Poland video!

I made this vid private, so if you can't see it, and want to, let me know...

Check my sister's blog!

I mean it. Go now!

A funny thing

So, not much time to blog. Maggi (sister) and I are just here in Warszawa for a few hours to see the doctor and so I will tell y'all a quick funny while I am uploading photos onto Flickr (click on the link to the right and choose 2007-07 to see the gigantic quantity of photos we have been taking).
Maggi was hanging out in the kitchen with Maggie and Zofia and they were talking about things they want. At one point Maggi said, "I want to go to a deserted island with Zofia". A few minutes later, Zofia asked Maggi, "when are we going to have dessert in Ireland?"
XOXO

Where does the time go?

So....holy cow, it's been a while since I put anything new in here (fill in your favorite excuse here). I just uploaded a whole truckload of new photos to Flickr over there -------------------------------------->
Also, here is Zofia's third year video. Enjoy! In case any of you didn't know, the three girls are leaving for Poland on Tuesday. Daddy will join us toward the end of the month, and we will all return on July 31st. See you when we get back.

Reality Check

in the car on the way to school listening to a song... "Do you know the muffin man?"
Roger: Zofia, do you know the muffin man?
Z: It's only a song, daddy!

Flip-flop

So, you may have heard that Yahoo! Photos is shutting down later this summer. They will be transferring any photos to another photo site of my choosing, which I guess will be Flickr since I already have an account there. I decided to save myself a step and go ahead and start using Flickr again now. So, I have added a link to the Flickr site up there on the right. It now has all of the May photos on it, of which there are an inordinate amount. I've been going a bit nutty with the camera lately. Enjoy!

Finance 101

Zofia was whining about something yesterday...
Z: But I waaaaaant it. Mommy, I waaaaaaannnnnttttt it.
Me: Well, Zofia, I want a million dollars.
Z (after a long pause): Well, Mommy, that's a lot of money.

Consider yourself at home

Meet Oliver, who within 5 minutes of arriving in our kitchen had found the doggy bed, and put it to good use.

Stuff and Cuteness

Ok, first the stuff... These photos are for my sister, who was somewhat incredulous when I told her that some of the plants in my garden are dying from too much water. I suppose it is a bit hard to believe given the fact that the majority of plants that do die in my custody do so from lack of water rather than overabundance. Also, it seems that she found it hard to conceive of rain that came down so hard, so fast, that the ground is unable to absorb it in the 24-48 hours before the next storm. So, proof:



These pix were taken about an hour after a rain storm. Before the storm, the ground was damp, but not totally wet.






























And now, the cutenes:

Oh the cuteness is killing me!

Tonight the girls and I went to dinner with some friends at Chik-fil-a. They have a kids eat free deal on Tuesdays, with people making balloon animals and all kinds of chaos. First of all, never again. Way too many kids hopped up on high fructose corn syrup for my taste.
The girls had a whopping good time, however, despite the fact that they were only hopped up on milk and adrenaline. One of the attractions is a gigantic cow. That is, a man in a gigantic cow suit. Zofia was so excited about "Mr. Cow". She yelled "Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow!!!" every time he passed by our table, high-fived him and waved til her arms fell off. At one point after she had eaten all her chicken and we got her some more, Mr. Cow passes by and she yelled ecstatically, "Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow, I'm eating chicken!"
Here is a video from the last couple of weeks. You want cuteness? You can't handle the cuteness!

Our Girls

Maggie...


Zofia...

POOL!

also...new pix on Yahoo!

A Few Words

I just put Maggie in her crib, and she is screaming her head off. I thought I would keep myself occupied to help me resist the urge to go get her and let her fall asleep in my arms. She has gotten a little spoiled in that regard for the last few nights because of a particularly awful bout of teething. There is a very large, very stubborn tooth way back on her lower gum that is just refusing to come out.
So, let me fill you all in on Maggie's vocabulary when she is not screaming. Here is a list of words Maggie currently says. Though many of these are not easily recognizable by anyone but the closest few, she is consistent in how and when she uses them. There are many more words she repeats, but these are the ones she uses spontaneously, in the order in which I remember them...
Mama
Dada
Zofia (sounds like Fvfvfvaaa)
Boobie
Kitty-kitty-kitty (kdlrlrlr)
LaLa
Up (ap, and if ignored the first time AAAAAAAPPPP)
Down (da)
Baby
Book (Brrr)
Balloon (boon)
Um-um
Ball
Hi (haaaaiiiiii)
Bye-bye
More (ma)
Broom (broo) - she just said this one today for the first time
Bread (bre)
Please (peee)
Teeth (teee) - today I ordered tea at Whole Foods and she started smiling and pointing to her teeth while saying "TEEEE!"
Bath (baaa)
Birdy (biby)
That is all I can think of for now. Bye-bye!

Flower

Here is Zofia last night around midnight. I told her to bundle up if she got cold...

Zofia "reading" to Daddy

Q&A

Here are some questions Zofia has asked us over the last few days. Please feel free to leave your answers under comments.
1. Is relish a liquid or a solid?
2. How about mustard?
3. How about ketchup?
4. How do you pour more milk back into your boobies?


Also, a couple of cute mis-pronunciations I hope to remember long after she learns the correct ways...
Picnit (picnic)
Prentzel (pretzel)

Trick or Treat

yesterday, after dinner, Zofia and Roger were talking. Roger told Zofia that he loves her...
Z: No you don't
R: Yes I do
Z: You can't love me. You can love Maggie and Mommy, but you can't love me.
R: I can't?
Z: If you smell my toes, then you can love me.
????????

