Tag Archive for 'Narayan Singh'

Time off in New York

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on June 7, 2007
in Family Pictures
. 4 Comments

I’ve been in New York visiting with my family and having a chance to relax away from work. It’s nice having a break and getting away. Here are a few pictures from today as we played at the park and just took it easy.


Up close and personal with Charanjeet. If you look close you can see the reflection of me in her eyes.


Narayan and his friends the morning after a sleep over at our house. They look pretty wild don’t they :)


Arjan and Narayan riding on the back of the bike, Indian style. Heading to the park for some fun.


Charanjeet loves to climb. Here she is climbing this big slide.


Charanjeet loves animals. Whenever she saw a pigeon should would chase after it trying to get closer to it. She would get very excited watching the birds.


Narayan watching the kids play "red rover".


A rare picture that I am in, with Charanjeet on the swings.


Cutey…


Super Cutey

Narayan Finished with First School Year

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on May 25, 2007
in Espanola Life and Family Pictures
. 3 Comments

Well, the first year in Narayan’s school is done. Yesterday was his last day of KG class and he is on vacation for the summer! Yipppeee! He did really well in school and learned a lot. The past few nights Charanjeet has been sleeping better so we have all gotten some rest. This morning I woke up an actually got to do some meditation and yoga before the kids woke up! Narayan doesn’t have any school so we can just let him sleep in. Ahh… Summer is here. I’m looking forward to our little vacation in New York with the family. 10 days….and we are off to NY. It’s a three day weekend coming up so we’ll have to find something fun to do. I need to get out and have some fun. We might go hiking to some local natural hot springs and relax in the springs. Ahhh… I can already feel my tension releasing. :)

Narayan with some of his friends…

Narayan is so lucky to have so many “uncles”. After the graduation we had a small party and a bunch of his uncles came over to our house to celebrate…and then watch a movie with Narayan.

Narayan and Uncle Harbhajan back from India for a visit.

Charanjeet trying to break free from Narayan’s hug. These days Narayan seems to pester Charanjeet from time to time. I guess that is just part of being siblings.

Weekend Fun…

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on May 19, 2007
in Espanola Life and Family Pictures
. 8 Comments

Charanjeet doing what babies love doing best. Here she is eating spaghetti noodles and then playing with the food.


Triple decker bus heading to the bedroom for sleep time.


Amaji with the kids..


Swinging fun…

The Fountain of Youth…

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on April 23, 2007
in Espanola Life and Family Pictures
. 10 Comments

Narayan was a bit mischievous this past winter and as a result I had to re-construct our garden fountain. During the winter he poked the bottom of the fountain and somehow punctured the rubber/plastic fountain lining. I tried my best to patch it up…but the water kept leaking. So in the end I had to rebuild the water fountain which is a project. This will have been the third time doing so since we bought our home. Here are some before and after pictures of the fountain project. The biggest challenge is puzzling all the rock pieces and making sure that the water flows where it is supposed to.

It’s great having a fountain. It creates such a nice atmosphere. Are any of you garden enthusiasts? I love working out in the garden. After long hours on the computer it has a way of "grounding" me.

Here is what it looks like after I de-constructed the fountain and took the plastic liner and rocks off.

 

After I finished the fountain.  

 

I built a swing set too, so that Narayan would have some more fun things to do at home. Charanjeet is checking out the wood…and Arjan is taking the swing for a test drive. 

Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan - Espanola

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on April 15, 2007
in Espanola Life, Family Pictures and Gurdwara
. 8 Comments

I think today most of us celebrated Vaisakhi and I am already starting to see tons of pictures online from everyone’s different celebrations. Here are some pictures from our Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan, before Gurdwara. The morning started with breakfast at Pritpal Singh and Kaur’s house, and then we all participated in the Nagar Kirtan till we got to the Gurdwara.


The kids sitting on the truck trailor, waiting to go on the Nagar Kirtan.


