Lights, Camera, Contemplation

A few weeks ago we got some professional pictures taken out at Baker Beach. It happened to be the same time that Nikos was sick with roseola (which of course we didn't know about until after the photo session.) Even though he woke up with a fever and was pretty well dosed with Children's Motrin, he was a champ. Although, similar to his first professional photo session at five months, his smile remained very elusive for many of the shots. What is it about a professional photographer and the fact that we are paying big bucks that makes him want to act the part of the contemplative thinker? Who knows, probably his Taki-ness showing through. Anyway, here our some cute shots from the day from our fabulous photographer, Misty Richmond. She even puts them in this fabulous little set up which of course wants you to buy them all - brilliant! Enjoy!

Thyroid Condition

And least I forget, Nikos' test results came back from his second blood test and turns out the possible thyroid condition was a fluke. Wahoo! His results are in the normal range, so he probably had some sort of virus that caused it to spike last time. They are going to keep monitoring him just to be sure, but right now it looks like we are in the clear. Wahoo!

Finally - A New Post!

Alright, I have snapped out of my self-imposed blog strike. Clearly I had gotten too obsessed with posting every day, it was practically taking over my life. Of course, some of this had to due with pure laziness (but really, how much energy does it take to post something?) and some of it has to do with the fact that for some oddball reason my camera is keeping a bunch of my photos and videos hostage and refusing to download them to the Mac. 

Regardless, here's a quick look at what you have been missing. 

In college Sarah used to tell me that I would close my eyes when I would take a bite to eat. To which I say two things - 1. Why are you spending so much time looking at me while I eat Sarah? and 2. Look, Nikos may take after me with this one!) Disclaimer, I think he was really just blinking due to the flash - booo.

Oh, did I mention he is eating an Afghani food we picked up at the Farmer Market? Yes, we are very cultural here in Berkeley. Of course, as you will note from the following totally politically incorrect description, we are not too cultural. It's like the Afghani equivalent of two tortillas with spinach stuffed in the middle. Yum! Nikos was a big fan.

And to prove he is not a One-Hit-Wheels-on-the-Bus-Wonder he demonstrates How Big is Niko? while eating dinner.

Several days later (clearly I've lost all track of time), Sarah and I and the kids headed up to Sarah's grandparents' cabin for a little relaxation. (The boys met us later that night.) On the way up Sarah was nice and let us stop at Islands. I had been craving the cheddar fries (shocker) since the last time Taki and I went at Memorial Day. Despite the fact that my mom sent me the Top 20 Worst Foods in America email the night before and, guess what happened to maintain the proud position of Worst Food in America!?

Of course, you know me, I was not to be deterred. I mean Worst Food in America? This sounds like one of those urban legends. The next thing my mom is going to do is send me that email that says if a car drives behind me flashing its brights at me its because someone has crawled into my backseat and is about to put a gang hit on me. Either that or I need to forward this email and Bill Gates will give me a cut for everyone I forward it to. Nope, this is pure nonsense. Instead of checking first on Snopes (which, as it slowly comes to mind, my mom usually checks before forwarding any suspicious emails), I decided to head right to the source and check at Chilis.com. 

HA! This is sooo not the Outback version of the Worst Food in America. In fact, it is worser! Yes, worser, bare with me people. Chili's version has the distinction of having a serving size of TEN people at THREE HUNDRED AND TEN CALORIES PER SERVING. Ranch dressing not included. WHAT?? TEN SERVINGS? I am pretty sure Kelli and I have split a plate of these on our own. Yuck, seriously who could eat such a thing??

This is Nikos' reaction when I ordered them from the waitress, practically before we sat down. "Hi, Welcome to Chil..." "We'd like an order of the cheddar fries please."

Here is the fry carcass after lunch. The other nine people and I really enjoyed them. I mean really, with the amount Sarah and Nikos ate, I probably only had 2700 of the 3100 calories. 2800 tops.

Up at the cabin Nikos settles in for a graham cracker and milk. 

