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. :)

3 weeks old!

hello everyone! sorry it's been a while since i've posted. our little guy is keeping my hands busy most of the time and when he is sleeping either i try to catch a wink or am occupied with other things. Alexei is growing by the minute - it's amazing to watch the changes take place. i think sometimes they are harder for me to see as i am around him all day long, but it's when we put him in his carseat or watch him scootch across the couch during his tummy time that totally catches me by surprise. he is a precious blessing in our lives and though we are pretty pooped out from lack of sleep and staying busy with him during the day, we are so thankful for this season God has placed us in. at his two week check up alexei weighed 9lbs 5oz and is 21 inches long. he is definantly not starving;) he is becoming more alert for longer periods of time during the day which is alot of fun learning how to play together. it is so fun watching Nick with him. He is such a good daddy. i love my boys so much! :) these are some pics we took at mozart's this week when we went with grandma katy and babushka natalia. :) i know there are a bunch of pics, he's just so cute and makes so many facial expressions i had to share them. :)
daddy has discovered the football hold when Alexei is fussy and needs to be burped to get some air out of his tummy. Alexei loves it and it's definantly a daddy special as my arm isn't big enough to balance him on.
some more cute pics of our little guy, the king of facial expressions. :) self explanatory.

it is such a blessing have grandparents around. my mom, katy is having so much fun being near him and i love watching them together. and that natalia has been able to be here as well is such an added blessing. grandpa matt was cuddling alexei when we had dinner together last night and took him out on the swing and was telling him everything that they were going to do together as alexei grows up. he is one blessed baby to have so many godly people and rolemodels in his life. we don't take it for granted!

look at this serious little face! he does this really intense expression like he is trying to figure out what the world is all about. thankfully he is also cracking smiles and has started to laugh some too which is super fun. thanks for reading - hopefully i'll have time to post again before too long. God bless you guys and keep in touch! - morgan

some updated pics

we are now13 days into parenthood. we are tired, but loving it. :) our Alexei was 8lb. 6oz. on monday when we took him to the dr. she said he is growing well - no wonder with how much he eats. :) we enjoyed celebrating Nick's first father's day at my (Morgan's) parent's house. it was a really relaxing afternoon. we are so blessed to have family so close by.



Alexei has this "little philosopher" pensive look that makes me think he is going to have his daddy's curious, figure everything out for himself kind of mentality. i need to start preparing myself for my house to be unscrewed piece by piece in a couple of years. :)

we enjoyed getting out of the house with the family and introduced Natalya and Alexei to central market - a favorite austin spot. there is a really neat deck that overlooks a playground that swarms with some really cute kids. :) the weather was beautiful, so we've been getting out as much as we can to the more unpopulated locations in austin since our dr. is pretty picky about us keeping him out of crowds. limit the germs. good plan.







it won't be long before i will wish for a moment of quiet chilling in mommy's lap. :) i can see him all over that playscape in no time.













it has been such a blessing having Natalya with us. she has been a huge help and with Alexei being the first grandbaby on both sides we are thrilled to be experiencing the first days with all of the grandparents nearby. Babushka's borsch is fantastic! Mommy needs to learn to make it just like her.
















Daddy has a special touch with him. i love seeing my two guys cuddling. ya'll might see more pictures than you want of that, but i can't get enough. aren't they handsome? ;)









another adventure we went on was to take Alexei to zilker park. i spent many happy childhood hours there myself, so i was especially excited to show him around and promise him a trainride and icecream cone as soon as he is big enough.


another attempt to get out of the house was going sailing with grandma Natalya and grandpa Matt - grandma Katy had to work, which was sad. the trip was nice, but i think we are going to have to wait for a while before we try it again. sailing is a little tricky with a newborn who has occasional fussy spells and enjoys both eating and pooping alot. :) it got a bit warm out there so mommy spent her time trying to keep a blanket shading him and blowing on him to cool off his little skin. i think sailing will have to be a daddy and grandpa thing for a couple more months before we join them again. :)


more daddy cuddle time. :) we discovered this morning that the football type hold works really well when alexei decides to loose it for a little while. this limp baby was seconds before a flailing, screaming whirlwind of frusterated energy. go daddy! i am so bummed that he is heading back to work tomorrow. we'll miss him so much during the daytime. as you can tell by the sleepy look on our faces, please keep praying for good rest at night especially as Nick heads back to work. we love you guys! thanks for your interest and love!

