Pickles before bedtime

is a very bad idea.
We decided to grill hotdogs for dinner tonight. As Cliff was grilling outside Aaron was running around on the patio getting excited that we were going "to have a picnic". Everybody enjoyed their dinner outside and we shared about 5 pickle slices with Aaron which he loved. Ever since then he doesn't stop asking for water. So, now I wonder how many sheets and diapers I am going to change tonight and if I am going to get any sleep...

Update: It wasn't too bad. He had an accident at 5:30 am, almost right before he usually wakes up. He did have a hard time going down. Cliff was putting him down for almost 2 hours. After 1.5 hours of surfing internet in the hallway, taking a short nap on the floor, Cliff decided to come downstairs thinking that Aaron was already fast asleep in his bed. Not a chance:) As soon as Cliff came downstairs, Aaron ran up to his door and called out: "Papa!" I thought it was cute that he was calling out his papa, but Cliff kept asking me what the deal was:)

A new haircut

Yesterday afternoon I decided to give Aaron a haircut. No, I didn't get carried away. I knew it was going to look something like this:) I felt like I was getting worse and worse with my haircutting skills and I thought it was a good time to "reset" his length and try it again when it grows back the same length. I still can't get used to this new look. It feels like he grew up about a year with his haircut. Not like he needed a haircut to make him look older than what he actually is...I went shopping for some girly clothes this morning and found lots of good stuff which Aaron approved. Sometimes I wonder how much he understands about his sister. He bring up his little sister in conversations even when I do not talk about her. Does he really believe in what he's never seen? Like this morning, he came up to my belly and said "Hi" to her, then he said he was going to read his book to his baby sister. He calls her by name which means we are most likely to keep the name we already picked for her. At the same time I wonder how he will act when the baby is actually here. I watched him interact with Vitaliy: at times he'd be gentle with his baby cousin, bring him toys, give him a hug. Then other times he would want to sit on his cousin who happened to be crawling by, or push him away. I know, though, that ultimately he'll be the kind of a brother that Cliff and I teach him to be.
Not much new with our little Miss. She's growing fast. I gained about 14 lb since the beginning of my pregnancy. I am 26 weeks pregnant and am very thankful to God that He's allowed me to carry her this far.

Summer In Pittsburgh

Aaron and I spent a week visiting Seriy and Jules and the boys in Pittsburgh. We had such a great time and felt very welcome there. Thank you, Jules, for delicious homemade meals and for being such a wonderful hostess.
The past week was full of new discoveries about Aaron. I didn't see Aaron playing so well with another child. He loved wrestling and playing with Nikolai, and just doing things together. Also, Aaron's sharing skills were put to a real test and I must say they need some work:)
There are many pictures that I opened a new album for (Summer in Pittsburgh). Here are some of my favorites to summarize our time in PA.

24 weeks

Little Missy is now 24 weeks old in utero. I had another ultrasound yesterday to check her heart (the tech couldn't examine it at 20 weeks as she was all curled up). We praise God, everything looks good. Her little heart was beating at 138 beats/minute. I think she was resting during the exam but usually she's a very very active baby, especially at night:) I could see her opening her mouth, her little fingers were near her face. During the exam she was head and feet up in the air, like a gymnast. Once the sickness of the first trimester passed the time started flying fast. In 4 weeks will be my last appointment of the second trimester and after that I will be seeing my doctor every 2 weeks. I try to enjoy every day of this pregnancy but looking forward to holding her in my arms when the time comes.
As far as her name, we keep going back and forth. At the moment I think we have decided but that could change by the time she's here:)


Her big Bro is doing well though we've had some troubles with his sleep (should I had mentioned anything about what a great sleeper he was in my last post?:)) Some days he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed-everyting is wrong, he can't even pinpoint what exactly:) It's also something I am learning how to deal with correctly as I don't see this behavior in him very often. But then the next moment is all fine-happy and smiling. The weather has been hot but we're trying to hit our playground in the morning before the heat of the day, and spend a lot of time inside doing crafts. This weekend we'll be visiting Aaron's big cuz Nikolai who turns 3 today! Happy Birthday Nikolai! Aaron can't wait to give you your present:)