Biren and Kristen's Universe

As usual, I'm a little late with my post... how time flies! I have no idea how I was writing a weekly post for so long! Alright, well, let's get right to it. August was a great month, as it is every year, because it is the month in which I was born! We didn't do a big party or anything for my birthday... We just went out for a nice dinner and then came back home to eat a super delicious cake that Kris made for me... from scratch! The girls helped me blow out the candles. It was a really great night that was capped off with the fact that the girls were on their best behavior that night. Thanks to my three lovely ladies for a wonderful birthday evening!

Ohhhh, and before I forget... August is also Homer's birthday! Little guy turned two. He's absolutely become a part of this family, and is a great dog. He used to be quite rambunctious, but has since mellowed out quite a bit and is very good to us. The girls absolutely love him, and we couldn't imagine this house without him. Kris decided to give him a birthday hard-boiled egg, since he likes those haha!

The weekend before my birthday, my dad came down to visit us, and he brought with him two of my aunts and uncles. The four of them were in the US visiting on account of my brother's wedding which had just taken place the week before. They had never been to our house, so they wanted to come visit as well as get another chance to see the girls. It was really nice to have them in our home, and see the girls have such a great time with them! It's not often I get to see my relatives from India, so it was really great to see them a few weekends in a row while they were in the country.

The next weekend, we decided to take a trip up to Newburyport and walk around and watch the boats since the weather was SO nice. The girls loved looking at all the boats. Once we got there, we saw that they had these 45 minute harbor cruises, so we decided to take one. The girls had a blast on the boat! It was a real nice day just walking around, and taking in the sights and sounds with the girls.

The following weekend, our friends Dan and Angela, with their son Balin, had a cookout at their house. It was another beautiful day, which made for a great opportunity for the girls to enjoy the water activities Dan/Ange setup. Unfortunately, Kath was being a little grumpy and decided not to play, but Reeny had a blast splashing around in the little inflatable water activity set. Kath eventually got out of her funk and enjoyed the rest of the day with the other kids that were there. Kris and I had fun chatting with our friends, and the girls had fun playing with the other kids. Was another fun weekend!

Last weekend, we went to another cookout, this time at the King's house, where the girls played with not only their best pal Grace, but some of Grace's cousins. Steve had his hammock setup in the backyard, and the girls were very intrigued by it, so we went over and plopped them in it. Boy did they love that thing! I now have an excuse to get myself a hammock at home... "the girls want it!" haha!

In parting, I leave you with a few videos for your enjoyment. We've got a video of the girls using their indoor slide in yet another new way. Another video of the girls singing and dancing along to some of their favorite songs that were played during the Boston Fireworks Spectacular. Finally, we have a video of the girls enjoying their new scooters that we just bought them this weekend (yes, I know, that should fall in the September update post... but I couldn't wait :-p).

Backslide

Dance and Sing Along

Scooters!!

[Newburyport Photos]
[Dan & Ange's Cookout Photos]
[August Photos]

July was an incredibly crazy month for us. To start, both of our brothers got married. Dave and Leah's wedding was on July 10th, while Niral and Liz's wedding was two weeks later on the 24th. Niral and Liz had an additional party the weekend in between, during which the engagement ceremony was held. The Friday evening before Dave's wedding, Kris headed down to where the wedding was for the rehearsal dinner and spent the night there at the hotel. I stayed home with the girls since our usual babysitters (ie Kris' parents) were also involved with the rehearsal dinner. Kris was in the wedding, so she was busy most of the day Saturday with hair and makeup. I got the girls ready and took them over to Jen and Steve's house who were incredibly kind enough to watch the girls for the night, while I headed down to the wedding myself. This was the girls' first real sleep over, and who better to have one with than their best pal Grace! We were nervous about leaving the girls with them, since they've never stayed with anyone other than us or Grammy/Papa, but they did fine!

Kris and I had a blast at the wedding, and it was nice to see everybody. We partied well into the night, and went to sleep at the hotel. We got up and picked up the girls the next morning. We were happy to see the girls, and they were happy to see us!

