Project Class Winner!

I had a little surprise at Two Peas today, I am the November Patterened Paper Class Winner!! 

 

This is my winning layout.  I cut out the banner on a Webster's page and used some pictures from this spring.  This was probably one of the happiest times of my life.  The garden in front of the art musuem was full of azaleas.  We had just moved to the museum district and life was pretty perfect.  I was so happy to be home from work while it was still light out and we all headed over to the park together before dinner.  So nice to relive these happy memories.

 

Feeling festive!

I love decorating for the holidays. At home it feels so cozy spending cold nights cuddled up inside with lights twinkling all around. We don't get quite the same effect in Houston. And even though we were too lazy to get a tree here, I'm really happy with the final look.

I actually had the lights up since Diwali in the living room. I got a really beautiful ornament garland and threw in on top of our ladder rail. Gives it quite the mantle effect.

I added these colored lights to our entrance way as well.  I wanted to put up more lights and this was the only place I could find to hang them.  Avinash has been so transfixed with them.  Here's hoping he doesn't try to put them in his mouth (anymore).

Ryan and I spent the last few nights making these paper ornaments.  Not really having anywhere to hang them I sort of scattered them around the apartment.  Some are in vases in the kitchen and a lot are just hanging out on the bookshelf. 

Don't worry I had Hanukkah stars too, which I hung on the windows.  I like how they look during the day but the picture didn't turn out great.  I also got this cranberry bead garland that is now dnagling from some light fixtures.  As well as icicle lights I put up outside on the terrace.  These are totally outshined now by our neighbors displays, but I still like them even if they can't be seen outside.

And that is my little Christmas tour of our apartment.  Goodnight!

My English-to-Avinash reference guide.

So, the holidays are coming up and we are planning on doing a lot of traveling this year.  Avinash has probably become alot more vocal since you last saw him, so I thought I would provide a little list of his most-common-yet-nearly-impossible-to-decipher phrases. 

I hope this helps!

wawa - water

bapi - Ryan (daddy), most people think he's hispanic and start talking to us in Spanish when they hear him say this

not to be confused with bapas which are potatoes, notably potato chips, or any chips for that matter

Nana and Nani are pretty much interchangeable

teto - cheese tortilla

pitta - pizza or spaghetti, anything with tomato sauce I think

uvas or vas - grapes

ball - balloons, the football game, or tomatoes

EO - monkey, usually his little J&J stuffed monkey which he sleeps with all the time now

dudhu- milk, in a bottle and not a glass!

jus - orange juice, he also knows tea which he isn't supposed to have but somehow has tasted!

uppah- pick me up, help me get over this barrier which is between me and some mischief or put me down so I can run around and do more mischief!

Lala - Elmo, or sesame street which he watches every morning

tos - trucks or buses

nen - again, more

nummies - usually candy or chivra, could also be any food like cucumbers or kale

S T O P, pop! - stop

peas - please, which we are hearing less and less it seems in favor of whining and screaming...sigh

babies - anyone under the age of 12, also refers to my belly and his own belly button

poopoo - either he pooped, is about to go or he farted (or he heard you farting, ha!)

appla - apples or pears

afflay - waffles

cheese! - let me take your picture please!

uhoh - Hmm...I intentionally spilled something all over the ground

soes - help me get my shoes on and take me outside!

Most animals are referred to by the sound they make and not their actual names.  Eg, woo-woof is dog and neow-neow is cat.  Pigs are referred to as lalala (not to be confused with lala), because of his singing pigs book.  He also says choo-choo to mean train or subway, and sometimes buses.

I can't wait to see all our family on the east coast this weekend.  I miss everyone so much!!

Week 23 Pregnancy Symptoms

I always find these What to Expect symptoms lists for pregnancy so funny to look at and compare.  Here is where I supposedly am now.

Week 23 Pregnancy Symptoms


Fetal activity: A definite yes on this one.  It is just so reassuring to feel the baby kick and twirl around all the time.
Hearty appetite: Hmm...I gave up on the 'no eating past 9pm' rule long ago.  Ryan has had to drive to taco bell at least twice in the last week, after a full dinner, with an order so large he had to write it all down to remember it.  I just finished a plate of grapes and am about to have tater tots with cheese whiz (hey! I guess I'm like a Philly girl in some ways; I also like it on toast with jam and party mix even when I'm not pregnant).
Bloating: I now look like a small car, so yes.
Forgetfulness:   Umm, I think I have been but I honestly can't remember?
Snoring:  Luckily I have no idea since I always kick Ryan out of bed first for snoring.

