Christmas came early:)

Let me first begin this with, I am in heaven eating a reeses peanut butter cup...ahhhhh. Living overseas is fun and exciting; however, there are many things about home we miss! The list could go on and on, but for times sake I'll keep it to a minimum. The obvious friends and family are the things we miss most. Coming in a close 3rd would definitely be food. Not meals, because certainly all the places we have lived/visited in Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece...) have had amazing cuisine. I'm talking snacks and junkfood, you know the stuff at night before bed that just hits the spot! For Pat and I Cheez-Its come to mind, as well as candy, cookies, pretzels and so on, well did we get all those and much much more!
Well Matt and Melanie have once again come to our rescue and gave us Christmas a month early. If we only had the will power to hold off opening it for just a bit longer, haha. So the package arrived yesterday and we were given it today. I dont think we've ever had bigger smiles. Jax was even so excited he went head first into the huge box looking for all his fun toys! There were dvd's, cars, bath toys, thanksgiving clothes, puff snacks, and so much more for Jax. For Pat an Ipod touch (which he hasn't stopped playing with since), sneakers, socks and more. And for me a Tory Burch purse and scarf...so exciting. Always wanted anything Tory Burch and now I have 2 things:)
Here is a picture, because we didn't have one, I think it would be a dream! There's nothing better than getting packages from home, when we are so far away. What a way to feel the love...all the way in Athens!

umm...umm...good!

The family and I started out on the right foot today! Cinnamon pancakes with nutella was the key to a great morning, and of course a lovely cup of coffee. Since we've been in Greece I've been saying every morning that I am going to make pancakes as soon as I find syrup. Well, long gone are the days of syrup and butter. When we tasted the perfectly ;) cooked warm pancakes, with creamy nutella spread melting on top, we knew we needed nothing else for a delicious start to the day!

Reverting back

It's pretty interesting watching Jaxson turn back into this tiny infant I once knew. Being 9 1/2 months old, Pat and I have watched him grow in not only weight and height, but become slightly more independent. Playing by himself for short periods of time, napping occasionally in his own crib, even drinking from a sippy cup, are some of his most impressive skills at this stage of his life. Well we have recently learned that as quickly as he is learning how to become a "big boy," he can just as easily forget.

Recently, as i have already blogged about, Jaxson had quite a week, having to get stitches, without Pat or I in the room with him. We also had to go back to the hospital to have it rechecked and the bandage changed. Since this incident Jaxson has never been more attached to us, or maybe I should say never been more attached to me. All he wants to do is be held, and breastfeed. Now granted he has always breast fed, but now it is a comfort measure. Anytime he gets scared, bored or tired he has one thing on his mind. He now is also very smart, so he will crawl up to me, stand up, pull at my shirt basically saying,"feed me!" I miss the infant stage, but here's to hoping he feels better sooner rather than later:)

TOYS TOYS TOYS

Well its something that I always said I would never do, and we did it. Its something as an ER nurse I would look at the patients parents and think to myself,"how pathetic." But bribery and gifts are not pathetic in my eyes anymore. Since getting stitches and being traumatized by getting them by himself (and Im not sure if we were or he was more traumatized), Pat and I have been thinking about what toys we were going to by him. NOw one little disclaimer is that when we looked around in the living room what we saw scared us! We didnt see lots of fun toys that Jax was playing with, we saw household items that he had turned into toys because he didnt have any:( We looked and we saw spoons, measuring cups, drinking cups, bowls, and the list goes on. Now granted the few toys that he did have, he really wanted nothing to do with. He enjoyed playing with non toy items much much more!

However, we decided that it was time to buy him his own toys, and so what if the thought came because he got hurt. After we went to the hospital for a follow up check of his finger, and to rebandage the stitches, we headed right for jumbo! Jumbo is the greek version of toys r us, so there was plenty of toys to choose from. We wound up getting a push toy for him, which he loves, his own cell phone that makes lots of noise, and a singing Xmas reindeer that he absolutely loves. Its the only thing that keeps his attention so well, when he pulls off his bandage it allows me to distract him long enough that I put a new one on! Now lets not get too crazy now, he still loves playing with non toy items, like the baby safe foam edge bumpers are kind of a big deal to him, he really enjoys chewing on those!

So now as a parent I have learned a few valuable lessons! Make sure you really get down on the child's level to baby proof the whole house, have fun toys to keep him occupied, and maybe most important bribery is not such a bad thing after all!

The pictures I posted were 1)the reindeer 2)driving from the hospital to the toy store and 3)the hospital we went to. A little scary looking, but had good nurses and doctors.

You know you're a basket wife when...

You know you're a basket wife when, while we were in the car today Pat said," This bus is setting a sweet screen so I could probably turn now!" A little later he was saying how a car set a nice pick. It's funny but I love when things like this come out of his mouth :)

Rough Day for Jacky boy!

Well Jax had a really rough day. This morning while crawling around, he came upon the corner of the ceramic baseboard, where apparently it was cracked. When he put his hand up on it, it just sliced his little finger. Saddest day! His left middle finger was just gushing blood, and I knew immediately it was gonna need a stitch or two... or three. Once we got to the public hospital, where George the manager of the team took us to, the doctor said yes he will need to get stitched. I didn't know what was worse the fact that he had to get stitches or the fact that their policy was to not allow any family in the room. I was pissed, but i wanted to get this over with, so I unhappily complied with the rules (a few tears later). After about 20 minutes of screaming, it was over, and we got our little angel back! I guess the doctor did not think Jax was such an angel because George (who was able to stay in the room because he was not family) said the doctor, which may I remind you we were at a children's hospital, said he never saw a child so pissed off. And when he talked to us he said (with a smirk), but completely serious, Jax is, "mean, mean mean!" Hahahaha thats our boy Jax, give them hell! He now has a sweet bandage on, which we have to go back to the hospital in 2 days to get changed, and get his finger checked, but nothing is holding him back. He has been crawling around, using his hand to pick things up, tries to feed himself, everything! It's been a long day, glad it is over, ready for what tomorrow will bring:)

Back to the Future!

Well we got our first win in the Greek league today, and it felt sooo good. Words cannot express what a relief it was to get this win. There is so much pressure in this basketball world to win and play well, so obviously a win means everything! From eating breakfast in the morning, to going for a walk in the afternoon to the bakery, to making lunch for Jax, Pat and I, to taking a shower, every waking moment on game day my stomach is in a knot! Once the game began, the knot continued and did not go away until the game was finished. My nerves got the best of me today, as usual, and I have a feeing that is not going anywhere anytime soon.

During the game, as I sat there anxiety ridden, in anticipation of what was to come, I began to think about how so many things have changed in the past few years as a "basket wife." As I traveled with Patrick to Spain our first year overseas, things were very different for me. My world was not as much consumed by basketball as it was living in a new city, or county for that matter. I had never lived away from home so indeed I was very homesick. I new that Patrick had pressure on him to do well, but I certainly did not know the extent of it. Nor did I understand that although you sign a contract, any team at anytime can release you as a player for any reason. I think Pat shielded and protected me from the stress of that, knowing that at the time I probably could not have handled that information. As the years have passed, many teams and contracts later, I couldn't understand this basketball world more. We need to win for everyone to be happy, so every game will be very important. However, I am also learning that with this knowledge, I will not let it run my life, and constantly be worried about what will happen "if". I know that God indeed does have a fantastic plan for my family and I. Everything always works out for the best, because He wants the best for us!