A Christmas Cold...

Katerina has her first real cold. She had one back in October, but that was just the sniffles, this is a real COLD: runny nose, cough, tearing eyes, etc. Because she's congested, it has been difficult for her to sleep, and consequently her parents are not getting too much sleep either.

Mike also has a cold and this morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. It's probably only a matter of time.

Katerina has been pretty miserable too, especially when she first wakes up. I feel so bad for her. In order to keep her content she needs lots of distractions. Well at 5:45am in the morning, after having been up with her just a hour before, I decided I needed some coffee first, so I broke down and put on the Baby Einstein DVD. Katerina layed on the bobby quite contently for a good 15 minutes--bless that DVD. I figure when you're sick, the no TV rules get thrown out! :)

Celebrating the Holiday Season

The last couple of weeks we have truly enjoyed the holiday season. Last weekend we went to pick out our Christmas tree. It was a 30 degree day, but the sun was out. Katerina seemed to enjoy herself. We found out tree fairly quickly, and as we did, it started to snow...it was picturesque!

Then, we were at a holiday party at church this evening and Katerina met Santa Claus. Everyone was wondering if she would cry--but she didn't. In fact she was completely intrigued by him.

Finally, the last two nights after Katerina went to bed, Mike and I made cookies. Next year, Katerina will join us...I can't wait.

7 months old!

I can't believe Katerina is seven months old. She is becoming such a little person! And she never stays still...I tried several times to take a picture of her and Mickey ...and this is what I got.

Here is an update on her recent milestones.

She has a tooth that is almost completely in, and a second one on the way.

She does an "army crawl" to get a toy she really wants. She can also crawls sideways a few steps.

Her crying has become quite sophisticated. If you take a toy away from her she starts to cry. If you set her down and leave the room, she starts to cry. Ms. Heather from school said, "Welcome to the world of an older baby."

She ate some avocado for the first time the other day. I thought it was disgusting, but she loved it.

She has begun to improve her fine motor skills with the help of cheerios. Grandma gave her some during Thanksgiving, and so we've been practicing at home too. She doesn't get too many in her mouth yet, but she's learning.

Katerina can sit up by herself now. Occasionally she still falls backwards, but not too often.

Finally, she has discovered the wonder of hard surfaces. She loves to scooch over to the wood floor in the family room so that she can bang her hand on it over and over again. She also tries to do the same thing at daycare!

First Thanksgiving

Katerina celebrated her first Thanksgiving! She had a wonderful time visiting first with Yiayia and Papou and then Grandma and Papa Eddie and of course her uncles and aunts.

She even enjoyed some of the holiday meal--sweet potatoes, carrots, and green beans.

Over the holiday it also became obvious that she is teething! The poor thing has been in a bit of pain as she waits for the bottom tooth to poke its way through. Those teething toys really work, as does Motrin and baby oral gel. :)

It's now a week later and the tooth has poked through! It's pretty sharp, and only a little is showing at this point. It won't be long before it's fully in. Maybe she'll have two front teeth by Christmas.

Peas...Yukky

This weekend I made home-made baby food for the first time: sweet potatoes, pears, bananas, apples and peas! So far she has liked everything except peas. When I first gave her the peas, she made a face, held out her tongue then started gagging/coughing. It freaked me out, so I was ready to throw the peas out. Then Mike mixed the peas with some carrots...and well she ate it just fine. She was actually really hungry last night, and so we also brought out bananas and mixed peas with bananas. Yum!

Tonight she had sweet potatoes with a little peas mixed in. She'll get her greens some way!

6 months and counting

Katerina is a little over 6 months old now. Here is her monthly picture with Mickey. She is about the same size as he is now.

Yesterday at her doctor's appointment we learned she is 15 pounds 11 ounces and 27.5 inches long.

She is certainly not a little baby anymore. Below are some of her recent milestones.

• I think she will be crawling in a couple weeks--she gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. She even moves her legs forward, but she doesn't quite understand how to balance and move her hands yet.


• She is sitting by herself for several seconds at a time.


• She is getting very strong too. It's difficult to hold her if she doesn't want to be held because she wiggles out of it.


• She is "talking" non-stop. She has "da da da da" down pat, and she is starting on her "mmms." The other day it sounded like she said "Hi"...Mike and I think that's going to be her first word because we say it so much.

This is such a fun age, because she is really starting to develop a personality. I can't believe its been 6 months already...where does the time go?

Katerina's Baptism

Last weekend was Katerina's Baptism. It was a beautiful weekend and we were blessed with the company of friends and family.

Katerina was very a good girl. I was nervous that stranger anxiety would set-in, but it didn't. She was a social butterfly most of the weekend--talking to people, showing off her skills, i.e. rolling, sticking her feet in her mouth and saying "Da da da da."

Katerina loved all the attention, but it certainly wore her out. She slept for awhile at the restaurant during lunch. Then, after cake and desserts as guests were leaving our house, she went down for another nap and slept for over two hours. Mike and I had to actually wake her up.


The Baptism ceremony was wonderful. Father Pat made it very relaxed.


Katerina began the ceremony wearing the gown that was hand-made for my mother, which I also wore. Katerina is the third generation to wear the gown. Then, after she was Baptized, she put on new clothes that her Nouno, Stratis bought for her in Greece. She looked so adorable!


She only cried once as she was being "dunked." The rest of the time she was fasinated by her dress, the people, or her shoes, which she kept tapping together.


She also did a great job taking communion for the first time, although she did dribble a little.


Strat, Katerina's Godfather, did an excellent job too in his role in performing the sacrament! We were thrilled to be able to honor Strat as Godfather and Meghan as the Witness for the ceremony. They both mean a great deal to us and we know that Katerina will have a special relationship with them.



It was a fun weekend spent with friends and family. Thanks everyone for making the trip to be with Katerina.