Baby sister - Samyukta

Since i am only 4 months old, only a miracle can justify the post title. or my parents should have super natural powers :) Aside from the jokes, i am really happy for my periappa & periamma. I am also really excited since i have become the big brother for little sam now!  Welcome to the family samyu (that is how her parents are planning to call her). Mine had planned to call me sidhu but mostly it is thambu for now. My appatha & aiya were delighted to welcome me first...  and now again for samyu with more warmth & joy! This year it is double bonanza for them :) One of each kind!

We are going to team up and help each other when our respective parents get angry on us when we end up in trouble! we are going to sign a perpetual sibling mutual help agreement when we meet the first time. We will not have the usual sibling rivalry since we live in different places. So there will be only all positives and no negatives in the proposed sibling mutual help agreement for us.

Beware adults: Blue & Pink we are going to rule the lives of adults in our family for a very long time!

Ear piercing

Time: 5:50 PM, some day in summer of 2025 AD
Location: Some Fairfax county school playground
Setting: A group of kids discussing about what is cool & trendy

Kid 1: I wanted to have a tattoo but my dad says when i live under my own roof, i can do what ever i want!
Kid 2: I wanted a body piercing but by parents strictly told once i get my driving license i can think about it!
Another Indian Kid: I have a special thread over my body (Showing off his thread by pulling it out from his shirt)
Siddarth: My parents are cool. They got my ears pierced even without asking me :) They know i will be in this kind of situation back then itself! I even have a youtube video of my ear piercing here

All the kids in unison: Your parents rock! I wish mine were like that :)

Yogurt rice & pickle

No, i haven't started my solids diet. I need to wait for few more weeks to try out solids. Even then i will not be tasting yogurt rice & pickle for quite some time (i guess but it mostly depends on what my parent's decide!) but then you may wonder what & why is this post for? This is lunch for my parents today. When dad was keeping yogurt rice in his plate he tried to remember when he had something like this the last time. Not few days or few weeks before but it is been roughly 5 months. To be exact a week before aya joined them as part of the big plan to help mom bring me into this world safely in good health and of course to lovingly take care of me from there!

Dad chuckled at that thought as he added pickle to his plate. The recent months had been feast for him in a daily basis from morning to night :) After i was born it slightly took a back seat but as i was a good kid, the feast resumed back to its glory in couple of weeks! While sitting in the couch and slowly eating, dad was not able to follow whats going on the TV. To the people who don't know about my dad & TV, it is something that doesn't occur often. If i have to put in mom's perspective, dad is somebody who gets glued to TV once it is ON. Dad doesn't deny it (one of very few things that dad lets mom to go away with her version of the story!).

Dad's memory flashed back to the recent months and he was reminded sweetly about the number of times he had fish puli kulambu, chettinad chickens and who will forget the delicious biriyanis (be it chicken or mutton)!  It wouldn't be nice if he didn't mention about the daily vegetarian dishes & delicacies that he devoured without fail even once during the weekdays...  Everything that was made simple or complicated was yummy and mouth watering as it had the correct amount of ingredients cooked to time to capture all the right flavors of various masalas into the dish and when served hot it was something perfect to be labeled as a feast. Hearing my crying sounds dad got back into reality and thought about the future for a second. Then only it struck him like a lightening that eating any meal without interruption is itself will be a feast in the near future :)

3 hour timer

If you know the meaning of this term, then you had a baby in the recent months! I need to be fed without fail in regular intervals and the max time i can go is 3 hours. If i am awake then it is much shorter mostly since i burn my calories quickly pumping my arms/legs as if i am cycling or boxing often. Even though adults may not properly understand my constant cooing and babbling it takes a lot of energy out of me. Each feeding section is followed by a immediate burping sequence (mandatory) and if my I/O system is working good then by a diaper change (optional). I like the way when dad addresses me as a 3 hour timer to mom when calling from work to check our status (both mom & me as i can be very naughty sometimes) during the day. The adults have started to wonder by now itself when my timer is going to extend from the rigid 3 hr schedule but they are not getting the whole point. The timer will extend after many many years and till that time they will have to adapt to more difficult schedules once i start eating solids and when i become more mobile/playfull!!!

New room

After aaya left to India two weeks ago, parents decided to sleep in my room as they don't want me to be alone all night. They knew this was a temporary setup as they had all their stuff in their bedroom. Last weekend dad tried to move the crib to their room with the help of Ram uncle but it didn't work out as the crib didn't go through the narrow passage out from my room without disassembling it. As it was already late, ram uncle left and dad postponed the shift for this week. He searched for the crib assembly instructions as he didn't want to mess with it and later create bug issues as i am comfortable ONLY sleeping in my CRIB! He was afraid that he may disassemble it incorrectly or miss one or two step while putting it back again.

As usual he had kept the crib assembly instructions in a very safe location like many other important documents and now not able to get it when needed as he forgot that safe location! As Sivakami & Alag family was going to visit us during the weekend from Philadelphia, he didn't have a choice but to move it today. He did make couple of mistakes by removing the screws on the wrong side but found it out at the earlier stage itself. Then it didn't take much time for him to disassemble, move it with the help of mom and put it back in their room. To me nothing changed as my view of crib didn't change at all! Same comforter, crib sheet, bumper and of-course the balloon over the top of the crib makes any room the SAME for me :) I guess i will move back to my own room before i turn one!

Diaper wipes

Changing diapers is a normal routine for any parents when they have a baby. My parents were very liberal with diaper wipes during the initial weeks. They didn't care how many they used. During those times when they were little lax, i will rock my legs here & there without care and then they need to spend more time cleaning my legs. so their main goal was not to get myself soiled in the dirty stuff. Dad asked one of the visiting friend about the norm for the number of wipes for a regular diaper change. When he found out that it was three wipes for a change, he silently wondered whether i was special in that case because it was nothing compared to how much they were using.

