Birthday Party

On Sunday the 15th, we had a birthday party for Daniel. Sasha rented out a European restaurant and we invited family and friends to celebrate with us. My parents came over from Louisiana, Sasha's grandparents came over from Alabama, and we had friends come over from various places. Sasha bought Daniel a really cool birthday outfit. Here he is looking like one of the Sopranos.


Sasha and her mother made a poster full of photos of Daniel throughout his first year. It really turned out nice. Everybody loved it. (Click on the picture to see the pictures and captions on each of them)

Daniel is really coming along with his walking. Actually, it's all he wants to do anymore. Lately he has been holding onto only one hand and is getting his balance really well. He loves to dance too.

That smile gets me every time. You can't hear it, but he usually squeaks when he does it.

Finally, a picture with the three of us together. One of us is usually holding the camera.

This is a collage of our family and friends. We ordered about three times as much food as we needed, so everyone had plenty. I think we still have some leftovers in the refrigerator. The food was delicious.

We hired a clown named Tater to entertain the kids. She did some magic tricks and made hats and animals with balloons. At first, things were a little odd, but the kids quickly warmed up to her and ended up having a great time. Daniel was most interested in her suitcase which was decorated with all kinds of trinkets. He pulled a few off, but I don't think that she noticed. She made balloon hats for all the kids, but Daniel was not having any of it. So other people were made to wear it, like Sasha's Grandmother, cousin David and Sasha.


Just about the time we decided to give Daniel his cake, he started getting sleepy. We had a full-body bib to protect Daniel, but it was probably unnecessary. He didn't give us the show we expected, but it was funny anyway. I ended up getting more icing on me than Daniel did on himself, but Sasha took my clothes to the cleaners yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy! We love you so-so much!

Written by Stephen

Stephen's Birthday Dinner

It was Friday, the 13th. Are you scared yet? Well, you should be! Read on to find the horror :)

I know, I know these posts are supposed to be all about Daniel and his Birthday and Stephen's Birthday is not for another 3 weeks. However, his parents are not going to be able to come back and celebrate Stephen's BIG 4-0 with him, so they wanted to take him out. Plus I had an idea for a Birthday present for Stephen that I knew he wanted and needed. I suggested the idea to John, Monnie, and my mum and everybody agreed to chip in.

John, Monnie, and I selected a Persian Restaurant and made a reservation. The decor looked very authentic, they had both "beds" and tables. We chose to sit at a table, but I think we will try to sit on a bed when we go back, however my legs might not be able to handle sitting cross-legged for so long.

Ok, back to my story. Stephen just thought that his parents wanted to take us all for dinner, he had absolutely no suspicion that something different was going on. So he was completely shocked when his parents gave him a card and a small box. They told him to open the box first and there were Star Wars Lego figures there. Stephen started laughing, he used to ask for those when they first came out 30 years ago. He then opened the envelope and his eyes got HUGE when he saw a check there with a note "for Lasik surgery". He was so-so happy! It was amazing!

Stephen has been wearing glasses since he was 8 years old. He hates those things and his eyes are so sensitive that he cannot wear contact lenses. He has been talking about getting Lasik for as long as I have known him. But it was always put on the back burner, Stephen always had something more important to take care of. This year would have been no different since we are trying to save for a house. But now he has no excuse!


Warning! Do not read ahead if you are easily grossed out!

