Snehal.org

So yeah the whole keep up with the blog thing didn’t pan out.  Can you blame me? It’s hard enough keeping track of Facebook.  Even Twitter has fallen onto some hard times and I generally get on it during Braves games.

Anyway, the reason for this momentous return to blogging is as follows:  Riya went to bed on her own!  Not a big deal you say for a four year old, but consider the whole scenario before you make that call.  In the evening Neetu and I split the dinner giving/oversight duties between Riya and Isha.  After dinner Neetu took Riya upstairs to put her clothes away while I watched Isha.  I had my dinner while I was waiting for those two to get done with the folding etc.  Riya and Neetu came down to give Riya her milk and Neetu observed that she still had not had dinner.  At this point I was watching Isha and she wouldn’t let Neetu eat in peace so I suggested that “Riya why don’t you go to bed on your own tonight?”.  Neetu immediately interjected that it was fine and that she could eat afterwards, but Riya proudly stated “No mamma you eat and I’ll go to bed on my own tonight!”. 

OMG!  So we did our hugs (Riya and I do a big hug thing where she tried to squeeze the heck out of me) downstairs and she came up and went to bed. And while she is a sleep I scarcely believe it!  So there you go…the reason for the blog update.

Since I have not updated the pics on here (you should have seen all this on Facebook but in case you have not…)

Not sure how high we are right now but we’re on the BOM (Mumbai) to AMS (Amsterdam) leg.  We were in India for the last sixteen days or something like that and it was a blast.  I’m trying to figure out how to even begin blogging on all that has happened.  I’ll try but it feels like this is going to be a long run on sentence. 

Leaving Atlanta

The trip started off like a quest in LOTR (Lord Of The Rings); the company was formed of Dad, Tina, Neetu, myself, Miti, Riya and Isha.  The best part of travelling with Mr. Platinum SkyMiles Member (Dad) is that your get to cut lines everywhere and get access to the Delta SkyClub or whatever it’s called. The bad of travelling with an infant and a four year old is that you end up having a lot of bags.  We had two items each as carry-ons and with Neetu carrying Isha, it felt like I was Rambo with military gear.

The first twenty or so minutes of the flight were utter hell!  Isha was wailing and there was nothing that Neetu and I could do to make her stop. Eventually she fell asleep and that was the the last time she cried on the the entire trip to Mumbai. 

Amsterdam

It was a small layover and the only thing that need be said is that I got busted for taking pictures at the airport.  Apparently you can’t take pictures of the gates, the gate number or the people working the gates.  They made me delete them…punks. 

Mumbai

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful (or events that need not be mentioned on a blog, there are always those in my life!). 

Here are some pics from the journey to India. (Thanks Miti for taking them)

More pics as I get them from Neetu’s camera.  She has some from the AMS airport.

I guess it’s the mad rush before the trip next week and so life just seems more hectic than usual.  Neetu had a lot of things going on at work; which is not all that unusual.  She went to Savannah (flew) Mon/Tuesday and then drove to Columbus Wednesday and then in the evening to Athens!  Speaking of Athens a big hearty congratulations to Rizwan and Tasneem for the birth of their second daughter, Razia.  Wednesday was the naming ceremony for Razia and while I couldn’t go because of on-call work (more on my work later), Neetu took Isha and Riya to welcome the baby (the reason Neetu drove to Athens).

My work week has been rather hectic as well.  While I have not been travelling, I have gone into the office each day (I normally telecommute two days a week) and have been in all day work meetings.  What could be so exciting? Installing WebSphere for Maximo in a HA cluster as a proof of concept!  Yah it’s that exciting!   It’s a new platform for us and that makes it interesting and fun, but most of you are probably thinking –nerd-. 

Riya and Isha had a normal week.  They did get to spend a lot of time with dad but I think the Wednesday night trip to Athens should have appeased the mommy time that they were both missing.  On both days that Neetu was gone the last thing Riya would ask is “When is mommy coming home?” and “Can you ask her to come to my room for a hug and a kiss when she gets back?”

Some pics from this week.

I know this poor guy has been ignored in favor of Facebook/Twitter and other social media sites but I’m going to bring it back….for real this time.  Heck Neetu’s had more blogs than I have in the last few months!  With that out of the way…

I’ll be introducing a new element to the blog (hopefully) this weekend and improve it quite soon.  More on that in a later post.  I just wanted to make you guys aware of it and build up a bit of anticipation for it (even if it’s just my dad ).

The Week in Review

Isha: This was the first full week with our new nanny who we’ve gotten to take care of Isha since Neetu’s mom is in India for the next few months.  The first few days were a bit tough, Isha has started recognizing people and so it took her a bit to adjust but it’s all good now.  Neetu’s maternal instincts kicked in early and she had a little bit of a tough time adjusting to what is essentially a stranger taking care of her baby.  The nanny is doing a great job with Isha and week one seems to have been alright.

Neetu had a lot easier time adjusting to the food the nanny has cooked up this week!  

Monday: Shahi Paneer;
Tuesday: Rotli Shak
Wednesday: Dosa!!
Thursday: Andhavo (Lunch); Normal Fare
Friday: Normal Fare (Rotli, daal, shak)

Riya had a big week; she had to get her vaccinations, four wonderful shots in the thighs.  You should have seen her walking around like an old lady because her legs were hurting.  She did really well working through the pain, having a goofy daddy that you want to chase around helps with the cause.  Of course the first thing she said when she got the shots was “MOMMMMMMMY! I want MOMMMMY”; I suppose some things will never change.

