It's a GIRL!!!!

It's a GIRL! I'm sorry I haven't been able to post (no wi-fi at the hospital) :) On Wednesday (Nov 25) I had started to feel worse than I had before. My vision had blurred a few times that day and my blood pressure was getting higher, so we called my doc that evening and she said we needed to check in. We checked in and they monitored me for a few hours (and my BP kept slowly climbing) and my doctor decided we needed to go ahead and have the baby. Since I had a previous c-section, she didn't want to induce, so we scheduled the c-section for the next day. It was a TOTALLY different experience from last time! If anyone is interested, I'll write about it, but I was totally lucid during the entire c-section (which I wasn't last time) and I was talking with the attendants about Bollywood movies while they were stitching me up - it was fun :) (until the numbness wore off....)

Anyway, here's Diya's Info (if you can't read it, you can click on the pictures to see them bigger):

Here is Diya right after she was born:

And another one Adam took right after she was born:

Here she is on her 2nd day :) She looks a lot different from Aashini. She has dark hair and different feet, hands and mouth. She also looks a lot more darker complected (and as of now doesn't have any jaundice)...

Aashini got to meet her for the first time on the 2nd day. Aashini was so excited! She kept poking at her and naming things (eyes, nose, mouth, etc). At one point Diya moved and Aashini was surprised and said: WHOA! (maybe she thought she was a doll before :) haha!). Aashini really loves her baby sister! She's also pretty protective. Our neighbor came by today and was holding Diya and Aashini kept crying. She was afraid they were going to take her.

In this pic you can see her baby bracelet. Most people here wait a while to give the baby a name (or wait for the Hindu priest to name the baby), so they call the babies: b/o (baby of) Andrea.

This picture made me laugh :)

We got home today and our house was decorated so cool!

Our friends the Washas and their kids decorated our house to welcome in little Diya! There were fun decorated diyas all over and paisleys. It was really fun :)

So, she's here now- we have our very own special Thanksgiving Turkey and we're super happy and excited!

More pictures to come!

38 Weeks!

So I thought I needed to post another belly picture :) We were checking out some goats today (for a holiday coming up this week - I'll have a post up about it in the next couple of days)... and thought that goats would make a belly picture more interesting... BUT they didn't really show up in the pictures :) haha! All you can see is me and a bunch of men staring at me ;) haha!

So here is my 38 week belly picture!

Traditions!

So we have a fun tradition in the Capital here in South Asia :) It all started with the Caskeys (in the pic on the left). They were pregnant with their first when they lived here in the Capital and she was ready for the baby to come, so our friend Mandy sang her a special "baby come out" song. Within 48 hours the baby was out :) (Right Kelley?). It worked for the Roberts too and just the mention of the song had me in the hospital having a baby :) haha! (OK, so I know it didn't have to do with the song, but it's still funny how it worked out!) So now it's become a tradition we sing to all pregnant moms that are ready to have their babies :)

The Caskeys and the Roberts got the opportunity to get together this week (the Caskeys had surgery on their unborn twins this week - check out their blog and please pray for them!!!) and they made this awesome picture for me and "sang" the song for me on Facebook :)

Baby Pop Rock... won't you come out?

Baby Pop Rock... You'll be so much fun!

Baby Pop Rock... You'll be number one in your family...

Oh Pop Rock Baby, Oh Pop Rock Baby

COME OUT BABY POP ROCK!!

Thanks guys! You guys ROCK!!!

Children's Day!!

Children's Day is a very popular holiday here :) It's celebrated internationally on November 20 but our country celebrates it on November 14 (it's the birthday of the first Prime Minister and he loved children). This year it was on a Saturday, so the mall near us had all sorts of fun stuff for the kids :) Inside one of the malls (it's actually 3 different malls all stuck together, so they're are constantly competing) they had DORA the Explorer!

When she first came out, Aashini was really scared of her!

Then, after some time she was very interested and wanted to see Dora ;)

She was still pretty scared though and parents couldn't come up with their kids, so Adam gave Aashini a piece of candy to give to Dora. She was excited after that! I think she liked having a "job" to do :)

She was so excited to give Dora the candy!

Aashini was amazed at the size of Dora. She kept saying: "Big Dora" :)

Afterwards she was so excited. She kept telling us the story over and over again about giving Dora the candy. She was so proud and excited :)

After that we went to the courtyard of the middle mall (they're all connected, but the middle mall has a big outside area that they have stuff at all the time). They had rabbits in one section for the kids to look at. Aashini was in heaven!

I always had rabbits growing up, so I loved seeing them too - haha! :) Aashini was soooo happy!

They were just out of reach though :) She wanted to try to get them :) After some time, the guy that was in charge of the rabbits brought one over to her so she could pet it. She loved it!

They were giving out all kinds of cool snacks for free! (not super common here) :) Aashini got to try her first Cotton Candy :) The cotton candy machine was different than I had seen before :) It was cool looking and he used a hand-crank that was attached to what looked like a bicycle wheel - very neat ;)

She loved it!!

She had a great Children's Day!

Annual Day!

