Welcome to my blog!

I was thinking about starting a blog for quite a while but could not decide what to write about. My husband and I travel quite often because of his job. We always loved it even before we met. We actually met because my husband decided to take a job overseas and came to a place where I was, about 7 thousand miles away from him. His decision changed our lives for the very best!

I also like to cook but I don't think that I need a blog to document every meal I make. Only occasionally, maybe. We also decided to eat healthier so the blog will help me to keep track of our meals and weight.
That's how I eventually signed up for a blog and named it Veronika's Travel and Living.

Hopefully, I'll like blogging. We'll see.. ;)


Saturday, February 5, 2011

2 months update


Brendan was 2 months on January 12th 2011. He had his 2nd pediatrician appointment which discovered that he added 6 cm to his height! No wonder he added only minimum weight. So he measures 65 cm and weighs 5.2 kg.

As far as his progress, he says "a-goo" all the time when he talks to himself, talks to us, cries and even yawns. He definitely recognizes our faces and smiles to us. The new thing that he started doing was touching his hands a lot, putting them together, batting at toys, reaching for toys and grasping them, loves putting his fists in his mouth trying to fit both at once and drools a lot!


His favorite toys are The Bee and Mr. Giraffe.


I went for my post-delivery appointment and spent about 5 or 6 hrs there and after I came back Brendan gave me the biggest smile ever when he saw me. He was very excited and happy to see me. That's precious!

Brendan smiles every time Chris talks to him. He loves his Daddy. Chris is a great Dad. He takes good care of him. I can always rely on Chris when I have to go somewhere or just rest. They have great time when they hang out together!

Believe it or not Brendan has got his American passport. We filed documents to the American Embassy here in Moscow confirming that he was born here and one of his parents is an American citizen. We also went to the Embassy with Brendan and swore that everything we said is true. Two weeks later we got his passport in the mail. Pretty awesome! He is our little Russian and American citizen :) Check out his passport photo! This face is something! We couldn't even look at his picture without cracking up :) Now two members of our family have US citizenship and I only have a green card which expires in April this year. I have already submitted papers for its extension, hopefully I'll get it.
I'm very exited about our April/May trip to the states. We plan on spending the whole month in Florida, seeing the family and hanging out at the beach and our favorite places. Chris also surprised me with a hotel reservation that we have for a few nights. It's a beach front. He also made a mani/pedicure reservation for me. I cannot wait!


At our favorite restaurant with my parents and brother. Chris was on his visa renewal in the states.

Bath time!
After his walk:

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Our 1st Month



First of all, it took me almost one month to get back here. I cannot believe that Brendan is already 2.5 months old. I'll try to write two posts with updates of his first two months.

Highlights of Brendan's 1st month were visits of my parents and Chris' Mom. It was great to have them here and help with cooking and cleaning, also advice on the baby care. My parents taught us how to bathe Brendan and other things.


Chris and I had our date night while his Mom babysat Brendan for a couple of hours. It was our first date and the last for at least the next three months as we don't have any family or close friends here who can watch Brendan while we go out.

It's OK because we decided to go out once every week and we take Brendan with us.
His 1st night out was when he was three weeks old and he did great. He slept the whole time we were in the restaurant!



Brendan loves his daily baths, he is always very calm and quiet.


At first he was nervous about it and held Chris's wrist or my wrist with his hands but then he got very comfortable. He also loves his walks. I wish we could walk him more often.



The problem is that we have an awesome carriage which is like a jeep :) which makes it a little heavy. We live on the 4th floor and it doesn't fit in the elevator, so I'm dependent on Chris to take it upstairs. Going downstairs is also difficult but I can do it. Actually, last week I've done something nobody has done: I carried Brendan in one arm and wheeled the carriage downstairs with the other arm. It was HARD but I did it!

Anyway, Brendan's progress in his 1st month: he's got control of his head, he lifts his head, responds to sounds, stares at faces, follows objects, laughs and smiles a lot! He started holding his head the next day he turned 1 month. He started smiling when he was 10 days old and it wasn't the "gas smile", he also giggled when he was 14 days old. I've been teaching him to say "a-goo" for a week and he started saying it after the week. Now he says it all the time even when he is talking to himself which is very cute!
Brendan started watching the Baby Mozart video for a few minutes. So far he is only interested in moving object and not in pictures of animals or anything more complicated. He also loves his swing except it gives him hiccups after about 10 minutes of swinging, he enjoys his playmat and started paying attention to his toys but only for a few minutes and gets bored pretty quickly. Brendan loves his walks and falls asleep immediately every time we go outside. All of us LOVE the cradle!!!! It is the BEST purchase we've made for him. It is so mobile and you can rock it, so we don't have to carry him around trying to put to sleep, we just put him in his cradle and rock it until he falls asleep. Usually it takes from 15-30 minutes.



And this is his dramatic moment when he wants to eat and acts like he has never been fed before and will never be!








Brendan did not like everything we bought for him e.g.he hated swaddlemes I've got for him. The first night we tried to put him in it he cried a lot and let us know in every possible way that he is not a swaddle type of baby :) So we never tried again!
He is the greatest thing that happened in our lives and we love him a lot! He made me look at the world at a different angle.