Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Play Date!!!

Today Alexia had a play date with Brandon while I had a play date with Ania.We went to Bury and walked around the market and did some shopping at Mothercare. Then we relaxed a bit at Abbey Gardens. The weather could not have been nicer, not too hot and perfect in the shade under a tree. Ania is getting into the photography thing and took some pics. They turned out really cute. Here are some of the pics. She is going to edit them later and I can't wait to see what she does. I hope we have more play dates soon, and maybe little Ava can join us next time.







Monday, June 28, 2010

Sitting Up

Sorry the video is sideways but that was the only way I could hold the camera to get this shot. Alexia was sitting on my lap and I let her go and she stayed up. I know the pillow helped her a bit because on the floor she doesn't sit up as well. I am still proud of my little munchkin either way.

Olivia's 2!!! (almost)



Our goddaughter had her 2nd birthday party on Saturday. Her birthday isn't until July 2nd, but that also happens to be the 4th of July weekend. We got Olivia a scooter so now she doesn't have to take her sissy's. Zoie's scooter is also too big for her and she keeps on falling down when using it and giving me puppy dog eyes when she does. I'm a sucker for those eyes because she definitely knows how to use them. The party was fun and the weather couldn't have been nicer.



Alexia had a good time too with Olivia. Olivia kept on saying "Me hold, me hold" so I let her hold Alexia.



Then we watched the USA vs. Ghana game and as we all know that didn't go so well. Even Alexia was upset, we all had high hopes for the team.

Friday, June 25, 2010

TGIF

So today was full of errands. I went to Newmarket to pick up Olivia's birthday gift nice and early in the morning. Thank goodness I did because on the drive home the A11 (the highway I need to take to and from Newmarket) was at a stand still. I am assuming there was an accident that closed it completely. I was so happy to be driving the opposite direction and glad I am an early bird. Its sometimes difficult to do things quickly when out with Alexia because people keep on stopping us and say "Oh my all that hair" or "Just look at those eyes." I really can't blame them because she really does have way more hair than an average baby and she does stare people down with her big eyes, usually forgetting to blink while she does it. Heck, I catch myself everyday commenting on her crazy hair and her big eyes.



I also baked the four cakes I need for Olivia's birthday cake. I won't be decorating it until right before the party because it has fresh strawberries in it and I don't want it to do mushing in this heat. Alexia and I also wrapped Sabrina's gift and we are going to ship it out on Monday. I hope it gets there in time for her birthday.


"Sabrina, I got you something for your birthday. I hope you like it!"

Thursday, June 24, 2010

VISA, American Express not accepted



We finally had our appointment to get Alexia's Visa. She got her passport about a week or two ago. She already looks nothing like her photo. We should be able to have her passport back, with her visa in it, in our hands by the 15th of July. Hopefully we will be able to get it a little earlier. We want to plan our trip to Hungary as soon as we can. I can't wait for my grandmother to meet her great granddaughter. I already ordered a couple of summer outfits for Alexia. She had no idea what kind of heat awaits her. She is used to 75 degrees as hot, heck so am I.

When we got home I watched the USA vs Algeria game. I got home only to see the second half, so I missed some of the "questionable calls." Poor Alexia was sleeping and I tried so hard to watch quietly. I am so glad they pulled through and are now off to the next round. I hope they have better luck with the referees next round. I don't want to see any more goals taken away. Nick came home late because he watched the game at work. Alexia was excited about the win when she heard about it later in the day.



I realized Alexia is going to start solid food soon. We already let her try mashed potatoes and peanut butter. We gave her the potatoes because we were eating it and she really wanted some, and she liked it enough to have a second bite. Nick gave her peanut butter because he wanted to see if she was allergic. I was not so happy about it. When I scolded him he smeared some on her leg and said if she is allergic her leg will turn red. She already ate some, a red leg is not what I was worried about. As it turned out she is not allergic, thank goodness. Since she wil be starting rice cereal at four months, I gave her a spoon to "practice with." Well, she held on to it for dear life but had horrible aim. If the cereal needed to go into her eye or ear she would have been good. She likes to be in control of her bottle so hopefully she will let me be in control of the spoon. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Hair and Some Balls


So today I got my hair cut. I hate getting my hair cut here in England because I have yet to get a good hair cut in three years. It doesn't matter how I explain my desired cut or show a picture, it is always the same. I look like Lucy from the Peanuts gang. For some reason they like to curl my hair under and puff up my bangs. And lets not even talk about my bangs from the last hair cut I got. I was three months pregnant and I only now got the courage to try another hair cut. I ran into a friend last week and she recommended someone and I decided to try it. I showed her a picture and she delivered. It looked just like the picture. Now I only hope I can recreate it every day. Oh, before I got my hair cut I went to Cinnabon for a MochaLatta Chill and the lady that worked there said Alexia is the way a perfect baby should look. She said she sees so many skinny babies and that Alexia has the perfect amount of "chunk" as I call it. How can I not agree 100%. I tell Alexia she is absolutely perfect all the time. Now I have confirmation, not that I needed it or anything. Nobody can resist those chunky legs and those perfectly ripe cheeks.

