10 Little Indians

Mom's Day Out!
Who are these babies? Riley Barulich, Bella Pignati, Willa Braden, Matteo Pignati, Marco, Madison and Jack Farrell, & Makenzie and Sadie Eggert. Luke Barulich big leagued the whole picture saying he didn't want to take a picture and that he'd rather play baseball outside. HA! A man who'd rather be at Dad's Day Out obviously.

For me, "Mom's Day Out" means we leave all these babies at home and go shopping and to a wine bar, but alas, Mom's Day Out was basically a play date. Liz made a fabulous lunch and us stay-at-home Moms (play along Sarah) came with baby in tow!

Thanks for all your hard work Liz!

A very Dr. Seuss evening.

Yesterday, Jeff asked me on a date!

After Marco was born, Jeff took me to design a necklace with my engagement diamond and Marco's birthstone. It was custom made and he gave it to me last night. It's gorgeous! Marco and Jeff have great taste. Alright, me too. ;)

We dropped Marco with Hop and Mop in Pacifica (Joey's names for Grandma and Grandpa Cecchin - ha!) and went to Ristorante Portofino on the water in Pacifica. Here's us driving away - woohoo!! Freedom! Also note the new paint job on the house, very nice.

It was a beautiful night in Pacifica (I know!) and here's the view from our table. We started with a cocktail (so grown up!), the cozze and vongole (mussels and clams) appetizer, then Jeff had the veal saltimbocca and I had the penne arrabbiata. It was really good.

Then like tourist dorks, we asked them to take our picture. The restaurant was "rope themed" as Jeff called it. Or, "nautical" for the rest of us. Look closely to see my gorgeous new neck bling.

At first I wasn't nervous at all to leave Marco, but then, I started to panic thinking that Marco was probably screaming and Mop and Hop were probably wanting to STOP. Babysitting, that is. So, Jeff called and Hop said, "He's cooing and smiling and being so cute that Mop took him next door to see Margaret." Phewf!!

With that knowledge... we ordered dessert! A limoncello sorbet!
And here he was when we picked him up! Notice here that Mop tried to part his hair in the middle but it didn't take. He's too punk to take a part. He was up the whole evening, so he slept like a, wait for it... baby, all the way home. And then through the night!
Thanks Mop and Hop!! Love you!

Oh and in regard to the last post... April Fools!

Oops I did it again.

Well, it's not exactly the way we planned it, but we're excited to announce that we're having a baby! Yes, another.

We could have never believed how much we love our little boy, so albeit shocked, we're very much looking forward to a baby brother or sister for Marco. Thankfully we have been blessed with great friends and family to support us!

All our love, xo - J&S

Have bassinet, will travel.

Roooooooooad triiiiiip......

(Yes, that's duct tape in the picture. Don't judge.)

There were lots of things going on in Ventura... my Grandma moved to a new place, my Aunt Lia is here from Rome, my Uncle Pete was coming to town and Marco had never seen the Poseidon. You know how Marco hates to miss a good party, so we packed up the Jeep and hit the 101 for a weekend adventure!

We were very nervous about being in the car for five and a half hours, so we figured we'd leave around his bedtime. We left at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, stopped once to feed him at 9:30 and arrived at 1a.m. He didn't even wake up when we got to the boat and continued to sleep until 7:30 a.m! What a champ!

He was on his best behavior for the whole weekend trying desperately to impress the family. Aunt Lia is the mother of Marco the elder, so we wanted to be sure she went home with a good impression. He slept through all three nights in his bassinet (thanks Jack!) and was smiley and flirty most of the weekend.

We couldn't be more proud.

Here are more pics...

Little Marco approaches the giant Poseidon.
Marco on the bow of the Poseidon.

Marco was so charming that Papa John didn't even mind letting him sit in his purple chair.Aunt Lia spoke in Italian to Marco. He thought it was HYSTERICAL. Napping.Do you see the resemblance? I actually think he's shaping up to look like me. Lucky kid. The vote is still out on who's the bigger ham. Marco or Papa?Here is the whole group for dinner. Linda once again made a weekend full of impressive food. I'll spare you the pics. Alright, most of the pics. Here's her rustic bread, served with the salmon (caught by Dad in Alaska!) chowder. Yum!

You know when you do something weird and you think 'why did I do that?' This is why. These are my relatives. My blood relatives being their normal selves being captured on film making frightening faces. HA ! So there you go. Love them.Coach and Jayme Beck brought Marco a selection of LMU gear. We hope he can get in. And that we win the lottery to afford it.My Uncle Pete's dog Killer refused to let anyone near the baby. When the baby cried, he was VERY concerned. He was like Marco's tiny bodyguard. I mean, if bodyguards were three pound chihuahuas who dress like Tiger Woods. I should've warned you. Marco was so happy to meet his bisnonna. Jeff laughs because the first thing everyone in my family says is "Does he have light eyes?" or "He has blue eyes!" In my family, it's a big deal to look like "one of us." Grandma was very happy to see Marco's blue eyes and hopes that means he'll be "della raza." If they change to brown, he may not inherit her meat sauce recipe. Tough group.

Don't be scared folks. It's not Tatiana. This is my Grandma's cat SeeSee. A CAT. Jeff added his size 12 foot for perspective on the cat's giant size. Meow.

We had a great trip and even earned an invitation to come back! My Dad was so generous that he even offered to babysit sometime. It went something like this, "We'll watch him! I mean, I'm pretty sure Linda would know what to do?"

Downward Puppy

Today, we checked out the postnatal mommy and baby yoga scene in Berkeley. I would say it was okay. The class was an hour and a half, about 20 minutes of which we spent talking and 20 minutes feeding and at least 10 minutes of Marco demanding to be taken home. I think we should be jumping right into it, but whatever.

Oh and the teacher kept calling Marco "Jack." But in the spirit of a nicer world, neither he or I didn't say anything.

I may try it one more time to decide if I like it. The price for the class is a "range" (to read: "Tip the teacher.") Tacky I thought!

Here's Marco's first stretching, balancing and core strengthening...

While I Warrior I, he does a back posture.

While I work abs, he checks out the other babies.

While I work on my obliques, he flies like an airplane!
Go Baby Yogi! The class is Wednesdays at 11:15 if any of you other mommies want to check it out.