14 Weeks To Go!

Okay, so I am a week late for my 25 week picture. Here I am at 26 weeks (and 25 weeks last time.)

Playground Fun

This past weekend we took Nikos to a great little park by our house, Dream Land at Aquatic Park. They have some awesome play structures as well as a bunch of really fun sliding boards. The park is right next to the mile-long Aquatic Park Lake and is within walking distance of our house. Bosco loves the trip over there because he gets in some good off-leash time.

Both Taki and I took a turn down one of the sliding boards with Nikos and then we let him go down on his own. Although he had fun going down with us he LOVED going down all by himself.

Before we left Nikos got to enjoy his first water fountain experience.

The Adventures of Captain Morgan and his Sidekick Brooke

Saturday morning Nikos and I made up with Katie and Brooke at Habitot. Niko and I experimented with the makeup table for the first time. I was all ready to just turn him into a little drag queen but Katie saved his manhood by suggesting a make him into a pirate. With a vision of Captain Morgan I set to work...sadly, Katie commented he looked more like Pirate Cupcake.
Pirate Cupcake and Brooke working the controls of the shuttle.

Trusting Nikos at the controls, Brooke takes control of the wheel.

Cupcake...er, Captain Morgan shows off his monster socks. ROOOAR.

The budding artists combine their efforts to create a masterpiece.

Nikos tries face painting.

After the kids cleaned up they headed over splash each other in the water feature.

After we parted from Katie and Brooke we walked around downtown a little bit. It was the day of the Big Game at Cal so downtown was packed with all kinds of revelers headed to cheer for the Bears against Stanford. Before we hit up the Farmers Market we happened upon this drum line and Nikos was TOTALLY into it. We watched them for a good half hour, he was bopping up and down and fake drumming on his stroller. I donated some money for the cause and picked up a flyer so Niko could join when he is old enough.

Apparently, pretending to be a rockstar drummer is tiring...

Busted

Taking a cue from the D'Angelo's, we have instituted our own time out box.

Switch Hitter

Christmas came early for Nikos this year. He discovered the hand-me-down Xmas present (hand tested by the Roberts Elves for the past few years) that I left sitting on the ottoman (genius, I know.) Taki said he found it one morning before daycare and now he carries the bat from room to room with him. Of course, I still plan to wrap a bow around it and put it under the tree next month...you know, economic slowdown and all.

Love Bites...But Fortunately Doesn't Bleed

Friday morning we tried out another barbershop for Nikos - Snippety Cricket. Although they don't supply the cool cars to sit in, they do have a train table and the girl did a decent job.

After the haircut we hit up Studio Grow to have fun and burn off some energy. Here's Niko mesmerized by music time again. Why does he always ditch me to go sit somewhere else during music time? I think he realized I have no rhythm so he thought it best to distance himself. Smart kid.

He experimented with the playdoh a little bit before we left to go home for lunch. If you look closely at this shot you can see his first daycare injury - a lovely bite mark on his upper cheek. Apparently he tried to steal a playmate's toy and his friend retaliated by trying to take a chunk out of his cheek. Luckily no skin was broken during the ordeal and we are hoping Nikos learned a lesson. Hey, I'm just glad this time he wasn't the biter!

I am sympathetic to the poor kid because I was bitten as a child as well. Of course my bite occurred when I was a little older (5 or 6??) and came from a good friend. It was after lights out at Anut Sandy's and we weren't supposed to be talking anymore or we were in danger of missing out on the big amusement park trip to Knoebels the following day. Of course, I kept talking so Jess bit me on the cheek to get me to stop! Sadly, in my case, I don't think I learned my lesson. We can only hope Nikos' takes his to heart.

Happy Birthday Mason (and Sarah!!)

Sunday we celebrated Mason's 3rd Birthday with a Rock Star party. At home we applied surf wax to Niko's badly-in-need-of-a-haircut hair and Nikos decorated the wrapping for Mason's present. I was very Martha Stewart and green and used some of Nikos' artwork (from Studio Grow) for the wrapping paper. I know, I am crafty.

The little rockstar and Mel's fabulous cake.

Mason taking a swing a the pinata.

We let Nikos have a swing after it was already busted open. He was totally into it! So were all of my chins!

The cousins pose with Grammy and Pop-Pop before they leave on their Trans-Atlantic cruise.

Nikos contemplates life, or perhaps he is just pondering Taki's new hair color (see below.)

