Sickies

OK, so we don't actually have much to post about, but I know that there are some of you who check this thing every other day or so hoping that we've updated it, so I thought I'd get at least something up.

As the title and the opening picture imply, the whole family has been a little under the weather of late. Actually, not to go off on a tangent, but where did that expression come from? Aren't we all always technically "under" the weather? Strange. Anyway, we're all sick. B's been off and on with the whole nausea thing just from the pregnancy for a month or two, but last week I (J) got sick. Then, when Steven started getting in yet another tooth (why won't they all come at the same time? or at least 2 or 3 at once?) and caught whatever bug it was that I had, we were in for a rough time. B babied me while I did absolutely nothing but lie in bed, and then got up in the middle of the night with Steven when he got fussy (it's been a while since he did the whole wake-up-and-cry routine, but I guess the sickness messes with their schedules). I don't know how she managed it, since now I'm getting better and she's suffering from the bug and the pregnancy at the same time, and we've traded roles. I don't do well with getting up with Steven and I'm feeling weak and tired.

Today, for example, it's past two and I've only done 3 hours of language study so far (and, as you might have guessed, I'm not helping the situation by posting this blog). I'm going to struggle to get my 40 hours this week by Friday, so it might be another week where Saturday involves some catching up! Anyway, we're doing OK, but would appreciate your thoughts as we recover. It's weird - having kids magnifies the effect of someone in the family getting a cold by about 10 times.

Anyway, we haven't had the camera out this week much, so I don't have a surfeit of photos to post. I thought I'd put this one up (which is actually a couple of weeks old) since I thought it was funny how unhappy someone could look while sleeping.

And now on to the What is It?™ for the week. Of course, the Russian hero in last week's post was Yuri Gagarin, and though several of you got it right the point goes to Brian and Crystal who got in first. This week, in honor of the fact that I have spent very little time on the rest of this post, I've decided to do a doubleheader. First up: a video. It's a month or two old, but still funny. The first one to spot what movie scene Steven is trying to imitate (the source of B's comment: "Mommy's little piggy!") gets a point. Bonus point if you can name the character who was the original piggy.

Secondly, we have our standard picture of some odd Russian thing, and your job is to figure out what it is or what it's used for. We spotted this metal something on our tour of Kolomna, and thought it seemed a bit different for something in an abandoned lot between some old houses. First post in the comments with the correct answer gets the point:

So there you have it - happy guessing, and we'll see you again next week!