Vaccinations- II

Today Vivek went to the doctor for his four month appointment and to get his second set of shots. One oral and three injections. Vivek did well. He cried a little bit but not too much. I was really impressed. Our boy is growing up. Vivek weighs 14 pounds and 5.4 oz.and 24 1/2 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile on weight and height and in the 75th percentile for his head. Such a big boy!
Doctor said he looks good and will be ready for solids when he is 6 months. Wow.
Vivek was himself most of the day but did get a little fussy in the evening. I just spend the day with Vivek carrying him all the time. My poor muchkin.
His next well baby checkup is in December.

Chicago Day 1

We got up by about 6:3o am. Yes... even on a holiday. Thanks to Vivek. Did I mention that he is a early riser. He wakes up between 6- 6:30 am everyday!!! We did try to sleep in but no such luck. We got dressed and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. Had an eggcellent breakfast and set out to explore downtown Chicago. It was a glorious day. Temp were 20 degrees above normal for this part of the year. Which was great because we could get out.
We walked thru Madison Ave toward Michigan Ave. On the way we stopped at St Peter's Cathedral - a Catholic church. A very modernistic and beautiful church. We spent a few moments there, also got to talk to the priest there. At Michigan Ave we went to the Lego store. Yes... I know Vivek is too young for Legos but not his parents!!! We had a blast there and we did pick up some thing for Vivek which he will get to open when he is 2 yrs old!!! Here is a picture at the store.



Vivek did fabulous all thru our walk. He slept most of the time. We grabbed some lunch. Great choices in big cities for vegetarians. Ha.. glad we didnot have to survive on subway sandwiches. On our way back we met our friend Ashwin... he works at the Sears towers which was about 5 blocks from our hotel. We had coffee in a swanky Italian coffee shop. Vivek got to meet Ashwin. in is an old friend. I know him from my college days. We did German together. And he also lived in Toronto while we were there. Now of course he and his family are in Chicago. We will get to see them soon. After coffee we headed back to the hotel and rested for an hour since we had to go to a friends place for dinner.


We had to be ready by 6pm since our host was coming by to pick us up. We were up and ready much before. Did I mention that we were in Chicago because Raghu had a conference? And the conference begins tomorrow... Friday.The hotel we are staying in also happens to be the conference hotel because of the proximity to the De Paul Centre where conference is being held. While we were getting ready we got a call from a dear friend Josh- another mathematician. He arrived for the conference and was staying at the same hotel!!! So Raghu and Vivek headed down to the lobby to meet him. Josh got to see Vivek for the first time. Josh has a son who is about 8 month. The second gen mathematicians!!!
We spent a few minutes chatting with Josh and then left for dinner. We had a great dinner. Authentic South Indian food. Yum!!!! I miss home!!!!
We got back to the hotel pretty late by about 11 pm. Raghu needs his sleep as he has to be at the conference centre by 7 am. I am glad I don't have to be up so early!!! Well right now I am sleepy. More tomorrow.

Chicago here we come

The Raghurams headed for Chicago on Wednesday. First family vacation and Vivek's first plane ride. A lot of firsts. Excitement galore.

Our flight was out of Tulsa Airport at 5 pm. We left Stillwater at 2pm. It is a 90 min ride to the airport. We made it well in time tothe airport. Raghu got home after teaching and then we loaded the car and off we were. Vivek did really well in the car. He slept thru the ride. What a sweetheart!!!

Here is a picture of us at the Tulsa airport.

The flight to Chicago was not full so the air hostess let us sit with the car seat ... we had three seats. We reached Chicago O Hare close to 7 pm. Vivek was amazing all thru the flight. He slept!!! We took an Airport Shuttle to our Hotel downtown. We are staying at The Crowne Plaza located in Greektown. By the time we got to the hotel we were dead tired. We washed up and headed down to Greektown for dinner. We grabbed a couple of rolls and some Greek salad. Too tired to eat out in a restaurant. The rooms were comfortable and we decided to chill in front of the TV. Also a 24 hr grocery store - Dominicks was close by, we went there and picked up some fruits... just to eat healthy:)

The conference starts only on Friday so Raghu had a free day with family before work takes over. Oh Yeah... we are in Chicago because Raghu has a two day conference. Math of course.

