29+1=Happy Birthday to us!

Emerson and I have many years ahead of to celebrate our birthdays together! Actually, as I get older (29...no joke!), I feel like celebrating my birthday less and less, so it's kind of cool that Emerson has his special day so close to mine, so I can get a piece of Birthday cake without even celebrating my own b-day!

I asked my friend Beth to babysit for us so PJ and I could go out for a birthday dinner. The kids were already in bed, so all she had to do was just relax...instead what did she do? She filled 29 helium balloons (the plan involved our RS president, Cindy Haag, come over with a helium tank, to fill balloons!) with compliment notes and kind words, then spread them around our bedroom ceiling, real rose petals on the bed, and a giant card signed by all of the wonderful young women and leaders that I get to work with!!! Isn't that so sweet? I was so touched! I think that was the biggest birthday surprise that I've ever had in my whole life. So cool! Beth left the house before I ever walked into the bedroom...she was so sneaky about the whole thing!

Sure glad I made our bed that day :)

I feel so special to have wonderful friends like that! So very thoughtful of Beth!

But the biggest celebration of all was in honor of this little most handsome little guy, who turned ONE! Wow, what a year! He was born in Fort Worth, and lived half of his life there, but he doesn't even remember that! All his memories will be of our new home. Here is our little Birthday Boy!

Not walking yet, but give him anything to push and he'll get anywhere is no time! So close to walking!

It was very hard to get a good birthday shot of him. He is sure an energetic little boy! Doesn't stay in one spot for more than a second...

Unless he is in Grandpa's lap...then he is totally chill. He loves his Grandpa!

Winstie-boy, partie animal, came to celebrate his cousins b-day:

This picture totally needs a caption like: "Where is your spriped top??? Didn't you get the memo?":

After being a bit overwhelmed with all the partying, Emerson snuggled up to unkie Mark for a little while:

Beautiful Birthday guests:

Happy Birthday to us:

Here is the Birthday smash cake (as far as Emerson is concerned) and lick-the-frosting-off cake (as far as Ophelia is concerned):

And the cake smash:

I love how Emerson just watches Ophelia's every move at his birthday cake. He is like: "If my arms were just a bit longer, you'd not be doing this, sister!" But there was enough cake (and frosting) to go around for everyone:

I guess a puppy cake has been a 1st Birthday tradition for both of our kids. They love it! And my the time they both were one they could sign "dog"!

After a while, Emerson got kind of tired of eating frosting and of his hand being sticky and dirty, so we had to quickly retreat and bathe him and change his clothes. "I am all sugared out, Mama! All done!":

The present opening part was more exciting for Ophelia. She got to open all of her brother's presents and check them out first. Emerson did not seem to mind.

My dearest Emerson,
I remember as if it was just yesterday, going with you in my tummy to the hospital, my water breaking in the hospital hallway, and a long hard day of labor... but we did it, my sweet boy! One year ago! It's been a year of ups and downs, lots of learning and growing for your tiny body. But you personality and little spirit have been shining though all of it! You are our smiling sunshine and our joy bringer, our snuggler and thumb-sucker, our tummy sleeper and such a smart boy! So happy you are in our family! For all eternity! Love you so very very much, my little one!
-XXXOOO Mama

Life goes on!

Before my Mom left, I thought how in the world am I going to do this by myself? Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and dealing with TWO kids? I guess I took it one day at a time and it didn't take long to get back into a daily rhythm of things with just me and the kids. Now I just think of how luxurious it was to have my Mama here! Mainly it has gone smoother than I thought, because I let Emerson be more on his own now. My Mom spoiled him with holding him all the time, but he really is good without it...I think he enjoys the freedom :) I close the doors to the rooms where I don't want him to go and other than that he roams all over the house, checking things out, making messes at times, and pulling himself up on whatever he can.

Ophelia has been so sweet to help me with her little brother too! Here she is trying to put his shoes on:

Emerson has started to get around super fast these days. He can pull himself up on anything and them push that thing around the house: chairs, toys, boxes, whatever! Here he is pushing his little train:

We actually had to take that train to Grandma and Grandpa's house and exchange it for another pushing/riding toy, because Emerson flipped over it a couple of times, once hitting his head on the tile pretty bad. It has to do with him pushing the top parts of the toy, and the toy's center of gravity. Poor little guy!

We had some friends come for a quick visit from Fort Worth, which we loved!

PJ got his early birthday present - a drum set! It's one that I could agree to as well, because it's electronic and all the noise can be contained in the headphones. Love it! Ophelia has been loving it too:

Our Valentine's Day home-made pizza:

One day I thought it would be funny to do a cheerios eating path for Emerson, kind of like one you see in silly movies and cartoons - when the person eats one by one piece until reaching the enticer's destination. Ha! It does not work in real life! And here is the proof:

These are pictures from our fun trip to the safari zoo, in the middle of the hill country. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast. Even the little men enjoyed seeing all of the animals.

