Doriani Kids

My Father

2011-08-22T03:30:00.123+02:00

A sad day in my family again. Feels that my Grandma just went and now my Dad. I called my Mom just to tell her that we finally found a place to rent in NE. She just got home from the funeral and told that he passed away on Saturday the 20th of August after a short recovery in the ICU Dad passed away due to a a brain anyersism. He was just a month away from his 66th Birthday. He had been sick for a while now but I still could not believe that he won't pull through. He got worse on the 6th of August and that's when he was first taken into the hospital. There was no room and he had to be in the corridor. They also are short in nursing staff and Mom had to stay there all day. Due to high blood pressure he had a stroke and lost some mobility and speech. He seemed to be stable and they were going to run tests (topography and etc.) but it did not happen for different reasons with the medical insurance and equipment shortage. The doctor did tell my Mom that even if he did pull through this he would be paralyzed. It would have been very hard for her because her health is not exactly in good condition either.
I'm also sad that I did not get to talk to him even on the phone! Mom said that he kept asking about me and my family. He had few short speech comebacks and say my name.
When we were leaving Italy I felt very strangely sad and now I know why. He wanted to see me and probably knew that his days are short. I just wish I called and talked to him. I'm such a coward.
When Aaron was talking to his Dad and telling him these news, he started talking about how my Dad did not have a good life. I would agree. He was born without a father, his Mom never told him about his father. He had two older step sisters. In 1945 the war was over but in a village in Gorkovskyi raion (region) people still did not have much food, so his mother decided to move south. She packed up herself and the girls and took off on the sled, it was winter, my father was about 3 or 4 years old and made her mind to leave him behind as he was always hungry. He saw the sled and started running after it and his stepsister Irina helped him to get up. My Mom said that when he was younger he really wanted to find his father. His step sisters overheard that it was the governor of the village where they where were from but knew very little. His mother never told him. He even went back to the village and asked people around but no one seemed to even remember my grandmother and her connection to the village governor. His mother remarried in Volgograd (it was still Stalingrad back then) to a WWII veteran who left his family for her. They settled in a German prisoners built apartments in Biketovka (middle section of Volgograd because the city is along the Volga). I still remember our address: Ylitza Generala Shumilova, (street), dom 3 (house number), kvartira 5 (apartment). I can still remember that it was a third floor of a pink 3story high building, in the fall surrounded by puddles that I loved to measure. Our door was painted brown and the apartment number was golden. My parents had one room there with me and my brother Vladimir seven years senior. After my grandmother's husband died, which I remember very clearly because I was finally allowed to enter the room where grandma and him lived, I only saw a handful of times before. Also no one seemed to mind that I skipped around his coffin, thinking that he is just sleeping. It also happened that Brezhnev passed away around the same time and there were no cartoons on TV for kids, only symphony orchestra. Dad asked to be buried next to him. Not sure why.
Mom told me that a lot of neighbors, friends and family came to say goodbye to him and comfort her. Everyone seemed to point how kind and caring he was rather than his alcohol addiction. Yes, that is what is so hard for me as I did have such a special bond with him that it was devastating to me to have to cut it when I became a teenager. He was the one that pointed the constellations to me, he taught me to read when I was 4, he read Pushkin with me over and over, until I could recite it by heart. He taught me to draw and create craft projects, tutor me in math and play chess. I'm so thankful God had enabled me with the talents that my father had and they are passed on to his grand kids as well! My Dad was the key to open all of them like this one time during the winter. I had these rabbit mittens that were very fuzzy, he took the mittens and made sort of a puppet with them and for along time after that I thought that my mittens were truly alive. It was so cute! Mom also told me that he became sober after I was born for two years. He and I would watch the movies and sometimes cry at the same time. He was not a great cook but he always made sure to make my favorite omelet for breakfast. He always knew a funny joke to tell and read tons of history books. When I was little he would ask me to get on his shoulders and look for dandruff in his hair after few minutes he would be asleep. One time he got his friend to give us a ride on a huge truck, I felt very special.
I'm sad that my children will not be able to meet him in this life, I do pray and hope that they will meet him one day. I wrote to him many letters about my faith but he did not write back. Mom told me that he kept all of them by his bed. I am thankful and do not regret that I was away from him geographicly and even more spiritualy because the very first American family that helped me to become an international student and kind of adopted me had knew first hand about what is like to be achild of such talented, loving but addicted to alcohol father. For the first time then I was able to sepaprate of what my Dad was realy like and what did he turn into.
Papa (in Russian Daddy) I will miss you and do hope to meet you again!

July is a turning month for us

2011-07-08T03:05:00.000+02:00

It's just happened to be that July is going to be a month of lots of changes for our family. Nevertheless we have three of us celebrating their birthdays! I know I have not written in a long time. Yes, I'm tired a lot or just trying to catch on what is on the news or on the friends and family front.

Our girls have grown so much and time seems to fly by really fast. Even now when Lana is out of her Italian school, I barely have a minute with her.

July 1, Aaron turned 34. The girls and I did a little surprise for him by lighting up the candle on the Italian strudel pie and singing "Happy Birthday". Lana bought him a tiny espresso cup as he now is an expert in making coffee on the stove!

