Quarterly photo update

Some photos from the past 5-6 months (plus a few late photos from a year ago) can be seen here.

New photos

You can view a new crop of photos here. That’s all for now.

Fall overview

Here is a link to various pictures from the last few months. Life with a nine-month-old is still pretty busy…

Summer round up

It seems that life with a 5-7 month old is more demanding than with a 0-4 month old… So I have at long last pictures from our summer trip to the US, where we visited my parents, brother and family (plus his inlaws), friends, grandparents, and extended family. You can see the pictures by clicking here.

Most minor update

The reason for such long silence.

Picture update #742

Tryphon poses in his floating device.

Tryphon tries out his floating device (not exactly a success as he is what we would call an "active" baby).

Looking out over the canal

Trying out the new baby carrier

We found a new place, not too far from our house, to take a walk

The Third Month

Not particularly interested in writing so we’ll let the pictures do the communicating.

Tryphon’s Newest Feats

At a record breaking 2 months and ten days, Tryphon has taught himself (with a little encouragement) to turn over. Observe, if you will:

He also recently went on his first picnic:

In the metro, on the way

And we arrived at "Path"

It was a hot day (with lots of mosquitos)

He was a good boy and took a nap

So that his parents could play some badminton

We even found a hammock

He practiced his array of faces

Dad tries out the sling

He sometimes looks at himself in the mirror

...and smiles

We happened in a church today and found an icon of St. Tryphon

Trying new methods for getting him to stay in the carriage

Including putting him on his stomach so he can "crawl"

New Jerusalem in Summer

Now that the weather is much better it really makes Moscow unattrative so we’ve been trying to get out of the city as much as possible. Last Saturday we made another trip to New Jerusalem monastery as it is not that far away and fairly easy to get to. If you will remember, we also went to this monastery in the winter of 2008.

On the train

The main gates

And the tower over them

Found a gravestone in Arabic...

The main church complex

The main altar's nave

The main altar

The sepulchre

What you could call the moat

33 steps down...

...to this church

The skete

You can see the rest of the pictures (121) here.

The Feast of Ascension

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension at Little Ascension (the church’s feast day) and, unbeknownst to us, Bishop Ignaty, one of the vicar bishops of the patriarch, served. After liturgy there was a cross procession around the church:

I think it’s quite interesting, and something that I generally welcome, that several times deviations from “the norm” here in Russia have particularly been at hierarchal services; for instance, the bishop came out with the chalice before communion and had everyone repeat together the pre-communion prayer which is usually only read by the priest. I’m not saying, however, that the priests read it poorly (most I’ve heard read it with feeling) but reading it together makes me feel that those present are really united and part of a community.

And later that day we went for a walk by the canal near our house:

Tryphon has started to handle toys a bit

May in Moscow

After Tryphon’s baptism on May 2 we had a small gathering at our apartment to celebrate. Tryphon’s godfather, Thomas, a wonderful cook, prepared a sumptuous meal for all present.

At the end of the day, Tryphon was tucker'd.

Tryphon's flowers

I received some more photos of the baptism itself, so I added them to the album.

Tryphon recovers from his bath

Recovery has been reached

What good are friends if you can't "sweat" with them?

This boy at church was quite interested in catching Tryphon's eye

I'm glad to report that the main stage, from which dignitaries watched the Victory Day parade on Red Square, completely covered up Lenin's mausoleum

As Victory Day this year was on a Saturday, the following Monday was a holiday so we decided to go to the estate of Arkhangelskoye which is about a 40 minute bus ride from our apartment. Here’s a little taste:

You can see the rest of my pictures here.

Tryphon's first words were, "I'm king of the world!"

Church of the Icon of the Theotokos of the Sign. This church is a shrine for St. Tryphon as there is an icon with pieces of his relics.

Nearby is the Church of St. Tryphon, which was built on the spot of his appearance during the time of Ivan the Terrible.

A fit on the way...

The blessing of our apartment

Tryphon plays in his own little, new world

Tryphon tries out his different faces

A trip on the bus

Contemplative Tryphon

We went to the procession to St. Basil's on Red Square on Sunday, the feast day of Sts. Kirill and Methody, and ran in to some friends

Afterwards we had a little lunch in GUM department store

Tryphon Enters the Fold

On April 19/May 2 (the feast days of St. Matrona of Moscow and, what we only realized on the morning of the baptism, St. Tryphon, Patriarch of Constantinople) our little Tryphon was baptized into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church at The Church of the Ascension, that is, “Little” Ascension, in Moscow.

On the way with the future godparents, Denise and Thomas

The Chrismation

The Baptism itself

The godfather does his duty of receiving Tryphon

The Churching

Tryphon's first few steps in the Christian life

This is just an overview, so you can see the full photo report here.

More random pictures

Tryphon contemplates whether to wake up or sleep a little longer

Still contemplating

Grandma tries to help him with his decision

Our first trip to the local "forest"

It was rather sunny for the boy

On the way to the clinic. About every other babushka exclaimed, "Where's his hat? His ears will fall right off!"

Puttin' on the weight. Tryphon has gained about 1 kilo in his first month.

Tryphon tries out his first toy

Tryphon's pseudo-smile

Tryphon doesn't much like hats, especially those that are rather girly

Tryphon’s First Pascha Part Two

Even though Tryphon had been having the “cry my head off for no reason” fits about every day for the past week, Pascha evening we decided to try our luck and attend the traditional American Paschal celebration at the Hulbert’s. Tryphon sensed that is was his duty to behave for all those present and was a very good little boy. He even played well with the other kids:

He took a little nap before the big trip:

Tryphon’s First Pascha

On Tryphon’s first Pascha we went to the local church to have our kulich, pascha cheese, and eggs blessed:

As you can see a lot of other people had the same idea. Since it’s the only church for miles they went in droves and arrived in hordes.

Tryphon thought he would rather sleep.

Some other random shots from Tryphon’s third week of livin’.

Христос Воскресе!

Woke up to one cold “Christ is Risen” here in Moscow:

On the Occasion

of Tryphon’s birth, we were gifted by future godfather Thomas and his wife with the following cabinets. Thanks guys!

Mom tries to take a much-deserved nap; it was not too successful.

Tryphon's second favorite place.

The nurses just knew that the child was a born reader and hence the surname "Books."

At a mere 14 days old Tryphon has learned how to forage for food:

The first few days

Just the guys having a kitchen conversation

What potty training looks like at 10 days old. (You may balk but it seems to be working.)