After my hair cut we went straight to Nick's softball game. The weather was absolutely amazing and I was looking forward to sitting in the stands with Alexia cheering on the team. Unfortunately only 8 people showed up for each team so both teams had to forfeit the game.


We came home and now Nick is getting ready to go to the pub to cheer on Greece in tonight's game against Argentina. The game starts at 7:30pm so Alexia and I are staying home so she can go to bed her normal time. I have to say I know how lucky I am to have a baby that sleeps through the night. She goes to bed around 9pm and wakes up at almost 6am. And then the best part is she goes back to bed so I can have my cup of coffee and my breakfast. How can someone not want more babies if you get one this good. Our second will probably end up being the demon child but one can hope and pray for another good baby like Alexia.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!!!

Today was Nick's first Father's Day. We went to Cambridge today to have lunch in a pub and to watch a bit of soccer. Alexia slept the whole time we were there which was fine by us because we were able to eat with both hands free. When Alexia was up she was just the happiest thing on this planet. The only exception was at around 12:30 this morning when she woke up crying. I think it was too much partying for her yesterday. Nick got blue tooth headsets for his ipod as his present. It is a special kind that is "sweat-proof." The last ones he had weren't, which is a no go for working out. They died in a matter of a month. The rest of the day is going to be laziness on the couch watching the Mets game and maybe some more soccer.



Birthday Madness

We had two kids birthday parties yesterday and I'm still exhausted. First came Zoie's pirate themed party. The kids ran around all crazy in the gym area and then went on to have food, candy, and cake. It was a fun party and Alexia got into the pirate thing too.


Here is the cake with the sails on it.











After the pirate party we were off to Elijah's Curious George party. We had a good time, with good food and fun people. I got to meet a few new faces and had some conversations with grown-ups, always a plus. And as always Christine made amazing lumpias. I can't even tell you how many I ate, and if I knew I don't think I would want to admit to the number. Elijah was so cute and had a good time partying it up. Alexia was just jealous of the food everyone was eating, even Elijah's cake!!



Friday, June 18, 2010

Fondant

So this was my first real experience with fondant. We made it last night from scratch and put the cake together today. I have learned that fondant is something you need to practice with. You need some good tools and a few tricks of the trade, neither of which I possess. Practice makes perfect and I'll be working on it. This cake is for Zoie's pirate themed party tomorrow. The sails are still missing because we needed the cake to fit in the refrigerator. Tomorrow will be when the final product gets revealed. I hope Zoie likes it, because if she doesn't she will definitely let me know. When I made her a mermaid castle cake, the first thing she did when she saw it was tell me what I did wrong. Yup, harsh criticism from a then four year old. I guess we shall see tomorrow if we get the thumbs up or if we have to walk the plank.

Getting Big


Alexia got weighed and measures today. She is 13 lb 1 oz and 23.75 inches long. She has gone up into the 75th percentile in both weight and height. She was in the 50th percentile before. As can be assumes she has a very healthy appetite. She is looking like she is getting ready for solid food soon as well. She stares at our food and pretends to chew when we eat. Nick gave her a tiny bit of mashed potatoes and she loved it and ate it without any problems. When she hits four months we will start the rice cereal. Messy pictures are sure to follow after that.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Zoie!!



So today Zoie turned 6!!!! I still can't believe it. I still sometimes think of her as a little 3 year old I met, those were the days. Today started off with me baking three cakes for Zoie's pirate ship cake. This will be for her pirate party on Saturday (pictures to come I promise). Alexia has been the most amazing baby today so I was able to bake without a problem. Even Nick mentioned how perfect she was today. She is almost always a really good baby so we can't really complain. Nick passed his PT test today so it was definitely a celebratory day for us. We feasted on mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and ice cream cake (as requested by the birthday girl). After we ate Marguerita and I made the chocolate fondant for the pirate cake and Zoie played with the T-Ball set we gave her. She is going to kick butt her first day of T-Ball tomorrow.

Nick has off tomorrow so I will be able to decorate the cake with Marguerita without having to take Alexia with me. Lets hope it turns out awesome because Zoie is one tough customer.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

And it begins

So this weekend started off the FIFA madness. Alexia watched her first soccer game (on TV of course). We watched the Greece game while we were having lunch and it didn't go so well. Nick of course had his jersey on and one lady walking by told her little son to watch out because that man has tourette's. Nick of course didn't curse because he knew children were around but he did get a little angry and kinda looked like a kid in time out for a second while he was holding it all in. We then went home so I can make a seven layer dip and for Nick to change jerseys for the USA vs England game. We wanted to go to a pub and watch it with the Brits but thought it would be better (and a bit safer) if we went to a friend's house instead. We had a great time and as we all know USA tied with England, which is better than losing for sure. And as the one Brit at the party said, that goalie is a donkey.




We are having a hard time finding her a soccer outfit for the games. I guess you snooze you lose. Not only does she not have a soccer outfit, she doesn't have anything to wear for Friday's Mets game. Her Mets outfit is for 6 months so she doesn't fit in it yet. We are going to a friend's house and they are yankee fans so she has to represent. I guess we will see how it goes.