The next weekend, we drove down to NY for the weekend to partake in the festivities surrounding Niral and Liz's engagement. Since they live out in California, they had never had a chance to perform the ceremony, so they opted to do it a week before the wedding, since they'd be in town. This was our first really long drive with the girls really potty trained. That meant frequent stops, which resulted in a very long car ride. Once we got to my parents house, we relaxed and chatted with the rest of my family that was visiting for the big wedding. Some of my aunts/uncles from India were there. It was nice to see them, as well as my cousins and other aunts/uncles that continued to show up during the week.

While the ceremony was really nice and fun, the girls were very shy the entire weekend, and clung to us most of the time. I think the sheer number of people at the house for the weekend just freaked them out a little. That trepidation didn't subside the following weekend, either, when we drove back to NY for the actual wedding. Since I was in the wedding this time, Kris had to handle the girls herself while I did what I needed to do. The girls basically latched on to Kris and wouldn't leave her side for a second. They were very well behaved during the wedding ceremony, though... Kath was even smiling and waving at my brother at one point, which was cute. The ceremony itself was just wonderful. They had a Reverend who specialized in inter-faith marriages who basically blended a lot of the Chrisitan and Hindu traditions/cultures for what amounted to a really great ceremony. It was very unique, and I think it went very well. We lasted another couple hours maybe, before we had to leave the wedding because the girls were just not cooperating. There were just too many unknown faces for them to handle. So we wished my brother and new sister-in-law well, and headed to the hotel for the night and put the girls to sleep.

Somewhere between Dave and Niral's wedding weekends, Kris started a 4-week dance/gymnastics class session with the girls. Kris showed up to the first class and found out that parents aren't allowed in the room with the kids. Parents are supposed to go to another room and watch the class from video monitors. While Kris tried to get the girls into the room without her, it was definitely not working. I think had we known parents weren't allowed in there, we wouldn't have even signed up for it. So unfortunately, Kris had to just leave. She ended up being able to transfer the girls to a "Mommy and Me" class instead, in which parents are allowed to be with the kids. So she finished out the remaining three weeks doing that instead. The girls really enjoyed that. The class included some dancing in the dance studio and play/gymnastics in the play room. We are planning to enroll them in an 8 week session with the same teacher (who they loved) starting in Sept.

The girls are clearly in a phase right now where they're very weary around strangers. They even tend to get that way around people they do know, if there are others who they don't know also around. Hopefully they grow out of that very soon, because it makes it difficult for us to do anything, if they're always clinging to us wherever we go.

The girls are also developing fears now, and really learning what it means to be scared. Kath is now afraid of the dark in her bedroom. It got to the point last night, where I had to put a night light in the room. Her fear has been growing bit by bit over the past couple weeks, and now it's reached an apex. The night light seems to have made her happy for now.

They're kids, and these are phases that we expected them to go through. It's just interesting the things that come up out of the blue. As parents, you're constantly being thrown curve balls... it really keeps you on your toes. Logically, you wonder... well, you've been sleeping in your bed like this for two and a half years, without any problems... why now, are you afraid of something? Or, you've been fine around other people for so long, but why now do you get freaked out? These are just phases that we have to support the girls through, and I'm sure they'll come out on the other side soon enough.

In other news, this weekend was Kris' annual trip to Hampton Beach with her college friends, so I was with the girls myself all weekend. Yesterday, we were having a fine time on the deck with the girls' little kiddie pool. The girls were running around on the deck having a hoot, when all of a sudden Kath starts screaming and saying she has a boo boo on her foot. I pick her up and see two very nasty splinters in her foot (pictured right). These weren't splinters, even, they were small spears of wood! I've never seen anything like that before! I, myself, have never gotten anything like that! I calmed Kath down and was able to get the one in her toe out myself, but the one that was in the bottom of her foot was going to require assistance. Unfortunately, I had to have Kris drive back (luckily Hampton Beach is only about a half hour away) to help me get it out. It was a doozy, and we made Kath scream bloody murder, but we were able to get it out. She was fine as soon as we were done poking and prodding her with a safety pin and tweezer. Poor girl...

Alright, I've rambled on long enough for this post... I will leave you with a couple videos for your viewing pleasure.

