Just a Leisurely Soak in the Tub

So it's 10am and I just ate souvlaki for breakfast...

Just thought I'd share that.

First of all, thank you for all the middle name ideas! Keep them coming, this is fun! I still haven't talked to Antonis about middle names yet but I think I'll make a massive list of all my favourite ones and maybe just let him pick from there. Or maybe he has his own ideas. Oh, that didn't even occur to me....that was a bit rude of me wasn't it? I just realized I'm being a bit of a name nazi. I totally high-jacked this whole process! Poor guy! I guess the best thing to do is bring it up right away and get him involved. Who knows, maybe picking names isn't as exciting for him as it is for me. I think it's been one of the best parts so far! Picking a name, the acrobatics that are going on in my belly and ultrasounds...all my favourite parts so far. And speaking of ultrasounds, I heard I'm supposed to be getting one more of those in a few weeks! I have a routine doctor's appointment on the 16th so I'll ask about it then and if it's true then I'll see if we can book an appointment with the clinic that does the 3D ultrasounds. Maybe we'll get to see her cute little squishy face in 3D soon!! Ohhhh I hope so!

So, today I'm finally going to tell you about the baptism we went to last Sunday. I was going to take some video so you could hear a bit of what it sounds like...I like the chanting the priest does even though I have absolutely no idea what he's saying...but poor little Eliza was so beside herself with what was going on that she was screaming and crying the whole time. Poor little thing. Because of that I scrapped the video idea but don't worry, there's sure to be another wedding or baptism soon. A wedding will probably be my best bet, there isn't usually someone hysterically crying through the whole ceremony....usually!

It's always hard to get in close to the action because everyone crowds around to watch so I opted to stand back a little further and just catch what I could...the belly makes it a little hard to slip in and out of a crowd! They do have some chairs in the church but unlike our churches it's not rows and rows of chairs. Or pews I guess they're called? Here there are a few chairs, usually built into the side of the wall so old people and pregnant women can sit down, but usually everyone wants a piece of the action so they form a near mosh-pit-like group around the priest and baby. But you can also walk around to get a better view or go sit down or even go outside if you want to, any kind of movement is totally normal. It's not so formal like Canadian churches tend to be where if you get up and walk out everyone stares at you and every footstep echos off the walls and creates what seems like a sonic boom effect. Also you can talk without people shushing you here, which is nice but it can be annoying sometimes if to many people are talking at the same time.

So what's happening here, even though you can't see it, is the baby is in the bath tub. I don't actually have any experience with Canadian Christenings or Baptisms or anything so I can't really compare but from what I understand we usually just take a little bit of water and drip it on the baby's forehead or the priest paints water in a cross on the baby's forehead. Not here. Here they have a basin of warm water and oils and the baby is put inside naked like they're taking a normal bath. Some babies react as if it's a normal bath and they love it! They splash around and have a great time. Others are not so impressed....poor Eliza, as I mentioned before, was probably the least impressed I've ever heard. It doesn't help though that the priest is usually a man they don't know and he has a big bushy beard..babies always seem to be freaked out of men with beards. I'M freaked out by men with beards. Anyway, so the baby's 'taking a bath' and the priest is chanting.

 Then they take the baby out of the bath and dress her/him up in the baptism clothes, which is usually something fancy. This is a little hard to see but the baby in the center of the picture that's getting the hat put on her head is Eliza. She's still crying but she's a little bit happier to be held by Yiayia (Greek grandma). Oma (Dutch grandma) is the lady on the left in the black and white dress, and Yannis her Baba (dad) is the guy in front of Oma. Throughout the baptism process the parents don't touch the baby. This I would find extremely hard. Most foreigners do actually. It's just the priest, the god parents and whoever has been appointed to help dress the baby, which in this case is Yiayia. The Greeks tell you not to worry about the crying, that the baby doesn't remember it. Plus the baptism itself has such an important meaning to them that a little bit of crying is really not such a big deal. Us foreigners are just too soft I guess. Although I did start to wonder, if the baby kept crying would I start lactating?? First Time Mom Thoughts...it will be a blog post one day.

Here the baby is being walked around in a circle 3 times with Malena (I don't know why they walk around in a circle and I don't know why it has to be 3 times)...but Malena is not the godmother. Usually the godparents do this part but this is a special case because Malena's daughter Phillipa is actually Eliza's godmother and Phillipa is 4. So she can't exactly participate in this part. This is the first time I've heard of a child being a godparent and I've been asking around to find out if this happens often or not and I've been getting a huge range of responses. Some say you can name anyone you want as the godparents. Others say you could never have a child as a godparent (although clearly it's not "never" since we have evidence). Others say you have to do the traditional thing which is the best man and maid of honour from your wedding become the godparents. Anyway, whatever it is, whether there is a rule or not I think Phillipa will be a fantastic godmother and this will be so much fun for them to tell their friends when they're in school.

