A Snowy Afternoon

We've been planning to go to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend with our friends -the Roberts Family, however things like bad weather and kids sicknesses have been preventing us from going. We ended up going to Mount Laguna for an afternoon to see if we can find some snow there to play in and we were in luck. The crazy part of this is when we left our house it was already 70+ degrees. When we reached Lakeside, it was 80 and I remember thinking I bet we are in for a disappointment and there will be no snow. Luckily that wasn't the case, and it snowed so much a few weekends in a row that they still had plenty once we got up to a higher elevation. Only in San Diego... you leave the 80 degree warmth and go play in the snow. It was exceptionally warm even once we hit the snowy parts, around 62 degrees.

Cameron's first time in the snow was a big hit, except for when I tried to go down the slide with him. He was snug in the Ergo carrier, but didn't like the bumpy ride so he started crying, I guess it wasn't such a good idea to sled with him after all.

Sascha was a bit apprehensive about the snow at first, also you didn't love getting stuck in it, and that happened a lot, but then as usual, you had a really great time. You went sledding a few times, and threw snowballs at daddy, Sebastian and Ethan, and towards the end you enjoyed eating the snow as well. The kids had a great time sledding and throwing snowballs around. Then we had a very tasty dinner at Marichiaros Italian restaurant which is one of daddy's favorites from his childhood days. We followed it up by going to Vanessa & David's house to play games which is always a good time. Once it was time to leave, you of course refused to go, I think you had way too much fun with the boys.

Fun family day

I just love her curls!

Sweet baby Cameron loves being held

Sebastian and Sascha love hanging out together

3 Years and 3 Months

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I have 2 kids. Wasn't I just a kid not too long ago?

Now one is 3 Years old and another 3 Months old.

3 Month old - Cameron:
Another month flew by. You're growing like a little weed! Not sure how much you weigh. I think you are around 13 and a half pounds. You are definitely starting to be more alert. You smile, coo, and sometimes even giggle out loud now. I have seen you roll over once a few weeks ago, but you haven't done it again... wonder if that was just an accidental roll.

Also you have found both of your hands, and they are constantly in your mouth, especially the thumbs. Pacifier is still in use, however, I almost think you prefer the hands. They're just not always available since I swaddle you. You seem to have a knack for busting out of the swaddlers, so at night I've been swaddling you in the Miracle Blanket, which used to be Sascha's. It has pink trim around it...hopefully you won't mind :)

Unfortunately you recently got your first cold. Sascha has been coughing for over a week now, and finally you caught a similar bug but on a slightly smaller scale. Your little nose gets all stuffed up and you have a hard time breathing through it, which makes you cough, especially when you are nursing. At least there were no fevers involved for either one of you and you are still sleeping through the night...such a little trooper.

What does bother you, is when I squirt Ocean saline drops into your nostrils and then try to use the suction bulb to help loosen things up. You start screaming. Apparently you're not a fan of the suction bulb... I can't blame you, I don't think I would be a fan either.

I still cannot believe how calm of a baby you are. I can take you anywhere. We do little yoga baby classes and you are the quietest baby there, just smiling and hanging out. We've taken you to dinner a bunch of times, and we hardly even need to take you out of the car seat. If you fuss, you are perfectly content when you get your pacifier. If you're tired I give you the pacifier and rock you in the car seat and within a few minutes you fuss yourself to sleep. Aaaah... how did I get so lucky to have 2 perfect little babies! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

A little valentines day bundle of joy

3 Years & 2 Months old - Sascha:
Things you love at the moment are doing somersaults, dancing, singing, playing with play-doh, your princesses (Snow white seems to be the favorite at the moment), your stuffed animals, small toys like these little frogs that you obsess over.

One of the funniest things that you do lately is to declare to us "I would like my privacy" when we help you go potty. As soon as you get situated and look up from settling comfortably on the potty, you let it be known that you like to left alone to handle your business, and you attempt to push us out of the bathroom and close the door. While it is adorable, it is also such a clear reminder of how quickly you are becoming a big girl. We are almost certain that you will soon be requesting your independence in the many other things that we currently help you with.

We celebrated Valentines day and I made a special card with Sascha in it for her preschool and one of Cameron with the same sign. Sascha is holding up a stick which I punched a hole in to stick a lollipop into, so it turned out super cute. Everyone at preschool really loved it!

