Turkey and Cranberries

This Thanksgiving, our turkey was so cute we just couldn't eat him! While we were waiting for the real thing to come out of the oven, we put this little turkey on the platter with cranberries. Naturally, once the real turkey was out and we had started to eat, Niko was trying to crawl back on the table.

Looking at the squirrels

A few weeks ago, Niko and Lola were both looking out the window at a couple of squirrels runnign along the fence. Niko some them first, then Lola jumped up to see too.

Halloween time

This was Niko's 2nd Halloween and this year he was a pirate. We had a bandana and an eyepatch that he wanted no part of, so he ended up wearing a pirate hat from the dollar section at Target. He made a very cute pirate, but ended up in the stroller with his sippy cup rather than getting candy (just as well, John and I are the ones that end up eating it!) This picture is from the beginning of the night when we stopped by to see Cocoa as Tom Brady--notice the big hug Niko's giving him--if a dog stays still long enough, he'll try to hug it. Naturally, lazybones Lola gets a lot of hugs.

We're back!

Oops! I seem to fallen off the blog bandwagon. I have definitely not been good about keeping up with this, so assuming there's anyone still following, I will do my best to start posting again...a few updates: Niko officially started walking full time at the beginning of October (better late than never!), he has 12 teeth (4 coming in at once-ouch!) and says a number of words, including down, stay, ball (all dog related) and a few more I can't think of right now. Here are a few pics taken over the past few months. Hard to believe the last time I posted Niko was only 14 months and now he's almost 18 months!

All smiles on the swings...

Niko loves swings--in the backyard, at the playground, at Grandma's house. Here are a few pics of him at our house and at the playground down the street.

He loves Nutella!

For lunch on Wednesday, Niko had a Nutella sandwich and loved it. He ate every last bite and didn't even try to share with Lola! Hopefully this doesn't go the way of PB&J, which he liked for a weeks, then decided it was more fun to play with.

Baby reunion #2

This past Sunday, we had our 2nd baby reunion. Our 1st one was last October when the babies were only 4 or 5 months. Now almost a year later, they're walking, saying a few words and even sitting in a row for a picture! Coincidentally, Niko was not walking as of the baby reunion (a few steps here and there, but still doing a lot more crawling) but on that day he took about 6 steps without heading towards a toy or Mommy or Daddy. Maybe it was seeing all of the other kids walking or maybe he's just decided he's ready, but in the last week, he's been doing a lot more walking each day. Hooray for independence!

Our 1st trip to the beach

Here are some pictures of Niko's 1st trip to the beach. We went to Wingaersheek in Gloucester last Wednesday. It was just me and Niko that day and pushing a carriage through the sand loaded down with my beach bag, towels, tent, umbrella and beach chair was not easy--thank goodness for the woman walking by that pity and helped me out, otherwise I would have set up camp in the parking lot!
Niko loved playing in the sand and crawling around in the (surprising warm) water. I love all the shallow little tidepools he can play in and the sandbar you can walk out too. I've always headed to Marshfield for Duxbury Beach, but now with the little guy, I think we'll be heading North to Gloucester from now on.
We're going again tomorrow with Kali so things should be a little easier, and we'll also be taking the jogging stroller with it's all terrain tires. Maybe next summer for Niko's 2nd birthday we'll be getting him a little red wagon to take on future beach trips!

Niko turns 1!

On Friday, Niko had his 1st birthday--hard to believe that a whole year has already gone by! His first birthday made me appreciate a birthday for what it really is--the day a baby is born and a celebration of that day every year after. Being a mother makes me understand it more because I remember that 1 year ago we were in a hospital room watching the clock and wandering when we would meet this new little person.
At 5:17pm when he was born, John and I both learned the meaning of unconditional love when he looked at us both just minutes after being born. Now that I'm all teary (again) thinking about those first moments, I can look back at his party on Saturday and see a 1 year old covered in birthday cake and see how far we've come.
He started out with his little smash cake, which ended up being hard as a rock (had I known this, I would not have bought this!). We traded that cake for a piece of his regular cake and he had no problem diving into that!

Can I come in?

One of Niko's favorite non-toys is his bedroom door (along with drawers, remote controls, keys and boxes). He entertains himself by opening and closing it, and it after doing this a few times, it usually closes and he can't figure out how to open it again. Sometimes Lola gets stuck in the room, sometimes out, but wherever she is she usually wants to be on the other side.

This time when Lola got locked out, she pawed at the door scratching to get in and even peeked under the door to see what she was missing. Even cuter was how Niko got down on his tummy to see what she was up to!

Let's go Red Sox!

Here's Niko practicing the wave for when he eventually makes his first trip to Fenway. I think when he starts singing "Sweet Caroline," we'll know it's time to take him to a game!

Super pug

Here's a funny pic of Lola jumping off the back of the couch--all she needs is a cape! I just wish Niko's eyes were open but I think he was pretty startled.

Here are some pictures from Sunday, I didn't get any of the lamb because it was already off the spit by the time I had the camera out. Here's John and his dad at the grill, Niko in his new ride and a picture of Lola on the picnic table. She spent a lot of time here looking like she wanted to make the jump to the table with all the food (cleared off in the picture). She behaved (if you can call a pug on a picnic table behaved) and never made the jump over to the food though!

