Ol' Shark Bait Cecchin.

It's that time of year again! We packed up our monogrammed boat bags (you're hearin' it) and hit the road to Ventura for a week out on the boat with Papa John and Grandma Linda. Marco's was a week full of firsts.

First trip out to the Islands... first dinghy ride... first swim in the ocean... first times getting himself into a sitting position... first poking out tooth... first crawling - a big week. As we were packing, he got up on his hands and knees and went for it. That's right, just before going on a week long trip on a boat, he started legitimately crawling. I mean, he couldn't wait a week?

The trip was fab as usual, filled with relaxing, eating, drinking, kayaking and swimming. The food alone should have it's own post, but I guess I'll leave that to Linda's blog. Stay tuned for that.

Early Saturday morning we headed out to Santa Cruz Island aboard Poseidon.

It took Marco awhile to find his sea knees with the rocking and rolling. But he loved the rocking during naptime! After we got back to the dock and the rocking stopped, he shot off like a bullet! I'm panicked about baby proofing right away.

Since the pak n' play is not conducive to boat travel, we were at a loss for where Marco would sleep. We were about to settle for the floor, when Dad had another thought. He built this little guard for the bunk beds in the duck room and poof! Insta-crib. Isn't it fab?

Here he is sunning his bod in his signature pose.

After Jeff caught several sharks fishing, he insisted that he and Marco would not be swimming. Of course, Marco being a rebel, he donned his lifevest for a swim and a dinghy ride anyway.

Marco bellied up.

Linda gave us a cooking lesson. We passed!

Marco LOVED his aquarium! Alright, alright, it's a bait tank. But he loved it anyway.
Da dum. Da dum. Be afraid.

Marco napping on Papa.

Jeff and Linda got waaaay dorky baking.

We saw dolphins on the way out and this baby sea lion visited us one morning. Marco could've cared less.

While we were underway, we strapped in that baby. I mean, it's prudent to keep your hands free for grabbing rails. Underway and headed home...

Why be like Mike?

...when you can be like Brooke? When the D'Angelos say "jump," we say, "How high?"

The D'Angelos buy a house in Oakland... we ditch Berkeley for greener, hillier pastures.

D'Angelos have blue-eyed baby... check.

We need a pediatrician. We go to the D'Angelo's doc.

D'Angelo's daycare has an opening? We snatch it up!

That's right, Marco is changing daycares. We're a little sad to take him from where he is since they've been really great, but the new place is a whole lot cheaper, Brooke loves it and it's not in the mountains of Oakland. I mean, seriously, driving there daily is really taking our lives in our hands.

We will put Brooke's genius to the test. Is Brooke simply smart and fabulous? Or is it her daycare teacher, the smart and fabulous Alba? We can't wait to find out. Here are some shots of Marco and Brooke through the years... err, year... err, last seven months.

Next... how will I look as a blond?

Helllooooooo lady.

Anniversary to me... anniversary to me.

Since Marco chilled with the D'Angelos for the evening (let's call it what it is, a trial run for two kids), we hit Garibaldi's and Vine wine bar. Fab!

This next part is probably only interesting to my parents, but here goes... We started with prosecco, a fritto misto (including lemon slices, must do) and a calabrese green bean appetizer (spicy!) Jeff had the lamb and I had the thumper pasta which both paired fabulously with our ZD Chardonnay.

A great time - cheers to Jack, Katie and Brooke (the responsible one). Here's their evening.

Seven on the come out.

This baby is seven months old! Marco In Review:The boy is a machine... an eating machine. He's dense, and I mean that in the thickness/weight way. He feels like a bowling ball.

He usually takes about four 8-ounce bottles a day, plus two meals. At lunch and dinner times, he devours two number two food containers, plus rice cereal. He's had just about every mushy blend I can get my hands on (no teeth yet)... bananas, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, blueberries, oatmeal, peas, greenie beanies, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, mixed veggies and garden veggies.If he likes what you're serving, he rhythmically bangs on the tray demanding more, more, more, more. If he doesn't like what you're serving, he still eats it, minus the banging. A good glec to be sure.

A few of his favorite things are that freaky crib gloworm thing, being startled and then laughing, the jumperoo, being tickled, banging cooking utensils while we cook (no knives yet) and a song about a shark attack. He has a really sick sense of humor.Although Marco has slept through the night very inconsistently starting at a month, over the past few weeks, he's really fallen into a sleep-through predictable rhythm. And it's great!

He's "creeping." That's the book's classification for the movement that's not yet "crawling." And in other giant gut accomplishments, he can sit for short periods and almost get himself into a sit. Not shown here. :)Jeff swears he says "ball" when he gives him a baseball and the other morning when he woke up, he called out "MA-MA!" These are, of course, symptoms of our overactive imaginations, but it's fun to hear him making noises and trying his best to communicate. Daycare says he's always talking and listening, and if he's cranky, they just have to talk to him. I was the bigger person and let that "you and your husband talk a lot" insult slide right off my back.

We have been blessed with a happy, charming baby who amazes us everyday. He loves to laugh and play, boasts an incredibly social personality and just fits into our lives perfectly. We feel so lucky!

Baby, it's warm outside.

This weekend after EBHH we headed to Sacramento for a practice swim and visit with the godcousins. Can we call them that?

Grammy hosted us for the day and Marco did a lot of swimming. He's on a strict high-calorie regimen in training for his open water swim at the Islands in a couple weeks. Check out the pecs. Seriously, folks, I mean, he wore himself out. I hate to admit that Marco's not a spitting image of me, but does anyone else see the cousin Joey resemblance below? It's not my standard M.O. to post photos of myself in a bathing suit, but if you know my mother, you have to appreciate that she served me a beer in the pool in a crystal glass. I mean, really. It's like the Ritz Carlton West Sacramento. And who knows, West Sac (whoop whoop) might just get a RC. I mean, they already have a Lowe's and a Target. It's not exactly the cow town I grew up in. And speaking of cow town... we headed out to Dina and Darrin's... Here's us with the babies... Lia wanted to hold the "baby." I think she was a little disappointed that he was so big and didn't fit into her dolly stroller. Is anyone wondering why Lia is so tall and blond? If not, then me neither.
And Ben Lee (part 2) was learning to skate... on the carpet... in this halfshirt.