Get Well Soon

We hope you have a smooth surgery Mich - you are in our thoughts and prayers. We love you.

PS - Nikos looks a little like a boxer in this photo because he got an eye infection in Aruba in his left eye. We went to see his pedi yesterday about it and she gave us some antibiotic eyedrops that we have to drop into his eye - just about the hardest thing to try to do ever. We are headed back over there this afternoon for his one year appointment and for her to check on his eye.

Happy Fathers Day!

To continue the Fathers' Day tradition started last year (when Nikos was 15 days old - see photo below) we headed over to Picante for some delicious Mexican food and a pitcher of mojitos.

Taki and I are such pro parents* this year, not only did we NOT spill margarita salt on Nikos' forehead (such a rookie parent move) we even were resourceful enough to find a toy to keep him occupied. 

He chewed contentedly on this drink straw for 15 minutes - I mean, I am totally 90%** sure that I got all the rum out of it...

Taki, thank you for being such a fabulous dad to Nikos.  I couldn't do it without you! Happy Fathers' Day also to Pop-Pop and Papouli - we love you!

* Disclaimer - and by pro parents I mean the type that take Nikos to a nice dinner out in Aruba and forget a bottle. Allegedly. I mean, it really wasn't that difficult to trap milk in a straw and drip about three drops at a time into his mouth (since he hasn't mastered cups or straws yet.) Not stressful at all. Like I said, we are pros.

**Maybe 80-85% sure - I was a little distracted trying to make sure I didn't suck up any mint in my remaining straw. 

1 Year Old and Still Fits in the Sink!

Of course, now I am just procrastinating in writing the Aruba post. It is hard to pick from 400+ pictures! Here's a cute one of him in the "bath" before we left to go to Aruba.

Uh Oh, I Guess We Need to Start Childproofing

I know, I know, I need to get the Aruba posts up. It is a lot harder to get ANYTHING done now that we have a little crawler on our hands. Nikos crawled his first few feet on May 31st (while I was at Sex and the City with the girls and Taki was watching him.) Since than he has been practicing as much as he can - here's video of him in the lobby of the timeshare in Aruba.

The Birthday Celebrations Continued

To celebrate Nikos' actual birthday we headed out to the outlets in Vacaville (I know, he demanded it) to meet up with Mel and Maile. We decided to let Nikos try out his first jelly belly - Maile picked the flavor, pineapple since he "likes the real ones." Here's an action shot of the first taste.

Not to be outdone by Brooke, Nikos requested to pose with Mr. Belly as well. You'll notice Maile is displaying her candy selection - Candy Corn.

Nikos enjoys his first restaurant mocktail at Chilis.

Mel and Maile pose with the birthday squirm monster.

On the following day, Nikos dressed up in his fanciest Hugh Hefner pjs for Jeff's birthday pizza party.

Happy Birthday Little Nicky!

Happy Birthday Nikos! On Birthday Eve Nikos models his new fun chair...good thing he doesn't mind sharing.

On the morning of Nikos' birthday we headed out to the steam trains. Luckily, Nikos lived up to his Mr. Cheerful shirt.

We got the kids (and a select few adult minders) together in front of the engine for a picture. Unfortunately you can't see the engine - ha! Isn't this the point of digital cameras? Oh well. In order from left to right - Jeff, Marco, Taki, Nikos, Maile, Mason, Kira and Melanie.

In case you are wondering what I was doing until 3 in the morning...this is it.

During the birthday song Nikos broke into spontaneous applause for himself - so cute! For a fun video of the action check out the Cecchin blog.

I cheated by not lighting the candle (who knows how flammable his hair product is!) but I did slip it in for a picture. Please enjoy the cupcake tasting. He really wasn't too into the actual tasting...more into just playing with it.

Please refrain from making any Hitler comments here. I learned my lesson when I got caught on video...
Truthfully, this is how everyone should end their birthday party - half naked, covered in chocolate cupcake and ready to take a bath in the sink. In fact, this may or may not be how Grochol ended his last birthday...don't quote me on that though.

After a quick costume change into something that wasn't covered in chocolate, we took the obligatory kid picture. Mason pulled rank and made a hasty edit but here we have Marco, Kira, Maile, Nikos and Brooke. I told Nikos he needed to stand in the middle and showboat like Brooke did at her birthday but I guess he is a little more modest. Obviously takes after his mother.

And after the guests left and Nikos enjoyed a few hours of beauty sleep Nikos opened all of his gifts - fun!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate! Here's a fun photo to end with - amazingly no one got hurt in this picture. I think Nikos was trying to keep up with Katie and is working on his yoga.

Nikos' 1st Birthday

Wow. We can't believe it has been a year already. Please enjoy this One-Year video that we created to celebrate the time.