A new house and trip to DC...

It is official, we closed on the house last Wednesday. Abhi will have a brand new playground in about 2 weeks. Well, he is already testing it out as we visit daily to do some things and take small load over. He is having fun with all the open space. It won't change too much even when we move in since we won't have enough furniture to fill the house. Abhi won't mind...more room for toys!!

So, we will be very busy between now and thanksgiving trying to get the house ready; cleaning, painting, moving small stuff. Thanksgiving weekend my mom is coming to help us, she will be Abhi's entertainment and we will get moved once and for all probably that Saturday. So, that means that the posts will probably be few and far between until the end of the year. I am going to try and keep things as normal as possible for Abhi, still doing our weekly outings etc...

Last Friday we made a trip to DC to the natural history museum, Abhi's first time there. We went with our moms group. We got up bright and early (never a problem for Abhi) and met the moms and babies (Everett, Bella, and Reagan) at the VRE train station (not the metro but the va railway express - the train K takes to work every morning) and took the 8:08 train. K actually came with us and helped me get everything and Abhi ready to go. When I first woke, I was thinking it would not happen...I was so tired! But we made it and it was a a lot of fun. we got to the museum finally at 10am when it opened and Abhi promptly fell asleep! I couldn't believe it. So, he missed the animal gallery so many of which he knows from his books. He dozed for about 30 minutes or so and woke up in time to see some reptiles and bugs so he was happy with that since he knows turtle and snake. Then we headed up to the butterfly exhibit, kind of like a greenhouse with lots of butterflies. It is really good! Abhi can say butterfly (or a version of it) and he was also interested in the many flowers and fruit that the butterflies were eating. We then had lunch and headed back to the "choo choo train." It was a fun day with the babies in the capital....

No words necessary...

Happy Halloween!

Well, unfortunately, Abhi is a bit under the weather this halloween. He got a flu shot on Tuesday and he has since gotten a touch of the flu. We are missing our halloween playgroup this week so that is a bummer. I still put his costume on him though, he is a skeleton. Check out this cute (I mean scary) skeleton.



Note to self: Don't get the flu shot a few days before a holiday! We will still head over to our friends Lori and Bills in the evening. I think he is better, I just don't want to risk infecting other babies.

Abhi went for his 15 month check up, that was when he got the flu shot, as well as, one other shot and blood taken. It was rough one! But he did really well. After he got the crying and upset out for a few minutes he was busy saying "hi" to everyone as we strolled out of the doctor's office. He weighs 25lbs and is 30 1/2 inches tall. Both are 50th percentile so the doc told Abhi he is exactly average.

A Trip to the Farm, one nap, and some news...

Abhi and I had so much fun last Friday when we went to cox farm with our new mom's group. This is our second time joining them and we got to meet more moms and babies. Every month they try and do an outing so this time it was to cox farm where they have slides, animals, hayrides, and all kinds of things. We got there about 10 and left about 1 so it was a long fun morning. Abhi got to see chickens, a turkey, sheep, pigs, goats, and cows...which he was most excited about. He knew the cows and was mooing at them. When we went in to see the goats, he was saying 'dog.' That kind of works. He was happily petting them and did not appear scared at all, would you expect anything else from mister fearless! One of the little girls, Adeline, was turning one, so we celebrated her birthday with cupcakes. Her and a couple others were dressed in their costumes, they looked very cute. We finally got around to the hayride after lunch during which Abhi fell asleep. It had been a busy morning and he was fading fast. After that, we were off and he was asleep in the car in no time and had a nice long afternoon nap. Here are some pix from the farm...



We are in the transition from 2 to 1 naps I think. It has been a little rough but I just don't think Abhi needs two naps anymore, or at least it is getting harder to get him to take an afternoon nap after he has taken a morning nap. Then, if he doesn't get that afternoon nap, he is falling asleep at dinner. So, I am purposely keeping him awake and then putting him down at about 1/130 and letting him sleep 2-3 hours. Depending on how early he gets up....like today which was 630am...he can usually stay awake until then without much trouble. Today he was nodding off at about noon. Yesterday, he got up at 8, so that was perfect for the afternoon nap. It is a work in progress.