11 days old!

it is amazing how time flies by and yet at the same time it's kind of hard to remember what life was like pre labor. :) we are so in love with our little dude. i think God totally knows what He was doing when He makes babies so stinkin' cute. sleep deprived parents don't have to work nearly as hard to be patient with 2 hr sleep shifts or frequent poopy diapers with the little one being so loveable and easy to cuddle for hours on end. :)
we are doing well, just tired. we have begun to experience some of the minor bumps in the infant care road such as diaper rash, spitting up more frequently (pray he won't get reflux please), discharge from his right eye which the dr. says is pretty common - it's a clogged tear duct that we are going to massage 4 times a day and put a salve on 3 times a day - doesn't seem to bother him, just looks like a major case of sleepy dirt all day long. :) with hormones shifting and lack of sleep i think the little things are getting to me more than they should. i just hate when he is fussy and you can't figure out what is wrong or how to make it better. thankfully, those spells only come every once in a while. Nick has been a fantastic daddy and husband. i am so thankful he has had last week and this week to be at home from dell. that is such a huge blessing. Natalya (Nick's mom) has continued to be a huge help around the house and for giving some much needed breaks to grab an occasional nap or believe it or not, a shower (happening almost every day. ;) i need to get going for now. i am getting my back adjusted which is going to feel sooo good. i feel totally out of whack since labor. i'll try to get some picks up here in the next day or two so you can see alexei - he is such a cutie. :)
thanks for reading!

he is here!

well, we didn't have to wait long! :) our precious Alexei arrived on friday, june 8th at 1:11pm. we were blessed with an intense but really good 12 hour labor. Nick and Christina, our friend and doula, provided amazing support and encouragement to me during the labor and by God's grace we were able to give birth totally naturally without meds. Alexei is a healthy little guy now, praise God, but at birth we had a little scare with the dr. saying that they couldn't hear any lung sounds on his right side. they took him to the NICU for an hour and half to monitor him and it turned out to be some fluid that cleared out on it's own. we realized even more so because of this experience just how blessed we were to be able to have him back in our arms just an hour and a half later (when this picture was taken) in the labor and delivery room while so many other precious little ones were still being monitored. since that time everything has checked out to be very healthy. he was 7 lbs 14.7 oz and 19.5" long. we think he is the cutest baby to ever be born, but we are not biased at all. ;)

first time in the car seat! it's been 48 hrs and we are on our way home! he looks so little in there, but don't let that fool you, he is not as fragile as he looks. :) he has such a strong grip it's unbelievable. he has been eating like crazy and is such a good natured little baby. Nick and I have spent countless hours holding him and just staring at all of his cute little parts. what a miracle a little child is! we are so blessed to have him.

here we are getting ready to go to our home. we had a great hospital stay at North Austin Medical Center and had fantastic staff the whole time helping us out and overwhelming us with information. it's like they give you a crash course in "this is how not to kill an infant" and send you on your way. :)

we had read some books but it's totally a different ball game when you are set free with a little human and become solely responsible for their care. it's really exciting though and we are enjoying every minute of it, though sleep deprived and a little foggy around the edges. it's amazing what a human body can still do without much sleep. :) it's hard to believe it's already been a week since he was born! going through the day today i kept reliving the moment when we saw him for the first time and they laid him on my abdomen. there is nothing else like that moment in the world. God is so amazing how He designed the whole birth process.

one of the many cuddle time sessions. :) we never get tired of staring at him - who could, he is so stinkin' cute! :) he loves to be swaddled when he is sleeping (Nick has become an expert swaddler) but during his alert times he loves stretching his little body as far as it will go and look around with those beautiful big eyes of his. right now they are a beautiful dark blue, but i don't know if they will stay that way. when do baby's eyes change colors anyways? i've been wondering. let me know if you are aware of that little tidbit. i would be most interested to find out. :)

it has been so much fun to become aware of his little mannerisms. nick makes this same face when he stretches out when he is sleepy. :) look at those little biceps! he has the cutest little deltoid muscles too. :)

ok - as i am rereading this it is totally sappy - sorry - i am a first time mom, what can i say. it makes me feel better that you are only reading this because you want to and i am not making you, and i promise i won't quiz you on the contents. if i were you would probably just skip the written part and just enjoy the pics;) in fact - i think i will call it a night on the typing and just let you look :)

they are self explanatory - cutest baby ever in the hands of his parents who are completely in love with him and happen to have a camera nearby at all times. :) i especially love the after bath pictures - he gets so alert and just looks around and makes the cutest faces. ok. i promise i'll stop now. hopefully i'll be good about keeping you guys updated with current photos. thanks for reading this far!

still waiting ...

so... we are still waiting. :) i haven't posted anything lately b/c there isn't really a whole lot to share. you gotta love the last couple of weeks of pregnancy - all sorts of false alarms, lots of braxton hicks, nights with not nearly as much sleep as you need... :) but it's all good b/c we know our little guy could come any time! we had our 38 week checkup and things are progressing slowly but well. we are at 0 station now, 50% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated. he is still kicking a ton - really strong little guy.
we are super excited about nick's mom, natalya, coming to stay with us for a month! she gets in tomorrow night. we haven't gotten to see her since our wedding almost 16 months ago. i am really glad she can be here to meet him as he comes into our world. alexei is the first grandbaby on both sides so we are all pretty pumped. my parents have been having to restrain themselves from buying playscapes for their backyard - they are just a little excited. :) they have been awesome about helping us get stuff done around the house and mom painted some bookshelves for us that look really good. the nursery is definantly coming together. i'll post some pics on here in the next couple of days hopefully.
we'll let you know when things happen - hopefully sooner rather than later. :)
i hope all of you are having a happy tuesday!