Girl's Day

Today Cienna and I went to the aquarium and botanical gardens with our neighbor Katina and her two daughters Alexis & Hailey. We loaded up all of the kiddos and breezed through the aquarium in about 20 minutes.

Cienna & Alexis at the aquarium

Cienna staring at the jellyfish

After the aquarium, we headed over to the botanical gardens, where they have an adorable children's fantasy garden. Everything is oversized; a giant pumpkin that you can walk into, large bugs and vegitables and even huge bees that buzz when you walk under them. It is truly an amazing place for kids.

A large gardening tool

Riding a lifesize ant

Radish anyone??

All in all it was a fabulous day out with the girls. Can't wait to do it again!

Colorado Getaway

Last week, Tony's brother Dominick and his business partner flew in for the weekend. After a few days in ABQ, we headed up to the cabin in CO. The truck was packed to the max with all 4 adults, Cienna and both dogs. Tony had to ride in the backseat because of his leg (he had surgery to repair the achilles heel last week) with about 4 pillows propped up on the center console to keep his foot elevated. It was quite a car ride! The weekend was very relaxing. We drove to Wolf Creek Ski Resort and then into Creede, CO (an old mining town). We then went back to the cabin and ate our way through the rest of the weekend. On our way back in to ABQ, we stopped at the outlet stores in Santa Fe, where Cienna was treated to a shopping spree for our trip to Disneyworld next month. She had so much fun modeling her various looks. Of course my camera ran out of batteries after the first outfit so this is all I got!
Also, I went to the doctor on Monday and everything is looking good with baby #2!

Oh What A Week!!

Oh what a week it has been (errr...well I guess what a week and a half it has been!) Friday, February 27th, my mother and father-in-law flew in from CA to visit for a few days. We had a ton of fun watching Tony play rugby, attending a rugby fundraiser dinner, celebrating Tony's birthday and doing LOTS of yard work. On that Monday morning, Marilou, Cienna and I went for a walk with Zeus and Tonka around the neighborhood. As some of you may know, my Tonka Maria can be quite a handful. About four blocks away from the house, Tonka saw a dog and started barking. This caused Zeus to cross in front of me to see what in the heck she was barking at and the next thing I knew I was headed for the ground...laid out flat. Because I had two leashes I couldn't break my fall with my hands so I skinned my knees, fell on my belly and then hit my chin on the ground. Ouch! I got up, thought that I was OK, and managed to make it home (although Cienna had a little tear!) Thank GOD Marilou was there because I am not sure I would have been able to get up without her grabbing the dogs. When I returned home I started having some shooting pains in my belly which got me a little worried. Tony, being the fireman that he is (safety first!) demanded that I call the doctor, who told me to go immediately to the emergency room. After an ultrasound, it was determined that everything was fine and the baby was OK. What a relief! Two days later Marilou, Cienna and I were out for a walk again when I received a call from the fire department about Tony. It started with "Let me first tell you that Tony is OK. He is going to be fine." I was totally panicked. "He is in the emergency room because he tore his achilles tendon while getting onto the truck today." I was so glad that it wasn't life threatening, but I knew that he was in a ton of pain. After several hours the rescue engine pulled up at my house and Tony hobbled off on crutches. Surgery was in his future. It was at that point that I had to tell him about the suprise 30th birthday party that I had been planning for him for months that was supposed to take place on Saturday. Suprise! What a whirlwind the week was. With all of those trips to the hospital, doctors appointments, etc (oh, did I mention that Cienna had her 2-year checkup on Monday, with shots) each member of the Mazotti family saw inside of a doctor's office within 1 week! Wheeewww! The party went off without a hitch (and Tony made quite a funny drunk man on crutches) and he is in surgery to repair his achilles heel as we speak. Hopefully things will calm down here for a while and we can avoid the inside of a hospital for any new problems!

The Aftermath of "Nap" Time

So as I am sure that you are aware of, nap times have been "challenging" since we switched the crib into a toddler bed. Every day, I put Cienna in her room and beg her to stay in her bed. IT NEVER HAPPENS. But today, something really special happened. When I went to go check on her (she was being very quiet so I thought that maybe she had actually fallen asleep) I found the mess of a lifetime. The best part was the fact that she got into some Vicks Vapo Rub and put it in her hair, on her body and all over her baby doll. She also took every diaper wipe out of the wipes warmer among other things. We immediately went to the bathtub (just what I was hoping to do right in the middle of the day) and I attempted to get the Vapo Rub out of her hair. GOOD LUCK! She looks like a greasy little homeless baby now. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know!

Lubbock, TX

This week, Cienna and I drove to Lubbock, TX to visit Elizabeth and Brody Hudome. Elizabeth and I met a Gymboree last year and a few months ago they relocated to Lubbock because of her husband's job. Anyway, we had so much fun carting around the kiddos to various parks, classes and eateries that I was sad to leave. We will have to make another trip very soon!
We also had a doctor appointment last Monday morning and everything is going really well. I finally hit 12 weeks and the 1st trimester screening came back normal which is great news! Tony is still insisting on finding out the gender of the baby, so on March 30th he will know. Other than that, no news that the baby is gigantic or anything like that so things are good!
Tony's turns 30 on Wednesday and he has informed me that he would like a shotgun for his birthday. Sounds like the perfect milestone b-day gift to me! So at least the present part is taken care of. Tony's parents are coming at the end of the week to help us celebrate, which I cannot wait for. I am not sure who is more excited...me or Cienna. That is it for now!

Visiting the "Minkos"

Cienna and I visited the ABQ zoo today, and when you first walk in there are flamingos in the center of the park. Cienna gets so excited when she sees them (because like her mama, she loves the color pink) but she can't exactly say "flamingo." Instead she calls them "minkos". It sounds something like this: "Mama I go see the minkos!" She loves the animals, loves the train that runs through the zoo and insists on walking the entire time. So independant!

And if you are wondering how the big girl bed is coming along...it is going good! She is sleeping through the night with no problems but nap time is a little challenging. She either does not take a nap or it takes her 2 hours to fall asleep. But I would rather have her sleeping through the night than taking a nap so I am happy.

The kitchen remodel is almost done...just the backsplash needs to be done and the counters turned out great. We sold almost everything at the yard sale, although I never thought that sitting in my front yard could be such hard work. It felt like I had been camping in a dirt pit by the time the weekend was done. So glad that is over!

I think that is it for now. Hope everyone is doing great!

Toddler Bed Time

We have been meaning to change Cienna's crib into a toddler bed for about 2 months now, ever since the first time that she climbed (or flipped) out of the crib and landed on the floor. Then she goes a week or two with no incidents and we put it off. Changing the bed means her climbing out, and now that she can open doors I seriously doubt that I will get any sleep! But after today, I fear there is no more delaying the change. After putting her down for a nap at 11:45am, she continued to "play" in her crib until around 1:30pm. I refused to get her up because she had been such a stink pot this morning and I knew that she needed a nap. FINALLY, I heard her stop crying and went in to take a peak. This is what I found! I immediately called Tony and told him tomorrow we have to change the crib into a bed. The poor thing is going to break her neck if we don't get on it! Anyway, this is probably my last post for quite a while considering I will be too tired to write a sentence that makes sense. If anyone has any suggestions to make this transition smoother, please share!