Happy Easter!

This was the best Easter Mommy and Daddy ever had experienced. Probably the fact that it was the first Easter for Nicholas as well as one for which we prepared the most made a difference. We also had our Romanian grandma with us which was nice too. Although his first, Nicholas behaved exemplary. He was sleeping as we arrived to church, right around midnight, but was soon awake and ready to get light and go out for the procession around the church. He was quiet and obsevant, taking it all in while in his mama's wrap. About an hour in he fell asleep listenning to the beautiful hymns and being rocked in mommy's wrap - sling style. He slept like a true angel through most of the remaining service until about a minute before taking communion, as if God whisphered in his ear - baby Nicholas it's time... We all headed downstairs for a great Pascha feast around 3am where Nicholas was wide awake, and was ready to partake in the festivities. We finally got home around 4:30am tired but happy.

Here are some pictures to go along.

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Motherhood in 81 minutes a day

The time for Mommy's thesis defense is fast approaching (May 6)...  She is excited to be regaining her ability to focus, think about science-y things, and get things done outside the house.  She couldn't have done this without the help of grandma (her mom), and she is very thankful!  Still, Mommy misses Nicholas when she is away from him, and really appreciates the time that they do get to spend together.  Apparently, an average working mother spends 81 minutes a day looking after her children... Mommy is not keeping track of every minute, but she does feel like this statistic is not that far from the truth.  Luckily grandma keeps her fun times with Nicholas documented with her own camera and notes about feeding times and nap times, and mommy is very thankful for this too!

Yoga time.  "Happy baby" pose.

Look!  I can hold my own bottle!

Flirting with Nevalyashka (a classic Russian toy that doesn't fall)

In the middle of rolling over

Rollover completed!

Out for a walk with mommy after work.

DJ Nicholas

The Debut.

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Nicholas is 5 months old!

Nicholas is five months old!  Here are some recent pictures!

Hanging with my uncles!

Tummy time!

Sitting with support

Looks interesting!

Get me out of here!

Busy

Presently Mommy has her hands full with working full time and getting ready to defend her thesis in early May.  Her favorite parts of the day are mornings and evenings when she gets to spend some quality time with Nicholas.  At some point, when things are less crazy, mommy hopes to blog more frequently, but for now, here are some pictures.

Blue

White

sleepy little charmer

More pictures of baptism

Blessed.

In

and Out

Baptism of Nicholas

Today was a glorious day for our family! Nicholas was baptized and took his first communion.

Dad and his mom.

Mom and her mom.

Nicholas and his Godparents.

1

The Dunking!

Getting clothed.

Arabian prince.

Baptism procession.

Nicholas being walked into the church.

Happy Parents.

Family photo.

The spread.

Full House

As suggested by the title, we have been a little busy for the past week and a half and thus slacked a little on posting. But given that we took a couple of cute pictures, I figured I would also let everyone know that tomorrow is a big day for Nicholas. It is his baptism. This is one of the great sacraments of the Orthodox Church. Look for pictures from the baptism in the next few days.

Grandpa, getting the hang of the day shift.

Trying on some oriental attire.

Behind bars! Planning his escape with his accomplice, the duck.

Grandma and Nicholas in Dancing with the Czar.

Starting soccer practice for the infant league.

Back to Work

This week is mommy's second week back at work.  She is only back part time in the mornings until noon.  Nicholas stays home with Daddy during this time.  Mommy is happy to be getting out of the house, and she only spends 3-4 hours away from Nicholas for the time being.  Starting March 1st, Mommy is planning to get back to work full time and focus on finishing her Ph.D.  She is really sad about the prospect of being away from Nicholas for extended periods of time, but really wants to finally graduate!!!  Luckily, Nicholas will be spending his days with grandma (Mommy's mom), so she knows that Nicholas will be in good hands.

Anyway, for now Daddy gets the easy shift because Nicholas is all smiles in the morning and usually sleeps well between 10am and noon.  As the day goes on Nicholas gets a bit fussier and more demanding.  He even used to have "fussy time" 6pm-8pm until we figured out what he wanted.  Turns out that Nicholas just wanted to dance during that time (too bad infants can't move around much on their own and can really explain what they want with words, so it took us some time to figure this out).  So now every evening before Nicholas bedtime of 8pm we have a party where we bounce Nicholas around to the beat of the latest hits.  It's actually a lot of fun and a good workout, and much more pleasant than "fussy time" where he is screaming in his crib.

Hanging out with Daddy

Enjoying my jungle gym

Nice camera, Daddy!

Daddy duties

So being a dad doesn't just consist of bringing home the sushi (modern adaptation), but also of doing dishes, laundry, shopping and taking care of Kona. Below you can see some pictures of Kona on one of her walks and on her way back from grooming.

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