Getting Ready for Summer

It has a good couple of good weeks – the kids are in a good rhythm, the weather has been warm, and work is under control. We just bought the kiddos a play set for the backyard; one with three swings! Home Depot delivered it yesterday....now we just have to find the 8 hours required to put it together (suggested project length).

Daddu (Grandpa Gera) has been visiting us from the UK for the last couple of weeks. It has been really nice to have him around and the kids (especially JJ) love their Daddu!

We’ve decided to make a trip to Toronto in a few weeks to attend a friend’s wedding. We still haven’t decided on whether we’ll make this our first trip away from the kids, or whether we’ll bring them....kind of torn with deciding and it obviously depends a lot on what kind of help we can arrange.

Interesting Story: when mommy was in grade one, her friend gave her a height tracker – a really nice one that mounts to the wall and is made of wood. Through the years as mommy and her sisters grew up they tracked their heights ...eventually the height tracker was shelved and thrown out in the trash. Mysteriously, someone had pulled it from the curb side before the waste collectors came that day to collect it. Years later, mommy wished that they had kept it but it was certainly gone forever... until one day (recently), Nanni (Grandma Uppal) was shopping and found that exact piece for sale in a store! It was a miracle to have found it. How did it end up in the store? Amazingly, it still had all the historical height tracking information etched into the wood! The store keeper was nice enough to give it back to mommy (for free) after he heard the story. Now, we’ll be using it for years to come to track JJ, KK, and Ariya’s growth.

What’s new?

Ariya is cracking lots of teeth now – her upper one have come in! She is standing quite easily now and I’m sure she is only a couple of months away from walking. She’s learn to become quite aggressive with her brothers when they steal her toys or when she wants something from them. She’s often pulling their hair or hitting them – we’ll need to work on that Miss Bella!

JJ is getting really fast at walking and often put his hands behind his back while he walks (so cute!).He’s learning new syllables and is becoming more expressive by the day. He’s learning so fast – it’s so amazing.

KK is also getting quite good at walking, although he still prefers to crawl half the time. He’s still screaming a lot these days but it is subsiding with extra attention from mommy. His haircut didn’t last too long – his hair is back in his face...poor Kailen!

Happy Mother's Day to Our Super Mommy!

Happy 2nd Mother's Day to our Super Mommy!

We don't know how she does it or where she finds the energy, patience, and strength...but she does. We love you mommy!

Some recent pics below.

Our First Haircuts & KK Walking

The munchkins got their first hair cut! Geeta and I had the barber at Chiquicuts do a small trim so that their hair is out of their faces. We still want the babies to grow their hair out long so we didn't have them take too much off the sides or the back - we find long hair so cute on babies. People do sometimes mistake Kailen ad Jaiden as girls but that's okay...we find them so adorable. To sum their hairstyles - Kailen's got wings, JJ's got curls, and Ariya looks like a little boy with her new haircut :)

Contrary to Indian/Hindu tradition we've decided not to do a Mundan (an indian tradition whereby we shave the babies hair). Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on what that's about: “In tradition, the hair from birth is associated with undesirable traits from past lives. Thus at the time of the mundan, the child is freshly shaven to signify freedom from the past and moving into the future. The rite is performed as a special ceremony in most homes, for young girls and boys.”

Video of KK walking below.

Aunty Ros & Uncle Ben visit the munckins

JJ gets a trim

Let me out!!
Ariya not liking the barber!
KK gets his wings clipped

Kailen is walking!!

Our First Trip & A Long Overdue Update!

The munchkins and us just got back from our first family trip to London, England where we got to spend time with Daddi & Dadu (Grandma and Grandpa Gera) and meet Uncle Oliver, Aunty Gouri, and cousin Adrian for the first time. Daddy had a business trip to Turkey in between so the kids got lots of quality time with Mommy and the rest of the family in England.

