The Great India Expedition

(Borrowing from Susan's Facebook post here... :)

Early this morning 1 mom, 2 kiddos, 2 grandparents, 6 suitcases, 2 duffel bags, 3 carry-ons, 2 diaper bags, and 1 stroller (and a partridge in a pear tree) started the first of 4 plane rides to get them halfway across the world - literally.  Packing everything up was quite the adventure, and the latest report this evening was that the flights so far have been pretty decent - thank God for that.  2 done, 2 to go.

It's been great having mom and dad to help out here for the last couple months, and now Susan and the kids are going to be with appapa and ammama for a bit.

Part of the packing was doing a field trial with the new stroller.  The kids co-operated quite well, I must say.

  

Putting on a coat

Or trying to, at least.

(embedded video)

Malaika at 3 months

Our little angel is all smiles now, especially in the morning and after a good feed and burp.  Tummy times are generally not that frequent due to the hovering around of her older brother, but when she does get it she's starting to lift her head up and check out the surroundings.  She's still quite the peaceful little baby, and really enjoys being in her bouncer.  And she has survived quite a few inquisitive pokes and prods from aforementioned older brother - all goes towards 'building character', I suppose.

  

  

Early morning chat

The little muppet is becoming cuter every day.  Mika's holding up her head quite well now, and quite enjoys looking around and checking things out.  On the not-so bright side, looks like she's following in her brother's footsteps with the whole pacifier thing; when it falls out in the middle of the night, scenes are created, and a very sleepy mamma needs to find the binky and soothe her back to sleep.  (Dada is quite oblivious to all these night-time episodes, so these are all second-hand reports).

(embedded video)

Gampa and Yo

The little chap has been having a ball of a time with his grandfather around.  Not only does he have a full-time playmate, but the playmate also fixes his toys, assembles new ones, replaces the batteries, and best of all, uses power tools.  Susan said the other day when she took him to playgroup, when he thought he was done there, he picked up his shoes, took her by the hand, said 'appapa', and was all ready to get back home.

  

  

1 Angel + 1 Winnie the Pooh = 2 Cute

(That's called Math for Parents...)

Gama crafted a pair of angel wings for Mika, and that combined with Susan's (now heirloom) christening dress made for a beautiful costume for our resident angel.  And Mr. Yo was all excited to wear his Winnie the Pooh outfit, a gift from aunt Smitha.  We took him to a party at church this weekend, and he was quite thrilled to see all the other kids dressed up.

 

(embedded slideshow)

Goo

Ga-gas and goo-goos have started for our little lady.  She's stares at you with these big, expressive eyes, and then suddenly she'll break out into a sweet smile.  The smiling has been happening a lot more these past few days, and it's been very cool to see that.