7 weeks!

hey, gang!

sorry it's been a couple of weeks since i've posted. i'm slackin on the job! :)

i am going to make this brief as i need to try to catch a nap while alexei is down for his. the short of it is that we are doing great! at 6 weeks alexei started to sleep in his own bed for daddy's sake. alexei makes lots of noises and grunts when he sleeps, so it's not the best for a light sleeper like nick is to have him right next to our bed. so it was a bittersweet moment - i think it would have been alot harder for me, but nick came up with this really awesome idea of hooking up his infrared russian military device and mounting it to the wall which illuminates the crib which has a web cam suspended above it. the camera is connected to a computer next to his crib which nick set up so that with a computer in our room, we can log on to see alexei while he's sleeping, (or not sleeping). it's sweet because we now have visual and audio on him with the baby monitor. since then nick has made some modifications and is using a different infrared source, but you'll have to ask him for more details - that's about all i've got on that:) but apparently we were the ones keeping alexei up, because since that night we moved him to his room, he has slept for on average 6 hours at a time at night except for two nights! we are thrilled and feel like we are starting to come out of the fog a little bit.

over the last couple of days, alexei has also started to pay attention to toys or objects around him more. for the first time he is appreciating his little baby gym with the suspended toys and is paying attention to the mobile on his swing. he is laughing and smiling more and is taking in all of the scenery. he recognizes mom and dad now and is experimenting with blowing bubbles. :) it is such a fun stage of his babyhood. :) we are so blessed and are falling more in love with him daily, if that is possible.

here are some pics from the last couple of weeks.

our "baby genius";)

dad and alexei hanging out in the office testing another cool daddy project. it's still being modified, but the basic concept is that nick made a solenoid that he hooked up to alexei's bouncy chair (which he loves) and it gently bounces him up and down like we do with our foot usually. we'll see if we can get the kinks worked out, but i thought it was really cool so thought i'd share the picks. :)

nick put the jogging stroller together - it's a bummer that we have to wait until he is 4 months old to use it, because it is by far one of our favorite toys. the steering wheel and gears make some really cool noises that we are getting a kick out of. they make these things for the parents, not the kids. :)alexei's first encounter with a computer and his first game of battlefield 1942 - at 7 weeks old he has got to be the world record holder for the youngest gamer ever. and no we are not going to be making it a habit to have our infant play computer games. although i am sure he will surpass me in computer smarts in just a couple of years with his daddy's genes in him.uncle john and alexei are chillin' at grandma katy's birthday dinner. we love uncle john...and aunt kristin. ;)our cutie pie.tummy time! :)alexei discovering the fun of the baby gym for the first time! he stared and giggled at the toys for a good 20 minutes.our dear friends patrick, kim, and moyer stayed with us for a couple of weeks while they were visiting austin and we had so much fun with them! we'll forgive them for being aggies as is obvious by the apparel. moyer is now 4 months and it is crazy to see how far along he is and to realize we'll be there in just a couple of more months! that is wild how fast time flies! alexei and his first buddy, moyer on a walk/ride together. :)mommy and alexei hanging out at the oasis last night. we went out there for our friend, lauren's birthday and had a great time. nick and i got to try out their free salsa lesson while grandma katy watched with alexei from the table.

5 weeks old!

hey, gang. ok, i have no idea what i did, and i feel like a dork, but i can not get this stupid underline thing to go away. i've tried everything and my computer and my brain are against me, i am convinced. let's just chalk it up to wiped out mommy who, shall we say is not the most tech savvy gal around. that's why i married nick, brilliant electrical engineer that he is. ;) so for the sake of getting on with this little update and in hopes that i can grab a quick nap after this if alexei is gracious enough to sleep a little longer, we will just have to deal with the underlines. sorry. :)
so we are now at five weeks (obviously - the title says it all;) and having so much fun watching our little guy get more and more alert and strong. new trick of the week, he holds our hands and pulls his own weight to a reclined position to a sitting position and then uses his strong little legs to stand up! we are just stabilizing him, but it's all his grib and he is super strong. impressive! - you can't tell we are at all proud of him, can you?
another new develpment that isn't as happy but not that big of a deal is his little baby acne which you will see in the pics - did you know that it was due to my estrogen levels? i had no idea that's the source of baby acne. our nurse practitioner told me that at his last visit. learn somethin' new every day.
at the last visit by the way, he weighed in at 10lbs and 14oz. wild! he has a double chin and is definantly becoming an adorable little chunk. ;) mommy's biceps are getting stronger too. :) another noteworthy event is that we have officially graduated from newborn diapers to the size ones. i was hesitant (it's so sad to see him grow up so fast in some ways, but in others, the promise of more sleep when he is older is very exciting.) but after a few accidents where poop shot up his backside and got his onesie and mommy b/c his little butt crack would eventually hang out as his little diaper worked it's way down with all of his kicking and wiggling, i was convinced. it's amazing how well everything functions when babies wear the correct sized diaper. :)
ok, so on to the pics as i know that is the only reason ya'll are looking at this right now:
pic #1 the end of alexei's second bath in the bathtub. he really liked it up until the end and then he decided he had enough. we are working on his patience levels. :)

