Add Another Marker to the Map - Nikos Visits State #2!

This past weekend we flew up to the Seattle area to attend Taki's brothers wedding. Mike and Christina got married in a beautiful ceremony in Christina's mom's house, complete with wonderful food and fantastic views of the mountains. We had a great time and have been really fortunate this year to travel to two great places (Snohomish, WA and San Diego, CA) for Taki's siblings weddings. What a big year for the Romios family!

Here's Nikos on his second plane ride - passed out. Unlike last time, he didn't sleep the entire flight but he also didn't cry at all which was a big relief for Taki and I (and our fellow passengers).

Before the wedding we went for a walk to Starbucks with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Annette. Nikos modeled the latest in baby snow gear (which makes him look giant!) and debuted his fun snow hat.

When we arrived at the wedding we were commenting on the fantastic view from Christina's house - beautiful mountains! Of course, by the time we got our act together to go outside and take a family picture they were hidden by the fog. Oh well - still beautiful anyway!

The new couple with Nikos.

So we've decided that Niko looks like my dad and Uncle Mike. Check out the photo below and see what you think (you'll have to look at the my dad-evidence in the Christmas post).

Nikos tried some new fruit at brunch - grapes and cantaloupe. When we got home I checked the book and discovered these ARE allowed after 6 months. Phew!

I had to put this one in there for Aunt Annette - I think it may rival the look he gave in the bathtub picture. (see October 31st post). I think he is pissed because I am telling the table how I carved a pumpkin and stuck him in it on Halloween.

Now he put on his angelic face.

After brunch we visited the 1st Starbucks ever, the Pike Place Farmers Market and the Space Needle. It was a fabulous weekend!

Yes We Have Pets or Aren't You Glad We Didn't Name Our Kid Kosmo?

In looking at the blog, it seems we are a bit neglectful of updates on the pets. Here are a few cute pictures of them.

Bosco enjoying tummy time on Niko's new toy mat. Nice of him to share it with Dinosaur, Snorkel Turtle, Monkey and Giraffe.

Bosco and Puddy take a nap on Bosco's bed.

Merry Christmas!

Jeff made this AWESOME video for us. Check it out!

Christmas - Grammy's Pictures

Here are my mom's pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas - enjoy!

Christmas Eve
Taki, Heather, Sarah and Jeff in front of Sarah and Jeff's Christmas Tree.

Close-up of the G'man before he fell asleep (and before we took off his hat).

Christmas Morning at the Kienzle's.

Pop-Pop and Nikos.

People ask where Niko gets his hair color from...check out the color and the hairline!

Annual posing in front of the tree picture. Doesn't Kira look like our baby with that dark hair!

Take 2 with Grammy - we really need to get a tri-pod.

Nikos gets some help opening his interactive piggy bank from Maile, Mason and Kira.

It's always important to be comfortable when you are eating...

Gingerbread Men, Santas and Pandas...Oh My!

I love the holidays! I would say it gives me an excuse to dress my child in ridiculous outfits...but as all my regular blog readers know, sadly, I don't feel I need the excuse. Ha!

Christmas Eve we headed over to Jeff and Sarah's house to enjoy a crab feed with Sarah's mom, Sarah's grandma and my parents. Niko was feeling festive so he dressed like a gingerbread man. (I know...he is going to be mortified when he grows up.) Here is a cute shot of him, passed out from all of the excitement. You can also take the time to look at our noses...the ONE physical trait I think he gets from me.

Christmas morning we headed out to my parents house to enjoy breakfast and present-opening with Niko's cousins. Mason and Maile were excited to see "Little Santa" when we got him out of his car seat. Kira seemed pretty indifferent about it.

Here is another one of our attempts to get a picture of all of them. Maile is looking none-to-thrilled, poor baby Kira is a bit hidden, Nikos is looking the wrong way...thank goodness for the publicity-loving Mason!


Yes, I know, I am expecting b*tchy comments from some of you about how I wore the same sweater two days in a row - at least Nikos had a new outfit on!

Little Santa, flirting with the camera.

I took the day off today since Niko's daycare is closed all week. Niko dressed up in one of his new Christmas outfits and we headed down to 4th Street for some post-Christmas bargains. God knows, if there is a sale on Holiday paraphernalia anywhere, I need to be in on it. We are now the proud owners of 8 pumpkin appetizer plates from Crate and Barrel and a set of 4 International Santa appetizer plates. Fun!

