Narduzzi Nation

Ryan is Walking!

2011-12-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it took him 18+ months but Ryan is finally walking! It's not his preferred method of transportation but he's definitely getting better at it. See for yourself.

iPhone Photo Dump

2011-09-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to uploading all the pictures from my iPhone...here are a few my favorites.

Ryan and Bosco sharing a meal (not really).

Sean's first dentist appointment, he actually did really well
and was happier than he looks in this picture.

Ryan bumming some kettle corn at the Giants game from
the guys in front of us.

Ryan and his typical "happy" face.

A cool picture taken from the top of the John Hancock building in Chicago.

iPhones rule, especially with the Camera+ app.

Radio Flyers

2011-09-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

My Dad's Dad, aka my "Nonno", who is Sean and Ryan's Great Grandfather (who they also call "Nonno"), bought this great radio flyer wagon for the boys a few years ago.

Sean has been riding it in walks for almost 2 years now, but Ryan is finally big and strong enough to ride it as well. In the past he has fallen in the middle of the wagon a few times going up curbs or over bumps, but now he uses his arms to stabilize himself and make sure he stays put.

The other night while Darcy was exercising, I took the boys for a walk in the wagon, and brought my camera. The sun was setting, and I was able to take advantage of some good lighting!

The lighting is not as good on this one, and it's a bummer the garbage cans are in the background, but I otherwise really like this one:

Ryry

2011-09-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ryan (aka Baby Ryan to Sean) is getting big. He is 15 months old now and we are loving his sense of humor. He cracks up all the time and tries to make us laugh. His favorite thing to do is to stuff toy cars wherever he can. We find them everywhere and in everything. His favorite words are dog (da) and ball (ba), but he also says up, mama, dada, yummy, and uh oh. He is cruising around but he isn't brave enough to let go and try standing. If you try to make him stand or walk, he will refuse.

He likes to explore the house and pull things out of drawers. Usually he puts everything back if you ask him. He is finally enjoying baths, which is great. He follows Sean around a lot and loves to play with all of Sean's toys.

Ryan is a master imitator, if you make a face, sound, or action he will try to do it too and he is usually successful. He absolutely loves to dance and listen to music. He even likes when Mom or Dad sings which is different than Sean (he still yells at us not to sing).

We are having a blast with this little guy who hardly ever cries. We can't wait to see all the new things he comes up with in the next few months.

Sunshine!

2011-06-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

"Auntie Beth, can I have more apple juice? Peeeeaaassse?"

"Bah"

Practing his throw-ins

Cheese.

We've had a weird spring so far this year, but yesterday was beautiful so we set up the pool and let the boys play. Ryan is not a fan of the water (yet) so he hung out on a blanket instead. Sean had a blast running around the yard and playing with Auntie Beth (aka Auntie Schleppins). She visited us on her way back home from college for the summer. We're looking forward to the rest of the summer and spending more time in our newly-completed backyard.

Ryan is One!

2011-06-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

A cupcake for me?

Grandma let me roam around on the island.

Yum.

Big bro Sean likes cupcakes, well at least the frosting.

Ryan turned one on June 9th. We had a small celebration and I had to wake Ryan up from a quick nap for the cake. Ryan and Sean are just starting to play together. Sean is having a blast with all of Ryan's new birthday presents. "We share mommy." But Ryan doesn't mind as long as Sean lets him in on the action. I can't believe we have a one-year old and an almost three-year old. Time flies!

Army Crawler

2011-04-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent video of Ryan "army crawling" around our house. Sorry for the vertical skinny video, we are learning how to take videos with the ipad2.

The Boys Wearing Daddy's Headband

2011-02-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

Sean at almost 6 months

Ryan at 8.5 months

February Update

2011-02-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

Here's Sean taking a nap with all his legos. Looks comfy right?

Sean and our friend Ryan hanging out on the "new couches."

Sean and Jeff constructing a "BIG tunnel". Ryan is never far away from the action.

Sean trying on the firemen's gear at the Vasona Fire Station.

Sean and Malana hanging out.

Here's a few pictures of what we've been up to this month. A couple weekends ago, Jeff and I got to head to Northstar for a few days without the boys, thanks to Jeff's parents. Other than that we've been hanging around near home, doing some housework, and spending time with friends. Sean loves to spend time with all of his friends and it's great to see them interact. Ryan is quite a character these days. He hasn't figured out how to crawl yet but he can roll to get wherever he wants. He has also mastered the art of screeching, which is especially great when we go out to dinner. Today at Home Depot I could hear him all the way across the store!

Motor-mouth

2011-01-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Sean is quite the talker these days. I think he may have inherited the motor-mouth gene from his mother. He talks non-stop. Here's a summary of our drive home yesterday.