Well sleep time... more tomorrow.

Four Months Old!

Vivek is four months old today! We just cannot believe it. Life has been one exciting ride even since Vivek made his debut.

He is very interactive now. He loves to sit up with help and look around. His world has gotten a whole lot exciting. He grabs at things and loves to stick them into his mouth. He loves to "talk" to us and we have a lot of pleasant conversations:) aah goooo... krriiii.... eehhh..

He sleeps well most of the nights, usually waking up once at least for a feed. Overall he is a happy child.

The weekend was a busy one. We spend most of it cleaning house and yard work. I made some briyani. It was absolutely lip smacking. I will post the recipe soon.

Sunday - Funday.

Raghu left this morning to Michigan. He is back on Tuesday. He left at 8 am. And about 11 am a friend dropped by to spend the day with me and Vivek. It was so good to see L. She had visited us in the hospital the day after Vivek was born and had not seen him after that. We had a good visit. It is always a pleasure to see good friends.
I made some Indian sweet( kesari baath) and had some Indian snacks to keep us fortified.
After L left Vivek and I had a nap. Then it was bath time for Vivek. He loves having a bath. He is so relaxed and peaceful while having the bath. Once you get him out of the tub he starts to cry. He just doesn't like for his bath time to end. Giving Vivek a bath is Dad's job. It is father and son bonding time. Since dad is away mum had to step in. It was fun to play with Vivek in the water. I am looking forward to swimming already.

Blues Friday

It has been a very busy Friday for us. Normally it is not this way at all. We met a friend for coffee. Spent an hr catching up with her. She is so busy this semester with her teaching and related activities that it has been so difficult to get together. We came home after coffee. Vivek took a nap and then we headed to Purnima's house for Haldi kumkum. Today happens to be Gowri puja so a few ladies here had Haldi kumkum at their place. I decided to go and pay a visit along with Vivek since dad was still at work and had a busy day. Vivek did well for the most part but then got a little cranky since all this socialising was eating into his nap time. We had to cut our visit short and head back home. After a nice nap and dinner we decided to check out the Stillwater Blues festival. It is an annual festival and this is the 10th year. We were unable to attend the festival last year. We spent more than hour at the outdoor festival listening to some good music. Vivek was so good. The loud music didnot seem to bother him. I think he is going to be a rock star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a cold nite so we had to bundle up our little bundle of joy. Oh it is fall.
We headed home by 9pm late by standards! Yes, standards change once you have a baby:)Once we got home Vivek had no trouble sleeping. Such a sweet boy. All of us were exhausted.

Oh Yeah, I made some fabulous besan ladoo on the eve of Ganesh Chathurthi. Unfortunately I didnot take a picture

Three Month Old!

Vivek is 3 months old today! He is growing up fast. It feels like he just arrived yesterday. My little boy is growing!!! Vivek is interacting a lot now. He is enjoying his surroundings, likes to look around and wants to be involved. He is enjoying his tummy time a lot more now. His head and neck are surely getting stronger. Overall he is a good baby.
To celebrate Vivek's 3 months mum and son went shopping. Not that mum needs a reason to shop!!! We had a shopping marathon. We went to Old Navy to buy some baby shower gift but I ended up buying something for Vivek. It is so difficult not to buy, the clothes for babies are so darn cute. Also I got to try some clothes on. Yahoo!!! Vivek was a good boy. We then headed to Linen 'n' Things. That is when he got a little cranky. Our next stop was to buy some groceries. He slept thru the drive and most part of the grocery shopping.

Happy 3 month Vivek. We love you.

P.S. Just could not get him to sit still for a shot. He is so fascinated with his hands. He stuff both his fists into his mouth!!!