Maya's Baptism

Let me just start by saying that I probably should have stayed home from work today. I was SO tired from all the traveling and excitement this weekend! Of course, that's not really a good reason to call in sick, but today was ROUGH!

Anyway, Maya is now officially a member of the Greek Orthodox Church!

We drove up to Gus' parents' house on Saturday afternoon, so we could spend the night and then not have to drive quite so much on Sunday. As always, the kids had a great time playing with their grandparents (yiayia and papou) and aunt (theia). One important activity included baking a cake for Bill, who was flying in later that night. Who WOULDN'T want to eat this, really?

Anyway, the baptism itself went well. The guest list was very small, limited to just family. In attendance were both sets of grandparents, Maria and Bill (the godparents), Nikos' godfamily (Maria, Manoli, and Panayioti-- Eraclis is at law school in NY), and our little family of four. It was very last-minute, so some people couldn't make it, but it turned out for the best. Our normally shy boy was in hog heaven, with so many of his favorite people around! It definitely helped.

I started to type out a long blurb about what a Greek Orthodox baptism looks like, but thought a link might actually be more helpful (so here you go!). What you need to know, to understand the pictures, is that she started out in a gorgeous pink floral dress and matching accessories. After the initial part of the ceremony (where Gus and I held her and tried to keep her from running away), she got stripped down and wrapped in a white blanket. Then, she got slathered in oil and dipped in the font (which was heated, by the way). That was when she got very, very mad, and wanted me to hold her... but I couldn't, because the godparents have to keep holding her from that point until the end of the ceremony. They changed her into her beautiful white baptismal outfit, complete with her crucifix, and brought her back out to finish the ceremony and take Communion. At that point, I was able to hold her again, and she calmed down relatively quickly. And when it was all said and done, we went to a great restaurant with breathtaking views of Orange County, and both kids had a blast eating chicken fingers and getting ketchup all over their nice clothes. OOPS!




Anyway, it went very well, and now it is done. Hooray! And now, off to bed for me, to try and make up for such a full weekend! :)

Just One!

Just one picture from this past week... This one just KILLS me, it is so ridiculously cute! I need to improve on my pigtail technique, though, because these are totally crooked. Oh well!

Anyway, I can't believe I haven't blogged at all this week! It just seems like there is always something going on lately. Between trying to sell our house, considering making an offer on a short-sale home in Massachusetts, getting a new student teacher (who is awesome!) and everything else, blogging just fell by the wayside. And I hate that! Blogging is my therapy! I love it!

We're going to be out of town this weekend, but stay tuned for a major update on Sunday or Monday... Our baby toddler girl is getting baptized on Sunday! For a number of reasons (mostly scheduling ones) she is a lot older than her brother was when he was baptized, so I don't foresee this going well. In fact, I predict a lot of "NO! NO! I don't WANT it!" Poor baby. :( But it's going to be a small gathering of just family members, followed by dinner at a restaurant. I don't know if I will be able to get any pictures, since I will most likely have to enlist someone to do it for me, but I am hopeful! Until then... have a great weekend!

Party!

Today, we went to the most fun birthday party ever!!!

Ok, maybe it wasn't (or maybe it was?), but it certainly stood out as being the most fun party we've been to in a while. It was for Bonnie's grandson, Teagen, who the kids see every day at daycare. It was at a local indoor play place, and all their daycare buddies were there! It was fun to just let the kids play together and actually have some time to get to know the other parents. Nikos took a while to get warmed up, as expected, but was begging to stay by the time we had to leave. Maya was gung-ho from the get go, also as expected.

At any rate, it was a lot of fun. I, personally, enjoyed taking Maya up to the top of the looooooong, super fast slides and going down them. It was so fun! Nikos even did it all by himself, after getting over his initial fear. See that little (blurry) kiddo on the blue side? That's my boy! And Gus is at the top of the red one, with Maya's head just barely peeking over...

