Monday, June 22, 2009
First Date
Tim and Thomas chaperoned Joey and Gitte on their very first date -- and first movie for both -- on Father's Day. "Up" had just enough action to entrall the kids, and just enough adult-ish humor to keep the dads amused.
As you can see, they were on their very best behavior, even though the arm between the seats was up ;)
Apparently the date went so well that Gitte agreed to extend it, and go for ice cream afterward!
As you can see, they were on their very best behavior, even though the arm between the seats was up ;)
Apparently the date went so well that Gitte agreed to extend it, and go for ice cream afterward!
Trimming Down
If there's anything more appalling than discovering that your Lab weighs 113 pounds -- thanks to his thrice-daily habit of parking himself below the highchair -- it's realizing that you have been eating too many table scraps, also.
After meeting with a nutritionist over the weekend, we're on day 3 of a customized diet plan, and I can't believe how many times I've had to check myself from eating leftovers from the kids' plates. Whether it's half a waffle from breakfast, a couple of chicken nuggets from lunch, or a few graham crackers or goldfish crackers at snack time, it's all off limits to me now, and now I know exactly why I need to lose weight!
Wish us luck as we embark on a summer of limited treats, carbs, and dinners out!
After meeting with a nutritionist over the weekend, we're on day 3 of a customized diet plan, and I can't believe how many times I've had to check myself from eating leftovers from the kids' plates. Whether it's half a waffle from breakfast, a couple of chicken nuggets from lunch, or a few graham crackers or goldfish crackers at snack time, it's all off limits to me now, and now I know exactly why I need to lose weight!
Wish us luck as we embark on a summer of limited treats, carbs, and dinners out!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ballerina or Bruiser?
It's hard to say what Clara will be best suited for... ballet (like cousin Tommy) or football. She loves the bling, the tiara, and the skirt...
...but obviously, she's being raised in the school of hard knocks here.
Thanks to Grandma Cecchin for capturing this darling video while we were in New Orleans!
...but obviously, she's being raised in the school of hard knocks here.
Thanks to Grandma Cecchin for capturing this darling video while we were in New Orleans!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
One more reason...
I fell even more in love with my Kindle today, thanks to the amazing customer service at Amazon. Mine was developing cracks along the left-hand side -- mostly from the hinge on the cover, but being carried in a diaper bag can't be good for any electronic device! -- and Amazon is overnighting a brand-new Kindle today!
Now, I'm off to search for a better, more protective cover! The marketplace for Kindle accessories has exploded!
Now, I'm off to search for a better, more protective cover! The marketplace for Kindle accessories has exploded!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Big Easy
Lest you think our lives revolve strictly around the daily drudgery of changing diapers, serving meals, laundering clothes, and disciplining small, thankless children (who most recently locked their own mother out of the house and forced her to enter through the dog door), I'm happy to report that we escaped to New Orleans for a weekend of child-free debauchery.
We met up with our friends Tom and Susie and stayed in the French Quarter with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. We couldn't get enough of the people-watching, the live jazz, the beignets, the Hurricanes and Hand Grenades, and the ability to sleep in well past noon for two days in a row!
At first, I was embarrassed about the amount of alcohol pictured in the below photos, but then I remembered the part about crawling through the dog door.
Inidentally, the five-hour flights to and from this fabulous city provided us with an absolutely decadent amount of time to read, watch movies, listen to music, and sleep. You never properly appreciate an airplane ride until you do it without babies after becoming a parent. Still, proving that we can't entirely escape our children, we both read Home Game, by Michael Lewis, a hilarious must-read for any dads you still need to shop for this Fathers' Day! This passage, about the lessons that can be learned at Mardi Gras, was especially appropriate!
Beads, in the brief moment they fly through the air, become so valuable that grown men will trample one another to get them, and young women will disrobe. Three hours later they're worthless again, but that's not the point. The point is how to get as many of them as possible.
Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Cecchin for allowing this weekend to happen and watching Joey and Clara!
We met up with our friends Tom and Susie and stayed in the French Quarter with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. We couldn't get enough of the people-watching, the live jazz, the beignets, the Hurricanes and Hand Grenades, and the ability to sleep in well past noon for two days in a row!
At first, I was embarrassed about the amount of alcohol pictured in the below photos, but then I remembered the part about crawling through the dog door.
Inidentally, the five-hour flights to and from this fabulous city provided us with an absolutely decadent amount of time to read, watch movies, listen to music, and sleep. You never properly appreciate an airplane ride until you do it without babies after becoming a parent. Still, proving that we can't entirely escape our children, we both read Home Game, by Michael Lewis, a hilarious must-read for any dads you still need to shop for this Fathers' Day! This passage, about the lessons that can be learned at Mardi Gras, was especially appropriate!
