Too Much TV

Right now Taki and I just watched that show Nashville. I am addicted to it like it is the new Laguna Beach. I feel like I am a little bit throwing Taki under the bus by ratting him out for watching the show...hee hee! We were fans of Journeyman as well, not sure if it is such a great show or if we just missed Lucius Vorenus - now if we could just get some Titus Pullo.

Re-entry

Wow, so four months of maternity leave came to a screeching halt yesterday and I returned to work. "Re-entry" as Katie called it, was bizarre to say the least. I am easing back into being a full-time working mother, working two days this week (Monday and Wednesday) and then full-time starting next week. I took advantage of my last few "free" days by staging a little mini photo shoot with Niko -- here are a few cute shots of our little bear.

Jayme and Beck Tie the Knot

This past weekend Taki and I left Niko with his Grandma and headed to Dana Point to celebrate with Jayme and Beck on their wedding day. The weekend was fabulous, starting with the rehearsal dinner on Friday night and wrapping up with the after-wedding brunch on Sunday morning. The wedding itself was beautiful and touching and we were thrilled to be a part of it!

Niko and Jack

Today Niko and I drove out to Sacramento to meet up with Gina and her son Jack. Gina is acting as our interior designer so we made trips to IKEA and Home Depot to pick out cabinets and paint. Here are a few cute shots of Jack and Niko. Gina and I were due about 2 weeks apart (she was due 2 weeks before I was) of course, I ended up having Niko 4 weeks before she had Jack! We compared the kids now and think they are about the same size - you decide!

Nikos and Jack practicing synchronized handchewing.


This is the closest we came to getting both of them to smile for the camera - cute!

The Flying Roberts'

While we are living out in Antioch we are getting to spend a lot of time with Mel and Vernie and their kids - which is a lot of fun. Of course, Maile and Mason are just as thrilled to be spending so much time with us. Recent comments from Maile include "I have seen enough of Aunt Heather already today" (when we were meeting them for dinner after we had already had lunch together) and "Aunt Heather - why do you keep following us?" when I showed up to meet them at Target. Nice. Kids say the darndest things, right? Of course, it's not all bad, she did offer to find me some other friends at the store.

Here are some fun action shots of Niko's cousins.

The Little House That Could

Today we drove out to Berkeley where we not only experienced a 10 degree drop in temperature, but all kinds of new changes to our house! It's funny, I remember when we first moved to California (when I was in junior high) and my parents would drag Melanie and I out to our house all the time to see the changes as they built it. And Melanie I were SO BORED by it. "Oh great, they put in a new window Dad...". And now I find it exciting!

View (from our driveway) of the addition


Standing in the new addition, looking at our garage. The two large holes you see are for two sets of french doors. One set will lead into the kitchen, the other into the master bedroom.


Another look into the addition, this time from the street. The shell of the wall (ha - something tells me that isn't the technical term) is the wall that will separate the master bedroom and the kitchen. The room closest to the camera is the kitchen.


This is the view from inside our kitchen. Sadly, as much as I LOVE LOVE exposed brick, we are tearing this chimney down (it used to vent the hot water heater and stove). It will give us more space and is soon to be the home of a utility closet. We upgraded to a tankless water heater, whoop whoop. Maybe Taki should have warned his mom before he took this shot!


The front of our house - minus the siding.


The beginnings of our new roof - which we badly needed! Every Christmas when I crawl up on the roof to hang the lights (last year Taki was nice enough to do it for me since I was 4 months pregnant) I complain to Taki how we have the worst roof on the block. Not anymore!


So, it may not look like much, but we are increasing the space by 25%!


Back view of the house again.

D'Angelo Dinner Party

Jack, Katie and Brooke made the drive out to Antioch tonight for a little backyard bbq. It is always fun to get the two kids together and attempt to force an early friendship on them!

Taki trying out what it is like to have twins...

Brooke shows off her smile, Niko shows off his hair.