Animal crackers take on a new meaning when eaten at a zoo:

These three llamas were so funny positioned. One behind another perfectly spaced in a straight line!

The petting zoo got some anxiety the second Ophelia stepped foot into it!

And you can see why! She wanted to pet all of them and she ran from one species to the other, scaring the poor animals.

There are happy days and there are sad days...

This was a happy day! We have been frequenting Krispy Kreme at least once a week lately. Believe it or not, our kids have a sweet tooth, probably even more than one. Now I know where they got it from - Babushka!

This was a joyous day too! We celebrated Winston's 1st Birthday! Can't believe it's been a whole year since  that day. He is such a cuddly sweet little guy. We love our cousie Winstie-boy! Here is Babushka and Emerson on the way to the party. My Mamochka is so beautiful!

What a beautiful shot of niece+auntie! Love this picture:

Winston invited a lot of guests to his b-day party! That did not stop him from having fun, enjoying his toys, and getting a good taste of the birthday cake. Ophelia was ever so helpful to blow the candle for Winston.

Lots of Birthday kisses were exchanged between cousins:

Smooch!

Loved Auntie Cami's photo props and set up. These turned out super cute!

Here is our sweet little Emer-boy and what we call his "pose of a thinker." Tiny, boxy feet folded one on top of the other, thumb in mouth. We see him in this pose quite often, just sitting, looking at things, absorbing his surroundings.

Here are two sweet cousins...in a bucket. Don't they totally look related? Such beautiful blue eyes!

Me and the kids went to the park one day, while my Mom was making dinner (aahhh! Life was soooo nice and easy with my Mom here). They both fit nicely in the same swing. And, yes, it is January here in Texas and we are not anywhere close to sweater-weather.

The night before my Mom's departure, we took her out to a Tex-Mex dinner. For once, she didn't have to cook! This is a small restaurant down the street from us, called Los Reyes. I hope they never go out of business, because the food is really good!

And this was a very sad day... My Mom left us on the 26th and the house got so empty and depressing. I definitely got spoiled with her cleaning, cooking, and babysitting for us. Also, all those other projects, like the curtains for the whole house! It was so good to have my sweet Mamochka close to me, go shopping together, cooking together, eating meals, and taking care of the kids together. The kids got so much Russian-language exposure, that Emerson only understood Russian. My Mom tried to sneak him out of the country in her suitcase...but he couldn't fit...and made her bags 18 pounds over the weight limit!

It is so nice to have a big home with room for guests. I miss my parents so much... I can't wait for the next time they come!

Как встретишь Новый Год...

So, there's a saying in Russian that goes: "How you celebrate New Year's will dictate the course of the next 12 months." I hope it's not true in our case, because that's when our sick days started!

On New Years Eve night, as we were eating our delicious Russian dinner, we noticed that Ophelia had 103 fever. And thus started our days of sickness... Ophelia, Emerson, PJ, me - all of us went through a rough cold and a course of antibiotics. It was a miracle that my Mom stayed healthy through all of this. That Siberian blood, I tell ya, is resistant to any kind of bug or virus! Ophelia gets all stuffed up in the head, when she is sick, and it slowly moves into her ears. But either she has a high pain level tolerance or it does not hurt her, but by the time we went to the doctor, she had the worst stage of an ear infection that one can have. The only symptom was her waking up at night screaming, but unable to coherently explain why, and the hearing loss. The hearing loss is what prompted us to go to the clinic, because it got so ridiculous, she couldn't even hear a normal dinner table conversation. Here is our sick little girl. Lots of TV time to help the time go by and distract her from being moody and cranky...

Ophelia actually ended up doing another round of antibiotics only 2 weeks days after the first one finished. I guess the first one did not clear up the infection completely...

Emerson being sick is tough too. Lots of crankiness and fussiness. He also woke up at night every 3-4 hours. No fun! In other news... he is one flexible baby:

Ever since Emerson learned to crawl, one of his favorite spots to hang out became this bookshelf, that we stuffed full of kids books, right in our living area/room. I don't ever remember Ophelia being this much into books when she was a baby. In fact, I remember thinking "I hope she loves books when she is older, because it sure does not look like it right now!". She was just always so wiggly and busy body, she could not sit through a simple small book. And, despite my fear, she loves books now! And going to the library for story time, and us reading her books at some point during the day, or every night right before bedtime.

Emerson is such a book lover! The cool thing is that he actually sits and listens to us reading books to him, pays attention, and when one book is done, he'll pick another one up and put it in your lap to be read to him. He loves books! Here's Babushka reading with Emerson:

Ooo! And here is one of the tastiest things EVER! Sushka! My Mom and I made these from scratch. And they turned out delicious! Whenever PJ describes what they are he says it's a cross between an unsalted pretzel and an animal cracker. To me, it's a wonderful piece of Russian tradition/culture and lots of sweet childhood  memories.