Where, Oh Where..

...Wherever to begin. Pascha was... okay. I recently discussed with my beloved friend Barbara how sometimes holidays are a double edged sword, because, while they might be fun, there is also the expectation and thus pressure of having and making fun. We had a succinct little basket ransacking event at our house, and then tried to go to church for the Agape Vespers and picnic. It rained, that was the biggest problem, so the picnic that we look forward to all year was, for all my intents and purposes, rained out. We still made a go of it, but between naptime and rain, it wasn't the most fun.

Saturday morning before Easter Divine Liturgy, the only picture I got of the girls in their Pascha clothes.


Eliana with the aftermath of the vigorous leaf and petal throwing.


Easter morning, baskets.
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Easter egg shells are better than olives!


Easter Morning: Eliana and the Eggshells



Eliana- I love watching her pudgy little hands move around. When she picks something up to eat, when she fiddles with her binky, when she waves or gets excited about something, or when she makes her signs (she signs "all done", "milk" and "bird"). So. Darn. Cute. She's marvelous. She gives kisses freely, just dives in for a kiss and makes the smooch sound before or after. She likes to pretend to blow her own nose, and will put off tearing a tissue or napkin to tiny shreds temporarily while she mimes nose blowing for anyone nearby. We lean in and pretend to blow, and she nods in concentration and encouragement. She tries to pull shirts over her head. She pretends to talk on the "phone" which is just her hand pressed to the side of her head. She likes to brush her own teeth, and everyone else's teeth. She's still cruising around holding on to everything, she likes trying to walk but has a ways to go before she masters it. She's getting hungry all the time! Breastmilk isn't a meal replacement anymore, she wants FOOD at meal times, milk is a bonus. She's recently discovered blueberries, and likes to squish them around (again, those darling fingers), before eating them.

Eliana doing her funny face.


Trying to put clothes on.


Trying to blow my nose. Thank you, Eliana.


Adessa- Oh, this girl. She's so difficult, sometimes, and so sweet and enchanting other times. I am thankful that overall, she is very benevolent to Eliana. That is a balm for my mommy soul. With me (and Daddy, too, sometimes), not always favorable behavior. I find it important to find things that Adessa and I do well together. We wrestle well together, when she's in the mood. I realized last week, after working four days in a row, that I missed her. She's quite content getting all she needs from Daddy, and I have to be creative sometimes to squirrel my way in there after work. Luckily, she is easy to engage and happy to do her favorite things with me, most of the time. She likes creative play, coloring, doing puzzles, blowing bubbles, building with blocks, dressing up in princess dresses, hearing stories, and having me tell her about things over and over. She likes to hear me tell parts from her favorite movies, or how I went on a date with Daddy, or Hansel and Gretel, (the rated G version with no bad parents or witch), or something that happened to us recently. She likes to tell me stories, too-- about her day, or about things she remembers. A favorite thing to recount right now, is what cows make. She lists all the dairy products in her little world and then asks for more. She thinks cows are quite spectacular for providing so many nourishing substances.

And, together, we like to wrestle, and do "tricks". First we wrestle around, which is mostly an excuse to hug her and squeeze her while throwing her around on our bed. Then, we do tricks. We have a little routine, now, and could put on quite a coreographed show. (Think Cirque d' Soleil meets toddler gymnastics).

Tricky tricks!


Adessa reading to Eliana. Eliana listened raptly, riveted by the story.


This girl has a mouth full of sweet teeth. Look at that beaming smile, just for pudding.


She says funnnnny things. One of the things we talked about for a few days after the fact was how sick she got on our vacation down to Southern California. She had a massive temperature and barely ate or drank anything while sleeping for two days straight. When it came up in conversation, and I said: "You were really sick, huh? That was sad to see how yucky you felt." She replied: "Yeah. I was really suffering." Ha! Today she said: "Mommy, are you my twin?" Huh? Nope. Funnnnny.

The other day, our friend Les came over to get some pictures, and as she said "Hi" to him, she ran right into the hard glass doorknob. Ouch! She quickly and silently got into my arms, and hid her face while trying to cry muffled and quietly. This is unusual, or new, as normally she wails at tremendous volumes and isn't embarrassed to be seen or heard after an owie. It made my heart flip over with love for her, and the realization that she is becoming self-aware, self-conscious. Oh, this baby of mine. Growing up, having pride, feeling embarrassed, having complex emotion. It made something run through my head that I haven't thought since the very beginning with Adessa: How strange, this little being, and my attachment to her. Also noteworthy to me was how tender I feel towards her when she's hurting. Awwww.

