Fun in the sun!

Our friends, "Aunt" Lisa and "Uncle" Russell (Wussell, as Ajay pronounces it) have moved to a new place. In their community there is a nice pool to use in addition to tennis courts, a volleyball net, and a park. Saturday we were invited to come for a visit, along with the Rouse family. The kids l.o.v.e.d it. It did take my boys awhile to warm up to being in the pool (it was Alex's first time, and although Ajay has had lessons at the Y, this was a bit different). After swimming, we enjoyed a tastey meal and headed back out to the park. The following pictures will tell more about our evening than my words would.

(Alex had to borrow a pair of shoes from Ellie. Despite a 6 month difference, they're about the same size.)

Playing catch-up

This is my 3rd post for the day. Trying to get all caught up with everything, to keep you all current :) This post will have a few random things.

Some good friends of ours moved away about 2 years ago and we miss them very much! Luckily they still have strong ties to Kansas so they are up visiting right now. We missed seeing them in December because I had the flu then we flew to India. Again, I ended up with the flu during their time in KS, but since we weren't flying to another country we were able to postpone the visit until I was healthy again (and Biju, too, since we had the same thing). Tonya brought Helen (9 mo. older than Ajay), Henri (9 mo. younger than Ajay) and Heather (6 wks. younger than Alex) and we're hoping to meet up with Andrew in a couple weeks when he makes it to town. The little ones had a blast running around the backyard - Heather kept trying to drink the dirty wading-pool water while Alex kept trying to eat the dirt/mud from the yard. Helen, Henri and Ajay played Knights and Princesses, and in one of the pictures, you can see them sitting astride a dragon, I believe. I made up a popcorn snack (the "old fashioned" way - on the stove top!) that the kids really dug.... do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of 5 children 4 years old and younger??

This next blurb is a little sad. I'm so sad that Ajay seems to have had a reaction to one of his booster shots. While we were driving to his well-check, the big guy kept telling us he didn't want any shots. I couldn't tell him he wouldn't get any, but I told him I didn't think he needed any. We just switched doctor offices and apparently the new place figured he was due for his boosters. We did the DTaP, Polio (combined shot) and a Hep A (since we do a lot of travelling). He'll need a 2nd Hep A in 6 months, if I remember correctly. He was brave but let out quite the yelp when the needles went in. I'm glad Biju was there to help keep him still for the second shot. It just broke my heart to see him crying like that. The next day (yesterday) his thigh was a bit swollen and tight and felt hot and Ajay kept itching. The nurse reassured me that unfortunately, sometimes these things happen and to ice it. I called later about the itching and she said to use hydrocortizone. Today the redness had spread, it's still a bit tight and warm, and he'll occassionally itch his leg. I will likely call the doctor's office again tomorrow morning unless, by some miracle, the rash has disappeared by the time he wakes up.

This next section consists of random pictures that I think my kids look especially cute in.

Alex climbed into the entertainment center:

An impassioned Ajay trying to keep Alex away from his food coloring and water experiment!

Bathtime silliness:

Ajay getting ready to smack the bubbles in his hand, Alex somehow knowing something big is about to happen:

Smack! Bubbles everywhere!

Aww! One of the rare moments both boys are playing side by side without hurting each other!

Petting Gracie:

Tonight, before stories and prayers:

My next goal? Get some of the videos of the boys on here :)

Ajay's birthday celebration

On Ajay's actual birthday, we made up some cupcakes (I misread the recipe, so they weren't the yummiest in my opinion, but they were decent). Biju's parents got online in India so we got out the webcam. Our microphone wasn't working, so while we were able to hear and see Echachan, Amachee and Bino Uncle, they were only able to watch the boys act like monkeys. (Probably better anyway since Alex felt like crying and asking to nurse almost the whole conversation).

That evening we watched my two nieces while my sis and her husband went out for their 10th anniversary, so Ajay got to play with his cousins for awhile. Biju and I gave him one of his gift bags, which had a book, a spin-y toy and 500 water balloons. He was a very happy boy!

