My little baby turns 1.....

One year ago you came into our lives…and I cannot believe it has been a year already. Gosh.. where does time fly? We celebrated your 1st bday in San Francisco. You will always have festivities around your bday time as it is the middle of holiday season.
You speak a few words – you say “baaaa” for ball. I think you say “mmmmmmm” for mommy. You have the cutest curls I have ever seen and they frame your face in the most gorgeous manner that I have no heart to cut your hair.

Here’s who you are at your 1st bday:
1)A curious little monkey who loves to climb everywhere.
2)A water animal who loves to play with water at every opportunity you find. If you disappear for some time and we are not looking, you are most likely in the bathroom playing in the toilet.
3)You are a happy go lucky guy.. you are always always smiling. I love how your face lights up when we sing –“good morning neelu, good morning neelu, we are glad that you are awake”. The 3 of us huddle around every morning and sing a good morning song and a good night song to you.
4)The thing that makes me laugh the most is that whenever anyone says – upside down – you drop everything and put your head on the carpet waiting to be flipped over. It is the cutest thing.
5)You love love love your sister. You follow her every where. When you two play together it is very magical….. there’s a lot of laughter and a lot of sharing.
6)You love your daddy. You think of him as your peer.
7)You love to eat and try new food. We can give you anything to eat and you will eat it. Wow what a relief. I hope it stays.
8)You are a little flirt. When we go out shopping – I see you start smiling at all the women around and when they smile back – you give them the biggest smile.
9)You love talking on the phone – when you grab a phone, you put it to your ear and you start babbling.
10)Finally --- you love reading. You like books and are always carrying some book or the other.
11)You love to assert yourself. The other day when didi was playing with her ipad and wasn’t sharing with you. When she put it down and stepped away after a few minutes, you just jumped in to play with it. You were so quick.. I was blown away. Hmm… we may have to get your own ipad one of these days.

This past year has been wonderful with you. You have been a low maintenance baby. You are so independence that I am so proud of you for that. You play by yourself, you like to feed yourself. I love how you just toddle around everywhere. You took your first steps on diwali and within 2 weeks you have been running everywhere…..

Happy Birthday Neel.....

Happy Birthday my little boy Neel. Someday when you read this you won’t be so little and you will be embarrassed by this writing, at least until you have children of your own, and then you won’t think it so maudlin’.

You joined us 365 days ago, on a Saturday. It was very kind of you to be born on a Saturday so that Daddy didn’t have to take too many days off, and Mommy could pack Daddy off to work on Tuesday. You also decided to come around the day after your uncle Vipul was born, so you and him now share adjacent birthdays. Yay!

There have been so many precious moments with you. I can hardly remember the first few months, things just mash into each other. Thank god for the Flip camcorder and our workhorse DSLR camera. We have taken literally thousands of pictures of you and we enjoy looking at all of them.

These days you toddle around. You started to go bipedal about a month ago, but you started hesitatingly. You would take two steps and then sit down, and then do you funny crab-crawl the rest of the way. It is only recently that you have started to walk everywhere. We have nicknamed (well, I did) you ‘Toddle’ because you toddle everywhere. You are insanely curious. You will walk everywhere and open doors and start pulling things out. We have had to block off access to the kitchen.

You are also insanely strong. When you grab something we literally have to exert force to get it out of your hands. It is really funny going mano a mano with you, to get you to let go of something. It is frequently wiser to offer you another toy or something else to hold.

You have absolutely no attention span, which works great for us. If we need to distract you, it’s easy. If we need to make you look somewhere else, or calm you down, it’s easy.

One of the things we have to constantly guard against is your tendency to stick your hand in the toilet. You love to play with water-and you love to toddle into the bathroom and start splashing around in the toilet. It is funny and disgusting at the same time. Little Toddle!

You have developed the most amazing smile and we love to look at it. You are such a happy little boy, that you flash your smile all throughout the day. Between your smile, your gorgeous curls and your four teeth, you are the handsomest little boy for miles around.

We are fortunate that you have developed a little bag of tricks to keep yourself occupied. When we put your mouth to a glass of water, you start gurgling it instead of drinking it. We have to give you water using a spoon or a baby bottle. You have also learnt to carry a tune by tapping your palm against your mouth while you say ‘ahhhh’.