And here's where I win Mother-of-the-Year. I was pushing Nikos on this little pink big wheel when my back started to hurt. I came up with the brilliant idea to just push him forward and let go. Hmm. Perhaps I should have made sure he had a good grip first. A collective gasp went up from all the partygoers on the patio - luckily when he took his tumble he didn't land head first, just sort of on his hands and knees, fortunately there weren't even any tears. Phew! So you see, it looks like I will be up for the MotY Award - although not sure I can live up to previous winner Heidi when she locked Nolan in the car outside of Dennys.

For fun click on the photo to enlarge it to see Nikos in the act of crashing off the trike and me with a slightly terrified look on my face. Nice.

Are You There Fall? It's Me, Nikos.

Please enjoy these fall themed photos I took of Nikos this weekend. Ignore the fact that the thermometer read 80 degrees when I stuffed the poor guy into a sweater. Damn global warming!

Showing off his new guitar pocket jeans - perfect for Mason's Rock Star 3rd Birthday Party!

Next time I will get him to look at the camera. Who knows what was so interesting to the left of the shot. Maybe it was Grochol.

Hangin' with our Homies

Thursday night we decided to try out a family friendly dinner spot that Taki's coworker recommended, Kensington Circus Pub. The English Pub is totally close to our house (about two miles), which will work well when Taki does not have a permanent designated driver at his disposal (Bitter, Party of One...)

Obviously Nikos and Marco just shared a hysterical inside joke. Too bad it was communicated in gibberish.

While the adults enjoyed some beverages and waited for our fish and chips and bangers and mash, Nikos and Marco enjoyed the "Kid Corner", complete with a giant chalkboard and toys o' plenty.

Close proximity, good food, and distractions for the kids mean we'll be back again.

Friday we had a fabulous playdate with Sarah and Marco and Gail and Brayden. We walked over to Studio Grow - a great little play space only a few blocks from my house.

Nikos tries out the dinosaur rocker (??) in the indoor gym area.

Enjoying the ball pit.

Nikos and Brayden race the trucks. Does anyone else think I need this in my house??



After burning off some energy the boys enjoyed Story Time.

Practice makes perfect, Nikos works on his painting skills.

After painting we went to Music Time which Nikos loved. In fact, he was so into it he ditched the rest of us and went to go sit up front by the teacher. I guess I'll have to look into some of those Gymboree music classes.

After leaving Studio Grow we enjoyed lunch at Picante, where Gina and Jack met up with us. Yes, in case you are keeping score, the playdates I plan include participants from as far as Sacramento and Oakley...whoop whoop.

Back at Bataan we coerced the boys into posing on the couch. Here they are in age order: Nikos - 17.5 months, Jack - 16.5 months, Marco - 9 months 3 weeks, Brayden - 9 months 2 weeks. Interestingly enough, they are in reverse weight order as well: Nikos - 20lb 6oz, Jack - 20lb 12oz, Marco - 22lb 3oz, Brayden - 26lbs.

Sorry, had to include this one since Nikos is not the one in the shot throwing the fit - so rare! Of course, Niko is also busting out his inner-Greek with the completely unbuttoned shirt - I'm afraid this may be my fault. At least he isn't sporting chest hair. Yet.

Thursday Giggles

A few fun happenings this week.

Story #1: I picked Nikos up from daycare and Miss Devin (one of his teachers) said "Sometimes he really looks so much like your husband...you know, like when he has no expression on his face." HA!

Story #2: I ran into one of my male coworkers in the lunchroom and he told me "You look good this pregnancy, not as fat as before." WHAT? I think I was staring at him, dumbfounded, when he scrambled and amended it to "I mean, your face, it looks skinnier." I was going to be totally pissed and say something but then he bought me a Twix so I got over it.

Story #3: Yesterday Nikos got close enough to Puddy (our cat) to pull his tail. Pull may be too kind of a word...yank? Tug? Regardless, when Puddy turned around (and by turned around I mean glared menacingly over his shoulder) Nikos pointed at Bosco and pushed him (Bosco) a little. Ha! I wish I had this on video. Obviously whenever he blames his sister (or Bosco) for anything in the future I will have to be wary of it.

How to Stay Thin While Practicing a Second Language

Nikos fake eats some Halloween candy (obviously a skill he did not learn from me as I actually eat it) while showing off his Chinese language skills.

Week 23

Here's a little bit of chaos for our 23 week shot - technically, 23 and 3 days. It also includes a photo of our renovated kitchen (since we are slackers and never posted photos of the house improvements..) that I thought you would enjoy.

After viewing the last shot - and simultaneously gasping with horror and blaming the kitchen lighting - I made Taki take another. This one is in the hallway, with our wedding leis in the background.

Here's the comparison shot from '07 (you can compare both the belly and the kitchen!)