Out on the deck Nikos attention was captured by this blue jay (I know that isn't the proper name but Sarah will have to remind me what it is) that was greedily gobbling up the cashews we left him as bate (shh - don't tell Jeff!)

Here Nikos is "hugging" Marco (his hugs involve him placing his head on you) - very cute. Marco seemed to "get it."

Sorry Marco, had to include this one, despite the belly shirt you look so adorable!

And since my camera is clearly waiting for us to figure out what the correct ransom is...here is the last shot I have of the weekend. Nikos enjoying Marco's (which is actually Brooke's) travel swing. Look for a a cute video of this in the near (hopefully) future.

Carbs Are Your Friends

EBHH took place at our house on Friday night. I only got a few pics of the kids because Nikos decided to stick to his 7:30 bedtime (no complaints here!) Sadly, no pictures of the adults. I wish I could say it was because we were doing something scandalous that couldn't be caught on film, but alas, I just forgot.

Marco poses for the camera.

Brooke keeps a close eye on Marco while Nikos contemplates playing with his piggy bank coin or Bosco's flattened, dirty, stuffed duck that is missing all of his insides. Let's hope he makes the right choice here.

After a dinner of spaghetti Nikos kept squealing and pointing to the half loaf of sourdough on the counter. I tried to convince him that that the little pieces of bread that I had been dipping in spaghetti sauce all night and feeding to him were out of the very same loaf but he wasn't going for it so I just gave in and let him have it. I am sure there is a parenting lesson in this somewhere but I'm choosing to ignore it.

Say it Ain't So!

I am supposed to be cleaning the house in preparation for EBHH tonight but had to share the sad news. My Starbucks is closing! I know, it's horrible!! Why why why? I got the awful news via text from Mel at 6 something this morning. In shock and disbelief, not wanting it to be true, I drove up to grab a chai and to hopefully hear it was all a horrible rumor. 

I talked to my favorite baristo, the one I got to know last summer and he said "Maybe if you and your blonde friend were in here every day like you were last summer we wouldn't have to close." Ha, very funny. Nice that he didn't mention our alternating screaming kids on said visits. I asked if it was set in stone, is there anything we can do? I was willing to take drastic measures and wake up 15 minutes earlier every day (gasp) to drive up and pick up my chai at this Starbucks as opposed to the one in the City. Alas, nothing can be done. 

Not sure how I will break the news to Nikos. I mean, this is where so many of his little milestones have taken place! He's probably spent more time here than anywhere outside our house or daycare! I even got photographic evidence of his first tooth at the outside tables here.

I guess the good news is that when I am on my next maternity leave I will have to walk to the next closest Starbucks which is 2 miles away (4 miles RT) so I will get more exercise! Of course, the 2 mile Starbucks is right down the street from the closest Noahs...so it will really be a wash.

Fever, Cornfest and Cupcakes

What a weekend. 

Friday afternoon started out with us heading to the Endocrinologist to follow up on some blood tests that Niko's Pedi ran to make sure that there wasn't any underlying reason behind his slow weight gain. His thyroid count came back as a little high (actually his Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) so we met with the Endocrinologist to discuss the test. 

Poor Nikos was in quite the mood at the doctor's office. He wasn't feeling well and they took his temperature with a result of 103! He also got weighed in at 17 lbs 13 oz and was 29 inches long. 

To make a long story short, the Dr. wants us to have his blood drawn again to see if the TSH levels have gone up or down. She assured us that if there was one thing that your child have to have she would choose a thyroid issue since it is so easily treatable. We will keep you up to date with the next blood draw and round of tests!

Later that night we tried to keep Nikos and his fever cool with a washcloth on his forehead. What a kid, even smiles for the pictures (gee - can you tell he is related to Maile and Mason!)

Saturday morning, despite a lingering low grade fever, we headed to Baker Beach for our first family photos. Hopefully I will be able to share the link here in a few weeks!