You do not like taking naps, but most of the days I do get you to take one. Usually I have to threaten the policeman to come get you before you will finally give in and lay down. I have explained to you that a policeman is actually a good guy, and that he protects us from the bad guys. I have also explained that he takes away children who are being bad... you of course believe me and don't want him to come get you, so eventually you settle down and go to sleep. Sometimes it takes you over an hour to do that. I then have to wake you up, since I don't want you sleeping too late, because when you sleep past 5pm, you won't settle down for bedtime at night until about 10pm which is also no good. Pretty soon I think you'll be dropping that nap.

A few times I've told you that it's ok if you don't go to sleep and just have quiet time in your room with books. You brought a ton of books in your bed and pretended to read, it was very cute. After an hour or so I came in and we read a few of them together and you insisted on sitting on my lap.

You've been refusing to go potty and then waiting till the last second and of course then you have lots of accidents. When you do go potty at home, you ask us to close the door and say "I need my privacy!" When did you get this big. At the same time, you ask to be fed at dinner!? Go figure!

We painted your finger nails and your toe nails for the first time! You were so excited, and now you show your hands to everyone! Although, when any of the paint on your fingernails starts to slightly come off, it is a really big concern. Little simple things like this really do make it so fun having a girl!

The bedtime routine has always been a bit of a challenge, but it is still a wonderfully precious time that we spend with you, even if you tend to give us a hard time. Luckily, you seem to be completely comfortable with brushing your teeth and flossing. It is just part of the routine, and you actually look forward to making big swishes and spits with the water.

Lately Daddy and you have started to choreograph little dances to the song that happens to be playing on the ipod when you are getting dressed in your pj's. It is so adorable, and something that I keep telling myself that we need to video. Mostly you do cute little spins, gyrations, spirit fingers, leg lifts, and moonwalks to the music. You are surprisingly close to the beat most of the time.

I think your favorite songs for the dances are "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground" by Michael Jackson and "Walking on the Moon" by the Police. You try to copy what Daddy does and you always have such a big smile and enthusiasm to show me "your new dance moves." I love to have a front row seat to every performance and really hope that you keep this habit up.

We just love this age, and sometimes wish we could just slow it down, and keep you from growing up so fast. We know this is not possible, but it really makes you think about doing everything you can as a parent to savor and enjoy each and every moment.

This was the card I made for your preschool class.

Thanks for my friend Vanessa who helped put the text on the photo. I so need to get my hands on Photoshop and take a class! Hopefully soon!!! Everyone loved the card, I even got a thank you card commenting on how adorable Sascha's valentine was from one of the moms in her class. So sweet! This definitely wasn't my idea, I wish I was this creative. It was a friend of ours Elisa who we met going to the 4S library. She has a daughter Sascha's age, and a son who was born just 10 days after Cameron and an older daughter. She's super sweet and creative and I am so happy she shared this with me.

Tuesdays & Thursdays

These happen to be the best and the busiest days of our week. It's when Sascha is home from preschool and we have a day full of fun things planed. Tuesdays we started a new dance class at Danceology in 4S Ranch. It's a combo class, half ballet, half tap and you love it. You were so excited to put on your tap shoes for the first time. Then we either go to a playground, or My Kids Playhouse or Kidding Around which is an indoor playground. Also we have 3 classes planned at JW Tumbles which is a fun little gymnastics place. Then we usually go home to eat lunch, nap, wake up and play for a few more hours until daddy comes home! Thursday we have a Play & Learn hour at the library which you really enjoy. Before that we usually go to the playground as well. It's been a lot of fun spending this time together. I keep thinking ... I am so lucky to be on maternity leave! :) Although 3 months have already flown by, and I only have 2 months left, I am determined to make the best of it. I am sure we'll be going to Sea World a few times, and we also have tickets to the Aquarium, Science center and the Children's museum, all to be used in the next few months.
Unfortunately I've been pretty terrible at bringing the camera with me places, it's just too big to carry around, and between 2 kids, diaper bag, kid carrier or stroller, lunch bag, I just can't keep track of yet another thing... so I need to be better at taking pictures when we go places... I have a little while to correct that :)

Sascha has been such a little character lately. She is super stubborn, neither one of us knows where she gets that quality! There are times when she is a sweet angel, and says "ok mommy" to everything I ask her to do, and of course there are times when I am pulling my hair out trying to get her to listen and follow directions. She will look right at us, and do the opposite. Is this a 3 year old thing? I don't know, but it can be pretty frustrating for daddy and I. Half the time we find ourselves negotiating with you. If you don't eat this, then you won't get this, or if you don't come here right now, we throw this toy in the trash... so that's how it seems to go. Your eating habits have stayed the same. The latest you refuse to eat is pizza! What kind of kid doesn't eat pizza? I have no idea! Lets hope Cameron is a better eater than you, and you can soon follow his lead.


