30 Weeks - part 3

Here are a few photos from Brooke's parents visit last weekend.

Alice Keck Park...

Buying strawberries at the farmer's market and enjoying them at Carpinteria State Beach...

30 Weeks - part 2

Van and I had a very good weekend. My parents arrived on Friday, and my wonderful friend Rupi threw me a baby shower on Saturday so my Mom was able to attend.

The shower was absolutely beautiful. It was on the patio of a restaurant in Santa Barbara called Zaytoon. It was great that the sun came out on what had been forecast to be a cold, cloudy day. Rupi is so talented at putting together parties, every detail was perfect down to the color of the bow ties on the bears on the cupcakes!

We played the poopy-diaper game (no, this did not involve real poop). If you haven't played the poopy diaper game before, the object of the game is to guess the candy bar that when melted, makes the mess below in a diaper.....

We also played the guess how big Brooke's belly is game.... I must look bigger than I am, because except for the winner who guessed pretty much right on, every person guessed at least 5 inches bigger than I am.

The wind came up at the end of the party making taking pictures difficult, but we were able to get one of all of us.... (Rupi is on the far right)

Van was off doing "man things" (drinking beer and playing darts) during most of the shower, so unfortunately he didn't take as many pictures as he normally would. He got a few shots of the place cards and flower arrangements when we got back to our apartment.....

We proceeded to take out all the gifts and play with them until my parents arrived to join us for dinner that night....

It was a great baby shower and I feel so lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends!

30 Weeks - part 1

To end any rumors that Brooke is simply hiding a pillow under her shirt.....

Bruno

This evening we helped Lu take a few photos of her new Dalmatian puppy, Bruno. Lu adopted Bruno from a dog breeder who couldn't sell him because he only has 3 legs. Bruno is so cute, we felt we had to share the photos....

29 Weeks

Nothing much has changed with the pregnancy in the last two weeks. Brooke's belly is just gradually getting bigger. The only new problems are:
1) Eating is becoming increasingly difficult. With the baby competing for space in her belly, she feels uncomfortably full after eating just small amounts of food.
2) Bending over to tie her shoes is painful. I suspect Brooke will soon give up wearing socks or any laced-shoes entirely.
3) Brooke denies it, but she now breathing like James Gandofini.


This weekend we were the support staff to the host of a baby shower for our friend A. Here's the host making cupcakes in our kitchen....

The host brought with her additional help, in the form of a sister, mother, daughter, and nephew....

The host and family did most of the decorations, but Brooke and I tried to contribute a little by hanging up the clotheslines of onesies. We did one clothesline for the boy and one for the girl (yes, she's having twins)....

I didn't attend the baby shower, but I did sneak in a few paparazzi shots...

The host brought white onesies for everyone to decorate. Here's Brooke's simply decorated onesie....

27 Weeks - part 3

Van and I were sad to leave San Francisco, it is so nice to spend time in an actual city. You get to see things you just don't see in Santa Barbara, like this pair of quirky twins....

We woke up early on Saturday morning and walked a few blocks to Starbucks to get some coffee. While I was in line, I saw a man picking up his drink at the other end of the bar in his bathrobe. I pointed him out to Van, and he was able to get a shot of him as he walked back to wherever he came from....

We headed to San Jose to visit our friends T&S and their two boys. When we got there, they suggested we go have some frozen yogurt at a new place near their house. I normally don't get too excited about frozen yogurt, but this place turned out to be very exciting. It's called Whimsical Frozen Yogurt and Gelato, and they had the best Gelato I've had since we were in Italy. I have not been able to find anyplace that serves yogurt-flavored Gelato in the states but I found it here. They call it "Whimsical Tart" but it's really just yogurt gelato. You can also build your own frozen yogurt creation with a variety of flavors and toppings you can mix in which is what everybody else did. They also have a whimsical tart flavored frozen yogurt which was really good, but I prefer the texture of gelato.

We spent Sunday morning at Santa Row shopping and honing our child portrait photography skills in preparation for our own little one...

The weekend was such a nice (and well-deserved) break that we did not want it to end.

27 Weeks - part 2

The rates for our San Fran hotel, Parc 55, seemed really good until we arrived and tried to park our car. We expected high prices for parking, maybe somewhere around $25/day, but nothing could have prepared us for the shock of the $44 price tag. With the addition of tax and a tip for the valet, Hotel Parc 55 was true to its name: Park for $55.

It was worth the little extra money to get a room with a view. We got a north-facing bay window on the 25th floor. Here are 3 photos taken from our room at different times (morning, afternoon, night)....

When we set out on our walk through San Fran, we had planned to get through Union Square, Chinatown, and then Little Italy for lunch. But when got to Little Italy and saw the signs for Coit Tower, we couldn't resist.

Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill....

I can't believe we waited so long to visit Coit Tower. The views are fantastic. You can see the entire city: the Transamerica Pyramid, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street. The tower itself is pretty cool, especially the 1930s murals covering the walls on the ground floor. Read the headline in the newspaper below...

For lunch, we ate at Cafe DeLucchi in the Little Italy neighborhood. I just had a caprese salad and Brooke got the capellini pomodoro. The food was very good, and reasonably priced....

After leaving the Timbuk2 store where we were searching for their diaper bag equivalent, we decided to go the extra 5 blocks to Alamo Square. The classic San Fran tourist photo....

For dinner, we went to Cafe Claude, a small and casual French restaurant. The food was good, but the fun atmosphere and great service make me want to go back. It's only two blocks away from the very busy Union Square, but secretly tucked away in a tiny alley. Being a Saturday night, they featured a live jazz trio. Brooke got a huge trout fillet and I had the scallop special....