Check in on the family...

Recipe Wednesday - Steel Cut Oats

2012-02-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

I almost named this "Apple Crisp...Breakfast Style" - this is deeeelish :)

I've been reading about how good Steel Cut Oats are for a couple of years now but I have just never bit the bullet and tried them. Finally, I was chatting with my friend, Angie, a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that now that she's tried them, she'll never go back. Fine. If they really are that good it's time to take the plunge.

I went to a local health food store and found some in the bulk bins. I bought a half of a pound - just enough to try out. Funny enough, I went down another aisle and found steel cut oats, prepackaged, in a one pound bag for about $1.40 MORE than the price I paid out of the bulk bins. I think we need to explore the bulk bins a bit more and see what else we can buy from there in the future!

I found some info online about how it is best to soak your oats (and all grains, actually) overnight (or up to 24 hours) for best digestibility. After looking over a few different methods and recipes, this is what I came up with.

(You can do some research about phytic acid if you like - I saw something out there about oats not being able to break down the phytic acid on their own but if you throw in some whole wheat flour, that'll help do the trick. I haven't done enough research to really know what phytic acid is and why we don't want it but I'm adding that to my "To Do" list. And here is a great place to start, it seems.)

On to the recipe....

1c. lukewarm water
2T. of my homemade yogurt (you can use yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, kefir, or whey here, just some sort of acid)
1c. steel cut oats
Whole Wheat Flour - maybe a Tbs, probably a bit less.

I mixed it together Sat. afternoon in a Pyrex dish and let it sit on my counter top w/ a Corelle plate serving as a lid. Sunday morning I made up the rest.

*I peeled and cut up some apples and boiled them. Half of these I pureed for Aren, the rest I used in the oats. I then used the apple-boiling water to cook the oats. This worked out okay but next time I make it I will try it with regular (filtered) water.

I boiled:
1c. water (from boiling the apples) (didn't take long to come to a boil since I had just made up the apples)
dash of salt

Then I added in...

The rest of the chunked/boiled apples
The oats w/ their soaking liquid

....and put a lid on it and let it simmer for 5-10 min.

After the oats were done cooking I added in:

A dash or two of cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
A teaspoon or so of butter (next time I'll try coconut oil - prob. a Tbs. or so. It is so tasty and healthy for you)
Honey (I didn't measure, just squirted it in) (You can use brown sugar if you prefer.)

Stir it up and serve it up.

It tasted like Apple Crisp for breakfast.

Biju and I loved it. Alex and Ajay didn't. Ajay barely tasted it, went into hysterics and went to spit it out into the trash. Alex at least tried - thought he liked it then changed his mind. He asked for raisins, and then I even put a bit of brown sugar in for him. He still didn't want it. It might have been the texture, as these are chewier than rolled oats. So I made up our regular "quick oats" for them since I knew they would eat those. Once the "quick oats" are gone I'll switch the boys over to rolled oats - a bit healthier for you but still more "normal" for them. But as for me and Biju, we'll make the switch to steel cut. So handy to make up a batch and have leftovers for breakfast for a few days.

While looking up steel cut oats I saw that people were using them in savory dishes! I'd actually love to try the oats that way. If I find a yummy recipe, I'll be sure to share! (Oh, and if YOU have a great way to make up oats, please, leave the recipe in the comments section.)

Pumpkins ... hopefully

2012-02-12T14:11:00.000-06:00

I'm hoping for pumpkins next fall. It's not that I'm actually planting pumpkin seeds come springtime in order to grow them, I'm just hoping they show up. Here's why.

Last summer Mom ended up with a yard full of pumpkins. The previous fall she had pumpkins on her porch and when they started to look shrunken and what not, she didn't throw them away. Instead, someone kicked them off the porch and they became part of the earth again. Nature - leaves, snow, rain, etc - did its part and *presto* she ended up with pumpkin plants growing.

Back in October the boys got a couple of pumpkins when we went to a pumpkin patch. They decorated them and we put them on our porch. When they started to look shrunken and what not we dumped them in our side-yard. I took some leaves and covered up the pumpkins so animals wouldn't come and eat them. I'm hoping they're becoming part of the earth again and I'm hoping leaves, snow, rain, etc will all work together and we'll *presto* end up with pumpkin plants this spring/summer and nice fat, orange pumpkins to decorate and cook up in the fall.

Crochet Swap Projects

2012-02-07T16:19:00.000-06:00

I recently particpated in a crochet swap. We were randomly assigned partners and then we were to crochet them something(s) to do with Spring, Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. The woman for whom I crocheted the goodies requested Valentine items, preferably in pink and/or purple. I found out she loves to read so I made up this quick and cute little bookmark:

After that, I didn't know what to make up. I thought I wanted to make up a picture frame of sorts and found this fun circular project. I actually turned it into a wall/door hanging. I had an old bracelet I never wore and it had a charm on it that I figured would look nice. The only part I'm not happy with is that the charm ended up a little off center. I have a few more bracelets with different charms and I hope to make more - perhaps my own Valentine hanging, a St. Paddy's Day hanging, Easter, etc, etc.

In case you're wondering, as I know you all are, this is what is currently hanging on my door:

And for the final project, I ended up doing something that my mom usually makes up for holidays and baby showers. At first I thought I might do a scarf, or a cowl, or something else that I just didn't get excited about. Then I remembered these customizable hangings and actually got excited to make it. I called Mom to ask for the pattern but she said it was in her head and we were never able to find a good time for her to talk me through it over the phone. I ended up getting a few quick hints from her and then I studied over a Thanksgiving hanging I had to figure out the details. It worked up so quick and I enjoyed finding things to attach to it. I originally wanted to put the flower on top but when I decided to use the frame (with doves on it) I figured that should go at the top, what with the weight of the frame.

I had fun making these and I can't wait to hear what my recipient thinks of everything. I am also looking forward to getting my goodies in the mail!

Playtime + Stats

2012-02-06T12:11:00.000-06:00

Last week, when the weather was warmer, Alex played outside for awhile. Aren discovered where his brother had gone to and watched him play. This is actually a favorite spot of Aren's.

Then he heard the camera shutter clicking and turned around to see me on the floor. He had to come see me and find out what the big black thing was that I was holding.
Getting closer....and closer....
I kept scooting back but he just kept a'comin'.

For this next shot - I saw Alex helping Aren play with this musical caterpillar. I went to get the camera but by the time I got back, it was too late. Aren had seen me and then saw that I disappeared and he got mad.

Oh, and while I'm here, Alex had his 4 year check up today. He gained over 8lbs and grew 4 inches since his 3rd birthday. Doc was thrilled and asked for more of the same stats next year. He loves Alex's energy and strength and always tells us what a great athlete he will be. The downside to today's appointment was that he needed a couple of vaccinations. Boy, was Alex mad about that! He was also up late because of a Super Bowl party we went to, so tired guy + shots = Grumplestiltskin. I think somebody might be getting a nap today!

While we were waiting for doc to come in I got the tiny one nekkid and put him on the baby scales. He's still 12lb 3oz, which means he hasn't gained an ounce in the last month despite nursing all day, eating two solid foods a day and waking up to nurse 2-3x every night. BUT, he is still on track with all of his other developments, seems to be growing taller and the doc isn't too worried so we'll just not worry, either. We'll just keep feeding him whenever he wants fed so we can keep up with his high metabolism. We go in for his 9mo. check up in a couple of weeks - I told doc we'd try to put at least one more ounce on him before then.

Do these glasses make me look smart?

2012-02-03T09:38:00.000-06:00

Birthday Celebration

2012-02-01T14:56:00.000-06:00

Alex turned the big F-O-U-R yesterday so we did a few things over the weekend to celebrate.

First off, Alex and I went on a little date Friday night. Biju won two tickets to Disney Live through a contest at work - and he even got a parking pass with it. We were able to park right outside the entrance doors - a luxury that was completely lost on an almost 4 year old but something I truly appreciated. Alex's face lit up when he saw Goofy come on stage. Then came Donald, Minnie, and with great fanfare, Mickey. There were three shows presented in abreviated form - Snow White, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. With those titles the audience was mostly made up of little girls all dressed up in their princess costumes. Alex let me know on the way home that he didn't like all of the girl costumes.

On Saturday evening we went to my sister's house and met up with my parents and niece. Sis and her hubby were going on a date so we fed the kids pizza and let them play the Wii. After we got her kids down to bed I left my parents at Shelly's place and I took Jenna and my boys back home for bed. As we left we reminded the boys that they would be seeing the girls again when they came over to our place on Sunday to have birthday cake!

Last week as Mom was preparing to come down to visit she asked what Alex wanted/needed for his birthday. I asked him and he told me "cupcakes." I then asked what he wanted for a present and he thought for a moment and replied "a square." I told Mom what he had said and we bought fell into a fit of giggles. Saturday evening after dinner I asked Alex to tell Nana about what we did on Friday night. We asked him a few questions about the show and Mom asked "What did the characters do?" and Alex answered "They showed up." How literal. Again, we giggled until tears came. This kid is certainly funny, although it isn't always on purpose.

Sunday was the big celebration. We had waffles for breakfast (partly because I needed a waffle for part of the cake) then headed to church. We then all went out to have Chinese for lunch - Alex enjoys a good Chinese buffet! Back at the house Mom and Shelly helped me to make up Alex's cupcakes and cake while Dad watched something on Netflix, the kids played outside and Biju took a nap with Aren.

Amazing - playing outside without jackets in January!

We went with a Perry the Platypus cake. Shelly did the decorating of the cake while Mom and I worked on the cupcakes.

There is Perry the cake and Perry in cupcake form. I also did a Perry in Twinkie form. It was a practice - I was going to make them for Alex to take to his class on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, his teacher broke her toes over the weekend and his class got cancelled.

The little Perries have "circus peanuts" smashed and cut into "beaks" and the Twinkie Perry has an Orange Cream Wafer cookie (dont' know the real name) cut in half as his tail.

We sang to Alex (the kids sang to him 4 or 5 times, actually) and let him open his gifts. Mom and Dad really did get him a "square" used in construction work! It is a bright orange plastic thing that he will be able to use when drawing. Fun! He got a few other things he's been enjoying, as well.

Taking a breath to blow out the candle.

Alex told me he wanted a cake smashed in his face. I couldn't bring myself to smash his cupcake into his face but I did put a blob of frosting on a plate and smash it. He loved it!

Thrilled to get a nerf gun similar to Ajay's. However, Ajay seems to think it was HIS birthday present and has a hard time letting Alex play.

Yesterday was his actual birthday. Ajay was up at 6:30, a half hour early, climbing into my bed and telling me how excited he was to tell Alex happy birthday! We had breakfast and I blew up a balloon that said "Happy Birthday." He carried the balloon through the halls of Ajay's school and got a big grin whenever anyone asked "Is it your birthday?"

After we dropped Ajay off I "splurged" and got Alex his favorite breakfast - the dollar sausage and biscuit from Burger King. We also spent some time talking on the phone to Amachee and Echachan in India. In the evening we had dinner at home, let him open another gift (a mug with his name on it) and then went out for ice cream. Yum yum! (He got raspberry ice cream with gummy bears, in case you were wondering. And Ajay got red velvet ice cream with white chocolate chips.)

Hard to believe he's already a 4 year old!

Pinewood Derby

2012-01-25T09:28:00.000-06:00

Our little scout recently got the chance to participate in a Cub Scout tradition. He got to make a pinewood derby race car and then race it against others from his pack.

Biju and Ajay got the car started at one of the scout meetings a couple of weeks ago. They used the tools provided and cut out the shape Ajay wanted and started sanding it. Then the rest of the family helped him finish it up when it got closer to racing day. I showed him the paints we had available and he chose his color scheme and pattern. He originally wanted blue and red circles on the top to look like police lights but in the end went with the stripe pattern. I used a stencil to paint the stars where he wanted them and then he used an edged brush to paint in the stripes that I had outlined. Biju stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up a weight so we could get as close to 5oz. as possible without going over.

To be honest, it was actually a bit difficult for our organized adult minds to let him do all of the painting. But I knew we couldn't go in there and clean up his outside-the-lines paint job because that would just tell him that what he did wasn't worthy. So I went to the living room while he painted the red and blue. I think it turned out fabulous and I know Ajay was very proud. He even had a couple of kids come up to him when we walked in with the car who told him that it looked "awesome!"

The Scout and his little brother waiting for the races to begin.

Ajay's car next to a couple of others.

The cars. And some kid I don't know

The race "course."

Ajay's car won the first round. He went up against an orange car (you can see it in the pic with all the other cars). It had two passengers - Star Wars characters in Lego form!

Ajay putting his car into position for the second race. Which he lost. Boo.

After losing his second race he was able to race for 4th place overall. Alas, he lost that one, too. He was none too happy about not being able to race his car anymore. We had to do a bit of consoling and explaining that there was only one winner and this time it wasn't his car. And now that we all know a bit more about how this all works we'll be more prepared to build an even better car next year.

Hello, out there.

2012-01-20T10:07:00.000-06:00

I've been a slug about posting on here lately. Amazingly enough, I've still got traffic coming to this blog. I think this blog averages about 25 people a day. Some days there are 40+, some days there are only 4. I've got my "regulars" and then I've got the people who stumble upon my blog via Google or some other search engine. The main reasons people come here are to look at the "gender predictions" I posted about while I was pregnant with Aren. As you can see in the "Top 10 posts in the last 30 days" list in the column to the left, the top two positions always have to do with predicting gender. The people are Americans, mostly, but you'd be surprised (as I was/am) how many visits I get from other countries. (The main reason why I try to be very careful to use generalities when it comes to who we are and where we live!)