We had some great appetizers and entrees, and had just ordered a dessert when Daniel started getting a little cranky. So Stephen picked Daniel up and set Daniel on his lap facing away from him. About a second later Stephen exclaimed (and I am NOT being dramatic): "OMG, look at this, Daniel had a blow-out!" At this point I was really surprised what was causing Stephen to have such an extreme reaction since Daniel has a few diaper blow-outs a week and we just deal with it. So I just set in my seat (as did Monnie and John) and looked at Stephen. Stephen then said "isn't anybody going to help me?" So I walked around the table and saw it. Stephen was right: OH MY GOD! The poop was everywhere! All the way down Stephen's nice work shirt, on his sleeve and a little bit on his light slacks! This was one of the worst ever. I grabbed Daniel and Stephen proceeded to remove his shirt right in the middle of the restaurant. He got as much as he could off his pants. I did have a spare outfit for Daniel in the diaper bag, but, of course, that restaurant did not have a changing table in the bathroom. And it was raining outside. So we stuffed a bunch of napkins down the back of Daniel's pants, canceled our desert, lined Daniel's car seat with a bunch more napkins and drove home like mad people. Such a great ending to a wonderful dinner! :) Thank you Daniel for great memories! And the little horrors!

Daniel is One Year Old!

Happy 1st Birthday, Daniel!

Yes, it is true, we have a toddler! Pretty crazy, isn't it? I am supposed to be a baby myself. :)

To say the least we had a crazy, busy, fun, and exciting weekend. This year my Birthday was not very exciting for me - you've heard this story before. Daniel's Birthday was completely different! I felt like a 6-years old on a Christmas morning! I had organized a few different events, parties and get-togethers. I am going to split them into a few different posts to make them simpler to read.

On Daniel's Birthday Stephen's parents John and Monnie drove in from Shreveport, Louisiana to visit and celebrate with us. We were so happy to see them. They have not seem Daniel since Christmas, and that is a long time at his age! Unfortunately, my mother was not able to be there when John and Monnie got here in the evening since she is taking English classes 5 times a week. Daniel did not remember his grandparents, but it did not take him long to warm up to them and start playing around. We had so much fun opening presents and hanging out.

Here he is with some of his presents, I am not going to enumerate all of them here, there were a LOT! Thank you Mom, Dad, and Gigi for all of your thoughtful and beautiful gifts. I am sure that Daniel will enjoy playing with the presents for a long time and will keep the keep-sakes that you got him for a long-long time!

My Grandmother Lida got Daniel this amazing slide, Daniel wants to keep sliding down it NON-STOP! He is wearing us out!

We kept Daniel up a little too late and he was NOT in the mood for the apple cake I made. We did manage to get a few cute pictures:

Daniel's Stats at 1 year

I am still working on all those pictures from Daniel's Birthday weekend (we took close to 400), so I thought that I would post the results of Daniel's one-year check-up on 3/13/09. His stats are as follows:

Weight: 30 9 1/2" - off the charts
Height: 31 7/8" - 95%ile
Head Circumference: 50cm - off the charts

As I keep on saying, a teeny-tiny baby, oups toddler boy :)

The doctor also checked him out thoroughly and said: "remarkably healthy baby". Which made me very proud, of course. Daniel had a little runny nose and doctor said that it was no big deal. So, over the course of the weekend, Daniel managed to get a little worse, so now we have a very runny nose and a cough. We will see how he progresses, I might have to take him back to the doctor.

Here is a teaser for the upcoming Birthday posts, Daniel in his First Birthday Party Outfit:

A year ago...

In the days before Daniel's Birthday I found myself reminiscing about what was happening exactly a year ago. Funnily enough, I used to listen to my grandparents reminisce and thought that only old people did this. I guess I am getting old :)

I am posting a few of my favorite pictures from the first three days of Daniel's life. Please disregard my swollen face :)

Daniel at a few minutes of life:

Drugged up and happy mommy with her new baby (by the way, I am not sure if I was high on drugs or on Daniel, see the picture of Stephen and Daniel below. Stephen was definitely not taking anything!):

Happy grandma, Daniel about 6 hours old:

I think those newborn toes are too funny!

New Daddy with his baby-drug:

Day 3 of life, on the way home:

First day at home, sleeping peacefully in Mommy's arms:

Happy Birthday to me!