Anyway after three months if you take a look at the same subject i think i am not special! Most of the the time it will be three wipes and even few times they may feel comfortable with just two. hm... But today it is a different story! To put it in plain words, it was a RIOT! Early morning when mom was feeding me, she noticed the rumbling sound and it is nothing unusual to her! After feeding me she called upon my dad to do his part of the bargain:) When she handed me to dad, after noticing the yellow thingy on the  sides of diaper and a little bit on the dress he made sure that he held me carefully without touching any of the fresh warm poo... UCK UCK babies have a cute way of describing things! When he started walking few drops of poo fell on the comforter and only that time the adults realized the RIOT i have done!!! See, i don't plan for these things and in my defense i don't have any control over these faculties! I don't have a choice with the food i eat as well as pick a time to do my business. Everything comes with a flow! Dad used insane number of wipes to clean the mess and today i felt SPECIAL :) 

Picture people

(This is not the crab dress. No i didn't mess the dress! Mom wanted to take pictures with a different dress)

(Cute boy with his family!)

I visited a professional photo studio to take my pictures for the first time today. Though it is not the first time for my parents to visit a studio, i know that my visit to the studio is completely for different reasons than theirs if you know what i mean!  Dad took off from work in the afternoon even though we had our appointment only at 5 PM. Getting off from work was not to get me ready but to get everybody out to the studio in time. That includes mommy in pretty looking saree that matched with  grandma and a clean shaven dad! The ladies took a lot of time to get ready while dad was not sure whether to wear a formal dress or the usual tshirt/jean combo that he enjoys! Mom wanted him to wear a full slack but dad thought it didn't suit him well as it didn't hide his excess amount of body fat properly :) Finally he ended up with mom's favorite tshirt and everybody was happy! Mom was looking very pretty in the pink saree(her mother-in-law gave it to her for Diwali that was just before her wedding). She claims that she wore the saree by herself but dad suspects the other way. Usually he will help her out but now a days its her mom! I wore a cute crab dress that Meenu athai gave and i had one more as backup just in case if i mess up or should i say if the adults didn't do a proper job with the diapers!

We showed up a little late (nothing surprising there) and everything went very well. The lady who took our pictures briefed us about the studio membership details and the adults decided that it would be fit to enroll in it as they figured out that they will take cute portraits at regular intervals. of course the portraits with be cute only because of my presence! Dad was asking the lady about digital copies of the image and when he found out that they cost exorbitantly high, he made a mental note that he should scan the pictures later to keep a digital copy in Picasa web albums. Now mom is in the hunt for picture frames and then it will be places for them in the house as already all the walls inside our place has one or other thing in them!!!

Shower - Mom/Dad?

Aya will be leaving to India in a week and all the adults were very busy as ever! She was cooking lot of dishes and  freezing them up so that parents could have them for a couple of weeks after she leaves. Knowledge transfer was also going on in full swing starting from things such as cutting nails, showering, things to look for and the nitty-gritty details in taking good care of me. Aya showered me daily and the parents were mere spectators till this day. Mostly dad will act as first assistant during the shower by helping aya with mundane things like checking water temperature, putting liquid soap as requested etc...  Dad says mom is the second assistant but he knows that she will mostly do nothing :) She will look at the three of us daily as if watching some interesting show!

This week both mom & dad took turns to shower me once with aya's guidance as one of them have to continue with the job from next week. It was a easy decision for aya to select the successor. I don't like when they wash my face and i wiggle around with a frown! Mom had difficulty keeping me in place sometimes while showering me. As everybody felt that this will only increase over time it was decided dad will shower me while mom will dress me up after shower. 50:50 rule - Difficult 50 for dad and easy 50 for  mom :)

Passport

I got my AMERICAN passport last week. Did you notice the CAPS & BOLD formatting in the previous sentence? Just wanted to make sure that everybody notices it since it is something that a lot of people including my parents who are trying to get hold of :) Dad had my passport application in the things that needed attention for a long time. When he saw somewhere in the Internet, that the cost of passport application is going to increase along with few other stuff, he sprang into action immediately. He gathered all the required documents and we headed to the post office the next day which was the last date when the old fee structure was valid. There was some confusion about how to take my picture and we went to CVS to make passport size prints of my existing picture. The lady in the post office mentioned that the picture background was slightly dark and she needs to take a picture again there. She was pleasantly surprised that the first one she took itself came well. She said that was something unusual for some one like me since it is difficult to make the babies look at the camera. In most cases babies will look here & there or close there eyes or sleep or do something that will lead to many more takes!

Now let me show of my analytical skills... My dad got his passport in his late teens while my dad's dad got his passport in his late thirties... I think i am getting things what my dad had when he was in his twenties and his dad in his forties... roughly two decades disappear when one jumps from one generation to the next! if this is the case then i should apply for a passport my kid in 10 yrs :) Is my logic right? I am not sure about other things but at least this goes well with my passport!!!

Patio Garden - Update

The plants outgrew the small pots that my parents had them and it was high time to clean the patio.My charm can only help to a limit! (for more details, read this) Leaving tulsi, mint, table rose and one of the tomato plant that was in the biggest pot all other plants were uprooted from their pots and found their way to the trash. Now the patio looks much healthier compared to last week as there were more dying, withered plants than the good ones.
When dad & aya picked up different varieties of tomato plants from the nursery 2 months ago they didn't even bother to look up at the small tag present in each pot that has details about the plant. To them all tomatoes are the usual big ones that are used in cooking (like naathu thakkali or bangalore thakkali). That is the case probably in Chennai or in Karaikudi :) Only when tomatoes started coming up, to their surprise they found out that one of the plant was salad tomatoes. And only that plant was thriving with lot of tomatoes. They got 4 zip-log bags full of salad tomatoes, roughly 4 lbs!

Mom will get angry if you ask her to have salad but dad is not like that. He eats salads now and then in Mcdonalds or in Chick-fill-a but even then salad tomatoes comes last in his choice of preferred salad items. Dad even tried making a salad with cucumbers & home grown tomatoes but he couldn't have it more than once. Aya didn't want to mash the small tomatoes and use them in cooking as she thought that will make the cute salad tomatoes look like the big naathu thakkalis. I think she wanted somebody to have them in their salads as it was intended to :)

When Jen aunt stayed in our place for a night while driving to NY, parents gave her one zip-log full of salad tomatoes to pass it to periappa. He told them that the tomatoes were tasty and he added them in many of his salads. Dad took the remaining tomatoes to his workplace and left them in the kitchen. Everything disappeared in an hour and few people even thanked him for the delicious tomatoes. I have to remind the adults next summer to buy the correct variety of tomato!!!

ing ing ing, ick ick ick

I think my parents listened to what i said about non living things, particularly my dad. Mom was complacent that i will follow the generic baby manual where by default a baby first smiles looking at their moms. So she didn't make a mental note of my previous post But dad knows that he needs to work hard and he started doing the time tested "ங் ங் ங், க் க் க் " pattern.  At first i didn't quite grab it but after some time i was able to follow the pattern, identify and recognize it. Once i did it, it was matter of seconds for me to understand that its with me that they are trying hard to communicate and they got my attention. Once they got my attention, i try to talk back but mostly it is the flashes of smiles that makes them super delighted.