We also set up a seperate celebration for Sunday afternoon, however 2 of the 3 families were unable to make it. Ajay didn't notice since we hadn't told him the others might be there (we knew they might not make it). The night before, we took him to Toys-R-Us to pick out a toy and he chose a nerf gun (the many toys distracted him while I picked out the rest of his birthday gifts). We celebrated with cousin Paige and Aunt Shelly, and they brought a fabulous birthday gift....a fish!! He named him Nemo. He also got a Cat in the Hat game, a doctor's kit and walkie-talkies. The kids took a little dip in the wading pool, played with the water balloons, had some cake, opened presents. What more could a 4 year old want??

Ajay loves that fish! "I wanna feed my fish!" He enjoys talking with the fish: "Hi, Nemo!" - "I'll be right back, Neemy-Neemy!" I hope we don't end up seeing Nemo belly up anytime soon!

How does your garden grow?

Well, this next post here should be Ajay's 1st-2nd year photos but I have not gotten around to sorting through those shots yet. Instead, I'm going to show pictures of our garden and give a little update on how things are growing.

Out of the 7 stalks of corn, 4 are doing quite well, 2 are pretty decent, and the last one is the one that was knocked over by Alex but still fighting for a chance. I think the bunnies are still nibbling on all of them but they're growing so quickly I think they'll soon be out of reach for the little thieves. Our zucchini plants are quite large and have little orange-yellow flowers all over. I love looking at our baby zukes growing! Tomato plants are getting really full and I've seen a couple little yellow flowers bloom. No signs of fruit, yet, tho. Same with the peppers - not as full, but trying. Many little flowers, they've been flowering for awhile now, but also, no fruit. Our peas are all but gone. Just little stems where the leaves should be. Blasted Bunnies!!! Onions are busy growing underground. I chopped off the tops a few weeks back to let the nutrients go into growing the bulb instead of the tops. The tops grew back pretty quickly, so I'm hoping that means there are full onions just blooming underneath! The eggplant are filling out nicely, also. I don't know how long it will take to start dropping fruit, but I'm enjoying looking at the soft leaves frow. Our bush beans are growing nicely, quite leafy. The spaghetti squash is starting to have buds the look like the zucchini did before they had flowers, so maybe that means we'll start growing squash instead of just leaves soon!?

Here are some pics of everything. Enjoy!

Bush beans (green beans) and the lone spaghetti squash:

The full view of the "big" garden:

The corn:

Zucchini:

The two tomato plants (I think they have Early Blight??), with eggplant, onions, peppers, peas in the background:

Ajay through the years.... Year 1

I'd like to show off pics of our big guy through the years. I've been trying to get pics from all 4 years narrowed down, and as you can guess that is no small task. So instead of trying to group them all together into one post, I'll split the posts up into years. Here are pics from year one!! Enjoy :)

The First Year:

June (2005):

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

January (2006):

February:

March:

April:

May:

June - First Birthday!

Ajay is 4!

Happy Birthday, Ajay!
(Green happens to be my big guy's favorite color)

I thought that in honor of Ajay's birthday, I would post his birth story. Even as he runs around in his underwear because he's upset that none of his pants (even the elastic ones) are tight enough for him, I can't help but be filled with love for this munchkin. He has a great imagination and makes us laugh. I love the minds of little ones - on a drive about a month back he looked out the window, saw the full moon and said "Look! The moon is all put together!" He see's the bunnies in our backyard and wants to go feed them, I just tell him that they get enough food from our garden! He enjoys videos/tv and dancing to his kid's music cds. He still seems small to me, but I'll find out where he ranks amongst his peers next week at his well-child check-up. He has a very sweet heart and loves his little brother very much (even tho he has a rough way of showing it!)
And now, as I head off to help him make his birthday cake, I leave you with his birth story (as typed up a few days after his birth) .....

Hello Everyone!! Its been a long 9 months in the making, but our Baby Boy is here! He's the cutest Lil Guy ever!! Here are his stats: (Sorry we're just now getting this out, we weren't able to get our cable connected until today - Thursday)

Name: Ajay Joseph (pronounced ah-JAY - sort of like a sneeze - ah-CHOO....ah-JAY)
Born: Sunday, June 5th, 11:45pm
Weight: 6 pounds, 3.6 ounces
Length: 18 1/2 inches
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Dark Brown
Here's the story of what happened...