Before yesterday we were really liking Aashini's school... After yesterday we were more than impressed. It's quite the school! Yesterday was the school's "Annual Day". They do a big performance once a year. When I say big, I mean BIG! There are over 18 Mother's Pride Schools in the Capital Region (with over 10,000 kids enrolled!). So with that many kids, the Annual Day actually takes place over 3 days with 2 programs each day! Our school (along with 2 others performed together) was yesterday from 3:00 - 7:30 pm - yeah, it's LONG - but sooo fun!!

It was at a big auditorium in our city. They hold a lot of big functions at it. It can hold over 2,500 people and EVERY seat had a person in it and there were people sitting in the aisles, standing in the back, etc... there were a TON of people there!

They started the performance with a w'ship time to the god Ganesh.... it was interesting.

They had different classes doing different performances. Aashini's age group didn't perform - 2.5 years and older classes perform. This one (below) was my favorite. The kids got up and sang a song about loving their papas (they say 'Papa' here instead of 'dad' or daddy). THEN, their dads came up on stage and did their own dance. It was AWESOME! Everyone loves Bollywood here - and you'll almost never find a person that doesn't like to dance - so you can imagine the papas were dancing their hearts out!

It was awesome! They were all really into it! They even had glittery confetti falling from the sky during their performance!

At the end, the dads picked up their kids and swung their little legs around - it was hilarious!

So after a few performances, the lady that started the school showcased some of the other things she has going on in the city. She's quite an impressive lady! She has some sports teams. They came up and did an awesome performance.

She also has a roller skating group & a gymnastics group. The roller skating cracked me up!! Their uniforms were hilarious too!

She also runs an NGO (Non Government Organization) to help out kids with special needs in our city. She has one school for kids with special needs too and they came up and did an awesome Bollywood dance!

You'd think that since this is a preschool performance, that the kids would sing "Twinkle Twinkle" type songs - but instead they all danced to Bollywood songs! It was awesome! For each performance they had some new and different elaborate props in the background - it was crazy!!

It was definitely impressive and VERY fun! I can't wait until next year when Aashini is performing in it! So fun!!!

So, as Aashini says: "School, FUN!" :)

Well, after writing that post on McDonald's, I was really wanting to try the breakfast :) So... we dropped Aashini off at school on Tuesday and went out to find a McDonald's that serves breakfast. There aren't any that are close to our house, but we found one that wasn't too far away :) We were both really hungry by the time we got there so we ordered one of everything they had on their breakfast menu :) haha!! Now, don't get freaked out, there are only about 7 things on the breakfast menu here :) They even had hash browns!!!!!!

One of the things I got was the Veg McMuffin - I just had to try it :)

I was a bit surprised when I bit into it and corn popped out :) haha! It was good though :)

And yes, I'm pregnant and puffy in all those pictures - even my wrist/hand in the pic above! ahhh... pregnancy :)

Baby Shower Fun x3!!

My awesome friend Leslie threw a baby shower for me and 2 other friends (Megan & Mindy) in the Capital that are pregnant! She made these fun invitations and designed them herself. I love this picture (below) of the three of us she drew! (I'm the one on the left) - cool hunh??

She even made an awesome cake to match!!!!

Here we are posing like the picture :) I look so HUGE!!! Me and Megan (far right) are due just a day apart! We're both 36 weeks in this picture. Mindy is due in March :)

We played games :)

I love taking pictures during games, you can get some great poses :) haha!

Here's a picture of me and Leslie :) It was a lot of fun! Thanks!! You ROCK! :)

I just noticed how puffy my face is in this picture!! It's time for the baby to come!! haha! I'm hoping this baby comes soon!! Make sure you put in your votes for when you think the baby is going to come :) There might be a prize for the winner :)

Aashini is TWO!!!

Today was Aashini's 2nd Birthday! It was so fun to celebrate it with her this year ;) She had fun last year but didn't really know what was going on. This year she knew it was her birthday and kept talking about it and really had a lot of fun! She was hyper all day long!

The night before, we made cupcakes for her birthday. We made regular ones and ones without eggs to share with our neighbors. She loved getting to lick the beaters! She thought it was so fun!

Then she got to decorate her cupcakes :) We made a bunch of mini cupcakes. We gave her a little bowl with sprinkles in it to decorate them and I told her what to do. She stuck her hand in the bowl and got out some sprinkles and ate a handful - haha! Then she decorated... and ate some more ;) haha! She loved the sprinkles!

This morning she woke up for her birthday and was surprised. We decorated the whole dining room area and she loved it! (you can see my packed hospital bag in the background :))...

We decorated her high chair - she thought that was great :)

She LOVED it and started pulling all the balloons down ;)

After she ate breakfast she got her first cupcake :) Every time she got a cupcake we gave her candles to blow out. She loves to blow out candles!! When Adam first lit the candles this was her reaction:

She was so excited and happy!

She had fun blowing out her candles :)

Then came the presents :) She got some fun gloves and she wanted to open her presents while wearing them :)

The rest of the day was filled cupcakes and fun :) She got to play with some of her friends tonight and eat cupcakes with them too :) She had a fun birthday! Yay Aashini!

Don't forget to comment and say your Pop Rock birthday guesses!! :)