So lucky....

....could she possibly love him more?

Yeah, Kev!

We had Kev's six month check-up today - a little late but better than never.

He's doing so well - no longer considered a failure to thrive baby and we don't need to go for any checks beside his regular well checks. Whoohoo! He was 13 lbs. 14 oz., so less than the 5th percentile for weight, but 26.25 inches and that puts him between the 25th and 50th percentile for height. I'm thrilled, Vinay's thrilled, Amiya's happy (doesn't know why, but she is nonetheless).

Kev, on the other hand, is peeved. You see, instead of getting extra pears tonight to celebrate his stupendous weight gain, he instead got four shots. Two per thigh so nowhere on his little self feels nice tonight. He took some tylenol and is trying to sleep it off!

In other Kev news, check this out! That's right, Little Man can sit! The pediatrician called it tripoding (stop, Christy, don't do it) and it's cute to see. He goes about five seconds tops before he starts to lean, lean, lean and then down.

We also got the go ahead to start on things like chickpeas, lentils, yogurt and even meat. I can't imagine giving him meat just yet, but we'll get a move on with the others for sure! We'll see if he loves chana and hummus as much as his sister does!

The Gupta Gallery

We've been bombarded with papers here in just a few weeks of school. Our plan is to save a few, scan the rest and then recycle when she's not looking. Some of our favorites:

Miss Clare writes the numbers, Amiya has to place the appropriate amount of stickers. Um, anyone?

Not really so exciting, but wow did she do well following the lines!
And so begins Amiya's journey into pasta art. She's not even a Brownie yet!
This is just cute, doncha think?
Amiya presents to you the sextopus.
What joy must this have been for Amiya? Unleashed with glue and feathers. Brave, brave teacher.
This just makes us smile. She LOVES Kev so, so much!
This is my favorite. It's a hedgehog (as if you didn't know!) - how cute can it be?
Aha! She can follow directions!

Back on the horse!

Three weeks? It's been three weeks! Can you ever
forgive me? I know you can. I know you will. I thank you. We've just been so stinkin' busy. In a good way, nothing terrible, nothing to whine about (even though I am), just busy.

Amiya started preschool, officially. She's loving it. And yes, I did send her off to school in a midriff baring low-rise pair of pants. To be fair, they weren't supposed to be. She's just got no hips. And no, she didn't wet herself resulting in the puddle around her feet. Just an unfortunate spot to take a picture and Mommy didn't notice it until too late in the game to change.


One of the greatest things about preschool is that her teacher is pretty fantastic. Her name, as you may recall, is Miss Clare. Amiya marvels regularly that her teacher has her middle name! Amiya brings home a folder every day with many different worksheets - all things that we could do at home but that we don't think to do. Plus, Amiya's eager to tell us about raising hands, school's magic soap and line leaders. To the left you can see her self-portrait. Fear not, she hasn't gone all Don King on us. That's her long hair. Pretty fantastic, hey? We see two eyes, a nose, a smile (she is a pretty happy girl), hair, two arms with hands and two feet with legs. No midriff baring in this picture. Ah, Amiya. Modest on paper, not so in life!

In other news, Amiya's turned a new corner. She's insanely interested in animals (aminals for those of you who speak toddler). We watch Zoboomafoo regularly - we have a 9 episode collection because it's not currently on. I can tell you everything about meerkats, ayays and lemurs. She tells us she wants to be a veterinarian when she gets older so she can work with elephants. She knows she'll have to go to veterinarian school for this, but first she tells us that she wants to finish preschool. Meanwhile, everybody's favorite animal, Ellie, continues to delight. Here you can see her assumed position whenever Amiya goes to school. Ellie hangs, rather precariously, between the moldings. Can't be good for her stuffing.

Kev is doing fantastically well. Did you even have a doubt? He's such a little lover. Almost always smiling, unless tired in which case he's just pissed off.

We're dealing with some sleep stuff lately. He doesn't want us to put him down in his crib when he's awake. And, in my opinion (Vinay disagrees), he doesn't want us to hold him and rock him to sleep. So, I'm at a loss. Once again I will put all my faith in our trusty pediatrician and ask for his advice. We tried, oh so briefly, to let him cry it out. But honestly, could you let this little man cry it out? I can't. Can't do it. I'm a wuss of a mother.

I know this is not the most visually stimulating photograph, but it's indicative of how Kev spends a lot of his time. We put him on the floor to practice rolling and scooting and he inevitably finds himself flush against something hard, with corners, that could do some serious harm. Ah, Kevalin. Today he rolled against this wall (no harm done) for several minutes, cooing and laughing. Maybe he had gas and it was helping to work things out? I don't know, but never come between a (little) man and his wall, I guess.

And finally, he's still head over heels in love with bananas and breastfeeding. It's been six months (SIX MONTHS!!!) - never thought we'd see the day after the fiasco of nursing Amiya. We're shooting for a year now, but at the rate he's going he might be weaned before Prom, but no promises!

In other news, August has proven to be full, full,
full of birthdays. We've had a party for Gabe, Aubrey, Miss Dana and tomorrow is Avery and Kylie. To the right you see Mommy, Daddy and Kev at Miss Dana's party. It was a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that Kev didn't sleep a wink, even though it was well past his bedtime. He was loving all the attention and all the Mommies there in fancy dresses. He's got an older woman (Miss Angie) for a girlfriend. She was there. 'nuf said.
Amiya "had" to stay home with a babysitter. She played play-doh, watched Zoboomafoo and even got to eat her snack on the couch. She's since asked several times if it's Miss Dana's birthday again because she wants Miss Jen back.