July 2, we drove to Croatia about 4 hours away from our town. Our friends helped us to rent an apartment near the beach. In the evening we ate at the restaurant near by. We really wanted to do something special for Anastasia, she tuned 1! I can hardly believe it, my youngest is one! The restaurant only had crepes for desert and no candles. Back at the apartment we found one big candle and had to sing twice because Sophia kept blowing the candle.

July 3, 4 we spent entirely on the beach. The water was perfect! All the girls enjoyed it very much and didn't want to go back home.

July 5 we got back and started preparing our car to be shipped. So July 6 and 7 has been only that for me.

Other highlights:

Lana finished first grade with "ottimo" which is A+. Overall teacher was happy with her but did wish she was more focused. We work on that at home too. Everyday the routine of going to bed has to be told to Lana as she finds other things along the way to the bathroom. It's amazing to me how she can speak English to us, turn to her friends and speak Italian and still understand Russian when she hears me talking!

Sophia is still having hard time being in the middle! She wants time with me and she loves having a baby around. It's hard; especially that Daddy was not home when all the changes happened. She will turn 3 on the 31st which marks our three years in Italy! She and Lana love to be outside and play with the neighbors' animals. They love visiting our landlords because they always give them candy. When Anastasia started crawling, she wants to join them every time they are outside. She learned some baby sign language and the cutest is showing "ciao" in Italian way by opening and closing her hand. Right now she trying to learn to walk and it was so precious to see how one time both Lana and Sophia were trying to help her!

I have very mixed feelings about leaving Italy. I do wish military system would allow families to stay longer in one place. At this point of our stay we learned our way around, more comfortable with the language and culture, found good places to eat and stores, finally found museums, exhibits and just beautiful places around. Well, it's time to leave. We came with one daughter and leaving with three! This forever will be there place of birth; this is the house where I brought them from the hospital! The whole time I was hoping that my mother will be visiting us all the time since it's much closer. I haven't seen her since 2006 when she came to the US. God knows best, I do rely on His perfect plan!

Catching up!

2011-02-28T17:00:00.000+01:00

3 more weeks

2010-11-03T13:37:00.003+01:00

We are at the three week mark for Aaron's return. It seems so little but the time seems to drag more now than before.

We have been through some difficult times with all of us being sick and for Sophia still recovering from a cold that was worsen by whizzing. She had to take prednisolone and albeturol. The chamber mask made her mad, so I'm not sure if she got any benefit from it.

Anastasia turned 4 months yesterday and still is super sweet! She loves to be around her sisters and started smiling at them. She loves to cuddle and just quietly take in what's around her. I set up the crib for her since Sophia finally sharing a bed with Lana. She still has hard time with going down for the night and has to use a pacifier a lot. Her newest cutest thing to do is to nurse her baby doll while I'm nursing Anastasia. It's absolutely adorable how serious she is when she is imitating me! Sophia got used to her part time Toddler room with the military child care. I try to take her every day.
Lana likes her school but there are times when we both wish we did home school especially when she is sick. She is counting the days with me until Aaron's return and making different suggestions on what she wants to do when Daddy is home.

Three more months to go...

2010-09-12T15:11:00.003+02:00

Aaron has been in Iraq for 116 days now. Wow did we have lots of things happened since then. Mimi came. It was a blessing to have her and she was a huge help! Thank you so much for being with us and taking care of us and more. Girls loved the swim classes! Unfortunately the schedule doesn't allow us to have them now.

Anastasia turned 2 months and still is the sweetest baby ever! She still has to wake up to eat at night 1-2 times and it's hard for me to wake up in the mornings. She is developing just fine and is in the 25% isle for weight (4 kg800 g). She took her immunization ok; she didn't spit out the oral one like Sophia. The nurse had to open another one for Sophia 2 years ago. Anastasia had hard time with the pain for a whole day afterwards while I remember Sophia acting like she never had shots. Wow our personalities come out that early! Anastasia (Sia is how Sophia calls her, I think because she says her name is Phia) likes her tummy time and even fell asleep one time in her baby gym! She loves listening to her sisters' talking and playing and fighting.

Sophia, who is 2 years now, had impressed us with starting to peddle her tricycle this early. Sometimes she even tries the small bike with training wheels! She and Lana even race sometimes. Yes, she can go fast. She is still learning to turn so, she has to get off and move her bike on her feet. She adores her Sia. She loves to hug and kiss her, unfortunately she wants to pick her up, and so I can never leave Sia even for a second. I either lock Sophia with me in the room or lock the baby in our bedroom. My favorite thing is that she wants Sia to pray and always holds her hand. Sophia is talking away now, mostly in English. Amazingly she does understand Russian and says "Ciao" (Hello in Italian) to our neighbors. I signed her up to a toddler room for half a day on the military post. Not sure how this will go for her because she hates when I leave her with someone even our favorite babysitter. Mimi has heard how she screams and she does it every time!

Finally our oldest daughter Lana is going to start 1st grade. I can't believe our Lanochka is so big! We signed her to a private Italian school where she'll be learning English as a second language! Her school will be from 8:30 a.m. till 4 p.m. because they will have 2 hour break for lunch and time outside or a craft. The only difficult part is that the school is down town and 20 minutes from our home, which means a lot of driving for me. She likes her school and we are happy that she can continue learning Italian.

