The Pumpkins Are Here, The Pumpkins Are Here...

It's shocking to me that Fall is here and we're getting ready to start the busiest season of the year. The Mathewson calendar is jam packed thru February (including a new addition to the family at the end of January). We started off Fall 2008 at the Irvine Park Railroad and what a huge hit that was for Brixie Lee. She got to ride the train, jump on pumpkins, ride a tractor, get her face painted, ride a pony, jump around and pose for a zillion pictures!
This was a bit shocking to me... I didn't realize how close she was getting to 3 foot tall! My baby is sooooo not a baby anymore!
Face painting didn't go too well so the lady gave us our tickets back. She was able to paint a heart and dots on my hand and then I transferred that to Brixie Lee's cheeks. I can see her loving this next year!
I didn't know if we were going to be able to do the pony ride because she was very unhappy when we first put her on. Then with just a couple of steps she started to pet the pony and say, "niiice pony, niiice pony." She didn't want to leave at the end.

If you want to see all the pictures from Irvine Park Railroad you can check out Don's Gallery.

First Bowling Trip

We took Brixie Lee bowling for the first time with some friends and she had a blast! I love the little ball ramp that the kids get to use because pushing the ball was just not working. She was a bit unsure at first but she caught on and ended up having a great time!

Look Mommy! It's an "O!"

Watching, watching, watching... YAY!!!! You hit one pin baby girl!

Check out all the letters Daddy!

Yellowstone 2008!!!

For the past couple of years the Mathewson Crew has been vacationing in Yellowstone. This was the first time that Don, Brixie Lee and I went along for the ride and let me tell you... a RIDE it was! I'm sure you can imagine 8 adults vs 8 kids... guess who won most of the time... the KIDS!!! We stayed at one of the most beautiful vacation homes I've ever been in. It was in West Yellowstone, just 15 minutes from the park entrance. Huge, beautiful and in the middle of no where. Just our style! Great find Cindy!

Our first day out took us to good Old Faithful Geyser. It was just like Disneyland! A huge crowd of people gathered around to see a huge explosion of water. Awesome as usual and the kids loved it! Below is The Crew from top to bottom, left to right: Henry, David, Jack, Grady, Annalise, Brixie Lee, Donovan, and Bobby. What a great group of kids!

Before lunch we went on an "adventure" down to a creek by one of the picnic areas around Craig Pass just south of Old Faithful. Everything in Yellowstone is beautiful... even the baby girl that decided to pull her hair out of her hairbands. After the short adventure we had a short lunch due to rain. Darn!

From there we took of to the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center to duck out of the rain in hopes of the weather passing so we could go on a little hike before heading in for the night. Brixie Lee loved looking at all the birds, but couldn't get away from the lake fast enough. My little land-only baby! We did get to go on our hike but Don Lee didn't have his camera with him so we're waiting for our family pic to come from whomever took the picture (hint, hint, hint).

The next day we started out at the Upper Falls and it was darn right cold! Good thing we had gone shopping to get Brixie Lee a knit hat to keep her head and ears warm. Unfortunately the jacket we had just wasn't good enough so she got stuck carrying around her blanket too. And, I got stuck picking it up out of the mud. Really, she didn't mind one little bit!

From there we had another short lunch followed by a short rainfall while we drove to see the elk at Mammoth Hot Springs. For some reason Brixie Lee had it stuck in her mind that these giant animals were monkeys. We have taken the girl to the zoo and she's seen lots of monkeys on her DVD's, so I'm not sure why she called them monkeys for half a day. What goes through my child's mind I will never know. The good news is that after some lessons from Auntie Steff, Brixie Lee finally understood the difference between an elk, a moose and a monkey. Thank you Auntie Steff!

Our last adventure took us on a longer hike... we'll... we hiked... Brixie Lee was in her carrier. I'd trade places with her any day! If you check out Don's Gallery where all his vacation pictures are, you'll see that this was his favorite place. Many of the pictures were taken there. Below is Brixie Lee all bundled up before we tossed her in the carrier and took off. What a cutie pie!

