Father's Day

Our Father's day was pretty low key, similar to the Mother's day we had last month. Although Jeromey had scheduled to help a friend with a video job without realizing that it falls on Father's day, so he actually had to work a great part of the day. So we had to try and make the most out of our morning together.

Daddy loves going out to breakfast and we don't do it too often so I wanted to either go to a favorite place of his "Cafe on Park" in Hillcrest or a new place that we could pick in La Jolla so that we could go spend some time at the beach later on. But since I woke up feeling a bit sick and hadn't had a very good night of sleep, we decided to keep it local and go to Panera for breakfast and coffee. Afterwards we took Sascha to a park in 4S Ranch so that she can play in the sun. Well I completely forgot that there is a splash zone right next to it and

I didn't bring anything for her to wear to run in the water or a towel to dry off. At first she didn't seem interested in going, but after she was done w/the slides and climbing, running and swinging, she wanted to explore the water park... and we let her. I had a change of clothes for her, so I said why not, let her run around in her clothes and get it soaked... needless to say she had a blast. Here are a few photos from our morning together.

Getting Help going down from a very tall play structure

Swinging away together

Right before getting really soaking wet! I wish I had taken more pictures of that!

Thank you daddy for being such an amazing husband, best friend and an amazing father. We are truly so lucky to have you and love you with all of our hearts! We love you for everything you bring to our lives, and know that you will always be there,we can count on you and you will never let us down. It brings such happiness to me, to see Sascha run up to you and greet you after a long day at work, the quality time you spend with us cannot be quantified. The love I see in your eyes when she puts her head down on your shoulder is indescribable. The baths, the nighttime stories, even the brushing and flossing her teeth, the little things that you do every day! You are the best daddy on the planet to our little munchkin daughter! I also love that we will have a boy, and you will have such a different bond with him, love him as much as you love all of us, and teach him to become a man that you know he can be. I hope he gets all your wonderful qualities and I look forward to seeing that happen.

You gave me the biggest gift of all and that's Motherhood. I couldn't imagine sharing that bond with anyone else. I know it sounds cheesy, but I feel like our life is complete together and you have given me something that I was missing and didn't know about it. I love how you always try to surprise us, even though I get nervous when I anticipate something going on. You are still determined to do what you set out to do, and it always ends up so very special and memorable... just the way you wanted.

I knew when I first met you that you would be an amazing father watching you with your little brother and my little nephew. I think it was one of the very first things that I was so impressed by when we first met.

I love you!!!

Ultrasound at 18 weeks

We had our anatomy ultrasound today. All the measurements looked great. It was confirmed that it's definitely a boy! He sure wasn't shy about showing us that one... it was one of the first things that popped up on the screen. So we got our confirmation after a spoiled surprise. Part of me is still a little bitter about it, another part is happy to know ahead of time. It was exciting to see the baby move, he was so active, the lady had trouble getting some of the pictures of the heart because he was constantly moving. He measured almost a week ahead! The doctor said she would like me to come back for a 28 week ultrasound to check the kidneys again because of Sascha's history with the reflux. The baby's kidneys measured normal, but she said they appeared very pronounced on the cross section picture, so we'll go once more to make sure that things are ok.

He wasn't shy taking pictures, seemed like he even posed for a few with his hand up, we even have one with a thumb up. I started feeling him move sometime last week. It's definitely one of the coolest feelings ever!

Profile

I don't think we have any doubt that it's a BOY!

Yawning?

So seeing him on the screen today once again made things so real for us. Crazy to think that in just 4 more months we'll be a family of 4. Wow... are we going to have our hands full or what? haha

I think we are up for the challenge, yes it's not going to be easy, but all so worth it.

Being pregnant for the 2nd time is definitely not an easy task. I can truly say I enjoyed my 1st pregnancy a lot more, probably because I had more time to focus on me, be in better shape, and just take care of myself... well and Jeromey (sometimes ;) ). This time around, chasing after a toddler is no easy task while being pregnant. Sascha likes to run away, or throw things and I am constantly on the go. Weekends are the hardest because we're always on the go, and through out the week I am resting at work since I am sitting down most of the time I am there. I seem to have some back issues, mostly one one side, but they are pretty severe. Ones I probably had in late 3rd trimester. It's a bit scary because I still have long ways to go. Sometimes it's very painful to walk, I am already so slow as it is, I can only imagine what it will be like as my belly grows. I am sure 20 weeks will fly by really fast... once I am looking back at it and i won't remember any of the aches once I have a beautiful baby boy in my arms! That's when the work really begins anyways! For now we will enjoy having dinner with just having to take care of one little one, instead of the baby crying and Sascha throwing food on the floor.

27 - 30+ Months

This post is very overdue... I am so behind, trying to catch up.

