Guess What???

We're having a baby in December!!!!

I'm about 5 weeks along!

Our due date is about December 8 :) We're Excited!!!!!

So... we need your help. Before Aashini was born, we called her Jellybean :)... sooooo.... so that we don't have to call this baby "Little Baby" the entire pregnancy, we need your help coming up with a fun Little Baby name.... Should we stick with the candy theme? (Jr. Mint, Runts, Smarties, etc)... or go with the bean thing? (Black Eyed Pea, Kidney Bean - haha!, etc)... :) Do you guys have any ideas?? :)

Also, please pr for this pregnancy that it's NOTHING like the last one (except for the end result :))!

You guys ROCK!!!

And... because I don't like doing a post without pictures... here's a random Aashini picture :)

The Bully!

We take Aashini to the park a lot of afternoons (it's right next to our house) and let her play around with the kids at the park. Well, the other day, Aashini got to experience her first bully. Sure, sometimes kids are mean to each other, but then you have the bully.... The kid that is mean just to be mean and picks one kid to pick on... Meet our bully: Arun...

In this picture, you can see that Arun has taken Aashini's ball (He would actually spike it out of her hand!). Now, at first, Aashini didn't mind :) She likes to throw the ball back and forth with the other kids, and she likes to share her ball... BUT Arun just took her ball and stood there taunting her....In Walks the HERO! (the boy in the teal blue shirt)...

Hero boy did not like how Arun was treating Aashini, so he went after him to get the ball back! Look at that determined look on his face! There was a little bit of a scuffle...

Aashini was watching her Hero from a safe distance :)
Hero boy got the ball!! BUT, right as he was giving it to Aashini, Arun took it again... and the whole process started all over (and happened like that multiple times)...
Finally the "older kid" came to the rescue :) He took the ball back and told Arun to quit. Good job older kid!
(notice that we're just watching this and taking pictures :)... it was pretty entertaining)

Later, Aashini got on the merry-go-round and Arun was next to her and just started pinching her... The ball situation didn't really bother her, but the pinching did. It was so sad - she just looked at Arun and made this face that seemed to say that she was so confused why he would do that... Then she cried - LOUD! :)

So then she decided to play with the nicer kids :)

Random (Again) & Video

So, this is just a small update :) In the pic below you can see that Aashini's hair is starting to grow!! It's still very Mullet/Bozo the Clown-like, but it's growing!!! :) Here's a video :) I took it yesterday because we are having computer issues and we haven't been able to make any fun videos, but we needed to post one for the family to see, so I videoed this with my little mini video camera yesterday. I didn't realize that while I was videoing that she had picked a booger and eaten it... nice :) haha! Here's the video :) Oh, and check out the end how she says the word "fish" - it cracks me up! (she just kinda breathes in and out! haha!)

Random Aashini Update :)

So here is a random Aashini update :)She is still lovin' new friends :) She loves to play with other kids!

She definitely still loves jewelry! I got some bangles at the market the other day and the minute she got her hands on them, she put them on :) It was cute :)
Just last week, we got this table from some friends that are moving. Aashini loves it!
She's really into coloring lately too!

We got some blocks for her a few weeks ago. I've been really impressed with how she's been stacking them and building things - it's pretty cool!!

Her favorite thing about the blocks is the box that they came in :) She loves to sit in it and read a book (which wasn't the best when we were potty training :))

She loves playing in the park! She's starting to really like the slides!

This was taken about a month ago, but she LOVES to sleep with a lot of stuffed animals! She absolutely loves it!! She'll gather about 4 animals in her arms then roll over to her stomach to sleep :) It's cute :)

This picture makes me laugh! She's been really into climbing on things lately! The other day she climbed up on my sewing machine box when she thought we weren't looking. When I came around with my camera, she looked guilty! haha!

That's about it for now - she sure is fun!

Potty Training!

Remember last April when we told you that we had started potty training South Asian style??  (if you want to see it, click on the link).   Well, since we started potty training the South Asian way, Aashini was partially potty trained.  She almost always went #2 in the potty and could tell us when she needed to go.  We decided it was time to officially potty train her.   You might be thinking - are you crazy trying to potty train a 16 month old???!!  Well, the first few days, we did think we were crazy!  We used the 3 Day Potty Training method.  It's an e-book you download.  The author is a part of the package too.  She'll write and answer any of your questions and advise you.  It's great!!  Part of the method is that Aashini is supposed to only wear her underwear so that we can catch it quickly when she goes.  So here's a pic during her potty training days :) 

Now, the author recommends that you do it with a 22 month old.  She says that every 22 month old can be potty trained in 3 days BUT if they're younger it will take a little longer.  Well, for us, it's been 10 days and Aashini is completely potty trained during the day!  She hasn't had any accidents in days now!  We've even gone out for half the day and she's even gone on a public toilet!!  She still wets her bed some nights though, but we're working on that :)  We're so proud of her!

Now, potty training here in South Asia is very different than in America, so there are a few things we're still not sure how we're going to handle.  There are some places we go a lot that take over an hour to get to.  We don't have a car, but take public transportation.  If we had a car, we could just throw her little potty in the back of the car and then it would be no problem... but we really don't want to carry it around with us to our friend's houses and places like that :)  So, she can do like most kids (and men) do here... they pull over on the side of the road and go... but then we have to teach her how to squat... Speaking of which... we have to teach her how to use a squatty potty at some point!   Anybody have any advice on that?? :)  

Oh, and Aashini has a crush on Elmo - she's growing up so fast! :)

Just like a Doll...

