Shouldn't We Be Doctors By Now?

Bubble Terror

2011-02-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

We discovered recently that Divya is totally freaked out by things that are sticky. We realized this when she was playing with Deja's jelly window stickers last week. She was happily playing, then all of a sudden out of no where, she started screaming and acting completely freaked out. It took us a while to figure out what scared her, but we finally did: it was the sticky!

Here's a video from tonight. Arie and I were dying laughing. Check out how Divya reacts to Arie's bubble gum after she realizes it's sticky...

Nine Month Pics

2011-02-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure who enjoys the wagon more-Divya or Clemson!

Gotta love bath pictures!

My cutie pie

Words cannot describe how much I love this picture: Divya doing liase mikha (fluttering her eyelashes).

She loves playing in the kitchen...just like her mommy!

Divya getting some Erica love. This picture makes me smile. Erica looks so beautiful and radiant with baby Williams growing in her belly!

Sweet moment with Khairie....(made possible only by the fact that Divya had just been holding food. Khairie was hopeful)

'What? Is there something on my face?'

She thought it would be hilarious to give herself a shower with her sippy cup while we were driving back from Madison. She is insane. Gets that from her daddy.

Telling Clemson to keep all paws inside the moving vehicle.

Playing while daddy works

Eating the blanket out of her book. Such a silly monkey!

Divya is 9 Months Old!!!

2011-02-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Divya has now spent more time in the outside world than in my tummy. It seems like she has grown up so quickly! I think the last time I did a Divya update was when she was 4 months old, so it's amazing to think how much she has changed since then. Here are some of the highlights:

She is becoming more mobile on her feet. She gets around on furniture (or whatever she can hold onto) pretty easily now. She can also walk pretty well holding one hand--though she prefers to hold both hands because she is much faster! She has gotten better at dropping down to her butt from standing (as opposed to going timber!). In the last couple days she has gotten good at holding onto furniture and reaching down to pick up something off the floor again, and then return to standing.
She is a great eater. She loves all and every kind of vegetable. She even loves eating onions and garlic! It is so great to have her sitting at the table with us and eating what we eat. It was really important to me instill a family tradition of sitting around the dinner table while enjoying each other's company and enjoying food. Right now, our schedules allows us to sit together for breakfast and dinner, which is awesome!
When she eats something she really likes, she says, 'mmmmm!' She also does a happy food dance when she's eating something she really loves...must have gotten that from her mommy ;)
She is very generous. She is happy to share her food with the dog. I think she takes pity on Khairie and want to share her food with her. It's sweet, but still makes me cringe!
She is learning more words everyday. She is starting to understand phrases in both Nepali and English, and I'm hoping she will become equally comfortable with both languages.
She just started to shake her head. A couple weeks ago at dinner, Arie was being his usual goofy self, so I shook my head at him and said, 'daddy's silly!' She immediately started shaking her head as well! So now, I say 'daddy's silly!' and we both shake our head at him. She also shakes her head when she eats something she doesn't like. Yesterday it was avocado and today it was yogurt. She makes a face after tasting, so I ask, 'you don't like it?' and she shakes her head no!
She has also learned 'No'. Well, sort of...I don't actually say no. I read somewhere once that a child hears no like a billion times, and only hears yes about thirty times or something like that. So when Divya puts something in her mouth that she's not supposed to (such as paper, the cat ball, or a computer cord), I'll say, 'that's yucky!' and she will remove the object from her mouth and say, 'ugh' as if to say, yes that IS yucky!

It's so amazing how quickly the time has gone. We love her so much and she is such a blessing to us. She makes us laugh every single day!

I no pics on this post, but I will upload some recent pics soon...stay tuned! :)

'Bow wow wow'

2011-01-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

Our little puppy dog says, 'bow wow wow!'

Sabotage

2011-01-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

Martha Stewart, I love you. I really do. I have your books, I subscribe to your magazine, and I frequent your website. But I am convinced you are trying to sabotage me. Last week, I had a craving for cookies, and fitting with my resolution to only eat junk food that I make myself (thank you Michael Pollan), I decided to whip some up. I have always used the same chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I had just finished thumbing through a copy of Everyday Food where I came across a recipe for 'Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies'. So I decided to give it a whirl. I really should have known better. What did I think was going to happen when you bake 1/4 cup balls of dough at 375 for 15 min?? Not good. Would have been better off just eating the batter-that part was good. Then, this morning I decided to try out her recipe for quinoa breakfast cereal (like oatmeal, minus the oats, plus the quinoa). I've really been on a quinoa craze lately and I really liked the idea of quinoa for breakfast. I followed the recipe to a T. According to Martha, my quinoa breakfast cereal should have been ready in 15 min. Nope. 35 minutes later, I settled for al dente quinoa. It's a good thing quinoa is a complete protein, because by that point my blood sugar was really low and I was really crabby. That's not to say all her recipes turn out this way...her rigatoni with chicken sausage, spinach and cream tomato sauce and her buttermilk banana pancakes are absolute family staples of ours. So, I have created some guidelines for following Martha's recipes. First, only attempt a new recipe when I'm in the right frame of mind. That would be the 'oh, wow, failed again. That silly Martha!' sort of mood. Second, wait to entertain with a Martha recipe until it is been tested and the kinks have been worked out. Lastly, keep in mind that this is a dysfunctional relationship and just accept it. All that being said, Martha I still love you...but I am watching my back.

mmm....Peas!

2011-01-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

This child is a pea lovin' fool. Here is a (short) clip of one of many (very long) peafests.

Where's your Monkey?