Playing your favorite game of Jenga with Baba & Deda

First Video of Cameron

I have seriously lagged behind on video, the last video I posted of Sascha was a year ago! Daddy is more of the video guy, I do more photos than video. Here is a quick one of Cameron since he is starting to smile, coo and interact so much more now.

2 Months

Cameron is changing so much lately. I forget how quickly babies go through their stages, seems like every week he changes and does something new. He found his left hand and sucks on his thumb whenever he can find it. He smiles a lot more now and coos. Yes... it puts a huge smile on our face to see him do that. He follows me with his eyes, and is so much more alert now. He's sleeping at night and I am so grateful for that! Anywhere from 6 to almost 8 hrs! woo hoo! I have figured out how to cope with his evening eating habits, he has to get burped a LOT! For some reason he gets a lot of air, and that's what causes him to be so fussy. At least that's what I think... and it has gotten a bit better, I can just tell when he's getting upset so I stop feeding and burp, sometimes it's 4 to 6 times during a feeding, not the normal 2 times. He's eating like a champ and is already growing out of the 3 month clothing.

Here are his stats from the 2 month appointment:

Height: 24 inches - 78%
Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz - 34%
Head Circ: 15.25 inches - 16%

He loves his sister, and pretty much stops crying when she stops by the bouncer or the swing to see him. When Cameron cries, Sascha drops everything and runs over to see if he's ok, I thought that would wear off by now, but she still does it. She also wants to be the one to put the pacifier in his mouth to stop him from crying. She knows where to look for it too! What a great little helper! Whenever we meet someone or see someone at the park that she hasn't seen, she wants to tell them that she has a baby brother. She calls him baby brother all the time and when we go somewhere she asks "What about baby brother?", as if we would have forgotten to bring him if she didn't remind us.

Having both of them 2 days a week has been fun. Lots of work and I really don't get much downtime unless I get them asleep at the same time, which is just enough time to eat lunch, check email, and may be a load of laundry, but I try to catch up on the other days when I don't have both kids at home with me. On Thursday's we go to the Learn & Play library time, which is great. There are stations set up to do arts and crafts, play doh, and other things and the last 20 minutes is story time. On Tuesday we either go to the park or another story time at a different library. We'll start going to Sea World soon, since we have the passes, as well as some indoor play areas. I am so thankful for this time off to spend with both of them. I know I will truly miss it when I go back to work. Hopefully I will be able to work 4 days a week instead of 5, and then plan some fun things for us to do on that day off.

Happy New Year - 2011!

It's been tough to keep up with the blog and sometimes I wonder why I even do this, no one really reads it, except for a few people and me. But once I get done with a post, I feel happy that I did make time to write my thoughts down. It's amazing how quickly we forget things, and I know Daddy and I will be glad we did this and who knows, maybe I can even put it into a book for the kids one day. I am sure it will be fun for them to read more about their childhood since we seldom have any memories of it ourselves. So one of my new years resolutions is not to abandon the blog, even though life is a bit busier now with two kiddos and to finish this post I've had to stay up really really late.

Here is what we've been up to during the Holiday Season. Sascha absolutely loved having lights put up on the house and our Christmas tree and all the other decorations we had to celebrate the holiday. She told everyone at preschool how daddy put up lights. She wanted to go check out other people's lights too and even made a comment that our neighbor Mr. Matt had more lights on his house. It was hilarious that she communicated that she would be happier if we had more pretty lights on the house.

Of course, Daddy went out and bought even more lights to put up after that. Of course we took you to Christmas card lane, and another beautiful light display in Poway near aunt Inna's house, as well as drove though Pepper Dr. that's famous for lights too. So you got plenty of it! You pointed out many Santas and Snowmen. We happened to just take the tree and the lights down a few days ago, and you were really really sad to see them go. You almost cried and said you wanted them back. You came downstairs that morning and literally just stood there staring at the empty space in the corner of the room with all of the loose tree needles that had fallen as a reminder of your tree. We had to explain to you that once Santa comes and goes, the decorations, lights, and the tree also goes until next year. You also loved the holiday music, and sang jingle bells all the time... still do. We also went to December nights at Balboa Park. It was one of our first outings as a family of 4, and was a bit challenging because there was no private place at the park for me to feed baby Cameron, and Sascha decided to have a tantrum for no reason, but we got through it and learned from it too.

