A belated Memorial Day Post

So- 4 whole days at home without Mommy. Did I really sign up for this?

Yes, I must admit, leading up to the long Memorial Day weekend, I didn’t give it much thought. How tough could it be? I can feed, clothe, bathe, entertain, discipline, and otherwise care for my two beautiful children. I would worry about how we would all survive after Anna left on her 4-day trip to Fresno. How did she survive when I left to Florida for 6 days with hardly any help!

Chances were, I figured, that even if I couldn’t follow the extremely detailed 2-page manual entitled “How to take care of the kids while I am gone” exactly perfect, the kiddos and I could get by for four days.

I was right. We did it. Albeit with much help from Deda, Grandpa& Grandma Laurie, Grandma Sherry, Inna, Grisha, and Aaron at various times throughout the weekend. But even with a parental wingman, always having the primary responsibility for the kiddos keeps you on your toes at all times.

But – I get it now. Looking after two young kiddos on your own for multiple days is extremely draining, frustrating at times, begins to test your patience with the most routine of things that don’t go according to the expected routine, and has you forget about anything and everything that you might have thought you wanted to do for yourself – like eat, drink, and sleep. The basics aren’t easy to do.

I think I only brushed my teeth in the morning 1 time out of the 4 days. Gross I know, but I just didn’t have the time. So, it goes without saying that my little plan to go for a run each day of the holiday weekend did not happen even once.

After the long weekend experience I can honestly say two things that I already knew:

1) I appreciate and love my wife dearly for everything she does to love, support, and care for me and our two children on a daily basis. Anna is a wonderful wife and mother.

2) I cannot tell you how much I adore my two wonderful children. Not just because they decided that they would be little angels for me, but because being with them alone for an extended period of time gave me the opportunity to appreciate and pay attention to all of the little things that make them so adorable to me.
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“Calling in Reinforcements”

The key to survival, as I thought it might be, was to call in the reinforcements for assistance, at least with occupying one of the kids, when I had to perform a necessary responsibility for the other. After this weekend, I would refer to this as a new golden rule.

Some friends in your life you appreciate very much, and then there are a select few that you simply treasure. Leo is one of those to me. I absolutely treasure the limited times I have to spend with him. I think he has a sixth sense or something when it comes to knowing just the right time and just how to lend a hand, small or large to help out. He is the type of person that seems to consider just about everyone else in his life first, before tending to himself, if at all.

What a great guy. He literally shows up at the door a mere half an hour after Mommy left for her trip, and he brought his son Matty to play with and entertain Sascha. I believe that Leo knew that this was the absolute best assistance he could attempt to provide me to get my parenting skills grounded for the long weekend. I didn't seem to know it, but it was exactly the assistance I needed to calmly execute the morning care instructional plan for Cameron and start off on the right track to parental domination.

With the first of the morning down, we talked both Deda and Grandpa into coming over and spending the day with us as soon as we got up and going. Sascha was very excited that BOTH of them were going to play with us all day long, probably because she knows that she has all three of us wrapped around her little finger. We can’t say no to you. Well, I can, but when the other two say yes before I can say no, it makes it more difficult. This was one of the minor drawbacks of all reinforcements - they spoil the heck out of you guys. But nonetheless, I realized that to get through this weekend, reinforcements are to be appreciated and called upon often. This trend would continue.

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Sascha, my doll, you cracked me up this past weekend. I will have to try and explain the many ways. Almost every day you tend to do or say something very subtle that makes me fall in love with you again and again. I think this weekend, I was more sensitive to it, and was really able to focus on you and your needs completely. When I do that, I realize I am much more aware and can appreciate it all much better.

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“I Have to Pee” – a song sung to the tune of Sascha’s dance recital routine “I Hope You Dance.”

Sascha has been practicing a routine in her dance class that she will be performing in a dance recital in just a few weeks from now. Recently, you have started to hum the song randomly throughout the day, and I even catch you doing a “ton-due” or a “re-luh-vay” here and there that lets me know you are paying attention, and practicing it on your own.
Well, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when you came prancing up to me sliding left and right changing the position of your arms over your head as you sang “I have to pee…I have to pee” exactly to the tune of the song “I hope you dance.”
You of course, immediately grinned from ear to ear and started giggling, very proud of the funny you had just made. It is just hilarious to me that you have taken the song, and started to make your own words for the song relate to what you are doing. I love it and I can only hope you keep it up. It is very entertaining. Maybe add a choreographed dance to this and you will be set.

