Santa Baby

The Gumbinners Come to Visit

This afternoon, Maggie, Ella and Bea came over for a visit. Ella has grown up so much in the last four months - from a toddler to a little girl. It was fun to see. Bea has also changed quite a bit; though she's still smaller than Luis (but 4 months older!).

Still Loving Bath Time

Luis & His New Toys

So I'll start by saying I'm a bad mom. I didn't buy Luis a single birthday or Christmas present this year. Shame on me. But Luis didn't totally lose out this year.

Diego was in NYC for a couple of days and picked up some things from FAO Schwartz including the jack-in-the-box and the giant Ugly Doll.

The Rimicci's gave Luis this awesome dog hand puppet (that looks a lot like Ashley). Luis loves to pick it up and hug it!

Mom bought Luis a new pair of Robeez (and about 25 new outfits for Mumbai).

My aunt Clare bought him a pair of "straight leg" jeans.

But inspite of all of the great toys, books, and clothes he got, on Christmas morning he was most interested in playing with this gift bag...

Luis's Winter Wardrobe

A super big thanks to Cara & Sarah who sent Luis clothes to wear while we're home. The article we'll miss the most when we go back to Mumbai are the super warm flannel-zip-up-footed pjs. Diego and I love the way he looks in those!

Luis Goes to Sushi Hut

One of our favorite restaurants in Northern Virginia is a sushi place (Kawata) that is in an

old Pizza Hut building. We've dubbed it Sushi Hut. Before heading to Mumbai, we had our farewell lunch there. For the last four months, we've been talking (and salivating) about going back. On Christmas Eve, we met Mark & Natalie there for a delicious sushi-fest. It was as great as we imagined it would be. I hope to go back at least once before Luis and I head back to Mumbai.

Norris-Turners in Annapolis

Abby, Piers, Charlotte & Cyrus Turner stayed with us Friday night (12/21) in Annapolis (they were on their way up to MA to spend Christmas with the Norris's). In the morning, we made a big breakfast - not that I need an excuse to cook bacon! - and the kids had a big play. Luis was very interested in Charlotte and enjoyed playing with her. Below is the best picture I got of them playing. (Best, of course is a relative word.) Diego had a fun play with Cyrus.

Luis & Charlotte

Diego & Cyrus

Catching Up

I'm way, way, way, way behind in posting. I have pictures from the last two weeks to share. In an attempt to catch up, I'm going to do a big picture post here.

Luis & Shabina in the kitchen

Diego & Luis enjoying the view in Mumbai

Luis playing in the British Airways lounge in London

Heading out for a walk

Luis and Diego in Annapolis

Happy Birthday Luis!!

Just a few pictures of Luis on his birthday - before I head to bed. I'm mostly over the jet-lag, but still get tired early.

We had a nice day today - celebrating Luis's birthday as a family in Annapolis. Unfortunately, Mom & Sandy were in CA. But JuanFe and RC came out to celebrate - sing Happy Birthday & Feliz Cumpleanos, eat cake and open presents.

Tomorrow, I'll try to post the other pictures I have: a few from Mumbai, from our trip back to the States, here in Annapolis and more of his birthday.

Diego's FAVORITE Picture of Luis

(and two more that I like a lot)

More Luis & Shabina

On Thursday, Ashley went to the groomer for a wash and haircut. Just like in the US, they put bows and stuff in her hair. This time, she came back with little red & yellow ribbons in her ears, and a sparkly red collar (for Christmas). As soon as we got home, I took off Ashley's adornments. But apparently, I didn't throw them away - I put them on the kitchen counter. When Shabina came later that day, she put the red collar on Luis, making it look much more like a halo than a collar. And I'm not sure how she got the ribbons by his ears. But I almost fell over I was laughing so hard!

Story Time

Part of Luis's routine is to have a story or two before nap. This picture was taken on Monday, as Pauline read to Luis before his afternoon nap. I was struck by how big Luis looked here. Not like a baby at all. Of course, he will be one next Saturday... Hard to believe.

