Cleavage

It's a wonder what nursing will do.

Witness:

What did you think I was going to put a picture of?

Isn't Kev cute with all his cleavage going on? I think if you look hard enough you'll see that he was even having a Janet Jackson sort of moment. Our little man is not only rolling both ways, he's also starting to scoot forward towards toys of interest. Therefore we're getting lots of gratuitous cleavage shots - he goes forward, onesie stays put, neck gets stretched and we get a peep show. It's hard to take him seriously though when he's got a pastel bumblebee on his wrist.

I'm Dyin' Here

"Can I get some water? I'm dyin' here I'm so thirsty."

This is what she tells me every time she is supposed to go to sleep. It doesn't matter if she's had a drink within the last two minutes, she's still dyin' and over-acting. She also has to pee and wash her hands excessively, followed by another trip to the bathroom where she poops and washes her hands excessively again.

All in all our bedtime routine has shifted from a ten minute tops story, cuddle and kiss to a thirty minute oft-repeated trip from bed to bathroom. We do, however, still engage in the bedtime story ritual, except now Kev has joined us, too. It's just too fun to listen to him coo at the book and her coo at him.

July Fourth

I'm so behind, but I'm trying, I swear!!! We had a very enjoyable July Fourth - a calm morning, nice naps all around and then a cook-out at Gabe's house. You know all is well in the world when Amiya and Gabe have plans to get together. It's the ultimate tool for us - she'll do anything for time with Gabe.

Our morning was spent at the pool. It was Kev's first swim and he loved it. Ok, well, he liked it. Um, I guess we can't say for sure what he thought because he showed no emotion other than, "What the hell are they doing with me now?" But I loved it. He looked too cute all slathered in sunscreen and decked out in his protective gear. He didn't cry at all and had a very nice nap upon returning home. Excellent.

Following afternoon naps we headed over to Gabe's house where Mister Matt set up a soapy Slip and Slide for the kids. In true Amiya fashion, she would neither slip nor slide. Instead she pranced to the end and then quite ungracefully plopped into the sudsy puddle. Over and over and over. She loved it and we loved it because she was soapy clean from all the suds and didn't need a big bath that night.

Our night ended with Amiya and I watching fireworks from our driveway and then the national fireworks in DC on TV. And then Amiya went to bed and we all listened to her yell for the next hour about how scared she was. I don't blame her, people in Florida can get just about anything and it really was very loud. So, Vinay sat by her door until she was asleep. I'm still not sure how much was actual fear and how much was our dear child manipulating the situation.

As Promised

Yeah....... by the end those pears were going down smoothly!

In an interesting note, Kev will eat anything (peas, potatoes, avacadoes, peaches, apricots, green beans, etc.) if mixed with bananas. He has to be able to smell the banana, so the ratio of banana to other has to be pretty high but this is such a nice treat after Ms. Amiya and her banana boycott. Much easier to mash a banana than it is to make pearsauce on a whim!

And this just cracks me up - Kev's cousin Ravi made this. Everytime I see it, I laugh. I present to you our son, the gangsta:

Amiya-isms

It seems that some of our favorite Amiya expressions are going the way of the dinosaurs.

No longer is she Amiya Clare Dupta, but a rather clear and well-pronounced Amiya Clare Gupta.

No longer is she a 'mart girl, but a smart girl.

We can't say todeller anymore, she corrects our pronunciation every time. Please note that she still says todeller, but if we do we are made to repeat it over and over and over again until we actually say together.

Our girl is growing up, in words, in body, in everything. She's letting her inner diva out, she's using big words, she's all around not a baby anymore. And yet, she still is. She wakes up at night yelling for a cuddle. She can't function in the morning until she has sat on one of our laps for a cuddle. She wants cuddles while watching movies, while getting shoes on, etc., etc. And we're not complaining. We have a tiny, 12 pound reminder of how little she used to be and we know how fast the time goes.

Failure to Thrive

We took Kev to his four month check-up and all systems looked good except that our little man isn't gaining weight nearly fast enough, or even almost at all. From birth to two months he had gained almost four pounds. From two to four months only half a pound. That's a huge slow down in weight gain and a drop in growth percentile line. Our pediatrician (love the man) isn't overly concerned, but he did mention failure to thrive a few times and that has me freaked out. Failure to thrive is when the baby is sustaining, meeting milestones, but not really growing well. That might be Kev, but it might not be, too. He's definitely sustaining, meeting milestones and generally a happy baby, but he's not packing on the pounds. Our doc thinks it's genetics (he's Indian, too, so he's got some knowledge about Indian babies), but I question then how my genetics don't play a role in the picture (and am maybe thankful that my kids tend towards Vinay's body type more than mine).

Anyway, we've started Kev on solids and that has been occupying most of my time (my excuse for yet another long delay). To date, Kev has had applesauce, pearsauce, rice cereal, green beans, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and avacado. His little system has done remarkably well going from liquids only to solids in sixty seconds. He has loved most things, but is definitely not a fan of avacados and applesauce:

I've made all of his food so far and will continue to do so until he gets to the stuff with chunks. Then he'll switch over to table food and we'll be good to go. The poor kid doesn't always look enthused at his bowls of green and orange goop and it takes an especially long time to get it into him - if only we all ate as slowly as kids we'd weigh so much less. Amiya has also taken a liking to babyfood again, asking for pearsauce at every meal. We're humoring her for now, but it's labor intensive and she'll soon be given the cruel choice of eating a "big girl" pear or having no pear at all.

