Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

This was our first Christmas as a family that we truly experienced a child's joy and excitement, mostly due to an almost three-year-old's complete certainty that Santa would slide down the chimney, drop off a rocketship -- no more, no less -- and depart behind his magical reindeer. Of course, Santa delivered a rocketship and more.

Here's to Christmases becoming more and more magical!

The Halls Are (Finally!) Decked!

One week until Christmas, and we finally got our act in gear and decorated the house! Joey has been begging for a Christmas tree since Thanksgiving, and we finally got one just his size.

Clara slept through the actual tree-trimming, but was excited about going out to get the tree earlier!

Here's hoping the tree withstands her curiosity for the next week!

My Apologies

I hope none of the little ones in the photo below caught the bug that's taken over our house!

On Saturday morning, we met up at St. Ignatius with other faculty kids and grandkids to see Santa Claus!

Matt and Tim with squirmy kiddos:

The whole Stecher-Cecchin clan:


Clara knows what do right off the bat with her new baby doll!

Joey took his job seriously, and even grabbed Marco's ankles when he tried to crawl away!

Finally, all the Cecchins! Thanks to Art and Meredith for organizing the (3rd?) annual event!

Quarantine

There should be some kind of sign on our front door warning people not to enter. We just endured the weekend from hell, thanks to a malicious stomach bug that claimed both Joey and Clara. Our garbage man is going to be even more disgusted than he normally is on Tuesday morning. It looks like we're running a daycare out of our home with the sheer number of diapers in our trash can.

I ran to Walgreens late Sunday night to replenish supplies after a day of changing putrid diapers every 2o minutes, running endless loads of laundry, and medicating sore bottoms. I often wonder what the drug store clerk thinks when he rings up purchases, but never more than last night! My cart included:

• two packs of diapers (in different sizes -- we're suffering a temporary potty training setback thanks to this bug)
• laundry detergent
• stain remover
• Triple Paste
• Maalox
• Aquaphor
• Three liters of Pedialyte
• and finally, two guilty-pleasure magazines for Mommy, and a box of jellybeans. I deserved them!

"Ma"

Unbelievably, just a week after Tim lost his grandmother, my last grandparent, "Ma," passed away as well. She was a voracious Scrabble player, loved tea and the ritual of sharing love and laughter around her dining room table, had a gentle, witty sense of humor, and fiercely loved her faith and her family. She will be greatly missed by her 6 children, 22 grandchildren, and a growing-by-the-minute brood of great-grandchildren (22 at press time!).

I'm thankful that she lived long enough (85 years! But shhh, don't tell her I know her age) to share her wisdom as a mother of seven. Although I'm not sure I'm brave enough to rotate a newborn from stomach to back several times throughout the night to prevent a misshapen head, I have definitely taken other advice to heart! I will never dress a baby in anything less than two layers, with a proper undershirt or onesie. And no matter how crazy her day at home was with her growing family, she always found time to straighten the house and put on lipstick before "Pa" arrived home from work. I channel her obsessive tidiness with my late-night cleaning, and love a competitive game of Scrabble. I'll also feel like a small part of her is always nearby, when I drive by the house she grew up in - just a few blocks from our house - and treasure her stories of being a young girl and a young bride in San Francisco.

Thanks to Uncle Joe, Ma's frequent Scrabble partner, for supplying the Scrabble image!

Happy Turkey Day!

Sleep Antics

Joey is never so enamored of sleep as when he's outside his crib. He's taken to toting his "binkies," blankie and pillow to random corners of the house, at all hours of the day, and pretending to be asleep, snoring and all.

Drinks With Daddy

Last week, Tim needed to blow off steam after work, and Joey, who may look like a little man, but isn't quite 21 yet, joined him in the back yard for a stiff bottled water.

Grand Goodbye

On Saturday morning, we lost a vibrant, fun-loving, positive, and wonderful light in our lives, Tim's grandmother, Eda Stimac. We'll miss her amazing attitude about life, her stories about arriving in the United States from Italy and learning a new language and adapting to a new life, her reverence and her irreverance, the fact that she enjoyed good food and wine, and loved more than anything the company of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

We're looking forward to celebrating her life on Saturday! She would have loved knowing a party was afoot!

