42 Things That Change When You Have a Baby...

I get "baby" emails on daily basis about baby development and parenthood. Some of them are very educational, some are fun and entertaining, some are nerdy, some are dumb. Today I got on with the title "42 Things That Change When you Have a Baby." Some of them made me laugh, and some made me say," How true..."

You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
Your heart breaks much more easily.
You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day
You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
You find yourself wanting to make this world a better place
Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.
Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.
You can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds like "ahhh" and "oooo."
If you didn’t believe in love at first sight before, now you do!

The funny ones:
You become a morning person.
Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
You discover how much there is to say about one tooth
You give parents with a screaming child an 'I-know-the-feeling' look instead of a 'Can't-they-shut-him-up?' one.
You finally find out the real reason you have those breasts :)

Yes, since having a baby life has changed. It has been exciting and fun, challenging and trying...Its not about me anymore, its about this little guy in my lap. Its not easy, and every day brings something new. But I wouldnt have it any other way!

Lil Man is 8 Months!

Our silly guy and his new smile. He also says "Ghee" when he does it - its hilarious!

Cracks me up

blackberry face

walking with granpa who is very persistent and is planning to teach Lucas walk before he is 1 year old

"Oh, Daddy! see the shirt I'm wearing? ;P Mommy dressed me, and I love it! Happy BBall season!!!!"

Lucas at 8 months:

- more independent

-sits without support

-uses both hands to play with toys

- wants to feed himself but mommy wont let him

- does not like strangers AT ALL! CRIES and CRIES! and clings to mom

- loves aunt Vika and mommy's friend Vika, trying to talk her into letting her future daughter marry him :)

-grasps things with fingers

- says "ba-ba, ga-ga, grrrrr, mba-mba"

- eats chicken, broccolli, potatoes, carrots, apples, cauliflower, cereals, cottage cheese, baby cookies, bubliki i.e. russian bagels, and other baby food. Drinks milk, apple and peach juices, tea with Vitamin C.

- loves to smile!!!

- loves to cuddle and snuggle

- sleeps during walks, but when awake is very curious and loves to watch loud cars and buses

I love you sweet boy! Thank you God for your precious gift, give us wisdom to take good care of this wonderful child...

Little Pumpkin - Lucas' 1st Halloween

In the morning Lucas was the Jack O'Lantern :)

"give me the camera, mom!"

After his nap, he became a Zebra!

and mommy was a doctor

Lucas' best friend - Vika, also known as his future mother-in-law

We celebrated Halloween with friends, pot of chilli, baked ziti and pumpkin pirozhki. Lucas hung out with grandparents while I hung out with my friends, remembering good ol' times from childhood and highschool. Oh my...

You know its fall in Ukraine

when you eat pickled watermelon, pickled apples, pickled pig ears, pickled cabbage, pickled EVERYTHING!
Now, I know its not gourmet or anything, it may even sound gross to many of you but it is very Ukrainian and very tasty if you just give it a try. You may ask, "How in the world do they pickle watermelons??!!?" I dont know. All I know they are sweet and salty, and I really wish I had them when I was pregnant. We bought a small pickled watermelon, and that was our lunch! (along with some pickled pig ears) Ok. So you dont take an ear and start chomping on it. Its cut in very thin strips, pickled in various spices and served with Korean carrots (which are a dish in itself). If cartilage is your kind of thing, pig ears are for you!

Oh, the fall time in Ukraine!

Lucas is 7 month...(and 12 days..oops late update)

Main milestones for Lucas:

- he can sit up all by himself for longer than 5 minutes!!!!

-he holds his bottle and guides it to his mouth (oh, he is so grown..Im crying, soon he wont need me so much..*sniff*)

-he eats all kind of solids, including broccolli...now he is developing taste for sweets like bananas and start to refuse eating broccolli :) Smart!

- THREE teeth are out! two top and on the bottom, and they are sharp!

- he loves milk; it doesnt matter how much baby food he consumes in one sitting he will still drink a whole bottle of milk (6-8oz)

-still sleeps with his girl Zoozu

- he discovered that adults toys i.e. remote controls, cell phones, laptop, are more fun to play with than his own toys. And they taste better too.

- not sure what his weight and height are at this point

-Lucas started to grow some hair back; its light brown

Lucas is such a delight! I am so blessed to be his Mama. There are tough days, and days when my patience running low, and I wish I could grow another set of hands and eyes...But God gets me through it all, reminding me that these days will go by so fast so I need to enjoy every minute of it.

Up late...again :)

"Broccolli is good for you!"

"So, why dont YOU eat it, Mommy?!"


Tired Lucas.."teeth are cutting thru" kind of a night

We miss Daddy terribly, but thanks to wonderful SKYPE we are able to see each other daily! So cool! Love you Everette!

