more pics...

during the month where alexei wasn't wanting to eat, we were attempting all sorts of methods to see if we could get him interested without force feeding. alexei wanted to suck on nick's apple, but didn't want us to put a spoonful of applesauce in his mouth. i think it's because we were sticking syringes with antibiotic, antidiarrheal meds, and occasionally motrin into his little mouth he didn't want anything being inserted any more. thankfully he got over that phase and is chowing down and i think putting on some weight.
this is at the beach when we had a windy, cool day and nick enjoyed his valentines/anniversary gift of a joystick to fly helicopters in battlefield 1942 computer game. you can tell they are both into it. ;)
alexei loves pulling up and in order to keep him from bonking quite as frequently, we took the lid off of the ottomon and put him in it along with some fuzzy friends. alexei loves his stuffed animals and is rarely seen without a stuffed animal or small plastic person clenched in his little fist.
he loves watching kids and cars go by through our low front window. perfect kid spot.

this was alexei's first movie theatre outing. :) at alamo drafthouse they have baby day on tuesdays so moms can take their little guys and people don't freak out if they make noises. alexei was fascinated for the first 10 minutes or so, then we were trying every trick to keep him occupied besides pulling on a friend's sweater on one side of us or yanking off the socks of his little friend on our other side. the last half hour or so i stood up with him in the back. i think we'll wait a few years before we attempt that again. but these are his buddies from church. they were all born within a few months of each other. alexei is the oldest by 4 weeks. it will be so fun watching them grow up together. ok, that's all for now! have a good night!

and it's march...

ok - i have obviously let go of my original intent to post weekly, but hey, nothing is wrong with monthly, right?;)

we are doing well, but it has been a whirlwind month. alexei had his first cold which turned into an ear infection. so that was three weeks worth of ickiness - three pediatricians visits, an ER visit due to a reaction to the first antibiotic, and 2 antibiotics later, he is a healthy little guy again. :) it seemed like a really long month with not a lot of sleep, but i am reminded again of how blessed we are that a cold and ear infection is all we were dealing with. God has been so gracious to us.

almost 9 months and still no teeth. dang it. poor little guy is really having a tough time with those chompers. we appreciate teeth prayers - i am sure God hears them;)

nick took me and alexei down to portaransas for our 2nd anniversary a couple of weeks ago. we had a great time together although alexei was in the midst of antibiotic, diarrhea, and major diaper rash, so none of us got a lot of sleep, though he did finally start getting interested in solids again after deciding not to eat any for a month or so. now he wants to eat like 3 times a day. gotta love those carrots, bannanas and oatmeal;)
with the weather being as nice as it has, we spend as much of our days outside as we can. we love our new house being so close to the hike and bike trail, park and grandma and grandpa's house. alexei officially started crawling on all fours a couple of weeks ago after army crawling since christmas day. now he has developed a pseudo bear crawl type of deal which is really funny to watch. i think he is just trying to figure out the fastest way to get around. oh boy!
nick bought him his first remote control car last night:) alexei has so much fun chasing it around the house, but i think nick has even more fun driving;) nick also made him his first cardboard box tunnel which wind around our living room and has made residence for a few weeks now. we have so much fun crawling through there with alexei chasing us and laughing his cute little head off. i love his laugh! i think it is the best sound in the whole world. he is so ticklish and loves to give and receive raspberries. he is exploring all sorts of noises with his mouth and has discovered his tongue. he loves it if you mimick his noises or facial expressions - very easily entertained when it comes to bodily noises;) i need to figure out how to help him not to squeal so loud when he is so excited to see other babies his age. he has a group of buddies (i am friends with their mommies) and we hang out every week or two, but when he greets them with a shriek, he has made several of them cry because it startles them so much. he is such a social butterfly in a very masculine sort of way. he is pulling up (and occasionally falling off of) every thing he can possibly get his little hands on. it is so sad seeing those first ouchies show up. but he takes it like a man. i am so thankful there have not been any serious accidents yet with as active and curious as he is.
i am tired, so i am going to post some pics and hit the pillow. nick and i are trying to get him to sleep through the night/put himself to sleep again after his sleep scheduale was totally messed up while he wasn't feeling good and we were going up to comfort him and give him meds and put him back to sleep. last night was successful, we are hoping for the same tonight. so in review, ladies and gentlemen, your homework assignment is sleep and teeth prayers. ;) much appreciated.
hanging out on our back porch. alexei loves to be outside and pays attention to every little detail, a butterfly across the yard, the wind blowing leaves across the porch... he wants to know how everything works and focuses very intently on anything he is studying.