After a nice long playtime, it was time to move into the party room for a few activities. The kids decorated their very own superhero capes (that Bonnie sewed herself), danced around popping bubbles, ate snacks, then sang "Happy Birthday" to their 4-year-old friend. Maya was in the room the entire time, while Nikos sort of came and went (he had JUST warmed up to the play equipment at this time, and going into a crowded room to eat snacks wasn't a battle we were ready to deal with). Maya didn't seem to mind, though, and had a blast chatting with her buddy Mattias. We jokingly call him her boyfriend, because these two really do make a beeline for each other at daycare every morning. And it was nice for me to get to know his mom, who was very sweet. :)

And a photo of my guy, who did manage to make it into the room for a cupcake!

After the party events were over, it was time for more playing. Both kids finally made it into the ballpit, which was a madhouse! All us parents outside kept thinking that someone was for SURE going to get hurt... But miraculously, they were fine! And they had a blast!

Anyway, the whole party was so much fun, and made better by the fact that we are starting to get to know these other people over time.

Side note: How many times can a person use the word "fun" in one post? Guess I need a thesaurus, haha!

My Big Girl

Every now and then, I am struck by what a big girl Maya is becoming. I guess it's because, in my mind, she will always be my little baby! Still, she is so much more capable than I give her credit for. For one, she's becoming quite the little engineer with her blocks. I didn't realize until this morning just how adept she has gotten at assembling little towers and whatnot. Exhibit A:

And last night, she and her brother were both jumping on our bed. In the past, I have worried about her fearlessness, thinking she might just go right over the side of the bed without thinking. But nope! She knows where the edges are and avoids them. There was one noggin-bonking incident (Nikos got a little too wild), but everyone recovered quickly. Exhibit B:

Then there are the moments like these. Maya has gotten old enough that Nikos really enjoys playing with her, and they can play on almost the same level. This is a HUGE advantage to having kids so close in age, I think! This morning, they both played with an alphabet app on my iPod Touch:

And then they both went into Nikos' room with the objective of reading all his books (according to Nikos). I'm not sure how much reading actually occurred, but there was a lot of looking.

I think this afternoon, we'll play "clean up the giant pile of books in Nikos' room." Good times!

Anyway, there are other "big girl" things, too. Her bed, for one, which she transitioned into even more easily than her brother (if that's even possible!). And lately, she has been asking to use the potty. We haven't even begun potty training yet, nor did I WANT to, but she is really interested. If she asks, I let her sit on the potty for a few minutes, while she requests books to read or scraps of toilet paper to wave around. She has yet to actually produce anything while she's there, but it is surely a sign of things to come.

Really, she is growing up so fast!! How can that be possible?

Heirloom

I got home from work today, and was pleasantly surprised to find two packages awaiting me on the front porch. And one of them contained this cradle:

It's a pretty simple little cradle, but it has a lot of meaning in our family. My great-grandpa made it out of an old church pew when his wife was pregnant with the baby girl who would become my grandma. She slept in it as a newborn, and then kept it through the years. My dad and his sisters all played with it, and it eventually found its way into my bedroom. I kept my dolls in it for years, before it got passed along to my cousin Evan. I don't know if my cousin Emma ever had it but, at any rate, it wound up in storage at my aunt's house (Evan's mom). I had forgotten about it entirely until my aunt sent me an email a few weeks ago. She was cleaning out the house in preparation for her move to Oregon, and came across it. And now, it's Maya's! At least until someone else in the family has a baby girl. Until then, we are going to treasure it!!

I wonder what my great-grandpa would think about his great-great granddaughter playing with it? :)

Two Sickies

AAACK! We had such a great weekend together, only for it to end so badly!

Yesterday, despite being in a great mood, Nikos complained periodically about his tummy hurting. We had a few less-than-pleasant trips to the potty, but I figured that was it. However, bedtime rolled around, and he kept waking up crying. And then he puked, and I caught it in my hands (file under: "things I never thought I would do before I became a mom"). Gus ended up snuggling with him in his bean bag chair for a while before he calmed down enough to go back to sleep.

