Elektra's Baptism and Reception

Sunday was a busy day! Unfortunately, our little girl was still running at 102 degree fever, so she wasn't feeling so hot. She took a long nap in the morning, and seemed to have broken the fever by lunchtime, but I didn't take any chances. She got another dose of Tylenol to keep any fever at bay for the baptism.

My dad dropped by with the most awesomely awesome Strawberry Shortcake from Graul's Market (did I mention it was awesome??), and I got the shrimp hors devours ready. Because the weather looked a little too flakey, I decided to setup the tables and chairs in the garage even though everyone would totally roast in there, but I didn't want to take the chance of it raining on the party. DJ helped me pull the cars out into the driveway and set up the tables and chairs. He was such a good helper... by just sitting in the front seat of Daddy's car and watching me with interest. When we got back inside, DJ helped Daddy clean the basement while I got a shower and baked the spanakopita. By then, my sister, Sophia and Spiro had arrived.

With an hour to go before we needed to leave, I fed the kids lunch while Spiro and Sophia entertained them, and my sister decorated the tables and brought in her monster cooler full of yummy food... fruit salad (yummy yummy), spanakopita, and desserts. Meanwhile, Steve got his shower, I got DJ dressed, my sister got Elektra dressed, and the spanakopita came out of the oven to cool. I finished getting dressed, and we hopped in the car after grabbing a couple of Red Bulls to go to church.

The service started in the back of the church. Elektra's godparents - Steve Schramm, Alexandra, and Sophia - did great. Sophia was beaming the whole time. Elektra was awesome, checking out the world, fish-flopping herself between Steve and me, and trying to chew on Father Dean's cross. DJ, meanwhile, had planted himself on Sonny's lap, and my brother was taking pictures.

When we got to the front of the church, it was time for the dunking. Elektra was NOT happy about this... between the holy oil on her and being dunked (only up to her chest!), she wailed. Once she was dressed (she looked so cute!!), had found her thumb and had Bunny in her hands, she stopped crying. Spiro, Eleni, Desi and Christian were our candle holders for the procession around the font, and then it was time for communion. We had to pop Elektra's thumb out of her mouth, but she didn't fuss at all when it came time to have communion. She did great with that. Finally, we were finished, and I held Elektra in the reception line. She got lots of kisses and love from everyone, and the comment, "You're no longer a heathen!" from Basil. Nice. lol But Elektra was so beat that she fell asleep in my arms while we were standing in the reception line. I passed her to Steve, and he sat down with her so she could nap. It's not often she sleeps on one of us now so he took advantage of that opportunity!

On the car ride home, the kids were wide awake... not even one thought of a nap from either of them. There went the nap-when-they-get-home plan. Thankfully, the kids were entertained by my mother-in-law and others so that I could get out the hors devours. My cousin Elena and her kids (Desi and Christian) helped out tremendously. With hors devours and drinks on the table, the party could finally get started.

Andy Nelson's BBQ arrived shortly thereafter, and I had them set up in the garage as well. They were setup in no time at all, and dinner was served! Turkey Q, Beef Brisket, corn bread, potatoes, and slaw. Yummy! Unfortunately, the potatoes weren't cooked all the way through, so we tried to finish them in our oven and microwave.

Meanwhile, the kids FINALLY allowed themselves to nap, and we let them sleep for about half an hour to 45 minutes.

Around 6pm, my sister, who was working way too hard in my kitchen, set out desserts. The awesomely awesome Strawberry Shortcake from Graul's and some other treats were out alongside a metric ton of Greek sweets that Miss Karas - bless her heart - made from my father's mother's recipes ("so that she could be here in spirit").

Dessert was in fully swing when... KABOOM. Here comes the rain, and not just any rain... this had potential for hail. DJ was stressed out from the thunder, but couldn't tear himself away from the window because he wanted to watch the storm. I was gleeful that I had made the right call to set up the tables in the garage... until the power went out.

Oh no.

But wait!! The power came back!! YEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

But wait.... it's out again, and this time for good.

Oooooh ****.

The lack of lights was no problem. All the food had been served, we had plenty of ice in the cooler and plenty of drinks. I had a fluorescent bulb flashlight going so we had plenty of light in the kitchen. No, the problem was the lack of water. Well water + no electricity = no water. No washing hands, no flushing, no nothing. I'd had a contingency plan for everything but that. It would figure.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it but open the windows....and hope that no one has to pee (yeah right). We got word that trees were down everywhere and that a barn down the road was on fire. Yep, our power was going to be out awhile. Wondered if I'd get a shower Monday morning....

