Monthly Archives: September 2008

SEA to SFO

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We are happy to report that Daddy has made it safely to his hotel! As I type he’s already chattin’ it up with an old pal he use to work with back in the land of Obama. His friend now lives in San Jose. It’s too bad Ashish didn’t coordinate with Auntie D and Uncle J who live in Campbell as well! Next time…when we ALL go. 🙂 Ironically, Ashish was telling me about a family who are moving from Los Altos to Saint Paul. The guy accepted a director’s position in the city so they won’t sell their house back in Cali, instead they plan on renting it. He told Ashish that they found a great house in Saint Paul. So, it was good for both Ashish and their family to network about each others city, family, jobs, perks and cons.
I’m really happy with the way things are progressing with my photography and design work. It feels good to help people and offer something different that I love to do.
On Saturday we did venture out as a family for apple picking! We’re going to have Nishad and Arun’s birthday party there- so it’s under wraps for now…surprise!! I DID get the most adorable (if I might say) photos of the boys while out!
It feels so odd to have just the boys and myself in the house…We miss you, Honey! Arun just walked around repeating, “Dada!” and Nishad was extra snuggly. He’s not feeling to well either. I decided to let him rest in our bed and when I went to check on it I laid down next to him and he pulled my face close to his and kissed me. Then he said, “Dada in a hotel?” I said, “Yes Nishad.” Then he said, “Dada on a BIG plane today.” I said, “Yes, Nishad.” Then he said to me, “It’s okay, Mama. I’m feeling better. I want to sleep in my bed now.” I’m reminded of Ashish through Nishad on a daily basis- not only by his physical characteristics…but by his big heart and loving nature filled with compassion.
I do have more to add tonight, however, I’ve been on the go, go, go with the boys with hardly enough time to even rest my feet~ time to finally retire, another long day ahead.

MSP to SEA

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Ashish, affectionately known as Honey and Daddy, has already departed the land of lakes to attend a conference at the city by the bay. We already miss him. We dropped him off at the airport by 5:30AM and he called us when he made it through security. As we passed the plane hangers, Nishad said, “Daddy’s going on a plane.” I reassured Nishad that Daddy would be back soon. I reminded him of how he was on a plane twice already! Once when we went to California when he was 4 1/2 months old and another time when we went to Florida when he was 18-months old. We’re following his flight online. If only we had wings! He has a stop in SEA, then on to SFO. We surely look forward to all the stories Daddy will have to share with us when he returns, but we look forward to hugging Daddy again most of all! This is the first time I’m alone with the boys. I’m sure I’ll have a busy week! Our family has a missing piece…that’s already apparent. God Bless, Daddy~ Safe and healthy travels…

Geez Bees!

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Gotta love veggie bacon by Morning Star!

Cracker, Bed, An-gee (hindi), Dada, occasionally Mama, Tiger and Bh–der are Mr. Arun’s latest words. Amazing how they just suddenly start talking! He loves it when I play tickle him when saying, “I’m gonna GET you!” Oh, he laughs so hard and sometimes he’ll try to run or crawl away from me fast. Ashish says when he tried to crawl fast, in the excitement of the moment, with his head bobbing back and forth, he looks like a little bull. haha! We can’t ever leave him out of any action either. No, sir! He wants to be involved in everything we or his brother does. He has quite the sense of humor too, and has already figured out how to charm us in order to get exactly what he wants.

“Baby’s walking! Baby’s walking! He’s doing it Mama. You can do it, Tiger!” Nishad still gets excited over the marvels of infancy and the transition to toddler hood. As a matter of fact, Ashish and I still marvel at the idea of it. 🙂 I think we as parents and human beings naturally compare the process from one child to another. Not in a competitive way, but a casual, learning curve of, “remember when…?” It is a lot easier to know what to expect the second time around. However, children have different personalities and needs. It’s important to remember to view every child, regardless of birth order, as gifted and unique.

Nishad really has settled in at school. I get great daily reports back from his teacher. She beats our expectations. We already had to buy new Croc shoes as he’s feet have out grown the other ones. I meet his friend Thomas and his mother, Beth the other day at pick-up. It was nice to put a face with the name.