This morning, Maya was cranky, but I thought it was possibly due to her sleep being disrupted by her brother. Nikos said his tummy still hurt, so the plan was for Gus to stay home with him until 11:30 or so, when I would come home. Maya still went to daycare. All went according to plan until around 2:00, when Bonnie called. Maya had a fever, and was inconsolable. Ugh!!

Seconds later, Bonnie was on our front porch with our sick baby girl. Can I just say how nice it is to have our daycare right next door??? Anyway, Maya was hot and sweaty, and I gave her some acetaminophen right away. All she wanted to do was lay in my arms and whimper and watch tv. I knew she was feeling a little better when she plucked her pacifier from her mouth and said she wanted candy, haha! At any rate, she eventually went down for a nap, and woke up feeling a lot better. She seemed back to her old self by bedtime... Let's hope that both kids wake up feeling great tomorrow!

The Great Outdoors... And a Confession

The gorgeous weather continued today! And, since we had the day off from work (Thank you and happy birthday, Dr. King!), the kids and I spent most of the day playing in the back yard while Gus worked in the garage (it was a trade-off... I got to sleep in today if he got his garage time to do woodworking stuff. Good deal!).

Anyway, it was heavenly! The weather was warm (but not too hot). Maya had a blast just running around, driving the Cozy Coupe and going up and down the slide countless times. Nikos watered all the plants in the yard, and then hit baseballs for nearly an hour (using the launcher-thingy my brother got him for his birthday... which once terrified him, but not anymore!).

I even got both kids to sit still momentarily so I could take their photos for Valentine's Day cards (coming soon to a mailbox near you!). Sure, it involved bribery, but it was totally worth it! Here are two of the outtakes from our "session":


Then, after naptime, we NEEDED to go outside again and soak in some more of the beautiful weather. I moved Nikos' little table and chairs set outside so they could paint! I thought they might be willing to paint Valentines for their daycare friends, but nope! They BOTH refused to do that, wanting only to paint on paper. Difficult children! Anyway, it had been a while since Maya had painted, and she instantly stuck the paint-covered brush in her mouth. YUCK!!! She recovered quickly, though, and soon got into the whole painting-on-paper thing. And, of course, I took pictures. [On a side note-- could I possibly have TWO left-handed children?!? What are the odds??]


Anyway... All this gorgeous weather has really made me appreciate living here in southern California. And it just underlines what a huge change we are most likely going to make in the next year.

So, on to my confession. I haven't really mentioned it on here before for various reasons, but we are actually in the process of selling our house (or trying to, anyway) so that we can relocate to... Massachusetts. Nope, that was not a typo. Nope, you're not dreaming. Long story very, VERY short: Gus' division of his company (consisting of 3 employees) is being bought by another company, based in central Massachusetts. His job here is safe for now, but the long-term prospects aren't promising... Most likely, the local office will be obsolete in a few years. Meanwhile, Gus has hit it off really well with various people in the new company, and they want him to come and work at the home office. They have offered to cover our moving costs entirely, as well as provide some sort of stipend for incidental costs that might arise.

The advantages to moving? There'd be much more room for advancement there, the home prices are a LOT cheaper (we're talking $200K for a huge old home on at least an acre in a great school district), and I could be a stay-at-home mom and focus on my photography business. Not to mention leaving the fast-paced SoCal lifestyle for someplace a little more family-oriented. And did I mention that Massachusetts is GORGEOUS?? We'd be less than an hour from Boston, and only a few hours from New York City. And since we will most likely have a finished basement (=an extra place for guests to sleep), this could benefit YOU, too! There is, of course, one very obvious drawback to our plan, which I won't get into right now. But believe me, it's the biggest one. My heart hurts when I think about being so far from our families-- I could write an entire post (or twenty) about it. But we have faith that our decision is the best one for our little family of four, and we are going to go for it. If only someone would buy our house here!