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“Deda? Why you have no hair?”

Another very amusing thing that you did while Deda was holding you on the couch, is that you suddenly realized that Deda doesn’t have much hair on the top of his head. Your attention to the matter became very serious as you went from a playful laugh to a very concerned and direct line of questioning. You needed to know how and why your Deda didn’t have hair, and you didn’t like Deda’s answers at first, constantly following up with another “Why Deda?”

I kept waiting for you to ask him why he “broke his hair.” This is usually your reaction to things that don’t seem quite right to you. Maybe you are starting to observe and understand things differently, because you will continue to ask until you get the answer you like. Seems like a good strategy for most things.

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“Of course you can have some ice cream - even if you will spill more of it than you will get into your tummy.”

While we were at the playground, you were alerted to the presence of an ice cream man.

I think under normal conditions, when the little van rolls up and plays what sounds like an outdated flip-phone ring tone, I can easily distract you and get you to focus on something else.

For some reason, all of the kids around us started cheering and running to their parents asking for ice cream money. It must have been pretty clear to you that you could employ the same technique, but just not on me. No, you wisely ran right past me, and over to Deda and told him that you needed money to buy ice cream. It was so hilarious, and of course Deda could not say no, so you came back in a few minutes so proud of the “Big Spiderman Ice Cream!” that you picked out.

Thing was the bright bluest and bright reddest ice cream I had ever seen. Also, as is usually the case, you can’t eat it faster than it can melt. This always leads to the ice cream dripping all over your shirt, face, getting into your hair, shorts and shoes before you realize it and like the spot. In less than 2 minutes, I was scrubbing you with the limited supply of baby wipes just to prevent the inevitable. You were going to look like a smurf, and you were so happy about it.

Finally, as is also usually the case, Daddy ate the majority of the ice cream :)

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“She is getting so brave.”

Deda and Grandpa were pretty amazed at how fearless you seemed to attack each of the playground structures. Maybe the first time you attempted to climb up or down something, you would look to make sure that one of us were there to assist you just in case, but after that, you started running up and down very steep ladders, climbing walls, and slides. You were intent on mastering one set of moving platforms in particular. Within minutes, where the other kids were cautiously reaching, holding, balancing, and stepping to get across each time, you not only dismissed assistance, you wanted to go faster each time you tried.

It seems that you have a rather competitive spirit, especially when the other kids are bigger than you. I hope that you start to understand where you limits are on the playground, so that you don’t overdo it one of these times. I guess we are going to have to watch you like a hawk anytime you get on the playground.

Another funny observation happened when Inna and Grisha brought Calvin over to say hi to you before we left the playground. Its always fun to watch your extreme change of emotions when you are around big doggies. At first you are very excited, and you almost jump up and down and giggle, but then almost immediately when the dog is within arm’s reach, you get extremely scared and hide behind my leg. Your face also changes emotions along with your actions. It is just so funny.

Well, after you got very timid and hid behind me, you quickly built up enough courage to run by Calvin and touch him briefly as you ran past on your way to hide behind a big tree. It was almost as if you attempted to time your “hit and run” petting for when Calvin was distracted. Then, like a bunny rabbit, you hopped out, touched him briefly, and skipped over to the big tree, where you peeked out to see Calvin’s reaction.

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“Grandpa is your Daddy, Deda is Mommy’s Daddy, and YOU are MY Daddy!”

We ended up going to dinner the first night Mommy left. We went to our favorite little greek cafe in our old Carmel Mountain neighborhood where our favorite waitress was soooo happy to see you and your baby brother. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal even though we all tag-teamed to hold, prepare a bottle, and feed Cameron. A confidence building dinner out (with help of course).

