my camera has a food setting...

Who knew?  Apparently "saturation will be rather high to make food look appetizing."  Except for that one time, I'm not really in the habit of photographing my meals, so I decided to try this setting* on the baby.  I mean, I thought that she already looked pretty appetizing already, but a little extra saturation never hurt anyone did it?  Well, she does tend to look pretty bright red in pictures if I do increase the saturation usually...but I digresss.

Yeah, I pretty much want to eat her up anyway.  I think she has to know how cute she is. 

*(In all honesty, I can't remember which photos were shot in which setting, but here they are anyway.)

my scrap buddy

First, I showed Avinash this tiny star punch and we spent a while punching out stars from junk mail.

Then, he grabbed a box of buttons and said he wanted to put them on 'pi'tures'.

So I let him pick out a photo from a stack of left over prints that I had lying around.  First he wanted a picture of the baby but then he decided to use a picture of his school.

I got out the glue stick and helped him put the glue on and let him place the buttons on the photo.  I grabbed an ugly old piece of cardstock and glued the photo down so we could put those stars on too. 

He was going a little crazy with the buttons which I didn't really want, so I distracted him with some funky letter die cuts.  He loved those.  We stuck those all over the place.  He was strangely attentive when I told him to only use a little glue.  So cute to see him placing the tiniest dot of glue on the letters before giving them to me to stick on.

He picked out a few more die cuts and I added some washi tape and a little bit of journaling.  (When you ask him if he wants to go to school he always says "No waaay!")  And, bam!  Avi's first scrapbook page.

I think it turned out surprisingly well if I do say so myself.  The photo itself isn't that great.  His eyes aren't even open.  And I'm a little bummed in hindsight that I gave him such yucky cardstock.  Oh well.  Still I love it, this one is definitely going in the scrapbook.  Hmm...I may have to do a page about doing this page..

too young to make a party?

What do you get when you combine a translucent plastic cheese or boggle container, a bunch of markers, possibly a washcloth and a book stuffed inside, with a water bottle or marker and a band aid on top?

Why birthday cake of course!

Complete with a 'flame' to blow out after singing.

{Unfortunately, Avi could not get blow out the candle, because he's 'too young', as he solemnly informed me.  "Oh no, Avi too young, can't do it!"  Seriously, I have no idea where that came from but I still love it.  Ha!}

Just add a few toys and random pieces of paper wrapped in tissue paper that you find in mommy's room and a hat maybe and you have a full party!   I don't know why I never thought of this, the boy is like a mini-MacGyver.  Who is also a party planner, apparently.

little fishy in the sea oh she's a little girl with a round tummy.

     When I was pregnant, the movie that Avinash loved watching endlessly was Ponyo.  The Little Mermaid is a great short story and my favorite cartoon movie. It is so cute that Avinash ended up loving the anime version too. He gets so concerned for Ponyo while watching ('Oh no! boat! Ponyo stuck?'). I told him that he has to be like Soske (the little boy in the movie) and help Ponyo too. I may have even used the noodle scene to get him to eat Maggi for lunch every once in a while. He was so happy to take his picture with Ponyo, though his facial expression certainly doesn't show it. I think it was a rather solemn thing for him.

     In fact, he made me rush home out of the museum after he saw this poster so that we could go home and watch it.

     Is it any wonder then that our baby has her fair share of fishy in the sea moments?

     And in case you don't see the similarity, check out the theme song!

Ponyo, ponyo, ponyo, fishy in the sea
tiny little fishy, who could you really be?
ponyo, ponyo, magic's set you free;
oh she's a little girl with a round tummy.
tip-tippie-toe, jump-jump and hop, now that I've got my legs, I cannot stop
pat-pattie-pat waving 'hello!'
come and hold hands with me, dancing we go
my feet are skipping, my heart too
happy-happy are we all
maybe I might love you, maybe I might love you
so hold on tight and hold me close,
you're my hero!
ponyo, ponyo, fishy in the sea
tiny little fishy, who could you really be?
ponyo, ponyo, magic's set you free,
oh pretty little girl will you swim back to me?