Look mommy, it's a truck! It's a blue truck. It's the biggest truck ever!

Mommy, mommy, I want to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Mommy, I want to play with Matteo. (Matteo is a boy he played with at the park once a couple weeks ago)

Hi Baby Ryan! Ah-goo! Mommy, I'm holding Baby Ryan's hand.

Oh look! That car is gray like Mommy's car. It's not blue, it's gray. And that car is red.

I want to eat dinner. Beans and rice. And steak.

Christmas lights!!!! And a tummel (tunnel)! Look, a tummel!!!!

I'll stop there, I think you get the idea.

Holidays 2010...

2011-01-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

It has been a great holiday season... Starting with Darcy's company Xmas party the first weekend in December, we have been seemingly going to one party after the next, as you can see in the time line right here:

- Devcon Xmas party (12/4)

- Darcy's annual work friends party (12/10 - this one is Darcy only, but was at our house)

- McCall Xmas party (12/11 - our new friends through Darcy's work)

- BlueArc Xmas party (12/17 - Jeff's company)

- Alton, Kirkpatrick, Narduzzi annual Xmas dinner (12/18 - in Santa Rosa)

- Baker Xmas (12/23 - Darcy's dad's side. At Darcy's house in Ceres)

- Carvahlo Xmas (12/24 - Darcy's mom's side. At Uncle Dave's house in Modesto)

- Xmas day lunch (12/25 - at Darcy's house)

- Narduzzi, Schnell O'Neal lunch (12/26 - Suzi's house in Ceres)
- Trisha's rehearsal dinner (12/28 - restaurant in Santa Rosa)
- Trisha's wedding (12/30 - in Santa Rosa)
- New Years dinner with the Edlings (12/31 - back home in San Jose)

As you can see, it has been quite and eventful month... Now, looking out into January and beyond, it calms down considerably. We look forward to slowing down, watching playoff football, getting our new couches, and back into our usual routine. My basketball league starts up Tuesday (fingers crossed I don't hurt my thumb again!), and Darcy and I are considering training for a half marathon in April. Besides that, the boys are sure to keep us more than entertained, as well as busy.

Sean is talking up a storm now with full sentences being the norm, and he is surprising us with new words every day. I know we are biased, but we think he's pretty smart ;)

Ryan is just about 7 months now, and we can tell he'll be crawling soon. He still sleeps a lot, and is happiest in the morning after a long night of sleep. He smiles all the time, and laughs when tickled. He also loves to look at his brother and smile watching him play with his toys.

Darcy is back to work Monday the 3rd, but not me. I'll be taking advantage of daycare and playing some soggy golf with friends Matt and Nate. Then back to work on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, several of the events on the list above we didn't get pictures of. However, click here to look at some of the pictures we did take in the month of December.

Oh, one last thing. Sean walked down the aisle as the ring bearer in Trisha's wedding. With the help of Grandpa Baker, we were able to catch it on film!

Year of the Bad Thumb

2010-12-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Many things were special about the year 2010. It was our 1rst year in the new house. Our 2nd son born - baby Ryan. But another major theme of this year for me is my thumb troubles, which probably included more of the year than it didn't. Both thumb injuries happened while playing basketball in my Tuesday night Sunnyvale league.

Thumb injury #1....

It happened in mid January. The ball landed awkwardly downword on my left thumb, spraining it very badly at the joint. For weeks I couldn't use my thumb for anything. Things normally easy to do like buttoning up my shirt, or changing diapers, or cooking eggs for breakfast, were no long easy at all. I missed the next two months of basketball, and barely could play golf two months later in Palm Springs, but thankfully was able to, despite the pain. I wasn't normal again until early May!

Thumb injury #2....

In mid September, in just the 3rd game of the fall season, I went for a loose ball, and my left thumb got stuck somehow and was bent the knuckle. I knew instantly it wasn't good, but kep playing for about three minutes as I could feel the blood rushing into my thumb. I even hit a 3-pointer with it broken, before I finally called myself off of the court. It was in the first half and I left right away to get ice on it. the next day at work I showed it off to my fellow employees. It looked like this:

After being certain it was only a sprain, I took the advice of my co-workers to get an xray. Lo and behold, they were right, it was fractured! And required surgery! I was knocked out for surgery a week after the break, and was in a sling for the next 7 weeks. When I got the sling off, I could barely move at the knuckle at all. Over the course of two weeks of nonstop attempting to bend it, the tissue has slowly stretched out. It is now December 2nd as I type this, and I am finally have most of movement back in my left thumb.

In just the last 10 months, I think I have fulfilled my thumb injury quota for at least the decade, so I should be exempt from all thumb related injuries for at least the next nine years... right?

