9 months... and always being kissed

My little pumpkin is 9 months old! That is nearly as long as I carried him in my belly; can you believe it?

Today we had his 9 month well visit with doctor Arch, and our little man is just perfect! He weighs 22 pounds & 5.5 ounces and he is 29 inches long! He's growing like a weed!

The little watermelon king also got his seasonal flu shot, minus the mercury today... Now I just have to find someone to give it to me! We've pretty much decided NOT to get Zaney a Swine Flu shot. Of course, that might mean we have to quarantine ourselves from all civilization... but I guess it'll be worth it! The doctor actually said, "This isn't the time to be joining new play groups..." So, I guess I wont!

Unfortunately, our little cuteso caught my cold while we were in Carlisle @ the car show. The night D arrived in Carlisle, the babe tossed & turned all night. Technically, he was sleeping, but he was having trouble breathing through all the snot, so I was very technically NOT sleeping. Poor guy... poor mama!

When my mama made the 5:30am wake up call, we were all three up playing with the babes...

With just a couple hours of sleep after an awesome, busy, sickly & physically demanding week, I was a mess! I can work through most everything, but, as most of you know, when I don't get enough sleep, I'm like a pregnant, hormonal, crying mess. Hoy vey. More on that later...

And then Babushka Anna, DeyDya, Papa Andrei & Irina arrived! Zander has a severe case of "No, no, no, I didn't say you could hold me... Where's my mama?"

So, I don't know what happened when he met Andrei. Zander LOVES him! Almost more than D & I combined! Alexander won't go to his grandparents, but within 5 days of arriving in the country & within 5 minutes of arriving in Carlisle, Andrei was flying the babe around the front yard, and the babe was loving it! Gigga What? (No idea who taught me that phrase... The Advocate... but I looked it up just now, and I'm assuming it is just a song and not offensive. Correct me if I'm wrong. And don't forget, I grew up in a box. :).

Actually, the night before Andrei arrived, Z did start fussing, crawl up to my sister's legs & climb to be held... Is his eyesight so bad that he thinks Jenn & I and D & Andrei look the same? My mama seems to think that D's DNA is so similar to Andrei, that Zander can smell it. I wonder if they're hiring for police dogs... ?

The only thing Carlisle was missing after the Brooklyn'd crew arrived was Slava & his family. Hopefully some day soon we will all get together!

What a motley looking crew?

So, back to my hormonal mess. D wanted Zander to get his first haircut. And I agreed long before the babes & I got sick and sleepless in Carlisle... Cue the waterworks.

My goodness. That was horrible. Equivalent to our time in the hospital laboratory shortly after Z's birth squeezing blood from Z's stone cold little foot. Except, I cried harder this time. And there were more people around to see my misery. Oh, and Alexander didn't like it either.

Ironically, I was holding Zander out by the street shortly before we left, and my pops pulled out his scissors. Clip, clip. Snip, snip. No tears. Straight haircut... Why isn't everything that easy?

But then it was time to bring the whole crew back to Wheeling. So while Mama, Papa & Aunt Jenn crammed into the backseat, attempting to get the "Easy-Install" car seat, you know, installed, Zander took turns teaching his grandmas how to drive the Prius.

What a busy 2 weeks! Now we're getting ready for Nemka & Vasya to arrive with Zander's betrothed, Galina! Well, I guess I'm also waiting for D to get home from work... It's 9:19pm, you'd think he might be home by now...???