Preschool

My big girl started preschool today.

Ridgewood Montessori has one sassy superstar in its Maple Primary Class.

Half a vacation

Mariana is away at Grammy’s house this week for vacation bible school. She loves it and had so much fun on her first day.

Meanwhile, at home, I’m hanging with this girl

Meesh and Chris came over today and we had a toddler filled afternoon of playing in the pool and destroying the play area of my house. It was perfect. We went driving through Maywood and came across a house I’m going to see tomorrow. Rosie has her first visit with the new pediatrician tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to post some stats then.

Kiddie Updates

It’s so strange how years ago I would have regarded the life of a stay-at-home mom mundane, boring and overall easy. It’s so different than I could have ever imagined.

Mariana is almost three and a half. She is every ouce of what three and a half is supposed to be. She is gorgeous and funny and so so quirky. I could have never imagined that I would have had such an intelligent little kid challenging me every day. Peter and I decided once and for all that she’s going to be attending our relatively local montessori school in September. She is so advanced, I fear that regular preschool curriculum won’t challenge her and give her the ability to truly spread her wings. She’s a very interactive kid and strict rules often make her rebel, so I think being in a classroom that allows her to explore on her own and work at her own pace will benefit her tremendously. I’m anxious to see how school changes her home life. Right now, she raises hell all day. She was described by my friend’s dad a precocious – both her and Rosie actually. She just wants to learn and know and understand everything and most of the time, if I can’t immediately interact with her and answer her questions, she raises hell to get attention. Today, as I was working in the office, she ran downstairs (she can open all the gates and doors in the house no problem) and opened three of the juice boxes in my secret stash I keep in the fridge (mostly for other kids as she doesn’t fair well with sugar). She didn’t drink all three, but opened them and sipped each of them on the stairs right by my office door until I came out and chased her around for them. She cannot handle waiting to say something. If it’s in her brain, and starting to come out of her mouth, she has to say it. She doesn’t care about interrupting anyone else, she doesn’t care about what directions you’re trying to follow, she doesn’t care about anything but the question at the front of her lips getting answered. She’s very much into her Curious George books right now too. We bought a collection and she has me reading one special story to her every night after I put Rosie to bed. She really enjoys that one-on-one snuggle time. It’s strange that in her first year, she slept with me and Peter and then at twelve months, we transitioned her to her crib. For a solid two years after that, there was no way she could fall asleep with either of us anywhere near her. She had to be alone to put herself to sleep. Now, she loves to cuddle again; she’ll sleep in bed with us, or better, invite one of us to sleep in her bed, and how could we resist a full-size snuggly bed with giant preschooler to cuddle? Mariana is forty one inches tall and forty two pounds. She is no where near fat, but is just big and heavy all around. She has the perfect curvy little shape with chubby cheeks and round eyes and lips. I always wonder what she’s going to grow up to look like. Her eyes are round when she just wakes up, but almond-out as the day progresses and when she smiles really big, they just about disappear. Our nana still takes the pacifier (which she claims she’s going to give to the binky fairy every night) and sleeps with not one, but two special blankies. She’s quickly fighting out of her size five clothes and is now in a nine and a half shoe. She has the cutest roundest toes that we call dinosaur toes, like her daddy. Mariana is never satisfied with yes or no answers and loves to swim. She goes under the water and swims with swimmies in the big pool. I am so afraid to forget these little details of her life, and I know I have to be more diligent about writing about both of the girls. She is so full of sass and charms everyone despite being her little naughty behavior. I know deep down she loves Rosie and I wonder how she’s going to do come September when they’re seperated so much because of school. It’s fun watching her grow, but completely exhausting trying to challenge her cognitively. A year ago today, my two and a half year old broke her leg. She is spirited and never does anything without gusto.