Yum yummy yum I smell a treat
Let's fill our tummies now good things to eat
Peak peak-a-boo that's what we'll do
I see my favorite boy he sees me too.
My cheeks are rosy from smiling
Laughing, laughing are we all
Maybe I might love you, maybe I might love you
So hold on tight and hold me close,
you're my hero!

So in love..

{May 18~Nandini and her Nanaji}


sorry it's so blurry, I just love the expression of total adoration in her eyes.

parenting 101 - Niru and Ryan style

11:53 PM me: She just fell asleep again

11:54 PM Ryan: cool

12:01 AM Ryan: can't wait to see you and Avi too

  and Nandini

 me: O

12:02 AM Ryan: ?

 me: Nandini fell asleep on me

12:06 AM Ryan: awww

  it's very comfortable!

12:09 AM :-)

  is that how she is lying now?

 me: Yes

12:10 AM Ryan: awwww

12:23 AM me: Did you know your son got in a fight today?

 Ryan: NO

  with who?

12:24 AM me: Some kid at school

  Over a toy they both wanted

12:25 AM Ryan: wow

  so what happened?

12:26 AM me: Avi's nose was scratched

 Ryan: wow

  how did the other kid look? broken jaw?

 me: There was a written report but I can't find it

12:27 AM Haha

  No idea! It was hard enough to get any info from my parents

12:28 AM Ryan: a written report

  wow

12:30 AM me: Yea

 Ryan: oh now

  well..he loves his

  toys

  he needs to learn how to share

 me: Ugh

12:31 AM Ryan: did you say anything about it to him?

 me: He does.

  A bit

12:33 AM Ryan: haah

  awww

12:37 AM that toy was probably very cool

12:38 AM me: I doubt it

12:44 AM Ryan: huh? I don't know

  I'm interested in hearing more about thts fight

 me: Me too

12:46 AM Ryan: do they have a write-up at the office

  maybe Avi was defending

12:47 AM At that point, he doesn't have to share

  and concede his toy

5 minutes

 Ryan:

1:01 AM everyone at work is talking about my stolen cupcakes

1:02 AM me: You should subpoena the flight manifesto

 Ryan: hahhaha

  what did you see?

  yeah...or the black box

  the pilot could have eaten it

1:03 AM Ryan: oh

  okay

  I mean..who steals cupcakes from a passenger

 me: You should call the cops on your seatmate

 Ryan: haha..yeah...I should have

  darn

  call over the air marshall

1:04 AM me: You screwed the pooch on that one

 Ryan: ah well

 me: Sorry ... made love to the pooch

 Ryan: hahaha

  gross

1:05 AM yeah...I guess part of me was mad at myself for buying those cupcakse to begn with

  so...I got what I deserved

 Ryan:

  I've decided that it is our goal, in respecting your heritage, to make that Avinash's style as well

1:12 AM me: C'mon!

  Octopus overalls are cool!

 Ryan: and if we need to use kajal and give him a unibrow, then so be it

1:13 AM every day before school, we need to require him to stretch his socks as high up his leg as possible

  thoughts?

 me: I was thinking Nandini needs a shiny bowl cut

 Ryan: haha

  perfect!

 me: As soon as she grows hair

1:14 AM Ryan: that sounds perfect....might I also add bushy eyebrows

  and nerdy glasses

  too far?

 me: How about ill fitting pants and no socks?

1:15 AM For avi

  No to the eyebrows

1:17 AM

 Ryan: darn

  okay...fine...ill fitting pants it is

1:18 AM let's just look at Anuj's pictures at age 9 and replicate

 

1:34 AM Ryan:

1:35 AM can't wait to see you tomorrow!

  bye!

1:36 AM me: Bye.

Baby's got a brand new hat..

Isn't she the cutest little pixie baby?

And she clearly needed a handmade hat to complete the effect.

    I actually started knitting this for Nandini this weekend.  And am totally shocked/pleased with myself for being already done with it. (If you are interested you can find the pattern here.)  It's a very good pattern for beginners I think and doesn't require any annoying 'knitting in the round.'  I did get a little tripped up by the phrase 'knit the knits and purl the purls.'  I mean, is it meant to obfuscate on purpose?  That is why the edge looks a little ruffly and is not in the same ribbing pattern.  I decided to leave it like that because I ended up liking the effect.  I have a little bit of finishing to do, but I was too excited not to share.