2011-01-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

A Snowy Day

2011-01-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

We really haven't had much snow this winter. I'm pretty sure our friends in Greenville have had more snow than we have actually. Today we had an awesome snowfall. It was such a gorgeous day: big fat snowflakes falling from the sky and relatively warm outside. Arie had been working on his references for dissertation (i.e. a butt load of references) all day as was starting to lose his ability to articulate basic sentences, and I had been working around the house cleaning, cooking and doing bunches of laundry. We decided to take a break and go for a hike in Hickory Hill Park, which is literally right across the street from our house--it's so great! Here are a few of the pics from our snowy outing.

Getting a ride on daddy's back

No one was more excited about the fresh snow than Khairie

Peeking at the white stuff below

Love this picture!

Snowy hike

Not sure what Khairie is doing here...but I'm pretty sure that's her butt in the air!

Khairie checking in on Divya

Eskimo baby

Snow bunny

'OK mommy, my butt is getting cold!'

4 Months Later...

2011-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

It's been 4 months since my last post, and that literally seems like a lifetime ago. We've been down a pretty crazy road and back. Last semester I tried to take a full load of classes while working 20 hrs a week as a TA and RA, all while still figuring out this whole mommy thing. It was nuts. It was WAY too much. It took a lot of support from Arie, my family and my closest friends to get through it. Get through it we did, but as most challenges in life do, it made me (and us as a family) re-evaluate what our priorities are and how to best move forward. All that being said, I am still pursuing a PhD but I am slowing things down by taking one class at a time to finish out my coursework. I am super grateful that I have the opportunity to continue with my program, while being able spend lots of time with Divya and enjoy watching her grow.

It just amazing to me how much D has changed in 4 short months. She is such a riot these days. She is learning how to walk (totally uninterested in the whole crawling thing) and becoming pretty proficient at cruising along furniture. All she wants to do is walk with a little help from mommy or daddy...all day long! She is 'talking' more and more every day. A few of her favorite words right now are 'mama' (when she's upset), 'dada' (when she's happy) and 'cat' (when she's trying to play with the animals--cat or dog!). Although our favorite was when she said, 'momo.' She can identify objects like her monkey, the cuckoo clock, and...cat (yes, she really loves the animals). For the last 2 months, she has been exploring the world of food, which has been especially fun. Being Ms. Independent, she never wanted to be fed, so my visions of making all varieties of organic baby food purees quickly went out the window. So now, she pretty much just eats what we eat. She loves bread, beans and pasta and cannot get enough veggies. She could eat peas for hours on end. It's crazy! Fruit not so much, she definitely does not have a sweet tooth--which is good!. She has no teeth (yes, we call her 'toothless'), but she can chew like it's nobody's business!

Saying something...and making a funny face as a result

'I love beans!'

'...and butternut squash'

Crib entertainer

Serious face off for the cat ball

There's lots more to get caught up on, and I promise to be better about keeping up with the blogging. Not another 4 month hiatus...I promise!

Two Mommies

2010-08-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Divya now officially has two mommies: me...and daddy. Last week I returned to work and being a full time student. It was a rough week to say the least. After spending nearly every moment with Divya for four months over the summer, being away from her for 15 hours last week felt agonizing. Every time I was away, I felt like I had left half of heart and half of my brain at home. Thankfully, Divya was at home in very good hands. Now, I have blogged about what an awesome daddy Arie is...and it's true, he really is. BUT, as I told Arie before returning to work, 'you have to be mommy now.' Because at this age, daddy is optional, but mommy is mandatory!

Turns out, Arie is a great mommy as well. He had an awesome first week with Divya: they played a ton, he bottle fed her, and he danced her to sleep. It made an extremely difficult transition much easier. That's not to say there weren't plenty of tears...there were (but they all came from me). At the end of the week, as he was snuggling with Divya, Arie said to me, 'you know, I loved her before but now I really feel like we're bonded.' And I see that as well. He is acutely tuned into her needs and how to care for her as only a mommy could. It's a beautiful thing.

So, we did survive our first week. It's all downhill from here, right?! In addition to being emotional about returning to work, I've been a weepy mess watching the amazing events unfold in our dear friends Mary Beth and Donald's lives. Every time I think about what has happened in their lives in the last couple of weeks, it gives me goosebumps and brings tears of joy to my eyes. Mary Beth and Donald are two of the most amazing people I know and it overjoys me to see such blessing poured out onto their lives. Check out their blog Our Life Spann on my blog roll. Mary Beth and Donald, we love you guys SO much and wish we could be be there to celebrate with you!


Divya at 4 months!


Words cannot describe how much I love this picture

A Few Randoms...

2010-08-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Arie said to me, "You need to blog, otherwise you'll never keep up with it." Very true. Divya has been waking up at 6AM lately (and of course she is asleep again now), so I figured I might as well take advantage of this time. So here are a few randoms...mainly beacuase it's too early to think too coherently about any one thing.

First of all, my parents and sister are in London right now. And I'm insanely jealous. They're going to London, Paris (to celebrate my Dad's birthday), Geneva, Turin, Venice and Rome. They're off bumming around in Europe while I have to return to work. How is that fair??!!

That brings me to my next point. Next week, I have to go back to work. I have many mixed feelings about this undeniable reality, but most of them revolve around this sentiment: I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to. No really, I think the anticipation is worse than anything. And when I try to think about it logically, I realize it could be a lot worse and my situation really isn't that bad. I shouldn't be gone more than 20hrs a week and when I am gone Divya will be with daddy.

