Bells

Little Bobby boy played for long with these pair of silver bells today. Cooing at them, tapping at them to make them ring, watching them as they swing!

Then it was obvious, expected even, that I came up with a new name for little Bobby boy. He's now also known as Bobby Bells! 

All till I find other names. Check back tomorrow :-).

The Five Stages of Doom

With some examination, little miss Haana and I have come up with the following stages of crying with the little Bobby boy.

Stage 1: Bobby looks a little restless. Stops whatever he was doing, turns his head this way and that with a scowl but no crying yet. He sounds like he's gasping for breath.

If parents' alarm bells have not starting ringing yet, they should.

Stage 2: Soon after stage 1, comes the initial crying stage. The scowl has gotten deeper and now had some initial sound effects. It's still sounding like restlessness and not really full on crying yet, but things are changing fast.

Stage 3: Ever heard peacocks calling out? That's what little Bobby boy sounds like in stage 3, preceeded with a distinctive "La" sound. It sound like a long "Laaa" that sounds like peacocks are calling from the forest.

The little boy is obviously not happy, but he hasn't given up hope or confidence in his parents' ability to do things right by him. So even though he sounds somewhat restless, he's not mad just yet. All that could change very quickly.

Stage 4: Things have quickly degraded now. The little Bobby boy had given the benefit of doubt but has had it by now. He is mad. This calls for some full throttle crying: eyes shut tight, mouth wide open -as wide as it can go,  giving full view of the tonsils and potentially the stomach's contents too, face - a beat root red, entire body  a beet root red, hands tightly wound into fists. Screaming bloody murder now.

Things are not looking good for the Parents!

Stage 5: This is stage 4 with white hot intensity. He's screaming in such earnest that he's either losing his voice or he's gone super sonic. Most likely the later. So its the same effects as stage 4, except the mouth wide open now with no sound. (If you think stage 5 is better in any way than stage 4 because you don't hear him scream, it is not!).

Parents - you've failed in parenting -little Bobby boy says it all with his super sonic crying.

Number of times we've been to stage 5: too many to count! :-(

Big Boy 1

The little newborn boy is today 1 month old. Both Mumma and big sister have been reminding him he's not a little newborn baby anymore, he's an old man now! All of 1 month! To commemorate the date, we did what one would expect. Little miss Haana and I baked a cake, sang a happy birthday song with 1 candle on the cake, blew the candle and had ourselves sone good chocolate cake without sharing with the little Bobby boy. We consoled him, he may be getting some chocolate milk in his next breast milk installment!

Last few days has seen several other firsts. Starting yesterday the cute little Bobby boy started smiling looking at people. No surprises he gave his first smile to dad, the kid magnet! But subsequent smiles were imparted to mom and big sister Haana too.

Also a surprise occurrence that happened day before yesterday, when he was placed for his tummy time, the little Bobby boy was trying to push off using his legs and suddenly, he turned over! Everyone, including the little boy, was surprised. I cheered. I placed him on the tummy again, but the feat was not repeated again. I even tried to give him an extra push to make him roll over. Suffices to say, it was not well appreciated! :-O

Hair cut and Mumma is Always Right

I had been building up the need for little miss Haana to get her hair trimmed for months now. Even though she has hair upto her waist, the suggestion was always met with stiff resistance. To make matters worse and add to my irritation, she doesn't comb her hair for days.. Several times I would get irritated and tell her she's not taking care of her hair and hence, I need to be in charge of the grooming druffleds including getting them trimmed. In such instances, a fight would ensue, feathers would get ruffled, finally a compromise would be struck with promises of undertaking deligent grooming morning and night everyday. This new arrangement would last for half a day, and then rinse-and-repeat!

With covid pandemic, all salons are closed and so i decided I must trim her hair myself. This time the fight and compromise ensued, but Papa reasoned that trimming is actually good for the hair. So, little miss Haana reluctantly agreed for me to trim her hair "only 1 inch" from the bottom.

And this I did. Except i trimmed maybe 2.5-3 inches. They were still up till her mid back. She grumbled a little bit that I took off more than the promised 1 inch, but wasn't too mad at me, since they were still quite long. Once they dried and she saw they really looked better, she quite liked them this way.

In fact, she liked her haircut so much that she decided she wants to go even shorter. Another 2-3 inches, getting the hair to a little below shoulder. I thought they would look much better at that length too. But I also wanted to milk it while I could. So I said, "Sure I can cut them again. But you have to repeat a 100 times: 'Mumma was right, as usual'!" She rolled her eyes, and repeated 'Mumma was right as usual' in deadpan,  repeat mode, which totally killed any satisfaction I imagined I would get out of it!

