A Three Month old's Toothless Grin...

.... is drooly a thing of beauty!

The little munchkin turned 3 months this week, and one of the big changes we've seen is in the smiling department. For some reason I had thought that one day we'd see a switch flipped, and he'd be all smiles. It happened more gradually than that, though. His first smiles were reserved for inanimate objects (such as walls, curtains, and fans). In the last 3 weeks he started to give us, his dear parents, a hint of a half-smile. And now, he breaks out into broad, drooly grins. Very cool to see this transition.

He's also starting to figure out how to grab things. His bouncer has some rattles attached, and every now and then he'll do a Fist of Lightning move and grab one of the swinging rattles. And he has all the makings of a mischievous little monkey - seems to be a one hyper boy when he's awake! His mom sure has her hands full during the day.

Here are some pics of his third month on Planet Earth.

Adieu to LA Fitness

I've told Ranjit that it's about time we gave up our gym membership. Well, he'd been suggesting we did anyway, but I finally saw the light yesterday. First, we have barely even driven by LA Fitness in several months. Second, maybe we could divert membership fees to a possible Wii Fit fund (hint! hint!). And, third, Yohan and I have been taking advantage of the summer and have been connecting with other moms and kids on long walks.

Like Ranjt said in his previous entry, Yohan seems to be a true-blooded Oregonion and loves being outdoors. So thanks to our three month old, I'm now exploring trails and parks that I'd never ventured on before. Today, our morning walk was with friends from church and in the afternoon we went to the neighborhood park with, well, our neighbors. Five miles and ouchy legs later I reached the conclusion about our gym membership.

Something about pushing a stroller and talking mom-sense along the way makes boring old exercise rather purposeful. And it beats counting minutes and miles on a treadmill for sure.

I hope that when the summer's over, we won't end up in play groups that meet at Mc Donald's!

Every day is different

We've now come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as 'I've figured the baby thing out, and now we're cruising'. Even for a short while.

Every day is it's own adventure, and one never knows what to expect. One day (or two or three) he'll be all fussy and wanting to be carried all the time, leaving his mom quite exhausted by the time I get home in the evening. The next day he'll be a perfectly happy little chap, sleeping and eating well, happily taking in all the sights and sounds with a big grin plastered on.

We also think he's getting to be quite an Oregonian - he seems to really like being outdoors. In the midst of a bawling session, one just needs to take him outside, or even just get him to a window - his eyes will widen and he'll just be bobbing his head looking around. He's also pretty happy whenever he's out and about.

His parents have been trying to get some 'artistic' shots of the little dude. Here's what we've come up with so far.

And yes, we'll keep trying.

My life's work ;)

What better way to plug my writing than on a family blog which actually has readers thanks to my husband's intiative and my son's cuteness. Unlike Ranjit's consistent updating of this blog, my online ramblings have been somewhat, shall we say, sporadic.

Ranjt has now created a googlepages site to collate all my online writing spurts.

My most recent bout of writing was when I was preggo and decided to write some devotionals on mommyhood. I hope to keep that going - but now that it takes about an hour to have a cup of coffee with Yo keeping me running between his crib and the microwave, I mean "hope" quite literally.

Then there's my blog (New Beginnings) where almost every entry started off with excuses for not writing (sense a trend here?). The site has a link to that as well - where I start off in 2004 as Susan George. (Three entries and two years later I continued writing as Susan Narjala - speaks volumes about my prolific writing, doesn't it?). There's also some links to articles which I had to churn out if I didn't want to be fired.

With that lengthy intro, here goes:

http://susangg.googlepages.com/

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day, and since it was my first, my dear wife made it extra special. She was all set to made a scrumptious breakfast - hash browns, sausages, eggs, and pancakes. However, since I was having a bad stomach, we settled on just the pancakes - and they were yummy!

I've recently started playing tennis again, and have been using my grandfather's 10+ year old racquet - a Prince Tricomp that I will always keep around. It was one of my grandad's treasured racquets that he gave me when I left for the US in 1999. He kept encouraging me to play tennis for as long as I can remember, and would always ask me about this whenever we talked, however far from home I was. With my renewed interest in playing, though, I did need an updated racquet. So Susan very thoughtfully surprised me with a brand new, super light Wilson!

And finally, on behalf of Yohan, she put together this very cool slideset. I sure have been blessed with a wonderful wife and son!

Note on Email Subscriptions

I just noticed that things like videos and slideshows that we embed on this blog don't show up in the emails that are sent out to those who are subscribed that way. I'll make sure to add a footnote indicating such media has been included, and you'll have to click through to the actual website to then see it.

Along these lines: the last blog post, "An Early Morning Person", had a video of the little dude.

An Early Morning Person

Susan is on duty during the night - waking up every 3-4 hours or so to feed the boy, burp him, change him, and put him back to bed. I'm fast asleep through all of this, getting my beauty rest. I finally stir around 5am or so during the early morning feed, and then I get charge of the little fella.

