The kids are doing great at Gymnastics and will continue in the next session.  They love the trampoline and diving into the “pit” – a pit of foam things that is.  Swimming has finished with a degree of success.  They can all jump in, blow bubbles, kick their legs etc but would all drown in 30 seconds without anyone to hold them up.

Max continues to hold the adorable baby of the month award.  He is now making kisses, trying to wave, eating finger food and sitting unsupported.  He has absolutely no interest in crawling or pretty much moving which is sort of nice as I am not chasing him away from dangers yet.  He is one FAT happy baby which is just perfect.

We are still struggling with out landscaping and planted Zoyzia plugs (a type of grass) on the front hill last weekend.  This hill is our real problem area – grass does not grow, weeds love it and it develops gullies when it rains.  It is great for sledding though.  The vegie patch is our one area that is doing great – tomatoes, zucchinis and basil have done best this year.

We are looking forward to the heat and humidity going away.  It is so hot and sticky that even the kids don’t want to play outside – and the mozzies are horrendous.  Well that is all for now.

The next big news is the installation of the playground in the yard.  We bought it from Walmart (that was the easy part), then we had to get someone in to level an area in the yard, then Christos had to build the walls with timber, then he put up the playset, then we got the river rock delivered, then hired someone to move it from the driveway and then finally, Christos got it spread under the playground.  The kids love it and it really turned out great.  They spend a lot of time on basically every piece of equipment it has.  So no more driving to a park with a playground for me which is fantastic.

We have also put the kids in swim lessons.  Both Leo and Eleni love it but Sofia got scared and is very wary.  She is terrified of putting her head in the water.  Poor Leo, when his hair gets wet his long curls cover his eyes completely.  Maybe a tiny haircut is in order.

The kids have also started Classic Gymnastics.  They are in the same class and all of them love it.  I wish they could go every day for 2 or 3 hours to wear them out but unfortunately it is only 45 minutes every Friday.

Leo has progressed with his potty training and now actually will sit and do his business if prompted.  Just one year behind his twin Sofia.  They turn 3 years old tomorrow and are growing like weeds.

Max had his 6 mth check-up on Monday 24th May and rolled over for the very first time at the Peds Office!  He weighs 20lbs and is 28 inches long (which puts him at the 90th percentile for height).  His eczema is still a problem so now we are on to the strong stuff for treatment.

Eleni is doing great and starts big school on 27th August.  The twins start preschool then too (for 1/2 a day).  so from September it will be just me and Max at home in the morning – maybe the garden will get weeded then.

We have a new house being built across the road from us and they have two little girls.  One will be a playmate for Eleni hopefully and she goes to her school (she is one grade above Eleni).  We also have a house being built next to us by a guy who works at the NGIC – where Chris works.  The other house across the road (the big white one) has new owners – a couple who work for the National Parks Service.  It will be weird having so many neighbors.

I am looking forward to September when I will have some more time to do some exercise and one on one time with Max.  The twins had an orientation day at their preschool and can’t wait to go so I am really happy about that.  It is the Christian Academy which goes through to High School – they have a really great playground which I think sold it to the twins.  They are very ready for school and I think will do great there.

Eleni turned 5 years old on Jan 31st and she had a snow-delayed cupcake party with a few friends.  Her favourite things are unicorns and rainbows which she draws surprisingly well.  She just loves drawing and crafts.

Leo remains un-potty-trained.  At least now he will sit on the potty – a very recent achievement.  He is talking in sentences a lot more, knows his numbers and letters really well but goes into a world of his own when playing with his cars.

Sofia remains fearless.  She loves animals, is very athletic but remains our little drama queen.  She loves to ride her bike and play on the swing.

Max is just a joy.  He is the happiest little guy and very easy.  At 4 months he is a big lad (17lbs). He is getting close to rolling over but hates tummy time so it could be a while.  Unfortunately, he has bad eczema and cradle cap so we are trying hard to get on top of that.  He has the most beautiful smile which we see a lot of.