this is our little dude chillin' on the couch. check out the tummy! :)
cute outfit, and even cuter little guy. he is always in such a good mood after his morning feed. he loves to lay on his back and "talk" to us. it actually sounds more like singing. he is also throwing in alot more smiles and laughs which is really rewarding.
grandma katy and the munchkin hanging out. she and grandpa matt have been such a blessing in giving us breaks to run to bible study or church for a couple of hours, and today i got to go work out for a while at the dell gym and have lunch with nick (first chance we've had to eat out together since he was born and it was so relaxing - thanks mom! ;) notice the adorable shoes. :) they were only on for a total of 3 minutes, but i had to take a picture. i realized that i had been given about 5 pairs of new born shoes and he will probably outgrow them in the next week or so, so i had to try them all on and take pics. he was very patient. ;)
the guys - notice another pair of cute shoes. :)
our first visit out of many, to great grandma kathleen's house. she has loved on many a baby in our family - i am so thankful that she is here to love on mine. what a blessing!
daddy gave alexei his first bottle of pumped milk the other day so we have a back up in case i need to be gone. they both did great. :)
ok - he's awake - no nap for me. bummer. and i don't know what happened to the lines, but they are gone. sorry about the first half. still can't get rid of them. oh well. take care!

one month old and growing like a weed :)

alexei is one month old as of yesterday! that is so hard to believe! he is doing well and growing bigger by the day. he is getting so much more active when he is alert, holding his head up, standing up in our laps if we support him under his arms, scooching across the couch on his belly, making all sorts of faces and noises and wiggling all over the place. :) he is going to be one active kid. how old do they have to be to sign them up for swim team and soccer? any other high energy activities you can think of? we need to start strategizing now how to give his energy level some good outlets. :) oh! and another huge event in the vyssotski house, he finally lost his umbilical stump last week and has a very cute inny belly button. :)
grandma natalia left for moscow this morning. we will definantly miss her, her helpful spirit and yummy cooking! :) it will be a whole new learning curve how to operate as a threesome, which i am really excited about. and i did get her to teach me how to make a few of her excellent dishes while she was here, so i am excited about trying my hand at some russian cooking.
the three of us and the three grandparents went to woolridge park again last night for an outdoor concert that was excellent - big band music. it was a huge turn out. i love the atmosphere - super laid back, lots of babies, picnics, and dogs. :) very austinish kind of summer thing to do. and outdoors which is the key right now for us if we are trying to get out and about(again trying to be obedient about avoiding germs. only one more month to go!) grandma katy has been super sweet to come over for one of the church services and watch the little guy so nick and i could go to church. that has been such a blessing and really refreshing to get out of the house together for a little while and hold hands. :)

here are some pics - i need to go feed alexei, so really fast: the two on the couch are alexei doing his scooching routine, the really nice looking lady in the picture with nick and alexei is my dr. - dr. ortique - super sweet lady, and the one of me and alexei is at the botanical gardens where i took natalia last week. the other one is just a cute shot of him in one of his fun pooh outfits. did you know there is a russian version of winnie the pooh too? same story except for no christopher robbin and owl is a girl. the animation and voices (of course) are totally different in the movie too. and another fun tidbit, is that both my mom, katy, and nick's aunt lena were called piglet or petachoke (russian spelling?) by their dads. isn't that fun? i might have already mentioned this, if so, please disregard. i just thought it was fun bit of trivia. :)