Coming Soon......

WALKING

This is his favorite stance, this is how he gets into his standing position. He can stand without any support for a few minutes and that's with holding something in his hand and waving it around. He cruises around on the furniture and even takes a few steps away from them and can safely go down to one knee or plops on his butt. He has also learned how to climb up our 2 stairs and this has made it a little harder to keep him in one room, so now he likes to go into the bedrooms and open drawers and pull everything out, CONSTANT WATCHING IS MANDATORY.

MOM

Mom is coming to stay for a whole month next Monday, I can't wait to get some projects done around here and to have someone other than Arthur to talk too.

Laughter

Here's Nik laughing, he laughs a lot and at the silliest things, like paper planes flying.

Our little Teddy Bear

Hat compliments of Eric and Leslie.

Baby is now 8 months old, he weighed in at 8.5 kilos or 18.7 lbs, the doctor wasn't to happy since he only gained .3 kilos in one month and told us to feed him more. How do you feed you child when he is already full would have been my question if I spoke Greek. He eats enough it's just that he is so active, there is no sitting quietly with him, only when he sleeps does he not move. Last week we had a family come and stay at KokaRoka and they had a daughter that was born 7 days after baby Nik and she weighed 10.5 kilos, she was so chubby that the only thing she could do was sit there, she didn't even know how to crawl yet.

It is winter time here already and we have been having very cold weather with lots and lots of rain, right now baby is wearing 4 layers, a onesie, a shirt, overalls and a sweater. We are hoping it will clear up for at least a little while we finally found someone who would do our tiles in the back, but it has been raining since he finished his last project at our neighbors house.

Going back to baby he likes the strangest things, he doesn't like carrots and potatoes, but he likes lemon and lentil soup, go figure. He definitely gets this from his father and not me, I would much rather eat potato soup (he didn't like it) than lentil soup although the latter is most definitely healthier and Katerina makes it about once a week. Right now he is enjoying his favorite food along with an egg yolk and that's lamb.

Music and Dance from Wedding

This video doesn't really show how very loud it gets when the clarino is playing, it is really really loud, therefor no baby. You can see the way a typically wedding dance goes, with each major attendee leading the dance, the grooms father, the grooms mother, the brides father, the brides mother, the groom, the bride, the flower girl, any aunt, uncle, brother or sister who wishes too, the list goes on and on, lots of dancing all with very loud Greek music.

Cousin's Wedding

On the way to the church ceremony

Father and Groom waiting for the bride outside.

Yes it is raining, here comes the bride.

Mara and Nik inside the church

We then took baby home, he fell asleep on the way home and Katerina watched him. It's a good thing that he was asleep because Katerina was holding a baby that belonged to some guest staying upstairs and I think she would have just dropped that baby in order to hold baby Nik.
In Greece when the bride and groom finally arrive to the reception they first cut the cake, then they do a dance with the family then they do the dollar dance and several more dances all before they can sit down and eat. I would be starving by then, thank goodness Arthur and I didn't get married here. Speaking of Cake I finally got to try what a Greek wedding cake taste like, it was kind of like a Black Forest Chocolate Cake with chocolate soaked cake and cream and a few cherries and then a vegetable frosting on the top with almond slices.

Shopping Expedition

Yesterday, Arthur and I went shopping in Larissa. There are so many shops that you can spend days there walking around and looking into shops. We went to find Nik some nighttime clothes and found two cute pajamas then I thought we should get him an outfit for the Greek wedding we are going to next weekend. When we brought the clothes home, Arthur's mom said they were too big and I got a little worried. We purchased 12 month size clothing but when we got home I tried them on him and they fit perfect. In fact if he gets any taller we will have to remove the feet on the pajamas.
Last night Nik did something he hasn't done before, he woke up at two for his milk and while I was getting it ready he somehow sat up by himself. Now I'm pretty sure he didn't go from lying down to sitting up but maybe what he did was role over onto his stomach then get on his hands and knees and then he sat up all under a minute, pretty amazing. Diaper changing has also become a challenge with his ability to rollover and crawl away, I can't wait till he can just stand up and walk away, bye-bye mama.

Family

Family came to visit, Katerina's brother with his wife and two children, they live in Athens. As you can see Nik has hair on the sides but it is really light blonde so it's not as visible as the top part of his hair. He still loves hugs and kisses and in fact has learned that his different cries gets different responses so he is starting to use his vocal whining to get us to pick him up. So anyone concerned about him not wanting to be held is sadly mistaken HE LOVES BEING HELD. Now when he drops something he will grunt and look at it untill you pick it up for him, he is finally crawling forward but this has lead to his ability to climb up onto his knees and then pull himself up to his feet. He can hold himself up for several seconds on his own and I am almost afraid to leave him awake in his crib since this is the easiest place for him to pull himself up. Well enough about baby, I'm doing great :)

Sunday Drive

We took baby up to Metsovo for a Sunday drive and had a nice lunch.