wow, it's already february!

time is flying by at the vyssotski house. is it in yours, or is it just us? ;) it is so hard to believe that alexei is going to be 8 months old in a few more days and it's been over a month since i last posted! sorry about that!

we are doing well, nothing hugely new and exciting. alexei is getting much more adept at moving around, army crawling, pulling up on furniture or whoever is close by, getting up on his hands and knees - but still drops to army crawl position when he wants to take off after something across the way. we are having to start saying "no" alot more frequently. it's amazing the things that they reach for! why can't they reach for a toy or something safe rather than the wires, pulling off the bottom of the fridge, eating paper and all sorts of other wonderful things?

we are STILL working on getting our first tooth. man, i am so ready for that thing to come through. it really bothers him, sometimes he gets a low fever, he has fluid behind his eardrums from the runny nose from the teething. i took him into the pediatrician to see if it was an ear infection b/c alexei started holding his ears and fussing, and she said that it's not infected but that there is fluid there which causes uncomfortable pressure. stink. poor little guy. we've already gone through two bottles of baby motrin over the last month or so. so all that to say, please pray for his little chompers to come through, we would all really appreciate it.

he still manages to maintain his happy disposition and loves to talk to strangers. :) we'll have to cross that bridge later on, but for now it's lots of fun with mommy right next to him. he especially likes the nice cashier lady at HEB.

i started going to women's bible study on wednesday mornings at the church and so he had his first long morning in nursery. he did great! we started putting him in nursery when he was six months old for one hour at church on sunday morning while we go to the sermon and then take him with us in the ergo carrier (back pack thingy) to sunday school and usually he'll take a nap for about 45 minutes which is better than the no nap he would get being the social little bug that he is when he is playing with other kiddos.

ok, i am getting tired and i need to get some more stuff done before i hit the sack tonight, so here are some pics from this past month:

our good friends, patrick, kim and moyer stayed with us for a week in early january. we had so much fun together and it was so fun watching the boys (2 + months apart) playing together. moyer definantly had a big impact on alexei's interest in becoming more mobile. this is the only picture i could find of them looking the same direction. they were always on the move- strap them into their car seats and they don't have a choice! ;)

notice the cell phone in many of these pictures - it was his favorite christmas present from grandma and grandpa. he loves cell phones and remotes - such a guy!
this is over at kris and eryn's house when we got to have dinner with some friends of ours. daddy knows all of the tickle spots. :)hanging out with our sweet friend, kaitlanthis is the sunday morning a couple of weeks ago when we had alexei dedicated in church. the point of the baby dedications is to recognize and hand back to God the huge blessing He has given to us in giving us Alexei. he doesn't belong to us, we are just stewards for the time being and we want to raise him while keeping that in mind. we were so excited to have kristin and john join us from dallas and my mom and dad, who dedicated me on that same stage 22 years ago and kristin 24 years ago. God is indeed faithful! of course the one morning you really want to get to church early with alexei looking his finest, he had two poop explosions and threw up carrots all over his cute outfit as soon as daddy dressed him. so this outfit was plan b as we were running out the door. that's the kind of morning you are just having to laugh on your way to church when seemingly everything goes wrong. but we got there in time and he didn't flip out on stage or anything:)

daddy reading lermontov's poems at bedtime. alexei loves listening to nick's voice reading russian. i have got to start learning more!alexei started to get interested in his swing again. he likes to pull up on it and try to climb into it. once i put him in there, he was staring at all of the stuffed animals i had displaced from the swing so he could get in. he wasn't happy until they were all in his lap. he then started smiling at each animal and giving them kisses, especially the big bear that far far and far mor gave him for christmas. :)can we say, "teething"? ;) so excited to be able to pull up and reach everything on the table - oh no! the centerpiece is now on a top shelf - gotta start raising the level of baby proofing!

i took alexei out to our friend eryn's barn so we could meet her horse fancy and her new colt prince caspian. such a sweetie pie! it was a gorgeous day to relax out there with the horses and a jillion dogs. alexei loved it! alexei with "aunt" eryn meeting the other horses at the stables. ok guys, thanks for hanging in there! hope ya'll are doing well!
take care!