Yummy?

This weekend Ats got his first taste of solids. We tried rice cereal but he didn't like that too much. We got the OK to try oatmeal instead and he seems to prefer that. We'll see how it goes. In 2 weeks he can start eating vegetables and fruits as well. I'm excited to start making his food and feeding him. I've armed myself with the Super Baby Food book and all I need to get still is a food mill. Enjoy these photos of Ats getting his first taste of cereal with the silver spoon that his Cheeku mama sent for him from India.

So, do you guys think he liked it?

At the park

Since Sunday was such a glorious day we decided it was time to take Atchuthan to the park for the first time. When we got to the park, his dad took him on the big swing and he really liked it. So we put him on the baby swing by himself and he had a great time in it.



He enjoyed looking at the other kids playing in the park as well. He wants to go back soon but this outing really tired him out.

The first few months

Since we have just started this blog, we thought we would combine the highlights of the first four months of his life in this one post.

We had his punyahavachanam done at home. Here are some pictures from that.






My dad visited us from India in December and was a great help to us for three weeks when Srini had to return to work after his paternity leave. Since I had a hard time recovering from my c-section, my dad helped by holding Atchuthan when needed, helped in putting him to sleep, etc. Here are a few pictures of him with his thatha.


Atchuthan's first sleepover was in Jaga periappa's house. He had great fun visiting with them and laughing at DJ's antics.

Here are some pictures of him with his friends Anand and Sanjana when they came to visit him.

Sho and Sridhar visited him after a long time. This is the first time that Krish and Madhav are seeing Ats. They did a great job holding him. Ats also enjoyed their visit as they got him some cool toys.

Rolling Rolling Rolling

Though Ats first rolled over a couple of months ago, he did not seem too interested in it after that and would roll over only occasionally. Yesterday morning though, suddenly, he decided he wanted to roll all over the floor. We put him down on his play mat and suddenly he just rolled right out of it and across the living room floor. He kept doing it all day yesterday and this morning too. Here are his various attempts at rolling.

He is also trying very hard to scoot forward. I think in no time he's going to be mobile and we're going to have our hands full. The gate's going up soon!

His birth story

We were eagerly awaiting Atchuthan's arrival in November but he decided that he liked it too much inside mommy's tummy. He was due on November 12, 2006 but didn't make it that day. The doctor even set an induction date for the 23rd in case he didn't make it out before then. On the 19th, Srini and I were just lounging around watching Roger Federer beat the pants off someone when I suddenly felt a pain in my tummy around 2 pm and I knew right away that it was Ats knocking on the door. He wanted out in a big way. Take a look at his father's attempt at timing the contractions.

We arrived at the hospital around 4 pm and were admitted right away. I was already 4cm dilated and the labor went pretty fast after that despite a few hiccups like the anesthesiologist messing up my epidural a few times. Atchuthan engaged pretty fast and I was ready to push him out by 10 pm. However, this is when things got complicated. His head refused to move past my pelvic bone despite 2.5 hrs of pushing and so the doctors decided that I needed a C-section. We were disappointed but were happy that we would be holding him in our arms soon. So, finally, at 1.38 am Atchuthan arrived into this world. He was 7lbs 15oz at birth and 21" long. Take a look at his weigh-in. I was pretty much asleep during the whole procedure and don't recall much of it.





Our hospital stay was pretty good except for the fact that Ats had to spend a couple days at the NICU since he had ingested meconium and had fluid in his lungs. He was an otherwise healthy little baby. We had quite a few visitors as well. Latha periamma and Jaga periappa came to visit him with Dhakka, Vichi and DJ. They couldn't hold Ats though since he was in the NICU. Sukanya and Mukund also visited us with Tichi. Sho and Sridhar helped us get home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. Here he is in his car seat for the first time, and his first time home.

Welcome

We decided to start this blog to update our family and friends on Atchuthan's life. Since most of them haven't even seen him yet we'll try to post a lot of his pictures and keep you updated on his milestones so you can share in the joy.