I am not sure if many of you know but Riya was in a commercial for a local indoor soccer place for kids! The commercial was filmed last year (embeded below) but the reason I bring this up here is because her daycare teacher asked me “One of the other teachers just told me that Riya was in a commercial is that true?!” How cool is that!

Snehal: It’s been a quiet week for me (I’m going to ignore the basement flooding and count that into last week).  Had a great time over dinner with some of my friends from the tennis team on Monday (Robert/Chris and their significant others).  Fine food, wine and great company are the best of things.  Speaking of wine, Sonia has introduced the family into a new tradition of having a glass of red with dinner and we have obliged for the most part!  Having Sonia around is a lot of fun, she like spicy food, desserts and helps make fun of Neetu at times; I couldn’t ask more from a sister-in-law.

That’s all for now..wow that was fun and hopefully there will be one next Friday and not a Friday three months from now!

-Snehal

I had a great evening. I went to the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge (which offers lodging at no cost for cancer patients being treated in the Atlanta area) with the Citizens of Georgia Power to cook and serve a Thanksgiving dinner. We brought in the food (a full Thanksgiving meal), cooked it and served it to the patients. It was a full service affair, we delivered the food to their tables, got them drinks, refills, desserts and finally removed their plates when they were done!

One patient told me after their meal: “I have been here 7 months and this is the best meal I have had!”. I really think we made a difference in a lot of lives today, maybe just for one day, but we saw a lot of smiles and a lot of laughter in a place that desperately needs it.

A photo of the food we served:

Well so I have not been blogging as much as I should but..well yeah that’s my bad. I should get paid to blog! I think $1 per post shouldn’t be that big a deal especially since I am paying myself. (Dad you have to pay $1 to read my blog since you’re the only one who consistently reads this blog)!

So yah the 6 weeks to go bit; if you didn’t know we’re having our second child, science has proclaimed that this one will be a girl as well. I needed more estrogen around the house (sarcasm people) but Riya and I have an awesome bond and hopefully the second one won’t be a mama’s girl. Oh and while I’m making wishes she will also hold on to loving sports (like daddy) for a lot longer than Riya did.

Neetu has had a busy week, holding down the full time job and organizing the JSGA Youth Summer Camp. I think this year they had around 55 kids and plethora of volunteers where Neetu led the effort of keeping everyone occupied (also known as keeping sanity in some circles). Of course it wasn’t all her and there were some key people who made things happen and earned some mighty fine admiration from Neetu.

Riya is back into swimming classes. This time she is in Preschool 2 level classes and that translates to the parent not having to get in there with her. While she’s not the most proficient level 2′er (she skipped level 1 because her previous teacher thought that she would be bored in that class); she makes up for it by being totally fearless. In fact the first thing her teacher told me after the first class was “she’s fearless”.

What have I been up to? Boring stuff really… I assembled a desk (for my computers), worked on a website and played a bit of tennis.

No blogging for me as I have been sick.  Stupid “Cold”!  Here are some pics from the weekend.

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I have not looked at the Google Analytics report but I’m sure the only one hitting this blog right now is my dad!  (Thanks Dad)

Well new year, new start let’s see if I can get it down to at least a weekly post.  I think I have given up complete hope in the fact that Neetu will blog, granted she’s busy but so is Anita (http://www.ourworldisnotflat.com) and she seems to get something out every once in a while!  Honestly the inspiration behind working on the blog again comes from Paras and Anita.  So thanks you two for unknowingly pushing me in this direction when you started blogging.

House Update:

The paint is finally on the walls..well most of them anyway, the bedrooms should be done by the end of the week.  To say that Neetu and I agonized over this (not without again bothering the heck out of our Canadian super duo P! and Anita) would be an understatement.  In the end I think Neetu made some right calls and so far the colors look great.  Pics/Video will be posted as soon as all the work is done.

Due up on the house front: carpet installs next week.  Followed by furniture purchases: Family room, Riya’s bedroom, dining room and finally my office stuff.  Out of the air target for move in is March 1st but it’s possible that it’ll be 2nd week or March.

Snehal Update:

Well it’s not like you’re going to get a insightful Neetu update from me; that generally leads to me a being in a massive load of trouble.  I should probably make her the publisher and approve every blog post.

Work has been busy and my year end review went well last week.  That being said I have not been spending nearly as much time on Facebook as Shital and other will probably attest (though many are probably gladly attesting to the fact).  Heck I’m even averaging a tweet or two a day!

I’m not sure how many of you have heard of 365-Day Photo Project or even the 52-Week version but as the names hint you take a photo daily/weekly and upload it.  The rules are whatever you want to do and while a 365 would be nice, it’s probably impossible to do with quality (speaking for myself of course).  If nothing else it will force me to use my camera.  I think I’ll start my 365-day project from Neetu’s Birthday.

That’s all for now..more news forthcoming (hopefully daily and yes it’ll be mundane).

Riya Update:

Neetu had a baby shower to go to last weekend.  Riya for the past week has been stating that she wants to go to a baby shower, we said it was for adults only.  So she would grab Neetu’s things and announce that I am going to a baby shower.  As you can see to the right, Neetu’s heels, purse and of course the fashionable pajamas

That is all for now!

Snehal