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A few days ago we gave Noah is second hair cut.  I must say it was a little more difficult this time.  He was more afraid of the clippers, and also stronger.  But after some fussing, and fighting we got the job done.  It definitely took the two of us though.  Also, it was impossible to trim the very bottom of the neck area as that required either using the clippers with no addition or using scissors.  Each of which proved to be a little too dangerous as his had often went flailing around erratically.

These were actually taken a few days after the hair cut.

Tonight was the first night we put Noah to sleep on a bed instead of a cribe.  It seems like a big step mentally, because he’s definately no longer a baby.  He’s quickly turning into a young boy.

We have just returned from a trip to Romania, and he was having trouble sleeping in his crib anyway.  See, he had been sleeping with us for the last 2 weeks while we were staying in Romania and he got used to having us around when he went to sleep.  When we returned, the last 3 nights he has put up a very strong fight when we put him down.  Our only solution was to stay near his crib in a chair, let him see that one of us was there – even then, he would still yell a little – but eventually he would go to sleep.  So we thought this might be the perfect opportunity to change it up, and try the bed.  Well it worked.  Tonight, he was really tired, but went to bed relatively easily in the bed.  One pretty big cry, and that was all, he was out.

It feels good, and it feels right – even though it does make me feel old.

We got him the “Kritter” bed from Ikea.  We found a great deal on an “As Is” item that was only used for a display.  It’s red, but we can paint it if it really looks weird.  The darn thing was only 25$. It didn’t have a scratch on it, and was already assembled.  Can’t beat that.  

We’ll see how it goes through tonight, and through the nights to come.  I have this fear that he will get up and start to do whatever he wants – get food from the fridge, watch tv, open the door and leave.  We’ll see.  All in all it feels good.

We are going to Romania in less than a week.  It’s exciting.  We have most everything done, including shopping, shopping and shopping.  :)  The only thing stressing us out now is a paper that Silvia has due in her english class Tuesday night…we leave Wednesday.  She’ll need to push hard this weekend to get that done.  Paper writing can be such a pain. But I’m sure she can do it.

This will be our first international flight with Noah.  We aren’t looking forward to it.  I’m not going to engage Murphy’s Law and assume the worst, but I’m not expecting it to be as laid back and simple as it would be if it were just the two of us. Oh well.  It will be really great to see what he thinks about it.  I wonder if he will remember any of it?

Here’s some good advise I got from a friend regarding international travel with an infant:

As soon as you can, call the airline and explain that you are travleing with an infant in your lap and that you want seats in the bulkhead. Which airline are you traveling on? The bulkhead seats are the ones directly behind the bathrrom walls, and most big jets have holes in those walls where they can attach a bassinett for the baby to sleep in. Your son might be on the bigger side now to fully spread out in the bassinett but he can curl up at least and lie flat and hopefully get some sleep. It’s almost like having an extra seat and you guys can set him in it while you eat and stuff like that.

Another thing, overpack on clothes and diapers (I found that our kids seemed to have blow out diapers when up in the air…maybe it was the altitude or maybe just a coincidence but I always pack for it now). And it’s also good in case you get stuck in an airport somewhere. I put them in clear ziplock bags so I don’t have to carry the entire big diaper bag into the tiny airplane bathroom.

Underpack on the toys, they hardly play with them anyways.

Bring snacks–you never know if you’ll get stuck in the airport without any kid friendly food.

My girlfriend gave her toddlers/babies Benadryl on flights so that they’d sleep. I never tried that but now that I think of it, I think I’ll bring that with me on the plane.

But I think more than anything, getting seats in the bulkhead with a bassinett will make the trip easier. If you’re on United, they are clueless, so be prepared. And their bassinetts don’t attach to the wall, the one time we flew on them it was just a disaster. Johnny was 8 months old and crawling and the bassinett was on the floor (we had bulkhead seats so at least there was a lot of room for it on the floor) and he was trying to crawl away and after a few hours we just gave up and let him crawl around on the disgusting airplane floor.

Which reminds me, bring lots of hand sanitizer. And remember you can only have 3oz or smaller bottles of liquids that have to be in a clear ziploc bag as a carry-on.

Good luck!!!! It won’t be nearly as nerve-wracking as you think it might be.

Well, we finally bit the bullet and gave Noah a hair cut. It was tough. It was his first. It was necessary. And, as seen in the before and after pics…it was time.

“Detox” – Cleansing the body of poisons or toxins that may have accumulated through addictive habits

As I begin the year, and start to evaluate my life more closely, I realize I need a permanent information fast. I have simply become over run and bottom line unproductive with too many notifications, emails, rss feeds, articles, etc. I quite. I need out. I want simple, focused and effective instead. Here’s what I plan to do:

* Unsubscribe from all email subscriptions – I don’t need ‘em. If I want information I know where I can get it. Also using www.rescuetime.com I see that a far majority of my time is spent on email. I need to reduce this.

* Unfollow all the ‘robots’ on twitter. I’ve basically been accepting any follow requests, and somehow have ended up following a bunch of people I’m not sure how. Either way, I’m going to unfollow them, and ‘clean out’ my twitter list. Reduce it to only those people who I actually know, enjoy, or get influence by.

* Reduce my daily to-do list to two. Two items is all I need, and after some careful testing, this has proved very effect over the last few weeks. If I limit it to two: 1) I’m sure those things are very important and 2) I can focus on each of them fully without thinking, “I need to do two or three things at the same time if I ever want to finish this massive to-do list”


It’s an information detox and it’s critical in this era. During this huge information age, everything from local news to what people are doing at all times can be virtually shoved down my throat. No more. From now on when I see or feel an information encroachment, I’m cutting the rope. I choose to live simple, focus and effective.

