Mayfield Family

Amazing Agile Awesome -- as the many, many, many "Aussie" t-shirts read

2009-05-05T18:22:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to Purina Farms this past weekend. They enjoyed the dog show as well as the petting zoo. There was an All Breed Dog Show and an Australian Shepherd Agility competition going on that day. We were amazed at how serious everyone was taking the competitions. The movie "Best in Show" is more true to life than we had imagined. We witnessed plenty of amusing things. One of them was a lady coloring some of the hair on her dog's ear with a black marker.

Matt's trial run at the Purina Farms Agility practice course as seen on ESPN. He later placed 19th right behind a three legged dachshund.

Easter

2009-05-02T11:35:00.001-07:00

It seems as if so much has happened since our last post. Claire is walking around and got her first two teeth. She is working on getting 6 at once right now. I call her our little warrior because other than being fussy in the middle of the night, she has been happy and hasn't shown any other symptoms of teething.

Claire took her first airplane ride over Easter. Natalie was very excited to fly. She was nine months old on our last trip, so to her, this was the first airplane ride.

Natalie and Claire have started playing together. It is so sweet to watch them tickle each other, give each other hugs and kisses and roll around the floor together.

"9 out of 10 one year olds agree that blondes have more fun"

Claire's sitter's daughter got this Hannah Montana wig for her 5th birthday. Claire just had to try it on!

Natalie is always putting her baby dolls down for a nap and patting them to sleep.

Daisy and Stella's Easter baskets.

The dogs' egg hunt.

Can you see Daisy darting around the yard looking for eggs?

We finally have a garden! We planted broccoli, a cherry tomato, a cucumber, and a parsley plant. The girls love watering the plants. We have even started composting.

Birthday Girl

2009-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Claire enjoyed her first birthday and especially liked her first cupcake. She didn't have much icing on her face because she managed to shove every crumb into her mouth! I think she has a sweet tooth! Natalie brought home her Valentines yesterday, and Claire grabbed the lollipop out of Natalie's hand and put it in her mouth and started sucking on it. We had such a hard time grabbing it away from her that we caved and gave her her own lollipop.

We were hoping Claire would get her first tooth for her birthday, but she is still full of gummy smiles. She has started saying 'woof woof' and 'moo' when you ask her what the dog and cow say. Whenever we ask her other questions, her response is 'yeah'.

Check out the link to the right, 'Claire Dancing' to see our little dancing queen!

Sesame Street Live - both kids look confused! They perked up when Elmo and the gang came out. Natalie and Claire both enjoyed singing and clapping. Afterwards, Natalie told us that Grover was funny.

Natalie and I toasting with apple juice on NYE. We rang in the new year around 8pm!

Getting Caught Up

2008-12-09T18:51:00.001-08:00

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Claire still doesn't have any teeth, and she refuses to eat baby food now. If she sees baby food on the spoon, she tightens her lips and turns her head. If there's "real" food on the spoon, she opens her mouth real wide. It's amazing how she can tell the difference. She is standing and cruising on her own now.
Natalie is beoming very curious about everything. We're not in the "Why" stage but instead the "What are you doing?" stage. She repeatedly asks us that question. After taking some time off, Natalie is back in gymnastics at the Little Gym and loving it.

Claire's 9 Month pictures

My attempts at getting a picture for our Christmas card.

The best we could get with the whole family minus Clark, our fish.

Daisy's 5th birthday.

Stella's 4th birthday. Luckily they have the same birth date, just one year apart, so we don't have to go through the birthday celebration more than once a year. Our dogs are pretty wild and crazy to begin with and when you throw in peanut butter and carrot cupcakes and wrapped presents for them, they get really out of control!

Happy Fall

2008-11-05T20:09:00.001-08:00

We had a beautiful night for trick-or-treating this year. We've had an entire week of unusually warm weather and have been taking advantage of it. Natalie got her first round of putt-putt golf in. Claire is really enjoying the swing at the park. Even Daisy and Stella have gotten plenty of exercise at the dog park.

Natalie loves playing hide and seek right now. It's a great way for her to practice counting to 10. She seems to always find us because Daisy gives away our hiding spots by standing next to us and barking. Natalie gives away her own hiding spots. Once we get to ten, she calls out - "in Claire's room" or "under the blanket".

Claire has started playing peek a boo by pulling a blanket over her head and then pulling it off. She loves trying to do anything that Natalie is doing. I can tell already that they are going to be best friends.

