[BeckyM]

Guess it's my turn to start this for a change.

Here's a pic of our little stander. He's so proud of being able to pull himself up these days. And has started the furniture cruising and even pulled himself up 3 steps on the staircase yesterday before I caught him.


How was everyone's weekend? Ours was busy. DH worked 4 hours each day, & MIL & I were busy making plans for Mark's baptism. It'll be on Feb 20th. Only 4 short weeks away so we've got alot to do in a short time. We decided on the favors - they will be a framed pic of Mark with the traditional koufeta (jordan almonds) wrapped in tulle with ribbon. The frames we ordered online, so cute. Here's a pic.

It's traditionally a wedding frame, but we loved them and think it'll be something cute & different for the baptism. Got to play photographer yesterday trying to get a perfect pic for the frame, and got a few cute ones. It's just so hard to keep him still in one place long enough & to get a smile when he has to sit. We're going to try again next weekend. Any tips for me?? I also still need to work on invites. I don't need to make a lot (thankfully), as we convinced MIL we didn't need to invite the whole world. Our guest list is actually @ 30 adults & 10 kids. Yay! With her original list, we were close to 100 - this is much much better. I just need to get something made fast & get them delivered. Most will be hand delivered. The godparents will be decorating the candles so I don't have that to do ahead of time and we're not decorating the house so the cards & favors are the only crafty things to do. After I get thru this, then I get to play around for his bday party - thinking about a teddy bear theme for that.

[*SamF*]

Becky he is so cute!!!! Gotta love boys, they climb anything and everything!! CJ still won't walk on his own more than 5 steps, but he loves stairs and yesterday I caught him standing on his little people tractor trying to step up on his push/ride truck. I'm seriously considering a bubble suit.

Just made an appointment with a ENT for tomorrow to go have CJ's ears looked at

[BeckyM]

What do they think is wrong with CJ's ears?

and ditto to the bubble suit. Mark has fallen so many times and has already had a bumps & bruises. He's fearless. I told DH our goal is to keep him out of a full body cast before he's 18.

[MarieJ]

Mark is too cute! Sounds like its gonna be a great baptism! Cute frame!

AFM, dh is gone to a course for the week, he left last night and will be back late Friday. Saturday am we load up early, then drive 6 hours to catch the plane for a week in Mexico! This is the kids' trip, Nolan is so excited to go!

[mum74]

Cute frame Becky! Is that a Greek sort of themed frame? If you get any good tips on taking photos of babies, pass them on ... I have to get Layla to smile and laugh and then try to get back behind the camera and she stops! And yay for pulling up and cruising... the bumps not so good - Layla is the same!

Hope CJ's ears are okay Sam.

Big week here - Oliver had his first day of school yesterday. And Jonah had his first day of kindy (the year before school) today! They both had big grins and great days!

Got to keep going. Everyone keeps wishing me a quiet day on my own with Layla but it seems all I've done is run around and done errands (Jonah was just a half day for his first day anyway)!

Layla cute as ever - still not sleeping well at night and still no teeth!
Have a good week everyone!

[MomtoKatieB]

Sam ~ KUP on CJ's ears. yay for climbers!

Becky~ Love the frame, can't wait to see baptism pictures. Yay for standing!

Marie ~ Boo on DH being away, but Yay on Children's trip to Mexico.

Lenore~ Yay for the boys going to school. Boo on Layla not sleeping well.

AFM ~ Katie is a little daredevil and keeps herself bruised up too, so ladies, it isn't just the boys who may end up in full body casts prior to adulthood. She goes back to the pedi urologist on Thursday. We got her a new carseat today (still rear facing but this one is convertible) because Miss Katie is getting so tall. It is the Graco My Ride 65 and she loves it because it is something new to sit in.

[mum74]

Marie I missed you first time round! Have an awesome trip with the kids!

Beth, glad Katie is loving her new carseat!

[BeckyM]

Sam - good luck today with CJ's appointment, update us when you can.

Marie - yay for upcoming vacay. Sorry DH is away for now, hoping it'll pass quickly and with no issues.

Lenore - Yay for both boys starting school and only little Layla at home. Hopefully you will get that "quiet time" sometime soon. And hope Layla starts sleeping better. Mark is not sleeping as well as he used to either, maybe something about this age.

Beth - yay for new carseat for Miss Katie. Good luck at her appt on Thursday. Hope it goes well.

Thanks for the compliments on the frame & Mark standing. He's growing so fast. Traditionally a framed pic of the child is given at the baptism to the guests as a favor along with the candy almonds. We kept going back & forth on having the baptism here versus in Greece and finally decided for here. I didn't like any of the plain frames, or the baby ones with abc blocks, crosses, teddybears, etc. I came across this one during a search thru google and thought it was adorable. So we decided to use the sailboat. They should be here later this week and then we'll play around with pics to put in them. Here's a few of the pics we took Sunday trying to find one that'll work.








Oh, for tips, Lenore. This last pic, what you don't see is me (cropped out of the pic) holding Mark down with his legs so DH could take the pic. Physical restraining worked for that one.