At any rate, yesterday's temperature here was close to 80 degrees, whereas our likely future home was experiencing 25-degree weather that "felt like 16." YIKES! As most people have said, we are certainly going to be in for a shock next winter, assuming our move goes as planned. But I AM looking forward to the adventure! And in the meantime, I plan to enjoy this California "winter" as much as possible! No snow suit required!

**Also, if you are my friend on Facebook, please DON'T mention the move on there. The only people who I am really keeping this info from are my current students, in the event that I have to leave before school ends (which is looking less than likely at this point). And while I refuse to "friend" any of my students on there, I AM friends with a few of their parents (not just because their kid is in my class, but because they really are people I consider my friends). I just don't want any rumors spreading or having to deal with that discussion prematurely in class. So... there ya go!

Gorgeous Day

Days like today are seriously the reason we decided to move to San Diego. While much of the country is pretty darn cold right now (it being winter and all), it felt like late spring/early summer here today. Yup. Nearly 80 degrees, beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds floating by, birds singing in the trees, and a very mild breeze blowing... you would never guess that it is MID-JANUARY!

Anyway, it's been like this for a few days now, and today we finally took full advantage of it. We piled into the car (in our summer clothes), stopped off at Starbucks for some iced coffee deliciousness, and then drove to the zoo. We had a blast! The nice thing about having a zoo membership is that we never feel pressured to see every single animal or exhibit, since we can always come back again. So we wandered around, visiting some old favorites and seeing some new ones (like the tigers, who are NEVER out when we go by!). The kids had a great time playing in the various kid-friendly areas scattered throughout the park, and we were home just in time for their afternoon nap. Now, everyone is awake again, and Gus and Nikos have gone off to the market together so we can barbecue for dinner tonight. The perfect end to a perfect day! Here are just a few pictures from this morning's zoo fun:

Wild

Although getting the blog books was the high point of MY day (see previous post!), I am pretty sure it wasn't much more than a blip on the radar for the kids. Sure, Nikos did sit and look through it with me for a little while, but he had big plans to play in his room that were far more appealing. Oh well!

Anyway... Not too long after I dropped the kids off at daycare this morning, my parents came to pick them up and take them to the Wild Animal Park. We are so lucky to live close to both the Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo-- and we go there so often that I am pretty sure my children are honorary zookeepers or something. At any rate, they had a blast! They saw a baby cheetah, they saw a big lion up close, and they "got to pet a REINDEER!!" Among many other things, of course. But my favorite was when Nikos told me he saw a spider monkey. And then, a minute later, he said, "Actually, Mommy, it was a BAMBOON!" I prefer his pronunciation, too. I think I am going to call baboons that from now on.

But back to the visit... Both kids had fun, Maya took a short nap in the stroller, and Nikos declared that the meerkats were his favorite animals (sorry, llamas!). The weather was absolutely gorgeous, too! Both kids were back at daycare in time for their afternoon naps, and everyone transitioned smoothly. Hooray!

Actually, it was pretty funny. Nikos sometimes has a rough time going BACK to Bonnie's house at weird hours. He is such a creature of habit and routine that he usually goes straight to the kitchen table, expecting breakfast, even if it's 11am. And when he's informed that breakfast is over, he gets really upset and sometimes throws a fit. So, to avoid this, I kept telling him the plan this morning. I said, "Mommy's going to take you to daycare. Then, Grandma and Grandpa are going to take you to the Wild Animal Park. Then they'll take you back to Bonnie's so you can take your nap, and then I'll come and pick you up." Apparently he was paying attention, because he walked in, told Bonnie he needed to take a nap, and proceeded to get settled in his nap spot. He never actually slept, but he laid there and rested and cuddled with his Bear. Such a funny guy! But he knew that was the plan!