Getting you to sleep is accomplished in one of two ways. Up until recently we would take you into a dark bathroom, and softly sing to you. But lately that has not worked. So we just let you putter around until you sit down and start rubbing your eyes, then I take you to bed and lay you down so your face is lying on my chest, and start caressing you. You protest one or two times and then you fall asleep.
You have also found a favorite book, the Numbers book from the Baby Einstein series. You take that book, and you flip through the pages. At night you love it when we read a book to you. The rule of thumb is that your sister gets 3 books and however many stories she can cajole out of us and you get one book.

You follow your sister everywhere. Lately, you have been climbing up on the stepladder right along with your sister, a practice that scared us at first but now we are used to me. Actually, you love to climb. You are able to climb one or two flights of stairs but are not able to come down, so we have to follow you and bring you back down. That follows what your sister used to do-she loved to climb stairs.

You and your sister really do love each other... it is so cute watching the both of you play. You fight back now also, when she takes something from your hand. You will scream. When we go to your sister's preschool, she becomes very possessive and does not let any kid near you. You are one popular baby at school... you love the attention that you get and you keep smiling...she how your sister holds you during circle time...

Walking... Walking.. Walking...

You took your first 2 steps on Diwali day (November 5th) and since then you have been walking walking.. walking. Well almost. You take 2-3 steps and then you plonk down. You love your new freedom.

Neel at 10 months...

Neelu Neelu--- little Neelu! You are the cutest little baby and the happiest little baby that I have ever seen. Sometimes I wish that you never grow up. Here you are at 10 month -- cruising all over the house. You speak with grunting but somehow we can all communicate quite well. You love love love to eat food, the more variety the better.

When I look back at your first year -- I am always going to remember these things:

1) You could eat! You loved to eat! I would have to serve you atleast 3 or 4 different things each time.

2) You always had a smile.. no matter what if you fell or didi pulled your hair. You just had a smile.

3) Your giggles -- I think I am going to have to record them so I can listen to them whenever I want when you become big.

4) You liked to sleep upside down on the bed. You had to sleep in the opposite direction when we were all sleeping.

5) You know how to assert yourself. If you want something or if you need to fight with Simone you know how to make yourself heard.


We love you soooooo much!

I will not sleep

You are such a smiley baby! No matter what, tired, cranky, hurt, or upset, you always have a smile. Your smile is beautiful... You are very naughty when it comes to sleeping. When you don't want all you want to do is play...

Here you are playing with us and it is 11pm at night! Boy you babble so much. It is the cutest thing. In some ways I wish you would stay this little forever coz you are such so cute.

Neel's first class

Wow.. look how fast you are growing up. This is the video from your first class ever. We signed you up for a gym class and you had a blast. Initially you were a little scared and didn't know what to expect, but once you got comfortable you had a blast.

How we play together

Mummy and Neel in Hawaii

You know neely neel - one of my favorite memories of your infanthood so far has to be in Hawaii when we were lying on the grass and looking up at the sky. Daddy and Simone had gone to the beach to watch the sunset. I just wanted to sit down and hang out with you. I was lying on grass and you were on top of me and together we kept looking at the palm tree and singing. It was so magical! We did that for almost 45 minutes. I would say, "aaaahhhhhhhh" and you would respond back with "ahhhhhhhhhhh".

So much fun and so much joy!

Neel standing up....

First steps towards independence.........

Neel loves to play with balls

Neel and Simone playing....

It is so magical when they play.. even when she pushes him away, he comes back all smiles...

Neel's first tabla lesson

Neel early crawling

Neel the paper eater

Neel my darling little son, you are so dear to mummy! Every day you make me love you just a little more than the day before. We are scooting now.. you can move from one end of the room to the other very quickly by thrusting your body. You are also starting to stand now. You just lift yourself up and occasionally holding onto whatever you are holding you will take a step or two forward. Your legs are very strong. You love climbing the mummy hill.

The naughtiest thing you do is to chew paper. We cannot leave a single sheet or a sliver of paper around you, unless we want it in your mouth. You are so quick to put it in your mouth and the next thing we see is your mouth munching on something. It often ends with me shoving my finger down your mouth and you crying at retaliation.
We are in India now and having a blast at Nana’s home. Everyone wants to hold all the time. They carry you around the house..take you out into the garden. I will talk more about the India trip in a separate post.

