A Teaser...

I haven't posted much lately, since I have been busy planning and working on Maya's first birthday party, but I thought I would post a quick picture from the set I took last weekend. I posted more of them on my photo blog, so you can go there if you want to look! In the meantime, here is my sweet almost-one-year old. Really, where has the year gone? One year ago today was my first full day of maternity leave. It was a surprisingly hectic week, since there was SO much to get done! But oh, what a reward! But enough of that. It is making me very weepy to think that my BABY is very nearly a TODDLER. I don't know if I am okay with that just yet!

My Babies

I subjected my little darlings to a photo shoot this afternoon! The lighting conditions were less than desirable, but I think they are pretty cute nonetheless. I can't wait to take Maya's one year photos this weekend-- I have big, big plans! :)

A Weird Thought

After I typed out that past post, I started researching options for turning this blog into a book. I did this when Nikos turned one, and wanted to do something similar for Maya. And while I could (and probably will) use the same company, I thought I'd research all the options.

Anyway... Long story short, I started looking at blog posts from when I was pregnant with Maya. It is SO WEIRD to me, to think of a time before she was here! When I see these pictures of a very-young Nikos, I instantly wonder, "Where's Maya?" She is SUCH an integral part of our family that it is truly difficult to remember life without her. She and her brother are quite the pair, indeed!

But yes... I guess there was a time before Maya. And I am so glad that I blogged about it, because it has honestly become a blur!

Probably

I just wanted to take a moment to talk about the word that has somehow worked its way into Nikos' vocabulary, and permeates nearly every sentence the boy utters lately. It cracks me up! My two favorite instances happened earlier today. First, Nikos was looking for a puzzle piece, which had apparently gone missing. He wandered into the kitchen, threw up his hands, and said, "Mommy, the oval piece-- I don't know where is it!" I didn't know, either, but figured it couldn't hurt to say, "I don't know-- where is it, baby?" He thought and thought, then had a very visible "a-ha!" moment, and announced: "It's probably in my room! I go look for it!"

Later, he was talking to my parents on the phone, and told them the various things we had bought at the store. He told them we had bought a present, and my mom asked where HER present was (just joking around). Again, he got very thoughtful-looking, and then he declared, "It's probably in the car, Grandma!"

Oh my goodness, this kid makes me laugh. I LOVE his language these days. He is so imaginative, and such a quick thinker. He definitely keeps us on our toes, but not in a bad way! :)

Reasons #548964 & #548965 Why I Love My Kids

The first one has to do with Maya. She is a Snuggler. She's always been the type who loves to snuggle in bed with us on those mornings when she wakes at some ungodly hour, or who will take a break from playing to come over and rest her head on my leg and heave a contented sigh. Nikos was never really this way, so it's been a real treat to get so much affection! At any rate, it gets better. For the past two nights, as I have finished giving Maya her bedtime bottle, she has pushed the bottle aside and sat up in my lap. She then turns toward me, wiggles around to get comfy, and rests her head on my chest. Sometimes her eyes are open, sometimes they are closed. Tonight, she whispered to me for a good five minutes (she said "hi" a lot). She smiles, sighs happily, and just generally oozes love. It is seriously enough to make your heart explode. ♥

And the next reason, of course, has to do with Nikos. I just love how amazed he is by even the smallest things, and that I really am sort of a superhero in his little world. This afternoon was a little on the windy side, so I took the kids out back and we flew Nikos' Spider-Man kite. I am the one who does most of the flying, but he runs along beside me and just shrieks with joy and amazement when it takes off. And with every swoop and dive, he giggles and yells and just gets so into it. Until recently, I hadn't flown a kite since I was a kid. And you know what? It's pretty awesome. Sometimes it takes a toddler to remind us about these things. :)

New News!