The number one thing that people here tell us when they see Aashini is: "She looks just like a doll". I always thought they were saying that because dolls are usually white and they're usually bald... But then I saw this doll (in the picture below) and started thinking that maybe Aashini does look like a doll :) haha!

It's getting Hot...

It's starting to get hot here. We don't really have a Spring here. We have Winter, then about a month of 70's to 90's temps and then it's Summer :) So, since it's about to be really hot, we decided to get a few summer supplies to get us (Aashini) through the summer :) The first thing we got was this huge beach umbrella. Last year when Aashini would go swimming, we would jerry-rig a sheet so that it sorta blocked the sun... so this year we decided to get this big umbrella (it was only $8!). Adam picked out the color :)We also bought a new small kiddie pool. We have a Big Pool that we used last summer, but we thought this pool would be better to use more often. The big pool is great for when other kids come to swim (or when Adam and I want to swim and cool off) but to use more often the smaller one is better. It's also great to use with Aashini's balls!
So, recently, Aashini has become afraid of baths. She screams through bath time. She loves the pool though!! She LOVES to play in the water (she's still a little leary of getting IN it though... I think she thinks it's too much like a bath!). Once it gets hot, this is going to be one of her favorite places!

So here she is playing in the shade!

Another picture of her playing :)

This picture made me laugh :)

This picture made me laugh too :) I like how you can see the pool in the reflection of her glasses :)

More pool fun to come! I think she's going to really enjoy it this summer!

Baby Doll Fun :)

The other day we were over at a friend's house and they had a little play bottle for their baby doll. Aashini thought it was the coolest thing ever! She spent about 30 minutes just sitting on their couch and feeding the baby! She LOVED it!We actually had those same bottles at home but we were saving them to give to her on a bad day, or a "rainy day" (aka - super hot day), etc... but we just had to give it to her after that :) She LOVED it!!!
This picture below cracks me up! She was having so much fun and laughing the whole time!

She has so many funny things that she does now. We have a floor rug in our living room and one of her favorite things to do is to hide toys she likes under it. She used to only put gift cards under it (we brought back a bunch of Target & Wal-mart gift cards for her to play with - they are one of her favorite toys! She plays with them every day!). The gift cards were small, so it wasn't a big deal. NOW she puts everything under it! We just got her some fun wooden blocks to play with - so she's started stuffing them under the rug! haha! Adam & I keep tripping on the rug now :) The other day she tried to put a big stuffed animal under the rug. I guess she's part squirrel :)

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She is doing another funny thing ... but we can't laugh at it... :) Whenever she does something bad, or something she knows she's not supposed to do, she'll look at us in our faces and say: "boo!". It's so cute, and it takes everything in me not to smile :)

Buddies

We have discovered that Aashini is an extreme extrovert! She could be so grumpy, cranky and tired - not able to function - and we could take her to the park and she'll become a happy child running around and playing with friends. It's so funny! If she sees anyone that looks like they could be a kid, she'll run up to them and look right into their face - it's hard to explain, but it's sooo cute! Here she is in a picture with her buddy Easter.

Here in our part of South Asia, when kids meet each other, the parents always tell them to shake hands. Aashini really likes to do it now :)
... but she gets a little confused when someone won't shake her hand :)
There have been a lot of people in town lately, so she's had the chance to play with a lot of fun kids :) Here she is with her buddy B.

She also LOVES babies. She got to meet her new little buddy Adelynn. She kept saying: "baby! baby!" We went to another birthday party the other day. Aashini had soooo much fun! She loved playing with everyone! When it was "food time" Aashini had a blast. She didn't want her own plate, instead she just walked around stealing things off of other people's plates :) haha! It was hilarious and the other kids didn't seem to mind :)
Aashini's Turkish buddy is usually at the mall on Wednesdays (her dad owns the Turkish restrauant there), so sometimes we go there on Wednesdays and Aashini plays with her for a while. She loves Aashini and loves playing with her. She is really sweet.

Aashini gets really excited when she finds someone "her size". She thinks it's awesome and will follow them all around. It's pretty funny :) (see her sticking her hand out to shake hands?)
Aashini really loves people, but she doesn't just limit herself to other kids :) The other day at the park, the other kids had gone to the other side of the park, so Aashini just walked over to these ladies and plopped down with them :) haha! Our little extrovert sure does make meeting people a whole lot easier!

The Mullet

The mullet haircut is very funny to me :) If you look it up on Wikipedia you'll see the definition as:

"a hair style that is short in the front and long in the back. As a result it is sometimes jokingly referred to as having "business in the front and party in the back." The mullet was popular from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Mullets have been worn by males and females. The mullet is distinct from the Rattail, which consists of a long, narrow "tail" of hair growing from the back of the head. Mullets also vary in length from side to side and do not necessarily share a single, consistent length."

haha! Here's an example:Well, Aashini has started growing some hair..... BUT only in the back :)
So, it's not easy to see in these pictures, but her hair is short on top and longer in the back... I guess you could say: "business in front... party in the back!"
haha! I love mullets!!
This picture below is just for my friend Annie. She's in the hospital right now (just had a baby but may have to stay in the hospital an extra day)... Annie this is to make you smile :)