Mesmerized by the swaying of the palm tree. We are obviously going to have to get one to stick above their cribs.

Niko finds his feet

Today Niko found his feet for the first time and he used his left one to repeatedly kick his dinosaur, spinning him in circles. We caught it on Taki's cell phone video camera - too cute!

Postcards and Poses

Nikos was SO excited to get his first postcard ever. It was from Grammy and Pop-Pop, who were visiting a few ports in Hawaii while on their cruise. Niko displayed his excitement by waving his postcard around and smiling like crazy. He then spent a good 10 minutes nibbling on it. Here are a few cute pictures of the postcard and him enjoying time in his Bumbo, with his new Dino toy that he absconded from cousin Mason.

Serious face, holding the postcard up for all to see - I did not pose him like this, I just set the postcard on his lap.


In this one I think he is actually flaunting the fact that he got a postcard and I didn't. Little rascal.


The color is a little funky but I couldn't resist, he was giggling like crazy!


Pondering whether Durham or Frandsen should play Second next year.


Swaddled for his nap and placed gently...on the footrest of the recliner - naturally. Who needs a crib or a pak 'n play?

Multi-tasking

I need to pick up my parents' mail from their PO box twice a week. Well, while I was at the post office I decided to make use of the self-service postage machine to weigh Niko! Ha. I am sure this is not quite the package that the machine was designed for, but it still works all the same! Yesterday Niko weighed 11lbs, 11.9oz - this is with a onesie and a diaper on, so knock off a few ounces for the extra weight.

And in case you're interested, it is going to cost me $49.55 (with an extra $2.10 for insurance) to overnight him to Manhattan Beach. I didn't get a picture of the weigh-in this time as I was being all stealth so no one would catch me, but I will be more prepared next time!

Eight Random Things

So I guess this chain letter of sorts is going around challenging people to post eight random things that not many people know about them on their blog. I'll try my best, but really I am such a big mouth I doubt all of them will be a surprise to anyone.

1. I watch too much tv, and many of the shows/movies I watch have an investigator/spy theme (CSI, Law and Order, Alias...etc.). I guess I immerse myself a little bit too much into the shows since after we are done watching them I always feel like I am a spy or secret investigator. For instance, after we left the Bourne Ultimatum a few weeks ago I was sort of dodging around feeling like people were on our tail and I was trying to lose them. I know, total dork.

2. Contrary to popular belief, I don't like to dance. I only like to dance after I drink A LOT. I recently had to reiterate this point at Jayme's bachelorette party when everyone was asking me why I wasn't dancing. "But at your wedding..." Yes people, please remember that at my wedding I was convinced I was ChaCha from Grease and was constantly flipping up my skirt all night. This is not something one does sober.

3. I am a scaredy cat. I am afraid of the dark, afraid of crickets, afraid of hair when it is not attached to the body (well, I am afraid of Taki's back hair and that is still attached, so I guess that is an exception), afraid of being the only one downstairs/upstairs when everyone else is on the other floor, etc.

4. One of the reasons I chose to go to Loyola Marymount was that they served breakfast in the Terrace Room all day. Seriously, I have it written down in my little Heather's College Tours notebook. Other deciding factors include the fact there was no mandatory church attendance (unlike Pepperdine) and no curfews for boys in your dorm room - classy.

5. I have two tatoos. Two dolphins that everyone knows about on the top of my right foot and a small blue dot on my right wrist that my boyfriend from high school tatooed on me while I was taking a nap. He was going to write his name but I woke up. Can you imagine if I had Tony tatooed on my wrist?? Taki would not be happy.

6. I mispronounced Taki's full first name for FIVE YEARS before he told me I was saying it incorrectly (and he only told me because I asked him if I was saying it right). For the record it is pronounced PAHN A YO TIS not PAHN E YO TEES. Accent on the YO.

7. Sophomore year, after ordering pizza two nights in a row from Dominos (310-216-6886), a prophetic deliveryman told me "Girl, you're gonna get chunkyyyyy".