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from the Narduzzi boys. This year we did some real trick-or-treating with Sean and he loved it. He only tried to walk into a few houses and wasn't too scared by the other trick-or-treaters. The two haunted houses were a different story though, they were scary. But when we got home Sean kept saying, "It's ok, they're not scary, they're nice!" So I think we took care of it. Hope you all had a great day.

How about them Giants!!!!?!?!?

Best Friends

2010-10-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

This is Sean's new friend named Calvin. He's a year older than Sean, but they get along great. Sean copies whatever he does. I love how they are looking at each other in this picture.

This is my new friend Roomba. When we're at work, she roams around the house vacuuming up all the dog hair, cat hair, crumbs, fuzzies, etc. that accumulate on our floors. And she does it every day! I love her. She navigates around toys, chairs, goes over rugs, carpet...she does it all. I highly recommend this if you don't like to vacuum (who does?) or don't have time like me.

I think she needs a friend...meet Scooba the floor washing robot! The people at iRobot are geniuses.

Sharks Game

2010-10-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Father of the Year

Jeff, Ryan, and Nate

Sean, Darcy, and Ryan

Andy and Sean (aka Snards)

Last night we took both boys to the Sharks Game. It was Sean's second and Ryan's first game and we had some great seats. Our friend Nate came with us to provide reinforcements. Some people might say we are crazy bringing a two-year old and four-month old to a game, and we probably are. But they both behaved and we had a great time, even though the Sharks lost. Sean had a blast feeding Nate all his snacks, and Ryan loved the jumbotron. Ryan was wearing his Lincecum shirt and the guys sitting next to us were calling him a Lincecum bobblehead doll. Hopefully we'll be able to take them to a couple more games this season.

Cuteness

2010-10-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today when I got home from work there was some great lighting coming through the glass door, so I took some 'artistic' pics of the boys. Unfortunately for Sean, he's not as easy to photograph as Ryan because he moves too much, so he doesn't make the blog today. Maybe Grandpa Baker can play with these a little to make them better.

I'm 4 Months Old!

2010-10-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

I'm 4 months old today! I like to ride on Daddy's shoulders and be thrown in the air.

I sometimes fall asleep wherever Mommy puts me.

I'm VERY cute.

I like the standy toy for a little while.

It's very easy to make me smile.

But I'm serious sometimes too.

I like to take baths with my big brother Sean.

And I love my Daddy, broken thumb and all.

Life has been good for me so far. I wake up happy every morning except sometimes when I decide to roll myself over onto my stomach. Then I get upset and yell for Mommy to come fix it. Sometimes I do it very early in the morning because I'm silly and I think it's funny to wake Mommy up. After I eat in the morning I'm awake for about an hour and then I take a good morning nap. Then I eat eat eat all day until my afternoon nap. When I get picked up from daycare I like to stay awake all evening because there is a lot of action going on. I like to watch Sean play and yell and bounce all over the house. I also like to go for walks in the Bjorn with Mommy or Daddy. It's really hard to stay up until 8:30 or 9 like Mom tries to get me to do, so my bed time has been getting earlier and earlier. I also drool A LOT and like to eat my hands. Mommy has to keep a bib on me all the time so I don't get my clothes soaking wet.

I get to go to the doctor this week to see how much I weigh and how much I've grown in the last two months, but I hear that I have to get some shots too which won't be fun. I'll let you know my new stats later. Have a great day!

Half Moon Bay, 2010

2010-09-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Darcy and I became "boyfriend and girlfriend" 10 years ago this month. We made it official on Septempber 23rd, 2000, when we started kissing at a few Cal Poly parties...

After dating the three remaining years at Cal Poly, we traveled Europe in the summer of 2003. When we returned, Darcy started work at Devcon in August. She still works there over seven years later. My path to employment wasn't as smooth, as I lived in Santa Rosa, golfing and looking for a job for a few months, then caddying at Mayacama for a few months after that, and then finally getting a "semi-real" job with Maxim Healthcare in January of 2004. After nearly a year of living apart from Darcy, traveling most weekends to visit her, I quit Maxim without a job lined up in July 2004, and moved to San Jose to look for a job, knowing that was where I wanted to be.

In less than a month I got hired at Synnex, and officially moved in with Darcy and her roommate in the South Bay.

After finishing up her lease in Santa Clara, we signed a 6 month lease in October of 2004 to live in Milpitas, along with Jenn Abrahamson, her roommate. By the time those 6 months were up, we had bought a condo in Campbell. This was at a time when real estate prices were ridiculously high, but we thought it was time for us to buy, so we did. And at the time, who knew the mortgage crisis was coming? Ok, I kinda thought it was, but you gotta live somewhere, right?