We had the joy of watching you at your preschool holiday performance. It was ADORABLE! You sang, you danced, you jingled the bells. You did all the little things that were asked of you, and we were so proud. You seemed to really enjoy being up on the little stage in front of everyone, when we expected you to be very shy. You were so excited that we believe you were the child that initiated all of the rambunctious jumping up and down.

Daddy was off between Christmas and New Years so we really enjoyed getting out of the house and making new memories. We went to the Zoo and to Sea World, where Sascha was so elated to get the chance to see her favorite sea animal: the penguins, and she also had the privilege of meeting Elmo and watching the Sesame Street dancing show. Finally we celebrated Daddy's Birthday by going to see Tangled together, which Sascha loved every second of. Little brother Cameron came along most places, except for the movies.

Christmas day was a lot of fun, as expected. You fell asleep on the way home from daddy's birthday dinner so we didn't get a chance to do the ringing of the bells outside your window or other things, but I did leave carrots, cookies and milk for Santa so that you would see the next morning that he was here. I am not sure you got that part of it... but you sure loved opening all the gifts! Grandma Sherry came over with Zac and she shared some of the traditional food recipes that your daddy is so used to eating during the holidays. Daddy really wanted to learn how to make some of the things his Grandpa Carl used to make, and he spent almost all day in the kitchen, which was interesting to observe. I have to say, the food was delicious. We can just hope that Daddy is up to the task again next year :) You played shoots & ladders with uncle Zac. Baba and Deda came over to spend time with us too and we even played cards and Jenga afterwards. All the excitement of the day was probably a bit overwhelming for you, because we couldn't get you to fall asleep. Eventually around 10pm, Daddy brought you down because you sat on the stairs hiccuping and let you play a round of Jenga with us before everyone left to go home.

On New Years Eve we had another Christmas celebration with Grandpa David and Grandma Laurie since he had just gotten back from Denver. You got even more spoiled at there house with gifts! The absolute winner was the radio flyer car and ramp set that you couldn't stop riding in the backyard. It was so hilarious. You would get on the little car, have your cousin Angelina or Carolyn push you down the ramp, and then when your car came to a stop, you would jump up and shout "My turn - Again!" over and over. We think you liked that present a little bit.

We celebrated New Years at our friends Leo and Marina's house where you got to run around and play with your buddies Matty and Ben. The highlight of the night had to be when the parents were all attempting to get the three older children to settle down and go to sleep. The strategy was to put them all inside Matty's crib and read them a couple of bedtime stories. Of course, this was flawed, as caging them all up together actually got them even more wound up, but it was too cute. Eventually Marina, with her magic touch, got Sascha to go to sleep with very little resistance. We are going to have to have her come over to our house every night Sascha puts up a battle. We went home shortly after ringing in the new year.

On New Years day we got together with Baba, Deda, Inna, Grisha, & Aaron. That's been a tradition of ours as well since in Russia kids got presents for New Years. We had a nice brunch in La Jolla, enjoyed walking around in the beautiful weather that day and then went back to our house to open gifts.

All in all, our holiday was the most enjoyable yet as a family. We cannot imagine how fun and exciting it will continue to become as the children get older and more aware. I know Daddy and I cannot wait until next year, even though it is so much work!

Cameron is now 8 weeks old. We have his 2 month appointment and shots coming up. He is getting more alert and occasionally coos and smiles. He seems to be eating great and gaining weight well, although evening feedings have become a bit of a problem lately. He refuses to nurse, and starts screaming and I eventually give in and give him a bottle. Frustrating... especially since I can't figure out what's wrong, but just like everything I am sure it's just a phase and will pass. I end up burping you every other minute and you seem to feel better but you won't start eating. Sleeping has been pretty consistent. The longest stretch at night has been 6 hours which is GREAT! I think Sascha may have been sleeping 7 or 8 by now, but I will take 6! He loves to snuggle and be held... of course.

These two little babies are precious gifts in our lives. I love watching Sascha take care of Cameron and get a concerned look on her face when he cries. I am sure Cameron will grow up trying to protect his big sister as well. It's such a blessing watching them grow up into the adorable little people that they are.

At the preschool Holiday Performance

Family photo on Christmas morning... yes we are wearing matching PJs (thanks to Grandpa David and Grandma Laurie)

Opening gifts from Santa

So excited to meet Elmo at Sea World

This was the wettest December ever... many opportunities to try out the rain gear Santa brought for Sascha

Our little Santa