I do like to hear from my readers, so please, if I know you or if you're just swinging by, leave a comment and let me know what ya think.

And here are a couple of random photos from the last month.

I didn't have it in me to make cookies at Christmas-time so we made cookies after the New Year.

The boys were excited to decorate the cookies - and couldn't wait to start eating them!

We didn't go overboard. More like under-board! Not too many cookies but enough to have a taste. They weren't all that pretty but they sure tasted good!

Here are the boys again in their ski masks/monkey caps that I made. Remember I told you I'd show you pics of them with their hats matching their coats? Ajay looks less than thrilled and Alex looks an awful like my brothers in this shot!

Alex got a big alphabet floor puzzle from my parents for Christmas.

A really big puzzle!

Alex was in the bathroom the other morning - I thought he was brushing his teeth. He called out "Mom, I think you should come here." He wasn't brushing his teeth, he was SHAVING like Daddy. But he didn't shave up and down, he shaved side to side, which resulted in these cuts on his chin.

And a little story about Ajay. I don't have pics. I was too angry at the moment (even though I understood at the time that would eventually laugh about it.) I was making omelets for the boys' breakfasts the other morning. I usually let the boys pick out and crack their eggs. Alex cracked his and I started making his omelet. Ajay picked out his egg and was waiting with it at the table. He then told me that if we warmed up the egg it would hatch a baby chick. I informed him that that wouldn't be possible with these eggs. I continued working on Alex's omelet and barely registered that Ajay had left the room. Next I heard "Uh-oh, Mom! I sat down too hard!"..... I looked in the living room and he was staring at a basket full of clean clothes waiting to be folded. Turns out he had used the basket as his nest and he sat on the egg to warm it up. Alas, he sat too hard, and cracked the egg. (Luckily, only the top 3 pieces of clothing got egg on them.)

Feeling better

2012-01-05T22:12:00.000-06:00

Aren got sick last week. I assumed it was just a typical cold with cough and fever but Biju suggested we call the doctor to see what his opinion was. I'm so glad we did - it turns out he had viral pneumonia and an ear infection. The pediatrician gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin (for the ear infection) and we were told he would get worse over the weekend. He did, but not nearly as bad as I was afraid he'd get. He spent quite a few nights sleeping in our bed plus most of his naps in our arms.

We were going to spend Friday evening with some friends for an early New Year celebration but had to cancel. We were disappointed but we knew that Aren would be happier cuddling with Mommy and Daddy.

Aren just wasn't himself. Finally, on Monday, the fever stopped and we were able to coax a little grin from him. Tuesday was even better - more grins! Today (Thursday), I was able to get full on giggles from him as I tickled his belly. We also got the "okay" from the doc to go to a playgroup - which did us all a bit of good! He's back to sleeping in his crib with a cool mist humidifier in his room.

I'm so glad to have our happy-go-lucky fella back and I'm super grateful for modern medicine. I don't think prescription drugs should be used very often but there are times when they're necessary and in this case they sure did help!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:35:00.000-06:00

We wish all of our readers a Happy New Year - we hope 2012 proves to be a joyous, healthy and lucky year for everyone!

We are still here, I just haven't been doing as much with the computer. I haven't kept up with our blog and I've barely kept up with reading the blogs I like to follow. Of course, being that we're out of space on our cameras (which means not many new photos) and our computer caught a cold (grr, virus) it was difficult to sit down here and post something.

But to get caught up a little I thought I'd scrape together a few of my photos from the last week or so. (I'm guessing some of you have done this - scrolling through all of the photos on your camera's card deciding which photos can be deleted to make room for juuust a few more pics?) I didn't get any photos at Christmas. Can you believe that?? Aren's first Christmas and I got nuthin'. I think Biju got one or two shots on his phone and my aunt got some pics on her camera so I'll have to ask her to send them my way.

This isn't a holiday photo but I thought it was cute, anyway:

"Mom, what is this thing my brother has placed upon my head?"

After we got back from visiting my family for Christmas the boys wanted to play with some of their new goodies (of course!). Alex is putting together the puzzle Santa brought, with a little help from Daddy; Ajay is putting together his Lego motorcycle from Nana and Papa and Aren is playing with his new soft blocks from Aunt Theresa.

Notice Ajay's green yarn necklace? He crocheted that himself on the van ride back home the day after Christmas.

(He's also wearing his new Amber Teething Necklace from Mommy and Daddy.)

I crocheted a couple of gifts this year. I tried to do something for each of my nieces and nephews but I ran out of time so I'm hoping to work on them throughout the year and they will be 2012 Christmas gifts! Here's what I made for the boys (they actually chose the yarn colors without knowing what the yarn would be used for):

Orange and Red yarn crocheted together, to match his orange winter coat.

Green and blue to match his blue winter coat.

Red (which doesn't show up well in pictures, apparently) booties to help keep his feet warm.

Maybe I'll take new pics of the red things when I get more space on the camera, see if we can get rid of that glare.

Happy New Year!!

A few Christmassy type things

2011-12-19T12:11:00.000-06:00

Last week at Ajay's Cub Scout meeting all the boys put together ornaments for the parishioners who can no longer physically attend mass. Afterwards, they got to make a treat for themselves. Ajay was excited to bring it home and share with Alex. In this pic, Ajay discovered that the purple gum-drops were not grape but were, in fact, disgusting licorice.

The boys decorated the tree on their own this year. I decided to keep my adult/organizational mind out of the process and just let the boys do as they please. All I did was sit on the floor and hand them the ornaments. I wish I had gotten a picture sooner than today - last week as I was sitting on the couch nursing Aren I looked over and saw three ornaments lined up on a single branch. I chuckled. The next day, though, I saw Alex "fixing" the problem because it was all too clustered. Everything is still a bit clustered, honestly, but I like it! (You can see the "Faith" cross ornament front and center. I got that from our Bunco exchange and had put it off to the side but one of the boys thought it needed to be elsewhere.)

They covered the front well but neglected the sides and back.

Ajay did a little gift shopping at school (as a fundraiser for the school) and could.not.wait to wrap everything up. One night last week while Biju took Alex to his tumbling class and Aren was napping, we busted out the wrapping paper and egg nog. Here is the first gift of the season under our tree! (Oh, and Ajay is now missing the top four teeth, not just three!)

Yesterday our church had a little Christmas party. The boys got balloon toys (Alex chose a sword and Ajay chose a dog); cookie characters (Alex chose an oreo dipped in chocolate and dressed up w/ M&Ms and Pretzels to look like Rudolph, Ajay chose a Nutter Butter, I think, dipped in white chocolate and made to look like Santa); paper ornaments; boxes of peppermints (won from the "cake" walk); and best of all - they got to meet Santa! Those pics are on Biju's phone, so I'll have to post those sometime later. I do have pics of their faces after they were painted, though:

Makin' 'em last

2011-12-17T09:07:00.000-06:00

One of the perks that drew me to cloth diapers when I was pregnant with Ajay was that I could use them with future children. For part of my stash I bought 12 Chinese Prefold Diapers and 12 Indian Prefold diapers. One kind was supposed to be more absorbent but not last as long and the other was supposed to be the opposite. Now that we're using the same diapers with child #3 I can say that is true. I don't know which is which style but I do know that half of our diapers look fairly decent and half of them look like they should be in the trash. In fact, Biju keeps asking my why I haven't thrown them away. I figure they're still soaking up pee, so why worry about what they look like. But, really, it was starting to get more difficult to use the Snappi on them because they were so worn out.

One day I had a thought. (Hey, it happens now and then!) I decided to cut off the outer layer that was so ragged. Once I took that off it looked like a brand new diaper! It certainly felt thinner - because in reality it was two layers - the outer layer from the front and back - but they still work and they look so much better.

(I started this project back in September, as you can tell by the date stamp in the photos. I got a few done and I have more waiting in a basket. Maybe I'll get around to them after the Christmas season. It's not like Aren is holding still for this type of diaper, anyway! We've been using mainly our pocket diapers and sposies, lately.)

And then out came the scissors......

