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!