Holidays! Christmas and Christmas tremors

Christmas morning found the Richmond Faminis at Z-Ma and Z-Pa's in Santa Rosa.  Santa showed up overnight and it the pile of loot indicates that we were all very nice last year.  The Z's took turns holding Lucas and Tank.

We posed for a hot Xmas morning family portrait.  Notice my carefully crafted wardrobe - Fake Santa leg socks are the new rage.

Christmas day was spent with the larger Famini clan at the grandparents.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera so you'll have to imagine the immense amount of joy and merriment we had eating and white-elephanting.

We finally made it back home the next day so that Amy could give me Rock Band and I could begin to realize my rock star dreams.  I am a little afraid that this will be the last chill "Famini Family" Christmas or a long time as Lucas can't walk or rip into presents yet. 

We were able to convince Tank to wear his present from G-Pa David and G-Ma Melissa.  Santa Tank!

We returned to the Sanchini abode in Santa Rosa to celebrate with Granparents Famini and the Sanchinis.  The old folks enjoy their Grandchildren - see the happiness with Sparrow?
The celebration continued as the Schettlers and Gathmen came over to join in on the fun.  Of course, the combinations of cray kids and presents from Dan result in balloon mayhem

There was much interest in Lucas getting his diaper changed, though Dan would rather not have to see another diaper change if possible.

Celebration leads to babies needing baths, so we got our first fun/futurely embarrassing photos of the cousins Sparrow, Lucas and Sequoia.  Or as Sequoia calls him "Tiny baby Lucas"

Back to the inner Bay Area for our last celebration - with the Cardwell Great Grandparents and family in Berkeley.  This was the introduction to Lucas for some, hence a paparazzi scene:
His second cousin Emily FINALLY got to meet Lucas.  He was also excited. 
And thus ended the 2008 Famini Holiday tour.  Yay!!!

Holidays! Pre-Christmas

As you know, Lucas was very ready for the Holidays to come.  What he didn't was just how many people he was going to celebrate with.

It began with a Hanukkah celebration in Pleasanton.  Great food:

And Family fun - including the final Great Grandparent meeting for Lucas with his Great Grandpa Phil!

Up in Santa Rosa we started off with a double batch of Santa with Grandpa David and Grandma Melissa.  Lucas decided that he needed to dress up for the event

As a Penguin!

The next day was Christmas Eve already, yay!  After dinner with Z-Ma, Z-Pa, Sara and Mike Chee we headed over to Great Grandma Iris's for desert.  Mmmmmmmmm, upside down cake =)

Gearing up for the holidays

Christmas time!

The wrapping is done, and cleaned up after initially coating our house:

The holidays bring our first nights away from home, and that means (over)packing.  See King Lucas residing over his bag:

And we are taking 2 cars for the 1 hour drive since the back of Amys was already full of Lucas's stuff (without the previously transported stroller) - thats where Tanks crate needs to fit!

 

Lucas does some tricks

Already 6 weeks old, Lucas is starting to show off some new skills.

While sitting in his swing is no big thang, Lucas has recently realized that there is a mirror and little birds floating around above his head!

Speaking of Lucas's head, check out some of the tummy time skills

Its almost Christmas!

With tree in place and decorations up, Lucas is getting veeery excited for Christmas.  In fact, when Amy showed him his stocking for the first time, he did a little dance:

Let him reiterate - YAY FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

Lucas picks out a tree

Lucas got dolled up in some new cozy holiday clothes and took the family out to get a Christmas Tree!

Since he's already a frugal guy, he steered us to Home Depot

We made the rounds and unwrapped some fresh arbols for his approval

After a few duds, Lucas found the perfect one

He loaded our tree into the back of the car and said "Dad!  Home!"

After a few days of leisurely decorating, Lucas was happy with our tree.  He is patiently waiting for Santa to drop off a load of presents.  Let's hope he's on the Nice list.

Lucas likes to get around town

While Lucas loves his car seat and being strolled about, he has found some other fun ways to get around too.  

The stylish peanut shell sling is great for trips out with his hip mom and auntie

And that style still affords him the chance to be balled up like he enjoys

Not to be outdone, Lucas and I like to ergo around the 'hood.

Walking Tank with Lucas in a baby carrier is win-win-win.  Tank gets to sniff around frantically without hitting stroller wheels, Lucas gets to stay cozy and snooze and I get to practice deep knee bends when I try to pick up poop without crushing Lucas's legs.

(Most of) the Great Grandparents

Lucas is lucky enough to have 4 Great-Grandparents.  And so far he has done a good job of getting around the bay area visiting them, with a trip to see Great Grandpa Phil still in the works.

He has already met GG Iris (on Chris's side) - and was excited to take a pic with 3 of her 4 other great-grandchildren!  Tayla, little Sparrow and Sequoia round out the shot.  And a russian stacking doll.

The Cardwell Great Grandparents accepted Lucas into their Berkeley home for a photo session.  GG Kenneth: 

And GG Mary communicating with the little guy

Lucas is in a Gang? Part 2

Yes, there is some evidence pointing towards Lucas having joined Risky's gang, and he is pretty upfront about it - "Whuuuuuuuuut?"

At first it was more subtle, just a sly positioning of the fingers

He moved on to a "DJ" move as he started to mix thangs up

Before long, Lucas was asserting his "Baby Power" (and possibly doing a horizontal Russian crouch dance.  Risky's full name is Mariska.  Coincidence?)

He has become even more assertive, already doing two-handed chants - "Milk.  Milk.  Milk."

He has gained so much confidence, that Lucas now throws down full hand signals.  I think this is "VV 5".

We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you appraised of any new information

Thanksgiving week

My last week at home with Amy, Tank and Lucas before going back to work was pretty eventful.  Besides the big holiday, Lucas had quite a bit to do.

He made his first trip to Costco!  Lucas really wanted to stand out, so he put on his very very soft bear outfit.

This was also his first time out in the rain.  I think the bear outfit helped Lucas stay hibernation-level asleep.

Lucas had a number of visitors that he loved to meet, but his potential favorite was the fetus friend he tried to high-5 in Ariana's belly.

After hearing 49er and Cal games from the TV, Lucas wanted to get in a little football action.

This led to his first full-tub bath.  He loved it!  We may have to push Lucas into a life of competitive swimming.

Of course all of this activity led to some serious snooze time.