This I just couldn't resist. She's 10 months old and men are bowing to her already! Kidding, but seriously though it was really cute to see 3 grown men be so smitten. She IS pretty darn cute though. This is Miltos and Maria's daughter, the baby from yesterday's post, Antonis was holding her while they discussed hairbands. Here Miltos is holding her, Yorgos is in the suit bowing (or maybe he's just checking out her sparkly shoes) and Nikos is on the other side. Nikos is godmother Phillipa's Baba. Oh, and Yorgos was the best man from Tara and Yannis' wedding and he is the godfather to their son, whose name is also Yorgos. And Yorgos and Yorgos have the same birthday. Confused??

I didn't get any pictures of Eliza's big brother Yorgos because he was often outside during the ceremony. Being every bit the protective big brother, he was really upset that his little sister was crying and he wanted to go to her. Oma or Opa took him outside to distract him whenever it got to be too much for him. He's 2. You can't explain these things to a 2 year old. But anyway, it was very sweet.

I don't remember what is happening at this point but I decided to add this photo because Greek churches are pretty.

So now the ceremony is over and everyone is coming up to congratulate the parents, the godparents and the baby. I only managed to get a picture of Tara and Eliza though. Eliza is much more calm now that she's with mommy.

Also, Eliza is now officially Eliza and not Beba anymore. Although I don't know if Tara and Yannis followed this "rule" but traditionally a baby does not have a name until the baptism. The baptism, while it's a religious rite of passage it's also a naming ceremony, so the priest is blessing the baby but also technically giving the baby its name. Of course the parents have already chosen a name for the baby and they just tell the priest the name that they've chosen but most Greek parents won't use this name until after the baptism because it's thought to be bad luck. Instead they call girl babies Beba and boys Bebe until after they're baptized. I'm also told that you have to choose a Christian name. It depends on the priest but some priests may take this very seriously and refuse to baptize the baby if the name isn't Christian, or they'll make you choose a different name. Eleni is one of the accepted names, and the baptism is one of the most important things in Greek life so she will be baptized. I've already started calling her Eleni though and I'll be calling her that as soon as I get to meet her but I can understand if the rest prefer to call her Beba until the 'official' naming. Oh, and for my Greek friends who are reading this, traditionally in Canada the baby is named the minute it's born. While mom and baby are still in the hospital, Dad or another family member takes care of the paperwork that needs to be done there for the baby's birth certificate. For us, as soon as a name is on the birth certificate, it's official and this is done within the first day or few days of the baby's birth. Also, we think that the name is one of the first words that the baby will learn to respond to so that's why we use it immediately and often. For us, learning to respond to their name is part of the baby's developmental process....which why it won't be bad luck for me to say Eleni before the baptism.

There I go again...rocking the boat! 

That Canadian is relentless! She understands nothing!

After the ceremony everyone goes for tea and coffee and cakes. We went to Kastro which is Yorgos' family's restaurant (Big Yorgos, not 2 year old brother Yorgos...although big Yorgos really isn't that big at all but that's not important). Here's our best little family again, Miltos, Maria, Apostolis and baby!

And finally, a very sweet moment between father and daughter. Everyone's happy and smiling now, all the trauma from earlier forgotten.

Worked Like a Charm

Aaaaaand we're back!!

I had a feeling that if I just didn't touch my camera or computer for a day, that my bad luck with technology would have a chance to blow away and then I could come back today and everything would be fine....worked like a charm! No fussing or anything either, it worked on the first try!

Actually the other day I went to the local camera shop here in Molyvos and told the girl what was going on with my memory card. Instead of taking the opportunity to make some quick money off of me by selling me a new memory card or something else that I didn't actually need (which if she had I really couldn't blame her for it, Greece is not doing great economically in case you haven't noticed) she plugged my memory card into her card reader to check it first. It worked immediately! I was totally confused because if you read the last post, I had tried that thing in my computer AND Antonis' and it hadn't work in either. Whatever, it doesn't really matter, all that matters is that it's working now and I'm very thankful for that, I'm very thankful to the super helpful and sweet lady in the camera shop and I'm thankful that I'm not a weird pervert because that would have been really embarrassing had there been some incriminating photos on that memory card!

Now I can finally show you the pictures from the baptism on Sunday!

But I think I'll leave the baptism story for tomorrow because today we have a very important update....

We had The Conversation yesterday!

I couldn't wait anymore! I was way to stressed out thinking about all the possibilities that could result from The Conversation and I was getting myself worked up as to what I would do if it didn't go my way, so yesterday morning I just decided that it was time. Antonis didn't want to, of course, and tried to persuade me not to but I just got all pregnant lady stubborn on him and said too bad!

