It’s 2am and we’ve been home just over 24 hours. We’re all exhausted and feel a bit like our brains are full of spiderwebs. Carrying on a conversation is trying, staying awake past 3pm is challenging, but we’ve still managed to unpack, do a few loads of laundry, and visit with friends. Next week my [...]
3 Comments. Continue Reading...
We’re into the last week of our time here and it’s going to be bittersweet having to say goodbye. The inner workings, the drama, the stories, the soul of the Gupta family have revealed themselves to me a bit more this trip. Understanding more Hindi has helped me to begin talking and at the very [...]
2 Comments. Continue Reading...
Kaiya’s Happenings This Week: India has a love affair with babies, especially fair skinned ones that belong to a foreigner. Kaiya attracts attention everywhere we go, mostly of the photo-snapping, cheek pinching, ‘let me hold her’ variety. At first I thought I’d try to keep tabs on how many strangers held her during our trip, [...]
1 Comment. Continue Reading...
I’ve managed to fall behind on these weekly updates and the weeks seem to be bleeding together, so here’s a quick recap of what we’ve been up to since we last checked in. Took the train from Delhi to Calicut in Northern Kerala. Spent a day in Calicut, but because of a political strike there [...]
2 Comments. Continue Reading...
We all survived 36 hours onboard an Indian train! While we weren’t exactly sitting with chickens and goats in the general class seats, doing anything for 36 hours with 3 kids can be a challenge. We played lots of card games, ate too much train food, and relished the moments when the train would [...]
1 Comment. Continue Reading...
We’ve been in India now for a full week and so far so good. The first couple of days were a bit hairy as we adjusted to the time difference, extreme noise, and cold. I know, coming from Canada you’d expect India to be hot in comparison, but coming here always makes me so grateful [...]
2 Comments. Continue Reading...
“Ohhh, she looks like a baby doll. Beti, beti, beti boht payar hai!” an unknown relative squeals as she pinches Kaiya cheeks and snuggles her up close. The living room has been overtaken by 25 female relatives who have come to wish Kaiya a lifetime full of happiness and good luck. Kaiya is passed around [...]
2 Comments. Continue Reading...
It’s been a trying week as the sleep saga continues. Kaiya vehemently fights sleep, or so it seems. Naps are short–no more than 30-45 minutes. And bedtime is rough, as she struggles to sleep through the phase of light sleep that follows the initial 45 minutes of REM. She wakes hysterical and I’ve tried every [...]
6 Comments. Continue Reading...
The Happenings of Kaiya’s Week: Her glorious days of sleeping 7-9 hour stretches at night have vanished. We had about 5 weeks of great sleep and now just as suddenly as they appeared, they have gone. We’re back to 3-4 wakings a night which has been a bit exhausting, but with our trip to India [...]
2 Comments. Continue Reading...