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Which, coincidentally, was the song Roger was just singing as I passed by the living room on my way from my bedroom, where I left (read, abandoned) my baby girl, who is even at this moment screaming bloody murder, amazingly in chorus with my older girl, who is in her own big girl bed in her own room screaming perhaps not-quite-as-bloody murder.
All you mommies who survived, please tell me it gets easier soon! Zofia did not take a nap today, and instead spent the hour and a half of "naptime" shredding two of her favorite books. In the few hours since I got her out of her room at 3pm, she has been exhausted and more than a little cranky, willful, floppy, and difficult. Up until recently Zofia didn't seem to realize that she could open her bedroom door at will. Thankfully, even now she doesn't come out, but stands at her door wailing for Mommy. She did this a few minutes after lights out, and when I put her back in bed she kept howling how, "I'mmmmmm not tiiiiiredddddddd!!!!!!!!!!" Right. Meanwhile, Maggie did take a lovely afternoon nap, but is teething and not responding seemingly at all to the orajel.
Yep, still tandem screaming. Cover me, I'm going in.

Snippet

Maggie

Maggie's First Year from agi graham on Vimeo.

Strange Taste

Just now I was eating a bowl of ramen noodles; which I like to cook without the "flavor packet" and stir-fry with veggies; and Zofia asked me, "Mommy, are you eating rubber bands?"
Yummy!

Possible future career choices?

The journey of a thousand miles...

Maggie is officialy walking. On at least five separate occasions today, she took four, five, even six steps at a time! Look out world, here she comes.

Things I Haven't Blogged

1. Riding in the car, Zofia was telling us about how Agatha's Mommy helped her class do yoga. "Mommy, we beat the dog today" ?????? Why are the children abusing animals at school?!?!?!? Oh, I get it, you "be'd" the dog today. Apparently the kids were practicing a yoga posture known as "downward facing dog"


2. Zofia has an imaginary friend. Does anyone know if it's usual for a two and a half year old to have an imaginary friend? The friend's name is Baca. Here is what we know about Baca. Baca lives in her own house with her family, which is alternately her mommy and daddy, or her children (sometimes named Eskin and SoWo). Baca is apparenly reeeeeaaaaalllly small, and Zofia sometimes carries her around in her hand. Baca has a friend named Teeshi. Baca often does whatever Zofia is doing, but in a parallel universe. For example one afternoon last week during "the freeze" Roger, the girls and I had a dance party, and Baca was simultaneously having her own dance party at "her house". Also, Baca often gets to decide what Zofia wears: "Zofia, do you want to wear a diaper, or a pull-up?" "A diaper, cuz Baca says no pull-up".

3. Apropos pull-ups, still no progress on the potty training front. Yesterday, Zofia sat on all three of the potties in her bathroom alternately for about 45 minutes after having drank two full sippy cups of juice. After deciding she was done, she stood on her stool to wash her hands and guess what happened.

4. Maggie is almost, but still not quite, walking. She can push her hippo walker around with no problem and has taken a step or two between people and/or furniture. She still has no hair. Send Rogaine.

5. While counting money at the church the other day, the lady helping me count (Miss Elvina) told Zofia that she was beautiful and Zofia said, "You are beautiful, too."

That is all I can think of for now. I resolve to blog more often.

Toes

Plus....lots of new pix on Yahoo!

News you can use

well...not really, but news of a sort. Samantha says (and she has witnesses) that Maggie walked on Sunday. I say that taking 1 (one) single solitary step does not count as walking, and besides, it obviously doesn't count as walking if the Mommy is not there to see it, right? So, stay tuned...it could happen at any moment. In the meantime, here is December, or at least a small snippet.

new vid - old clips

Zofia's new 'do

We had such a wonderful time over Thanksgiving and we took tons and tons of photos. Unfortunately, the internet connection on my computer is down and that is where all of the photos are currently stored. So, until the internet gets fixed or I have time to copy all of the pix onto Roger's 'puter, y'all will just have to be patient. For now, I just want to say that I love my family. For Thanksgiving dinner we had my parents, my Aunt Connie, Uncle Richard, Cousins Sarah, Julia Soccerball, and Jesse, and of course my sister Maggi, her husband Jacek and his mother. It was an amazing group of people and I am so thankful for all of them.
In the meantime, here are some pix of Zofia's new haircut...cut fresh this afternoon. (click on the word "here" and see the photos)

Video du jour

Jam Packed Social Calendar

Yesterday was such a busy day. We started out by having a family pancake breakfast. This is getting to be a Saturday ritual. Pancakes with berries, bacon and scrambled eggs. Yummy! After breakfast we all went to the Golf Club of Texas for Roger's golf lesson. Maggie napped during the lesson and Zofia and I played on the rocking chairs and the rocks. After Roger's lesson, he and Zofia did a little putting on the green with Zofia's new golf club.
After Golf, we drove to New Braunfels to meet Julia Soccerball at Wurstfest (which is pretty much like Oktoberfest) After eating plenty of sausages, potato pancakes and no beer, we danced to some oompah music and went on the merry-go-round. Soon it was time to go home, and we were hoping both girls would nap in the car on the one hour drive home. No such luck. I guess the day had been way too exciting. Once we arrived home it was time for the girls to get dressed up for Lala's "pretty in pink" girls only 25th birthday bash. We got in the car and Maggie fell asleep almost instantly, but Zofia waited until we were about 2 blocks away from the restaurant. I tried to transfer her, still sleeping, into the stroller, but of course she woke up the instant I laid her down. Both girls had a good time at the restaurant, although Maggie ate more than Zofia, who couldn't quite wrap her brain around the concept of fondue. Maggie sucked the cheese off of about 6 or 8 pieces of bread and ate a couple of pieces of chicken to boot. I had never been to a fondue restaurant before and I will definitely go again. What with the dipping and the long fondue forks, it was a hoot. And then they brought out the chocolate!! Next time I have to remember to eat less dinner and save more room for the chocolate. Actually, I think that is about all Zofia ate: 6 or 7 strawberries and a bite of chocolate sauce with pecans. Needless to say, both girls feel asleep the instant we pulled out of the parking lot at about 8:30pm, and Zofia barely stirred as I changed her into jammies and put her to bed.

