Nikos in a Nutshell

This week Nikos went in for his 2 year check-up (at a little after 2 years...I know, I know.) Anyway, here are the stats:

Weight: 24lbs 4oz and 6th percentile
Height: 35 inches and 25th percentile

Our doctor was really happy with how he is growing and coming along and all of his verbal skills. He was a little quiet with her at first but then announced "There's water in the ocean." Ha.

And taking a page out of Sarah's book, here is what he is up to lately:
Shoe size: 4-5. His current favorites are his Mickey Mouse crocs we picked up in Disney World.
Clothes size: 6-12 month for shorts (!), 12-18 or 18-24 for pants. We found that every time we would throw him up in the air (when we were in the pool) and he was wearing a 12-18 month swimsuit, he would usually lose the suit. Whoops. Good news is we caught on quickly and traveled with the small suits. He is very opinionated about what he wants to wear and will refuse to wear some things we pick out for him. Of course, sometimes he tries to refuse clothes and diapers all together, but we battle through it.
Favorite phrases: "By self!" Meaning, I want to do it all by myself. This basically applies to anything he is doing or trying to do. Luckily, he isn't afraid to ask for help when he needs it.
Mealtime: He still likes to avoid eating as much as possible. His current favorites are mac and cheese, hot dogs, bacon and grapes and, much like his mother, he will never turn down pizza. When we try to feed him vegetables or chicken he acts like they are laced with poison.

31 Days Left of Maternity Leave - And You Can Tell I Am Getting A Lot Done...

Alright, alright, enough of my accidental nudity...I've been cleaning the house this week and here are some fun photos I've found.

1984

2009
2002 - Someone looks a little chunkaaay. It's okay, I can say this since a) I am talking about me and b) have you seen my new driver's license? Ha.
2009
Also, think I might have found the inspiration for Mel's creative cakes and cupcakes!

1984 - Garfield
1985 - Commodore 64
1988 - Horse
1989 - Most notable is actually the shirt I am wearing with a picture of myself and Johnny Depp on it. Niiiice.
Okay, now that we have all decided I have too much time on my hands...

Winner Winner Donut Dinner

So, as most of you know I have no problem laughing at myself (note previous post.) Through his comment my dad reminded me of a driver's license faux pas of his own, resulting in him being coined "The Happy Idiot". (I'll try to get a scan of his CDL to put up when they get back from their trip.) I can't decide if I should take the Happy Idiot title away from him or just be happy with "The Naked Idiot". Regardless, it obviously runs in the family. Thanks Dad.

As most of you know (if you pay attention to the left-hand side of my blog) I am also a tweeter. For those unfamiliar with twitter, this does not mean I do drugs. Anyway, I "follow" Dunkin' Donuts on twitter (I'm sure I don't have to explain why since DD has appeared multiple times on this blog since I looove them) and they were having a contest to celebrate bold moments (in honor of their new Frozen Cappuccino.) The contest started yesterday and they reward one winner a day with a $25 DD gift card.

The following was my submission:
Does unintentionally bold count? Never wear a strapless shirt 2 ur DMV photo. #FrznCapp http://yfrog.com/77tv8j

And, as I am sure all of you smarties guessed from the title of this post - I WON! Yes, saw this message on twitter this morning: 1st #FrznCapp bold moment winner is: @heatherromios. Heather, good tweet! DM us (the rest) of yr address, so we can send U $25 DD Card.

It was shortly followed by: And yes... we know, we know... @heatherromios is from California, California, California. We'll be there. We'll be there. Someday.

Needless to say, I am wildly excited and already planning trips back East to spend the card, which of course will necessitate me spending way more than the $25 I just won...Taki is thrilled.

So there you go. I am a winner, an idiot, but a winner. Thank you Dunkin' Donuts for recognizing this. Here's an ode to you...

Boston 2006
Chicago 2008


PA 2009

Flasher - Coming Soon to a DMV Near You

OMG! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I just got my new license. My hair looks great and my fat-face problem isn't as apparent as it usually is. BUT I LOOK NAKED. Yes, NEVER wear a strapless top to your driver's license picture appointment. CRAP!