Visit with their cousins.

Early trick-or-treating in town with friends.

8 Months Old

2008-10-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

Natalie and Claire are all ready for Halloween. Natalie is going to be Elmo and Claire a pumpkin. Claire has started crawling and pulling herself up. She watches Natalie so closely and wants to do everything she does. Claire still doesn't have her first tooth yet, but she is drooling so much that it has to be any day now. She also started saying "Dadda", "Mamma" and "Na-Na" for Natalie.

Natalie's field trip to the pumpkin patch.

This one was a little too heavy!

This one was just right!

Claire is 8 Months Old!

First bites of banana chunks. She feels all grown up!

7 Months Old

2008-09-15T17:48:00.001-07:00

Claire is starting to rock on all fours. It won't be long before she will be crawling. She can now pull herself up to a sitting position from lying down.
We went apple picking a few weekends ago. Natalie enjoyed eating the apples and riding the pony.
Natalie's latest accomplishment is wearing underwear throughout the day and going on the big girl potty, but I will spare you those pictures!

Elmo's World

2008-08-28T19:21:00.001-07:00

Natalie enjoyed her Elmo themed birthday and watching all of the kids. She unwrapped her cards and presents and even blew out the candles on her cake by herself. Grandma visited for the weekend, and both kids were spoiled. We are looking forward to her next visit.

6 Months Old

2008-08-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

How quickly time passes. August is full of birthdays for us. Claire is now 6 months old, and Natalie will soon be 2 years old. I turned the big 3-2. Natalie has been practicing the Happy Birthday song, which sounds like "Happy Birthday Choo-Choo". Claire is almost sitting up on her own and is enjoying her sweet potatoes and peas. She is happy that she finally gets to join us at the dinner table.

Natalie got her birthday present early. Her favorite part is the trash can. She's a neat freak like her mommy.

Early Birthday Celebrations

2008-07-23T19:31:00.001-07:00

Auntie Sherril visited this past weekend to celebrate Natalie and my birthdays early. Sherril now has the Elmo's World theme song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star stuck in her head! We wish we lived closer, so we could see her more often.

Natalie's first painting. Daddy was looking on very proudly!

Auntie Sherril made a princess wand for Natalie.

5 Months Old

2008-07-12T10:44:00.001-07:00

Claire celebrated her five month birthday by having her first bite of rice cereal. Natalie was so excited that she finally got to feed Claire from a spoon. Daisy and Stella also enjoyed the cleanup and are excited that their table scraps will now double!

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-05T06:57:00.001-07:00

Matt nicknamed Claire Thumper because she wakes us up every morning kicking both legs at the same time on her bassinet. That's her I'm hungry, wake up and feed me call.

Matt decided to shave his head this week. Natalie got a kick out of watching him shave it but afterwards it took her awhile to recognize him! I think Claire has more hair than he does now.

Fathers Day

2008-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night at the Grizzlies baseball game. They are a local independent professional baseball team. Natalie was not thrilled about smiling for a picture. Matt would call this look the Foley Furrow.

Huge inflatable slide that Natalie loved going down.

Claire on her activity mat.

4 Months Old

2008-06-12T18:16:00.001-07:00

Claire began rolling over today from tummy to back and back to tummy! This is Daddy's first week home with the girls. He already has them in bootcamp!

Natalie "lifting weights".

Dips

2008-05-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

Natalie has expanded her dips from salsa and guacamole to hummus and soy nut butter. As you can see below, she really likes the hummus! Her latest snack with mommy is artichokes dipped in good seasons italian dressing.

Tummy time with Claire

Long day of playing

3 Months Old

2008-05-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great Mother's Day weekend. Both kids did really well when we ate out for dinner Saturday AND breakfast on Sunday! We must have kept busy all weekend because everyone took a three hour nap on Sunday.

Claire's picture below reminded us a lot of Natalie at 3 months. What do you think?

Natalie at 3 Months

Claire in the same outfit

Natalie

Happy Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

We had our first family Cinco de Mayo celebration complete with tacos and a pinata. Our neighbors brought their two kids over to celebrate with Natalie and Claire. The kids did not quite know what to do with the pinata. It was a bigger hit with Daisy and Stella.

Claire looks like she is dancing. She let out her first giggle yesterday while we were having a family dance and sing off. She was probably laughing at her mom not having any rhythm and being tone deaf!