And I'm SO happy and relieved to say that it went exactly how I thought it would!! Olympia was perfectly fine with it! In fact she didn't even let Antonis finish talking before she started saying not to worry, that she didn't have a problem with it at all, we could name the baby anything we wanted and all she's concerned about is that the baby is healthy. So sweet! So that's another thing to be thankful for...I really got lucky in the Greek mother in law department! I know A LOT of people who have not been so lucky so I'm really grateful that she's so accepting of me, even with all my crazy Canadian-ness and constant need to question and sometimes challenge Greek traditions. Actually, I should say that I'm really lucky for my parents in law in general because my father in law is super awesome too. Yorgos just sat there with a smile through The Conversation! At first he looked a little concerned, probably because he didn't know what I wanted to talk about and he got worried, but after the point was clear he obviously didn't have a problem with it either. He's just so damn cute and happy all the time!

So I've decided I won't keep you all in the dark about the baby's name, and actually I did kind of a mean thing last time when I said that some of you may have an idea about the name but in reality you don't. I just said that to throw you off the scent!

SORRY!

Actually, looking back now I think I did that as a kind of defense mechanism (woah, big Psychology talk that I haven't used in a while!) because I was so worried I wouldn't get the name of my choice. But now that we know everything is fine I'm so excited to say that we will be naming baby girl.......

ELENI!!

It's pronounced like a-LEN-ee (emphasis falls on the LEN if you're wondering why I capitalized it). It's the Greek form of Ellen, which of course is my mom's name so we're naming her after my momma! YAY! I know this couldn't possibly make up for the fact that my mom and dad won't be able to be around us as often as any of us want but at least it's sort of my little way of letting them know that they're so loved and so important even though we all live so far apart.

Now, as for a middle name....I've got nothin'! Well, that's not exactly true. I have some ideas, but very few because I couldn't really talk to Antonis about middle names until we knew what the first name was going to be. Plus Greeks don't really do middle names so once again I'm going to be rocking the boat...what else is new? SO everyone feel free to give me your middle name ideas!! That being said, I have 2 rules:

1. I want it to be an English name. I want all of my babies, whether I have 1 or 10 (...oh god I felt a bit of acid reflux when I typed 10 and I was totally exaggerating), to have a Greek first name and an English middle name to represent that they're 50% Greek and 50% Canadian, but also if they ever want to move to Canada or some other English speaking country for university or something else and people have a hard time with their Greek name then they have the option of using their English name.  They probably won't since Greeks are everywhere in the world anyway, and are probably about to get even more 'everywhere', so Greek names are not all that uncommon today anyway. But whatever, I still want it to be English.
2. It CANNOT rhyme with, or even be close to Eleni or Malli....I can't stand it when people have rhyming names OR names like Phillip Phillips....what the crap are those parents thinking??? So for example, Eleni Marie Malli is totally out. (Malli is pronounced ma-LEE by the way). No offense to the name Marie but it just sounds too much like Malli so it makes me get a bit cranky. I also will not be doing Eleni Ellen, Eleni Helen, Eleni Helaina or any other form of Ellen or Hellen because this is sort of like the whole Philip Phillips problem, even though it looks like 2 different names it isn't. That being said, Malli means 'hair' in Greek but thankfully we don't need to worry about the Eleni Harry Malli suggestion because obviously we're not going to go there. Keep that in mind though if we ever have a boy in the future...Harry will not be an option. That would just be cruel.

I guess I could say I have a third rule but I don't even think it's necessary to say that if anyone suggests something stupid like Rainbow or Unicorn, you can assume that our friendship is over because I will not be talking to you anymore. I'll probably write you a lengthy message on facebook that could be basically summed up into the words "you are a douche-bag" and then I will immediately block you so you don't even have the chance to write me back. But please write me your ideas! No pressure! Seriously though, I am open to suggestion so don't worry about bombarding me with messages, even if the comment thing here is on the fritz again you can email or facebook me. 

Just so you know, my number one middle name choice right now and for the last couple of months has been Piper. But I haven't talked to Antonis yet and I don't know if this is a great idea because Greeks don't make the 'r' sound like we do....my name has been Tala for the last 3 years. So I'm not settled on it completely but I do really like it.

Well, I think I've probably set a record for longest blog post to date so I think it's best to stop here and prevent myself from further Carpal Tunnel damage. Lets see if I have a few pictures from the last few days to keep things interesting....

This was dinner the other night. Starting at the top left we have a salad, a little bowl of olives, salty fish which I haven't been eating since the pregnancy (and I'm missing them like CRAZY) because I'm worried about the whole raw fish thing...they're not really raw if they're salted but I'm slightly paranoid about these things so whatever. They're White Bait for anyone who is interested in what kind of fish they are. Just above that are some shrimp with just olive oil and salt (LOVE!). Down right we have a bit of an invention, using some left over eggplant we just topped with with some feta cheese, tomato, oregano, salt and pepper. Delish! And finally the pink blob is Taramasalata which is fish roe salad. Sounds gross? It's so good! It's fish eggs and potato all smashed together with some other secret ingredients that I don't know about. I don't know if there's any places to get good taramasalata in Canada but if you find yourself in a Greek restaurant and it's on the menu, don't be afraid to try it. I love it!

