One lucky guy

I honestly don't think that my trip would be made possible if Inna's amazing hubby, Michael, didn't volunteer his home and his baby sitting services.

But I think he got a little something in return.

After all, isn't this every guy's dream?

To spend their mornings before work watching two cute babies while the mommies shower and get set for the day?

Yeah, ok.  It's not exactly a sports car or a supermodel.

But it does make two mamma's go "Awwww."

And I know at least one guy who's jealous (sorry babe).

Two girlfriends and two babies

Last week, while Jon was away on a business trip, I decided to be daring and take the baby to Boston to visit my best friends.

My besty Inna and her husband volunteered to let me to spend a few nights at their place while Inna took a couple of days off work to hang out with me and our babies.

Oh yeah, we stayed with this guy:

In case you missed this post, this is Addison's future husband.

We know it's a little old school, but Inna and I decided that we believe in arranged marriages after all.

Especially when it's between these two:

I mean, don't they look like they belong together?

Personally, I think they make an amazing couple.  But that's neither here nor there.

Let me tell you a little story.

Years ago, when we were just kids, my girlfriend and I would talk about our very distant future and how amazing it would be if we grew up and raised our kids together.  It's something I'm sure all girlfriends chat about one time or another as they envision their futures together.  That and sitting around at 80, drinking decaf and gossiping.

Can't believe that we're actually here - watching our kids play together.

What did you and your girlfriends (or boyfriends) envision about your future when you were 16?

Caviar

Have I mentioned how much I love caviar?

Because it's a lot.

I find that people either love or hate it.

Where do you land?

My couch, the infirmary

Past couple of days my house has turned into an infirmary.

 

Somewhere along my travels last week I picked up a cold.

And since I'm nursing, these are my measures of comfort: hot tea, tissues, and non-mentholated cough drops.

But the worst part of all is that my poor baby caught the cold too.

Peanut has been sneezing, coughing, and snotting practically non-stop since yesterday.

She's also been sleeping a lot.  Which is good for her recovery.

And I've been taking her temperature non-stop.  And pulling boogies out of her tiny cute irritated nose.

By the way, if you have a baby or a kid, this thermometer is awesome - all you do is swipe it across their forehead!  No need to add any fussiness of sticking one in their ear or worse!

And until she feels better, we've got this little gal to keep her comforted.

Addi's Godfather

I was looking back at these:

Michael with baby Michael

because now I have these:

Michael with baby Addison

Addi and I spent a few days at my besty Inna's place - visiting her soon-to-be Godparents.  And I was dying over Michael holding tiny little baby Addison.

Because as cute as it was to see baby Michael against his daddy's chest, it's even cuter to see my tiny baby bonding with her Godfather.

Q&A - the A

If you would have had a boy what would you guys have named him?
Oh my gosh - it would have been a disaster.  Jon and I cannot agree on a boy name to save our lives.  When we found out we were pregnant we played the "name" game and agreed on Addison almost immediately.  But we kept arguing about the boy names.  Then we found out we were having a girl and the discussion ended (we were both pretty happy about not having to decide!).  But as we got closer and closer to the due date I started worrying that our girl wouldn't be a girl since the tests are never 100% accurate.  On our way to the hospital Jon and I were still arguing about the boy names and we actually never settled on one.  Lucky for us, Peanut was indeed a girl!

Just for the record though, Jon's favorite was Andrew and mine was Riley.

You've mentioned you're going back to work; how long was your maternity leave, are you working full/part-time, how did you decide what day care, etc.
I'll try to do this in some sort of reasonable order because my thoughts about this are all over the place.


First, the maternity leave.  Jon and I still work for the same company - a pretty small company.  The policy gave us both a week of paid maternity and paternity leave.  They also allowed me to take 11 more weeks of unpaid leave.  Thankfully, I have short term disability and some vacation time that we used to cover a portion of my leave.  


Which means that I have only 3 more weeks of maternity leave left.  Then I go back to work full time while Peanut goes to daycare.


That brings me to number two - my job.  I am going back to working full time which I am thankful and sad for.  I am excited to get back to the challenge of my job and the mingling with adults.  I am looking forward to actually finishing a hot cup of coffee without reheating it at least three times and having a conversation about something other than nursing, poop, and naps.  I am also looking forward to taking on the challenge of my career.  But I am sad to not spend every single minute with my Peanut.  I can't imagine not being there for every smile, giggle.  I don't know how I will drop her off with someone for an entire day without breaking down (I hear that I won't).  One of my biggest fears is missing a first!  Any advice from the moms out there on how to stay sane while balancing the two?


And on to the last one - daycare.  Jon and I spent a very long time researching and visiting the day cares in our area.  We knew that we wanted a place that's close to our home and work, a place that cared about our Peanut as much as we did, a place that has an open policy so I could visit Peanut at lunch.  We found a place that's about 5 minutes from home and 10 minutes from work that is perfect for us!  It was one of those places where we walked in and just felt right.  If you want to read some more about our day care decision, I did a post here.

I'm a fairly new reader and I have seen you mention Russia a few times. Is there a blog post with more details about your move to the US?
Actually - I don't think so.  I wouldn't even know where to start to be honest with you.  We moved for many reasons - one of which was my dad's job.  Many others had to do with my parents' decision to give my sister and me a better future than the quickly crumbling state that Russia was in.  I was almost 12 years old at the time.  My emotions about the move went from extreme happiness to depression on and off for a couple of years; but overall, I was glad we were starting our new life in the US.  I'll post some more details on this in the future.

