Feed 'em and they grow

...that's what my dad says about kids. He's right, though I think I'm enjoying the process more than he was purported to have enjoyed it.

(Unrelated: hereinafter my dad will be "Granddad" instead of "Naana" which is "Granddad" in Hindi - because "Naana" sounds too close to "Nana" which sounds too much like "Grandma" in English...but I digress).

These first three photos are of Ante (Rohan & Deven's cousin), about a week ago. He's still a baldie - and what a sweet cross of Tommy & Heather! :) These photos were taken on the day of his 2-month doctor's visit and shots - Heather said she cried when he got 'em (and I remember crying when Deven got his, too...though with Rohan, in true 2nd-child-fashion I didn't cry, I just held him as he wailed for his 1st month shots).




Lots of sweet, wonderful things have happened since I last wrote:

- My cousin Rea gave birth to her first baby, naturally, on Sunday. I'll let her give all the details, but she was in high spirits when I talked with her, and she & little one are doing well.

- Amy & Tom came for a visit recently and I realized I didn't even take a photo - but I was amazed at how much vocabulary Tom has...and how well he LISTENED to Amy! This was, in true Kate-fashion, followed almost immediately by an irrational fear that by not staying at home, I'm not giving my kids a good vocabulary or teaching them to listen to me...but then I realized that Deven can count to 20 in 2 languages already thanks to his bilingual Nanny, and at least listens to the Nanny, so I calmed a bit. I think I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers - which I think I'd taken a bit too much inference from.


- Rohan weighs over 12 lbs today. I know this b/c I went to my first New Homebirth Parents Group @ Natural Resources and weighed him. His little homebirth friends were precious. :)

- Deven can say who his parents are (good in case he gets lost), the numbers up to 20 in Hindi and English, and sings "Hello eh-body" - his version of the beginning of "Hello, Everybody" - a favorite song of his from Music Together. He also now has the ability to keep a tantrum going for the greater of 20 minutes or a LOOOONG walk uphill if we have to leave the 'slide-swings' before the Prince Of Dolores Street is ready.

- We got a new double tandem-inline stroller. It's super-hip and cool and I love it (it was so expensive that I returned a nice Christmas gift from Yogesh to Macy's as I felt a bit guilty for insisting upon it); and it pushes very easily and has lots of great features that make it totally worth the horrifically-high price tag...but I sorta miss the simplicity of the single Bob (see second stroller photo, here).
But I'll send that to Rea; I know she'll get great use of it in the mountains of CO.

- Yogesh sold his company, and that's now public (see the Wall Street Journal articleGlam Media Buys Ad-Technology Firm). Yay!


- I'm still doing some work from Maternity Leave, and that's still a good thing.


- Deven can slide down the slide by himself, forwards now. That plus the language - he's growing fast!

- I'm missing my friends. As we've had kids and I've changed jobs, a few close friends who used to be (physically) nearby aren't any longer, and I haven't added enough new ones who are also nearby. Sure, I've met LOTS of nice people, but I'm not doing enough friendship-making things myself lately (inviting Amy & Tom over was awesome and a good start, but not nearly enough). I want to be closer to a few close women. Christie is gosh-only-knows in NZ, Kimmi's in NY, Karen's in SC, Tammi & Krista are still in DC, Danielle & Amy & Zornitza are still here in SF and Nimisha's still in SJ... but I don't see them nearly enough. I know I'm the one responsible for building a Community around me that I love - and I have to do it. I'm just so tired (and I'm still on Maternity leave!) - I just wonder how those moms who do it all...do it.