The news - no, it's not another baby- we are buying a house! We have been looking since returning from India and found something we like at a great price. We are moving about 5 miles from where we are, not too far, life won't change too much. It is in a different city but a little farther out. The house is big...we are sure to be lost in there... and the neighborhood is very nice so we are very excited. I haven't mentioned it yet because it is a short sale. Not sure if you know what that is but it is a very difficult way to buy a house. The contract has been ratified after a month of negotiations!! We settle on Nov. 12 (hoping all goes well) and then plan to move in by end November. Of course, since it is a short sale anything can happen even now and the bank can pull the plug so I hope I don't jinx it buy putting out the news.

Abhi went to the doc yesterday - 15 month check up. I will write about that in a couple of days.

Facing Forward!

On Monday, we finally turned Abhi's car seat around to face forward. You can do this at 1 year and 20lbs but I left it longer since it is safer. It was getting more and more difficult to get him in and out of the middle of the backseat now that he is getting so big. So, he has a whole new view of the world now when he is riding in the car. He can see me in the front seat and he can see really well out the window. That means he can see all the things he is so fond of these days...trucks, buses, cars, trains...he is a happy boy. He has always been good in the car seat and continues to be that way. But, now since we go outside and play a lot when are leaving the house he thinks we are going to the park. Sometimes that makes getting in the car seat not very desirable. But, this will probably help keep him occupied while riding instead of just staring at the back seat and window.

It was a low-key past weekend. On Saturday morning Abhi finished up his six week swimming class and got his certificate. The only two things he did not do well on are 'face in the water' and 'blowing bubbles.' He has been swimming awhile now and he has not been successful yet at either of those things. All he does when his mouth goes in the water is drink it. I try to discourage that. Guess we will start another session in a couple weeks. After that, Abhi went to daycare at the gym for an hour so I could go to pilates (god, I hate that class but it is really good for you!). K had to work until about midnight friday night, so he got to stay home in bed that morning...it was a peaceful one with Abhi slamming pots and pans around for once. Saturday evening, we spent at our friends Bill and Lori's, they got to have fun with Abhi and we ordered Thai food. Lori got colors out for Abhi, so he had fun doing that. He has only colored a couple of times but he seems to know what to do. Who doesn't love to scribble!

The week started off pretty uneventful as well, but picked up towards the middle. We went to babygarten on wednesday, made our weekly trip to Ashburn. He has learned so much from that program (of course I am constantly reinforcing it at home). We have been singing a song in there for the last couple of sessions I call 'the me song.' that Abhi just started singing out of the blue one day. It has a repetitive tune that you sing me, you, we then yes, no, maybe...and Abhi has picked it up so well. He goes around singing 'me,me,me...." all the time. It is very cute.

We went to the gym on Thursday for toddlin time. I swear, once we get there Abhi runs off and never looks back. Well, he does once in a awhile, but he is just so into all the stuff they have there. We also do parachute time, Abhi does not care much for the parachute. But, each week he tries a little more during that time. He did go under it this week when we were holding it up in the air. He wants no part of sitting on it when we pull it around in a circle and all the babies are sitting in the middle. He hasn't gotten there yet. After that, we went to the downtown coffee shop and accidentally met up with one of the moms and babies from Abhi's class, Nicole and Everett. Everett is about 5 days younger than Abhi and I think Abhi has finally met his match! Everett is very energetic and always seems to be having so much fun with everything, just like Abhi. Nicole invited us for a mom's group at her house this morning so the boys got more time together and there were more kids for Abhi to meet and play with. I think he had fun although, he might have been a bit tired. It is great experience for him so he can learn to play with other kids instead of being mr. center of attention at home. Nicole also made a great lunch, pizza with all kinds of roasted veggies and cheese. Abhi loved it! So, we are getting out in manassas finally and making friends close to home.

Nothing else for now. I still haven't organized the India pictures...there are about 300 of them, 299 of them of Abhi probably! It is on my list of things to do. More blog info soon! Hope all of you are well.