The East Coast Steaks welcomed the West Coast Steaks yesterday! They are here for the week and we're happy to have them here with us! We're sorry they couldn't bring Brillo. He would have given our weather wimps a run for their money!
I picked up Dave and Nancy from the airport after work. Carole was already at the house and Don arrived right after we did. I immediately started preparing the big old chicken I had bought for dinner while everyone else helped to watch the kids.
As the chicken finished roasting, many renditions of Rock Band were played. Steve and I had downloaded a compilation of The Cars tunes, but I think it's time to download some more fun stuff. What a ball!
We didn't eat until after DJ went to bed at 7, and that was after putting him in the pack-n-play in our room so that Dave and Nancy could have his room. I feel bad... I'm not convinced that air mattress is all the comfortable, but we gave the bed set to Carole so that DJ could have his own room... Oh well.
We opened gifts after dinner, and hit the hay at midnight. We had just settled down to fall asleep when we heard... rustle... rustle... stand up... Daddy!
Oh boy. Literally.
So Steve picked him up and laid him down in the bed between us even though we know this doesn't work, ever. DJ lay there quietly with us, occasionally kicking me gently and sucking on his pacifier. Then I felt his little hand reach for mine. I held his hand until he pulled it away to then start tapping Steve on the shoulder. Tap... tap... tap tap... tap tap... tap... tap...
Although amusing, it was time to put a stop to this. "DJ, it's time to go nee-ta-ta (night night), so Daddy is going to put you back in your crib (well, pack-n-play), ok?" I gave him some time to absorb that, and told him again, just to emphasize it. That's when he rolled over and decided it was time to play. Yeah... no.
Steve laid him down in the pack-n-play, and we got resettled under the covers. Rustle... rustle... rustle... stand up. Of course.
We try to stay very still hoping that he might decide to go back to sleep on his own. Then I feel him start patting my feet and he said, "Mama." How did he know those were my feet?! He repeated this a number of times trying to get my attention. I didn't react and eventually he laid back down on his own.
But then he started talking. It figures. "Daddy do." "Mama" and a whole lot of babble. Eventually he fell back to sleep and we finally got to sleep. I have no idea how long that was, but I definitely got less than 6 hours of sleep last night!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Look who's talking!
Elektra!
The Little Girl has been sleeping a ton lately, and I figured it was just a growth spurt. It still may well be, but yesterday she broke through with making noises with various pitches in one string.
The Little Girl has been sleeping a ton lately, and I figured it was just a growth spurt. It still may well be, but yesterday she broke through with making noises with various pitches in one string.
She talked a ton yesterday, trying out her new "toy" and boy did she get a reaction from me. And in return, I got tons of smiles and talking.
AND, the best part, Ii heard a laugh!! She hasn't laughed again yet, but that was a preview of what's coming!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas 2008
It's come and gone in a hurry. I swear it was just yesterday that I was still shopping. Oh wait, I was....not for gifts but for sugar.
I knew I had to make two desserts for each of the houses that we'd be visiting on Christmas, Yiayia's marshmallow cake and baklava. I had the butter out to soften for the cake and I started to measure out the sugar for the baklava syrup. That's when I realized I might not have enough for both desserts. Uh-oh. Even if I had figured it out Christmas Eve, no one was open after 6pm, so I'd have been in the same bind.
So DJ and I went out in search of sugar. I knew the Kleins Supermarket would be closed on Chrismtas Day but I thought that maybe the Safeway might be open for a few hours. No such luck. But sometimes, a 7-11 has odd things other than snacky-snack-type foods, and our local 7-11 had a few boxes of sugar. Perfect. The men that were hanging out in the 7-11 were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze, and all marveled at DJ's hair wishing they all had hair like that and reminiscing of the time when they did. All in all, pretty hilarious. 7-11 FTW on Christmas Day.
When we got home, it was time to open gifts. DJ hasn't quite figured out what opening gifts is about, so I spent time trying to show him that he can rip the paper off. He did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the gift bags and then stuffing it back in them. ("What has baby found? Another piece of tissue paper! Wave it all around! " from the Wrapping Paper Romp book) On a side note, DJ also knows that Santa says "Hoooh!", and we read a picture book about Christmas a number of times this month. I'm hoping that he'll get what gifts mean by his birthday in March but I think he'll be all about Christmas in 2009.
Elektra, meanwhile, hung out in the swing watching us open gifts. Steve spent most of his time taking DJ's toys out of the packaging. What is it with packaging these days that requires brain surgery to extract the toy?? Didn't the old addage use to be that the choice words were dropped in toy assembly, not toy extraction from its packaging?
