little sketches of us…

I guess I haven’t officially announced it, but we are excited for the newest addition to our family that will be coming on or around September 24th. Cristian decided he wanted to take a few maternity pictures to try out settings on the camera so here are the glam shots of me at about 6 months, as well as a cool pair of glasses that someone left along the bike trail. And a nose shot. Cristian just loves these for some reason…

Pregnancy Bridals VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And, if you make it all the way through those, here are some names we are thinking about. Comment, vote, tell me which one of them you like the most!

• Emory Rose Icleanu

We’ve liked the name Emory since Cristian started applying to grad schools, and we both thought Emory University had a nice ring to it. In fact, I think that’s the major reason why we applied there. There is also a county in Utah called Emery and an exit somewhere on the way to Evanston, Wyoming that goes to Emory, but I can’t find that on the map. Rose is just a middle name that I think sounds nice with Emory.

• Nellie Lucia Icleanu

I wanted to name someone after my great-grandmother, who I grew up around and really admired. Her name was Nellie Barbara Hirschi Widmer. Though I’m not in love with Nellie as a name, it only seems to sound ok as a first name. It also has a similar meaning to Cristian’s #2 choice. Nellie is a derivation of Helen, which means the sun and the Romanian name Lucia means light.

• Emery Lucia Icleanu

Emery spelled the way most people here spell it for girls, and Lucia again for Cristian (in English it’s “l-oo-see-a” and “lu-ch-ee-a” in Romanian).

• Geneva Ecaterina Icleanu

I could name her after my home town instead of my great-grandmother? Both of us liked Genevieve, and Geneva is actually kind of a pretty combination of Jen and Eva, which I like even though I’ve never heard of it as a first name before. Ecaterina is Cristian’s father’s mother, who I met when we were in Romania. She was very sweet.

• Emory Katerina Icleanu

Cristian’s preferred spelling for Emory, and my Americanized version of his grandmother’s name.

• Emory Nelia Icleanu

Again, the original Emory and this new idea I have of keeping my great-grandmother’s name but passing it on sounding a little nicer and Romanian-er.

Merayla got her tonsils out in August. She’d gotten strep at least 4 times this year, and last time we were at the doctor he said, “Why haven’t you got those tonsils out yet?” And I thought, “Good question.” Her tonsils have always been enlarged, even at the well-child checks, but I was worried that she would need them for some immunity somewhere down the road.

But the pro case kept stacking up. I hated pumping her full of antibiotics every other month. I was sure she’d get strep even more often when she started Kindergarten and was around more kids every day, and my dad told me he was sick as a child all the time and finally wanted to eat after he got his tonsils out at a young age.

We scheduled the procedure. Even though I was freaked out by it being considered a major surgery and all of the complications that could occur, she did great. She came out of the anesthesia well, and Bird was very cute with trying to make her feel better. She had a barking cough at first, but the nurse assured me that was normal and it lasted mostly the first day. She had to stay at home and not run or play for about a week (and she was sad not to eat baby tomatoes out of the garden), but she healed very quickly, loved eating ice cream and popsicles, and didn’t need much of the pain medications they gave us. Here’s to hoping it was worthwhile, and we’ll be a strep-free household!

Tonsillectomy VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We’re sitting at a Thai restaurant, waiting for our food, and Oliver starts saying, “What’s down there?” Pretty soon his face is smashed up to the table, and he keeps just saying it louder and louder. It’s hilarious. He REALLY wants to know what’s down inside that table!

This year (2011-12) we switched Merayla from her old dance class and put her in the “prestigious” Lexington Ballet. We are very proud of her move because she likes it a lot. She is very flexible, gracious, and very talented. Her teachers love her and want her to become a professional ballerina. Daddy thinks this would be fun, but would rather see her become a successful scientist when she grows up. Here are some pictures from the recital. We love you Merayla a lot and can’t wait to see what you’ll do when you grow up and we grow old.

Ballet Recital Merayla 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

One more recital for the year everyone! With a little help from my home studio students, and great participation from the students I teach at The Lexington School, the recital was a success. We had a Disney/movie themed recital, and Cristian did a good job smuggling the Disney castle into the invite.

Many thanks go out again to the staff at Gist, parents whose encouragement is worth a million lessons, diligent students who learned pieces beyond their regular scope, a fun program template on a blog called Piano Escapades, and a very nice piano. Here’s the order of performance. Also, for those who don’t know, this was Merayla’s first piano recital, and she played beautifully. I am so proud of her.

