Asking for your support in the Race Against Blood Cancers

Dear Friends and Family,

This year I have decided to challenge myself in a new way while helping support an organization which I am passionate about.  I am raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a participant in their Team In Training program for the Joe Kleinerman 10K race and I'm asking you to help by making a donation to my fundraising campaign.

Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers.   I am hoping that my participation in Team In Training will help bring them hope and support. In order for me to run the 10K I need to raise a minimum of $500 by Dec. 1st but I know that with your generosity we can go way beyond that and make a difference together!

Please use the link in this email to donate online quickly and securely plus learn more about my progress.  You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/joekl10k09/elupyan

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support.  I greatly appreciate your generosity.

Thank you,

Eleonora Lupyan-Ryvkind

P.S. I would appreciate it if you would forward this email to as many people as you can to encourage them to donate as well. Employers often match their employees' donations even though they do not always publicly anoounce this. Do not hesistate to ask them! Thanks again.

Julian at Ikea

Julian had his first adventure in a store yesterday. We took him to Lowes and Ikea, where else would we go? Ikea has become a second home you see...
Anyway, we are at our Swedish home of wood and cinnabuns and he LOVES it. He was so wonderful just hanging out on his Papa Kangaroo (that would be Yuriy with the Baby Bjorn on). He wanted to touch everything, he was amazed with all the bright colors and lights. He went on an escalator for the first time. I had a very hard time focusing on what we needed to get cause I was grabbing the camera every few minutes shouting things such as "Ohhh Julian's first elevator ride!!" and "Look at that big boy in the shopping cart!!".

After Papa Kangaroo's back was killing him and he handed me that heavy bundle of thigh rolls, I stuck the chubster in a cart I found. He was so happy, just holding on to the handle. I then raced him in the shopping cart like a juvenile delinquent in Walmart. We zoomed by in the warehouse and he was cracking up like crazy. When he laughs, China could hear. Its amazing and it makes you cackle like a crazy person as well.
All in all, a very successful and fun outing.

Photos to come.

Walking home with julian from central park. Hes sleeping, waKes up to smile at me and goes right back to sleep. I melt.

Julian at 6 months

Ugh! I am disappointed with myself. It has been so hard to blog and keep updated. Is anyone else struggling with this commitment even though they really want to do this with a new baby and all?

Julian has his two bottom middle teeth. They are so sharp!
At 6 months he is absolutely amazing. I never knew that an infant could have such a personality. He does not stay still anymore. He needs to move, roll over and squirm all over the place. If only I had that kind of energy....

Our typical day goes as such:
Julian wakes up at 7 and I try to get him back to sleep either by putting him in the stroller on the balcony or it used to be the swing but he is growing out of it.
-He has a bottle at 8 30 and then we play.
-Naps from 9 30 till 10 30 or sometimes later. I either go back to sleep or have breakfast.
-Play some more, I get ready for the day and see if the weather is ok to go out.
-12 30 Julian eats some fruits or veggies with baby cereal, it is entertaining and hilarious every single time. He opens his mouth wide enough to fit a football field even before he swallows his last spoonful.
-We go to Central Park along with the doggie Sasha or I just walk down the avenues and explore our new surroundings.
-4 30: Feeding again
-Julian plays and naps and I make some food or veg out in exhaustion.
-6 30: Yuriy comes home from work and we eat and then either go to the gym while the grandparents watch Julian.
-8 30: Bottle and bed time
-Some time to ourselves and getting to bed too late
Then all over again!

August

I suck at updating. But here is the first tooth!!

Duuude, I was huge. This seems like a decade ago.

Sleeeeppp!

I want to sleep, the kind of sleep where your are just knocked out for endless hours and wake up not caring what time it is and you are just beautifully amazingly rested.
There hasn't been normal sleep since the end of my second trimester, thats a long time folks. If you have trouble waking up in the morning or the type that doesn't hear your alarm clock, set that alarm to a screaming baby, you'll jump up in a sec (unless your an exhausted parent at which point you will snicker in your bed and make deals with whatever dude in the sky for just a few more minutes of silence and sweet sweet sleep)

Once evening rolls around I've been getting the feeling like back in your middle school days on a Sunday night, or after a vacation and you need to go back to school. There is this anxiety and the sense that time is ticking fast and you are getting closer to having to get up in the morning and go to school...

I've been getting the feeling less frequent in the past few days but it sucks! I'm ranting a bit now but its 1:40 and Julian is starting to fall asleep and Im up and have to be back up in a few hours. Tomorrow we are finishing planning our mini road trip to the Carolinas. Julian will be staying the my mom and we are going to take a little trip to try to feel human again. I'm already starting to miss the smurfling.

We just had a smiling marathon and let me tell ya, catching those smiles on camera is a bit of a challenge. I noticed that when the camera is in front of my face and he can't see me he wont smile much no matter how much im googlin at him. But if you start to massage him, then the toothless laughs come.

Road trip will hopefully be from Saturday to Thursday and involve hang gliding in sand dunes, hiking, boating and lots of beautiful scenery. I miss nature so much in this endless winter of NY.

Mmmm, ssllleeeeeeppp