Daylight Savings Time . . .It's Not for Everyone

Apparently Matthew doesn't quite get that when you turn your clocks back, you get to enjoy a magical hour of extra sleep. He was up at his usual time - 6:00 A.M. Sure, that's all fine and dandy, I am used to getting up early, but last April, I was secretly looking forward to October so I could regain some lost sleep. And deep down my brain said, "But it's five o'clock . . . in the morning." Oh well, I've discovered that I can get by without much sleep. Although, I do daydream about when I might get a nap. Maybe next Saturday I might get one.

Look Out World, Here I Come!

On Saturday after the pumpkin patch, Matthew and I were playing (see photo of the little monkey). He is getting so active and mobile. Well, he was bound and determined to take some steps . . . and he did. You can read more at Ryan's blog, but I just wanted to mention it too.

A Pumpkin Pickin' We Will Go

Bright and early Saturday morning we headed to Cal Poly for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. When this "Pumpkin Festival" first started when I was in college, it was small and held over by the stables. Present day it is a huge, two day event. It was so hot, dusty, and crowded that we (the grown ups) were ready to go shortly after we got there. However, Natalie had other ideas. And that was fine because she enjoyed herself . . . until the major meltdown on the way home. However, that was nothing that a little visit to the cows and some chicken nuggets wouldn't fix.

First we met up with Rico, Le Anne, Nathan, and Baby Sarah. We traversed the hot, dusty, bumpy pumpkin patch looking for the perfect pumpkin. They were as hot and tired as we were and didn't stay long. Then we went for round two and met up with Scott, Melanie, and their son, Grant. Natalie and Grant enjoyed going down the inflatable slide several times and then it was time to go. With it being so hot (yes, I said it again), and the kids getting restless we took our pumpkins and headed on out. Check out Melanie's blog on the pumpkin festival.

Will we go back next year? Perhaps, I think it depends on the weather. Natalie will be older and we'll just be chasing Matthew around. We'll see.



I have come to the conclusion that it is really difficult to get a good photo of both of them together at the same time.



Where's Matthew? Can you spot him among the pumpkins?!

Check Out This Link

Here's a link to Natalie's dancing school. The website is www.4centerstage.com. Look under the month October and scroll to the very last picture. You'll see a photo of her class. She is third from left and wearing purple! Of course.

What a Day!

I like to shop, get my hair done, and I am not a big fan of sports, but I am not one to be super girly or high maintenance. The only nails I get done are my toes and that is not all that frequent. However, today I went here Once I got over the whole walking around in my bathing suit and eating lunch in my bathing suit, I really enjoyed myself. I highly recommend a day at the spa. It is definitely well worth it.

First Words?!

A little over a week ago I mentioned that Matthew can say, "Ma Ma." It sounds more like, "Ma Ma Ma Ma," but he is definately referring to me. At about that time I noticed that he recognizes the word "ball." If you ask him to get the ball, he'll look for it and go over to it. My smart boy.

Well, yesterday Natalie and I hung up some Halloween decorations. We put a ghost in the front window, a pumpkin in Natalie's window, and a black cat in the train room. Right away, Matthew noticed the cat so I kept repeating the word cat and point to it. And saying, "What does the cat say? Meow." Well he started to say cat. Of course it sounds like, "ka," but I'll take it. then when I asked him where the cat was he looked at it. Today, we were in the family room and I asked Matthew, "Where's the cat?" He looked around, didn't see it and crawled away to find it. Sure enough, he found it in the train room, "ka."

My little punkin is getting so big! He's ten months old today.

Now it's Personal

I rarely take a purse when I am not working. I just throw all my things into the diaper bag. It makes more sense to me. However, on the rare occasion I am out by myself (and I mean rare), I do take a purse. Well, with Ryan gone for a week, I hadn't been out alone. My purse sat on the small wall in the front entry for the whole week. I just took the diaper bag everywhere I went because, well, I needed it. Yesterday, I was off to my Saturday morning meeting - alone, with plans to make a return at Old Navy and to grocery shop. I needed my purse. You can imagine my horror when I grabbed my cute little black bag, the one Ryan bought me when I was pregnant with Natalie, and found a messy cobweb across the top. Yes, believe it or not, a nasty, little spider (I am almost positive it was a young black widow) made itself a home in my bag! I dumped everything into the sink, found the small spider and squashed it. Then I proceeded to put the bag in the garage. I am not sure if I can use it again. I am a little freaked out that the spider found it's way into the house. Later that afternoon I scoured and scrubbed the area where I found it. Aaargh. I think they are out to get me.

