The other day we went on a walk around the neighborhood like we always do. This time it was special because for the first time in weeks it wasn’t raining. We’ve always liked walking, we just grab a camera and get outside to explore. When I look at these pictures later, they make me smile.  I love capturing candid daily moments that become the sweetest memories in the future. Children do grow up too fast and it’s important to cherish those moments. Duh.

Read More Children See. Children Do. A Day in Life of a Toddler.

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Russian/Русский

This Mother’s Day I would like to share my thoughts, memories and stories about my first year of motherhood. Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to fit it all into one post but I thought it would be fun to do it in the format of the alphabet, so here we go.

A – Alaric Alexander. The process of picking the name for our son was challenging. We had so many conditions: it had to be international, sound good in both English and Russian, ideally with some cultural heritage, either Scandinavian or Russian; unique, have a good meaning, yada yada yada, you can pretty much tell it was not an easy task. I heard the name Alaric (pronounced as “ah-LAR-ik”) on the TV show and thought it sounded interesting. The more I researched and played with the idea, the more I liked the name, I think it’s beautiful and unique just like our boy. Since the name Alaric is not a very common, a lot of people seem to get puzzled by it but it’s actually really easy to pronounce once you’ve said it couple of times. At home we call Alaric Rishka.

B – Breastfeeding. I knew from the beginning that this is something I really wanted to commit to. Difficult and painful at first, it was totally worth the trouble, luckily these days there are many helpful tools to aid in breastfeeding, I shared my favorite ones in this post. I really started to enjoy it over time, it was so special, sweet and cozy. I successfully nursed Alaric for a year and we finished shortly after his first birthday, weaning off was totally smooth and stressless for both of us.

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C – Cuteness. There is just an impossible cuteness overload that comes with the new baby. Everything from smiles and giggles to messy cheeks covered in some type of food is just so unbearably cute.

Read More ABC’s of the First Year of Motherhood

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Russian/Русский

My sweet boy just turned one!  Looking back at this year there have definitely been many awesome moments but it is still hard to believe the whole year has passed by.

It is usually not that easy to notice the time but in case with an infant you can practically watch the clock tick.  From a tiny fragile creature it timelapses into an active little person that can move around, smile, talk, express emotions and  show their personality. It is so fascinating! Not to mention that this creature tripled in weight and grew by 8 inches:)

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Read More Alaric Turns One

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Russian/Русский

According to the ancient legend, if you help a friend with a baby shower, you will be the one having it next! At least that’s what happened to my dear friend Elina who organized my baby shower earlier this year and now she is expecting a baby girl!

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Baby shower for a pregnant woman is almost the same as a wedding day for the bride – you want it to be perfect! The difference is that when you’re pregnant you have these little guys called hormones going all crazy and it definitely spices it up a bit. Elina’s baby shower was planned to be outside in a beautiful park overlooking Los Angeles, of course you wouldn’t worry about the weather too much living in California but guess what, it was freaking cold and windy! I got scared for a second when I saw momma-to-be ready to cry over the weather and everything not going as planned but everything turned out great!

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Read More Fall Baby Shower

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Now that I’ve been back to reality aka work, the time spent at home with my baby in the first 3 months of his life feels like a dream.

Read More Baby Love

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