy to watch her crawl around the house like a speed demon.

She lika da pasta

Matea had pasta with marinara sauce for the first time yesterday and I'd say she liked it. She ate three times as much as Bella and rubbed it all over her face and hair. I ended up having to give her a bath in the middle of the day because I just couldn't get her clean.

A fun fourth

The first half of the holiday, Steve spent building and installing the sprinkler system for the new grass coming soon in our front yard. Bella, who normally hates getting dirty, decided to dive right into the dirt and once Matea saw her, she had to get in too. They happily spent about an hour and a half digging in the front yard.
In the evening we went over to our friends, The Mitchell's, for their neighborhood block party. There were lots of kids and both of the girls had a great time. Two of their neighbor boys happen to be Bella's schoolmates and she spent most of the night playing with one of them, Magnus. At one point, Magnus invited Bella to go for a ride in a motorized Barbie Jeep. They totally looked like they were on a date. And he's so polite and such a gentleman, he pulled over, told Bella to slide over so she could have a turn at the wheel, and then hopped in next to her. I got some cute pics but won't post them since it's probably "bad manners" to post pics of other people's kids on the web.
Matea seemed to really like the fireworks and got really excited when she held her own sparkler. Bella went into cheerleader mode and stood at the edge of the drive screaming and jumping with joy.

For the Moms Out There

Thought I'd share this link to "In the Motherhood" webisodes starring Leah Remini from "King of Queens". They're freakin hilarious and I think all moms can relate to them. By the way, if you're still living in 1996 and have dial up (ahem, my mother and Lena), set aside three days for the webisodes to load:) Ok, I know my mom will be offended and get defensive when she reads that so let the record reflect that she lives in the country and has no option other than dial up. Also let the record reflect that my friend Lena has no excuse.

http://inthemotherhood.msn.com/

Matea meets spoon

I've started letting Matea spoon feed herself and forgot how messy it can be. Seriously, how did she manage to get yogurt on her eye brow? I'm guessing it has something to do with her using two spoons (no, I didn't give her two, she must have grabbed Bella's).

A Princess Not Afraid to Work

Steve's working on getting the front yard prepped for sod and Bella loves to help him. This weekend she quickly transitioned from playing princess inside the house to raking rocks and didn't have time for a wardrobe change. Steve said three different cars driving by stopped to comment on her outfit. She absolutely loves to play dress up so if anyone reading this knows of any great deals out there on dress up clothes, let me know.

Sorry, behind on posting

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a month but we've been so busy. We had to go out of town to the valley on two weekends, we've been spending lots of time outside because the weather has been so nice, and I can now officially say I'm at work from home mom. I started my own online scrapbooking business a few months ago and it's been very successful (which means I'm super busy shipping, managing inventory, etc.) so I just don't have the spare few minutes here and there that I used to. Anyhow, the girls have really been enjoying the outdoors and playing in the water. We were at my grandma's a few weeks ago and Bella loved running through the sprinkler. Matea....not so much. We went to the pool this weekend and both girls had a great time. They're both really comfortable in the water and it doesn't hurt that Mesa Dunes heats the pool to 85 degrees (literally) so you just feel like you're in a huge bath tub.

New Do's for Bella and Mommy

I chopped off all of my hair last week and I think the girls have finally adjusted. For the first few days, Matea looked at me like I was her kidnapper and just seemed totally puzzled by the whole thing. Bella said, "I just think your hair looks very not cute." Thanks. I told her I really like my new hair cut and that's all that matters. That kept her quiet for about 5 seconds.

For whatever reason, I curled Bella's hair this morning and now I'm wishing I hadn't. I have a feeling this is going to be an everyday request now and it's always going to be like this morning (her watching in the mirror and ordering me to add more curls here and there). She did look really cute though...until we stepped foot into our thick June marine layer. Bye, bye curls.