Our attempts at getting a kids picture (somewhat spotty).

Avinash ate all of the red fondant stars on the cake.

Avinash's POV

Meet Avinash's newest friend. A little stuffed Janie and Jack monkey.

Also know as E-O. As in Eeee-eee-oooh (picture the arm motions here as well).

I guess my photograph was not up to his standards so he decided to shoot E-O himself.


This was followed by a few more candid shots.




I love the angles of his on the floor shots. I'm amazed at the focus he is able to get. His up in the air shots are a lot blurrier.

Then I posed for some pictures too.



I finally wrested the camera for him and tried to get the same pose.

First I got a shot of his leg.


Then this full shot.


Why are his pictures better focused than mine?? Sigh. I do love this on floor POV though and am going to continue experimenting with it. Any tips on other creative point of view shots to try?

Party Planning and crafty stuff.

I am so excited about Avinash's birthday party this weekend. We are trying to keep it low key, but there is still so much to do. Even my mom and my brother are coming to Houston for the party. It is going to be mostly adults there though.. I ordered a cake, balloons and dusted off my old facepainting kit. I have been dying to face paint Avinash and finally can now that he is two!! I'm a little worried because he does have sensitive skin, especially on his face. But Krylon is more gentle than regular make up so hopefully it will be okay. The only dilemna is what to paint him as? We have sooo many halloween costumes for him and I think it would be cute to put in a costume for part of the day at least. Giraffe maybe? We'll see.
I see so many cute handmade decorations online that I decided to try my hand at a personalized banner at least. I figure that I can probably hang it up in his room after the party as well.

Here is how it turned out:


I used 8x8 textured cardstock, hand drew the letters in crayon and then let Avinash scribble on them afterwards. That was probably the best part. I added a little crepe paper border. I chose yellow since Avinash's room is grey and yellow (plus black and gold for all the Steelers stuff). Then just used a little blue twine to string them up. We do not have a mantle so I am not sure where to hang it. The ladder railing works for now but I may move it to the patio for the party.

I also have a store bought birthday banner for the patio and these really cute felt halloween gift bags from Target. I still need to buy candy and can definitely use that 'decorate' too.

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We have really been getting into board games lately. One of our favorites is Agricola, a farming-family board game. It allows you to build up your family, plant vegetables and gather livestock. The pieces are different wooden discs or blocks.
Well, after playing at a friend's house we discovered that it could be so much more. So I bought some modeling clay and started creating my own little vegetables and animals. I only have carrots, pumpkins and cows so far.


I love how the turned out, I think the little cow noses are soo cute!

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Okay, my mom arrives tonight and the countdown is on!

23 month update!

I can't believe Avinash is almost two years old already. Actually, looking back on it seems even longer.

I can't even imagine a baby this small anymore.



I remember him being so playful and interactive, but boy has that increased now that he is (slowly) learning to speak.

I love how he always requests a 'boon' when he eats but mostly just holds it in one hand while he eats with the other.

I love how he points out all forms of wa-wa that he sees - puddles, rain drops, lakes, rivers, any liquid in a cup. Even waiters now understand his request for it.

I love how anything slightly circular is a ball. Especially balloons. And the moon. Or the letter O. And tomatoes, which he loved to pluck from my mom's plants in the backyard, bring to park and then give them to her to put away.

Well, that only goes for cherry tomatoes. Normal tomatoes are called applays. As in apples. Any fruit basically is termed an applay, not sure where he got the french pronunciation from. Maybe it's more creole.

I love that waves and says hi to everyone he passes (including homeless people - it makes us kinda nervous, but sometimes they wave back).

He also loves Sesame street so much now. He calls Elmo 'lala'. This one took me a while to figure out, I thought he was mispronouncing the word Elmo, but he is actually just referring to his intro song (la la la elmo's song...). He has a little Elmo doll which he carries around and tries to share his food with.