This morning on the way to church Roger was asking Zofia all about the party. Here is part of the conversation:
Roger: Did Daddy go to the party?
Zofia: No, only the girls went to the party, you couldn't go, cuz you're a boy!
R: Oh, next time can I go the the birthday party?
Z: Yes Daddy, maybe next time you will be a girl.

And of course now Zofia has a fever and is feeling so pitiful. Many more photos on the yahoo page.

I got to Boogie

Daddy: Zofia do you have boogies in your nose?
Zofia: No Daddy, I don't have boogies in my nose. I have nostrils in my nose.

My Maggie the Car

Full Schedule

In the car today...
Me: How many toes do you have on that foot?
Zofia: I'm not availabus (available) to count them now. I'm busy.

Maggie Moo

This is, I think, the first time I ever took, edited, and uploaded a vid all in one day!

video of the girls

it's been a while... Here is a new vid. I made this video "private" on YouTube, since the girls are "naked-nudie" in part of it, and there are some whackos out there. If you aren't on the list to view it (you might have to log in) let me know and I will add you.

Maggie stars

...in her own video. All Maggie, all the time!

Parental Concern

Today in the car:
"Mommy, I got some strawberry on my knee. But you don't have to worry. I will wipe it up."
"So I don't have to worry?"
"No. If you worry I will have to tickle you."

Miss Manners

Tonight at dinner Zofia said to me, "Finish chewing and then we can talk about that, Mommy."
!!!!!!!

Video from a while back

Toothful

Maggie got her first tooth yesterday, and this we know because she bit Lala. Actually, I thought I had felt something on Saturday when she nursed, but it was on the wrong side, so I didn't think to check. I thought that babies always got their first teeth on the bottom, but Maggie has thrown convention to the wind and grown her first tooth on the top left. Yay, Maggie!

California Girls

Well, we got back from California at one in the morning on Wednesday, and we're almost back to our normal Texas routine. The girls and I had so much fun with Babcia and Dziadzio. It was a regular love fest. Zofia got giddy with happiness every time one of them entered the room, even if they were just returning from the bathroom! We packed alot into our one week visit. A rundown:
Tuesday: left Texas on an 8pm flight. genius on my part. put the girls in jammies when we got to the terminal (thankfully they let Roger go all the way to the gate with us to help me wrangle all the paraphenalia) and after the initial excitement of airplane, takeoff, people sitting around us, etc. wore off both girls fell asleep for the duration of the flight. got in to California around 11pm
Wednesday: much hanging around house relaxing with Babcia & Dziadzio.
First experience with "crunchy meat" (pork cutlet) at Babcia's restaurant.

Thursday: went shopping with Dziadzio, went to see Great Grandma in Oakland and more crunchy meat.
Friday: Shabbatt dinner at Aunt Denise's. Lots of family was there...Cousins Isaac, Shoshi and Sarah with boyfriend Trevor. Uncle Lenny and Aunt Linda. Great Grandma. Babcia & Dziadzio. While Denise and cousins were lighting candles for the blessing, I explained to Zofia that this is how Aunt Denise and her family say blessing, to which she replied, "yeah, so they can sing happy birthday!". She was a bit shy at first with so many new (as far as she remembers) people, but by the end of the evening, she remembered most people's names and even gave everyone kisses goodbye.
Saturday: went to San Rafael to see Kayleen & Chris's new house. Had brunch and took a walk to get ice cream. Both girls got little Star Wars keychains from Kayleen. Zofia got Dziadzio to put a key on hers and now runs around "locking" doors all over the place, including restaurants! In the evening I left both girls with Dziadzio, brave man, and went to dinner with Kristin in Oakland. Ethiopian food!! I've missed it so! Got home after midnight. Babcia and Dziadzio did an awesome job.

Sunday: went to church with Dziadio, who got lots of compliments on his gorgeous grandbabies and soaked it all up happily. After nap-time we went to see my friend Dudy and Peter's new house that they are renovating and then dinner at Babcia's restaurant. More crunchy meat...and bread for Maggie.
Monday: went to brunch with Great Grandma and then the zoo with Babcia. much exhausting fun. That evening Wujek (uncle) Andrzej and Gina and Peter came over to have chinese food for our last night in town. Crispy honey shrimp!
Tuesday: Packing, lunch, more packing, sadness, drive to airport. Thankfully again, they let Babcia & Dziadzio all the way to the gate with me. Flew to Las Vegas where a crew guy helped me get all the paraphenalia to the next gate for the flight to S.A. Got Zofia in jammies and she slept the whole way home.
More photos at yahoo.

Storytime

This video is a couple of weeks old, and I have some other video backlogged which I'll hopefully have time to work on soon. BTW, this seven or so minutes of video is a tiny fraction of the hour and a half I had on tape!