This year there are a lot of big Birthdays in my family. First one, of course, is Daniel turning one next month, and second - Stephen turning 40 in April. Since Christmas I've been thinking and making plans for those two Birthdays. This year my Birthday was really not that important to me. I turned 29 on the 21st of February. The older I get the less excited I am about my Birthdays. Plus 29 is almost 30, and I do not know anybody who looks forward to turning 30. :) It seems like when somebody turns 30, she really becomes an adult, does that make any sense? I am confusing myself, HA!

I guess because I did not have any expectations, I had the best Birthday! A few months ago Lera, my roommate and best friend from college in Kiev moved to New York to pursue a career in broadcasting. Unfortunately, she moved to New York about a month after we moved to Atlanta. We have been exchanging phone calls pretty regularly in the last three months. And suddenly she said that she wanted to come visit, see Stephen and me, and meet Daniel for the first time. So a few days before my Birthday she bought a ticket and in the morning on Saturday we went to meet her at the airport. It is so crazy sometimes how the connection with some people just never seems to go away. We saw each other maybe 2 or 3 times in the past 10 years since I left Ukraine. But, we still communicate as as we did back when we were 17. It was so great to see her!

Mom cooked an awesome lunch for us:

And Julie danced wearing her pink dress:
Stephen invited a bunch of people for dinner and a drink at a restaurant/bar called "Book House". There were some of my oldest friends and some of Stephen's co-workers that I never met before. I had a wonderful time!

Daniel's Birthday Ideas - Help!!!!

I am calling to you, more experienced moms and dads, please help me figure out what to do for Daniel's First Birthday. It is still about 5 weeks away, so I have time left for the preparations. As per the latest count we have about 8-10 kids and 25-30 adults coming. I really like the Chuck E Cheese's but what are so many adults going to do there? Our apartment is not nearly big enough to accommodate this many people and we cannot rent out our club house. I am not sure where/how to celebrate in an adult- and kid-friendly fashion. Especially, since the ages of the kids range from baby (Daniel) to 11 year-old. Any advise will be greatly appreciated!

Daniel is 10 Months old today!

Yes, it has been 10 months, and Stephen and I still say every day: "We have a baby!" in complete disbelief. It does sound funny, does it not? We are still amazed with this little guy and how fast he is growing and developing.

Warning! Read on only if you want to hear lots of bragging from a proud mommy! :) I want to share an interesting story from yesterday about his development. He was standing next to the couch (my mom was holding him between her legs) and trying to reach for a cable on the floor. My mum would not let him lean down to grab it. So he reached for it with his little foot and dragged it with the foot closer to him. Then he hooked the other foot under the cable and raised it up so that he could grab it with his hand. It went in the mouth after that of course :) We were all amazed at how he could think through and accomplish a line of actions that lead to a desired effect. I never saw this before from Daniel and I am such a proud mommy!

Here are a few pictures from last week:

Daniel has learned to stand unassisted in his crib and pack-n-play. He is not pulling up by himself yet, but if I help him stand up, he will stand forever. Actually, he ONLY wants to stand and walk now, he is not happy when I try to sit him down. He sticks his stomach forward and stiffens his legs. I almost have to lay him down to sit him down!

9 Months Birthday

Today Daniel turned 9 Months old. I cannot believe he has been with us that long. We did not really celebrate today or buy any presents for Daniel. Especially since we are going to Louisiana in less then two weeks and it sounds like our car will be PACKED on the way back.

Instead, my mother, Daniel, and I went out shopping. We spent most of the day out and about. I wanted to get something nice for Daniel to wear to go meet Santa (hopefully tomorrow) and an outfit for myself for a Christmas party tomorrow. I have not been shopping for myself in over 6 months and Stephen and I have not been out by ourselves since June, so a new dress was in order. Let me just say that 80's are back in town, and I will post some pictures on Sunday (if I like any of them).

Here is a picture from one of the stores at the mall from today. I am collecting more and more bargaining chips for the future: