Daddy Daycare

This is what happens when Katie and I leave the boys home to watch the kids.

Here's a cute one of them playing together without being forced to balance any ridiculously expensive shoes on their heads.

Playing with Fire

No children were hurt in the filming of this video (despite the sudden ending that may lead you to believe otherwise.)

Vegas Flashback

Also, just found this pic of the last Girls Weekend in Vegas - December 2005. I think we've still got it. (And now I want to dye my hair dark again - blast!)

Komen Race for the Cure

On September 21st (Mel's birthday) Nikos, Taki and I are joining the Cecchins for the Komen Race for the Cure. We are on Courtney's team (Sarah's cousin) but we are also "running" in honor of Anut Sandy. Feel free to join us for the race or if you can't attend you can always donate for a great cause. Here's a link to my webpage and Taki's as well. Taki's page is a little bizarre as a) it has his full name and b) I can't figure out how to link back to it to so you will have to check back next week if you want to see a personalized version.

Nikos' 1st Professional Haircut (or Nikos Discovers Elmo)

I figured it was time for me to upgrade Nikos from my bootleg haircut to a real haircut (note - he did have a real cut from Grandma Peggy a while back but everything since has been just me.) Of course in order to keep up with Connor Spriggs I decided I needed to find a place with one of those cute little cars that the kids sit in. Success! Here is a video that I shot on my cell phone (since I had forgotten the memory card in my camera - doh!)

More cell pics...

B.E. (Before Elmo)

A.E. (After Elmo)

A.P. (After Product)

What Happens In Vegas...Gets Blogged About

Girls Weekend in Vegas - wahoo! Eight of us headed to Vegas this weekend for 32 hours of debauchery. We rented a cabana and realized we are now pool snobs and can never go back without one. We all highly recommend it. We left at home seven husbands, one boyfriend, ten kids, three dogs and seven cats (give or take.)

This is the flight that Sarah and I almost boarded -- note, it is going to Seattle -- because one of us was hungover and the other one is bad with directions. Thank goodness we noticed and jumped into the Vegas line, I don't think Seattle would have been as fun. Unless of course, you can drink legally on the street in Seattle? If so, bring it on.

We start off the weekend (and by weekend I mean 32 hours) with some kind of pink concoction - we asked for pink lemonade and citron but we ended up with pink lemonade and some sort of pink vodka that had caffeine and guarana in it? I think it was called a Pink Flamingo but it should have been called Pink Crap as it was not very good. Note the "bowl" that we ordered, trying to relive the Sharkeez days. Also note that I did NOT leave with a Pike - thus not reliving the Sharkeez days.

Breanna (or Six as she prefers to be called) demonstrates how she got her nickname. Yes, we are a clever bunch. And yes, she was using 6 spf in 115 degree heat.

We hit up Planet Hollywood for dinner (the former Aladdin casino) and had a great time (if you don't count Jenn getting stabbed with a fork and Jaime having to demand carrots.)

So Jaime has all the connections and once again, she got us into the "in" club of the moment. That's right, VIP line, we got to cruise past all the next to naked 20 year old chics that were dressed much more club-appropriately than we were. Apparently 30s-sexy does not translate well in Vegas. Oh well. We happened to be following in a real VIP who was being filmed the whole time for some sort of reality show. Who?? Joe Jackson, Michael's father. I know, not too exciting but I still decided it was blog-worthy and I made it a mission to get a picture of him.

After several futile attempts where I try and take the pic over my shoulder (Joe was behind me) I assign Lia the task of getting the shot. Sadly, Joe inadvertently ducked behind me here, so all you see is my giant, glowing face. Nice Heather. (That is Joe's bodyguard or handler or something though.)

Success! Not a good picture but you get the gist.

And we be clubbin'

And the weekend ended well, with no one sunburnt, no one hungover and no one having flashed an entire restaurant her I'll Flip For You undies.

Wacky Wednesday

Story of the Week

Location - Humid Aruba, Dutch Caribbean Islands
Time - Shortly before we are leaving to go out

Me: Ugh, my hair is so frizzy, I can't get it to look good to save my life.
Taki: Don't worry, it's dark outside.

WHAT?? Let's replay that scene the way it should have played out.

Me: Ugh, my hair is so frizzy, I can't get it to look good to save my life.
Taki: You look fabulous baby. Can I get you a drink?

These Legs Were Made for Crawling

Nikos shows off his new hair cut and I show off my superior parenting skills by NOT letting him eat cat food (at least not on video!)

Miley Cyrus, Global Warming and Accidental Generosity

Miley Cyrus. I'll say it, I like her. I totally get excited when her songs come on the radio. She rocks.

Of course, I did just get SUPER excited when I heard the NKOTB song too so maybe I am just a dork.

Global warming? Love it! Seriously, it was so warm in the city all week it was fabulous. I mean I am all for the Discovery channel (hooom dee adda hooom dee adda) and global warming destroying Alaska and all but I have to say I feel it does good things for Northern California. I mean, it almost makes me not want to move back to Southern California. Almost.