Nandini mid-sneeze, this may be my favorite picture of the day.  I thought I got a picture of her sneezing with my phone the other day, but the stupid thing froze and I was so crushed I missed the photo - luckily this makes up for it.

Ryan has been requesting pictures of the hat (and the baby of course).   She is so much more alert all the time now, look at those eyes!

Vintage baby photo edits of baby in a vintage baby knit hat. 

i guess we don't have to worry about her gathering moss...

We now have a regular little roller on our hands.  You know what this means...somebody is growing up.  No more unsupervised late nights on the couch for you young lady.

I had actually never seen her roll before, but did leave her in the living room on her tummy (for a second, I swear!) and came back to find her on her back.  She was only two weeks old at that point and had never repeated that feat.  I chalked it up to the fact that she is getting just a little to chunku for herself and can no longer lift her own body weight.  I mean the weight of her cheeks alone...

Of course she had to show off today at the doctor's office.  The pedi was commenting on how high she was lifting her head and asked if she could roll.  Two seconds after I said not really, our little miss rolled herself right over.  The doctor then put her on her tummy again and she did it again!  I guess that just shows how much credibility I have at the doctor's office (what's up with the mom who doesn't even know her child can roll!)..

And, in case you were wondering, her stats are really good too.  She is 9 pounds, 10 ounces and 22 inches long.  Which is 50%-ile!!  Shocking, I know.  Maybe she'll be the tall one in the family?  And, get a little payback on her older brother for all those overzealous hugs.  ;)

PS- thanks to Leanne for the gorgeous new bibs.  I was never into bibs because they tend to be sort of fugly, but these are really wonderfully made.

NSD layout challenges

Being back in Houston means lots of time to scrapbook.  I love doing all of these adorable new baby layouts of Nandini.  When I think of it now, I know that she really couldn't be less interested in her album.  Hopefully she really will like it someday though!

First Holi
*SC stamping

I really love this circle stamp from SC and waited so long to get it.  I stamped this and used bright red embossing powder.  Then I added little brads and buttons all over in different colors.  I don't think my love was unfounded at all, I am so excited by how this turned out.

My reluctant dragon

*SC wood veneers

Using by 8x10 photos makes pages come together so quickly for me.  I used the SC butterfly wood veneers and used paint dabbers to give them a sort of hombre blue shade.  I added even more depth with Maya bingo wood pieces.  I love the earthy feel it gives the page, very reminiscent of ren-fair.

tummy time

*patterned paper

*JBS stamps

I am totally addicted to embossing right now and used it again here.  The little white sunburst gets so much more depth from being embossed instead of just inked on.  Plus, I had to do something special for the LO about the first time Nandini rolled over (at two weeks!).

Cheese, baby!

*SC multiphoto

*story behind the photo

 

I had so many random little pictures on my memory card from Nandini's delivery which were taken by her proud big brother.  They are so hilarious, but mostly just blurry shots of the blanket or his own finger on the lens, that it took a while for me to figure out how I ought to do it.  I ended up making a photo grid on picasa with them and framing it in this polaroid chipboard.  Note how he did manage to get at least one good picture!

Project life.

We just got back from Pennsylvania yesterday and I finally got to sit down and go through my photos from April last night.

April 16 - We flew into Philly late the night before.  We were so excited to see our baby boy again.

Lily! In April! Despite the downpour (and arriving after the cake was cut), we had a great time at Lily's fourth birthday.

April 18 - I turned thirty-scary. Mona didi, Mike and Lily came over for a play date before they went back to California!  We all love hanging out with them.

April 19 - Nandini and Nana.  I love that she gets to bond so much with my parents at home.

April 20 - Our dinner at Per Se.  This is the first course, "oil and vinegar" with green tomato sorbet.  Mmmmm...

April 21 - Picking Avi up from "school."  He is always so happy to come home. 

April 23 - We took Avi to New York for brunch, the Natural History Museum and Shake Shack!  I had a great time and almost wanted to skip the museum and just go somewhere for more food. 

April 24 - Easter!!  We don't really celebrate at all, but we did go to the park and get Nandini dressed up for some pictures.