An evening to remember...

This was definitely an evening we'll remember as the climbing into the crib incident.

We put both of you down for the night, and sat down on the couch to start watching a movie, something we haven't done in a long time. It was about 15 or 20 minutes into it when this incident happened.

Cameron usually falls asleep very fast while Sascha takes forever. At times I go into her room, and its 9:30pm and she is still stirring and talking. Well this night was no different, except for Sascha decided to wonder into Cameron's room while he was sleeping. I heard a few noises on the baby monitor and decided to look at the video, at which time I saw her hair dangling near Cameron's face, and a few seconds later I saw all of Sascha plop into the crib next to him. Yes, she decided it was a good idea to climb into the crib with baby brother and sleep next to him. Sweet... kinda, Crazy... yes! We ran up the stairs faster than we had ever ran before, daddy went first. He got Sascha out of the crib and I ran in right after and turned on the light. Cameron wakes up and of course starts crying. Not sure if it was from Sascha's unexpected arrival, or me blasting him with the bright light right above him. I just wanted to make sure no one got injured and the crib was still in place. To my surprise - all was ok.

I quickly grabbed Sascha and took her back to her room and she looked at me with her bewildered look, the big eyes. I laid her down on the bed, and she got very quiet and did not answer any of my questions like "What were you thinking climbing into baby brother's crib?" "Do you know that doing that is dangerous - the crib can fall down, he can get hurt, you can get hurt... etc, etc, etc. ?" At that point I made a conscious effort to calm myself down and stop freaking out, after all no one did get hurt, and she was pretty aware that what she did was definitely not approved of.

So I asked again in a more calm manner - "Why did you climb into his crib? Were you scared? Did you not want to sleep by yourself?" She basically agreed and said she wants someone to sleep with her. I told her that she is a big girl, and even though sometimes we lay down next to her at bed time, she will be ok to sleep in her own bed by herself, and I gave her a choice of a stuffed animal or her baby doll. She choose the doll and stayed in her bed that night. Meanwhile Jeromey had to rock Cameron back to sleep and put him back into the crib. Whew! That was a close one!

The next night I went in to say good night and she gave me a hug and a kiss and said - "I will not go into baby brother's crib!" Hah, Thanks... I was hoping you wouldn't!

In spirit of that night I decided to capture the intrusion and put Sascha into Cameron's crib... for the sake of this picture. I needed it to remember this story, or remind me, to freeze this moment in time, to look back in 5 or 10 years and laugh about it!

Lets hope we don't find the little trouble maker in there again... I really don't think the crib will survive.

1st picture of daddy putting kiddos to bed, 2nd - Sascha invading Cameron's crib and 3rd-hanging out in Sascha's bed after story time

Cameron - 9 months

Growing like a weed! Besides getting your first tooth before turning 9 months, and starting to clap, you are finally interested in almost getting onto all fours and swaying back and forth. I wouldn't say crawling is around the corner because you don't get off your bottom yet, but definitely going in the right direction. You've even started to roll again. Yes... a bit late, but I can't complain, I have really enjoyed these stationary months. I can put you down on a blanket and know that you're not really going anywhere so I can run upstairs and grab something I need and not worry about you getting into something. The only issue we've been having is Sascha taking it upon herself to push or lay you down. I leave you sitting up, and when I get back you are on your back ...sometimes crying, while Sascha looks up at me with her innocent eyes! A trouble maker she is. For the most time she is a very loving big sister, sometimes she just doesn't know that she is squeezing too hard or hugging too tight.

For some reason 90% of the time I still cannot get you to sleep for 11 hours, usually it's only about 9 to 9 and half hrs, from 8:30pm - 6pm, and so you wake up pretty cranky most of the time. I remember Sascha waking up in the morning and she was happy, and I think it's because you are not sleeping long enough. The few times when you do sleep longer you seem to wake up in a better mood.

The other thing you're adamant about is the bottle. You will drink half of a 6 oz bottle and refuse the rest. I basically have to distract you with a book, or an item or a little kids video on my phone to get you to take the bottle again, and after a few of those attempts you get mad and arch your back and squirm around and cry... so feeding time is really not a whole lot of fun at that point and we give up. Solid feedings are usually easier. You are very eager to see a spoon and a water sippy cup, so at least you're a good eater with solids. You are more or less now keeping to a consistent schedule of 4 bottles a day, 3 solid feedings and 2 naps - morning and afternoon. You are an easy going sweet baby, and each and every day I fall more and more in love with you!

Your doctor visit went smoothly. You are over 18 lbs which I thought was great, not really sure why that's 17 percentile... and you are very tall 85% in height... daddy really hopes that continues! I complained about your constant rash that you get under your chin and neck area and behind one of your knees. Some of the days it really seems to bother you. It gets very red and itchy. Also your cradle cap is not going away. It's a little bit better, and is no longer bothering you, but it's still very much there, just more hidden now that you are getting more hair. Your hair is already curly. It's super cute! Sascha's hair didn't give any signs of curl until after her 1st Bday, but yours is definiltey getting curly. I guess both kids got my curly gene. :) Anyways, not much to worry about, will just continue w/the same creams and shampoos. I am sure you will grow out of it pretty quickly.

