Vacation to Nowhere

Nikos' daycare is closed this week, so for the first time in my life ever, I took four vacation days off and I'm not going anywhere. Horrible, I know. It felt weird for it to be the Sunday before my vacation days kick in and to NOT be panicked about the fact that I hadn't finished packing yet.

Originally slated to drive down to LA with Nikos for the week, I decided to stick around home as I wasn't sure puking my way down the 5 and 405 was the way I wanted to spend my week. Although now that I think about it, sitting at Alejo's right now and tossing my cookies doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world. I bet I even could have enjoyed some Mariachi with the Spriggs! Blast!

Yesterday morning we walked up to our Starbucks (which I am determined to visit as often as possible this week since it will be closing permanently on September 12th). With a nice three mile walk under our belt, we hopped in the car (where Nikos entertained himself with a book.)

We then popped on bart and headed into the city to meet my parents to walk them to Pier 35 - where they their ship was docked for their Alaskan Cruise. 

After determining we could not sneak aboard by hiding in their luggage - booooooo - we dropped them off and bade them a good trip.

From the pier we walked up to Taki's work to say hi (of course, Nikos chose this time to take a two hour nap in his stroller. Good for me, not so good for Taki's coworkers that wanted to play with him.) After visiting Taki (and clocking three more miles) we headed back home to relax for the rest of the day.

This morning we once again walked up to Starbucks. While Nikos practiced his stroller yoga, I woofed down a few breakfast items. Since I am usually going to bed on an empty (not by choice) stomach, I am STARVING in the mornings!

From Starbucks we headed to Totland to enjoy the sun, sand and all of the kids at the playground. Nikos had a great time playing in the sand and burying my flip flops. (For more on this playground trip please view earlier Monkey blogs.) 

I knew it was our cue to leave when around naptime (12:30) he crawled up on my stomach (I was sprawled out next to him in the sand) and laid his head down. So cute!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's fun adventures at the park with the cousins and Brayden!

I Heart NY

A few weekends ago we flew to NYC for a quick trip to visit Yankees Stadium before it closes (this is the last season.) The Eggerts get our thanks for planning the trip, it should go as no surprise to anyone that Chuck was able to get 40 people to attend the game (half of which I think were from CA!) Of course, you know me, as soon as anyone plans a trip I'm in (then I just work on convincing Taki - ha!)

We took a redeye out to New York on Thursday night and were checked into our hotel by Friday mid-morning. Nikos let us take a two hour nap at the hotel and then we were off to explore the city (with the limited time we had.)

First up, Central Park. We stopped by the Heckscher Playground - the largest of Central Park's 21 playgrounds (note, I did not get this information from our pathetic horse carriage tour guide -- more on this later.) There was a ridiculous amount of nannies pushing around Bugaboo strollers - seriously, I think we counted at least 20 of the strollers. Of course this fact forced me to tell Taki that if we lived there we would fit right in (since we had the stroller and all.) Being the Rain to my Parade, Taki pointed out the fact that we wouldn't quite fit in since we didn't have the nanny to go along with the stroller. Details.

After hanging out in the playground for a little while we explored some more of the Park. 

Obviously, it was exhausting.

We got caught in a fabulous thunderstorm (sorry no pictures, I didn't want to ruin the camera!) Even with the purchase of our two $5 street umbrellas, Taki and I ended up pretty soaked. Luckily Nikos was snug as a bug underneath the raincover on his stroller.

After walking back to the hotel and changing into some dry clothes we settled into some great seats in the lobby bar/library and enjoyed the rain.

Apparently, the rain washed off all of my makeup. Here I am trying out Jessica Biel's latest look..au naturel.

Suited up for dinner!

And where do we go out to eat - pizza, of course! We headed to John's Pizzeria in Times Square. We were told it was one of the Top 3 pizza places in the city (sadly, Taki didn't get the names of the other two or I would have suggested a trifecta.) The location where we ate was once the Gospel Tabernacle Church and it was amazing - sadly, the pictures do not do it justice. With over 400 seats, it is also the largest pizza place in the U.S. 

Niko samples a piece of the pie. He liked it but I think he agreed with us, Gioia is better and it can't hold a candle to Nat's! (Well, that last belief is mine, maybe not Taki's.)

After pizza it had stopped raining so we walked around Times Square before heading back to our hotel. Nikos liked looking at all of the lights but he loooved people watching.

Saturday morning we met Beck and Jayme for breakfast and then hopped on the subway to go to the game.

We met up with everyone at Stan's across the street from the ballpark and Gina insisted I take this picture with Nikos and a beer. Bad influence.

Beck crashes the family picture.

The game was loooong. Five hours and thirteen innings.  Niko was great for the majority of the game but during the last half hour we had to use some creative parenting to prevent a meltdown. I'd blog about our methods but they aren't necessarily PC.

The masterminds - Gina and Chuck - after the game.

Shot of the new stadium (right across the street.)

On the walk back to our hotel from the subway Nikos passed out. I got lots of points from passersby - which I assumed were directed at knocked out Nikos, but looking at this picture, maybe they were commenting on how I was unintentionally rocking the Jessica Biel look again. No rain to blame, apparently sitting in the stands in the blazing sun for five hours also does a number on your makeup.

