Author: Michael Pellegrini

We get to celebrate Ava’s fourth month of life today by spending our first full day in our new home. Most of the day was spent unpacking boxes and getting things organized. Costco is dangerously close and I found myself there for the third day in a row. Jessica is working tonight and it’s raining outside so I’m relaxing at home with Ava and the dogs. I’ll be completing my final assignment for my web development class tonight, then I get almost two weeks off school. I start my first programming course next quarter so I’m excited for that. It’s going to be easy but it’s the kind of stuff that I enjoy studying these days so it should be fun. We’ve got the keys at the Pacific Beach house until the end of March so we’ve got all week to clean and paint. The place was awfully dirty when we moved in two years ago so there’s no question we’ll be returning it in better condition than we received it in. This has been a really long week so it feels great to be relaxing at home watching hoops with my baby.

Jessica and I have been moving into our new house all week and we’re nearing completion. Each day has gotten progressively longer and more exhausting, but after tomorrow we’ll be at least 90% finished. We met with Amelia on Tuesday afternoon to sign the lease and get the keys, then we made two trips that night after I got home from work. Wednesday evening we made three trips, and last night we made four trips. So far Ava hasn’t been very accommodating; she cries constantly while we’re loading and unloading the car and there’s really nothing we can do besides hurry.

Last night after our third trip we decided to stop at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Ava was perfectly content to sit there and look around, but as soon as our food arrives she starts crying. Jessica and I were exhausted and hungry so we had no choice but to eat in shifts while one of us tries to calm Ava down. By the time I got home from the fourth trip I was so tired I don’t even remember going to bed. I was probably asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Tonight Jessica is working so I’m going to be watching Ava and making trips to the house to unload more stuff. My fingers are crossed that she’ll be good and won’t cry but I’m not really expecting that to happen. Tomorrow morning we’ve got the Uhaul truck and the help of Jaime and Evan from my work for moving furniture. I’ve also got the Directv and Cox Internet guys coming out to set everything up. Should be another long day but after that all we need to do is clean the old house, and we’ve got a week to do it.

I should mention that the new house looks amazing! Everyday there’s people over there working on it and they’re doing an outstanding job. This is easily the nicest house we’ve lived in and I’m excited to spend the next few years there. I’ll be recording a video tour of the house and posting it here as soon as we get unpacked. Until then…

Ava’s new favorite activity is sucking her thumb. She can’t always make the thumb–mouth connection, so she gets pretty happy when she does, and we couldn’t help but notice that it’s always her left thumb that she’s working on. Jessica also pointed out that her grip in her left hand is stronger than her right, so we’ll see. We both think it would be cool for her to be a lefty since neither of us are. We’re signing the lease and getting the keys to our new place tomorrow so the moving fun begins. Can’t wait until it’s all over and we’re comfortably settled in our new home.

Last night Jessica and Ava arrived safe and sound from Colorado. Their flight was 20 minutes late, so they didn’t get in until 10:40pm, and I was at the wrong baggage claim (shocking), plus Jessica’s cell phone battery was almost dead, so finding each other was a bit challenging, but eventually we figured it out. She said Ava was perfect on the plane once again, which is great, but as soon as she left the airport she started screaming bloody murder and didn’t stop for a couple hours. We’ve never seen her this inconsolable before and it was heart breaking. She’s drooling a lot so we’re pretty sure she’s getting her first tooth. We researched it online and found that teeth can start arriving anywhere between 3 months and a year, so she’s on the early end… again. She has a checkup this coming week so we’ll be sure to talk to the doctor about it.

We’re meeting with Amelia, our new landlord, on Tuesday to sign the lease and get the keys to our new house. We’ve got twelve days to complete this move, which is going to be nice. The brunt of it will be a week from today when we have the moving truck and the help of my friends Jaimie and Evan from work, but we can get all the little stuff done in our SUV on the weekdays. I can’t believe we’re finally going to get some modern amenities back like a microwave, a dishwasher, and a garage! Beach living was fun, but we’re more than ready to move on. Jessica has the day off today so we can relax at home on a rainy St. Patty’s day and watch movies. So glad to have my girls home.

