This is us!

Introducing the latest addition to the ShanDekarS. Nisha was born on Oct 24th at 8:29am, coming in at a healthy 8lbs9oz and 21inches. She has the darkest hair and the most pinchable cheeks. She has kept us up day and night but we are loving every minute of it. Tara hasn't quite figured out her "bebe sistah" but bring all her toys and gives it to her, sharing atleast for now.

More pictures in this album.

Ready

Sorry. Did I need to post a warning before you were subject to a picture of this completely pregnant women looking all cylinderish with haldi-kukum splashed on her forehead? Next time, what, there is going to be a next time? Haha kiddin', I am so done with pregnancies and ready for this to be over with. I yearn to wear non-maternity clothes and start getting Victoria Secret catalogues again, well, if they will have me back. I just realised that I've been wearing the same baggy loosy goosy clothes for the past 3 years as I've been pregnant 2 out of the 3!!

Mom made me have the traditional Hindu 9th month bangle ceremony this weekend. Ever since she arrived she's been cooking and preparing for it. I wasn't too keen at first since it was so late (39th week!) and I'm so tired but after I saw the lovely sari and the hoop diamond ear-rings she bought me I coudn't resist. It was a really fun afternoon, I had a bunch of my girlfriends over and after Husband, Diane, Meenu, LaTonja, Kristie, Shannon, Patricia, Lakshmi and Sharda blessed me and baby#2 by smearing my forehead with haldi/kukum and struggled to force a green bangle into my chubby hand we all enjoyed mom's feast. She outdid herself this time as we hardly had any leftovers and everyone complained that the goody bag she handed out just wasn't the same without a bit of curry added to it.

The next post will hopefully be of us holding baby#2, finally. I am Ready.

One week

I can't imagine I'm going to be holding baby#2 a week from today. This pregnancy has truly flown by, thanks in large part to being pre-occupied with Tara. The difference between the first and second pregnancy is unbelievable. Take for instance:

- The morning sickness I had with Tara lasted for 5 whole months and I kept loosing weight as I was unable to retain even water at one point. This time I've been eating everything and more, I managed to resist the bacon cravings with sheer will power.

- I flunked the 1 hour glucose test, the anemia test and the Group B strep test with Tara. I passed all of them this time around.

- I craved for sugar and all things sweet with Tara. Now its pickles and spices and hot hot curry.

- I gained 32 pounds with Tara. I've gained 22 pounds so far and am hoping to keep it under 25 pounds with this one. Considering I never lost all of the weight I gained when I went to India and ate and ate last year I am determined to keep from looking like an elephant. Although I sure am (see above pic).

- I got horrible, leg cramps with Tara. She would often land on some nerve and it would send me into spasms. Baby#2 has managed to avoid this so far. However I do have terrible pain where my c-section scare is, so much so, that I bend over and clutch my stomach as if I'm an old lady who has forgotten how to walk and cannot find her walking stick. It gets worse when I carry Tara, but how can I not carry her when she looks up at me with puppy eyes and out-stretched arms going "Mama carry".

- I was in labor for 16 hours with Tara and after all that pain ended up with a c-section. This time I know the time and place with hopefully no accompanied painful contractions.

I know it's not right to compare your kids. But gosh do I wonder what baby#2 will turn out like? She's been an absolute darling in me, ignored most of the time, but still let's me know she's there with the gentle pokes, jabs, hiccups and constant heartburn. I have an intuition she's gonna be a handful on arrival. Yet I can't! wait!!

Mom's back

She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back! She's back!

It does sound like I'm more excited that Mom's back than when my second daughter arrives but really can you blame me? S and I had the soundest sleep this weekend as we both knew that my Mom is here and everything will be fine, just fine.

Tara was expecting to see Avi this weekend for some reason as every time we asked her "Who is coming on Saturday?" she'd chant "Avi, Avi". So when she saw Agi she just starred till Mom came closer and said "Tara, it's Agi". Tara couldn't get out of my arms fast enough to run to her grand-ma. It was the sweetest thing. I was fighting with my daughter for a hug. I lost out. In fact Mom didn't really notice me till hmm lets say later that evening when she bumped into my belly on the way to get Tara another toy.

My bro has sent 2 suitcases full of toys for his little niece. She's got so much stuff that we had to clean out our house with the current toys as we had no room whatsoever. Of all the toys Tara liked her hair bands, she has enough to start a shop. Avi also sent me some beautiful pearl and jade necklaces and S got the entire fall collection of Armani. To say my bro is doing well is an understatement but I can't complain and I can't be more proud.

It was a nice fall weekend in the NW so we managed to drag Tara away from her toys and go to a pumpkin patch. She enjoyed the 5 dollar total-ripe-off pony ride and the tractor ride and didn't really care about the pumpkins. S had to take her on multiple tractor rides, I went on just one as it was pretty bumpy and I didn't want to have an emergency delivery surrounded by hay and pumpkins.

Energizer Bunny

I am exhausted. My stomach is BULGING way out there, the back PAIN is hurting me so much I can't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a stretch, I'm PEEING every 15 seconds and feel like peeing every 5 seconds, I get major karate KICKS on my right ribs every time I eat and the HEARTBURN is so bad that I can feel the acid just coating my throat like a pendulum. This pregnancy has flown by so I shouldn't complain but these final 3 weeks are ex-haus-ting! What, I didn't tell you the c-section is scheduled? Oh I meant to, really I did. If all goes well I'll be rolled into the OT at 8:00am on Oct 24th.

I did have a scare yesterday though. I had to check into L&D (Labor & Delivery) to make sure I wasn't already in labor. They sent me back home but I was petrified that the baby was gonna arrive and mom is not here yet! Things seem to be okay but baby#2 unlike Tara wants to get out quick.

Talking of Tara she seems to have morphed into the Energizer bunny. She comes home with so much energy it's freaking insane. I mean she's had an activity filled day at daycare so you'd think she'll be tired but it seems like she has inhaled hyper-gas. She is so very active and if I weren't lugging an extra 20 pounds on me I wouldn't mind chasing her around the house going "I'll catch youuuuuu" 1283745 times/day. Here are some videos I've taken around 8:45pm the past few nights and you'll see what I'm talking about. (The last video should be titled Ouch, very Ouch).