What have the rest of them been doing?

I thought I should blog every now and then about the rest of my family. It is so easy to focus on the newest of the lahrtribe. This past Sunday, we stayed home all day because church was canceled due to no heat and a big snow that decided to dump on us and unfortunately turn to slush by the next day. Chris attempted to teach the girls how to play chess. Alexa got her hair braided, and yes, Alexa did get her hair chopped. We made a chocolate pudding cake with no sugar. We have all given up sugar for lent. So we sweetened it with juice concentrate. It was surprisingly good, though it had a twang to it. Chris has given up biting his nails for lent. He puts tape on his nails and uses some polish that is supposed to taste bad. I am trying to talk him into a manicure to get the cuticles cleaned up but he refuses. It doesn't want to be labeled a metrosexual. I don't think he has to worry about that.

So, how did we decide to cut Alexas hair? Well, actually she decided to. My cousin took her along with her and her kids to a place called pigtails in Richmond. I told Alexa she could decide however much she wanted cut though I was so certain it would be only an inch or two. She came home with this. I was totally shocked and happy. It is so much easier to deal with. Chris was not so happy though. When I said that I am next to get a haircut, he said that he was going to grow his long again. We'll see.

6 week old already?!!!

Yes, India will be 6 weeks tomorrow. I can not believe this. I remember 6 weeks ago today sitting on our sofa in a majorly grumpy mood and calling my work to let them know I was taking a sick day the next day because I just felt like sleeping in. Well, I didn't sleep in, but it is a good thing I didn't go to work. India has gotten so big. She is around 10-11 pounds. She still sleeps great. We are waiting for her first smile. I can't wait. She is looking at us a lot more now,but always with this very serious face. Sometimes I wonder what is on her mind and I really think that she is wondering who these crazy people are who are always making funny faces right up in her face.
We were at a baby shower last night and as usual we were the only white people there (all puerto rican), and people kept asking me why she was red. The heat was broken and so it was like 50 degrees in the church. Her hands were mottled and her face looked chapped. They had never seen that before and asked if my other children were red. Poor thing was so cold, and she absolutely hates being cold. Then, my friend Zor took her to try to get her to sleep because she was fussing. Later, Zor told me that she fell asleep once she found her boob and cupped it the entire night! She is a breastfed baby:)

Happy Valentines Day!

Ok, this is a really weird picture of me. i was trying to show how excited I was to be getting out of the house on a date without the kids. Well, not exactly. We took India with us, but she slept most of the time. We ate at Fez, which is one of my top 5 restaurants in philly. It is Moroccan. You sit on these sofas and there is fabric everywhere like you are in a tent. The table is a typical Moraccan style bronze type round decorated table. You eat with your hands and listen to music and a belly dancer comes out a couple of times. My favorite dish is the chili chicken. India woke up while I was eating this. I had to dunk my hand in my water and get off all the spices before I stuck the pacey in her mouth.
Well, normally it is $22 for a 7 coarse meal. On valentines day it was $30 for a five coarse meal. They didn't change anything about the coarses either, just eliminated two of them. Next year we are going to go out on another night I think. Afterwards we stopped by Mozaic, a cool new hole in the wall around the corner from us. They had live music and offered us complimentary wine. We got a delicious dessert there. Then we went home and crashed. I am so tired these days. I wonder why?!

More professional Pics

i just can't get enough of this munchie! She is so stinking cute. She pretty much is just eating and sleeping all the time still, but I am soaking up every minute with her. I had a friend, Joanna Edwards, take some more pics last week. She is an upcoming professional photographer, so if you know anyone who wants pregnancy shots or baby shots, let me know and I will connect you. You can link to her flickr acct to view some India shots as well as her and her friends other work. http://www.flickr.com/photos/josummers/
India will be 4 weeks tomorrow. You can probably guess that I am having a hard time with this. Getting into the months!! Ughhh...but she is focusing in on my eyes now which is fun. She loves looking at the light still. I wonder what goes on in her little mind. I am thankful for every day I have with her.

2 1/2 weeks...

Thought I would share a few fun pictures we had done today at the mall. I just have been so frustrated with not being able to get good pictures on my own. It is hard being stuck in the house and not being able to use natural lighting. So I broke down and paid picture people to do it. They did a good job I think. It is overpriced, but hey, at the rate India is growing, I thought I better do it sooner than later. I wasn't planning on being in the pictures myself (since I am still feeling rather chubby) so it is funny that our favorite pictures were the ones with me in it, even my hands. We took one with chris' hands, but you could just see how dirty and funky they were. Mine are just veiny.

There isn't a whole lot new here. India continues to sleep a lot. She is mostly over her little cold, as are the rest of us. She is loosing her hair. She kind of looks like an old man with a receding hairline when she has her serious face on, which is most of the time.
Chris' mom goes home tommorrow, and we are having a group of folks from mission year over for dinner. So, this should be a week of adjustment. Chris returned back from Atlanta. I am so glad to have him home. The girls made him cute pictures to welcome him home. ALexa has been getting into creating her own books lately. Her completed journal came home with her recently from school. It was amazing to see all of the things she wrote in there along with her pictures. She is so creative and thoughtful. I love having kids at different stages in learning and life.