This Man

12 years, this Man and I have ben together. Most of the photos I have of my husband are just like this. Try as I might I cannot coax this camera shy guy to let me openly capture his face. This is a metaphor of his life.

Today we celebrate 8 years of marriage.

What an adventure it has been! What an honor to witness one person grow, learn, change. And what an experiences growing, learning and changing right along side him. Words can hardly begin to describe the part of the journey we've already covered. All I can say is, I am open to receive the adventure that God has set out before us for the next 8.

Ten Years Together.

Yesterday morning as I realized as I was preparing for church, after quickly glancing at my cell phone, it was HD and me's ten year anniversary of dating. I quickly sent off a text,

Me: "Happy TEN years!"

I soon received a response.

HD: "Congratulations we still love each other!"

Even now, I smile to myself, loving his ever-so-blunt self that I was too naive to see as a smidge indelicate, when I was 18 and accepted to be his girl. Little did I know, would be for life. Alright, Mila, I kind of had an inclining that it would be for life.

So, here we are ten years later with all we could ever want in this life, each other.
HD, there's no other way to explain how I feel about you now, than to share the words of your favorite Jon Foreman:

Head over here and take me
Head over heels and aching
When I told you I was yours,
I was yours

In this life you're the one place I call home
In this life you're the feeling I belong
In this life you're the flower and the thorn
You're everything that's fair in love and war

I'm coming down like a gun shot
In all these battles that I've fought
You're the mark I'm aiming for
I was yours

Head over heels

In this life I'm stubborn to the core
In this life I've been burning after more
We both know what these open arms are for
You're everything that's fair

In this life you're my only one

In this life you're the one place I call home
In this life you're the feeling I belong
In this life you're the flower and the thorn
You're everything that's fair in love and war

Agust in review. . . as promised.

Lately when folks ask what's been going on around these parts, it seems hard to recall. As it all comes back, it's hard for me to believe that the month is OVER!!!!!!!! So where to start? Well, why not at the very beginning.

August 3rd.
HD and I celebrated SIX years. I know it's not long but, it just has passes so fast. We've had more than our share of ups and downs in this relationship but we are doing our best to realize that we aren't the One holding us together. In an effort of doing that, we had our second annual spiritual retreat. It was a fantastic time focusing solely on God and recommitting our relationship to Him.


. . . all the other stuff.
The month seemed to pass in a blur and I'm not quite sure if the following highlights occurred in August or July but here we go.

Zealand is walking! She was very cautious about the entire process. There was a lot of walking with support and then gingerly lowering herself, like a sumo wrestler when she was feeling unsteady. Suddenly she wasn't holding on. A few steps at first by herself, then more and more!!! Now she's everywhere. No, we haven't baby proofed the house. But we've created a Zealand-contained area in half of the living room where she can "run" and play.

Words are coming. She is signing a bit to let us know the basics such as, food, milk, more, potty, etc. Don't be surprised of you receive a call from Zealand.

Give this little lady a cell phone and she knows just what to do with it. She's already called a few folks by accident and then will answer, "HI". Even when no one is there she'll answer then, hand it over as if to say, "It's for you."

She'll even "text".



Or she may be trying to get in touch with you to share the news about her first birthday party!! I can't believe a year has nearly passes already. HD and I are finally feeling like we are getting our footing on this parenting thing. Although, curve balls are coming at us left and right we are playing on the same team.

So of course there are big party plans. Were having a butterfly themed party. This is my consolation for not including my favorite insect in her name, Mariposa, as I'd originally intended. Though we'll be celebrating Zealand's arrival it will be more of a celebration of, "Wow we happened to keep another living being alive for more than a couple months." This is the reason we don't have plants or animals. . .

All in all, things are going well. On a business note, I recently completed an introduction workshop for Birthing From Within. A childbirth education alternative. This is the first step in becoming a Mentor, not a teacher, with this particular birthing ideology. I am VERY excited and in order to share more about the actual workshop, it would need about 50 post to share all of the revelations personal, professional and spiritual that were gleaned from this experience.

I hope that September will bring more frequent posts. This month boast of big things, not only sweet Z's first birthday, but a visit from my dear friend, Heather! There'll be plenty more fruit picking and hopefully even some canning. Stay tuned.

Wordy Wednesday. . .

Here's the mega post, as promised. . . If you hang in there multi-media surprises await.

Zealand @ 7-8 months!
Time just seems to be flying. The last couple of months this little person has obtained so many new skills, such as clapping, jumping, dance/swaying, waving, kissing, crawling, pulling herself up and walking with support.

