What a difference a year makes!

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but I just got around to it. This was Miss Sasha's very first monthly picture and I just thought I'd compare it to the one exactly a year later:

 I think I'll do this from now on just for fun. Isn't the difference just incredible?!

Our thirteen-month-old toddler!

Sasha is already thirteen months old. We weren't sure whether we should "celebrate" these month-birthdays after a year and have our monthly "photoshoot", but then decided to give it a try. I have to say, I had higher hopes for that sign I make every month, yeah, no so much: she ripped it off the wall even before I had a chance to take one picture. So it went straight in the garbage. I guess from now on, I'll just add the caption in picasa when editing the pictures.










This girl is so incredibly smart and the changes that are taking place daily are amazing! She now signs "eat" too, not very consistently yet, but I've seen it a few times. She says "moloko" ("milk") - ok, when I use the word "says", I use it rather loosely, papa doesn't think we should count it, because it doesn't sound like the word she's trying to say, but I say it counts! She's walking and nearly running now, she understands pretty much everything we tell her (except she doesn't always listen). She now even goes down on the slide all on her own (see photo above). And yes, those are the first pigtails and she rocked them!

P.S. I need to remember to set up a time for Sasha's 1-year professional pictures, I still haven't done that!

Playing catch-up

I realized that I haven't updated the blog in quite some time, so now I'm catching up on all the happenings in the last couple of weeks.

The weather here changed very quickly from scorching hot August to very cool and windy September, without any warning it seems, so we tried to soak up as much warm weather as we could (and wear as many cute summer outfits as humanly possible)


My crazy dancing baby - this is what she looks like on our walks most of the time, especially if there's a car passing by playing loud music!


We went to the library and read some books




Papa and Sasha blew some bubbles and had a blast!


More playground fun






Then it was time to celebrate uncle Steve's birthday - Sasha with her auntie Anna


Meeting my aunt and uncle's new puppy Sophie, these two really seemed to hit it off!


Playing ball with uncle Steve


Walking around (outfit courtesy auntie Kristin - thanks again, hon!)


Sasha met a little baby girl named Yeva (I went to school with her mama). Yeva is 3 months old - what a difference 9 months make!




During story time at our local library - Sasha seems to really enjoy it, especially when we do songs/nursery rhymes. Other than that, she likes running away from me.

Our Ergo is here!

And it's awesome! We got it in the mail yesterday and it seems so lightweight and comfortable. We put the kiddo in it for a few minutes just to try it out and she looked so comfy in there, and my, so different from Bjorn. We'll need to test it out sometime soon, but so far so good. Here's papa demonstrating the Ergo:

Not the greatest picture (I mean look at that bamboo plant growing out of Miss Sasha's head), but so cute!
P.S. I'm working on a post with loads of pictures to catch up, since I've been MIA lately.

I ordered an Ergo!

After much deliberation (mostly due to how much these things cost), we decided to go ahead and get an Ergo. Ergo is a soft-structured carrier for the kiddos. Yes, we have the Bjorn which we got from auntie Julie and used for quite some time, but the little Miss is way too big for it and it kills my back after maybe 20 minutes. Besides Ergo is supposed to be a lot better for the child's back too, since he/she is actually in a sitting position in it, instead of essentially hanging in a Bjorn. You can even carry the child on your back and on your hip using this carrier!
See how comfy that kid is? It can carry a child up to 40lbs, so provided Miss Sasha will like being worn we can use it for a couple of years!
It shipped today, I will most certainly post pictures once it arrives. I'm very very excited (especially with our trip coming up, I have a feeling that it's going to come in handy).

One year blogging!

Happy blogoversary to me! I started this blog exactly a year ago to share the goings on of our little family with friends and family. Since then, we've shared our journey and the joy of our little Miss Sasha with so many people. In this year, we've experienced so many firsts: first holidays, first swimming lessons, first celebrations, first trips to the beach, first birthday. I know there are a lot more firsts (and seconds and thirds) to come, and I could not be more excited to share them with all of my readers.
I hope to continue this blog for at least a few more years (I have a sneaking suspicion that at 13, our little itty bitty baby may have a slight problem with mama oversharing details of her personal life - so we'll see in what direction it'll go then). I hope you enjoy our story and continue reading!

Booked our very first family vacation!

