Catchup Post

I've been a bit busy (and lazy) to post anything for the last few weeks, so here's a catch up post...

The weekend of Shel's birthday we had 3.5 house guests... luckily they all came on different days, otherwise, would have been hard to juggle. First Navin stayed with us Friday night (Aug 14) since he was in Temple for an interview at the hospital there. We took him out to downtown to see what small city night life is about (compared to Philly, Austin is small)... first happy hour at Cuba Libre then out to some of the bars on 6th street which was fun. Unfortunately, if Navin and Kim move to TX, they'll be living in Temple, so we gave him a taste of something he can't really have. But, on the bright side, they'd only be an hour or so away.

We celebrated Shel's birthday twice... so lucky yaar...first on Saturday (Aug 15) and then a small family dinner on Sunday (Aug 16), his real birthday! Navin left Saturday morning and then that afternoon, Shel's school buddy from India, Vishnu, came in. That night, we hit downtown again (yea, we're real party animals), this time dinner at Taverna with El, Valerie and several of our friends, and then just chilled at a wine bar on 4th. We called it quits around 12:45 am... early for some, but I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking it out for that long :)

Vishnu left early Sunday morning and then Hetal & Pri came in that afternoon! Oddly, we hardly have any guests all year and then boom 3 in one weekend. It was fun though.
That day, Nicole and Mike also came out for a visit for Shel's bday since they couldn't make it out the night before. We got a chance to play with Kate and Lara which was fun. Kate seemed to like playing with Priya... was pretty cute to watch them.




Later that evening, we cooked up a storm for the birthday boy. He made some Kafreal chicken with potato disks, and shrimp chilli fry ... I made some green beans and pulao. Yea I know, I made the birthday boy cook, but he makes really good Karfreal and chilli fry :) El and Valerie joined us for dinner, and brought a yummy chocolate cake for dessert. We ate well that night... a little too well...


















Hetal and Pri stayed for a few days. I got a chance to visit our kiddie pool for the first time, since Priya insisted on going everyday they were here. She took some swimming classes earlier this summer and they're paying off as she was able to swim... though only short distances. Anyway, it was fun having them around. They left on Wednesday (Aug 25).


That was the end of our guest spree... Next house guests will be for our baby shower in Oct.



Other randoms...

> Saw the movie Julie & Julia with Neena and Nicole... movie was good... didn't realize it was based on a real story until the credits started to roll. Meryl Streep was great... I had no idea Julia Child had such a bold and charming personality....she seemed so dull in her late years.


> Re: Pregnancy- I'm just wrapping up my 27th week and entering the last stretch... the 3rd trimester! Second tri had treated me pretty well, but lately I've started to feel not so great again. Just the usual symptoms like upset stomach, soreness, back aches, tiredness and such. Nothing major, but no fun. Also, I think I have something called SPD (symphsis pubis dysfunction)... basically, the pelvic region gets sore and hurts when I walk, get up from seated position, and even when I change positions in bed! I didn't know it was a condition, I just thought it was a normal part of pregnancy... anyway, you live and learn. I got the glucose screening done at this months checkup.. the first test came back abnormal so I went in for a 3 hour test yesterday, and just heard today that the tests came back normal. So, yay, no gestational diabetes!

The baby has been moving a lot lately. She's doing all sorts of kicks, and flips and somersaults.... yep, our little gymnast she is. Feels really wierd, but cool. I just wish I didn't get nauseous from it. I can even see my belly move at times when she kicks... she packs quite a punch. When Shel puts his hands on my belly, she stops... he's got the midas touch, so he thinks :)

With the growing baby, my belly is also expanding day by day. It's much bigger in the last week or so...

> We're starting to work on the nursery... but it's a slow process for us. We found some bedding and a crib, which we just got yesterday, and still need to put together. It's pretty short, so I'm worried that it won't be comfortable to get the baby in and out... we'll see. For the bedding, we listened to our practical sides, (or rather, Shel's practical side) and chose a neutral set... it's green, brown and beige, with some abstract patterns. Now, we have to find a dresser and accent pieces, and put the room together. Oh, and we have to paint the room. Also, we've decided to try and paint some original art for baby... we'll see if it comes to fruition.


Well, that's it for now. We still have lots to do in the last 3 months before the baby's here. Not just the nursery, but several little projects around the house. Pressure is on now :)

adventures in babysitting...

Last Friday night we baby sat for Nicole and Mike... we read a couple of bedtime stories to Kate (almost 2) before tucking her in. She's also getting to know us a bit more... we tried to teach her our names and though Nikki comes out like "wrackii" and Sheldon comes out like "shashu", she's on the right track :)

She apparently has made it a habit to sneak out of her room after bedtime these days, and so the streak continued. We caught her trying to sneak out a few times, and then she finally just gave up and stayed in her room, though she didn't fall asleep for a good 30-45 minutes. She's so cute!