It’s amazing to witness how much kids learn from travelling and interacting with family. We witnessed a lot of development in them over the course of the trip: i) they were much friendlier with strangers, ii) they were stimulated by new environments, and iii) their vocabulary grew. They bonded with their grandparents and their aunt/uncle/cousin. Mommy and daddy realized how important it is for us to ensure that the kids get plenty of time with their family – there’s no substitute for family love! While we were staying with Daddi & Daddu in central London, the kids developed a new favorite activity – they loved sitting by the window and watching the busy street below. They absolutely enjoyed watching the double decker busses and taxis go by. Seeing a bus go by was often accompanied by words of excitement..’bsss’ ‘bsss’…their attempt at saying ‘bus’. It has been a long while since we last posted an update, so there are tons of new developments to report on.

Ariya: Our little Bella princess has cracked her first two teeth. She’s got a couple of shiners popping out of her bottom gum – finally! She is also standing on her own now and is becoming more and more vocal. She’s smiling a lot these days and has become quite good at posing for the camera with her ‘smile on demand’ technique. She also acts extra cute for daddy and even did so for Daddu – she does this head-tilting smile that just melts your heart.

Jaiden: Jaiden is walking everywhere now – he is starting to choose walking over crawling more and more frequently. It’s really nice hearing the pitter patter of his feet around the house. He has also picked up a few words – his favorite sayings: ‘oh wow’, ‘yes’. He also makes it very clear when he says ‘no’ by shaking his head and arms back and forth.

Kailen: Kailen is also starting to walk and can take a few steps at a time (will post video soon). Kailen is expanding his vocabulary and sound library – his most recent favorite baby talk is ‘ba ba jabba jabba’ or ‘jibbi jibbi’. We have yet to figure out what ‘jabba jabba’ and ‘jibbi jibbi’ mean but he tends to talk about it a lot at sleep time. Kailen is also showing a lot of affectionate characteristics – he loves giving hugs and love bites (he likes biting our toes and even his siblings – it’s not out of aggression but rather affection)….those little shiners tend to be sharp and it’s not uncommon to hear a shriek in the household from mommy, daddy, or his brother/sister.

All the babies love their bath time! Typically you hear of babies that hate bath time, but our little munchkins can’t wait for it. They love the water. Once those diapers come off and they hear the tap running, they are usually trying to climb into the bath and tend to get quite upset with us if we take too long.

Some recent pics and videos below.

We love playing in the kitchen

Our new outifts Our cousin Adrian Gouri Masi (Aunty) Adrian in the backyard Our first restaurant lunch Walking on the boardwalk in Brighton

Daddu & Kailen on the pebble stone beach in Brighton

Picnic on the beach

Ariya Bella

Daddy and JJ

Feedtime

Enjoying the beautiful weather

Family shot in Brighton, England

Family dinner at Daddi & Daddu's

Gouri Masi & KK

Gouri Masi & KK again

We love making a mess..

Some recent videos...

I love my horsey

Brotherly love...

Dinner time fun..

JJ Walking

We're Growing Up So Fast!!!

This is such a fun stage - every week that goes by is bringing new 'firsts'. Kailen took his first steps this week without holding onto anything (although I wouldn't say he is walking yet). Jaiden decided to take a breather from walking and didn't really attempt to try it again this week, while Ariya has learned to hippidy-hop on her knees.

We brought out some new toys this week and retired some others - the kids seemed to really enjoy a change in their 'toyland'. Kailen is addicted to his new rocking horse - he rides it back and forth. Jaiden loves his new truck - he loves climbing on top of it, sit, and then tries to push forward. Ariya loves her new blow up car with all the dozen of balls in it.

This week mommy gave the kiddos some blackberry's ....boy did they ever make a mess of it :) New videos and pics below.

Kailen loves to laugh!

We like to eat off the ground..

Kailen pushing his sister

Ariya the hippidy-hopper

mmm...blackberry's

JJ's Walking!

Jaiden took his first steps this past weekend! We're so proud of him. Hope to post some video soon :)