Looking back on Week 33

Wow, another week has just flown by and we can’t believe that April is over!!!
This week has been really exciting as Mikael started with solid foods this week!!! And he loves it!!! :) On Monday we gave him rice cereal for the first time and he loved it!!!!





This week has also had its hard times as Mikael has been really upset about something. He has also had rosy cheeks most of the week. Nursing is still hard but… on Thursday night we did notice a little something hiding under his bottom gum, might be a tooth!!! :) We do pray that he will be feeling better soon!!
His eyes have also been really bad this week, so we went to a specialized eye clinic on Tuesday to see what they thought. We gave in an analysis and we will get the results in about a week. The doctor says that Mikael’s eye ducts are clogged up, so they will either clear up with the help of the medication that he prescribed, or they will have to do a small procedure. Oh how we pray that his eye will clear up!!
On Sunday we went to church with Mikael and he was so fun!!! During worship he “sang” along by yelling at the top of his lungs praises to God!!! :) “From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise” Psalm 8:2 Then after worship he was as quiet as a mouse :) He is such a joy!!!
Next week Arkadiy’s mom will be coming to visit!! Yipppeee!! It will be wonderful to have her here, and Mikael is going to love spending time with his “babushka” (grandma in Russian)
This week:
*Potty training is going ok, Mikael has not made the connection yet, but he is not crying about the potty anymore. He actually loves sitting on his little “throne”.

* Mikael is not just taking/grabbing his toys anymore he is now really studying them- feeling and exploring them with his fingers.
*We noticed that Mikael started studying his hands!!! It is so much fun to see him twirl his hands and fingers while he studies them super carefully… does he know they are his?
*Mikael has a favourite book- well quiet a few, but one of them is “Mr. Brown can moo can you?”. And in the book, there is a “loud” page where Mr. Brown goes BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Well, every time mamma reads that page, Mikael starts “drumming” the book/mamma’s hands, the bed copying the “boom” sound. And when mamma says “boom, boom” Mikael drums anything close to him! :) He is so much fun!!!!
*BIG NEWS- On Wednesday Mikael turned over from his tummy to his back!!! Yippeeee!!! No he is rolling over back and forth with no problem… and is enjoying the movement TONS!!! :)
*Mikael has definitely found the volume “button” in his voice. He has been making a very joyful loud “noise” this week :)
It is so great to see him becoming more interactive :)
One last thing… we finish this weeks update with a small story :) Mikael has been biting on everything and anything so we decided to give him a dummy (pacifier) this week, well see below as to how he thinks a dummy should be used, enjoy…

Looking back on Week 32

Wow, what a week, what a week!! :)
Mikael is just such an amazing blessing to us and we just keep thanking the Lord for him!!! He is such a treasure!!
AND spring has finally arrived!! It seems as if the world turned green over night!! It is so BEAUTIFUL!!!! Praise the Lord!!!
Pappa came back on Saturday and the funny part was that usually Mikael has been waking up really early in the mornings, around 5-6am. Pappa usually takes him and lets mamma sleep in some. Well, while pappa was gone, Mikael slept till 8-9am in the morning!!! On Sunday morning, the first morning when pappa was back, Mikael went back to his 5-6am wake up time!!! It is amazing!!! He knows!!!!
Mikael has had a really hard week this week, but he has been really, REALLY sweet about it. Something is really bothering him. He is not sleeping well again at nights and it has even been difficult to nurse him. Because of that he has also had a lot of spit up, as he is swallowing a lot of air again. And if we thought he was drooling a lot last week- wow, he is drooling super tons this week!!! He is VERY fussy. On Wednesday mamma even tried to give him some gripe water to see if that would help him. But it did not seem to help :( We don’t know if it is gasses, or teeth or whatever, but something is not right. Even so though, Mikael is full of smiles :)
This week:
*Mikael started “exercising” his tongue. He sticks it out and twirls it, rolls it and whatever else with it :)
*He started making a new sound this week- he sticks out his tongue and blows really hard :)
*He has really been staring a lot this week- apparently he is “studying” the world around him.
*On Thursday Mikael once again discovered that he can walk backwards in his walker. He did that a few weeks ago, but then stopped, not sure why, but he has re-discovered it and wow, is he fast!!!! :)
*He is “pulling” a new smiley face- he scrunches up his nose and smiles lifting his cheeks, squishing his eyes- it is hard to explain but it is SOOO super cute!! We will try and catch him in action :)
*We started building "towers" with Mikael using his yellow shapes and he LOVES braking down the towers :) We have tons of fun with him! :)
*Today we also bought Mikael his potty!!! Yip, we are going to try and start potty training him :) We put him on the potty, but the first time has been a bit rough… maybe things will be better next week :) Stay tuned…


Mikael and his new found friend, Godwin, at church


Mikael playing on the bed...




Mikael and his beloved red bowl :)



Beautiful hands...


What?


