Ain't this purty?

Monday morning was a rough one for Vinay. He was being a good driver, waiting patiently at a light when someone rear ended him. Happily, luckily, thank the goddess, he's completely ok. The air bag didn't deploy and the only damage (that we know of at this point) is exterior. It's a big ol' hassle to arrange all of the various factions: insurance, body shop, rental car, etc. But again, the bottom line is that Daddy is ok.

Just a few pics.....

Isn't this the Church Lady face??? "Well, isn't that special?"

How sweet is this?

Like I said, Bear is back and in a big way. He/She (Bear changes gender often, Amiya is very supportive of transgender issues it would seem) is always with her lately. I went in to tuck Amiya in a few nights ago and, I'll admit, to make sure she was still breathing (When does that worry stop? She's three already!) and I found that not only was she tucked in all snug and tight, but so was Bear with his/her very own pillow and blanket formed into a little sleeping bag just for him/her. It was actually pretty artfully arranged - the blanket is underneath and over Bear with a tab folded over in front. Lucky Bear - such love!

Everything's Cronkly

That's Amiya's new word. She uses it for just about everything and it can mean just about anything. So, if you were wondering, everything is just cronkly around here lately.

Today was a day at the beach at the invitation of Gabe and his parents. I felt a bit like the paparazzi as I snapped photos of the two chums from afar. I think they look a bit like Brangelina and I may try to sell my shots to the tabloids.

Ok, so clearly she's not buxomy enough to be Angelina and his sideburns aren't quite Brad yet, but with a little imagination we could all just as easily believe that they are on the beaches of Namibia as the truth that they are at Fort De Soto. I even pixelated it for you to give it that extra grainy feel - good, eh?

It was a beach day for our family and Mommy has nice red stripes on her arms and back to prove it. It was perfect weather - 86 with a breeze and blue skies. The kids played in the water and the sand and stole branches from each other all afternoon. Us parents rotated through supervision and visiting and it was very, very nice. Amiya and Gabe are perfecting the boy/girl relationship thing - they claim each other as best friends and then act like they will wither away if they have to share anything at all. They whacked away at some croquet balls for all of about three minutes and then exasperated Mr. Matt by pulling up the stake everytime he walked away. Ah, gotta love it!

Kev was a trooper at the beach, as always. He wowed all the grown-ups with his extremely loud poops and then stayed quietly in his little seat until he wanted a meal. That's him in the infant seat beneath the umbrella. He was content for about 45 minutes in there and then wanted to eat. After his meal, Mommy rocked him and sang Baby Beluga (the only song Amiya wants to sing lately) while he checked out the displays at the beach.

I wasn't lying...

Remember when I said it's really, really difficult to get a picture of Amiya smiling these days?

(My personal favorite)

Amiya News

I was too much of a nervous Mommy
and I didn't let Amiya have nuts until she was well past the recommended age of two. The child is making up for it with a vengeance. She's got her Daddy's love of cashews and begs for them whenever we go to the store, claiming they're for Daddy. We don't often buy cashews because really, who needs extra cashews around the house? So she then turns to almonds, pecans and peanuts. Also not always in the house, but when they are, look out! In this picture, you can see her discovering the joys of the hazelnut. I didn't think she'd like them all that much, but she did. Almost to the point that there were none in our cookies and a whole lot in Amiya, our very own semi-naked chef.

Grandma told me that someone has been wondering what's up with Bear after he was cruelly tossed aside for the flashy Sherbet. The update:

That's right, Bear is back. And not only back, but back in favor in a big way. He's never been breastfed until now, but apparently Amiya is hip to the magic of breastmilk and Bear must need it something fierce because Amiya nursed him many times yesterday.

The Eyebrows Have It

Like any new parents, we spend a fair amount of time looking at Kev and generally proclaiming him the most (insert fabulous adjective here) baby on earth. But maybe our favorite feature of this guy is his eyebrows. Each eyebrow has at least four seperate sections and he seems able to move each section independently from the others. These are his stern eyebrow looks - they are definitely our favorite.

And now, if I hear even one single comment that he gets this from me and not his Daddy, I might just go ballistic. If ever he looks like his Daddy, here it is! I think Vinay should show these to his students the next time he has to deliver a scathing lecture about study habits or work ethics. Maybe he could just take Kev in and have him do it?

Smiles

These make the sleep deprivation worthwhile, ya know?

Happy Easter!