And lastly...yesterday I took a mid-afternoon break to get my hair done. After fresh highlights I was feeling all happy and entering BART I heard the vocal stylings of a homeless (?) person singing in the station. Being of fabulous hair mindset and in a good mood I decided to throw a little bone to the one homeless person in San Francisco not begging me for money (while doing nothing for it.) As I walk up to him I ask "do you take bart?" thinking I drop my $9.70 ticket in his hat. He nods yes and I acknowledge with a smile and...this is where everything becomes slow motion...drop my BRAND NEW FORTY EIGHT DOLLAR TICKET into his hat. Yes, that's $48. As I tossed it in it was like slow-mo and I envisioned myself with a long and drawn out "Noooooooooooooooo." Of course, I realize what I have done and have a quick debate with karma. I mean, there is really nothing I can do, I can't take it back! So, now I hope that good karma will befall me (in Vegas this weekend) and I hope Taki won't divorce me (after reading this post.)

On an endnote, so excited that Riley lives up here now! It's like my third college friend in Northern California. Wahoo! I am really becoming quite popular.

Wacky Wednesday

Story of the Week
(Since a few of you asked for background)

A few weeks ago I was on a mission to find a swimsuit for Aruba and Vegas this coming weekend. Now, although I am not entirely living it up in a post-Nikos body I can say fairly confidently that I don't look to be in a part of any* trimester -- at least not the second and third ones where you usually score the comments!

Location - Gap store, Embarcadero Center, San Francisco
Time - lunchtime
Wardrobe - I am wearing jeans, flats and a fitted t-shirt

Me: Hi, do you guys carry swimsuits in this location?
B*tchy Salesgirl...wait, at this point she was just a Regular Salesgirl: Maternity?
Me: Excuse me? (in my head I must have misunderstood her)
Possibly B*tchy Salesgirl: Maternity?
Me: (Repeating the word swimsuit in my head over and over again and trying to figure out if in any way it could have been misconstrued for me saying MATERNITY. Deciding to give the saleswench one more chance...) Excuse me???
Idiot Salesgirl That Needs to Get Fired: (Realizing monumental blunder) Uhhh, uhhh, Gap Body is upstairs and we are having a huge sale, upstairs, Gap Body. You should check it out.

Needless to say I did not go look at any of their stupid Gap Body collection. I went back to work to plan the Salewh*re's untimely demise.

* Alright, alright, maybe the first trimester when I am not sucking it in. But what IDIOT in their right mind asks about a pregnancy when you are not like 9 months along? ARGH.

One Year (and Two Week) Check-Up

Yesterday we headed to Kaiser for Nikos' one year check-up. Little Neeky is still clocking in a little bit on the small side but Dr. Ray isn't too worried, she just wants us to watch his weight and really make an effort to get him to put on some pounds. His weight has fallen below the 5% mark, his height is holding at 5% and his head is coming in at 25%.

Weight - 17lbs
Height - 28.5 inches

Dr. Ray ran a few tests to make sure his low weight gain wasn't caused by any factors we need to worry about and we should know the results this week. He proved that he has excellent vocal abilities and lung capacity during his round of four shots and when they took blood -- which was horrible since they had to take it from his arm like a "regular" person. It left both of us crying and me swearing to not take him to the doctor alone again!

On a more cheerful note, we found out today that Mich's hip surgery went well and that our new little friend Reese Brinker got to come home from the hospital earlier than expected. Wahoo!

I Hope You Have 20 Minutes to Kill...

We returned from Aruba Sunday morning around 12am and I'm fighting the serious post-vacation blues. I am having a hard time contemplating the fact that I am a) not floating around in a lazy river b) not dealing with my biggest worry being that my swimsuit isn't dry from the day before or c) not lathering myself (or a one year old) in sunscreen. Booooooo. I keep telling Taki the end of this vacation would have been much easier to deal with if we lived in Southern California and could actually visit another beach soon but he doesn't seem to be convinced.

I'll try to keep this post as short as possible with 400 pics to choose from.

Number of sunhats I brought for Nikos - seven.

And one of Pop-Pops'...

Number of times we took pictures of our drinks - nine.

Number of artsy shots Taki and I took in our endless amateur photography competition - six.

Nikos spends a little quality time with some tropical friends.

Obligatory Nikos-Passed-Out-On-The-Plane shot.

Gratuitous vacation shots.

Work it fishy...own it.

Checking his passport in the Houston Airport...

Shout out for the Felton family.

Why Nikos and I can never move to the East Coast (hint - humidity hair.)

Whose profile does he have? We will demonstrate the Lewis gene (we must be rubbing off on Taki) to assist your decision...

Why you shouldn't wear pink if you are sunburnt (and no I'm not pregnant, despite the fact that the b*tch at Gap last week asked me if I was looking for a maternity swimsuit.)

And we'll close the post with the photos that Taki says will make Niko's future wife "think you're crazy." To which I say "Um...crazy adorable."

(Yes, I did a forced the poor kid to go through a costume change mid-photo shoot.)