Loulou's views

6 years ago today, I married my high school sweetheart - the funniest, smartest, cutest man I've ever known. He puts up with a lot being married to me - my lack of culinary skills, my insane spending habits, and my daily complaining. Thank you, honey! And thanks for feeding me and our boys. Without you, we'd surely starve. We've been through so much, and since becoming parents together, I have realized that he is the best father to our children. My boys are madly in love with their daddy, and I love watching him play, teach and laugh with our boys. ign:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLyip559IFP_LtDkS3t9LL6TeCrhwkEbrcDpyjc8RGwAZa3krAZb2jPXFtpwxZrr9-AbaNHdhw_WdAnFCFhunC-_iTy0qZmZUYjIh3iNkDSW484HEjb7NbE1LaAHDhiSTQF50aYHoIYg/s320/boys.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352561618276202130" /> I look forward to many, many mor...

After reading this awesome post by Maria, I thought to myself: I can't believe I have not written a post about my fears, being that I am the biggest hypochondriac I know. Like, seriously. You have no idea how worried I get over every little thing! I'm not talking about the normal worry we have about something bad happening to the people we love, but other less significant, yet totally paralyzing, fears. Some of my biggest fears and worries are: Flying . Flying scares me. I have always been afraid of flying. I have flown a lot - to Europe many times, to many parts of the US, to the other side of Canada, to various caribbean islands. I close my eyes during take-off. Once we have been in the air for 10 minutes, I relax a little, because I have heard that the most dangerous and most likely time to crash is during those first 10 minutes. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, now you do. Happy flying! When I'm flying, I will eat whatever food is given to me. No matter how gross...

Remember back in the day, when going on vacation meant that you'd actually be, well, vacationing ? What it meant for me, essentially was: Wake up at 10 a.m. Get into bikini. Put on cute cover-up. Find the perfect spot by the pool, and tan. Order a drink. Swim. Drink. Swim. Tan. Relocate to the beach. Swim. Swim. Tan. Drink. Swim. Go shower so you can go shopping before the stores close. Get dressed, and decide which pair of shoes (out of the 50 you brought) you'll wear. Shop. Shop. Shop. Back at hotel, take off all the tags from the new purchases, and make them look 'not new' so customs, who has you on their 'hotlist' as someone who spends too much money in other countries, doesn't think you shopped too much. Go out for dinner. Go out for drinks. And do it all again the next day. This is of course when I was not traveling to Greece, where a lot more walking and sightseeing was done. Europe is all about doing the tourist thing. The list of reasons I will ...

Shopping at Costco is always so much fun. My favourite thing about Costco is the free food samples. Seriously. And then I always end up buying whatever they're giving away. I'm the best consumer, ever. I will fall into any trap! I also love the amazing discounted books. Practically half the price of what I normally pay at Chapters! Dimitry's favourite thing at Costco? The peanuts. He insisted I open a carton for him to eat, and he sat down for snack time in the aisle of Costco. My little sweet peanut!

The other day, I was at my friends house with the boys. We went swimming, had some snacks, relaxed. Well, really... I did not relax at all. In fact, swimming with children without another set of hands to help is hard! I had to carry Christos in my left arm. You know he weights 50 pounds, right? Thank GOD it felt a lot lighter in the water, because I was also holding Dimitry in my right arm. He's 27 pounds. They were both wearing life jackets. They, and I, were in the water for over an hour, easily. What a workout that was for my arms, though! But seriously? Swimming without someone else to help with the kids is not something I recommend to anyone. Unless, of course, your children can swim on their own. Christos is almost 4 years old, so I'm hoping this will be the summer he takes the plunge and swims on his own. So. Anyway. We decided to head to the park across the street. Christos was on top of the play structure, having a good time. I was in the sand with Dimitry. "Mommy...

What? You mean this is not what your child eats for breakfast? Nutella right out of the jar?

I love food. I'm Greek. I have to love food. Greeks are very passionate people - we yell, we are loud, we love life, we love our families, we are really over-dramatic, we freak out over the smallest thing, we dance, we sing, we like to have fun, and we eat . Oh , do we eat! One of the reasons I love visiting Greece is for the food. Yes, the beautiful sea and scenary are gorgeous, the culture and history is like no other, and it's nice seeing my family - but the food , man. It's so good. Greeks take their meals seriously. Dinner time is almost sacred. I remember my grandmother, my father's mother, cooking for me in her apartment in Patras. Being that she is also half Italian, you can bet she knows what she is doing in the kitchen. I have memories of certain foods. One time, after a day at the beach, we went to my grandmother's for a light lunch - meatballs, canelloni, salad, fruit. Yup, light lunch. I remember eating my delicious food and then all of a sudden, t...