After another fever flare up we stayed in Saturday night. Sunday morning started out well with no fever for Nikos. Wahoo! We decided to celebrate by indulging in a little suburban pleasure known as Brentwood's Cornfest. Yes, Gail and Christian try to get us to come out every year to enjoy the beer garden on Saturday night and this year we finally made it! Of course, we were missing G&C (they were in Monterey) and there was not so much time to be had in the beer garden since it was about 100 degrees and 11am. What - this wouldn't have stopped us before?! I know, in our old age we have become wimps. Anyway, we met up with Mel's family and my Mom and here are a few cute photos.

Taki had to go back to the car to get something so the rest of us scrambled to the shade to wait for him. Maile and Mason gave him a nice warm welcome back by running up to greet him, it was really cute!

The corn was seriously THE BOMB. My parents' friend Debra told my Mom she had to try the Roasted Corn with butter, sour cream, cotija, tabasco and salt. Unfortunately they were out of the sour cream by the time we got there but we opted for one with the works anyway. OMG it was soooo good. Seriously awesome. Nikos has tried his share of spicy (horseradish dip, mustard with wasabi) -- obviously he gets his heat tolerance from his father...I'll give you a second so you can finish choking back your laughter. Yes, in case you have forgotten, Taki is the same person that had sweat drip down his forehead from MILD salsa at Sylvia's in Berkeley (may it rest in peace.) DRIPPING SWEAT, MILD salsa people! Anyway, I hope you have not grossed out too much. Here is a picture of Nikos manning up.

The above photo was taken just before he started developing what we thought was heat rash, or as my Mom called it "Prickly Heat." More on this later.

I was super excited to have Nikos visit his first petting zoo. Here we meet a cute baby goat. I explained to him, "this is a baby goat. Remember, Mommy's friend Gus has a GOATee - see this little goat has one too!" (Although I guess ON a goat it isn't called a goatee.)

This picture was taken right after this little piggy ran all the way home. Ha. Get it? No really, this little piggy just sniffed Niko's foot with a vengeance. Niko, of course, was unfazed because he is used to being practically licked to death by Bosco. Mason is angling his left leg at the piggy and repeating over and over again "Sniff my leg, sniff my leg piggy!"

Maile tries to talk to baby goat into coming home with her.

So I don't know if it was the fact that we still had tokens left that we had to spend (yes, this is one of those events) or the fact that Taki now felt like he had to man up about something, but Vernie challenged Taki to a pitching duel and Taki accepted! Actually, Taki was like "huh, what?" and I said "he'll do it Vernie!" (This was partly due to the fact that I wanted to prove to Taki that Cornfest was fun! - so far he remained unconvinced but I think this is because he didn't get any corn - WHAT?? - and partly because I was the one that insisted we needed to get $10 worth of tokens.)

Vernie clocks in with 54, 56 and 61! 

Taki clocks in at 54, 58 and 61. Taki wins! Taki is the best son-in-law! Wahoo!

Monday I attempted my first cupcakes from the 500 Cupcakes recipe book I bought impulsively at Costco. Mint Chocolate Chip - to quote Cam Hyland - yummers!

Oh, and I almost forgot. As evidenced in this picture (if you look closely), when I went to check in on Nikos on Monday morning I noticed his face was COVERED in red splotches. AAAHH! Running through the culprits in my head - is he allergic to tabasco? is it heat rash - that got 20x worse over night? did he get some weird sort of goat disease? oh god, did he pet the cow - does he have Mad Cow? what about west nile, there have been west nile instances recorded in Contra Costa County! Well, after calling Kaiser we found out it looks like he has Roseola - apparently the high fever was a pre-cursor. Luckily the rash should be gone in 24-48 hours.

Alright, I am going to relax and watch the rest of the All-Star Game - about which, I have these thoughts:

1. Derek Jeter is HOT.
   
2. Who is this guy that looks like Puppy? Taki says it is probably Kerry Wood.
3. Go National League!
4. What is this song they keep play do doo do do, do doo do do. Yes, I know I am not that good at that but do you know the one I am talking about? It is so familiar.
5. I love those Dos Equis commercials. Hysterical. Stay Thirsty, my friends. Also Miller High Life is quite enjoyable too. And did you see that new Bud Light with Lime? Maybe I am just thirsty...
6. Ha - good DHL commercial with Bob Johnson. 
7. 11 innings! Hurry up already. 