Niko's 1st Greek Easter

This post is long overdue, as Greek Easter was on April 19th. Even though we're already into May, I can't resist posting these pics of Niko in his fancy Easter outfit (navy sweater vest, orange plaid shirt, white linen pants and Kenneth Cole dress shoes-thanks Aunt Toula!) Niko was by far the best dressed kid at church (and the cutest) and also pretty tired.

The night before Greek Easter, we go to church at 11pm on Saturday night. Niko had his bath at 6pm and then went to bed until 10:15pm, so these pics were taken pretty late right before we left for church. He was in a great mood after sleeping only a few hours, but that didn't stop him from passing out at 11:30 once we were in church. That was fine with me, and he slept until it was time for communion at 1:30am! After church, we went to Toula's parent's house for the traditional margeiritsa soup (to clarify, I watched while they ate). At around 3am, Niko was getting pretty cranky (so was Mommy!) and we went home to get some sleep before a long day on Sunday.

Bunny ears

I put Niko's bunny ears on the other night to see if he'd keep them on for Easter. He didn't mind having them on and Lola couldn't help but sniff the bunny (she was probably checking for carrot crumbs). On Easter, Niko met a baby bunny, his new cousin Gabrielle.

Waiting for Dad to get home

Here's a picture of Niko and Lola looking out the window waiting for John to get home. When Lola sees and hears John's truck pull up, she knows right away that it's him--I'm sure it won't be long before Niko's getting just as excited!

On the move...

In the last couple of weeks, Niko has become very good at crawling. He moves pretty quick, so I can only imagine how much fun it will be to chase him once he's walking! Once he gets to the hardwood, he starts to slide around but it doesn't slow him down. I think he's turning around to see if I'm coming after him!

We're standing!

Oops--almost 1 month since our last post! Lately Niko has started pulling himself up onto his knees in his crib and once when John went into his room after a nap, he was standing! In this picture, I gave him a little help, so he didn't quite do this on his own. He's gotten a lot faster at crawling, and seems to have figured out how to coordinate his arms and legs (but when he's tired, he likes to lunge forward and let his arms collapse, kind of like a seal). Regardless of what method he's using, he's pretty quick!

Niko's 1st haircut

Today we took Niko to Snip-its for his first haircut. We took a couple of pictures while we were waiting so we could remember what his long baby curls looked like before it was all gone. After, we strapped him in the chair, and put on his cape--he looked so small sitting in the chair with just his little head peeking out!

The woman that cut his hair was very quick and Niko was kept occupied with some bubbles and lights. It made me sad to see all his baby hair cut off, but I'll be happy not to spend every morning spraying his hair with detangler only to take his hat off and have it be a mess again! When it was all done, he looked like a little boy and not a baby anymore. They gave us a little plastic bag with a lock of hair, but I couldn't resist taking a couple of more curls off the cape. John thought I was crazy, but if I could have, I would have swept up all his curls to take them with me! Oh well, I guess saying goodbye to that hair is part of his growing up that I'll have to get used to!

He's been baptized!

This past Saturday was Niko's baptism. Being baptized Greek Orthodox meant being dipped in the water 3 times and then being covered in olive oil. The water was heated and Niko loves the water, so he was pretty happy when he was taking a dip. He was not so happy when he was being held up naked so he could be coated with the oil.

As soon as that was done, he was wrapped in a towel and brought to the chapel where he was changed into his white suit. I also had a bottle ready when he was wrapped in the towel to help calm him down a little. Of course, he held onto it for dear life while he was being dressed, making that a little challenging.

Once dressed, he was brought back out to the alter where he was given communion and then promptly fell asleep. The baptism was followed by dinner and lots of Greek dancing, so it was a pretty long day for everyone.

Now that he's been baptized, we can cut his hair which we'll be going to do tomorrow. New pictures to be posted soon of Niko's first haircut!

Don't eat me!

Here's Niko wearing his cupcake hat that Aunt Debbie bought for him. When he wore it outside, we got lots of compliments on how "sweet" he looked.

Where oh where did my baby go?

At 7 1/2 months, I can't help but wonder where the time went and Niko got so big. It's hard to believe we're closer to being a one year old than a newborn, both sad and exciting at the same time. Lately, changing Niko's diaper has become quite challenging--all he wants to do now is turn over and play with whatever is at the top of his head. Gone are the days when he was half the size of the changing pad only to be replaced with a chunky monkey who wants his feet in his mouth and is curious about everything he can hear and see! The first picture is from he was about 3 weeks old, and the second picture at 7 months (and don't worry, the scissors at the top of his head have found a new home out of his reach).

Snow day

On Sunday, we took Niko and Lola outside in the snow so Lola could use up some of her extra energy and so Niko could try his new sled. While Lola bounded around like a snow rabbit (or a snow pug) in her pink puffer, Niko enjoyed the ride all cozy and warm in his sled. At one point, it looked like Lola aksed Niko if there was room for her in there!