10 years in the States!

I cannot believe I haven't posted about this yet, but this month (on the 15th to be exact), we celebrated 10 years since we came to the US. On November 15, 1999, my sister, my mom, and I landed in JFK airport (my dad actually moved here almost 2 years before that, because my grandpa - his dad - was very very sick). It was in no way an easy transition for any of us, but my sister and I (being 13 and 15, respectively) got over it a lot better than my mom: it's no easy task starting from 0 at the age of 40, with no English, no friends, and away from family (all of mom's side of the family is still in Russia!). I'm certainly proud o what I've achieved in the 10 years here, but I'm unspeakably more proud of my parents and of how far they've come in this time. Big shout-out to my mama and papa and a big thanks for bringing us here!
Here are some fun pictures from the day (I say, better late than never!):

My sister and I ice skating


Anna, mom, and I


There was some dancing too!


Silly girl playing with uncle Andrey


This is what she did when I ask her to smell the clementine... and she doesn't have a shirt on because it was getting really messy eating strawberries and she REFUSES to keep a bib on for even a minute (we're working on finding better bibs and aren't easy to yank off)

Thanksgiving '09 in pictures

I finally went through all the pictures and edited them. Here are some from our dinner on Thursday (and when I say "some", I often mean "a lot", as the case may be with this post).

Hanging out with great-grandma


There were a lot o people at my aunt and uncle's so Sasha was being very very shy in the beginning and holding onto my legs, but auntie Anna is one of the people she agreed to go to!


A family picture... with two people looking at the camera, this is quite an achievement for us ;)


Drinking out of a cup like a big girl (we've been working on it, on good days she spills a little bit on herself, on bad days... all the water ends up on her shirt, not in her mouth)


Yum, turkey - see here for last year's (lack of) excitement with turkey leg...




Little miss Sasha is quite fond of her uncle Andrey


Meeting my cousin's bearded dragon - not quite as happy as when it was sitting in its aquarium though!

We had a lovely time at Thanksgiving this year (my parents and Y's parents missed it though, they went to Cleveland to hang out with their friends instead). The food was good, the company was amazing, the kiddo behaved wonderfully (after the initial shock of a new place and too many people). Have I mentioned how much I love Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, as we prepare to go to NJ for our annual Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, I am thankful for so many things in my life.

I am thankful for my beautiful daughter, who is healthy and happy and smart and so funny.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband, who loves both me and our girl so much (not to mention putting up with me and my craziness all these years).
I am thankful for Y's job that allows me to stay home with Sasha and enjoy all her big milestones and little moments.
I am thankful for our family who are so incredibly caring and loving; I could not imagine better grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts, great-uncles for my little girl!
I am thankful for my friends who put up with me talking about Sasha close to 24/7 and always being there for me (not to mention throwing fabulous parties that I would never have the time to plan).
I am especially thankful for my aunt and uncle who have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for years now, because that means that I don't have to cook an entire meal for 20+ people (not to mention the turkey, I would probably ruin the turkey)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

I love free things!

If you know me at all, you know that I love love love getting things for free. Of course, most of the time when they say something is "free" it isn't really free and there's some sort of catch. Well, I just ordered an absolutely free photobook of our Bermuda vacation in October from American Greetings Photoworks. The catch is that only the first 25,000 people who make and order a photobook from the site get it for free, so there's a chance that after sorting through the pictures, uploading them, and making the book you may be the 25,001st person, it's still a very attractive offer. So if any of you want to take advantage of this offer go here and enjoy making your photobook! I cannot wait for mine to arrive!

We have a molar!

I just realized yesterday that Miss Sasha has cut yet another tooth. I must admit I am a little bit ashamed that I didn't realize she was actually cutting a tooth until I felt it yesterday. I mean, this must've been going on for at least a week now (as the tooth is now completely through the gum!) But in my defense, she did not show pretty much any signs of teething. The only thing that seemed "off" about her was that she wouldn't nap in her crib (but that only started on Saturday). So yesterday, as I was trying to get Baby Orajel onto her gums in a futile attempt to get her to nap (I figured maaaybe it was her teeth), I felt a sharp little molar poking through the gum. You can't really see it, as she won't let anyone take a look, but I managed to take a peek this morning, and it's definitely there! My poor little thing! Now I need the nap gods to take pity on Sasha (and me) and let her nap properly...

Sasha's new hat (aka mean parents)

Last night, when papa came home, we were playing around and being silly (ok, we do that every night when papa comes home, but still). Sasha brought him her tights and he decided it's be a great idea to put them on her head like a hat. And what do you know, she loved it! She kept twirling and shaking her head, and taking them of to ask to put them back on a few seconds later. Yes, I've got it on video. Yes, she's going to want to kill is in a little over a decade from now, but I figure there's already so much other embarrassing stuff out there that this isn't really going to make a difference at this point. So here it is: Sasha's new hat!



