I don't go out without my bodyguard

For those who don't know, this is Aaron's cousin Nikolai. We're enjoying his visit this weekend and Aaron is having a great time with his male cousin. We took them to the airplane park today and took some pictures which are uploaded in Aaron's 11 months album.

To All the Men in Our Lives-Happy Father's Day!

Today is Cliff's first Father's Day. Aaron made a present for Daddy by waking up only twice for a quick sip of water during the night and letting Daddy sleep 50 minutes longer this morning, and a card in bed with lots and lots of kisses from his little boy (Aaron has become very affectionate:)).

I am thinking about three men today that have a profound impact on my life as fathers.

First, it's my dad-Papa. I could write endlessly about him, but I'll just say this: I have never met a stronger Christian than he is. He always inspires me to follow the narrow path, to love and serve God, to be humble and honest, to discern good from bad and to stand your ground no matter what the circumstances are and what people (non-Christians) say. I admire his boldness in proclaiming the Gospel in the midst of sin and rejection at work. How many of us can say the same?

Папа, я тебя люблю!

Another man, I'd like to say a word about is Cliff's Dad-Greg. Clearly, he must have invested years of energy, love, wisdom and parental skills for me to have a wonderful husband I have today.This is the man who built his house on the rock and taught his son to do the same. I appreciate the fact that we can always count and rely on him for a wise advice.

Has not Aaron been blessed with GREAT grandfathers? But more so, he's been blessed with an amazing father. I am a witness of the fact that children, and especially boys desparately need their dads. I can't understand how some can deny the importance of nuclear families. A father IS just as important in a life of a child as is a mother, regardless the age. Cliff is being all things to Aaron, just as I am all things to him, just in a different way: Cliff is the family provider, the leader, and the protector. On top of that he's an awesome caregiver/respite care for me: he knows how to change diapers, how to put Aaron to sleep (both during the day and in the middle of the night), how to wash Aaron, how to play with him....he knows everything about his son. I could not wish for a better father for Aaron.

Happy First Father's Day, Cliff!

Ghost Busters Needed!

Every day at around 11:30 am and 5:30 pm strange things happen in our bedroom. Check this out:

Toddling

Aaron is walking now like it's nobody's business:) Last night while Cliff and I were sitting on the couch eating dinner (we had to get rid of our dinning table as it completely fell apart), Aaron was circling around the living room as if showing off how well he can walk. See for yourself!

ANC: Ain't Nobody Cuter

Here is our 11-month old in full splendor:) He's wearing his daddy's outfit when daddy was around his age. Let's just say Cliff was embarrassed to take Aaron out in this outfit for the pictures. But when I reminded him that Cliff himself actually wore it years ago and turned out just fine, he gave in:)

We took him to the park near the airport. He loves watching airplanes land but gets intimidated when the planes go by right above his head, so he's always searching for my hand during those moments. We posted new pictures in his 11 months album. Some of those pictures need to be looked at in sequence to see how Aaron's face changes as the plane goes by.

Aaron is eating solid food much much better now. Praise the Lord! I was getting really worried. Next on our agenda is his night sleep and transition to solids only. Please, say a prayer for us. I have not slept for more than 4 hours for about 2 weeks already. I am exhausted.

Leaving you with this cute face:

Better Late than Never

Yep, our little man is 11 months old today and we just start this blog for him. In fact, the blog was opened in my last months of pregnancy but I just did not feel like posting anything. After coming back from Ukraine I felt like it would be a good idea to share his adventures and experience there with our families and the blog would help me with that. So, here we start, with his trip to his historic motherland.

Aaron did wonderfully on the way there. The trip flew by for me as never before. We boarded at around 5:30 pm. The boarding part was the hardest part of the trip since we had to stay in places and Aaron really wanted to check the plane out. By the way, he hates the seat belts. And it does not matter that you can fit 3 Aarons in that seatbelt around him, he hated the idea of having it on him. On the plane Aaron was the star-he smiled and chatted with anyone who was interested. At around 7 pm I gave him a roll that was served with my dinner and it kept him occupied for some time while I had time to finish my dinner and then feed him his dinner in between his roll bites. At 8 pm he fell asleep and slept through the whole way to Odessa, waking up occasionally on descend and ascend. He was quite a trooper!

The first 2 weeks in Ukraine were slow. At first my dad got sick, then mom and Aaron and at the very end I. But I guess we did not miss much because it was raining most of the time.
Aaron became best friends with dedushka. He always ran (read: crawled) to the door when my dad would come home from work, and could sit on his lap for a very long time. Dedushka taught him the names of all electric appliances in the kitchen as well as names of the people in the pictures on the fridge. Aaron's mornings started with him sitting in dedushka's arms and pointing at different objects as dedushka would ask "Where is...?" Dedushka was even able to put him down for a nap without rocking.

On May 17th Aaron made his first steps from his babushka to the box with toys. As of now he can walk across the room all on his own but if I am around he's still looking for my finger:)
We mostly stayed in Yuzhny with Aaron as it is hard to plan any trips with a child who has 3 straight hours of free time at most between his naps and feedings. But we did go to dachas, to the beach, and to take pictures near Odessa in the poppy field.

In the evening we would go out to Prospect (the main street in Yuzhny) where all the kids of his age get together. Aaron loved it.
By the end of the trip Aaron got his 3rd tooth (left top) and I think there is one more right next to it that is barely visible making it total of 4 teeth. He finally learned to chew food without gagging.

He is even saying a few words, in Russian, of course: aDA (vaDA/water), naNA (nel'zYA/not allowed to), deda (short for dedushka), papa, baba (short for babushka), AU (meow for a cat), kudkuDA (for a hen) and maybe some more that I can't think of right now (no, he does not say "mama":() He can show you how a hedgehock does with his nose, how the plane goes with his arms, how the birds fly with his arms, he can blow kisses, give you a real kiss if he really likes you or feels like, wave hello and bye-bye.
His personality has really started to come through. He's a very active and social being:) He can play by himself but only for a few minutes.

Back to our trip to Ukraine. Two days before the departure Aaron spiked fever at night. It must have been some viral infection. The night before we were leaving his fever broke. However, the flight was tough, much tougher than on the way there. Probably because we had to wake up at night and flew all day long. But we made it back safely, thank God! It took Aaron 4 days to adjust back to American time.

We uploaded several more pictures to his web album. You're welcome to check it out