This is my little gecko friend that comes to live with us every summer. I call him Gary. Some people try to tell me there's no way it could possibly be the same one every summer but I think they're wrong. Gary and I have a connection. And a chemistry. You don't get that with just ANY gecko.

 And this gorgeous little angel is Miltos and Maria's little girl. She's 10 months old and her baptism isn't until September so she doesn't have a name yet (Greek tradition, I'll explain it tomorrow). She's such a doll! I tried so hard to get her to look at the camera but her and Antonis were having a very serious conversation about baby girl hairbands and dresses. Antonis needs to learn about these things so I thought it best not to interrupt them. 

Talk to you soon!

Pregnant Lady Crazy

Once again I'm having that "throw $*@! over the balcony" feeling....

I WAS really excited to talk about the baptism we went to yesterday and show you the pics from that but that's not going to happen today unfortunately (*sniff sniff)

I don't think it's any big secret that I'm not the most patient or easy going person when it comes to figuring out what's wrong with some technological device or another. People I can do but techonology...FORGET IT! I morph into this other person and trust me, no one wants to meet her! She's cranky, snippy, and beyond stubborn if someone is trying to offer their help, which is really stupid because help is exactly what I need when I get to that point. If I'm in this state and you're trying to help me, basically I'm going to tell you that nothing is going to work no matter how qualified you are to make it work...I can't fix it so that means this thing is a big hunk of junk, it's defective and therefore there's nothing you can do to fix it either so just stop talking to me about it!! Throw some pregnancy hormones in there and I'll say all the above but I'll probably include some unnecessary name calling as well. And when I say I'm feeling like throwing this stuff over the balcony...I'm not kidding. I'm actually fighting the urge to smash things right now....

I'm pregnant lady crazy. 

But admitting there's a problem is the first step to recovery...or, so I've heard.

That, however, does not solve my latest techno issue.

The problem is the memory card from my camera. I have 2 ways of plugging it into my computer to upload the pictures off of it. I'm going to try to explain this even though I know I'm about to completely blow my intellectual cover (hahaha, pregnant lady crazy makes me delusional too! Intellectual?...). Ok, so the memory card itself is this teeny tiny little chip that slides into an adapter and this adapter goes into my camera. On my laptop, I can just take this whole adapter/memory card combo and plug it into it's designated port in my computer. No other thing can plug into this port, it's only home to the adapter/memory card and nothing else is welcome. The other option, because not all computers have this special little home for a adapter/memory card combo, is you can slide the teeny tiny memory card chip out of its's adapter and put it into a special teeny tiny USB thingy that then, of course, goes into one of the USB ports in the computer.

Are you still with me? I feel like I've lost some of you. I think I've lost myself too, I'm so bored with this conversation! Ugh, we're almost there though so I'll keep going....

Ok, so the problem occurs when I plug in the memory card from either of the 2 options...NOTHING HAPPENS. It makes the little sound that it makes whenever you plug something into the computer (I actually typed the sound out but erased it when I realized that you can't actually hear the sound even though I've written "do do", good thing I caught that mistake because I almost looked really stupid...) BUT:

•  there's no little icon that pops up on the tool bar to show that it recognizes a new device is present 
• a window doesn't appear asking me if and how I want to upload my pictures and videos 
• if I go to the start menu and click on Devices and Printers it shows an icon for a Mass Storage Device but when I right click it to browse files, it's not highlighted which means I can't click on anything and can't open anything, so it's not recognized there either. 

So then I tried it in Antonis' laptop so I could figure out if it's the actual memory card that's the problem or if it's my computer. And it doesn't work on his computer either. So it's a memory card issue.

Whew! Finally I can stop talking about this uuuuuuuuuuugghhhhhh I'm so bored! But it was necessary to ramble on like that because maybe someone reading this will have had this problem before or have heard of it and then can tell me what to do to MAKE THIS PROBLEM DISAPPEAR help me fix it. Because if I can't get my pictures onto the computer, it kinda defeats the purpose of my blog. Oh, and I promise I won't get pregnant lady crazy and call you names if you offer any advice. If we were talking face to face I might not be able to stop myself in time to keep that from happening but through correspondence I can usually cool myself down before I start typing expletives.

Anyhoo, if it's not raining tomorrow Antonis and I will probably be going to Mytilini (a little side note for those of you back home: Mytilini is like the Victoria or Nanaimo of the island but a lot smaller, more chaotic and it kind of smells funny but that's where you have to go when you can't get what you need in the village). If I can't get the pictures off the memory card by then maybe we can buy a new one in Mytilini.