We are thankful to see Daddy and husband on Skype. He is doing good, is very busy. On top of commander responsibilities and everyday work he is still finishing up Master's thesis and doing his Major course. We cannot wait to have him back and meet his new daughter.

Trying out bike with training wheels

Sophia loves to help in the shower

Sophia loves to pretend. Here she is sighing and closing her eyes, then she says: "Um tiered" She knows we are going to laugh!
Yes, Lana's nre thing is climbing trees! Sophia wants too as well.

Sophia loves chocolate!

Anastasia is 1 month

2010-08-08T16:47:00.000+02:00

Aaron left for Iraq

2010-05-18T17:49:00.000+02:00

The dreadful day had come and we had to say goodbye for 180 days to Daddy and husband.

Had to get to the Army Post (Caserma Ederle) by 7 a.m., Lana had hard time getting up. We ate no breakfast but wanted to spend few more hours with Aaron. He had few little things to round up in the office and it was time for him to go. Lana cried only a little bit and of course Sophia just thought that he is going on one of his short trips. On the way home I got pretty sad and, of course, feeling depressed but I’m ok. All four and a half of us got to pray and I’m thankful that His Spirit is so present in our lives!

Sophia fell asleep riding home but later both she and Lana seemed not themselves, fever and runny noses. Not sure if it’s another virus or allergies. We appreciate everyone’s prayers and concerns! Aaron or I will e-mail his address as soon as we have it. He also had set up Skype account for himself.

Pregnancy pictures

2010-04-11T19:52:00.008+02:00

16 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

Easter 2010

2010-04-10T15:15:00.008+02:00

On Saturday before Easter we took the girls to the Easter egg hunt at the Army post. Unfortunately they had to be in two differesnt lines because of the age difference. Sophia quickly picked up the idea of gathering the candy just didn't do it fast enough, since there were three year olds. Lana gathered the full basket. They also had a bouncy slide and crafts for kids. Sophia fell asleep as soon as we put her in the stroller.

On the Easter Sunday we went to our military chapel and the service was very nice. We saw one of Aaron's coworkers and went to the military cafeteria for lunch.

Svetlana is six!

2010-03-15T17:30:00.013+01:00

Our oldest, Svetlana, turned six on March 11th! We cannot be more thankful for having her as our daughter! She is doing well in her Italian school and homeschooling with me. She is reading well, does great in math and knows a lot of science. We read a lot of books from Sonlight curriculum that teach about kindness, sacrifice, Christian love and compassion, character development. She has gymnastics twice a week at the Italian sport school and recently had a recital there. She is learning piano from me and swimming with Aaron. We had not gone early enough or intense enough with swimming, so learning there is slow going for her and fraught with fears, but we're working through it. At home she has become a good helper and can sweep the kitchen if I ask her, as well as with the dishwashing and cooking. Her favorite thing is still to be outside, riding her bike, playing with friends and soon finding bugs again.

Celebrating Lana's birthday at home

Sophia is getting a gift for Lana

Having great time at the indoor Play Park with her Italian friend, Denise, from school

Sophia had great time at the party too!

another cake was provided by the Play Park place, was very yummy

opening gifts with friends

21 week ultrasound

2010-03-08T17:47:00.013+01:00

March 3rd we had an ultrasound. The technician took measurements of baby's organs and etc. Second trimester ultrasound is used to survey the anatomy of the baby to determine if everything is developing correctly. We mostly were concerned about the amniotic fluid because I had that problem with Lana; the fluid seems to be very normal.

Baby is holding a fist at us!

Little feet!

Front of the face

Profile

In Loving Memory of My Grandma Anna

2010-01-10T22:04:00.020+01:00

Just few days ago, I called my parents to tell them that the Italian Post office could not locate the packages they had sent, but in response, I got much sadder news. My Babushka Anna had passed away on the 31st of December. My family did not contact me since they thought that I would get too upset. I am doing ok with that news since Grandma was a believer and has had a long life-86 years. What makes me feel the worst is the fact that I saw her last in 2005 when we visited my family. At the visit's end, Grandma told me that we won't see each other in this life again... Not sure how she knew that. My Mom found a note where she asked to be washed with the soap I sent and lit up the candle also from us...

Her both parents were believers and passed on their faith to all their children and grandchildren. In fact my mother gave me her Grandmother's (Babushka Anna's mother) name.
Grandma was the middle sister, her two other sisters died much earlier. She was the last to go from that generation.