Recipe Wednesday: Parmesan Rice and Peas with Bacon

2011-12-14T14:41:00.001-06:00

~~~~
I love this recipe. I got it from a book I checked out from the library years ago. My apologies, I can't remember the title. I haven't had this dish in awhile - I think it's time to add these ingredients to our shopping list!

Parmesan Rice and Peas with Bacon

Prep time: 10 min Start to Finish: 45 Minutes Yield: 8

2 slices bacon, chopped

1 med onion, chopped (½ cup)

1 c uncooked long-grain regular rice

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

½ c water

1 c frozen baby sweet peas, thawed

¾ c grated parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp pepper

1. In 2-quart saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until crisp. Stir in onion. Cook stirring occasionally until tender.

2. Stir in rice until well coated with bacon drippings. Stir in broth and water. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until rice is tender and broth is absorbed.

3. Gently stir in peas. Cover and cook 1-2 minutes or until peas are hot; remove from heat. Stir in cheese and pepper.

1 Serving: Calories: 160 (Cal from fat 40); Total Fat: 4.5g (Sat fat 2g); Cholesterol: 10mg; Sodium:430mg; Total Carbs: 24g (Dietary Fiber: 1g, Sugar 2g); Protein: 8g.

They played Taps.

2011-12-12T14:13:00.000-06:00

A couple of months ago my mom informed me and my siblings that Grandpa wasn't doing well. He took a few trips to the ER via ambulance, was fixed up as best as possible and eventually sent home time and time again. At one point we were told he would live only another 2 hours, 2 days at the most. That was a month ago.

My aunt researched homeopathic medicines to give him for anything that ailed him. She gave him medicines for the ringing in his ears - he suddenly went from needing the TV volume cranked up high to overhearing conversations that his children were quietly having across the room. My aunt also gave him medicines to help with the pain in his joints and to help with his kidneys. He had a perforated bowel and he also had kidney failure. There were so many things that were hurting my Grandpa but I tell ya, the man kept his spirit!

My two aunts and my mom stayed by his side as much as possible this past month. As time went on and he still lived, vacation times were running thin so Mom and one aunt had to return to their full time jobs. They lined up help from various places - Catholic Charities, other family members - like my sister-in-law Brandi - and friends of the family. This past month my Grandpa didn't spend one minute alone. He would call out at any hour of the day or night. "Theresa Ann!" was the most commonly used holler, but I do believe "Mary Christine" and "Cindy W." were used, as well. I'm told he even called out for me once at the hospital - I think it is because I shared some of my coconut oil with him to use on some wounds.

A week ago this past Friday Mom called me at 3:30pm. She works for a bank and she has drilled into our heads not to call anytime around 3 because they are busy doing end of day business. So when I saw her name pop up on my cell phone "around 3" I knew it couldn't be good news. She told me she didn't want to worry me but my Aunt Tina had called her at work and told her to drop everything and come over. I got another call about 15 minutes later. Again, I knew it couldn't be good news because, well, "no news is good news" right?

It turns out he had already passed before my aunt had called Mom at work. But knowing that Mom would have to drive the 15+ minutes to Grandpa's house Aunt Tina didn't want to give her the news and have Mom drive while so upset.

After I got off the phone with Mom, I got a little teary eyed. But that was it. See, I didn't break down and cry because I was actually happy for him. I knew how much he missed Grandma, who passed 5 years ago, and I knew how much pain he was in. I was excited for him because I knew he'd be busy getting reacquainted with his Home. I imagined it to be like a big reunion party where you get to visit with a lot of people you haven't seen in ages and everyone is happy and slapping each other on the back and leaning back from an embrace saying "Man! Look at YOU!"

When Ajay got off the bus that afternoon (barely 45 minutes after I got the call) I met him halfway down the block so I could walk back home with him. I held his hand and asked how his day was. Then I said "Well, Kid, I have something to tell you. Grandpa's soul went to heaven today." He thought for just a moment before asking "When did he die today?"

As we walked along he looked down at his feet but when I peeked I saw no tears. He and I had actually shed our tears a couple of weeks ago when I first told him Grandpa was very ill. That was when we sat on the couch and held each other and cried. I've worked very hard over the years to help Ajay (and Alex, now, too) to understand our beliefs in God and heaven. I hope he feels the same joy I feel for Grandpa, despite being sad that we won't get to see him in this world again.

Biju's company allows him to take bereavement days for the death of a spouse's family member, so even though Biju was actually supposed to be on overtime last week he was able to take some time off. It was a real blessing to me because I was then able to leave Ajay and Alex at home while I went to grieve the loss of my grandpa. My sister drove Aren and I the three hours to the visitation on Tuesday night. We walked in and saw a lot of family members I hadn't seen since Grandma's funeral. We prayed the rosary (during which I noticed some petals falling from a flower arrangement and I could just picture my grandpa standing there picking at them, causing them to fall) and then we continued on with our visitation.

I kept my composure until I saw my brothers crying. Logan, my 3 year old nephew, had asked a question which had my older and younger brothers in tears. I walked up to my younger brother and slipped my arms around his belly (he's much taller than I am) and tried to comfort him. I then lost all ability to keep it together. I started sobbing and couldn't stop. I tried to cry quietly but I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I was actually quite glad that most everyone had left already and it was mainly family members around. I was suddenly surrounded by several hands rubbing my back and loved ones crying with me. It was nice to let it all out. Although, I do believe I might have stained my brother's shirt with my mascara. I joked with him later that at least we now knew the wet spot was from my tears and not my snot.

After the visitation we went back to my Grandpa's house where we ate from the casserole dishes that some kind people had brought over. We talked awhile and got the whole business of seeing the house without him over. We then headed to my parents to get some sleep. Some of you may be wondering how Aren did this whole time - he screamed most of the car drive even though I was sitting right next to him trying to comfort him. He's just not a big fan of long car rides! Then he was a total sweetheart the rest of the evening - even though he refused to go back to sleep until we were headed back to my parents at 11pm!! I can't believe he stayed awake for so long.

In the morning we headed back to the church for his funeral. We pulled up and I said "Oh, I think I'm gonna cry!" - the sidewalk to the church was lined with American flags and there were men standing alongside them. My grandpa had spent some time in the service and had even been wounded, earning himself a Purple Heart, so there were men at the funeral from both the VFW and the American Legion.

Father Mark did a really good job of eulogizing Grandpa. Then as Father blessed the casket with holy water there was a song about angels coming to meet Grandpa and escort him Home. Again, I broke down. As I stood there holding onto Aren, crying, I couldn't help but think back to Grandma's funeral when I held a one-year-old Ajay and cried with him.

After the funeral we started to head over to the cemetery when we were notified there was a glitch - something was wrong with the vault and we would have to wait a few hours before we could have the graveside service. (We all chuckled a bit, saying Grandpa had his mischievous hand in this!) We ended up having the luncheon before the service.

By the time we headed back over to the cemetery (which is basically in my grandpa's back yard!) the weather had warmed up a bit - thankfully! Aren fell asleep during the 3 minute drive so we let him snooze while we went graveside. It's interesting how certain things trigger more emotion than others. I cried thinking how Grandpa will never tug on my ear anymore. I cried when they presented my uncle with the flag that had draped the coffin. I cried when three men fired three rounds from their rifles. And I sobbed when the trumpeter played Taps. It turns out I wasn't the only one who was a tearful mess. My brother, who spent three years of his young adult life in the Navy, said he was expecting the tune but it still got to him. I was surprised to later learn that it was played in-person - I had assumed it was from a recording.

Before we left we took another look at the headstone and we all gathered some of the cut flowers to bring home. Here's my bouquet:

For those of you who managed to read this long post, thank you. I think it helps me to remember if I'm able to get it all down. I'm still sad we won't have any more Christmases or other holidays with Grandpa but I'm so happy that he is in a more glorious place.

Hi.

2011-12-05T06:00:00.005-06:00

Alex just wanted to say "Hi."

Delicious Chicken Curry for our Thanksgiving meal.

All he wants for Christmas.....

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

....is his three front teeth.

Ajay lost his two front teeth within a week of each other. The second one came out while we were visiting my parents for our Thanksgiving celebration. He is up to a grand total of 5 that have come out.

Getting bigger!

2011-12-03T08:58:00.001-06:00

Trying rice cereal. Not too fond of it. We keep trying, though! (And he keeps refusing! I think it's time to try something else.)

Lovin' the Exersaucer. It's a great place for him to hang out and get a good view of everything.

Yum yum!!

Really gnawing on those toesies!

First time in the booster - he got a kick out of his new view. (He's wearing his blanket and was ready for bed so this happy grin quickly melted into a cry that said "put me to BED!") - Oh, and thats drool rash on his face. I alternate coconut oil and shea butter on it. It looks better when he can keep it dry but he sucks his thumb so its wet/irritated much of the day.

Recipe Wednesday - A better day

2011-11-30T22:37:00.000-06:00

This is a much needed recipe for myself. Today was a rough day for me as a mother so I'm going to put this recipe up so I can come back here and look at it tomorrow. And again and again as often as needed.

Ingredients Needed
2 Ears - to listen with
2 Eyes - to see the good
1 Mouth - to say positive things, not negative
2 arms - to give and receive hugs as needed
* May require the use of Mouth again to give smooches to little ones
1 Brain - to help keep you focused that the children are children for such a short period of time and you don't want to spoil this time by stressing out over the little things.

I admit, this is a bit cheesy but don't we all need a bit of cheese now and then? Nachos, anyone??

Do you have a good recipe for A Better Day to share?

Fall = Leaves, Baking and Halloween!

2011-11-24T12:49:00.000-06:00

Helping to make our favorite muffins (Zucchini/Carrot/Raisin)

Camera was on the wrong setting but I like the effect.

After going out Trick-or-Treating. Alex had his costume off before I even made it in the door. After pleading with him to put it back on for pictures, this is what we ended up with - put on backwards.

Aren: 6 months

2011-11-20T10:50:00.002-06:00

Our youngest child turned 6 months old yesterday. I gotta say, we really enjoy having Aren in our family. The boys just adore him to pieces. When Alex hears Aren waking from a nap he asks very eagerly if he can go in and visit him. When Ajay gets home from school he comes up to Aren and starts talking in that high-pitched voice you use to talk to babies. And Biju and I go all ga-ga over him, too. I could just stare at him all day, with those dark brown, loving, sweet, innocent eyes. Biju comes home from work, gets his afternoon tea and sits down for his turn at baby-cuddles and talks to him in Malayalam.

Have I mentioned how much we love this little guy?

I'm really taking the time to enjoy the baby stage with Aren. When Ajay was a baby I was so focused on what new developments were happening, what he would do next, and if he was doing them ahead of schedule. When Alex was a baby he screamed and cried so much and slept so horribly that I wished (and cried) away the first three months.
Aren is a very happy-go-lucky baby. I'm so glad he wasn't our first child because I would've been misled into thinking that all babies are this easy. He is, for the most part, a wonderful sleeper. He is extremely tolerant of the boys. He takes it all in stride when Alex invades Aren's personal space. ("Alex, everyone has an imaginary bubble that is their personal space. You have to respect their space." "Alex, honey, please stop licking the baby." "Alex, Aren's arms aren't supposed to bend that way.")

Aren thinks his older brothers are hilarious. A real riot. He grins and giggles at them whenever they're around. And believe me when I tell you the babe has an infectious grin. It just warms your heart.

He's been having some weight woes, however. The little guy truly is a little guy. He hasn't gained much. I had him weighed earlier this week and he was only 12 pounds 1 ounce. But the two lactation consultants I've met with and our pediatrician don't seem worried all that much. He's meeting all of his developmental milestones (if you lay him on the floor expect him to be in a different position/location when you come back) and, as the pedi says "He doesn't look or act like a sick kid." Plus there are smaller men in the gene pools on both sides of the family. (Biju's father is shorter than I am and, if I remember correctly, it took my dad until his early teen years to even reach the 5-foot mark.) So we're sticking to our regular routine of breastfeeding on demand with the occasional bottle of formula (if my sister babysits him, or if Biju wants to give him a bottle before bed). He has his 6 mo. appointment at the end of the month so we'll see how he's doing then. I think we'll try giving him some rice cereal today. (We tried a month or so ago and he wasn't ready.)
So to round out my baby-brag-post I'll include a few pictures. Because who wouldn't want to see more of those big brown eyes??

This one is his "official" 6 month photo taken w/ his buddy. The onesie he is wearing is sized 3 mo.

Recipe Wednesday - Kettle Corn

2011-11-16T16:04:00.001-06:00

I just made up a batch of kettle corn and I'm having a hard time keeping my hands out of the popcorn bowl long enough to type! I found this recipe a couple of years back on Allrecipes.com. I've sorted through a few of the comments and figured out what seems helpful.

1/4 cup oil (I use either canola or coconut)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup popcorn kernals
Salt

Use a large pan (like a dutch oven) with a lid. You'll certainly want the lid so your popcorn doesn't fly all over, right? Put the pan over medium heat and pour in the oil plus three kernals of popcorn. Once the three kernals pop the oil is ready - add in the sugar and let it melt (you might need to stir it around a bit with a rubber spatula). The melting should happen pretty quickly. Pour in the kernals, replace the lid and swirl to coat the kernals in the sugar/oil. Alternate 3 seconds on the heat and then shaking for three seconds. This is to keep the sugar from burning. Continue alternating until the popping has slowed. Remove the lid and sprinkle in some salt (to your taste). Pour into another bowl - have it ready and waiting. If you keep the popcorn in the hot pan, or take too long to transfer it to another bowl, the sugar and popcorn on the bottom of the pan will burn. Lightly brown (carmelized) is yum. Burned black is not yum.

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-14T09:18:00.000-06:00

A few weeks back we were lucky enough to be invited to go to a pumpkin patch! It was great fun.

The kids first got to learn a bit about how pumpkins grow and the different kinds of pumpkins (and gords) there are.

Then we took a tractor and wagon ride out to the fields so all the kids could pick out a pumpkin. Here are a few of the kiddos discussing their finds.

Ajay in the air on the see-saw...

Alex in the air on the see-saw (although they weren't riding the see-saw together).

A little bouncing fun. A big "pillow" filled with air. Ajay tried to do a flip and landed wrong. He was in pain for weeks afterwards. I'm actually wondering if perhaps he cracked a rib!!??

Alex sitting on the ground. (He had actually just come down a big slide

Here he is going back up the hill to slide back down - if that gives you any idea of how big the slide was.

We packed a lunch and enjoyed our meal in the fresh air.

The boys could.not.wait to decorate their pumpkins! (I was the mean mommy who made them wait 'til the next day.)

The finished project on display on our porch. Ajay's is on the left, Alex's on the right.

A new bed

2011-11-12T09:46:00.000-06:00