Fun on the swings

The Great Jump

[July Photos]
[Niral & Liz Engagement Party Photos]
[Niral & Liz's Wedding Photos]

June was a pretty fun month for the girls. Two out of the three theme parks we visited this year were visited in June. As you may already know, we went to Sesame Place earlier in the month, and just last weekend, wrapping up June, we went to Story Land. It was our second annual pilgrimage to North Conway, NH with our good friends, the Kings. Last year, you might recall we stayed one night at the Adventure Suites... This year, we decided to rent a house and make it a two night stay. It was actually cheaper to do this, and we got an extra night. The place is owned by acquaintances of mine, and we can't say enough about the place. It was the perfect place for us. Very nice accommodations, and I recommend it to anyone looking to stay up in that area.

Kinda funny story, the house has an old gondola in the basement with a ski racer mannequin in it. The girls saw him and referred to him as "the man", and constantly wanted to see him all weekend. So for us, it was a great bribe... "you can go see the man if you finish eating your supper"... "you can go see the man tomorrow if you stay in your beds and go to sleep"... On the flip side, Grace was a little afraid of "the man" at first, and the opposite bribery worked on her... "Eat your supper, or I'm gonna take you down to see the man"...

Story Land allows you to buy tickets after 2pm (or 3pm in July/August) to enjoy the park for the remaining three hours that it's open and also come back another day for free. So we took advantage of that and spent a couple hours at the park Monday evening, and then planned on going back Tuesday for the day before driving back home. We were able to hit almost every ride that Monday evening, which was great! As it turns out, the next day, Kath would get sick with a raging fever forcing us to leave after just a couple of rides and some lunch. So it turned out to be a really good thing we got in almost all the rides we wanted to get on the day before. The long weekend was really fun, and we can't wait to go back next year with the Kings.

So Kath was basically sick for the next couple days, followed by Karina being sick for a couple days, followed by me and Kris being sick for a couple days. This past Thursday night, I had gotten Lady GaGa tickets as a gift for Kris' birthday, and unfortunately it was near the height of our sickness... We still muscled our way into the city and enjoyed the show. Speaking of Kris' birthday, that just happens to be today! Happy Birthday Kris!

The day before we left for Story Land, we went to Kris' cousin Phil's house. It was Phil and Bonnie's (his wife) 12th annual luau... They had two big inflatable water slides and a nice swing set outside. It was a beautiful day, and while the girls played in the pool at the bottom of the slide, they were terrified of the slide itself. Kris sent each of the girls down the slide once, but that was about it because they didn't like it. We also got to see Monica, Kris' cousin Russ' wife, and Fiona and Maeve, their daughters. Russ and family just returned to MA after living and working in Germany for a couple of years. The party was a lot of fun, and we were happy to have finally made it to the infamous shindig

Going back a little further, a little bit before the Story Land/Luau shenanigans, Kris took the girls up to Hampton Beach to spend a day at the beach with Jen and Grace. The girls have been very iffy at the beach in the past, but this time they did really great and had a fun time. They didn't cry getting close to the water, and even stepped in the water a little bit. Before, we couldn't even stand in the water ourselves while holding them! They had a lot of fun running around in the sand playing with their best pal Grace.

Yesterday, since Kris and I were finally feeling a little better and it was such a nice day out... we decided to head on over to Grammy and Papa's house for a cookout and to enjoy the pool on the very hot day... not to mention it was the fourth of July, so a cookout was definitely in order. The girls are growing more and more comfortable with the pool with each visit, and yesterday they were even stepping down the first couple steps of the pool by themselves, holding on to the railing. They were very careful the entire time, which was nice to see...that they weren't being reckless around the pool. Both girls were even swimming around the pool with their inflatable tubes. Seeing as how it's supposed to be in the 90s this whole week, chances are the girls will be back at the pool this week while I'm at work.

Finally, I will conclude with a potty update... Up until last night, Karina had a perfect record for a number of weeks... going without an accident (number one or two)... unfortunately, last night she had an accident (number 1) during a tantrum she was throwing. It might've been our fault, as we were trying to keep them up so they could watch the fireworks on TV. In the end, neither of them could make it that late and were having major meltdowns (Kath also peed herself around the same time). So they went to bed, and I taped the fireworks, and they watched them twice today. Kath continues to have poop accidents, and has an approximately 85-90% success rate with peeing. She unfortunately still seems to have pee accidents almost daily. We're really glad that at least Karina is basically 100% potty trained, because it would be really difficult to be dealing with two accident prone toddlers in this house.

