Yeva's First Easter Sunday

So if you read Natasha's last post... yeah, the last couple of days have been really rough on the girls, and I guess for all of us really. I'd worked hard to try and get Natasha some opportunities to rest, but it really wasn't enough, and poor little Yeva was just tired and  cranky because of her tummy. Yesterday night we went to her parents' house to celebrate their 29th anniversary, and afterwards I made Natasha take a walk with me for a while and thankfully Yeva fell asleep in her carriage, so I made Natasha go home and take a nap while I walked Yeva as long as I could. It seemed like it should have worked well, but besides getting a little emotional release, it didn't amount to much rest. And she wouldn't get much rest that night either. Yeva set a new record for how far she can squirt poop, 4' 2." Natasha set a slipper for a marker so I could measure when I got up. It seemed like a bad start to Orthodox Easter Sunday. Because I still needed to prepare a sacrament meeting talk and a Sunday-school lesson, I wasn't going to have time to help her with Yeva in the morning, and then going to church takes up about 5-6 hours out of the day due to the commute, leaving Natasha alone to deal with Yeva the whole day again. That's probably about the time that Natasha made her post. 

Very fortunately, however, the story does have a better ending. When I got home from church, I saw that both Natasha and Yeva were asleep. After a while, Natasha woke up and in good mood. We lay down together to shoot the breeze and tease each other, just enjoy each other's company. Natasha disclosed the secret technique she used to get to sleep once Yeva finally went down. First she did some relaxive breathing techniques, that's cool. Then she started to imagine she was a jellyfish of medium size, without freckles, and travelling about the sea. You just really gotta connect with your inner jellyfish man. I'm telling you. It's like, wow. Like, just the kind that Grandma Grouper made peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches out of. So yeah, the jellyfish theme has been an ongoing joke throughout the night, which has been easier to enjoy because of Yeva getting good rest for most of the afternoon and evening. 

Natasha just reminded me of another funny we had a while ago. Natasha and I started leaving each other little notes of suggestions as an alternative to nagging criticism. It's helped a lot, and we've started using it to express thank you's as well. So one day this week, Natasha left me several cute heart-shaped ones. Awww, shucks. I read the first, I like your idea about doing something for my mom (I'd suggested doing something special to thank her). The next note, I love when you hold her in your arms and talk to her. Now there's a mental image! It all made more sense after I read the next note, thanks for taking care of Yeva, but of course that didn't stop me from teasing Natasha about it!

Also something kind of random that Natasha will tease me about, by complete chance I finally found where you can buy plain popcorn kernels as opposed to the microwave packets. It's one of those things I'd been on the lookout for, tastes better, healthier and cheaper. Nice. And since this discovery coincided with me getting very grossed out by any food the consistency of baby poo, I've been eating like 2-3 batches of popcorn a day. Yeah, kind of obsessive, but I'm sure it's just a phase.

Anyways, back to today, later the evening, I showed Natasha how to make deviled eggs, which we had with Kulyk, the traditional Russian Easter cake. Later Natasha's parents stopped by to visit us, but they've already left. Overall, it was a great day for the 3 member's of our little Gray family. Here are some recent pictures for you to enjoy.

p.s. Celest, we'll get more pictures of Yeva in the clothes you sent when she'll be in a better mood. 

p.p.s. Feel free to check out my new blog, http://ipwakevin.blogspot.com/

Yeva loves staring at this yellow and black shirt, even when she's pretending to be a monkey.

This the parking lot for when Yeva's hunky cousin Dima comes to visit. 

Getting all bundled up to go outside. 

Out for some fresh air. The last week the weather has gotten nice and warm. Even if it did snow again Friday and yesterday, it's all melted now, and everything will be green in no time. 

Here's the honeycomb we forgot to bring to the Judy family reunion. As you can see we've been really stressed over the guilt trip of having to eat it all ourselves:) I'd guess it was about 12" x 18" x 2 1/2," but we finally cut it up for easy storage.

Blue Steel. This is the quilt than Fawn and Celest made. The other side of it is all fuzzy and soft instead of smooth and silky. 

Boys have coodies. Ew, don't touch me! Besides, you're like, twice my age!