Also, we went to Dallas for a couple of days on Sunday, and there are a few pictures from our trip here. We had a great time. Zofia didn't sleep for the entire four plus hour drive there or back, plus she got to sleep after 10:30pm both Sunday and Monday nights, so her sleep schedule is totally wonky. Roger had some work to do during the days, so the girls and I walked all over downtown Dallas. I got the vibe that Dallas wants to be New York; it had a very "big city" feel. On Monday we walked to the Dallas World Aquarium, about a mile away from our hotel. It was fantastic. Not just fish, but a whole lot of random, different animals, birds, reptiles, etc. After that we went to lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse a couple of blocks away. By the time we finished lunch it was about 103 degrees outside. When we got to the hotel, we took a nice cool shower and then all the girls got a nap. When Roger got back we all went to dinner at an amazing steakhouse called Trulucks.
On Tuesday the girls and I went for another walk in the morning, and then Roger picked us up around noon and we drove back to S.A. We stopped off in Austin to see Julia at work. We got to see the new Hillel building where she works, which is a really cool space.
We are all a little worn out, and of course Zofia didn't nap again today, so hopefully she will go to bed a little early tonight.
Enjoy the video!

Sisterly Love

Maggie almost never cries. The exception is when she is really tired and can't fall asleep. I have spoiled her to the point where she can't easily fall asleep except when nursing, so sometimes in the car she really gets upset because she's tired and can't figure out how to get to sleep. This was the case tonight on the way home from dinner. During the 20 minute drive, Maggie cried or screamed for about 18 minutes. Even more heartbreaking than hearing Maggie cry, was hearing Zofia try to console her. Here is a list of things Zofia said the whole way home.

Don't cry Maggie.
It's ok Maggie.
I think Maggie is hungry Mommy.
Mommy will feed you when we get home Maggie.
Maggie is hungry in the car Mommy.
It's gonna be ok Maggie.
Maggie is just screaming Mommy.
What are you screaming about Maggie?
Stop Maggie.
You have to feed Maggie when we get home Mommy.

Some of these things she said more than once in rotation. While reading the list, keep in mind that Zofia can't really say her R's, so cry sounds like cwy; and she can't really pronounce TH, so think sounds like sink.

Then after we got home Lala took Maggie while I got Zofia ready for bed. She found Maggie's teething ring and ran to give it to her, but Lala and Maggie were not on the couch where I told her they'd be. She ran back to the bedroom and said, "I can't find them Mommy! Help me find them!"

Also in this category, the other day Zofia was playing with a Pocahontas doll that she got from our friend Lemira. Pocahontas is somewhat anatomically correct, at least on top, and Zofia had stripped her "naked-nudie". After a few minutes she said, "Can I have my sister? I want to feed my sister."
I brought Maggie over, not really getting where she was going with this. I put Maggie down in Zofia's lap (Lala was sitting right next to Zof) and Zofia put Pocahontas' boobie in Maggie's mouth!!! Then she said, "Is that good Maggie? Yeah, that's good!" Meanwhile, Maggie giggled as if she got the joke.

The last two weeks

Here is some video from the last couple of weeks...just random bits of daily life.

Reading

Here is a new video. Actually, it's not so new, but I haven't had much time lately to do videos. There should be more coming soon...

The Shape of this Mother

I recently found this awesome website and am jumping right on the bandwagon. I was a little shocked at first and then so relieved and heartened to see all of these women, looking like real women and not centerfolds or covergirls. Here is my story...

Before I got pregnant with Zofia I weighed about 130lbs. This was not quite two months after my wedding, so I was still more or less at "dress weight". I gained just under 40lbs by the time she was born (7/3/04, 7lbs 14oz, 20in)
This was about a month before she was born. I didn't get any stretch marks at all with this pregnancy, though I had a few on my thighs from puberty.

I had gotten down to about 140ish before I got pregnant with Maggie 11 months after Zofia was born. With Maggie I got back up to about 170 before she was born at 41 weeks (3/4/06, 8lbs 7oz, 21in)

This photo was taken about 10 hours before Maggie was born, just before we left for the hospital. I'm so glad I took this picture, even though when I took it I was sure nobody else would ever see it. It is amazing to me that Maggie is in there, already pushing to come out into the world, just hours away. I couldn't believe how big I had gotten. I got three stretch marks with this belly, one on the right side (which you can see in the photo) one on the left side and one just above my belly button.

Maggie is now four and a half months old and I weigh about 155, so I have a ways to go with my weight, but I'm in no hurry. I'm nursing, and will be for at least eight more months, so I'm not really monitoring my food intake too much. Roger teases me that I will need to come up with a new excuse once I stop nursing. I was still nursing Zofia when I found out that I was pregnant with Maggie, so I've been pregnant or nursing for almost three years now. I must say I'm a little freaked out that I will gain weight when I stop nursing because it will be difficult to shift gears down to a normal amount of calories.
Anyhow, enough stalling. Here are the photos of my belly now:

I barely remember what my body looked like before my girls, but I'm awed and amazed at what my body has done, and continues to do to nurture my children.

Check out the cute new photos

To see them all click on the Yahoo! link on the right...

Maggie's Baptism

Here is a short video from Maggie's baptism...

