Think Pink

In our attempt to make some progress on setting up the nursery, we recently acquired some curtains. Rather than go with a practical, unisex option which would surely see some re-use with a potential child #2, we went the completely unpractical route of buying bright pink curtains. Sameer's logic was that no doubt just like most of our friends we will have only girls, so we might as well just embrace it now.

Over the weekend, with lots of help from Allan who was visiting, Sameer put up the curtains. The only catch is that because the window gets a lot of sunlight, the curtains make the entire room glow like Pepto Bismol. I tried to capture the effect in the picture here, but it really doesn't do justice to just how pink the room gets. Allan was quick to point out that there is a shade of pink ("drunk tank pink") that supposedly sedates people and is used in jail cells and opposing team locker rooms. I found an article online describing the effect, and sure enough the color is almost an exact match for the room when it's sunny out (which is every day in Palo Alto). Perhaps we have stumbled onto a new nursery strategy for calming fussy babies? Forget swaddling, just put them in the holding cell...er, I mean nursery.

Rest assured we will be adding a rollershade to the mix soon, so Baby Dholakia will not be subject to ongoing experiments in color psychology.

August showers bring...friends, samosas, and cake!

Last weekend was lots of fun as we headed up to the city for a baby shower hosted by Krista & Molly. Originally scheduled to be at Chez Glotzbach, it was moved to Chez Dodson due to Reese's early arrival. Bree Van De Kamp has nothing on Molly and Krista when it comes to hosting a party...I'd like to see her feed and entertain 20 people with a 20 month-old, 6-month old twins and a newborn child at home! Extra kudos to Molly's, Krista's, and Matt's moms for pitching in on the babysitting front, and especially to Krista's mom Dona who made the most fabulous baby shower cake ever. Take that Martha Stewart. I am still cursing myself that we did not a) take a picture of the cake (very cleverly shaped like building blocks), and b) that I had a brief moment of self restraint where I did not take the cake home with us, where no doubt I would have eaten every last bite. I could have paired it with the yummy Indian food courtesy of Sudhir -- forget pickles and ice cream, mmmm...samosa and chocolate cake.

At the shower we caught up with lots of people we haven't seen in ages, nearly all of whom live here, so clearly we are ahead of the game in becoming new-parent, anti-social hermits. We can always blame it on the move to Palo Alto, but of course I used to drive the distance to SF every single day, so I suspect we have just become lazy homebodies. The shower also coincided with the Prices' visit to SF, so I got to finally meet the famously cute Peyton Price (who indeed lives up to her reputation...those eyes are going to get her in a lot of trouble some day).

Other than the shower, life is pretty low key for us. We are making slow progress on readying ourselves for the baby's arrival, although Reese Glotzbach has already taught us the lesson that November 9th isn't exactly a scheduled appointment. Turns out our nursery furniture is on backorder, so "Baby Dholakia" had better not get any ideas about showing up early. We have also started to "dip our toe in the water" (Sameer's phrase) of considering buying a home...right about the same time that the market has decided to teeter on the edge of a crash. For those of you wondering when the market will really go south, that would be right after Sameer and I buy a house. I will keep you posted as to when/if that happens so you can time your investments accordingly.

In random news, a former colleague from work is going to be on the next Surivor season (adding to the ever-growing list of people we know who have appeared on reality television). This season they've added the controversial twist of separating the tribes by race...who knew we were so avant garde back in the days of "browns vs. honkies" Trivial Pursuit?

Ice cream for everyone

A year ago, we gave Melissa & Sanjay a weekend away in wine country on us (while we watched Maya) as a thank you for all they did to help out with our wedding. Of course, in typical Sameer & Laura fashion it took us a year to actually make good on the gift, but last weekend they finally enjoyed a couple of days in Napa while we got to hang out with Maya. Our plan, like all good aunts and uncles, was to spoil her rotten so she wouldn't notice mom and dad had left, and as an added bonus we got Dada and Bebe to drive down from Tracy to help out since they are experts in spoiling Maya. :-)

We started the weekend with a trip to Fairyland in Oakland, which is an "outdoor storybook park" that was packed with 3-5 year olds the Saturday we were there. Maya showed us around and made sure we hit all of the best rides, animals, and "talking storybooks." Highlights included meeting Curious George and a nutritious lunch of PB&J, french fries, popcorn, and ice cream courtesy of Sameer "I just can't say no to her" Dholakia. This is perhaps a bad omen for our own future as parents.