I've been having some major back pain recently (starting about 4 months ago) and Biju and I thought perhaps we could blame it on our bed. It wasn't an old bed as we bought it new about 6 years ago, but it was still pretty smooshy in the middle. We decided to buy a new bed to see if that was the problem. See, I had gone to a chiropractor 3x with no ease in the pain, and I recently finished up an 8 course treatment with a Physical Therapist with still no ease in pain. We were wondering if maybe all the good I was doing for my back was being undone each night as I slept.

Also, even though it isn't a nightly occurrence, we occasionally end up with small children sharing our bed space.

So we upgraded to a king sized Tempurpedic. It has taken some getting used to and in the beginning my back hurt more when I woke up than before. But from what we read and what we were told while out shopping, these beds are made to get you/keep you aligned. I'm hoping that the new pain is only temporary as my back lines itself up and stays that way. (I must say it is already starting to feel better here in recent mornings.)

And yes, there is a lot more room for children now. No more fear of rolling over and squishing a little one. No longer will a parent cling to the edge of the bed hoping a stray foot doesn't send them tumbling to the floor. (Although for the first time the other morning we ended up in the H position .... Biju on one side, me on the other and Alex laying perpendicular in the middle!)

Here are the boys breaking in the new bed. We were actually told to let them bounce on the bed the day it was delivered to "break open those cell walls" so the bed wouldn't be too firm.

If you're inclined to believe such things you might wonder if there was "someone else" bouncing on the bed with the boys that day!! (See the orb to the left of Alex?)

Now, as it turns out, I had a physical recently. Since I had had no relief in my back pain my doctor decided to have some X-Rays done. She (and the radiologist who looked at the x-rays) discovered that I had some fusing going on where there shouldn't've been. Something about my vertebra and sacrum. She said sometimes it doesn't bother people with this same "condition" and sometimes it does. I guess in my case, it does. I can either continue PT or have some sort of shot administered. I guess I'll have to do some research and decide which is the best course of action!

We're still keepin' the bed, though.

And here is my favorite picture that I took of the boys that day:

The Bug Lady - Part TWO!

2011-11-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in this post a couple of days back Ajay won a classroom visit from the Bug Lady. Today was that day! Ajay was out of school yesterday because he was ill. Sore throat, nasty cough, slight fever, so he stayed home to recoup. We were both relieved when he awoke better this morning. Still coughing, but better overall.

He climbed into our bed this morning around 5:30am telling me he was worried the Bug Lady would forget she was supposed to come to do her presentation today. And then he couldn't get back to sleep! (He got kicked out of the bed around 6:30 because I was afraid he would wake Alex, who had come into our bed around 1am .... more on the bed situation coming up in a future post.)

We got to school right on time and since Mrs. B had asked us to stay for the presentation we came prepared with our camera. The bug-show was to begin 30 min. after the school bell rang so Ajay and his classmates sat down and drew on their dry erase boards while they waited. Mrs. B even asked Alex if he'd like to draw, too, so he joined right in. A trip to the bathroom and a drink was preceded by a firm yet gentle warning that anyone not behaving in the hallway or bathroom would not be able to see the Bug Lady.

When she arrived she had her dog with her. What a sweet dog, he was, too! However, some of the children (Alex included) freaked out when he came in. Alex hid behind my elbow as I sat nursing Aren. One little girl worked herself up into a right panic! She actually chose to miss the whole presentation because of the pooch (who laid in the back of the room and slept through most of the show).

The kids were great. I think they were very well behaved - it helped that the teachers stayed on top of things. When the kids got to a level above a loud whisper they were asked to quiet back down again. The bug lady also did a very good job of describing what the kids would be seeing, hearing and feeling. And she demonstrated a sign to give if they didn't want to get close up with a creature (hand in front of their face).

Giving her introduction - which included how she got Henry, the dog, age 4. Unfortunately, he was abused as a pup. Fortunately, he was found and fixed up right and is now a "working dog" - he goes to schools with her and even has a job of his own - he works at a library at a school. He wears a special vest and when children are done looking at books they put the books in his vest and he returns them to the front desk.

All four 1st grade classes (over 80 students) were invited and there was also another special visitor - Daddy! He wasn't able to stay the whole time but since Ajay had asked him to come he took a little break from work.

The presentation we saw today was longer than the one we saw at the park last month. There were other animals besides just bugs - such a great experience for all involved!

Ajay taking his turn to put his hand in the container full of big bugs.

Alex petting Sonic, the hedgehog.

One of the teachers wanted some baby cuddles.

Alex holding the parakeet. Only one kid freaked out and yanked his hand back, causing the bird to jump to the ground and start walking around. This kid was in the front row so the Bug Lady reassured the other children that the boy wasn't hurt, just tickled by the birds feathers. Almost everyone took the opportunity to hold this cute little lady.

We've enjoyed ourselves both times we've seen the Bug Lady. If you're local and have the chance, be sure to check her out!

Recipe Wednesday - Apple Crisp

2011-11-09T09:24:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year! It is pretty easy to get your hands on some apples right about now so I thought I would throw out this Apple Crisp recipe. I always have to search All Recipes for an apple crisp style that I like. I finally wrote one down with the changes I wanted - I made this version over the weekend and it was met with rave reviews.

I used a pie plate for my crisp - that seemed about the right size. I used the trace amount of butter left on the wrapper to coat the pie-plate. Or you could use a butter/oil spray.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Apple Mixture
1/2 c. sugar (I used white this time, but brown might go well?)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. water
3 apples (whatever your favorite kind is) - sliced, peeled

Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg then whisk in the water. Toss the apples with this mixture and set aside.

Crust/Topping
1 c. oats
1c. flour
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 butter (one stick)

First, in a medium bowl, mix together all but the butter. Then cut in the butter - use two forks to break the butter up and incorporate it with the oat mixture. You should end up with pea-sized pieces.
Take half of the oat mixture and pack it tightly into the bottom of your pan. Add on your apples, then crumble on the rest of the oat mix.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!
Goes especially well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Just sayin'.

The Bug Lady

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

As mentioned previously Alex is now in a class that is for three year olds, one night a week. Biju and I take turns attending class with Alex while the other parent takes Ajay to a "Kwai Ton Do" class (although most of you would know it as Tae Kwan Do). A few weeks back we were asked to go to one of the parks in town instead of going to our regular classroom.

We were to meet....The Bug Lady!

The Bug Lady brought all sorts of bugs and creepy crawly things. It was nice, actually, seeing some of these things close up. And it was really nice seeing some of the creatures close up while still in a container! At least now I know what a Black Widow and a Brown Recluse look like!

A centipede

The underside of the ::shudder:: brown recluse.

Millie, the millipede. So big!

This container held a couple of butterflies. The Bug Lady described how the butterflies have to flap their wings to get the blood flowing - and there was butterfly blood all over this net.

Then all of the children were given nets to go explore the park and try to find bugs of their own. They were also told that there were big plastic bugs hidden out there and if you found one you got a special surprise.

Ajay did find one, in fact, and his surprise was a free visit to his classroom by the Bug Lady. How awesome is that?? He was so excited to give his teacher the news. I do believe she has set up the visit for this coming Thursday.

Have you seen any awesome bugs lately?

Camping Out

2011-11-07T10:05:00.000-06:00

Last spring as I was meandering around our neighbors yard sale I noticed there was a tent for sale. It was bundled up in a package but it looked like it could be pretty big. I asked W how much it would cost. He looked at his wife and they shrugged at each other. He then turned to me and said "$20?" to which his wife exclaimed "Twenty??" So W quickly revised his answer to "$10?" I said "Hmm. Is it in good condition?" and he said it was, it was just missing the cap that goes over the top to keep the rain out. I figured surely we could get by without that. Afterall, we were only planning on using it in our backyard. If it rained, they could just come back in the house. Sold.

W carried it across the street for me (keep in mind this was last spring when Aren was still a bulge in my belly). I showed the package to Biju when he got home and then we put it away.

And away it stayed for the whole blistering summer.

Finally, with Fall knocking on our doorstep, we figured it was a good time to set up the tent and give the boys a tamed-down camping experience.

Biju went out and bought the needed groceries. Hot dogs, buns, graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate. Then we tried to set up the tent. There were no instructions. Biju had never been camping before and I was just trying to remember how we set up tents in our yard when I was growing up. I'm sure if you could've peeked over our fence you would've giggled at our attempts.

As you can see, we did get it put up. There was even a topper - it certainly looks like something to keep the rain out. Too bad we never figured out how to get it all put together the right way.

It ain't pretty, but it was sturdy enough to get into. And to keep the wind off - the wind that wrapped the sheets around the line there in the background!

With sleeping arrangements in place (Biju would sleep in the tent with Ajay and Alex while I slept in the house in my comfy bed and Aren would sleep in his crib.) we headed to the garage to turn on our gas grill. Time for s'mores. (That's right, we were really roughing it!)

Ajay loved his S'more. Alex didn't care as much for his. He ate a bite or two, got some on his PJs and gave me the rest. After changing jammies, we got some paper, books and flashlights to go inside the tent. We read a couple books, played shadow puppets and made some paper crafts - like this hat that Ajay made.

And Daddy made some airplanes for the boys to toss around.

Then it was time for bed. The true test. Would the boys actually sleep outside? Could Mommy and Daddy keep their patience as the boys waffled between if they were brave enough or if they wanted to be inside. Alex chose to stay in the tent, Ajay decided he wanted to sleep inside. Then Ajay decided he wanted to go ahead and try sleeping outside. Then Ajay and Alex both decided they were afraid of the wind and nighttime noises and they wanted to come in.

So we set up an indoor tent.

But for some reason even this just wasn't right. I'm thinking Ajay thought there wasn't enough room for both him and his brother.

In the end everyone slept in their beds like any other night. But at least we had fun while it all lasted and we can now say we tried our hand at camping.

Playing catch up

2011-11-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

I've been really bad about posting recently. I don't think I've put much of anything up here except for recipes.

When I started this post, I thought I would just chuck all of the photos from October in here and call it a day. However, that just won't do. There are too many and I would lose over half of your by time you got to the 15th picture, I'm guessing. So I'm going to try to line up some posts and toss in some (hopefully) witty commentary to go with the photos.

I'll start with a few things from September.

My good friend, Tonya, and her husband, Brian, welcomed baby Jazmine Sage.

A close up of the baby blanket I crocheted for her.

When she was around 3 weeks (??) her mommy brought her by for a visit.

Alex started his First Things First class - for three year olds only. They have a two hour class once a week with a parent (or other important adult in their life).

I finished crocheting a 2nd wool cover for Aren.

Now I'll work on getting October taken care of. Maybe I'll even get some November posts done IN NOVEMBER!!

Recipe Wednesday - Tomato Garlic Ginger Rice

2011-11-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

1 Tbs. oil (we use canola)
1/2 Tbs. mustard seed (I'm sure you can omit this if you don't have it on hand)
1 red onion, chopped into big bite-sized pieces
1 head of garlic, chopped
1 finger worth of ginger (index finger length) - peeled, chopped
7-8 Roma sized tomatoes, chopped into big pieces
2-3 c. cooked rice (to your preference)
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add mustard seeds. Once they pop, add onion and cook until almost tender. Add in garlic and ginger and continue cooking until onions are tender. Add tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix in the rice, heat through.

As you can guess, this is strong on garlic and ginger but that's what gives it the flavor. I really enjoyed this when Biju made it up.

Recipe Wednesday - Veggie Quesadilla

2011-10-19T06:00:00.005-05:00

***Edited: Apparently I cannot look at a calendar correctly, as this is clearly Tuesday and not Wednesday. I scheduled this last week so it would post tomorrow. Imagine my surprise when I found this here today. Oh well. Enjoy!***

Ingredients
Flour Tortillas - 2
Cheddar Cheese - shredded (or any other kind of shredded cheese you want)
Shredded Zucchini - I stole some from the bags of shredded zukes I saved for making muffins/breads
Frozen Spinach - thawed and patted dry
Green Onion - sliced

On a microwave safe plate, lay out one tortilla. Sprinkle cheese over top, then add on the rest of your ingredients (I didn't list a measurement, just use as much as you like). As usual, you don't have to limit it to what I have listed. Lay the other tortilla over top. Give it about 30 seconds in the microwave, or enough to melt the cheese a bit. This makes it a LOT easier to flip later.

Heat griddle over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Cook quesadilla on one side til browned, flip and brown on the other. Slice into fourths.... or eights if you're going to serve this to children.

I first had something similar to this at a friend's house during a playdate. The hostess also sprinkled some sort of seasoned salt w/ the other ingredients, which was tasty. What do you put in your quesadillas?

Welcome: Annie!

2011-10-17T12:03:00.000-05:00

(This is going to be picture heavy. And believe me, it was hard only picking out these to post. My apologies for getting this important post up so late!)

Biju made a little trip to India at the beginning of September. While I and the boys were disappointed that we wouldn't be able to attend Bino and Annie's wedding, we knew it would be better for him to make this trip solo. We're already looking forward to our next trip, whenever that might be!

Biju arrived in India and hit the ground running as there were a few loose ends to tie up. The biggest snag they hit was when they learned the hotel they had reserved for the reception after the wedding had double booked. What a headache that turned out to be, as you can imagine! In the end, though, everything worked out well.

Thursday night there was the Engagement ceremony. We didn't do this for our wedding in India, which probably had something to do with us already being married before we got there, I'm guessing. Just by going off of the pictures Biju brought back, there was a ceremony at Annie's family's church, then it rained like crazy, then there was a celebration afterwards.
.

The wedding took place on Saturday at our family's church.

The tradition of helping the goom to get ready before leaving for the church.

Another tradition is having every family member present shake hands/hug/kiss the groom. I'm thinking this is a way of giving their blessing for the marriage. (I should ask to be sure!) - Here are the brothers in their embrace.

The vehicles that brought the bride (on the right) and the groom (on the left) to the church.

Preparing to enter the church. (The decoration on the entrance floor was from a festivity the night before, unrelated to the marriage.)

Bino putting the wedding necklace w/ the tali (spelling?) on Annie.

