Teddy Bear Corner: January 2010

Smiles!

Wow! 14 blog entries in one evening, with two videos and lots of pics... that should make up for a month of not blogging through the Holidays. It might seem like blogging overkill but this is the only way our family in the US can see him for now. It's nice to finally have high speed internet again. I just got back to Moscow this morning by train to go to work. Mikey's had a fever over the weekend and I need to go back to Voronezh anyway on Friday for some residency document stuff so Lena's down there with him and her parents until we drive up together next weekend. I miss them already, especially after spending all this time updating our blog:( Michael smiles for us everyday, but it's so hard to catch it on camera. Above are a couple of succesful attempts (he really smiles big when I lift him over my head like he's flying:) Anyway, hope you enjoy what I've posted cuz this is it for a while... I'm all blogged out.

Looking at one of his new books

Isn't that a cool book? It's got mirrors, a bumpy green frog, a fluffy white sheep, a soft yellow ducky and everything! Side note: A Jazz game was shown on TV over here during the holidays which happens once, maybe twice a season. Too bad they lost at home in SLC to Denver by turning the ball over like a million times! I don't blame Mikey for falling asleep during the fourth quarter cuz it wasn't pretty.

Presents for Mikey!

Here's some shots of Mikey with the presents we wrapped up for him. The wrapping paper ended up being more interesting to him than the presents inside! Too funny! We love his little feet sticking out and then him hitting one of the boxes. We got one of him under the tree with his other presents cuz for us having him here with us is the best thing we could have asked for. Oh, and take a look at the last picture. Isn't that the best smirk? Sly little guy... wonder what he's up to?

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

This video was taken on December 25th during one of his 'Baby's First' photo shoots (you can check out that blog entry below). When I asked him if he wants to wish us a Merry Christmas, he tries so hard! We were totally not expecting it. It's the first time we heard him make the 'Ma' and 'Ka' sounds together so we think he was trying to repeat what I said. I guess that means the noise that comes right after is his attempt at 'Happy New Year's!'

Looking at Lion and Monkey

Too bad he put his hands up in front of his face for most the video. He usually smiles and talks to Lion and just stares at Monkey and Elephant.

Christmas Call, December 25th

This is Mikey's christmas day call with his grandma and grandpa in America. These are some of the expressions he was making along with his gooing and gaaing. The top three are the first three right in order and you can follow his expression from 'What's this?' to 'Surprise' to 'I kinda like this':)

Outside in the snow

We don't have any real good in the snow pictures with Michael yet, which is more our fault for not always having our camera with us because there's been a lot of snow. That and the fact that we don't spend a lot of time with him outside in the cold. We spent several days shovelling. These were taken when we came home from a walk with Mikey. It gets dark pretty early and most of the snow was shovelled before we left. What you see in the one picture of me shovelling is just the snow from our car. You can also get a view of the street in front of Lena's house.

New Year's Eve!

Here are some pictures taken right on Mikey's first New Year's Eve! He loves being with his grandparents! Too bad his other grandparents are so far away:( Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with the Russian tradition, the President of Russia always makes a short congratulatory holiday speech on all the channels on New Years Eve. The clock strikes midnight as soon as he's finished, which explains why you can see President Medvedev on the TV in the background. It's a recording, of course, or else he'd have to repeat the same speech for all 11 time zones!