We don't really celebrate Easter and until Amiya clues into the concept of an Easter basket the Easter Bunny isn't stopping by our house so it's been a quiet day. We were able to get some minor cleaning projects done and we've officially converted to cloth diapers. They double the size of Kev's bum at least and they look pretty cute. We have twelve eggs waiting to be colored but Amiya doesn't seem to want to do it and I am not going to force a project involving food coloring on a three year old. If she doesn't want to then who I am to argue?

Anyway, we tried to do a few Easter pictures only because we did this with Amiya when she was a babe. Not nearly as successful this time. I think it's a combination of the wrong size basket (he wouldn't fit) and having a very busy three year old bustling around who either A. wanted nothing to do with the plastic eggs and screamed her little heart out or B. wanted everything to do with the plastic eggs and holding her brother.



No matter what we did, we couldn't coax a smile or even a non-grimace out of him. He was either screaming himself red or giving us a very stern look of reproach. Something about pastel colors and being too far away from anything offering sustenance.


We finally got this one - it's the only one where both kids weren't pulling a Mikey and making crazy faces. Why is it that when they hit 2.5 they think a smile is a contorted face? To get a normal shot of Amiya we count to three, wait until she checks if we've taken the picture and only then actually take the picture. She told me the other day that she is never, ever leaving me and she will be with me forever. I told her she had until she was 23 or had her bachelor's degree, whichever came first. Maybe if I figure her out before then she can stay through a Master's. But if not, she and all her crazy antics are out the door!

It has been a long time....

and I should maybe have a fabulous excuse, but I don't. I just haven't had the desire to try to be even moderately witty. Not that the kids haven't had their amusing moments, it was just too much effort to get here, log on, sit down, transfer pics and write about them. But I shall try because I know Grandma is probably on the floor, writhing about without pictures of her Grandkids.

Maybe the biggest reason for not feeling like blogging is because we've hit a rough spot (approximately the size of a football field) with Amiya. She loves Kev to pieces, she just doesn't love sharing all of Mommy's and Daddy's time with him. If only she could talk to him when she wanted and then stick him in the toy box while Mommy and Daddy play/paint/read/ walk/sing/whatever with her and only her. Her unhappiness has manifested itself in hitting us (although rarely), tantrums of massive proportions (complete with pee - she's our very own cocker spaniel) and sassiness. We've been talking up the good stuff that she does and praising even the very smallest of good behavior. "Good job sitting down Amiya!" "Good job eating your toast Amiya!" "Good job listening Amiya!" A lot of this is on us - it's way too easy to compare a helpless baby to a three-year-old and fall into believing that she is older and less needy than she is. She's three. It doesn't excuse everything that she's done, but it explains a lot and we need to be more mindful. We've sort of scheduled her day very, very strictly now and have ixnayed naps unless she chooses it. She does have to do two hours of quiet time in the afternoon - they're usually not very quiet, but at least she and I get some down time. We are also trying to make sure we do something fun with her every day if (that's a big if - get it???) she hasn't had a tantrum. She loves to play with sand, so we've been to the sand park many times and she even got her very own sand & water table for the lanai - all because of tantrum free days. It's not eally a sure thing though - yesterday was tantrumy despite having a great Tuesday complete with a trip to the sand park AND Cold Stone where she chose her very own toddlerish concoction of ice cream delicacies. We'll keep plugging away. Despite all of this, she remains a loving and lovable little girl. She is sweetness defined at moments and sometimes the only one that can get Kev to stop crying. When she sings, he listens and seeks her out. They have a sibling bond already and it's lovely to see.

Kevalin is a sweetheart of a baby - doing all the things a baby should. Pooping, crying, nursing and sleeping (but generally only when Daddy is around). Daddy and Kev camp out on the couch every night. Daddy complains but I secretly think he loves the closeness and the boy time. Kev is starting to maintain eye contact for longer periods of time and finally starting to smile. It's tough to not compare as Amiya smiled early on, but Kev's are hard-earned and very precious. They're also a bit like the Loch Ness Monster - impossible to catch with a camera.

Our little man is starting to enjoy baths a whole lot more - he's not really smiling for much of them, but at least he doesn't scream his way through them anymore. You can also see that he's growing more and more pudgy with each passing day. He's gone from scrawny little chicken legs to fleshy drumsticks that invite us to nibble. Vinay gave him his first belly raspberry the other day and it did not go over well.

And with that I must end as Kev is watching me type in the bouncer next to me and his little face has just gone from calm, serene newborn to beet red. The accompanying noises tell me this is not a tantrum but rather a heinous mess needing attention ASAP. One hour 'til Daddy gets home - I don't think I can do that to either Kev or Vinay so off I go to clean up. Oh my, more noises. It's going to be a doozy. Girls are so much easier to clean. I think I'm just going to hose him off in the sink.