Living up to his name

Ten points to anyone who remembers what Armaan's name means. Ok... It means "heart's desire." So far, the little fella is living up to his name. He is really the desire of how every parent wishes their newborn child was. He eats, sleeps, and fusses only when he wants to eat, or needs to be changed. He is so unlike how Priya was. With her, the slightest bit of overstimulation would set off hours of crying and fussing. So 72 hours need not be a precedent, but I'm hoping it's the start of a pattern. We would love it if he ends up staying this way. We had such a difficult time with Priya in the beginning, that with Armaan, both Tish and I keep waiting for the change to take place. But I was telling Tish today - just like I refuse to accept as a "given" that Priya will go through "terrible" twos, I refuse to accept that Armaan will be anything but a blessing. Can I get an amen to that?

Tish is happy after a quick delivery

She is still the princess of the house. It's the kingdom that's been divided!
My two babies!

The proud grandparents

Introducing Armaan Jayden Sen!!

Talk about someone ready to enter the world! Around 11 in the morning, Tish started to feel some contractions. She tried to take a nap, but managed only about 10 minutes. Around 1p, the contractions started getting stronger. By 1:45 they were coming in less than 10 minutes apart. At 2:15 her water broke. We started off for the hospital around 2:30.

On the way to the hospital we run into blocked streets for the 4th of July parades. We take the backroads to get to the hospital. At 3, Tish is finally into a room and I go off to register her in. Ten minutes into my registering, I hear on the overhead announcement, "Any available OB doctor to labor and delivery. Code [some code number]." Five minutes later, the same announcement. And then five minutes after that, "Any available ER doctor to labor and delivery. Code..." By now I'm going 'hmmmm....' The phone next to the lady I'm with rings, and I hear, "We need him here right away!" I get back into the room around 3:20, and the baby is already crowning. Five big pushes later, at 3:37p Armaan made an appearance into the world!

Armaan came in at 19.5 in, weighing 7.5 lbs. So here's our boy born on Independance Day! More pictures to follow.. Stay tuned!

In the meantime...

...the waiting continues. This past weekend Tish was sure that she was going to have the baby. But hey - isn't that the definition of Braxton Hicks contractions? The week went by, without any babies. At least we hope it's not going to be like what Elizabeth had to go through. Still, maybe I should borrow their sign! I wonder if anyone ever got a picture of it...

Nope.. no sign of the baby yet. Might as well put up a picture of the doctor not in scrubs, which is when I will see him

The Sen taxi service is always on call for the lady

My parents have been here from India. They were originally supposed to come for my cousin's wedding, but we timed the baby's arrival to coincide with their trip. (For everyone that believed that...) It's nice that they will be around to see the birth of their grandson. At least we h

Even dads are allowed to have some fun

Remember the brief period when Priya used to be deathly afraid of slides? Well, now she has figured out that climbing up the rungs is also fun in itself.

Waiting for water to boil

That's what it feels like waiting for a baby to arrive. But once the boiling starts, things happen fast!

This past weekend I went down to Texas for Brett and Rachel's (my cousin) wedding. It was a great wedding! The sad part was that Tish and Priya couldn't go (well.. more like Tish was 8 months pregnant...). In a way, I'm glad they didn't come because on Monday I was stuck at the airport for six hours (2 of them on a plane) because of weather conditions in Chicago. It's always great being at my aunt's place though - lots and lots and lots of good food! Thanks Sweety aunty!

My brother, Nitin, made a quick trip over from China. It was really good to see him again. He spent a day with us in Chicago, so he was able to visit with Tish and Priya. We went out to Texas de Brazil which is a great Brazilian churrascaria.

While I was away in Texas Christy, Tish and Priya went to Michigan for a baby shower. Priya got thoroughly spoiled - but who can resist such a cute girl?!!

Coming up for air

Here's just a quick note to say that we're still alive! Most of the work around the house has been finished. The nursery has been painted and carpetted. Our room has been painted, carpetted and furnished. And the kitchen has been re-floored. There was a bit of a snafu with the kitchen, which added more work. The original estimate for the flooring only had the kitchen floor. We overlooked the back stairs and landing which were the original linoleum. So coming from the back door, you would have seen carpetting going down to the basement, a nice laminated floor in the kitchen, and linoleum steps and landing. Hmm... I paid the installer a little bit extra on the side to do the landing, but then he ran out of material for the stairs. That left the task up to me. I found the laminate (under a different name) at Menards. The stairs were a little bit of a challenge since the pattern in the kitchen did not follow the long edge of the plank. So to match the pattern, you would have the cut the plank up in squares, and join them end to end. My jig saw cutting has never been remarkable, so the first tool I got was a table saw. The next purchase was an electric nail gun that gave me the most problems (I eventually found out I could use the pancake compressor I had with a pneumatic air gun). And thanks to Steve, the quarter-round was mitered (and it will never look as good as his!).

So here are some quick pictures. Finished ones to come later...

The bedroom minus the shades

The flat-panel TV that may live on top of the dresser

The kitchen floor

And the stairs...

Swamped

Ahhh... it's fun going absolutely crazy with the amount of work that needs to be done around the house. Our bedroom furniture is finally in (pictures soon). I was totally not prepared for how gigantic a king size bed-set is. It dwarfs just about everything else in the room. There isn't any room for our old 27" TV. So now I am trying to see if I can find a cheap flat-panel TV to mount on the wall. The idea is to get something that will be reasonably good, without the name-brand price attached to it.

The nursery is also coming along. It's funny how when we were planning for Priya, no money decision was really questioned (the luxury of two incomes). Now we have to think about whether we even need a second crib, or a rocking chair or whatever. So either the second-born is shortchanged (conventional wisdom), or the first-born gets unusually more (probably more the case).

Priya was quite bewildered with all the changes going around in the house - especially with the rooms torn apart. But she has kept up her good spirits.

Two years, and counting

From this time on, Priya's pictures will become an annual thing, instead of bi-annual. But that may not be the case completely - she may still make a guest appearance when her brother comes around!

Here are Priya's two-year pictures. She had a hard time getting them taken mostly because the person taking the pictures decided that the best way to talk to all kids is to have a really high pitched voice with lots of giggling thrown in for good measure. It would be one thing if we talked like that with Priya all the time. With this woman, she was just scared. But, in spite of that, the photographer had a good eye, and snapped a few very good pictures.

State of disarray

For the last week or so the house has been turned upside down. Not only are we converting the upstairs office to a nursery, we are also repainting our room and getting new furniture and carpeting. So everything is strewn all over the place. Makes for a very messy living. But after it's all done, the two rooms will look transformed.

Priya has been wandering around the house trying to figure out what's taking place. The two rooms that she used to know well are now out-of-bounds. There's only a few weeks between when the rooms are put back together to when her life changes with a baby brother in the house.

This pregnancy has just raced past. In a way it still seems unreal. Well, I'm sure reality is but a hungry baby's cry away!

A last look at the office the way it was

And the bedroom - minus the new furniture

Best way to dry spackle

The inspector

Hmm....

A visit from the ice-cream truck

Priya's obsession with her blankets...



Every kid loves playing in water, even though it's freezing outside



Only for die-hard fans of Priya

And here's a link to Christy's blog where there's a new video of Priya with Lucy.