Birthday Girl + Cake

I have finally uploaded some birthday photos...more to come via email later!
Sylvia also had her first bday doc appt this past week...she did great!
She's a petite chick in terms of height, which is no suprise considering how TALL Joe and I are! She weighs 24 pounds, 9 ounces.

She now HAS to eat food herself at the beginning of every meal. So I chop up bananas, cooked broccoli, cheese, O's etc. and give her those first and then she'll have some pureed food...She's also transitioning from formula to whole milk.
We're introducing new foods every three days. So this week will be tomatoes, wheat,garlic, olive oil...Hoping she can have some pasta with us soon.

We think she's on the verge of walking as she loves to stand and let go and she's able to go between Joe and I, taking a mini-step or too. Mostly though she loves to stand at the toy bin (aka a Sterilite plastic box) and yank and throw all the toys out of it, then crawl at a rapid pace around the room then chuck the soccer ball at Joe, then bang on the gate, then stand and bang on the door and then try to climb on the couch and get the remote and then try to pull all the kleenex out of the box, then try to bang the TV, then try to drop her mini piano on her own toes, then "read"
and then play with her mega legos, then dance when jazz music comes on...and point at her belly button whenever you start a sentence with "where is your..." - everything is the belly button and then do down dog and laugh, then grab mamas face and then bite mama's nose, zerbert mamas shoulder, hug and kiss dadas fuzzy head....
PHEW. This is all in 15 min. HAHA!
Can I go to bed now?

More birthday stuff

I had grand visions of the birthday cake that I was going to bake and decorate for Sylvia. Well, the planning ideas vs. the reality of the party were very different.
So, my mom (who had flown in from California w. my dad), baked the cake, made the frosting and helped me decorate it.

I now understand the power of delegation!

Here's a photo of the cake and my attempt of a volcano:

Sylvie's birthday/4th of July recap

Well, we had a fantastic party for Sylvie's 1st birthday on Saturday. Both sets of grandparents came in, and we had about 25 guests to help us celebrate. I simply cannot believe it's already been a year since Sylvia came into our lives. She has grown into such a wonderful, friendly, super fun kid, and I'm the proudest daddy out there, let me tell you!

My folks hung around for the 4th, and we cooked out, watched the Italy/Germany game, and had a great time together. It was hard to go back to work today, that's for sure!

Ahhh Painkillers...

It's 11p EDT, July 2, 2006.

One year ago today, at this exact time, I received my epidural.

Epidural: it's a good thing.

After an emergency C-section, Sylvia was born at 355a, July 3, 2005.
Where has this past year gone?

Today has been a teary and sentimental day for me.

Happy Almost Birthday to my sweet girl.
I love you,
Mama

A casa como siempre ¡Coño!

Well, both my teams are now officially out of the World Cup. The U.S. I kind of figured would bow out early, but the Spaniards, well, I had high hopes this time. They always choke in the WC, though, so my hopes weren't all that high.

The worst part of it is that we got served by the Frogs. That really hurts. Here are my picks for the rest of the tourney:

England 2 - Portugal 1 The Portuguese are such whiney biotches. I hope the Engerlanders can destroy them.

Brazil 3 - France 2 The Frogs will put up a good fight on this one, but the Brazilians keep doing just enough to win, which is what they'll do here, too.

Germany 3 - Argentina 1 This is going to be the surprise of the tournament. Germany looks damn good. So do Argentina, but they'll be overconfident. Don't underestimate the home field advantage, either.

Italy 2 - Ukraine 0 An easy win for the pasta-eaters.

Then for the semis:

Germany 2 - Italy 2 (Germany on PKs)

Brazil 2 - England 0

FINAL
Brazil 3 - Germany 1

If you're betting on the Cup, bet against all the picks above. I suck at this.

Water water everywhere

Quite a storm this has been.
Sunday we lost power for over 6 hours in the middle of a very muggy day.
We've had lots of road closures, flooding and mudslides in the area:
See map --
We've been OK (knock wood) but we are constantly checking the basement for water and Joe's been outside pushing water off the tent a million times...
Another set of storms is supposed to hit this afternoon.
UGH.
Sylvia and I will go run to the library today after her nap and before her lunch, in order to get a second of fresh air and get out of the house!!!!
We spend most afternoons with Sylvia napping or playing with her toys.
I am going a bit stir crazy.

