Signing off

Just a quick note to say that I'm pretty much done with this blog. :) I'd like to focus on photos (this month's set has over 100!) and wasting time on Facebook. I even had a Twitter project at work recently and almost had to join (managed to stay off it though)! This blog has been so fun for the past 1.5 years. To all my readers (whom I can probably count on one hand), please keep in touch on Flickr, FB, or just plain old email!

Twelve Months

Happy First Birthday to Jay! There's not much else to say except that! Oh, and our baby is walking too!

Love you JJ, it's been an awesome year.

Eleven Months

Jay is 11 months old today! Very hard to believe. It's been a good month. He is crawling around super-fast and starting to stand sometimes too. If he's focused on a toy or the tv, he'll stand for a few seconds. But if he's not focused, he tips over easily.

The other thing that has increased this month is the screaming! He loves to listen to the sound of his own voice. When he's excited or mad or frustrated, he'll just scream. He also likes to be the loudest "thing" in a given area. If a truck goes by or if the vacuum is running, he'll start hollering to be sure he's louder than any of those things. It's kind of funny but we're trying not to encourage it too much. Can't help but laugh though, he's a goofy guy.

We're playing some new games with him too: he likes when you crawl and chase him. He'll crawl away fast when you do that, but sometimes he gets mixed up and crawls TOWARD you when you chase him. It's pretty funny. He also likes hide and seek. When you hide around the corner and he finds you, he laughs hysterically. He's so much fun!

He has really become more aware of his surroundings and what's going on. If you try to distract him and hide something he's not supposed to play with, he will remember for a long time: "Yes, I'm now playing with this boring rattle but I know you hid the Coke bottle behind your back and I'm coming for it in a minute!" He also gets a little sad when I drop him off at grandma's in the morning: "Hey, don't leave! I won't see you for another eight hours!" That last one is tough on me: seeing him whimper as I walk away is so sad!

It feels like we got rid of a lot of his baby stuff this month. I have a huge bag of clothes that don't fit him which I need to take to Goodwill. We traded in his infant car seat and bought two new huge ones. And we've been shopping for fall clothes which look too big in the 12 month size when you look at them in the store. But they fit him! He's growing up at lightning speed.

New car!

Goodbye Clunker! We'll miss you. You were very good to us.

Welcome home Toyota Venza!

Ten Months

Jay is ten months old today! July was full of "Many New Things" for Jay. He has probably changed more this month than in any other month so far. To summarize everything I would say that instead of a little baby, I now have a little boy.

We started the month off with his first vacation. We had a nice time in Boston and Cape Cod even though Jay wasn't feeling 100% well. Then my mom came back from India after a long trip. The airport pickup was fun. We weren't sure what Jay's reaction would be but it turned out to be the best one. He was soooo happy to see her again. He was smiling from ear to ear and laughing randomly too. It was a great reunion! It was nice to get back to our regular routine after a month of weirdness.

So our biggest news is that Jay is crawling. When my mom came back from India, he wasn't crawling yet. But the day after, he just took off! It's like he was waiting for her to get back. Our place in West Hartford is still not completely baby proofed so we're working on it as best we can. But in Plainville where he stays most of the day, we have wide open space where he can zoom around and go pretty much anywhere he wants. It's now known as Jay's Condo. I'm really glad he has that space to explore and exercise and go wild.

He has also figured out how to sit up from a lying down position. That's been one of the toughest things to deal with, even more than crawling, because he just does it in the middle of the night when something wakes him up. So he's sitting there at 3am and sleepy but doesn't really know how to lie back down. Usually he just crashes down face first into the mattress because he's so sleepy. I guess that's ok and that's how he'll learn how to get back to sleep. He does end up in really uncomfortable-looking sleeping positions though...

It also didn't take him long to pull himself up to a standing position. He got really good at that in only a couple of days. At first he had trouble getting back down and would just tumble over. But he very quickly figured out how to sit down carefully so he wouldn't get hurt.

Jay has also tried many new foods. We give him jarred fruits in the morning and jarred veggies in the evening but in the afternoon, anything goes: pasta, grilled cheese, kichadi (lentils and rice), roti (flat bread), yogurt, steamed veggies, cheese cubes... he'll try anything! He really does enjoy the finger foods and I don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep giving him jarred purees. He's not that into them anymore and would much rather have what you're eating.