Avinash loves coloring now. Especially after his Naniji and grandma took him to the Discovery center and got him tons of coloring books. Ever since we got back from Pennsylvania, we have integrated some crayon time into our nightly routine. Now he and I color (he loves picking out which colors I use too) while Ryan reads a story. One of our favorites is the Winnie the pooh storybook collection. A. A. Milne has a really great, wry sense of humour. Ryan and I are always cracking up over it. I love how Avinash will join in with very loud and pretty fake laughs as well.

I love that Avinash can climb practically anything, including the sliding ladder in our living room up to the ceiling. He used to be very timid when it came to new places, but lately he has been more confident on even brand new playgrounds - climbing up the monkey bars, up rope bridges and rock walls. Now if he would only walk across the balance beam at gymnastics by himself. (Of course it freaks all the other parents out when we try and let him.)

Avinash is also a huge helper in the kitchen. He runs over when he hears me starting dinner and drags a chair over so that he can reach the counters. He can chop up mushrooms with a butter knife, peel the paper off garlic and help me pour things into the pan. He can also stir and season with the best of them. My mom even keeps 'Avinash' party mix at home that has twice the normal amount of spices that he dumped in. Tastes great though.


There are so many more lovable things and cute moments, that I can't seem to get them all down. We are just so proud of how he is growing and love watching his progress!

Franklin Institute.

I have so many memories of the Franklin Institute when I was growing up. I loved everything about it. The train ride, the IMAX show, running up and down the spiral walkway in the center of the museum, the cell biology area and the giant heart.

I was soo excited when I found out that our Houston children's museum membership was accepted there as well. Score! My parents and I stopped by there on our way to the airport at the end of my last visit home.

Very first thing I practically ran to the giant heart with Avinash. My Dad chickened out half-way through because it was such a tight fit. Avinash, however, loved it! We had to go through again and again until he would even look at anything else in the museum.

Here is Avinash dancing circles around his Nanaji in the electricity room.





They also had different mechanisms for generating static electricity. I did it with Avinash as well and he was so confused and kept patting his head trying to figure out what that weird feeling was.

He wanted to stay up in this plane all day long. There were so many buttons to press and he loves flying.

Look at that grin!

Just before we had to leave we made it down to the big train ride. Avinash instantly loved it and was pulling on all the gears and levers he could find (with the help of Nanaji). I couldn't resist showing him how we used to slide down the coal car in the back. Of course the little monkey was clambering up to the top himself and sliding down in no time!

So glad that we enjoy all the same things at the museum!

New California Layouts.

Our trip to California was challenging to say the least. The kind of vacation that you need a vacation from. Taking a road trip from San Fransisco to San Diego may not have been our best idea ever. We did have a lot of little adventures, and took lots of pictures. I am having trouble scrapping them though, not sure why. I find the whole family ones or wedding event ones the most challenging. I don't want to do really formal pages but am not sure how to treat them otherwise.

Here are a few random pages of our family only, which I was much more at ease with.





A random sea world pictures page. I love this fancy pants stamp and used it all over my Costa Rica album as well.




About the polar bear area at Sea World. I love this striking Studio Calico patterned paper and the 3-d American crafts sticker accents. They are the perfect addition of depth and color here, plus the two coordinated well together.




I used a lot of making memories travel kit accessories. I love the random assortment of elements they have, stamps, tags, die cut paper. Unfortunately the actual photos were pretty tough to get, but I like the final effect.


I was dying to get cute pictures in front of the golden gate bridge. We drove there early Saturday morning and dressed Avinash in his insanely cute sailor romper. But, the poor guy was so sleepy and cranky that he flat out refused to smile. I struggled with this layout for days and still don't think I got it quite right. Sigh.



This is my favorite new layout. When you have a great subject I feel like the pages just make themselves. Avinash loves this pair of shorts he has with a monkey attached to one of the pockets. We always ask him to find it and show us, he gets really excited each time. I love these little anecdotes and are my favorite thing to document in my scrapbooks.