My talk usually comes as coos & ooohs and the adults get very happy even with that level of communication skills!  I smiled couple of times with dad and dad alone and it put pressure on poor mommy. Once dad left to work, amma was going on with  ""ங் ங் ங், க் க் க்" whenever i was awake. After some time she found out the trick. If i am in the living room, all the non living things that are around the surrounding gets my attention in one way or another quickly and makes difficult for them to make me follow them! Next day onwards i started flashing my smiles at everyone even in the absence of the keywords! But still if you work with ங் க், you will get my attention quickly and may be rewarded with a little longer smile :)

Thank you card

This was taken on Day 2 at the hospital. Parents liked this photo so much that they ordered 25 'Thank you' cards of the same for sending it to family/friends. After few weeks dad decided to dispatch the cards and he started writing down the list of family members and their addresses. He thought 25 cards will be sufficient for their immediate family members and few of his close friends. Oh Boy, he is very poor in doing estimates! He had to order few more cards from Walmart to make sure that everybody in the family gets one. very big family you know :)

Each card had a hand written message from me. Just kidding :) He wrote as if i am writing to them. The difficult part in this episode is to find out how i need to address each and everyone in the family! for some of them, he needed to call and check with appatha!

As he got tired with all of these activities which he had earlier thought was simple & straight forward, he cut down the number of friends he wanted to mail the card. He sent the card to Guru whom he called now & then for asking help during the entire pregnancy starting from the very early days and to Meena Mani who organized the baby shower. To all others who got back to him, he sent a thank you email with a link to my pictures. That email didn't have this picture and hence this post!

Non living things

Now a days I have started smiling often not only while sleeping but even when awake! No, I don't think i am  old enough to look, recognize and smile at people. I have few things that i like and i smile at them often. My parents think that i only like those non living things alone! In my defense, they are the one that are always stationary any time and don't change position or confuse me by showing up in different places! Humans who talk to me make a ton of expressions, try to play with me and move around a lot in my field of vision frequently. I don't have support currently for storing so much details about everyone and even if i have, i won't have the necessary computing power to process all those details to make instant decision to show up my striking sweet smile :)  Compare this with the non living things that are in the above pictures. The monkey hanging from the light pole or the balloon or the paavadai sattai bommai or my most favorite windows with the blue curtain - they are all exactly opposite to the humans, always stationary at a fixed location! I guess for now there is no other way! This is the time i can smile at  these things and still be considered sane :)

Summer Stroll

Picture perfect pose!

But you all know who does the actual work :)

Swaddle Me - I did it!

Told you, i will do it!!! If you read my post "Swaddle Me", you know what i mean by this one. Still working to bring the other hand out but dad took a picture before that (That's reason for the frown) :)

Singam movie

I don't think i am old enough to watch a movie and this post is not a movie review or about me. Once in a while i  though i will write about my parents and their changing lifestyle! It sounded like starting of with a movie would be a perfect beginning as both of them love movies! See how i added mom to the list. Thats because of me and you will know it if you have read few of my previous posts! Mom likes to watch any Tamil flick while dad doesn't like to watch all Tamil movies that comes to theaters in the DC suburbs. As dad learnt that this movie is similar to   the movie 'Samy' which is one of his all time favorites,  he also wanted to watch this in the big screens. Ayya was more than welcome to babysit me for the movie and the happy parents went to the night show two weeks ago! I was thinking probably these guys will go to a movie leaving me with someone when i was at least one year old! But these guys left for a movie when i am not even one month old!

As i was a good kid, i didn't throw any tantrum. I wanted to make a note of this in the blog so that i can ask for a free pass sometime when i get into trouble in the future :) Anyway, mom found a lot of things different this time when she went to this movie. To begin with she didn't have to use the restroom  the entire movie even once! Of course there was no 4D effect during fight scenes or kuttu songs! To them it was like going back to the good old days where they could do what they want without any restrictions :)

Swaddle Me

My sleep begins in this fashion!

After some time!

Forget about the burrito wraps. The adults used them to wrap me up during the initial days after we returned back from hospital. It was restricting my capabilities to move around and i gave a hard time when they wrapped me up like a burrito. When they are done, in no time i will break myself out of the wrap and they got tired with my free spirits :)  When mom was complaining about my dislike for burrito to friends, Priya Aunty from Rayleigh, NC mentioned about 'Swaddle Me' that helped her to keep her son in check. Mom & dad rushed to Babies R Us the same day to buy these ones and now i get swaddled everyday! I don't like this much but parents think that this helps me to go to deep sleep. I am trying my best to get out of this and may be you will get a update soon :)

Patio garden

Salad tomatoes, chillies and capsicum. You may wonder what i have to do with the patio garden when the plants are even older than me!!! if something important happens in our household,  without asking anyone i jump into that :) My dad wanted to have a small garden for  a long time but over the past few years whenever he planted some plants during summer it won't last long. If i have to repeat the words of my dad here it is "only plastic plants live because we kill the live ones". If you put it in a lighter vein, they die very quickly! Not this summer. Dad reasons out that the sun shine in this patio is abundant, the plants are of good variety or ayya takes care of them regularly but he misses the obvious. Its my newborn charm that made the patio garden a success :) Ayya made methi rice last week when they pulled a pot full of methi plants. She often picks a bunch of mint leaves when she needs them while cooking fried rice or biriyani. Will update in a week or two with the next bunch of garden vegetables!

Did i say i like socks?

