The Youngest Cowboys Fan in our Family!

Arjun, 8 days new!

 Arjun is indeed the youngest and newest Cowboys fan in our family!  We were all so excited and couldn't wait to make him one!  Thanks to Dadi, he already has a beautiful and sentimental crochet Cowboys' Star blanket (that Krish has claimed as his own), beanie, and diaper cover!  Dadi is so talented, and our little Arjun looks so precious in his Great-Dadi's lovingly handmade Cowboys paraphernalia.

And Arjun, 53 days new!

Arjun is 8 Weeks Old Today!

Our little boy turned 8 weeks old today!  I can't believe how fast he's growing!  Where has the time gone?  The most noticeable developments this week are how well Arjun can hold his head up on tummy time, how much he loves talking when he's awake, and how he's discovered his hands!  He's also developed a little reflux at night, so my poor baby has had a little trouble sleeping!

Our favorite development has been how much he loves to talk and how much we love to talk to him!  My precious baby is the cutest talker ever!

Holidays with Masis!

This holiday season, Tanya Masi and Tricia Masi came to Dallas to spend Christmas with Krish and Arjun.  Krish had an amazing time participating in various holiday activities with his masis throughout December.  Christmas is our favorite time of year, and Masis were very eager to share family traditions with Krish since he is old enough to understand them now! (He still doesn't quite appreciate the concept of Santa, but that just leaves something to look forward to for next year!)

Reading The Polar Express and other holiday stories with Tanya Masi in front of the fire.

One thing that Krish enjoyed a lot was going on the North Pole Express train ride when Tanya Masi was here.  The experience is very similar to the story The Polar Express.  When Tanya Masi came back for Christmas, she made sure to bring the book with her so that she could read it to Krish.  He certainly enjoyed it too!  In fact, they read the book over and over again throughout the week masis were here.  Given Krish's love for trains, this might have been his favorite holiday activity!

Making a gingerbread choo choo train with Masis!

Krish and Tricia Masi on the scooter!

Krish making holiday treats with Masis for Santa and our Christmas Eve Party.

Making Christmas Morning Hot Chocolate!

Christmas Morning!

Krish opening his Christmas gift from Masis!

Our little Clause with his Masis!

Christmas Day Snow!

Other holiday festivities Krish enjoyed with Masis were making holiday treats together including Tanya Masi's famous hot chocolate on Christmas morning, playing in the snow, leaving cookies and milk out for Santa on Christmas Eve, opening Christmas presents together, and learning about a new holiday tradition: The Elf on the Shelf!  

Our new Christmas tree on Christmas morning

Arjun's first stocking! (Tricia Masi's fell from the weight!)

 The Elf on the Shelf is one of Santa's elves who came to our house to watch Krish behave like a good little boy for Santa.  We named our elf Rugelach, after a yummy German cookie, and he flew around the house following Krish wherever he went to watch after him.  At night he left for the North Pole to report to Santa, and the next morning, he would be back at our home in a different location watching over Krish!

There's Rugelach watching over Krish!
Krish just loved this tradition!

The last day Masis were here we ran some errands together and met Hailey Foi and Roshni Foi.  Aren't Krish and Arjun the luckiest little boys?  The day Masis leave, Fois arrive!  Well, Krish and Arjun absolutely love their Masis and have such an amazing time with them!  This time for the holidays, they did so much together, and Krish learned so much from them!  He was definitely sad to see them leave but always looks forward to the next reunion.  Krish loves you Tanya Masi and Tricia Masi!

On their last day here: all tuckered out from a busy and amazing visit!

Arjun's Developments...Continued

On December 23rd, our baby boy turned 5 weeks old and definitely started looking bigger!  He was no longer a newborn.  In his fifth week of life, he began stretching his nighttime sleep to about 4 hours!  Baby steps…but a little victory for Momma and Daddy!  His poopy diapers were getting bigger but less frequent.  He loved and loves bath time, being sang to and talked to, and being held upright and close to your body.  As Tricia Masi soon discovered, he also loves being swayed, lunged, and squatted to sleep!  A method we still employ to this day.  It sounds like our little boy is high maintenance!  However, Momma and Daddy still think it's better than introducing a pacifier now.  Arjun's need for motion to be soothed could be related to the active lifestyle I had while I was pregnant, or so Daddy believes.  I think it is probably a combination of Daddy's belief, the common need of babies to be rocked, and also the amount of time Arjun spends in his swing while Krish is also awake and playing.  Arjun really loves his swing!

On December 30th, Arjun turned 6 weeks old!  His 6th week of life was a busy one with the holidays!  He had lots of visitors and was very friendly with all of them when he wasn't snuggled up in their laps sleeping.  Everybody also noted how impressed they were with his ability to hold his head up so well.  On Christmas Eve, Arjun gave us the best Christmas present of all: 6 undisturbed hours of nighttime sleep!  Mommy and Daddy had never felt so fresh the next morning!  Too bad that was a one-time deal.  The next night and thereafter, we went back to 4 1/2 hour stretches.

On January 6th, Arjun turned 7 weeks old and has been so much fun to play with!  He loves to talk to people when they keep their faces up close to his.  He smiles, giggles, and coos all the time, especially after feeds and diaper changes.  He is so much fun to converse with now!  He also loves to lift up from a sleeping to sitting position while holding on to your fingers with both his hands.  It is so cute!  He is absolutely great with company and has slept so nicely in Ba's and all his Carrollton Fois' arms when they come over at night.  He is only a little more difficult to put to sleep for the night when its just Mommy and Daddy!

Arjun's Developments!

