When Does it Count?

When does it count as crawling? 

Jess does this:
And this: And this:
And occasionally all this fancy footwork even results in a small forward directed motion! Now, I'm inclined to say this qualifies as crawling, but clearly we're dealing with a border-line case. What are the exact criteria?

Now that the official bonding period is over I've now switched to the budget mode of visitation--i.e. no driver, no interpreter. It's about a 20 minute walk each way. I just let myself in at the back door of the hospital (which, incidentally, opens directly into a bathroom--I'm assuming no one uses that toilet; boy, would that be awkward: 'Uhhhh....Dobray Utra!' (Good morning!)). I stayed for the usual two and a half hours and then let myself out. I must say, I felt like pretty big cheese out there on my own today.

None of that is to say, of course, that I don't miss Brent desperately. I do. In fact, I was pretty darn bummed when he left yesterday (and it's not just because I now have to cook for myself for these few days till mom gets here)! I'm happy to report, however, that despite the fact that (a) his flight out of here yesterday fell on a Friday the 13th and (b) a black cat crossed the road in front of us in the morning, he made it to Almaty and is having a grand old time there. His flight to the US leaves late tonight--well, actually early tomorrow (Sun.) morning.

So, anyhow, back to my visit with the kiddos. (Read: transition to pictures.) We had a nice, mellow time together. Jess was in a happy mood, not as fussy as the last few days. In fact, he was very active and busy (as the foregoing photos indicate). Evelyn was her usual calm, quiet, cuddly, self (though she got pretty chatty right as it was time for me to leave, which made it hard to go).

A pic of Evie, Jess, and my right foot.

Can you see how Evie's pants are getting a bit tight? She's almost out of 6 month clothes!

Jess's pants, however, are too big! He's such a little pea.

Can't wait to get him home and put some meat on his bones.

So, I'll wrap up with a remark about the before/after photos from yesterday's post. Basically, that was just a desperate attempt to fill the space (pathetic, I know)--we didn't actually think we looked different. Just pulling your leg. But, then, some of you thought you noticed a difference...so, of course, I go back and study the pictures. Still don't really see anything (well, OK, we were nervous in the first one; we were 10 mins away from meeting our children). My conclusion is this: if you think we look taller, or in any way better at all in the 'after' shot, it's probably just because I made the picture narrower so I'd look less fat.