Next day, after being on my case about it, I gave her another hair cut. We both were super pleased with the outcome! Finally, one story where we both ended up happy!

Big Sister and the Little Bro

Little miss Haana takes her big sister-hood very seriously. She dotes on her little brother, making up nicknames for him, wanting to play with him, holding him (including holding him up like Simba was introduced to the jungle in Lion King) and even reading to him.

A few years back I had carton-ed away some of little miss Haana's favorite books to the garage. These were the books she loved reading growing up, some with beautiful pictures, others that we used to read in a sing-song sing-along fashion, and still more that were just classics like cat in the hat. Last week I asked Raj to excavate the carton so we could get a few books out and introduce them to Bobby boy. Little miss Haana found one of her favorites - The Day the Crayons Quit book amongst them. We used to love that book. She enjoyed reading it again after years. She found little Bobby boy in his little bouncer seat, and decided to read to him, showing him the pictures, explaining what is happening. Bobby boy followed along closely too!

Sugar

After all the complaining I did for my Gestational Diabetes here, this is my moment to gloat. Here are the risks of high blood sugar for the baby: " untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby... extra blood glucose (in mom) goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This causes the baby's pancreas to make extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. Since the baby is getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, the extra energy is stored as fat...This can lead to macrosomia, or a "fat" baby. Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems. Babies born with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes."

After little Bobby boy was born, they tested his blood sugar every 3 hours for the first 24 hours of his life. That also meant the little thing was poked repeatedly every few hours with a needle. And while I would wince at the needle poking, this little trooper hardly cried at the needle pokes.

Meanwhile, the blood sugar levels, which were supposed to be above 40 for the newborn baby; were splendidly in the 50s and 60s for each blood test. In the spirit of parenting that takes credit for the achievements of our children, I take some credit for keeping my sugar levels in check during pregnancy for that B-)!

Road To Haana

Before Bobby boy was due to arrive, I wondered what to do with this blog. Surely, much like with little miss Haana, I want to capture the big little moments of Bobby boy into a blog as well. But was roadtohaana a blog about little miss Haana only? And so, a blog about the little boy should be a different blog? But wouldn't they both be part of each other's lives, experiences and consequently, the blogs?

On the Hawaiian island of Maui, Haana is a place on the western edge of the island. Remote and beautiful, with hills, the ocean, cliffs and beach. The road to Haana is the scenic route along the ocean covering half of the island replete with cliffs, stunning views, black volcanic sand beaches, waterfalls, fruit stalls. It is my proverbial beautiful road where the journey is so amazing, you don't want to reach anywhere. That's the essence of my blog roadToHaana. Life with little miss Haana and now Bobby boy has been so wonderful that every moment must last forever. Moments to savor.

So, the blog continues. What started with little miss Haana will now also chronicle little Bobby boy. Hopefully for a long time!

The Dreaded Covid

The coming of a baby is momentous for the whole family, especially the parents. A life event that marks calendars for the rest of everyone's lifetime in the family.

This year, though, the happenings in the spring of 2020 were unprecedented all on their own too. Early 2020 saw the rise of a pandemic of Covid-19 virus, starting from China but quickly spreading all across the globe to every country. With the virus spreading through droplets in the air, like the flu and influenza; surviving on surfaces for several hours to days; and with humans having no resistance to the virus; the number of affected individuals rose across the world at alarming speed. This prompted countries across the world to shut down most businesses, calling for people to stay home to avoid interaction and spread of the virus. The new term "social distancing", maintaining at least 6 feet distance with other individuals not living together, became a household mantra. The world economy came to a grinding halt with scores of businesses shutting down during the pandemic and others requiring their employees to work from home, in order to avoid increasing risk of exposure. Daily wage earners are severely affected, also hurt are service sector businesses and travel industry with significant travel restrictions to stymie the spread of the virus.

Across the world, people are affected, and what was an obscure disease in one corner of the world has, with a few weeks, taken over the lifestyle, economy, news, politics and administrations across the world.

For me, the timing was momentous. Little Bobby  boy was due to arrive right as the news of the pandemic was intensifying in the US in March 2020, and things were changing on a daily basis. And with that, so were our plans.

Grand parents had planned to visit us for little Bobby boy's arrival; but with the evolving situation of the pandemic getting worse across the world we thought it was very risky for them to make the journey. We asked them to stay put and not travel at such a time. Turns out, it was a good idea. In days most travel between countries like India and the US was suspended anyway.