Picture Day

Here are the portraits I had taken at the studio.









And last, but not least . . . notice Pinky?



And there you have it... need I say more?

Oh, Fun

I am proud to say I downloaded my own photos from my digital camera tonight. Yay, me! It was the first time. I am so proud of myself. Now, I will provide you with a photo essay of my vacation so far. Well, not really essay - just photos.

Look at the big boy playing in his backyard. (Before spider discovery - shudder)



My pretty dancing girl.



I call this the "naked chef" (with no intentions to infringe on the original naked chef!



Our "potato craft", aka "witch pumpkin."



"I like my new Robeez," says Matthew.



Natalie and Nathan seeing very cool trains.



Mealtime. You call this civilized?!




And now photos from today's Chuck E. Cheese trip with Auntie Jeneal and Max.

Ugh! Bad Dreams Tonight

I spent a good part of this evening with a flashlight and 409 (couldn't find the bug spray) drowning spiders - black widows to be more precise. Normally, I would scream and run, but being the mother lionessthat I am, I have children to protect. So, I checked everything out on the patio, turning over the little picnic table and chairs, checking the sandbox. They were all mostly young, but I killed about fifteen. That's a lot! Natalie watched from the kitchen hugging her newly purchased Harold the Helicopter. Poor thing, I told her she can't play on any of her toys or in her sandbox until the exterminator comes and we replace all the play sand. They were everywhere. Where on earth did they all come from? Ugh, I'm getting the creeps just thinking about it. Then of course I went to this site. Well, that's not going to help my dreams. I think I better do some more Elmo searches to clear the mind.

Ouch!

Natalie, Matthew and I spent the day with our good friends Miss Le Anne, Dr. Rico, Nathan, and Baby Sarah. Le Anne and I took the kids to see this really awesome display of miniature trains in a private home. We were very impressed. I don't feel like uploading photos right now, but tomorrow I might and then I'll post them.

Then we let the kids play for a while before we had dinner. This was probably the longest Natalie and Nathan had played together. We usually have actual "play dates" that only last a couple hours. But, since we were staying for dinner, it was a much longer day. The kids did pretty well. Sarah slept. Matthew didn't complain much. Natalie and Nathan played good most of the time with only a few minor bouts of yelling. As it got closer to dinner time, the natives were getting restless. Natalie and Nathan were playing outside. Natalie had just calmed down after a brief stay on a quickly improvised "naughty spot," for screaming. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see Nathan lift his garden hoe and swing. Then, every mother's nightmare . . . blood curdling screams with Natalie clutching her face. I don't even remember setting Matthew down, but I must have, I think, because I grabbed a very bloody Natalie and carried her into the house. My first thought was, "Oh no, a trip to the emergency room for stitches to her face . . . not her face." Thankfully, Nathan just gave her a bloody nose (only) and a good scare. It bled for quite a while. Nathan got sent to his room. He felt pretty bad. He didn't realize that his actions would have such drastic effects. Natalie kept asking, "Is the blood done?" As soon as it stopped and all visible signs on her skin, my skin, the floor (not our clothes) were done or removed, she was fine - no marks that I could see. Nat quickly forgave Nathan and they both had some quiet time sitting on a mini couch and watched a dvd. She quickly forgot, as well. When Le Anne apologized to Natalie at the end of the night, Natalie had completely forgotten all about it. "What? Who?" Thank goodness it was minor.

Elmo Obsessed

I have become a little obsessed with the Tickle Me Elmo TMX. Right now I have three bids in to ebay for forty dollars each. Don't worry, I won't win. I had a half dozen in last night and they all went for well over eighty dollars. I am just hoping to get lucky. Perhaps if I bid really late, people will be asleep and my bid will get through. Then sweet little Matthew can have a Tickle Me Elmo for Christmas. Seriously, I won't win. There are people out there crazier and more obsessed with Elmo than I am! But if you could just see how the Hokey Pokey Elmo makes Matthew giggle, squeal, and clap with delight. Then you would want him to have one too.

