Trick or Treat

We went trick or treating in our new neighborhood where our house is. Yes, we have the keys, the house was ours as of 6:00 this evening and the movers come at 8 am tomorrow!

Our neighborhood is the most picturesque spot for trick or treating; quiet streets with groups of marauding halloweeners and multiple houses decorated with festive spider webs, orange lights and jack o'lanterns.

The girls loved it, I loved it. They were not shy at all and marched right up to each door. Zoe even walked into a few houses. And then when we walked away, she said incredulously "More candy?" like she couldn't believe people were actually opening doors just to give her candy.

We met some neighbors, there's a two year old little boy named Aiden living right next door who has teenage sisters!

I was so happy the Zoe actually wore her giraffe costume. We explained to her that that's why people were giving her candy. Earlier, she put on her costume for the Halloween parade at her school, but only for a little bit. Almost immediately after the parade, Athena helped her take it off. Athena, on the other hand, wants to wear her princess dress forever.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by the beautiful Adalynn's Mommy. And I've had a really hard time thinking of things "weird" or "random" about myself (although there are a few regular blog readers who could probably add one or two things). I don't think I have any perspective on myself. I asked Chris for help, but he mumbled something about "obsessively worrying about what to write for a 'tagged' blog" as my weirdest trait and then went about reading his email. Humph.

Okay, so...

1. I am a first generation American from Canadian immigrant parents, who actually had an opportunity at 18 to be either a citizen of Canada or America or both. I chose America, because I wanted to vote, but wish I had gone for the dual citizenship so that my college education would have been less expensive. My mother is French Canadian and my father English Canadian which, at the time of their marriage, was very Romeo and Juliet.

2. I can recite the ancient Greek alphabet to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". It's true, I learned it in 6th grade and it stuck. It comes in handy for crossword puzzles.

3. I've moved to different states 10 times in my life. Connecticut, Florida, New York, Colorado, Kentucky, Washington D.C., California, Kentucky, New York, California. I love moving around and experiencing different cities, but hate that I have to leave good friends behind. And as I get older, it gets harder and harder to make new friends. Next move, I wish I could just pack up Sarah (NY), Alaine (CA), Caragh (KY), Lance (DC), Theresa (CO) not to mention all my family in KY, NY, CA and CO, and take them with me (Miranda does seem to come with me, thankfully).

4. I have nubbins. Little bumps on the back of my feet that are actually a soft skin padding over a bone growth on my heal. I forgot what it's called. I had a podiatrist look at them when I was in high school and he said he could get rid of them, but I would be out of commission for like six weeks. They really don't bother me other than I have to buy size 11 shoes, whereas otherwise I would buy size 10. Apparently it's genetic, my mother has them and it looks like Zoe has the beginnings of little baby nubbins.

5. I wear too much black and put my hair back in a pony tail all the time. I really need some friend or family to nominate me for a makeover. Ahem?

6. When I was 9 years old I was terrified of aliens, completely petrified. I thought they would swoop through my bedroom window as little balls of green light and suck all the blood out of me and I would be helpless to prevent it. I laid awake at night looking out that window thinking about this gruesome thing, perhaps this is why I hate all things Science Fiction. The thing that cured me was moving to New York, aliens don't go to New York, only rural areas, kwim?

7. I spent my teenage years in New York City, which is one of the best places to be a teenager. The whole city is accessible by Subway or Taxi and there's so much going on all the time (as a result of this great public transportation, I didn't learn to drive until I was well into my 20s). I have no idea how my parents slept at night when my sister and I were out, but we kept to our curfew and were pretty good in general. In fact, we were much better behaved than my friends who grew up in small towns. We never got bored, and it is through boredom that you try drugs, sex, or random acts of destruction that so many teenagers get into trouble with.

Okay, now I get to tag 7 people, and I tag:

Sheree
Kristen
Jessica
Jen
Laura Orsetti
Cousin Jennifer
Cousin Laura

Kyla, I left you out because I think I remember that you did something like this before recently. And, Aunt Diane, I left you out so that Laura and Jenny would have someone in the family to tag!

I can't wait to learn weird things about you all!