Putting a sari over the bride's head. I'm not sure what this signifies. Biju did this to me at our ceremony and even he didn't know why. We just did what we were told to do :)

The bride and groom with their immediate families and the four priests that presided over the ceremony.

The married couple with the flowers presented to them.

On to the reception!

The stage was set, ready for the couple to greet each and every guest.

Lighting the candle.

Cutting the cake.

Drinking the coconut water.

Congratulations to the new couple!

Welcome to the family, Annie!

Recipe Wednesday - Poori

2011-10-12T17:17:00.000-05:00

I made these up for the first time last night to go with our Chick Pea Curry.

1.5 c. whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
1/2c + 1/4 c. water (slowly add the last quarter cup as needed)

Heat small pan w/ oil - enough to cover

Mix together and knead. Pull off small bits and roll into balls (ping pong ball size or smaller). Put a small drop of oil on and roll flat. The shape of this should be a small circle - do not fold as you did for the chapati. Submerge the disc and cook for a minute or so on each side. Drain on paper towel.

Best served with veg. curries.

Recipe Wednesday - In need of a Diaper

2011-10-05T14:40:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been out and about and thought you had a spare diaper in the diaper bag but realized you didn't? This post is for those moments. As long as you have a (cotton) receiving blanket, you're in luck. This should help you get by until you can get your hands on a diaper you would normally use.

This is a fold used with flat diapers. Since I've discovered this, and other folds, I've decided to bust out the many receiving blankets that aren't getting any use and have been using them as cloth diapers. It really makes my relatively small diaper stash stretch farther.

A video would work best, and that's actually how I learned - by watching videos on YouTube. But I wasn't able to take a video while doing this. Instead, I took a gazillion pictures for you.

Take your receiving blanket and lay it out flat. (Design side face down, if you prefer.)

Now fold it in half, bringing the bottom up.

Fold in half again, bringing the right side over to the left.

Now you're goign to take the top left corner and extend it back out to the right. Hold onto the rest of the layers so they stay put. You will end up with an upside down triangle.

Now flip the whole thing over. Do this carefully so you don't end up with the folds falling out.

Take the folds from the right side and either bi-fold or tri-fold (depending on how wide you want the center padding).

Fold 1:

Fold 2:

Fold 3.

Now you're ready for baby.

Bring the center fold up and into place. Now would be a good time to tuck in some of the wings by the leg. Just pull the extra cloth by the thigh up - so it sorta makes a U-shaped hug around baby's leg.

Pull the rest of the wing over baby's tummy.

Do the same on the left side.

If you have a safety pin with you, carefully pin into place and you're good to go. If you aren't normally a cloth diaper user, you likely won't have anything to cover the diaper with, but like I mentioned before, at least this method will allow you to keep baby in a diaper until you can get your hands on your usual diaper of choice.

After this diaper was used, I chose to use another blanket for the next round. I decided to skip the pinning and I just tied it into place - which might be more likely if you're out and about and don't have a big safety pin on hand.

Recipe Wednesday - Chapati

2011-09-28T06:30:00.012-05:00

If anyone has ever eaten Indian food, you've likely eaten some Naan. For those who don't know what Naan is, it is almost like a tortilla that you tear into pieces with which to eat the curry. There are many other tortilla-like breads that Indians use to eat besides just Naan, though. One very easy and quick "bread" is the chapati.

I came home from India in February with some recipes from my mother-in-law and as much as I want to make all of them, I've been a little chicken. I'm worried I'll completely ruin everything. I got brave one afternoon awhile back and tried my hand at making chapati. It was sooo easy. It helped that I watched Mom make it in her kitchen, though, so I took a few pictures to help those of you who may be visual learners.

Mix together until it forms a soft dough:
3c. whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 c. water (Add the last 1/4 cup or so slowly to be sure you need it.)

This recipe seems to be quite forgiving. I wanted to halve this recipe and my brain went on vacation around the time I was figuring up my measurements. I added too much water so had to add more flour little by little. It still worked out in the end.

Pull off a small bit of dough (think ping-pong ball or a bit smaller) and pat it into a circle, about palm size.

Apply a little bit of oil (you could use a silicone brush for this, but I just used the back of a spoon to spread it around) and fold twice - into a triangle. Roll out the triangle.

The first couple of Chapati I didn't roll out thin enough and they ended up a bit dense. As I went on I figured out the feel of it and the final chapatis were much better.

Apply a bit of oil to one side, lay that side to the heat and cook (over mediuim heat). When you start to see air bubbles, spread on a bit of oil then flip to cook the other side.

You can continue to flip/apply oil as long as you need. (Don't go too crazy with the oil, it really doesn't take all that much.)

Serve this w/ a curry OR..... you can eat it with jelly, or PB&J! It's pretty good that way. It's actually how my boys ate it while in India.

Alex munching on a warm chapati, plain.

Aren's 4 month check up

2011-09-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

Four Months Old!!

Aren turned 4 months old on Monday, the 19th. I took him to his check up on the following Wednesday and it turns out he's a wee little thing.

Height: 23 inches (1%)
Weight: 11 lbs 6 oz. (1%)

So 99% of all the other little boys his age are bigger than he is. He's still in size 1 disposable diapers and size small for cloth diapers. He wears 0-3 mo. clothes.

We'll go back in two weeks to have a weight check to see that he's still doing some growing. When we go back, I'll also have them give the rest of his vaccinations. I wanted to split them up so he didn't have 3 shots and an oral all at once (like he did for his 2mo. appointment). As it was, he had 5 different vaccinations (via two shots). He did get a low-grade fever and was quite sleepy. He has a hard time napping for longer than 45 min. at a time during the day, so I spent my afternoon (2.5 hours or so) holding him so he could get some rest.

Despite being so small, he's still hitting his other developmental marks quite well. He holds his head pretty steady when I hold onto his hands and pull him from a laying position to sitting up. He has no desire to stay sitting up, though. He still goes a bit floppy :)

He's not only giving all of us great grins but he's started to giggle, too. Love the giggle!

He has started to roll from his back to his belly. This meant it was time to get rid of the swaddle. I tried this a couple of times but he just screamed and screamed so I kept swaddling him back up again. On Sunday morning I found him on his belly in his crib and I had a little moment of panic. I quickly checked to see that he was still breathing. When Biju saw his position, he asked "Is he alive?" So that night we knew we had to just go cold turkey with the swaddle.

That night was horrid. He fell asleep and I put him down but he immediately woke up (which never happens!). He couldn't be consoled. I held him and it took a good 20 min. to calm him down again. He slept for about a half hour then was screaming again. Another 30 min. of crying and then he slept. We did this quite a bit through the night. At one point he scream/cried for forty-five minutes and no matter what I did - rubbing his back, patting his bottom, giving him his pacifier, helping him find his thumb, holding him - he just cried and cried. Then, all the sudden, he gave up and conked out!

I'm so glad that only happened the first night. The second night was much improved. I did have to go in twice to give him his binky but he went right back to sleep. The third night, he slept solid until 5:45am when he was ready to nurse. Last night (the fourth night without the swaddle) was more like the second night, but the poor babe had the slight fever from his shots.

He's such a sweetheart. He's got a very calm temperment - so I'm hoping he has some influence on his more exuberant older brothers. He brings such happiness to the rest of the family.

This is what he was doing while I was typing up this post:

Recipe Wednesday - Hummus

2011-09-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

I am currently refraining myself from eating this stuff with a spoon. Instead, I'm scooping it up with red/yellow/orange pepper slices. Crunch crunch yum yum.

3 cloves of garlic
- put into the blender/food processor/Magic Bullet and chop it up.

Add into the blender with the garlic:
1/4 cup of lemon juice (I'm sure it'd be better from a fresh lemon, but I just used the stuff from a bottle.)
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. Tahini (I'm guessing it was around 3Tbs - it was separated so sorta hard to measure.)
Blend it all up.

Add:
2 15oz-cans chick peas/garbanzo beans (drained, juice reserved)

Start blending. It won't take long until you'll need to add in some of the reserved "juice" from the beans. I ended up using close to 1 cup. It all depends on the consistency you'd like.

Enjoy with peppers, pita/pita chips, cucumber, as a sandwich spread, etc, etc.

You can always add other stuff, if you like.
Cumin
a little paprika on top
maybe drizzle a bit of olive oil on top sprinkled with sunflower seeds
(I'm even toying with the idea of blending up a cup or so of the hummus w/ an avocado!)

Wearing what was made

2011-09-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone remember this sleep-sack I made?

That was Aren in my tummy as I stared longingly at the cuddly sleep gown. I couldn't wait to hold our new baby in our arms and put him in something I created specifically for him. He's the third boy in the family. Let's face it, there isn't much around here that was only for him!
Finally, he's gotten big enough to fit into it and the weather has cooled off a bit. It still isn't cold enough to put him in this very warm gown for any length of time but it was cool enough to put him in to check the fit. It fits pretty well right now. I'm hoping it still fits okay enough to wear in another month or so when the weather starts go get even cooler.

That grin gets me every time!!

Roly-Poly

2011-09-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

He's so close to flipping to his tummy..... soooo close. Just not quite there, yet. I think that arm gets tucked under him and prevents him from finishing the job.

Halfway there.

Pretty much there but can't get past that arm.

He was close enough, so I helped him finish the roll so he could play on his tummy. Alex gave him a toy for encouragement.

And just for fun, here are a couple other shots of Mr. Handsome Pants.

The day he turned 3 months old.

Occassionally, he'll find that thumb!!

One of the rare photos of a smile - he usually sees the camera and stops smiling. I do believe it was during the bath prior to the picture that he let out his first laugh. It was so stinkin' cute.

Aren and Papa.

Me and the boys with their Great Grandma (my dad's mom). She was riding through town with my parents. They stopped for a visit and to celebrate Kyleigh's 5th birthday. We had picnic food and sour lemon cupcakes.

Split-Lip....Ouch!

2011-09-09T13:46:00.000-05:00

Alex likes to help with anything that has to do with Aren. He's crazy about his little brother. The other morning he had an opportunity to throw a diaper in the trash for me. He took off towards the kitchen to throw it away as I put a fresh cloth dipe on the baby. Suddenly I heard a crash and a scream. This wasn't the typical "ow, I'm hurt" cry, it was a scream that had me sprinting into the kitchen to see Alex walking slowly towards me. His mouth was open in a silent cry and his eyes were tear-filled and wide open telling me he was in pain. I looked behind him to try to get an idea of what had happened.

To get a better idea of how he hurt himself, let me describe this portion of my house to you. We have a rectangular "back to back" kitchen (I call it back to back because if one person is standing at the sink and another person is standing at the stove, they're basically standing back to back). You have to take one step down into the utility room where we keep our trash can.

Apparently, Alex had taken a little stool to the kitchen - it wasn't a step stool, it was a little folding stool, about two feet high, with a round black seat to sit upon. He, I guess, was standing on the stool to throw the diaper away and somehow or another the stool either slipped out from under him (which Biju had warned him just the day before that it might do!), or he put it too close to the edge of the stair and as he climbed up it slipped off the edge.
So there was the stool, laying on it's side next to the trashcan, the diaper over by the washing machine, and Alex's mint gum laying on the floor, exactly where it had fallen out of his mouth as he landed.

I looked back at Alex and blood was startig to pool in his still open mouth. I scooped him up and tried comforting him while taking him to the bathroom to rinse his mouth out. I inspected the outside of his mouth to see if he had bit completely through the lip. I saw a mark but couldn't quite tell if it was from biting through the lip or just a mark from where he hit the floor. I called my mom, first, to ask if they normally put stitches on the inside of a lip. Her response "Ohh, noo." and then a little bit of laughter, then "What happened?" I figured she'd know best considering my older brother, as a young toddler, fell down some stairs and bit off the tip of his tongue (I think. Either that or he did bite through his lip. Or both.).

I then called the pediatrician whose nurse advised that I keep ice on it (we were using the ice cube from a Boo Bunny) and suggested giving him a popsicle to help him keep the cold directed to where it was needed. He didn't mind that treatment at all!

He was a good sport about it all, even with Mommy asking him to push his lip out so I could get a better look at the cut (and pictures, too!). By the time Daddy got home and we showed him, it had bruised up even more.

Shortly after the fall.

Taking his medicine like a man (or, like a kid).

The mark under his lip from falling, the next day.

Ugly lip bruise.

Just had to throw this in there - the two boys zoning out on Angry Birds.

What lip pain?? I'm just excited I can hold the baby all by myself!!

A baby shower!

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

So you know what that means - there will soon be a new baby to snuggle. This time, the proud Mama and Daddy are Tonya and Brian.

We celebrated Tonya's pregnancy recently and we just can't wait to meet Baby Jazmine. (I'm sure that's the name they've settled on, but I know Sage was also on their list, and I do like that name for them, I must say.)

Ajay and Alex stayed home with Biju while I took Aren with me. We met up with Lisa, Natalie, Erin and Janel. (Pssst.... Lisa made that necklace she's wearing! Cute, no?)

We had fun playing games, watching the couple open their gifts and eating cake. I got a kick out of the plates - another party goer pointed this out:

Sure, it says "Cute as a Button" but what pops out at you? I guess all babies do have cute little butts, right??

After the shower, a few of "The Girls" and I went to drool over some yarn at a local yarn shop. We ooh'd and ahh'd to our hearts content, and felt everything up. We then headed over to Hobby Lobby and bought some yarn. (Was that wrong of us??) Natalie and Janel even bought a "learn to crochet" kit so they can have yarn fun, too!

Later in the afternoon we gathered at my house. This allowed Biju to go out and do some shopping for an upcoming trip and the boys got to play with their aunties. Lisa brought over Russell (her hubby) and Ellie, their 3 yo daughter.

Such hams.

As you may recall from a recent post, I'm teaching Ajay to crochet. He took this knowledge and passed it on to Natalie. I couldn't help but look on with pride and a fat smile as he patiently showed her how to do the slip knot and start the chain.

Erin took over the crochet lesson when Natalie was ready to move on past the chain. And since Ajay refused to teach Janel (we don't know why - one pupil only??) Lisa helped get Janel started with her lessons.

Aren helping Janelzebub with her yarn project.

Don't forget to check out our craft blog. There's more than just crochet projects there. Hopefully we'll be adding more soon!!

Recipe Wednesday: Coming back?

2011-09-07T07:04:00.029-05:00

For those of you who frequent my blog, you'll recall that I used to have a "segment" called Recipe Wednesday. It has been awhile since I've done one of these and I was thinking of bringing it back.

Does anyone find this useful, besides me? I mean, I'm always referring back to the recipes I put on here (I looked up the crock pot yogurt recipe just this past weekend, in fact). I also know, from checking my "stats" feature here on Blogger, that random strangers have searched for/found some recipes, too. (Namely Grandpas Potato Salad and Patio Weed Killer.)