Speaking of Divya and her daddy, I just LOVE watching them interact. They have the sweetest relationship. D has totally stolen her daddy's heart. I'm so impressed in the way Arie so seamlessly became a father. It just makes me love him that much more. Here are a few videos of the two of them that I shot yesterday. The first one I just think is so sweet and the second is absolutely hilarious.

Divya is 3 months old!

2010-08-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

It's totally crazy. I cannot believe Divya is already 3 months old. The last 3 months have been a blur, but also one of the most amazing times in our lives. So, here are a few things I'd like to share about our little girl...I'm doing this MB style ;)

She is 'talking' more and more every day. She now will hold a 'converstation' with you. It's too cute for words...literally.
She is fascinated about the world around her. Her newest obsession: trees. She will stare at them for hours. Now when we go on walks, we'll say "Divya, let's go look at trees!" and she stares at them for the entire hour long walk. Yesterday at church, we stumbled upon a fish tank which was a HUGE hit. She was so happy watching the fish swim around. I think she could have watched those fish forever. She has no interest in toys, she just wants to explore the natural wonders around her.
Things that make her smile: mommy, daddy...and the ceiling fan. I never realized how funny and entertaining a ceiling fan could be!
The oral stage has fully taken hold. She loves sucking on her hands (often both at once). Yesterday I was holding her while doing some chores around the house. She was sucking on my arm, and all of a sudden it really started to hurt! The next thing I know, I look down to find a huge hickey on the inside of my arm! She actually gave me a hickey!! A big purple one!!
She just loves to be snuggled, held and worn. Absolutely nothing makes her happier than being close to you.
She's starting to discover the strength in her legs. She loves to stand, dance and walk..with a little bit of help, of course! This is great, but makes bathtime a very messy affair.
She loves hanging out on her belly. She can lift her head and chest up and look around. She just started to push off her elbows too. She kicks her legs like crazy like she's ready to crawl but can't seem to find any traction. She kind of looks like a beached seal. It's hilarious.

D has been such a blessing in our lives. It's so amazing to watch her grow and see her explore and learn the world around her. We're so thankful that our little tiny preemie baby is doing so well, gaining weight like crazy and developing beautifully. We can't ask for anything more.

Hanging out

Playing with daddy

Sucking on her snuggle puppy

Playdate

2010-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

Becky and I (and Aunti Jo) had another playdate this week. We've had several playdates already, but this was the first where Bronx and Divya were actually both awake at the same time. So of course, we had to monopolize on the opportunity and snap lots of pictures. They are HILARIOUS. Bronx was totally mackin' on D! And she does not look too happy about it...at all.

Bronx: 'This is kind of nice.'

Divya: 'I don't know about this...'

Bronx: 'Hey, what's up?'

Divya: 'Get off me, that's what's up!'

All joking aside, these two are totally buddies. They're womb buddies. Bronx was 3 weeks ahead of Divya in the womb. It was so great being pregnant with Becky and sharing in that experience together. She could always give me heads up on what was about to come down the pipeline (cravings, strange sensations, etc). We ran together most of our pregnancy...and then walked together when running became a bit ridiculous! Since D was born 4 weeks early, she actually came earlier than Bronx, but not by much! She was born on a Friday and he was born early Sunday morning just two days apart. So, their first playdate was actually at the hospital. Now Becky and I get to share in the experience of being new moms and see the two of them grow up together. It's truely such a blessing!

Worst Blogger EVER

2010-07-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm finally updating my blog and giving myself the title Worst Blogger EVER. I'm pretty sure the 3 people who actually read this blog have long given up on it. So much has happened since my last post. Arie is done with his coursework and is now working on his dissertation (yay!). I am still chiselling away at coursework for my PhD...slowly but surely. Big news in the Shrestha/Greenleaf household is the addition of our daughter, Divya Aleydis. She was born April 30, a good 4 weeks before her due date. She is 11 weeks old today, and like everyone says, her arrival has changed everything. I'm not sure how someone so small could have so much persnality...and with parents like us, she's bound to be nuts. Sorry, Diyva.

So, I am going to try to start blogging again. If there's anyone out there who is actually reading this...feel free to keep me honest. I should have no trouble finding the time. Right?!

Divya deep in thought...

Laughing at her daddy. Look at that hair!

26.2

2008-11-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a ridiculous amount of time since my last post. Shameful, really. But I did want to blog about my recent marathon, since it was my first. The entire experience went better than I could have ever hoped for. I felt great the entire time, even in the last 6 miles. I've heard so many people say that running a marathon is more of a mental challenge that a physical one. Personally, I never felt mentally fatigued. I think this is solely for one reason: Long's Peak. Climbing that mountain is still, to this day, the most mentally and physically challenging thing I've ever done. We spent 14 hours climbing that day, and didn't even summit. And if the altitude didn't get you, the knee jarring descent will. I cried the last 4 hours of that climb. Unlike running a marathon, you can't just walk off the course. You MUST get down off that mountain. There's no choice in the matter. I haven't reflected a lot on that experience, but now after running the marathon, I think much of my success can be attributed to that torturous, failed climb.