I had looked for a nanny to help with the new baby at home especially since we realized we will not have help from family. But turned out, once we returned from the hospital with little Bobby boy, the nanny lady was sick with flu like symptoms. Given the pandemic, mutually we decided it's best for her not to start on the nanny job till she recovers and the pandemic clears off.

The visitation policy in the hospital had been updated due to the pandemic, and we learnt that little miss Haana cannot visit the hospital at all during my stay. We decided she was to stay with her best pal Rushil, taken care of by her doting aunt Ranjeeta and uncle Sai. She was bummed about not being able to see her baby brother till 4 days later when we get home, but, also, was stoked about spending several days with Rushil. I missed her during the hospital stay to the point that I had been dreaming of her!

During our stay at the hospital, we were barely able to leave the room to limit interaction and possibility of infection spread. Although these measures were no doubt needed, it felt like a room arrest!

Rajesh's sister helped tremendously delivering delicious home cooked food, a huge thing, and something I looked forward to eagerly twice a day! She did this for the first week or more, an enormous help when we would have otherwise have been too overwhelmed to look into it ourselves.

Schools were closed in most states due to the pandemic. And all offices issued work from home directives. This meant both Rajesh and little Miss Haana were at home. I am on my maternity leave. And so it was the 3 of us taking care of the new little Bobby boy. In some ways it's been a boon, spending extended time together, with the new little Bobby boy; something that would otherwise not be possible. Last time when little miss Haana was just born, I remember being frustrated with the continuous cycles of feeding every 2 hrs, cause it meant I cannot even step out of the house without careful timing and planning. This time, due to the pandemic, there's nowhere to go, nowhere to step out to! With social distancing all visits with friends and family are replaced with virtual interaction with video or voice calls instead.

Today about 1/3rd of my maternity leave is over. And while no one would wish for a pandemic, I am thankful to have little miss Haana be at home and bond with her little brother. Thankful to have Rajesh at home which is an immense help with pretty much every thing. Thankful to spend time as a family together under one roof.

It is scary having a newborn baby in the backdrop of this virus. But as the pandemic continues, I am thankful for a lot so far. Most of all, thankful for the health of all my loved ones.

Perhaps months, years or decades later we will look back and marvel at how strange things were that spring of 2020!

Big Boy

Once little Bobby boy had fixed his few moments of intense concentration on my face, I had to have this straight one on one talk with him:
Look at you! You're not a little newborn baby boy any more, are you? You're a big boy now, almost 1 month old! No longer the newborn tiny baby any more, are you?! You're a big boy now, right? A big 1 month old boy!
He seemed to listen and appreciate the gravity of being all of one month old! :)

Andrea Bocelli

When little miss Haana was about 6 months old, I was flipping channels on TV one day and came across an Andrea Bocelli concert recording on PBS. I kept the channel. The little girl had just started standing up holding on to the couch. She was fidgeting.

I turned up the volume a little bit to listen to the concert recording. He was singing Conte Partiro (time to say goodbye). All of us, the little girl especially, just stood stoned by the richness and beauty of the voice. I've always felt that Andrea Bocelli's voice is how the voice of Gods must sound. It is beautiful beyond words. It matters not that neither of us could understand the lyrics of the Italian song. His voice has an effect beyond words and language. And even babies grasp that. Little miss Haana stood glued to her spot holding on to the couch, transported to a different place by the power of that beautiful voice.

Yesterday I was listening to a concert Bocelli sang in Milan for Easter, he sang of hope in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic that has stalled life across the planet. I was sitting holding Bobby boy, all of 3 weeks old, and fidgeting as babies oftentimes do for any number of reasons. I had not heard most of the songs he sang in the concert. And yet, both Bobby boy and I were mesmerized listening to the concert on YouTube. The boy stopped his fidgeting, and stared at a distance listening intently and quietly. 30 minutes passed. I played the Conte Partiro after that and hummed along that beautiful song. Bobby boy seemed to appreciate that too.

What is it about such music that even few weeks old babies just get! Outside of language, training, education, culture. Happy easter everyone.

Bobby Boy - What's in a Name

I will be honest, I'm not quite a baby person. I don't see babies and melt inside, want to hold them, coo at them or make baby sounds or faces at them. None of the above. In 99.99% cases, I'm the person who, compliments the parents on how cute/sweet the baby is, says some form of baby hello, and then moves on to other topics of conversation.

The first time I found a baby heart-meltingly cute and breath-takingly beautiful was when i saw, for the very first time, little miss Haana. She was (and  is) so perfect, I felt scared if I take my eyes off of her, something might happen; like I might get woken up from a beautiful dream. I kept her in my arms and could not sleep the first night at the hospital. Over the years there were a few babies I found cute.. two who would become little miss Haana's best friends - Rushil and Anya. Then, several years later little miss Haana's cousin and my nephew Varam. Some friends' children.