A neat idea I learned from our cousin, Krishna, is to journal all the developmental milestones of our little ones' lives on a weekly and soon monthly basis.  I think it is a wonderful idea and wish I had implemented this with Krish.  I never thought of it then, but through Krishna's example, I will fortunately have a chance to implement it with Arjun and hope to keep up with it as well!  I think keeping up with it ON TIME will be the biggest challenge for me!  I am already behind with Arjun's updates!  Arjun is now 7 weeks old and I have updates for each week of the past 7 weeks of his life that I have been noting.  My, how time flies when you're having fun...and keeping busy!

On November 25th, Arjun turned 1 week old!  Since his birth, he mainly slept and fed on a 2 hour schedule.  He had jaundice when he was born so he slept quite a bit and in front of a window to get sunlight.  Daddy and I cherished his few wakeful moments to talk to him, sing to him, and read to him.  While he was asleep we would just look at him, hold him, snuggle with him, and take in everything about him.

On December 2nd, Arjun turned 2 weeks old, and by the very next morning, we witnessed our tiny, little baby's first smiles ever!  We couldn't believe he was already smiling!  We had seen some in his sleep before, but nothing like the big, giggly, responsive smiles we saw that morning.  It truly melted our hearts to see them.  

In his second week of life, he recovered from his jaundice and spent a little more time in the day staying awake.  His umbilical cord fell off on November 30th, so he received his very first bath as well!  He was still on a 2 hour feeding schedule, with scattered 3 to 4 hour stretches at night.  He also still had poopy diapers with almost every diaper change!  We were just waiting for that to taper down!  By 2 weeks, Arjun was also showing a great deal of head control.  He has never ceased to impress us!  

He also had his very first outing, other than doctor's appointments, accompanying big brother to see all the Christmas lights and decorations at the Gaylord Texan!  Of course, he never left his comfy, cozy car seat!

On December 9th, our sweet little baby turned 3 weeks old!  He was now spending more and more time with his eyes open soaking in his new world.  I'm pretty sure things still looked quite fuzzy to him though.  After his 2 week check up, we were now allowed to give him about 5-10 minutes of tummy time a day, increasing gradually to about half an hour.  Surprisingly, he didn't mind tummy time and would lie on his tummy peacefully while looking to the side for quite some time.  Daddy and I really enjoy playing with Arjun during his wake times at this stage.

During his third week of life, Nani went back to Houston after staying with us for 3 weeks, and we all really missed her.  Of course, Arjun loved all the warm, cozy naps he got to take in everyone's lap while they were here and came to visit.  We soon realized that he just wouldn't stay asleep when left alone so we decided to get a Moby carrier.  This way he could sleep close to me while enabling my hands to be free at the same time!  What a great invention!

On December 16th,  Arjun turned 4 weeks old!  By this time, his melt-your-heart smiles were a regular thing to be seen around the house!  He would smile and giggle regularly right after feedings and diaper changes.  He loves to be free of his diaper!  This was also his favorite time to talk.  He also loves to talk to you!  His sweet baby coos are the best!  Honestly, Mama could just sit there, stare at him and talk to him all day if he let me!  It was my favorite part of the day too!

He was now feeding every 2-3 hours.  He typically could go 3 hours between feeds during the day, cluster feed in the late evening, and then feed every 3 hours at night.  His poopy diapers finally started tapering down as well.  Arjun's play times increased with half the time on tummy time and the other half looking at the hanging, musical toys off his play mats.  Daddy and Momma also continued to enjoy reading and singing to Arjun as well while he was awake.

Christmas Eve with Family and...Santa!

We had lots of family visiting Dallas for Christmas this year.  Mama and Mami came from Fort Wayne, Ven and Komal Bhen came from San Antonio, Divyang, Hemal Bhabhi, Kyna, and Shreya came from Cleveland, Kedar and Sohini were in town from school, and Tanya and Tricia were here for the holidays too!  Of course, Nilay Bhai, Anupa and Dhruv already live here, and it was so great to get to spend Christmas Eve with them!

We also had one very special guest come over for Christmas Eve in Carrollton, and it was...Santa!  Santa came and surprised all the kids with Christmas presents!  They were so excited, and it was so cute to see them all waiting with anticipation as Santa was about to arrive at the front door.

After sitting on Santa's lap and opening one gift each, the kids all had a blast playing with each other that night.  Unfortunately, Shreya was a little under the weather, but she was feeling much better the next day for the rest of their trip.  Overall, everyone had a very "merry" Christmas Eve together as a big family!

Krish giving Dhruv his Christmas gift.

Arjun meeting Mama and Mami for the first time!

We made it!

Well, Krish made it through a wonderful first day of school, and Momma and Daddy made it through too!  Krish joined in for circle time with his class first thing in the morning.  There, he learned the day of the week, month, and year.  He participated in learning flashcards with the class, and he did very well in math and verbal/language.  His teacher and her assistant were particularly impressed with Krish's math skills and said he was very advanced!  I guess doing mathematics at home with him has payed off!  He also ate his lunch all by himself which made Daddy and Momma very proud as well!  Overall, he had a wonderful day and is looking forward to his second day of school tomorrow!

Krish's Very FIRST Day of Pre-School!

Today is a huge mile-stone in Krish's life!  Today, my sweet little boy, who is almost 3 years old now, started his very first day of school ever!  I couldn't believe this day had come!  He was definitely ready, as we did a trial day/visit right before Christmas, and he enjoyed it.  He has also been talking about going to school with Daddy and I for quite a few months now.  Daddy was very strong this morning.  Only Momma was a huge, emotional mess.  My baby has been at home with me for almost three years now, and it was not only a big step for him, but a big step for me as well!  I wasn't ready to let go, but luckily, I think Krish has been ready for this new chapter in his life.  He is such a social kid and so curious and eager to learn!  Momma and Daddy are definitely excited for him!  Since he is going for only half days, we will at least still have our quality afternoons together!