Look ma, no hands!

Keerthu stood without support today. She has been walking holding hands for a while now and today was the first day she stood without support for more than a few seconds. She loved it when everyone cheered her and applauded herself :-)

7 minute digital scrap book..

I love digital scrap booking but do it very sporadically because 1. I have photoshop installed only on my laptop 2. It takes me forever to zero in on a layout that I like
When I came across an article about this website howfasttheygrow that promised to create a digital scrapbook page online (yeah..right with the speed of internet in India!) I was skeptical to say the least. But decided to give it a shot. They do create a page in 7m and yes it is great! They offer layouts more in line with the baby's first years and ideal for creating a baby book for the first year.

This is the page I created in less than 7m. They offer printing of a page at $7.50 which from reviews are supposed to be great in quality.

Here is a sample I created of Keerthu.. If only they would ship to India..**sigh**

Mommy and Kiddos

Finally managed to get some pictures with ME in it. This was taken just before we headed out to receive vettalai paaku for varalakshmi pooja.

3 generations.. (w/ MIL)

Long weekend

Aug 15 is India's independence day. Since it fell on Fri, it got combined with the weekend for a much needed 3 day break. Here are some pics of the kiddos being just cute!

Keerthu was threw a fit when she saw her sis riding the winnie the pooh rider. She just would not shut up till she was also made to sit beside Kavya. This pic was taken after they had gone for rounds and rounds and rounds. Keerthu si resting her head on Kavya and resting :-)

Keerthu poses so beautifully for the camera, leans her head on one side and sends a sweet smile :-)

Kavya shows what we call as her FACE when asked to smile for the camera, if observed closely she has got all the makings of a kathakali dancer.. don't you think? (Look at the eyebrows..)


Both together

Keerthu said amma!

My sweet baby Keerthu called me 'ammm...a'!! I dont have it on video yet but on Aug 15th she looked at me and said 'amm...a'.. Its technically not her first word, she has been saying 'abba..' quite a bit. (Which I chose to beleive is directed at me rather than her dad :-) ) Video will follow soon..

An evening at the mall
I'd promised myself that I wont zero in on malls as a source of entertainment for me or the kids, they should rather play outside in a park and inhale the healthy(!) air because frankly after 8 years of spending pretty much all my weekends in the MALL I am sick of it (well, mostly :-))
But on a rainy monsoon day, after being holed inside for the entire day there was not much choice..so off we went to the mall to explore the kids play area and treat ourselves to corn and ice-cream.
The kid's play area was not as great as chuck e cheese, it catered more to older kids but Kavya still had fun.

Keerthu wanted in on it too..

Keerthu is so different from Kavya.. she was not scared even one bit and held on to the ship's railing and even waved! Just goes to prove every baby is unique.

Enjoying cup-o-corna nd making THE FACE..

Baby Legs
I got these adorable baby legs in hope that when Keerthu crawls on the hard floors, it will protect her knees. Looking good was a side benefit.. But now that Keerhtu has decided to skip the entire crawling stage, its strictly an accessory!

Love this expression! (mean mommy :-))

Kavya wanted to be in on the photo session too. Blowing raspberry on Keerthu's belly..

Sibling love!

One of the moment when Kavya is not pushing Keerthu away or Keerthu fighting for Kavya's toy. Both the sisters enjoying each other!
Love the expression on Keerthu's face.

This image is from the other day when Keerthna found Kavya playing with her nose pretty funny.

As I am obsessed with photoshop and spend way too much time on it, I decided to catalog my photoshop efforts with before and after pictures, actions, techniques used etc.. If you are nerd enough to play with SOOC (straight out of the camera pictures - did you know this term before?) take a look at this blog.. http://kkphotoshop.blogspot.com/

Proud mama!
Kavya was scribbling as usual and started doing clouds really well. She then drew a cloud like circle and something inside and I could not make out what it was. When I asked her what has she drawn, she said 'peacock'. And when I turned it upside down, of course it was!

Here are the alphabets she has mastered so far, I, T, H, J (somewhat), O, E, F, P(beginning to) and numbers 1 and 2.

Another piece of artwork - a flag!

Both kiddos have been down with cough and fever for the past few days. Managed to sneak in some fun between medications!




Its unbelievable how animated Keerthu gets at the sight of the winnie the pooh rider. Her hands and legs wont stop flapping till she is also made to sit on it. & of course her big sis proudly rides around with her.












Keerthu started the ride by holding the handle for her dear life and started having so much fun banging on all doors, tables and people that she was hands free and laughing out loud in no time :-)












Big sis holding her baby sis so that she does not fall. Paused and posed for camera for few seconds before resuming the ride again - Thank god for SLR camera!









For some reason Keerthu finds her big sis holding her nose pretty funny. She lets out this stomach gurgling laughter - and this encourages Kavya to keep doing it. This went on for almost 30ms..