Shucking and jiving

Catherine Crane, Lisa Crane, Catherine Dhingra and Destructo at the July 4th parade in beautiful downtown Wakefield.



Here is a video for you to get a sense of how creative people in town get with their floats.


Rhys, the barrel chested wonder. Nik won't be able to push this guy around for too much longer.


More smiles every day.


Nik and Emma modeling the double stroller that was a godsend on our trip to the Clam Festival in Yarmouth.


A slightly confused Nik on his first carousel trip. I'm guessing the non-blinking horses creeped him out.


Her excitement level is off the charts. And not in a good way.


Clam Festival. Hooray?


A trip to the children's museum for some money laundering "practice" seemed to suit Nik just fine.


"Jesus! You didn't tell me this thing vibrates!"


And we close with a kiss.

Summer

Here is Nikhil reading about his latest obsession, trains.


Emma came down to visit and enjoy some birthday cake made in honor of her turning the Big F-O-U-R.


Nik, did you get enough cake?



The partygoers worked off their sugar high and took to the street on their bikes.



"Are you tired? I wanna see if we can make Atlantic City by sundown."



Cousins


We made it up to the Gorton's to visit with Miss Hannah. Who as you can see, LOVED holding Rhys.



Rhys and Lady Violet gettin' acquainted.


Nik and I hit the Crane's pool for the 14 minutes it wasn't raining last month.



Hangin' out at Catherine's house


"Do you know anything about trains?"



The rare newborn smile


:Seriously, I want my own blog."

Me and Baby Brother

This was Rhys' home in the Special Care Nursery and Winchester Hospital. All told, he spent 18 days there.


Here is the little fella strappin' in for his ride home. He was breaking the scales here at a whopping 5 pounds 7 ounces.



Nik waking up to the newest bundle of joy in the house.


Unfortunately, the experience has caused some regression on Nik's part as you can see here...



.....and here


To take Nik's mind off of things, we took him to the fair. This was as close as he could get to the rides. Both attempts to ride the train were met with tears and screaming.


Rhys loves keeping his arms above his head while he sleeps.


Are horizontal stripes slimming? I can never remember.


Loungin'


He's so tiny, he makes ME look big.


Meet Mr. Tyler Prevost, he's been tearing it up for about 4 months now. Sleeps through the night too.....showoff.




Finally, some video of lip smacking good times at the dinner table.

Why can't we be friends?

We are very sorry for the prolonged absence. But as some of you know, we've been preoccupied with some big news. Let's get to the picshas!


Nik loves to wear his Elton John Glasses during breakfast.


Easter morning arrived with the beloved Elmo. Honestly, I think they embedded a chip into his brain that would not let his parents rest until Elmo was under our roof.


Nik cleaned himself up, found his Easter sweater and got to work on his basket.


And by get to work, I mean cover his head in green confetti.


When you're 18 months old, this is really the only way to travel.


This photo was taken about 50 hours before......


these little feet entered the world.


Rhys Carter Dhingra. Born April 19th at 4:14 AM. He weighed 5 lbs. 1 oz.


Our latest tax write off enjoying his first bottle.


At first Nik didn't seem bothered by Rhys moving in on his turf.


But he soon needed to lean on his friend Catherine for emotional support.



He quickly warmed to the news


And we were ready to go back and see Rhys as a family.


Nik made one quick run for the door, but we were able to convince him to stick around.


And, by the looks of it, things will work out just fine.

Hello again

So we took WAY longer off than we intended. Without further adieu....

Nik and Emma riding in the sled together. Nik's getting to the restless stage, where being held is losing it's luster.


Trucking through the snow with his big cus' is definitely more his speed these days.

The boys did some couch surfing with me up on the couch at the ski condo.

We took Nik to one of those indoor playgrounds......

...where he decided to start gnawing on some plastic balls that were probably last disinfected in 2005.


Is there any way this could be comfortable?


He's been loving some new books of late like "Ten Fingers and ten toes"


Reading with mom seems to keep him momentarily still.

Nik, don't feed the dogs please.


Got this picture of him in the middle of "breakdancing practice"!

Wearing his favorite player's jersey. Rondo!