Now that we are back in the Chicago suburbs after our amazing European vacation, summer is winding down. Bill is still on parental leave so we hit up the pool at our future HOA daily and make the most of hanging out with the cousins while they are not back in school yet. We pick up hand-foot-mouth at the childrens’ museum. At the end of August, we took a trip to the lakefront in Indiana to spend a long weekend in a big house (6.5 stories!) with the Amigos, Bill’s best friend group from high school. This was the 2nd annual Amigos Vacation and it was a blast! Kids and grownups alike had a super fun time swimming in the pool, swimming in the lake, running around the huge house, and eating ice cream. Each family was in charge of one meal, so we ate a lot and we ate well! These vacations are so fun there is some serious talk on the group chats about making them a bi-annual thing!

The first weekend of September we finally broke ground on our house! Follow the progress on Instagram! Our parents were all there to see it, and they set up a tailgate, with lawn chairs and snacks, to watch the excavator dig a big hole. We also started pre-preschool. It was a hard adjustment for Kalliszta, who had never done a class by herself before. After the first few tearful weeks at dropoff, she is much more comfortable with it, and even seems to enjoy her time at school. Her teachers rave about her range of vocabulary. She wont talk much to people she is still getting to know – they have to earn her trust over time and I fiercely respect that about her so much (so don’t you dare call her shy – she’s incredibly brave listening to and trusting her inner voice and I hope she never loses that) – but when she does speak to you, it is fully formed articulate sentences. She learns by watching and observing, and picks up so much. As her teacher says, she “absorbs information like a sponge”. She loves to give concerts singing the Pawston town anthem from her favorite show called Go Dog Go, and dancing to Jojo Siwa. She loves to play with her cousin Kiera and goes over to her house for playdates every week. She loves reading, reading to herself and reading to Mima and Nagypapa. She knows all her letters, colors, numbers, and can recognize beginning math equations. She is just so musical, smart, silly, athletic, and funny. She is becoming a very picky eater and is doing her best at sleeping by herself in her big kid bed without a pacifier and trying hard to not hit, push, kick, shove, scratch Bence. Her parents are so incredibly proud of her.

During the second week of September, Bill had a work trip to San Francisco Monday through Thursday, followed by a surprise trip to San Diego to celebrate Vijay’s birthday. Of course, Bill mistakenly ruined the surprise because he made his return flight from SD to Chicago public on his calendar, and Vijay saw it. Oh well. Robbie, Agith, and Bill all visited Vijay, and they had so much fun exploring San Diego and catching up.

On Saturday, October 1st, we celebrated Bence’s 1st birthday – his Golden Birthday (1 on the 1st). His development is just through the roof, thanks to his big sister and big cousins. He wants to be able to run with them and play with them and interact with them. He is so mobile and athletic, practically running these days! He can “say” a lot of words that sound like ball, baba (baby in Hungarian), bubble, balloon, bottle, and mama. He is just so joyful and full of life. He loves bubbles. He loves balls. He loves to throw them and chase them. He loves “playing” soccer, basketball, and tee ball. He loves giving high-5’s. He loves music class and playing instruments, “singing” and “talking”. He loves his mom so much. Like, so much. The purest most joyful love and happiness directed right at me completely melts me every morning when he sees me. He loves to shove a book in your face to tell you he wants you to read it to him, or just walk backwards towards your lap and sits down on you with a book. In a previous post, I mentioned he didn’t love books yet. Well now he loves them so much that he and Kalliszta have disputes over which one I should read them next! He is constantly learning and absorbing new things and just so incredibly smart. He loves to pull the books down from the bookshelf. He loves bathtime. He loves to explore new spaces on his own, copy what Kalliszta does and says, try all foods, eat off of your plate, and cry when Kalliszta shoves him or kicks him. Now that he is no longer a baby, Kalliszta and Bence spend much of their time playing together. It is so sweet to see, and we love encouraging them and praising them when they do. His parents are so incredibly proud of him. 

In the afternoon once Bence’s party was over, I, about 9 weeks pregnant at the time, passed some very large blood clots that left me light headed, dizzy, and nauseous. I had been passing clots for the week and a half prior to that, but it was clear I needed to go to the emergency room. Eva and Angela stepped in to finish up dinner and bedtime with the kids while Bill and I went to the ER. I was clearly miscarrying, and so the doctors were able to give me an IV to rehydrate me, and some high dosage pain killers. I was discharged as my body had naturally begun the evacuation process, there was no need to expedite. I was able to see the doctor again the day before a family trip to Arizona, because I needed to know if I would be healthy enough and safe to travel to a place that may not perform life saving procedures on me if necessary. Though I was still bleeding, I was stable enough to continue the trip as planned. Though the second half of September and first half of October were spent in physical pain and sadness, there was much joy in celebrating Bence’s birthday and spending time with loved ones in Arizona! The long weekend mini-family reunion in Arizona was so much fun! Aunt Laurie and Uncle Kevin opened their home to us, and their guest house to the O’Finns, and we are very grateful for their hospitality. Kalliszta still talks about Hux and Remy (precious family dogs) and how Uncle Kevin turned the clock off because it scared her at Aunt Laurie’s house. We had a great time at the beach, at the railroad park, at McDonald’s Ranch, hanging out in the backyard with cousin Evelyn, going to a brewery, and playing at Mandy & Mike’s house next door with cousins Maddie and Wyatt! Thanks for the great memories everyone, can’t wait for next time! At the end of October, our kids got RSV, along with most kids in the nation. Luckily we never had to go to the emergency room, but there was a scary evening when Bence was having trouble breathing at a normal pace. We called the pediatrician hotline and spoke to the doctor. We were told to monitor breaths per minute, do a steam bath, suck out his snot, and put a vaporizer in his bedroom. I slept in his room that night but thankfully these at-home remedies began working. We are thankful they had the Covid and flu vaccines and they didn’t have that on top of RSV. We were all feeling better by Halloween, when we went trick or treating as two big hot dogs with our puppy doggies. 

In November, we celebrated Kalliszta’s 3rd birthday with a family-only party at Mima and Nagypapa’s house and then had a gymnastics birthday party through the parks district that weekend with her friends from her classes. The kids had a blast running around the gymnastics gym for an hour doing whatever they wanted, and the parents were glad their kids got all that energy out! We enjoyed a Jojo Siwa cake and homemade cookies (thanks Mima!). We started the holiday season off early with a day trip to Chicago with the O’Finns to check out the Christkindlemarket and the fun sites of downtown the day before Thanksgiving. It was a great day despite not getting any good family photos, and I hope to continue that new tradition (of going to Chicago, not the part about not getting a good picture)! The day after Thanksgiving was Grandpa Bob’s birthday, which we celebrated by visiting the Christmas tree farm and helped our grandparents pick out their trees. 

And now, here we are at the end of a December that flew by, still not a great family holiday picture to be had, but a year full of (mostly) wonderful and happy memories. My sister Angela came for her birthday and the holidays and Kalliszta and Bence had so much fun with her. The kids got waaaaay too many presents, but hopefully they made even more memories. We look forward to one last big move in 2023, and look forward to a lifetime in our new house! We hope the new year brings more happy moments for you and your loved ones. Take care!

Now that I published THREE blog posts in 2022, I still consider myself a blogger. I’m not big on New Year resolutions, but let’s see if I can get FOUR in 2023. Let’s see what happens…