22. Family, Friends, a Million Photos, Roller Derby, and One More Gouged Eye

First, a few older photos i never posted (these are from a month & a half ago) - i just came across them & they made me chuckle, so i thought i'd share:


Noone ever said he doesn't have enough personality.

Now back to the present day. So much going on this month there has barely been time to post. I know you've all been waiting with bated breath, so here come about a million photos.

First of all let me clarify that the "one more gouged eye" in the title today refers to MY eye, not mischa's. So have no fear, the hero of this little blog is doing just fine, both eyes intact. The tenacious author/creator/editor of this page, however, has been better. Yep -- some of you may remember the eye-gouging incident of a few months ago, when mischa's flailing little arms, over which he had little control at the time, and which sported unusually sharp little fingernails (the trimming of which at the time still made shane & me pretty nervous...) accidentally stabbed me in the left eye, leaving a big jagged scratch right across my cornea. Well, 3 months, much increased limb control, and many MANY diligent nail-trimmings later, he somehow did it again. But this time to the other eye. And worse than before. Enough so that i awoke the next morning w/ my entire eye swollen shut and puffed up from about mid-cheek to eyebrow, and had to get an eye doctor on call to see me on a Sunday. So yeah - i hear you all consistently describing mischa as "cute," "sweet" "adorable," "ridiculously charming," etc etc, and i just have three words for you for the next time you see him: WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES.

Ok. Now that that warning's out of the way, here are the much-promised photos, where he resumes his work convincing the world that he is not in fact a demon-child but rather a sweet and charming individual (my he's crafty):

First, some shots from a lovely visit from his only aunt & uncle on the kucher side of things, Aunt Vicki & Uncle Casey:


taking misch & the wisconsinites to one of our favorite vegetarian/vegan restaurants in denver, Watercourse:





watch out what you put near his mouth...!

they got him that little dinosaur hat. he's trying to decide whether or not he can maintain his dignity while wearing it (since he HAS outgrown the pooh-bear snowsuit with the ears after all..)


misch and uncle casey...






ah, sisters:


A couple days after vicki & casey returned to the land of cheese (by the way, thanks again for the cheese curds guys!), we welcomed my childhood best friend Lizzy, her lovely husband Mars, and their 10-month-old daughter Jane, who had fun showing mischa a thing or two about things like crawling and eating solid foods. it was a blast. we even took Jane & Mischa to their first roller derby bout, to see our friend Deirdre compete. Best part was watching Deirdre make the tie-breaking point with mere milliseconds remaining in the game.

lizzy and jane:

lizzy and the misch:

Deirdre brought over this camoflauge hoodie for mischa earlier in the day, a special purchase for him for this bout, so that he could properly root for her team (the Green Barettes):

he looks so wide-eyed because he was actually getting pretty sleepy... but he did have fun:



Mischa's new favorite activity (i know this is shocking):


just chillin' in the green chair in his green hoodie just like mom's & dad's:

and, he's finally getting better at spending time on his tummy:

(the animals help)


a few sweet sleeping shots - misch in the moby wrap (he can sleep through anything in this cozy carrier - the clanging of dishes, a brisk walk through a windy park, anything).



this next picture is a little deceiving... i mean, it's real, but it makes it appear as if mischa is much closer to crawling than he actually is. but somehow shane caught this moment one day while i was at work, and i just love the determination in his eyes...

and finally, i'll leave you with some classic mischa smiles:




okay, i guess he's still a charmer, even if he IS somewhat vicious. that smile will undoubtedly get him far in life.

coming soon: a visit from grandma & grandpa kucher, and mischa turning 6 months old. stay tuned!