So, back to the race itself, the conditions were absolutely perfect, the course was beautiful, and the race was extremely well supported. It was, in a lot of ways, the perfect first marathon to do. I didn't start experiencing pain until around mile 21. My back started to cramp up terribly and of course my legs and feet were screaming. I started to take walking breaks, but then I quickly realized that it hurt just as much to walk as it did to run...so I figured, why not run and get this thing over with sooner?! Right around mile 23, someone was giving out gummy bears. I grabbed a handful, started eating them and all of a sudden I started feeling good. Like CRAZY good. After that, I felt really strong. I was passing people left and right. I had lost my 4:30 pace marker a few miles back, so I figured my goal of coming in around that time was shot. It was right after the mile 25 marker that I asked someone what time it was (I had fogotten my watch, of course!). They informed me it was 12:20something and I was completely shocked. I thought for sure it was almost 12:45, which meant I needed to hustle to make it to the finish line under 5 hrs. After discovering my goal was still in tact, I just went for it. I'm sure I wasn't actually running that fast, but to me, I was sprinting. I crossed the finish line in 4 hours and 36 minutes. I was thrilled with my time and the fact that I literally left it all out there. As soon as I crossed that finish line, I was completely spent. I happily collapsed into Arie's arms. It was such a great experience!

I spent 3 and a half months training, which is crazy to think about now. I actually miss training. I really became quite fond of my long training runs on saturday mornings. Especially once school got going and I had no time to myself, those few hours a week became priceless. I was just me, the road and my thoughts. That I really miss.

Just some final thoughts: I am fully convinced that any and everyone one can run a marathon if they are committed to train for it. It was amazing to experice the changes and adapations my body went through during training. Trust me, if I can do, it anyone can! Also, I have a new found respect for all my friends who are marathoners. It's an amazing accomplishment.

No Reservations

2008-08-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, there are some reservations. But, very few. And what better excuse to use the title of one of my favorite shows. (I don't know, something about a travel show hosted by a very cynical old chef who hates vegetarians is very entertaining to me.) So it's that time of year: our, what has become, yearly trip to Colorado.

We arrived two days ago. The first night, we hung out in Ft. Collins a bit and then headed over to Rocky Mtn. National Park and spent the night at the trailhead of Long's Peak. We got there at about 10 PM. Arie got up and left to climb Long's at about 2AM. I remember sitting up, half asleep (we made a bed out of the back of the xterra) and looking around at that dark parking lot filled with bunches of people getting all their gear on guided solely by the light of their head lamps. I remember thinking, "these people, including my husband, are INSANE."

Arie made it up to the summit in an insanely short amount of time (4.5 hrs). I woke up at 7:15 and hit the (same) trail by 7:45. I was thinking all along that I would hike up part of the mountain and then run down. It became clear quite early on that there was no way I would be running down the mountain. The trail was very rocky and twisting an ankle was pretty much a sure thing. To my surprise, I felt great hiking up. A VERY different experience from the last time I was on that trail. I felt so good I ended up hiking up 4 miles to the Chasm Lake overlook. It was a very natural spot to wait for Arie, who would have been coming down around that same time. I hung out there for a bit and actually met 5 people from Iowa! It was so exciting seeing Arie come down that trail. I was SO happy to see him. He had strained a muscle in his thigh and was in need of some TLC and some cheerleading. Which I was happy to provide.

From there we headed to Boulder where we spent the night. We had a nice dinner out at a local microbrewery and then crashed at a (very luxurious compared to the xterra) hotel. This morning we we had breakfast at our favorite cafe in Boulder and indulged in my once a year breakfast: lox cheesecake. Yes, cheesecake. I mean, think about it...they took all the best parts of a lox bagel (smoked salmon, capers, tomatoes, onion) and put it in a cheesecake made of...cream cheese! Absolutely brilliant. But definitely a once a year treat.

Today we hung out in the very rough around the edges, but very cool, town of Leadville. At 10, 152 ft., it's the highest town in America. A big mining town at the turn of the century, it now is a very interesting mix of abandoned mines, shacks, a cute downtown and stunning views of 14,000 ft. mountains. Think of Vail, now think of the polar opposite, and you have Leadville. I like it. Tonight we watched the sun set at Turqoise lake, absolutely gorgeous. And then had the best Mexican food I've ever had. Leadville has an extremely high population of Mexicans, which was evident in the food. My intuition told me to order a margarita, which was definitely an inspired idea. It was the best margarita, no, the best drink I've ever had. Words cannot describe the perfection of this margarita. It's definitely now on my death row menu. (If you watch No Reservations, you'll know what I'm talking about.)

We're spending the night at the Leadville hostel. Ranked as one of the best in the nation, I can totally see why. It's very clean and cozy. Run by Wild Bill and Cathy, it feels more like you're staying with your sweet aunt and uncle (and a bunch of hyperactive, thrill-seeking cousins) than what I imagined a hostel to be. It's even dog friendly! There are 2 other pups staying here tonight besides Kharie. AND they have WiFi, which you, reader, are reaping the benefits of.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Aspen. We'll be camping there tomorrow night. And then we'll make our way back to Leadville to camp and wake up the next morning to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest 14er in CO. Arie, Khairie and I will all be climbing. Should be fun!

I will update our travel again when I can. And pictures to come...I promise!

Ahh, summer!

2008-07-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love summer! Here are some recent pictures:

Khairie swimming in Lake Mendota at the union terrace. She was actually chasing those ducks, but clearly, ducks are faster than K, so she gave up.

my parents are so cute!

Hangin' out with our wet dog. The party ended when she shook wet fur into my beer.

The next few pictures are at the Navy pier in Chicago. Look at how beautiful that water is!

I want to be on one of those boats out there. Preferably that fancy looking one back there!