I left the room for a minute and came back to find Natalie sitting at the computer desk typing away! I think she was trying to update the blog.

Lady and the Tramp

2008-04-29T16:17:00.001-07:00

Natalie is the lady of course. We've learned how to slurp spaghetti and share our spaghetti noodles!

Best Friends

2008-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Matt's Aunt Becky bought each of the girls a comfy cozy stuffed animal/blanket when they were born. They are also embroidered with each of their names. Natalie carries her pink bear around the house, and when Claire cries, Natalie goes into the nursery, grabs Claire's giraffe and places it next to Claire. They also make such cute props for a picture.

Natalie has become quite the chatterbox lately. She mimics everything we say, so I need to start watching what I say! Natalie heard me call for Matt one night by his first name, so now whenever Matt is in another room, she calls out "Matt" instead of "Daddy". Natalie and I laugh about it, but Matt doesn't find it as funny.

2 Months Old

2008-04-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

Time is just flying by! Claire is 2 months old today. She is a lot more alert, awake longer between feedings and is starting to hold her head up. Our friends, Lesley and Mike, visited from Denver. It was nice to see them and catch up. They visited Natalie when she was about 2 months old also.

Natalie was caught red handed! She was buckling her tickle me elmo doll in the bouncy seat. She had also put Claire's pacifier in Elmo's mouth.

Our Newest Addition

2008-04-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Natalie is a huge fan of Elmo's World. If Elmo goes off the screen, she looks at us with her hands up and says "Elmo?" and "More". We have to fast forward through all of the parts that don't include Elmo. Thank goodness for DVRs! Natalie especially loves his fish, Dorothy, and repeats "Fish" when she sees her. We decided to get a goldfish and name her Dorothy, but the lady at the pet store talked us into a Beta fish. They don't require their water to be changed as often as goldfish. That was all she had to say to convince us to get a Beta instead. So, we now have a blue and red Beta fish. Matt refused to still name him Dorothy, so his name is Clark Kent after Superman. Natalie has added to her chore of feeding the pets. She now helps feed Daisy, Stella and Clark.

Auntie Sherril's Visit

2008-04-09T11:18:00.001-07:00

These are some pictures from last week, when Claire was 7 weeks old. She started smiling at us and has grown so much.

My sister Sherril was in town this past weekend to visit. The rain finally went away, and the sun came out. We braved the zoo on Saturday, and of course weren't the only ones that had that idea. Natalie seemed to like the elephants and monkeys best. Claire just enjoyed being held in her Bjorn carrier and getting fresh air!

Easter

2008-04-09T11:12:00.001-07:00

We couldn't believe it, but it snowed on Easter this year. The weather made it feel more like Christmas than Easter. Natalie did an Easter egg hunt at one of the grocery stores in town. Matt showed her how to pick up one egg, and then she caught on. Since it was so cold, she picked up about 10 eggs in 2 minutes, and then we went home!

Even the dogs were confused by the weather!

We waited a few weeks for it to warm up to have their Easter egg hunt outside.

1 Month Old

2008-03-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Claire is one month old. She is starting to be more awake during the day and of course also at night . Natalie continues to play mommy to her baby dolls. We're not getting much sleep and our days are hectic, but we can't imagine life any other way.

Claire - 2 weeks

Claire - 3 weeks

Claire - 1 month

Our Valentine's Gift

2008-02-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

Claire Adeline (pronounced Ade-lyn) arrived early on February 12th! She was 5 lbs 5 oz and 17 1/2 inches long. We got to bring her home from the hospital on Valentine's Day. Everyone is adjusting well even big sister Natalie. She loves changing her baby doll's diapers and burping her to mimic what we do with Claire.

Matt and Natalie danced the night away at a father daughter dance at our local community center. I had to take pictures of them before leaving for their big date!

Karate Kid Part V???

2008-01-28T18:35:00.001-08:00

Gymnastics

2008-01-13T19:44:00.001-08:00

Natalie had her last gymnastics class for this semester. She looked forward to it every week and loves doing somersaults at home. In the three months that she attended the class, we saw such a huge improvement in her coordination, confidence and socialization. By the end of the class, the balance beam became her favorite apparatus.

Natalie is working on her last three baby teeth right now, so it has not been a fun weekend. We're hoping once the baby arrives, we will have a little break from her teething until her molars come in.