Belly Pic - 20 weeks

All throughout my pregnancies with Athena and Zoe, I shied away from the camera and as a result there are like five pictures of me pregnant with Athena (only because Christmas fell in there) and two pictures pregnant with Zoe. So, as this is my last pregnancy, I'm determined to get over my camera fear and document.

Here's my belly at 20 weeks! I can't believe I'm twenty weeks already. Little "Omega" is starting to kick, but so lightly it isn't anything Chris can feel when he puts his hand on my belly.

I'm going to try to post a belly pic every other week, Chris has promised to help with the next ones.

Halloweeny Preview

We went to a Parks and Rec Fall Festival today. Children were suppose to wear their costumes, but Zoe absolutely refused. We actually have two costumes for her to choose from this Halloween; a new princess dress and an adorable giraffe costume (because she said she wanted to be a giraffe like two weeks ago).

Athena has always wanted to be a princess and loves prancing around in her princess dresses any day. Zoe cried and cried in her princess dress and although we did get the giraffe costume on her, it only lasted about 30 seconds before she demanded it come off.

So, Zoe went to the Festival without a costume. Athena was kind enough to pose in her costume while Zoe napped so that I could get a photo.

Athena admiring herself in the mirror. At the Festival we found and owl and had to take a photo, of course.
Zoe at the Dr. Suess storyland.
Athena, the princess.We enjoyed a little picnic in a spot of shade.
The princess enjoys a hot dog, but only eats the bun.
Zoe looking at water at the amphitheater
Athena trying on Zoe's costume for her.
This is the only "costume" she agreed to wear - a princess nightgown from PopPop.

More good news!

The ultrasound yesterday determined that our little guy will NOT have a cleft. Whew.

The Big Reveal!!!! (one day early)

We just got the results back from our amnio, and aside from perfectly normal chromosomes, it's a 99.9% certainty that...








we're....








having...











a

(wait for it)








....

We could not be happier!!!

Zoe in pictures

Today is Zoe's official birthday and I'm thinking about how much she has changed since her last birthday. One year ago she was just beginning to walk and now her long legs run and jump. She's growing so quickly and shedding her babyishness faster than I am ready for her to do so. Lately I seem to be clinging to her because I know she only has a few short months before she is no longer "the baby."

I look at these pictures of my Zoe and I see not only the progression of her growth, but how I fell more hopelessly in love with her with every passing month. You think you can't possibly love someone so much and then your heart expands a little bit more.

Pun'kins

This is probably the first trip of many to the pumpkin patch as I think we're going with Zoe's school next week. Mimi and I took the girls out to a local farm for some hayridin', pumpkin pickin' and asparagus maze gettin' lost in fun!

It's a little odd to be enjoying this activity in the 90 degree heat - a brisk wind and some sweater weather would have made it idyllic. But, I know I won't be complaining in December!

We each got to take a little pumkin home and Zoe took a nap today with hers. Athena named her pumpkin "Coach" because that is what it will turn into. I'm not sure either of them girls are going to stand for carving them - too cruel.

Athena went for the biggest one she could carry.

Zoe's so big yet still so wee.

Not interested in face painting, but they did allow it on their hands.

Waiting for the hayride to start.

Mimi and Athena on the hayride.

Mommy and Zoe enjoying the view.

Two much

Whenever we asked Zoe how old she was today, she said "I too much" We would correct her "No, honey, you're two" but she wasn't having any of it "NO! I too much" It is true.

We had a lovely, albeit chaotic, zoo-themed party with tiger and zebra striped balloons, safari animals, a lion cake and lots of popcorn at the pool house in our apartment complex. We were expecting four friends from Zoe's class and two tag-along siblings about Athena's age for a total of eight kids. Turns out the sister of Zoe's classmate had a sleepover last night and the parents brought all the girls to our party adding four unexpected little ones (we knew the girls from school also although they are in the upper class). Luckily, I ordered a dozen of the party favors and souvenir sippy cups, so after some scrambling and rearranging the table we were totally fine and happy to have them.

I planned a list of possible organized activities, for the day. Coloring, crafts and I thought we could play Hullaballoo or Monkey, Monkey, Lion but after one attempt to shout over the noise and get the attention of 12 little ones running around, I gave up and they just had fun bouncing balloons around.