This is Prabhujot Singh, who is one of Narayan’s friends


Narayan and more of his friends.


My friend Gurudarbar and his son.


Arjan and Charajeet


Siri Chand looking great with his new bana and sparkling gold/blue turban.


Gurujot, Lakhmi Chand and Hari Bhajan


Prabhu Singh


I realized that most of the pictures I take are of the younger generation. We have lots of grey beards in our community too :)


The Panj Piaray and the Siri Guru Granth Sahib arriving for the Nagar Kirtan.


The Panj Piaray and the Sangat with Siri Guru Granth Sahib


Gurujot Singh doing gatka


Gurudham Singh playing the dhol for the gatka sparring/


One of my favorite spots…with mamma.


More pictures of Siri Chand Singh. He just looked so good that I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of pictures of him. I love the sparkly gold in the turban. I have to get some more stylish turban cloth.


Gurudham Singh doing some freestyle gatka with swords.

Day 9 - 40 Day Sadhana (Challenges, Parenting, etc)

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on February 11, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 11 Comments

Still going? Hopefully those of you who have taken on the 40 day Sadhana challenge are still going! It’s been a real challenge for me (to say the least). Sometimes I hear my friends who are not married tell me how busy they are. I always smile to myself thinking, “You don’t know what busy means until you have kids“. One doesn’t know how busy and how their life will change until they have kids. I’m sure it might be easier for some parents, but no doubt in can be a challenge.

  • Challenge 1 - Lack of Sleep: I started the 40 day sadhana with the understanding that it would be a challenge, but I didn’t realize how much so. It wouldn’t be so hard if I was able to go to sleep early. It’s just that my daughter Charanjeet Kaur wakes up so much in the night and as a result we don’t get much sleep. I normally take Charanjeet in the first part of the night till about 11PM (sometimes later) and then head off to sleep. Then wake up at 5AM, do my Sadhana routine (which takes close to two hours) and then try to get a mini nap before everyone else is up and about. I have to say that right now 5-6 hours of sleep is a bit hard for me to function on. Short term it is ok….. I’m used to that…. but after a week or so…it catches up to you.
  • Challenge 2 - Getting Sick:  A few days before I started the Sadhana, Arjan and Charanjeet got some type of throat sickness (sore throat, mucous, cough, etc.). After a few days into my Sadhana I caught whatever they had. I think because I was tired from getting less sleep my immune system got weak. So, there I was sick and feeling lousy; but I knew I had to keep getting up every morning and doing my routine. It was hard, but I pulled through it. I think I am on the tail end of being sick, but am still pretty tired. I’m hoping that once my energy comes back (after I am totally well) I will be better able to function.
  • Challenge 3 - Kids: Narayan and Charanjeet Kaur are both very strong willed kids. They know what they want…and try to assert themselves. While this can be a good trait later in life, it can be such a challenge (to put it lightly) to teach and discipline them (mostly Narayan). Overall I think we do a really good job, but sometimes it can be a strain and difficult to maintain one’s “sanity”; especially when the adults are not getting much sleep. Narayan’s sun sign is Leo, and like the “lion” of this sign he doesn’t like to be told what to do and only wants to do things on his own terms. What can I say…it is hard to tame or train a lion! Not only that, but being the son of Guru Gobind Singh that makes him extra strong. All I can do is be patient, calm and keep working at it.