At one point during the dinner you turned and playfully asked me “Who is your Daddy?” out of the blue. You were looking at Grandpa, almost encouraging me to point to him, and when I did, you followed that question up with “...and who is Mommy’s Daddy?” Again, you started looking at Deda, and when I pointed to him, you got a big smile on your face and you pointed at me and almost shouted “...and YOU are my Daddy!” We all started laughing. It was very clear that you were tickled pink to be spending time with all three of us at the same time.

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“I Hope You Dance”

You did such an awesome job following along in dance class. Even though Mommy always describes your attentiveness much differently, I never seem to have a problem with you following up on your commitment to me to pay attention to Miss Jackie and try your best to dance like a big girl.

Even a couple of the other mommies made a comment to me about how great a job following along and trying your best you were doing. I was very proud of you! I cannot wait to see how you might perform when you get up on a big stage for your recital. I have a feeling that it won’t be too big for you, and you are going to want to show everyone in the audience how well you can follow the steps. That’s my girl!

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“Yes, he’s always like this.”

Cameron, you were nearly a perfect child the entire weekend. You had a few moments during the middle of the night, and of course it was tough to deal with the 5am bottle requests, but I couldn’t have asked for a more calm and smiley guy with such a sweet disposition.

You seem to greet everyone you see with a happy smile.

And now for proof that we actually did it! Here are a few photos... we had a great time, and mommy should have breaks like this more often!

Everybody helping!

Gotta love that ice cream Deda bought you... must have been highlight of the day, enjoying the small things in life

Sascha's First Dance Recital

We've been looking forward to this for a few weeks now, and we got to finally witness what it would be like to see our child perform. Whatever stage it may be, dancing, playing the an instrument, or doing a sport. We got to experience what it's like to watch our little person do an activity they enjoy doing and get praise for it. It was exciting, nerve recking, and heartwarming all at the same time. We loved it!

Lets back up a few weeks...

In dance class you have been practicing a choreographed dance routine by Miss Jackie to a song by Lee Ann Womack "I hope we dance". I am not going to lie it's pretty cute. Of course you don't do all the moves, and very often half way into the routine you just stop, and get distracted by other dancers, BUT does it really matter? You're adorable!

A few weeks ago we picked up your costume and for some reason you wanted nothing to do with it. A week later you let me put it on you and you seemed to like prancing around like a little ballerina, complaining about the itchy arm bands :)

Luckily we also had a dress rehearsal a few days before the recital where you were able to see the big stage and preform your dance there in full costume. The only problem was, you refused to put it on. Hmm... we left the house in normal clothes and I brought it with me to the theater. Once we got there you were mezmerized by all the girls dancing and when I mentioned that you will go up on the stage and dance too you looked scared and immediately declared "NO". Oh boy!

I let you sit and watch a few performances since we got there early, I also pointed out that all your dancer friends are already wearing their dresses, but stubbornly you refused. I took you outside the theater and tried to put it on, that's where you started to cry. I knew I couldn't force you to wear it. People came by and made comments about how pretty your outfit was, but nothing really helped. A few minutes before you were due on stage I found Miss Jackie and told her our dilema and thank goodness she was willing and free to help. She talked to you so sweetly and you listened like a good girl and finally allowed us to put your costume on. Yay! I couldn't even fix your hair since you got wisked away as soon as your ballet shoes were on. I did your hair at home before we left, but it was totally messy by the time we got to the theater, not to mention it's almost impossible to keep it neat without fly aways. You looked a bit scared going up on stage, and you had your finger in your mouth, which you always do when you get nervous or shy, but you seemed to have no problems once you were up there.

You got to perform the dance on stage twice. And I attempted to get video and photo both since it wouldn't be allowed during the real performance. Needless to say both were pretty poor quality. Miss Jackie was on the side doing the moves so some of the girls were turned in that direction because they would watch and follow her which was pretty funny. It was so fun to see you on stage. You did a great job and I was a proud mama, even with total anxiety after the whole costume ordeal that you put me through earlier. You were finished and I offered for you to take the costume off and of course you didn't want to and you said you want to go dance again. Haha, of course you do! I let you watch a few more before we had to go.


