First of many.

Rhea introduces Hails for the first time to the joys of truckin the aisles. Watch out Danica.

Road trip.

Out getting some pictures developed (last minute anniversary stuff) before swimming lessons at the pool. Hailey seems to be happiest when out and about. Either the stroller to the seawall or back seat in the pickup.

Favorite past times:
- pulling herself into a standing position on anything at all available including a handful of human skin.
- walking if possible and trying not to smack her head on the corner of the coffee table. Or the floor next to it if she goes down sidways. Ouch.
- testing out her yelling (singing?) voice at top volume.
- waking up way too early on a weekend morning and smiling so broadly that she always gets an involuntary one right back.

This one really is on fire.

It's been a hit song from the very first time hearing it on the radio (long before any inauguration renditions). The handle of a skip rope makes a really good microphone for impromptu performances we found out.

Words of the week:

"ValenTimes Day"

"Daddy, it happened by Axe-culent"

"The evil step mother, and the evil step father, and the evil step Wolf!"

On seeing angry birds: "You're not supposed to break up the playground. That's not nice!"

"It's not 'car' it's 'kyar'" (or vice versa).

Many more that we forget on a daily basis of course. Need to start posting as they happen.

New favorite game for Rhea is 'hide and see'. Now we have to learn when not to play it.

Breakfast In Bed.

Birthday Images

I know we've got some of these out of chronological order but these had to go up - and I think are fairly self explanatory. Very special.

Unforgettable Albany Trip.

Late last year we were delighted at the chance to visit the paternal grandparents at Albany - including this restored antique pony ride with Grandma Joanie at the museum.

Our Christmas Castle

Special thanks to Uncle Rohit for this LED version of 'fairy lights' to make this season's mosquito net special.

Sunshine

New Year Smiles

Hailie's latest is moving around the bed at deceptively high speeds. She's currently developing an all-fours-then-belly flop technique which takes her places in a pre-crawl sort of way.

It's important to build a pillow fortress to keep her from nose diving onto the floor. She does notably have a marked appreciation for high adrenaline xtreme baby sports. Zero G stuff is the best.

Quote of the day from Rhea:

"No more phone, no tablet, no computer Dad! Just Cheese!"

- had to catch a re-enactment on video, which of course wasn't the same, but worth it.

HNY2013 to all!

Another big first.

This time a first both for the girls and their parents. For the former, finding out that their behavior was just nice enough to win some goodies in a sock. And the other, experiencing their first season of aiding and abetting, and loving it more than the kids.

Note that those same stylish socks were actually worn by one of the elves later that morning. They may, one of these days, get back to their regular shape, but they will always be one quite unforgettable pair.

Now rationing and sharing all the 'sweeties' is proving to be a good challenge as well. The other big issue: we need to start talking about the easter bunny in terms of salt and sticks.

Santa's Eye View.

Early Christmas Morning. Ever so nestled all snug in their beds. Thanks to the Kindle store were got access to a free copy of the iconic poem and acted out the whole thing for Rhea who now knows most of the key punch lines by heart (note to self see bb video). Funny thing was when I threw up the sash, we got a blast of hot tropical air; but seeing snow squalls a few weeks ago on the way to Albany made it a whole lot easier to get away with.

Luckily the little shop opposite 'high house' in Lethem was open for some last minute goodies (stuffers) for the elves to pick up. Yeah, we had an unexpected emergency flight on Christmas eve and had to overnight away from the grandparents - turned out to be a very memorable one. By the way, a chest of drawers works really good in a pinch as a fireplace.

Baby's first International - alone with her dad.

Hailey checking in at Cheddi Jagan Intl.  

Good to go - the calm before the storm.

Direct to JFK in a 76 was nice but...   Full volume screaming commenced as soon as the seat belt clicked on.  

Hailey spent almost the entire flight wide awake and pacing the aisles to keep down the noise.   Here she is checking out the flight attendants work station.   She made friends quickly but was not happy sitting in one place for too long.

Final Approach to into Kennedy. 

Bracing for the cold.  

Mixing up an Enfamil Birthday snack on the go.

Hailey's big Adventure, on big sister's Birthday.

On the way to the airport with Pops. We're heading up to New York to catch the tail end of Rhea's Birthday who went ahead with her mother last week.

We have been practicing the six P's and are feeling fairly confident that we can survive the adventure of a lifetime.

Fingers crossed that we're not overweight and will have to jettison some kilos.

Stay tuned...

Best Buds

Hailey has hit some big milestones lately. Number one, she has figured out that it is she in fact, who is really in charge of her own hands. Pretty important stuff; so virtually overnight she has become a card carrying Grabber.

About a week or so earlier, she discovered her voice as a musical instrument. It is quite common to find her singing away in high flutesome melodies while spending more hours awake then before.

Her attentive big sister will routinely hold lengthy nose-to-nose conversations broken up only by joint giggling sessions.

First stick man with fingers.

Very cool to see this happen live.