Saturday, the 2nd

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!

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!