Today I’m going home to San Diego. In about an hour Amy will be driving Joel, Melanie, and myself down the mountain to the Denver airport. Unfortunately I’m going home alone because I have to get back to work tomorrow, but I’m glad Jessica will be able to visit with her Aunt and Grandparents, and especially glad that they will all finally get to meet Ava. Hopefully we won’t be separated again anytime soon, but it’s fine for now. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to the warm San Diego weather, and I can’t wait to see Bruno and Bella! The trip started out a little rough for me this year, mostly because I got altitude sickness for the first time on Friday. It’s never really bothered me in years past but I didn’t drink enough water this time and it really affected me. I had a headache and stomach ache all day on Friday but after taking a nap and hydrating it all went away.

Friday night Jessica and I went out for dinner with Joel and Melanie while Amy and Tom stayed home with Ava. We had a nice dinner, then went to a couple bars to play pool and hang out. The rest of the time was very relaxing. We spent most of it just hanging out, eating, watching sports and movies, and getting caught up. Derrick and Emily showed up on Saturday with their son Cole, who just started walking a few weeks ago. It’s hard to believe that Ava will be there in the next year. Jessica’s Grandparents and Aunt Betsy left Iowa today and are driving this way. They should be arriving here on Wednesday afternoon.

The other exciting news of the weekend is that we found our new home. We’ve been renting a small house in Pacific Beach for the last two years, but with the arrival of our first child, we’ve outgrown the place and need something larger. We went out and looked at the place last Monday and really liked it, but there was already someone ahead of us with an application. Luckily they fell through and we ended up getting the place! We’re not ready to buy a home yet but we plan on being there for at least the next two years. The home is in La Mesa, which is exactly 20 miles east of our home in Pacific Beach. It’s a great family neighborhood that reminds me very much of the neighborhood I grew up in. There’s a nice park less than a block from the house, plus Lake Murray is only about 5 minutes away. Tons of shopping, restaurants, easy freeway access, and a Costco within 5 minutes made it the perfect location for our growing family. We decided to give ourselves a week to move in by paying rent at both houses for the final week of March, that way we don’t have to cram everything into one hellacious day. Spreading it out may be a little more expensive, but with a baby on board, it’s so much more convenient and worth it.

Here’s a few of my favorite pictures from last night’s family photo session:

Taken this morning before I left for the airport.

Today we flew from San Diego to Denver for our annual family get together at Tom and Amy’s house in the Rocky Mountains. It was hard to leave San Diego considering how beautiful the weather was, but we’re very happy to be here. I was expecting it to be freezing in Colorado but it’s actually not bad. Our precious Ava was so good during her first flight. We expected her to sleep the whole time but as it turned out she never closed her eyes, and never made a sound. Joel and Melanie have been here since Saturday, Tom got in right before us so we rode up the mountain with him, then we have Derrick, Emily and Cole coming on Saturday. Jessica’s grandparents and her Aunt Betsy are coming out on Wednesday but I’ll be gone by then. Not looking forward to going home without my girls but I’m happy that the rest of the family will finally get to meet Ava. Hoping to get out on the slopes tomorrow and do some snowboarding. This trip is something I look forward to every year so it should be a great weekend!

Last time we had a post titled "House Hunting" it was because I had to hunt down a possum in our house and shoot it to death with my air pistol. This post will be slightly less dramatic. We put in notice at our home in Pacific Beach a couple weeks ago and have been searching for a house daily. We haven’t found anything so far but today was encouraging. I spoke with a landlord of a home today that sounds awesome. I won’t get into the details yet but we have an appointment to see the place tomorrow evening after work. I will say that it has everything we’re looking for on paper and it’s within our budget so we’ll see what happens.

The weather this weekend has been the best we’ve had in several months – mid 70’s and sunny. Yesterday I went for a walk with Ava strapped to my chest in the baby bjorn, and both dogs on leashes. Needless to say my hands were full, and I received more than my fair share of curious looks from strangers driving by, but it was fun. Today we enjoyed the beautiful weather by driving around in the morning looking for houses, then took Ava and the dogs for a walk in the afternoon.

Jessica is working tonight so Ava and I will be home watching basketball. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some good news about our next home! Here’s a couple new pics of Ava.

