Eleven Months With Nadezhda

Another month has flown by, my precious Nadezhda, and I can hardly believe that in such a short time you will be ONE!  I'm loving watching you grow and change.  Your sweet, fun, determined personality continues to grow and delight us.  
You don't like to hear "no-no", but you usually listen, eventually.  You don't fuss about it, you just keep right on doing the thing that I've tried to prevent you from doing, even when I move you away or give you something else.  
Your communication is growing, too!  Thankfully your screech has diminished as you learn to say "Mama" when you want something.  You've learned to sign "all done" and "more" when you're eating.  Although when you're eating I sometimes have a hard time discerning "all done" because your arms are always moving!

You tried to feed yourself banana, but you don't quite have the right grip yet.
And speaking of moving arms, you've started waving!  Unfortunately the "time to wave" part of your brain usually clicks in after the person to whom you want to wave has turned away, but you're getting there.
You enjoyed our latest trip to the children's museum, actually playing with things yourself rather than just watching brother.  However, you LOVE to watch your brother, and no one can make you laugh like he does!

We enjoyed your first Easter, which was also your 11-month day.  You got in on the coloring of the eggs, sort of.  But most of all, you looked mighty cute in your Easter dress!

Previewing the dress in all your cuteness!
Since we were in NC for Easter you got to see Great Grandma again and show off your verging skill of pulling up.  You still need a little assistance, but you love to get to that standing position.

And then Easter day itself was lots of fun.  We enjoyed worshipping with our family and friends at Beacon Baptist Church where I grew up.  I am so thankful that people who watched me grow up can enjoy watching you and your brother, too.
I don't think you understood the Easter basket idea, but you sure loved those crochet eggs that your great aunt made several years ago!

And this round of visa pictures you gave us more cute faces to treasure, even if they weren't exactly what the Russian Consulate would want.
Take One...we couldn't get the lighting right.

Take Two was much more promising for the technical quality. 

Here's the one that got sent to the visa service, Nadia; I hope you won't mind.

The big news for you this month:  Mobility!  At last you are starting to crawl!  Not surprisingly you are crawling like you brother.  (Please forgive any poor quality.  I was recording on my iPod, and I haven't figured out how to upload directly from that device, so I had to email it, which greatly diminishes the quality, but you get the idea.)

And you've already gained speed!

When you turn 1 we will be in Russia, my lovely daughter.  It seems fitting that we should celebrate your first birthday in the country where you were born.  I can't wait for all of our friends there to see you and come to love you, too.  Every day I think that there's no way I could love you more, and then I wake up the next morning and love you more.