Zofia's Second Year

Zofia,
Another year has passed and we can't believe that you are already two years old! In this year you have gone from being a baby-going-on-toddler, to a toddler-going-on-little girl. Each day you delight and amaze us with the things you say, the things you remember, the things you understand. This year has seen some changes for you; a new house, new school, new little sister, but you seem to be taking it all in stride.
You love our house and yard and enjoy going outside every day to pick flowers, "climb" trees and swim in the pool. You love to play in your room with your many toys, love to color at (and on) your table in the kitchen or at (and on) the big kitchen table. Each day there comes a point when you ask to "go on the bed", meaning Mommy and Daddy's bed to roll around, jump and play monster with Daddy. You still enjoy cuddling up with Froggy to watch TV (Backyardigans, Sesame Street or Jack's Big Music Show) but you lose interest within five minutes and spend the rest of the show catching bits of it here and there while you play with your kitchen or the coasters on the coffee table or your dolls or your legos. You love to use your step-stool to reach the bathroom sink to wash your hands and brush your teeth and sometimes we hear you calling us to come turn on the bathroom light so you can wash your hands all by yourself. You have also developed your own sense of style and each morning you tell me how many ponytails and/or clippies to put in your hair, or that today it's a headband day. We are working on potty-training, and while you love sitting on the potty to read, so far you have steadfastly refused to actually make use of the potty for its intended purpose. I'm hoping that you catch on by the beginning of the school year in September.
You love going to school and get very excited at the mention of school day. Thankfully, you have not noticed that it's been almost a month since the last day of school. As far as you are concerned, you went to school yesterday and are going again tomorrow. In your current view of time, everything in the past happened "yesterday" regardless of whether it was last week or five minutes ago; and everything in the future will happen either "after nap time" or "tomorrow".
You love your little sister and want to be wherever she is. If I go to the bedroom to change her diaper, you always say, "I wanna come too!". You give Maggie lots of hugs and kisses, which always makes her smile or laugh, even when it makes me fear that you are cutting off the circulation to her brain or squishing her face in. You talk to her all the time and give me running commentary on what she is doing in her carseat while we drive. You are always concerned with her well being and any time she cries you tell me, "Maggie's hungry Mommy!" Recently you were playing on your couch while I was sitting on it with Maggie in my lap and you accidentaly hit her in the head with a piece of cardboard. You said, "I'm sorry I bumpled your head Maggie" and I almost cried.
You do have moments when we remember that you have indeed entered the "terrible twos", when you get so frustrated with us or with a situation that you just lose your cool and your vocabulary and scream your little head off. Usually this happens only when you are tired, hungry or under the weather. Even then we can usually get you to calm down and communicate or move on with life fairly quickly. Your Daddy came up with an ingeneous way to refocus your attention by asking you, "Is it crying time?" Invariably the answer is no, and you tell us that it is puzzle time, or swimming time or peanut butter and jelly time. You have even started telling Baby Maggie and sometimes Mommy or Daddy that it is not crying time.
You are a sweet, affectionate, loving child and freely give kisses and cuddles to those you know and love. You are amazingly intelligent and have a phenomenal memory. You are happy and funny and love to sing and dance. You bring us so much joy every day and we can't wait to see what new development each day brings.
We love you Zofia. Happy Birthday

Zofia through the year...

Here is a short vid of Zofia month by month...

What's that on your head?

Our daughter is developing her grasp of the absurd. The other day she was cracking herself up with this trick:

That's one of Maggie's onsies on her head, which she put on for no reason we could figure out. It was pretty funny, though; and note that it is color coordinated with the rest of her outfit! Very impressive, no?











Tonight we decided to throw bedtime out the window (especially given the fact that Zofia didn't wake up from her nap until after 5pm and bedtime is 7pm) and we all went to a baseball game. The San Antonio Missions are a local minor league team and tonight was Habitat for Humanity night. Roger is head of the HforH ministry at our church, so that was another reason to go. We just got home after 10pm! Summer time, and the livin' is easy...


There are a ton more photos from the past few days up on the web. Click either of the two links to the right (Flickr Photos or Yahoo Photos)

Unassailable Logic

When she wants to claim ownership of something (which is mighty often, these days) Zofia says, "MISE!" For a while we just thought that is was a cute mispronounciation, but then I thought about it... We say, "that book is Mommy's" or "that phone is Daddy's" or "that toy is Zofia's", so of course my logical daughter would say, "everything is the entire world is MY'S!!"

Other adorable words:
totato - as in: that mr. totato head is MY'S
musigut - as in: please turn on the radio and play some musigut

Whew, what a weekend!

What a fun and exciting weekend we had.
My parents and Roger's brother Doug arrived on Saturday. Saturday morning Zofia was still not feeling well, so immediately upon picking my parents up at the airport, we dropped my dad off at the car rental place and headed to the emergency room. It wasn't really an emergency, but Zofia's regular doctor's office is not open on Saturday.
Three and a half hours later we left the hospital with three perscriptions and four tired girls! We went to dinner and then to Sam's Club to do all of the shopping for the party on Sunday. Thankfully the doctor said there was no need to cancel the party as long as Zof was not running a fever, which she wasn't.
The next day we all woke up to a torrential rainstorm. We had breakfast and headed to the church for Maggie's Christening. The ceremony was lovely and, of course, I cried. Maggie looked so adorable in the dress my parents got for her.

After church everyone headed back to the house to start preparing for the party. We were expecting about 60-70 people! The rain had cleared up in the early afternoon, but as 4 o'clock approached, so did enourmous black rain clouds. Thankfully, we had so much help from friends and family. Cousin Julia Soccerball arrived to help around 2pm, LaLa was here and our friends Bob and Hyacinth, who had generously offered to help with the barbeque. Yes, I did say barbeque...in the rain! Our fearless crusaders Bob and Doug stood out under umbrellas and cooked up the most delicious burgers, sausages and hotdogs imagineable. Obviously, there was no swimming, but we all had a great time anyhow. Zofia really enjoyed her "Happy Birthday Party" and is still talking about it!