Me and my sis

A Public Declaration

2008-07-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

This post is less for your benefit than it is for my own. I am declaring to the world that I am training for a marathon. It's now official. The greater the number of people who know about my plans, the more my pride will keep me from giving up (at least theoretically). I'm training for the Des Moines Marathon which is Oct. 19. Not fancy, not glamorous, but it'll do. Actually what happened was...by the time I finally made the decision, all the other (better) races were already booked up for fall. Also, it's summer and I have the time to train, which I'm finding very important. So, here are some realizations I've made since making this decision:

Saturday mornings will have a whole new meaning for the next few months. Instead of sleeping in or hopping out of bed and going to the farmers market, I'll be lacing up for long runs.
Iowa is humid. Like psychotically humid. If I don't get out there by 8am, I'm in trouble.
Iowa City is very, very small. Yesterday I spend the afternoon on Google pedometer planning new running routes. I've come to the (sad) conclusion that for my longer runs I'll be running laps around the city. I'm unfortunately not kidding.
Listening to Matt's sermons while running is great. A solid 45 min. Edifying and calorie burning.

More of these little gems to come, I'm sure. So, I'm putting out a request (for all the hundreds of you who are reading this). I am in some serious need of good running music. I really don't have much on my ipod that qualifies. Most of the music I enjoy listening to is better paired with a glass of wine than miles of pavement. I've got to start downloading some more appropriate songs, so any and all suggestions would be great.

Thanks for letting me make you accountable for keeping me on track with this.

Impromptu Vacation

2008-07-01T12:06:00.001-07:00

Since the flood shut down the university for a week, we had a nice little impromptu vacation. It was so great! And so needed! We had no schedule to keep and no obligations. It was such relaxing, fun week. So, here's a brief rundown of how we kept ourselves busy:

photo op with Dad on Father's Day

I convinced Sara to play hooky from work and spend the day with me! We went to lunch, went wedding dress shopping (Sara's getting married in May), and went to the salon and got our hair did :) It's going to be really hard for her to pick out a dress because absolutely everything looked fabulous on her!

For our 7th anniversary (yes, I know) Arie and I treated ourselves by spending a night with Jack. We had amazing seats. The concert was awesome. Definitely the best way to celebrate 7 blissful years of marriage. hehe

Last, but not least, Deja competed in a pagent. She was so beautiful. She did a great job carrying herself with confidence and grace. Here she is after the formalwear competition with our uncle Deepak. She didn't trip or fall-better than I would have done!

Unfortunately, we had to return to reality-back to our lives in Iowa City. Things are getting back to normal, at least for those of us unaffected by the flood.

On a side note, Coldplay just released their fourth album Viva la Vida. It is amazing! I highly recommend it. It's probably my favorite album of theirs-which is saying a lot. Check out the single "Lost" which has quickly become a fave. Who can get enough of Chris Martin's fantastic falsetto? Not me!

Flood Update

2008-06-16T20:14:00.001-07:00

Here's the latest (via the internet) from IC. The river has crested, earlier than predicted. However, reports are saying that the flood waters are going to remain high for a few weeks. The university expects to open classes next Monday, but we'll see. I'm sure there will be a lot of work to be done.

Here's an arial picture from today of the UI campus that was the worst hit. Some of these buildings include the student union, the art museum, and the music, journalism and english/philosophy buildings.

Parkview church is still just as flooded as yesterday. I just saw feed of the church on CNN. I think that the church is going to have reaching influence beyond what they could have imagined before the flood.

Right now, I think that these words from Jack Johnson (who we are going to see in concert on Saturday) are very fitting.

All at once

The world can overwhelm me

There’s almost nothing that you could tell me

That could ease my mind

Which way will you run?

When it’s always all around you

And the feeling lost and found you again

A feeling that we have no control

There’s a world we’ve never seen

There’s still hope between the dreams

The weight of it all could blow away with a breeze

But if you’re waiting on the wind

Don’t forget to breathe

Because as the darkness gets deeper

We’re sinking so we reach for love
At least something we can hold

But I’ll reach to You

From where time just can’t go

Flood of '08

2008-06-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

I feel very fortunate. We were able to get out of Iowa City and head up to Madison to stay with my family. Arie, Khairie, Meatloaf, Clemson and me. Just a few hours after we got out of town, they closed the last highway out of IC. It's gotten a lot worse since we've left. Coralville and IC are experiencing devastating flooding. The university has shut down for over a week. Some of our favorite places in town are now gone due to the flooding. The church we've been visiting, the dog park, the student union, our favorite Indian restaurant, our favorite pizza place, and countless other places we pass by all the time. Our house is far enough from the river, and we're on a hill and on the 3rd floor. So we're very lucky. Here are some pictures to give you all who are far away an idea of what's going on.

Iowa City/Coralville and part of the UI campus

Wig & Pen-our favorite pizza place in town

this is Parkview Church-the church we've been visiting

the church-taken from inside the worship center looking up at the sound booth

It's difficult to fathom right now what it's going to take to undo all this damage. It's so sad. But, ultimately, these are structures which are replaceable. We've been able to contact all our friends. Most of them, like us, left just in time. They're scattered around the country from Michigan to South Carolina to Georgia to Colorado to Minnesota. The few that stayed in IC are safe and are not battling flood waters. Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. The river is not predicted to crest until Tuesday night-the waters will most likely rise another 5 feet. Please pray for the people of Iowa who have lost their homes and businesses.

Spring into Summer and the End of the World

2008-06-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's really sad that I haven't posted since spring break. So, here's a brief run down of what's been going on in our lives. We finished our extremely busy semester. I completed teaching my first undergrad class (they all got higher grades thanks to the Kelly curve-that is Kelly gave me a guilt trip about my student's low grades. Those darn counselors. They're so empathetic.) I completed a 3-week intensive summer course, affectionately called 'boot camp'.