Recounting your first international journey

How on earth did Mummy manage to take you and your big sister, along with 4 suitcases, 3 carry on bags, didi’s backpack, 1 car seat and 1 stroller all the way to India alone on a 36 hour journey? It was crazy but super fun. You were a very good traveler and didn’t cause mummy any problems. We went from LA to Chicago to Delhi to our final destination Hyderabad. Along the way you played, ate, slept and repeated the cycle several times over. Several people double looked to see if I was insane to travel alone with 2 kids. We had lots of fun. On the flight from LA to Chicago – we played games as much as possible. When we got to the Chicago airport mummy found a wheel chair and made didi sit in it and put all the luggage in the chair and pushed it to our gate. We found a nice little corner where I fed you your first jarred food. It was okay. You had a few bites and didn’t care much for it. Next we changed you and tried to feed didi. We did a bathroom run only to find out that they were boarding the flight when we came back. We made a mad dash and boarded our plane. We got the only bassinet on the plane, but there’s a story behind that. I had packed some beads for us to play with. You love beads and didi loves to play with them too. Once we boarded the plane we were playing catch catch. All three of us were having so much fun that the other passengers kept smiling as they were walking by. 3 parents even said that they will come back to play with you guys since you were having so much fun. They did come back later in the flight but both of you were sleeping. We arrived at Delhi and this is where your sister had had enough with the journey. She was tried and cranky and I had woken her up from her sleep. What she wouldn’t have done to swap places with you in your Baby Bjorn. Oh well.. she cried a little well a lot actually, all the way through immigration. Nana had arranged for some cop to pick us up at the gate so that was very helpful as I plunked the entire hand luggage onto him to manage the two of you.

Once done with immigration, security, and customs we went to Claridges for the night. We had a blast there. You kept moving around all over the bed.. while Mummy and didi enjoyed some aapams and rasmalai. We took our baths and left for Hyderabad. Once we got here.. you happily went into Nana’s arms….

Neel's 6 month birthday

Happy 6 month bday Neel! We were all so happy and eager to celebrate your half a year with you. Infact Didi and mummy baked vanilla cupcakes for you from scratch along with homemade icing. Didi decorated each and every single cupcake for your bday while you were sleeping. When you woke up, we brought you out to the dining table and sang Happy Birthday! Since you have no idea on how to blow your candle, and that will be the case for a while, your didi blew the candle for you. You had no idea what was going on, you just went for the ride.

We all love you sooooo much little Neely Neel of ours.

Babble Babble Babble....

Neel the babbler.. yesterday was the first day you started to babble and boy did Neel babble. He babbled so much and so many different words. I was taken back. Neel you are such a cutie cutie..

Neel at 6 months

Hi.. Neely Neel… I cannot believe you are 6 months old. You are growing up so fast that we can barely keep up with you. You have crept in our hearts over the last 6 months and we all love you sooo much. At 6 months, here’s what your personality is like:

1. You do not like to be held. You are a wiggle bunny! Only daddy seems to be successful in holding.
2. You put your arms on everyone’s shoulder like you are little man. It’s so cute. Daddy really loves it when you put your arms around his neck. It’s like you two are having a man to man discussion.
3. You speak a lot…. You are always cooooing.
4. You smile a lot. No matter what you get up and start to smile.
5. You love your sister. You want to do everything she does, but you also love to pull her hair. Then she gets mad.
6. You love to eat. We cannot feed you enough, especially when it comes to solid food. You eat about 2-3 servings of solid food in 1 go.
7. You love books. I just put books near you and you try to flip the pages.

One of my most precious memory of you is going to be the time we spent on Kannapali Beach. Daddy and Simone had gone into and you and I were just hanging out on the grass. The sun was setting and we could hear the music from the happy hour close by. I was lying on grass and you were on top of me and we both kept looking up at the Palm Tree and kept cooing. I was singing songs to you. It was so much fun. We did that for almost 30 minutes. I had so much fun holding you. Mummy loves you! Did I tell you that you are one handsome little boy who has tons and tons of hair on his head?

All she wants to do is play with you...

Your didi really loves you. Most of the time she wants to do things with you and for you. She loves to teach you how to do things, she loves to feed you and hold you. In fact when we were at school yesterday she held in her arms for circle time till you unceremoniously barfed on her. Every so often she will snatch a toy from you or toss you around.

Here are some fun videos of the 2 of you:

Didn't I tell you that didi even loves to feed you? Here you go:

Neel starts to eat

Today was Neel's solid food ceremony and it was so much fun. We did the puja in a beautiful temple in Malibu surrounded by family and a few good friends. We missed the grand parents tremendously!