When I stand you up, you no longer kick like crazy, you will now actually stand up for a little while while being held with both hands of course. You still do love that jumpie! And you babble a ton. You seem to understand and mimic "Yes" and "No" and in both English and Russian, and "DADA" is still your favorite 2 syllables.

Stats:

18 lbs 8 oz - 17%

29.5 inches - 85%

17.5 inches - 24%

Just a few of your sweet experessions


Getting a Bath in the Sink

A lucky shot I got with my phone of the two kiddos, both smiling, if you have ever tried to take a picture of two small children, you know that it's a near impossible task to get them both to cooperate, so that's especially why I love the way this photo turned out. It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy looking at the these two adorable faces!

Cameron's 1st tooth

Cameron's First tooth arrived. His bottom right. Can't say it was unexpected, it seemed like the little guy was teething, drooling for some time now, and had a few restless nights along with his parents, but at last it's here! We can celebrate. :) He is constantly sticking his tongue out and licking all around, getting used to the new sensation. I will surely miss that toothless smile of yours!!! So darn cute! Sometimes we look over at you and Sascha both and wonder how did we get such cute little babies. Yes, of course we think you're cute, you're ours... but I am pretty sure everyone else thinks you're pretty adorable as well!

I took these with my phone, the above photo just minutes after we discovered your new tooth

and the one below is a few months old, your first time in the pool at your aunt's house. Yes completely unrelated to your first tooth, but I just love this photo of you hanging out on the boogie board (not to worry Daddy was standing right by in case you decided to take a plunge... luckily you didn't)

Both photos are looking like this because they were modified by a cool IPhone app I discovered - Instagram. I love the "old vintage" look some of the filters give to the photos, so I'll be posting a lot more.

Cameron - 8 Months

Your biggest accomplishment at 8 months... you started to clap. Pretty cute stuff. You'll usually start doing it when you're sitting up, and once you clap you will look up to see who is watching and you'll proudly do it again. You're much better at sitting up now, very rarely falling over, and you are finally interested in standing up while we hold you. Before when I put you on your feet you would just jump like you're in a jumpy (still your favorite!!!), but now you will stand up and straighten your legs and hold it for a little while, and at times you are only happy standing up.

Your eating habits are ever-changing. You went to 4 bottle feedings a day and 2-3 solid feedings a day. For some odd reason you like to fuss about one or the other. Lately it's been the bottle. The last two days, you keep refusing to finish it. If it's a 6 oz bottle, you'll only have 3 and then you press your lips closed and there is nothing we can do about it. My old tactics of singing or distracting no longer work. It's like you have made up your mind and there is no going back even if I try in another half an hour, you will rarely take it. Some things like distracting you with a magazine worked a few times. I let you rip it all up, meanwhile you finish your bottle, but even that has failed us in the last couple times. If you do decide to have your bottles, then cerial and other solid feedings could be an issue. Especially the food that is made for you at home. The packaged store bought food you actually like most of the time. Big surprise huh?
Oh well, hopefully this is just a phase, and you'll get over it. I was hoping to have a good eater on our hands, since your big sister is so difficult but at this stage I don't think that is the case.

Plus you still have no teeth, so we are still enjoying your toothless little smiles!

Did I mention your hair is starting to curl? Sascha had a lot more hair by this age, but her's was totally straight until after 1 year. You are also sporting a pretty good little mow-hawk.

Sleeping has been ok. There was one night where you slept in till 8:30am, BUT that only happened once. It was awesome, especially since Sascha has been sleeping till after 8am as well, so we really felt like it was some sort of a vacation. Most of the time you wake up between 5 and 6, and if we get you right away and move you in our bed, you will usually sleep for another hour or two which is great. We had a few rough nights when you were first learning how to sleep un-swaddled (you woke up every few hours) but now you're pretty used to it, so we no longer see a little burrito laying in the crib :)

Cameron had his first sleep over at grandpa & grandma's house. We dropped him and Sascha off on Thursday night. Sascha had a blast playing with her cousins Carolyn & Angelina most of the day. Cameron did very well in the pack'n'play at night, so they even convinced us to let them stay for Friday night. We enjoyed a nice evening out, while the kids were entertained at Sea World w/grandpa David and grandma Laurie. It was his first time away from us since he was born! A nice little break, but I missed both of them a ton.

We started to give you guys baths together mostly because the little guy seems too tall for the infant bath. He kicks and kicks and ends up splashing the whole counter top with water as well as me. So we have combined the baths... which is great! For now we have Sascha hold Cameron up while I wash him. Not to worry we never leave the two unattended. ;) I'm sure in a few more months he will be stable enough where he doesn't have to be held and they can splash and play together in the water. Sascha loves helping with his baths... most of the time. I love this picture of the two of them. She just loves her little brother and you can tell he is already smitten with her.

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