Beads, in the brief moment they fly through the air, become so valuable that grown men will trample one another to get them, and young women will disrobe. Three hours later they're worthless again, but that's not the point. The point is how to get as many of them as possible.
Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Cecchin for allowing this weekend to happen and watching Joey and Clara!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Like Mother, Like Daughter
I may have overshot my mark here. Next to me, Clara now looks blonde! But it is what it is, at least for the next 8 weeks!
Disregard the fact that Clara looks like a sullen teenager in these photos... just be impressed that Joey took them!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Sleeping Beauties
Today I accomplished what should be impossible.
I took two sleeping children into a spa, and they snoozed through not only an eyebrow wax, but also a pedicure!!!
I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible... namely, the staff at West Portal Spa, who didn't flinch when they saw my double stroller, and the crew of children who tuckered mine out at the playground this morning (darling, hard-playing offspring of Shawna, Sabrina and Melissa)!
I took two sleeping children into a spa, and they snoozed through not only an eyebrow wax, but also a pedicure!!!
I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible... namely, the staff at West Portal Spa, who didn't flinch when they saw my double stroller, and the crew of children who tuckered mine out at the playground this morning (darling, hard-playing offspring of Shawna, Sabrina and Melissa)!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Denial
There comes a moment in every mother's life when she must finally submit to a tidal wave of three year-old resistance and accept a new and terrible reality: no naps.
Today, I walked into Joey's room during naptime and found a scene of complete destruction. Blinds were askew, the cushion was off the glider, a towering pile of toys formed a "castle" in the corner (so I'm told), wipes carpeted the floor, a dresser drawer had been emptied in his search for his "Hero" shirt," and his tool bench had been completely dismantled. This last was the proverbial nail in the coffin for naptime, I think. It took me 15 minutes to assemble the tool bench!!! It defies belief that it was flattened in the time it took me to microwave a Weight Watchers meal.
In fact, I almost couldn't believe he'd done it all himself. And yes, it turns out there was an accomplice.
I knew super powers were at work!
Today, I walked into Joey's room during naptime and found a scene of complete destruction. Blinds were askew, the cushion was off the glider, a towering pile of toys formed a "castle" in the corner (so I'm told), wipes carpeted the floor, a dresser drawer had been emptied in his search for his "Hero" shirt," and his tool bench had been completely dismantled. This last was the proverbial nail in the coffin for naptime, I think. It took me 15 minutes to assemble the tool bench!!! It defies belief that it was flattened in the time it took me to microwave a Weight Watchers meal.
In fact, I almost couldn't believe he'd done it all himself. And yes, it turns out there was an accomplice.
I knew super powers were at work!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Matchy-Matchy Anonymous
Is there a support group out there for mothers who feel compelled to dress their children in coordinating outfits? It's a sickness, but I can't stop.
The "Bozzo Bash" provided all sorts of entertainment for little ones, including bocce ball and ping pong.
We had a lot of kissing cousins, but when we tried to corral the four Cecchin cousins (Tommy, Marco, Clara and Joey) for a group shot, we got a lot of fidgeting, blank stares, and zero cooperation (too many boys in the lineup!).
We headed out to Gilroy on Saturday to celebrate Tim's feisty great-aunt Marietta's 97th birthday!
The "Bozzo Bash" provided all sorts of entertainment for little ones, including bocce ball and ping pong.
We had a lot of kissing cousins, but when we tried to corral the four Cecchin cousins (Tommy, Marco, Clara and Joey) for a group shot, we got a lot of fidgeting, blank stares, and zero cooperation (too many boys in the lineup!).
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A Case of (Slightly) Mistaken Identity
They do say love is blind. Or, absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or, what's the saying for completely forgetting what your father looks like when he's been gone for three days?
Yesterday morning at the breakfast table, while I was flipping through The Chronicle, Clara pointed to a huge picture on the front page of our own Governor-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger, started squealing, and shouted, "Daddy! Daddy!!"
Joey got down out of chair, walked around the table to get a better look, and calmly said, "No, Clara, that's not Daddy. He just looks like him."
Yesterday morning at the breakfast table, while I was flipping through The Chronicle, Clara pointed to a huge picture on the front page of our own Governor-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger, started squealing, and shouted, "Daddy! Daddy!!"
Joey got down out of chair, walked around the table to get a better look, and calmly said, "No, Clara, that's not Daddy. He just looks like him."