On the day of we had you watch a video that daddy made of your class practicing the dance and you actually practiced a few times which was cute. This time around I dressed you up at home, so you were pretty much ready to go even though your actual performance was in the second half after the intermission. You sat on daddy's lap and grandpa's lap the whole time watching all the dancers. You seemed to really enjoy it. When I asked if you were ready to go up on stage, you looked at me and said "NO" in a whiny little voice. During the intermission, we walked all the way around to where the dancers checked in, I stayed back stage with you for about 15 minutes. You guys had coloring books, and snacks and you seemed to be doing just fine, so I went back to watch the rest of the dances and wait anxiously to see you on stage. There were 5 other dancers with you and all of you got walked out on stage to perform. You did great! I thought I would get emotional like Baba did and Grandpa, but I really didn't. I had this nervous energy the whole time as if it was me there on stage. It was a great recital. The little dancers were super cute, and the older ones I really enjoyed as well. So many people came to watch you. Baba, Deda, Inna, Grisha, Aaron, Grandma Laurie, Grandpa and even aunt Maria and uncle Mike from Florida (they were in town for Zac's high school graduation). Of course Cameron came too. Thanks to grandma Laurie for hanging out with him in the back. He was a total trooper as always. Laurie said that he got scared once because it got loud, but then he really enjoyed watching as well and towards the end fell asleep in her arms. Everyone really enjoyed all of the performances. It was a special evening, we took pictures afterwards with your dancer friends and miss Jackie and then with family. I hope your love for dance keeps growing and that this will be one of many recitals that we get to enjoy watching you dance in.

Here are some of my favorite pictures! Bottom right picture cracks me up. Your arms are going one way and Sophia's arms next to you are going the opposite way.

May be I'll post the Video a bit later... once I get it uploaded :)

At the Rehearsal

On the day of the recital

Baby boy Cameron - 7 months

Oh my happy little boy! You are always so smiley, sometimes you spot me from across the room and as soon as I smile you get a huge grin on your face that just melts my heart. Of course you give that reaction to daddy and Sascha and just about everyone else too. Almost everyone else... sometimes you get scared of something or someone. That happened a few times when your nanny Lada carried you over to see her husband who is usually waiting in the car for her when I come back from work. At first you would cry once you saw him, a really mad cry too. Now you just stare... really funny how babies react to different people.

Your sleeping habits have not changed much, you love waking up at 5am for a feeding. Sometimes it's 5:30 or 6am, but it's still early!!! Sometimes you wake up at 4am and end up in our bed the rest of the night... trying to get out of your swaddle. Yes I still swaddle you... you sleep terribly when you're not. I am guessing this will last another few weeks and then I will give it up, which means we'll be sleep deprived for a few days.

Your favorite thing to play in is the jumpie! Oh how you love that thing, you bounce in it like a crazy maniac and laugh and giggle. You also love the going around thing, both of which we had for Sascha. You push the piano buttons and now able to move your feet to go around the table.

You sit up pretty well now too. A few falls here and there, but you seem to be pretty stable. Rolling has become a challenge, you just don't really roll much.

Food wise I think you're doing well. You eat just about everything I give you, and I think we'll start to see if you like meat soon just because it seems pretty boring to keep feeding you the same fruits and veggies. Baba started to make you Mazoni (her homemade yogurt) and you really enjoy having that too.

It's been really sweet watching you interact with Sascha. The bigger you get the more you guys seem to play together. Sascha comes up to you and hands you toys, as well as taking them away of course :). She talks to you in a sweet little voice, a few decibels higher than her regular voice which sounds really funny at times. Cameron loves the attention from Sascha and if she leaves, he starts to cry sometimes.

Sitting pretty well at 7 months

Playing outside with your big sister Sascha

These pictures were pretty difficult to take, Cameron cooperated for about 5 minutes tops. As soon as I put him outside, his eyes started to water and get all red. Poor guy, he seems to have the same sensitivity to sun as his sister did, although hers was worse. At least his face doesn't get all red like hers did. Sascha hardly cooperated, which is why the above picture of them both is not very good (and it's the best one I got) It's a tough job taking photos of kids, especially when there is more than one.

Children's Museum

We've been meaning to visit the New Children's Museum for a few months now... finally we made it out there. Both Daddy and I took a Friday off and made a fun day out of it.