We re-did the study. Arie also put up the pipe curtain rods and our lovely red curtains

having fun in Madison at the farmer's marketwatching the sunset at the union terrace
This week Arie started his summer classes, and I started teaching two yoga classes. I had my first classes today where we actually worked out, and I ended up doing about 1/10 of what I had planned. They were dying! Ay, it's going to be a long class.

Ok, so on to the end of the world business...I'm fully convinced that Iowa has the worst weather known to man. Most of you know the horrors I endured this winter, and I'm trying to block out the memory so I won't recap. Well, this summer hasn't been any better. It get SO hot and humid. For example, it was only 65 degrees out today. So i went for a run and came back DRENCHED in sweat (and no, I wasn't running fast-at all!). That's how humid it is here. It's more humid than South Carolina. It's like Columbia swamp humid. But we're nowhere near the ocean, or a swamp. We've have deadly thunderstorms and tornadoes everyday.

this is what the sky will look like when Jesus descends from heaven AND to top it all off, now the eastern half of Iowa is flooding. Cedar Rapids, 20 mi away, has already started evacuating parts of the city. We watch the local news with captions that read 'Waterloo-downtown closed,' 'Cedar Rapids-under curfew, all bridges closed,' and 'Benton-do not use water.' It's absolutely insane. The Iowa River in IC is 15 feet above flood level, and isn't predicted to crest until next week (it's supposed to get another 4 feet higher). I've already got my evacuation plan figured out. Because if this entire city floods, I'm getting the heck out of here. When I have to canoe to work, I'm done. So I'll keep you all posted...from the epicenter of the apocalypse.

Colorado Trip

2008-04-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

I feel kind of silly finally gettting around to talk about our CO family trip-3 weeks later, but it has been insanity for me recently. I started teaching 2 new classes (yoga and personal fitness) the day after our return and just this week had two big exams. I can proudly say that I am 2/3s done with Stats and Exercise Testing. The end is in sight!! So, our trip was a BLAST. It was so much fun, it was really hard to come back. We really did a lot. We hung out in CO Springs, Denver, Boulder, Ft. Collins and Royal Gorge. Staying with Yogi pau and Vinu maiju was great--although I'm still trying to work off all the food they fed me. This was my first vacation with my family since high school (sad!) and the first including Arie. As my mom said, "This trip was good. No one had a temper-tantrum."

Garden of the God's Park

A view of Pike's Peak from the park

Horsetooth Resevoir, Ft. Collins. One of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. hurricane force winds at the lake. we could barely open the car doors to get out! look at Deja's hair!

Arie, Dad, Mom, Deja, Yogi pau, Priyaj, Vinu maiju and Shreya in front of the Arkansas River at Royal Gorge

In front of the world's highest suspension bridge

A few of my most memorable moments:

Running through the Garden of God's park along side Pike's Peak first thing in the morning with Khairie. The sun was just rising and turing the rocks brilliant orange. It was absolutely breathtaking (and not just because of the lack of oxygen).

Laughing so hard that I almost peed in my pants at Horsetooth Resevior. The wind was blowing so hard you couldn't stand up straight, breathe or hardly see--all you could do was laugh.

Picnicing outside of royal gorge. All I remember is cheetos and kettle corn flying.

The entire trip was so much fun. I can't wait to go back!

It's been a while...

2008-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

since the last post. There are some fun (and sort of random things) to talk about.

First, we've finally turned the corner on winter. Praise God! I know this because the 7 inches of ice that had previously glazed Iowa City has finally melted, I haven't worn my puffy coat in a couple of weeks, and we've actually been visited by the sun.

Next, MB is doing great. She's got the greatest attitude about her pregnancy. When discussing taking (or not taking) birthing classes she said, "The baby is coming out either way, so..." Charlotte Rose Spann (Charley) is expected in early May. I can't wait to meet her!!

Speaking of babies, if you don't know Chris and Emily McGowan and their miracle boy, Cohen, you must read their story. Visit http://cortmcgowan.blogspot.com to marvel at what God's doing in their lives and to pray for them.

In other exciting news, Sara is engaged!! The ring and the proposal were true Sara & Ryan form, and SO perfect. Poor girl had to sit though over an hour of me venting before she could tell me the news! And of course she's way too humble to say, "Stop whining and let me tell you my exciting news!" which she really should have :)

I can officially say that I've survived half this semester. I gave my first midterm, which went ok for my students. I have to remind myself that average really is a C. I've got to share a priceless quote from one midterm, that maybe confirms my last statement:
"An example of moderate intensity would be a vigorous walk."
Really? Wouldn't that make it vigorous?

Now on spring break, I can finally relax and not do anything productive. It feels really good! We're in Colorado Springs and having a great time. We've explored the Springs today and had a blast. Pictures and stories will surely follow. I love it here. I'm trying to soak up all the mountain air!

Perpetual Winter

2008-02-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

This winter has been utterly insane. They're saying it's one of the worst, ever! Here are some pictures taken Sunday morning when we woke up to (another) blizzard. This is our 'backyard.'

This is our new favorite game: frozen tug-o-war. It's like regular tug-o-war but it also involves blinding sideways blowing snow, and a frozen rope.

Khairie's second favorite game: find a stick, tree limb or trunk frozen into the ground and try to yank it out.
trudging on!
'mommy, my feet are cold!'

Other than feeling brutally oppressed by the weather, things are going well. I'm staying extremely busy with the classes I teach and take. I'm really enjoying teaching each one of my classes. Now if I can only keep the good vibes going through midterms! My undergrads (the 90 of them) are doing their best to drive me crazy. I can't tell you how many insane questions I get every day. I'm starting to get really crusty and cynical in my emails.