When I was pregnant with my first son, I was clueless about everything having to do with babies. Sure, I had some experience changing diapers, and hanging out with other people's babies, but not for longer than like, 20 minutes at a time. I was a blissfully happy pregnant girl, because I ate McFrosties and Blizzards every single day for 9 months. And lots of Doriots, until I found out they contained MSG and then oh my God , I never touched them again until after my baby was born. Also, my husband would cook me the most fantastic and oh-so healthy meals. I had salmon at least once a week and I think that's why my babies are now so smart! We had the perfect nursery. My husband took out the carpet, installed hardwood floors, chair rail, crown moulding, thick baseboards, and painted the room a gorgeous blue and green colour. We had beautiful white furntiure, gorgeous bedding, paintings, and lots and lots of baby clothes hung in the closet and folded in the dresser drawers. I even g...

We had a great weekend, despite the fact that Christos had a cold. We went for a walk downtown on Sussex, where we enjoyed the beautiful day, looked at a nice waterfall, ate some Cheetos and fed the birds. They seemed to love the Cheetos as much as my boys did! Have I mentioned how hard it is to get a decent picture of me with my boys? Seriously? I think I need the help of a professional, although my husband is not bad at taking pictures. At least both my boys are at least looking at the camera in this shot. (We can't expect them both to be smiling now, can we?) But of course, I'm not smiling. I think I'm talking. Or begging them to smile. Whatever. Here's Christos, as Atlas... And big smiles with Cheetos stains! !

Today, instead of going to work like I usually do on a Monday, I stayed home to take care of my little boy who has a bad cold. Runny nose, cough, watery eyes, the works. He needed some mommy love today and it was great to be able to spend a whole extra day with my boys. So far, Dimitry is not sick, but you know it's bound to happen, especially since he drank from the same bottle of water as his older brother! Christos and I went to get the mail at one point, and a letter had arrived from his school. (Eek - his school!) "Christos, look, it's a letter from your school, they want me to answer a few questions about you." "Like what, mommy?" "Like, do you follow directions?" "Yes." "Can you use crayons and scissors?" "Yes." "Can you use the washroom on your own?" "Yes." "Mommy?" "Yes, love?" "Does it ask if I can clean?" "Aww, no sweetie, they don't ask that." ...

Random posts are always fun to read, right? Well how about a favourite pictures on a fabulous Friday type of post? Here are a select few of my favourite pictures! I love this picture of Christos. He was almost 2 years old, (like, he turned 2 a week after this picture was taken!) and this was his first time in Florida, experiencing the beautiful ocean. With his clothes on. How could you resist, right? And I love this picture of Dimitry, running through the sand in Bahamas. It was his first real time on the beach, not counting our trip to Florida when he was 6 months old. I love seeing how excited he was and how much fun he was having! And um, yeah... this giant jelly fish is really not my favourite picture of all time, but clearly my son loved it. So because this was his favourite part of Atlantis, and because his smile is so huge, this has by default become one of my favourite pictures, too. Pure childhood happiness! And seriously? Eww! And here you have a picture of me in my most favo...

I blogged recently about all the worry and anxiety I am feeling about my oldest son starting kindergarten in the fall, remember? Well, the more I think about it, the more worried I get. I know it will be an emotional day for me, and I will cry in the car. Of course. I probably will not even leave the parking lot. Okay, maybe I'll make a Starbucks run, but then I swear, I'll be back in that parking lot waiting for my son to come running back into my arms! Since I know there will be one hell of an emotional post about his first day of school (or first week, or first month...) I decided to write this post about all the GOOD things about my child starting school. I have always wanted children - that was something I knew would be a part of my life, me being a mom. I love being a mom to these great boys of mine. When I was pregnant with my boys, I would often think about the future. Of them in school. Of me picking them up, and of them, in all their youthful excitement, telling m...

I’ve always been scared of flying - the feeling of being out of control and not knowing what to expect scares me the most. I go through life as expected when I’m in the air - eating, talking, reading - but I am not at ease until the plane lands and we are back on safe ground. It’s this exact feeling I can use to describe how it felt all three times my oldest son was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. The first time my son went to CHEO, he was 12 weeks old. He had a kidney infection due to his hydronephrosis, a minor and treatable kidney condition that most children outgrow. (He since has, thankfully). CHEO was our home for 12 days, and I never left my son’s crib. Seeing him in pain with an IV, having to undergo tests, catheters, and ultrasounds, was a nightmare, to say the least. It was an experience that changed me - not only to see my son so sick, but to see other children, many sicker, in pain. The daily worry that comes with being a mom got much worse for me af...