Dad took few pictures of me (with the green dress) at a stretch that day and selected one out of the group for the post 'Go Green'. The first time he went through the pictures he didn't notice what i did with the socks! They were are looking at my eyes, face, picture brightness etc... Mostly each pictures individually as such. Later that day he once again went through all the pictures very quickly and this time he noticed! I was hardly couple of weeks old when these pictures were taken. Within the couple of minutes that he took pictures of me fully clad, i kicked one of my socks out! That is what legs are for correct :)  Here is the sequence of pictures that speaks fpr themselves! Be aware; If i don't like something you do then i won't speak... My legs will do the talking!!! If you have doubt, check with my mommy about what i did when i was inside her tummy :)

Finally SUCCESS!

Heartbeat monitor

Date: 05/10/10

I was not a big fan of heartbeat monitor when i was inside mommy's tummy. Whenever they keep it on top of mom's tummy, they put a cold gel and then this monitor. Actually looking back, i don't like the cold get that they use along with the monitor. I like the warm, cozy feeling inside mom's tummy and when they put this cold gel over the tummy, it disturbs my small serene surroundings. As a result depending upon my mood, i get excited or sometimes annoyed. Both cases, i try to get close to the monitor, gather all my strength and put myself over it! Thats going to happen if some one does things that i don't like or like very much :)

During the earlier times, i used to get disturbed once every month. As time passed on, it reduced to once every 3 weeks, then 2 weeks and finally every week. I was very small during the initial monthly visits and mom always says to dad that my jumping increased during doctor visit those times. later days, my kicks will increase on these visits. Now you know the reason!

Today was slightly different than any previous days. There were two monitors minus the cold gel. One was on mom's lower tummy and the other on the top. The top one was the contraction strength monitor and the lower one was the heartbeat monitor. I decided to kick and push the lower one because thats what I know better than the other one! There was also these regular contractions n mom's tummy which was restricting my already available place to move around. I was not very happy about the contractions because it was squeezing me here and there. To try to get over the contractions and to concentrate my energy somewhere, i decided it is perfectly okay to push the heart beat monitor.

Something made me believe that this may be the last time in mom's tummy that i may have to kick the heart beat monitor. I was somehow thinking that these contractions are a way out for me to see my parents and all other wonderful things that the world has to offer! So i started to play and kick the monitor in-between the contractions as there is no tomorrow. A few well directed kicks made the heartbeat monitor move slightly from it position. That was a initial victory for me and i rested for few minutes... Then came the final knockout kick and it was so hard that it made the difference. I succeeded and reached my goal!!! The final kick pushed the heartbeat monitor out of its strap and that fell to mom's bottom tummy. I didn't feel the monitor anymore and i was overjoyed! As it was far away from  me it didn't pick up my heart beat and there were all kind of beep sounds coming from computer monitors nearby mom's bed. Couple of nurses came running around to check on me and I was thrilled to get everybody's attention :)

Smile

I think this is one of the many firsts that my parents are eagerly waiting for me to do. The adults say that i smile many times while i am asleep and i have been trying hard in the recent days to do the same when awake. In the earlier days, the sleeping smile was very brief. You need to be super quick to see them or you will miss them. As i was trying to find out more details about how to smile and thus make my parents overjoyed, i inadvertently flexed my facial muscles so much that now a days my sleeping smile is long and sometimes you can hear a small sound! Thats how i have improved till yesterday. Now i think u cannot you miss my sleeping smile and if you did then it is time for you to go and visit your ophthalmologist :)

In the early hours today morning just after the feeding, I directly looked at my mommy, tried my best to coordinate all my facial muscles towards my goal and after couple of tries smiled at her for a brief moment! Mommy was delighted and she didn't really believe what she saw! Her son smiled looking at her and she was in cloud nine! She woke dad immediately to break the happy news and from then dad is trying all tricks that he knows to make me smile at him. Poor daddy! I am trying to smile again but i don't know exactly how i pulled it off with mommy. Already mom is telling that i have the cutest smile for a newborn baby (even when sleeping) and after getting a better handle of it soon, i am going to have a blast!!!

Go Green

Oh before you ask questions like organic clothes etc No. it is not. This is my way of going green :) I am sure Uma periamma will guide me in really going green when i am old enough to understand about it!

Sundara kaandam - 2nd time

Yesterday was Lord Rama's patabhishegam the second time. This time around i didn't listen daily like the previous one as mom and i was very busy doing many things on any given day. Also mom needs to rest often as she gets tired carrying me all the time. Mind you, i am not the small bump anymore! This time i get a chance to follow the story even better than the first time since i will know bits and pieces from the previous time. But this is just the beginning. I have to wait for many more years to fully get the grasp of the story! Dad is pointing the finger at me if it comes to Sundara kaandam but i  think that he likes to listen to Lord Hanuman's adventures in search of Sita and i am just an excuse! I think it reminds him of his childhood days when he will be eagerly waiting for appatha to finish up that day's reading so that he can get his hands on the prasaadham :) Coming to prasaadham, aaya made vadai yesterday and everybody enjoyed it.  

Blue or Pink

The one question that comes to everyones mind once they decide to start a family. Though the humans doesn't have any control about how this works, this is something they have to get used to hear more often than other things during the pregnancy days! During the earlier days the adults will be bombarded by friends & family about their choice and in the later days it would be questions about how/why we want to keep it a surprise... The adults would have heard "Do you know...?" at least once everyday now a days. Mom gets the whole brunt of it since nobody can miss me :)

Mom wants a boy while... By now you would have figured out who wants what since i would have had the previous sentence differently if both the parents wanted one or the other! Mom grew up with a sister while dad is the exact opposite and both of them wanted one kind of the other gender in the family. Mom tells everybody that i can make only one of the adult's wishes come true while they can still have a valid reason for the next venture :)

Mommy is already trying her best to allure me to her side so that we can both act as a team in the family. She talks to me as if i agreed to her proposal in the recent days. I am not going to be in either one's team all the time. Whats the fun there if you know what i mean :) I will side with them as need arises and i am sure i can make them forget my mischievous attitude with a simple smile or one of many cute weapons from my charm factory! You could roll your eyes in disbelief wondering how i could think of all these things being inside mommy's tummy but thats a secret i cannot share with others! I know for certain that they will forget everything about their preferences, the innumerable discussions and many more pregnancy related issues and will go head over heels in love once they hold me in their hands the first time onwards!

