Pay no attention to the mess in the background

Yesterday's snow day gave me a peek at what being a SAHM (stay at home mom) would be like for me & Ilya and I have to admit that I LOVED it. Every single minute! Yeah, I get to spend my weekends with Ilya but weekend's are full of running errands, doing laundry, cleaning...all kinds of stuff crammed into 2 days that during the week is nearly impossible to do after working 1.5 jobs and everything that has to be done Monday-Friday.

After we came in from playing in the snow, daddy went back to his home office to work and Ilya & I retreated to the basement to play. Ilya's new thing is putting on his bib by himself. Usually he does this to tell us he's hungry but yesterday he wanted to play superhero and wear a cape instead:

Norm & I are in the process of decluttering and organizing, so we recently bought a ton of the plastic storage bin things. I asked Ilya to help me clean up my office space, but first he insisted on checking out the storage bin to make sure it was sturdy enough and of good quality. He hung out in it for awhile and when his little head finally popped up, this is what I saw (enlarge the picture if you can to get the full static hair effect):

Bailey decided she had to make sure Ilya didn't have any food stashed in there that she didn't know about:

When Norm's work day was finally over, he came downstairs to find me, Ilya, Bailey & Bandit watching cartoons. Believe it or not, this photo was not staged!!

And neither was this one!! Check out the way Bay is eyeballing Ilya's wheels and her tongue action. "TASTY!!!!"

Obviously this photo wasn't staged either. This is normally the pose we get from Baysters. Lovely, huh?

So, I loved the SAHM sneak peek yesterday gave me. Then today reality stepped up and SMACKED me upside my head. Or maybe it punched me in the gut. Or maybe it ran over me with a Mack truck. Or maybe a little of all of that. Regardless, I have been up since 3am puking and I've been on lying on the couch in a fetal position much of the day. My body aches like it never has before and I am M.I.S.E.R.A.B.L.E. What do SAHM's do on days like this? I never stopped to think that you don't get sick days, mental health days, vacation days, time off for dentist or doctor appointments... You don't get to escape from your boss (i.e. your kiddo) when you need a little breathing space. What do you do???

Don't get me wrong - - if the opportunity does ever present itself for me to be a SAHM, I will jump into it full throttle and thank God for the opportunity to spend so much valuable time with Cubby. Today has just reminded me that I will need some sort of back up plan for days like this...which hopefully will never happen again but who am I kidding? Reality is what it is.

Okay, SAHM's here's your chance to offer your tips & suggestions, or to tell me to just suck it up! Whichever applies, I'm really interested in what you have to say.

Now I'm going to curl back into my fetal position. As I try to always remember, there is good in every situation. In this situation the good is that I can now curl up on the couch instead of the tile floor in front of the toilet! I'll just leave you with that mental image. You can thank me later.

Toodles,

Kar

SNOW DAY!!!!!!

Floridian Driver (ie mommy) + Lots of snow/ice+ Almost Crashing on the way to daycare/work = Ilya's 1st snow day!!

Despite the very scary start to our day, we're having a lot of fun watching Ilya explore snow for the first time. Here are a few pictures we took during his 5 minute outing. When his snotsickle started, we decided it was time to come back in. Enjoy the few photos I snapped!

Guess who was bored tonight?

As Ilya would say - "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Not sure I like the background but I do kinda like the header. Anyway, it's late I'm sick AGAIN and I'm going to bed. We'll all have to deal with the latest blog makeover until I decide if I like it.

Again, as Ilya would say - "Night Night!"

Uh-oh

Hmmmm....it seems my cryptic vacation message was a little too cryptic, and a few of you surmised we were starting the adoption process again. As much as I would LOVE to tell you you're right, unfortunately you're not. At least not yet!

However, that doesn't mean we're not in the beginning stages of another exciting adventure but I need to wait a little while to give the full details about that. I'm making a lot of sense, aren't I? ;-)


So, this weekend we actually went to the Atlanta area and we were supposed to meet up with Becky, Keith & Andrew. My plan was to post a picture of our boys together but that didn't work out quite the way I planned.

Norm & I had a great time hanging out with Becky & Keith in Moscow (hopefully the feeling's mutual!), so we were really looking forward to seeing them again & meeting little Andrew in person. While we did meet up with Becky, the 5 minutes it took to load & unload Andrew's high chair, pack n play and car seat into & out of our rental car in the middle of the Atlanta airport parking lot hardly qualifies as "hanging out." Grrrr...

Our little man was sick, sick, sick & I did not want to pass that on to Andrew. I'm sure Becky agrees. I'm still really bummed but such is life, right?

Anyhoo, I'm working on a more relevant post so be sure to check in again in a few days. I just wanted to apologize for the confusion. As soon as we're ready to start the adoption process again, you'll all be the first to know! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kar

We made it!

And no, we were not passengers on the Hudson River plane - thankfully!! Thanks for your concern though since my message about our trip was a little cryptic and most of you weren't sure what our final destination was.

I wanted to post pictures of Ilya with a blogger buddy but unfortunately he woke up not feeling well, and we don't want to get anyone sick. So, he & I are hanging out taking it easy while daddy is out doing other stuff this morning. We're going to wait & see how he feels in a few hours, or maybe even tomorrow and hopefully we can get some photos then. We'll be here until Tuesday so there's still a chance we'll get the kiddos together.

That's it for now - as soon as I have something more interesting to post I'll be back! For now, let's all hope Ilya perks up & is able to enjoy his mini vacation.

Kar

Where in the World is Ilya?

At noon tomorrow, Norm & I will chaperone Ilya on another adventure in the skies, and in 24 hours we'll meet up with someone that many of you know & love as much as you know & love me. :-) His bags are packed (ours are not!), and there is a borrowed carseat, pack n play and high chair waiting just for him in a fun and fascinating city.

This is a loooooooooong holiday weekend for me (yippee!!) due to - Lee Jackson Day, MLK Day & Inauguration Day - so we decided to take advantage of it and plan this trip.

Now let's see how closely you have been paying attention to our blog... Where did Norm & I go over this same holiday weekend last year? Hmmmmm???

If you guessed Asheville, NC, to turn in our dossier & select a region in Russia you are CORRECT! I love how much our lives have changed in the past year.

Anyway, if you'd like to take another guess at who Ilya will be meeting tomorrow and hanging out with over the weekend go ahead & give it a try. BTW - this little contest is not open to the handful of you who already know our destination! I'll post clues while we're gone in case the rest of you need them.

Toodles for now! And please pray for safe travels and an uneventful plane trip.
Kar

Diet Schmiet

Let me set the scene. At Bailey & Bandit's last vet appointment, we were told that they both needed to go on a diet. Dogs weighing 90 and 135 lbs respectively need to diet. 'Magine that.

So, we started limiting their treats and asked their Grandma (Norm's mom) to limit the people food she sneaks to them. All was going well and we all started becoming somewhat immune to Bailey's numerous "woa-is-me" looks. Then, suddenly, we noticed weight started packing on them and their "I'm STARVING" attitude was diminishing. What's the deal?

Seems there was a conspiracy in the house, which Ilya was recruited for. And it's all caught on film!!! Ilya had no idea I followed him into the dog's room. I love the last photo. The look on his little face says it all....

"OOPS!!! BUSTED!!!"