Her parents (Andriyan and Marina) had a small farm outside Volgograd (where I am from) but after the revolution, the Soviet government mandated that the farmers unite into a collective farm (Kolkhoz) and the same happened to my great-grandparents. Grandma's father joined in and basically was robbed of all the crops and livestock that fall but after that they came back and asked him to go to his cousin's house and "make" him join by holding a rifle in his hands. He refused and the entire family was thrown out of the village. Grandma hid herself in the ground storage and stayed there few days, her grandma fed her there at night. Great Grandpa had made a shelter in the nearby woods since his wife was expecting they could not go far. The sisters including my 10 year old Grandma were sent to different relatives in the nearby villages. Later Great-grandma had twins but they did not survive, owed to starvation. Grandma was raised by her Aunt Anastasia, who treated her as a house slave. Only few years later, the oldest sister got an apartment in Volgograd through her job at the factory and took the rest of the family in. I don't know the exact reason for why my Great-grandparents had to hide so long.
World War II had come to Stalingrad (old name for Volgograd) in August 1942. Grandma was working at the Tractor factory which was turned into the tank production. She and her family were not able to evacuate and Grandma volunteered for the Red Army. First she collected and delivered mail and was even wounded once while riding her horse into an airfield where the mail was dropped. Then, she was transferred to the communication support hub, where she was a switchboard operator. That is where she met my Grandpa, Vasiliy Pavlovitch Chernetzov (ironically the same name and middle name as my Dad's). There, he was in charge of a small quartermaster squad and his soldiers were charged with repairing uniform items, such as galoshes for my Grandma and her coworkers. Well, the squad did not do it, and so Grandma brought the unfinished boots back to the squad leader (my Grandpa), and he took to fixing them himself. He was from Saratov (upriver from Volgograd), but when the war was over, he came back to Stalingrad and found Grandma. They were married almost 50 years, he having died just a few weeks before their anniversary. They had my mother, Svetlana and her sister (my aunt) Nina. Unfortunately Grandpa was not the best husband to her but she was very devoted to him. When I and my cousins would live with them in the summer, they always taught us how to take care of the house, chickens and the garden. Grandma planted a lot of vegetables even this past spring. She was the only one who kept going to church and celebrating Christmas and Easter. On Christmas, which is January 7th by the Russian Orthodox calendar, we would all come to her house and read (unfortunately in Old Russian) the story of Christ's birth and only if you could recite it could you get some candy. In old times, my Mom said that they went in every house in their neighborhood with a big sack to get candy - which is like America's Christmas caroling. Before Easter we had to bake lots and lots of Easter breads. They were scrumptious, but we could not eat them until we took them to the church to be blessed. That was so hard for me when I was little because my job was to make the sweet topping and put colorful sugar on top! A week after Easter all the family and extended family would gather at the cemetery. On each grave of our ancestors Grandma sang what I think were old hymns about resurrection. Then we would eat some of the colored eggs and we always left some on the grave site. Aaron and I actually want to continue this tradition so that our kids would honor the memory of their ancestors.
After World War II Grandma as a veteran was decorated with several medals including Hero of the Stalingrad battle but she was very humble about it. Grandpa was offered once an apartment but he did not want to go there, so he and Grandma continued living in an old house without water, gas or any other contemporary utilities. Yes, they still had an outhouse! Just few weeks ago my Mom had taken Grandma into her apartment mostly because Grandma became very weak and it has become very hard for my Mom to take care of her. Mom has asked her to move in for years but Grandma did not want to part with her garden, cats (she had 5) and a dog! Plus Grandma wanted to keep all the trunks of old clothes from when my Mom and my Aunt were young!
Have to finish with the funny story from one of the times that I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. I was around 5 years old and my grandparents lived very close to my sadik (Russian day care) and picked me up that night. At the time Grandma worked at that same day care as a night watch person and had some cleaning responsibilities. Before I went to bed she told me that Grandpa will be with me because she had to go to work. I told her that it has been one of my dreams to go with her to work at night. Obviously it was a 5 year old talking but I guess Grandma took it to heart and woke me up at around 10 p.m. so that I have my dream come true, literally! I was very tired but walked what was probably 2 miles to the day care where Grandma started showing me all the things she had to do! Eventually I remember falling asleep in one of the stoves there because there were no beds in the building she had to be in! I always laugh when I remember this story.
Lord, thank you so much for my Grandma Anna and her life! Grandma, sorry that I did not get to see you for the last 5 years and hear more stories about our family. Thank you so much for your faith in Christ! Ya tebya lublu i skuchau!

1953

From left to right: my Mother Svetlana (6 years), her Aunt Klaudia with her son Nokolai, man behind her is a neighbor, my Grandma's oldest sister Antonina with her son Boris, Greatgrandpa Andriyan, Greatgrandma Marina is holding my Aunt Nina, Grandma Anna and Grandpa Vasilyi

1964

1982

April, 2005 Svetlana with her Greatgrandma Anna

4 generations picture

2005

May 2007

Grandma with her daughters

Baby #3

2010-01-10T02:45:00.005+01:00

We found out about our new pregnancy as a surprise since Sophia still was nursing! She did stop abruptly in just one day which means may be I was already expecting. There were some difficulties with the pregnancy but everything seems to be well now. My next appointment is next week and we hope to hear about all the progress. The only thing that will be impossible to change so far is that Aaron will not be here in Italy with me to see this baby be born. He has to deploy to Iraq in mid-May. It is very hard to plan a family while in the military...

Baby #3 at 10 weeks

Christmas 2009

2009-12-24T00:09:00.007+01:00

We had snow in Vicenza just few days before Christmas! Aaron had to be gone on a training/ski trip with the Italian troops and came back just in time to play in the snow with the girls! For some reason Sophia does not enjoy sledding too much but does love to be outside!

