Niya's Nursery

I love looking at kids' rooms. So I am linking up with Kelly's Korner SUYL.

When Neil was born, we were living in a small 2 br house with a den. We bought the house when we were just the two of us and thought it was plenty big. At that time, I was working outside the home and hardly spent any time in there. Soon, with the birth of Neil and both sets of (our) parents staying long term, plus R working from home full time, we outgrew it. To top it all, I became a SAHM. Not only was it a smallish house, it was very quirky. It has the worst use of space I have seen in a house. Anyway, this year we moved to another house and I was able to put a nursery together for our daughter. Right now, she is hanging out with us, so it is looking great, so I wanted to put a post and pictures together to remember how it once was :) Soon enough, it will be like the rest of the house.

I didn't want an all pink super girly room. I love soft green and white so I wanted to do something along that lines. Then again, I couldn't help but throw some pink in the mix.

The crib is my absolute favorite brand, Baby's dream (Neil has the same one). It is quite pricey as far as cribs go, but this one was from a garage sale and it was in excellent condition.

These are the canvas art I custom ordered hanging above the crib.

The one on the far left is a favorite verse from Zephaniah 3:17, middle is the initial of her name and the third are the different meanings of her name.

This is how it looks from the door. I love the crocheted blanket hanging over the rocking chair that a lovely lady at the chapel made for the baby. Above the changing table is the Feltman Brothers dress that she came home from the hospital in. She was so tiny that it was a mercy that those dresses run a little small so she could fit into it without looking ridiculous.

The changing table is Neil's old one which I also painted white and green to match the dresser and night stand.

Her closet, which frankly I think are way too many clothes, but in my defense I must have bought her 3 outfits, all the rest are gifts.

When I was pregnant with her, we asked Neil what we should name her, he said Button. Pressing the buttons around the house is his favorite thing to do. So, for fun, I made this little craft with buttons and scrapbook paper and put it in a white photo frame from Ikea. I loved how it turned out!

The dresser and night stand were two pieces I bought for a song from craigslist and painted white and pale green and changed the knobs. It looks nice and different and I love the lines on it.

The milky way on the ceiling and it looks great when it is pitch dark.

I loved working on the nursery as it was a labor of love for me. With a toddler, and work, and a hundred other things clamoring for my attention, it was hard to spend a lot of time thinking about the baby inside. But when I was painting, and ordering fabric, it really was a sweet time thinking about her. (usually late at night when I get a minute to myself)

It really is a very peaceful room, much like the personality of our baby girl who is a week old today. Finally, a picture of our precious Niya.

Niya's birth story

I have not updated this blog in forever, so I am not even sure I had mentioned I was pregnant with baby #2. Well, 40 weeks and 2 days passed and I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl Niya in the year of our Lord 2012. I want to remember how she was born so I am recording it here. I am not even sure anyone other than myself reads this blog anymore so really it is just for myself.

This whole pregnancy was so different from when I was pregnant with Neil. One of the main reasons for the absence on the blog is that we were super busy with a house move, and I had a horrible first trimester. I was hit with migraines which I have never had before in my life. Then they found I had a thyroid issue. I lost a lot of weight and the morning sickness was horrible. I gained my first pound at 21 weeks. Anyway, all this to say that I should not have been so surprised that the birth went the way it did. At close to 38 weeks, I started having contractions and while it was not too bad, it really scared me into thinking that I was going into labor. That really sped up things from my end of getting ready for the baby. I got everything ready for the nursery and got the hospital bag ready and even washed her clothes. Since my mom was not planning to come until the 28th, I even arranged with a friend to watch Neil. So, all was in readiness. After all the getting ready, she then decided to stay awhile after all. At my 37 week check, I was 1cm dilated and 25% effaced. Every week after that, I was 1 more cm dilated. So, at my due date I was 60% effaced and close to 4 cm.