It was full of fun things for Sascha to do and explore. She had a great time, and we'll definitely come back again! Her favorite was probably the bouncy, she kept wanting to take us into it with her. She really had a great time doing all sorts of things, arts & crafts, blowing bubbles, climbing up the wall, rain house, painting a big whale and sculpting out of clay. Once we were done withe the museum, we had a nice lunch at a Greek place just around the corner.

Cameron was a perfect little baby, happy to look around and observe while Sascha ran all over the place.

I wish we had more Friday's like this one!

Cameron - 6 Months

Half a year flew by. You're eating solids and doing much better with digesting them. Most of the time you start demanding more as we are feeding you, as in we are not fast enough... hopefully Sascha will learn from you and become a better eater. I am once again making most of the baby food myself. I'll be buying a few things that I don't normally cook or things that are not in season at the moment, otherwise I love buying organic fruits and veggies and steaming them. We have 2 great blenders that do a good job of pureeing the food. One that's for smaller portions and a Vita - Mix for the large portions. So far you have tried sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas, apple, peaches, prunes and different cereals. What's not so great is that you stopped drinking your 5 oz bottle of milk that you usually drank. I haven't figured out what it is yet, do you not like the frozen milk? Do you not like the bottle any more? Our nanny is having a really hard time having you finish your bottle. I've even tried to give it to you and sure enough after 2 oz, you refused it. So I tried nursing right after and sure enough you nursed, so clearly you weren't completely full. I've even tried a faster Level 3 nipple and you don't seem to be ready for it yet, since it makes you choke on the milk. At this point I am not really sure how much you are getting since I am nursing 2-3 times a day and you usually get 2 bottle feedings while I am at work. I am hoping that you get at least 20-24 oz a day, but I am really not sure if that's the case.

You hold conversations... in baby talk of course, but none the less they seem to be full sentences of whatever it is your talking about. Your squeals have gotten louder too, seems like you are really starting to discover your voice. You've learned how to make funny noises with your lips which also makes you spit, almost like a horse sound... pretty entertaining since you will repeatedly do especially after we start mimicking it. A day after you turned 6 month we heard your first "DADA" sounds, I am working very hard on the "MAMA" sounds since feeling a little left out. Just Kidding!

I think you're pretty close to almost be sitting on your own. You are definitely getting stronger and stronger. You roll but not too often, usually on softer surfaces like the couch (yes... I do supervise) and inside the crib. We still swaddle you for naps and night time. It worked for Sascha and it seems to work for you as well. However lately I see your arms creep out of the swaddle. Not sure if that wakes you up or not... but I think pretty soon we may have to stop swaddling you.

You have mastered the happy baby yoga pose where you hold your feet with your hands laying on your back and roll back and forth. Very often the feet end up in your mouth. Actually everything you grab or I give to you ends up in your mouth, which of course means you are drooling a ton.

Generally you are a super happy and smiley baby, but there have been a few incidents where you get spooked by someone and start crying. Sometimes they are really upset cries and other time your lower lip starts to quiver and you get this sad look on your face.

Your visit to the doctor was pretty uneventful. I complained about your itchy cradle cap (mentioning how you clawed your head a few weeks ago), but since I was already doing something about it, there wasn't much else to say, and about some eczema under your chin and around the neck as well as behind your knees which I also keep under control with a cream once I see that it's getting really red. You were super smiley and happy the whole time we were there. Of course that changed as soon as the evil nurse came back and gave you shots. You cried after the second shot, but composed yourself quickly after I picked you up and comforted you.

Your stats:
Weight: 15 lbs. 12 oz (16%)
Height: 27 inches (67%)
Head circ: 16.75 inches (16%)

Looks like your weight percentile dropped down, but the pediatrician didn't seem too concerned. I of course was wishing it didn't. :) Your height is keeping steady.

Your wake up times have been anywhere between 5 am to 7am. I think the 7am happened once or twice and I was soo thankful. Your bedtime has been earlier and earlier lately, it's been hard to keep you up past 9pm, so that's pretty much your norm now. I nurse you and also give you a bottle and put you to bed shortly after Sascha is down for the night. Sometimes you guys will get a shared story time which is just so cute! Sascha holds you in her lap and Daddy reads a story. It's so sweet.

