Friday, July 25, 2008
Family Day
Ashish, Priya & I enjoyed a nice family day together today. We took Priya to a fun little place in the mall that is a great play place for kids. This was Priya's 3rd time visiting this place and she squealed with delight once again as she crawled across the play area, crawled through tunnels, pulled herself onto the fun objects, and even went down the slide with Mommy!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Time For An Update / Priya's First Swim Class
It's been a while since I've put anything new on our blog. Time for an update!
Andrea & Madilynn
Madilynn & Priya drying off after a fun-filled time in the pool.
Priya enjoys her first "biter biscuit" and makes quite a mess in the process. At least she enjoyed herself! :)
Priya gets ready for church on Sunday. She loves playtime in the nursery!
Today was Priya's first swim class! What an experience it was! We were joined by our good friends Andrea & Madilynn Mullens for a 45 minute session at the Redding aquatic center. There was one other baby and mommy in our group. Both of our girls took the water right away and had a fabulous time splashing around and playing. I was surprised by all that the instructor had us do with them. We sang songs, practiced blowing bubbles (well, the mommies did at least), had the babies float on their backs and on their tummies and practice moving their arms in swimming motions and kicking. We held them as they glided across the water towards toys that we threw in front of them. The class culminated with a full dunk at the end! Both Andrea & I were a little surprised by that and chickened out initially. But in the end we were able to dunk our little ones and were pleasantly surprised by how great they did! It was a wonderful experience and we're excited to go again tomorrow! The class runs Mon-Wed this week and then Mon-Fri next week.
Priya's very first experience in a swimming pool.
Andrea & Madilynn
Madilynn & Priya drying off after a fun-filled time in the pool.
Hmmm...do you think Mommy would be mad if I crawled to the pool and got back in?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Two Thumbs Up For Freecyle!
I can't end the day without sharing about my most recent discovery - FREECYCLE (thanks for the tip Jenetta). I signed up for the Freecycle in Redding about a month or so ago and have been receiving about 20-30 emails a day where people are advertising things that they are giving away for free. They run the gamut from garage sale leftovers, furniture & baby items, to appliances such as microwaves, dishwashers & stoves. I even saw someone giving away a car once!
I finally responded to one of the offers this weekend and was thrilled to find that the giver chose us as the recipient. He was offering an exercise bike and I thought that it would be really nice to have something like that when it's too hot outside to walk and difficult to get to the gym with a baby. On Sunday we went to pick up the bike and found that the giver was a very kind man that attends Neighborhood church (where much of my family goes). He knows one of my uncles & has played softball with him for years.
He helped us load up the bike and then asked if we were interested in any baby items. They had the mother-load of baby equipment back in their garage. If I had been greedy I could have gone crazy in there! But I referred them to a local 2nd hand store where they could easily make several hundred $ selling their items. They did give me a few items that were much appreciated (an extra pack & play to use for visiting friends), a cute little Hawaiian looking bathing suit for Priya to wear next year (it even has a little grass skirt).
The grand prize was an elliptical machine called a Gazelle that they also wanted to get rid of. I love elliptical machines! They are by far my favorite piece of exercise equipment and I'd heard good things about this particular one. It's not like the fancy, high-end ones that you'll see in gyms, but it's perfect for home use.
The man even offered to load it in his mini van and follow us back to our place to help unload it! His wife kindly joined us and we made a little trip of it. (They even ran into someone they knew once they got to our place - it's a small world!)
I'm getting some great use out of our new exercise equipment and am so thankful for the wonder that is freecycle! I highly recommend it! If you join it in your area you'll get a ton of emails, but you never know what you might be able to find - or who you might be able to bless!
I finally responded to one of the offers this weekend and was thrilled to find that the giver chose us as the recipient. He was offering an exercise bike and I thought that it would be really nice to have something like that when it's too hot outside to walk and difficult to get to the gym with a baby. On Sunday we went to pick up the bike and found that the giver was a very kind man that attends Neighborhood church (where much of my family goes). He knows one of my uncles & has played softball with him for years.
He helped us load up the bike and then asked if we were interested in any baby items. They had the mother-load of baby equipment back in their garage. If I had been greedy I could have gone crazy in there! But I referred them to a local 2nd hand store where they could easily make several hundred $ selling their items. They did give me a few items that were much appreciated (an extra pack & play to use for visiting friends), a cute little Hawaiian looking bathing suit for Priya to wear next year (it even has a little grass skirt).
The grand prize was an elliptical machine called a Gazelle that they also wanted to get rid of. I love elliptical machines! They are by far my favorite piece of exercise equipment and I'd heard good things about this particular one. It's not like the fancy, high-end ones that you'll see in gyms, but it's perfect for home use.