His nighttime sleeping is pretty good, can't complain too much. He'll usually sleep from 8 to 5:30 or 6. It's the 5:30 wake ups that are painful for us! He is now sleeping with a blanky and it's very cute to see him snuggle with it

There's also a lot of "talking" going on. He's trying out new sounds every day. I've finally started getting a few "ma-ma"s. We've been getting "da-da" for about four months now so it's about time! It's fun to see him try and express himself.

He has definitely started to understand "no". We say it firmly and loudly and he immediately stops and puts on his pouty face because he is sad and even a little fearful. Many times he goes back to doing what he was doing but at least he gets that "no" is bad and he doesn't like when mommy and daddy are angry. It's hard to say no though, he gets so sad!!! Must stay firm.

My favorite new skill of Jay's is his imitating. He has just started to imitate what you're doing. If you say "Da!" loudly, he will do the same and you can have a back-and-forth conversation! If you shake your head, he will do the same. If you run your fingers over your lips to do "blub blub blub", he will do the same. That is his favorite: the blub blub blub.

Phew. Can you believe all those differences in just one month? Things are crazy and fun around here. Our photo gallery this month has waaaay too many photos but I had trouble choosing just a few. Enjoy!

Nine Months

Happy 9 months to Jay! We are on vacation and I am again writing from Cape Cod! So far I've been able to post on the first of each month so I didn't want to break the tradition. Jay has changed a lot this month. Lots of new things to report.

He is up on all fours and rocking and dragging himself around. It's not "crawling" exactly because his current method is quite funny-looking: army crawl mixed with swimming strokes mixed with pushups. It is definitely not as smooth and fast as actual crawling. But he's close! He also loves it when you hold his hands so he can stand up. He always want to stand. And jump. On you. Yes, his favorite activity is standing on or near your tummy and jumping as hard as he can. Pat "walks" him around and he likes that too, especially outside on the grass.

Jay has also become a biter. My shoulder has quite a few bite marks and Pat almost lost a toe or two. We are trying really hard to stop this habit before it gets worse. We firmly and loudly tell him "no". But he thinks "no" is funny and just laughs. We're working on it.

Another new thing is he is exhibiting fear for the first time. We bought this duck tub since he is too big for the infant tub and too little for the regular tub. At first he was completely terrified of it. He didn't even want to look at it! When we put him in, he whined like a puppy. It was kind of funny. We had to put it on the carpet and practice playing in it so that he wouldn't be afraid. It worked and he's fine with it now but it was kind of a surprise to see him scared.

Jay had a two week stint at day care. It was very successful. He didn't ever cry when Pat dropped him off and was very happy when I arrived to pick him up. His teachers said he was good all day and didn't have problems with eating or naps. Except one day he got a "Jay was cranky!" note on his daily report but that's ok. I'm proud of him for handling it well. Unfortunately though, as mentioned in the previous post, he did catch a stomach flu. Yuck.

Now we are on vacation! We'll also be going to the Red Sox game on the 4th! By the way, we're celebrating our three year wedding anniversary too! Time flies.

Today is the big Ashish and Tejal wedding in India! I hope everything is going well and everyone is having fun. We miss grandma and can't wait to see her in a week.

Off to Boston tomorrow for the second half of our adventure!

Beach days

Hello from Cape Cod! We are on vacation! We are in Brewster, MA for three nights and then three nights in Boston. It has been QUITE an interesting time. I spent about two weeks making and refining a list of things to do and to bring since it is our first trip with Jay. I tried to think of everything he could possibly need or want. But of course with kids things don't go as planned, no matter how hard you try. I couldn't have prepared myself for... brace yourself... EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA! Seriously, not kidding. One of my fears about his two weeks at day care was that he would pick up a bug from the other kids. But the thought of him catching a stomach flu never crossed my mind. But he did! Poor guy has some crazy issues right now. I'll leave out the details but let's just say I really miss my washer and dryer and we're going to have to give our hotel housekeeper a large tip. UGH.

That's the bad news. The good news is that for some reason he doesn't seem too bothered by it. He's playing happily and isn't too cranky. We have been able to spend some fun time out on the beach. The weather here is beyond perfect: partly cloudy, warm but not hot, awesome ocean breeze. So we are focusing on the positives and will enjoy the rest of the week. I had to just stop in and say hi and post a couple pictures!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all daddies! The rain held off and we had a nice day walking around outside and having pizza for lunch. Pat's Father's Day gift is tickets to see a Red Sox vs Mariners game on the 4th of July! We're excited, it'll be a fun time.

