Finally, professional pictures

Remember how we went to get Sasha's 3-month pictures done at Sears at the beginning of December? Well, it took us a while to get them and then to scan them (the cheapest option with a disc was $50 for a single photo, that we were not prepared to pay, so we just got 3 nice shots for us, our parents, and our grandparents). Here they are:






I think they came out ok, but we waited so long for the pictures to be taken, then to see them, I don't think it was worth it. Although I must say, the photographer did get quite a few smiles out of our girl :) Zhenia's coworker actually does photography as a hobby, so we're thinking we'll have him take her 6-month pictures later.

Christmas lights with Sasha

This week we went to check out Christmas lights here in Brooklyn. We like to go every year, and even though they're pretty much the same, they are still so pretty. And definitely sets the mood for the holidays. They always cheer me up and make me happy. I think Sasha was mostly fascinated by all the flashing lights and Christmas songs around her, but we had a blast. Here are a few photos from that evening:

I admittedly was way more excited than Sasha






We even got to meet Santa, lol

A year ago today

Exactly a year ago today, we found out I was pregnant. The first thing I said to my husband that morning was "You're going to be a daddy", and (since this was 8am and he hasn't quite woken up yet), he looked at me as if I had three heads and had no idea what I was talking about. I had to give him a few minutes to understand what was going on. But as soon as it sank in, he gave me the biggest hug ever! We were so excited! We were going to have a little one. It wasn't just the two of us anymore. This was the best news ever.
The next 9 months literally flew by and now we have a wonderful baby girl who we are so in love with. I sometimes think back to a few days before we found out and how I just knew I was pregnant and in anticipation of our little miracle and it all seems so surreal, so long ago, yet only a year has gone by! This morning, our little girl greeted daddy wearing a santa hat and demanding breakfast. Oh, and she actually slept through the night!!! Yes, I know I'm jinxing myself, but I doubt it will happen again anytime soon (she's slept entire night for about a month until she was 2 and a half months old, and since then wakes up once or twice a night) - it's a Christmas miracle, hehe. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!!

Sasha holding her own bottle!

Ok, so I put the bottle in her hands, but she legitimately held it for a good few minutes all by herself! These are too cute:


And then she got tired of holding her bottle...

Happy Chanukkah!

Happy Chanukkah, everyone! We got to lit Sasha's first menorah yesterday, although I have to say she did not seem all that impressed with the candles. We first went over to grandma and grandpa's for Chanukkah lunch with some of their friends, which was fun (and Sasha even managed to fall asleep there - she's never slept anywhere but home before). And then we lit the candles at home - we're not very religious really, so we just lit them when we put Sasha to bed (that's how my dad used to do it when we were little - definitely takes off the pressure of having to be home at the exact minute when you are technically supposed to light them, lol).
And this week, we're going to go show Sasha Christmas lights. We always go every year, but this time is especially exciting, since it's Sasha's first time, I have a feeling she'll love them!

My smiley girly

So I haven't posted since last weekend, sorry. We're doing just fine, baby Sasha is a bit whiny and clingy lately, I think she may be starting to teeth (the amount of drool is indescribable!), so I didn't have as much free time to write here. Also with the New Year's coming up, there's plenty to do: still have to finish shopping for the presents, have to wrap them up (did one today, between taking care of Sasha and cleaning a bit), have to get the house a little more presentable (since we were crazy enough to suggest that we have New Year's here - yes, there's going to be around 10 people, we are still waiting on the confirmation from some, but baby Sasha refuses to sleep anywhere else, so we thought this may be easier!)
So here is a picture I took yesterday from our window, it's not such a pretty view, but I love the snow and it was so nice and fluffy (until it turned into sleet and ickiness):


And here's our little girl this morning, she was just in such a good mood, I had to take some pictures. Check out her "bad hair day". She was attempting to stand in the first picture, but kept sliding down:




I definitely have the cutest little girl in the world ;)

My baby is growing up (or, funny pictures of Sasha)

I just had to share these pictures of Sasha, they are too funny:

"Alright, I got my big spoon, now where's the dinner?"


"Grandpa let me check out his food, but I still prefer my milk"


"Hmm, daddy's candy looks good too"


You think she may become a dentist when she grows up? ;)


And the funniest one of all: my 3-months-old baby with a wine glass...

The tree is up!

I'm not sure why I'm still up at this late hour, but I'm looking through the pictures right now and thought I'd share our fabulous not-quite-Christmas tree. We put it up and decorated few nights ago, just didn't have a chance to put up the pictures until now:


My hubby putting on the tree topper - a very Soviet-looking red star, lol


That's our "A" ornament - I bought it shortly after we got married - yes, I'm a dork!


Sasha with her own personal ornament


And some more Sasha ornaments that unfortunately did not make it on to the tree, because I think they're too heavy for it, so we're just going to put them up somewhere in the house instead - baby's hand and foot prints


Tada!!

Mama's little helper

Yesterday, Sasha helped me decorate the tree...

"Mmmm, these are good!"