So humor me, please, and vote on the poll to the right of the screen. It probably isn't going to change things as I've already got a couple of recipes that I want to share, but I'm curious anyway :) I've also got some ideas that aren't really food recipes but might be helpful, so I think I'll put them in this category..... even though it really has nothing to do with a recipe. Just go with it.

By the way - there are two different ways you can find previous recipes.

1. You can use the "search" feature on the left of the page. For example - you're looking for a something that uses coconu? Just type "coconut" in the box and you'll most likely come up with the Oatmeal Coconut Cranberry Cookie recipe (along with a lot of other posts that mention coconut!).

2. Click on the "Recipes" label, also on the left. This takes everything off of the page except for the posts that I've labeled as "Recipes."

If you have used a recipe, please leave a comment, I'd love to know what type of recipes are useful.

Gorgeous weather!

2011-09-06T11:02:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else (at least those in Kansas) completely in love with the weather we're having right now?? After having waaay too many 100+ degree days this summer I am just eating up this upper seventies/lower eighties stuff.

This weekend, whenever a child would ask "Can I play the *insert electrical game device*" I would shout "NO! Go outside!" It was nice not having to worry if they were getting enough water, or watching them come back inside after 5 minutes all red faced and dripping with sweat.

And ya know what? Even *I* played outside for awhile with them! We played tag and baseball and other times I just sat out there with Aren watching the two bigger boys run around. And can I tell you how much Aren loves being outside? Even when it was 104deg. on our front porch and we were waiting for Ajay to get off the bus he just lounged on my lap. If he ever starts getting fussy and I want to try to keep him awake a little bit longer, we head out to the porch swing. Good boy. (Alex is always saying "good boy" to Aren, which I think deserves a "good boy" for Alex! Way to be a positive big brother!)

Since I was busy chasing down baseballs I didn't get any photos of the outdoor play this weekend. However, I do have some pics of Alex and Aren outside last week while Ajay was in school. So here is a little something to feast your eyes on.

Just a little sidenote - We've got the house opened up for fresh air and to give the ole a/c a break and I'm actually tempted to put on a light sweater! As I type, it is 11am and it is 65 deg. outside!

A few firsts

2011-09-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

Can you see it? Alex wrote his name :) It's really light but it's there.

Ajay's first crochet chain! He gave it to a neighbor-girl as a bracelet.

Nice and even chains - I'm so proud of him :)

Aren's first bottle!! Gotta love pumped breastmilk. And he didn't have a problem at all with drinking from a bottle.

Gettin' into the groove.

Ahhh....happy tummy - provided by Daddy!

**I had a picture here of Ajay's first day of school but I noticed it had the name of the school in the background so I deleted it**

This is Alex getting a drink from the fountain after dropping Ajay off in First Grade.

The first time the boys got to give Aren a bottle.

They love being able to "nurse" Aren, too.

Ajay's first piece of homework.

Prefolds, Wool and OneSize, Oh My!

2011-08-24T06:00:00.005-05:00

Wanna know about the diapers we use? (We still use a few disposable diapers, mainly at night, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about anything quite so boring and yucky as those, right?)
I have a few (6) small-sized prefold diapers that Aren is filling out quite well. It will soon be time to bump him up to the bigger sized prefolds I have. Many of those, though, are too "used" to use after they diapered both Ajay and Alex. I do have 4-5 decent looking "blue-edge" prefolds I can still use. Which will, I'm sure, be too big and I'll have to fold them down in the back as well as the front. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the great fit we're getting with these small prefolds (that I dyed back when I was pregnant with Alex, I do believe).

By the way - if you're interested, I think this is called the newspaper fold. I'm not sure. It was something I learned back when diapering Baby Ajay and I forgot the name of it. There are a lot of different folds to use. I've even been known to use the "bikini twist" when the babies start to crawl as it allows more room for moving thighs.

While I was still pregnant with Aren I crocheted up a Tickle Turdle Wrap in size "small." It is still too big so I've been folding the top down in front. I think it has a great fit over the prefolds. I'm going to make up another one (or two!) in some wool I've got in my yarn stash. (Here is a wonderful article about why wool is so wonderful to use as a diaper cover.)

When I'm not using prefolds and wool (he hasn't grown into the medium Proraps, yet), we're using the bumGenius! OneSize diapers.

I have one Baby Kanga that I love and a few other dipes that I use on him.

Baby Kanga

I actually need to beef up my diaper stash. I should be selling my newborn stash soon which will fund a few new mediums, right?? To be honest, I think I might get more of the Baby Kangas - the one I have still looks new even after diapering Alex through potty-training and it fits Aren at around 11 pounds.

Oh, and while we're here, I'll show you where I store the dirties until washtime:

We invested in a big trashcan with a flip-top lid. Unfortunately, the spring inside doesn't work so I can't use the foot pedal to open it but it still does the job after 6 years of use and 3 babies. That teal bag has an elastic opening and covered in PUL to keep the diaper bin dry. It makes it easy to grab the diapers and carry them to the washing machine.

Any questions? Please ask - either leave a comment or e-mail me!

Sleeping Children

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

There's something just so sweet and innocent about sleeping children.

Horses!!!

2011-08-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Wanna see something completely cute??

Ain't dat baby cute?!?

On the Sunday we were up visiting the family, we had lunch with a long-time friend, Lisa, and her hubby and two boys. Afterwards, we stopped by my grandpa's to check out his farm. My aunt, Theresa, took all of us out to see some mini-horses.

Darrin (in yellow), Rodney, Garrett (in red) and Ajay mingling with the minis.

Alex not quite ready to get in the mix.

Darrin and Ajay (born within a couple of weeks of each other) feeding the horses.

Aunt Theresa helping to ease Alex's fears.

Kyleigh with her mama, Shelly, petting the ponies.

Look at that!! Audrey, around 19 months, bigger than a baby horse!

Lisa cuddling a sleeping Aren in the shade. (Whoo-whee it was hot that day!)

Aunt Tina had popsicles for everyone when we came inside.

Grandpa with some of his great-grandchildren (the best pic we could get with 5 children ages 6 and under).

After our visit with Grandpa and after Lisa and her crew left, we went down to Aunt Theresa's farm (adjacent to Grandpa's farm) and saw a few more minis and some regular sized horses! The kids loved spraying one of the horses down with water. Aunt Theresa says she (the horse) can't get enough. A few of the other horses didn't mind it, really, but this one horse adores ice cold water from the hose.

Alex was fine until Buddy, a golden retriever, came along!! (Was I a mean mommy for snapping this picture before I went to comfort him??)

This horse, only a little okay with being sprayed with water, likes to roll in the dust after getting hosed.

Our bare-back rider

After more horses, more popsicles, of course!!

Girl-time

2011-08-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

Continuing from my previous post.... I mentioned that I spent Saturday afternoon/evening with some girlfriends. Janel had a jewelry party (can't wait for my new bracelet to arrive!) and served some delicious fruity cheesecake type dessert - must have that recipe! We hung out a bit afterwards then decided to have dinner at Old Chicago. Aren was a bit fussy while at Janel's but can you believe - he was completely chill the whole 2 hours while we were chatting over dinner!! He wasn't sleeping, mind you, he was just hanging out in his car seat (which was placed in one of those cool sling type things restaurants have these days - awesome invention). Occasionally we had to pop his binky in, but he just looked around the room drawing "awwws" from passers-by. There was even an older gentleman who tickled his feet as he walked by.
Here are pics of Aren with his aunties (Natalie; Morgan; Erin):

(Notice the change of clothes?? Aren's disposable diaper had a complete blowout all the way up the back. YUCK!!)

Here is Janel with her nephew, Aaden, and Natalie with her little guy, Cooper.

A weekend visit

2011-08-16T08:40:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I grabbed the boys, my sister, Shelly, and two of her daughters and we all headed up to visit the family.

We were able to squeeze Kyleigh, Ajay and Alex into the backseat while Aren and Audrey rode in the captain's chairs. Paige was going to come, too, and put the 8th seat to good use but she decided to stay in town to attend her last day of swim lessons and go to a birthday party. I don't even know how to put the 8th seat in but we would've figured it out if she had decided to go with us.

We got to our parents on Friday afternoon and it was surprisingly decent - as in not 100+ degrees. So there was some outdoor action. Much needed.

Bubbles and Jump Rope!

Aunt Brandi got her baby fix in and all the kids wanted in on the action. Everyone loves a baby!

On Saturday morning Papa earned the title "Best Papa in the Universe." He took Ajay fishing.

You can barely see them out there but in this shot, Dad was helping Ajay cast out.

Friday night two of our aunts came over for a visit (and returned on Saturday night for more visiting!). I left the boys (Ajay and Alex) with the family on Saturday afternoon while I spent some much needed time with some girlfriends. On Sunday we went to church and met their new priest who just so happens to be from the same city Biju is from in India. Amazing, right? After church we had lunch with a friend and her family, whom we haven't seen in years. Then we all went over to visit some miniature horses. (More on all of this w/ pics in the days to come) We weren't in a rush over the weekend. Very relaxing.

Brothers

2011-08-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

Juicing + Muffin Preparedness

2011-08-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead"? Biju and I were flipping through our Netflix suggestions the other day and came across this title. It sorta grabbed our attentions so we watched it. We were really intrigued by it. The man started out pretty overweight and had some sort of auto-immune disease. (I think that what it was - he kept having rashes all over his body.)

Over the course of 60 days the only thing he "ate" was fruit/vegetable juice. By the end of his 60 days he had lost a crazy amount of weight and he was almost completely off of his Prednesone medication. Impressive! Since I was going to be visiting my parents soon I called up my mom to ask if I could borrow the Jack LaLanne juicer.

It does take a lot of fruit/veggies to make a drink. From the documentary we learned it takes $14 a day to fund your "meals." ($28 a day if you're going organic - which you should - but good golly that's quite the cha-ching!)

Through our experiments we've discovered one carrot gives you about 1 ounce of juice. I don't remember how many Red Delicious apples we used - probably 6? - but we got 4 cups of juice. Two Gala apples gave us 8ounces, 3 Bartlet pears gave us a little over 8oz, I think (I didn't pay close enough attention to know). Apple and Carrot go well together. That's what Biju had as snack yesterday afternoon after work.

Pear was good, too, though a bit gritty (no surprise, a pear is a pear, right??). Too bad Alex spilled half of it. He did like it enough, though, to try to slurp it off of the table.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of waste. I thought this brand of juicer was supposed to have considerably less waste but was not the case...

8 carrots = a bit of juice and a lot of "waste"

And a lot of clean up!

Which leads me to the second part of this post.

Back at the beginning of July a friend let me raid her garden while they were off on vacation. We got some nice looking zucchini and crook-neck squash. We sliced some up and dipped them in an olive oil/canola oil mixture and the sprinkled them with salt and pepper then tossed them onto the grill. Y.U.M.! (BTW - the oils really make a difference. Twice we tried grilling them w/out the oil and they just didn't go over well w/ the picnic-ers!)

We had picked up a couple of realllly big zucchinis so instead of grilling those I decided to shred them to put into muffins. I ended up with 8 cups of shredded zucchini to put into the freezer!

Food processor w/ grated zucchini; Fine mesh sieve over a bowl, using a cup to press out the liquid; a container to store all the juice (about 2 cups).

The muffin recipe I plan on using also calls for shredded carrot. Do you remember seeing all that "waste" from juicing the carrot? I have frozen that (2 cups worth!!) so I can use it when I need it. I do like that I can use all the juice for one purpose and all the rest for another! The muffins will go well into Ajay's lunch box when school starts up next week.

Yummy juice to drink, and zucchini/carrot muffins just waiting to be made!

Quilts from Aunt Brandi

2011-07-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law, Brandi, always makes a quilt for the newest baby of the family. Here are the quilts she made for each of the boys.

Ajay's

Alex's

Aren's

And the most recent quilt she made up, is one for my parents:

It says "Nana and Papa's Grand Dozen" and has all 12 grandkids' names and their birthdates.

What does Aren do at 2 months old?

2011-07-22T06:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I posted about what keeps the bigger two boys occupied. I'm sure you're quite curious what Aren does all day. To be honest, the kid sleeps a lot. He typically goes to bed around 9pm, wakes sometime between 3:30am and 5am for his first nursing and a diaper change then goes back to bed until 9am or so. Throughout the day he plays a bit but still does a lot of sleeping. Between all of his sleeping and nursing he's accomplished quite a bit of growing. He had his 2 month check up with the pediatrician on Tuesday. Here are his 2 mo. stats along with his brothers.
Aren: 10lbs 6.5oz and is 22 in. long
Alex: 11lb 12oz and 22.25 in. long
Ajay: 11lb 14oz. and 22.5 in. long

Note both Ajay and Alex weighed more at this age then Aren did and both of them were 6lb 3oz and 6lb 5oz, respectively, at birth.

And to share pictures of all three boys around the two month mark:

Aren

Alex

Ajay

During the day his brothers talk with him and sing to him. We find ourselves repeating "Boys, don't crowd him." "Okay, one more kiss/hug and then you need to scoot back." "Alex, slow and gentle movements!"
Alex is often heard "He's so cute!" "He's so cute and pweshus!" and "I think he likes me!" Ajay often comes up to stroke Aren's soft skin. I love seeing the love amongst the boys. Biju and I are afraid the bigger boys will somehow hurt Aren (quite by accident) but Aren just seems to smile when the boys approach. (Okay, there have been a few times when Aren cries but that's only after Alex loves on him too much.)

So to sum up Aren's day:

He sleeps:

First nap in his crib

He eats:

He's entertained by his brothers:

And he sleeps some more:

Entertainment for the kiddos

2011-07-21T09:46:00.000-05:00

So besides the typical PBS shows that keep the kids occupied a couple of hours each day (yes, I'm that parent) I've been trying to give constructive things to the boys to do.

We really love music around here and the boys can tear up a dance floor (aka: our living room space). We've recently discovered we like the Kidz Bop type Cd's. (Wiki) They can be a bit on the cheesy side but I do like that the boys can listen to the current music without a few of the less desirable words. Also, we dig America's Got Talent and the boys love to emulate the dance moves they see. I can tell they're improving their gross motor skills with all of their dance practice so that's a bonus to their growing bodies, right?

They do play well with each other when left to their own devices, for the most part, but depending on the day, how one woke up, how one looked at the other, how the stars are aligned, their playtime can sometimes closer resemble, well, fighting. Then they both end up in time out.

We've had some play dates so they have other kids to play with for a change of pace. I love play dates. The kids, obviously, have other faces to look at, but I get some adult interaction, too. I'm an extrovert. I need adult interaction to survive.

As a side note, I talk too much. This is something I've known for awhile and I always try to keep my mouth zipped but words just bubble over and I can't stop myself. I say too much, I say the wrong thing, I talk too much about myself and forget to ask questions about the person with whom I'm talking. Every time I drive away from a play date or Bunco I analyze (over analyze?) what the conversations consisted of and I can always find something to kick myself for.