HFD to Grandpa Jim in Oregon. Jay is thinking of you and wishes he could play with his best buddy.

HFD to my dad too. Thinking of you on this special day.

Eight Months

My big boy is eight months old today! He is doing great and we are having an awesome time. He is just so playful and fun and seems to be enjoying anything and everything that comes his way. He is very curious about everything and it's neat to watch him experience new things.

Jay is sitting very well. He is rolling over a little more often, too. And when he's on his back, he like to "backstroke" and can move around a bit that way. But when we put him on his tummy to try to get him to crawl, he doesn't really know what to do and just flops around in place. He's like a car stuck in the snow with its wheels spinning but not going anywhere. That's ok with me, I know it's right around the corner and everything will change once he starts scooting around.

He's doing well with his food. He eats two solid meals a day and a sometimes a snack in his mesh feeder. I'm getting ready to try out some puffs soon to see if he can figure out how to actually chew stuff. He has six teeth now and he is quite good at biting your fingers if you offer them!

We are enjoying the warm weather. We take frequent walks in our neighborhood. Around the corner from our condo is a strip mall and our favorite store there is the Puppy Center and Aquarium! They don't keep the puppies in cages, instead they are all together in four "rooms" behind glass. It's a free-for-all: at least twenty puppies running around yipping and yapping and it's pure madness. There are also about a hundred fish tanks. Jay loves this place and we always stop in during our walks. We've also taken him to our pool a couple of times. He thinks swimming is a little weird but he's slowly getting used to it. We've done a few parks too. And his grandma takes him outside every day to get fresh air and watch the cars go by. Going outside always cheers him up.

And then there's tv. He likes tv. I let him zone out in the evening to watch our DVR'd episodes of Sesame Street. He gets a huge smile on his face when the theme song starts up. He stares intensely and you have to remind him to blink sometimes. He really enjoys the muppets and music.

We have a record number of photos in this month's set so be sure to check them out! There's even more than the set from October when he was born!

Super water

Pat is a gadget lover. No ifs ands or buts. He loves technology and cool things. The other day we get a package in the mail and he's extra excited about this one. It's the Tersano Lotus LBU100 Sanitizing System! He explains to me what it does. I make a weird face and ask him to explain again. And again and again. I just can't believe this thing does what it says it does!

A snippet from Amazon's product description:

"When you use lotus, you turn ordinary tap water into the world's most powerful sanitizer in about two minutes, for a fraction of a penny. Studies have shown that ozone is 50-percent more powerful and more than 3,000 times faster acting on bacteria than chlorine -- at 100 times the strength. Water treated with this system will kill 99.9 percent of germs on any surface it contacts."

So basicially, you take tap water, put it in the spray bottle (or bowl for food), put the spray bottle on the machine and turn it on. In two or three minutes the thing tells you it's ready and the tap water has magically become SUPER WATER. You take the spray bottle off the machine and a timer starts running. GO! You have fifteen minutes to use the super water until it stops working and turns back into regular tap water. During these fifteen minutes you can sanitize pretty much anything.

I've tried this in the kitchen so far. I'm skeptical but if it really works then this is the best sanitizing product out there. Definitely worth looking into if you're even just a little bit intrigued!

Overstimulation

I arrived at my desk this morning to find a few hundred extra pixels of monitor workspace. The two middle computer monitors used to be the same size but they replaced the left one with an HP LP2475w 24in screen. Wow! That's even bigger than the tv on the left. The Mac on the right looks teeny tiny and sad and will now probably go unused for quite some time. Nothing but the best for ESPN -- there's always something bigger, better, faster and shinier to be had!

Jay's Room: Before and After

We moved to this new house one month after Jay was born. We didn't have time to set up his space and he was sleeping in our room anyway. Last month we finally finished his room and he has been sleeping there for a few weeks. Below is a before and after photo! More room photos can been found in this month's overall collection.

Before:

After:

I miss having him close by, but he is more comfortable in his own space and he is enjoying his room.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mommies! We had a great day that included ice cream, Oreos, jewelry, shopping, pizza, a walk in the park, and three naps. What more could a mommy ask for?!?

Happy Mother's Day to Grandma Marilyn who is too far away in Oregon! We hope to see you soon and are thinking of you on my and Jay's first Mother's Day.

A special Mother's Day wish to my mom who has been in CT for the past seven months to help raise Jay. We are so lucky to have her here and it has been one of the best times of my life. It is a blessing to be able to share this experience with her. Thanks for everything mom!!! Love you lots.