PS - Love the drool around the collar.

Nikos and Santa

1st Annual East Bay BNT (Bridge Not Tunnel) Xmas

Tonight Katie, Jack and Brooke hosted a fabulous cocktails and apps Xmas party for the EBers. We had a great time hanging out and caught some cute pictures of Niko and Brooke hanging out. They had a great time together and are anxious for their friend Marco to join them early next year.

A train set...the new Baby Crack (see first post ever).


It starts out all innocent.

Nikos pulls the "I don't sit up all that well yet" move while Brooke channels surfs for Frosty the Snowman.


Again with the "My balance isn't that great" move?

I guess if something works, you stick to it.

The Reindeer Incident

So, being the over-the-top holiday decorating dork that I am, I have fun little Disney antenna balls for all of the holidays (thanks Mom and Dad!) The Christmas ball is a black Mickey Mouse ball with antlers and a red nose. Very cute. At least, he was very cute (and in one piece) before Niko got to him.

Note cute red nose in bottom right corner.


You can actually see the wheels turning in his little mind. Clearly, he is reliving the trauma of having to scale the side of the Saturn to tie up the tree (see previous post).

Can someone so cute still be so devious? Apparently so.

All I Want for Christmas is...a Bedroom Door

Today we took Nikos to see Santa for the first time. As you can guess, he was wildly excited about meeting "the Big Guy" (note to Catherine - not to be confused with Charlie Jacklin...apparently Santa was too busy to attend my baby shower.) Here we are in line, giving Niko advice on what he should ask for from Santa...

"Ask Santa for the Volvo SUV - the one with navigation and the dvd player."


"See if you can get a gift certificate to Home Depot or Lowes..."


After we finished meeting Santa (picture to be posted tomorrow after I scan it at work - apparently you can not take Santa pictures with your own camera at the Walnut Creek Santa House.) we went shopping for our Christmas tree. YES, we still have not set up our tree yet. As most of you know me, this goes against every fiber of my being. I mean, I own TWO fifty gallon storage bins filled with Christmas supplies. However, with our house in a state of chaos, we (read: Taki) thought it would be more important to paint the walls before we got the tree. Details, details. So, now that we are all (mostly) painted, we headed down to our trusty Home Depot lot to purchase our tree. AND THE LOT WAS CLOSED. ALREADY SHUT DOWN. DONE WITH TREES. So sad. So we headed over to OSH (luckily Taki is intimately familair with all of the hardware stores in a 15 mile radius) and picked up our tree. Usually the decision -making process takes about an hour, with me walking around, making Taki untie a bunch of the trees to try and find the best one, without any holes, crooked parts or dead spots. This time it took us all of three minutes to pick one tree from the group of five, sad, Charlie Brown-looking trees in the front of the store. While Taki was paying for our tree I promised Niko that we would have a better tree next year, one that we would actually buy and put up before the Ten-Lords-of-Leaping day of Christmas. Please enjoy some photos of our tree "hunting".

This one comes from the Cindy Kienzle School of Picture Taking.

Nikos was totally enamored with the tree!


Taki then made some snide comment about how Nikos was dressed like a rare English book dealer and that he needed to be more manly and get his hands dirty. So we made him tie the tree to the car.


And this one makes me want to pee my pants. Maybe because I have been drinking...

I mean, look at the look on his face? So nonchalant. So Taki. Is this my child??

It's a Jungle Out There...

Our Little Squeaker

Taki took Nikos to his six month appointment this morning. Here are the stats:
Weight: 13lbs, 12oz, 5th percentile
Length: 25 1/4 inches, 20th percentile
Head Size: In the 25-50th percentile

She said that we shouldn't be worried about his stats and that as a preemie he is progressing nicely. More details may be added later by Taki since he was the good parent that took him! :)

Nikos Works On Shrill Screams with his Acting Coach, Bosco

I'm a Big Kid Now!

On a recent trip to IKEA I decided to splurge on the $19.99 high chair. Niko tested it out and approved!


Unbeknownst to Bosco, Niko has not actually been eating any food in his high chair. He was in it solely for modeling purposes.

Highchair After Dark

Pictures of the House Progress

Master Bedroom

Nikos' Room

Taki - glad to unpack the glider...

Kitchen