Christos is busy with work and currently in San Diego.  He is banned from taking on any more house projects for a while as these keep him too busy.  He did a fantastic job with our new fireplace in the basement – framing it, doing the electricity and installing the tile surround.  This fireplace saved us when we lost power in the big snow storm for 5 days.  We all camped in the basement and were warm and toasty as it runs on gas!

In Dec – Jan we had my sister Anne and daughter Helena come to visit from Australia.  We sure turned the snow on for them.  It was a record breaking 55 inches this winter.  Helena and Max became firm friends and it was so nice to have the extra pairs of hands to help with all the kids.  We did not get out a great deal but Helena got a taste of sledding and just loved the snow.  We also had a recent visit from Elaine (Christos’s sister) and her family.  It was just a few days but the kids loved having their cousins visiting and it was so nice for us to have family around.  It is very hard when all our family are so far away.

We are planning Max’s baptism for 15th May in St Louis so whilst I am dreading the 12 hr drive, it will be great once we get there.  May is not too hot so we are planning to go to the zoo and a few other attractions with all the kids.

Christos and I celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary on 4th April (the UK wedding).  It is hard to believe that we now have 4 kids. I am hoping we will get out and have dinner together.  Luckily we have a deal with our neighbours where we babysit each others kids for the occasional night out.  I am getting hungry just thinking about it!

He is on a four hourly feeding routine (roughly 8am, 12 noon, 4pm, 8pm and then usually lasts until 1am, then 4 am – and then we start again).  My goal short-term is to get rid of the 4am feeding which is so hard as by the time you finish (around 5am) it is only another 2 hours before the other kids get up.  It is nice though as he generally naps the same time as the other kids in the afternoon (around 1-4pm) as well as a morning nap from 10-12 noon.

The c-section was not the nicest experience – lacerated artery caused from previous adhesions (thanks Eleni, Leo and Sofia).  This  resulted in 2 1/2 units of blood lost and I was not able to hold him.  The operating team were very busy there for a while.  Afterwards in recovery my B/P and temperatures dropped very low resulting in a blood transfusion (thank you to a kind donor).  Then the trauma caused a bowel ileus – very, very painful.  Next came a large (15cm) hematoma at the artery site which will go away eventually.  And did I mention the 2 weeks of swollen legs from the IV that I had for4 days and the nil by mouth that went with it  – and the general pain of being cut open right across my belly – definitely this is the last baby for me!

Luckily Max is super healthy and continues to grow like a weed.  He is really pretty easy compared to the other kids at this age – I remember with Eleni and especially Leo (due to colic)  we were pacing up and down every night trying to stop the crying.  This little guy settles so easy with a nice swaddle and his dummy (also called a pacifier in the US and a Pipela (sp?) in Greek).  The other kids love him and I have to control how much they touch him and want to play with him – hopefully this will continue as he gets older and actually appreciates it.

Not much else to report – we are just busy with the now completed family and enjoying the lovely snow we have had recently.

Sofia is doing great with her potty training and is now in big girl underpants.  She is a talker and still a little diva, but very entertaining (except during the tantrums). She like to ride her bike (with training wheels) and is constantly asking me “what are you doing?”, or “what is that?”.  She just soaks up new things like a sponge.

My little Leo had his first hair-cut this week.  His beautiful ringlets were hanging down into his eyes so had to go.  He has always refused to have his hair combed so we knew it would be a tough call to take him to the barber.  So, Christos did the hair-cutting deed  whilst he was in the bath.  He screamed as every strand was cut – like he was in pain.  So now he is like a shorn sheep but still very cute – Christos did a great job considering he was working the scissors with a moving target.

Eleni  is about to go into pre-kindergarten at school.  She will be one of 17 kids with 3 teachers. She has to do some State assessment in September and then again in May so they can work with her strengths and weaknesses (goodness – she is only 4 years old!).  One of the teachers (Miss Theresa) is supposedly wonderful, especially with arts and crafts so this should suit Eleni.  Eleni has also discovered jigsaw puzzles and I am amazed at how good she is at them.  She has a real eye for detail and loves to sit on our bed and do one after the other as fast as she can.