Whimsy.

Ryan and I were talking this morning about how kids seem to grow up faster and faster constantly.  Or at least want to.  But why?  It seems so silly to us now.  You can have so much more unpretentious fun as a kid. 

We still try to find moments of whimsy in our life all the time.  It's probably when we have the most fun.

Like the natural waterslides outside of Pittsburgh.  Or any water slides really. 

Then, imagine my delight when I saw a "Build-your-own Whimsical Sheet Castle" display at the Children's Museum later today.

Avi briefly honored us with his presence in the tent we were making, but was much more focused on his facepainting masterpiece..

{On a side note, I was really impressed with his facepainting today.  Look at that bright blue stripe straight down his nose to his chin, the use of bold colors, and the daring to add a hint of pink even just to bring out the other shades.  Just masterful.  I almost laughed when he pointed at the girl painting beside him "baby!" because she was at least twice his age and only had a few sad brown smudges on her face.  Oh, he is so precious.}

So, in true Hecker-Kumar fashion Ryan and I worked on the whole thing ourselves.  Getting a bit disheveled in the process.

I have to say though, the thing turned out pretty damn awesome in the end.  Before we got there it was basically just a pile of pillows and folded up blankets.  Avinash could stand up fully inside it and we could sit comfortably.  And of course, all the other kids wanted to play in it too afterwards.  Several random kids came up to me and asked where the footballs??? were.  I have no idea.

It was so awesome being reminded of my childhood.  We used to stack up the couch cushions and build sheet tents all the time.  Eventually we moved them to the basement so that we could expand their size.  Some of them stayed up for weeks!  We could play games and hang out with our other (equally dorky) friends..  Now I am so looking forward to doing that all over again.

Pampers GtG codes

Just thought I would share some Pampers Gifts to grow points that I found on the internet recently.  Mostly retailmenot and FrugalMom. 

I got hundreds of points this way. 

WELCOME2GTG2010 10


WELCOME2VILLAGE 10

 GETSTARTEDNOW10 10

GTGGETREADYSOON 10

GTGFIVEMONTHS10 10

GTGTENMONTHCODE 10

WELCOME2PAMPERS 50

CAREFORNEWBORNS 10

PUNTOSPARAMI123 10
JOINNOW4REWARDS 50

10PTSFREECODE4U 10

GIFTSTOGROW4MOM 50

2BEGINEARNING50 50

PAMPERS4MOMSOND 10

I still have yet to use any of these points, but they have some gift cards and Snapfish deals that are decent.  Most of these expire this year!

feels like christmas!!

And not because of the fact that it is only a balmy 65 degrees outside today and I actually wore a sweater.  Granted it was short sleeves and I kind of regretted it after an hour and I paired it with flip flops. 

Anyway.....

I am waiting to open a very important package tonight!  I had my 20-week ultrasound today and everything looks great.  We decided to have the tech write down the gender of the baby and put it in an envelope so we could figure out how we wanted to find out.  If at all.  

So, I decided to take the envelope to Janie and Jack and have them gift wrap a girl or boy layette outfit and then wrap it up without telling me.  When Ryan gets home we are going to open it up together. 

We have decided to keep it a secret just between the two of us though, sorry!

The baby was so amazing to watch during the ultrasound.  The little one is already sucking its thumb.

Just another profile shot.  We even saw the baby stick its tongue out!

I love the little feet too. 

This is a little crafy-moment I had last night because I couldn't get over my excitement about the ultrasound today.  I also love ee cummings so I thought it fit. 

 

Avinash looked so cute when he came over to see what I was taking pictures of.  Whenever he sees a camera he immediately starts saying "cheese!" now.  I told him it was a picture of the baby, but I'm not sure if he understood because he later asked me if the rose bushes were the baby. 

And in case you were curious, or more likely, just bored, here is a picture of me and the new baby together circa 21 weeks.