The man even offered to load it in his mini van and follow us back to our place to help unload it! His wife kindly joined us and we made a little trip of it. (They even ran into someone they knew once they got to our place - it's a small world!)
I'm getting some great use out of our new exercise equipment and am so thankful for the wonder that is freecycle! I highly recommend it! If you join it in your area you'll get a ton of emails, but you never know what you might be able to find - or who you might be able to bless!
Our Little Social Butterfly
We are consistently amazed by how unbelievably social Priya is! We definitely have an extrovert on our hands! She gets so excited at every opportunity to interact with other people of any age!
Every time we visit a store she makes friends with other shoppers (yesterday she seemed to be overwhelmed with joy by an older gentleman who made some faces & talked to her at the grocery store). She squealed with delight at her play date with Caleb & Zach Hiester and was thrilled when our friend Cathye Riley stopped by (she was visiting from Florida). She showed great enthusiasm this afternoon when some students stopped by to do a little maintenance on our apartment.
It is so much fun to see the joy that she receives when she gets to interact with others. It's pretty great to see the joy that she seems to bring into other people's lives as well. What an incredible gift we have in our little Priya. We are so thankful for her.
Zach & Priya hanging in the kitchen.
Cathye getting a little cuddle time with Priya.
Priya eagerly observing as the student workers went about their business in her room.
Priya has now mastered "hello" & "bye bye". She waves enthusiastically whenever she says goodbye or greets someone. She kept calling for these three to come back after they left our apartment. It was pretty cute.
Every time we visit a store she makes friends with other shoppers (yesterday she seemed to be overwhelmed with joy by an older gentleman who made some faces & talked to her at the grocery store). She squealed with delight at her play date with Caleb & Zach Hiester and was thrilled when our friend Cathye Riley stopped by (she was visiting from Florida). She showed great enthusiasm this afternoon when some students stopped by to do a little maintenance on our apartment.
It is so much fun to see the joy that she receives when she gets to interact with others. It's pretty great to see the joy that she seems to bring into other people's lives as well. What an incredible gift we have in our little Priya. We are so thankful for her.
Zach & Priya hanging in the kitchen.
Cathye getting a little cuddle time with Priya.
Priya eagerly observing as the student workers went about their business in her room.
Priya has now mastered "hello" & "bye bye". She waves enthusiastically whenever she says goodbye or greets someone. She kept calling for these three to come back after they left our apartment. It was pretty cute.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Priya's Reputation
Apparently our little monkey is getting a bit of a reputation in the nursery at church! When we dropped her off today one of the girls exclaimed that Priya was the most energetic and active baby of the bunch during the previous week. When we returned to pick her up after the service we were greeted by another nursery helper who said that Priya was one of the most active babies she had ever seen! We are definitely going to have our hands full as she continues to grow and starts running around. :)
We are finding it rather challenging these days to dress her and change her diapers. She wants to move constantly and doesn't enjoy having to lie still for even a minute! I am especially grateful for the times when Ashish is around to give me a hand. He holds her hands and tries to keep her occupied with toys while I get her cleaned up. When it's just me I give her something to play with - hoping to create a distraction - but that rarely gets us through the full changing.
Priya also likes to challenge us during feeding times. Her desire to move and play makes it difficult to keep her still long enough to finish a bottle. We give her a toy to occupy her hands and that usually does the trick, but we have to be careful that she doesn't flip herself over and try to scoot away.
On the positive side, she definitely is a lover of life and enjoys getting the most out of each waking moment. There is obviously much that we can learn, and are learning, from her and her enthusiastic approach to life.
Ahhh...the joys of parenting... :)
We are finding it rather challenging these days to dress her and change her diapers. She wants to move constantly and doesn't enjoy having to lie still for even a minute! I am especially grateful for the times when Ashish is around to give me a hand. He holds her hands and tries to keep her occupied with toys while I get her cleaned up. When it's just me I give her something to play with - hoping to create a distraction - but that rarely gets us through the full changing.
Priya also likes to challenge us during feeding times. Her desire to move and play makes it difficult to keep her still long enough to finish a bottle. We give her a toy to occupy her hands and that usually does the trick, but we have to be careful that she doesn't flip herself over and try to scoot away.
On the positive side, she definitely is a lover of life and enjoys getting the most out of each waking moment. There is obviously much that we can learn, and are learning, from her and her enthusiastic approach to life.
Ahhh...the joys of parenting... :)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Standing Up
Priya reached another milestone on Monday. She is now pulling herself up on her own! I walked in after her morning nap to find her happily standing in her crib. She seemed to be quite proud of her little self. :)
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