We’ve been waiting for this day to come for a while now, the day where Ava sleeps all night long without interruption. She finally did it last night by sleeping from 11:30pm to 9:30am! Yesterday was a long day for her and she was tired, so I guess that means we have to start going on hikes more often. I don’t normally write posts on consecutive days but this was a night to remember.

Today we celebrated Ava’s three month mark with Dana, Brad, Kallan and Anna, who are down here on vacation for the week. We started off with a beautiful hike at Torrey Pines State Park, then headed down to the beach so Ava could dip her feet in the ocean for the first time. The water was pretty cold so I don’t think she enjoyed it as much as we did, but she didn’t fuss much so that was nice. After a walk on the beach we had lunch at the Brigantine in Del Mar. Since it’s part of the company Jessica works for we always get well taken care of and the view is great.

Kallan had a tax return burning a hole in his pocket so after lunch we went up the coast to Hansen’s Surf Shop in Encinitas and did some shopping. He got a ton of stuff: hoodie, pair of vans, belt, shorts, and a t-shirt so he was super stoked. I got a hat, a pair of socks, and a long sleeve t–shirt, Brad got a new hoodie and Anna got a really cool snowboarding jacket. We took our time heading home and stopped to let the kids get frozen yogurt. Once we got home Jessica did Ava’s monthly photo shoot and she got a great shot. Ava is exhausted after all this activity so the three of us are in for the night. Enjoy the pics from today!

Walking up the hill to the trailhead

My sweethearts

Ava dipping her feet in the ocean for the first time

Tomorrow would be my Dad’s 84th birthday. Hard to believe considering I’m only 31 but it’s true. I have a lot of great stories about my dad but the story of how he got the name Elmer is one of my all-time favorites.

Elmer Michael Pellegrini was born on February 24th, 1928 in Aberdeen Washington, a town then occupied predominantly by loggers and Norwegian/Swedish fishermen. Aberdeen gained fame and recognition over 60 years later when the band Nirvana and their front man Kurt Cobain, an Aberdeen native, made it big.

My grandparents, Modesto (aka Mike) Pellegrini and Norina Lora Giuntoli (aka Gigi) were both 100% Italians who had emigrated separately about 15 years earlier. I don’t know how my grandparents met or what brought them to a Scandinavian fishing town on the western coast of Washington state, but that’s where they were. The most important thing to know about the time period that my Dad and his older sister Norma were born in was that it was the 20’s, and it was prohibition. This was unfortunate for my grandpa Mike because, for better or worse, he liked to drink.

Grandpa Mike died long before I was born but my dad always said he was a very smart and crafty guy. One example of this was the fact that he had a hidden bootlegging room behind a false wall in their house. In order to access the room, you had to pull on a coat hook that was wired to a hidden door. Crafty indeed.

Now, back to my dad’s name. Grandpa Mike was friends with a Norwegian guy named Elmer Gibson who just so happened to be the Aberdeen town sheriff. Mr. Gibson knew that my grandpa was a bootlegger so he made a deal with him. He told him that if he named his first born son after him, he wouldn’t take him to jail for bootlegging. Their first child was a daughter named Norma, born on June 15, 1926. Then a couple years later on February 24, 1928, my dad was born, and my grandpa kept his word, most likely making my dad the only full blooded Italian named Elmer in the history of Italians.

A few years later my grandpa Mike was paid a visit by the Feds. Apparently his bootlegging stature had grown beyond the oversight of a small town sheriff. My dad was probably 3 or 4 at the time and was so eager to show off how cool and smart his dad was that when the federal agents arrived at their house, he proudly pulled the coat hook to show them the hidden bootlegging room. I don’t know what happened after that but it couldn’t have been good.

The best thing about this weekend is that we get to celebrate my Dad’s birthday with my sister Dana, her husband Brad, and her two kids Kallan and Anna. This will be their first time meeting Ava so it should be a lot of fun. I know nothing would make my dad happier. I think of him daily, even more now that I’m a dad, and hope to do as good of a job with my kids that he did with his. Happy birthday dad!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad – taken in Hawaii, October 18, 1993

Dad & Gigi

Dad and my Godfather Pete when my parents were married in Sun Valley, Idaho

Dad and I on my sister Lora’s wedding day – September 12, 1992