(Thank you to Aunt Lauren who gave Luis The Poky Little Puppy)

Overboard

Over the last week or so, Luis is generally content to play in his crib for 10-20 minutes after he wakes up. I hear him awake, but can't see what he's doing. I only see the aftermath. Like this scene on Monday:

Luis had thrown each of his stuffed animals over the side of the crib, into one pile on the floor. When I hear the pacifier hit the floor, I know he's done playing and ready to get up. Usually, fussing or crying starts about 30 seconds later.

Getting Ready to Come Home

I pulled out Luis's winter jacket this week - in preparation of our trip to the States. It's a little big for him, but think it will do nicely.

I'm wondering what Luis will think of cold weather, and of wearing so many clothes. Here, he sleeps in a t-shirt and pants, and wears a onsie or short play suit every day.

Learning to Share

Luis is interested in everything these days. And if someone else expresses an interest in something, Luis is EXTRA interested. Ashely, included. On Wednesday, Ashley and Luis sat together, in his room, sharing this rawhide bone. Ashley was sweet enough to let Luis have the big piece.

Pictures of Luis (who else??)

It's been a while since I have posted any pictures - and I realize I have pictures from a couple of weeks ago that never made it onto the blog. So here is a big photo update:

Luis loves to crawl around on our balcony. He weaves in and out of the potted plants, pushes the patio chairs around and stares at the birds.

Luis also likes to look over under between around things. Like here, where he's looking between the sofa and an end table. Shabina often will play a game with Luis where they both, on their hands and knees, crawl around the sofa in circles. He chases her round and round. Luis will stop, every few minutes, and look under the couch to see where Shabina is, and then take off at top speed to catch her. It's a whole lot of fun to watch.

A couple of Saturday's ago, Diego was giving Luis a snack of pureed pumpkin and cheerios. Diego stuck a cheerio on Luis's forehead, which Luis thought was hysterical. We thought it was pretty funny, too.

The same Saturday as the Cheerio day, Luis and Diego were relaxing in the blue chair. Luis was unwinding in preparation for his afternoon nap. Diego was enjoying being home with Luis.

Here, Luis was contemplating which shoe he wanted to chew on - a favorite snack food of his. Yuck.

The closest thing Luis has to a "comfort" object are his plastic spoons. There is now, almost always, within reach of him. He'll put it in his mouth while he plays with other toys. He'll crawl around with one. And sometimes, he'll just sit and sort of chew on it. He doesn't care which one or which color (yet?), so it's easy to keep him happy. Here, he's got the spoon in one hand and is using the other to rifle through Pauline's purse.

Of course, he likes the BIG spoons too!

Nothing too exciting, nor any good story, behind this photo. Just thought it was cute.

Out and About in Mumbai

(Editors Note: This post is especially for Todd Keithley. He makes very sweet comments about pictures of Luis and persistently asks about life outside our apartment.)

There have been conspicuously few pictures of Mumbai on this blog. I don't often think to take pictures of my neighborhood (the suburb of Bandra). And with traffic so terrible, I don't get out of my neighborhood very often. South Mumbai has many historical buildings and sites - as well as great shopping. It was the shopping that took Erika and I down there earlier in the week. When traffic is very light, it takes about 25 minutes to get all the way down to the very southern point (Gateway of India). During rush-hour, it can take more than 3 hours. Generally, during the "light" part of the day, it only takes a little more than an hour. Each way.

Erika and I really only did shopping on Tuesday. But as we drove past the Gateway of India, Anwar pulled over, we jumped out, and I snapped a picture of the Gateway, the harbor in front, and the Taj hotel across the street.

Toast w/ Grape Jelly

Statistics

Luis went to the doctor on his 11-month birthday for a stomach bug. So I have a new set of numbers for him: weight 9.55kg and height is 78cm. For those of you who are keeping track of such things, he has lost 0.05kg in the last month and grown 4cm. Common sense says that this just isn't right. But I'm not sure which part is off.

(By the way, after almost a week of fighting the stomach bug, Luis seems to be much, much better.)

Luis & Mom (that would be me, not Croom)

There are so few pictures of Luis with me, that I try to post them every time I get one. Here are a few of us on Friday morning. While I was very, very, very tired from Thanksgiving the night before, Luis was ready to go (he slept through the whole party).