Blue? or Pink?

ps: You are not in my league if you are still wondering whether i will be wearing a blue or a pink onesies! Can you find at least one reference to a girl baby in this post??

SURPRISE BABY SHOWER Sssssshhhhhhh - Part 2

It was that time of the day and Meenal aunty's house was packed up with a lot of friends. Mom always takes a long time getting ready and dad is someone who always wants to be at places at the right time. He always complains mom delays and it does not look really good going late. This time, the party was at 6:30pm and mom could make it at around 7:30pm. The hazzle and the talks in the house were like to any other party with dad hurrying up and mom taking her time. No difference to confuse mom!

Dad dropped mom and aya and mom as usual carried a gift for the birthday party. Mom walked up the stairs commenting that it sounds like the TV was on and we might be early for the party :) Mom went up, rang the doorbell and she was floored and just dumbfound when she saw everyone cheering SURPRISE. Mom was like "Is there no birthday party today?" That was because she just could not believe that it was not a birthday party. Dad and Meenal aunty really did a fabulous job!

Mom then walked in and started greeting the folks there. She really loves socializing with this group. She started looking around to find if she saw all the folks she knew very well. One of the greatest surprises she had that day was seeing periappa. Periappa had come all the way from New York for the shower. Mom and myself were extremely happy to see him. I love the way periappa addresses me. He calls me Sukhinder or Chella pillai and he was the first to give me a name :)

There was plenty of food on the table and mom ate the appetizers. Aya had bought mom a blue saree from India. Dad carried the saree and all bangles that aya had bought from India without mom's knowledge. Dad and Meenal aunty had spent hours together buying stuff and planning for the event. Mom and aya went upstairs and mom got dressed up with the new saree and jewellery. I am guessing this is the first time mom is wearing a saree after I popped in. The basement in Meenal aunty's house was all decorated wishing mom and dad all luck for my arrival. The festivities began with every aunty there coming over and showering mom with all luck. They took lot of pictures and dad also adorned mom with the bangles finally. It was one of the very happy events for mom and dad in their life. Here is a picture of mom and dad with aya and periappa. One person from each family represented :)

It was then food time. The table was flooded with lot of tasty dishes. Everyone relished the food and it was time for the dessert. The most lovely thing I found was the cake. It was a big black forest cake beautifully decorated with a saying on it "Pink or Blue, We welcome you". That was really cute. I could only smile at them :) The cake had a blue baby doll and a pink baby doll over it with pink and blue beds. Believe me, that was so yummy. Here is the picture of the cake.


Dad and mom took the pleasure of cutting the cake and exchanging romantic moments. Everyone loved the cake including me :) Lot of pictures were shot and dad sent it to the family.
A cute goody bag was given to every family who attended. The goody bag had a set of bangles, a book on "Flashes from Swami Vivekananda" that had a lot of valuable simple sayings, a picture of Vivekananda, some fruits and chocolates.

Installing car seat

Dad unpacked the stroller travel system few weeks ago and got everything setup. The assembled stroller/car seat was sitting in the bedroom for sometime and it got pushed into the closet when the adults had a party. Last week, dad thought it was high time for getting things ready for my arrival and the first step was to put the car seat  in the SUV because that is the first thing you need when you return back from the hospital! Mom and dad went down to the parking lot with the car seat and base along with the new FLIP MinoHD. They took a quick video with all these things and i started wondering whether dad is going to take videos of all these type of things in the FLIP from now on!? but anyway i thought it was cute that they wanted to capture the moment...

Then the adults read the small setup instructions that was there in the car base and tried to figure out where it will go in the SUV. There was nothing complex in the car base. It had a long cable with two latches at the ends. After spending considerable time they decided that they should read the SUV's manual to get a better idea of how to set the base. Once the base is attached properly nobody can go wrong in putting the car seat over it. Thank god they know that the car seat should be in rear facing manner or else they would have spent some more time figuring that one out! Prior to this day his only encounter with car seat was seeing kids on them in other vehicles.

Dad started again in the evening to put the car seat in place and this time there was no FLIP :) He was connecting the latch to each and every kind of anchor that he could find behind the seat! few were very thin and one or two was very thick and all of them didn't match what he saw as a anchor in the vehicle manual. Finally after some time he found out the correct one and then he locked the latch into the anchor. Then he exerted full pressure on the car seat by putting his knee on top of it and tightened the strap. (Thanks to some youtube video). The next day he went to a nearby fire station for them to check and make sure that everything was fitted correctly.

SURPISE BABY SHOWER sssshhhhh! - Part 1

Daddy along with Meenal aunty planned a surprise baby shower for mommy to celebrate my arrival. It was such a huge surprise for mommy and mommy had no clue that was coming. Let me narrate the whole episode about our excitement.

Meenal aunty had sent an evite about celebrating Anusha's birthday on March 27th. Mommy was confused on that date as she knew her birthday was only during the second week of April. When she had asked her, Meenal aunty told her that Easter fell on the first weekend of April so a lot of families were out of town for the Easter holidays. That was the reason they were celebrating the birthday the last weekend of March. Well, that made a lot of sense to mommy. The evite that was sent out was so well made with a princess theme and there were a lot of people who had replied to the evite.

In general, mom and dad used to discuss a lot about the families they knew and the parties how they take place and their opinions. Oh God, believe me, they can spend hours together chit chatting. A surprise baby shower also used to be one topic that popped up often and dad always came up with no interest at all on that particular thing. Mom was okay and agreed with dad in those discussions. So, mom was not really expecting one.

The event had taken a 2 months time to plan and dad had put in a lot of time without letting mom even guess. It is not very easy with mom especially as mom always calls up daddy and makes sure when he will get home from work, checking his emails with a valid reason like pictures were onlly in his account or something. He must have had a very hard time to keep things real private :) Meenal aunty had helped daddy with all arrangements and the event was at her house. The evite was sent out and also few dishes were put up in the potluck list.

