Book Giveaway

I hardly ever win anything in a raffle, so it made my day when Pastor Matt announced that I was the recipient of the book 'Safely Home' in a book giveaway that he hosted on his blog! Looking forward to reading this as well as 'Mere Christianity' soon.

Album: George family visit

Here are some pics from the couple weeks that appa, Pia, Zeph, and Josh spent with us. Sujan came over for the last weekend. Amma's only got a couple more weeks with us - we'll have to figure out how to survive without all her help (and yummy cooking!).
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Baby talk

Yohan has been awake more often these last few days... and been sleeping more at night. Good progress in the right direction! When awake, he seems to be chattering away to himself, the headboard, the walls, .... anything within earshot. Susan tried to capture a little bit of that, but he tends not to co-operate too much when the camera is on him :)

Meet the Cousins

Its been great fun to see Zeph and Josh interact with Yo. Zephan is quite the elder brother... pats Yo to comfort him, offers sage advice for the care of his baby cousin (see video below), etc. etc. Josh is in his inquisitive stage - doesn't know quite what to make of Yohan, but in any case wants to see if the baby will be up for some play time!

Heres a (longish) video of Zeph expounding on life with a baby.

Yesterday, during our trip out for brunch, I saw Yo smile - when he was awake! He was all full and happy after being fed, and just for an instant, his face broke out into a wide grin. He's starting to do this more and more when he's awake now, and he's doing the baby cooing / gurgling thing too.

The boy also slept for 5 hours at a stretch last night! Must have been all the outdoor activity yesterday. This is the longest he's done, and if he keeps this up, his parents will be quite happy. He's also starting to be awake a little bit more these past few days.

Summer's finally here! (we hope)

Sujan arrived Thu evening, and boy were the kids happy to see their dada again! Zeph attached himself to his father and wouldn't let him out of sight.

Zeph has been running a fever off and on for a few days now, and hasn't been his usual bubbly self - so we didn't plan much for the weekend. We went out to brunch Fri morning - turned out to be closer to lunch, though, by the time the household was mobilized. Another one of those 'things that change with a baby' that we're figuring out - things do take much longer :)






It was 56 deg F last Friday - and 96 deg today! After a long long spell of cold and cloudy weather, it was great to see the sun out in full blast. To commemorate this momentous occasion, the inhabitants of the Narjala household shifted our center of gravities to the backyard for some fun and games. Amma took the day off from cooking (and before I forget, she made a huge pot of delicious biriyani the night before), and Susan/Pia marinated some chicken and steak. Appa kept the kids well-entertained while the preparations were in progress. Sujan was master chef, and he cooked the meats to perfection.

And here's some video capturing the good times that was had by one and all.

Mommy's Day

With three moms (Amma, Pia and moi) in one house, there was no getting around celebrating another of Hallmark's inventions - Mother's Day. The day dawned with Zephan handing the three moms bouquets courtesy of the three lil fellas. That was an "awww" moment (or three successive "awww" moments to be precise) which was captured with efficiency by almost-professional photographer Ranjit Narjala (see pics).



The man was also under considerable social pressure to give me a gift, it being my first mother's day and all. I have to record for posterity that I got a gift card for a massage which is awesome after almost two months of sleepless nights.

I'd also kind of hoped for a real smile from Yo as a bonus gift. So far he's been smiling loads as he drifts into food-induced sweet slumber (see pic). I looked at him all day and nothing happened. Finally at about three in the morning when all I wanted was for him to sleep, he did it! He smiled! He was wide awake and I'm certain no one can put it down to dreams of angels. This was the real thing. Too bad he was looking at the bed's backrest (yeah, I know, infinitely amusing!!) and not into his mom's eyes.

Well, I'm not going anywhere so the lil chap can take his time with the grins. Father's Day is in a month's time anyways.

Full House

We now have 5 adults and 3 kids at home. Been very cool to see Zeph and Josh interact with Yohan. Zeph is all grown up and quite the big brother - he sings to Yo when he's wailing, and its so sweet to see him pat the baby's head to comfort him. Given that he has a little brother, he's quite familiar with babies and isn't perturbed by any noise that emanates from the little guy.

Josh, on the other hand, is very inquisitive - he just stares at Yo for awhile, trying to figure out who and what this tiny thing is. When Yohan is in his play-yard and starts crying, Josh quickly makes his way across the room and tries to look inside to see whats going on. I love the way he just squats on the floor and smiles at folks passing by.

We'll try and get some pics of the three together soon. Getting a baby, a 1 year old, and a 4 year old to all co-operate at the same time can get somewhat challenging.