Mama and Myme and Daddy and Mommy have been soooo excited about feeding Neel that for the last few days that's all we talked about. Myme made the food for Neel. It was mashed rice with saffron. I made idli, sambhar, chutney, and rasmalai-rabri desert for the puja.

Our little cutie pie Neel wore a dhooti that Nana got for him for the puja and we served his first morsel in a silverware that Nana got from India. We had an amazing time today at the temple. Neel really enjoyed his food. Perhaps he was hungry but he couldn't get enough. Once the puja was done, he went to everyone who wanted to hold him and after a while, he promptly went to sleep, only to wake up at Mama's home.

Anita Masi also dropped by to feed Neel his solid food today. All in all, it was a fun day and Neel starts with journey of exploring and experience different types of foods.

5 month old Baby Neel.....

It is different having a male child than a female child. With the female child, you are all fun and games all the time, you feel OK with being silly. And not caring about things like height or weight or other physical attributes. With a boy I noticed myself paying more attention to it. Short men have it very hard in our society, so I was watching Neel's height growth carefully(he is doing fine).

It is wonderful to hold Neel. For some reason he really likes being held by me and it calms him down. I love holding him, and his mom foists squalling Neel on me every time. I protest...not much. I won't get this chance too many times again. They really do grow up so fast.

Simone has stopped hitting Neel. However, she sometimes screams at us to put him down and pick her up. So I put Neel down on a high surface, pick her up and then pick him up again with one arm. She tolerates his presence and sometimes even coos at him. God forbid he grab her hair, she hates it. I have to explain to her for the umpteenth time that he is a baby and will grab at anything to try out his hands.

Neel is SO ready for solids. He sits with us at dinner and starts to move his jaws and drool when he sees the food. We are holding a ceremony for him before he is allowed to have solids-a ceremony that his mother deems is a prerequisite for him to have solids. I have been strictly warned against feeding him solids on the sly.

I can't get over how peaceful Neel is. He NEVER cries unless it is for something. He is the nicest, most peaceful baby I have ever seen.

I took Simone out tricycling yesterday and took Neel with me. I had put him in the baby bjorn (whoever invented that thing should get a HUGE award), facing him outward. He was so quiet, and enjoying the walk, that for a moment I forgot he was there. Sometimes he would coo but otherwise he was just sitting there, enjoying. Simone, on the other hand, went through the entire range of emotions twice on the tricycle trip around the block. Once when I had to jog a little to keep up with Simone going downhill, Neel raised his arms and went 'whee'.

Neel now raises his arms when he wants to be picked up. He is so light, compared to Simone. He comes right up on my shoulder, and holds with his little hands.

It is very funny to watch Neel when I am preparing his bottle. He reaches for it, grabs for it, and when he gets it, he starts to chug away at it. I really have to videotape him grabbing for his bottle. It's much too cute.

So there we have it. Neel is almost five months old, and we enjoy every day with him. He is almost sitting up, he does this in the bath. He has a bouncy and in the space of three weeks he has gone from being confused when we put him in it, to really enjoy sitting in it and playing with the various attachments.

Neel turns five months tomorrow, and I almost forgot. With Simone we obsessively tracked eveyr month birthday, with Neel we are so blase. But Neel gets the benefit of having parents with far more experience than Simone did. In the end it all balances out, I think.

Cutie Cutie Neel

Neel... see how adorable you have become. Overnight you have became a little person now. You sit up, you express frustration. When you want to be picked up you open your arms. That is the most adorable thing. You giggle now....

You love books. Whenever we are reading books your eyes just light up and you want to try and flip the pages.

You really really want to eat food. Whenever we put you on the table while we are eating your mouth starts to droll......we are going to have your food ceremony in two weeks.. so hang in there buddy.

Neel's 1st Mother's Day

Hi Neel,

Today is our first mother’s day! You are such a special little boy. You are always smiling, I love it! Even if you take a nap for 5 minutes and wake up accidently you have a big smile on your face. You hardly ever cry. Lately you have started to grab things in your hand and move it around. You have outgrown your swing and we are trying to do your sleep training so you sleep in the crib. You only have eyes for your didi. If she is in the room you just keep looking at her no matter what. You want to do everything she does. She reads to you, plays with you, sings to you. If you are ever in distress all she has to do is start to sing and you become quiet. We have been singing twinkle twinkle little star to you and you become really quiet. You are starting to sit up..so any day you will probably roll over…

We all love you little Neel…and your gift for Mommy on Mother’s Day? Lots of drolls, kisses and smiles.

