Choo! Choo!

Besides fans, Everett's other most intense fascination is with trains. We have started going to this miniature railway in the Berkeley hills.

It's kinda crazy/awesome due to the old codger railway enthusiasts who run the joint. So, the train runs through the hills, all surrounded by fog and eucalyptus, and now every time we go in the car, if we go somewhere with eucalyptus trees (which, if you have been here, you know is only EVERYWHERE), Everett's all, "Choo-choo? Choo-choo! CHOO-CHOOOOOO!" which is kinda cute, but in truth it's also kinda annoying after a while. Does that make me a bad mom?

So, this one time it was extra great, on account of we randomly ran into our pals, Liza and Aaron, and their offspring--and EC's pal--Theo. (We were in birth class with them, and Liza is in my moms' group.) Here's some shots of the day:

EC gives over the tickets all by himself, no big deal.


Family Portrait-wise


Ready to Ride!



Glamour Shot of Theo and Dad in the Woods

Airplanes and Elephants!

So, Sally, my mom's long-time soul sister, is an incredibly crafty lady, and she made these radical quilts for the boys. (Like how that sounds? "The Boys?") I can't believe how awesome they are! Check them!

Monkey Love


Ready for Takeoff


Dumbo Delight

Frankie-licious!

Check him in his new leisure suit and shearling moccasins! He's getting cute, right?! Possible smile situaish?

EC's Off Tha Heezies

EC's been a little bonkers lately. Maybe it's the little bro, maybe it's being almost two, maybe it's hereditary, who knows? Anyhoo, he is obsessed with fans. My pal, Caitlin, suggested that a fun field trip for him would be the fan aisle at Home Depot. He's all the time pointing at his fan and saying "VIN!! VIN!!!" When we took the "vin" out of our window for a while, he was distraught for days, mournfully inquiring, "Vin? Vin?" WELL. The other day he took it to a new level. He went running, full speed, into his room, and knocked his vin right out the window. His comment? "Oh No! Uh-oh, vin! Bye-bye vin!"

Here's the window, sans vin.


Here's the vin, hanging by its cord.


Evan took this total glamour shot of EC by putting his hand outside the window and shooting back into the room, with his new Iphone, no big deal.

You can tell EC doesn't even feel one bit guilty. He's all, "What? It's my vin!"

Special Granny Times

Here he is with Granny--check the beautiful composition, vis-a-vis the mirroring of FJ and Granny's hands.

Also, this shot looks eerily familiar...

Why so serious, Chubbs?

Family Foto Fun Times!

My pal, Sherry, came over and took these super shots. Enjoy!

Checking Out the Goods

Let's just say that old EC is a little discombobulated.  He is intrigued by Baby Frankie, yet obviously upset by all the changes he has brought.  Often times EC will bend over the crib and give his new bro little kisses, other times, he's throwing all of Frankie's diapers all over the floor, shouting, "No!  No! NO!"  He's even taken to singing a little song during his free time that we like to call the "nonononononononononono" song.  And there's been more than a few random sobbing times.  It's been a wild ride.  Here they are, in one of EC's more contemplative moments, as he thoroughly inspects Frankie's moving parts.

We're Ready For Our Closeups, Mr. DeVille

And Frankie Makes FOUR!

Francis Jupiter Becker!

AKA Frankie, Baby Joop, Joop-a-Loop

Born June 27, 2008 at 12:22 AM

9.5 Pounds, 21.75 inches! Whew.

He narrowly missed being dropped on his head, due the the fact that he came shooting out whilst his mother was standing fully erect. Oh Joop!

Special Pink Shower Times

So my moms' group (I've told you about them before) threw me this totally hilarious shower. Everything pink. I don't even know where a person finds pink "Baby Boy" shower signs, but I guess if anywhere, it would be in San Francisco. Everyone greeted me at the door wearing pink, all the decorations were pink. I was cracking up. Also, there were crustless tuna and cucumber sammies on white bread, which, if you ask me, is the surest sign of a quality shower.

Everett was all in his Euro boy outfit...

But the ladies provided him (and all the toddler attendees) with more appropriate gear.
As you can see, the boys were STOKED!

No, seriously, later they got into it. All boys here:

I got a funny crown and even some really swell gifts, which I thought was really nice, because it was my understanding that second baby = no gifts. And I love gifts!

Especially you can tell I love this one below. No! For reals, I loved that gift! It was a really pretty, designy alphabet book! No more cameras allowed near me.

We tried to get all the babies together for a line-up. This was way easier to do when they were totally immobile.

EC found his place at the snack table.

ALSO, did I mention that the moms got me a certificate for a massage? Which is the main thing in life I want people to give me? So I was super-stoked! AND, then they said I didn't even have to write thank you notes, because it's too stressful for a pregnant lady! So this blog post is my thanks to them! Ladies, it was a swell time. I was really touched. Thanks for being my mom pals--I couldn't do it without ya!

Special Lady Spa Times

So, Karen, my sister-in-law, took me for a special ladies' weekend (no offspring allowed) to the tony wine country. We stayed at a very Sunset Magazine (Yes! I am a subscriber to this magazine of Living in the West!) spa-riffick resort called the Carneros Inn, and it was a dreamy time, doncha know. I neglected to take important photos of us doing some quality poolside lounging, or walking around, or really doing anything out-of-doors, so I got some pictures for you from the interweb. Here is the cottages, one of which we stayed in, also a picture of an outdoor fireplace, which the whole place is lousy with, but which we never sat in front of:

And here's Karen striking a very natural pose in our cottage:

We took a few glamor shots on our porch. Note that I neglected to open my eyes for my G.S.

You know Karen is a former model, so her G.S. actually turned out glamorous:

Also, here is the pool, which is ever so dreamy, even better in real life than this picture:

It's all up on this hilltop with rolling views, and only one time was some lady ruining it for me a little bit, what with with her CONSTANT stream of inane chatter, which was distracting me from my In Touch magazine. Like imagine this girl just will not shut-up about "B-List Celebrity Clubs" she is constantly forced to go to as Sammy Hagar's personal friend, while you are trying to read about B-List Celebrities! How rude!

This is not really her, but it's a lady from the interweb, representing my nemisis, who was, by the way, wearing a cowboy hat, and doesn't she know that is SO 1997?

And we had some fun spa times, for those of you that know me well, I am a big fan of rocks, so I like this photo, but there were actually no rocks on my massage bed, but that's OK.

It was really super. Special shout-outs to Karen for an inspired idea, to Tom and Evan for minding the offspring for the weekend, and to my sister, Nina, and my pal, Regan, for making it extra luxurious!

Oh, also I took some bikini shots so you can see how super-huge I am. I took advantage of some dreamy light so you all don't have to see the ugly, veiny truth about being eight-and-a-half months preggo:

Peonies

No big deal, I guess, if you forgot my birthday, or whatever. Anyway, we have a relatively new tradition around here that Evan gets me my favorite flowers, peonies, which are totally just coming into season around my b-day. I totally love them. Anyway, last year they were pink:

and this year they were crimson, yo:

He sent them to me at work this year, which really floated my boat.

Here's a glamor shot of the boy with the peonies.

New Chee-oos

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EC got some new "chee-oos," and he's pretty stoked about them and he wants to talk about the all the time and he's he is learning to take them on and off by himself, which means a lot of tromping around with one "chee-oo" on, which is pretty cute.

Central Casting

I'm really not sure how I forgot to post this J Crew-worthy shot of the boys. Sometimes I just forget myself! Minus the skinned shin of my shredding man-friend, it could be a billboard!