Fun videos

While we're "away" from the blog for the weekend, here are some cute videos of little Miss for you. Enjoy!

Sasha "talking" into her bottle


Sasha clapping her hands, she loves loves loves clapping, it's so precious!

I think I see two more teeth!

While playing with Miss Sasha last night, I spotted a big white line on her top gum - I think my baby girl is cutting yet another tooth, a top right incisor this time (the left one may have been there too, but she was very wiggly and wouldn't let me look long enough)! Yeah! I was beginning to think she would always be the baby who only had two teeth, lol. It's been a while since her last tooth popped out right around 6 months, and I'm excited. A little cautious too, because her first two teeth seemed very painful for her. So far, she's been super clingy and whiny, which I chalked up to some separation anxiety - but if it is in fact from teething, I'll have my happy smiling baby (with three teeth) back in no time!

Edited to add: it is in fact two top incisors, I managed to get a peak at them tonight. And I'm not seeing things, Y saw them too, so it's official: Sasha is getting two more brand new pearly whites! Time to get her toothbrush ready!

Sleepover was a success

Yes, we all did just fine. Sasha had a great time, grandma and grandpa enjoyed having her over (granted she cooperated and slept nicely from 8pm till 7:30am - that's longer than she does usually!) I was a little sad leaving her, but we had such a great night out with our friends, got home really late, and got to sleep in - 10am never seemed sweeter! We then headed over back to my parents' house for a family get-together and Sasha was so glad to see us, she stretched her little arms out at us and gave us a big smile!

I really like this new number :)

Miss Sasha's first overnight stay

I have a few minutes while Sasha is napping so I thought I'd pop in and post. We're going out tonight and leaving our girl with my parents (grandma and grandpa L.) and I'm a little nervous about it. Yes, I completely trust my parents with her, but I just don't know how she'll do overnight. I'm also sad I'm not going to come home to sneak into her room to check on her and see her sweet little face. I'm going back and forth on whether I'm ready to be leaving her overnight... On the other hand, we plan on sleeping in tomorrow morning, which would be an awesome break (mom and dad, if you're reading this, I'm sorry if she wakes up at 6am for you). We're heading over there tomorrow for a brunch birthday get-together, so we'll see her right after her morning nap anyway! Hope you have fun at your first sleep-over, baby girl!

Just occurred to me...

Sasha was having a meltdown instead of taking her afternoon nap earlier today, so I ended up rocking her to sleep and just holding her while she napped. That was such an old familiar feeling: I haven't done that in quite some time, she's usually a good napper. It brought back all the memories of her tiny when she'd curl up on my chest and sleep, while I breathed in her sweet baby smell while I held her. And while I was looking down at her, this occurred to me: she's now been on the "outside" longer than she's been inside my belly. The 9 months while I was pregnant seemed to go so slowly, yet, the 9 months she's been here have just flown by!

Another year older...

I turned 25 today. I never really thought about how it would feel like to be 25, I've given a lot of thought to other numbers, but not this one. And I've got to say, this by far is my favorite! Sasha let me sleep in this morning (she didn't wake up until 7:30), then I was awakened by Y and Miss Sasha singing me the happy birthday song (ok, Sasha wasn't really singing but she looked like she was enjoying it). It rained most of the day, so we just spent some time inside, just me and my daughter, it was the best present I could have asked for. We finished the day off my going out to Outback, nothing fancy, but oh so delicious.
I feel incredibly lucky and happy today, I got the greatest gift I could've asked for: the love of a family. I have the most wonderful and caring husband in the world and the sweetest funniest baby girl. I also got a million phone calls and texts letting me know just how much I am loved, my parents, my in-laws, extended family and friends. I am one really lucky girl!

See? I told you she points to things now - I think this was at the lamp above


"Whose birthday is it? Mama's!"

3/4 of the way to the one-year mark!

Miss Sasha is 9 months old today! And she's really developing so much more of a personality, she likes certain things, she gets amused by certain things. She has started waving hi and bye and clapping (all three completely depending on her mood though, she won't do them for just anyone, it's so funny!) She learned to gasp, it's the funniest thing ever, and she does it when she's excited about something, like she'd gasp and then giggle. She now follows me wherever I go when I leave the room, she loves crawling into the kitchen and standing up and trying to see what I'm doing. She's getting a lot better at feeding herself, now only about half of her food ends up on her onesie and bib (oh, and the chair and the table), it's especially fun when it's something like blueberries, very colorful! I think she's also trying to point at things, I don't know if she consciously understands that that will get our attention but she certainly points with her little index finger at things she's looking at.
She's being a little clingy today (I blame yesterday's shots), but I did manage to get some pictures of her this morning (after her unusually long 2 and a half hour nap) - it's quite difficult to get pictures other than her eating her monthly signs, so I have to get creative... Enjoy!



Love the ruffles on her butt - so cute :)




"Maaa, it's upside down!!"


"Ok, much much better!"






"Nooo, say it isn't so!" - love her face in this one :)

We've got a whole 3 months until she's no longer a baby and I plan on fully enjoying these 3 months. Happy 9 months birthday, baby girl!

9-month dr. appointment and stats

We had Sasha's 9-month pedi appointment today and it went fairly well (if you don't count the incredibly loud crying after the first shot, followed by more incredibly loud crying after the second - makes me so glad we're not following the suggested vaccination schedule and spacing them out, I cannot imagine what four shots would feel like!) I guess that's all of the bad news. The good news is that there are no more shots until she's 1, that's a whole 3 months away, I am so relieved. We do have to go in at 11 months to get some blood drawn to check for iron, but the dr. gave me a prescription for a cream to be applied shortly before the appointment to numb the area, so little Miss shouldn't feel a thing (unless she's like her mama and the site of needles is enough to make her queasy).
Here are her stats: 19.8lbs (65th percentile) and 28" long (75th percentile). She seems to be slowing down a bit, but seeing how she constantly moves around, there's no surprise there! All in all, the dr. is happy with how she's doing and developing, although she did mention that she should be eating less pureed food now, so I guess I'll need to get on that. She's now happily napping, so hopefully this round of shots was better than the last. Baby girl turns 9 months old tomorrow... but that's a whole different post.

Brand new US citizen here!

I had the swearing in ceremony this morning (it was long and boring, that's all I'm going to say about that!) and now I'm officially a US citizen. Yay! In three weeks (or so) I should be getting my American passport in the mail (surprisingly with a decent picture in it, if I say so myself). I'll always be a Russian girl at heart though ;)

Fun in the sun

Ok, so she mostly stayed in the shade... On Sunday, we had a picnic with Y's coworkers in our local park. The day started out a bit cloudy, but it cleared up by the time everyone got there and we had a great time barbecuing, playing Frisbee and even soccer, and just hanging out. Sasha did really well, hanging out with another little boy there, but got very cranky when we got home (we even had to skip my grandma's birthdya party). I think we were just out too long (we got there before her morning nap and left before her afternoon nap), next time we'll try to plan a bit better. Here are some pictures from the day.

Trying out the grass for the first time...


"Nope, don't like it!"


Playing with Fanny


I went exploring while Sasha napped in her stroller


and found a great "nature trail" with beautiful plants














"You don't see me putting that piece of grass in my mouth..."


"I didn't put it there, honestly!"


"Hi!"


"I like you :)"