Arie is very busy as well. In addition to his full class schedule, he's counseling at a local community college, school counseling at a local junior high, supervising a masters level counseling student, and personal training a girl in his cohort 3 days a week. Yup. We spend time with each other...during stats class.

I had a post op appointment this week and xrays show that my finger is healing really well. My wrist is feeling fine. I can keep up on the push ups with the guys in my resistance training class, so what more can I ask for?

New Year, New Semester

2008-01-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been a total blur. Somehow, our 5 week winter break is coming to an end. It's amazing how quickly 5 weeks have gone by! With surgery, rehab, endless physical therapy, and lots of traveling, it's been a busy break. We went down to the Carolinas for New Year's. Julie's wedding was a blast.

The Happy Couple: Chris and Julie

Hey, this picture looks familiar-oh, wait, this is who I was with New Year's '07! (Sabrina, Mary Beth, Kelly and me)

Now I'm getting geared up for next semester. It's going to be absolutely nuts. I'm teaching 7 semester hrs total. 3 PE classes (Yoga, resistance training, and personal fitness) and a 3 credit undergrad course called Health in Everyday Life. I'm also taking a full load. I'm looking forward to my health class. It covers many different aspects of health: nutrition, fitness, alcohol, mental health. So it will be really interesting and should be fun to teach. I've got 40 students. 40! And they're big. They're not 7th graders! And I have 24 students in each PE class. That's 90 students at a time. I have no concept of what to do with 90 students. I'm used to one at a time! Or, 12 in a classroom! It's pretty darn intimidating. I'm so thankful for the opportunity, I hope I do a good job.

As for my hand/finger/wrist, it's healing. Rehab is still very painful, but I'm improving my range of motion daily. My wrist has healed fully. It's amazing that they can drill into your wrist, take out bone and it can pretty much feel fine in a matter of weeks. Apparently, my finger bone is accepting the bone graft and everything is healing well. Now on to some heavy duty note taking...

"They're tryin' to make me go to rehab"

2007-12-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

My cast is off now, and i'm begining the rehab process. Wow, is it painful! My arm and hand were feeling nice and cozy in that cast, as heavy and bothersome as it was. Now that it's off, every movement (fingers or wrist) sends shooting pain up my arm. So, I constantly dread the physical therapy exercises I have to do 6 times a day. When I first got my cast off, I couldn't straighten my fingers, or come anywhere near making a fist. I can straighten my fingers now, but as you can see, I still have a very long way to go.

Me, trying to make a fist

It's amazing how much more dominant my left hand is becoming. It feels so strange to even use my right hand anymore. I have to remind myself that I can use it at all. At this rate, I'll be eating with my feet soon.

Tomorrow we're leaving for sunny SC. We'll be staying with Arie's mom, so hopefully we can make it over to Asheville to Tupelo Honey for some down home southern cooking. mmm...I'll take the sweet potato pancakes AND the fried green tomatoes AND the vegetarian eggs benedict on freshly baked biscuts, please. Julie's New Year's Eve wedding should be a blast. Although, I can't believe her wedding is the exact same time as the Clemson-Auburn bowl game. Of all the Clemson fans!

More Margaritas, Please?

2007-12-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, my surgery is over. It went quite well. They gave me a nerve block to numb my entire right arm. I had some other medication via IV. That was the part that hurt the most. The anesthesiologist said that he found my vein, but it kept moving on him. After the surgery, it was my IV hand that hurt the most. Its got all these holes in it now. Before they gave me the nerve block, the doc said "I'm giving you 2 margaritas now." Then my mom and Arie came in to wish me luck. When they left, I was way to alert. I'm definitely not one of those people who want to watch as they get hacked open. NO THANK YOU! So i asked them, "Can I have more margaritas, please?"

The surgery went well. I woke up as they were bandaging me up. That day i felt fine. Since my arm was totally numb, I didn't need to take any pain medicine. That night i began taking Percocit, which made me terribly nauseous. I couldn't keep any food down. I had to have them call in an anti-nausea medicine. Just like a tyipical pill, it helped the nausea, but caused dizziness and extreme drowsiness. Today, I finnaly got a handle on all the drugs. I'm just taking Tylenol now, and i feel soooooooooooooooooo much better! Heres a couple of pictures. I promise i didn't

look this alert yesterday. It's amazing how much a little makeup and some Sevens can do!

Big cast, huh?

Here's me and my mommy, who has taken SUCH great care of me. She has worked tirelessly to make sure I am comfy, well-fed and pain-free. See Arie tring to get in on the picture?

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. Your prayers have definitely been felt.
Also, thank you, Deja, for typing this blog for me. I couldn't have done it without you. Well, actually, I could have, but it would have just taken me a very, very long time! So, thank you.

I'm leaving you with some priceless headlines from The Onion:
"New speaker of the house caught wearing women's clothes"
"Expired coupon gains on US dollar"
"EPA mandates environmentally friendly DVD players for all SUVs"

Surgery Day

2007-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is surgery day. I'm definitely not looking forward to it, but I will be very glad when it's over. I took my epi final this afternoon, which actually was a good distraction. My mom's here and it's been really fun to steal her away from my dad and Deja. She's been keeping busy-cooking up a storm, helping me study, and pretty much not allowing me to do anything that might involve my hands. It's been so great having her here. I'm trying to soak it all in since tomorrow I probably won't remember much.

We found this picture online. It's of Bandipur, Nepal, where most of my family was born and grew up. What's great about this picture is that you can actually see my mom's family home, my grandmother's house, and my uncle's house. In just this random google images picture!

