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)

Easter Eggs!

We only made a few, since I will probably be the only one who eats them AND we are going to be gone all next weekend. However, Nikos thoroughly enjoyed himself! We got the eggs into the dye, then ate lunch, then went back to get them out and apply the glitter. When I told Nikos we had to eat lunch, he was SO upset. He wanted to stay with his eggs while they were soaking in the dye! Funny kid. The promise of ketchup and repeated promises that we would be coming back were the things that finally lured him away.

Anyhow, he did a great job! And Maya contributed by sitting in her high chair, eating blueberries and just observing the madness known as "Mommy-trying-to-keep-the-dye-in-the-cups-while-toddler-insists-on-doing-everything-independently." :)

A New Lens!

Gus is awesome. I'm sure you already knew that, but he is seriously just about the nicest guy on the planet. I have been wanting to buy this new lens for a while now (Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, if that means anything to you!), and last week he was like, "You know what? If you really want it, and you will use it, then just go ahead and get it." I found a fantastic deal on a mint-condition used lens, and it arrived today. I. LOVE. IT. It takes such crisp pictures, but has so much more flexibility than the other lens I was using most of the time. Seriously, it's incredible. Here are just a few shots I got with it this afternoon...




I should add that my photography business is starting to take off, and I couldn't be more excited! I have about 10 sessions lined up already, with the next one on April 3rd. I'm not charging yet-- just offering my free services to build my portfolio, but I'm thinking this could definitely turn into something profitable by the end of the year. I can't wait to see where things go! :)

Where to begin?

I posted about our playdate yesterday, but this weekend was quite the busy one! We spent most of yesterday visiting with my parents, since the playdate was up near where they live and we thought we'd make the most of it. Both kids had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa! We all went to the park together, they both went on the swings, and after our playdate, they both gorged themselves on mashed potatoes (it was Maya's first mashed potato experience... and she loved them!). Anyway, here are few pictures from the earlier part of the day, including one of Maya on her little pink scooter. She is loving the ride-on toys these days!




After we had dinner, we bathed the kids, buckled them into their car seats, and they had conked out within seconds. They barely opened their eyes as they were transported from the car to their bedrooms! I guess they were really worn out!

Today started out as a day without plans-- such a change of pace from yesterday. After I got up, Gus suggested taking the kids to the zoo after Maya had her first nap. I thought that sounded like a great idea, especially since we have had such lovely weather recently! However, Maya ended up sleeping a little longer than planned, which meant that we wouldn't have much time at the zoo (assuming we left at 1:00, which is when both kids generally nap in the afternoon). We were still going to go for a little bit, but then I had a total brainstorm! We changed our plans en route, and decided to go to the free air museum at MCAS Miramar. I have driven by it a million times, always thinking that Nikos would love it, but it always slipped my mind! Anyway, it was great! The entire place is free, flat, and totally fenced in-- perfect for a wandering toddler. And he loved seeing all the old planes and helicopters! They have open cockpit events scheduled over the summer, where people actually get to sit inside various aircraft. I am thinking we may just have to come back for that! And there is really no excuse, considering it's only about 15 minutes away. I am so happy we decided to go!







We spent the afternoon at home, with Gus taking Maya to do grocery shopping while I waded through paperwork in an attempt to do our taxes (getting there-- not done yet!). But my headache was rewarded by this little snippet:

She's been getting closer and closer to saying some real words, and I swear she has said "hi" and "mama" a few times. But that was the first time I was able to capture it, and so clearly! I LOVE my baby girl!! ♥ ♥

On a total side note, I took both kids with me to get Nikos' hair cut on Friday. I thought it would be a better experience, since he is older now and generally listens to logic. We talked it up for days, and he even seemed excited about it! But all hell broke loose the second we entered the PARKING LOT where the salon is located (I'm telling you, the kid has an incredible memory). He screamed the ENTIRE TIME he was getting the hair cut-- he really, truly seemed to be traumatized by the experience. I actually held him in my lap, and he trembled like a little leaf. But the second he was done, he stopped crying, said thank you, showed the cashier lady his toy car, got a lollipop, and was just generally sociable. And when we got home, he ran to look at himself in the mirror and announced that he liked his new 'do. That's right-- I apparently gave birth to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Oh. My. Goodness.

New Friends

For the third time since January, the kids and I got together with some of the mommies from my online group. I have to say, I really enjoy getting to meet these people, who prove to be just as awesome in real life as they are on the discussion forum! It is really nice to meet other moms who are around my age, come from similar educational backgrounds, have common interests, etc. We always find so much to talk about! Anyway, I knew one of the girls who came today (with her two adorable kiddos), but we got to meet a few others, too. As you will see, Maya became fast friends with a little boy named Carter who, because of an incredibly rare genetic mutation, is the same age as Nikos but is more cognitively on par with Maya. It was so sweet how the two of them interacted! And Nikos, for his part, enjoyed playing with bubbles with his old friend, "New Brady" (not to be confused with Brady at daycare).

Top O' The Morning!

Here's a pic of how my little leprechauns went to daycare this morning... :)

My Babies

Sure, one's not looking at the camera... But this is SO typical! I love these kids more than life itself! ♥


And one more, of my beautiful girl on my brand-new barnwood floor paper! :)

Mr. Super Memory

i don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Nikos really has an amazing memory. He never ceases to surprise me by just how much he notices and remembers. Even if I don't think he's paying attention, he really IS-- and will bring it up in conversation at a much later date. Which brings us to our conversation this afternoon.

Out of the blue, he said to me, "Janie go to the Chinese kite festival." I had no idea what he was referring to, but hearing the words "Chinese kite festival" coming out of my baby's mouth made me giggle a little (he's so grown up!). I asked him about it, and he repeated it. I figured he HAD to be talking about a TV show. I know that they sometimes watch TV at daycare, and figured he had to be referring to something he'd seen. I asked him if it was something from the show "Ni Hao Kai-Lan," since I know she (Kai-Lan) is Chinese, and I thought I had seen some preview for an episode involving kites. No, no, no! Nikos was ADAMANT that it was not about Kai-Lan. He kept saying "Oomy-Zoomy," which sounded like total gibberish. I had no idea what he was talking about.

Well... As it turns out, there is a show called UmiZoomi. And an episode where someone named Jeannie goes to a Chinese kite festival. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that that was what he was talking about. :)

My Cute Kids

Long story very, very short (because it's bedtime)... We spent the day with Gus' parents, because Gus' mom's birthday was this past week. An excellent time was had by all! And cute pictures were taken! :)