I love..

twinkling lights in our apartment and outside our window that look like stars.

the holiday feeling in the air since the weather started getting colder.

being able to wear sweaters, scarves and jackets.

seeing Avinash in all his hats and hoodies, he looks sooo adorable in his hoodies.


all of the belly kisses I get from Avinash for the baby.

feeling kicks and somersaults, especially when I lay down at night.

watching old episodes of Firefly and Arrested Development with Ryan.

celebrating all the holidays with my family and friends this year - we were in Dallas for rakshabandan, in Houston with friends for Karva Chauth and Diwali, and will be back in Pennsylvania/New Jersey are for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years! It has literally been years since I got to do that.



planning our 'babymoon' to Disney World in January! We have already started rewatching favorite movies and listening to the songs with Avinash. It is such a delight to see how much he loves our favorite kids' movies too.

the sound of Avinash's voice and his rapidly expanding vocabulary. We have totally forgotten all of our worries about a 'language delay.'

My little pumpkin.

We continued our now 'yearly' tradition of taking central market pumpkin patch pictures.

Avinash blew me away when he actually agreed to wear the hat this time! I think it is the most adorable thing ever. Of course, his mind was mainly on the balloons there.

Afterwards we decided to continue our jam-packed weekend. We headed to Boo at the Zoo, but it was too hot for his ducky costume. Just like last time, he asked to see the monkeys first and squealed with excitement when we saw them. We also went to see the moles, so Ryan could witness how much he loves watching them tunnel back and forth. It is especially cute when he shows all the other kids where the moles are in the tunnels.

 

Avi's Costume Parade.

I love shopping. I used spend all my free time roaming around center city looking for deals on shoes, practically living in H&M and even making occasional trips to BR.

Having Avinash has taken that love to a whole new level. Obsession really.

I can't say that I ever got much into Halloween growing up. Mostly just tried to put something together at the last minute or didn't bother at all.

I never realized that this holiday had so many great shopping possibilities. Turns out I can not resist buying baby and now toddler costumes in every design available. I especially the Carter's prams because they can be worn as regular clothing as well without too much added bulk. What is the point of all that padding anyway? Is a baby more believable as a duck if his butt is five times its normal size? I suppose it is cute, but I really don't want Avinash to think he needs artificial augmentation of his body already! Or ever.

Well, as a result Avinash can now host his own one-man Halloween toddler costume parade.

To start, this little tiger is paraded around on the shoulders of his very own parrot.

 

It was amazing how amenable to face painting Avinash was. Not touching his face and smudging the whole thing afterwards? Not so much.


His dragon costume totally came in handy when we went to Ren-Fair.  Although people seemed to think he was a turtle.  Ummm...no.  Think people.  Why would a turtle be terrorizing historically innacurately dressed knights?  Makes no sense. 

He wore it again on one of our many trips to the Children's Museum trick-or-treating.  I don't think he even knew how to say the word nummies at the beginning of this month.  Not sure where he learned it either, since I have never used that word.  Here is the little dragon devouring his spongebob gummy-nummie.

 

And here is the little giraffe trying to devour a mini pumpkin.  The zoo had this cute little pumpkin patch set up for pumpkin decorating, but Avinash did not quite understand the point.  And kept calling them applays, hee.

 

I love this giraffe watching the monkeys picture.  He looks so tall all of a sudden, maybe this costume is rubbing off on him!  This is right before we met a little ballerina who talked up a storm with Avinash about the all the 'e-o's  they saw.  He may have then followed her around for the next half hour or so.  Luckily her mom didn't mind when he tried to hold her hand.

We dressed him up as a pirate to play on the ship at the Natural History Museum, he totally loved it!  He didn't believe us for weeks that the ship had left and always had to see for himself.  I painted an eye patch on myself that day and one of the kids asked me how I hurt my eye?!

He put on his penguin costume at the gymnastics party.  The best thing was seeing him sliding down the parachute on his tummy, just like a real penguin!  We were so worried about the timing of the party because it coincided with nap time.  He was so sleepy when we got there, but as soon as he saw the parachute-slide it was an instant transformation. 

Last, but not least....the little Big Bird-esque ducky.  This shot of him in the dryer is so awesome.  He loves to move clothes in and out all the time, why shouldn't the ducky to laundry to? 
This is actually one of the few costumes he puts on willingly, even the leggings, ha.