Neel and Simone bonding...

Neel loves loves loves his didi. If she is in the room, his eyes follow her everywhere. He just smiles. One look from her and he goes googey eyed.. see the video for yourself.

Where has Neel been?

Little Boy Blue.. I am sooo in love with you!

Hi Baby Neel.. you are the cutest little baby boy! You are so mellow and calm, it is amazing. In the last 3 weeks we have been traveling all over to keep your big sister engaged and you have been a trooper. This past weekend, we went to Las Vegas. You were great both on the way there and on the way back.

During the day today we were at the Wynn Resort by the pool. You were just lounging on the beautiful chaise lounge chair and just kicking your legs and arms. Earlier during the day when we were at Bellagio's famous gardens, you were so mesmerized by the flowers and the colors that you kept moving your head everywhere to absorb it all in.

I love the way your smile. As soon as you see me, you start to smile and my heart just melts. Didi has also become a lot accommodating of you. She doesn't smack you nearly as often as she did before. Sometimes when you both play together it is so nice to just sit and watch. Of all the people around, whenever Simone didi comes and plays with you or talk to you, your face just lights up instantly.

Now we are back home and tomorrow we are off to see some magic at Magic Castle.

Do you know by now -- in your short 3.5 months of life you have been to all these places?

- Sea World - twice

- Zoo

- Carlsbad Flower Fields

- San Diego

-Las Vegas!

Not bad for a cute little puppy!

Baby Sister Neel

Whenever Sim wants a "baby Sister" this is how we dress up Neel.. :)

Neel....the smiler

Today Neel got to sit in a little red basket. Our little boy has a habit of looking at his surroundings with a curious, whats-going-on look, so today his mom put him in a big red basket and sat him in front of her while she worked in the kitchen. He spent a bunch of time there, cooing and enjoying the feeling, and then he got moved to his car seat. He was then presented with a bunch of plastic spoons that he played with. It was then that his sister came back from riding her tricycle. Upon finding out that Neel was playing with her spoons, she went and got him some more spoons to play with. This gave us hope that they would remain friends as they got older.

Neel continues to delight us with his spectacular smile. He also has one word in his language, 'gee' (with a hard 'g'). Everything he says, is 'gee'. Gee Gee Gee Gee.
Neel likes to be bunched up in Daddy's lap on the rocking chair, while Daddy surfs the web. He drifts off to sleep, only to wake up a short while later, demanding attention. At that point, Daddy starts to play with him, eliciting big smiles and Gee Gee Gee.

Yesterday we went down to San Diego. Neel was the perfect little baby all the way down, only crying for milk. He does not cry for any other reason. He had a great time with his mama and mami (maternal uncle and aunt). His mami especially held him close the whole trip, and Neel enjoyed every minute of the closeness.

We also notice that Neel's crying-face is the same as Simone's baby crying-face. More on that later.
We all love you, baby Neel!

and the talking continues

Neel starts to talk

See how he responds to Sim Sim talking to him...

Little Boy Blue.....

Little Boy Blue-that is your name, Neel. Neel means blue. You have finally started smiling, and not a moment too soon, because you were exasperating us with your spit-up. It got so bad for a few days that I nicknamed you barfy and tried to teach Simone to call you ‘barfy’. She found it funny because it sounded like her favorite sweet, ‘barfi’. Your smiles come fast and furious now, and they melt our hearts. You are also so alert, you look at everything and follow it with your eyes. Your eyes are just like your sister Simone. In some ways, you are a carbon copy of her. If you give us as much joy as Simone has given us, we are going to be very lucky parents.You have been a very good baby..the only thing you cry for is milk. And oh boy, do you drink a bunch of that. You routinely put away 24 ounces a day, and you look it. Where we used to panic with your sister, and she was a very fussy eater, you gulp down bottle after bottle. You also get milk from the Mommy Dairy on schedule and for a very long time. Your mother is just about caught up on her movie viewing. She gets in a good 45 minutes of TV time every time she feeds you. Makes me wonder if she is trying to keep you on mother’s milk for her own selfish entertainment reasons. But to me you will always be little Vir.

Neel at 2 months

Neel and the family..

Neel Smiles....

Hi Pressure Cooker....