Like Father, Like Son?

This is Tim, circa 1975, after his parents adorned his hair with pink ribbons.



Thanks for locating this gem, Barbara!

Equal Opportunity

Ok, so I may have been overly anxious to start adorning a daughter's hair, but I found some clips that will actually stay in! Here she is sporting a new 'do:

Unfortunately, Joey did not want to be left out!

These Shoes Were Made for Walking

For big milestones, Clara and Joey seem to be neck and neck, and first steps are no exception. At 13.5 months, just like Joey, Clara started taking tentative steps, and now braves 5 or 6 at a time. Here she is trying out her new pink Stride Rites at the Daly City rec center (our regular Friday morning meet-up with Shawna and the girls).

Top 10 Signs You're Potty Training

You haven't blogged in more than a week.

You're running what seems like five loads of laundry per day, mostly underwear, pants, and sheets.

You find yourself constantly repeating, "Do you need to go pee?" much to the annoyance of your husband.

Your grocery order (online, of course -- you can't go to the store) includes 2 bottles of Clorox Anywhere, 1 bottle of rug cleaner, and 1 bag of Reese's Pieces.

Clorox Anywhere is your only weapon as you run constant interference between your inquisitive crawler and your toilets.

At Babies R' Us, you actually contemplate buying a replacement carseat instead of painstakingly washing out the one your toddler just peed in.

No outing will ever be the same again, as you constantly assess the location and proximity of public restrooms.

At the dog park, out of necessity, you escort a toddler who is prancing around and clutching his crutch to the nearest tree and tell him to pee on it like the doggies.

Somehow, this happens again the next time you're at the dog park ("I pee on THAT tree, Mommy!!"), much to the amusement of young male passersby, who yell out, "Awesome!" as if your toddler needs any additional encouragement.

Inevitably, dog park practices turn into "slides and swings" park practices, and really, you don't care anymore, as long as you're not washing clothes and carseats.

Little Maverick

It's a somber night tonight in the Cecchin house, but at least I had fun voting with the kids! Joey appreciated the snacks and beverages that our neighbor polling place provided (note the orange juice on his shirt), and did his best to spread the gospel during our half-hour wait in line, by loudly asking, "You vote CAIN, Mommy??? Oh, yay!" Now that is truly a maverick move in San Francisco!

Twick or Tweet!

This Halloween, we were lucky enough to celebrate with all of the little ghosts and goblins in the family! We gathered with the Cecchins at Tom and Meredith's house, and saw Tommy the hockey player and Marco the shark, and then scooted over to Shawna and Matt's house to see the little princesses there... Megan as Snow White, and Bridget as Ariel.

Best of all, Mop flew up just in time for trick or treating.

We opted for a redneck version of a hay ride, and piled all the kids and mommies in the back of the SUV ("where the doggies go!" according to Joey), and drove an illegal few blocks to get to the most happening block in Westlake.

At the end of the night, Clara showed off some small steps. I don't think her hair has ever looked so red!

We also got her two newest teeth on film for the first time!


Finally, a big happy birthday to Tim, who is resigning himself to his birthday taking a back seat to kiddie festivities for the next 20 years!

Halloween Prequel

We're indebted to T and Carrie for the second year in a row for having the party planning foresight to have a baby with a birthday around Halloween. It's a perfect excuse to dress up the kids in their costumes the week before the main event!

Although Joey helped pick his costume out, he was less than thrilled about being wrangled into it, and wore this scowl for the first 10 minutes of the party.



He loosened up after seeing that Gitte also had wings on her strawberry costume, and they flew/ flitted around the yard together ;)

Clara channeled her mommy's Clovis roots as a cowgirl.

She even met up with another little Western lady - Natalia!

There were lots of other adorable kids and babies, but hard-core, tattooed Ty Madsen should have won a prize!

Birthday girl Grace had slipped out of her Alice in Wonderland duds by the time I snapped this photo:

The Cookie Monster pinata was a huge hit with the kids...

But at the end of the night, Todd seemed to be enjoying him most ;)

Thanks again T and Carrie, and Happy Birthday, Grace!