I'm Crawling!!!

By Kailen Ishaan Gera...

My name is Kailen and I can crawl now! I can now take three steps forwards and five back - I'm mobile! Take that mommy and daddy! You now have to chase me around the house and make sure I'm behaving :) Oh and by the way, I've also figured out how to kneel now and I'm getting close to standing up when I hold the couch or the table.

My brother Jaiden is getting close too and hopefully I'll have another mobile sibling in the coming weeks. JJ is making all kinds of wonderful baby noises these days and has stolen mommy's heart with his cuteness :)

My sister Ariya Bella is full of smiles and is making mommy and daddy's night pretty rough these days with sleepless nights - I think she may crack a tooth any day. I better watch out because she likes to bite me ;)

Height and Weight Update

Here are the numbers from the last doctors visit on Tuesday (% = percentile):

Ariya: 71cm height (90%); 15lbs 5oz (20%)
Jaiden: 69cm height (50%); 17lbs 12oz (25%)
Kailen: 71cm height (75%...it’s a different chart for boys vs. girls); 18lbs 7oz (50%)

The nice thing is that they are all well on the charts and no one is missing the mark on anything. The doctor did a quick assessment on their developments skills as well and thinks they are doing great.

Getting ready for the baby's first Christmas

Mommy, Ariya and JJ

Mommy and Jaiden

Closing in on 9 Months!

The babies will be nine months old in 4 days!

As you can probably tell from the frequency of these blogs, life has ramped up toward the busy side again. It must be a phase, or something to do to with the move, or a combination of both. The bottom line is that Geeta and I are both much busier at home with the kids these days. We think part of it has something to do with the kids adjusting to the new environment – for example it generally takes 1-2 hours to get the kids sleeping solidly at night; most night Geeta and I aren’t done with the kids until 10pm. We’ve been struggling to get them used to the cribs and 90% of the time the munchkins find their way into our bed at night because mommy and daddy are just too tired to keep running back and forth to the nursery. On average we hear one of them cry every 30 mins to 1hr and so we get up to comfort them and rock them back to sleep – we’re thinking they are now at an age where noise is now starting affect them while asleep. When they were younger, if one of them started crying it never really affected the other; I guess this is changing. Up until recently, the kids have been sleeping through the nights fairly well and Geeta and I were really enjoying being well rested. Unfortunately, these days we both find ourselves on the tired side. We just bought two more cribs and now have three cribs in the nursery. We started separating the babes into their own crib given that they are now pretty big and often pull at each other’s hair or kick each other – not sure if they like being separated but I guess we’ll need to be persistent as parents to get them used to it. They also haven’t quite adjusted to the daylight savings clock adjustment (i.e. 1 hour forward) and hence they are waking up for breakfast at 6AM instead of 7AM – totally bites! To cope with the sleepless nights and early morning feeds, Geeta and I have resorted back to the good old days and have once again been alternating night shift and morning feeds – that way one of us is kind of rested to take on the early morning feed. This has worked okay the last couple of weeks given that I’ve been taking holidays and winding down my current role at IBM. Moving forward, as I start my new role at a new company we’ll need to find another way.

We recently hired a new part-time nanny – Meagan has been a huge help over the last week and has really helped keep our household running. We are happy to have found her.

What’s new?

The boys are sooooo close to crawling – any day now! Everyone is also very close to cracking their first tooth. The timbits often bite our hands and legs and pretty soon I’m pretty sure it’s going to hurt! Ariya seems to be leaning more toward becoming a veggiesaurus – she tends not to like meat including chicken and steak, while the boys love it! Nanni (Grandma Uppal ) is definitely happy about that as she is a vegetarian.

The kids are starting to interact with each other. Now they seem to play with each other and even compete for attention, toys, and food. Mommy and daddy are having to try extra hard to evenly distribute the love which is sometime difficult when one screams louder than the others (i.e. Kailen has become quite the aggressive little boy!). Striking a balance and ensuring equality are going to be two goals that we strive toward as new parents.

Mommy giving Kailen a ride on the swing:

Our First Winter is Coming!

We had our first real snowfall in Ottawa last night (the night before Halloween). The kids got to wake up this morning to a wintry wonderland - we decided to take them for a walk today to give them their first real taste of cold weather (it was zero degrees Celsius today in Ottawa).... they didn't seem to mind.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. We are finally settled into our new home and the unpacking is happening at a steady pace. Mommy and daddy try to make the most of their time by dividing and conquering, but it has certainly been an exhausting week.

The kids are slowly adjusting to their new home - they had a few rough nights this week with the new surroundings and have spend most nights in our bed with Geeta and me clinging onto the sides in search of more real estate (and we have a king size bed). It's getting squishy in the Gera family bed as the kids are getting bigger and demanding more space.

This past weekend, Besrat and Michael came to visit us before they return home in Dallas, Tx. Michael was born on the very same day as the triplets - the kids played together during the day on Saturday and had a ball together. The kids also had visits this week from Efim and Jessica, Rob and Amanda, Sumit Thaya (aka uncle), and Meena Aunty - it's so nice having friends living in the same neighborhood!

