Out of the mouths of babes

Both of the girls are such chatterboxes - really each in their own way. Stasa picks up more and more phrases every day and uses them correctly. Today I asked her to do something and she responded with "are you kidding me?!" I couldn't not laugh. I mean, seriously?! LOL I guess I need to be careful about what I say, even if it's not technically a bad word.

On our way home today, she rummaged around in her purse, pulled out her sunglasses, and popped them on her face. Tom said she looked cool and she told him "no, I'm beautiful." Then proceeded to inform us that Lexi's beautiful, Mommy's a big girl, and daddy's not beautiful, he's a boy. 

OH and we were informed tonight that she has a brother. We explained what a brother was and that she has a sister, not a brother (and no, I'm not pregnant, thankyouverymuch). She scoffed at us and kind of condescended that she would just buy one from the store. Easy peasy in her mind.

And that other kid, man, she's been trying her hardest to get her point across. She's got a small handful of useful words, all said the Lexi way: nigh' nigh', mama, dada, her version of Stasa, uh oh (such a favorite of ours especially when it's accompanied with food being thrown on the floor), and her version of line up. Yeah, the last one seems a little strange for a tiny tot to be saying, but it's something we sing every time we're ready to take the kids downstairs and when we're ready to leave the house. It's kind of our way to get them both in the same place and the song is actually from Bubble Guppies. 

Our littlest girl

Greek Easter

We had Tom's family over to celebrate Greek Easter last Sunday. I dressed the girls in spring dresses and they both let me "style" their hair. And since Stasa was being such a big girl we let her wear the baptismal cross YiaYia gave her. It was a beautiful day and even got a little hot - sunny enough that we had to bust out the sunscreen for the girls. The kids played outside while the lamb roasted in the oven. Although we did have to keep encouraging some of them to stay outside.







It was a great meal and I ate way too much too fast. So much I had to actually stand up so my stomach wouldn't feel so much pressure.

Spring Cometh

The other day I realized that I never took Lexi's official one year old pictures. Mom fail. I wanted to do the cake smash pictures with her, but figured there was almost no way to do them without Stasa wanting to participate, so I decided to shoot for some cute pictures of her in a spring dress and romper. Major fail. Lexi wanted next to nothing to do with me and my camera so I took the opportunity to snag a few cute shots of Stasa, who was mostly cooperative.

My all-time favorite smile:


Ha! She is so my kid. I had told her to sit nicely and to give me a smile. I died when she smiled like that. Of laughter. And then we told jokes and she gave some genuine smiles.




At this point Lexi had eaten a bit of a snack so I decided to throw her in the mix to get a shot of the two of them together. Ha! As if.





They always win. Always. I threw in the towel in hopes that after lunch and nap they'd both be in good moods. Both girls woke up happy, so we jumped in the car and drove to one of my favorite sunny patches since we lost the light in the house. And hotdog! They both cooperated and I love the pictures I captured.



And COME ON. Look at who was hamming it up.





Happy kids, happy mama. Have a great weekend!

Easter, belated

We had a semi-quiet Easter this year since we're celebrating with family for Greek Easter and that falls on this coming Sunday. And since it was a holiday weekend we didn't have dance class, which meant we could really relax most of the weekend. We spent Saturday hanging out with the girls and managed to take some semi-formal pictures of both girls - the first set was a giant fail thanks to Lexi melting down, but we got some great shots of both girls together after a full lunch and decent nap. I'll post those once I've had a chance to clean them up a bit.

Sunday we got up early to see what the Easter Bunny brought and both girls were excited when they saw their baskets.


The Bunny was thoughtful and gave the girls a small chocolate bunny and the rest was little toys and bath towels. It's almost like the Bunny knew we would appreciate not having candy-filled baskets and candy-filled children. Thank you, Easter Bunny!




Once both girls had a chance to eat some of their chocolate rabbit's head, we got them dressed and ready for mass.


Both girls were relatively well behaved in church. Stasa was thrilled that the priest tossed some holy water her way, but was a bit sad that he was no longer wearing purple robes and instead had plain white on, because, you know, church is all about fashion.



After mass was over, we managed to get caught in a massive traffic jam in the church parking lot. It seems that everyone left their manners in church and forgot about being nice to their fellow man once they hit the pavement. We just played with the girls for the rest of the day and took them to a small playground after their nap to take advantage of the nice weather. And since we were already out and near a bunch of restaurants, we had Easter dinner at the house of kabob, Moby Dick.

It's over

I worried that Lexi would be the kind of baby who walked into toddlerhood refusing to give up the boob. I mean, she really really really wanted to nurse at night before bed. I caved and let her and figured we'd end this ride when she was ready.

Apparently she was ready about a week ago. I sat down with her before bed and BAM she bit me. I did what I've done before, popped her off and told her "no!" I could tell by her body language that she wasn't interested in nursing that night, so I just snuggled her for a bit before putting her down for bed.

We danced that same dance again the next night, and the night after that, and once more the night after that. I finally got the sense to stop the nonsense. So now it's over. Just like that. And even though it's what I wanted - I mean my goal was to make it to a year, and I did - *I* still wasn't fully mentally and emotionally ready for the end. I'm still reluctant for my "baby" to grow up. She's an independent soul and is so headstrong (gee, I wonder where she gets that from?) and does what she wants to do when she wants to do it.

My nursing days with little Alexia Lee are over and it's bittersweet. I know in the weeks to come I'll be happy to have my body back and will love the freedom that comes with weaning, but right now I'm just a little sad.

One Year Olds