"What do you mean, I can't eat them??"


"Ok, then let me try this ornament here"


"Nah, this doesn't look as appealing, give me the other one back"


My little princess

Back from appointment

So, we are back. Sasha only got one shot and one oral vaccine today. And even that warranted such sad screaming and crying from her!! She was screaming her little head off so the nurse had to distract her with a bright singing toy with flashing lights, that seemed to relax her a bit. She actually fell asleep before we even walked out of the dr.'s office! I hope she just sleeps it off today.
As for her growth, she gained another inch and is now 24.25" (86th %ile). But when it came to weighing her, there was a problem with the heat in their office so the dr. told me not to take Sasha's stuff off, and in pants and a sweater she weighed in at 14lbs2oz. So she is somewhere around 14lbs (89th %ile) now, having gained a pound and a half in the past month. We're starting her on vitamins tonight and the dr. said we should be starting her on solids (rice cereal at first) in a month. That's so exciting!

Shots today :(

We're off in a few minutes to go to Sasha's 3-months appointment. While I'm excited to see how she's grown since last month, I am so not looking forward to her getting shots! And of course, I am way more nervous about them, she's happily sleeping right now and has no idea what is waiting for her, sigh...
On a side note, the weekend was crazy busy (as usual... at this point I say that weekdays are a lot easier and so much less hectic for me than the weekends). Saturday, we got Sasha's very first Christmas tree - but we don't celebrate Christmas, so for us, it's really a New Year's tree - see, in Russia, our celebration of New Year is essentially the same as Christmas here in the States, only not a religious one - we have presents, the tree, the Santa (he's called Grandfather Frost and has a granddaughter instead of a wife), family gathering. I'm hoping to decorate it today at some point if Sasha's feeling well. Then on Sunday, we went to get our pictures done in Staten Island and it took us forever between waiting for the photographer and taking the pictures and then finally selecting the ones we wanted (but that's for another post) - we should be getting our pictures on the 18th and will post them sometime after.
Alrighty, I can't keep stalling, need to go get Sasha up and ready for her appointment. Wish us luck!!

Happy 3-month birthday, Sasha!

Today is Sasha's quarter birthday (yeah, lame, but so exciting!) I would've posted earlier, but we had a very exciting day celebrating. First, Sasha slept until 12pm (grandma and grandpa were here last night while mommy and daddy went out to daddy's holiday party and somehow miraculously Sasha slept until 9am, after going to bed at 11pm!!). Then we went for a walk. There was a lot of sleeping in between, so taking this picture proved to be a little too difficult, but here it is:


Oh, and here are a couple of her Santa pictures, mommy was just playing with an adult Santa hat, but I do think they are the cutest ever!

"I'm just gonna pretend that I don't see you and maybe you'll go away"


"Ok, mom, I know I'm cute and all, but can we be done and go take a bath now?"

Oh, and one last thing, on Sunday, we're going to get our very first professional pictures of Sasha done, I will post pictures as soon as we have them!

Sasha's new "trick"

On Sunday, totally out of nowhere baby girl decided that it was time for a new trick: she started "blowing raspberries" (I think that's what it's called anyway). It's the cutest thing ever (although I do say that about every single new thing she does) - and there's plenty of drool everywhere now ;) Last night we even managed to get a little video of this new trick (as usual, ignore the silly voice, I don't know why I was talking like that):



On a different note, I think Sasha may end up a redhead (ok, maybe just a little), like her daddy. She was born with black hair and over the past (almost) three months her hair has gotten significantly lighter. And now it looks like she's getting a little copperish hues (aside from the big bold spot on the back of her head from all the head moving she does in her crib). Yay!

Thanksgiving pictures

Baby Sasha's first Thanksgiving was wonderful! Everybody loved her and she met a lot of new people and behaved quite like a little lady. She even slept a little bit (and anyone who's been to our Thanksgiving dinners before knows how difficult that can be). It was wonderful seeing Sasha interact with everybody. Here are some pictures from then:


Hanging out with daddy


Meeting uncle Steve for the first time ever - he's been in Boston since before Sasha was born


Meeting my uncle's cat - check out how she's staring at Sasha


"Ok, mom, this is NOT funny!"


Sleeping in her baby bjorn with mom and auntie Anna

Happy Turkey Day!!

I absolutely love Thanksgiving, it's such a wonderful excuse to get together with your family and eat lots of delicious food :) Today we're going to mu aunt and uncle's house as we do each year, but this year it's Sasha's first Thanksgiving which makes this day even more exciting! She gets to meet a bunch of new people (which we are just a little concerned about, but I think she'll do just fine). I'll post pictures over the weekend (or maybe even earlier).
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A video from last week

I was doing tummy time with Sasha last Thursday (yes, it does sometimes take me a while to upload pictures and videos) - she was really trying so hard to hold her head up and she was really doing a great job too! I just love this video I took of her hanging out on her boppy pillow (please ignore my commentary, it's quite stupid and I don't actually sound like that normally):

Well, yesterday was an interesting day...