8. When I was a little all I did was read books everywhere I went. Bobsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High Twins, you name it I read it. My parents actually talked about the fact that they were afraid that I was going to be completely anti-social and not have any friends. Hee!

I'm going to challenge Taki to do this but I seriously doubt it is going to happen since he still hasn't posted his entry on the house renovation to this blog. Of course, if Taki does do it expect a lot of one word answers.

Annette and Jeff's Wedding

We had a fabulous time at Annette and Jeff's wedding in San Diego this past weekend. Highlights included: a serenade from Jeff to open the wedding, an adorable flower girl, a very touching ceremony complete with personal vows, shots of Ouzo, broken plates and shouts of "Opah", dancing on the bar and Niko in his new wingtips. In addition, Michael and Christina let us know that they will be getting hitched this December in Washington - wahoo!

Taki's dad said Nikos looked like a little Greek fisherman - which is perfect as it is exactly the look we were going for...thanks Baby Gap!


Hanging out during cocktail hour.

Little did Niko know that the girl over my shoulder would be forever etched in his memory (see earlier post) - thanks to a digital camera and his father.


The ceremony

Fun shot

Adorable flower girl, intent on destroying all of the flower arrangements.


The kiss!

The broken plates being doused with Ouzo...in order to light them on fire. In case you haven't purchased Annette's wedding gift yet, she needs more plates. Approximately five or so.


Taki and I survive our first post-Nikos hangovers to enjoy a day in La Jolla. Thank god we only do shots of Ouzo at weddings and Greek Easter.


Cute father and son shot.


Niko just found out that he missed seeing Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn. Of course, Niko has an excuse since he was sleeping in his stroller, Taki doesn't since they were walking right towards us. Of course, I had to explain who they were by talking about the tv characters they play. "Detective Woody Hoyt from Crossing Jordan!"

Niko and his Elephant

I know that everyone thinks that they have the cutest kid ever...but come'on! This kid is on fire. Don't worry, in order to prevent my head from getting too big Sarah keeps reminding me that, judging by junior high pictures of his Dad, he will go through some awkward half-ass-mustache- stages.

Fun Firsts!

WOW, a lot of firsts for Niko in the past few days. His hair was getting a little long, causing his Aunt Melanie to comment that he was "Business in the Front, Party in the Back" (Mullet) - nice Aunt. So on Friday morning he had his first haircut. Big excitement. We then packed up and headed to San Diego for his Aunt Annette's wedding, where he experienced his first flight, first dip in the ocean, first time in a hotel room and, least I forget, first time a drunk chic crawled into bed with him and passed out. WHAT??!! Yes, this did happen. On Saturday night (his fourteen week birthday) he was innocently swaddled and sleeping on the bed in the guest room. When I went in to check on him I found the door locked - of course, I assumed that I had accidentally locked him in! - but when I got the key and opened the door I found the light on and a chic passed out in bed next to him. In hindsight, we are really glad that nothing happened and no one got hurt. Of course, at the time we thought it was hysterical, even snapping a picture of it for posterity and so he can brag to his friends in 15 years. Nice.

Haircut - The dramatic Before PictureAfter Picture
The Evidence!
Posing in his "Congratulations, you get to sit near me" airplane shirt. Of course, this shirt would have been more prophetic if he was screaming, but we were happy he wasn't!

Niko was not nearly as amused by the pilot as he was with the cabin lights.

Snoozing with his SWA 1st Flight certificate that was signed by the whole crew!


Right before we left for the beach...somehow he ended up looking like an Army Ranger instead of a beach-goer.


Ha, I'm so busy trying to suck it in I didn't notice poor Niko's hat has slipped down over his face. Nice mother. And for the record, give me some credit for posting this incredibly unflattering view...hey, I'm only 14 weeks out! :)


Last peaceful moments before being dipped into the ocean by Dad.


And the money shot...