First tooth

At some point between this morning and this afternoon Nikolai cut his first tooth!

15.5 Weeks

Look who fell asleep on the way home from church:

He was talking up a storm and then got suspiciously quiet. I absolutely love this little guy!

14.5 Weeks - Almost rolling over

It's been a really big week for this little guy. He got to go to a baby sitter on both Tuesday and Thursday while Mommy went in to work. Thursday he got to learn what it would be like to have three older siblings - so much attention! Tuesday he learned how to blow bubbles. Friday he was so close to rolling over; I have about five videos of him on his side kicking his legs around. I didn't want to look away and miss it. He's so close to rolling over! He just has to figure out how to get around that bottom arm. He loves his Jungle Gym and can reach and kick all of the toys that hang down. He is fascinated with the camera. Whenever I get it out (like when he is "talking" or blowing bubbles or just generally being adorable), he becomes intrigued with it, and I get the "deer in headlights" look. We'll have to learn how to avoid that one. He's way too young to start hating the camera. Buster is anxious for Nikolai to get bigger so they can play. Buster will bring his toys and place them at Nikolai's feet. Then Buster's acts confused why Nikolai won't play fetch with him. It's pretty cute; they will surely be buddies before long.


Pictures & videos from this week here, 12-41.

Motherhood

Thank you Nicole for sharing this video.

13.5 wks - Idependence Day

Our Fourth of July was pretty mellow. We just went to church and hung out around the house. As much as I love fireworks, I didn't feeling like traumatizing Nikolai and throwing off what little consistency of bedtime that we have. He did however manage to wiggle himself nearly off of his play mat. I set him down in the middle and later found him here:

Mobility here we come!!

On Wednesday (6/30/10) Niko learned he could put toys in his mouth! But his hands are still his favorite to chew on.

 

Photos from this past week: June 160 - 163; July 1-11.

San Fran

Thanks for all of your tips on traveling with a baby. Nik did great on the plane and was a champ the whole trip. Eventually I'll get around to the details, until then click here to see my sister's Facebook album of the trip. She's got a bunch of cute one's of Nik up there! Enjoy!

Flying with baby

Nik and I are headed out to San Fran for a little b-day celebration for my dear Mommacita. She'll be celebrating in "the land of fruits and nuts" with her five daughters and one very lucky grandson.

So here's my solicitation for all the advice you can give on flying with a baby. Endow me with your knowledge!

9.5 weeks

This dude's a tank. At church today we met a 3 month old baby that also weighs 13 pounds, but looks way smaller. Oh boy, where will Nik be a month from now! But seriously, I hardly recognize this guy as my little baby. He's getting too big so fast! I love all of the random happy noises he's started making, and he is really getting to be more self sufficient - like he only has to be held 80% of the time as opposed to 90%! But I love doing it!

The little guy did great again at church. He eats during sacrament meeting time, is super alert and happy while Stas teaches his Primary class, and then sleeps during YW.

It is really exciting to start to see some patterns of behavior/routines to our day.

This morning Nikolai had wiggled around in his swing until he found this unusually comfortable position:
Whatever works little man!

Commentary on baby clothes

Yes, that's right. I am writing a whole post just about baby clothes. And it probably won't be the last one either.

First - today was a sad day. I packed away all of Nik's newborn-sized clothes. He's been wearing 0-3 months stuff for a while, but now he's officially no longer a newborn.

Second - what is with the size variation? Yeah, these two sleepers are supposed to be the same size (0-3 months). Hardly.

Note: the green stripes is in the top three of my favorite outfits on Nik.

Third - this sleeper has the shortest legs ever. Seriously they are less than two inches long. Definitely not for our baby!


Okay, that's it for now, but I'll undoubtedly share more opinions later!

my life in bags

it seems like these days i live my life by which bags i have. what ever do i mean? well i noticed the obvious when i saw these lined up by our couch:


diaper bag, breast pump bag, laptop bag, and purse

the purse is for those rare occasions i'm out of the house w/o the wee one
the pump, purse, and laptop go with me to work
the diaper bag goes with me anytime i'm with Nik

these days i sort of feel like i am constantly switching between them all and constantly trying to track down these items:
-power cord
-wallet
-clean bottles, ice pack, etc.
-burp clothes
-water bottles
-chapstick!!

what's next in my world of bags.......the church bag!

Mobile

Okay, I am the first to admit that I am not a crafty person. No really, this isn't just me being modest. I just don't have that crafty jean. The closest I get to being crafty is making spreadsheets. Now that I enjoy!