Zoe seemed to like it. But, where her sister loves to be in the limelight, Zoe is not that fond of having too much attention paid to her and she burst into tears when everyone sang "Happy Birthday." Her favorite part was opening presents, of course.

After all the friends had left and the balloons and streamers were cleaned up, the girls came home and threw a pretend birthday party for Athena's horse. They set the table and decorated our living room and made Mimi sing to the stuffed animals. So, I suppose the day made an impression afterall.

Grandaddio made the trip with Grandma Andre, Mimi was running the event and even Auntie Lisa came by and made some important Starbuck's runs. Here's photos from our day...

Zoe Birthday No. 2

We celebrated Zoe's birthday today with a wonderful group of new friends and 12 children from Zoe's school. I'll post all the photos later (blogger photo upload isn't working for me today). Until then here's the video of Zoe bursting into tears while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Poor baby...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Color Me Mine

Another masterpiece in the works.

Who could it be for?

Surgery Day

Our day began at 5:30, we roused Athena from her bed and bundled her in blankets for the short car ride to the surgery center. She was really good waking up so early, waiting in the waiting room and letting the nurses take all her vitals in pre-op. Things took a turn however when the anesthesiologist introduced himself and said that the best thing to do was take her quickly and whisk her to the OR right away. She panicked and clung to Chris. He had to pry her off and she went screaming and reaching for him the whole way through the double doors. It tore my heart out and Chris had to resist an urge to punch the doctor and take her back in his arms. It was a traumatic separation for all three of us.

The surgery lasted about 45 minutes. The funny thing is that last week, Athena had an awful ear infection that actually blew out the tubes in both ears leaving perforations in her eardrums. The ENT patched each ear successfully, no problems at all.

In post-op she was completely stressed out and disoriented. I immediately crawled into her bed with her and held her while she sobbed. The little five year old in the next bed was just waking up coughing and crying after a T&A (tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy) and my heart went out to her. I was very thankful that we were not dealing with that pain on top of her ears. After about a half an hour in recovery we were able to get her to sit up, take of few sips of water and liquid Vicadin and we went home.

She was so out of it when we got her home but Zoe was happy to see her and wanted to jump on her and play. We thought it best to take Zoe away from our little apartment and give Athena some peace, so Mimi and I took her to the store to pick up Athena's prescriptions. By the time we got back, Athena was 100% her normal self. In fact, the difficulty today was trying to get her to stay calm. The doctor prescribed no activity today, but she would not sit still, constantly jumping, laughing, hanging upside and going stir crazy. I intended to keep her home this whole week, but I'm not sure I can contain her.

So, it's all over, it went exceptionally well but it was not fun.

Zoe brought her sister a balloon to make her feel better.

Via Arte

Auntie Mimi arrived today for a visit. We picked her up at the airport and almost immediately went out again to a neighborhood celebration held by the local art museum called "Via Arte." There was music, elaborate chalk drawings and, for a $10 donation, you could create your own sidewalk art. We were all over that!

The girls were very excited about
the package of pastels that we get to keep.

Mimi helped get them started.

Zoe, after scribbling in someone else's square (oops), soon lost
interest and went to go see the belly dancers with her Daddy.

Athena was totally engrossed in her art.

And the final result, a masterpiece.

And another end result...

Then we went home, and after Mimi emptied her suitcase of all the presents she brought from YiaYia and PopPop and herself, the girls played and played and played with her. See, Mimi is like a Mommy, except she will give you horsey rides and hold you upside down by your feet.
The girls wanted nothing to do with Chris or me today. Mimi had to put Zoe down for a nap, Mimi had to change her, Mimi had to give them a bath, put their jammies on, read them a story and brush their teeth. Poor Mimi. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon and she can relax a little.

Tomorrow is surgery day for Athena. We have to be at the center at 6:15 am, surgery begins at 7:15, lasts for about an hour and depending on recovery we may be home as early as noon. She'll be hurting and tired so we bought the Sleeping Beauty DVD and some princess soup (thanks Aunt Katie).

Zoe will have her Mimi all to herself until we get home.