To keep us going until I can sort out this little issue: here's some more old pictures

 This is Apostolis, Miltos and Maria's son. He's super impressed that he's getting his picture taken right now, as you can see. Or maybe this is his version of Blue Steel...I'm not sure. Anyway this was at Miltos and Maria's house in February, it was a holiday called Tsikno Pembty. This happens just before Lent and basically what happens is you eat as much meat as you possibly can because for the next 40 days you'll have given up meat for Lent. So we all got together in Kalloni at Miltos and Maria's and had a BBQ. That's me in the background..I'm probably 2.5 months pregnant I think? The smell of grilled meat was still a bit difficult to deal with so I couldn't have been past 12 weeks. And that's Evi beside me, Maria's in the kitchen. The men are outside standing around the fire pit drinking beer and grilling meat while the women get stuff ready in the kitchen. Wait a minute, am I in Cumberland again???

Apostolis stole my camera at dinner that night and got this shot as well as various others of the wall, ceiling and floor. But this one turned out great! This is our friend Theodoris. I really hope he never finds out about my blog. And if he does, sorry Titi but when a 4 year old takes a picture like this it just can't stay hidden forever 

And here's another gem. This is our good friend Vasilis, he's Lefteris' best friend. You always know it's going to be a good night when Vasilis is there! He's a fantastic carpenter but as you can see here he doesn't just make things out of wood as he's cleverly folded his fancy napkin into a pointy bra. On the left we have Theodoris again, without the extreme close up this time, but this is the interesting part...he's just eating his salad as if nothing out of the ordinary is going on beside him. I might not have been able to drink any wine that night, but it didn't seem to matter thanks to the entertainment! 

This is at Naomi and Teo's wedding, February 18th. 

Talk to you soon!

Cheers to 3 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Seriously, where does the time go? 3 years!  I can't believe it. Here are some never-before-seen photos from the best party I've ever been to...

My flowers! White roses and purple orchids

Mom and I getting ready, just putting the finishing touches on my hair

I think I'm starting to get nervous and I can tell by Kevin's face that he's just said something ridiculous to make me laugh instead of being so serious

Mom, Dad and I lookin' spiffy!

The ceremony. This is just after the kiss. The actual kiss shot has been my facebook profile picture for...I guess 3 years now

 Antonis' Mom, Dad, Uncle Kostas and Cousin Sotiris 

 I love this picture! It completely sums up our relationship in 1 image: we're always laughing at something stupid! Last night we literally laughed ourselves to sleep because I yawned, then Antonis yawned and then the toilet made a super loud, weird noise so Antonis said it yawned too...I suggested we flush some sleeping pills to shut it up...he was concerned the toilet might overdose...HA! No? 

 Mi familia!!

Us with my parents, his parents, my beautiful maid of honour and bestie Jen, and brother Lefteris looking very handsome in his suit

The Wedding Party! Miltos, Maria, Jenny-poo and us!

 Speaking of parties...time to celebrate!! Dancing the night away

 This is my favourite picture of the day. He is in the wedding zone!

 And I'm loving it

 Taking a minute to cool our dancing shoes and visit with our guests...I'm not sure we even ate that day come to think of it...

 More dancing! And Maria looking cute as a button

 Jen and I dancing with my hubby

 The.Best.Day.Ever!

...Up to this point anyway. This year we won't be celebrating with a glass a bubbly since our baby girl is on the way in just a couple of months!! 

Plan B and Old Photo Roulette

I should have known better than to plan my day yesterday. This is Greece. You don't make plans. Ever! Stuff happens and you roll with it. For example, Antonis and I planned our wedding a week before it happened. In 30 minutes we had the venue for the reception, food, wine, flowers, a cake, music, everything. Done! And it was the best day ever! So, sometimes flying by the seat of your pants is awesome.

But other times...IT MAKES ME WANT TO PULL MY HAIR OUT!!!!

I like having plans. I like to make lists. I like to do the things on my list so I can check them off and see that I've accomplished all the stuff that I put on that list. That makes me feel good. When things don't go according to my list, I don't usually make a big deal about it but it depends on how important the list item is. Talking to my parents-in-law about the baby's name was VERY important, it had been a long time coming and I was so relieved that we were finally going to tackle the issue...until Antonis decided at the last minute it wasn't the right time.

Ok.....Take a deep breath....unclench teeth...

As much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Fridays around noon tend to be a little busier in the restaurant because of a Dutch charter flight that comes to the island early Friday morning. Usually by the time the tourists get to their hotels and drop off their bags, they're starving. So they come by our restaurant for a quick lunch and then they're off to the beach. It sounds quick and easy but everyone tends to come at once so there's usually a bit of madness while trying to seat everyone, take their order, get their drinks, make their food, bring their food, clear the plates, get the bill, say good-byes and then clean up after they leave. Oh yeah, and thank the Tourism Gods for bringing them to us. Can't forget that part! Anyway, so it really isn't the best time to sit down and have a serious conversation. I just wish that had been decided that night before so I didn't get my hopes up about it. Oh well, c'est la vie!

(This is actually a pic from Easter 2010...but I thought it was appropriate because the apron makes it look like he's working hard)

(Not a great angle of the restaurant, also not the best time of day for light but all my good restaurant photos are on his computer which is now at the restaurant...next time!)