Cristian did his best to catch everyone introducing their piece and playing at the piano, so feel free to download any pictures you would like to. The group pictures are a little out of focus so if anyone has a better one, please email me, and I’ll add it to this post for everyone else. Thanks again and see you next year. Pictures follow:

TLS Piano Recital VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This April we finally got to fly out for General Conference with Cristian! He goes to Utah every six months to work with the Romanian team to interpret for the semi-annual conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since this is a worldwide broadcast, it’s a pretty special experience for Cristian to be able to translate for the members of the church in his country. It is also fun that he gets a place to stay and some fun meals while he is there, but he is always saying how he wishes we were there to enjoy it with him. So this time, we saved up for plane tickets and I had a week off of teaching from TLS so the kids and I went along. Here are some of our adventures.

Oliver was so excited about going on an airplane. It was his first time, and he could have stayed for the day at the airport just looking at the planes coming and going and talking about it. Meraya even let him carry Prince Ursul on his back on the way to the terminal.

We spent the first couple of days in Salt Lake City by ourselves and took the kids around Temple Square. The blossoms on the trees were swirling in the wind, and the fountains were a great hit. We also learned some things about the architecture of the Salt Lake Temple and told the kids that we had got married there. Here’s a picture of my pioneer children (taken at home but it just seems to fit here so well.)

Bird was very interested in the temple. In fact, the next day while we were sitting on the grass by the east reflecting pool and listening to the conference talks, he took off at a run, down to the pool, around the sidewalk, and up to the temple gate. When I finally caught up with him, I said, “Bird, where are you going?” And he said, “To the temple to get married!” I told him he had to get a little bit bigger first, learn to use the potty, and maybe go on a mission before then. But it was just adorable. He is so serious and focused sometimes. It’s really cute. Here he is with his best friend, Merayla, at the temple.

Maddy, Dacian, and Lavinia drove down from Washington to meet up with us, and the kids had a great time playing together. Bunica and Bunicu joined the party as well, and everyone enjoyed a session at the conference. I was happy to see that the kids really liked to hang out with each other, and Maddy and I got to spend a little time together as well. Here’s a shot of the Icleanu cousins on Temple Sqaure.

We celebrated Dacian’s birthday at Famous Dave’s Restaurant (good BBQ), and Consuela made an excellent Greek cake with strawberries. We all had a great time together.

Though our hotel ended a night sooner than we had expected, this gave us a great reason to visit my college friends, Jen and Jess. Their family is great, and I can’t believe we haven’t seen each other for so long. (Yes, my hair looks terrible, but Jen looks great so we’ll keep this one.)

After the conference ended, we got to stay a week with my sister Christina in West Haven. The Icleanus stayed one night as well, which made it all a great fun party for the kids. The girls couldn’t resist dressing up as ballerinas (in swimsuits) and doing tricks on the mattresses.

The next day we got Char and Savannah, who drove up from Las Vegas. Then my parents and Kevin came with Danielle and Lance on the weekend. It was like a mini family reunion because we got to see all of my family and all of Cristian’s family!

To add to the fun, my Mom prepared an Easter egg hunt (one for kids and one for adults) at Aunt Elaine’s house. Again, this was a new and fun experience for Oliver, and Merayla fell in love with the two teddy bears on the swing in the Easter basket that Grandma had made for her.

The occasion of everyone getting to together was best captured when Merayla took my phone, climbed the stairs to the second floor of Elaine’s house, and got us all from above. Though it’s a little blurry, it pretty much sums up what we do: get together and talk.

And Oliver bonded with Gracey, the dog.

The vacation was great! We got to join lots of celebrations, eat lots of good food, and see lots of people that we love. Hopefully we will be able to make another trip sometime soon.

Conference Trip VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The fun-filled adventure at our house included 14 kids, the making of robot antennae headbands, techno dancing robot-style, a treasure hunt, tape the button on the live robot, and the eating of robot shortcake.