Alright, that's about it... here are all the pics of the events referenced above

[Luau Photos]
[Story Land Photos]
[June Photos]
[Fourth of July Photos]

Well, as you've all probably noticed, I've been posting a little less than usual... I think I'm gonna start posting photos on a monthly basis, mostly because we're just not taking as many photos as we used to, so no point putting up ten photos a week, or something. So below you'll find a link to all the photos taken in May (and yes, I know I'm almost halfway into June haha).

We had a pretty good May... we had brunch with Mickey/Minnie, we hosted a Cinco De Mayo party, we visited Sesame Place, and Dada/Dida came to visit the girls, at which point we also celebrated Dida's birthday. At the very end of May, the girls even snuck in their first trip of the season to the pool at Grammy and Papa's house. The girls have been up to all kinds of shenanigans, some of which is evidenced in the video below.

May also happens to be the month we started potty training the girls... and by we, I mean mostly Kris. Kris has been doing an amazing job really getting the girls to use the potty... Since they're just learning, they've absolutely had many accidents, but they're becoming less frequent. The girls are actually doing pretty well with it, and I am very anxiously looking forward to the day we are DONE with diapers. It's only been a few weeks of training so far, so we have a little ways to go before the girls will be total pros, but we're headed in the right direction. Exciting times

For anyone interested in how we're doing it, we bought two Baby Bjorn potties for the girls, and we offer them a treat for every successful trip to the potty. A treat being a little bite sized Snicker's or Kit Kat. We had tried to do it with stickers before, and while they always wanted the stickers, it was nowhere near the motivation a little candy is... they really look forward to that piece of candy (imagine that), so it's been working pretty well.

We're also teaching them to wipe, throw the toilet paper into the toilet, and flush. They love flushing the toilet, so the whole process is going very well. Karina even had her first poop on the potty on Friday! They're basically in undies all day except during naps and sleeping at night... and also if we go out, we don't want any accidents while in a store or something.

Alright, those are the major updates... I leave you with the aforementioned video of shenanigans...

Somersaults and Other Madness

[May 2010 Photos]

After a lot of Disney related stuff going on of late, we switched gears and took the girls to see some of their favorite characters at Sesame Place. We made a long weekend of it driving down Friday and spending the weekend with our friends Ushir and Susan (along with their two sons Evan and Aaron). Ush's cousin Parimal also came along with his wife Tina, son Sahil and daughter Rhea. Going out for dinners with the 12 of us was quite a scene, but we managed pretty well.

We spent all day Saturday over at Sesame Place, which is mostly a water park. We decided we would knock out the few "dry" rides they had first, and then head over to our scheduled lunch with Big Bird and Friends before wrapping up the majority of the day at the various water rides. We started the day with your standard rides... the tea cups, the flying fish (which was like the Dumbo ride at Disney), and the balloon ride (which was essentially the same as the flying fish but balloons that you ride in). The girls did just fine on those, which is a relief since we'll be at Storyland in a few weeks, which will be a lot of those kinds of rides.

Next was lunch with Big Bird and friends (Elmo, Cookie Monster, Zoe, Bert, and Ernie). The girls got to meet each and every one of them, which was real nice. They really enjoyed seeing everyone, and we got some nice pics of them giving hugs and high fives to them all. In between going table to table meeting all the kids, the characters did little performances to further entertain everyone. It was a pretty nice little lunch, and we were happy we signed up for it.

After lunch, we got the girls changed into their bathing suits and hit all the water rides. The girls enjoyed the teeny tiny tidal pool, water slides, and even the lazy river. They just laid on their tube as we slowly went down the lazy river. The girls are doing much better with their fear of the water... the tidal pool was basically mostly ankle deep, so they loved that area, and just kept splashing each other and anyone else that came near them. They never liked it when water fell on their head, but other than that they did real well with the water.

We wrapped things up with a walk down a replica of Sesame Street itself. It was a long day, but well worth it. We all had a fantastic time, and actually look forward to going back next year.

[Sesame Place Photos]