Ah, Vacation!

We have been having a great time. I have officially been off for a week and we've been busy every day. We've done quite a bit of shopping. We were having pictures taken, so for the first part of the week I was running around trying to coordinate outfits and make sure everyone had appropriate footwear.

On Wednesday we went to BabiesRus to have the pictures taken. We did several different sittings. We did Matthew alone - very cute! He stood for one shot and then the second was a close up. Natalie did two sittings, one standing and one close up. In her standing one, I did not see her sneak Pinky into the photo. Now, we will forever remember the pink frog. In her close up, she is cupping Pinky in her hands. Then we did both kiddoes together - very sweet. And last, we did a friend shot with Nathan and Baby Sarah. That one was comedy. Try to get four children from the ages of three months to three to all smile at the same time and have Natalie try to hold Baby Sarah on top of it. All the while Matthew is calling, "Ma Ma," and trying to crawl for me. Too bad we didn't get that on video. It was hilarious.

Thursday was more shopping and errands. We had birthday gifts to buy.

Friday was dancing and more shopping. My kids do not mind shopping. Thank goodness, at least I can get things done.

Dancing was so cute. Natalie did great. She listened to her teacher, Miss Denise. She practiced her plies. Ryan had said she did well last week, but I did not expect her to do as well as what I saw. All I could remember is her climbing up my legs in Mommy and Me.

*I'll try to post the portrait photos another time. Right now I am a single parent while Daddy is off, and I am exhausted.

Apple Pickin'

Well, my big plans fell through. We were all set to continue with our apple picking tradition only to find the U Pick places closed. Natalie was quite disappointed that we couldn't pick from a tree. She did enjoy tasting all the apples, as well as Matthew. You probably shouldn't let a nine and a half month old baby suck on fresh apple slices. I realized this when he coughed (er, gagged) up a piece right on the counter as we were paying for our apple purchases. Oops, I quickly put it in my pocket! But, he did love the apples so.



At least I got the photo of him in the Cookie Monster fleece sweatshirt. He looks like a pumpkin!



These photos were taken at Los Rios.





Then there was the petting zoo. Natalie enjoyed feeding the animals. Matthew wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

People Suck

Matthew loves Elmo. Elmo's World can hold his attention for a good ten minutes or so, and that's a lot. He loves Natalie's Hokey Pokey Elmo. He laughs and claps and knocks it over only to hear Elmo say, "Whoopsie, can you help Elmo up?" So when I heard that Tickle Me Elmo was back on the market, I was excited and planned on getting it for my sweet little punkin for Christmas. Matthew loves tickles. Well, here it is barely October and I can't seem to find one ANYWHERE. They are sold out. Well, that's not entirely true. I am sure I could find one if I was willing to pay $139. Yes, I can buy the $40 Elmo doll for a 100 bucks more. And that is where people suck. Yes, how many people bought umpteen Elmos only to sell them for a profit. Thank you, selfish people. Now my sweet little baby boy can't have one because Target doesn't have any, Walmart doesn't have any, ToysRus doesn't have any, and even FisherPrice.com doesn't have any.

Now, I am all for making money, but by overpricing a little Elmo toy? That's just crazy. Good thing Matthew won't know what he's missing. Me, on the other hand, am vicariously disappointed.

What's New?

I have so many things to blog about (or not!) but I'll just leave you with this. Matthew can play "pat a cake." He claps his hands. He knows what a ball is. When you tell him to get the ball, he will crawl to it. Oh, and he cruises everywhere. The doctor thought he might walk before he's one. Natalie walked at 10 months, one week. I thought she was going to go sooner since she was cruising really early. We'll see. He loves table food too. He'd much rather eat that than baby food. For breakfast yesterday he had a scrambled egg yolk - yummy! Today he had a "flapjack" and for lunch he shared Natalie's raviolis. Oh, and he loves me to chase him. Then he crawls towards me and flops down on me. What a cutie.