Rosie is a horse of a different color. She was eighteen months old yesterday. When she was really little, I always wondered if she was going to be as smart as Mariana because she was just so damn happy all the time. She was easy going, and smiley and even though I know highly intelligent people can have those traits too, having a Mariana worried me a bit. I never wanted to compare my own kids, and honestly they are so drastically different, they aren’t able to be compared at all, but I couldn’t help it in the beginning. Rosie, though, has proven to be wickedly smart. She is like a total whip. At eighteen months, she has a bazillion words. I honestly can’t count them whatsoever. She calls everything by name, can point out anything I ask her to show me in a book, she knows and repeats the words to her books before bed. She just started putting two words together. She’s been doing lots of “Hi Daddy”s and “Go Mommy”s lately and I’m just amazed at how her language has exploded in the past few months. She also knows everything. We say that Rosie’s inside joke is that she’ll never say “yes.” When we ask her to say anything else, she’ll repeat it no problem; ask her to say yes and you’re met with a firm “NO!” and a huge smile. She repeats the same thing to everyone. She greets anyone and everyone whether she knows them or not. Rosie is cuddly and affectionate and loves to play with her toys. When she’s done eating in her highchair (which she’s now preferring the booster at the table), she’ll tell us “down, toys, play, toys.” I can’t get over it. I love that she can communicate her needs with us already. I kind of fell off the EC wagon with her. She still goes on the potty every day, but she prefers to wear a diaper. She will tell me when she has to go or right after she’s gone. But when asked if she wants to go on the potty, we’re often met with a “no” and if she does sit, she usually won’t do anything. I’m following her lead. She prides herself in doing things like her big sister and loves coming to the bathroom with me and Peter, so I’m sure she’ll potty in time. Not stressing it for now. Rosie loves to talk on phones and she loves to sing. She makes up melodies of her own and sings along with me to her goodnight song and to all different little christian songs by day. She loves to walk around in the play ergo they have and loves to mommy her babies. She pushes them around in the stroller and she rocks them and gives them hugs and kisses. She says and points out lots of her body parts – her favorite being her belly and belly button. She loves animals in general but we learned at the children’s museum last week that fish out of a tank freak her out (especially rubber ones that are fished by her sister, ha!). She adores my mother and doesn’t leave her alone when she sees her. She loves to come shopping and chill out in the stroller when we’re out and about. She is finally finally finally getting over her issues at the beach – she spent all summer freaking out about sand, but this past week she played really well down on the beach in point pleasant. Rosie loves ice creams and loves to shout “MEEEE!!!” when Peter says “who wants ice cream?” or “who wants pizza?” or “who wants to go in the pool?” She is such a joy to be around and her smile erases all of her little sisterly side-eyes.

Both girls are starting with a new pediatrician next week out here in Jersey. I hate to break up with our Queens pediatrician, but the hike there just isn’t practical.

I guess that’s it for now as it’s getting late and it’s been a trying day.

The big one is off to Grammy’s

I met up with my mom today at Meesh’s house in Staten Island. She took Mariana home with her to have a bit of time with her and allow me some time to dig out from the flood with one less kid to worry about. My feelings are so mixed! I’m so nervous about it, but happy she’s spending time with her Grammy. Rosie and I spent the day at Andrea’s house with Meesh and Chris and Uncle Richie, Aunt Susy and Jules. We had a great day. I also got in touch with a Staten Island realtor and did the unthinkable. I made believe I was looking for a house on Staten Island and had him show me the very own 15 Edgegrove Ave. It has been renovated, and looks beautiful, but so many things haven’t changed. The seller left some things that I am so familiar with and loved seeing. Silly things. In the linen closet upstairs, my dad cut out a hole in the back wall and put a lock and some hinges to a “secret” attic where he used to hide my mom’s jewelry. Downstairs in the basement, I was able to snap this picture of the caps of the jars that my grandfather used to hang under the stairs filled with hardware.

And best of all, they never replaced the wood that lined the inside wall of the staircase going down the basement. It still had the outlines of the wooden that served kind of like a banister – the same wooden poles I used to grab and swing on to propel myself down those last few turning steps. Strangely, I felt very little emotional attachment to the house in general. However, when I opened the door to my grandmother’s apartment, I was whirred back into a world of playing cards and eating lenticche at the table in her dining area. It was a great feeling, but also a sad one. All in all, I’m so happy I got to see the house.