It was the morning of 27th March. Meenal aunty had asked mom if she could ask aya to come and help her for the birthday cooking. Aya knew about the whole event plan and had brought the goodie bags and some stuff from India. Aya agreed to Meenal aunty and said she could come to her house at 6:00am on the day of the party. Aya got up at 6:00am and looks like dad went and dropped her off at aunty's place. Mommy was sleeping and did not know this. When she got up at 10:00am, she asked daddy about the logistics of this pick up. Dad said Mani uncle came and picked up mom but mommy had the slightest doubt on seeing the landline phone on the bed side table. Sometimes, mom's brain works real smart. Dad always had the habit of placing the phone close to mom if she sleeps when he goes out especially after my entry. Dad somehow managed mom when she asked all these questions.

Then, dad took mom to a nearby mall for something. But he really did not let mom spend a lot of time and said it was not necessary to walk long. Mom was like she could walk and she wanted to "BUY". That word has a lot of significance in my house. Dad always relates that word to my mom :) The idea dad had was she had to spend a lot of energy in the evening and that was why he brought her back home so soon.

It was finally 3:00pm when dad went and picked up aya. Aya along with Meenal aunty had spent the whole day cooking and aya got back home tired.

Next post will brief the joy and excitement that me and mom experienced.

My 3D Ultrasound

Mommy was all curious to see how I looked so she has been always wanting to have a scan. She kept on telling daddy and daddy promised her for a 3D ultrasound. Wow, how nice is that! Once aya landed, mom called up and made an appointment for the 3D ultrasound. My parents had an idea of what they could expect but the scan really exceeded their expectations.

I was all happy kicking and punching as usual and mom also had candies to make me more delighted. The clock ticked and it was the time for my show. It was a big room with a large screen and aya was asked to get seated and watch my show. Daddy was helping mommy along with the technician and the excitement they had to watch me was just beyond words. It is funny to me because I am sure one day they will long for someone to watch me for at least an hour once I am out:)

The show started and the technician explained my position about how I sit and how I can kick. I behaved very well and showed my face to everyone. I dint want to hide initially as I could understand how curious and excited everyone was. I hid myself with my hands and my legs and they had to shake my mom to change my actions. I did change my position and gave my graceful smile and won the hearts of everyone there. The technician was all suprised to see me exhibiting myself so well and he said I was being exceptional. Mom and dad was greatly happy to hear his words and on a side note they were also happy that I showed up well for the money they paid :) It was all in my hands to show and I deserve a big applause for that once I am out. They had got the appointment for half an hour. Initially, it was planned for a 15 minute session but then mom got it for half an hour as there was some kind of deal and my parents also wanted to see me long. I was being too good for the complete half an hour displaying all my activities thus giving an idea about how I spend time in my mom's tummy. Oh my God, Its not easy to spend 24*7 in my mom's tummy. It gets boring sometimes but I cant complain. I love listening to daddy's talk, few songs, any kind of sweets. I am sure there is a lot of stuff that is interestingly happening outside. A few more days to go and I cant wait........

They gave us a DVD and a lot of my pictures for taking home. Dad added all my pictures in his web album and shared it with appatha, ayya, periappa, periamma and chithi. They were all so happy to see me so real. Everyone passed on nice comments and I was so proud to hear that. Dad is not having enough time to upload the video.

Genes of Korattiar family

Mom and Dad talk frequently about how I will behave once i am out in thier world based on their individual identities. They somehow found out that the baby gets 23 chromosomes from each one of them and they will talk about the various possibilities of which one will be a suitable fit for me from the available choices. I think it was my chitti  who after learning a lot of stuff about genes/chromosomes in her biology classes gave a small briefing to mommy regarding these stuffs. She also concluded that the best scenario as per her choice for me is to pick up the brains from daddy, public speaking skills from mommy, color from appatha veetu aiya and hair from aaya veetu aiya. Little did they know how i will manipulate these genes as separate ones or the way i will play with the innumerable permutations & combinations when i blend them together while growing up :)

As a starter for now they think that i have picked up few stuff from dad with a strong grip! In the recent months, mom has been doing stuffs that she has never even dreamed in her life! Like her interest towards any kind of sweets from chocolates to the juicy jamoons and particularly every kids favorite 'jelly belly'. Once mom made dad go back to the car to fetch the jelly belly that she left in the car. Dad was quite happy to do it even though it was  sub zero temperature outside and the car was parked far away! Also, mom has been watching Tamil movies frequently with a new found passion.  I think mom would have seen the major junk of movies in her lifetime during the recent months. Mom always says(!) that dad's whole family has a fervent affinity for movies & sweets while she is not bothered leave alone any excitement!

Dad says that i succeeded in changing mom to do stuff that he has been trying from the first day of their marriage... Is it just dad genes or the whole of korattiar family!!! I think there are few things that i can teach him once i am out there :)

Sundara kaandam

Today was Rama's pataphishegam [Did i spell it correct?? You know this word was a challenge to me with my limited knowledge of vocabulary... Do you think i stand a chance in the spelling bee contests that usually has few  ABCD kids  in the US grand finals which gets extensively covered everywhere :) ] Mommy made sundal for prasadam. Hazelnut flavored chocolate was offered to God instead of the dhaal payasaam that mommy had originally planned as the instant payasaam mix was even older than me!

I found out from parents that today was the last day of the week long sundara kaandam recital. For the past week, everyday we listened to the wonderful story for almost an hour in the evening. For both myself and mommy this is the first time we are hearing the sundara kandaam while for dad it is a different story. He has listened to the story few times in his childhood days when my appatha used to read it once every year. I think he has a pleasant memory about the whole episode and he enjoyed more than us throughout the full recital. There are lot of good things that i can learn from this but i truly like the way God Hanuman conducts his business. Be it the way he flies across the ocean or the way he resizes himself depending upon his needs or while blasting the bad guys... I myself want to listen to it few more times so i can get a better understanding of everything going around the story.

Dad wants me to listen to sundara kaandam one more time before i jump into their lives. As of now i cannot do anything about it. Only mom needs to find time and help me with this. I am sure when i am out there, dad will play the recital many more times. I may be in the crib or he may be carrying me but i am eagerly waiting for the time when i could listen it from my appatha. This is my second story next only to 'Paatti vadai suttu kaaka grabbing kadhai' that i was hooked on for many weeks some time ago. I think i will do justice to that interesting anecdote only if i write a separate post about it. So that will be for later!

