Happy Halloween!

What a great night. We all (and Nana - who is here for the week - hooray!) headed over to Tara and John and Raiss' house for a party and Trick - or - treating. Danny woke up from his nap not really wanting to be anything, so I finally offered if I was Simon (our black and white cat), he could be "Farley" - which meant a "skeleton," which we actually had a costume for...

Whaddya think?



Scary, huh??




Matty was a beyond adorable pumpkin, but it didn't last too long, since the vines were basically cutting into his face. So he took off that costume and became "biggest trooper ever" and "cutest baby of all time."

Here's right before we all went out...




Many shouts of "READY FOR TRICK OR TREAT!" as the sky darkened...and off we went.

The kids were amazing, hilarious, and very polite, I'm happy to say.

It is so sweet it hurts your heart to see a trio of 2 1/2 year olds trick or treating. Danny was SO excited to get two lollipops, that he kept checking, every time, after every house, to make sure they were still there.

Nana pushed Matty around in the stroller with the trick-or-treaters, pushing him ahead to other houses to report back which house had the best decorations, until he finally fell asleep...for about 15 minutes...then he wanted to party with the mommies back at the house. Nana soldiered on, pushing an empty stroller which eventually held pieces of candy when Danny's bucket became too heavy for him to carry.

And Danny had his first Snickers. He likey.

Here's after - after I washed my face too...



Still scary...!



This is the boys showing their lollipops. A great time was had by all. We're so lucky to have this great group of little dudes and moms and dads in our life. And thank you Nana for coming along - we are so glad you were there!

Danny Prefers the Single-Origin Blends

So we finally caved and bought a Nespresso machine as our anniversary present. If you haven't had a Nespresso-made espresso or latte or coffee, you're missing out. It's the closest thing to a really fantastic espresso from a cafe, conveniently made in the comfort of your own home, and much cheaper! And it came with a pretty awesome milk frother thingy that whips up the milk in no time flat.

So David and I are tasting each of the 16 "grand crus" (I'm not kidding) and getting a total kick out of the whole thing, with daily discussions and comparisons. Danny was feeling somewhat left out, so we offered to make him a "special coffee for Danny" - i.e., a hot chocolate.

He enjoyed.





Danny also recently hit the magic 2 1/2, which means, according to Dr. Sears, his toddler-hood should be receding.



Right???


Right???


Anyone???


Dr. Sears, you had better not let me down!!!

Seven Months Old!

Look at this guy! He's holding himself up and cruising along the side anything that's at the right height - he's insane!





He's been sleeping in the crib in Danny's room at night, and has started eating a lot of finger foods. His faves are cheese and Cheerios. Hey, who can blame him?




He's a total peanut. A delicious peanut, at that.

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You...

Daddy and the Beez (2)

Pumpkin Patch

So we're alive, just in case you were wondering...

Lala came to town shortly after my last diatribe and it was a very welcome visit. We all drove the eleventy thousand miles to the pumpkin patch we love out in Yucaipa. This place is literally in the boonies, but it's incredibly charming. And has a REAL pumpkin patch, unlike most places around here which just throw a bunch of pumpkins in a patch of dirt and pretend.





Unfortunately, this time we missed they hayrides altogether (and it's the lamest hayride ever, btw - from one parking lot to another) but made up for it with homemade, "U-Press-It" apple cider! Yum! Yum times eleventy thousand.








That and feeding the goats ("Thank you, Mr. Goat!")



And playing football with some kids Danny just waltzed up to...



Lala basically held Jumpy McJumping Bean (AKA Matthew) [who, by the way, seems to be skipping sitting altogether and has decided to crawl instead. He did the creeping thing about a foot today...and is pulling up...] the whole time, which seemed to be OK with her.





On our way out, we saw some cows, which let out a colossal "MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" - not a phony little moo, and it scared Danny a little bit. Man, do I want to live on a farm one day. Just a little farm! Maybe 2 cows, a few chickens...that's it!



And we ended the day at Ye Olde Publik House just up the road that served dinner by candlelight...which Lala had little patience for...but it was a fine day had by all, indeed.

Motherhood, Oh the Bliss.

I feel the need to take a second and say that having two kids has officially kicked my butt from here to the moon and back, cute pictures notwithstanding. This morning I basically woke up as David was leaving for work, had a lovely 20 minutes cuddling with Danny in the bed playing with my iPod while Matty slept in the swing. Ahhh, motherhood. The bliss.