Here is how the conversation went at the DMV:
Me: Can you back the camera up as far as possible, I usually get fat face in my pictures.
Dude Behind the Counter: Really? Okay.
Chic Sitting next to Dude: Oh yeah (knowing glance at me), I know, I usually have that same problem.
Me: Yeah, the guy that took it last time actually took a second one because he agreed that my face looked fat in the first one!
Dude: Okay, it looks great! (Hindsight - he was really enthusiastic here.) You should receive it in about a week.
Me: (Feeling confident chic next to guy understands my problem, does not look at picture.) Thanks!

Shall we read between the lines?
Me: Blah, blah, blah, fat face.
Dude: Your face looking fat will be the least of your problems.
Chic: No kidding, you are gonna look like an escapee from a nudist camp.
Me: Whew, glad I did my hair today!
Dude: When will these girls learn? I mean really, she got her first license in what...1991?? Can't wait until she gets pulled over with this thing.
Me: Wow, everyone at this DMV is so great.

And really, now that I think about it, this guy was lame anyway. True, he got me in and out of the DMV in under 10 minutes (I was amazed) but he made me take my sunglasses off the top of my head for the picture. Really, because that is what is going to make identification difficult? If I am out somewhere and I am carded by a bouncer/police officer/bartender are they NOT going to accept my id because in my picture I have sunglasses on the top of my head and in real life I don't? (I mean, let's be honest, in real life I usually do too.) Shouldn't they be more concerned with the fact that I listed my weight as 120? Ha. Guess I pulled one over on them.

And before I get an "I told you so" comment from Sarah, when I went to her house afterwards for happy hour the conversation did go like this.

Sarah: Your hair looks great.
Me: Thanks, I did it today since I had to get my picture retaken for my driver's license.
Sarah: Oh no, you didn't wear that did you?
Me: (Looking down at cute, green strapless shirt) Yeah, why?
Sarah: You're gonna look naked!

Of course, re-reading this post, maybe the real problem is that I do my hair so infrequently. Hee hee!

Give That Boy a Sticker!

Okay, you will either find this post a) really exciting (if you have kids) or b) kinda disturbing (if you don't have kids.) Now that you have been forewarned you can choose whether or not you want to continue.

So ever since Nikos turned two daycare has been working with him to get potty training started. I obviously wanted their efforts to be successful, so we ran out to Target and picked up a little potty similar to the one that they had, complete with a song that rings out if you...uh, complete your objective.

Apparently he has been sitting on the potty at daycare and occasionally actually using it, but when I suggest we try it at home he screams like I am attempting to cut off his foot. Seriously. Without anesthesia. Well, as I am sure you guessed from the fact that you are reading this post, last night we had a breakthrough!

Like any good mom, I made Taki take a picture of this action.

(Note my foot peeking out on the right there, I sitting on the side of the bathtub, not wanting to miss anything.)

This picture was taken prior to all of the action taking place including:

1. Both Nikos and I jumping a little bit when the potty music went off
2. Me realizing that "it" was pointing slightly up (apparently after the initial, music-inducing start), therefore shooting right over that little guardrail thing that is supposed to keep everything in the bowl.
3. Me holding "it" down so the kid didn't flood our bathroom and asking Taki (who was at the door with the camera) if this is what I am supposed to be doing. -- Any parents with boys out there? Did I not set him back far enough in the seat or something?
4. High fives all around - don't worry, I used my other hand.

After cleaning up we made a few proud calls to relatives which started with Nikos saying something like "Peepee Potty. Wuv you. Bye bye!" and ended with "Momma, pop bubbles" (since we were calling from my cell phone and he wanted to play the bubble wrap app on the phone.) Later we had a beer/beer/milk cheers at dinner and Nikos got to pick out a sticker.

Wahoo! Counting the months until I can reply back "No, actually only ONE in diapers thank you very much."

4.5 Month Check-Up

Olive had her 4 month appointment this morning and she did fabulously. She is quite the little charmer and she was smiling up a storm for everyone and put on a good show for Dr. Ray as well.

Here she plays with a toy in the waiting room. While we were there she was voted Best Looking Baby in the Kaiser Pinole Pedi Waiting Room! Okay, so there wasn't so much an official contest as me declaring her the winner, you say toMAYto I say toMAHto.

I bet you thought I was going to be late for her appointment since I stopped at the Starbucks drivethru on the way to there. Ha, I even got there 5 minutes early. Like any intelligent mother, I also left my mocha in the car so I could check the box that says I never drink hot things while I hold my child. Yup, you can tell it is my second time around.

And for the big weigh in!