But then there was Umber, and suddenly i'm hit by the same wonder. How perfect and how amazing is this little baby boy. Is he really real. Just watching him, holding him, caressing him is so special.

Another side effect of this cute-ness is that calling just 1 name just doesn't seem enough. Little miss Haana has had several nicknames, they sprout whenever, wherever. Whichever word I fancy and find befitting with cuteness. Sweetles, sweetledo, baby thing, cutely, pyaara (hindi for lovely), sweeta.. The list is long and endless. Over time the names ranged from how she appeared as a baby to how she was as a person, as I learnt more about her. Over time the nicknames would be ways in which I would laugh at her and with her; almost as much as I am in love with her. Gugu has been the mainstay nickname for her; ga-ga-gu-gu were the first syllables the spoke, and hence the name!

Now with the baby boy Umber, history is set to repeat itself. Apart from the list of names little miss Haana and I came you with a while back, new names pop up every other day. He routinely goes by The boy, Bobby boy, Bumblebee, baby bells, inky dink, dinky ink, billa (hindi for male cat)...
The list is open ended but the mainstay seems to be Bobby boy. For now anyway!

Tummy Time

Yesterday evening, I put little Bobby boy on a play mat on his tummy. Putting small babies on their tummy is important for their physical and mental development. It encourages them to pull up their heads, bringing better head and neck control as well as better motor control. Tummy time also ensures their skull, that is still made of disjointed bones, is developing well. I'm sure there are other benefits i'm missing here.

So, last night, I thought it's time to crack the whip  and get the boy working on his tummy. I was bracing for the worst too; little miss Haana didn't make any secrets about her dislike for the tummy time. As a baby she would hate it, grunt, get red in the face, get mad and finally scream bloody murder! But not the boy. He froze for a few seconds, trying to figure out what's happening. But then he pulled up his head, turned to the other side. He did this several times. Kicked his legs too.

Little miss Haana and I watched these efforts with the excitement of cheerleaders. We clapped and cheered him on,  "Yeah! You can do it!". The obvious next step for our cheerleading was to come up with our own jingle to cheer him on, although, there wasn't a direct connection between his efforts and our cheer leading.
"G.O.B.O.B.B.Y, yeah, Go Bobby, Yeah Go Bobby...", I went, while little miss Haana came up with the beats vocals for it! And most certainly encouraged by our singing and instrumentals, the trooper boy kicked on!! :D

2 Week

Yesterday was Bobby boy's 2 week check up with the pediatrician. While he and I waited for his doctor to show, we heard another baby in the room next door crying out loud. I worried about what our near future will look like.

Soon the doctor was here. He got weighed, measured and checked out. He got a good report. And then it was time for some blood. He got poked on his left heel and oodles of blood was collected, all  accompanied by angry crying, all for metabolic testing!

Meanwhile, at home, a new development milestone umraveled. Unlike the sleepy baby just back from the hospital, content being swaddled tight into a cocoon, now the little Bobby boy's legs are starting to kick and cycle!

Diaper Changes

In the very first meeting with my newborn Bobby boy, we realized he doesn't have a booming loud voice like some little baby we have known (Not naming names, but the name might start with an 'H' and end with 'aana'). In fact at the operating theatre, hearing the little baby cry was beautiful music to my ears.

But not having a loud crying voice must not be mistaken as not having an opinion! As was learnt soon enough, little Bobby boy doesn't appreciate having his diapers changed. Or his leggy legs exposed for the outside world to see!

He would be looking all sleepy and sweet, calm and serene. But then, as soon as those legs are exposed or one begins to embark on a diaper changing expedition, suddenly, the sun is covered with dark grey clouds, thunder claps, lightening strikes. Calm serene baby is now mad and red. And there is screaming. Good old, wide mouthed, full throated, God-forsaken anger in earnest. Though the volume levels aren't quite like some babies we've known; no one will second guess on the anger levels with this one!

Of course the question I get is, where he gets all his opiniated anger from. Both he and little miss Haana. "I don't know!", is my standard reply.

Win-Win

Finally, all the classes and the riding on little miss Haana to make her practice, and the heartburn and fights when she didn't; all of it is finally paying off!!

Little miss Haana is such a sweet, caring big sister. Last few days as soon as the little Bobby boy is unhappy and fixing to cry, she immediately runs to get her violin and gives him a private performance. He immediately grows silent and watchful and listens with appreciation! She has a captive audience. I have a calm baby. Bobby boy feels better, at least for the time being. It's a win- win for everybody!!