Overall the vacation was a huge success and everyone agreed that we should stay a couple more days next year. There are so many more adventures to be had in Yellowstone!

Oh yeah... Brixie Lee loved her first airplane ride and she was a rock star in her car seat. She sure misses having Grandma and Papa back there entertaining her!

Thank you so much for the wonderful vacation Grandma and Papa! We had a blast!

20'ish Week Update

OK... I was supposed to take pictures last Wednesday but life was just too busy the day before we left for Yellowstone. My appointment with Dr. Cropper was delayed by over an hour because she was delivering a baby, thus behind on her appointments. So we didn't have time to get the 20 week pic when we got home. The good news is that all the ultrasound reports from a couple of weeks ago came back great and everything is right on track. As promised, belly pictures...

... the picture above in my green shirt is this pregnancy at 20 weeks and 6 days.

The picture below in my white shirt is my pregnancy with Brixie Lee at 20 weeks.

I look a bit older now, but I've heard that children do that to you faster than time. It's a bit shocking to me how much bigger my belly is this time at 20'ish weeks. I've heard that it's very normal and expected, but still it's odd.

Should Have Known When...

...I woke-up at 5:45am and realized that I forgot to set the alarm for Don to get up at 5:20am. Not Good #1

Don starts his truck, it sounds like a Harley, he has to take my car to work. Not Good #2

Made a phone call, got my Stroller Strides class covered (Thanks Kristina!). Awesome #1

AAA said they would be there in half-an-hour. Awesome #2

AAA driver told me that someone stole our muffler and catalytic converter. Not Good #3

AAA driver upset because it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to install Brixie Lee's car seat in his truck. Not Good #4

Toyota was 1/4-mile within our towing coverage through AAA. Awesome #3

Toyota told me that it was most likely going to be a couple of days for them to get the parts and make the repairs. Not Good #5

Toyota shuttle service was immediately ready to take Brixie Lee and I home. No waiting!!! Awesome #4

Other guy in shuttle was first to be dropped off, but it was 15 miles in the opposite direction... in 9am LA traffic. Took an hour to get the 6-3/4 miles home from Toyota. To make it worse, Brixie Lee kept saying "whoa" every time the drive hit the brake hard. Not Good #6

Get home, get upstairs, realize that I forgot the house key on the truck key chain. Not Good #7

Don had to drive home from work in Irvine to let us in the house. Not Good #8

Allstate message said they were experiencing extremely heavy volume due to the severe weather (AKA... Ike). Projected hold time 1-1/2 hours. Not Good #9

Toyota dealer called to say that repairs would cost $1700 +tax and recommended waiting for Allstate clearance to begin repairs. Meaning no car for Mommy until after Yellowstone. Not Good #10

Don got home and said he had a headache and couldn't take Brixie Lee to her first day back at Kindermusik. Not Good #11

Bottom Line: Not Good vs Awesome (11 to 4)

Time for bed! But I'm going to set the alarm first :-)

Getting Ready For Yellowstone...

Today we spent ALL DAY getting ready for our upcoming trip to Yellowstone. We started out with a small hike around the Claremont Gardens. It has been a couple of months since Brixie Lee was in her backpack carrier and the last time she was in it she wasn't all that happy about it. This time she couldn't wait to get in! Keep your fingers crossed for us that she'll feel the same way in Yellowstone!

From there we did some shopping at Victoria Gardens and then went on a HUGE shopping spree at REI. I kid you not, Don and I are like kids in a candy store there! They gave my jogging stroller a lube and tune and I couldn't be happier! From there we bought something from every department... really, it was so bad. The best part was getting Brixie Lee sunglasses and a hat. Oh, and Crocs for $8!!! Love a good sale!