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years”
- Abraham Lincoln

So another year has come to an end, can you believe it? – almost 2010. As we usually do at the end of the year, we enjoy looking back at what we’ve done and where we’ve been, and sharing it with all of you.

Noah continues to be an amazing blessing. I have to say, things have gotten easier as he’s gotten a little older. He’s at a great age right now, he runs to hug you, talks a little bit, does really funny things, and (knock on wood) usually sleeps through the night. He’s starting to develop his own little personality, and it’s nothing short of a miracle to watch him grow and learn.

Silvia recently got a promotion at BigLots. She is now an Associate Manager. I am so proud of her for taking the initiative to talk to her boss about moving up. Surprisingly, her boss really took her request to heart, and started almost immediately showing Silvia some additional ropes, and within a couple weeks promoting her to Associate Manager. It’s a real testament to the power of simply asking. Now she’s learning about inventory, scheduling, sales, and other managerial tasks. She likes it but says it’s actually not much of a change since she’s been doing the same types of tasks for a while now.

I’m enjoying my work at UCLA Medical Center. In addition to desktop support, I have started to do some more programming. I have been giving the task of redoing the Family Medicine website. I also found and helped setup an online help ticket system for our group to use. I enjoy it, but at the same time feel I need to improve my skills and grow in my responsibilities. I’m hoping to start the process of getting a Masters Degree, either in Computer Science or an MBA next year.

In June we had a flood in our condo. I remember it like it was yesterday, and it’s one of those things that plays out in my mind in slow motion. It was about 9pm, and we were winding down for the day, I was about to start making my breakfast for the next day. All of a sudden, I heard a strong water running sound. I figured it was probably the washing machines next door to us. But after about 30 seconds, I started to hear and see drops of water come from the ceiling! Oh the thoughts that went running through my head at that point! Craziness ensued, and within about 15 minutes the ceiling in our kitchen and dining room were raining. We spent the next 2 hours sweeping the water out onto the patio, and making repeated calls for someone to come out and shut off the water. Since the unit above us (where the water was coming from) was for sale, there was no one there, and only a key lock on the door. Additionally, turning off the water for the complex was no easy task: the contracted plumbers had to come out and get it off. After 2 or 3 hours the water finally stopped, and at least the panic was over. The damage was done, and our minds were now on clean up. Rebuilding was a mess because they found asbestos in the ceilings. The ceilings had to be replaced, so the asbestos had to be dealt with. We ended up having to wait about 3 weeks before we could get clearance to remove the asbestos ceilings. Once the asbestos removal was Ok-ed, the process of remodeling began. We stayed in a Hotel during the whole process, which lasted about 5 weeks. In the end we got a new ceiling, new walls, new paint, and new floors. Luckily the owners of the unit above us were very professional and paid for everything including the hotel – not shying away from any responsibility.

One goal I had for this year was to get more involved at church. Around July I started volunteering in the Kids ministry. There is a separate building, and church for the kids, and I’m part of the A/V team for the 3rd-6th graders Sunday morning service. I have enjoyed making new friends, meeting new people, and helping out with the technical stuff.

In conclusion, I just want to thank you all for your friendship and love over the years. Life wouldn’t be life without you. We wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Love,
- Russ, Silvia and Noah

Weddings are an interesting thing. I find that when we attend another person’s wedding, my wife and I both have feelings of nostalgia, bitter sweet and joy.

Nostalgia because we both remember what it was like when we got married. The chaos surrounding the day. The excitement of starting a new life together. The fun of seeing all our friends and family together, and providing a happy time for them.

Bittersweet because we are both reminded of our age. It’s always something that crosses our mind when we see a young couple tying the knot. We think, “wow, we did this X years ago….we’re getting ooooold!”. On the one hand this is a good thing – we’ve had a chance to see our son grow, gained perspective on life, and matured. On the other hand, it can be hard to see the sand as it’s falls through the hour glass – time that can never be gotten back, no matter how well (or not) we have used it.

Joy because we see lots of smiling faces, and weddings tend to be a happy time anyway. It’s fun to see all the grinning faces, and happy people. Everyone is in good spirits, and even though the time leading up to the day can be totally crazy and hectic, it seems everyone lets go at the time of the wedding, and decides to just enjoy each other.

We had a great time with Angie and Garett. We want to congratulate them on a new life together and thank them for putting it all together, and making it such a great day. Who could forget the Hawaiian Bonzai Toasts!

One word to describe it…. Special.

“Marriage is like pi – natural, irrational, and very important”
 Lisa Hoffman

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The family and I had a great little day trip to Palos Verdes. What a beautiful piece of earth that is. A great starbucks, the only one with an ocean view, and great walkway overlooking the pacific coast. As you may know it can be very difficult to try and get pictures of your entire family, so we brought the tri-pod (great investment) and did our own little picture shoot. The pictures turned out great, we had a great day.

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I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  ~Abraham Lincoln

To all the moms that I know, you truly are amazing.  Changing diapers, getting up in the middle of the night, giving us rides to our friends’ house, coming to our basketball games, encouraging us to do better, helping us grow, and understand the world, helping us get a job, helping us with our homework, being really sad when we move out, being really proud when we graduate college, visiting us as much as you can, truly enjoying visits from us, loving our spouses and families, forgiving us for hurting you, loving us unconditionally through the ups and downs.

Is there anything a mom doesn’t do?  Not really.  They do it all.

There’s no salary, or reward that could adequately fulfill their work and accomplishments.  Thank you for all you’ve done, and all your doing.  You should be comforted to know that there’s only one human we can truly say we owe our lives to…and that’s YOU!