The next evening Doug grilled out again and we had some more friends over for an impromptu dinner on the deck. Yummy steak and fish and rice and peas and plenty of wine! We had so much fun!
Tuesday turned into home improvement day as Doug and Roger cleaned out the garage and my dad installed a closet organizer in Zofia's room. Tuesday evening we were supposed to meet Julia Soccerball in Gruene for dinner. We took two cars and my mom, Maggie, Zofia and I arrived around 6:30 just in time for more torrential rain. Unfortunately, the boys got lost in the rain and didn't get there until after 7pm. They helped me get the girls out of the car and into the restaurant, but we all got soaked to the skin in the process. We still managed to have a great time at dinner, and by the time we left the rain had abated considerably.
Sadly, Wednesday morning arrived to soon and everyone had to leave. It was a wonderful weekend and one I think we will all remember.
Click on the green title above to see all of the pictures.

Who's Who...

If you guessed Maggie on top and Zofia on the bottom...you were right!

In other news, last night Zofia had a high fever and woke up around 11:30pm crying. After giving her some Advil and a warm shower, the three of us sat up in bed until she got dry and sleepy. We watched Iron Chef America and Roger said, "look, that man is cooking just like Mommy, and just like Zofia" (she "helps" me cook almost every day). Zofia said, "No Daddy, I'm too little to cook dinner."

Who's Who?

Which baby is Maggie and which is Zofia? Post your guess under comments...

The Darndest Things

This morning on the drive to school:
Zofia: I went up the ladder and down the slide, but Maggie didn't go up the ladder and down the slide.
Agi: Why not?
Z: Because Maggie's too little!
A: But when Maggie grows bigger she will go up the ladder and down the slide too.
Z: Maggie is gonna get bigger.
A: Yes, just like Zofia is growing bigger.
Z: Maggie is growing bigger, and Zofia is growing bigger, and Daddy is all big.

This afternoon on the drive home:
Z: (looking at the keys in the ignition) Those are Mommy's keys.
A: Yes, these are Mommy's keys.
Z: No, those are Daddy's keys.
A: These are Daddy's keys?!
Z: Ya, Mommy stole them.

New video

Festivus for the restuvus

Sunday was the last day of the Texas Folklife Festival here in San Antonio. It's a festival where many ethnic groups set up food booths, perform music and dances and generally share their culture. We were explaining to Zofia that we were going to go to a festival where there would be music and dancing and food, etc. A little while later, we asked her if she was ready to go to the festival. She said, "Nooooooo! I want to go to the VEGTABLE!!"
We had a great time at the vegtable.

New video

Maggie

...laughed out loud for the first time today!

Zofia's recital video (finally!)

Here is the video from Zofia's end-of-year school recital. I had to cut it up into two parts. The original was 13 minutes and Youtube will only let you post up to ten minutes. Hope you enjoy it.

Bathtime

Here is a new video from a couple of days ago. After an evening of swimming, it was bathtime. Since I was already wet, I decided to get into the tub with Zofia and took Maggie with me. A good time was had by all.

Our Girls

Here is a video shot over the last few days...enjoy!


PS - I'm using a new website to play the videos, and if you click on the video it will take you to the site, where you can play the video full screen!

Nice to Meet You

Just now Zofia and I were watching some videos, including the one where she says, "Nice to meet you", or rather "Naimeeechu". After watching the video, Zofia shook my hand and said, "Nice to meet you, my name is Zofia Eleanor Graham." Who is this kid?!?!?!?

Trip To Cali

May 10 2006 012
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

Well we've just returned from our week-long trip to Southern California. It was a ton of fun. I thought a week would be such a long trip, but it flew by so fast. Each day was packed with stuff...
We flew in to LAX on Tuesday afternoon and drove straight down to San Diego to Connie and Richards beautiful new condo on the waterfront. We arrived in time for dinner and an evening of catching up.
On Wednesday Roger, Connie, the girls and I went out for lunch and then to the beach in La Jolla. Zofia had a great time playing in the sand and she got to pet a snake, which she talked about for the next three days, saying, "saw a snake yesterday!" Then that night we all went to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House accross the street from the condo. Even Sarah Unger came and it was really great to see her, even for such a short time.
Thursday morning we dropped Connie off at the airport as she headed up north to help Grandma move and help my dad in the restaurant during my mom's absence. On our way to L.A. I got the brilliant brainstorm to call on the Allens, the parents of one of my best friends, Kristin, who happen to live in Carlsbad. I called Kristin to get her parents' number and happily they were home and didn't mind us stopping by without warning! Then we continued north to Cousin K.K.'s house. She lives in a gorgeous house up in the Glendale hills. The fact that she opened up her home to us really made the trip fantastic. Not only was is way more comfortable than a hotel would have been with two small girls, it was so much fun hanging out with her and meeting her fiance Jeff. I was glad to be able to meet him, since we plan on going to their wedding in Jamaica in July.
On Friday we went to Joey's graduation, which was amazing. There were so many graduates, each department had their own ceremony, and just Joey's had a ton of people. It was a long ceremony, but it was great to see Joey graduate. That night the whole family went out to dinner and had a great time. Zofia was very tired and a little cranky, but she hung in there until we got to the car, which was after nine o'clock. Sadly, our camera broke right around this time, so we have no more photos of the rest of the trip, at least from our camera.
On Saturday we had brunch with my friend and former boss Claudia, who happened to be in town even though she now lives in Hawaii. It was really a great bit of karma and so nice to see her. Then that night I made my lamb stew for K.K. and Jeff and we just sat at home and chatted into the evening.
On Sunday we went to church with Ron and his family. It was my first time visiting a gospel church and I really enjoyed it. Being there on Mother's Day made it even more special. Then we all went out to lunch and Zofia got to know her cousins Ronald, Brandi and Colin a little better. She sat in between Roger and Uncle Ron and flirted with Uncle Ron the whole time!
On Monday Roger went out condo hunting with Joey and then we went to our favorite old Sushi place from when we lived in LA. Then we did a little shopping and went to dinner with Joey and Doug and then went to see another condo.
This morning we awoke ridiculously early for our flight home and now we are all pooped. Whew, sorry to bore you all with all these details. Bottom line is - a good time was had by all!