Pictures available at:

Mom and Dad were able to fly out for Christmas, and we had a great time together. As a surprise Christmas present from all the kids, we treated them to a night out at a mansion/castle bed-and-breakfast in Versailles, Kentucky. It’s called The Castle Post after the guy who owns it. Check it out:

We took tons of pictures, so you can have the picture tour by clicking on the slideshow below. We got to hang out and play pool at the castle the next day after we picked up Kevin from the airport. I think everyone had a fun time, and I decided this would be an awesome place to stage a Clue Party. You’ve got a library, a ballroom, a dining room, a billiard room, a creepy empty hallway in the back, a kitchen that you’re not supposed to go into, etc. There is also a “hot tub on the roof” that’s not open in the winter, a workout room, and tennis courts. It’s great fun. The place doesn’t seem to be managed very well, which means it could be a ton better, but we had a very good time. Here it is:

The Enchanted Escape VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We also had lots of good times together at home, eating, playing, and going to movies since my parents got to stay for a week and Kevin for a few days. We have a Christmas tradition of acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve, and the kids were so excited about everything that I will include a few more pictures of the events:

Christmas Bash VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Because we actually looked like we were ready to go to church one Sunday. (This does not happen very often.)

1. First of all, I love it that he calls himself Birt, with a very serious accent on the “t.” He also says Oliver; it’s a run-on word kind of like “Ol-a-er.”
2. Yes.
   Birt answers questions very seriously. He considers the question, he decides if he agrees or not, and he states very clearly and solemnly, “Yes.”
3. Ah, Eat. Food.
   This is interchangeable with “Ah, eat brefuss.” Breakfast can be asked for at any time of the day.
4. Birds. In. Dryer.
   This is our wake-up call. He comes in every morning, slams our bedroom door behind him, and says, “Birds. In. Dryer.” Yes, there are usually real birds in the dryer’s ventilation in the mornings. Oliver gets really excited about it.
5. Luving you. So much.
   This is adorable, and he just started doing it last week in church. He dove onto my lap, put his arms around my neck and said, “Luving you. So much.” Now he likes to do it to Merayla and Daddy too, whenever we are sitting somewhere for a long time.
6. Guess what?
   I’m not sure where he learned this, but he actually cups his hands around your ear and whispers it. When you say, “What?”, he says it again. I think he’s trying to play a game.
7. Rice. Christmas. Tree.
   Somehow this got confused with Rice Krispy Treat. I think…
8. Open shop; closeitup.
   This means open it up and close it up, but they go together. Always.
9. Yeahhhh!
   Whenever we say someone is coming or we are going somewhere, he likes to shout this, especially at breakfast when we are talking about the day.
10. Meesh-eesh
    I had to ask Merayla for the translation of this one. It means “move.”
11. Come Lay-la
    And if she doesn’t come right then, he keeps saying it until she does. Another one that goes along with this is, “Watch out, Lay-la!”
12. Go. Wimming dit.
    Translation: I want to go swimming. Anytime. Any season. We must have good memories from the summer.
13. Pocc-u-kook
    This means popsicle. And he loves them!
14. Look. Me.
    When Oliver says this, he puts his hands together above his head, and then dives at the floor while turning in a somersault-ish cartwheel.
15. Look. Me. (at the table)
    When he says, “Look. Me” at the table, he wads his hands into fists, puts on this crazy grin with huge eyes and acts like he is madly driving a truck. Guess you’ll need a video to catch the full moment, but it’s pretty funny.
16. I. Robot.
    With a cardboard box on one arm.
17. Vvvvvvvvvvv.
    This is vrooming (driving). Lots of things vroom: cars, trains, vacumn attachments, food…
18. Foo-goo-dot..
    I didn’t know what this meant—though he and Layla say it all the time to each other—until Oliver finally explained it to me the other day: “Foo-goo-dot orange” is “Want orange.” Translation: I want whatever follows the word foo-goo-dot. Haha! No idea the word roots on this one!
19. Have any socks.
    This means he does not have any socks, which really means that he’s taken them off and they are right beside him on the floor.
20. Eek-up, Mommy.
    Wake up, Mommy. Self-explanatory.
21. Picy Coo-Bus.
    This means Spicy School Bus, and it refers to hot sauce, of all kinds. Oliver says it pretty much anytime we eat something spicy, or when Cristian is having hot sauce on something mild, which is pretty much every time we’re not having something spicy. So, normal language at our table = Picy Coo-Bus.

New Additions (2013)

1. Restday = yesterday, or any other day in the past
2. Chalk Lick = chocolate
3. Chull-ee! = a running game where Merayla and Oliver chase each other in a circle through the loop of our room, the laundry room, and the hall
4. Let’s go to the Obama = I’m not sure what this means. They chant it and laugh hilariously.