Today his parents have gone to Kalloni to do some shopping so Antonis is opening the restaurant...also not a good day to talk about the baby's name. Tomorrow we have a baptism in the morning but it's also our anniversary so I don't want to do it then just in case the conversation doesn't go well. Monday we plan on doing something small to celebrate our anniversary so again, not a good time. Anyway, it will happen during the week sometime so I just have to stop thinking about it until then. I'll let you know what happens, whenever it happens.

As for the rest of my day, well that didn't really go as planned either but none of that caused inadvertent damage to my back molars. I stopped by my friend's store to ask about the dress she planned to lend me for the baptism tomorrow but she doesn't have it anymore. That's ok, I'll find something in my closet...my closet which is now fairly well organized I might add!

Dinner with Tim and Kath turned into desert and fast visit with Tim and Kath, but that was just fine too. I realized yesterday afternoon that we hadn't actually planned to have dinner together. They just said that Friday was their last night and that they wanted to see me before they left, so I thought it was better to come by the restaurant a bit later and catch them after they'd eaten so I didn't impose. That worked out better anyway because I ate 2 pita gyros at the beach and was still feeling like a whale by 9:00pm. Mmmmm pita gyros.

To top it all off, I was in such a tizzy yesterday that I forgot to bring my camera with me! (*sad face). The few pics I've posted today are old ones (obviously...we didn't get remarried yesterday or else I wouldn't be talking about baptism dresses and pita gyros...and hence the random pic of sheep inserted above. But who doesn't like sheep??).

So my plan today is to find something to wear for the baptism. Preferably something that doesn't make me look like a tent. I'm fine with looking like a beach ball but tent...not my style! I'm also going to do a little more work in the baby's room because it's not really beach weather today. I might take a nap actually. Wow, I really don't have much to do today now that I'm thinking about it....maybe I should read a book and savour the silence? I feel like I should be doing stuff all the time because that's what we're programmed to do, but I've been getting the same advice over and over again from my mom friends lately..."take time for yourself" "relax" "sleep" "enjoy these last quiet moments because your life will never be quiet again" (this one was said in a frantic tone which was slightly confusing but definitely left impact)

I think I'll take their advice today (*happy face) 

Places to Go, People to See

So I have a bit of a crazy day today so that means I don't really have time to upload pictures today. I'll try to make up for it tomorrow though.

Here's my schedule:

• Clean the house and get myself ready before Antonis wakes up
• Go to work with Antonis so we can talk to his mom....I'm finally pushing the baby name talk (I'll explain after)
• Go to Melena's shop to ask her about borrowing a maternity dress for the baptism on Sunday
• Come home, get ready to go to the beach
• Dinner with Tim and Kath

As for cleaning the house...I don't really have to do that but I absolutely HATE coming home to messy house. It stresses me out! So dishes, tidy up, fold the laundry and put it away. Boring, blah blah blah, moving on....

Here's the big, scary part of the day: talking to Antonis' mom about the baby's name. So the traditional Greek family always names the baby after the grandparents. The first baby born is named after the husband's parents; so if it's a girl she takes the husband's mom's name, if it's a boy he takes the husband's father's name. The second baby born takes the mother's parents name. And then after that, I'm not really sure what happens, my guess is it's a free-for-all. In other words by the time you get to the third baby they adopt Canadian baby naming practices and you choose the name you want without anyone telling you what you have to do (hmmm, I hit the keys a little harder typing those last words...just hormones? must be). As you know we're having a girl, so the "rule" states that we would have to name her Olympia. 

I really don't have a problem with the name at all, which is always everyone's first reaction. I'm not looking to break tradition for shallow reasons, my reason is simply this: We live in Greece, Olympia will see her grandbaby every day if she wants to....but I have parents also. Unfortunately, they live VERY far away and will be lucky if they get to see their grand daughter once a year. WHEW, getting a little emotional now....

This is my problem. I don't feel right naming the baby after her when she gets to be the happy, doting grandma already. It doesn't seem fair and I feel like I'd be totally disrespecting my parents by following this tradition.

Antonis on the other hand, is afraid of disrespecting his parents by NOT following the tradition. This has been a heated topic for about 3 years now. The only way I was able to get Antonis to consider other names for the baby was to agree to explaining to his mom why this is hard for me, and then ask her permission to break tradition. 

So today's the big day. 

I personally think she'll understand and will be fine with this. Antonis...he's not so sure. We'll see what happens. 

If  Olympia is ok with it, I do have a name picked out BUT I'm not telling anyone what it is yet! I've thrown some ideas out there, but even the select few of you who think you know what my name choice is...sorry! You don't know either. I don't know if I'll make you wait until she's born...I might..but I haven't decided yet. We'll have to see how this discussion goes first...