One last MD shout out to Deepa who welcomed her second girl just two days ago! Looking forward to meeting your new little one soon.

Seven Months

Happy seven months to Jay! Time slowed down a bit this past month. Of course Jay has grown and changed a lot but not as much or as quickly as the first six months. Aside from a couple of big changes, we've been able to stop and enjoy his age. This will not be true in the coming months as he becomes more mobile so I am stopping to smell the roses.

His two big changes are sitting and de-swaddling. He is very good at sitting. If he gets excited or distracted, he will topple over. But he is able to sit for long periods of time just playing with his toys. He can enjoy his toys much more now that he sits. I can see that it has been fun for him.

The other big change is that we are not swaddling him anymore. He always enjoyed the swaddle but at the beginning of the month he would squirm his way out of it and then get mad because he was all tangled up. I would redo it but soon I had to redo it three or four times and it just wasn't working. So we ditched the swaddle. We had a few tough days of him having no idea what to do with his free arms but he has figured it out. Every time I look into his bassinet, his arms are in a different and weird position and it's pretty funny. De-swaddling has also allowed him to move around more while he sleeps. He seems to enjoy the sideways sleep position. He looks like a little adult!

He is teething again and getting his third tooth. I thought the first four teeth for babies were the top and bottom two but it seems I am wrong. Jay has had his bottom two for over a month. But his next tooth is on the top and off to the side! So weird. He's going to look very goofy with this one random tooth sticking out from the side. When it comes in further we'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

He is eating twice a day now, which keeps everyone busy. But he enjoys his meals and is very well behaved in his high chair. So far he's not a very messy eater but I'm sure that will change. I bought him a sippy cup for him to try out with water but he's not really into it yet.

The last bit of news is that Jay's room is complete! I will be posting some before and after pictures so be sure to check this site again soon. I must say, it looks really good and better than I expected. He's slept there for about a week so far and the transition has gone well. He likes the quiet, the darkness, the nice mattress and the space to scoot around.

Be sure to check out his most recent photos before you go. Hope everyone enjoys the nice weather as much as we plan to.

Six Months

Happy half birthday to Jay! My boy is all grown up! At this time six months ago Pat and I were exclaiming: "but they said in class that your water never breaks at home!" Ha ha.

Jay is doing great. He's very happy and is a ton of fun to play with. He's taken so much interest in his toys lately. He always keeps one eye on the toy he's using and the other eye on the toy box, figuring out which one he wants next. He continues to be talkative. Jay's favorite "words" are "da da." When I try to teach him "ma ma" he just pauses, looks at me funny and says "da da."

We took a weekend trip to MA and Jay had a nice time. He did feel a little stranger anxiety, which surprised my mom and me. We attended Satsang and he was a little stunned by all the people who wanted his attention. He made his famous pouty lipped cry and wanted to only be held by his mom or grandma. But he quickly warmed up to people and once he felt comfortable he was his old bubbly self again. He had fun seeing everyone, listening to music and watching garba. He slept eight hours straight that night! It takes a lot to tire out my boy so he must have really had a lot of fun. I'd like to take him more often, it's good for him to hang out with friends and family, especially other kids.

The weather was nice a couple of times this month and we got to spend the day outside for the first time. Jay was amazed. Sky! Grass! Trees! Fresh air! Who knew?? He also slept great that night too: seven hours! Yes, I'm still at the point where I can count on one hand the number of times he has slept more than six hours straight.

In other news, Jay got his first two teeth! This was little earlier than I expected. I was hoping he'd at least be able to understand "no biting!" before he got them! But he doesn't understand "no" yet and so I am on high alert when feeding him. He looks very cute though!

He is enjoying trying new foods. His favorite so far has been carrots. More! Want more carrots! He'll get quite angry and loud if you don't feed him fast enough when he wants it. But when he doesn't want it (ie: green beans) he'll keep his mouth closed tight and he'll look away thinking, "if I don't move a muscle and sit here quietly enough, maybe they'll go away." Everyone says it takes many tries to get them used to a particular taste. The poor guy has a lot more green beans in his near future.

I am finally, FINALLY working on Jay's room set up. We have purchased the crib from JCPenny. I have received half of the crib bedding via mail. I have selected the paint color and there are blue sample blobs on his wall. Pat taped up the edges and I brought up the painting supplies from the garage. I will be sure to post some before and after pictures when it's done! I really hope it comes out nice. I didn't get to "nest" at the other condo and so I'm really excited to put together a special space for Jay. Hopefully he'll appreciate it and won't trash it to pieces as soon as he can walk.