Zinfandel tasting party

In May (yes I am a bit behind in the blogging) we had a Zinfandel tasting party.
Our friends, Bill and Kim, Michele and Beck and his parents came by.
The winner was by Rancho Zabago and the second place wine was by Gnarly Head.
I discovered that I actually like Zin. Never knew it.
I think our next party will either be for Pino Grigio or Rioja.

U.S. Blood and Guts!

For the last week and a half, I have been all-soccer, all the time. The World Cup is in full swing, and for the Italian team that means swinging elbows, as U.S. forward Brian McBride's face can attest.

After the first U.S. game vs. the Czech Republic, where our boys were shellac'ed 3-0 and looked to be on the way to an early exit, most everybody predicted that the Italians (who, let's face it, are pretty damn good at soccer) would crush us like Chianti grapes. Italian midfielder and resident pretty boy Totti was quoted as saying he was too busy getting his hair done to watch the U. S. Czech game. Well, since he was totally ineffectual and got subbed around minute 30, maybe next time he'll watch.

I've never seen the U.S. team show so much grit and determination, and the 1-1 tie with the pasta eaters leaves us in good shape to advance to the round of 16. If we can beat Ghana (we should) and Italy can beat the Czechs (they should) on Thursday, we're golden.

It hurts me to say it, but Go Italy!

Happy Satan Day!

June 6, '06, otherwise known as 6.6.6.

Suggested listening:
AC/DC: Highway to Hell
AC/DC: Hell's Bells
AC/DC: Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
AC/DC: C.O.D. (Care of the Devil)
Iron Maiden: Number of the Beast
Slayer: Anything they've ever put out

D.C. not as big a terror target as South Dakota

According the new grant budget put out by the Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. is in the lowest 25% of "states" in a likely-to-be-attacked ranking that was the basis of how much security grant money each area receive this year. Who's at more risk of being attacked (and getting more money to prevent it), according to the DHS? Witness the insanity:

West Virginia $7.5 million homeland security grant (Okay, everyone knows I love W.V. best of all, but c'mon. The terrorists aren't coming for the strip mines, people.)

Idaho $6.7 million (The terrorists hate taters!)

Oregon $4.7 million (They will try to cripple our pot-growing abilities.)

Montana $4.5 million (We must kill all them cowboys, Abdul!)

Utah $4.5 million (Attack the holy-underwear wearing infidels!)

Rhode Island: $4.5 million (Do they even get "Providence" re-runs in Pakistan?)

Wyoming: $4.4 million (I guess Buffalo are a bigger symbol of America than the Washington Monument.)

South Dakota: $4.4 million (Okay, there aren't even a majority of U.S. Citizens that could pick out S.D. on a map, but Al Queda can? Riiiight.)

Puerto Rico: $4.3 million (Uh, is this a joke?)

D.C.: $4.3 million homeland security grant

Also on the list for increased funding: Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO; Louisville, KY; Omaha, NE (Yes, folks, Nebraska, #1 on Al Queda target lists worldwide, I'm sure); five cities in Jeb Bush's Florida (Actually, Orlando is one of them and I agree that Disney would be a legitimate target. But Ft. Lauderdale? Sorry Muslim extremists, not even close to 100 virgins at Spring Break.)

But that's not all! New York City is also on the not-likely-to-get-the-shit-bombed-out-of-it list.

NEW YORK CITY? D.C.? WTF?! These are the only two places in the nation THAT GOT ATTACKED!!!!!

What a colossal waste of taxpayers' money. Someone please wake me from this Orwellian nightmare.

Gardening Vigilantes!

These are our neighbors from down the street, Mr. & Mrs. S.
They are the traveling gardening vigilantes!

They cruise around in their SUV fixing up gardens that look shabby in our neighborhood.
I see Mrs. S often as she walks alot. She is always complimentary of our yard, which is sweet. She also always comments on our neighbor's yard as it's very overgrown. She mentioned to me one day that she was going to come by and fix up his yard. I thought, "no way." Today was the day I was proven wrong.