can we say "messy"? this is the first time he wanted to eat after a few weeks where he was n't interested in eating solids. it was so nice outside i took him in the backyard to attempt to feed him and he obviously took to it ok - he is wearing sweet potatoes, banannas, pears, rice cereal and i believe carrots. and he is working on a teething biscuit and obviously thinks he has conquered it. ;)do you notice the light shining down on the leaf? at least that is how alexei sees it. he will ignore all of his cute toys if there is a good leaf to hold and crunch and eventually attempt to eat if mom isn't quick enough.daddy and alexei in their tunnel. the first of many i would imagine.there are a few more pics i want to post but for some reason it won't let me. i'll just add them in a seperate entry. thanks for reading!

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!

happy new year!

hello, everyone! i pray this finds you doing well and refreshed after the holiday season! we had a wonderful christmas here in austin with my family. it was so nice having nick home from work for a week (thanks, Dell!) and being able to just hang out, watch some movies, get lots of projects done around the house and enjoy lots of quality family time.
new years eve was quiet with just the three of us. we enjoyed dinner with our friends the sanchez' and alexei crashing at 7pm.not having a TV, we just watched a movie and enjoyed a quiet evening together. first time i have not watched the ball drop in NY in i don't know how many years. i trust it did though ;)
new years day has been good, except for the part where i got rear ended coming home from running some errands. i was so thankful that nick had alexei at home - that would have scared me to have him in the car with me. i am ok, just sore. one of those deals where on a right turn the person behind you assumes you are going while you are waiting for the other cars to clear. but it could have been a whole lot worse. his car was totaled, but thankfully, i think mine is just going to need the bumper replaced. we'll find out.
alexei has been so much fun these last few weeks. he started scooting around much more on christmas day which was fun. he can get across the room pretty quick now! definitely a new phase of baby proofing. he gets his butt up in the air some of the time, but other times it is still more of an army crawl. but he is getting a whole lot more proficient at it. if there is something across the room (particularly if he sees a wire - oh no!) he will crawl across anything in his way to get to it, including you if you happen to be lying in his path.
he is eating solids now - so far his menu includes: rice cereal (he likes it alot better if it's mixed with another pretried food), sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas and we tried avocado but that was a definite no judging by his facial expressions and gagging reflex. :) we'll try it again in another month or so. man, do poopies change! stinky!
he got some really fun toys for christmas. grandma katy struck gold when she got him a little cell phone that lights up and plays different tunes with each key you press - he even holds it up to his ear - how did he figure that out! kids are crazy observant.
ok - i need to head to bed. sadly nick goes back to work tomorrow and "normal life" kicks back in.
may God bless your families richly in the new year!
here are some pics to get you started off with a smile.

nick came into the kitchen where i was preparing for an outreach/get to know your neighbors type of christmas brunch that we co hosted with some friends and had put alexei in this christmas bowl. thankfully the camera was nearby. :)

he loves his bath time! watch out, b/c everyone gets soaked with this little splasher!
who needs a spoon?
nick is quite creative about entertainment apparatuses when he needs to accomplish something while on baby duty. we have had a wooden duck hung by it's pull string, a stuffed bear tied under the armpits, a giraffe hung by it's neck and an aquarium fish music thingy tied up all by various strings in nick's office (and at one point suspended from an empty wrapping paper roll hanging above his bouncy seat) just within arms reach of alexei, so he gets the added entertainment of not only jumping in his bouncy seat, but having moving targets to try to grasp as they fly past him. will he have issues when he grows up? is it considered baby torture to always make it nearly impossible to play with the toys that are arms reach away? he sure gets excited when he does get a hold of one of his toys.
he is doing really well with sitting, although...
we still have occasional accidents - notice he is still smiling and in essentially the same position. :)but a smooth recovery was in order ;)christmas eve at great-great uncle bob and great-great aunt muriel's with grandpa matt.helping grandma open her gifts! aunt kristin is so much fun!enjoying our new back yard! it has been fantastic weather here the past few days. he loves being outside!grandpa went sailing with us a few days ago - alexei liked it a whole lot better than he did on his last trip when he was 2 weeks old. ;) he had fun steering the rudder with grandpa. a born sailor. ;)happy new year!

nick's american family at thanksgiving

the boys playing battlefield at thanksgiving :)

alexei's hat