I think that's enough for one night. More soon. Remember, soon is relative.

Happy Birfday!

It's Vinay's birthday and he's still quite old. Getting older and at that point where an exact number doesn't really matter, eh?

Amiya has been convinced all day that we were having a party. No such luck, Amiya. Only a cake and a new t-shirt and a trip to Border's this weekend for something Vinay really wants. Amiya encrusted an envelope with fake jewels and presented it to Vinay as if gilded with gold. It was sweet.

And why is it that each of these three looks good in one of these pictures but no two look fantastic in the same photo?

It's hard to get Kev's attention away from the cake and Amiya is still in that goofy grin phase. Kev looked too cute in his chambray shirt and khakis. And Amiya had on her Mayan princess dress. We ventured out to a very popular Thai restaurant to celebrate Vinay's day. Unfortunately, it has been quite some time since we've taken Amiya (and never Kev) out to a quiet sort of restaurant. Our evening was quite stressful. There are only so many letters of the alphabet that one can make with four chopsticks. She complained about every option available to eat - we've always thought that she's a diverse eater but no. Apparently that only applies to diverse when it comes to the all white meat batter-dipped nugget versus the questionnably gray meat breaded nugget. It is for sure that we can never again take her with us to France. She won't buy chicken-lamb, chicken-rabbit and chicken-duck again.

We came home from our brief (and I mean that literally - 30 minutes tops) dinner, sang Happy Birthday in the car because Amiya could not wait a.single.moment.longer, had a piece of cake (Amiya ate only the royal icing, unfathomably sweet decorations) and sent the kids to bed. But it doesn't end there Friends. No. She needed water. She needed to pee. She needed someone to restart her music. Say it with me, "Happy Birthday Vinay!" She didn't have any money to buy him a gift, so she's endeared herself to him through the most available means of every toddler: exasperation.

My eyes are leakin'!

"Mommy, come quick! My eyes are leakin'!"

Always, always what one wants to hear. Off I went from a dozing baby in my arms on the couch to a leaking toddler in her bathroom. Vinay changed out the faucet in the kids' bathroom about a week or so ago so Amiya could complete all her toilet "stuff" on her own. She needs to be able to do it for school, so I wanted her to practice at home. Surprisingly, she gets the potentially disgusting parts right. It's the little things she forgets. Flushing, for example.

Today, the "I'm leaking!" summons got me off the couch in a hurry. Those words just aren't good. I walked through the foyer and was greeted by a wave of stench and instantly flashed back to fecal artwork. Happily, it was all contained within the enamel.

She repeated, "Mommy, my eyes are leakin'!" I checked, just a few tears. I explained that it was probably from the unbelievably powerful stench and stopped myself just short of a mini-lecture on the courtesy flush. She's too young. She corrected me about the stench, telling me that "it's not from the smell, Mommy, it's because I had to push so hard to get it out."

Well then. Ok.

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.

This and that

This is an old picture - I think we went on this outing in March.
The Moms Club had an outing to Coldstone Creamery and the kids got to mix their own mix-ins. Heaven. They were in heaven. I'm not sure that any of them actually had things mixed into their ice cream as it takes quite a bit of muscle power but they all thought they were cool. Amiya picked her old stand-by: mint ice cream with M&Ms and sprinkles. She loves it. And now she asks daily to go to Coldstone again.

More recently, Amiya had her first day of preschool. It's not truly preschool, but camp. At this age, it's all sort of the same mix of coloring, gluing (self, not paper) and reading stories. Contrary to what is indicated in the photo, she was very excited to be going. And on Thursday, after three mornings with Miss Clare she boldly proclaimed that she did not want to go see Grandma next week but instead go back to school to spend more time with Miss Clare. Hmmmmm.

And finally, our little cherub has not ceased to create bead necklaces for anyone who even so much as sneaks a peek at her creations. A very good-natured Daddy is seen here sporting his own custom creation, lovingly made with sticky fingers and many dropped beads finding their way into each and every corner of the kitchen. But let it be known that Daddy is not nearly as good of a sport as Grandma. Grandma wore hers out of the house, Daddy barely made it out of the kitchen.

Kevalin Updates

It's hard to be the younger brother to Amiya. She insists on Kev doing all sorts of things - listening to stories about princesses, singing Baby Beluga over and over again and even wearing her fairy tiara that she made at her friend Kylie's birthday party. He looks thrilled, doesn't he? More like, "Get this thing off of my head because I look like a dolt. Paybacks are hell, Amiya didi, just wait and see."

Kev got a new chair recently. It's called a Bumbo and we love it. Kev can be with us anywhere in the house, sitting by himself and joining in the conversation with his own squeaks and grunts. What's especially nice is that he wants to be at the kitchen table with us when we eat meals, but he will not accept being below table level, so the bouncer is out. With a few less dishes at the table, he can join us with his Bumbo and be with the family.

Have we mentioned that the guy wants to held all the time? And I really do mean all the time. The kid is a little lover, snuggling into necks and armpits and always sleeping with one hand on our face. Check out Vinay's solution:

And finally, Kev has started to notice things like television and movies. It appears that he may be a Clifford fan just like Amiya, not out of choice, but out of necessity. You can't not love Clifford in this house. Today, however, Kev was fascinated with a PBS show about one-stroke painting. The host was making the gaudiest tchockes imaginable which may very well be why our little man was so into it - shock. He was chewing on his fist and astounded at the horror of it all.