A poem by Elizabeth

Welcome Fall!!

Maple leaves
Oak trees
Sweater weather
October breeze
Steaming coffee
Pumpkin pie
Harvest moon
Way up high
Snuggle covers
Cold nose
Holding hands
The wind blows
Favorite season
most of all
Join with me
Welcome Fall!!

Happy Birthday Maya!!

What a year! Confucius says: Try your best to avoid doing all that we have done in the past year and you will have much less gray hair.

Wow! Time seems to fly by faster when you are a parent. We can't believe that it has been a year since Maya was born and Elizabeth has had an undisturbed 8 hours of sleep. For me, it has been an amazing experience as a dad to watch my daughter grow and my wife blossom into an amazing mom.... and all this amidst a tumultuous year of drastic change.

Maya has been a great daughter, Praise God! and has adapted quite well to all the changes we have gone through in the past year. It has been a privilege to watch her grow and develop from a sleepy baby to an active toddler with a serious personality, a flair for mischief (inherited from her mom, of course), a hint of shyness (from me) and a stubbornness (from both of us) that keeps us praying every night.

To be honest, my life has certainly changed but not as dramatically as Elizabeth's. I, thankfully, sleep like a bear in winter (probably snore just as loud as well) and have not lost a lot of sleep. In the morning, I usually wake up with a tiny hand or a smelly butt in my face. If I'm up early enough, I get to change the first diaper of the morning and then head off to catch my shuttle to work. In the evening, as I pull into the garage and step into the house I am usually welcomed by an excited 'grunt' and really the only time she ever raises her arms at me to carry her... my heart absolutely melts when she does that. We play around a bit before bedtime and then it is off to bed for the little princess, where she is on what we call 'vibrate mode' for about 30 to 40 minutes before falling asleep. 'Vibrate mode' is where she sits or lays still like she is asleep but makes a buzzing noise like a cell phone on vibrate. Yes, we know it sounds weird but it always puts a smile on our face no matter how long the day has been. Weekends are especially exhausting. I have no idea how Elizabeth has the energy to keep up with Maya the entire day, every day. I am convinced that I could never be a stay-at-home dad.

Being a dad is a huge responsibility, one that requires patience, an openness to change and the ability to let go of self. I don't have any of those qualities. My life continues to change daily and sometimes I feel like I'm miserably failing as a husband, a dad and a professional. Thank God my wife and daughter are so patient with me! I just keep telling myself, one day at a time. One year down, another one to look forward to...

Uh oh! My princess is up from her nap and I have to go get her... God Bless!

We're moving to Mountain View, CA!!

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him" - 1 Corinthians 2:9

Yup! Elizabeth & I have accepted a position at Google (though, only I will be showing up for work!) and will be relocating there towards the end of March. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine the day when I would be a Googler!!

On the outset, it would appear that the decision to work at what Fortune Magazine considers to be "The Best Company to Work For" would be an easy one... well, for us it wasn't. It was a very difficult and painful decision for both of us to make for different reasons. For Elizabeth, it meant an indefinite delay in her dreams to move to the Midwest (and giving up her "dream kitchen") and for me it meant leaving my beloved San Diego. We ask that you please keep us in your prayers as everything is so overwhelming and scary. We just put our condo up for sale and have no idea what our next home is going to be like. We know that God has done a lot to bring us this far and that He will carry us through to the end. It is amazing to stop for a moment and look back at all the things that have happened over the past year.

5 weeks later...

Time flies when you are a parent. It is hard to believe that 5 weeks ago we came home with another person, our daughter. She has been a source of great joy with moments (who am I kidding, hours is more accurate...) of frustration. The first couple of days when we were in the hospital, she didn't really scream. She would be fussy during breast feeding but otherwise she slept most of the time. The first day we came home, that night, was the first time she screamed her lungs out... it was a long night. Breast feeding is more challenging than it looks or what the books say. It took a while for Maya and Elizabeth to get used to one another. Seeing a Lactation Consultant was very helpful and it also has inspired Elizabeth with the idea of a possible career path in the future.

Since her birth, I've found it hard to be away from my family. The best way I can think of describing it is the way one feels when they are first married. You can't bear to be away from the other person and continually look forward to being with them.

37 weeks and 6 days... the end of a story, the beginning of a book...

On Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 6:16PM Maya Jasmine D'lima took her first breath of air in this world, she was 6 pounds 4.7 ounces and 19 inches tall. The events leading up to this moment were just as exciting as this entire pregnancy has been. Last week, at the 37 week check-up, Elizabeth was 3 cms. dialated and at station zero (the leading bony part of the fetus is level with the maternal ischial spines...plain english..at the entrance of the birth canal). Because of Maya's location, weight and the fact that we live 45 mins. away from the hospital (with no traffic) the doctor decided that if Maya was still in the womb by the next appt. she would induce her on Friday, August 25 at 7AM. The thought of an induction seemed scary and wrong at first. We prayed about it that weekend and spoke to friends who had been induced. After a while, we got comfortable with the idea and began preparing ourselves for it. On Thursday, the 24th, we had our last doctor's appt. before the induction. On the way to the clinic, we prayed in the car. I really wanted her to be born on an even day (hey, don't laugh, we all have our silly quirks) . When we got to the doctor's office, she was suprised that Maya was still hanging out in the womb. When she felt Elizabeth's cervix, her jaw dropped (well, not literally), Elizabeth was between 6-7cms dialated and had not experienced a tinge of pain just the tightness of contractions. She sent us to the hospital at once. We got to the hospital at 11AM, the nurses at their station were surprised that Elizabeth wasn't in pain for being so dialated, they expected her to be in a wheel chair screaming her lungs out, but instead, she had her usual smirk. They admitted us in and we went through tons of paperwork (if she was in pain, I wonder if they would still have us fill all that out at that time??). At 12:30PM, the epidural was administered and Elizabeth felt warm and fuzzy...similar to the feeling experienced after drinking a nice strong magarita. At 1PM, the doctor broke her water and we settled in and watched cable TV. At the 3PM check-up, Elizabeth was 7-8cms dialated. She could feel the pressure of contractions, but that was it. At 5:10PM, while we were watching TV, 4 nurses rushed into the room, they had been monitoring Maya's heartrate and Elizabeth's contractions and an alarm went off because Maya's heartrate was around 80bpm (usually around 130bpm). They checked Elizabeth and lo and behold, there was her head!! Elizabeth had completely dialated and Maya had slipped down into the +2 station. Like magic the room around us converted from a normal hospital room into a birthing room. The bed converted, a table with implements appeared and computer monitors started flashing pertinent graphs. We could not attend any of the birthing classes because of Elizabeth's bed rest, but that really didn't seem to matter. We just did what our nurse told us (who was from Scottland and had the cutest scottish accent). Whenever a contraction started Elizabeth would take a deep breath and push while I counted down from 10, we did 3 sets for each contraction. Maya would have come a lot sooner if the contractions were on time every time, we would get about 2 or 3 contractions 3 minutes apart and then wait for about 10 mins. for the next set. I had initial reservations about watching my beloved wife painfully giving birth to our traumatized child, but when the moment came and Elizabeth wasn't in pain, I was excited!! Any minute now!!!!

48 hours later...we feel so blessed to have a healthy baby girl in our arms. She is an Angel when she's quiet... and she makes us feel terrible when she screams. We love her. For the two days in the hospital things went pretty smooth, she didn't throw a lot of fits and it took a while to get her to breast feed. Last night was our first night at home with her. She threw a screaming fit each of the two times we tried to breast feed. She does eventually feed but it takes some drama. We have now officially entered parenthood, we only got 3~4 hours of sleep last night.

I want to thank all of our readers who have followed our Baby Story each week. At this point, I don't know if I am going to continue to post an article each week. This commitment has been an exercise of discipline and a labor of love. I hope you've experienced a teeny bit of the emotions that we've gone through. Life is not a bed of roses, it is hard and painful at times but oh so rewarding. As we look at Maya, we can't help but feel scared and overwhelmed. But thankfully, we remember that she is an Angel of God on loan to us. He will take good care of her through us, we just have to be obedient and willing. God Bless.

The photo album has been updated with our daughter's pictures :)

Getting ready for Maya

Well, the baby furniture is in place; the car seat is installed; all her clothes have been washed and I've been reading the book 'Becoming a Dad' by Stephen James and David Thomas which starts with, "Please remove all lose objects. Pull the harness over your head and fasten the buckle. The floor below you is about to drop. Enjoy your ride." Yup, we are about as "ready" as we'll ever be. These past 37 weeks have been an incredible journey and we're told the best is yet to come. We are now just cherishing our time together as a couple. On Friday night we went out on a date. Our first dinner date outside the house in 6 weeks. As we enjoyed the moment, we talked about our lives so far... We have been so blessed to be a couple for 5 years, each year has had its challenges and it's joys, each one better than the last And now we stand at the threshold of yet another chapter in our lives. Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that this is the Elizabeth I met nearly 9 years ago in a room full of people. On Saturday we went for a walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day and we hadn't walked on the sand or wet our feet in the ocean in so long... we felt like kids! We finally updated the Photo Album with some pictures from the past 48 hours.

Week 36

Praise God, we made it! The past 6 weeks, though long, seem to have flown by quite fast. I appreciate Elizabeth so much more. It has been fun taking care of her and being responsible for things around the house, but it does begin to get overwhelming. I was certainly grateful that Judy was able to come and spend so much time with us in California. We also realized how blessed we are to have friends come over, spend time with us and bring food and movies. It has really made the time fly. Now we are patiently waiting for Maya's arrival. The last ultrasound has her developing right on schedule, she is almost 6 pounds. We can feel her move and she has the hiccups quite a bit. It is fun to watch Elizabeth's belly move around, I will admit, initially I was freaked out by it, but now I love it!

My Baby Shower!