Wake Up Early

Thats a dream for my dad since his childhood days! The blog title and the first sentence feels something close to  a oxymoron! don't you think this is somewhat above average linguistic skills for a little one inside mom's tummy! thats me :) It is not that dad always get up late but he doesn't gets up early as much as he wants! look at the words i chose to frame the previous sentence. i didn't mention anything concrete about the timings to the outside world but at the same time mentioned about the current status and his worries! OK enough of bragging about myself!!!


Like everyday the cell phone alarm went off today and dad jumped off the bed to stop it. Till some time back, the adults will let the alarm go off its own and it will snooze later for many times in small intervals. After all this sound pollution, they will get up only when it is getting late for dad to get to his work or other unavoidable errands. As i mentioned in my previous post, one thing that changed in their lifestyle even before i jump into their lives is how they handle the morning alarm situation. If they let the alarm go off to its full cycle, i wake up from my sleep and start my physical activities with so much enthusiasm it inevitably wakes up both the adults. To avoid this scenario, dad will jump off the bed and switch off the alarm. He will not even let it go to snooze mode once! The adults think these are one of many big time changes in their lives because of me. i pity them! once i am out  these things will be 'ஜுஜுபி ' (in super star Rajini's style ) to how tipsy turvy i make their life change:)

30th week is special

I am sure nobody can guess what is special this week. As all of you will know by now (if you have read my previous posts), my dad receives weekly email from baby center website about my growth/size and this week they were for a surprise. Starting from the early days from the size of a poppy seed this week the email mentioned that i was like a cabbage! did you guys get it?? I can repeat the keyword again cabbage... if still you are in the wild without a clue, then i have to remember myself to show off my biting skills  when you hold me in the near future :) Only few more weeks to go before i jump into your world... Jump meaning literally jumping into my parents world. Already my parents are hearing many stories about how people's life changed upside down after having some one like me in their respective lives but everyone is different and unique. Let us hope i fall under the category of an adorable, cute baby most of the time and a naughty brat the remaining time. I am sure my dad will squarely blame himself and mommy if otherwise :)

kicks, punches and much more

If you are someone who has been following my posts regularly, it would be evident that most of it revolves around my kicks. At least that is what my parents think of when i remind mom that she has to be aware of my presence in the few milliseconds that they get carried away every now and then! Mom sometimes tell dad that i may have more than a pair of legs and hands since i show my kick boxing skills everywhere in her tummy. Whenever i do a stunt she wonders whether it was my hand or my leg and the adults discuss about its force, angle etc etc and finally they will try to picture how i would be inside the tummy.  Whether my head will be in the top portion of the tummy or in the bottom or sideways like that. Poor mom she doesn't know that i also use my elbows/knees during my extra curricular activities :)

Then dad will come up with his own logic of how he finds out whether it would be my leg or hand that resulted in that latest jab. They tried to group my activities into two or three category just for the sake of their satisfaction so that they will know what i am up to even though they won't understand why i am doing that! But it will be always a riddle and i cannot do anything about it! After few minutes their discussions will go around many of my activities and they will wonder how stronger i am becoming as days go by. Sometimes i am so excited that when i punch or kick, it makes mom to stop for a moment from whatever she was doing (middle of a enthusiastic conversation or cooking or pressing clothes) and she will tell dad 'your kid is very naughty or உங்க புள்ள ரொம்ப அடம் pa' with a big exclamation! (Keeping her eyes wide open and doing a circle which always ends pointing in my direction)

Now a days, mom knows that i become really very active when she is very hungry which translates to myself being hungry and I think that is a valid reason. Other things that make me excited are music, my dads voice in the evening or  in the phone and in parties where there are lot of kids in the vicinity... these are few stuff that the adults have come to conclusion about my reasons for my excitement. i duly put this conclusion to rest as i have only one thing in my mind - everything is your interpretation. Sometimes you may be correct with your theory but only i know the reasons and till i reveal it will be a mystery to everybody :)

First emergency hospital visit

Actual Date: 01/22/10 (As i was busy with few other things i have to write about this a week later!)

When dad left for work yesterday he dropped mom in Meenal Manikandandan's house. Meenal aunty had cooked a feast that day and mom enjoyed everything begining from lunch to evening snack. She had fun time with the kids. Totally, mom had a gala time at her place catching up with all the latest gossip revolving around DC achis group. Dad drove to their house in the evening to pick up mom and the adults decided to go to a nearby Indian restaurant (Rangoli) for dinner. After the dinner everybody departed to their respective places.

While returning back in the car mom was complaining about slight stomach ache. They were not sure whether it was because of the food in the restaurant or something else with my support system! During my very early stage, mom used to get morning sickness, stomach ache/bloating problem regularly and my support system is the one that will get blamed always during that time! Doctors, friends, family and anybody that knows how to write up in the Internet will all mention that this is normal during the first trimester of the pregnancy and she should learn to keep these symptoms at bay by following many different flavors of remedies that differ based on region, culture, weather and what is available there etc... You guys don't know how difficult it is for me to be inside this support system!  Leave alone the part where i have to get ready to begin my earthly journey :)

Once they reached their place, mom started implementing many time tested remedies that included walking for some time, drinking warm water at regular intervals. The pain was acute while trying to lie down in the bed. It was there while waling or sitting down in the couch. As there was no change in the pain, they decided to take a bit of medications (Tums/Rolaid) after some time. Even after taking these medicines, things didn't improve much. Time was around 1.00 PM and they started thinking whether they should go to the hospital just in case to make sure everything is fine with me.

During all this melodrama (!), i was sound asleep dreaming about many things that i will do once i am out. I am not even sure whether i have the ability to dream at this stage but for now we can treat the above sentence as fact! Suddenly dad remembered that he read somewhere sometime ago that one of the reason for the stomach gas/bloating problems to lessen during the second trimester is because of the babies movement which helps in bowel movement, blah, blah, etc... As mom was ready for anything that will help her out she agreed to his idea. They switched on the laptop and as they started playing some loud music i got up. I was kind of startled at first with the music volume but then thought probably the adults were in a party mode and a disciplined kid, i also joined the fun by doing what i know the best; few kicks and punches here & their! Parents were really happy and felt proud that i chipped in to help out with their problem :) But still mom's tummy was not improving and finally they went to INOVA fairfax hospital at 4.00 AM in the morning.