This Christmas was quiet for us because we all got a cold. We were invited to a Christmas dinner but didn't want to share the gift of sickness! :o)) Sophia did not try to open presents becuase she liked sitting on them! Lana's favorite gift was the scooter - thanks Aunt Charis and Uncle Bobby! Sophia was having hard time with letting Lana to get on her scooter since she thought it was for her!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T17:35:00.006+01:00

Lana and I made her costume together! I had fun paiting her face! Sophia doesn't like to dress up or have anything furry on her head. May be next year she would like to have a costume. She did not mind one of Lana's ballet outfits! Yesterday Aaron took Lana to the Army post where they had trick-or-treating in the housing area of the American families. Italians don't have any celebrations of that sort. I stayed with Sophia but today some of the homeschooling families had a Halloween party with games and crafts, so I took both girls there. Sophia had fun watching other kids.

Halloween breakfast

Happy 1st to Sophia!

2009-08-16T23:17:00.008+02:00

We can hardly believe that it has been one year since we have been blessed to have Sophia in our family. She is such a cutie and it is truly amazing to see her grow and interact with us and the world!
I learned that with one child the house can be much cleaner, there would be more dinners cooked and you can keep track of your marriage. With two kids you have to let go of doting, lotion after bath, kisses when she falls. I do have to watch that Lana is not leaving beads or putting purfume on Sophia who of course rubbed it into her eyes! Well, overall Lana has been doing very well adopting to have a sister (just not as a big one); she feels more like a baby since she is getting less attention. I just cannot get used to her grabbing toys from Sophia, who is finally starting to fight for herself! :o) Yes, when Lana tried to take Sophia's birthday present, little Sophia grabbed Lana's hands and pushed them away, when it failed, she pinched her! It was so hard to be serious and explain to Lana that this is how she treats Sophia sometimes. Aaron learned that he has to give three times more kisses than before because after he gives lots of them to Sophia, Lana and I want the same amount! He adopted my phrase:” Wash the people" referring to the fact that there are always two to bathe/shower. Lana has learned that her sister cannot be spanked for being naughty but will be in the future when she can understand more. She got to hear lots of baby stories about herself since some of the things about Sophia reminded us of Lana's babyhood. Sophia has learned that Mama does come back but still cries when I leave even to a different room or upstairs. She learned to walk at 10 and half months, and said her first word: "Lana" at the same time. She discovered her favorite place of all - outside. She can open the front door even if there is a little crack.
Unfortunately we were not able to have a party for Sophia but managed to have a small family celebration ironically in a hotel, in Garmish, Germany with a small apple strudel that we bought at a local bakery. We went to Germany for a marriage retreat organized by our chapel and it happened to be around her birthday. I hope this is not a tradition for her birthdays from now on especially when she can have some friends over!
Lord, thank you so much for our precious Sophus'kin! Please help us to continue to raise her according to your Word and for all of us help not to forget how much more we need Christ in our lives.

She wanted to grab the candle more than the pie!

I'm one!!!!!! Yay!

Sisters!

At the pool in Edelweisse hotel, Germany

Tasting cake at the buffet restaurant

Lana the artist!

2009-07-28T15:10:00.004+02:00

Lana loves to color and draw, it has not been a surprise to us. I (Marina) love that too! But recently Lana started creating her own characters! Look below.

This is a girl, obviously with curls, her hat has a feather (that is why her name is Fuzzy). It looks like a cartoon character! Very funny!

This one is interesting because it's a primitive style. There is no doubt it looks like an egg (cooked of course) but it also can be several shapes together, so it will be an abstract style! I'm impressed!

This one is cute, since it's mother and baby. Lana spelled the name with us just dictating the letters to her. She loves to write (she calls it "spell") words, letters in general.

Sophia is 10 months

2009-06-02T09:28:00.004+02:00

Our Cutie Sophus'kin turned 10 months! We are amazed of all the things she can do now and all the sounds she makes. Just a little after tuning 9 months she started to crawl and almost at the same time said "Ma-ma" for the first time! How precious! She is still very much of a Mommy's girl while she resembles her Daddy in her features and personality a lot. She is very happy when Lana is around but still needs me too. So when I have to vacuum, she cries the whole time until I hold her. Therefore our house is not that clean most of the times in addition to all the objects lying around that were pulled down by Sophia. Her favorite place is outside! As soon as she sees the front door open, she aims her little self straight to it! One day I went to the laundry room while the front door was slightly cracked and when I returned Sophia was in the front yard exploring! I had to give in and stay there with her. She loves her baby food but is not ready to give up nursing.
Sophia is right along all the 10 months old milestones:
-She can walk while holding onto furniture.
-stand alone for a few seconds.
-She drinks from a cup.
-Sophia plays pat-a-cake and waves good-bye.
-She understands the meaning of “no” but insists on doing what she wants.
-She says "mama", “dada” and "maba" for Lana.
-She expresses herself with signs: "please," "all done," "pick me up".
She continues to be our joy even when we have the sleepless nights and we are very blessed to have her!

Crawling video

2009-05-07T09:49:00.002+02:00

April-May Update!