I never sleep without my girl!

check it out! I am holding my bottle. The camera is distracting me, I gotta smile :)

just woke from a nap face

Prayer Request

To all our prayer warriors..my honey is travelling today, october 13th, he left Odessa 6:20 am Iowa time and will be arriving Chicago at 7:40pm - all day trip.
Please pray for safe flights and that Everette is handling it all OK.

Much love,

Eugenia

Just Some Pictures

My two men

Mmmm..good ( i think he ate zucchini there)


Huh? pictures, again?

New chair!!!!

First breakfast in a new chair...love how they are gazing at each other :)

Bathtime at grandma's...the duck is too small already

I just wanna eat him up!

silly :) (the face he makes when he growles..the child doesnt cry or scream, he just simply growls)

LOVE him!!!

"Look Gramma, I can feed myself!"

(not really :) )
small amusement park on our side of town. We liked it, Lucas wasnt interested

what a face?! MMmmmahhh!

Before I forget...

About a week ago, on September 27th to be exact, we went to church as usual not thinking we'd do or see anything different that day than any other Sunday. We were 10 minutes late...as usual :) No excuses, but a small baby and a cranky mommy who cannot leave the house without that oh so needed cup of coffee. As we finished the singing and all the announcement, Mark - our pastor, introduced a friend, Dan, that would be preaching that morning, a pastor from a small church in...Iowa. Whoo hoo!! "Iowa, yeah, thats us!" I exlaimed. Moving on.

After about 20 minutes into the sermon, Everette whispers to me, " I think I know this guy."
Ok. Really. Whatever. Just because you are in Ukraine and listening to a guy from Iowa, that doesnt mean you know him. Iowa is not THAT small :)
5 min later. " I really think I know this guy! I think I even spend the night at his house."
- "Really? Who is he?" i whisper back; 'now you're pushing it, babe' thinking on the back of my head (have you ever said that out loud and really thought about words "thinking on the back of my head"... can we reeaally do that? weird.)

After the preaching, Everette came up to Mark and asked if Dan has son named Ben, and he does!!! "I KNEW IT! I figured it out after Dan said he loves Easter!!!!" my husband jumped.
Everette came up to Dan and said, "You might not remember me, but I hung out with your son about 8 years ago, and spent couple weekends at your house..."
Dan took a step back, looked, and shouted "Everette??!! oh, geez!!! Holy Cow! Goodness gracious! I havent seen you in so long! Of course, I remember you - you are the only Everette I have ever known!" - gave him a huge hug, so big and loud that next door Emergency Services person came out and shushed them :) - You shared how you came to know the Lord on Easter Sunday at my church!"
Ok. We are in Odessa. There are MANY churches here, and ours is renting two small rooms from a communist factory that used to make umbrellas, I think...And we meet this guy HERE??!!Speaking of a small world. Crazy!!!
It was so fun to watch them two just catching up and laughing. And of course, Dan is like, "ummm, what are YOU doing in UKRAINE, Everette?" hahahah LOL!

It turned out Dan works closely with the missionary organization International Messengers, whose headquaters are in Iowa (of all places! God - you are so cool!), who sent Mark and his family to start a church in Ukraine. So, Dan comes once a year or so to teach a week of courses at the Missionary Training Institue associated with International Messengers.

I had to post this, because it was such a cool suprise...Its like God said, "you need some laughter in your life right now! here, have a ball!" ...and plus if I dont write it down, I will forget, and years from now will be scratching my head trying to remember the good ol' times.

love to all! God is awesome!

6 months old

Lucas turned 6 months on September 11th. Its crazy how time flies when a sweet little bundle turns into very much an interactive little boy. We celebrated with lots of play time, giggles, granma and grandpa made a celebration dinner with "French Potatoes and Pork Chops" i.e. baked pork chops with potatoes with lots of ooey-gooey cheese. We even had some pink champagne to celebrate lil man's 1/2 year mark!

Things Lucas can do:
- ROLL! everywhere and anytime
- giggle and make everyone laugh
- makes funny boy noises
- sits up with some support
-eats solids like cereal and baby-food fruit and veggies, and favorite of them all are apples!
- continues to love his milk; gets super excited when sees the bottle with milk

- grabs the bottle with two hands, though cant quite figure out how to hold it long enough

-goes to sleep by himself (day time ONLY!)

- sleeps thru the night (9pm - 8 am)

-knows us and smiles when sees his mom and dad (scared of strangers)

-puts everything in his mouth

- Zoozu is his first love!

- falls asleep on bumpy rides i.e. walks around our neighborhood (we have really bad roads around here)

- slaps toys with his right hands

- wakes up and always smiles

- curious about adult food

Grandma's dinner

I got a Computer for my half year BDAY!

Now we can chat, grandma Locklear!!

I am 6 months!

super cute!

oh, my pumpkin :)

this is what we wake up every morning to! Thank You, God, for your blessings!!! Thank you for this little boy...what a precious gift he is