Adessa does her own hair.


After Pascha we drove down to Southern California, to do a whirlwind trip of visits and relaxing. We got to see our godson, Alex, my college friend Mike and meet his daughter, Jane, Calvin's godparents and their family, and Calvin's sister. Very fun to see everyone. Lovely to be in Santa Monica. We're going to keep trying for a snag free vacation, and this one was getting closer! This vacation ended up having two parts: Before Fever, and After Fever. During Fever doesn't count because Adessa and I barely left our hotel room.

Before fever:
Zoom, Zoom, Riding in the car. The girls did great, possibly because yours truly rode in back with them. The whole way.


Zoom, Zoom, cheerio on my forehead in the car.


Adessa with Megan and Wilson at the McBrian's house in Orange. The most kind and wonderful people Calvin has introduced me to, his godparents daughter and her family. Exemplary. Kind. Talented. Patient with Adessa. Love them. 8)


Eliana showing off her buffness. She became a conversation piece on the playground.


With college friend Mike and his cutie daughter, Jane. Mike was part of my formative college experience. Like the leaf that falls into wet cement and is imprinted forever, Mike was my friend at a "wet cement" time. Even looking at this picture makes me happy--thank you for helping me figure myself out, Mike.


Swimming in the hotel pool, rocking those sunglasses!


Adessa's fun morning at the beach--that afternoon she succumbed to her fever. It was the only time she and daddy spent at the beach. I missed the beach pretty much altogether. Someday!


During fever:


After Fever:
Hanging out with god-brother, Alex, and his parents on the swanky Santa Monica 3rd street promenade.



Post Script:
Cake #2. A baby shower cake I made for one of the mamas in our group, Sharon. I'm improving!

Spring has Sprung! (Among other things)**

Is it April already? We are excited for spring, for Pascha (rain or shine!) and swimming and walking and good weather. Calvin has taken a few weeks off so we'll have Spring Break together, and its been great to have him around in general. I've had days where I haven't washed a dish! Yay!
--Oh--an aside: we're foregoing our big dream of a major remodel because of the economy, but are planning a round of "home-repair" they call it. We're going to get a dishwasher, first and foremost, but then update the wallpaper, countertops, linoleum, and bathrooms. Hooray!

The girls are doing fine, depending on when you talk to me about them. Eliana is trying to talk, she says appropriately: ball, baby, bear, bird (Okay, they all sound like Buh-bu or some variation thereof) uh-oh, achoo (whenever anyone sneezes), Dada, and Deta (for Adessa). Maybe only I understand her, but she's on her way to mini-words! She's also trying to walk, cruising on everything and wanting to hold fingers and hands and be walked around. Part of learning to pull herself up and walk is her irritating habit of finding me wherever I am rooted (washing dishes) and swaying from my pant legs. When I'm wearing my PJs, that means she pantses me. Her big walking milestone coming up means there have been a few nights where I wake up to feel around in bed for her and find her standing up against the wall. It's like wrestling to get her to stop climbing the wall and hold still long enough to fall back to sleep.

Adessa is moving through her emotional life daily, experimenting with all the ranges of cheerfulness, sweetness, sadness, defiance, and disappointment. She has a clear idea of how she wants her juice, which spoon she wants to stir her yogurt with and which spoon she's going to eat it with. This girl loves routines, and we all pay if the spoon she considers essential is dirty at the time its requested. Arg. She has moments of extreme loveliness, with us and with Eliana, which give me much hope, and really, most of the time we have lots of fun with her. I'm just still shocked and blindsided when things seem to be going swimmingly and an unforseen trigger gets her going and going and going. Adessa says funny things, too: "Scrack, Cackle, Pop" for Rice Krispies, and "gralala" for granola. She's saying lots of "the darndest things", her word combos are surprising us all the time, especially when they're our words coming back at us. "Try to concentrate on this music." as she plays Eliana's little piano. "Plan ahead, Mommy!" when I'm getting ready to go to work. "First things, first!" when she lines her shoes up by the door. (Those last two are entirely thanks to Calvin, neither of those phrases have ever graced my lips.)