At seven months we introduced more solids to Zea's diet, which in turn, introduced us to a more solid and stinky poop. Neither Mama or Papi wanted to change those diapers. HD had the brilliant idea to have her pass her bowls like we do, on the potty. She gives clear signals when it's time to go potty so we've been putting her on and she knows now that's where business gets taken care of.



There were no official photo sessions from seven months but, here's one that was taken on a trip to the National Arboretum in DC. At that time she had barely three little teeth but was biting EVERYTHING.


Shortly after her eighth month birthday, Zealand rode on an airplane for the first time!

There have been quite a few flights I've shared with crying babies and my heart always goes out to the parents. Needless to say, I was a little bit leery about our experience. Our plane was scheduled to leave around her bed time so, we had her bathed and supped before we boarded. Upon take off I breastfed her and sang like we usually do before going to sleep and she drifted off and slept the entire flight! Boy, was I proud. As we disembarked a few folks commented that the didn't even know there was an infant on the flight! She did well on the return too!

We went to Vero Beach, FL, same as last summer. This time instead of having a baby inside, she was out and there were so many things to introduce to her. . .

Why a daughter needs a dad!
#077: so mom can take fun dad/daughter photos.

#083: to teach her how to be cool!


#094: to show her how the waves can tickle her toes.


#101: to be held tight in his strong arms when she's afraid!



#115: to hide her face in his shoulder when she doesn't want see what frightens her.



#121: to give her rides up high and hang on to ear handles.



#138: to have someone to enjoy each day with the breeze in her face and a song in her heart!

Though the initial beach intro didn't go so well after going everyday for nine days she grew to like it.


Her favorite part? The sand. Yum!


One last highlight of the beach trip: While out jogging HD spotted this little fellow making his way out to sea. You may remember him from wordless Wednesday a couple weeks back. Well here's a close up of the baby logger head turtle. We're not sure if he was last to go or just an early bird but it was so cool to see him.


Saratoga Surprise
Our vacation time was completed with our annual surprise destination. Each year the one of us plans a surprise destination for vacation this year it was HD's turn. He was craving the mountains. After much research decided to take us to the Adirondacks. We visited Lake George and stayed in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was soooo beautiful. Our first day there we hung out at Lake George and toured the surrounding area. I'm sad to report that I forgot my camera to capture the amazing vistas. The following days we did a driving tour and visited the city of Saratoga Springs. Very quaint little place and it made it to the list of places HD and I want to live when we grow old. I really only took pics of the baby, but in a local park HD shot this one of Zea and me!


Odds and Ends
As of today, Zealand has 5-6 teeth. (that last one just broke the surface this morning)


One of her favorite hang outs is the laundry basket.


And next week she'll be nine months!! I can hardly believe that time has past so incredibly fast.

On different note some of you may know that I was working with a group of doulas at Holy Cross Hospital (a local hospital here). Due to budgetary restraints they've cut the program but I'm soooooooo proud to announce that we are going into business for ourselves!!!! These wonderful ladies and I

are now part of a private doula group named: By Your Side Birth Services !!!!
I am still taking minimal private clients but being in this group gives me flexibility to be with Zea and still do what i absolutely love!! I'm working on expanding my career so stay tuned for future updates!

Well I hope you enjoyed this "little" catch up post and as promised here's a little video of Zea with some clips from about a month ago.

Cancel the Moyel, it's a Goyel!

Today, the baby formally known as BC is 8 days old. It's nearly unbelievable how time seems to be flying. Before the birth, HD and I were at odds on the "circumcision decision." One thing that we had chosen to do--if we decided to circumcise--was host a bris and hire a mohel (pronounced moyil) to perform the minor surgery. Obviously we did not have to come to any conclusions and that discussion may be revisited if and when there is a BC2. In Jewish culture the bris is held on the eighth day. If a daughter is born into the family, it's a baby naming ceremony. Due to scheduling and availability, our naming ceremony was on the fifth day.

Today HD and I were able to spend some exclusive time with Zea enjoying our expanding family and acknowledging the changes she is bringing to our relationship. There is no way to describe how much joy she brings us. From her miscellaneous funny faces to her random cues and involuntary smiles, we are doing our best to enjoy this--our first time babymoon.

Here's our first family pic!!!


*the blog title is from a onesie we saw at Daisy Baby.

D + O = BC

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting BC for the very first time--live and in person. BC made an entrance at 11:05pm on September 16, 2008. After a long and rigorous labor we were thrilled to introduce ourselves to our new daughter!!!