A contraction woke me up at 5:20am Sunday morning (our 2nd day of moving into our new place! - luckily my family was in town to help and they didn't have to make a second trip!). I must've woken Biju because he asked me what was wrong - I said it hurts, so he reminded me to BREATHE! I was able to fall back asleep, and 40 minutes later another woke me up, then 40 minutes after that another one. At this point it was time to wake up for the day and I started moving around the house and taking my shower and what not and the contractions (from here on out known as ctx) got closer together. I didn't want to time them because I didn't want to jinx them and make them stop! We got over to our new place where my brother and his family had slept, and my mom and dad, who'd stayed at my sisters, came over. We made breakfast and started working on the house. My ctx were still coming, but since I couldn't do any heavy work, I sat down and started going through the baby clothes and getting them put into his dresser with the help of my sister in law. While I was sitting, the ctx spaced themselves out to one every half hour! They were supposed to get closer together, not further apart! By this point I was thinking I had jinxed myself by calling our Doc to give her a heads up that we might go to the hospital - now it was looking like I was jumping the gun. I started doing other things around the house and the day passed with irregular ctx - coming whenever they felt like it. Around 3pm, we went over to our old house to pick up some more items before going to my sisters for dinner... we didn't make it for dinner. The ctx were coming a lot faster, and they sorta took me by surprise, cuz they seemed to suddenly jump to every 3-4 minutes! I was expecting them to gradually get closer, not to do so suddenly! I kept having to lean over a chair or my mom or the trunk of the car to wait for one to pass! Finally we decided it was time to go to the hospital. We checked in at 5:09pm (Biju made special note of what time we got there) and the ctx were officially about 4 min. apart. I was checked by the dr. on call and he said I was at 6cm, and we wouldn't be going home without baby!! We called my friend Lisa so she could come and be our secretary :-) She kept a log of what happened and what time it happened, and all my ctx, and a few of our phrases - it helped me keep my mouth in check! 2 hours after check-in, I was a 7...Only a 7?!? All that pain and 2 hours and I'd only progressed 1 freakin' centimeter?? Well we were able to get up and walk around so my nurse directed me to a passage way that crosses over one of the streets - she said it has a slight angle which might help progress things. My mom and dad and sister were were by my side during this time while Biju went to the car to get our things. When Biju got back he started helping me count my breaths - I think it was his counting that helped me get through the contractions. I finally made it to 8 cm, but wasn't making it much further, so Dr. Cobb and I decided to break my water. Boy did things get intense after that! Biju helped me into the tub and we turned on the jets. I thought they were intense in the tub but once I got out I realized how much the tub was helping me. I shivered and my teeth chattered out of the tub until I was able to warm back up. I got back into the bed for a bit more, but knew I should walk around a bit to help dilate. So Biju helped me walk around the room - I stood behind him with my arms draped over his shoulders and we walked around. I then decided to try the labor ball and it wasn't nearly as comfy as I thought it would be. I eventually got back into bed and Dr. Cobb said I was close to 9 1/2 cm and Doc said to start setting things up cuz we'd have a baby within the half hour (it was another hour after that). Everyone kept telling me to let them know when I felt the need to push - I never REALLY felt the urge to push, but the pressure did get stronger, so I told them I thought I was ready. I started pushing and they told me to "wrap around the baby" - I pushed as hard as I could and I pushed that baby boy out in 14 minutes! I did get a local to help numb the area, but that was all! No epidural or any other sort of medicine. All natural is painful, but I think definately worth it! Ajay was quite alert and they put him on my tummy right away. Daddy and Mommy got a little emotional when we saw our Lil Guy staring up at us. Such an amazing sight. Ajay is a great little baby, he has quite a content little personality. He can get quite loud when we're not able to latch on right away, but after some cooing and shooshing, he calms down enough to try again. He was 5lbs 14oz yesterday when the Home Health Nurse weighed him, so we have a few ounces to go before we're back up to his birth weight. I'm afraid he's starting to get his days and nights turned around, so we'll have to work on that.
i now have the lil guy nursing in my arms, so typing is a bit more difficult. hope everyone is well!

All our love, Kalinda, Biju and Ajay