**Please be advised, some of the following pictures depict an unsavory and upsetting view of what are normally considered innocent hair folicles. Calvin entered a contest at work, much to my very vocal chagrin. The whole cadre of coworkers have taken the month of March to see who can grow the best mustache. I'm sure that Calvin can be very proud of his hair sprouting abilities, and I have been ready all month for him to shave the scratchy thing off. We had an agreement when we married, all vows were nullified by upper-lip-adornment, his or mine. I've allowed this temporary lapse, but be assured that Calvin has heard how I feel about it. I'm told September is Sideburn month, much more palatable. 8)

This is my new most favorite picture ever. You'll be seeing this one again, hopefully a REAL photo, printed and everything, framed in our house. (Why does it seem so hard to do that these days?)


Daddy and previously mentioned facial hair, out on the patio with Eliana.


The mustached man and his family.


Eliana's first bubble beard, kind of like lamb chops on her. Calvin could have gotten away with a bubble-stache.

Adessa is old hat at these bubble adornments, but poses anyway.


Eliana is cruising around, with help from Adessa and her push-walker.

For Auntie Lolo

I got a request for more pictures of the nieces, Auntie Lolo, this one's for you!

The girls swinging at Skypark, Eliana's 10 Month birthday.

This picture was taken moments before I hauled Adessa screaming to the car, for what proved to be our most difficult day together to date. She worked herself into a raging fit like none before or since, luckily, but one that brought out the worst in both of us. I'll just leave it at that.


At second-step-cousin once removed Henry's birthday party, a ho-down at his farm! Here's Adessa with the goats.


Here we are with beloved Aunt Deborah. (Adessa hadn't warmed up at this point.)

And with my beloved friends Kim and Barbara.

Here is Adessa 20 minutes after we should have gone home, finally 100% into the ho-down, absolutely in the spirit and having a blast.



St. Patrick's Day, sort of. We had a birthday party for my friend Shanon with a St. Patty's spin, only a few days before the 17th. Please note Calvin's fledgling mustache. He's growing it for a picture at the end of May. It better be one fabulous picture, is all I'm saying. Its very hard to take him seriously.


The weather has been beautiful, and we've been enjoying our backyard. The warm weather is great because there's more kissable soft skin exposed. 8)


Adessa marched around singing, sweet.


A cake side-note: I've decided caking is my newest hobby, and got some bargain pans online. Here's my first attempt, and I learned a ton. Couldn't have done it without youtube tutorials.

Help My Hands!

Do any other moms get this? My hands are in serious crisis. Since Eliana was born almost ten months ago, they've been in some degree of dry, itchy, sandpaper-like, scaly, rashy ouchiness. It's from washing them too much, I know. I use Cetaphil mild hand soap, and try to moisturize whenever I get a minute. I've also been wearing lanolin in white gloves at night, it just seems like my hands are always wet. Diapers, noses, potty training, cleaning, cooking, I'm just always washing them. Do they have spa getaways for hands? My hands need one. If you've any tips, I'm willing to hear them. One consolation is, I don't think I'd look like royalty if we were to have another French Revolution, they're beat up enough I think I'd avoid the guillotine.

Disney on Ice and More...

Adessa kept calling it Disneyland, but we got to sit in a Penthouse box at the HP Pavillion to see Disney on Ice. It was awesome. Awesome to sit holding Adessa and have special time with her. Awesome to see her so excited and enchanted by it all. Awesome to spend time with our friends who had the box connection, Kim, Jim, Gwen and Julie. Eliana was happy to hang with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis, and it was very nice to just have to worry about Adessa. Before we left, as I was dressing Adessa in her Minnie Mouse costume, she said: "Minnie Mouse will be so happy to meet me." That's right girl. I'm pretty sure Minnie waved right at us.

Posing with Grandma pre-show, in all her Minnie finery.

With Kim (wearing Julie) and Gwennie in our box.

We tried to get the perspective here, can you see the ice?


More...
An impromptu bath in the bathroom sink. (Can you see how we need to remodel, or at least update?)


Eliana rocking out on her piano.


This girl is trying it all out these days. Eliana tries to say: ball, uh-oh, more, bye and hi, and is so engaged with what's going on around her. She's also trying to stand and clap at the same time, she tries to pull herself up on everything, she tries to play with Adessa or whatever Adessa's doing, which has lead to another new noise she makes. Pretty much when she sees Adessa coming towards her she shouts: "Nahh!" because that's what Adessa says when she snatches toys away from her. Oh dear.

