Baby Bracken Pictures

So here are the pictures, finally!

This is what Brooke calls Baby Bracken's "angry eyes."

Such a sweet little guy.

Brooke calls him 'the toad.' Here he's demonstrating.

Cute little family!

Had to get some pictures of Jehan too.

He was learning to use a straw.

This is his frustrated face. He opens his mouth and shakes his whole body. It's really quite cute.

Showing us how to multitask.

I can't believe how big Jehan is and how small he used to be. Little Bracken is so tiny!

You can't really tell from this picture but Jehan is grinning like he's got a new toy. He was quite interested in Little Bracken and got so excited when he cried. He would touch him gently at first but then we had to take him away 'cuz Jehan couldn't contain his excitement and can't comprehend 'gentle' yet.

Jehan found his nose, and that fingers fit in it perfectly.

Jehan started crawling forward last Friday, Feb 13. I just realized that was Friday the 13th. He has also started learning words. The first was 'light' and he now also knows 'Ally' and 'Dada.' When you say a word to him he stares at you with this blank expression like he is just so amazed, and then grins like he thinks you're the coolest thing on the planet. Makes my heart happy. Something that makes my heart sad is that poor little Jehan is teething (his top front right came through today, the left is almost there), and he has a really bad cold, and we took him to the doctor today and he has an ear infection. Everything is just hitting him at once. Poor little boy is taking it like a trooper and hopefully will be better soon!!!

Yay! Bricket is having a baby and I'm going to see her! I'm so excited to meet little Bracken!

Jehan's Besta (Sitting Ceremony)

The sitting ceremony is supposed to be done before the baby is seven months old. They make the baby sit on some really sticky candy. The idea is that the baby's butt sticks to the candy and helps him sit well from then on. At least, that's what they say. I suspect there's really some other significance I don't know about. I think it really worked though. The next day he started correcting himself whenever he started to tip over.

He wasn't too excited when we started.

Once he got the flowers he decide that maybe it wasn't too bad.

He was completely fixated on the flowers. The little square things he's sitting on are the candy. We didn't actually unwrap it :)

The coconut made a big mess on the floor. It was yummy!

Afterwards, we went to see one of Firdosh's friends who has a 3 1/2 month old baby. She's so cute and little! I've already forgotten how to hold a baby that small.


The next day we went downtown and saw the back of the Taj hotel. We didn't get closer because the road was blocked and there was a huge crowd.



When we got home, Jehan started getting up on all fours and rocking.



He was so excited! He'll be crawling any day now. Hopefully not until we get back to Utah.



We had dinner for Firdosh's family at a chinese restraunt for Jehan's sitting ceremony. It was great to see everyone!

Jehan is rolling over... again!

Well, last time he was rolling from front to back and that only lasted a few days. Now he's loving rolling from back to front. Only now he seems to have forgotten how to roll from front to back and so he gets stuck on his stomach and cries until we turn him over again. Then he just rolls right back to his stomach as soon as we turn around! Little stinker! And I know it's just going to get worse from here. ANYthing that is in his reach is guaranteed to make it to his mouth. I'm already longing for the days when he just sat passively on my lap and didn't try to reach/eat everything in sight.

He seems to have had another one of those developmental bursts this week. He holds toys in his hands and turns them over and feels them, even brushing his fingers on them to feel the texture. (Thanks for the blanket Brooke, he LOVES to feel all the different fabric textures!) Of course they inevitably make it to his mouth eventually.

Matheran Trip

After being in Mumbai for a few days, we took a vacation to Matheran which is a Hill Station or little resort town about a two hour drive from Bombay. The drive itself was quite an adventure, as are all excursions involving vehicles in India :) I'll just say I was happy Jehan was in a car seat. And it wasn't nearly as scary as a couple of drives last time we were here, especially the drive from New Dehli to Agra. There were several times I really thought we were going to die then, so this time was a relief.

No motor vehicles are allowed in Matheran so you get dropped off about 2 km away and either ride a horse, get pulled in a rickshaw, or walk.

Firdosh and I walked with Jehan. It was quite pretty and cool (compared to Bombay).
The place we stayed had a playground. Too bad Jehan isn't big enough to play yet.

Our rooms had enclosed porches where Firdosh and Papa would read their newspapers and we had our tea in the morning.

Some pictures by the pool:

Jehan and Papa having a laugh

This morning was quite nice. We eventually had to go in just after sunrise 'cuz that's when the monkeys come out. Jehan still wasn't keeping himself upright very well but he had fun sitting anyway.

So the monkeys were really quite a nuisance. When we got there, the people who owned the place said there were two rules: first, don't take food outside because the monkeys will take it. Second, keep your doors locked to keep the monkeys out. They weren't kidding! This monkey really wanted to get in. He climbed a pole just outside the door and I could see his little fingers trying to pry the door open at the top.

I wonder what they're thinking here... who's in the cage? Don't worry, there's glass between them!

The monkey gave up... for a while.

They made so much noise when the whole troop would run across the roof. It scared me the first couple of times. All that said, the mommies and babies were so cute! I wish I'd been able to get a picture of a baby monkey.

The only time I really went out was to do a little sightseeing. We went to a cemetery (the most beautiful I've ever seen) to visit the grave of the husband of the lady who owned the place where we were staying (a relative of Firdosh's dad).

I thought this was a cute picture of Firdosh and Jehan one of the places we stopped along the way.

So Jehan really knows how to draw a crowd. This happened three times while we were there! I know he's cute and here's proof!

Talk about a humiliating method of transportation! There were some steep hills and these poor guys had to push and pull me up and down them. And it took three of them to haul one of me. Finally I just got out and walked (my excuse was to take pictures of course).

Firdosh is so skinny he didn't mind! And he's right, this is how they earn a living so we might as well give them work.

Here's another cute picture after Firdosh's mummy beat him soundly at badminton. Who knew? I thought Firdosh could play any sport, but apparently not as well as his mummy!

Some more pictures I liked:

Here it looks like Firdosh is on his Blackberry, but of course that is a sudoku puzzle thing and not a Blackberry. He spends so much time on the Blackberry that it just seems natural for him so when I see this picture I automatically think that's a Blackberry :)

Poor little Jehan got so tired! He fell asleep while I was changing his diaper.

The last morning we were there was so beautiful! I was jetlagged quite a bit still so I hadn't really gotten up to see the sunrise. It was one of those mornings you only get to experience a few times in your life, unless you're the outdoorsy type which I might have to become :) It was just a little too cool with a strong breeze and hardly anyone was awake yet so it was so quiet. Just me and Jehan and the big beautiful sky! The pictures don't do it justice.

Having my happy little boy there made it all that much better. We had a long discussion about the important things in life.

When we left we rode down from the top of the mountain on a train. There was a sign at the front of the train I wish I'd taken a picture of. It said not to crowd one side of the train as this would make it unstable, and in case of a storm to keep the windows open so the cars don't blow off the tracks. I suddenly wished we were walking! There were some steep and long drops and I'm not very good with heights under the best of conditions! Why couldn't they make the tracks a few feet from the edge instead of right on it!?!?!? I don't get it.

Well, we survived!