A few times you have ended up in our bed when you wake up early morning. Also when I get ready for work and you're up, I put you on the bed next to daddy and you play there for a little bit. You're usually in such a good mood in the morning, I love it... sometimes I just hold you for a few extra minutes after you eat. I treasure our morning snuggles on the rocking chair. How quickly this baby phase passes, I know I will surely miss it once you'll be on the go in another few months.

On your actual 6 month birthday I was determined to get some pictures of you. So when I got home from work, I quickly set a few things up and started shooting. Sascha was on her way to swim class, so I only got a few shots of you together before daddy took her, but that just meant I had more uninterrupted time of the two of us together to try different things. I did get some really cute pictures of you before you got tired and fussy. I only wish I had more time to play around with this awesome camera and really learn how to use it!

A little blurry but the only decent picture I captured of the two kiddos

I finally figured out how to make collages. Much better than posting a ton of full sized pictures.

Sascha - almost 3 and 1/2

Lately you have been asking me ahead of time who are we going to see today? And what are we going to do? You seem to really enjoy being out and about and rarely want to go home. Very often when I pick you up from preschool and we get in the car, you will ask the same 2 questions. And if I say we are going home, you start whining in disappointment. One weekend morning I told you we would see your buddy Sebastian. Later when we came back upstairs to get dressed and you and I were picking out your outfit. You rejected a few that I pulled out and then went ahead and picked a pretty pink dress and said: "I wanna wear this one... for Sebastian... to look at"

I was speechless. Does this boy stuff really start this early? Most of your friends that you play with in preschool are girls, even though the class is 70% boys. But most of our friends have boys your age, and not girls so very often you are the only girl in the mix.

The other funny thing I heard you do is you talk before you go to bed. I stood by the door listening and there was no surprise... you were pretending to talk to Mr. Josh - your swim instructor. You talked about where the pool is, and an octopus toy and then you started describing your day and how your saw your friend Sebastian. I walked into your room and asked you to close your eyes and go to sleep, but you answered with "But I am talking to Mr. Josh". haha Very often you wake up and point to an empty corner and tell us that there is a princess there and you pretend to carry her on the palm of your hand. You have quite an imagination. :)

Your friends at preschool are Vivian, Sadie and Sammy. You finally started to tell us about your day once we pick you up. You started to say "so and so is not my friend" and I ask why? and I don't usually get an answer that makes sense. You make up some random thing...

A few times you have told us that we are not your friends... usually it's after we didn't let you do something and this is your way to be mad at us. You also say "I don't like that" if we give you a hurry up push, pick you up when you are not cooperating or raise our voices.

On Mothers day Daddy got me a pretty bracelet and you gave me a bag that held pretty charms to put on the bracelet with the letter "S" and "C". Sascha knows her letter very well and she wanted to keep the charm too. Now she looks at my bracelet and says that's mine and I keep having to explain to her that it's her letter "S" and I get to wear it on the bracelet and it reminds me of her every time I look at it. It was a very sweet and thoughtful present from Daddy!

You still love giving your baby brother hugs and kisses. Another thing you love doing is getting into his stuff. I am sure it's just a phase (which may last a long time), but all of the sudden you decide to sit in his bumbo chair (funny enough that you actually still fit into it) or climb into his car seat carrier. The other day I found you sitting in his activity go around thing... I had to pick you up out of it which was pretty funny. Or sometimes you'll go and lay on his little floor mat and even put your head where I sometimes lay him into a cushy head pillow. Also when he cries, you often start crying or whining too probably for the same kind of attention. Another thing we noticed is when you talk to Cameron, your voice changes and it becomes super high which is pretty cute.

This picture is from a very fun Friday morning at the Quail Botanical Gardens. I tried to take a lot of pictures there with our camera because it's such a pretty place to walk around. It also has a fun tree house, a water stream and a railroad track which we enjoyed.

I really liked this one where you're standing on the bench looking at a waterfall coming down. Looks like you are concentrating pretty hard.

Did I mention that I love taking Fridays off!?

The next one is of you and your 2 friends Kingston and Troy.

And the last one is you standing on a rock taking a brake from playing in the water stream.