Here she is stuck between the stove and the counter. Again, can you see we need to remodel???? 8)


Sisterly love. A big smoocheroo, or maybe mouth to mouth? (So that's how they do it in their family... Ferris anyone?)

Three Quarters

Grandma and Calvin share a birthday, and it was Eliana's 3/4ths Day.


Eliana is nine months old, and I've missed a bunch in blogging due to general lunacy. On the same day that Eliana became 3/4 of a year, Calvin became 3/4ths of 50.7. Yeah, figure that one out. Horrific math problems aside, we are well.

Hey, wait! Actually, I'm exhausted, but it's all my own fault. I somehow have not yet given up the idea that I can get something done. I keep trying to accomplish tasks, see people, and go places. Not even like I used to before kids, just somethings, sometimes. And it's still too much. It stresses all of us out. I used to think (like last week) that I could plan well, have everybody nap on schedule and for just the right amount of time, and then still DO lots of things. Apparently, after much anguish and soul searching, and attempt after attempt to prove myself wrong, I cannot. I like to blame the non-nappers, but it's all part of what I cannot control, and therefore I have to stop expecting that I can, which is where the internal distress happens for me. I can't push it/them, it just doesn't ever work out very well, and I don't like myself when I'm in the mode of prolonged trying: trying to get somewhere on time, trying to get to just one more store, trying to stay just five minutes longer, etc.


Okay, they're sweet.


Adessa stomping in the ample rain puddles. She's even figured out that mud is just as fun when the puddles dry up.


Snuggly and warm in Daddy's fleece.


Eliana's all over the place, she keeps popping up in new nooks and crannies.




In the span of a week she started: crawling, pulling herself up onto furniture, drinking from a sippy cup, saying "Mama", clapping her hands, got her first bed-head, and this week she is waving and saying "Haaaaa" for hi. Blast-off age, here she goes!

I kept trying to get a picture of the side of Eliana's head, to showcase the sweet potato she'd massaged into it. But every time I put the camera up, she turned to smile or bestow one of these amusing expressions.






All cleaned up!


Gwennie came over to play, and the toy-tubs became boats.






Eliana wanted in on the tub-action.

Eight Months of Eliana

Eight months old, 1/5! Little banana face. (No, really- there's banana on her face.)


Figuring out her sippy cup.


At our annual 7pm countdown New Years Party with the mom's group. It was held at Stacy's this year, a break from tradition because our normal host, Kim, was having her second daughter Julie! Welcome to the crew, Julie! Gwennie's a big sister, but we missed her for the picture. Some would argue that all of our kids missed the picture, but hey, it's a record.


Enjoying the jumperoo. Everybody jump now!


Eliana's getting ready to move, which means mostly that she scoots around on her bunners (that's the official term at our house) and gets herself tangled up in her toys. She hangs out for, oh, about 30 seconds on her tummy before getting cranky about it, so crawling may take a while. Meanwhile, she pulls herself to her knees on the toy basket and otherwise freaks me out. She cut a tooth (did I tell you?) and seems to gnaw on everything, so we are expecting the arrival of more. She is delightful. She really prefers being with me, will cry if she sees me walk by if she's in anyone else's arms, or even playing on the ground. But from my arms, she is babbling, giggling, playful, engaging sweet delight. What fun it is to get her up from a nap, she rewards you with the most adoring expressions and noises. She's starting to grab at everything, which doesn't delight Adessa, who thinks she's trying to take her toys away or pull her hair. Is this the beginning of them being at odds? I hope not with all my heart, I aspire for them to be best of friends and peaceful playmates. (Well, I can hope, right?)


Adessa, while still dependent on her binky for comfort and to sleep, while still preferring to do most of her #2s in her diaper at nap-time, while still sometimes throwing terrific fits when she's tired or hungry or just plain ornery, said this to me yesterday on a walk: "When Eliana gets bigger, like my age, she will stomp in puddles in her raincoat." I was pretty impressed. I am her mom and everything, so I'm supposed to look for signs of spectacularity in my children, and I think that was a pretty spectacular sentence for my girlie. Another one she does, she'll cry holding my legs, looking up at me for comfort and say: "I just want to be held." For some reason, her using the past tense of "hold" at 2 1/2 just makes me laugh. 8) She also has started drawing faces, recognizable smiley faces. I'm not sure when kids do that developmentally, but I'm sure she's waaaaay ahead. Right? Hopefully she won't be like me, though, I always took to things quickly and then was kind of bewildered when everyone else caught up and then passed me.