Sweet dreams.

I don't know what it is. But Avinash is definitely at his most adorable when he is sleeping.

Just look at him trying to take a nap at Sky's bridal shower?


I mean, he pulled those towels out of one of the gift boxes himself and laid them out on the floor.

Of course he had to pull one of the other babies on to the floor to take a nap with him.

Then proceeded to stroke his head and face while drifting off to sleep.


Sigh. So darn cute I can't stand. Why did he do this!?? Is he just weird? I don't know.

It probably has something to do with the fact that he needed a nap about an hour before that happened. But he made up for it on the metro ride home. He napped the entire time, slumped over in his stroller.


I even stopped to take pictures of him on the walk home because he was so stinkin' cute.

Of course, he could care less about sleeping (ie, letting me catch a little shut eye) once he returned to the hotel room.

God, even looking back these are some of the sweetest photos of all time.


He was less than a month old here and had passed out from all the extertion of trying on new outfits for his naming ceremony. What is he dreaming about ?? I would die to know.


I love this picture my Dad took on his iPhone. The low resolution gives it an ethereal quality. We were all visiting Anuj in Dallas and hanging out in the hotel for a little bit. Avinash is the worst sleeper in hotels (especially around one year). So it was amazing that he was sleeping at all! I just love how pure and innocent he looks. And he also has this weary expression on his face, like he is guarding his sleep with a lot of effort.

Lately he has been better about sleeping in general. We have our little routine. He will protest, cry and try to run away when we tell him it is bed time. But then he calms down after Ryan holds him. Ryan picks him up around 10, carries him over to me for a goodnight kiss, tells him that we will see him in the morning and lays him down in his crib, bottle optional. He almost always goes to bed sweetly and calmly after that. We do sometimes hear him chattering away in his crib for a few minutes. Just softly to himself. I wonder about this so much. Does he have an imaginary friend? What are they talking about?


(Okay, this is just a picture of him acting silly around the house.)

I almost think that he thinks he is talking to my Dad. They always sleep in the same room when we visit or go on trips together. And when Avinash ever wakes up or starts whimpering at night, my Dad just needs to talk to him softly and reassure him that he is there for him to fall back asleep. Other than a few scattered solo trips we have not slept in the same room as him much at all. I don't know what else it could be. How amazing would it be if the thought of my Dad was enough to comfort him at night?


Avinash is 100% completely obsessed and in love with his Nanaji right now. Everytime he sees the phone he flips out and demands that I call him. He usually just says Baba or Nana, but once I swear he said 'dial!' He gets easily distracted while 'talking' on the phone, but has lots of long stories to relay to my Dad about his hectic life. He somehow thinks that my Dad can understand him unlike the rest of us who are too slow apparently. He uses his slowly growing vocabulary pretty regularly, but only in single word requests (or just plain grunting and pointing). But with my Dad, these long sentences of gibberish come pouring out. Something else I need to capture on video before he gets to saavy and outgrows it.

I never found Avinash's gender before he was born. And I am really torn about whether or not to find out this time around. My family seems to assume that I should. I have always thought it wasn't that important. I mean, as long as the baby is healthy the gender shouldn't matter right?

Now, I am dying to have a little girl while Ryan wants a baby brother for Avinash. Not that it would change our love either way. I remember reading that the proof that our society lack gender equality is this: What is the first question people ask when they find out a baby was born? Is it a boy or girl?

I guess that was partially why I decided not to find out ahead of time. Finding out now would feel like giving in. But, it's true. I really do care.

Avinash is so precious reading his book along with us and doing the animal sounds. The sounds keep evolving over time. First he said 'mmm' for moo, now it sounds more like bmoo. He also now likes to point out every D that he says (real and imaginary). Ryan and I decided that we had to take a video of it, before he gets too big and learns all the words. Enjoy!