We put both kids to bed at this point, knowing they were totally exhausted. Eleanor and Sonny knew they'd have their hands full the next day with 2 sets of overtired children, especially since baby Evan was baptized the same day.

People started trickling out and by 8:15, most everyone had left. We started to put down the garage doors manually and then on came the electricity. Well check that out! Of course, this also meant that the overhead lights turned on in the kids rooms, so DJ was awake and wanted to go play. Sorry, DJ, it's ni-ta-ta time. Elektra, thankfully, slept through it.

I cleaned the house, opened gifts, and the day ended peacefully, with both kids out like the lights were earlier in the evening.

I'll post pics when I get them off of my brother's camera....

Peek-a-boo...!

... I see you!

Elektra is starting to play her form of peek-a-boo by "hiding" her eyes (but not really, just putting her hands to her face near her eyes), and so I said to her, "Peek-a-boo! I see you!" DJ picked up on that immediately, and now we all play "Peek-a-boo! I see you!" DJ actually plays it right and opens his hands from covering his eyes at the appropriate time!

Elektra also loves to play peek-a-boo with DJ when she's in her crib, and he's standing outside it. She bursts into giggles and shrieks with glee. Peek-a-boo with DJ is probably her favorite game to play right now!

SOOOO Big!

Elektra is learning "How big is Elektra?" "Soooo big!!" She doesn't do it consistently but when she does do it, she holds her hands together and raises them up together in front of her. Cute! Then she gets all excited when we all clap for her!

Elektra cruises

As reported on July 4, Elektra started pulling up consistently. Over this last weekend - a week later - she also started cruising. To boot, this is one brave little girl who has not only started cruising but also lets go... a lot. Talk about needing to be vigilant!! To her credit, she's actually pretty good at standing for being so new to it, but we definitely need to keep a sharp eye on her as she doesn't always manage to sit down safely.

DJ started pulling up and cruising in October 2007, but didn't walk until February 2008 when we went to Charleston, where he got to watch Leo walking/running. I'm thinking that Elektra will have her big brother to inspire her and will be walking in about the same time frame, especially since she seems to have no fear!!

DJ gardening

In my other blog post from today, I described the yard work (read: weeding) I did yesterday. While I was weeding the back bed furthest from the house, DJ was outside with me while Steve watched Elektra.


DJ wanted to help. "DD help Mama!" and "Here, Mama!" were heard often as he picked "weeds" and handed them to me. He also wanted to spray RoundUp... so there will be some dead "spots" where he managed to spray some before I could stop him. LOL

The best part, though, was when DJ decided to run back into the house. I watched him run to the deck, carefully walk up the deck stairs, and run into the house. The next thing I knew, he had come back outside with his toy pliers, saying "DD help Mama!" Steve said he'd come inside the house, ran right to his tool box, picked the pliers out out immediately, and ran back outside to me, saying "DD help Mama!" the whole time. Clearly, he'd seen me using the pruning shears, and wanted do it, too!

DJ also helped me carry sticks to the fence line so that I could throw them over, and was VERY good about staying away from the wild strawberry debris I had laying on the ground. He was such a good little helper yesterday!!

Elektra's new toy - pulling up!

I was home with the kids yesterday (Friday) since Eleanor and Sonny were off for the 4th of July holiday, and I spent time with Elektra trying to teach her how to get her feet under her to start pulling herself up on things. Yesterday, she was still trying to get me to pull her up onto her feet so she can stand. She would get up on her knees, and then I would pull her foot out and put it under her. Then I'd pull her up the rest of the way so that she could see that already being on feet helps her pull up to standing.

Today, she crawled over to the gate between the living room and the kitchen, and pulled herself up!!

The pull-up gate!

She has pulled up on Eleanor's kitchen table (the table supports under the table) once before, and Eleanor had to get under the table to help her get back down. But this time, she not only got up, but she also got herself back down! Two developments in one day!

There is no doubt that pulling up is now her favorite toy, and is trying to pull up on everyone and everything. She has, of course, scared herself, too, and she's fallen, too. It's been quite the day for her!

Crawling to Daddy (and posing!)

Stage 1 of pulling up... grab onto Daddy's shirt!


Stage 2 of pulling up - get her feet under her!


Stage 3 of pulling up - I'm up!!!