Christos had his birthday on 6th August and has been busy with work trips – San Diego and also New Orleans.  I am just busy looking after the kids and wishing it would cool down so I can get out into the garden.

June did see us take our road trip to St Louis to visit the Politis side of the family.  The drive was about 15 hours each way and remarkably the kids were fantastic (thank goodness for lots of Wiggles DVD’s).  There are so many things to do with kids in St Louis – The Magic House, Grants Farm, The Butterfly House and of course the local parks and the community swimming pool.  We didn’t even get to the Zoo or some of the museums.  Days were busy and the kids had lots of trantrums to make sure everyone knew they were now two years old.

We had a family birthday party for Leo and Sofia – they were totally spoilt with gifts and attention.  Eleni got her fair share too!

This year we went to the local 4th July celebrations at Stanardsville.  Eleni’s school mates wore their tie-die shirts and we all paraded down the main drag.  Did I mention it was hot and humid!  The kids all had a bag of sweets that they threw to the people lining the road-side.

Christos is now in San Diego where he is enjoying himself at a conference for a week.  We would have all loved to have gone but it was too expensive and too hard to do with the three kids.  So he gets a nice break although I know he will miss the kids a lot.

Oh – and I have to mention some quotes from Eleni

1.  Whilst driving past the oil refineries in West Virginia she says  “Mummy look at all those space ships!”

2.  When told Daddy was going to be in San Diego she says “Will he see Diego there?”  – For those that don’t know the kids shows Dora and Diego this won’t make sense.

Finally and update on Sofia’s potty training – I think today we turned a corner with no accidents and lots of “I did it’s”.  Tomorrow is the start of week 2 and we have to work on her pulling up her pants which will be a challenge as she does not like to wear any clothes and as it is so hot I have obliged her on this one for a while.

LEO

Leo’s favourite Phrase is “Daddy’s car” and he has been known to correctly identify BMW’s in various colours and models by this phrase (I think he recognises the logo).  Of course his favourite toys are his matchbox cars and his new ramp that we bought him for his birthday.  He loves running down the grassy hill at the back of the house and falling flat on his face at least three times.  He also loves playing with the water table (pouring things in and out) and riding his bike on the deck.  His favourite foods include:  ice-cream, cake, eggos, broccolli, sausages and prunes (no kidding) and he loves milk and prune juice.  Leo is generally a very good little boy who can play with his cars for ages quite happily.  He really only has a melt-down if he is engrossed in something and you have to ask him to stop (even if it is to eat!).

SOFIA

Sofia’s favourite phrase is “I did it” and is usually shouted at the top of her voice when she jumps off something like the couch or retaining wall.  She is a typical girl and loves dolls, princess dress-ups, colouring and books.  When we are outside she loves the swing, the sand-pit, water table, running under the sprinkler and weeding with Mummy.  She is a huge chatterbox and repeats nearly everynew word you give her in one or two attempts.  Sofia will eat most things but insists on the booster seat rather than her high-chair.  She basically wants to use anything or do anything that Eleni does. She is the queen of melt-downs but seems to be improving a little bit now that she can talk pretty well.

Both Leo and Sofia are very tall for their age (95th percentile) and both have been wearing Size 3 clothes for some months now.  I should mention that Sofia loves dresses and shoes – she is so girly and she definitely did not get that trait from me.  Talking of shoes, after many months of searching, we finally found a pair of shoes wide enough to fit Leo’sfeet.  They are called Vans and are skateboarding shoes I think.  He loves them, thank goodness.

They are both huge Wiggles fans but will also sit mesmerized by Sesame Street.  In fact, anything with music will generally have that effect with them both.  We are thinking of moving Sofia in with Eleni to share a room but I am a bit hesitant as she is an early riser and very, very noisy.  We can hear her singing in the morning songs like “ring-a-ring-a-rosey” and shouting to Leo to get up.  I am not sure Eleni will do well with this sort of morning wake-up as Eleni is much like her Dad, very slow in the morning.

Gentle woman, quiet light

Morning star, so strong and bright

Gentle mother, peaceful dove,

Teach us wisdom, teach us love.