We've Got Piggies!

Doesn't she look so much older with rubber bands in her hair?
Mom is still getting the hang of how to get them even but I thought she looked pretty with her piggies.

Here's another look.. Punk Rock Girl!

14 Month Photo

These monthly update photos next to Mr. Teddy to document her age/size have been more and more difficult to take the faster her little legs move. She wants to LEAP from the chair!

Even with an object for distraction it was a rough photo session last week. We resorted to me holding the camera and snapping away while daddy flung Mr. Teddy just past Maddie's head to get a smile... it worked! End result was one CUTE kid!




p.s. Although these photos were taken before the great bruise of 2010, it's almost gone already.

We're Walking, We're Walking...

We're falling, We're falling... everywhere! Poor baby Maddie had an altercation with the door jam this morning. I'd say the door won the battle. She was fine a few minutes later but the goose egg was here to stay.. and now she has a bruise the lovely shade of pink and purple.

Ouch!

FYI: This was taken just a few minutes after it happened but she isn't crying about her head, she's mad because I won't give her the camera.


Later today.. goose egg is almost gone but if she's anything like her mama, the bruise will be here for awhile.

You've Got To Know When To Hold'em...

Welcome 2010!!!......Happy New Year everyone. Matt and I spent the first day of 2010 recovering from our first party since Maddie was born. We had over just a few close friends and family members to play some POKER.. woohoo! Maddie enjoyed everyone's attention before going to bed and she didn't wake up once. (thank you baby-girl!) Forgot to mention we made everyone play in the garage, but it was fun and there's NO WAY we could have played just down the hall from her room. Alcohol + Music + Poker = one noisy crowd.

She was a complete angel today and even gave us the best gift by sleeping until 6:30 am (that's very late in our house) and took two lengthy naps.. although by the second nap time we were both feeling much better. :) I forgot what "partying" was like and oh boy, what seems like a awesomely-great idea at 1:00 am, not so great at 6:30 am. We were troopers though and stayed up to ring in the New Year, and then some. Our normal in bed time has been getting earlier and earlier since the clocks changed in fall, and often find ourselves in bed or asleep at 9:00.

Anyhow, we had a great time and were so glad to ring in the new year with such great friends.

Maddie on New Year's Eve Day



The happy couples... like the garage decor?





We took it to the streets to toot our horns at Midnight



Matt makes THEE best faces! No wonder Maddie thinks he's such a funny daddy.



We've enjoyed having Daddy at home with us. Tuesday despite working in the morning, he surprised us with an offer to go out to lunch. It doesn't happen often so we dropped our big plans for PB&J and said "for sure!". We went to our favorite burger place, Texas Cattle Company. Great choice for kids. They have lots of decorations year-round and a choo-choo train that runs along the ceiling kept her occupied while we waited for our food. Oh, and the burgers are Yummy!

Maddie checked out their sweet potato fries and some of mommy's burger


Maddie is a restaurant's dream. The only thing on the floor when we left was this straw and a half of a sweet potato fry. Not bad for 14 months.


He was able to take off a bit of time on Wednesday so we took advantage of the drizzly day to do an indoor activity and checked out The Clubhouse Fun Zone in Ventura. I've been trying to go with a mommy friend for a few weeks, but our nap schedules kept conflicting. Maddie was very excited to see all the fun activities. She's a bit too young for the enclosed slides/climbing area and her germophobica mama wasn't going to let her into the icky ball pit anyhow. She rode on all kinds of toys, pushed them around and played in the kid's houses. She was bossing around a few boys that tried to come into "her" house and even hijacked someone else's car but in all, she did really well. She even managed to eat lunch when we first arrived. Talk about torture for a kid but she must have been hungry.

She liked the different activity tables including this choo-choo track. She kept picking up random cars or pieces and carry them around to different activities.






Mama bird outside Maddie's house.


Random Photo from Tonight's Dinner:

Does this pea make me look like Marilyn Monroe?


It's always a little sad when the holidays are over and the UPS guy isn't visiting like he use to. But alas, back to our schedule on Monday. :) What's next, Valentine's Day?

What a Wonderful World

All of us on Christmas Eve.. notice my pretty hair?


Not so much the next morning! lol (I do love Maddie's Piggy Jammies!)


We had a fantastic Christmas and hope you did too! This year was so much fun. It really makes me look forward to next year and new traditions for the Dimino Family. I plan on decorating more and putting out cookies for Santa next year!

On Christmas Eve we went to visit with Matt's local family at Pam and Alyx's house. Pam made a wonderful turkey dinner.. so yummy. We celebrated with Grandma Phyllis, Aunt Lainie, Cousin Brian and Brian's dad Richie. Maddie had a great time doing laps around their dining room table and playing with their dog Cobie.