The yet-to-be-named BC (Baby Coutsoumpos) weighs 7lbs 11oz and is 21in long. Highlights of the birth include: 5 doulas present, Deidre catching the baby, successful birth at home. More details to come...

Enjoy the following pictures of Lady BC.


Our expanded family


BC and Yaya


BC and Abuelita

Opposites Attract. . . .

. . . then they attack!





HD and I recently celebrated our fifth anniversary, our last one with out BC. This last summer HD and I have had challenges in our relationship that served as a reminder for

#1) Though we are soooooooooooo different God intended us to be together.

and

#2) The only thing that will keep us together is our reliance on God.

This afternoon while continuing to clear clutter in prepreation for BC we rediscovered our wedding vows that we wrote ourselves. Though it'd been a while since we'd even seen them it was great to see despite our struggles and disagreements we are still striving to fulfill them to the letter. Please keep our relationship in your prayers as our family expands. :o)

Vacation 2008, Pt. 3

As is our annual tradition, HD and I have been planning surprise vacations for one another every year since our first anniversary. It's been pretty exciting though the one creating the vacation gets a little stressed when the plan isn't coming together.

This year was my turn and after spinning my wheels for practically nine months (since last year's vacation), I thought I came up with a great idea. Plans changed when HD threw me a curve ball with the Vero Beach trip. It was an offer too good resist, as you read from part 1.

With the remaining time of our vacation I followed a friend's advice and looked on Craig's List for some reasonable listings. (Thanks Eri!!) The perfect spot revealed itself in Ocracoke, NC, part of the Outer Banks.

The last part of our vacation was spend just the way we like it. . . doing anything we wanted. Here are some pics from our trip! Enjoy!

Vacation 2008, Pt. 2

We're back from vacation and we hit the road running.

The second portion of our vacation was spent back at home catching up with friends and making a few home improvements. Highlights of part 2 were:

1. Tending to the hole in our ceiling that was caused by a drip in the upstairs bathroom tub!

2. Watching a fantastic version of Shakespeare's Hamlet!!! I thought it would be boring but the three hours went by fast and we spent most of it on the edge of our seats.

3. Getting surprised by cousin David for the weekend!(it was better for cousin Juleene who was staying with us for 3 weeks with out seeing her beloved.

4. Celebrating my dad's 60th birthday.

5. Saying goodbye to Teri Gamble! A lady who swept into our lives and stole our hearts and taught us about enjoying life no matter what the circumstance. Teri, you'll be missed!!!


We're back from vacation and we hit the road running.


6. Painting our bedroom.

7. Preparing for HD's surprise vacation!!!

Vacation 2008, Pt. 1

Usually HD(Husband Dearest!) and I like our big summer break to coincide with our anniversary in August. After last year's trip HD, who works in a collegiate setting asked to bump up our vacation dates this year as not to be overwhelmed with the academic year starting so soon after our return. This proved to be doubly great after we became pregnant. I'll be around 36 weeks in the beginning of August, making extended travel not the wisest choice.

Our vacation officially started on May 21. We were invited to spend days around Memorial Day weekend in Vero Beach, Florida. HD's colleague and friend has a house on the barrier island area of Vero, with all sorts of fun amenities. He graciously shared this space with us and another one of our mutual friends. It was the prefect getaway spot to kick off our vacation time. The best word I can use to describe it is AMAZING!!

Here are the TOP 10 HIGHTLIGHTS of our trip!

1.Making multiple daily trips to the sea shore. (only a 4 minute walk from the house)


2. Catching a mother loggerhead sea turtle making her annual pilgrimage to the shore to lay her eggs on the beach at midnight.

3. Soothing afternoon thunderstorms. aka a great excuse for naps!

4. The bunny who's mealtime seemed to correspond with our daily beach visits

5. Lot of palm trees, little lizards and the fantastic warmth that made our trip feel truly tropical!

6.Temporarily forgetting pregnancy while packing, then realizing that last year's swimsuit doesn't fit quite the same. Then having to go shopping!


7. Access to a fresh water pool when the salty waves such all your energy!

8. Seeing the sun rise over the Atlantic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






9. Doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Including, polishing off two novels and finishing a knitting project from January.

10. Seeing the boy essence of HD so close to the surface as he boogy boarded, body surfed and built a sand fortress. & knowing he'll be a fantastic playmate for BC!


One down, coming back (boo!) to a hole in the living room ceiling. . . Read more on that in part 2 coming soon.