(Yes, yes, I know I got the better end of that deal!)

He's such an angel that time of day... wide awake, all smiles, totally happy to sit and look around and be amused. I put him on his crib and turn the mobile on, and his face just lights up as he sees those animals move around. One of our friends from church gave us an awesome projector-like device that attaches to the crib and projects a revolving bird scene on the ceiling - he loves to just look at that as well. (Thanks so much, Kim & Mark!)

He sure is the very definition of an early morning person. I've historically not been one to wake up early, but now I really look forward to my 1:1s with this little guy in the mornings. He's also starting to smile at Susan and I now - and not just at the walls and curtains. Very cool stuff.

Getting into a routine

There hasn't been too much excitement over the last couple days. Susan's been staying alone at home with him during the day, and she's had different experiences both days. Monday went off pretty well, and the little guy was calm and peaceful - she was even able to get a lot of other stuff done. Today was a different story - he apparently didn't sleep very much, and needed constant attention.

We've started putting him in the crib in his room during the early morn hours... he seems to be doing quite well there, at least for that short time. This morning after I put him there and turned on the mobile, his face just lit up - he kept smiling and giggling at those little animals going round. Was quite a joy to watch him.

The training wheels are off

Amma has been with us the past 3 months, and she's been such a tremendous blessing. For the last 2.5 months of Yo's entering this world, she's helped show us the newborn-baby ropes. Laundry was magically taken care of, and some very yummy food appeared on the table every day. She was a much needed voice of reason especially in those very early days. Yo has gotten some extra special care these last couple months!

Anyway, amma left for California yesterday to spend some time there with Zeph and Josh before heading back to India. The training wheels are off for the Narjalas, and this little guy is going to find out just how well his parents can pull this baby thing off :)

Our first day solo went off rather well, by God's grace. I had to leave early Sunday morning for rehearsal at church, and Susan very efficiently got him all set and ready for second service, well in time. He was very obliging at church when we were visiting with folks, and then promptly fell asleep when the service began - this was the first Sunday we actually sat through a service completely! We went out for lunch, and he was a very good kid all throughout. Mom and son are taking a nap now. So far so good :)

We're definitely starting to see him be a lot more aware of his surroundings. He also tested his crib out yesterday for the first time ... after the first few minutes, he didn't seem to think much of it. He'll have enough time to get to know the crib and its safari surroundings soon, though.

Babies Jekyll and Hyde

We're hoping this blog sticks around long enough that Yohan can read it when he grows up... not sure how much of the details we'll remember when we're old and graying. To that end, it must be noted for posterity that baby cuteness is only one side of the story.

Last night is one such example. The boy was up and not happy for most of the night. His mom was therefore up for most of the night, and I filled in a little bit when she got really tired. Not sure what the problem was, since we went down the list of usual suspects and came up with nada. Could have been that he hadn't pooped all day, and was just, shall we say, uncomfortable. He finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning. And usually, when morning comes the travails of the night are forgotten, and the little chap is cuteness personified. This morning before I left for work he was grinning away to glory.

I guess even times like this are to be treasured... he's not going to be small enough that we can pick up up and hold him for very much longer. Last night he fell asleep in my arms, and that's a great feeling.

He also seems to be a little binky (pacifier) addict. This is quite fine during the day, and it gets him calm when he's tired and fussy. The same principle applies at night too, but theres it's a challenge to keep putting the binky back in when it falls out (all too frequently). He's sleeping in a bassinet by Susan's side of the bed, and while she's gotten good at reaching out and automatically putting it back in his mouth before he wakes up the neighborhood, its still quite an effort. The next mini-project is to try to wean him off this binky ultra-dependency soon...

Two Month Stats

Yo's two month check-up was on May 30th.

* Weight: 10 lbs 10 oz
* Height: ~22 inches
* Vaccinations: 4 shots and 1 set of drops
- Diptheria Tetanus & Pertusis
- Haemophilus Influenzae Type b
- Pneumococcal Conjugate
- Polio
- Rotavirus

He was not a happy camper after the shots, but I must say he recovered far quicker that I thought he would.

He's been a lot more aware of his surroundings over the last few days. Loves to keep looking around, taking in the sights and sounds. He's also starting to suck on his thumb - only he hasn't quite mastered the 'thumb' action yet, and ends up shoving his whole fist into his mouth! The boy is just getting cuter every day - quite amazing to see him grow step by step. We're so blessed to have him in our lives, and thank God for him every day!

Two Months and Going Places

The little fella has been quite out and about the first two months of his life. Here are some pics from his second month. Amma's gotten some nice candid shots of the boy - he doesn't stay still for very long, but she patiently waited for just the right moments.

He seems to be on the verge of recognizing and smiling at us. The doc says he's still got a fixed focal length-type vision, so we have to be at just the right distance for him to see us clearly. When we accidentally get the distance thing right, we get a very cool twinkle in his eye and a quick smile :) Looking forward to lots more of this!

Don't mess with the Yohan!

A slideshow from the album...