Yesterday morning we went out for our morning walk with Krista and Lucas. This was a much longer walk, but it didn’t seem that long as it was great company. Us Mommy’s battled the bee’s together- they were crazy! After we headed down to the park to play with Laurie, Luke, Sean an Baby Sage. Baby Sage is looking cuter by the minute! Luke has gotten so tall! He’s such a big boy now! He turned 5 last August and is now in Kindergarten! Sean is so chatty! The bee’s were at the park too. Argh. I have come to really look forward to my Tuesday’s with the ladies and the kiddies. Before I could swat another bee, it was time to leave to pick up Nishad.

I have a week-night photo shoot tomorrow- Exciting! I’ve received many positive e-mails from the belly dance troupe that has made me feel not only appreciated, but happy that they like the work I did so much!

Belly Dancers

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This weekend was the Otsego Festival. Though I am no longer a member of the committee, I wasn’t able to ‘volunteer’ for anything either as I had 4 photography bookings.

The weather wasn’t picturesque, but despite the rain, I did get some great shots of Dance Caravan. I really enjoyed working with this group of 12 dancers. Such troopers in the rain! I was hired for two bookings with them; one to document their live performance and another for stills.

The following day, I had two additional bookings- two wonderful families that I gave the option of re-scheduling as it was ‘really’ raining. They opted to re-schedule, so I look forward to taking their pictures in the coming weeks!

I feel blessed that I was able to turn my love of photography and deisgn into something that I could share with others and create a business from it. My love, Ashish, stayed home with the kids so I could go focus on my business and passion. I also worked on some updated brochures and I’ll need to get some more business cards soon! In a week, I’ll be promoting my Autumn package, so stay tuned!

MIA

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…OR so it would seem if you have been checking my blog and noticed I haven’t had a new entry in awhile! Juggling things isn’t easy, but children take priority over all things. When your baby is sick or uncomfortable, life stops.

I am happy to report that Nishad is back to being himself! We went in for surgery and I was just amazed at how well-behaved and ‘adjusted’ he was at the hospital. He spoke to the nurses and doctors in a way that was mature beyond his years. Oh course, it helped that there were toys there!

When it came time to ‘put him down’ I went in with him. It was incredibly hard for me to do, but it had to be done and I didn’t want to ‘show’ him that I was scared. So, as we entered the dimly-lit room, I talked to him about the fire man mask. He colored the mask with chap stick that smelled like watermelon and then the doctor placed it over his nose and mouth. I sang to him, “Twinkle, twinkle…” as the star lights changed colors on the ceiling of the room. He drifted off, and the anesthesiologist said, “It doesn’t get simpler than that. Thank you for your help.” They moved the mask off one side of his cheek so I cold give him a kiss and I walked out. It wasn’t until I walked out of the room that I allowed myself to cry.

We waited with our eyes on the screen in the family waiting room- icons that indicated to us when he was entering surgery, in surgery, leaving the OR and in recovery. His doctor came out to speak to us and told us that she feels the procedure went well. She can’t give any guarantee that it will never happen again, but she did get a lot of ‘stuff’ out of his eye. He isn’t to play in the sand for awhile, or balls. She doesn’t want his eye to get infected while healing, or for it to get hurt.

The lag time to see him in recovery took longer than expected. I was getting very nervous. When we finally were brought back to see him, there were nurses surrounding him, he was laying on his side, quiet and he looked so lonely. I just about broke down as I went over to him and he looked up and saw me- he immediately started to cry. They told us that he was in pain, so they had to give him some morphine. I couldn’t help but think of our baby waking up and us not being there, because they had to first stabilize him. I understand…he needed to be stabilized, however, he’s only 2- we should have been there regardless. Ashish picked him up and rocked him. I had a flashback of a time when Nishad was only about 6 or 7 months old in Ashish’s arms. I know Nishad loves me, but he and his Daddy have this tight bond at the young age of 2, that most people don’t develop with their parents over a life time. When I started feeding baby Arun snacks, that is when Nishad perked up and said he would like some. We were warned by a friend not to let the nurses give him apple juice as it will make him sick, so we let him sip on water, and gave him snacks. He started to come around better- and within an hour, we were on the road, returning home.

Nishad was starving by the time we were home. He ate two pieces of pizza, two packages of apple sauce, rice cake, apple… Poor guy! He hadn’t eaten since around 7pm the previous day. We kept him home the following day from school as a pre-caution. That gave him the weekend to re-cover. He was bouncing around like a bunder (monkey, in Hindi) and back to his typical charming ways in no time!

Pictured is a very proud Nishad with Mommy’s make-up on him. After nap he thought he would investigate it on his own.