My due date fell on a Saturday and my last check up was on Tuesday. We scheduled an induction on Tuesday if baby was not planning on coming before that. I was not super thrilled about the induction, to be completely honest, but I was happy that at least I was able to have my favorite doctor there that day. When I was praying, I prayed I would be able to go naturally on Tuesday. Saturday came and went, and so did Sunday. We all went to church and went out to eat. We came back and I was seized with a desire to clean house. My mom was baffled and kept insisting that I should rest. I was on a roll and cleaned the kitchen and living room and even cleaned the leather sofa with a conditioner that I had bought a while ago which was not opened until that day. Should that have been a clue? I had been having Braxton hicks for pretty much every day until Sunday, but that day, I had no pain, and was very much energized. My mom and I talked late into the night, then I felt hungry around 1 am. I ate some noodles, had water melon, and finally at around 2 am went upstairs to sleep. I was tired and woke up at 2:45 with a contraction. This felt different, but I decided I won't disturb anyone until I felt it more intense and more frequent. I continued to try and sleep. I got the next one at 3:10 and it felt about the same. I didn't really go back to sleep and at 3:22 am my water broke. I immediately woke up my husband, transferred Neil to mom, grabbed the hospital bag, and was out the door and in the car by 3:32 am.

It was a 30 minute drive to the hospital and the contractions at first were every 10 minutes. Then it became every 4 minutes and were getting very intense. I kept praying over and over, Lord, please let me get to the hospital. We got there and since it was in the wee hours of the morning, the door was locked and R had already driven away, I started panicking. Thankfully, there was a phone and I managed to call in and get in. I went to the reception, and she asked me for the SSN. I could barely talk and gave her my number and then started kneeling on the floor. At this point, I really felt like I wanted to poop. They took me to triage, checked me, and almost immediately wheeled me out to labor and delivery. I kept saying, it hurts, it hurts. I felt like I kept asking for epidural, but hubby says that I only asked for it twice. It was 4:20, I remember everyone asking me to breathe and I was not listening. Nothing was helping. I vaguely remember wondering why they were not giving me IV for epidural. There was a haze of faces and the pain was intense and I know I wanted to push so bad. My whole body was telling me to push and the nurses told me no pushing as the doctor was not there. R told me lat that I bit him and that I kicked one of the nurses. I don't remember any of that. One thing I do remember. R looked straight into my eye and said, Annie, she is almost here, you are going to have to do it without an epidural. What stood out to me is that the called me Annie. He has called me Annie twice before in our married life. Once when saying the wedding vows, second when Neil was born. I then knew things were serious. I calmed down then as I knew I had to do whatever it took to bring her out. I heard the nurse say, she is full term and she can push with the next contraction whether the doctor is here or not. God bless her! Thankfully, the doctor came then and when the next contraction came, I pushed her out.

Niya Kalpana was born at 4:32 am perfect and beautiful at 5 lb 11 oz, 18 inches long. Yes, she is tiny. But not a lot tinier than how her mama was. It was a very short labor by any standard and all things considered, it was perfect. I had a minor tear which the doctor stitched with a local anesthesia. It was not too bad actually. I never had a birth plan, and an all natural delivery was certainly not in any plan of mine. But God orchestrated the details perfectly, he gave me the grace to undergo the pain (albeit the kicking and biting) and it worked out so well that the pain came in the night so we could get to the hospital in time with no traffic. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that I had a drug free delivery, but my recovery was much better and faster. I personally think it was because of the fast labor so it was not very exhausting. We feel very blessed and are back home from the hospital now. There is a Jewish prayer I posted when Neil was born and I can't find anything more appropriate than that.

Blessed art thou O Lord Our God, King of the Universe
who has kept me alive and sustained me
and brought me to this wonderful moment.

Bye bye 2011

2011 was quite eventful for us.

It was so nice to have both sets of parents visiting during the summer and then both sisters and families visiting for Christmas. Being so far away from family, it is such a treat when that happens. We got to travel to many places with our parents and that was always something I wanted to do. To show them our adopted country and spend time together while we are all healthy. R got a promotion and did great at work. We learned we are (God willing) going to welcome a new life next year. We had a move and was blessed with a better house.

On the other hand, work has been crazy busy for R, traveling with Neil was very hectic for me, there was a lot of illnesses for everyone. We suffered some big financial losses, I had a very difficult 1st trimester with horrible debilitating migraines. I found out I have some health issues. Someone very close to us died unexpectedly and it was just hard to deal with. We had a move and had to get the house ready in 2 weeks. And we have a house now to be rented.

There were a lot going on in the last few days and I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I had help from both families, but the feeling was not because of the things to do although they are plenty of course. Sometimes when we get a really great gift from someone, don't we feel like it is just too much? That is how I have been feeling. The blessings have been numerous. And instead of being thankful, it is making me fearful. I know the hormones are working overtime for me, but I have been many times to the point of being unable to enjoy the present for fear of the unknown.