It's going to be a pretty random blog about things Sascha has done in the last 3 months.


You tell people they are in trouble, and say no no no to them... almost trying to discipline them, similar to what we do to you, even though I try to avoid saying "no" as much and use other words... it's really a hard task. You also tell us "Don't do that!". It took us weeks to figure out that's what you were saying because it sounded like "Atuya!" instead of "don't do that". Your other favorite is "stop yelling"! Yes, you let us know that you're the boss.

Your sleeping habits keep changing. A few months ago, you would often fall asleep on the floor next to the banister outside of your room, or on the floor rug next to your bed, but not in your bed. A week ago you decided that if you do sleep in your bed, it will be at the other end, where there are no rails to protect you from falling. You did fall off a few times, but since the toddler bed is so low to the ground, you didn't even wake up. Also you ask to go to "daddy's bed", but anytime you have come to our bed even in if it's in the middle of the night you have trouble falling asleep, and I end up just taking you back to yours where you go to sleep right away.

Although you have become a pretty good sharer of toys, and food and other things, you love saying that everything is yours. Even when we read books to you. For example very often daddy reads you one of his favorite books by Shel Silverstein "The giving tree". On every page there is a sentence and it ends with a different noun, like tree, apple, boy, boat, house. So after you hear one sentence, you say "my tree", "my apple", "my boy"... etc.

Back in May I signed you up for swim to john classes. I have yet to put together a video of you swimming (Daddy has not uploaded it). On the first day you said, yay swimming... you had no idea what you were in for, on the second day when I picked you up you said "no swimming" and you whined on your way there! It did get better each day, but most days you would get pretty upset before going in the pool. The session was only 2 weeks, every day... yes it was intense, but by the end of the first week you were already swimming. I must say that it was totally worth it.

Standing on the step getting ready to swim out to the middle of the pool

You said "netroguy" meaning "don't touch" pointing to your juice box on the counter. You say a lot of other very funny words in Russian, and repeat sentences as well.

For a while you've been saying that you don't want a little baby brother, but now when I ask you where is the baby you point to my tummy and say "right there!". Also when we ask you to name the baby you keep naming him "Gisha", which is really funny because that's your uncle "Grisha's" name, as well as my uncle Grisha. You seem to be stuck on that name.

Your biggest thing at the playground these days is climbing, you will attempt to climb just about everything, and some how you figure out how to do it, and then you want to do it over and over again. It's been a bit difficult to leave the playground with you, since you refuse to go. A few weeks ago you fell down from climbing up some structure at a playground, luckily you didn't injure your self, just got a few scrapes on the shoulder that you landed on and got a bit spooked. It happened right in front of daddy and it gave us a bit of a scare since it was probably from about 5 feet up in the air that you fell from. We definitely have to keep a close eye on you since you seem to have no fear at all. Not to mention a very stubborn personality, so if you don't get it the first time, you try and try again. We're still trying to figure out where you get your stubborn ways from. :) Daddy is hoping to put that stubbornness into determination when you start playing sports... we'll see how that works out in a few years.

Favorite glasses... you actually like to wear these around

Hanging out at Mission Bay

Playing in the sand,

We hope to be going to the beach a lot more this summer. You seemed to really enjoy playing in the sand and you even weren't afraid of the water, probably because there are no waves at Mission Bay unlike the regular beach.

Sascha will be a big sister!

We are pregnant! Due date is sometime around November 19th. Seems like we all like having our birthdays close together, so this one is going be a few weeks before mine and Sascha's. :) At least it's not December... unless I am 2 weeks late, and I sure hope that's not the case!

Our first appointment went well, we saw the heart beat and the baby measured a little over 8 weeks. I felt like I was so much bigger so early on, that I was actually scared to find out if we were having twins. I was happy to see one baby and a heart beat.

We have decided NOT to find out the sex this time around. It was something Jeromey asked for first time around, but I just couldn't do it the first time... I am too much of a planner, but I promised that for our 2nd time around it can be a surprise. Well it didn't exactly go according to that plan...

We also had our first trimester ultrasound. The baby did not cooperate and get into the proper position to do the measurements and we were scheduled to come back the next week. However, the baby did cooperate and show us something else, even though we really didn't want to know.

The ultrasound tech tried all sorts of different ways to get the baby in the right position, but no luck, all of the sudden we saw the baby's 2 legs, and here is what happened after:

The tech: "Who do you have at home?

Us: "A girl"

The tech: "Well, I think I know what you're having"

Us in a hurry: "We wanted to keep it a surprise!!!!!!!!"

The tech: "Oh... well that can be fun!"

As she is saying this... we see 2 legs up on the screen...

We look at each other and know exactly what we're looking at! IT'S a BOY!

She even printed a picture for us! Thanks lady... which part of "I wanted to keep it a surprise didn't you hear?" Unless of course she printed it before we blurted it out.