Her favorite snack right now is chips and salsa and guacamole. It is so cute to watch her dip the chips into the salsa.

Yes, my shirt says Watermelon Smuggler. Thanks Dad!

Admiring her medal.

Ultrasound Pictures

2008-01-07T17:58:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures from the 32 week ultrasound we had last week. She had her hands over her mouth for all of the pictures. She looks a lot like Natalie from her ultrasound at this stage, so we can't wait to see how much they look alike when she is born.

Christmas

2007-12-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

Natalie had a great time this Christmas unwrapping gifts and playing with her new toys. We spent the weekend before Christmas with Alice's family while her sister was in town and Christmas Eve with Matt's family. We spent most of Christmas day in our pj's at home.

It was so warm on Christmas day that we were able to take the dogs to the park.

Natalie did not like Santa this year.

Christmas Card Pictures Take 2

2007-12-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

We finally ordered our Christmas cards. Natalie has been sick since Thanksgiving and is still fighting a chest cold. It is not the best picture, but we were running out of time. Hopefully everyone will receive them before Christmas! We also couldn't get a good shot with the dogs, so I thought I'd post one picture of them on here.

Natalie visited Santa today with Grandpa. She wasn't too fond of Santa. Maybe once she realizes he's the one that brings presents every year, she will like him more!

Daisy and Stella's Bdays

2007-12-04T20:28:00.001-08:00

Today was Daisy and Stella's birthdays. They have the same birthday, just one year apart. Daisy turned four, and Stella is now three. I think they were feeling a little starved of attention because they seemed a lot more excited this year. They at least got some practice opening gifts in before Christmas. Natalie wasn't sure what to make of all of the commotion. I think she was just as amazed as I was that Stella, who is almost 70 pounds was sitting in her Daddy's lap at the table.

Stella looks like she just swallowed the cupcake whole.

Weekend Pictures

2007-12-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

I tried to get a picture of Natalie for our Christmas cards this weekend, and this was the best I could do. She would either not be looking at the camera or was mostly busy taking ornaments off of the tree and putting them back on the tree.

She is quite the big helper around the house. She will throw away her own diaper, pick up her toys and likes helping me dust. Natalie also loves feeding the dogs everyday. I am sure she will be a great big sister.

Natalie went to a birthday party at a horse farm last weekend and got to sit on a horse. She enjoyed petting him until the horse decided to give her a big smile and show his teeth.

We also went out to dinner to celebrate Grandma Bobbie's 60th birthday this past weekend.

Natalie's Visitor

2007-11-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Natalie enjoyed having a visitor this weekend. As you can see, they are already holding hands!

Natalie's First Haircut

2007-11-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

Natalie had her first haircut this week and even sat still through it!

She just had the back evened out since she was born with so much hair and never really lost it. She has a cute little bob and looks so much older to us!

Say Cheese!

Come on mom, take the picture!

Welcome to Our New Page

2007-10-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

Natalie went trick-or-treating at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She loved handing out candy to the other kids.

Making the big climb to ring a door bell.

The businesses in downtown had trick-or-treating this past Saturday, so Natalie got plenty of practice for the big night!

October 2007

2007-10-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

Eating Spaghetti

Brittany and Pop's Bdays

First Pony Ride

Grandpa's Bday

September 2007

2007-09-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Daddy's Bday

Out on the field at Busch Stadium

Running the Bases

Stealing Home

August 2007

2007-08-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

Opening Mommy's Bday Presents

Tali's 1st Bday

Biker Babe

July 2007

2007-07-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

Feeding the Goats

June 2007

2007-06-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

WOW a Horse!

Cousin Brooke

Great-Granny

Mayfield's

Auntie Sherril

May 2007

2007-05-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

Daisy and Stella's Easter Egg Hunt

2007-04-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

Easter in Baltimore

2007-04-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

April 2007

2007-04-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Daisy and Stella's Destruction

2007-04-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

March 2007

2007-03-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

February 2007

2007-02-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Sweater and Hat Alice's Grandma Crotcheted for Alice

January 2007

2007-01-01T20:52:00.000-08:00

December 2006

2006-12-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

November 2006

2006-11-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2006-11-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

September and October 2006

2006-10-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween

2006-10-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

Daisy and Stella

2006-09-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Comparison Shots

2006-09-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Natalie at 4 Months

Alice at 3 Months

Matt at 7 Weeks