We recorded some of Anya’s first feedings.  It’s been somewhat two weeks, since we started eating solids and she loves it.  In this video, however, she is a bit cranky, ’cause it was already her sleepy time. 

Click here to see the video:

http://zaichik.mine.nu/wordpressvideos/anya/anyafedding.html

Remember, I told you that Nick and I were in a video for a popular Columbian artist?  Here is the music video link for you to look and try to find Nick and me there   : http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1033417402365

We got a pair of new and our very first shoes.   Check us out to see how we can walk in them.   Just click on the link below and it will take you to the video:

http://zaichik.mine.nu/wordpressvideos/anya/firstshoes.html

We are 4 months and 11 days old today. 

Anya got really sick for the first time in her life.  Our daddy keeps brining cold all the time, at least every three weeks and this time her immune system gave up.  Her temperature hit 102.1 and I had to take her to the doctor, who gave Anya so much Tylenol that poor baby was so out of it.  My mom and I were really scared.  None of us slept for the past couple of days, including and first of all, Anya.  She seems to be well now and we can breathe with ease finally.  The doctor wants to still do her immunity shots this Monday, but I am not sure she should.  After fighting with such a cold and having her body in such a weak state, I am kind of scared.  I think I am going to skip and wait for the sixth month to come to do all those shots. 

Really big update for Anya:  we are starting to make attempts to crawl!!!  She can pick up her bottom and legs so well; the only thing that is left for her to figure out that she needs to pick up her arms along with her legs.  She is so cute when she is doing that!  I say – another week or two and she will be crawling and we won’t be able to catch up with her.  She is so energetic! 

I am finally returning to work this week.  I found a job in the film-3D industry.  I am going to be working for the main company, who is responsible for today’s 3D and IMAX films with 3D glasses and stuff.  Pretty cool, ha?  The hours are really nice: from 7 to 4pm and the benefits package & pay are good as well.  Anyway, even though I am still not ready to leave Anya and I am going to miss her so much, I think this would be a great opportunity for me, so I said “yes.”   

Well, the past few weeks certainly were an adventure…

The picture is from the wave festival for a jazz radio station here in LA.  I was working on the shoot for that festival. 

Nick and I got into a car accident last Saturday right next to our home.  We were driving straight on the road, when a car hit us and ran.  We did not even manage to see their license plate.  The damage is quite substantial, so we were glad that we had insurance that covered most of the repair costs.  I am out of any transportation for about two to three weeks now.  L  I got so scared, since it was my very first accident, but mostly for Nick, because the car hit him from his side.  We got a witness, who helped us prove that it was not our fault, so the insurance rates won’t rise, which is good. J 

Anya is getting bigger and bigger.  She hates when you lay her down; she loves when she can see the world around her.  Yesterday, she learned how to sit up all on her own!  She uses our hands to get up into a sitting position; she is so strong!  Her blue eyes are still blue and she is losing her newborn hair now.  

Last Sunday, Nick and I were participating in a music video shoot for a popular Columbian singer, Fanny Lu.  The lead character was the guy from “That 70’s show, Wilmer Valderrama, known as Fez.  He was very sweet and I took a picture with him at the shoot.  Nick seemed to enjoy being in a music video a lot, except that it was very hot that day.  

Music Video with Wilmer Valderrama and Fanny Lu

Lately, we have received a lot of presents from Nick’s extended family.  We are very grateful to them for all the gifts they sent to Anya.  It is just so sweet of them and it is so incredibly nice to know that so many people care about you!!!  We are so happy to have you in our lives. J

Nick & Anya are eager to wish you happy birthday in this video (we became so talkative! ) : http://zaichik.mine.nu/wordpressvideos/anya/birthday.html

Anuta is growing so fast lately.  Sometimes I wake up after a three hour sleep at night and I am so amazed how much she’s grown for the past couple of hours that I’ve not seen her.  She started to notice the world around her more clearly, especially that cute mobile that hangs over her crib.  She loves watching the mobile so much and always smiles really wide when she wakes up and sees it.  She also loves falling asleep to the mobile’s music a lot.  None of her newborn clothes fit anymore and the clothing that we bought her a few weeks ago are becoming really tight.  She learned also how to demand whatever she wants and can’t stand sleeping much without her mommy by her side at night.  Here is a link to the video to see our Anya, waking up after her sweet sleep, seeing mommy and smiling, then realizing she is hungry and starting crying.

http://zaichik.mine.nu/wordpressvideos/anya/

Nick is really busy lately with the new iPhone coming out.  He’s been working a lot directly with people and that is something he has not done in a while, so he cherishes every minute he spends with just computers but he is happy to be back at work.  

I have been to the doctor as my usual check up routine after giving birth and she says that I am in great shape and surprisingly lost a lot of weight so quickly, which makes me feel oh so good.  Anya is having her two month check up soon on August 11th, so we will see how much she’s changed.  I believe she is going to have her first shots then as well, but I am not sure.  And finally, my mom has finally (!) got her insurance, so we are very excited and can’t wait to visit a couple of doctors to make sure her health is in good condition.  Speaking about health, I am, as of now, not allowed to have any chocolate, since Anya is having a reaction to it… oh, well, what won’t we do for our babies to be okay?  Refuse from our favorite sweets…sure, no problem!

As our little daughter growing and gaining weight oh so rapidly for the last few days, I managed to get UTI for some unknown reason to me.  Nick and I went to the urgent care today to confirm it.  I have no idea how I could get it, but I did.  I have to stop breastfeeding for at least three to five days, because they prescribed me antibiotics.  Even though the doctor says it’s okay to take those pills while breastfeeding, I feel bad giving our little baby antibiotics at her young age.  I guess we are switching to formula for the period of this week.    I am going to miss our little feeding times. 

Nick is getting used to being the daddy slowly but steadily.  When I ask him to change Anya’s diaper at night, I often have to remind him about it several times because for some reason he either forgets or falls asleep right after I ask him.   Well, since we are switching to formula this week, he will probably participate a lot more often in Anya’s feedings but we will see.  Anya seems to love her daddy the most.  :)  She often looks at him with such love and curiosity, especially when he puts he on his lap and plays with her.  We also got some baby videos and Anya adores watching those, while we are changing her diapers. 

My mom often take Anya for a walk in our back yard; the baby tends to sleep much better outside and sometimes it is so impossible to wake her up after we bring her home.  She can sleep up to five hours outside without even waking up!  If only she would do the same at night when mommy and daddy want to sleep so much too.    Even though we are extremely tired, we are very happy we have our little angel with us. 

Anya has finally arrived and I don’t know if there is anybody more precious to us than her.  She arrived perfectly on time, June 1^st.  On Saturday morning Nick woke up at 5:30am to go to work.  I started feeling strange and told Nick that he should be on the call, because maybe that was it.  When Nick left for work, I started feeling mild contractions at about 6:29am.  They were coming every six minutes apart but because they were very mild, I was not sure if they were real or, again, just Braxton-Hicks.  Contractions continued for the next two hours and I decided that it was time to call the doctor.  My doctor was not there but another doctor advised me to go to the hospital right away.  I called Nick and he came home in less than 15 minutes (even though it’s a long drive from his work)!  For some reason, I thought that my mom would be more nervous than Nick or me, but it turned out to be the other way around.  Nick was freaking out a lot and was very nervous, which I did not expect that from him.  We finished packing all our belongings and headed for the hospital.  When we arrived, the nurses checked me and said that I am having early labor but not even dilated at all and only 60% effaced.  Nothing changed within the next two hours and they sent us home.  A few hours after we came home, my contractions increased and soon after the pain became almost impossible to bear but still coming on a irregular timing.  I called the doctor several times and he assured me that that was not labor because labor is predictable.  If only he knew that my contractions actually were irregular on timing up to the very last minute!   Eventually the pain was so huge that I asked Nick to get me to the hospital as soon as possible, even though I was extremely scared that they would send me back home again.  There was a concert on the way and that caused a huge traffic, so it took us a while to get to the hospital.  Once there, they brought a wheel chair for me and took me all the way upstairs.  Contractions were coming every 2 -3 minutes at that time.  When they checked me, I was five centimeters dilated and everyone was really happy to hear that, because that meant that I was not going home that night.  They gave me an IV and prepared me for an epidural.  Nick told me afterwards how scary the procedure for epidural looked with approximately 20 centimeters needle sticking out of my back, but I guess I got so much adrenaline running in my body that I did not feel it.  I progressed really fast to 7, then 9, 9.5 centimeters and than contractions slowed down a lot.  They broke my amniotic fluid at 8 centimeters and it showed that the baby had meconium, her first bowel movement inside of me.  That meant that they would need to clean her up once she comes out very fast.  It took me 3 hours to push; the baby would not want to come out.  When my main doctor had finally arrived and the end was close, she noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around baby’s neck twice!  Her only concern was to get rid of the cord as soon as possible, so Nick did not get to cut the cord but the health of the baby was more important.  Anya was born and took her to get cleaned right away instead of putting her on my tummy.  Nick looked really excited and my mom almost started crying.  While they were finishing up with me (stitching and all), they took the baby to the nursery.  Nick and my mom went there with them and when they came back, my mom kept saying that we should not leave the baby alone like that, because she was just too cute and somebody could steal her.   Silly mommy. J 