In the meantime, I'm back to researching every.single.stinking snake oil out there to increase milk supply. Why does it have to be so hard? Why can't my body do this simple thing that other women's bodies have been doing since time began? And why is it that moms who don't want to nurse get engorged while a mom like me who really, really wants to nurse can't build up a supply to give her child what he needs? Quite frankly it pisses me off. So, I'm channeling that anger into learning all I can about herbal supplements and other means of increasing milk supply. Happily, ice cream is said to be helpful. I'm taking that to heart (although not too, too much) and soothing my sorrows with a bit of Chubby Hubby every evening. (That sounds quite naughty and like I've just picked on my hubby. It's not either, follow the link. And then go buy some so they never, ever stop making it.) Anyway, if you've got a quiet moment, just think positive thoughts for me because sometimes I just *really* want to throw in the towel and give the guy some formula. It's what I want in the moment, but not in the long run so maybe just a little wish that this will get easier.

And now, to move us to a lighter note, a few pics of Kev the first time he tried solids. (ARGH - they'll have to come another time, I've tried to upload them three times and they just won't go!)

What we did on our summer vacation...

Excuses. Excuses. I don't have any, really,
except to say that I know I should be ashamed of myself. In my defense I will tell you that I had a beautiful post all typed up with a detailed description of any number of pictures and events on our trips and then blogspot ate it.

Anyway, we left a few Tuesdays ago for a fantastic trip to Wisconsin and Illinois. We were able to cram in seeing some of our all-time favorite people. Tuesday evening saw us in Appleton meeting with my good friend Amber and her two daughters. Three girls under the age of seven - lots of giggles and silliness.

We woke bright and early (because there are no more sleeping late in our life with two) Wednesday morning to see Super Grandma. It was a short visit, but sweet. Amiya loves Super Grandma and talks about her constantly. It's moments like these that make it hard to live so far from family.

Early Wednesday afternoon we pulled into Minocqua to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Such important stuff! Amiya quickly dispensed hugs to Uncle Andy and Grandpa and then wandered around shouting, "Oh Grandma! Where are you?" Ah, to no avail. Grandma was not home. Luckily, the powers of distraction from Uncle Andy were strong enough to hold Amiya over until Grandma could come home and atone for this grevious error with myriad tea parties.

Uncle Andy got to meet Kev for the first time and it was sweet. This trip was the first time we really saw Kev being very aware of who we are and being nervous when someone unknown held him. But then, if Uncle Andy grabbed you, you know you'd be a little bit freaked out. Not only is he goofy but he looks goofy, too. It didn't take too long for Kev to get past his uneasieness, though, and Uncle Andy and Uncle Mikey were able to get some grins out of him.

Amiya did a lot of new things on this trip - she roasted marshmallows over the campfire (only wanted to roast them, didn't want to eat them) and caught fish in Grandma and Grandpa's lake. She also was able to drive the boat (on a grown-ups lap). Happily for her and not so much for anyone else who was on the boat, she could reach the throttle this year thus enabling her to go fast then slooooow, fast then sloooooow. I made the error of standing up to take a picture of her driving and she promptly gunned it. My knee is just about heeled, but I don't think my toe will ever forgive her. Fishing was a lot of fun for her - she would touch neither worm (snakes) nor fish (too slimy), but she absolutely did not ever want to get off the boat. There are some well-fed panfish in Little Spider Lake, so if you're looking for a quick fish fry, I'd fish elsewhere. Those fish are probably still gorged on all the worms they nibbled off her hooks.

Other up north highlights include sleeping with Grandma and Grandpa, eating as many pistachios as her little tummy could hold and going out for ice cream with everyone. If you've never seen a three year old eat blue moon ice cream, you haven't lived. But maybe, just maybe, even better than a blue moon ice cream cone was getting to ride in a Jeep convertible! You may recall that Amiya is obsessed with VW Bugs and convertibles. That's now been extended to Jeeps, too. So, when a good friend of Uncle Andy's pulled up in a Jeep convertible we all knew where Amiya would ride. She loved it!

We left Minocqua for five days in Chicago. While there we saw many Illinois friends and visited some very interesting places.

On Sunday, the kids and I headed up to Oak Creek for an afternoon at my Aunt Mia's house. As usual, she had a delicious meal prepared and I really enjoyed seeing family members. Amiya ruled the roost with her Aunt Julie - telling her what to color, how and with which crayons. She's still talking about Aunt Julie. On our way out of Oak Creek we grabbed a few crawlers - a Milwaukee only donut that's absolutely delish. We ate them for breakfast the next two days and then endured tantrum after tantrum as we tried to explain to Amiya that crawlers are only in Milwaukee and we would not be driving 90 miles for a donut.

Vinay's brother, Vinnie, was attending the conference in Chicago as well, so we were able to have dinner with him. Amiya was more excited about the mozzarella sticks than the authentic deep dish Chicago pizza. She has asked me no less than ten times when we can have cheese with crust again. Amiya and Kev both giggled and laughed with their Uncle Vinnie and had a good time.

Of course we spent time at IKEA. Not such a hit for the kids, but Mommy loved it - especially as my good friend Matt made his way up to spend the day with us. Amiya loves "Uncle Matt" and still marvels at the way he could swing her with just one hand. She was quite sad when, upon our second trip to IKEA, Uncle Matt was nowhere to be found.

And maybe the highlight of Chicago was Shedd Aquarium. You may recall Amiya's near obsession with Raffi's song Baby Beluga. Let me just say that there are five beluga whales at Shedd. She and I went to look for them while Vinay sat with Kev keeping our spots for the dolphin show. When she spotted the whales she whirled around and ran to Vinay with her arms stretched wide, "Daddy, there really are beluga whales here!" Absolutely made the trip for me. We stood by the huge tank and sang the song to them several times. Both Vinay and I were in awe of their size and beauty. Amiya fell in love, plain and simple. She now sleeps with both Ellie and a stuffed beluga, aptly named Baby Beluga.