I was sitting feeding Sylvia and I heard a weed-whacker and thought, "how odd, my neighbor B. is never home at 2p what's going on?" Of course being the nosy mama that I am, Sylvia and I went to investigate and lo and behold, it was not B. but Mr. and Mrs. S!

She: sporting a fine looking, 1980's-era terrycloth headband, shorty shorts and a tank top, was hand-clipping the edges of B.'s grass near the stairs. I KID YOU NOT.

He: dressed in all white from head to toe (he must have recently attended P.Diddy's White Party in the Hamptons), in his fabu kneesocks, was weed-whacking at an amazing pace.

Please note: it was 90 degrees today and that's not counting the mega humidity!

Mr. and Mrs. S, you ROCK.

Bay United FC, R.I.P.

Jason, looking pained, for some reason. We hadn't even started the post-game drinking yet!


Matthew and I consider yet another humiliating loss, probably. Now to the bar!

I was a late-comer to soccer. In what is now obviously the most tragic irony ever to befall me, I did not like nor understand The Beautiful Game in 1994 when the U.S. hosted its first World Cup. The fact that Spain played its matches a mere 15 blocks east of my house on Capitol Hill and I didn't bother to even notice now haunts my soccer-obsessed dreams. Yes, it was not until when I moved to Spain in 1996 that I came to fully appreciate the world's most popular sport.

When I returned to the U.S. and moved to San Francisco in January of 1997, I decided that it might be cool to actually learn to play the game. I grew up with football, baseball, and -- god help me -- basketball, so I knew less than nothing about how to kick a soccer ball properly. My best friend, Jason, had played in high school, so he and I went to a park near my house in Oakland and he showed me the ropes.

Soon after, Jason, our great friend Matthew (a rugby player from Engerland), and I got the bright idea to form a rec league team and compete in the Golden Gate Soccer League, which was co-ed and seemed like a good way to meet women.

With that noble goal in mind, I rounded up some coworkers and as many of our friends who would risk embarassment on the pitch and we were off. We dubbed ourselves Bay United FC, on the count of having players from all five areas of the S.F. Bay Area (S.F., Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, and Berkeley).

I found a place to get some snazzy jerseys made up, designed a bitchin' logo, and voilá! We were a team. One problem: we sucked.

Turns out almost none of us knew how to really play soccer well, and we were soundly beaten in match after match. No matter, the real purpose of the team was the after-game happy hours. There we sat as a team, drinking brews, eating fish and chips, and laughing at all of our mistakes while celebrating any triumphs (like keeping the game close or scoring a goal). Everyone looked forward to each Sunday's game, and we all formed a close bond that I'll always remember fondly.

But here's where the storybook ending comes in. In the league, every team made the playoffs, so we were in as well. We came into the opening playoff game defeated, as in the opposite of undefeated. We hadn't won a single game the entire season and were determined to finally pull one out. As fate (and the tournament bracket) would have it, we were playing the top-seeded team (we were, of course, the lowest seed).

The game was hard-fought throughout, and we ended regulation in a 0-0 tie. Since this was the playoffs, we had to have a winner, so to overtime we went. The overtime worked in a way whereby each team lost a player after so many minutes of not scoring and we took it down to three on three. That's when our star forward, a blonde accountant (who lead a quite unaccountant-like life on the weekends), scored the goal that sent us into the next round and sent the top seeds home to their mommies.

I felt like I had just won the World Cup.

We lost the next playoff game, not that it mattered by then. The team carried on in various incarnations with a multitude of players (although the core group of Matthew, Jason, and I were always there) until around 2001, when we finally decided to call it quits.

When I'm watching the World Cup in two weeks with a brew in hand, I, for one, will remember the Bay United FC and toast to my teammates. We had a hell of a time.

Old friends visit!

jengabevisit
Originally uploaded by Xose.

This weekend we were very happy to play host to some good friends from our days in San Francisco, Jen and Gabe.

Jen was in town for a book expo in the D.C. Convention Center, so they made the trek up to Silver Spring on Metro for a cookout in the back yard. Sylvia was excited to meet them, and Jenny and I were very psyched to hang out with such fun people again.

I worked with Jen at CMP while in S.F., and she and Gabe made the cross-country move about a year before Jenny and I did (we're all part of the great exodus of post-dot-com talent from the ultra-expensive Bay Area).

