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.

Day 3 of 5

This is the weekend that Tish is in Las Vegas visiting her sister. Back home we are about to finish day three of the five days that she will be away. Every morning Priya has woken up, raised her hands and asked "Mama?" It's so poignant. Then she will walk into the bedroom, look at the empty bed, and ask the same question. She knows that Tish isn't around, but doesn't know the meaning of short trips. So I'm trying my best to keep her occupied and do lots of fun things. A very strange thing happened yesterday. We went to the park, and when normally Priya will race around the slides and metal walkways, this time she stood paralyzed. She could hardly walk, and howled whenever I took her to the top of a slide. You just have to look at past pictures and videos to see that it's not like her at all. Very strange.

We also went to the library where we spent an hour messing around.

Time for bed
Night night

Joost Up

For those that know me even a little bit know that I like to be on the cutting edge of technology (to the best of my ability). So the very latest new cool thing that is out there is called Joost. Check it out at http://www.joost.com/. It is created by the same guys that created those internet altering technologies Skype and Kazaa. Joost is basically free streaming video with the interface that looks like cable TV. It's got 30 or so odd channels (and growing), and you can pause, rewind and do all the cool things that are possible with a DVR. Except it's all free!

The software is only available through invites through people who already have Joost. One lucky person already got an invite from me. If you're interested in getting one, leave me a really nice note on why you want it, and maybe you'll get one (don't forget your email address). I have only one or two left.

Just to show how long her hair is getting

Easter

It was a little more fun this Easter because Priya was able to enjoy it so much more. Though her biggest thrill out of the whole day was celebrating the pagan ritual of looking for eggs(!). The things we do as parents... We celebrated Easter with our friends Jim and Sherry and their families. This, I think, is the 10th or 11th year that I have spent Easter with them. And the tradition continues with all of us as a family.

When Tish starts to get tired she says, "It may not look like it, but I'm 7 months pregnant."

Priya with her early morning cache of candy

Hunting for Easter eggs

Tish and Alicia bullied the kids and got the biggest loot!

Safety first

यह ब्लोग हिंदी पड़ने वालो के लिए है

Now this is amazing। Who would have thought that I could blog in Hindi! Now I can say all the things I wanted to say about people without the fear of them actually knowing about it! So here goes... I have been meaning to get this off my chest.

अगर तुम यह पद रहे हो तो यह ब्लोग तुम्हारे लिए नहीं है। अगर मैं चाहूँ तो मैं तुम्हारे बारे मैं कोई भी चीज़ लिख सकता हूँ। तो सावधान रहो!

Living the 2 year old life

I guess it really doesn't get better than living a life of a 2-year old. Adults still think you're cute, and you get away with just about everything. I wish I could remember when I was that age, and ruled the world!

Priya didn't get a party this year, but she got little somethings throughout the week. She liked it every time we sang Happy Birthday to her, and even hummed along a few bars herself. On Saturday we went back to our favorite Persian restaurant (Iranian for those whose history is a little weak) to celebrate, as Todd called it, Priya's birthday and the freeing of the Britons. For those with good memories of this blog, you will remember an incident that happened the last time we were there. Well, what do you know. As we were leaving, the same woman walked in - this time with one other person. It could have been my imagination, but as I walked past her with Priya she scowled at us. A visit to Pars Cove is never without fun incidents. They accidently threw away the leftovers for Tish and Christy, so they sent us home with a freshly cooked order! That kind of thoughtfulness is really one of the reasons why I've always loved this place. Priya did pretty well too for the hour and a half we were there. She's happy to lick salt and pepper off her plate to keep her occupied (limited salt). Her dessert of ice-cream with honey and cinnamon marked the end of a long birthday week.

Ohhh... And since David really wanted to know - we have a choice in the bed contest! And I just looked over all the votes - no winner! Wow. The final choice was maybe a choice that wasn't explicitely in the pictures. The winner is #3 with a darker wood!

On Saturday I spent the day taking down wallpaper in our room so that it can get ready for painting. Anyone who puts up wallpaper has some extra answering to do during Judgement Day. So with the paint job, there's also new carpetting in our room and the office/nursery, and laminate flooring in the dining area.

These are some pictures from when Tish and Christy went down to Springfield to visit Christy's family. Priya's well on her way to meet her childhood dreams of being a concert pianist.

Happy Birthday to my baby!

My little girl is two years old. Last night as I was putting her to bed, I teared up thinking of how the two years went by, and how much happiness she has brought to our lives.