Size of an average rutabaga

Dad called his good old friend 'Guru' when he found out that i am on my way to join their life. He gave a good idea of what to expect during the coming months, things that got to be done during the early/later days, how to take care of me when i am inside mommy's tummy and many other important related stuff about me in general terms.  I think mostly if i meant 'me' you guys would have guessed  that includes mommy also! One of the main thing dad found out that day was there isn't a 'Undo option' for whatever thats going to roll over them in the future :)

Anyway, Guru asked dad to subscribe and to be active  in two/three websites that majorly revolves around guys like me before he hung up. Babycenter.com, babyzone.com were on the top of his list and dad subscribed to baby center and mommy to the later. later they found out that babyzone was very average or at least not on par with baby center in many of the cases. Meanwhile, baby center has lot of cool features and it also sends an email every week that discusses about my developments, what changes to expect during that week and top questions etc...

One things both the parents look forward in that email is my growth. The email will contain a picture of a vegetable that is comparable in size/weight to me that week. Hence, every week i will be one kind of vegetable in their mind :) I think they started looking the weekly email when they said i will be like a "lentil bean". Till this week, they know almost all of the vegetables that is used as an metaphor for my growth. Right now i am like an average rutabaga but what is this vegetable is the first thought that came to their mind after seeing the email today...

Aayirathil oruvan

Parents were busy celebrating Pongal last thursday and I got to hear (When i am awake and not busy kicking) what my parents were talking and doing during that day and that will be my memory of my this pongal. Mommy wanted to go to the theater to watch pongal release 'aayirathil oruvan' movie. I know dad will be game for any movie and i thought i will go to this movie like i did for 'Vettaikaran' for Diwali'09. During diwali time i was very small but it didn't stop me from getting excited during vijay's intro scene as well as few songs. Mom was kind of OK with me for that movie because of her love for any Tamil movie that too in a theater!

With 'Avatar' movie, things were different. I was bigger and my kicks were stronger and i know how to push myself forward & backward and jump around if i am excited or get disturbed. Everybody mentioned that 'Avatar' was a visual wonder, a stunning masterpiece for your eyes but for me it was all about the various  sounds effects throughout the movie involving the action scenes, bomb explosions and the fast changing pace of the background score while the hero flies or runs around in that fantasy world 'Pandora'. These things made me go crazy in the small place i have for myself. Mom didn't care much but dad was little unhappy that he was not able to get tickets for the 3D IMAX show that day. They have to settle down for a regular 3D theater. Little wonder did they know that time that mom will be watching her own 4D movie because of me!!! You know these are some perks of pregnancy that goes unannounced :)

Though 'Aayirathil oruvan' will be something like 'Vettaikaran' mom decided not to take the risk of taking me to the theater. She thought that the Tamil flick is not worth for a 4D experience and decided to wait for some time to watch it in DVD.

Sukhwinder or Sukhinder

Two weeks ago, Arasu periappa and Jyotsna periamma visited us for the 2010 New Year weekend. They both were very curious to know how i was,  what i was doing and how i was changing my parents lives. Once they entered our house, periappa told my folks that he is going to call me 'Sukhinder' ( or is it 'Sukhwinder') as i had started to learn and enhance my motor skills with my continuous kicks and punches. Earlier my parents used to mention that i will become  a football player (AHH, a soccer player in US) or a boxer or a dancer etc etc when i do a rigorous practice session with my activities. They call me with lot of different pet names over the time but not something like a real name name. Their favorite is to call me 'puppy' and i think it will rank first in the list of pet names. i think they actually mean it and if i were a puppy, then they should  be :)

anyway coming back to the topic, periappa mentioned that he came up with 'Sukhinder' because of the surge in my activities and also it is like the famous 'oh balle balle' punjabi dance. I was bored already hearing discussion about various choices for my name for some time and at that time, if someone comes up with a cool name with a good reasoning who will not love it! I have to thank periappa for this cool name at least for the time being... On a side note for future 'to do' stuff, i need to learn this 'balle balle' bhangra from a professional dancer. I am sure it will be helpful in lot of places!

Also i heard from him that he thinks 'chittappa' has something he likes to be addressed and periappa was not of preferred choice for him. But what do to, i have no choice as of now. Since you came up with a cool name for me, i will bend a little bit backward and try to convince everybody that i can also call you 'chitappa' technically since my dad got married earlier than you :) Do you think folks back in India will go with this logic? or else the only other way is for you to come up with a nice nick name and i will have no problem going with it!

Crib, Stroller & car seat

Parents were looking out for various styles/designs for my crib, stroller and car seat over the weekend. Since i am the first one in the baby category for them, they are quite confused about what to buy. There are hundreds of selection online but they wanted to go to stores and check the real display units to get a rough idea and then pick something online later. They were discussing a lot about ease of usage, things they liked/disliked and many more related things and of course the cost of different ones etc...

I was not interested in most of these things except for the color! They were talking about blue, pink and the neutral brown color themed crib/stroller and about siblings, need to buy different colored ones if they have boy/girl or girl/boy pair etc... After some time, they were inclining to go with the neutral one based upon my future little brother/sister scenario mainly because of the re-usability of these stuff. I was like 'OH MY GOD, i am still yet to show up and you guys started planning for the next arrival'.

I am not sure whether they can keep all these stuff till that time as they will end up buying lots and lots of stuff for me alone! The way the people in this country associate blue/pink with boy/girl makes me wonder how i will behave with these preset preferences when i grow up... Only time will tell :)

A digital footprint

Finally a digital footprint for myself even though it will be still few more months for me to keep my real footprints on earth! daddy decided that he will start something for me in the digital world wide web after i land myself on earth. But i was not ready to wait for that long. He is a old school guy! Though I started doing my small antics long ago, i upped the ante by increasing my rate of activity over the past weekend and that made my poor daddy to revisit his decision. And here we are on my own place in the Internet. I have a blog where i will brag about all my little things, my first of many kinds that will be called as achievements by (proud) parents, my life and many more things.