After toys were unwrapped, we watched Wall-E on blu-ray. Boy is Pixar making a statement with that movie but very good nonetheless! Anyway, DJ sat, literally sat on the floor, and actually watched the first half an hour of Wall-E. He never has an attention span for TV, so this was quite remarkable! During the parts of Wall-E I had seen, I prepped the baklava and after the movie was over, baked the cake.
Both DJ and Elektra had lunch and went down for naps early. I finished the cake and the baklava and sat down to take a breather before all the real craziness would begin. Sure enough, DJ woke up early from his nap, so let the craziness begin.
We got to George's house an hour late. This was after the baklava leaked on me in the car. ARG! I had wanted to drop it off to Tim's on the way to George's for exactly that reason, but we couldn't reach Tim by phone to confirm that we could do that. At least it was a tasty ride to George's.
George had a great feast prepared. Deep fried turkey (which was prepped in a brine the night before), spanakopita, ham, new england clam chowder, salad, Greek potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, bread and Greek stuffing, and hors devours, including garlic stuff kalamata olives. Awesome! Everything was delicious, especially the deep fried turkey! YUM! Dessert included pumpkin custard, marshmallow cake and assorted cookies.
Gifts were exchanged by all and then Steve and I were off to Tim's house with the leaky baklava and all. Unlike George's, Tim's house was a zoo of people, as to be expected with this family! DJ and Elektra got tons more gifts! By 9:15pm and 4 million flights of stairs later, DJ was exhausted (but he still wanted to continue to climb the stairs!). We packed the kids in the car and headed home. Both children went to bed without nary a fuss, and both were still sleeping when I left this morning. I hope they're being good for Steve today!
The day was exhausting but wonderful. Merry Christmas!
I knew I had to make two desserts for each of the houses that we'd be visiting on Christmas, Yiayia's marshmallow cake and baklava. I had the butter out to soften for the cake and I started to measure out the sugar for the baklava syrup. That's when I realized I might not have enough for both desserts. Uh-oh. Even if I had figured it out Christmas Eve, no one was open after 6pm, so I'd have been in the same bind.
So DJ and I went out in search of sugar. I knew the Kleins Supermarket would be closed on Chrismtas Day but I thought that maybe the Safeway might be open for a few hours. No such luck. But sometimes, a 7-11 has odd things other than snacky-snack-type foods, and our local 7-11 had a few boxes of sugar. Perfect. The men that were hanging out in the 7-11 were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze, and all marveled at DJ's hair wishing they all had hair like that and reminiscing of the time when they did. All in all, pretty hilarious. 7-11 FTW on Christmas Day.
When we got home, it was time to open gifts. DJ hasn't quite figured out what opening gifts is about, so I spent time trying to show him that he can rip the paper off. He did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the gift bags and then stuffing it back in them. ("What has baby found? Another piece of tissue paper! Wave it all around! " from the Wrapping Paper Romp book) On a side note, DJ also knows that Santa says "Hoooh!", and we read a picture book about Christmas a number of times this month. I'm hoping that he'll get what gifts mean by his birthday in March but I think he'll be all about Christmas in 2009.
Elektra, meanwhile, hung out in the swing watching us open gifts. Steve spent most of his time taking DJ's toys out of the packaging. What is it with packaging these days that requires brain surgery to extract the toy?? Didn't the old addage use to be that the choice words were dropped in toy assembly, not toy extraction from its packaging?
After toys were unwrapped, we watched Wall-E on blu-ray. Boy is Pixar making a statement with that movie but very good nonetheless! Anyway, DJ sat, literally sat on the floor, and actually watched the first half an hour of Wall-E. He never has an attention span for TV, so this was quite remarkable! During the parts of Wall-E I had seen, I prepped the baklava and after the movie was over, baked the cake.
Both DJ and Elektra had lunch and went down for naps early. I finished the cake and the baklava and sat down to take a breather before all the real craziness would begin. Sure enough, DJ woke up early from his nap, so let the craziness begin.
We got to George's house an hour late. This was after the baklava leaked on me in the car. ARG! I had wanted to drop it off to Tim's on the way to George's for exactly that reason, but we couldn't reach Tim by phone to confirm that we could do that. At least it was a tasty ride to George's.
George had a great feast prepared. Deep fried turkey (which was prepped in a brine the night before), spanakopita, ham, new england clam chowder, salad, Greek potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, bread and Greek stuffing, and hors devours, including garlic stuff kalamata olives. Awesome! Everything was delicious, especially the deep fried turkey! YUM! Dessert included pumpkin custard, marshmallow cake and assorted cookies.
Gifts were exchanged by all and then Steve and I were off to Tim's house with the leaky baklava and all. Unlike George's, Tim's house was a zoo of people, as to be expected with this family! DJ and Elektra got tons more gifts! By 9:15pm and 4 million flights of stairs later, DJ was exhausted (but he still wanted to continue to climb the stairs!). We packed the kids in the car and headed home. Both children went to bed without nary a fuss, and both were still sleeping when I left this morning. I hope they're being good for Steve today!