I'll do another round of these at the end of next month - so keep 'em coming!

I get all my cute stuff on Etsy

I've received a bunch of questions about the super duper cute headbands, hats, and stickers I have and where I got them.

Where else but Etsy.com!

Here are some of my favorite shops:

Headbands-SassyLilPrincesses

Headbands-Neisha's Blue

Hats and headbands-Crochet Hats by Joyce

Stickers for onesies-Lil Baby Bumblebee

The Gigi's of our lives

Why is it just so darn sweet when you see your parents loving on your baby?

Is it because you end up imagining how they must have spent their days loving on you?

Or because you can feel the love radiating from their every pore and you can't believe someone can love your little nugget as much as you do?

Or maybe it's because you suddenly realize that your hands are free, the child is well cared for, and you can have a glass of wine?

Unrelated:  Got a question that you've been dying to ask me?  Leave a comment on the Q&A - the Q post and I'll post an answer!

Q&A - the Q

From time to time I get questions in the comments on my posts.  I would LOVE to answer them for you but unfortunately there are no e-mail addresses to respond to.  So instead I decided to start a Q&A post.

Every few weeks I will post a Q&A - the Q post where you can leave any questions you have in the comment section and I will do a Q&A - the A post a couple of days later where I will answer those questions.  Sound fun?  Here are some rules:

• Keep it PG since some of Jon's young cousins read this blog
• If you have a personal question, feel free to e-mail me instead

That's it! Now go ahead...gimme your Q's.

Peanut - 2 Months

Dear time, what gives?  Since when are you moving so fast?

Our little Peanut butter face is 2 months old today.

Here's the recap of our second month together:

• Addison started smiling at us a day or two after she turned 1 month old.
• We went through a bit of a rough patch around 6-7 weeks when she cried and cried almost non-stop.  Very few things consoled her, but we made it through.  A day or two after the 7th week started, Addi cried a little less.  And then even less.  Our days have been getting better and better.
• Addison is now cooing and squealing at us.  It's the cutest and funniest thing in the world.  Sometimes we ever have "conversations" where we take turns making funny noises at each other.
• Addi is still able to roll over from her belly to her back.  We usually spend a few minutes each day on the our bellies and Addison almost always rolls over when she's had enough.  Then we clap and do a little happy dance.  
• She's a champ at supporting her head, although she still looks like a bobble head after a couple of minutes.
• We took our first trip away from home with Addison and it went great!  She loves being in the car, looking out the window, or just sleeping in her car seat.  She even spent time smiling at her aunts, uncles and grandparents.
• Some of the other firsts this month: we all took a long walk by the beach; we've had two successful trips to Church, we went out to breakfast together; we visited the office.

Sardelki

Jon and I traveled to Moscow, Russia a couple of years ago so Jon could meet some of my family and see where I grew up.  The trip itself was pretty amazing since I was able to share so much of my past and what made me "me" with my husband, but that's not the point here.

The point is that while we were there we had these.

They're sardelki wrapped in crescent roll dough.  Then baked.

In Moscow there are stands that sell theses all over the place - kind of like our version of fast food.  So when we got home we had to make these.

That's all it takes.

Start by boiling the sardelki for about 5-10 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine two crescent rolls together.

Kind of like pigs in a blanket.

But waaaaay tastier.

We try to balance them with some veggies.  So good.  It is soooo good.  Oh I miss my Russianness already.

Loot from the Russian store

In case you are just joining us here, I'm Russian.  Which means that every once in a while I crave Russianness (yes, that's word).  Or more precisely, some Russian food.

Usually this means conning my parents into going out to a Russian store by them in Jersey and then visiting us.  This is no easy feat, people. 

So this week, after yet another craving for some Russian food (I really wanted some caviar), I decided that it was time to find some stores nearby.

These are Sushki.  They're kind of like dry mini bagels.  They're delicious.  Jon loves these so we got two bags.

I also wanted to grab some dehydrated dried fish.  These are extra good with some beers.

Borodinsky bread.  It's so good.  It's kind of like a mix between wheat and pumpernickel bread.  I can eat it by the loaf.  As is.  With absolutely nothing on it.  But it's way better with some butter and caviar on it.

Speaking of, here's some salmon caviar.  It's amazing.  I don't usually get this one but the lady at the store swore to me that I'd love it.  I usually get a different brand.  We'll have to see about this one.

Some cold cuts.  Delicious.  And fatty.  This didn't make it very far - I ate half of it in the car on the ride home and the rest almost as soon we we got home.

Sardelki.  Kind of like a mix between sausages and hot dogs.  But way better.  And tastier.  You can boil them and eat them or you can make delicious Sardelki in a blanket.  Which is what we did when we got home.  Post to follow.

And I saved the best for last.  Sirki.  It's like mini pieces of cheesecake in chocolate shells.  These are to die for.  But I'm not allowed to have too many in the house because I tend to eat all of them in one sitting.  Which cannot be good for me.  I'm working on the baby weight here, people!  And yet, they are irresistible.

In case you're in the area, these are the two stores we went to:

Europe Store (this one was our favorite; it's small but the customer service is incredible! The lady behind the counter let me try almost everything and found everything I wanted for me.)
200 Park Road, West Hartford, CT
(860) 233-2200

Delicacy Market (this one's way bigger but we weren't huge fans.  It felt too commercial and not like a local little shop.)
774 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT
(860) 236-7100