Zoe Estelle Schiappacasse: October 2006

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Catching up - CA trip

After the weekend in San Jose with Juan and Norma, we headed up to San Francisco to stay at the beautiful Victorian home of our best SF friends, Mike & Julie (a.k.a. Casa Clipper). Dan attended an Oracle conference downtown for most of the week while Amy and Zoe roamed the charming streets of Noe Valley everyday...ahhh paradise!

Every evening we got to hang out with Mike & Julie and their adorable little girl, Abigail. At 20 months, she is already quite the charmer, here performing a little ballet number (with ball) for us all in the kitchen.

We also finally got to catch up with Steve & Ellen and their son, Jack -- old SF buddies who we miss a lot. Here Steve is using Zoe to show Jack what a little sister might be like -- since baby number two is due in January!

And of course no visit to SF is complete without a stop at our favorite greasy spoon, The Pork Store on Haight, our old stomping grounds. And it didn't take much to convince our friend Jason to join us for breakfast before work...he lives across the street! Zoe clearly enjoyed it as much as we did, too...

Hanging out at Casa Clipper... life is good!

# posted by Dan and Amy @ 10:37 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 19, 2006

First trip home

Dan attended an Oracle conference in San Francisco, so Amy and Zoe tagged along for the ride. It was also Zoe's first trip home to California. The weather was beautiful during the entire week, and we really enjoyed showing Zoe the sights and sounds of the San Francisco Bay Area including Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai food; Nordstrom, Banana Republic, JCrew and Macy's; San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento; and even our old SF apartment on Grove Street.

Zoe finally meet the Nonni!

Zoe really enjoyed all the attention she received during her stay. The nonni were so proud, they invited many of their friends to visit and meet her. Of course she was thrilled considering she received so many beautiful presents.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to see many friends but we were lucky Brad and Flo and their beautiful daughter Adriana were able to stop by for a quick visit.

Dan also had to introduce Zoe to Mi Pueblo (a Mexican market). Check out the tomatillos, peppers and cactus leaves!! Welcome to a life of heartburn...

# posted by Dan and Amy @ 4:31 PM 1 comments

Friday, October 13, 2006

Having fun with Zoe

# posted by Dan and Amy @ 11:26 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Standing tall (albeit a bit wobbly)

For a few weeks now, Zoe has been able to stand with a little support from us -- she loves the view from "up there." Check out the cool t-shirt from Auntie Julie -- un bel piatto di spaghetti...

She's also on her way to sitting. Even though she has a room full of toys, she prefers to play with a simple ol' water bottle...of course!

Though she does like to spend some quality time with her best friend Elmo...

# posted by Dan and Amy @ 11:47 PM 1 comments

5 months old -- how time flies!

Our little sweetheart is 5 months old today. She is still talking and chattering a lot, and has started to get more balance sitting and standing with our support.

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday -- her weight is 7.4 kilos (16.3 lbs) and her length is 64 cm (30 inches).

So far, Zoe is consistently in the 95th percentile on her weight (she gets that from her papa, wait until we post some of Dan's baby pictures! You'll see what I mean...) and about the 75th percentile on her length.

She has been totally healthy so far and has lately been sleeping through the night -- she'll sleep for 5 hours straight, wake up for a small feed, then sleep another 5 hours. She's gone for as long as 8 hours without waking up to eat, so we think she's on her way (and growing up so fast!)

# posted by Dan and Amy @ 12:03 PM 2 comments

Friday, October 06, 2006

Belated pics from Paco & Kara's wedding in Tuscany...

Just after we returned to Rome from New Jersey, we went up to Tuscany to celebrate Paco & Kara's wedding.

The wedding party and friends stayed at this beautiful hilltop villa in the middle of Tuscany's gorgeous vineyards near Montalcino. It was just before the crush, so all the vines were heavy with San Giovese grapes.

Our good friends from Cal Poly days, Derek & Carol, came out for the wedding, too, with their adorable little boy, Ronan (age 3). Ronan has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen -- why do the boys get all the luck?