Maddie & Auntie Pamy


Alyx & Pam


We called it an early night as Maddie has been teething (we think) and didn't sleep at all the night before. We were all pretty tired.

Christmas morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast and got Maddie excited for all her gifts that were to be opened shortly. She didn't try messing with the presents this entire month as they gathered under the tree so we weren't sure if she'd be more interested in the gifts or the wrapping. Well, once she got started, she LOVED the presents. So many fun toys that said her name or helped strengthen her animal noise skills. She got a few new teddy bears, a couple of outfits and lots of cash for her piggy bank.

No snow outside, but we had the Yule Log crackling on the TV to put us in the mood! :)

We hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Christmas. Next time you see Maddie, ask her what Santa says.. she'll tell you "ho-ho-ho"!

Christmas Morning


Activity Cube from "Auntie" MaryAnn


More animals!


Maddie checking out new bath toys from Grandma Doris and Grandpa Frank


A new walker toy from Papa and Grandma Lena that converts to a riding toys.. until she figures it out, Daddy pushes her around the house.. ROAR!


Sitting in her chair loving her new teddy from Grandma Phyllis

Yes Indeed She's Walkin' and Talkin'!

After months of cruising, Maddie is getting up unassisted and taking her very own steps. She's falling quite a bit as she figures out her new feet, but gets right back up each time. How exciting for her. Tonight we caught her in a talking mood. She said her name for the first time.. and shares animal sounds with mom and dad.




We went to look at Christmas lights at a local neighborhood in Camarillo. This is the first time I heard about Gemini street, but it's really cute and may become part of our holiday tradition in future years. Maddie LOVES Christmas lights. So despite it being almost her bedtime, she was enjoying herself.





Maddie is helping with chores.. she likes to load the dishwasher with Daddy. In fact, if she sees it open and she's in her highchair, be prepared for a meltdown.. I need to get this on video and remind her when she's a teenager of how much she enjoyed it when she was young. :)

No Christmas Cards This Year

I was hoping people wouldn't notice I didn't get cards out this year.. not for lack of thought or trying. The thought came to mind the day before Thanksgiving.. must get photo of Maddie for our holiday card this year. Yes, that WAS the plan and I seriously have been trying since then. Ok, we have gotten some cute photos of her in the past month (of course!) but none seemed appropriate for our holiday card.

We tried getting family photos at JC Penneys (I'm about done with that place- they wanted like $37 for cards.. yah right!) and she had a major meltdown when I tried putting her into her pretty dress.. oh boy!

I thought in front of the tree would be nice. So I cleared a path through her toys to get to the tree (an exaggeration, but barely!).. here's how that went.





And it only got better when I tried again...





I thought maybe I could use some recent photos and add a holiday caption.


Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la



Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!



Happy New Rear! (nobody tell her when she's older that I posted this one)


Does your tree need a tune-up?


I couldn't come up with a caption for this one other than "Whatch You Talkin' 'bout?" but that isn't very holiday-like.


I was going for an "artsy" look until I realized there was a dog's butt in the background.. good one!


I thought this was going to work, but Mrs. Claus looks a little nutty!


How about we just use last year's photo?.. AW! I was able to just prop her up then and not worry about her trying to get away!


Santa came early this year... only because the box was too big to put under the tree. We splurged and got Maddie her very own Pottery Barn Kids chair. She LOVES it! She often converses with her koala or teddy bear and enjoys snacks and a cocktail (water in her sippy) while lounging the day away... really it's only a few minutes but she does seem to have fun and it's pretty big so she'll have a it a few years. Hence the washable slipcover. Her name is embroidered on it so no Daddies allowed.





Dancing to the Wiggles


Maddie is now going to "school"! I'm taking a parenting class at Horizon Hills. It's set up like a mommy and me class where we sing, play games and make music. Apparently we'll be going on field trips too. We go Tuesdays from 12-3. That time works out good for now because she still takes a morning nap but by 2:00 she's pretty tired and falls asleep in the car on the way home. The teacher is absolutely wonderful with all the kids and even though we started at the almost end of the semester, the parents are all really friendly. (Mommy clicks can be rough!) Maddie grunts and flips out when she sees the place. She's so excited to see all the toys and kids. So far she's pretty popular. :)





Here's a few misc. funnies from the last couple of weeks.

Not Yet Ready for Mustard


Being Cheesy for the camera at Olive Garden. She's REALLY good at restaurants. She likes to look at everyone around her and try to get them to think she's cute. (not really hard to do)