The day was exhausting but wonderful. Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Reaching, grabbing, and laughing?
Last week, I heard the toys on Elektra's car seat toy rattle. Since the carseat was sitting still on the kitchen table, I assumed that she was waving her arms around and haphazardly hitting the hanging toys.
Well, you know what they say about assuming. ::sigh::
It's clear now that she's *trying* to reach and grab for stuff. We saw it when she was in her carseat, but we've also seen it when she's in her crib. There are toys hanging from the crib rails that she can reach. When she goes to bed at night, she's not always asleep when we lay her down, so we'll hear her rattling the links until she goes to sleep.
We also think that she's trying to not just make cooing sounds to get our attention, but she's trying to have a conversation with us. She's already trying to imitate how our lips move and make noise at the same time. To boot, she's close to laughing. Laughing comes around the 4th month, so it won't be long before she not only smiles at us but also laughs. Can't wait!
Overall, this little girl has been so incredibly pleasant. She rarely fusses unless she's beyond hungry or wants help getting to sleep. Her "I want attention" fusses are little short "bwah!" sounds, and they are quite cute.
DJ still loves his little sister. "Baby" as he calls her, is very much on his mind. The first word out of his mouth in the morning when I go to get him out of his crib after "Daddy" is "Baby". He doesn't pay attention to her that much when he's playing with his toys but if she fusses, he'll come over to see what's wrong. He'll also give her some of what he's "cooking" to taste if he's being a chef. Meanwhile, she loves to watch him. Her eyes follow whatever he's doing if he's close enough for her to see him. She's been smiling at him unprompted. It's very cool.
Well, you know what they say about assuming. ::sigh::
It's clear now that she's *trying* to reach and grab for stuff. We saw it when she was in her carseat, but we've also seen it when she's in her crib. There are toys hanging from the crib rails that she can reach. When she goes to bed at night, she's not always asleep when we lay her down, so we'll hear her rattling the links until she goes to sleep.
We also think that she's trying to not just make cooing sounds to get our attention, but she's trying to have a conversation with us. She's already trying to imitate how our lips move and make noise at the same time. To boot, she's close to laughing. Laughing comes around the 4th month, so it won't be long before she not only smiles at us but also laughs. Can't wait!
Overall, this little girl has been so incredibly pleasant. She rarely fusses unless she's beyond hungry or wants help getting to sleep. Her "I want attention" fusses are little short "bwah!" sounds, and they are quite cute.
DJ still loves his little sister. "Baby" as he calls her, is very much on his mind. The first word out of his mouth in the morning when I go to get him out of his crib after "Daddy" is "Baby". He doesn't pay attention to her that much when he's playing with his toys but if she fusses, he'll come over to see what's wrong. He'll also give her some of what he's "cooking" to taste if he's being a chef. Meanwhile, she loves to watch him. Her eyes follow whatever he's doing if he's close enough for her to see him. She's been smiling at him unprompted. It's very cool.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
BIG Train
Today, I met Damian, Jenn, and Leo at the B&O Railroad Museum. DJ was quite wide eyed at first and then I heard "ooo ooo!!" like the sound a train makes. Good boy, DJ!
The B&O had a nice train garden, sponsored by two local model train groups, one setting up a large train display and the other setting up an "N" scale train display. Both were very large in the amount of track they laid out and the settings they created. DJ watched both very intently.
We also walked around to see the historic trains. I don't think DJ really understood the scale of what he was looking at, but he had happy feet nonetheless. There were some very old and VERY big trains there... it was neat. I know I've been to the B&O museum before, but I'd forgotten how big the trains are.
We also took a ride on a train down historic (not necessarily scenic!) track. They had 2 engines, one on either end of 2 cars of a marc train, to go down and come back on. DJ was standing on the seat, looking out the window at the world passing by (and not strapped in a carseat). So both DJ and Elektra had their first train ride today. :-)
The B&O had a nice train garden, sponsored by two local model train groups, one setting up a large train display and the other setting up an "N" scale train display. Both were very large in the amount of track they laid out and the settings they created. DJ watched both very intently.
We also walked around to see the historic trains. I don't think DJ really understood the scale of what he was looking at, but he had happy feet nonetheless. There were some very old and VERY big trains there... it was neat. I know I've been to the B&O museum before, but I'd forgotten how big the trains are.
We also took a ride on a train down historic (not necessarily scenic!) track. They had 2 engines, one on either end of 2 cars of a marc train, to go down and come back on. DJ was standing on the seat, looking out the window at the world passing by (and not strapped in a carseat). So both DJ and Elektra had their first train ride today. :-)
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