Planning is pointless

I’ve come to realize that even the best planning can be totally sideswiped when you have kids.

What a frustrating day. We went to two different sprinkler parks and never made it into the actual sprinklers. We are still in process of merely making an offer on a house we (I) love, but the other realtor is a massive PITA.

Good thing I have these cute faces to look at

Because I forget

Rosie is teething 4 teeth at the moment. Coming in are a bottom lateral incisor, two top molars and a bottom molar. Needless to say, she’s a mess at night, but she still my smiley girl by day. So far, she has 4 teeth on top and 3 on the bottom for the last 5+ months. The other bottom we weren’t sure she was going to even get, but I saw the gum open up the other day and now the tooth is poking out. One of the molars has already cut as well.

And this one loves to paint.

Day at home

Great day at home today. Billy, Angela and Irene came over and we had a day in the pool and the heat. I was unpleasantly stung by a bee on the sole of my foot and now we’re awaiting a very angry thunderstorm. Pray for no flooding this time. I smell the rain already.

Growing Up!

My little baby girl cut her first tooth today – a day shy of her 8-month birthday. The pride I feel for my daughter is unreal and only another mother would understand. 😊

We’re in!

We’re finally in.  I’m sitting in my spare bedroom right now where my computer is set up and even though this room looks like total and complete chaos around me, I can whole-heartedly say I am thrilled to be here.  I can’t believe what having room and space has done to my soul.  Mariana’s adjusting well, Rosie is liking the new environment too.  I’m exhausted, but happy and Peter is doing better than I expected.  All this and my new iphone should be delivered tomorrow.  Does life get any better?

GAH! Five Months I Haven’t Blogged In?

UGH! I promised I was going to keep up on this. It’s really because I never ever have time to sit at the computer anymore. Or, better, when I do have time, someone is always sleeping in my room and I can’t sit here and type.

But that’s all going to change REALLY soon. 10 days from today, we move. THANK GOD! I swear, dragging that double stroller up my building steps to go out the door is a huge pain in the ass. Waiting for the slowest elevator in creation is also a huge pain in the ass. Having to strap two kids in the stroller, load a grandma-wagon with laundry and supplies, arm myself with money, keys and my laundry card to head down to throw in a load of laundry and then run up and down twice more to change it over and then bring it up, is a MASSIVELY huge pain in the ass.

But those days are coming to an end. And quickly. I haven’t yet started packing (whoops), but on Tuesday, September 18th, the Kardasakis family is moving our asses to NJ!! WOOOOO!!!! It feels so good to type that.

So many things have gone wrong in this journey, but it’s finally happening. There is still room for error, for sure, but I’m pretty certain we’re on our way to a much for comfortable lifestyle. For me and the girls, at least.

The story of how we got here is long, but basically our place has been on the market for 14 months now. We had a buyer right before Rosie was born, but she backed out after delaying signing the contract for 6 weeks. Finally, after lowering the price of our apartment to what we paid for it, we were able to get another buyer and offer just after 4th of July weekend. Luckily, they’re all-cash buyers and they’ve got plenty of money to be approved by our board. The board interview is this coming Tuesday and hopefully all will go well, and if so, we should be closing by September 20th, the latest.

Once we knew we had a confirmed buyer, we started looking in NJ for houses to lease. Peter isn’t ready to commit to buying, so we decided to lease in Paramus (where we’d like to end up), or in the surrounding areas, for a year so he can make sure he can handle the commute everyday. If this doesn’t work out, we’ll be heading over to Long Island, so my every pray is that somehow this is the lightest traffic year ever, haha.

At the end of the day, we’re going from two bedrooms, one bathroom, and no laundry, to a home that’s brand new and renovated to our taste, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, finished basement, living room, dining room, two car garage, backyard with deck, dual fireplaces, you name it. I cannot wait for this move.