...and no, it's not MY uterus! (haha, did I mention that we are DONE having kids? Because we are!) It's Melissa's! Which means that Nikos and Maya are getting a little boy cousin in September! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!! I have been dying to tell someone, anyone, for the longest time! But Grant and Melissa pretty much kept things under wraps until they had their big ultrasound today. The little guy is perfect and adorable and wonderful! Nikos announced several times today that Melissa had a "boy baby" in her tummy, so I think he is excited for his first cousin. And I am beyond thrilled to meet my little nephew in September! He is so loved already! ♥ ♥

Busy Weekend...

Long story short, we hired a cleaning lady who started this weekend! She will regularly come on Mondays, but wanted to spend more time doing the initial "deep cleaning," so we scheduled it for Saturday. Once we got her started, the kids and I headed to my parents' house for the day while Gus headed for the airport (to leave on yet another business trip!). Anyway, I had fun with my camera, and took lots of cute pictures of my babies!





And then, when we got home, the house was immaculate. It was WONDERFUL! And even though the past few days have been busy, I have done my best to keep it clean. It makes me so much happier, coming home to a clean house!!

In other news, the kids continue to be unbearably adorable. They have started to sort of wrestle with one another, which (despite my best efforts to thwart it) delights them both to no end. In fact, Maya loves to start it! She will go over to wherever her brother is playing, pull up, and then grab him around the waist. He will grab her back and, before you know it, the two of them are rolling around on the floor, usually with Maya's head in some sort of half-Nelson wrestling move. And they just DIE laughing. Seriously, they both think it is just about the most fun thing in the universe. And trying to explain that "it's all fun until somebody gets hurt" doesn't really mean a whole lot to an almost-one-year-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old. Sigh. It really is pretty cute, though. And they really DO enjoy each other!

And when Nikos is not wrestling, he is busy learning amazing new words and new tricks. Most notably, he has learned to wipe his own nose! He will go into the bathroom, get a tissue or some toilet paper, wipe his nose, and then properly dispose of his trash. It's pretty darn cute, even if he is a bit heavy-handed with the TP. Still... it's progress! :)

My Sweet Girl

This video is just a typical one of our happy baby girl... I just love it!

Happy Easter!

...one day late!

We had a fantastic weekend. It started with a trip to a local park that was home to plenty of ducks, koi, and TURTLES! we actually went there so that I could do a photo shoot of my coworker's grandson (check out my photo blog for pics!). While I took pictures, Gus walked around the pond with the kids. Maya drank her bottle, and Nikos had a fabulous time admiring all the wildlife. A good time was had by all!

After I wrapped up the shoot, we had a quick lunch at a fast-food restaurant, then started the drive up to my parents' house. The plan was to celebrate my birthday, spend the night there, and then drive to Gus' parents' house for Easter. When we arrived at my parents' house, Maya had decided that she was done napping, but Nikos was transferred to his bed there and continued to sleep for another hour or so. Once everyone was awake, we decided to walk down to the park. My parents live in a planned community, and the park down the street was hosting an Easter event-- an egg hunt, horseshoes, meet the Easter Bunny-- that sort of thing. We figured we'd check it out, at least. I had very low expectations, since Nikos isn't a big fan of Santa!

At any rate, we'd been walking for a whopping minute when Nikos stopped dead in his tracks and yelled, "THERE'S A RACE CAR IN THERE!!!" He was pointing inside my parents' next-door-neighbor's garage where, sure enough, a race car was parked. I guess their neighbor races these cars out on the Pala Indian Reservation. Anyway, the guy happened to be in his garage at the time, and he invited Nikos in to sit in the car. I am 99% sure that this was the highlight of his entire weekend. That kid LOVES cars. LOVES them! He is still talking about driving the race car!