Okay Okay, Who is the Man from So. CaliforNIA?

We had a fabulous surprise dinner guest tonight (well, it wasn't too much of a surprise since he was at Jeff and Sarah's house last night.) Gus was in the area for work so he worked his charms on Nikos. Niko was especially impressed by Gus' goatee action.

Gus proves that he is a pro second-time parent, juggling both Marco and Nikos and providing a shoulder for Puddy to lean on. 

Fueled by Kindness

To celebrate his birthday, Taki and I met at Taylor's for lunch. Taylor's is located in the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero and has a fabulous patio out front - perfect to take full advantage of the hot weather and beautiful sunshine.

While in line for food we see a guy roll up in a green la-z-boy chair, perched on top of a pallet with wheels on it. Dude, what kind of freaky San Francisco thing is this? Being nosy -- I mean, naturally curious -- I stare at the guy for awhile, trying to figure out what's up. He has a sign attached to his chair that says "Push Me to the Golden Gate" and there's a guy with him filming him on a small camera. I momentarily stop staring to place my order "Bacon Cheddar Burger, but switch the cheese to Blue please, an order of garlic fries and a Diet Coke." While Taki dictates his order I turn my attention back to the guy in the chair, I totally feel like I know him.

Taki and I go find a seat on the patio and it pops into my head "Taki, that guy is totally the Hippie from Amazing Race!" Yes there is an exclamation mark here. I was very excited. They were my favorite team! To which Taki scoffs "yeah, that'd be a pretty big coincidence." To which I explain that the Hippies were from San Francisco. I debate approaching the red haired Hippie in the Barkalounger. (sp?)

Eavesdropping, I find out that he is doing an experiment on human kindness to see if he can get people to push him in his chair all the way from his place in the Mission to the Golden Gate (10 miles.) Interesting.

Curiosity killed the cat and I approached him (shocking, I know) with the stellar line "Were you on Amazing Race?" After he confirms and introduces himself (Tyler) and gives me a hug (so like he was on the show - love it!) I, of course, take a picture with him. So fun! (Love cell phone cameras!)

Despite the fact that I want to drill him on how I can become a contestant on the Amazing Race, I leave him alone because a) he is obviously busy with this chair-Golden Gate thing and b) I'm hungry.

Back at the table I share with Taki how he was super nice and exactly like he was on the show and remember how he and the other Hippie were so nice to everyone they met in all of the countries and now I have to call Mel and my Mom and tell them.

Anyway, this story is turning out longer than any of you want it to be, I am sure, but here's a little clip of me helping push him down the Embarcadero. -- Come on, you knew it was going to end this way! If you want to check out his whole journey you can see it here.

Getting Old

Happy 33rd Birthday Taki - we love you!

Happy Birthday Taki!

Peanut, peanut butter

So it's not as fun as watching a dog attempt to eat peanut butter...but it IS still cute.

Happy Birthday Maile!

On Sunday we headed out to the heat of Antioch to celebrate Maile's 5th birthday at a park. Luckily, they held the party in the evening so we weren't hanging out in 100+ degrees.

Taking a tip from Brooke and Marco, Nikos splits a swing with cousin Kira.

Apparently, the birthday must-have for this age (and the last few) is a pinata. Here is Maile attempting to bust open the dinosaur.

Here's a shot after the kids scrambled for their loot. Hopefully I get all the names right: Maile, Sarah, Ella, Marisa, Emily, Mason, Ethan and Caden. My apologies for misspellings.

Nikos watches patiently as Maile opens presents.

Birthday Girl.

Maile uses the dinosaur bath toy as a bribe to get Niko to crawl.

Kira and her favorite aunt.

Mel and Mason.
Nikos was pretty impressed with Mason.

Latest cousins pic.

Pop-Pop, Taki and Nikos shoot the breeze.