For the past two days, I have been an emotional seesaw. What am I going to lose to balance the blessings? I know God doesn't work with blessings that way, he takes pleasure in giving good gifts to his children. And I also know that if He chooses that I walk through the valley, that He would still be the same one who took me through the hilltops.

Fear is addressed so much in the bible because the Lord knows we struggle with it. My fears now are imaginary as nothing has happened so far, but they are all possible. I worry about the health and well being of my husband, child(ren), parents and many other stuff that most of us worry about. But God has not given us a spirit of fear, so we need not spend our days being afraid.

None of us know what the next year holds for us. But we know Who holds it in his hand. And because of that, we can eagerly anticipate the new year.

Happy 2012 everyone. May it be filled with blessings from above.

All about Neil

The thing about not updating the blog often enough is that I am afraid I am going to forget these days. Now that Neil is at a really fun age, I want to remember all the cute things he says and does. Life is certainly a challenge with a 2 year old, but it is great too.

His vocabulary has increased quite a bit. Doctor thought at his 2 year visit that he might need some therapy, but he seems to be doing well now. He says the alphabets and counts to 10 (one day he counted to 15!)He says some phrases and couple of Bible verses. He is still slightly un-social in a group setting, but I am that way too, so it is not a huge surprise. ha.

All the things which we tell him, he says it back to us. "No pinching Mama, No cotton (no touching counters), cafoo (careful), gimme hand." And he can identify almost all the objects. We had a book on shapes, and he could identify them long ago, now he says all the shapes too. He can also identify body parts in English and our native tongue.

Books are still his best friends, and he "reads" Goodnight Moon, The Gingerbread Boy, My First Bible, In the Fiddle, and I love you Little One. I just have to say two or three words in the book and he says all the rest.

The biggest issue we are working on his tendency to put everything in his mouth. Play dough, crap on the floor, ANYTHING. It drives me nuts because I know he understands he is not supposed to do it.

He is way too active for snuggles and cuddles. I am ready to cry when I think about that. I read to him in hopes that I can kiss and cuddle him while reading. He is 2, but he thinks he is 15. He wriggles and runs off when I force snuggle him. He does give ummas (kisses) when I ask for it. I have to be satisfied with that.

BUT...

He still goes to sleep with me and then after he has fallen asleep I transfer him to his crib. (I use this time to shamelessly shower him with kisses) Yes, I know he is past 2. But we are Indian parents, our kids sleep with us till they are 25.

He loves to flush. If anyone goes to the toilet, he runs after them, hoping to flush. I try to use that to encourage him to go on the potty. He tells me poo poo and then I dash him to the toilet and then he sits there for 20 seconds, does nothing, flushes and then runs off. I am now thinking he is tricking me.

He has started to play with toys much better and I am happy. Not that I get to do much around the house. He plays with his toys only if I sit there watching him, doing nothing. If he sees me doing something, then he wants me to stop and play with him. ha ha. He loves being on the phone and tells hello, goodbye, umma, how are you etc to whoever is on the other line. The grands have a blast when we talk to them.

He is still a good little helper to his mama. He unloads the dishwasher, helps with laundry, wiping down tables, putting away toys etc. I so hope it lasts!

I was looking through some old pictures and I am so startled at the passage of time. The days at times which seemed so long, in retrospect seemed to have flown by. It helps me stop and cherish the day to day, tantrums and all.

Here he is at 14 months



And now at 26 months.

Reflections

I am turning another year older tomorrow. When I was 18, the 30s seemed so old. When I was 21, I felt very old and mature. I don't feel very old now. Which probably means I am growing older gracefully. :) A lady at church yesterday said I look young and pretty. Well, beauty beholder etc etc. I do have a couple of grey hair, my metabolism is not what it used to be, I am a few pounds heavier, few shades darker. And those are just the physical changes. 25-30 years (and continuing) has been the most eventful in my life.