Smiles away! :)


Some of Mikael's new expressions



Mamma and Mikael


Mikael enjoying his Rooibos tea :)


Mamma and Mikael having fun



Soccor 2010- Here we come!!!!


The TOOTH!!!!!! :)

Looking back on Week 31

This week has just flown by again!! I can’t believe that Mikael is already SEVEN MONTHS OLD!!!! WOW!!!! He is growing WAAYYYY too quickly!!!
On Saturday this week we went on a walk with our friend Zhenya and her little boy Lucas. It was super fun, especially for mamma to spend some time with another mommy!! :) Mikael slept through the whole time, and Lucas had so much fun running around in the little park near our house. Lucas is exactly 6 months older than Mikael- they share their half birthdays!! :)
On Sunday Mikael turned 7 months old and with it he cut his first tooth!!! It was so SUPER exciting!!! The tooth is there!!! (You can hardly see it though as Mikael loves to play with it with his tongue :))
On Tuesday this week we were back at the doctors. The LOR (the throat, nose and ear specialist) said that she was very happy with him and his nose has totally cleared up, yipppeee. The eye doctor was not so happy- so we are praying and thinking of what to do next. (She wants us to try different antibiotics, but we will wait.)
Mikael continues to watch us VERY intensely, especially at the table. He started making chewing movements while we are eating and when we drink from a cup, he smacks his lips together and tries to grab onto our cups. The funny part though is that when we put the cup down he stops making the noises. :) So…. on Tuesday, Mikael drank from a cup for the first time!!! It was so cute to see the excitement in his eyes!!! (He drank mamma’s milk from the cup, but still it is a start :) ) AND then on Thursday Mikael started drinking some rooibos tea from a cup :)
Mikael also is having super fun at bath times! He is splashing more and more and mamma is getting more and more wet :) It is very fun!! :)
He also started drooling like crazy again!!! And he has rosy cheeks, AND he can be playing all happily and then all of a sudden he gets VERY upset… maybe another tooth??
Mikael is sitting up SUPER well!!! He loves playing with mamma’s red mixing bowl and his toys while sitting up- especially the small yellow shapes that ouma Naomi gave him :). He makes lots of noise with the toys and it is just so super to watch him play so well. :)
Pappa left for Kiev on Thursday and will be back tomorrow morning!!! Can’t wait for him to come home again!!!!!

Looking back on Week 30

Wow, wow, wow, what a week of happenings!!! :)

This last Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday!!! The Lord has RISEN!!! Praise the Lord!!!

Mikael enjoyed looking and playing with his first “Easter basket”, see photo below. No chocolate yet though :)

Today mamma had to go to the dentist as she was having a terrible toothache, so pappa and Mikael stayed at home. Mikael did SUPER well and we were so proud of him!!!
He is still not feeling too well. He is still coughing and he still has a runny nose. :(

Mikael did something really AMAZING this week. He loves reading, and we have known that for a looonnngg time now, but this week he has started showing interest/preference to some books above others. When you show him the books that he really likes he smiles and giggles, and when we show him the books that he is not so into, he just looks at them.

On Saturday Mikael and mamma had hiccups together :) It was so fun :)

On Tuesday we went to the clinic for Mikael’s check up. He now weighs 10.6kgs (23.59lbs) and is 75.5cm (29.8 in) long!!!! WOW!!! He is a BIG boy!!! The doctor sent us to some specialized doctors to see what if they could tell what is wrong with Mikael, he has been sick for over two weeks now :( We went to the “LOR” this is a doctor that specializes in the throat, ear, and nose areas and she said that we will have to do some procedures to clean out his nose. So for the next three days we had to go to the clinic and have them suck out all the nasty stuff from his nose. He actually did really well. He cried at times, but then once it was done, he gave the nurse a big old smile :) The eye specialist also saw him and they are not too happy about the yellow stuff coming out of his eye. It is not an internal problem, just something that is irritating and causing an infection in his eye. So we have been giving Mikael some drops for that.

This week:

*Mikael is chewing on EVERYTHING!!!

*Daddy and Mikael have been doing some exercises together to encourage Mikael to roll over more. They have both been enjoying it. When Mikael wants to roll over he does no problem, but if he does not want to, there is really nothing that will make him roll over.

*By the end of the week he has been rolling over so many times and even “snailed” backwards on his belly!!! :)

*When Mikael is on his belly he tries to lift up his bottom :)
*Mikael started “talking” more

*He started nodding his head in a “yes” motion. It is SOOO cute!!!!

*Mikael is actually; well it seems to mamma and pappa, responding to his name!! It is super exciting!!!

*Mikael can stand (if we are holding him). He just has absolutely NO balance :)

*Mikael used to hold one toy in one hand and when we offered him another toy, he would drop the one in his hand and take the other toy… well this week he figured out that he has two hands and that he can hold TWO toys at once :) We are still not sure if he is left or right handed as he still uses both hands equally. Hmmm, which one will it be? :)