Lara (4 mo.) was an angel... she woke up a few times but all it takes is to put her pacifier back in her mouth and off to sleep she goes. What a sweetie!


Hopefully our kids can be as good as these two were!

5th wedding anniversary

Shel and I celebrated our first milestone wedding anniversary (5 years) on Aug 6-7. Five years is a long time, but we've had a great ride! So many memories...

> getting through the wedding was a challenge in itself due to the two ceremonies and very different cultures we had to meld together

> buying a house and finally starting a life together under the same roof

> postponing our honeymoon due to hurricane Gustav in Sept 04!! I was not at all a happy camper when we had to cancel the trip the day we were supposed to fly out to Florida for our cruise... but luckily we got to finally make the trip in Feb 05

> working at the same company... I loved our lunches together

> making the big move to Austin... yee haw!

> taking our trips to fun places like Scotland, Wales, England, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and most recently to Italy. You are the best travel partner!

> Starting a family... can't wait to meet our little girl :)

> and the list could go on and on...

Shel, life with you over the last 5 years has been wonderful... here's to many many more! In September we'll have known each other for 12 years...can't believe we've known each other for over a decade! Love you hun :)

Our celebrations were low key... On Aug 6th, we went to dinner at The Belmont and dessert was waiting for us back at home... the giant cookie cake...yum!



On Aug 7th, Shel took the day off of work and we had a lazy morning sleeping in and then drove to Llano to the famous Cooper's bbq place. It was good, but wouldn't take a special trip out for that again... Rudy's has spoiled us. We stopped off to see Lake Buchanan on our way back, but with the low lake levels, it was a sad sight. We got back home that afternoon, tired and hot... just in time for a nap (for Nikki anyway).


That evening we spent some time prepping for our future with kids by babysitting for Nicole and Mike. More on that later...

And that's our anniversary in a nutshell :)

24ish weeks: baby movements and more

I'm super excited to finally be able to say that I can feel the baby moving around! It happened for the first time Sunday night (8/2/09) before going to bed... I was just lying there and all of a sudden, I felt a little thump inside. Then another one... I told Shel and he put his hand on my stomach to feel her too. It's much harder for him to feel, but he did! It's such an awesome feeling... hard to describe, but it's amazing to feel your child move around inside of you. Ever since then, I've been feeling her now and then...she has periods of high activity and then she settles down.

In other happenings...

The prenatal yoga classes have been going very well. I've just been going once a week and today was the 3rd time. I try and do it on my own at home on other days. It's just so relaxing and it seems to be helping with my back pain and other sore spots.

For the last two weekends we've been meaning to paint the nursery, but other things always pop up. Shel has been knocking off lots of things on the honey-do list like... trimming the trees, installing knobs on our kitchen cabs and over the past weekend we painted our dining room and entertainment nook (which we might have to repaint as I'm unsure about the color). We've had some of these on the laundry list for over a year now :) Oh well, better late than never.




The weekend before last, we had poker night at Neena and Vijay's place... Nicole and Mike rounded out the group. So, I usually don't walk away with winning... sometimes I break even, sometimes I lose it all, and I think maybe once I won big. This time, I was the clear chip leader... I won some great hands :) I'll have to give some credit to baby as she most likely brought me luck ;-) Hopefully that luck continues after she's born... he he.




People have been asking whether I get any strange cravings, and honestly, I haven't had anything really weird. I love to have different kinds of fruits these days... we went through a 3 pack of cantaloupes in about a week, got a giant watermelon last week, but so far we've only eaten half of it...I get the usual apples, bananas and grapes, but also got some yummy nectarines last week. Oh, and I am loving coconut water too... I've found fresh baby coconuts at Whole Foods and the Indian store and they are so refreshing! I'm getting my appetite back so I am able to eat normal amounts of food, but I still go through mood swings now and then.


We went to the ICA bowling event that Shel organized a couple of weekends ago. Although it's fun to watch for a little while, it gets a bit old when you can't actually bowl yourself... I suppose I could have, but I didn't think it was a good idea to be swinging a 10 lb ball around and risk loosing my balance :) At least I wasn't the only one on the bench... Smeetha is also preggers so she wasn't bowling either.

Last weekend, I got a chance to wear a saree... first time as a prego woman, and you know, it wasn't that bad! It was for Rohini and Arun's baby naming ceremony. I am just glad I was able to carry it off and not fall!

Mom and Dad stopped by for a night last week on the tail end of their 2 week+ road trip. They were heading back home to Houston from Cali and Arizona. Next, they're heading East on another road trip, so they've gotten a lot of traveling in this summer. It's good to see them finally free to take these kinds of trips vs. being chained to their business.

Our 5th wedding anniversary is coming up in just a few short days. I'm not sure yet what to get for Shel... I really should have planned ahead for this milestone. I'll have to come up with something creative soon!