Click on the photo to see the rest of the pix from our trip.

Today's enormous helping of cuteness

At dinner tonight Zofia tried cous cous for the first time. She liked in and practiced saying "cous cous" a few times. Then about half way through dinner, she said, "I like it! Rice rice!"
Then at bed time she gave each of us a hug, during which she patted us on the back and said, "Are you ok Mommy?" and "Are you ok Daddy?". Also, she is learning our evening prayer and as of last night is beating us to the last word in each line...
Roger&Agi: Our Father, who art in...
Zofia: Heaven!
R&A: Hallowed be thy...
Z: Name!
It really gets cute when we get to,
R&A: Forgive us our...
Z: Trespasses!

What was that spider's name?

The other day Zofia was singing in the car,
"Twinkle Twinkle went up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out."

April video

God Loves You!!

Here is a video from a couple of weeks ago that Roger took of Zofia after she came home from school singing.
Zofia's school is a Montessori school run by St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and every Tuesday morning they have chapel. The chapel is held in a little room made into a children's chapel. It has miniature pews just right for the kids and one of the assistant pastors comes and sings songs and leads prayers with the kids. Zofia really enjoys it and on this day she was singing one of the chapel songs in the car with Roger the whole ride home. At one point she said to him, "God loves you, Daddy!" I don't know how he managed to continue driving.

Easter Update

It's been a couple of weeks since our last update. Zofia and Maggie are doing great. Maggie is growing so fast, at her checkup last week she weighed 10lbs 7oz, and I'm sure she is over 11lbs by now. The girls get along great, meaning Maggie is mostly oblivious to Zofia and Zofia thinks Maggie is very interesting, but can't figure out why Maggie won't answer when she talks to her. Just in the last couple of days Zofia has asked to hold Maggie for the first time. It looks like she is starting to get the whole "baby" concept.
Here is a video from yesterday. We had a lovely Easter, complete with a nice long nap and an afternoon swim in our pool (it was 95 degrees here).

Sisters

Here is a little video of Zofia interacting with Maggie. So far she is doing really well. She isn't showing much jealousy, and she is really protective of Mags. Last weekend we went to breakfast and a little girl not much older than Zof tried to touch Maggie. Zofia shoved her and shouted, "Baby Maggie!!!" with a very possessive tone. The shoving was not great, but the sentiment was wonderful. The only thing that seems to confuse her is the fact that Maggie does not talk back yet.

Settling In

Baby Maggie is only eleven days old and it's already hard to remember a time without her. We are slowly settling into a daily routine with both girls. Roger takes the early shift, getting Zofia up, dressed and fed while I nurse Maggie. We both do whatever is necessary during the day, then I take the late shift when Roger goes to bed around 10ish. I stay up until about 11:30 or midnight, until Maggie's last evening feeding, then she actually sleeps until about 4am! She is such an amazingly easy baby. I didn't know it could get any easier than Zofia, but then along came Maggie!
Maggie's first week home happened to coincide with spring break from school for Zofia, so we have had a lot of time to spend together. Zofia really seems to be enjoying the baby. She is back at school next week, and she is excited about it.
Here is a video taken the day Maggie was born. We have shot lots more video since then, so I'll try to get that posted soon.

Baby Maggie

Here is a picture of our new addition. More new pictures on the Yahoo! site...

it's a .................. GIRL!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to keep everyone up to date:
around 10:42 am this morning Agi & Roger gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Magdalena Michelle Graham! Agi is doing well (only 3 pushes) and Roger is gushing! They haven't weighed the baby yet but as soon as I know I will post it.

Zofia is doing fine. This morning we went to the store and bought her a baby doll of her own, so she is all ready for when Mommy and the new baby come home. As soon as I have more info or pictures I will be sure to post it all.

Miracles & Blessings,
LaLa
(Samantha)

the other new video

New videos

Here is one, and check back later for the other one...

Nuttin'

Our amazing friend Samantha (aka LaLa) watches Zofia for us most Monday nights while we are at Bible study. Here is the story she told us when we got home last night:

After Agi & Roger left, Zofia and I sat eating our snack (jello) and playing legos. I asked her about pee-peeing on the potty and she said yep she did it. Here is what the conversation was like:
LaLa: what did you do?
Zofia: pee-pee potty
LaLa: then?
Zofia: paper
LaLa: That's right! we use toliet paper, then what?
Zofia: Dump it!
LaLa: Yeah! We dump it in the big toliet. Then?
Zofia: flush!
LaLa: that's right we flush!

Later on after clean-up, clean-up time... we went through Zofia's bath time routine. After getting "naked-nudie" we went to the bathroom to attempt to pee-pee on the potty again.....

LaLa: Okay you want to pee-pee on the potty?
Zofia: yes!
LaLa: okay we need to sit on the potty
Zofia: otay
LaLa: so....
Zofia: nothin'
LaLa: (laughing my head off) you got nothing'
Zofia: got nothin'!

Sleeping

How did that bear get on her head?

Such a big girl!

Today Zofia pee-peed in the potty!!! I won't go into details, since I'm sure most of you would not be so very interested, but Roger and I were ecstatic. Zofia was quite pleased with herself, though I'm not sure she totally got what all the fuss was about.
Here is a video, not quite new. It was taken at the same time as the going to sleep video...but on the other end of the nap. It is nowhere near as long. We haven't shot any new video in days. I'll try to get some soon.