We had fun catching up and marveling at how much we know about each others' recent lives due to reading each other's blogs. It's amazing that the Internet allows you to keep up with family and friends all over the world. In my opinion, this is one of the best things about the Internet: the capability to bring people together, even if they are far apart geographically.

Anyway, we had a great time with Gabe and Jen, and hope to see them again soon! Thanks for coming down guys!

The quagmire deepens....

The depths to which Iraq has sunk since our illegal invasion are ever more harrowing. According to a new report in today's San Francisco Chronicle, Iraqis are fleeing Baghdad in droves to escape the rampant murders taking place every hour of every day with no end in sight.

Are these people better off now than when Saddam was in power?

"With only six hours of electricity a day and shortages of essentials such as gasoline, Iraqis exchange horror stories of unspeakable violence, which cannot be independently confirmed and might or might not be true.

Someone said a Sunni woman was shot in Amariya this week because she was driving. Someone else said a neighbor who had disappeared last month died of a heart attack in captivity. Women share these stories during short, rare trips to the few grocery shops that are still open.

'Everybody is scared,' said one woman in Amariya. 'No one can protect us.'"

Not that anyone could have seen this coming before we invaded, right? Geez.

Studio time on no sleep

First, our apologies for the non-postings as of late. Sylvie has been bent on a parental sleep-deprivation study, and has reduced us to quivering masses of jelly in little more than a week of zero good night's sleep. At least her thesis will pretty much write itself, now.

I was in the studio with my band, MyLOH (My Life on Hold), this weekend recording three songs for our upcoming demo CD. Sounded really good, and I can't wait to hear the final mixdown. I'll post here when links are available. Now to get a gig somewhere....

The best kiss ever

Sorry Joe but I have to say, I received the best kiss ever last night.
It happened about 330a. Yes, 330a in the wee hours of the morning.
Poor Sylvia suddenly got this weird dry cough (kinda allergies) and unfortunately it's one of those trigger-spasm coughs that scares her and wakes her up. So needless to say, she and I and Joe were up all night.
It was so sad b/c at 3a, I tried to give her to Joe for a sec while I washed bottles for her and that did not work AT ALL. She was completely freaking out, crying...which of course made her cough worse...OY. I think we have a bit of separation anxiety starting. So, I got her from Joe and she and I sat on the couch and I sang her the Sylvia song that I only sing her when she's upset. It's something I made up when she was very little and she was having a bad night and I just basically hug her really tight and sing it to her. Last night, she calmed down and just stared up at me with these big, saucer eyes - it was one of those moments where even though you are so tired you could puke, you don't care because it's the best, just to be in that moment where you are able to soothe your child. I was giving her kisses to chill her out and then went I put my cheek next to hers, all of a sudden I felt a "smooch!" She kissed me!
I am telling you, the BEST!

More curtain detail photos

I can only post 5 pics per post, so here's the detail for Sylvia's room and also the pattern for the great room valences (it's a very subtle plaid):

Curtain mania

Joe's mom made us four sets of curtains while she was visiting this past weekend.

We now have curtains for the bathroom, the kitchen, the great room*** and the baby's room.
What a task!!!

I am not crafty at all so I mostly did the shopping portion of the project.
I picked out the fabric and then Joe's mom sewed and sewed and sewed.

*** Valances only, in the great room but still no small task, as each window is 106" in length.

Thanks so much Patsy!

Here are some photos:

Nana & Home improvement central

My mom visited last week and had a great time hanging out with Sylvia. We went to Brookside Gardens and also did some retail therapy. Sylvia got some cool music toys from nana and also her very own boombox. Sylvia's been listening to jazz, classical and pop tunes.

My mom got us a runner for our hallway -- which was much needed as our 50 year old wood floors creak SO loudly and the new rug helps to muffle the sound. I really appreciate having the rug as the snapping and creaking of the floors was making me nuts!
Mom was also going to help me make curtains but we decided to wait as we'd have to mail the cloth back and forth.

Joe's parents are here right now and Patsy's been a curtain making machine...more on that later.

The kid's got good taste!

She thinks that the guys on the back of the record cover are the funniest thing around, and she screamed bloody murder (in the rue morgue) when we took the CD away from her.... Sylvie. All metal. All the time.