Continue reading ‘Day 9 - 40 Day Sadhana (Challenges, Parenting, etc)’

Charanjeet Growing Up

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on January 27, 2007
in Family Pictures
. 3 Comments

Charanjeet Kaur has grown a lot. She is 7 months old today and changing so much. She has gone from the “baby blob” which can’t do much…to a Girl that is quite active and energetic. She is getting close to crawling…but is in so much of a hurry to stand. She is moving all over the place and really getting used to controlling her body. Her first tooth came in a week ago and she is eating food with us. When we eat at the table…if she doesn’t have food…she tries to go for our food. I can already tell that Charanjeet is going to be a strong woman. She knows what she wants and goes for it. It can be hard raising strong kids. Narayan and Charanjeet are both alike in this way. It takes a lot of discipline and patience. Charanjeet isn’t sleeping very well…which means Arjan isn’t either, so I am starting to take the “first shift” at night with Charanjeet so that Arjan can get a bit of sleep. I remember with Narayan the first year and a half we hardly got any sleep. It can be hard….and I am sure I am not alone in this type of thing when raising babies. In an older blog post that I wrote about my advice and experience of being married I talked about different stages being like Karate belts. I have to say that…now that I have a second child…I would have to add a level above the “black belt”. It’s a whole different level when you have more than one child. There are always so many things to take care of and never seems to be enough time. But I guess that is how life is….so we try to do the things that are most important and pressing.

One of the things that I have wanted to do was setup a forum or section where Sikh parents could dialog and discuss issues related to parenting. I’m sure people discuss this a bit…but I think a lot more could be done to help eachother and share experiences. It is not an easy task raising a Sikh child these days so whatever ways we can support eachother would be great.

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids…..

Feel the light of Guru Gobind Singh

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on January 21, 2007
in 2007 Picks, Musicians and Videos
. 22 Comments

Narayan SinghWhen I drive my son Narayan Singh to school the first thing he normally asks is, "I want to hear Guru Gobind Singh and Baba Deep Singh!! Papa…can you put it on?" These are two audio tracks from a CD called "Keep on Walking - Song of the Saints" by Indi Kaur. The images and stories of Guru Gobind Singh and the warrior saints of the time are very compelling for him. Young kids especially like "super heroes"…so what better super hero than Guru Gobind Singh?? He sure beats any of these fictional so called "super heroes" that you see on TV.

A while back I was holding my daughter and relaxing on the weekend and I saw my son with my big headphones and a CD player listening to the CD. It was so cute and innocent hearing him, so I grabbed my camera and walked behind him as he walked around the house singing. Children are so beautiful and innocent. Watching the video makes me smile. Hopefully it gives you a smile as it did for me :)

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5 Year Old Father and Son

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on January 5, 2007
in Family Pictures
. 7 Comments

27 Years ago when I was 5 years old my mother took a picture of me in front of the Harimandir Sahib. My son Narayan has always liked this picture and loves to wear a Dhumalla and Kirpan. Last Sunday our friend Himmat Singh came over to show us how to tie a dhamalla on Narayan (which I video taped). I realized that Narayan is now the same age as I was in the picture so thought it would be fun to take a picture of him and put it next to my old picture. Two five year olds. Father and Son….

As an afterthought it would have been fun to dress him exactly like I was in the picture. Oh well. Maybe in 5 years when Charanjeet is five years old.

Sledding Down the Hill

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on December 30, 2006
in Family Pictures and Videos
. 2 Comments

Yesterday we were lucky to get a bunch more snow. I don’t remember the last time we got this much snow. So, we called around and got a bunch of friends to go sledding with us. It was so much fun! We made a few different sled tracks…and then I ventured off to find a spot to make an “adult” sled run. I found one spot on the hill which I dubbed the “double diamond” run (AKA: the fast and difficult one). It was even scary for me! Snow blowing in your face so you can hardly see….while you rush down the hill…trying to avoid big rocks. 

Any other people having snow in their area that you can sled in?

Even Charanjeet went sledding a couple times with Arjan. You can see Charanjeet bundled up on Arjan in this picture.

Post-sledding Relax time after some yummy home made dutch hot chocolate
 

After a day of sledding, Narayan and Charanjeet were being silly as usual. Here is a video of Narayan making lion growl sounds (endlessly!), trying to make Charanjeet Laugh. These two siblings love each other so much. I just love watching them laugh hysterically together, it really makes me happy seeing their bright faces with so much joy.