Precocious

Roger: Daddy has allergies.
Zofia: Take some medicine!
Roger: Take some medicine?
Zofia: Yes, you have to!

Naptime

Here is a really really long new video. It's about 13 minutes long. I edited down about an hour of Zofia's nap. Usually she falls asleep in about 10 minutes, but for some reason on this day, she just had too much to do in her crib. At one point she started crying and I went in to resettle her, and even after that it took her about another 15 minutes to fall asleep.

Nayoomeechu

We have no idea where she picked this up. A couple of weeks ago I saw her shaking hands with herself saying it over and over again. Sadly, we've been unable to catch her on camera doing that, but she will usually say it if you hold out your hand and say it first.

Peatot

Zofia got a new cd that we play in the car. It's got all kinds of nursery rhymes, including her three favorites:
The Alphabet Song, which she calls, "AB" (as in "more AB! more AB!)
No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, "no muckeys on bed!!!!"
I'm a Little Teapot, which she calls "little peatot"
Although I say it correctly back to her, I'm really dreading the day she learns to pronounce it correctly.

More New Videos

Here are a couple of videos from the last few days...

Christmas morning video

Here is Zofia opening all of her gifts Christmas morning. We had about 2 hours of video of all this, so I apologize if the final video is a bit lengthy.

Belly Photo

12-28-05
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

Just so you can compare with the sister.

The flip side

Here is how I found Zofia sleeping when I went to check on her last night.
Also, check out a bunch of new photos on the Yahoo! site.

For Cousin Julia and Grandpa

This video is specially dedicated to Grandpa and Cousin Julia, who have been volunteered to teach Zofia swimming and soccer, respectively. As you can see by the video, she shows early promise in both sports.

Father-Daughter Day

This past Saturday I had a training to do at H&R Block so Roger had Zofia all to himself for most of the day. They went to a gingerbread party at Whole Foods where Zofia got to decorate her own gingerbread man. According to Roger (and the pictures) the only decorations she wanted to use were Jelly Beans, and she kept eating the banana chips. They had a really fun day together.

Zofia can count!

Seriously...I don't know if this is unusual for a 17 month old child, but she can count to ten. And she is not just reciting, she gets what it means. Yesterday she was picking up pebbles outside and handing them to me; I said 1, then she said 2, 3, then I said 4, 5, 6 and she said 7, 8, 9 and 10! Today in the car she said 1 through 9 a bunch of times in a row (after 9 came 8 most of the time). I started holding up the right number of fingers and she did 5 herself!
Wow!

Don't get used to it ;-)

I'm not sure why I have had time to do this many videos lately...


p.s. who gets this reference?

Two New Videos!!

Here is the video from the rest of November:


...and here is a random video. When Zofia watches this video she keeps saying, "ON! ON!" every time the slippers come off.

New Video

I had to do two videos for November because Zofia was just too busy and cute. Here is #1:

A Little Bit of Culture

On Sunday we took Zofia to her first play. Our friend Sam (otherwise known as LaLa since that is what Z calls her) invited us to a special showing of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at the Magik Children's Theater, sponsored by a company she works with. This theater company gears all of its performances to children and they really know their audience. This is what Zofia looked like practically the entire time:

That gorgeous dress was a gift from LaLa for the occasion; an early Christmas present, and Zofia looked so adorable all dressed up. She sat through almost the whole 45 or so minutes, and only started getting fidgety during the last couple of minutes. It was really fun. She also got to eat some popcorn and take a very reluctant picture with Santa...
All in all it was a lovely afternoon.
Later that night I went in to check on her and found her sleeping like this:

Looks like it might be time to convert her crib to a toddler bed soon.

Shiner

A few days ago Zofia and I were tumbling around on our bed when she rolled violently away from me, right into the hard wooden footboard. Now whenever we go anywhere people look at me a little suspiciously, and many have asked "did she fall?", as if they expect me to say, "Nah, she was annoying me so I popped her one!"
It looks even worse now, though it doesn't bother her a bit. The same day it happened, she kept pointing to her cheek as if looking for sympathy. The only problem is, she was pointing to the WRONG CHEEK! Roger keeps saying he hopes it heals before Christmas.
Click the Yahoo! Photos link for more photos from the last few days.

Funny

Roger: "Zofia has been talking up a storm since I got her up from her nap"

Me: "Have you been talking to Daddy?"

Zofia: "Yeah"

Me: "What did you say to him?"

Zofia: "Blah, blah"

Zofia's First Haircut

Early this month Zofia had her first haircut. She actually did not cry that much, even though it looks like she did on the video. In between the crying she was totally absorbed in watching "The Wiggles" on the video screen. The place we took her for her haircut is geared toward little kids, so she stayed pretty distracted through most of it.

Affirmative

Zofia's language acquisition seems to go in phases. Since she has been talking, she has used various different sounds or words to indicate agreement. Each one lasts at least a few days up to a few weeks. I'm not sure I have them in correct order, but pretty close I think...
First there was DA - this apparently was the Russian phase. Then there was HAI - the Japanese phase? Then there was YA!, which morphed into YEAH (said in a very laid back, happy surfer style). After that came GI - maybe someone knows the language of origin here - maybe Vietnamese? The latest (and this has been in effect for at least a week) is OK. She uses this in every situation as yes, sometimes shortening it to 'K. It is adorable.
I can't wait to see what is next.

October Video

Telephone call

Last night was Halloween, and I will post video later of Zofia and her friends trick-or-treating, but first, here is a video I shot on the way to the Halloween party last night. Enjoy...

P.S. there are new photos on the Yahoo! site.