We didn't even think to give her a heads up on not telling us the sex prior to her getting started, mostly because we were there for the 1st trimester measurements, not the anatomy ultrasound that happens at 20 weeks, and because I am only 12 something weeks along... who would have though that you'd be able to see this early and this clearly.

After her reaction and the confirmation of the picture it really wasn't hard to figure out. There is just no way she would be this sure if it was a girl, although she never officially announced that it's a boy!

So we both left a bit in shock, we are of course super excited, but this really wasn't the way we expected to find out. But I guess this is the way things are meant to be. After a nerve racking and long appointment without any results other than finding out what we didn't expect to know,

we returned for another ultrasound the following week and the baby cooperated with the measurements and all is well, so we were very happy to hear that!

Here is a picture from one of the ultrasounds @ 12.5 weeks

Mother's day

I feel so lucky to be a mommy...

There are so many things to be thankful for, and this one is definitely at the top of the list.

I love having a little girl...
I love getting hugs and kisses every day...
I love to see Sascha's little sleepy head smile when she comes next to our bed in the morning...
I love seeing you try new things at the park...
I love reading to you...
I love hearing you speak Russian...
I love watching you learn new things...
I love seeing you be a daddy's girl and have such a special bond together...

I can go on and on...

We had a great Mother's day, even though I was still a little sick, we just kept it really low key. We had a great breakfast/brunch at my sister's house with baba and deda. Then we went home for your nap and afterwords I snapped some photos of you near a park in Scripps Ranch where we attempted to feed the ducks (apparently they're not very hungry after 5pm), so most of them flew away from us. Then we went to have dinner and had Yogurt and Boba for dessert! You loved it and so did we!

In the morning you showed me what you and daddy colaborated on. It was a very cute sign that you signed which I now have on my wall at work, and the day before you guys snapped lots of pictures and made a blog for me... just like the one I write about you, except this one was to tell me why you love me, and all the things we do together. It was so cute...
Happy Mother’ Day Mommy!

Daddy always comes up with such sweet surprises to make me feel special! I am definitely one lucky mommy to one adorable little munchkin!

Easter

We had a fun day with you on Easter. We haven't done the egg thing until this year. I learned how to make a basket this year. Since I've never really celebrated Easter before, I didn't know what to really do. And not like we really celebrate it for religious reasons now, but it all just seems in good fun, I thought why not... you should have an Easter basket full of goodies this year! So we celebrated... in a very commercial and consumer sort of way. :)

Daddy hid a bunch of eggs around the living room where you play. Just about every stuff animal was holding an egg, and you almost screamed with excitement when you found them. The very first egg you wanted to open immediately and it was filled with marshmallow bunnies and you had a couple and then we diverted your attention to more eggs, and you easily found them and put them in your basket. Then you sat down and opened every egg which either had a toy in it or a few candies. You quickly caught on and wanted more and more the candy, so we had to take it away... sorry, but you refused to eat breakfast afterwards and I of course blamed daddy for it!

We also got to celebrate it with your grandma Sherry in Old Town, she basket stuffed with great goodies for you, and a week later we did another egg hunt at grandpa Dave and grandma Laurie's house with your cousins. You loved finding the eggs there too!

Some of the funny things you're doing these days:

You are so much better at sharing, even when you see your friend drop a toy, you run up to pick it up and then give it to them (unless of course you're super interested in it). Every single day you ask to see your friend Kingston. You love playing with him and you guys play so well together! It's a good thing we live so close. Just last week we went to meet Kingston's baby sister Kasia for the first time and you really didn't mind it at all when I was holding her. You asked to hold her a few times and we said not yet, and you went back to playing. You were very curious about her and did gently pat her head, which was very cute.

Every day I am still amazed that you're such a little person now. I can ask you if you want a certain thing to eat, and you will answer. You've also tried foods and said "I don't like it" with a fussy face pushing the plate away. You say that it hurts if I pull on your hair too strong trying to brush it into a pony tail. You ask where things are? Ask to put things on. You really understand so much more than we sometimes realize. You've learned how to put your shoes on by yourself. You often choose your clothes, or you definitely let us know what you don't want to wear. You have a great memory and remember where you left things (like your "sumka", a little purse w/tiny little animals in it that you love). If I told you that you get a sticker for going on a potty, you will hold me to it, and ask for a sticker once you're done (and you're disappointed when you don't get the sticker if nothing happened when you go on the potty). You can get very silly, and make faces and funny noises and then laugh at yourself... daddy encourages this behavior a little more than I do, but it's all in good fun!

Here are some photos from Easter.

Mickey with the egg

Finding jelly beans in the egg

Sascha had her face painted for the first time

Another easter basket

Looking for the eggs with the girls

Cousins and their bunnies