Pat's birthday was this month and the three of us had a very small celebration. Jay was very well-behaved at our traditional birthday dinner restaurant: California Pizza Kitchen. I'm happy that we can bring him pretty much wherever we want and not have to worry about him having a meltdown. He does very well in public right now at this age.

Last and definitely least: Jay had his first cold. He was a good boy during this time even though we could tell he was uncomfortable with the coughing and sniffling. I thought his itty bitty germs couldn't infect me but I was certainly mistaken. Ugh. But we are almost fully recovered.

Looking forward to seeing what adventures the second half of the year brings!

Madness

Day Two of March Madness is upon us. I didn't have time to post yesterday but I wanted to take note of this fun and busiest traffic time of the year. Yesterday my colleagues were running around putting the finishing touches on their Tourney projects as well as their own brackets. There was also the usual tv stealing tv rearranging for maximum basketball viewing enjoyment. Potluck snacking and pizza was enjoyed by all. We had a major, unexpected, non-Tourney-related problem which made things even crazier. What will day two bring???

Cake!

Snacks!

Five Months

Jay is five months old today! Amazing. His most noticeable and fun new skill is talking. He loves to have conversations with everyone and no one. The boy has so much to say! It's so fun to talk to him except when he's drinking his milk. All of a sudden his feedings take forever because he stops fifty-five times to chat.

We gave him his first taste of cereal this month. He is pretty indifferent to it. Doesn't love it, doesn't hate it, doesn't really care. We'll get to veggies soon and maybe he'll be more interested.

He is also noticeably outgrowing things. He outgrew about half of his clothes all at once and my mom has been running back and forth to the store to get some larger items. He's close to outgrowing his bassinet. He stretches out his arms and pushes against the sides. He kicks his legs for fun and the whole thing shakes like a leaf. We need a real crib very soon! He is getting a little large for his baby bathtub, too. I'm nervous to try the regular tub so I'll squish him into his baby tub for a little longer. He is outgrowing some of his toys which he's starting to find a little boring. The rattle that mesmerized him a couple months ago doesn't hold his interest now for more than ten seconds. We got him an Exersaucer which he definitely finds more intriguing.

This month started out very busy with Jay's grandparents visiting from Oregon. Jay loved all the attention and had a wonderful time. The month ended on a busy note as well because of a big project at work and also because our kitty has been diagnosed with serious heart disease and will need some extra care and extra love from now on.

I am still waiting patiently for the weather to get nicer. We have yet to take Jay for a walk outside. I am itching to get to the park next door for some fresh, non-freezing air. Hopefully March's lion (over a foot of snow predicted for today!) will quickly turn into a lamb and we can start enjoying the outdoors. Until then: stay warm!

Exciting!

Ok, I had to post one more video. This clip is just too funny. I was taking some video today so I would have more recent ones on which to practice my editing skills. I thought I'd lay him on his tummy and try to get him to roll over. He's only rolled over once before, and that was about a month ago. I won't give away the ending so watch and enjoy!

Skip to the 2 minute mark if you're in a rush. :)

And for those new to Vimeo: To launch in full screen mode, click on the four arrows that look like a flower in between the blue bars and the word "vimeo".

Learning about video

Pat is mostly in charge of organizing and handling the video around here, while I focus on the photos. But I was motivated by Deepa's effort to get better at video editing. Hec, I at least needed to learn how to get the video out of the camcorder and into the computer. Pat gave me a little tutorial yesterday and I need to practice some more, but for now I'd like to share this cutesy clip of Jay finding his mommy's silly voices to be hilarious.

And here is Jay in his new ExerSaucer toy

Enjoy!

Magazine closures

I don't like to read books. My dislike for books started around middle school when, in my opinion, the books we had to read started to get really BORING.

I'm a magazine girl at heart. Especially shelter mags. So I'm feeling sadness about all of the magazine shut-downs recently: InStyle Home, House & Garden, Blueprint, Home, Oprah's O at Home, Country Home, Domino, and one of my favorites: Cottage Living.

I love to rip out pages of beautiful things and save them in a folder. Flipping through this folder once in a while calms the mind and gets the creative juices flowing.

What's an HGTV-obsessed girl supposed to read these days??? If anyone has any suggestions, send them my way!