Neel is so much like Simone was as a baby. People often say that he is the male version of baby simone. Here’s another fun commonality. When Simone was a baby she was really scared of the pressure cooker. Every time she would hear it, she would contort her face and make this big sound.

Much to our surprise, Neel’s reaction was similar when he heard the pressure cooker go off. This time round we were able to record it. Now he is no longer scared of the pressure cooker… boy.. he is also growing up so fast.

Your smile...

My darling baby boy.. you are mummy ka beta. You have started to smile now and it completely lights up my face. Every time you see me, you try to coo and make these ooohh and aaahh sounds and then give me the biggest smiles. I have been trying to take a photo or video tape that and have not had much luck so far. One of these days I should be able to capture that...

You are still a very well behaved baby. You sleep and you play, you hardly ever cry except for when you are hungry. Today was your first outing out of the house that did not involve a doctor's visit. We went to a Super Bowl party and as usual you slept through.

Your didi is still having a lot of fun with you. When she sees your smile or when you are awake, she runs in to play with you. Although occasionally you do get smacked from her. She helps me give you a bath every day. She stands up on her stool and fills her little cup and pours it all over you. You enjoy taking your baths because as soon as you come out, you are knocked out for the next few hours.

I cannot wait for us to have more fun......

The many names of Neel.....

Your smile is sooo amazing...

Hi Neel... this week, week 5 of your life, you have started to smile. I love it when you look at me and I gently tickle your cheeks and out comes this beautiful smile. As I write this blog, you are sleeping next to your big sister. You have your hand on her hand and your heads are meeting. It is a very pretty sight. I love it. So far.. you have been a baby that sleeps all the time.

The most amazing thing is that you sleep through the night. By week 2.5 you have been sleeping for 6 hours at a stretch at night. Your didi is still trying to figure you out. One moment she loves you and the next she will smack you. She loves to pick you up and carry you around. If we are not looking closely she will pick you up, which she can do surprisingly well.

Neel an actor?

Hi Baby Boy... yesterday was an interesting day, you did your first TV commercial. I know this sounds strange considering neither mummy nor daddy have any movie/tv experience or background. Someone was looking for ethnic newborns and so i turned in your picture and you got selected as one of the 6 babies for a national ad for a big big corporation. I had to run around and get your work permit and we finally show up at the set.

The set was a nursery set where they put the newborns in bassinets. As a newborn you can only work for 20 minutes max. You slept through the whole shoot. I am not sure if that is good or bad (we will find out soon enough if your shoot is aired in the ad) but the director did film single footage of you when all the other babies were crying since you were so peacefully sleeping. Yesterday was the day you earned your first dollar. We will put your earnings into your college fund.. so you can go to college....

Other than the video shoot, you have had lots of visitors come by and your big sister always wants to play with you. But every day she does find an opportunity to smack you on your head, no matter what we do. I keep telling here, wait till baby brother grows up and he is going to push you and then no one is going to save her.....

Neel... 3 weeks later

Hi Neel.... it's been almost 3 weeks since you have been born and you have been one excellent baby. You just sleep most of the time! When you are awake, your big eyes are scanning the entire room. You have amazing neck strength. Your neck goes from one side to another on its own. We are all slowly falling madly in love with you.

Your sister loves you and I am sure someday in the future she will be sorry for smacking you on your head. Most of the times we are able to stop her before she touches you, but every once in a while she will sneak up and smack your head. The first time that happened you cried but since then you don't seem to care anymore. A few moments after she smacks you, we see her kissing you and wanting to carry you. She also reads to you and tells you stories.

This picture was taken after your first bath!

Hi My Baby Boy.....

My little boy. I am so amazed to be able to say these three words. Of course, you won't be so little some day, but for now, I am happy I can say this. Your birth was easier than your sister's. I'd like to say we are becoming experts at this, but it is not going to happen again. You and your sister are it.

It's been 9 days since you were born and 7 since we brought you home. You have been a joy to be with, as you only cry when you are (a) hungry, (b) gassy, (c) dirty [diaper change]. If all three of those are fine, you are very content.

Your neck strength is amazing. You can already lift your head, but you can't control it, so we have to watch your head otherwise it will just lob around helplessly. You are quite content to just sit in someone's lap and gaze out at the world. But we can't be content, we have to start involving you in activities such as tummy time, and have to expose you to colorful toys, activities, etc. Whatever we did for your sister, we have to make sure we do for you.

So welcome to the world, Neel Vir. It's going to be a joyous, eventful ride.