Did I mention that Taki and I are very fancy and had not one but TWO nannies stop by our hotel room to babysit Nikos on Saturday night?? True, if you look closely at the head nanny (pictured below) she may look suspiciously similar to my cousin Kristin, but this is just a bizarre coincidence. Obviously Taki and I are wealthy enough to employ two nannies, we might as well pack our bags and move to New York now!

With Nikos in my cousin's...err, I mean my nanny's...capable hands, we headed out to dinner with Jayme and Beck and than met up with the rest of the crew at the rooftop bar at the Empire Hotel. Who's fancy now?

 
Sunday morning was filled with grandiose plans of visiting Wall Street, Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge...etc, etc. What we ended up doing was enjoying a leisurely breakfast, visiting FAO Schwarz and wrapping up with a highly informative (ha!) horse carriage ride in Central Park.

As soon as we walked into the store Nikos lunged at this pink dog. It was very cute. Needless to say we didn't buy it. Not because it was pink, but because we already had too many carry-ons for the plane.

Our nannies, Kristin and Tara, met up with us at FAO and captured this picture of Niko in a Harry Potter hat. The dork that I am, I was very excited to be in this section. I almost bought him a Gryffindor scarf but than realized it wouldn't fit him until he was approximately 6-8.

They also captured a picture of Nikos after he was crawling on the floor at FAO and his knees and really the entire half of his leg was filthy. I told Kristin "whatever you do, do not let Aunt Beth see this picture!" For that reason I will not add it to our blog...

Here's a shot of Taki and Nikos on the horse carriage through Central Park. Nikos probably looks a little bored since the driver, who was supposed to be telling us things about the Park, was barely giving us anything. I practically fell out of the carriage trying to listen to the rickshaw driver next to us pepper his riders with fun facts. Taki, on the other hand, probably looks annoyed since we are paying $42 for a 20 minute ride through the park where we not only learned nothing from our driver, I think we actually got stupider. Yes, I said got stupider.

Sensing my bitterness (and his upcoming small tip) the driver connivingly (is this a word? I told you I got stupider) took the most unflattering picture of me ever. Either that, or I will find out at my big ultrasound that I am pregnant with sextuplets, and then I will not feel so bad about this horrific picture.

And a good time was had by all! It was so great to meet up with friends and see family in such a fun city. Of course, I am already planning our next trip. :)

God Bless the Nannies

So after Niko's nap we headed back up to the Totland in a frantic search for monkey. I redrove the route as much as I could (considering we were on walking paths for part of it) and headed up to the park since that was the last known sighting. I asked several parents/nannies if they had seen a monkey or a hat (stressing the importance of the monkey) and no one had. On my way out I am talking to Nikos about the hat and his monkey and I pass a nanny and her kids and she says "You need hat?" and I said "oh no, actually we lost a monkey and a hat" and she lifts up his hat from her stroller and says "Zees hat?" I thank her profusely and ask about a monkey (no dice) and we head back to the car, retracing the route again. We get out by the bart station, question a few construction workers and rewalk the Ohlone Pathway, but again come up empty. 

As I am packing him back into the car I see a nanny that I noticed in Totland, walking along the pathway. I said "Were you just at Totland?" to which she responds "Si" and I think, oh crap, this isn't going to go well. "Did you see a monkey?" this while I am acting out monkey. "Si Si!" "You did!! Where?" "A house, with, uh, like zees" (and she points to a fence and some branches.) I confirm that the house is on Virginia and attempt to thank her by using my only-in-Rosarito Spanish. Meaning to express my sheer gratitude I attempted to say I owe you a margarita senorita! Sadly, in my excitement I think what I actually said was something closer to the margarita is for me, thank you sir!

I drive back slowly, looking for a house with trees and a fence. Where do I find monkey? At a house with a fence made out of branches! That nanny was a genius. I really do owe her a margarita, and an apology for calling her a man.

 

Missing: Monkey

Sh*t sh*t sh*t. We just got back from the park to discover a member of our party is missing (no Sarah, I didn't forget Bosco this time) - it's MONKEY! Ahhhh. Nikos fell asleep on the way home so I put him down for a nap and now am waiting for him to wake up or for one of my neighbors to come home so I can drive back up to the park, fingers crossed. 

AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Luckily I saw a store where we can buy another one if needed.

Last Seen - Berkeley Totland, approximately 12:45pm. Most likely tossed over the side of stroller. Pictured below (for identification purposes.) Right ear is dirty (run-in with stroller

 wheel on way to Philadelphia) and left hand has small stain (portabello mushroom juice). If found please email!

Dr. Atkins Would Be Happy

I promise I am trying to get NYC posted...sadly, all I have been successful at lately is puking. At my doctor's appointment last Friday I had a trace amount of ketones in my urine, which basically means since I am puking up practically 2/3 of all my meals, my body is burning fat and not food (good if you are on Atkins, bad if you are pregnant.) If this keeps up this week I have to go back to the doctor and get measured again and possibly get put on iv. Let's put it this way...as of today it is not looking good! :(

Road Rage

Uh oh, we may have to keep this one off the road for awhile. (Maybe Pop-Pop can coach him through successfully banishing "The Change.")