When I was newly married, my husband and I vied with each other to create the perfect birthday for each other. After our wedding, the first birthday was R's. We were in two places at that time, but I bought him an ipod, took him to a mystery dinner, bought clothes, made a collage birthday card, booked him a massage, made his favourite stuff, and totally made a weekend out of it. Not to be outdone, on my birthday, he showed up at my work with flowers, arranged a lunch with my boss and some friends, went to La Nouba, had dinner out, bought me dresses, stuffed toys and made me a card with all the 52+ pet names he called me in the time he knew me.

After that, all of our birthdays, we took 3 days off and travelled. We went to Yellowstone, Utah for R's 2007, Grand Canyon for my 2007, Yosemite for R's 2008 and Bahamas cruise for my 2008. That was our last vacation with just the two of us. We were planning one to Costa Rica for our anniversary in 2008, but it never worked out and we are happy it didn't as I was pregnant with neil by then. Then in May 2009, we went to Hawaii but I was 6 months pregnant with Neil and although it was just the two of us, it still wasn't just the two of us :) I made a nice lunch for R for his 2009 birthday and that was it. I was a new mom for my 29th birthday and my parents were here with me, and I had pretty much everything I wanted.

The year I had Neil was when it changed for me. Now, we exchange cards and buy something we need. This year I needed a coat, and R got that for me. I am celebrating my birthday tomorrow with a doctors appointment. :) Life is very busy for us now. Years back, it was all about me and us. And here is the funny part, I don't miss it at all. And here is something else I never thought I would say: I don't miss the traveling. Honestly, it is more like a hassle packing everything for all of us for a few days of travel. I like staying home and the routine. I know a time will come in our lives when Neil gets much older, we will have time for everything we have put in the burner. I am enjoying this season in life. And a birthday marks another year that has gone past. I have changed, I know, and I hope - for the better.

My sweet husband and child is fast asleep hugging each other up in our bed. I should be asleep too. But I am enjoying this few hours of alone time. R might not get up to wish me Happy Birthday at the stroke of midnight. But he took Neil out in the evening, so I could have a few hours to myself. Then he took him up to bed and I had more time. That is worth more than any pearl necklaces and diamond earrings to me now. I am truly blessed!

Heavy Heart

It is close to midnight on a Saturday. I really should be asleep seeing as tomorrow is a Sunday and we need to be up early to worship. But sleep is elusive. My heart is heavy tonight.

My uncle, who was ready to get on a plane to visit his daughter and grandkids, suffered a stroke with seizures and is in the hospital in critical condition. Doctors are unable to do any tests on him as he starts getting the seizures again if anything is done. He is on life support and his whole family is gathered around him praying. Those of us who are miles and miles away are also praying. It is just hard though.

And today, I just found out that a friend of ours who used to worship with us is battling cancer. She is undergoing treatment, but apparently it has spread.

Also, in the last week, R's sister's FIL passed away. He was apparently in good shape, but had a heart attack, went into a coma and in 2 days was gone.

Hearing these things is hard. I want it all to be better for everyone. But we are not promised a pain free life. I am praying for healing and God's mercy for my uncle and friend. It hurts here on earth, but a day will come when there will be no more grief or pain and when HE will wipe away every tear.

Neil's 2nd Birthday Party

Tonight we had a small party for Neil's birthday. I just invited two families and I was planning to just order pizza as I didn't feel like cooking a lot. Then I kind of felt funny doing that and ended up cooking a most laborious dish (for the first time, that!) and another tried and true appetizer. It was nowhere as elaborate as last year, so I even hesitated to call it a party. We ate, played some Taboo and hung out.

The camera did not work, although the batteries were charged long enough and I did not have the presence of mind to take some phone pictures. So the only picture I have of the party is one of the main dish I cooked. I just happened to have the phone nearby and thought the final product looked good enough to take a picture.



And here is the weird part about the day. We had the first family come in, and I was getting ready upstairs. I suddenly heard Neil crying loudly. I thought he had fallen down, but apparently he just cried on seeing them. And he cried and cried and just would not stop. R and I have never seen him behave this way and it was so surprising. He took a long while to calm down and was pretty much cranky the entire time. Then just after we finished our food, he went upstairs all by himself and sat down. He would not come down. Then R went upstairs and put him in his crib, and instead of crying, as he usually does, he talked to himself for about half an hour and then went to sleep. It was quite surprising and a little disconcerting to see him behave this way.

Still, it was nice to have friends at home. I feel bad that there are no pictures, but I was a little all over the place after the unprecedented behavior.