All smiles...

Been a while since the last post, it's a busy place here!  You're smiling a lot more know, your stomach is stronger and your digestive system is probably starting to actually function now so you are much happier.  We even got a first laugh out of you the other day: peek-a-boo.

Your hair continues to go all over the place: I love it but your mother and Natasha keep trying to get it to sit down.  Don't let them win.

You've also taken to sucking on your hands recently, could you be getting teeth already?  You seem to be, we'll find out soon I'm sure.

3 months at 7 weeks

Before going to a party last night your mother was putting away clothes that you've outgrown, filling up a box.  Much of it was for up to 3-month olds, except you are only 7 weeks old.  Very, very tall.

Last few days also brought some smiling and cooing which is a nice surprise.  You and Grisha had a good exchange today of nonsense words and you flashed him a nice big happy smile that made him melt.  Gotta run, you're in Golden Gate park walking with Natasha and need to go pick you up :)

Growing fast

You've outgrown diapers and most of the clothes that you were supposed to wear for at least a month, hard to keep up with you.  You have a new nanny starting today, Natasha.  It's a funny household, she speaks no English but speaks Spanish and of course Russian, and for me it's easier to speak in Russian but listen to her in Spanish.  So now in the house we have Russian, English, Romanian, Spanish and a little bit of Hebrew too for good measure.  You're going to be one confused little kid :)

Day 6

We took you to your first pediatrician's appointment today.  Turns out you are only 22" long (not 23" as initially measured at the hospital), so now you are just tall and not freakishly tall :)  You're down to 8lbs. 13oz. which apparently is aggressive in gaining your birth weight back; you are overall very healthy.  While you were on the table you managed to pee all over me, your blankets and the floor.  You seemed elated, I hope that's just because it was physical relief and not a sign of rebellion at this young age.  Not sure if I covered it in other posts, but the first thing you did after being born and put on the newborn table was to pee right at me, thankfully you didn't have the strength yet to get me.

Day 5

At this point you are getting more comfortable with everything; feeding, sleeping, looking around (plus pooping, peeing) are all happening now with relative ease.  That said, you do take your time about things.  Eating takes an hour, with occasional dozing off in the middle.  Sleeping can go on for a long time, already 6 hours in some cases.  And pooping... twice yesterday we had to change you 3 times in a row because of your casual approach.  17 diapers in a single day!

Your fingernails are growing fast.  On that note you sustained his first injury today at my hand, clipping part of your finger along with the nail.  After a brief outcry and a nasty look it was right back to the milk -- at most a minor inconvenience for you.

You are long (or tall, depending on how you look at it), so for right now your mother and I have nicknamed you "weasel" (Ласка, pronounced la'-ska).  Youve got a long slender body with long legs, but still sport pretty puffy cheeks and a couple of chins.  Your mom is a hedgehog (Ежик, pronounced yo'-zheek), so we now have half the family's "inner animal" identified.  No word yet on what Grisha is or what I am.


Your mom has been great; she takes over at night since she has to feed you anyway and lets me sleep through the night -- may hat is off to her.  Today the nanny comes and will hopefully help give both of us a break; I hope you like her.

Today also marked your first adventure into the world outside the house.  The fact is, chai and cappuccinos exist on the other side of the block and not in the house, so you saw the inside of your first Starbucks today.  Air conditioning was full blast because of a brief heat wave in the city so it was a quick trip before moving on to the more temperate pastry shop next door for some good scones, unlike the Starbucks crap scones.  You remained unimpressed and decided to go to sleep.


You seem pretty content when not directly threatened with hunger or being cold, very little crying so far for which I'm thankful.  I hope you are content.

Days 0 and 1

August 20, 2010 @ 09:01: You are born as Maxim Andrew Harward (Максим Андрей Гарвард) at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.  Birth weight 8 pounds 13 ounces, 23 inches long.  The "Andrew" part is a nod to your mother's grandfather on her mother's side and great, great grandfather on her father's side.  You can see yourself about 10 minutes old with your mom on YouTube here, and some early photos on Facebook here.


You were born quickly without complications, and have been pretty damn quiet to start with (I'm sure this will change soon).  Unlike your brother you seem to need to be force fed, you don't seem too interested in food yet.  Sleeping beats all, and you have some strength to move your head and eyes around, but only for a little bit and then back to sleep.  Only a few minutes after you were born you were on Skype video for your grandparents (and visiting brother) in Moldova to see, compliments of the hospital's omnipresent wifi network.


We get to go home tomorrow where you will probably stretch out a bit and give your lungs a good workout.