Practicing For Three...Uh, I Mean Two

Melanie abandons me to take Maile to the bathroom, allowing me to test out my parenting skills on more than one child. Note how Nikos has picked up his father's skill of totally tuning out a girl talking to him. I think three kids is easy! Luckily I shut the camera off before Mason stuck his corn cob in Melanie's purse and Nikos stuck his finger dangerously close to Kira's eye.

And One More Makes Four!

Yes, it is time to confirm the worst kept secret in history, Nikos is going to be a big brother sometime around next March. Wahoo! I am sure most of you know this already either from a) my big mouth b) my lack of drinking in recent blog posts (yes Jack, my shot in the luge was oj while Mel had tequila) or c) the sudden - and if I may say so not entirely welcome - appearance of my belly. (WHAT?!)

I am 12 weeks along and one of the reasons that this blog has been so pathetically updated is the fact that, in the spirit of the Olympics, I have decided to take on a new sport - puking! Yes, I think that I am going to medal in this one - I am a sure thing for the gold (if only because Melanie isn't pregnant at the same time I am.) Yes, I now, sadly, have my favorite place to puke at bart (stay away from the bushes by the elevator), my favorite place to puke in the city (sorry MCM coworkers, for taking over the handicap stall -- and hypothetically running over a few members of the Performance team on my way there last week) and then of course car trips have seen me put inventive uses to Safeway bags (and at times Starbucks cups.) Thank goodness I learned my lesson at Robin's bachelorette party (much to the detriment of everyone else in the limo) and haven't tried puking into any Crystal Geyser bottles. Of course, desperate times call for desperate measures so I am not making any promises.

For everyone's amusement, I thought I would share a few of the comments I have received for this pregnancy.

"AGAIN?" Let me just say that the kids will be 21 months apart so it is not like I am pulling a Britney Spears or anything. This was said to me by one of Mel's friends at the gangsta party, so of course, my response was "I'm Melanie's sister, what did you expect?"

"Aww look, your little belly is popping out." Let me just point out that a) it was my boss who said this and b) I WAS EIGHT WEEKS PREGNANT. I told her no one liked to hear this statement and that in fact I was going to say it to her next time I saw her eating Mexican food for lunch.

"At least you already look a little pregnant so people don't think you are puking because you have been boozing." This is when I was 11 weeks pregnant, so I guess I should have expected it considering the fact that it was three weeks after my little belly started popping out.

"Do you think your face is going to swell up as much as it did last time?" The only thing stopping me from stabbing this person in the eye with a fork was the fact that I had to puke so I had to get up and run to the bathroom. Lucky coworker.

Alright, I am getting ready to head to EBHH. Hopefully the bartenders there (Jeff and Sarah) will make me some fun NA drinks.

I will close this post by thanking Jen Martin for the fact that these two children will be so close together. May you not suffer any guilt since you know that you will be my first phone call when I want to tear my hair out.

Aint Nothin But a Gangsta PARTY

For Vernie's 30th Birthday Mel threw a Gangsta party. We threw on our gangsta gear - complete with a grill for Heather (Wrigley gum wrapper), bandannas and fake tats (thank you Benefit eyeliner.)

I don't know why Melanie made us make those weird faces with our lips, but don't we look hard? I changed my gang sign to a gun after I was accidentally throwing the "I love you" sign and everyone was making fun of me.

The boys.

Mel and I taking shots from the ice luge. (Does anyone think we look more like extras from Grease II than gangstas here?) -- Vernie made me change my bandanna from light blue (borrowed from my mom) to dark blue because it was more of a "hard" color.

Little Nicky

Well, we hit the 14.5 month mark last week and Nikos is still quite the skinny minnie (mickey?) I weighed him at home (first me alone and than with Niko) and he is clocking in around 19.5lbs. 1/2 lb more and we can turn around the car seat - wahoo!

All of the 6-12 month pants we put him in fit around the waist but are too tight while all of the 12-18 month pants are long enough but too big around the waist. Anyway, here's a fun shot that illustrates his size - this is what happened when I lifted him out of his highchair.

rock niko

No Tigers Escaped During This Outing

The first weekend of August my company had our summer picnic at the San Francisco Zoo - great venue - of course I am on the SOcial Committee so had some input. It was Nikos' first visit to a zoo.

We visit the petting zoo and Nikos feeds an ornery sheep. Poor kid would have been knocked over if I wasn't holding onto him! Luckily he took it in stride.

Practicing for his first tractor ride at Evergreen Farm.

Nikos standing (wahoo!) at the prairie dog village, observing the action.

Posing with my coworkers - Katie, Lauren and Beth.

Nikos does his best imitation of a kangaroo.

Taki and I take off, determined to win the scavenger hunt and annual pass to the zoo (okay, one of us may have been more determined than the other...). We pause to take a picture of the "clue" animal (polar bear) and glance at Nikos. Whoops...bad parents.