What's new?

Kailen is so close to crawling...he's on all fours and goes backwards but not quite crawling forwards. He's screaming a lot these days and is quite demanding. We're not quite sure where Mr. Koala went but we're hopeful he'll be back next month.

Jaiden is testing out some new voices and is getting quite good at the 'imitation game'. His new favourite phrase is 'wa wa wa wa'. Watch the video below and you'll see where he may have picked that up ;) When he goes to bed you can often hear him over the monitor saying it.

Ariya is becoming a bit more vocal these days especially when her brothers fall asleep. She seems to thrive and become alive when she gets one on one time. She is becoming quite the night owl and often starts yapping away as mommy, daddy, Jaiden, and Kailen are fast asleep. Ariya is also quite the messy eater and is known to spit food at the feeder and even rub her food into her hair and eyes (definitely not fun to clean her up after).

Playtime with Michael

Best buddies

Halloween costumes!

I'm a messy eater!

Me Too!

Riding in the Big Ship...

Jaiden's 'Wa wa wa's'

Ariya - the acrobat

8 Months Old!!!

The babies are eight months old!

This last weekend we hit the Gatineau Hills for Fall Rhapsody. The babies got their first experience in the Gatineau's, a place where mommy and daddy love to visit. We enjoyed all the beautiful fall colours and walked through the forests....it was so much fun! It was also lots of fun going with our cousins Rohan, Rhea, and Sonya.

Some recent pics...
Fall is here!

Daddy and Princess
Mommy and Princess
The three of us love the fall just like mommy!
Kailen
Ariya Bella

JJ

Our Cousins

Jaiden Jaan

Sumit 'Thaya' (aka uncle), and Anu 'Masi' (aka aunty)

Family Pic

We love nature

KK (aka Kailen)

JJ

Mommy giving us a lift

Bella Baby

Just the three of us

Daddy and JJ

Nanna (aka Granpa Uppal) and Bella

Jaiden

Our friend, Rebecca

Settling back home in Ottawa

It's been one week since we all moved back home to Ottawa. The kids are adapting well and are embracing their cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents. There is definitely something positive to say about having family around - the kids are getting a lot more attention and social interaction then what they're used to and it is really healthy for them.

What's new?

All babies are now showing their first signs of crawling. It's hard to say who'll be the first to succeed. Ariya can already squiggle backwards, while Jaiden has figured out that he can get across a room by rolling over and over. Kailen is sticks his butt in the air and tries to move his legs; i'm sure he's not more than a couple of months away. It's so amazing to see the babies starting their journey toward mobility! On the flip side, mommy and daddy are quickly learning that we need to pay extra attention now since the babies are getting mobile: yesterday daddy took his eyes off Jaiden for 5 mins and found that he had rolled half way across the room and was chewing on an electrical wire!...Lesson learned for 'The Daddy'!

'The Mommy' is doing well and is pulling double duty - she's been extra busy since we're without a nanny at present. Geeta interviewed a number of candidates this week and we are optimistic that we'll have someone to start within a couple of weeks. We're crossing our fingers that we'll find someone like Sarah (our former nanny from Toronto).

Only two more weeks to go until we get our house. We are really looking forward to having more space for the kids.

Being back in Ottawa is definitely a change for all of us. On the positive side, it is really nice being closer to family and friends and we are enjoying mid-size city life and the tranquility and calmness of the surroundings. Fall rhapsody is in full swing and the city always looks so gorgeous with the trees changing colour - we are planing to visit the Gatineau's this weekend. On the flip slide, Ottawa traffic is a lot worse than when we left three years ago! Commuting to work downtown is a bit of a headache and daddy has resorted to public transit for now.

Jaiden...recently

Moving Day is Upon Us

Well moving day is almost here...sort of. We are relocating to Ottawa at the end of the work week and will be temporarily living with Grandpa and Grandma Uppal in Orleans (eastern suburb of Ottawa) until our home is ready. Daddy will need to come to Toronto once more during the month to receive the movers on the 23rd. We are getting a little painting done in our new home but hope to be living there by the 24th of October. We can't wait to be back living in a house where Jaiden, Ariya, and Kailen will have more room to explore, especially as they learn to crawl over the coming months.

We will miss Toronto!

We will miss our nanny, Sarah, who has been here with us from even before the babies were born. She has been pivotal in getting us through the last seven months and we aren't quite sure what we would have done without her. We hope we can find someone just like her in Ottawa...the search continues! We wish Sarah all the best with her job at Mount Sinai and her new nanny position! Thank you Sarah :)

We will miss our friends - everyone has been so supportive and helpful and we hope you come and visit us soon in Ottawa.

On the flip side, we will not miss commuting on the busiest highway in the world (Hwy 401), and look forward to a calmer pace of life in Ottawa (aka Otown) :)

Ariya and JJ

Jaiden and Bella Saturday morning

Ariya Bella

Daddy's princess

Kailen