From the colorful bouquets of fresh flowers that adorned the tables to the tiny sachets of Jasmine tea as a parting gift, Saturday was a perfect day. After being on bed rest for the last 6 weeks, it was wonderful to spend a morning surrounded by my mom and good friends. My close friend Karen hosted the baby shower, and she went out of her way to make the morning special for everyone. Karen and Heather prepared the food and it was delicious. We all enjoyed chatting in Karen's backyard while eating lunch, and we were delighted by the cooler temperatures after last weeks heat wave. After lunch we played a few games and then opened up all of the gifts. We received so many nice things for Maya and I felt touched by how excited everyone was to meet Maya. The most popular topic of the morning was the famous question, "I wonder what she will look like?" Black hair like daddy, blue eyes like mommy, brown skin, fair skin or the combination in a nice tan color. The consenus was that she will be a nice blend of both mommy and daddy and that she will have mommy's spunky personality. I felt honored that everyone was willing to spend their Saturday morning celebrating Maya's upcoming arrival.

I will officially be off bed rest and medication this Friday. I cannot thank everyone enough for remembering us in their thoughts and prayers as we tip-toed through this critical time. By God's grace, we rejoice that we have made it this far and the doctors tell us that if Maya comes now she will be just fine. Her official due date is September the 8th, but she will probably have us guessing the day of her arrival until she actually comes. (Vivek thinks that she will have the last laugh by arriving in September as originally planned.) It is so exciting to think that very soon we will hold our precious daughter in our arms. Until then, we are just enjoying each remaining day of the pregnancy.

Meet my family

This post was originally supposed to go up the week after our trip to Indiana but Life happened... Now that things have finally settled down a bit I can get back on schedule. Because of the distance, we don't get to visit my family as often as I'd like to. In the past 5 years, we've seen each other twice for a period of two weeks each, once in Dubai and the second time in India. Recently, we've gotten into the habit of calling one another each week and that has really helped bring us closer. Above are some of my fondest memories from the 4 weeks we have spent with them.
My Mom: This picture was taken at The Lakes resort in Dubai. My mom does not look her age and has often been mistaken to be my sister. This picture was taken after Elizabeth gave my mom a haircut.
My Dad, the Golfer: When we visited my parents in India, my dad and I went for golf lessons every morning at 7 AM at the Palace grounds. It was a great experience and I had calloused hands and sore shoulders from swinging at golf balls every morning.
Dad & his '78 Toyota Carona: The picture was taken in Baroda, India. This is the first car that my dad bought in May 1978, a couple of months before I was born. Over the years she has become part of the family and they have never been able to part with her.
Nana: This picture was taken at The Lakes. As you can see, my nana loves her dessert!!
Grandma: The picture of me and grandma was taken in front of her home in St. Joseph's colony in Ahmedabad, India.

Elizabeth just completed week 34 and is doing well. Maya's movements have started to become more noticable and she gets the hiccups quite frequently. One of the things that has kept Elizabeth busy this past week has been setting up an online registry at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids. The links to these registries are in the Links section in the column on the right.

The day I met Floyd Landis... winner of the 93rd Tour de France!!

For a fan of the sport of cycling, it doesn't get any better than this... On Sunday, June 18, Father's Day, after church we were driving over to our Condo to see how work was progressing. We were at a stop light on highway 76, headed west, when a bicycle passed us in the bike lane. It was a BMC, a swiss made bike that I've only seen in magazines. I looked at the rider, he was wearing black Castelli bike shorts and a red jersey. When he turned sideways, my jaw dropped and my voice climbed a couple of octaves as I screamed out, "It's Floyd Landis!!". The light turned green and I didn't know what to do! I couldn't hold up traffic and on the other hand... there was Floyd Landis!! I took off and drove as slowly as I possibly could for about half a mile trying to figure out what to do! Elizabeth was cracking up as I was frantically looking around the Z for a piece of paper and a pen to get his autograph. Thankfully, I had a journal in the car. I pulled off the highway onto the shoulder, turned the hazards on and jumped out of the car waiting for Floyd to ride by. As he approached, I waved my hands, journal in one hand and pen in the other. I was hoping I didn't look like an idiot on the side of the road. As he approached my heart started beating faster and faster. He looked up, saw me and stopped!! I was in a state of shock...I guess star-stuck is more accurate. I said Hi and asked him for his autograph. He had the biggest grin on his face, I don't know who was in bigger shock, him or me. I think I was because at that point, my brain ceased to function. He asked me my name and I couldn't remember it for a couple of seconds. I told him I enjoyed watching him at the Tour of California, congratulated him on his victories at the Tour of California and the Tour of Georgia and wished him the best of luck for the Tour de France. He shook my hand, smiled at me and then at Elizabeth who was watching us through the rear-view mirror. As we both took off, we passed each other one more time at a stop light and this time he yelled, "Thanks Guys!". What a day, what a wonderful memory! This was 2 weeks before the start of the 93rd Tour de France, which he went on to win today. Only the third American to do so (Greg Lemond & Lance Armstrong are the other two). I can't wait to tell Maya this story year after year in the month of July as she's kicking my butt going up these crazy California hills.

UPDATE on 7/28:
This past week has been a sad week for the sport of cycling. My hero stands in the court of public opinion awaiting judgement from the harshest of critics. Regardless of the outcome from the various ongoing investigations, the win is tainted and his innocence questioned. In a matter of days, the dream of a win is now a nightmarish fight for the truth.