This made me laugh

As I was downloading a million old videos off our camera, I came across a couple that made me laugh out loud. I had completely forgotten I had taken all these little 20 second videos of nothing, just us hanging out. Even though the videos are only a couple of months old, both girls look much smaller and have changed so much. In this first one, Athena is completely unreasonable she wasn't in the mood to be filmed and overruled my idea to capture a family moment.

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Okay! No pictures!

Here's another attempt to capture "The Daddy Show" with Zoe rocking out so much in her exersaucer I thought she was going to give herself whiplash.

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Lost Weekend

No pictures this weekend because we inadvertently had a little vacation at Yiayia's house and did not bring the camera. We had a lovely weekend, the weather was picture perfect and we enjoyed sleeping in, painting outside (the new obsession) and a spectacular organic BBQ from the Farmer's Market. After two days, Athena said she lived at Yiayia's house and cried when we packed up to leave.

This ones for Grandaddio

Grandaddio, Athena had her first taste of Corned "Beouf", cabbage and potatoes tonight. So you see, we are raising the girls with L_ family traditional meals. When Chris brought it to the table she said "Lookit dat!" and then proceed to eat alot. It was a big hit to say the least. We explained to her as we were cooking that if you like bacon (which she does) you'll like corned beef, so she kept calling it "bacon" but loved it nonetheless. She did not touch the cabbage, however.

Fly-by Clinical Exam

At the grocery store today, the man standing in line behind me asked where Zoe had her cleft lip repaired. It took me by surprise because I have long since stopped "explaining" her cleft to strangers as it appears to me to be practically unnoticeable these days.

Turns out he is a pediatrician who specializes in clefts and is part of a group of Doctors Without Borders who treat cleft children in third world countries. Although he did not recognize Dr. Noonan's name, as he typically sends his cleft babies to Monte Fiore Children's Hospital, he thought it was an excellent repair.

He said the nose is nearly impossible to make perfect, think how hard it is to simply draw a nose and then imagine the difficulty of creating one, and Zoe's nose, he thought, was as close to perfect as you can get. Her lip can be restructured more symmetrically later on and her scar can be lessened, both easy operations.

I could have spoken to him for hours. It was so nice to find a pediatrician who had such a familiarity with cleft babies. As I drove off I wish I had gotten his name! Such a missed opportunity. Although we are mostly happy with our current pediatrician, I know she gets her information about clefts from medical journals and not from actual experience.

Still, it was an interesting encounter and made me feel really good about the choice we made with Zoe's plastic surgeon.

Finally home

We're home! After a full day of traveling taking first a boat, then a bus, then two planes and a car, we finally arrived to YiaYia's at 2 am last night. The girls wasted no time crawling all over their Daddy and welcoming us first thing this morning. Here they are proudly displaying the stuffed Orcas brought home from our trip.

Chris and I need a vacation from our vacation! There was lots of dancing and singing, a little too much drinking and eating, not enough sleep and we think Chris cracked a rib from all the laughing. We had too much fun. An absolutely, unforgettable wedding.

The girls were great with their YiaYia. Mom claims they are better behaved at her house than at ours. They've created a happy little routine in the five days we were away and I'm going to have a hard time getting YiaYia to give them up, although she looks like she could use a little rest herself.

I think one of the best parts about going away is coming home again.

And we're off...

Here's Zoe unpacking her things and preparing to spend five whole days with YiaYia while her parents run away to Friday Harbor for Rebecca's wedding (yay!). YiaYia will feed the girls constantly, let them stay up late and watch all the bizillion Calliou and Babar episodes recorded on her DVR. After five days, we are going to ache for them, but we are really looking forward to our getaway. Thank you, YiaYia.

In Zoe News

Check this out!

Roommates

Zoe slept in Athena's bedroom last night. Finally giving her parents a room to themselves! Aside from one quick 3 am snack, Zoe slept soundly and did not wake her new roommate at all.

The battle with the "big girl bed' continues however. And although Athena likes to play and put her animals in the bed, when her room is dark and it's time to sleep, she only wants her crib. Sigh.

We've tried new blankets covered in butterflies, positive reinforcement (aka enthusiastic bribery) and a promise that Zoe can sleep in her room when she sleeps in the 'big girl bed'. But, Athena, the child that likes everything 'just so,' has totally rejected it, telling us it is "scarwy" and that she "no like big girl bed" and finally, "big girl bed go away."

So, we gave up last night and brought Zoe's portable crib into the nursery. We'll just have two cribs in there for awhile. I guess when Athena's feet start sticking out the other end she'll give up the crib.

Athena wins this one for now. I'm just happy to not have to put my pajamas on in the dark.

Photo Update

As this "blog" was intended as a replacement for the weekly
email photos to our closest family and friends,
here's our week in photos! Enjoy!

Athena either hugging or trying to push her sister off the couch.

This is how the princess gets served meals
at Grandma's house.

Zoe chewing on a rock.
We eat alot of "rock soup" at our house.

Athena painted for more than an hour when it was
too hot to go outside. Check out the resemblance
in the concentrated faces of Zoe and Athena
in the above photo and this one.

The girls in the grass.

"Freedom!" Athena in her Braveheart paint.

Baby Spice

Tonight Zoe ate almost an entire chicken tamale by herself. And, I gotta say, it had a little bit of a kick to it with the green chili sauce. She may be the one to inherit Chris' propensity for all things spicy. More and more she refuses to be fed. When we try, she reaches for the food on the spoon with both hands and mushes it in her mouth. Speech pathologists recommend long feeding sessions for cleft babies to give them time to play and explore textures, temperatures and flavors. Zoe loves her mealtime and will eat almost anything. As for her sister, can a toddler exist on milk, pancakes, bananas, yogurt, strawberries and cereal?