Back to the matter at hand. Here are the boys finger painting.

Annie and her daughter, Lilly, came over for a playdate. We took some birdseed outside so they could play in it. They traced letters in the seed and also sorted it into different piles. Great for their fine motor skills.

Here they are watching a 3-D movie. (By the way - I don't suggest letting the under 6 set watch Coraline. Even 6 might be pushing it. It is a bit creepy. Alex did fine the first time he watched it so I let them watch it a second time [not the same day, mind you]. He cried and told me he was scared part way through.)

We had gone bowling earlier in the day and they kept their socks on. You'd think their feet would've been too hot!

Even in the heat Alex wakes up and tells me he's cold. Here he is eating his cereal with a crocheted blanket that was given to us when Ajay was born.

(It doesn't really have much to do with entertaining the children but I certainly found it entertaining!)

Ajay has been taking swimming lessons this summer. Unfortunately, Alex is too young to join the class and there isn't a "parent swim" lesson available at this time. Next summer, however, Alex should be able to join in. As for now, when Biju takes Ajay for lessons, Alex and Aren stay home with me. One evening I got brave and let Alex play with the dry erase board. (As you know, dry erase markers are perfectly erasable from the board but not from clothing or skin!)

All 5 members of our family are here. Daddy is the long legged blue, I'm orange, Aren is yellow, Ajay is brown and Alex is the other blue.

One day the boys invited me into their room to see a puppet show.

Practicing their "lines" and getting their puppets set up.

On with the show!

Monday, the 4th - the evening

2011-07-20T06:00:00.020-05:00

Once Biju and Ajay got back from dropping Bino off at the airport it was time to start aiming our sights on the evenings events. We grabbed some watermelon and fireworks and headed out to spend the holiday with some great friends. We try to get together with these two families on a regular basis. Our goal is monthly but usually end up with quarterly visits. Such is the way with three busy families with little ones.

We let the children loose (8 kiddos, including the littlest ones). There was some playing upstairs, downstairs and outside. At one point Ellie came in crying and we were told that she had been stung by a wasp. Lisa, of course, started treatment for a wasp sting, as any mother would do. It was later discovered, however, that Ellie had burned her little fingers on the not-yet-cool grill.

Time for a deluge of photos. I think I got a shot of everyone there.

Feeding the children dinner.

Daddios with Aren.

Ellie cooling her little burned fingers.

Working on some daylight fireworks.

The kids (and dads) loved setting everything off. (That's a smoke bomb that Biju helped Alex with.)

Ellie did NOT want to be a part of the lighting of the works so she hung out with her ice water and her mama in the back of our van.

Ronnie and Russell supervising.

Me w/ Aren, Angie w/ Jonah.

It was a long, hot day - can you tell?

My favorite photo of the evening!!

After we wrapped up the daytime stuff we went inside for a sweet treat. Angie had made a delicious dessert - a little bit of sin topped with fresh berries to make you feel a little better about eating it. (You can see a picture of it here.) Nighttime fireworks followed and, as always, it was fun to see so many pretty colors exploding across the sky.

It was great the way the timing worked out this year. We were able to celebrate the Fourth on two separate evenings - I wish it could be like that every year!

Monday, the 4th - the morning

2011-07-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Independence Day!! (Just a little late on the wishing, but we enjoy our freedom everyday, so it still counts, right?)

Monday morning the boys and I slept in til around 8am or so and let Biju and Bino sleep until 9am. We had a lazy morning, which was nice.

Bino tried his hand at holding Aren again.

There we go!! Able to show off that awesome outfit he bought for Aren (it says My Uncle ROCKS - and has a guitar. Do you remember he's in a band?)

The boys wanted to introduce Bino to the Wii. He played some archery for awhile and got some tips from everyone.

Then the boys wanted to show off their wicked cool dance moves.

This one...

...likes to dance like this. (Yes, his pajama pants are inside out. Don't ask me - he's the one who put them on!)

This one.....

...likes to dance like this, too.

(My friend, Kyle, came by shortly after Aren's birth to bring us a meal. She was treated to a full on performance by the boys. It included a lot of wild dancing and standing on heads/hands like in the above photos.)

After everyone got dressed for the day, Biju took Bino out to lunch for some vietnamese soup. Then it was back home very quickly to get ready for the airport. Before they left, though, Uncle got in a bit more playtime.

We really loved having Bino come for a visit. We certainly wished it could've been for a longer period of time. Perhaps next time we'll be able to enjoy a visit from him and Annie Auntie (have I mentioned he's getting married in September??) and Amachee and Echachan!

Sunday, the 3rd

2011-07-18T10:46:00.000-05:00

Hello again. I apologize for the delay in posts. I have a lot to share with you, I really do, I just haven't taken the time to get it all written up. So, here I am posting events from Bino's visit and the 4th of July ~~a week and a half~~ two weeks late.
We've done some computer juggeling lately which means the pictures I want aren't always where they're supposed to be. Now, however, I've got all of our latest photos loaded onto our latest computer and I've even got all the photos I want to share loaded onto Blogger. We can now continue. I know you're all just on the edge of your seats waiting to find out what happened the rest of the weekend, right?? (humor me)
We woke up on Sunday morning with the intention of getting onto the road to my parents by 9am. Per our usual fashion we got out the door later than we would've liked. It was closer to 10:30am. Oops.

Ready for a road trip. Headphones ready, too, to watch a movie on the way.

We made a detour on the way to my parents and showed Bino a casino. Biju had 3 free buffet tickets and the kids ate free so lunch only cost us tip money. Nice.

We ended up at my parents a few hours later than planned so we just stopped by real quick to show Bino their farm. He snapped a few pictures then we hopped back in the van and drove to the next hill to my brother's place. I do believe the head count was around 50 throughout the whole afternoon/evening!

We introduced Bino to family and friends and just sorta hung out for awhile.

Alex chillin' in the shade w/ Bino Uncle. They were quickly warned that there may be chiggars lurking in that grass! (We all came home with bites - even those who didn't sit on the ground!)

There was some more shooting of the clay, like last year, and the kiddos enjoyed learning how to shoot a BB gun. Alex even got in on the action this year! (With close adult supervision, of course.)

Uncle Matt, Greg, James, Uncle Jeff participating in a shoot-off.

Bino Uncle got to shoot a few times!!

Ajay saw Bino Uncle and Daddy together, so he joined them. Biju moved so he would be shading his son.

Family friend and neighbor, Greg, helping the kids with the BB gun.

Alex was thrilled that he got to try - thanks, Greg!!

We had a pot-luck dinner and there was lots of tasty food. Some of the family worked pretty hard in the kitchen getting stuff ready to go out to the picnic tables while Dad and Matt took the hot job of working the grill. (I don't know who that other guy is on the right - maybe someone Matt works with?)

After all of the shooting was done the kids got to run out into the field to pick up the un-broken clay rounds. And, of course, they took part in the typical random running around up to no good type fun.

There was holding of babies (Janel with Aren, Jeff with Tessa), some shooting off of daytime fireworks, and more chillin' out in the heat.

Once it finally got dark we got to see some great night time fireworks. We saw not only our own goods but we could watch all the other works going on around the countryside. (I tried to load a couple of quick videos that Bino took of some awesome aerials but they wouldn't load. Phooey.)

After they were done we loaded up the van and headed home. We got back around 2:45am. Biju was the only one who stayed awake the whole drive (considering he was driving). Even Aren slept the whole drive and then transitioned to bed wonderfully!

More on the 4th activities later! (but hopefully not too much later)

Saturday, the 2nd

2011-07-08T08:33:00.000-05:00

As you saw with the previous post, Bino Uncle came for a visit last weekend. It flew by quite quickly. The boys really had a blast hanging out with him. Biju and I enjoyed his company as well but in more of a low-key fashion (as in we didn't crawl all over him and hang on him like a monkey!).

Here is Bino walking into our house for the first time. I gave Aren to Bino mistakenly thinking he had held tiny babies before. It turns out he hadn't and wasn't entirely sure what to do with Aren. Biju got a good chuckle out of that before he helped his brother out.

On Saturday after we got home from the airport, let the boys wrestle a bit and had lunch, we started watching a movie on Netflix. My Name is Kahn - which is actually available at some Red Boxes. A very good movie - another one that I recommend you watch if you aren't opposed to reading subtitles.

*Sidenote - Biju and I now turn on subtitles for American movies. It is weird for me not to read the dialogue. It helps when there is extra noise in the background, if the conversation in the movie gets too quiet to hear, or if anyone in the movie has a thick accent.*

We stopped the movie about a quarter of the way through so we could go visit with some friends. We drove to the W's house and the R's met us there. We like to have game night with these two families so it was a real treat to be able to introduce them to Biju's brother.

Ellie, Alex and Ajay. (Ellie is 6 months to the day younger than Alex.)

Russell, Lisa, Me w Aren, Bino - what a comfy couch!

Russell, Bino, Biju, Ronnie.

We spent about an hour visiting with them before we stopped by a fireworks tent to pick up some goodies to shoot off. We then took Bino to a chinese buffet and Ajay took Uncle's photo next to the big fish tank.

Once dinner was over we headed back home where Bino Uncle helped with the boys' nighttime routine. After Ajay and Alex were asleep we watched the rest of our movie. We got to bed later than we should have but that's to be expected, right?? It really was a great day.

We've got company!

2011-07-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

We're all so excited - Bino Uncle has come for a visit! He was sent to Minnesota to work for a month so we took advantage of the 3 day holiday weekend and invited him to fly down. We picked him up from the airport this morning.

Ajay wanted Uncle to ride in the back of the van with him and being the good uncle that he is, Bino obliged.

We came home and enjoyed some chicken curry that Biju made up. However, before we could dive into lunch, the boys needed to wrestle around with Uncle for awhile!

We're looking forward to the rest of the weekend with our guest. We certainly have our next 2+ days packed with fun plans! I think right now the boys have dragged him outside to do some popper fireworks with them.

Movie Suggestions?

2011-06-30T11:58:00.000-05:00

We've done it. We've gone and joined the "cool crowd" and signed up for our one-month free trial with Netflix. What is the first movie the boys have chosen to watch? A Daffy Duck flick. Of ALL the movies and fabulous new kid shows they could have chosen from they chose a cartoon that was made in 1983. So be it.

We've also got our first DVD headed our way in the mail - it is 3 Idiots, an Indian movie. Not a good title but it was actually a decent movie from what I could tell. Biju watched this with his brother, Bino, while in India but it didn't have subtitles so I didn't get to really watch it with them. I've got a couple other Indian movies lined up for our Instant Queue along with some kids movies. I'm very excited to have this awesome tool in our entertainment tool-kit!

So! What are some good movies you've seen? We like comedy, drama, family, foreign and the occasional action. And they don't have to be new releases - we're game for older movies that we may have missed.

(While we're here I'll pass on the title of an Indian movie that I really enjoyed: Like Stars on Earth [Taare Zameen Par]. Very sweet. If you don't mind watching a movie with subtitles then this would be a great flick to check out.)

Do tell!

Our week

2011-06-29T08:00:00.005-05:00

Over the last week or so this is pretty much what we've been up to.

Alex chit-chatting on the phone w/ Aunt Shelly.

Ajay helping me de-stem some gooseberries.

This is about as far as we've gotten - I need to finish up and do something with them!

Making an I-Spy toy as a birthday gift for a friend.

Can you find a yellow balloon? (And about 25 other items tucked in there.)

Alex told me he was cold all over - even the top of his head!

Holding Aren

2011-06-27T16:48:00.000-05:00

Aren wasn't as freaked out as he appears in this photo.

(You can see my hand on the left side of the photo, helping Alex keep a hold on Aren.)

Daddy keeping him company during a get together w/ friends.

How I've been holding Aren lately.

Easiest way to get him to conk out.

18 months between Audrey and Aren.

Once she got a taste of baby-holding she wanted MORE.

Uncle Carrick got a turn.

Nana getting some snuggles in.

The pack-n-play bed "holding" Aren (with the help of my nursing pillow and a blanket).

The bouncy seat finally getting a turn to hold Aren - only briefly, though.

(These pictures have been added in no particular order.)

My Three Sons

2011-06-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to put pics of all three boys up in similar poses around the same ages. Enjoy!

Ajay w/ the parents at birth:

Alex w/ the parents at birth:

Aren w/ the parents at birth:

Sleeping at the hospital:

Ajay

Alex

Aren

Sleeping at home in the nursing pillow:

Ajay


Alex

Aren

Tummy Time:

Ajay

Alex

Aren

Diapers

Ajay

Alex

Aren

Early smiles:

Ajay - judging by his chubs he was probably closer to 2 months here.

Alex - 2 days before his one month mark.

Aren - an accidental sorta-smile. He has given us his first grin - 1 day before his one month mark but I didn't have the camera out.

My love-hate relationship with diapers

2011-06-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

Cloth Diapers:
I love them because they are so much healthier than disposable diapers. (for baby and environment)
I love them because they are so much cuter on a baby than disposable diapers.
I hate them because after three children I still cannot find the best wash routine and either have detergent build up or pee build up. Neither one are fun to have since they both can cause a rash.

Disposable Diapers:
I love them because I don't have to deal with finding the right wash routine.
I hate them because they are so unhealthy for baby and environment.
I hate them because they are worthless for containing big poo messes and they ruin cute baby clothes!!

You know.... When Alex was just under a year old, I briefly considered and looked into elimination communication (EC). It wasn't something I actually implemented but maybe I will with Aren. I'm so done with dealing with diapers. Wouldn't it be nice to have a diaper free baby?? (I'm not affiliated with that second link, just wanted to provide anyone out there with an interest in EC a resource to check into.)

That's all I have to say about that. (For now.)

4 weeks old

2011-06-17T14:02:00.000-05:00

Is that possible?? The last 4 weeks of my pregnancy draaaagged by and the first 4 weeks of Aren's "out of the womb" life has just zoomed by. Goodness gracious.

He's such a sweetheart, we've decided we'll keep him (ha ha). We can usually count on at least 5-6 hours of sleep during the night (typically 10pm-4am or so). Such a change from Alex's pattern of waking to nurse every hour and a half. He's gaining weight, though I don't know how much he weighs right now. I just know he's filling out and the newborn sleeper I put him in earlier (for the above photo) is starting to get snug (could be the bulk of the cloth diaper helping to make it snug, too).

This was more like 3 weeks old, but it was his first "tummy time" so I wanted to share :)

Snoozing on our bed.

Getting some cuddle time w/ the big brothers.

All three together - actually on his 4 week mark.

We've discovered he likes the Mai Tai wrap better than the Ring Sling. I feel more comfortable using the MT at this age - wearing him tummy to tummy makes it easier to check and make sure he's still breathing!

With my hand on his back, just to get a good "size" picture - and look, he's still able to wear his newborn prorap diaper cover!

Look at that darn baby acne on his handsome face :( Go away, baby acne!!

And I had to throw in a shot of the big brothers that I took today!

Baby's first bath