Yesterday I went to get fingerprinted as a part of my application to become a citizen of the U.S. Even though, my dad (who went do get his done a couple of weeks ago) assured me that he was in an out in just 45 minutes, I wasn't quite so lucky: I got there at 11am (my appointment time) and left around 1:30pm. Boo! It was a long and boring wait, but I read the "study materials" for the naturalization test and it couldn't be any easier! I also decided to figure out when my 540 days are up (from the moment of the receipt of my application): March 31, 2010 - yes, I was really bored. So I should become a citizen on or before then - I really hope it's before, my sister had to wait a whole year before from sending in the paperwork till the interview...
When I got home, we decided to go to Staten Island - my dearest husband refuses for some odd reason to get his haircuts anywhere in Brooklyn, so off we went. Of course, we had to stop by S.I. mall and got loads of cute baby things - on sale too! Then we stopped by my in-laws and Zhenia's cousin came over with her kids - so Sasha finally got to meet her cousins - Sarah, Daniel, and Jonathan. Here's a pic from last night with all of us, except for my father-in-law:

Sasha smiles at herself in the mirror!

The other day she kept staring at herself in the mirror and smiling! Now I don't think she quite recognizes that it's her in the mirror, but it looks like she likes the cute little face looking back at her from in there :) It is the cutest thing ever and I'm gonna try to get a picture of this soon! Oh, and we ordered Sasha's new year's present, she's getting a Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo and it should be here tomorrow. I'll be so so tempted to open it up and check it, even though she won't be able to use it until later when she can hold her head up by herself.

Some pictures, as promised

So here are some photos from tonight. Enjoy!


Sasha hanging out with great-grandma


Auntie Anna's boyfriend holding Sasha for the first time


While we were eating dinner Sasha decided that she wanted to eat too, so my mom decided that since everybody else was eating, she'd feed me as well!


Baby Sasha was so exhausted she fell asleep in her baby bjorn.


And a nice little family photo at the end of the evening :)

10 weeks old today

Ok, again not a "real" birthday, but sounds kinda cool, no? Baby Sasha is napping right now - and we all know how cute she is when she does ;) So I have a few minutes to update. Ok, nothing really new since Monday, but some people have asked me why I haven't posted since then (you know who you are...). We've had such a good week of just hanging out, I love being a stay-at-home mommy, I am enjoying every single day with my daughter. I have to say I've never been happier than I am now!
Anyway, this weekend should hopefully be much slower and relaxed than last weekend. So far we have planned an outing to my parents' house tomorrow night, since tomorrow is 9 years since we moved to the US so we're just going to have a nice family dinner. Nothing else planned yet, which is kina nice I have to admit. I so love spending time with my hubby and baby, even if we're just walking around the neighborhood or staying home. Ok, gotta run finish dinner, some new pictures coming tomorrow or Sunday, whenever I get a chance to get on here.

Today would have been...

...my first day back at work... I'm so happy to be typing would instead of is! Instead I am home with my baby (granted I'm feeling a little under the weather for the past few days, but it still beats being at work). We had a very fun and busy weekend: Saturday we went shopping at Linens 'n' Thing, since they are going out of business and are having great sales to start our holiday presents shopping (that's right, we already started!), then uncle Rich came over to visit baby Sasha (I do think they liked each other). On Sunday, grandma came over to babysit with Sasha so that we can go to BB&B for more presents shopping, then auntie Anna came over. I actually said to Y last night that some of my weekdays are more relaxing than most weekends!
On Sunday morning, as we were lounging around with the baby, she started "talking" to us; she's done that before, with a random "ooh" and "aah" and "gah" here and there. This sounded like an entire sentence in her own baby language. Here's a video, we were laughing so hard at this!



She's started this talking at 8 weeks old, so now she's not just smiling at us but also saying (we're assuming, although we could be wrong): "I love you mommy and daddy".

TWO months old today!!

Baby Sasha is 2 months old today! I cannot believe we've had this wonderful little human being in our lives for the past two months. But at the same time I can't even imagine how we lived without her for so long. She's such a happy and adorable little girl, we're so grateful to have her in our lives. She really does make everything so much better... Ok, enough sentimental stuff and now for some pictures.


Hanging out with daddy last night - check out her hair!


"Mommy, who is that little girl in the mirror? She's so cute!"




"I'm a big girl!"


Her expression is priceless in this one!

Happy Halloween!

Today we celebrated Sasha's very first Halloween. We did not put her in a costume, since we weren't going trick or treating anyway, maybe next year (and quite honestly, even though I do think baby Halloween costumes are super adorable, I could not justify spending $25 on an outfit she'd wear for one day... and with our luck pee or poop all over it, lol)

Sasha in her Halloween outfit...

She refused to wear the wonderful hats that Auntie Kristin had sent us, but did sit still for long enough for me to take a picture with her cute bib on.

We even got to carve pumpkins, these were our first, and I must say I think they came out pretty good (those are our names in Russian on each pumpkin) - it was such a blast!!