Hot and Hoppity Happenings

It is hot y'all.  Real hot.

This sweet little cookie has, at least around the house, abandoned all her adorable summer wardrobe in favor of her new uniform.  A diaper.

At least that helps out on the laundry situation.

Our handy dandy thermostat in our house is in Celcius, and I knew it has been hot in our house, but due to my inabilities (or laziness) on the matter of learning Celcius, I was not aware of how hot until yesterday.  I was on the phone with my parents, sweating buckets, holding a hot little body against mine who was also sweating buckets, when I decided to google the conversion to Fahrenheit so that I could adequately complain about the heat in our house.  Even I was surprised to realize that it is consistently between 87 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit IN OUR HOUSE.  That is with two oscillating (summer camp) fans and every window in the house open.  It is hot y'all.


So, we have taken to spending our afternoons doing this

Every afternoon, Maria and I pack up and head to the pool.  And we are all happy about that!!!!

All day I wait for the sun to be low enough to take Maria without fear of the sun's rays on new baby skin.  As soon as the shadows start to grow long, I run down and start the car and crank up the AC (at least the car has it!!!!) come back and change us into our bathing suits, and away we go!!!!

We play and swim and Daddy always meets us there as soon as he finishes work.

Maria loves the pool, and she has made a lot of friends there.  Many of them are of the human variety.

But she has also enjoyed hanging out with these two.

These bunny rabbits are the pool mascots and behave a lot more like dogs than rabbits.  They roam freely and have no qualms about hopping over to you, or, in fact, hopping right up on your sunbed with you...especially if there is food around.

They are not at all ashamed to ask for a taste of whatever you are eating a la puppy dog fashion.  And it is funny because, as they make their scavenging rounds, you can often feel hopping under your chair as they pass you.

The afternoons at the pool have done wonders for my sanity.

It is wonderful just to get out and about every afternoon and get some fresh air and sunshine.  Also, I always have friends down there to chat with, and the adult interaction is much appreciated.  And, after a swim, Maria always has a little snack/ snooze under a wet towel (she loves it under there...all dark and cool...and actually hates it when I pull the towel off...ha!) and Mama enjoys a magazine and an adult beverage!  Ah, the joy of it all!!!!

I also think the cool water relaxing her, all the new faces and sights to take in, and all that crazy kicking in the water help her sleep better at night.  Which has also done wonders for Mama's sanity.  Thank goodness!!!!

And, I also love that Christos and I both are really relaxed when we are there.  Neither of us feel like we should be doing something else, so we get to really chat and catch up on our day before heading home to start the whole dinner, bath, bed routine.

Maria and Christos also make sure and have their special chats. 

I wonder what they are talking about there.  Looks really special.  Whatever it was, she got a kiss out of it. 

((The pictures above must have been taken a couple of weeks ago...it would be abuse to make a baby wear something that warm today.))


The majority of people around here say that Maria looks exactly like Christos.  I also see a really strong resemblance between the two of them.  Especially in pictures like this.

Maria is amused that she looks like Daddy.  And that Daddy is a really good napper.

I also think she looks a lot like me.  At least she looks a lot like my baby pictures.  I am wondering if we were in Alabama if we would have more people say that she looks like me.  Maybe not, because many Alabamians also gasp "ah, a little Christos" at first glance.

Guess you cannot really compare since there are no pictures of me!  Ha!  I thought I would spare y'all, as well as my dignity, any bikini or early morning shots of me.  I promise I am around.

When we are not at the pool, Maria and I spend a lot of time sprawled out on my bed with the fan on us reading and playing and singing songs. 

 She has loved to be read to from her early days, but now she really seems absorbed and smiles at the pages the whole time.  She also still loves to sing, mostly all of my old camp songs, and she definitely has her favorites!!!! 

 
She laughs all the time and just is so happy.  She really is so much fun to play with these days, and we adore her more each day!!!!  We are amazed at how fast she is learning and changing!   We love our baby Maria!!!!