In September of 2005, after living together in our condo for 6 months, I proposed to Darcy. We got engaged at La Fondue in Saratoga on September 24th, a day after our 5th anniversary. I handed the waitress the ring on my way back to the restroom, and told her to put it in Darcy's wine glass, and then leave without pouring our wine. At that time, I slid over to her side of the table, and on one knee asked her to marry me... Luckily for me, she said yes.

In that year between engagement and the wedding, I left Synnex, and started at BlueArc as an Inside Sales Rep.

Nearly a year later from that night at La Fondue, on September 16th, 2006, we married at the Dublin Ranch Golf Course in front of 200 of our closest family and friends at that time. We had been together for 6 whole years, through college, through a months travels in Europe, through a year apart, through a year living together, through buying a place together, and now, we were husband and wife. We spent our honeymoon in Tahiti for 8 days following our wedding... What a great trip!

Four years later I am no longer in Inside Sales at BlueArc, but do Sale Operations there insead. That change happened in November of 2007. But that is not all that has changed in our four years of marriage. Darcy has been promoted to Project Manager. We had our first child, a boy named Sean. We sold our condo and bought a house in San Jose, and we had our second child, a boy named Ryan.

As I sit here in Half Moon Bay, on September 11th, 2010, I reflect upon my life with Darcy in it. Darcy has now been my significant other for 1/3rd of my life. We have been "together" for 5 years, "engaged" for 1 year, and now "married" for 4 years.

I am very lucky to have found someone that I can be so comfortable being myself around. Someone who accepts me for who I am, and someone I can see myself with forever. Add to that, Darcy is a great mother, and has given me two amazing sons who mean everything to me.

I love you Darcy... Happy 4th Anniversary!

Ryan's First Giants Game

2010-08-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

This week we took the boys to Ryan's first Giants game. We went with our friend Ryan so we had to get a picture of the Ryans together. It was a great day in the city. Luckily we had shady seats so we didn't get too hot. The boys both did well and we made it to halfway through the 9th inning (or to the end of the inning as Duane Kuiper would say). Go Giants!

Ryan's First A's Game

2010-08-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago the whole family went to the A's game with Jeff's company. It was a great day in Oakland and we had a great time. Sean enjoyed asking everyone around us for food and liked to sit on the steps rather than in a seat. Luckily we were in the open barbecue terrace so it didn't matter that he was acting like a two year old :). It'll be fun in ten years to show Ryan pictures of his first A's game. Hopefully he will be a Giants fan though!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sean!

2010-08-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Sean is two today! It's amazing how much he's grown and what a great kid he is. He is always so happy and a joy to be around. We are so lucky to have him in our lives, we can't wait to see what the future holds for our little 'Mister'.

Sean at birth

8 weeks

4 months

6 months

9 months

1 year

18 months

Almost 2

Happy Birthday Sean!!!!

The Boys

2010-08-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I laid Ryan on the ground to get some exercise and Sean actually laid next to him, so I was able to get a few pictures of the two of them. Sean turns two tomorrow and Ryan is 8 weeks today. We're taking both of them to the A's game today. It's a day game against the Royals and we're going with Jeff's company, should be fun.

Ryan has lost most of his hair, but he does look a lot like Sean did at his age. Ryan is getting big and sleeps very well which is great for his parents!

I'll add some pictures from the baseball game soon!

Ryan - 7 Weeks

2010-07-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pictures of Ryan at 7 weeks old. He is such a good baby and we're loving the smiles and cooing that we get when he's awake. Sean loves his little 'Baby Ryan' too.

Smile!

2010-07-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan started smiling about a week ago...here are a couple that we caught this morning. Baby smiles are the best! I can't believe he's already 5 weeks old, time is flying.

Gilroy Gardens

2010-07-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

The four of us went to Gilroy Gardens today and had a blast. Well Ryan didn't wake up until the very end, but I'm sure he had fun in his carseat being pushed around all day. Gilroy Gardens is an amusement park that's mainly geared towards young kids. Sean had a blast! He rode all kinds of rides, and we saw a Curious George show that he liked. I highly recommend taking your kiddos here, especially if they are 6 and under. We got there at opening at 11am and stayed until 4 which is a long time for a 1-month old and almost 2-year old. Here are some of the highlights.

Sean, Jeff, and Ryan on the 'Choo-choo train'

This is what Ryan did all day...well he woke up twice to eat but you get the picture.

Sean and Jeff on the Strawberry Ride

Fire Engines

Racecars

The water park, next time we will spend much more time here.

This was Sean's favorite ride of the day.

We had to go on the carousel.

Here's Sean on the ride home, about 5 minutes into the car ride.

We will definitely be going back to Gilroy Gardens sometime soon.