2009-05-07T09:05:00.007+02:00

Wow, time flies and we need to update everyone! First of all Sophia turned 9 months and on May 2nd started crawling! She has been moving a little bit before but mostly on her bottom and now on all four! It is very cute to watch her trying to get things and go where Lana is. She weighs 16.72 lbs., her height is 67 cm. She is babbling away and says "da-da, daddy, ba-ba, ma" and etc. Sophia likes to "read" books! Her favorite place is outside and since it is warm most of the days, she and I sit on a blanket outside. She has hard time sleeping because she can pull up to standing and does not want to lie down. She is fascinated with electrical cords and prefers them to any toy. She loves her baby food and can sign "all done".
Lana is 5 now and is still very fond of bugs! When I was picking her up from school, she asked me to see something. When I walked to the playground, she showed me four snails and a moth that she found and put in the tunnel with some leaves. She asked to take one of them home, of course. Later my friend (her son is in school with Lana) told me that when she came to school, she saw Lana recruiting her son Jacob to "scare" Italian girls with the bugs. They would call them and when they show them the bugs, the girls would scream and run away leaving Lana and Jacob amused! What a riot! She did inform me later that some kids don't like snails. I told her that not everyone loves them, and that she has a special gift for that and other people have other gifts. Lana still is taking Russian from me, pre-ballet and we started piano. During piano we were learning a little song and Lana didn't want to play it several times, but when I said that she will get some candy afterwards, she learned the song after two times! In her pre-ballet class she is preparing for a recital.

Showing her snail to Sophia

Sophia with her Easter basket

Easter Sunday

Scoop Give Away!

2009-05-07T09:05:00.001+02:00

I found this very talented graphic designer from a friend of mine who won a blog make-over recently. She is now giving away another one! So hurry on over here to and sign up and win a new blog make-over!

Our visit to the US

2009-04-13T17:57:00.008+02:00

At Mimi and Grandpa's front yard

With Grandpa

With Mimi

I flew with the girls, yes it was quite brave of me but I had a lot of help along the way and thankful the Lord kept us safe. We were able to attend Abigail's wedding though without Aaron. That same day Dad (Aaron's father) trying to get healthier from his asthma had an injury that kept us pretty worried up until now. We were thankful for even the little time that we got to spend with him and Mimi. During our trip Sophia started making sounds like "da-da", "pa-pa" and "ba-ba". Also she started to move backwards and reach things that are far from her. Aaron was able to join us for a short time and we even got one night out to eat at the local restaurant.
Our friends in VA, were very kind to host us for the last few days of our trip and take us back to the airport. It took about 2 and 1/2 hours to figure out if Sophia can fly back or not since Italy is the only European country that requires a visa for the family of military servicemen. The outcome was that we had to purchase a return ticket for Sophia and now we need to claim it back with her visa.

Now we are still recovering from jet leg and hoping that Sophia will start sleeping at night again.

Sophia loves grabbing Lana's hair

Celebrating 5th Birthday at Italian school

2009-03-13T21:11:00.002+01:00

Lana also had her birthday celebration at her Italian school. I had to get a cake this big because there are 50 kids plus the nuns and her teacher Jennifer.

Lana is 5 years old!

2009-03-13T13:06:00.002+01:00

We had a small pottery party with the dessert afterwards. Lana said it was short since she didn't get to run as much as she wanted with her friends. Kids painted a plate that they can pick up later and then we had some cupcakes, Italian desserts and hors d'oeuvres.

Carnevale with Daddy!

2009-02-22T21:39:00.005+01:00

Around this time there is Carnevale almost in every town all over Italy. The biggest one is Venice (Carnevale di Venezia)with a huge parade and everything.

Carnival was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.
Carnival starts around two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras).

Aaron got the tickets to take Lana to this Parent and Child Dance (Carnevale) that was organized by the Army Community Services few weeks ago. They had a nice Italian dinner and lots of dancing while wearing masks. Originally Aaron wanted me to go and we even found a babysitter but by the time we did the tickets were gone plus Sophia has a really bad cold. They had a wonderful time though!

Lana's favorite activity was to pick up confeti and throw it at other dancers!

Lana's allergies

2009-02-10T15:37:00.004+01:00

Lana has been struggling with allergies since our move to Italy. She would get better and then when she is off the medication, she has a cough and wheezing. She had to take oral steroid several times now and it did help her. Just couple of weeks ago she has been put on Flovent (Rachel recommended it too) but it seems to make no difference. We also thought that may be her mattress is bothering her and we had put it inside this “allergies prevention” cover, which did NOT help. We had her sleep on the floor and that made NO difference. Well, also when we just moved in here and there were no beds, very few things, she still was suffering. Her cough is so bad that Aaron is not getting enough sleep. She herself does not get enough sleep either. Yesterday when she came back from school, she went to color (her favorite activity) and few minutes later I found her asleep on the floor. Early January she had an X-ray which revealed NOTHING. My neighbor said that she knew a family that had to go back to the States because their daughter could not get better and ended up in the hospital on oxygen. I pray that we would be able to find out what is causing her condition.

Sophia's baby doll

2009-02-07T14:20:00.006+01:00

Studying her baby doll

She found that the doll has a pacifier

Studying the pacifier

Trying to put it in her mouth

Frustrated that it's not coming off the doll

Happy that she has her pacifier but still trying to take the doll's as well

6 months!