After Fairyland, Dada and Bebe joined us back at the house and we all got to witness Maya's burgeoning skills as a future soccer star (although her tendency to pick up the ball with her hands instead of kicking it may mean she should focus on being a goalie). Then we had a great dinner cooked by Bebe, followed by a fun-filled night of watching "Dora the Explorer" videos (one guess as to who okayed that one).

The next day all of us headed out to the Oakland Zoo for more fun, and yet another nutritious lunch (this time Sameer got stern and said Maya could have popcorn or ice cream, but not both...way to lay down the law). We saw lots of different animals, and even got to get up close and personal to pet some goats (or at least Maya and I did...the rest of the Dholakias apparently have a fear of tame animals). For the first time, I was denied from getting on a ride (the "sky tram" -- think chair lift that goes over the zoo) due to my "condition", which makes it official that I have transitioned from just looking fat to actually being recognizably pregnant. Strange that this is a good thing. At the end of the day, we headed for the nearby rides, where Maya had her first roller coaster experience. Despite spending much of the ride chanting "no, no, no" she later claimed it was her favorite part of the day. I guess it's all about how you remember things.

Finally, back at home, and post nap (miraculous given how much sugar Maya had ingested during the day), Melissa and Sanjay returned home. While they had no doubt enjoyed the weekend, I'm sure even better was the next 48 hours where Maya had the rough transition back to the real world after having a weekend of being denied nothing. No doubt karma will be repaying us sometime soon...

For more photos of our weekend, check out our photos online.

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

We are (sadly) back in the real world after our week-long vacation to Oregon. We left on a Thursday afternoon to drive up to Oregon for my cousin Julie's wedding and some R&R. Along the way we stopped at Crater Lake, adding to our list of National Parks visited (kind of sad that we had never been to the only one in Oregon). Crater Lake is pretty spectacular...everyone tells you before you go that it is "so blue", to which you react "duh" (it is a lake, after all). But, once you get there you spend the entire time repeating "I can't believe how blue it is" like complete idiots. I would highly encourage everyone to visit, but there is only so long you can look at the lake, so it need not be a long visit. Of course, if you are not in a "delicate condition" you can hike down to the water and take a boat ride (something Sameer rejected after saying, "I don't want to hear you whine about having to climb up the equivalent of 65 flights of stairs.") Got to love that supportive father-to-be attitude.

After Crater lake, we were off to Corvallis, where we attended Julie and Randy's wedding which was great fun. We caught up with the Burridges and Grandma, and got to witness that Arthur is getting bigger by the minute. Best of all, there was wedding cake, which as any pregnant woman can tell you is the whole point of attending weddings.

We did experience one lowlight on the trip, which was that somehow, despite having paid for the "park assist" feature on our brand new SUV, I managed to back into a pillar in an underground parking garage on the way to Julie's wedding (with, of course, 4 witnesses in the car to offer their 2 cents about how I accomplished this without ever causing the car to go "beep, beep, beep" which it is supposed to do as you get close to backing in to anything). Favorite theories included that the pillar was somehow between sensors, and (more popular) "perhaps you were just going so fast that you didn't give the park assist time to go off." Needless to say, I am blaming Volvo since the car is supposed to warn me of such things, so there is no chance it was driver error. Thankfully (or, not, depending on how you look at it), Sameer recently drove the side of the Honda into a pillar in the underground garage at home ("couldn't see it with my sunglasses on" was his excuse, despite the fact he drives by the same pillar every day), so now we are even. I think the only party coming out ahead here is State Farm Insurance.

After the fun and mishaps of Corvallis, we headed to the Oregon coast and Ashland for a few days with my parents, Kevin, and Charity (for the first night, before she had to return to the real world of her day job). The guys spent most (all?) of their time playing golf, which created an additional fun-filled activity of mocking Sameer's golf performance. It's amazing how even when you're not playing golf, you can still talk about it *all the time* so it can in fact fill your entire day.

To fill the time between hearing golf stories, I resumed my knitting project(s) for the baby (have to keep up with my mom who is halfway through knitting the world's largest baby blanket). I finished a hat and started in on a cardigan sweater, which I went ahead and made in the 1-yr size since it's right around then that I'll be done with it. Sameer made the helpful comment in Pottery Barn Kids that a sweater they were selling was "just like the one you're making." Yes, except that it's *already completed* and costs $25. I think the yarn I bought was more expensive than that. Needless to say, this thing had better be a family heirloom or something.

After Ashland we headed home to the real world, returning to our apartment (who could have come in and made it so dirty while we were away?) and a stack of bills. We returned just in time for our planned weekend babysitting Maya, but more on that in the next post....