SO after we have this stressful argument talk I'm going to stop by my friend Melena's shop. Last weekend she mentioned she had the perfect maternity dress for me to borrow. Our friends Tara and Giannis are baptizing their baby girl on Sunday (which is also mine and Antonis' wedding anniversary!! YAY!), but unfortunately all my cute dresses are no longer cute on me. Correction: they're still cute, I just can't get them on me. 

After that Antonis will get his break and we'll go the beach for a while. Yesterday's storm cleared up last night and today looks perfect. I went for a walk last night around 8pm and it smelled like Spring! It was so nice! I got some good pictures of sheep too but I'll put those up later because I don't have time right now.

And finally dinner tonight with Tim and Kath, our lovely friends from England who have been here for their annual 2-week Molyvos holiday and will be heading back to the UK tomorrow morning. I'll have pictures of that for tomorrow.

OK, so that's my day. It might not seem that busy to the normal person but when your 27 weeks pregnant and walking yourself to each one of these places....it's exhausting. Speaking of 27 weeks pregnant...

I'M 27 WEEKS PREGNANT TODAY!!! 

After next week I'm in the 3rd trimester baby, YEAH!

Alright, I have lots to do so I better go. OH, before I forget, I got quite a lot of organizing done in the baby's room yesterday which I'm really happy about. But we'll talk about that another day and I'll show pics of the progress.

For now, just one picture until tomorrow because I couldn't resist....

Sucks to be a Tourist Today...

Holy-mother-of-all-storms! Thunder, lightening and absolutely POURING with rain! I think this might actually be the apocalypse.

The street has actually turned into a river but I couldn't seem to get a good shot of that so lets see if I can get this video to work...I might have to post this and then test the video because it's not letting me test it right now. Actually I haven't tried that hard and to be honest I'm not going to. I'm so glad I'm not doing this professionally!

Anyway, hopefully this isn't the apocalypse because I think I might take advantage of this crappy weather to get a start on the baby's room.

But first I need to eat...life revolves around eating. This isn't just a pregnancy thing, it's a forever thing. I've always been like this but pregnancy does make the characteristic slightly more dominant (ahem, ice cream) But don't worry, I'm right on schedule with pregnancy weight gain, I count calories and I make sure I'm getting the right amount of each food group. Actually I use a website to track everything, it's called everydayhealth.com. You can keep an online food and exercise diary that tracks everything for you. If you're getting too much salt, it will tell you, if you're not getting enough iron it will figure that out too, it's great. Anyway, I'm not getting paid to plug the site so moving on....

This is breakfast, in front of the computer as I do every morning. Greek yogurt with a scoop of strawberry jam, a ton of banana and apple cinnamon tea on the side. If we're friends on facebook, my desktop picture probably looks familiar. That zebra thing is my hot water bottle. I knew I needed to keep it out for a little longer! After the baby room project zebra and I might have a little cuddle and watch the rain.

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed to show pictures of the spare bedroom/soon-to-be-baby room because it's an absolute mess! For the last 3 years I've been using it as the laundry room, storage room, our closet, ironing room, basically whatever doesn't fit in the rest of the house gets stored in here, collects dust that never gets dusted and bugs go to die in there. But I think it's necessary to show you what it looks like for a few reasons:

1.  We need 'before' pictures. If I don't show how bad this room looks right now then I'll continue keeping it my messy little secret that no one sees or even knows exists. So we need 'before' pictures so I can to get to a state where 'after' pictures are possible. Long story short: this is motivation
2. It's easier for you guys to make suggestions if you know what I'm working with. And I'm very open to suggestions.

SO....here we go....I present to you the spider's nest/graveyard the spare bedroom

 This is the far wall. As you can see there's a pile of junk on the left that needs a new home. We have the laundry basket against the far wall that is becoming very difficult to get to, coat rack with coats that we don't use that often (the coat rack of coats that are used often is by the front door...we have a lot of coats for some reason), washing machine on the right and that door on the right is our second bathroom that's never used....no pictures of that because there's too many spider webs and I'm scared to go inside.

This is the pile of junk that was on the left...there's a really nice window here with a HIDEOUS curtain that should, and probably will be, burned.

When you walk into the room, this closet is on your left. It's jam packed with all of our clothes...no pics of that either because it's literally a hazard to open these doors. Besides coats we also have a lot of clothes...not just me, it's both of us.

This is an extra, free standing closet that's just full of my stuff...ok so maybe I have more clothes than he does, but he still has a lot too! Those suitcases on top of full of my winter clothes and summer clothes that I know wouldn't fit this year because of the baby belly. That's the door into the room on the right.

And the washing machine again. It's beside the free standing closet.

So now you have an idea of what I'm working with. I don't know if you can make sense of the layout of the room or if I've totally just confused everyone but anyway, the main point is this place is full of junk and the junk needs to go so we can make it cute and girlie and pretty for baby girl.

My other thought was that maybe we should move into this room because it has our closets, and then we can make our bedroom the new nursery...but I have to think about that still and I haven't run it by Antonis yet so we'll see.