Anyhow, how about a picture? My parents emailed this to me earlier. The only time they got the camera out was when the kids were playing in the children's water park area (shut off for the season). Check out those wild animals!

Labor of Love

Okay, so this is a blog post about making a book of my blog posts. It doesn't get much more "meta" than that, folks!

Anyway, they are finished, and they are here. I don't think anyone else understands what a labor of love this has been. Except for possibly Gus, but even he only got to witness me cursing at the (uncooperative) computer at the tail end of the project. In fact, this is something that is over two years in the making. See, I made a blog book when Nikos turned one. It covered my pregnancy and his first year, and was a great thing to have. I fully intended to do the same thing for Maya, but kept overthinking the project: Do I make one book for Nikos' second year and one for Maya's incubation and first year, or make one combined book? And if I make a combined book, where do I start and stop??? You have no idea how much I agonized over these seemingly insignificant details!

In the end, I knew I had to start the book with the day I found out I was pregnant with Maya (August 2008), even though it would overlap slightly with the first blog book. And, well, time just got away from me. Every few months, I would attempt to catch up with converting all the posts to one giant Word document, but I never seemed to cross the finish line. A few weeks ago, I set a goal for myself: to finish the blog book before 2010 ended. And, I made my goal! With about ten minutes to spare!

The end result is this 464-page labor of love. I ordered two copies, one for each kiddo, which I plan to give to them when they are old enough to appreciate what they really are. It's their entire lives over the past two-plus years, in words and pictures. AND... in video! What I didn't mention is that I also set a goal for myself to burn ALL the video clips onto a DVD (2007-2010), and mount the envelope for said DVD inside the back cover of the book. So each of them will also have a video record of all the cute things they did and said as toddlers.

Really, I am pretty proud of myself. I love these kids more than life itself. And I hope that, one day, they will read these books and truly understand that. ♥

Us and Them

Ok, so I was sitting here trying to think of a title for this blog post... something to do with "me" and "you," which will make sense shortly. But I kept returning to "Us and Them." Maybe because I have been listening to too much Pink Floyd lately? I think it's a sign that I need to switch out the CDs in my car, haha!

Anyway... Maya has dazzled us recently with a sudden and complete understanding of the words "me" and "you." She's also using her own name (or nickname, rather) more and more when referring to herself-- she knows who she is! Case in point:

This morning, Nikos came over and said to me, "I love building trains!" To which I replied, "and I love my Nikos!" Maya, who was playing nearby on the floor, stopped what she was doing, looked up at me, and said, "And My-My!!" Naturally, I said, "and I love My-My, too!" She beamed, announced "That's meeeee!!!" and went back to playing. It was BEYOND cute.

Throughout the day, she peppered her conversations with me's and you's, always accompanying them with an appropriate point to herself or the person she was talking to. There are still a lot of her words we don't completely understand, but these two are pretty clear, at least. And while a good number of her words are still hard to comprehend, it is completely obvious that this girl is speaking in sentences. Many, many sentences! She even loves to sings songs in her own way. It should be fun when she gets to be around Nikos' age. I can only imagine what amazing things she is going to have to say!

And now for something completely different! (he he!!)

I post a lot on here about Nikos and Maya, and rarely does my first (and furriest) baby get much blog time. But Charlie is still alive and well, and boy, does he love these little people! Both kids are great about petting him gently, giving him kitty hugs, and just loving their "big brother." Today, I managed to catch some pics of Charlie trying to snuggle with Nikos as he played in the living room. These two are just so sweet together!



Finally, another note about a not-as-frequently-mentioned family member: Sugar Bear! Sugar Bear, AKA "Bear," is Nikos' lovey. They've been inseparable since Nikos was about 4 months old, and Bear definitely shows some wear and tear. Still, I informed Nikos recently that Christmas marked Bear's third birthday, since he was a Christmas gift from Nouno and Nouna in 2007. He didn't say anything about it for a while, but decided tonight that we needed to celebrate. So, after dinner, I lit a votive candle, we all sat at the table, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to our stuffed friend. Nikos blew out that candle for him, and we all cheered for Bear. And then we did the entire thing over again (because Bear wanted to, of course). :)

Just Another Thursday...