2009-02-01T03:00:00.006+01:00

We have not gone to the doctor yet because Sophia has a bit of a cold and therefore some fever. She probably will have an appointment next week. Some highlights about Sophia:
-she is sitting in a frog position but still falls on the side sometimes

-loves standing (I heard a lot of people saying how strong she is)
-she has a little bit of a giggle
-can quietly play with her toys for 10-15 minutes all by herself
-successfully started eating cereal, mostly yellow vegetables and fruit is her favorite (of course)
-she loves to watch other kids play, study shadows on the wall and is always trying to catch them
-she had settled into a routine (I think cereal helped), she takes two naps ona good day :o))
-loves to touch faces and pulling on hair (especially Lana's)

My Dad

2009-01-21T14:47:00.002+01:00

We started this blog as a source of sharing mostly about our kids but I feel that I need to share about my feelings about my Dad, Vasiliy.
First of all I feel terrible that I cannot visit him and see him right now. I feel bad that he might never see his new granddaughter Sophia. I feel terrible that my Mom who is not all well herself has to take full care of my Dad who we finally know has liver cirrhosis. Thank you Rachel and Rudi, for talking to me about my Dad's medical issues. Still I guess the main struggle I have that my Dad does not know Christ. I think and pray for him every day. Unfortunately I never had a good relationship with him as an adult. Even when we visited my family in 2005, there were only 2 weeks that he held up without drinking. Later that year he had a major heart attack. I am extremely thankful for the childhood memories though. He taught me how to read, how to draw (he is excellent in drawing from life); he made puppets from my mittens, he read books and showed projector movies to me. He made numerous crafts with me, trained me in math before he got worse and paid for my piano. Inside he is very sensitive and kind person. His alcohol addiction had changed him over the years and all the good things about him were pretty much wiped out. I told all of this to him in the letter few years before in a birthday card. I saw that he kept it near his bed and it warmed my heart. I know that he loves me; his disease prevented him from showing it.
I cannot talk to him over the phone, his hearing is bad and they do not have enough money to have ear aids. We write cards to him and send Lana’s drawings.
I wrote all this in order to have all those who know and care about us to pray for my Dad and us. This has been adding up to my overall depression over not having friends and relatives near and still struggling with postpartum depression as well. I do have couple of friends now and few ladies in the Bible study who are praying for us and very thankful for their support.

My nephew Georgi (Gosha), Lana at 14 months with Aaron in my parents living room.
Mom and Dad with grandkids.
Dad with Lana

Ski Trip!

2009-01-20T14:10:00.005+01:00

On Saturday, Aaron and Lana went skiing at Fondo Grande in Folgaria,Italy, 2 hours north of Vicenza. They both had to take some Dramamine (a precaution) since the road was very curvy there. They had a blast even in the midst of some hard learning about how Italian ski lifts work. There were several types of them, it turns out: one where you have to hop on aplayground swing-like appendage that rotates up the hill and down, another lift that's like a department-store escalator, and of course, the traditional ski lift chairs. The bunny hill, where Aaron and Lana stayed the whole time, only uses the swing and escalator lifts.
Once Aaron re-learned how to ski, he took Lana down the bunny hill, holding her upright on her skis between his knees. After a few iterations of this, for the rest of the time, Lana went down unsupported, while Aaron zigzagged around her, steering her by hand now and then, to keep her from crashing into other kids, who were taking ski lessons. The ski lift restaurant was an interesting experience - very lively.Aaron ordered a large Quatro Stagioni ("four seasons") pizza, senza formaggio ("without cheese"). The waitstaff tried to deliver Quatro Formaggi ("four cheeses") to lactose-intolerant Aaron. This took a while to sort out. In the end, they were very apologetic, offering to give Aaron and Lana a whole other pizza for free. The way back was uneventful, which is good when the roads are icy and curvy. The Dramamine and a full day on the slopes put Lana out for at wo-hour nap on the way back home.

Hair Trim!

2009-01-05T18:38:00.006+01:00

We had to trim Lana's hair because it's very hard to brush plus the ends of her hair were not so smooth. She did very well being patient. It took me about twenty minutes. I offered her to go to a hair place but she did not want to. Her hair is still long but because of the curls it looks shorter.

Our Baby Girl is 5 months!

2009-01-01T19:40:00.005+01:00

Happy New 2009! Seems that we just were moving but we have been here for 7 months now. Well, there are still boxes in the garage and we just got rid of one from our tiny kitchen. Hopefully we will have fewer bruises! :o) Back to the subject now.
Sophia turned 5 months on New Year's Eve and is truly a blessing to our family and we are greatly thankful to God for bringing her into our lives. Apart from being gorgeous (see pictures below) she has become happier since she can do more things now. She can almost sit, hold the toys that she has, follow every move that Lana makes and giggle when she tickles her. Her appetite has changed too and she started eating some cereal, she still doesn't sleep too much during the day but stays asleep most nights.

Outfit from Grammy and Grandpa Coe

Christmas Time!

2008-12-27T00:37:00.016+01:00

This Christmas had a lot of firsts. This is First Christmas for baby Sophia; she also had her first laugh when Lana tickled her tummy. This is first time Aaron and Lana celebrate Christmas in a foreign country. This is first Christmas for Aaron and me with two kids.

On Christmas Eve we went to the evening Candlelight service at our chapel. It was very nice; they even had a liturgical dance to the song based on Psalm 123. It was very special. Sophia slept at first and then woke up when we had the candles. Lana insisted on holding the candle but kept tipping it over.