Clearly, a very important phone call


"Who are these people and why are they doing this to me??"


Hands down, my absolute favorite picture of Sasha and her papa!

Twirling Sasha

I have this cute little video of our little girl twirling. To classical music, no less ;) It makes me laugh every time I watch it (and I've watched it quite a few times since it was taken a few days ago)


Sorry for lack of updates lately, there isn't much going on really. We mostly read books, dance, go outside, go to story time at the library (which Sasha loves now and dances to the songs and nursery rhymes that we do there). We're still attempting to potty train, which means lots of naked time, which means few pictures that are appropriate for the blog (I sure hope my 13-year-old daughter will forgive me one day for disclosing this kind of information about her!!) But I did catch her one morning spilling her milk accidentally, walking over to that spot with a washcloth she's been carrying and wiping the floor! She mimics literally everything we do, it's hilarious!

Finally!

Phew! I finally called our photographer and made an appointment to get Sasha's 1-year pictures taken... some three months later, but still. Everything seemed to get in the way, there was so much stuff happening, but I finally got to it: we're going to take some pictures on December 2nd. Yay, I can't wait. Now gotta go figure out what we're all wearing.
And some pictures from the last few days, just because.

With grandma and grandpa A over the weekend


With auntie Anna and uncle Andrey in NJ (Sasha spotted an airplane and was pointing to it)


Overlooking NYC skyline


Out shopping with mama and grandma L. - I don't think she liked that hat!


Hugging her (currently) favorite toy puppy

14-month Pedi appointment

Sasha had another pedi appointment today where she, grumpily, got two shots: hepatitis A and the flu (flu shots are given in two smaller doses to young children, so we're going to go back for the second dose in a month). The kiddo was happy, reading her books and playing with the dr's stamp and stethoscope up until the dr. pulled out the needles. The good thing is that I put on some lidocaine creme that the dr. prescribed for Sasha to put on before, so she didn't seem to be in any pain, but she looked at me like I betrayed her. The poor thing! Some more good news is I think she has one set o shots left until closer to a year, so that will make for a nice and friendly check-ups before then.
Here are her stats: height: 30" (61st percentile); weight: 22lbs (46th percentile). This time, since Miss Sasha is clearly such a grown-up little girl, she was weighed on an adult scale and measured on the growth chart pinned to the wall (instead of laying down) for the first time. It was really fun to see that. I think we may be putting up our growth chart in her room soon too!

Now we're of to go hang out outside, since the weather is so beautiful (it's in the mid-60s here today). There will most likely be photos to upload later.

My funny girl

Just wanted to share a few funny pictures from the past couple of days.

Sasha pointing to her nose - she just loves doing that! She's also convinced that papa's nose beeps whenever she presses on it, it's hilarious.


Sporting a "necklace" - this is what she does now apparently when I tell her to smile.


Last night, she decided she wanted to wear her hat right before bed. She also insisted on carrying her comb and some flowers


Smelling her flowers - another favorite thing to do.

Climbing couches

... is apparently the most fun thing in the world to do! Here, see for yourself:

14 months old!

Our little Miss Sasha is 14 months old already! I keep saying that I don't know how the time can be passing by so quickly, but it's so true: where did my little tiny baby go? You know, the one that would stay in one place for more than 5 seconds? This girl is on the move, constantly. It is absolutely crazy, I'm having trouble even getting her meals ready sometimes, because she is so all over the place most days; sometimes she'd stay in her pack-n-play for 15 minutes when I need to clean up a bit or make dinner.
She is now "talking" a lot more these days, although no new real words yet. She babbles constantly, she loves "reading" books: she'd sit on the floor with the book in her lap and babble to herself while turning pages! She loves saying "mamochka" and "papochka" now, though I don't think she means it in that way; another surprising thing about it is that we don't refer to each other as that in front of her (mama and papa), so I guess she heard someone saying that and now keeps repeating it; it's absolutely adorable!



This is Sasha at just two months old for comparison!


Where's Sasha's nose?


And where's mama's nose?

This is mostly why I'm having so little time to actually get on here and blog about what we're doing - because this is what we're doing:

Calling papa at work (yes, using a TV remote)


...reading books...


... and her latest trick - climbing on the couch!


Yup, she can now climb up on the couch - and I have a video to prove it (just need to edit it a little, stay tuned).

Halloween fun in November? Sure, why not?

I got Miss Sasha this fabulous little onesie at Old Navy for $2. Who cares that's it's November already? How cute is she?!



This is how Sasha plays peek-a-boo