When we took off to Babies-R-Us she refused to take off the sunglasses and hat. She didn't want to get out of the car either (it had been 5 hours of shopping by then) and she feel asleep in her seat while Mommy was shopping. Poor thing was startled half to death when she woke up an hour later with her sunglasses on in our garage.

After a LONG nap from our big shopping day she wanted to play with her new hat and sunglasses again. Here are some cute pics of our little star!

A Weekend With Grandma...

Brixie Lee spent the last weekend up in Bakersfield with Grandma so that Papa Don, Don Lee, and I could get some things done around the house. Don Lee and I managed to fit in some fun too... dinner The Yard House, shopping at Trader Joes, breakfast at Tropical Smoothie, a tea time baby shower, dinner and dessert with Tracy and Charles, and a couple hours dedicated to UFC 88 Breakthru (poor Liddel). However, we did manage to get the showers fixed, turn the bed (harder than it sounds), organize Brixie Lee's closet (much harder than it sounds), freecycle.com a bunch of stuff (ahhhh, space), discover we need a plumber for the sink, fix the garage door, and get several loads of laundry done! YAY!!! A very successful weekend! Thank you Grandma!

Now here are some words from Grandma about her weekend with Brixie Lee...

Boy, what an exciting Grandparent weekend! On Friday I picked Brixie Lee up in Valencia for a weekend of excitement, adventure and edification. We were going to play!

First we recovered from our drive by eating, playing with the dogs, Snickers and Patsy, and watching cartoons. Did you know there are 24 hour cartoons on several channels? Hmmm? I did not see Popeye or Yosemite Sam though. On Saturday, we unfolded the stroller, harnessed and leashed the dogs and went for a walk. The walk took 45 minutes and the getting ready took 45 minutes. Hmmm? It was cute to watch a 10 pound and 15 pound dog pull a heavy stroller up hill like a pair of Huskies. Brixie held the leashes and I kept expecting her to yell MUSH! MUSH! Next we went to Shafter to see her Great Grandma Helen and drive through Sonic for a little milk shake. Then home to swim in our custom pool with Patsy.

Sunday, after walking the dogs, we went to Starbucks, shopping, Carrow’s, shopping and more dog walking. She wanted to know where Papa was so I told her he was fishing in his boat. That brought on many repeats of “Papa-fishing-boat, row-row-row, merrily-merrily-merrily” Papa came home late Sunday, so on Monday she was able to sit in the boat. She told Papa that it was, “My boat Papa” When we finally met Mommy at lunchtime, she was ready to go home but I think she will be back.

Mathewson's Make Great Girl's!!!

It's (kinda) official! We think it's a girl (kinda)!!!

Yesterday we had another ultrasound and the technician was not as confident calling this baby a girl as the doctor that told us Brixie Lee was a girl. In fact he couldn't tell us anything except for that he's 99% sure it's a girl because he "didn't see testicles." That sounds a lot like all those stories out there about baby girls that came out as baby boys. Oh well!

We should have another ultrasound with our favorite doctor at Pomona Valley Hospital in the next couple of months and hopefully she'll give us a more positive answer. When we asked her how likely it was that Brixie Lee was really a girl she said, "100% positive because here are her girl parts!" Too bad that didn't happen yesterday. The good thing is that now we don't have to buy anything because we kept all of Brixie Lee's clothes and stuff. If the technician had told us that he was 99% sure that it was a boy and it turned out to be a girl then we would have most likely filled our drawers and closets with boy cloths and stuff. If this one turns out to be a boy then we'll just pick some clothes up when we get home. We're much, much, much more laid back this time!!!

With Brixie Lee I took the tags off of all the baby shower clothes and washed everything. Dumb! She didn't wear all of it and what a waist to wear each thing once. Dumb, dumb, dumb!!! Oh well. Know we know better.

Here's a cute little pic of little Helene Marie Mathewson!

Finally Felt Something!!!

Last night Don Lee and I both got to feel our little bump move for the first time. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to feel him or her. What a relief! Only a few more days until we find out boy or girl!!!