Tears, Ice, Chalk Graffiti and a Very Veggie Photo Shoot

Sorry about the bits and pieces blogging here. Our house has been filled with non-stop screaming and whining, literally on and off since 8am. And really more on than off. This is not an exaggeration, just ask Taki. Our little raven haired beauty having a bad day you say? No, our poor little golden child has been diagnosed with a double ear infection. We took him into Kaiser last night and got the bad news, along with some bubblegum-flavored antibiotics (some dripped onto my thumb) and the good news that it wasn't contagious.

Anyway, today the poor guy has just been inconsolable. Taki and I tried to be creative and set up Nikos out on the deck with his toys (for the first time!) Taki has been working hard on the deck railing this week, so that Nikos has a place to play and our Greek Easter party next month won't be a death trap for toddlers. He has it almost finished and just needed some time to finish the last two sections. Of course, Nikos, Olive and I get all setup on the deck (Olive in the pouch) and Nikos was having none of it. Finally I remembered an idea from when I was up nursing Olive in the middle of the night, blog-surfing. Gina had let Jack loose outside with chalk and he had a wonderful time, graffiti-ing up their patio furniture. After convincing Taki that the chalk could just be washed off the beloved deck that he (and my Dad and Vernie) had built we let him loose. Wahoo - success! A cup of ice and a box full of his chalk bought us 30 minutes of silence (and more importantly happiness) so that Taki could work on the deck and I could relax. I mean, a parent of two under two and my new part-time gig as an accidental flasher is exhausting. Olive retired early to the inside of the house, considering the fact that it is almost 70 degrees today and she was turning into a little sleeping puddle of sweat inside the pouch. There were even drops of sweat on her darling, hairy little forehead.

Here are some pictures of Nikos, momentarily satisfied. Don't worry, I'm not ignoring him right now, we put him down for his second nap of the day and he didn't even have the strength to fight it.
Also, here are some fun shots I took the other night of Olive. She is modeling all the latest rage in Easter-themed apparel. This is a handmade sleeping bag for a stuffed bunny, my Aunt Sue (hands down the most creative person I know, well, tied with the aforementioned Gina) made these for Mel and I when we were little. When I found out I was pregnant and due around Easter I thought it would make the perfect prop for a photo shoot. Yes, just like our vacations, I also plan photo shoots a ridiculous amount of months in advance as well. Little does she know this isn't the last time she will be stuffed into an orange vegetable. Sadly, she is a little bit too long for the carrot (again, I was planning on a Nikos-sized baby), but I still think it made for some cute shots.

It looks like he is resigned to the fact that she will have to suffer through my photo shoots as well.
And just because I never get tired of this pic.

I also wanted to give a blog shout out to Sarah and Jeff and also to Grandma Linda for providing us with some tasty meals last week. Jeff and Sarah dropped off some delicious pasta with homemade sauce (complete with homemade sausage!) and Linda brought over some enchiladas and also a pasta sauce. Sadly I didn't get pictures of us enjoying these wonderful meals, I think it was because they happened to coincide with no-shower days in the Romios household. It's not pretty folks.

Lastly, I'll end with this shot of Nikos enthralled in the tv. Noggin? Nick Jr? Alas...CNBC.