For today my plan is to attack the closets!! I'm going to purge as much clothes and jackets and shoes and whatever else I can possibly purge so that maybe, just maybe, I can fit everything into the big closet on the entrance wall and then throw away the free standing closet and coat rack.

That's today's mission. I know I won't finish it but at least it's a start.

Wish me luck!

And Then Things Got Weird....

Kalispera! (Good evening!)

Bit of a late start today. As per usual I was fighting with technology. Not my computer this time though which is a small miracle, now it's the memory card for my camera. It seems to be working now though...no idea why, I didn't do anything different than this morning but whatever, we're gonna go with it. Oh, and an interesting update on my old computer that completely crashed on me last June....it's fixed!!!! Holy Bloody Nora It's Fixed!! Yeah I know, it's like a year later, but considering I had almost decided to just throw it in the garbage and say good bye to the hundreds of pictures and thousands of hours of music...I'm a happy girl. Antonis' laptop was a loyal stand-in during this trying time but.....mine's just so much prettier! And we've been through a lot together. I've schlepped this baby around Europe a few times, to SFU and back everyday for a few years, we've been on planes, trains, buses, motorcycles and even a Segway together (Prague - that was a good day), so if she needed a year off after all that than she can have it. All that matters is we're together again (cue theme song to The Wonder Years). Ahhhhh!

And to the man who made this all happen....Stelios, you're a frickin' GENIUS!! Thank you so so so much!! I'm just so sorry you had to see all those pictures from my bachelorette party. I honestly didn't think you'd ever be able to save my computer, otherwise I probably would have warned you beforehand. And don't even try to tell me you didn't look because of course you did! Who wouldn't?! Poor guy, they weren't even in a file with an inconspicuous label, they were just out there roaming free in the Pictures folder in all their tanned and hairless glory. I feel bad for the guy. He's probably totally confused as to the job description of Canadian police officers. Anyway, that's just one way that things got weird today so MOVING ON........

I thought today I'd just give you a summary of my day

Welcome to my yoga studio!

I usually start the day by doing some yoga on the living room balcony. It's starting to get a little bit overgrown out here but that's ok, it's perfect in the morning. Not too sunny, not too shady. I'll pick the grape leaves eventually and give them to my mother in law to make dolamades....not today though since I'm a procrastinator and that just wouldn't make sense. 

You'd think that a morning yoga session in the sun couldn't possibly invite anything weird happening. 

Wrong!!

 Apparently the husband woke up and was quietly spying on me for quite a while before I noticed him. When I finally did see him I was slowly coming out of a downward dog only to find him doing his own downward dog on the couch, in his underwear, staring at me between his feet and shouting "GOOD MORNING BABAY!" Oh my god. I couldn't even handle it, I was laughing so hard. I tried to explain to him that you shouldn't interrupt someone when they're doing yoga. 10 minutes later I'd found my zen again and was doing pelvic tilts...for you non-yogis, it's good for pregnant women ok so no cracks about my pelvic tilts!...anyway, so I'm minding my own business, pelvic tilting away when I hear "PELVIS PRESLEY!!" Clearly my little lecture didn't work.

That was the end of yoga

Time for some lunch, clean up the house a bit and then off to the beach!

(lunch was a tomato and feta cheese sandwich, with some cucumber, olives and watermelon on the side. Water with a twist of lime and a frappe...the feta was pasteurized and the frappe was decaf so all baby friendly)

When I got to the beach my intent was to go for a swim, study some Greek and then hang out with Antonis when he he meets me there for his break. 

Well that didn't go totally as planned. 

It was super windy down at the beach and way to cold to get in the water. 

So I grabbed a couple beach chairs in the sun and pulled out my Greek text book. 

Not even 5 minutes later....things got weird. 

NAKED YOGA!?

I'm not kidding. It happened. Right under these trees. 

I'm just minding my own business trying to study some Greek grammar, and I seriously have to be interrupted by naked yoga???

This is of course the after shot, I didn't take any photos of the naked yoga session. I was too busy trying to figure out how to pretend like I didn't even know it was happening. What is wrong with people?! It's a public beach, you can't get naked there!! There is a nude beach nearby, but it's not here! I was the only other person there at the time so I guess they could get away with it for today but I sincerely hope I don't run into them again tomorrow. What could I even say?? "Um, excuse me? I'm sorry but you have to keep your clothes on here...because you're in public and that's what you do when you're in public so you don't get arrested." ???

Maybe this sign needs to add NO NUDITY

Antonis finally arrived and I was frozen, and probably still in shock, so he wrapped me up in his towel and I took a nap. This day has just been too much for me! Even though I didn't accomplish ANYTHING. Except for the blog. Yeah ok, I got one thing done today...it took all day but whatever, I did it. I think now I'll take advantage of the empty house and try to do some yoga again without anyone calling me Pelvis Presley.

Ta leme avrio!! (See you tomorrow!)