Walked out to get coffee and:

1. Matty is awake. And I think hungry, but not sure.
2. Try to feed Matty pears.
3. Danny wants to watch Cars. Watch Cars. Watch Cars!!! Screaming screaming screaming.
4. Danny is successfully distracted with markers.
5. Give Matty a bath because he is covered in pears. Second outfit of the day goes in the wash.
6. Come back to see Danny has drawn all over the floor with the markers.
7. Matty goes on the floor naked and screaming so I can put Danny in a time out in the crib.
8. Put clothes on screaming Matty.
9. Put Matt in Bumbo to go get Danny.
10. Danny is climbing out of crib, perilously close to falling.
11. Danny cleans up the marker with my help.
12. Matty is yelling, ready to get out of Bumbo.
13. Come back and Danny has pulled off his diaper.
14. Danny walks over and pees all over the carpet.
15. Put Matty back in Bumbo so I can clean the carpet.
16. Nurse Matty, while typing this, while Danny takes every single toy out of the chest.

And then it was maybe 9:15am. Rinse, repeat until about 7:30pm.

Of course, as I read this, it actually sounds funny. I promise, it wasn't. Maybe in 17.5 years it will be, after the door hits these two on the butt on their way out, and I have a 5 year-long retreat at a oceanfront villa in Kauai.

At any rate, here is a video you might enjoy. About a minute before, he actually scooted to a toy. Go Matty go!

What The?

Danny and I look over at one point and this is what we see...



He was just watching us, totally comfortable!! Needless to say, we both burst into peals of laughter.

Half a Year

Well, our beloved Matthew Thomas has made it half a year. Look at this face. What a love.






And this is my and Danny's favorite:



Poor thing has two teeth already and I think eleven coming in. What is it with our kids??

And I'm Not Even Showing you EVERYWHERE Covered in Marker

(think potty training, no pants...you get the drift)

So this morning, we were having a lovely time, frantically pulling like 4 loads of laundry down from the sudden downpour outside, setting up the crib mattress, rearranging the boys room, pondering buying these in the lime...

And Danny decides he wants some tempeh from the Farmer's Market. So I sit him up on his chair at the table. He's snacking away. Then he decides he wants to color with markers. So I bring over the paper and the markers. I look away for 10 minutes, hanging clothes on every available surface, and I come back to this:

Long Hours

David's working his long hours again (like 7:30am - 7:15pm including commute), which means he only sees Matty for a morning walk to get coffee and Danny sometimes just to read a story and go to bed, sometimes not at all. And then I'm comatose and only want to watch mindless television and fall asleep by 9:30pm. It's really hard on all of us.

We miss you, Daddy.

Oh My Gosh!

Danny's sleeping in his big boy bed! I can't believe it - it just happened so fast and I'm reeling from what a big deal this is. My little dude!

A few days ago I ordered a toddler bed, just thinking "may as well." Well, it came yesterday and we put it together immediately (mostly because those of you who know me know that putting things together gives me the absolute highest pleasure of just about anything in life at all - if there was a job that would pay me to put things together from instructions I would drop everything and take it) - and I've been needing a good dose of happy lately. Anyway, we don't even have the mattress for it yet, but I was swapping the crib mattress in and out between the two all day long whenever he wanted to lay on it just to get him used to it. Yes, my life is completely insane.



So I buy it, thinking we have lots of time and we'll transition for a few weeks or something, blah blah blah, and today I find Danny trying to climb out of his crib for the very first time ever. I find him straddling the side rail, one leg over it. I have to think this isn't a coincidence.

So then tonight he wanted to read and cuddle on the big boy bed, and when it was time for bed, he wasn't budging. I asked, "Do you want to sleep here, or do you want to sleep in your crib?" No answer. "Let's get in your crib," I said, making sure I wasn't pushing him into it. "No," he said, in his little adorable voice. "Stay here?" "Yeah?"

So my mind is going 100 miles an hour, processing the fact that he is suddenly not a baby anymore, holy crap, and I need to savor this moment, this is really big, holy crap holy crap...and more because I was freaking out than he was, I told him a special invisible fairy named Sally will sleep on the top of the bed (sitting on the headboard) because big boy beds are filled with magic that make sure he has good dreams and sleeps a deep, wonderful sleep. He says, "Don't sleep up there, sleep down here." "On your pillow with you?" "Yeah?" with that little adorable voice.

So fortunately, Sally then whispered to me (because only I can hear her, natch) that she was very tired from covering his bed in magic all day, and she needed to go to sleep. So lights out, and that was it.



Oh my gosh!!!!

That, and the fact that Matty is mere moments from completely sitting on his own, and it's just a milestone-a-minute around here. I can't handle it!!

Now Matty gets to move in...