Weight: 12lbs 13.5oz (we'll go with 12.14 to make it easier) and 20th percentile
Height: 23.5 inches and 12th percentile
Head Size: 16 inches and 27th percentile.

(The scale looks like it says 13.5 but that is because the glare is obscuring the pounds. I was going to take a few more but the nurse was giving off a "this is not a photo shoot" vibe, so I reined myself in.)

Nikos comparison at the same age:
Weight: 11bs 15oz and 7 1/2 percentile
Height: 24 inches and 7 1/2 percentile
Head Size: 25th percentile

What Will She Call Them? (And Nothing New Here)

Nothing new to blog lately, I am basically spending all my waking time checking Jennie's blog/FB page/my phone for Jennie texts for updates on her twins. Can't wait to find out their names!!

Here are a few fun shots from last week.

Olive was really excited about the free pastry at Starbucks.

And I couldn't stop giggling over the holidays listed on this parking meter outside Starbucks. Only in Berkeley.

West Coast Lake Jean

Last week we met up with Mel's family in Antioch and went out to Contra Loma (which for the record, is WAY cooler than when we grew up there) for some lagoon action.

At the entrance point to the lagoon (which is basically a huge pool) they have a ton of sand which is great for the kids to play in.

The little swimmer in front of the camera (underwater) is Maile.

Olive makes an appearance in the water (under cover of course)...and then observes from her stroller.

Mel and I declared this the West Coast Lake Jean. Now if only there was a close WC Knoebels!

Disney WrapUp

My parents wanted to take us out to dinner while we were in Florida (you know, as a way to thank us for hosting them in 92 degree heat and 100% humidity.) After my exhaustive Disney restaurant research I picked the Rainforest Cafe - perfect because it wasn't in one of the parks (we weren't planning on traveling to the park that day) and because it was a theme restaurant so I thought Nikos would have a ball.

Well, we ended up having a great time (despite the fact that Nikos got SERIOUSLY freaked out by the life like elephants that trumpet every 15 minutes or so.) I was actually a little worried that the elephant noises (along with the "hurricanes" every 30 minutes) were causing some sort of seizure from the bizarre, freaky reaction it created in Nikos. Luckily, after a few rounds he seemed to adjust to it a little bit. He also seemed to hold nothing against Dumbo. Phew.

Olive asleep on the way to the restaurant (not a great shot but I need to up her showings in this blog!)

We gave Nikos the (rum-soaked) oranges from our drinks to help distract him from the elephants.

Volcano dessert!

On the beginning of the trip my dad sat Nikos down in the driver's seat in the minivan and it then became Nikos' new favorite thing to do. We would set him down (or he would climb in) in front of his seat and then he would quickly wiggle forward to the front.

You will notice he is dressed appropriately for our visit to Animal Kingdom.

Nikos checks the bird chart to see what birds we should be looking out for.

Impressive gorillas.

Dinosaur version of Dumbo in AK.

Ready for her close-up.

More fun shots of Olive (getting ready for pooltime at the timeshare.)

Nikos at pooltime.



We park-hopped to Epcot to hit the Nemo ride.

Tried out our stroller with the two "toddler" seat set up for the first time.

Experienced late night at Disney which involved slightly delirious kids (and surprisingly short lines!)

And seriously amazing fireworks.

Lest we not forget, we also got the opportunity to see the shuttle take off, which was seriously goose-bumpy cool. After trying to plan our various activities around the different launch schedules, we finally caught it on their third and final attempt.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, the shuttle is the little line veering off to the left, above the middle cloud. Such a fun thing to see, and funny since most people in the park were oblivious and just watching the parade.

On the last day of vacation I relented and let Nikos get a tattoo. Okay, okay, it was a fake shark tattoo, but still very cool. He scored some street cred at daycare when he got back.

Apparently she ("tattoo" artist) usually sprays them on the arm but since Niko's arms are so teeny she just did it on his leg instead.

And this little Mickey leaves you with this advice "steal all the hotel shampoo you can get your hands on!"

What's Mine Is Yours

I know, I know, I am totally behind on blogging and have to finish my Disney blogs. In the meantime, here are a few cute videos (to be viewed in succession if desired, or just view the first.) Sorry about my sexy bronchitis voice. Meow.

Happy 4 Months Baby O!

July 11th - Yes, I did drag Opa Bear all the way to Florida for this 4 month picture.