Back to the mobiles. I remember when I was a kid my mom would make these decorative wall hangings to decorate orphanages as part of Humanitarian Aid. The purpose was to give the babies something to look at so their developed properly and they would hopefully not develop vision problems. Then I read in my baby book about how babies prefer basic patterns and contrasting colors. Then I remember reading a blog post from my pseudo-big sis Mandy about the mobile she made for her daughter. Gee, I thought. Maybe even I could handle this one.

So after I couldn't even find the one pack of construction paper that has lasted all of my creative pursuits of the last eight years or so, I thought to myself "let's not over complicate things." So I stole a piece of paper from the printer and busted out the pack of markers that I bought years ago, but because I thought they might come in handy. Using a nickel for my polka dots and the edge of a magazine as my ruler, I set to work!

Here's the result:
Right now Nik's favorite are the purple circles, but in the last day or so I think he discovered the blue bulls-eye. We'll see what wins out in the long haul.

Note 1: I know, I know. Paperclips and rubber bands are not really safe to use around babies. I promise I will find a better solution as soon as Nikolai realizes that he can do more with his hands than just eat them.

Note 2: Yes, that is a pink bouncer chair. No, we aren't raising our son in some sort of crazy gender-neutral style. We just got the bouncer (and swing, too) from some friends in the ward for free. Yep, that's right. You can't beat free. Even if it is pink! ;)

2 Months!!!

Nik had his 2 month well visit today. Of course he's a stud and is growing quite impressively.

height: 23.5 inches (75%)
weight: 13 pounds 3 ounces (97%)
head: 40.25 centimeters (63-ish%)

*does any one else think that its funny they measure height in inches, but head circumference in centimeters? seriously, let's just move over to the metric system already!
**the nurse didn't give up the % in the office, so I had to look them up online (http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts). if they sound wrong, they probably are. let me know if you have a better source.

[Update: It looks like he picked up his first bug at the doctor's office, because he's had some pretty intense vomiting tonight. So SAD. The nurse says that throwing up with no temperature is most likely a bug and not a reaction to the two vaccines he received at the appointment. Either way, I'm glad we didn't bombard him with all four at once.]

These photos are from yesterday. He is all smiles in the morning and I LOVE it!

life as we know it

Earlier today when I was at work I checked in with Stas to see how things were going. This is what I received:

we hung out, then he ate, then he burped, then we hung out again, then we ate again, burped again, woke up an hour later crying like crazy, burped again, and went back to sleep.

yep, that's sounds about right!

8.5 Weeks

Yes, I know I am more than just behind on my posts. There is much to share, not limited to: my birth story, all about little Nikolai, Stas's graduation, V&N's visit, NCG's blessing, and all sorts of anecdotes from the first two months of parenthood. I will get to them eventually. I promise. If you can't stand the suspense, head over to our family photo albums here.


These are from after church today. Of course I couldn't choose which one was cutest, so I just included all four!

This was our first "full" day of church. I use the term "full" very loosely. NCG got hungry just as it was time to go. I went ahead and fed him in the comfort of our home, then we headed out to church and arrived a little late. Nikolai was wonderful! He slept through the rest of sacrament meeting and half of Sunday school. He woke up for a snack and then fell back asleep in time for me to teach my YW lesson. This is a miracle, because this little boy is NOT a sleeper. He was so popular, everyone wanted to see him. From adults, to my YW, to even Stas's Primary kids, Nikolai was a hit!

Introducing . . .

Nikolai Claude

born 3-31-10 @ 5:16 am
7 lbs 9.4 oz
20.5 inches
birthed completely natural
(aka no epidural or other pain meds)

sad

terrorist bombings on the Moscow metro. thank God my family is safe! my heart goes out to everyone in Moscow. so terribly sad.

Little Buffalo & 39 weeks

Saturday, March 20, 2010 - Stas had the great idea to head up to Little Buffalo State Park for a picnic. We enjoyed bagel sandwiches and chips for lunch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and Buster loved running around off-leash exploring. For all of the photos, go here.
Enjoy this video of Buster running at top speed.

Snuggie

We decided to give Buster his summer buzz-cut a little early so that it will grow out to a nice length for our visitors in May.

Since it is still incredibly cold, we thought he might need some help staying warm. Luckily Dirt & Megan have been kind enough to provide quite the wardrobe for this little guy. Do you remember his "Puppy Love" tee? Well it's definitely a muscle tee now!



For Christmas they even got him a Snuggie!

37 weeks

Alright friends, here you have it - 37 weeks!

heart attack

It happened again! Wednesday night (3-3-10) when I got home from Young Women's activity I got yet another baby surprise.

Our door had been Heart Attacked by the Mia Maids while I was out! They wrote all of these sweet notes and left a bag full of goodies!

Let me just say PA has been very, very good to us!