Christmas, buddies and New Year's Wishes....

Happy Holidays! We kept pretty busy the last week or so. Headed back up to Maine to visit with some friends and up to my inlaws for Christmas.

This is our friend Amy, who met Nik for the first time. She is actually the one who introduced Catherine and I , which makes Amy the reason Nik is here! I think in a few southern states that would make her his legal guardian. That's her boy Henry on the right. He's about 3 months older than Nik and can sit up without being wedged into the corner of a couch unlike our boy.
I took this photo after I told them to expect lots of coal in their stockings. The boys were quite unpleased with that prospect. Nik's cousin Emma was a pro at tearing off wrapping paper this year. Based on her performance, I'm willing to bet she'll be pulling that duty next year as well. Here's Auntie Sarah giving Emma a hand with a gift.

This is the traditional "Santa Suit" that is worn in the Bingham family. And by "worn", I mean stuffed into, until the adults realize that there is no way the child is fitting into that outfit.

See you in the New Year, suckers!

Rest, relaxation and tummy time

Hi everyone,

I figured we'd start off this post with some "outtakes" from Nik's chistmas card.


I snapped this one riiiiiiiiiiiight after he smiled. Getting the timing of the photo, the smile and him actually looking towards the camera has proved exceedingly difficult.

As you can see here. Quite a Captain Grumpypants, no?



"Santa is coming!!!! Santa is coming!!!"

That brief bout of excitement tuckered the poor guy out. We ended up rescheduling the whole photo shoot.
This is "tummy time". The bane of Nikhil's existence. We're hoping he warms up to it, but at this point if he lasts 30 seconds on his stomach, we're doing cartwheels.

So, after the photo shoots and tummy exercises, Nik demanded a vacation. He and Gil headed up to Sunday River for a few days of much needed rest and relaxation.

Nik spent plenty of time reclining and getting around to some books about his belly button.

When we got home........we had no HEAT! So, we had to bundle the little guy up and send him over to the neighbors while I frantically got the boiler running again. Cold babies are unhappy babies.
Finally, Nik and Cath headed over to the Vernaglia's for a Christmas Book Swap. Pictured here are (L-R) Kristen and Jack, Elena and Sofia, and Cath and Nik.

That's it for now, we'll have some more photos up from Nik's first Christmas next week!

Graduation Day

Hey Everybody,

Lots of happenings at 8 Converse this week! First.....we got our tree and a new ornament found it's way to the tree (Courtesy of my Mom and Nik's Dadi Ma)!


This is one of Nik's final examinations from baby class. How long can you last on your tummy? 35 seconds gets you a passing grade. He'll be back for summer school. Don't ask.

This is our first photographic evidence of Nik getting fresh with a lady. Greta doesn't seem to mind much, but she also thinks he lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds during tummy time.

This was the class' final exam. A coordinated group effort on YMCA. It was an adorable failure.

Catherine showed me this photo 10 minutes ago, and the first thing I said was

"Did he just come back from the Alps???"

That's it on this end. We'll try and get some more stuff up before Christmas.

Big Finish

Hey everybody. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. The Family unit had a nice time at my Mom's place. Nik was very well behaved for the entire meal. By my estimates, that should be the last time that will happen until he's about 40. He's doing really well and starting to demonstrate some new tricks. Like his laser like focus on the mobile above his bed. A fantastic invention, that would be slightly more awesome if it lasted slightly longer than 14 seconds.

I like this one a lot. Really shows you how much his face is filling out and how he's leaving his newborn face behind and on his way to baby stylin'.

This is another favorite. I think he was dreaming about being a mafia don and screaming "Fugeddaboutit".
His neighbor Catherine came by for a visit. I'm not sure what he's reading to her, but she seems pretty engrossed.
Grandma came down from Maine for a visit which allowed us some time to do a bunch of stuff around the house. Despite how Grandma appears to be clutching him, I can assure you she did not stuff him in her luggage before she went home.

Here's the "Big Finish". He just started smiling about a week ago, but it seems to disappear as soon as I get the camera out. This is the best one I got so far, but I can promise there will be more to come!

Sorry for the "brief" interruption in service....

Things got a little hectic here over the past couple of weeks. Not really on the homestead, more for me at work! So, the blog and it's many fans have suffered. My apologies. Here is a new batch of silliness to tide you over.

It's been really tough to get a photo of him smiling, which is his newest trick. Until then, we'll all have to settle for his old standby. Pensive infant.

This thing is called a Bundle Me, which is one of the many items I had never heard of, until we registered at Babies R Us. Now, it's one of the many items I can't imagine us doing without. It should keep him pretty warm all wintah!

Cath has been practicing some baby massage on Nik. Which he seems to enjoy. She also has a song that goes along with the massage. So far the two lyrics, I've made out are "baby" and "massage".
This is Nik, feigning embarrassment. His best trick to date.
Well, that's it for me.....now check out some photos of my folks!

So, there has been some debate on who our little boy looks like. We decided to put it up to the readers out there. Here are baby photos of Cath and I as little ones. Post your vote in the comment section below.



Baby Vake
Baby Cath

Tricks and Treats

Things are progressing here. Nik is growing more alert with each day and spends a lot of time looking at me with a puzzled face (He obviously got that from mom). We had some recent visits and Halloween to provide us with the chance to get some more shots of him. It's such a chore to photograph babies!

Holding a grandson has to be one of life's great pleasures.

Holding your nephew is up there too.




Psst! Wake up, you've got company over! Your neighbor Catherine won't keep coming over for visits if you keep this up.

Super Pumpkin


What a handsome devil. Not the baby....me!


Wash that big ol' Baby belly.

Squeeky clean and getting ready for bed.

A bunch of "firsts"

Things are going well and we'd like to thank all of you for the kind thoughts and gifts you keep sending our way. Cath's mom has been around this past week to help out with a lot of stuff, so Cath and I actually got to whisk ourselves away for a romantic dinner at Chili's. Beers and burgers. Can't beat that. Nik is getting over a particularly snotty week. Having that in the rear view really put us at ease. Now if he can remain perfectly healthy until age 18, we should be in great shape. Ok, here are the latest shots. Most of these are "firsts" of some kind.

This was the first bottle he took. Coincidentally, it's the first time I've had a ridiculous breast feeding pillow strapped to my waist! Being a dad is the coolest.

This is the first time he offered to make me a "knuckle sandwich".

This is the first piece of clothing he's outgrown. Don't worry, I won't start posting this stuff every time, but it's pretty remarkable how quickly it all happens. Thanks go to Auntie Aubrey for these lil' cowboy threads.

"Why did they start my first World Series game so late at night? Honestly, 7PM works better for me. "

Travellin' Man

We've settled into somewhat of a routine over here at Dhingra Manor. Nikhil seems to be getting with the "sleep at night" program, which has been very thoughtful of him. This past week has flown by and I can't believe I'm headed back to work so soon. We're going to try and update the blog every week. Once he has more "tricks" in his bag, that pace may quicken. We took a nice stroll this morning, here are the action packed photos:


Resting up for the morning outing...

Getting his "gear on"..

The little King in his mobile throne


Gil likes to be the scout leader for Team Dhingra


That tuckered me out! Good night everybody!