The first night was intense: lots of crying, not much sleep (almost none for me), but everyone was very excited.  When they finally brought the baby, she was crying a lot and my mom would refuse to give the baby back to nurses.  She would say that when Anya was born, she smiled so much and that the nurses scared her too much.  She would even refuse to give the baby to me, so I sent her home to get some rest and realize “who’s the boss.”  J 

Breastfeeding started out a bit difficult for me for some reason but it’s getting better now with every day.  Tonight Anya almost slept through the entire night and I got even worried that she did not want to wake, feed, or even pee.  We got an electric pump, so now Anya should have plenty of people to feed her.  She is still eating only a bit though.

I think we are finally building our schedule and routine.  Nick looks like a proud daddy a lot now.  My mom is trying to take over, but I am not letting her.  I want to do everything myself and it seems I simply can’t leave the baby alone.  She is just so precious, especially when she smiles!  JJJ

I had my doctor’s appointment on Monday and she happily informed me that I am 50% effaced, which means I am half way there to our main event.  Once I am 100% thinned out or effaced, I will be in labor.  So, practically, I am ready to give birth almost anytime now.  Nick and I have done some serious baby stuff shopping this weekend and we are slowly preparing our “hospital needs” bag to be ready when needed.  I was a little concerned which clothes’ size to buy and I am a bit scared of them not fitting the baby properly.  Right now, I am just hoping that Anya would be less than 8 pounds or I will have to do some more clothes shopping.   For some reason, it’s more difficult to shop for baby stuff than I could ever imagine!

On wed we are having an interview to pick up a pediatrician for our baby.  My mom and I are preparing all the questions for the doctor to see if she or he is qualified.  I prefer that the doctor speaks both English and Russian, so that my mom could take the baby to the doctor herself, if needed.  We found a few of such doctors and we are interviewing them before Anya’s born :)

It has become almost intolerable to be pregnant anymore, especially in such weather (97 degrees!!!), but I am coping with Nick’s and mom’s help.  I don’t know what I would do without them!  It has also become difficult to drive, since my back is killing me and I often get Braxton-Hicks contractions (that’s the way my body is preparing for labor.)  I have one more visit to the doctor’s unless Anya wants to come out earlier and then I am ready to go.

We are also trying to get my mom on Medicare/Medical, so that she could acquire insurance and have some normal doctors’ appointments.  We had an evaluation check up and the doctor said that my mom’s blood pressure is more than normal.  So, hopefully we will get the insurance soon.  For some reason, it’s difficult to sign her up for any other insurance; they have so many requirements that she does not pass, such as to visit American doctors and specific weight amount.  Anyway, we will see.

Nick is slowly getting used to driving in traffic, but he still comes home very tired.  It takes him at least an hour to get home from work now.  We have to go to sleep now early and wake up very early as well.  But everytime I am asking Nick if he still thinks we did the right thing and bought this condo, he surely tells me “yes.”  He seems very happy to live here, even though he has to drive so far away.  He often tells me that Van Nuys reminds him of Austin a lot and everything feels more familar here than it was in West Hollywood.  So, to celebrate our new condo, we had a barbeque on our lovely patio and we made some new pictures.  Check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yulenk/