Last night, we booked our cruise to Bermuda! We're going at the end of October, just a few days before our anniversary (our second one already!) and we're so excited. We were originally planning to spend a week in Florida vegging out on the beach, but the thought of flying with a toddler terrified me. The other night, Y randomly found a Norwegian cruise to Bermuda that leaves from New York! How much better does it get? So we jumped on this opportunity and booked a balcony room. This way we can order some room service (which is included) while Miss Sasha is napping or down for the night.
I also got two very exciting packages today for Miss Sasha. One was from Old Navy: I decided on and ordered Sasha a Halloween costume! She's going to be a kitty, we tried it on tonight and she looks absolutely adorable in it (yes, we do have a few pictures, but will have to wait for Halloween to not spoil the surprise). The other package was waiting for us at the door when we got back from our afternoon walk/errands: it was Sasha's birthday present from her auntie Kristin, it's the cutest little dress/onesie outfit, just perfect for the early Fall weather. Thanks auntie Kristin, we love it!

Twelve-month dr. appointment and some random cuteness

We had Sasha's 12-month pediatrician appointment yesterday. I wasn't sure if she'd be getting any vaccinations, since both Y and I have been sick for the past week and Sasha had a bit of a runny nose (which was for the most part miraculously cured by her spending a weekend with grandma and grandpa L.) The doctor checked her out and decided that it was ok to give her her shots, so she got MMR and varicella (which I do have to admit she did not enjoy one bit, even though I applied the supposedly magic lidocaine cream her dr. prescribed for shots). Her stats are: 20.8lbs (in the 44th %ile) and 29" (in the 56th %ile).
Besides signing "milk" a few more times (we're still working to make sure she's really got it), she can say three words: "papa" (which funny enough was her very first word but now she refuses to say very often), "mama", and "da" (which in her interpretation means "dai" - "gimmie" in Russian, she sticks her hand out for the desired object and all) - sometimes she'd even repeat it "da! da!" if she really wants the toy (that most often she just handed to you a few moments ago). She's so much fun these days. She loves it when we chase her, she'd start walking away from me, then as soon as she hears me approaching behind her, she drops to her knees and continues crawling away, since it's so much faster. But she's really becoming so much more confident at walking, she even tries running sometimes, but still very carefully. She loves playing with her toy stroller and putting her doll in it, going for a "walk" with her or taking her out and "cuddling". Sasha understands most of what we tell her, especially things she shouldn't do, knows most of her toys by name and brings us things we ask her to.
We've started introducing her to the potty a couple of months ago, and it's a slow slow process. I have really got to get more patience somewhere. I try to put her on it at "strategic times", like after her lunch or bottle and after waking up. Most of the time that doesn't lead to anything, but at least she'd sit on the potty and not fuss. I've been letting her go diaperless, which has been, um... interesting, but I think she's at least becoming aware of the fact that if she pees all over herself (and the floor) it is very unpleasant. I suspect this process will take a while longer though.
And since this turned into a very very long post, here are some pictures to rewards my readers (all 6 of them) for their patience ;)

She now eats whole nectarines (she can easily eat half a small one at a seating)....


... which has been known to lead to this!


She figured out that if she sticks her hand in the box with puffs she will get way more out that way


My little running girl (always making faces... I wonder where she gets that from, my little monkey)


And most recently, she decided to try eating a whole (well halved for better handling) tomato. Yum!

Birthday party pictures

Took me a while to go through all the pictures from all the cameras and sort them, but here they finally are. Better late than never ;)



My big girl and I


Sharing with grandma


Slinky fun!


Papa saying a toast to his girl


Auntie Anna and Sasha


Walking with grandma


Silly grandpa!


My mom, sister and I


Watching her birthday slideshow


Cake I made for the adults


Making a wish for our baby girl


"What is this thing and what am I to do with it?"


"You want me to EAT this?"


"Here, you taste it first"


"Ooh, yum! Why didn't you just say it was delicious?"


Sharing her cupcake with great-grandma

We had lots of fun, lots of food, yummy cakes and cupcakes, a slideshow, and even some games for the adults (you know so that nobody would get bored while someone else was passing the kid around!) It was a great party, I can say with certainty that everyone enjoyed themselves. And even Sasha didn't seem to mind the passing around too much (although I highly doubt she really knew what was going on).

Sasha's new favorite toy

Auntie Anna and uncle Andrey got our little girl a wonderful toy for her birthday: Laugh&Learn Smart Bounce and Spin Pony (what a mouthful!), we call him Charlie. Sasha loves loves loves him, she's learned very quickly to climb up on it and off of it too. Here are a couple of videos of her enjoying her new friend!






This is Sasha enjoying the pony for the first time - I call this "Vive la France!"