We eventually made it to the park. Nikos, who was riding on Grandpa's shoulders, instantly tried to turn my dad's head like a steering wheel when he laid eyes on the Easter Bunny. He desperately wanted to escape! So he went and played at the playground while we took Maya over to see the Easter Bunny. She was fine until she sat on his lap... And, well, the picture tells the rest of that story...
The next morning, after Maya's first nap, we made the hour-long drive from my parents' house to Gus' parents' house. The kids were both wide awake, and it went really smoothly. Once we got there, we spent most of the afternoon admiring the lamb slowly spinning on the spit out front or dealing with various kid-issues (bottles, naps, diapers, etc.). Gus' old buddy, Min, happened to be in town, so he stopped by and visited for a bit (he was the Best Man at our wedding). He hadn't met Maya yet, and it had been ages since he met Nikos, so that was a lot of fun! Maya, for her part, had a lot of fun examining Yiayia's various Easter decorations. :)

Later, while Nikos napped, Maya relaxed outside with us while the lamb cooked. She wouldn't go near the lamb, maybe because of the smoke? I don't know.
Anyway, I had fun playing with my camera. And I got this picture, which is probably in my Top Ten favorite photos of all time... Even though Gus wanted me to crop him out!!

And... not two minutes after I took that photo, the ground began to shake and roll pretty severely. It was an earthquake! Magnitude 7.2, centered in Mexico. A BIG one!!! We were fine, obviously. Nikos woke up from his nap, but there were no other lasting effects. I was slightly concerned about our house, seeing as it was much closer to the epicenter, but everything was exactly as we had left it. Thank you, awesome building codes!

Anyhow, we drove home at bedtime, and both kids quickly conked out in their carseats. It was a fun, but busy, weekend, and it feels good to be home--and on Spring Break! Hooray!! :)

11 Month Letter

Dear Maya,

I won't cry... I won't cry... I won't cry... This is what I have to keep telling myself, now that you are only a month away from being a ONE year old! I have said it a million times, and I'm sure I'll say it a million more, but you have grown up way too quickly. These last 11 months have been pure bliss. You really ARE my sunshine-- in fact, you are everyone's sunshine. Even though I know there must have been a Time Before Maya, I simply find it impossible to imagine the world without you in it.

Being the spunky little gal you are, your eleventh month of life has, yet again, been loaded with growth and change. Perhaps the biggest change has been your sudden interest in speaking! You were never much of a talker before-- you seemed to prefer focusing your efforts on achieving physical milestones. But lately, you will yank your pacifier out of your mouth and tell us things. Like "Hi!" (accompanied with a wave) or, my personal favorite, "Mama!" You have a number of other "words" which we don't quite understand yet, but our knowledge of speech development tells us that they must mean something important to you. Only time will tell, I suppose!


On the physical side of things, you continue to be busy, busy, busy. You are totally adept at pulling up on things, and you do it constantly. You cruise along furniture, getting faster by the day, and are now confident enough to let go and only hold on with one hand. People are constantly commenting on your fearlessness and your determined nature. If you fall down, you might cry for a second or two, but you get right back up and try again. You give your brother a run for his money, and he has had to come up with more (higher) places to hide particular toys, if he doesn't want you to get to them. He used to just put them on the couch, but that simply doesn't work, now that you can reach!


Speaking of you and Nikos... You two have such an incredible relationship. It's not always perfect (he has been known to pull your hair occasionally, and he doesn't like it when you climb on top of him while he's attempting to read a book or play with his cars), but the two of you are SO sweet together 95% of the time. He is always aware of where you are and what you need, and often goes out of his way to fetch toys for you or make you laugh. In the morning, I get you out of your crib and bring you into the living room, where your brother is sitting on the couch. Your little arm shoots up into the air right away, frantically waving hello to your brother. This always has the effect of making him smile, or giggle, and he's just so happy to have you around. We all are, of course!


Yes... You giggle, you wave, you clap, you throw your arms over your head, and you basically exude cuteness and sweetness twenty-four hours a day. At the same time, you are one tough cookie, and aren't about to let anyone tell you that you can't achieve whatever it is you want to accomplish. It's amazing how clear some of your personality traits are already-- you are definitely not a quitter! But we adore you to pieces. As I often say to both you and your brother, I love you forever. You are an amazing, incredible little person, and we are so lucky to know you! Happy 11 months, sweet baby girl!

All our love, always,
Mommy and Daddy
(and Nikos)