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
'I Can Bounce High, High, High on My Big Boy Bed'
Until two days ago, I think we may have had the largest and oldest child ever confined to a crib.
At long last, Joey now has a full-size bed, after a back-breaking morning that involved me disassembling two cribs, re-assembling Joey's old crib in Clara's room, and attaching the headboard and footboard from Clara's crib to a full-size frame in Joey's room.
Joey lended a hand at some critical points, kept up a running commentary that mostly included the word "why???", policed the area and kept it free of baby girls, and puttered around with his tool set acting important. Who says you need husbands? ;)
At long last, Joey now has a full-size bed, after a back-breaking morning that involved me disassembling two cribs, re-assembling Joey's old crib in Clara's room, and attaching the headboard and footboard from Clara's crib to a full-size frame in Joey's room.
Joey lended a hand at some critical points, kept up a running commentary that mostly included the word "why???", policed the area and kept it free of baby girls, and puttered around with his tool set acting important. Who says you need husbands? ;)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Three glasses of wine...
and two days into Tim's work trip to Washington DC... only one to go!!! Do single parents have a national holiday dedicated to them? They absolutely deserve one!
Today Joey:
-- emptied the contents of an entire salt shaker on his bedroom carpet
-- peed on the leg of Tim's nightstand
-- ate dog food
-- spewed milk all over the kitchen while "entertaining" Clara at dinner
-- at a running speed of about 60 MPH, body-slammed Clara into the ground, and shouted over her tears, "She liked it!"
-- apologized profusely and elaborately, and like a contrite husband, knew exactly how to win his way back into my good graces: offering to help organize the outgrown clothes I was sorting from Clara's closet.
Today Joey:
-- emptied the contents of an entire salt shaker on his bedroom carpet
-- peed on the leg of Tim's nightstand
-- ate dog food
-- spewed milk all over the kitchen while "entertaining" Clara at dinner
-- at a running speed of about 60 MPH, body-slammed Clara into the ground, and shouted over her tears, "She liked it!"
-- apologized profusely and elaborately, and like a contrite husband, knew exactly how to win his way back into my good graces: offering to help organize the outgrown clothes I was sorting from Clara's closet.
Baby Eloise
We were thrilled to meet baby Eloise Jane Gafni last week! She and Clara aren't old enough to commiserate just yet, but I'm sure they'll be moaning in years to come about their parents' obsession with Jane Austen. Or maybe we'll have two little bookworms on our hands!
Joey inspected Eloise from head to toe... he knows about all there is to know about baby girls by now! She passed!
The big kids spent the evening giving Grace's Radio Flyer wagon a workout. Moles or no moles (T's waging an all-consuming suburban battle in their backyard), our kids always enjoy warm summer evenings!
Congrats again, T and Carrie!
Joey inspected Eloise from head to toe... he knows about all there is to know about baby girls by now! She passed!
The big kids spent the evening giving Grace's Radio Flyer wagon a workout. Moles or no moles (T's waging an all-consuming suburban battle in their backyard), our kids always enjoy warm summer evenings!
Congrats again, T and Carrie!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Mangia, Mangia!
Joey is starting to feel more and more like a load of bricks. I made him step on the scale this morning to make sure I wasn't imagining things, or suddenly becoming a weakling.
He's 44 pounds.
Which is 4 pounds more than he weighed last week.
But really, is it any wonder, based on what he ate yesterday?
For breakfast, he gobbled up a cereal bar, then three waffles, a bowl of Cheerios, and a handful of strawberries. A couple of short hours later, he wolfed down two slices of pepperoni pizza, two fat slices of watermelon, some olives, a juicebox, 4 pigs-in-blankets, cake, and an ice cream cone (can you tell we were at a birthday party?). For dinner, while driving home from the party, he devoured french fries and chicken fingers, and for the rest of the trip home, was obsessively on the lookout for another "french fry store."
I think it's fair to say that he's in the middle of a growth spurt!
He's 44 pounds.
Which is 4 pounds more than he weighed last week.
But really, is it any wonder, based on what he ate yesterday?
For breakfast, he gobbled up a cereal bar, then three waffles, a bowl of Cheerios, and a handful of strawberries. A couple of short hours later, he wolfed down two slices of pepperoni pizza, two fat slices of watermelon, some olives, a juicebox, 4 pigs-in-blankets, cake, and an ice cream cone (can you tell we were at a birthday party?). For dinner, while driving home from the party, he devoured french fries and chicken fingers, and for the rest of the trip home, was obsessively on the lookout for another "french fry store."
I think it's fair to say that he's in the middle of a growth spurt!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)