2011-06-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

Well, he actually had a shower first. Okay, I guess technically he had his first bath at the hospital.

Then he had his first shower. I brought him into the shower with me before his bellybutton stump fell off completely, just to give him a good rinse. Then after his stump fell off he was able to get his first official bath at home. While my mom was staying with us for a few days, I had Biju get out the baby bathtub from storage. Here are some photos I got of the little guy. He really did enjoy sitting in the warm water. He was quite calm.

(I may not be getting pictures of Aren every 5 minutes like I did with our first born, but I do think I'm keeping up with getting the "firsts" and other important shots, along with a handful of "just for fun" photos. I hope you don't mind me sharing some with you!)

Keeping occupied

2011-06-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

School is out and summer is here. Now what? So far, the boys have been waking up, watching a bit of PBS, going outside to play before it gets too hot, then coming back in to dance to some music, play with play dough, beat each other up, etc. I've been trying to come up with some activities for the boys to do, but I think they need more. I guess it's time to check the library's schedule and a few other things around town to find some things to do on the cheap (or, more preferably, free!). Anyone have any great ideas?

Here are a few things they've been doing:

Playing memory

Hanging on the laundry line (and getting told not to for the emp-teenth time).

Showing off some karate moves.

They set up this bike in a rut so it worked like an exercise bike - they could ride all day and never leave our backyard!

I got a great idea from a blog I follow and cut out two letter As for the boys to decorate.

Decorating the letter A. I even let them play with glue and (ack!) glitter.

Playing ball with Nana while she was visiting.

Early morning shenanigans.

Nana has a Netflix account and let the boys watch Planet 51 on the computer.

A couple of giraffes eating trees. (Or - a couple of boys eating broccoli.)

Ajay turned 6!

2011-06-09T14:46:00.001-05:00

(Sorry for the delay in posts - I thought I was out of space for pictures, but it turns out I'm not. Yay!)

Time is flying by. As I sit here holding Aren it's easy to compare him to what Ajay and Alex looked like as babies. I can't believe it has been 6 years since Ajay was as small (smaller) than Aren is now!

We had a little party for him with my mom while she was in town visiting. We invited Shelly and her crew to join us. Grilled hot dogs, baked beans and Doritos were on the menu. We kept it simple and Ajay loved it. He had requested cupcakes so I picked some up. I promised him he can help me make some from scratch later this week - he loved that idea since it will seem like he's getting two birthday desserts.

Playing in the sprinkler - Ajay, Alex, Paige, Kyleigh.

Ajay showing us just how big a 6 year old is!

Alex watching Daddios light the candles on the cupcakes.

"Can we eat them now??"

Our big boy, posing w/ his new bike.

Just Pictures

2011-05-29T17:42:00.001-05:00

What's in a name?

2011-05-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

Do you know how hard it is to name another human being? There is so much to take into account! Will it be a strong name as an adult? How easy will it be for other kids to manipulate the name and tease the child? Do the initials make up some weird combo? What does the name mean? (After all, Amos means "burden" and even if we did like the name, I can't imagine naming my child "burden"!!)

Then there are always the stipulations we put upon ourselves. We wanted an Indian name that began with "A" and was 4 letters long and was 2 syllables. Now you add in Biju's taste in names and my taste in names and that makes it almost impossible to come up with a name for a third boy!! We were very willing to be flexible. An "A" name with 5-6 letters, or a 4-letter name beginning w/ a vowel other than "A" - and by the time he was born we were even willing to let it all go out the window just to be sure we found a name suitable for this child. Aren came *this* close to being named Samuel. We both liked the name. But in the end, we decided it just didn't fit with our other two boys and we really did want to stick with our original plan. The only "want" we didn't end up with was the name being of Indian origin.

I'm quite pleased with the names of all three of our boys and, as it turns out, they all have strong meanings.

Ajay: Unconquerable
Alex: Defender of Man
Aren: Mountain of Strength

Aren's Story

2011-05-23T19:13:00.000-05:00

Only in our wildest imagination could Biju and I have thought that our baby would join the world the way he did.

So how far back should I begin? (Grab yourself a cold drink and maybe a bucket of popcorn, cuz this is a long one! Anyone who knows me knows I can't just tell a story, let alone tell a short one.)

A couple of weeks ago my body started teasing me with false labor. I would have contractions coming on a fairly regular basis but then they would fizzle out. Each false labor episode brought on contractions that were more intense. Each time I would comment, with a sense of hope "well, these are more painful than last time.." but I was still able to walk and talk through them so I never ended up going to the hospital (after my initial visit at 34 weeks, that is). I was up until 1am or so on more than one occasion. The only good that I felt was coming out of this was that at each OB appointment my doctor would tell me I was progressing. I had decided, and told everyone that would listen, that it was official: I would not know when I was going into real labor and would ignore it for too long.

Wednesday the 18th was Ajay's Field Day at school. It was supposed to be held in the morning but rain pushed it to the afternoon. I was feeling quite under the weather that day. I had either caught a cold or my allergies were bothering me. We're talking runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, sneezing and an overall feeling of "ugghhhh." I managed to squeeze in two 20-30 minute naps that morning. Alex and I went to the school to join Ajay at 1pm and I was assigned 3 additional children to walk around with. We trekked all over the playground while the boys participated in many different activities and I "enjoyed" a few Braxton-Hicks contractions. A few times Alex decided he wanted to go in the opposite direction and tugged hard at my hand usually timing it smack dab in the middle of a contraction.

Once we got home we took it pretty easy. Biju got home around 3:45pm (a few minutes earlier than usual) and told me I should go get another little nap in before I went to get Ajay from the bus-stop. Aside from dealing with the nasty cold symptoms I was feeling decent - no more contractions than "normal." Throughout the evening, they picked up, though, and I was getting frustrated knowing I was going to have to deal with more false labor. The contractions were close enough to realize they were close but I didn't have the desire to time them because I knew they would still be too sporadic to mean anything. And again, they didn't hurt too badly.

After dinner I ran myself a bath and let the boys watch "Frankie" (aka "The Middle" - for some reason the boys adore this show.) The contractions calmed down a little but didn't disappear completely. We got the boys down to bed and put on a movie (a movie that left me a sobbing mess by the end). Every 8-10 minutes while watching the movie I would stand up to make a contraction more comfortable. And even though I didn't think the contractions were actually going to lead anywhere, I was hoping that gravity would help the contraction and at least at my OB appt. on Friday I would be even further progressed.

After the movie (11:30pm) we went to bed. I was surprised when the contractions I had been having through the movie continued and woke me up. I finally got out of bed around 12:20 and started timing them. They were still around 8-10 min. apart and lasted 45 seconds-ish. I read birth stories on the internet to keep myself occupied but I was getting bored with sitting still and waiting for another contraction. So I got up and started cleaning my house. I figured just in case these turned real the house needed to look decent for whoever came over to watch the boys. Also, switching activities is good to see if the contractions change. They did - they got closer. Like every 2-3 minutes closer and only lasting 20-30 seconds. Blah. Major clue that I was enduring more false labor. I sat back down to see what would happen. They went back to coming every 4-7 minutes but lasted more like 30-45 seconds again. I got back up to do more cleaning and they stayed around 3-4 minutes. Finally around 2am I just couldn't take the waiting anymore. I went to bed with the thought that if it was false I would be able to sleep through them.

I woke up 2 hours later to use the restroom. It took me a minute to remember that I had been hoping I would be in labor by now. Since I slept a solid two hours and didn't wake up once with a contraction I was bummed. Then (cue intense music) I heard a pop. I wondered what it was and vaguely thought it could've been my water breaking. I never had a big gush, though. I finally went back to bed (20 min. after waking) and just in case grabbed myself a cloth diaper (a trick I learned from my mom!). I laid in bed and the contractions picked up in intensity. I mean really. These bad boys hurt. Biju woke up and asked me if we needed to go to the hospital. Do you know that despite thinking my water could've broken and having intense contractions, I STILL told him "I'm not sure if this is it." - Darn all that false labor for making me so unsure of the real thing!!!

We talked a bit and decided this was probably "it" since it was getting to the point of "I can't lay here through the next contraction, I need to walk!" We laid out a plan, which included calling my parents at 5am to catch my dad before he headed off to work (I think he leaves at 6am) and waiting until 6am to call someone to come be with the boys. We didn't want to wake anyone too early. However, we quickly realized that we shouldn't wait to wake anyone (due to the intensity of the contractions and realizing it was, indeed, my water that had broken.) Biju jumped in the shower while I called my parents. My mom laughed and predicted (for the 20th time, probably) that the baby would be here before they made it down (they have a 3 hour drive). I told her the contractions were coming about every 3 minutes, but that was a guess. She told me it sounded like they were a lot closer than every three minutes.

Biju got out of the shower and I jumped in with the hopes that the shower would help ease the pain of the contractions. (Funny how easy it is to forget how truly painful contractions can be!!) After I got out of the shower Biju went to wake our neighbor. I put on my clothes but could do nothing else but lean against a dresser and rotate my hips. I had to focus so hard on making my body relax. Biju came back with our neighbor, I gave her the list I had written up (a couple of weeks ago) that explained what the boys' morning routine was. She looked at me with pity in her eyes and made a comment about how she was glad she was done with having children!

We walked out the door to get into the car, Biju locked the house, then I realized we'd forgotten our hospital bag and the camera. He ran back inside while I leaned up against the trunk of the car to avoid being overwhelmed with pain. He came back out, tossed the stuff in the back of the car and we got in. I sat down and was unable to shut the door, so he had to get back out of the car to come around and shut my door. Looking back, it all seems like a scene from a movie that you think "well its funny but it couldn't happen in real life."

We started driving (at 5:50am) and hit every.red.light.possible on the way to the birthing center. At one point I remember mustering enough energy to weakly yell "run-it RUN-IT I DON'T CARE, JUST RUN IT!!!" and he explained "There's traffic coming" - ahhh man! (BTW - his car is a stick-shift and I felt every little jerk caused by shifting even though he was trying to be super gentle.)

He kept trying to reassure me that we would be there soon. I was still trying to relax. I was not looking forward to the checking in process and I was really dreading having to sit in the bed while they monitored my contractions. I knew I would need to be up and moving.

We pulled up in the circle drive and he got out of the car. He left his door open while he came around to open mine. I walked in the doors (at 5:57am) and leaned over their counters. The woman started asking questions and I just looked at Biju to do the answering. I had probably 3 contractions in the 5 minutes it took to get us checked in. I know he had to sign some papers in lieu of me. I was really focusing on letting every muscle release so I could make it through each contraction.

All of the sudden I was hit with a contraction that started to overtake me. I had been doing quite well with not being too vocal with my labor but this one forced me to let out not just a moan but a yell. Then all of the sudden I couldn't stop yelling. And just as I couldn't stop myself from yelling, I felt the urge to PUSH. (I had never felt this feeling with Ajay or Alex, despite both of their births being without medications.) My body started pushing and I couldn't stop it. Then I felt it. The ring of fire. Holy moly this baby was coming. Now. I remember thinking "I'm in the lobby, wearing jeans!" and this baby was coming. All I could do was yell "HE'S COMING! I CAN'T STOP HIM!" and other phrases along those lines.

Nurses started running in from all directions and Biju says he was grabbing me from both sides to try to hold him in (didn't want his neck to break by being born into my jeans!). The nurses got me over to the couch, Biju got my shoes, someone else got my jeans and they asked me to get my legs up onto the couch. Within two more pushes (one for his head, one for his shoulders), there he was. 6:03am. 6 full minutes after we walked through the doors of the birthing center.

**big breath**

They got me onto a wheel chair and took me back to a room so we could finish things up (placenta, stitches, etc). They weighed and measured him (7lb 3.8oz, 19in) and let Daddy hold him. As soon as I got the go ahead, I offered him some breakfast. He latched right on. It was as if he were made for nursing :)

I know there was a woman in the lobby when I started yelling but by the time I was wheeled out, she wasn't there anymore. Biju says she spoke to him later in the day, to see how things were. There was also a couple detained outside the building while I was in on the couch giving birth. Imagine the story they now get to tell.

We shudder to think where this child would've been born if any number of things would've detained us. What if we had needed to wait for someone to drive across town to come watch the boys? What if we had chosen to go to the hospital instead of the birthing center? Sure, the hospital is just across the street, but we would've had to park and go up to the L&D floor - perhaps we would've had an elevator baby instead of our little "couch potato" as my BIL so lovingly referred to him.

Biju called my parents to let them know that, yes, the baby arrived before they did. They got to town around 8:30am. They hung out with us through the day and we searched the internet trying to make a final decision on a name for this child. My sister, Shelly, got the boys from our neighbor and brought them up to meet their new baby brother, then Shelly took Alex back home with her and Biju took Ajay to school.

We came home Friday afternoon and we're all doing well. Actually, Biju is sick again - possibly a cold, or allergies, or, we're hoping not, another round of Strep. I'm still not 100% - very tired, and if I miss a dose of my pain meds I can really tell it. Overall, though, we're adjusting well. The boys are absolutely in love with Aren. They can't keep away from him and when they wake up in the mornings, its like Christmas when you forget its Christmas. Does that make sense? You wake up then suddenly remember Santa brought presents and you're all excited. That's the way it is with the boys - they suddenly remember there is a new member of the family to love on.

And to make this post even longer - the photos!

Holding Aren immediately after his birth on the couch and the nurses trying to get everything sorted out.

Daddios with his new son

Taking a little snooze

Getting a peek at their new brother

Getting to hold Aren for the first time

Checking out his new world

Our new little bundle of joy!

2011-05-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

I would like to proudly announce that we have our new little bundle of joy!

Aren James was born on Thursday morning, May 19th, at 6:03am. He was 7 pounds 3.8 ounces (we'll call it 4!) and 19 inches long. The biggest of the three boys at birth! He has black hair, and eyes that I'm quite certain will turn brown. He came in a blaze of glory and has quite a story for himself. We came home today, Friday, and everyone is doing well.

I have since discovered that I have reached my photo limit here on Blogger. I will do my best to get his amazing story written up in a timely manner and I will also figure out how to get more photos on here.

Have a great weekend!!