Lana couldn't wait till Christmas day this year, she kept asking: "Is it Christmas yet?" "Can we open presents?" Now I'll back up to the day before Christmas Eve. I was doing last minute shopping and Lana wanted to come with me. She did fine at the grocery part but then I was getting some presents (yes, it's been first Christmas for me to get presents that late) and that is when the drama began. Lana started demanding for things to buy declaring that all her clothes are old! At first I told her that maybe she can get something little if she settles down; well, that didn't help. She didn't get anything at the end since her wailing continued all the way to car. At home we also took her Christmas presents from under the tree, asking her to think of how she should behave. Also we showed her some pictures of kids who don't even have food this Christmas while she is demanding things that she doesn't even need! Since taking wrapped presents didn't really get her thinking, she also lost her playdate with her friends next door. Of course the whole concept of poverty in the world is still hard to grasp for her so we concentrated on talking about being thankful for what we have. It was hard to stay calm and positive through this whole situation. So that is only a glimpse of how loving and patient is Our Lord!

On Christmas morning, Aaron made French toast and when Lana got up; we told that finally Christmas is here! Since we have been doing Advent readings, we asked her about what happened on Christmas day and why do we have a tradition of presents. She explained everything pretty clearly. So before we brought her presents back we reminded her to be thankful. Surprisingly she did not concentrated on just opening the presents but really studying what she got. Also, after opening a coloring book, she forgot about presents altogether. Sophia awoke, and found a shred of wrapping paper to play with. Lana helped her to open her present.

For lunch our neighbors invited us where we brought a quiche. Sophia had a good time and liked to be passed around the table. Later all the kids made and decorated the gingerbread house. There were lots of sprinkles outside afterwards!

Later in the evening we got another surprise - snow! It was a white Christmas!!!

First Christmas with a sister!

Helping Sophia to open her present.

Christmas breakfast. Colazione (in Italian)

"...pondering these things in her heart"

Lana's friend Samuel loves holding Sophia.

Jacob, Lana, Abigail and Samuel decorating the gingerbread house.

Sophia's update

2008-12-21T18:22:00.005+01:00

I'm Mommy's number1!

We took Sophia for her 4 month appointment. She is 13.4 pounds and 25.59 inches. This means that she is staying in the 75th% by her wight abd 90th% by the length. She is on top of all the milestones of this stage including that she can roll over and sit up with support.

Here is a sad baby because she has to take her vitamins!

Here is a happy baby playing peek-a-boo.

Lana's first Dance Recital

2008-12-16T20:55:00.006+01:00

Lana had her first dance recital. Yesterday she had a dress rehearsal. She was very excited and stayed focused the whole time! She and other girls from her pre-ballet class were snowflakes from Nutcracker. It was very cute. Instead of flowers she wants to go ice skating, so Aaron is going to try to find where we can take her.

This is Nikki, a daughter of a Russian girl that I met.

Some pictures from the past!

2008-12-09T14:14:00.007+01:00

Lana seems was a baby not long ago. Here are some pictures from her first Christmas!

With Aunt Rachel!

Finally we snuggle!

2008-12-09T13:31:00.006+01:00

Yes, I was so happy to snuggle up with Sophia, she has never really done that, only if was asleep. It was so sweet!

After bath!

After watching the show together Sophia fell asleep right next to Lana.

Sleeping Santa and more...

2008-12-09T13:04:00.006+01:00

We decorated our house a little. For the first time we got a real tree, it was inexpensive at IKEA. While I was practicing music for PWOC Lana and Aaron decorated the tree. When we were at IKEA Sophia was wearing her Santa outfit (that came from Lana) and a lot of people at the store stopped to admire how cute Sophia looked. Italians call Santa "Babbo Natale" or "Padre Natale". After our little shopping adventure, Sophia fell asleep. Here are some pictures of that.

Girls watching a show together. "Peter Rabbit" I think.

Naked Santa!

Sophia is 4 months!

2008-12-03T22:06:00.006+01:00

Our precious Sophia is 4 months! She is catching up with her cousin! Even though she is still hard to take care of, she has lots of happy times!

She loves watching Lana and listening to her. She takes most kisses from her as well.
She starts giggling when she sees her.

Our Sophus'kin is an angel in disguise!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T01:14:00.002+01:00

My cuties!

Wearing snow shoes and a T-shirt!

Happy to peel!

Slept almost 2 hours! Hard to believe!

"Hungry, Mama!"

These are the preparations for the feast tomorrow. We are invited by another military family and need to bring sweet potatoes. Lana loves peeling them! Pictures of Sophia sleeping during the music practice of the Chick band at our Chapel. Then she woke up! The highlight of day was that my neighbour kept Sophia for couple of hours and I got to hang 3 pictures. All the walls in the house are cement which makes it very hard to hammer a regular nails in. We have to get some Italian ones.

Snow in Vicenza

2008-11-24T17:42:00.000+01:00

Sophia is smiling!

Lana and Nikolai

This rarely happens here in Vicenza! We have snow! The temperature in the mid 30s and almost 2'' of snow. I woke up Lana after feeding Sophia and after she saw beautiful snowflakes covering everything, she wanted to go outside. Her school bus didn't come because of the snow. The cars and roads have not this much snow in years! For the safety of Italian people most of the things were shut down.
Lana and I played for about an hour and were soaked and wet, her Italian friend Nikolai came out as well. We made a snow man. I took Sophia out for few minutes and she loved seeing everything white also but didn't like the snowflakes falling on her face.