snowstorm

moscow sent us a big cold front with wind and rain that came in last night and rattled our shutters and doors. then the temperature dropped to freezing in the wee hours, so all day today it's been snowing.

like any good houstonian, i'm all wowed, and checking the windows every half-hour or so to see if it's still going on. snow is like some kind of magical powder that hasn't lost it's romance for me. i never really lived up north ... excepting one winter in st. louis when my sister and i ran out into the snow to fetch a mix tape out of her car and we fell in up to our thighs. good times good times

i hope this snow in athens will go on long enough to make a snowman on my balcony, and take a beautiful photo of the nearby lykavittos hill covered in snow. i know my northern friends will giggle at this little piddly amount of snow, and my greek & texan friends will marvel at how we ever got through it.

it is all relative isnt it? philippe said temperature is never absolute .. anyone got any smarty-pants stuff to add to that? i/m gonna grab a carrot and make a snowman.

oh, and PS,, some guy tried to pick me up at the grocery yesterday!!, isnt it cool? it put an extra skip in my step.

walkin, yes indeed, and talkin..

ive been a bit busy with our little boy to blog lately.. because it seemed like his needs skyrocketed. well, in fact they did. he wouldnt play alone, he wouldnt take his naps and because of that was overstimulated and couldnt sleep through the night! he was so excited to be doing a few new things this week. call it a growth spurt. first the details: he's 7.5 months, 20 lbs, and 27 inches tall, and starting to have hair (looks like blonde.. sandy or bright, we cant tell yet), and people are starting to comment how much he looks like philippe.

first, let me backtrack a bit and tell you, since 5 months old, he loves to stand up, like its one of his favorite things to do. now he's started moving his feet taking steps while standing. so.. now he's "cruising" the furniture already, can you believe it?. yesterday, starting at the left side of a chair, he cruised over to the right side of it, and grabbed hold of a round end table, went halfway round it, and then while reaching for the second chair, finally fell down. keep in mind, this child doesn't crawl yet!! i read that some kids never crawl, they just go straight to walking - and it's looking like little lucas is one of 'em. it's okay, we'll just have to finish our childproofing earlier than most.

he's also started making lots of talking noises this week too. mmm ahmama buh bah bla wuh ... and it really sounds like he's expressing his ideas.. its really very cute. he's also starting to be VERY attached to me.. clinging alot, taking extra time with his milk, and wanting me to pick him up all the time.

and to top off this week, he got his first tooth! the lower left one, on january 16th. for a couple of days i was freaking out because his needs were at times were just exhausting.. but with the appearance of the tooth, the worst of it seems to have passed... for now!

things that make me happy

1. LUCAS STARTED SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!! finally i'm gonna start catching up on my sleep. it's a heart-rendering story of holding, bouncing, calming, and feeding a screaming baby for more than a week straight... often from 3 - 430 am. but the rule was: you can have formula or water or snuggling, but the boobies are closed until at least 6am. now he goes to sleep around 830 and wakes up at 6. 6 is still a bit early for my tastes, but you pick your battles. usually we go back to sleep until 8.

2. AND THIS PICTURE: i really miss my girlfriends.

we're in

well that was quite a week! eh hem.

we're bien installe, and out trying to discover our new neighborhood now. everything is so close, and i realized this is really the first time i've lived truly in the inner city. okay, but montrose doesnt really count because in houston you drive everywhere. here, it'd be a liability to have a car. i read recently the average athens driver spends 40 minutes looking for parking in the city center. for those of you familiar with athens, we're in pangrati - 2 blocks behind the divani caravel hotel. for those of you not familiar with athens, we're about a mile due east of the acropolis.

lucas is 7 months now! for christmas we decorated a 15-inch olive tree, and opened all but one each of our gifts on christmas eve.. we couldnt wait, haha. lu got some jingly soft blocks, a bunch of clothes (thanks evan!), 2 pacifiers, a teething rattle & a new pair of shoes. i got a book and ph got a fuzzy housecoat.

for new years we celebrated after lucas fell asleep at 9, with cheap greek champagne (ick!) and some delicious kind of dessert roll. i fell asleep at 10, but woke up at 11 asking philippe about what did the note on my pillow say? (huh? i was dreaming-half-awake-sleepwalking-ish) and then woke up again at 12 to watch the fireworks from our balcony. we couldnt see much, but we did see some. athens doesnt put on an official fireworks show, it's always individuals setting them off from their rooftops all over town.. so the sounds lit up the night and had us running to the front and back porches trying to catch any glimpses of actual works.

hope you all had marvelous holidays, and happy new year!!