Violet is 6 months!

I know it sounds cliche, but man they grow up so fast.  Just yesterday (or rather six months ago) I gave birth to a tiny little bundle that loved to sleep curled up on top of her daddy's chest.  She didn't know much except to cry when she was hungry or sleepy or had a dirty diaper.  In just half a year, so much has changed.  She giggles, demands attention when she's bored, eats solid foods (see picture of peas below), has favorite toys and so much more.  I can't wait to see what the next six months will bring!

Apple Picking

This year we went on our 4th Annual Family Fall Day.  Every year we drive up to a little town by the name of Warwick (in NY) and walk around enjoying the countryside, while picking apples.  Last year I was probably about 3 months pregnant and as I strolled the hills of the orchard, I envisioned coming back the following year with a little boy/girl.  One year later and our little munchkin is chomping away at the apples.  Here is a peek at what went on:

Quote of the Day

Ever since I've had a baby, my use of the phrase "Oh thank God, it's just chocolate" has risen exponentially.

Please Recycle - it's the LAW

The recycling material that can be attributed to Violet has finally surpassed ours.  Let me explain.  In one week, we usually polish off about 1 bottle of creamer, several card board boxes (mostly from my shopping addiction), 2 bottles of wine, 2 six-packs of beer and other random items having to do with our various vices.  This doesn't include our friends being over, which would then up the tally to 7 bottles of wine and 5 six-packs of beer.

Up until now, Violet only contributed in the form of her powdered Similac containers.  She has now added little itty bitty jars of food (14 per week) to that collection as well as actual containers of liquid Similac (6 per week).  This is also in addition to the cardboard boxes, which hold her wipes, diapers and toy deliveries.

Gene currently handles the sorting of the recycling material mostly to fulfill the stereotype that men take out the garbage.  But once Violet is walking, I think it's only fair that the job gets delegated to her.  Sheesh. Fair is fair!

Nicknames

Gene and I jokingly call Violet cookie monster.  We have no idea where this nickname came from, especially since she is way too young to eat cookies.  It just sort of naturally slipped off the tongue one day and has stuck ever since.  This made me think about all the nicknames I have had throughout the years - and I have had many.  Here are some I can remember:

Kozel- this was one of my earlier nicknames (2-3 years old) and the original version was given to me by my grandpa who called me kozlik (kid, as in young goat) because I used to hop around like a baby goat.  My mom later changed it to kozel (full grown goat) because I was incredibly stubborn (stubborn as a goat is the Russian version of stubborn as a mule).  This nickname actually loses a lot in the translation since in the Russian language kozel is also a nice way of saying asshole.

ARoz -One of my favorite nicknames which originated at my first 'real' job out of college.  A is for Anna and Roz is for Roslovich.  Pretty straightforward.  I later tried to convert myself to AKlay, but that just wasn't working for people.

Babychka - This was actually a nickname given to me and Gene when we first started dating.  Due to our shameless public display of affection and calling each other 'baby' in public (shudder) we rightfully deserved the Russian version of the term, hence babychka.

Cleo - Probably the most obscure nickname I ever had was Cleopatra (shortened to Cleo).  When I came into my 7th grade English class one morning with crimped hair (it was the early 90's - don't judge) my teacher decided that I looked like Cleopatra and from that day forward I was referred to as Cleo.

Bilo - After obsessing over the movie Borat, my friend Sarah and I couldn't stop walking around and saying the phrase, "Bilo, my brazer, he had hair here, here, evryvere."  It was only natural to call each other Bilo, at least for most of 2006. Now it's just a bit weird.

Boo - My high school (as most high schools) was filled with young, hormonal and horny couples.  For some reason, they all felt the need to call each other Boo.  Whether you were the male or female in the relationship, it didn't matter.  Everyone was a Boo.  My friend Diana and I decided that it was hilarious if we called each other: Boo.  Ahhh, fourteen year old humor.  

Roslovich - I think at some point everyone gets called by their last name.  It's probably the least original and most common nickname out there.  When I got married and changed my name, SOME of my friends (yes, you Shprints) felt the need to re-iterate (mostly to Gene) that I am a Roslovich forever.  As it was once explained to me, "we want to mark our territory, kind of like dogs pee on trees....but classier."

Anna Banana - If your name is Anna, I guarantee that you will be teased in elementary school by the little snot nosed kids who thinks it's hilarious that your name rhymes with a fruit.  I never understood it and I was really glad that at some point most kids did outgrow rhyming as a form of teasing.  However this name did resurface again in my college years and I won't name any names, Andrey Golubev.

Bananchik - This is actually an iteration of Anna Banana that I don't mind.  It takes the word banana and adds the obligatory Russian -chik (also see: -chka) to make any word seem incredibly cute. This was given to me by my friend Vika Kazhdan, who is now known as Kazhdanchik.

Suka - This means Bitch in Russian.  It was given to me because....well....probably because I am (tee hee).  Mostly this was used in High School and originally was just used to point out Bitchy things I did. Ultimately, having been used so extensively, it just sort of became a synonym for Anna.   I was finally able to shake the name when I started to date Gene and became a total softy.  It probably also helped that I threatened bodily harm to anyone who called me that.

5 pounds until...

• my wedding weight
• I starve myself completely
• fitting into my size 2 jeans
• I can start eating dinner after 4 PM
• people stop saying, "oh wow you lost almost all the baby weight"
• I can shop again

I realize this post is likely offensive to anyone weighing more than 115 lbs, so for that I apologize.  Also, if you are under 115 pounds and are agreeing with all my bullet points, chances are that I hate you and think you need to focus on more productive things than being skinny.