Tonight we watched the movie The Namesake. It's a wonderful movie-if you haven't seen it, you need to rent it. It's about an Indian couple who move to America and the story of their family. Lots of similarites to my family. Besides that fact, it really is one of the best movies I've seen in a while.

Well, the next time I chime in, I might be in a very drugged state-so don't believe anything I say.

Enchrondroma and Other Happenings

2007-12-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

So, it turns out, i have an enchrondroma-in my finger. It's some kind of tumor (most likely benign) that i've apparently had for some time. Recently, it was quite aggravated by everything I did with the move, so it was bothering me a lot. I went to see a GP to have it checked out and he had x-rays taken. (which i've posted below) As you can see, it's in the bone and it doesn't look exactly kosher. My GP set up an appt. for me with an orthopedic doc, but that wasn't until jan. 25. I was a little disturbed after seeing the x-rays, so i decided to call Neil, a guy in my epi class who just happens to be an orthopedic doctor, that night. Well, Neil is a total God-send. He pulled up my x-rays from his computer at home, contacted the head of the orthopedic department, and got me in for an appointment the very next morning!

So now, I have surgery scheduled for dec. 18 (notice-a good month before my appointment was supposed to be!). They're going to go in and remove the tumor and do a bone graft from my wrist so that the bone in my finger can begin to repair itself. I am so thankful for how everything has worked out in this situation. Having the surgery at the beginning of break gives me a month to recover and be in a cast without worrying about writing or typing. God has definitely taken care of me and aligned things perfectly.

They made me a splint for my finger because, did I mention? It also happens to be broken. Yup. Only I would be walking around with broken finger for who knows how many months without the slightest clue. No wonder it hurt so dang bad whenever I banged it!! Bonus points-see if you can find the break in the x-ray :)

In other news, we finally got our first real snow fall. It was about time too! Last weekend it iced about 2 inches and it was just wicked cold. If it's going to be cold like that, there better be snow! The ice was just awful. Poor Khairie had to nurse a bloody paw. She's just not used to walking on sharp, jagged ice. I'm definitely starting to feel a little stir crazy. I haven't been able to run very much since Thanksgiving. I'm hoping the ice melts soon, but somehow I kind of doubt that will happen. Other than the hurt paw, Khairie is absolutely loving this weather. The other day I took her to the dog park in (literally) a blizzard. Not surprisingly, there were only snow dogs there. The four owners were huddled together trying to keep warm-which was pretty funny looking considering how big this dog park is.I am very happy to say that I'm pretty much done with my first semester of grad school. I turned in a semester-long project on thursday. I had to come up with an original research project, design it, figure out how I would do it and read absolutely everything published about the subject (to review it and verify that my project was in fact original). It's titled "Immigration, Acculturation and Obesity Related Risk Factors in Asian Indians Living in Chicago." Yup, I think that pretty much sums it all up!It feels so good to have that turned in, and now I can just breathe and relax!

2007-11-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has already come and gone. Crazy! We went to Greenville the weekend before to see family and friends. John and Kelly were great hosts and Kelly and I shopped our little hearts out. It was so great catching up with everyone. It's amazing how so much can change, but seeing loved ones makes you feel like nothing's changed. Got a chance to see MB's baby bump. So exciting! On monday I went by Camperdown. It was great. The kids have grown up so much, they're hardly recognizable! I got lots of, "so, how do you like Idado?" and "Where do you live now, Ohio?" But I felt very loved. When Arie picked me up, I told him, "I'm hugged out!" Monday night we had a Pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Allison's parents were so sweet to allow us to gather at their house (the only place that would accommodate all of us!) It was such a blast. The food was amazing and the only thing better was being surrounded with such great friends.

Mary Beth, Allison, Shannon, Kelly, Bailey, Me and Nina

such goofballs!

Garrett, Jonathan, Jason, Arie, John, Donald and Joe

Wednesday we were back in Iowa City. We went from 70 degrees and sunny to 3 inches of snow! It was very pretty. I wish I had gotten a chance to take some pictures of the first snowfall. Maybe this weekend, it's supposed to snow again. Unfortunately, to Khairie, 3in. of snow + deck = a great place to pee. Not so great when you live on the 3rd floor. I don't think it leaked down. I really hope not!

We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents and Deja in Madison. We made our traditional Shrestha thanksgiving (chicken for mom, dad and Deja and salmon for us) along with all the sides. My mom surprised Arie with homemade baklava. 2 pans of it to be exact. We were eating it at all hours of the day. OMG! so good!

So, my dad found out that Circut City was selling $300 laptops the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. And since Arie and I are constantly fighting for computer time, we thought it would be a good idea to score a new computer for 1/2 off. Even though this was something that we had never doen, we decided to go to bed early and wake up before the crack of dawn to try to get one. Next morning, my mom wakes us up (with a ridiculous amount of energy) at about 4:45. We finally get to the store at 6am. It was complete insanity. First of all, the parking lot was totally full and cars were parked on the grass. We went into the store and it was just swarms of people everywhere. As for my computer? Yeah, right! Apparently, they had given out vouchers for them to the people who were standing in line (outside the store) since 3 in the afternoon the day before! The computers were gone by 3 am. By the way, the low was 20 that night. We left, empty handed, before the sun had even rose as people all around us wheeled overflowing carts to their cars. The entire experience was really sad. It just showed me how completely vacant of meaning Christmas has become and how hyper-materialistic we've become. I'm going to try my hardest to keep that in mind this holiday season.