...and another excuse to bust out the new Speedlite, yippee!!

I actually took the kids outside as it was starting to get dusky. It was partly because they were a little on the wild side, and I wanted them to burn off some energy, and partly because I wanted to see what my new flash could do out there (it's different than inside, where I can bounce the light off the ceiling). Anyway, I got some pics, and the lighting was great, but the subjects were, shall we say, unwilling.

Anyway, we came back in, got Maya changed (since she had somehow found a puddle and gotten soaked from the waist down), and they relaxed in the living room while I got dinner ready. Some of them relaxed more than others...

Then, since I got my camera out, I tried getting a pic of my boy. As I have mentioned many times, he's a tough one. He usually runs in the opposite direction when I bring my camera out. Not today, though! I even managed to get this shot, which is one of my current favorites.

And then, just for fun, I put together this "photo booth strip" of a few of his funny faces. It's a shame he is so camera shy, because this kid really can be a total ham. I love this face! :)

At any rate... Tomorrow is Friday! Yippee!!!! I have (almost) survived my first week back after a vacation. I think this calls for a celebration!

Mommy's New Toy

In the interest of not going on and on about photography stuff, I will just give a visual demonstration of what my new Speedlite does. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Yay! Both of these pictures were taken back-to-back with the same exact camera settings (in "auto" mode) in a completely dark room. The top one was with the Speedlite, and the bottom was with the regular pop-up flash on the camera. I did absolutely no editing to either of these pictures. Can you see a difference? hehe!

YAY!!! I got some other new toys, too, to go with it, but this was by far the most expensive part. Totally worth it! Natural-looking lighting in a dark room. I love it!

By the way, this would be my edited version. I LOVE MY SPEEDLITE! Yippee!

..and Firefighter Nikos!

Today was back to work for me and Gus, and back to daycare for the kiddos. Needless to say, I feel pretty beat! But I did manage to snap a good pic of my little firefighter this afternoon. He really does love that costume! Both of them do! :)

Firefighter Maya

I got Nikos this dress-up set for Christmas (complete with megaphone and extinguisher), and it has been the Toy du Jour around here! Nikos wore it for a while earlier, walking around and making fire extinguisher sounds. Then, since she HAS to do EVERYTHING Nikos does these days, Maya put it on. And since she is always the easier one to photograph, I was able to snap a few pics:


In other news... The kids spent New Year's Eve with my parents, and Maya learned a new trick! Well, it's not a trick, per se, but she learned something new. When looking at a picture of herself, she used to always say, "A baby!" But now, if you ask her who is in the picture, she will answer, "My-my!" This is a huge step, because it's the first time I have ever even heard her say her own name, let alone identify herself in a picture! It's AWESOME! Her language is really exploding these days. While there are still bits and pieces we don't understand, she is pretty much capable of communicating with us. And in sentences, no less! She is such a little chatterbox! I will have to post a video. Maybe later!

Thinking Back...

With only a few minutes to go until 2011, I am reminded of New Year's Eve four years ago. When I was younger and skinnier, haha!

But seriously, I remember it well. We had been trying for nearly 6 months for a baby, with no success. It was heartbreaking. I had hoped that I might even find out I was pregnant that day, but it was quite the opposite. At least we had a fun party (at my aunt and uncle's house) to distract us. Anyway, I can very clearly remember making a wish at midnight-- wishing that we would have a baby in our arms before the year was through. And... we did! I got my wish! :)

Four years later, it's incredible to see how much our lives have changed. And 2011 promises to be full of adventure and excitement, too. I can't wait!! And on that note, I am going to bed... HAPPY NEW YEAR!